I play 3 clarion 1 settle main atm but I’ll likely change settle to Nova or something else altogether.
Benalia is a good example of why syncopate is good. If they resolve it and you don’t have a clarion it is very bad news - syncopate increases greatly the odds you can deal with it. Syncopate is only really bad in the very late game but that’s where we win vs most decks anyways.
I play two niv one explosion and have never seen a game where ionize damage would have helped. I play 24 lands with only 7 non blue sources and 7 early game canttips to dig for blue if needed. Rarely have an issue casting sabotage.
Radical idea is fine. Opt and revitalize also work.
Adanto vanguard is a problem but crackling drake solves it and you can always bounce and counter.
I dont understand essence scatter. you have lots of counterspells for big creatures and scatter is bad in the mirror while not helping much vs burn. I would rather play justice strike or lightning strike to kill stuff that got out while my counters were down.
Ive been running one dream eater (instead of blink of an eye) and really liking it. I think theres a general question of how many 5-6 drops the deck can support, and then you optimize around that. Im currently at 3 teferi 2 niv 1 dream eater and 1 explosion sort of counts.
Trying one sarkhan fireblood so far he hasnt made a difference either way. I like the idea of another win condition vs control but sarkhan is such a blank vs aggro.
I dropped azcanta for sarkhan as I figure its similar - card selection that turns into a win condition. Just an army of dragons is more actual win than drowning your opponent in cards while bottoming all your creatures
Current flex spots are really the blink and the 3rd drake. But this is a pretty well rounded maindeck for a meta of red burn, golgari midrange, other control decks, and RW/GW benalia decks from what I've seen.
Syncopate does a LOT of work as a turn 2 counterspell, and most of the games I lose are because the opponent gets too much out early forcing me to clarion and then they throw down a planeswalker. It's also good for exiling stuff so golgari cant recur it, and countering a turn 4 chemisters insight on your end step while leaving 2 up so you can (maybe) stop them if they tap out for a teferi.
I'm not sure whether I prefer a 1/1 split of Niv and Nezahl or the 2 Niv. Niv seems better vs creature decks, as he can machine gun down a board, but vs control they can just get off a justice strike or teferi and end him quickly. Nezahl is just the opposite, gets chumped by 2/2s or beaten by fliers, or they force an exile and then resolve stuff while he's out. Vs slow decks it doesnt matter he gets there eventually (usually) but if you're on the back foot he may not be enough in some situations since he disapears as a blocker when you exile.
My favourite move ever was slamming a niv, getting into a counter war over it 2 turns later, losing it but drawing a nezahl, and then dropping nezahl with like 10 cards in hand
How many sarkhan and niv would you run? I definitely appreciate chemisters insight turning my garbage into real cards so I could imagine sarkhan doing the same. I play a very draw go list so I wouldnt be jamming him before turn six most of the time, unsure how much that helps or hurts the cause.
Ive been playing a tonne of jeskai on arena and liking the wafotapa build with 4 opt and 4 revitalize. Biggest issue is tapping low for a clarion only to untap facing something as bad or worse. Ie wipe an elf and jadelight and opponent drops a doom whisperer or vraska.
Other issues are adanto vanguard being unkillable and the eldest reborn being a blowout if they resolve it. Ive also had niv miz kiled by chupacabra which feels horrid. I put all my non-clarion wraths in the board as they were just too bad too often.
I play 3 syncopates. Two mana counterspell is valuable and exiling chem insight or a golgari reanimate target is quite good. 4 sabotage 1 negate 1 essence scatter 1 d stroke round up my counters.
Unclear to me if nezahl is better than a second niv miz at this point.
Ral has been pretty lousy all told. Feels like a bad teferi most of the time but I guess some diversity is good for your walkers.
2 drakes. Could see playing more, doubt id play less. The cheap cantrips help make them relevant when you need them and in a grindfest they can easily two-shot people from full health.
3 copies of sfa seems like a lot, and do you really need guildgates in a 2 colour deck with 8 other duals? Doesnt seem worth it.
Murmuring mystic is something nobody else has really touched on - I could see it since its a solid blocker and reasonably hard to kill but with 4 drakes this seems like a lot of tapping out on turn 4 opening a window for planeswalkers and vinemares to resolve.
I dont think the deck has to be creatureless but too many 4-6 mana spells seems like asking for trouble. Perhaps numbers could be adjusted there.
I also still swear by nezahl for control matches so would at least put one in the board. Niv is good but they can just justice strike or whatever and thats that.
I do find im torn a bit with making land drops for explosion and fwf vs keeping them in hand for jump start chemisters; so theres some tension there if you dont have dead-er cards to chuck.
I was winning most of my games with nezahl personally. Your ability to burn someone out obviously depends on removal choices - im higher on lava coil and shivan fire than lightning strikes and shocks atm. I do play 2 copies of fight with fire but have yet to kick it
I guess its fair to note that a creatureless deck still needs to win, and ral plus burn plus explosion mill may not be enough. I suspect squee is your most resilient option despite being painfully slow. Otherwise you commit to a mix of nezahl, niv mizzet, and crackling drake and accept their drawbacks as the cost of having ways to actually end games quickly.
I feel like this is a ur deck splashing white for settle, teferi and either justice strike or seal away. Does that sound accurate?
If so I guess question would be are those cards effectively plugging holes of straight ur to make it worth the shakier mana base? And how shaky is the mana (my guess is its still pretty good with shocks and buddy lands so fairly low opportunity cost)
On arena im facing nonstop jeskai control (thanks free teferi and ral) so maindeck nezahl primal tide has been incredible. There are a lot of dead cards like shivan fire and lava coil and essence scatter to pitch anyways so the first exile is basically free.
Im iffy on drake and niv mizzet but still trying them. I like niv out of the board but otherwise both are cantripping and eating an otherwise dead removal spell. I suspect drake will earn its keep to the extent we need outs to resolved vinemare and such
I dont like opt here. This is not a deck with a lot of situational cards so digging isnt especially valuable. It feeds drake and ral but those will get there on their own anyways without help (same for azcanta)
Yeah ego as monoblack would be significantly more likely to see play.
I am holding out hope for a good ug simic spell that will make bant temur and sultai worth using in modern. Like power level of lingering souls, pulse, helix, etc.
Ego hitting basics is meh since it only hits 4. It's awesome because it hits valakut and urza's tower, as well as all the usual suspects like ad nauseum and KCI.
Top cards for Modern imo:
Assassin's Trophy (will be played forever in BGx as pulse/decay slot)
Knight of Autumn (any chord/company deck, played over rec sage if mana supports it)
Unmoored Ego - needs UBx deck to have an impact, but definitely good compared to lost legacy and slaughter games.
Tajic could go in humans but I don't think it has much impact and will likely be an optional card rather than a new auto-include. Pelt Collector can go in monogreen stmopy tier 3 decks I guess.
Another schism of sorts that I see is in the package of finishers. On one hand you have nothing but balistas and wurmcoils, on the other you play fewer copies of those and instead an angel, titan, battlesphere, gearhulk, etc.
For those who have done both is it really preference or is it clear that you should really be doing one approach vs the other? Theres definitely something smooth about an end game of slaver, wurmcoil, balista and no one-ofs that sometimes suck (titan angel). There dont seem to be that many decks an angel beats anymore and few decks really crumble to a titan as three-colour midrange isnt what it used to be (trophy may revive)
I do like one gearhulk for the flash, its a way to pressure eot and if they interact you untap and slam a sorcery speed threat. Its a shame it doesnt work with repeal or condescend but ive always had something to hit with it.
https://www.mtgcanada.com/general/jeskai-control-in-standard/
Benalia is a good example of why syncopate is good. If they resolve it and you don’t have a clarion it is very bad news - syncopate increases greatly the odds you can deal with it. Syncopate is only really bad in the very late game but that’s where we win vs most decks anyways.
I play two niv one explosion and have never seen a game where ionize damage would have helped. I play 24 lands with only 7 non blue sources and 7 early game canttips to dig for blue if needed. Rarely have an issue casting sabotage.
Adanto vanguard is a problem but crackling drake solves it and you can always bounce and counter.
I dont understand essence scatter. you have lots of counterspells for big creatures and scatter is bad in the mirror while not helping much vs burn. I would rather play justice strike or lightning strike to kill stuff that got out while my counters were down.
Ionize is just worse than sabotage in control.
Ive been running one dream eater (instead of blink of an eye) and really liking it. I think theres a general question of how many 5-6 drops the deck can support, and then you optimize around that. Im currently at 3 teferi 2 niv 1 dream eater and 1 explosion sort of counts.
Trying one sarkhan fireblood so far he hasnt made a difference either way. I like the idea of another win condition vs control but sarkhan is such a blank vs aggro.
I dropped azcanta for sarkhan as I figure its similar - card selection that turns into a win condition. Just an army of dragons is more actual win than drowning your opponent in cards while bottoming all your creatures
3 Crackling Drake
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Planeswalkers (3)
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Cantrips (12)
4 Opt
3 Revitalize
3 Chemister's Insight
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Expansion
4 Sinister Sabotage
3 Syncopate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
1 Disdainful Stroke
Removal (6)
3 Deafening Clarion
1 Justice Strike
1 Lightning Strike
1 Blink of an Eye
4 Steam Vents
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sulfur Falls
3 Clifftop Retreat
5 Island
1 Mountain
Current flex spots are really the blink and the 3rd drake. But this is a pretty well rounded maindeck for a meta of red burn, golgari midrange, other control decks, and RW/GW benalia decks from what I've seen.
Syncopate does a LOT of work as a turn 2 counterspell, and most of the games I lose are because the opponent gets too much out early forcing me to clarion and then they throw down a planeswalker. It's also good for exiling stuff so golgari cant recur it, and countering a turn 4 chemisters insight on your end step while leaving 2 up so you can (maybe) stop them if they tap out for a teferi.
I'm not sure whether I prefer a 1/1 split of Niv and Nezahl or the 2 Niv. Niv seems better vs creature decks, as he can machine gun down a board, but vs control they can just get off a justice strike or teferi and end him quickly. Nezahl is just the opposite, gets chumped by 2/2s or beaten by fliers, or they force an exile and then resolve stuff while he's out. Vs slow decks it doesnt matter he gets there eventually (usually) but if you're on the back foot he may not be enough in some situations since he disapears as a blocker when you exile.
My favourite move ever was slamming a niv, getting into a counter war over it 2 turns later, losing it but drawing a nezahl, and then dropping nezahl with like 10 cards in hand
Other issues are adanto vanguard being unkillable and the eldest reborn being a blowout if they resolve it. Ive also had niv miz kiled by chupacabra which feels horrid. I put all my non-clarion wraths in the board as they were just too bad too often.
I play 3 syncopates. Two mana counterspell is valuable and exiling chem insight or a golgari reanimate target is quite good. 4 sabotage 1 negate 1 essence scatter 1 d stroke round up my counters.
Unclear to me if nezahl is better than a second niv miz at this point.
Ral has been pretty lousy all told. Feels like a bad teferi most of the time but I guess some diversity is good for your walkers.
2 drakes. Could see playing more, doubt id play less. The cheap cantrips help make them relevant when you need them and in a grindfest they can easily two-shot people from full health.
Murmuring mystic is something nobody else has really touched on - I could see it since its a solid blocker and reasonably hard to kill but with 4 drakes this seems like a lot of tapping out on turn 4 opening a window for planeswalkers and vinemares to resolve.
I dont think the deck has to be creatureless but too many 4-6 mana spells seems like asking for trouble. Perhaps numbers could be adjusted there.
I also still swear by nezahl for control matches so would at least put one in the board. Niv is good but they can just justice strike or whatever and thats that.
I do find im torn a bit with making land drops for explosion and fwf vs keeping them in hand for jump start chemisters; so theres some tension there if you dont have dead-er cards to chuck.
If so I guess question would be are those cards effectively plugging holes of straight ur to make it worth the shakier mana base? And how shaky is the mana (my guess is its still pretty good with shocks and buddy lands so fairly low opportunity cost)
Im iffy on drake and niv mizzet but still trying them. I like niv out of the board but otherwise both are cantripping and eating an otherwise dead removal spell. I suspect drake will earn its keep to the extent we need outs to resolved vinemare and such
I dont like opt here. This is not a deck with a lot of situational cards so digging isnt especially valuable. It feeds drake and ral but those will get there on their own anyways without help (same for azcanta)
I am holding out hope for a good ug simic spell that will make bant temur and sultai worth using in modern. Like power level of lingering souls, pulse, helix, etc.
Top cards for Modern imo:
Assassin's Trophy (will be played forever in BGx as pulse/decay slot)
Knight of Autumn (any chord/company deck, played over rec sage if mana supports it)
Unmoored Ego - needs UBx deck to have an impact, but definitely good compared to lost legacy and slaughter games.
Tajic could go in humans but I don't think it has much impact and will likely be an optional card rather than a new auto-include. Pelt Collector can go in monogreen stmopy tier 3 decks I guess.
For those who have done both is it really preference or is it clear that you should really be doing one approach vs the other? Theres definitely something smooth about an end game of slaver, wurmcoil, balista and no one-ofs that sometimes suck (titan angel). There dont seem to be that many decks an angel beats anymore and few decks really crumble to a titan as three-colour midrange isnt what it used to be (trophy may revive)
I do like one gearhulk for the flash, its a way to pressure eot and if they interact you untap and slam a sorcery speed threat. Its a shame it doesnt work with repeal or condescend but ive always had something to hit with it.