So at its worst, Mulldrifter is a sorcery speed draw 2 for 3 mana. This is definitely not good enough for modern, most would agree. At its best, it's a draw 4 (3 if we want to subtract the cost of Undying Evil) + a 3/3 flyer for 4 mana. I think most would agree that this is amazing. How often is it bad vs good? Are there any other ways (that are worth playing on their own) to capitalize on something like a Mulldrifter. I mentioned Vampiric Rites, but there must be some better options out there. Viscera Seer? Meh.
I've come up with a whole new approach for the deck. I don't like the whole esper control style shell because the whole deck wants to play at instant speed, and then you have this awkward engine at sorcery speed. Instead, I decided to try something more like Grixis Control that plays stuff out on your own turn a lot of the time. This build feels a lot more smooth, everything works together. Undying Evil with persist is also phenomenal. I think even Eerie Interlude could work out here potentially as a 1 or 2-of.
Seems fun. I like messing around with evoke creatures as well. A good sideboard (maybe mainboard?) card might be Fulminator Mage. Pretty good with Undying Evil. Maybe a singleton Vampiric Rites to go along with your evoke critters? Could be good in long matches.
Have you put in some reps with the deck? Has the anti-synergy between Tasigur/Logic Knot and Snapcaster been an issue? Has the main combo of evoke + undying been worth it?
Definitely sounds like Fulm would be worth it in the sideboard. Logic Knot kind of works well with Snap and Tasigur. Logic Knot exiles stuff you don't want out of the grave so Tasigur gives you better stuff. It is a lot of delve though, so you gotta be careful with the amount of delve cards total you play. Logic Knot doesn't usually delve more than 1-3 cards early on. And you really just need to leave a card or two behind for snap, so he's never a problem.
I've gotten a few games in. Shriekmaw is amazing, Mulldrifter is a bit iffy/slow. Undying Evil is absolutely amazing. It works so well with Snapcasters, it's rediculous. And it's not just a crazy dream either. It has very consistent synergy with Snapcasters, I will very freqeuntly Undying Evil my snaps (often off of the snap trigger itself). I want to replace Drifter with another Evil combo target, but I'm not quite sure what else would work. Maybe I do just try out mainboard Fulm. Ideas appreciated here!
i suggest you try unburial rites, it works well with evoke creatures and give you resiliency. fulminator mage is the most evil idea ever!
i've played a similar list a few weeks ago, the undying trick is kinda like a half-wincon: you just control and evoke stuff normally while holding on to a mulldrifter+undying and when you have an opening bam draw 4 and a flyier i'm gonna counter you all day long while beating you up! i didnt run snapcaster but it must enable some sick tricks
issues: mulldrifter kinda lame without undying because it's not instant speed, and ending up having two cards to hold up instead of one weakening our early control. super fun to play however
As I mentioned above, I can definitely agree with Drifter feeling a bit lame. Unburial Rites seems interesting, but I don't see why I would want it, honestly. If I wanted more sorcery speed value, I'd rather just keep the Drifters in.
It's very hard to ramp in UWR. Blaze Commando is a bit too slow, and there's not much you can do about that unfortunately. He also dies to Bolt which is quite unfortunate. Spirit Guide is probably the best option you've got. You could also play a bit more of a midrange shell and throw in some counterspells like Remand, Spell Snare, and Mana Leak to stall out until later in the game where Commando comes down. If you want something to replace Commando, there's also Young Pyromancer, Monastery Mentor, and Guttersnipe which all do their own unique things.
This is my first time playing esper, so let me know if anything with my core can be improved. But anyway, the idea for this deck is the interaction between evoke creatures and Undying Evil. You can cast a spell for its evoke cost, play Evil with the sacrifice trigger on the stack, and let both triggers resolve. You get its ETB effect, and it comes back with a +1/+1 counter, landing you the creature in play and a second ETB trigger. Undying Evil even works well with Snapcaster. You can flash in snapcaster, flashing back Evil on himself. You can then block and trade, and he will return with a counter. Then he triggers again and you can flashback something else.
The problem with miracles in modern, as always, is that we don't really have anything to do with miracles we draw early on. See Beyond is an interesting idea, but I've considered Jeskai to play something like Faithless Looting. Maybe even Noxious Revival to stack miracles when they're needed. In something like this, I definitely think Snapcaster Mages are a solid choice.
First tournament with the deck, and I learned a ton. Didn't get to play against any zoo, which kinda sucked as this is what it's designed to fight. 2-2 with wins against Burn and Sultai Control, losses to Jeskai Geist and Burn. The main thing I noticed was the absolute lack of counters, I always wanted more counters.
Overwhelming Denial performed amazingly well beyond belief, but I was only running 2 at the time. Every time I drew it, it took down a threat and it never sat dead in my hand. Early on, surge is easily enabled. If you end up hellbent lategame, you have enough mana to hardcast it. I even snap'd a Denial and casted it for its full 2UU twice. Hard counters are phenomenal, this card is phenomenal.
Remand tested alright. Most of the time I had to remand some pretty pitiful 1 mana spells which were just cast again. Against the blue decks, remanding my own stuff helped out a bit.
Crush of Tentacles of course didn't do well due to the complete lack of decks that keep creatures or anything on the field. I would put it in if your meta has lots of zoo, but mine had no eldrazi or zoo-style decks whatsoever.
I was very unprepared to fight burn, which ended very poorly. I definitely want to find some room for some Lightning Helixs, they seem quite solid right now in most matchups. 3 Dragon's Claw have been added to the sideboard. I upped Denial to 4 and adding in a Grim Lavamancer. Not sure if anything else could be cut for Lavamancer, so I put Jori down to 1 for now.
If you want to go for full ramp, you could play the land ramp package. You already have Arbor Elf and Sprawl. You could also add Overgrowthand Voyaging Satyr. Since you have the Emrakul there already, something like Tooth and Nail is another potential way to fetch out your big guys.
I value the 8/8 very highly, its won me many of my games so far by itself. Verdict can clear the board, but if you have nothing to back it up, you're still not in a great spot. And you've probably committed your creatures to the board early, so it will likely leave you without any defense. Crush can bounce more stuff, like problematic chalices and planeswalkers. Verdict has a decent number of matches where it does little to none, but Crush has proven to be pretty good in almost every matchup. Bouncing back Snapcasters has also proven to be a lovely additional benefit to it, when it happens. Perhaps my opinion will change after more testing, but these are my current thoughts and I've been liking it a surprising amount more than I thought I would.
Helix and Snares I've considered putting in. I probably should get some helixes up in here especially. I'm also considering Grip of the Roil. Dispel doesn't really seem main deckable, a lot of decks are just throwing creatures around from what it seems.
The reasoning for Crush is a tech against all these big zoo decks popping up lately, like eldrazi. It lets you immediately stabilize. Even in matchups where they lay nothing down, I've had times where I will Crush just to get an Octopus and bounce some Snapcasters back too. You hold Crush if you're ahead. When you're behind, you're using the tokens from Pyro to block or trade anyway.
Edit: Added to the card choices section. Matchups will come after I've gotten more testing and an FNM or two in.
Do you like free spells? Do you like endless value? Do you like playing legacy staples in modern? Welcome to Jeskai Surge!
Jeskai Surge aims to play a lot of spells to trigger creatures like Young Pyromancer, easily flip Delver of Secrets, and enable surge whenever it is needed. It can be built as an aggressive delver deck, or as a midrange value-based deck.
Snapcaster Mage - The core of any blue non-creature based deck. He triggers Jori En very easily, and provides a ton of value as well as a good body. Note that sadly, you cannot flashback a spell and cast it for its surge cost.
Young Pyromancer - With so many cheap or free instants and sorceries, Young Pyromancer will be producing tokens like crazy, very early on. Provides you with an army of blockers and attackers, rapidly developing a threatening field.
Delver of Secrets - If you want to go for an aggressive approach, Delver of Secrets will get you there. Backed up by a lot of solid counterspells, he is even more resilient of a threat than normal.
Jori En, Ruin Diver - If you want to play a more midrange and value-based version, Jori is a great option. This may be just about the only place I'd ever advocate playing Jori En, but he works miracles in this deck. With so many free spells, you're able to very consistently proc Jori multiple times. If he is left on board, your advantage will be massive. If he is removed, you can pop out a counterspell to save him or anything else to just draw a card before he dies. Turn 3 Jori into Gitaxian Probe will draw 2 cards. Snapcaster flashing back anything will draw a card. Free spells into anything will draw you a card. Jori into Bolt or Path will draw you a card. The list goes on...
Grim Lavamancer - With so many spells and fetches going off each turn, you will always have a plentiful graveyard which you can exile to Lavamancer.
Manamorphose - An essentially free spell that triggers Jori and Pyro, draws you a card, and enables surge very early on.
Gitaxian Probe - The other free spell. Only sorcery speed, but it still costs 0 and draws you a card. Snapcaster on turn 2 getting back Probe is a very viable play if you need early pressure while still maintaining resources.
Path to Exile - Cheap removal. Especially needed with so much Eldrazi and Death's Shadow running around these days.
Lightning Bolt - More cheap removal, and can put the pressure on when needed.
Serum Visions - Draws you a card, triggers Pyro, and lets you set up more gas all for just 1 mana.
Lightning Helix - A slightly more costly Bolt, but the life gain can be a lifesaver in some matchups.
Overwhelming Denial - Manamorphose turns Denial into a true turn 2 UU counterspell. Works very well together with the deck as a whole, as you're always throwing spells around. As well, the fact that Denial can't be countered is very huge in some matchups.
Crush of Tentacles - The other relevant surge card. A complete bomb in some matchups, mainly against zoo and midrange creature-focused decks. It can come down on turn 5 if you're holding a Probe or Manamorphose. 5 mana for an 8/8 and a board bounce? Sign me up! It lets you stabilize very easily by resetting your opponent's work and plopping down a nice behemoth of your own. It puts your opponent into a spot where they have to reestablish their board and try to deal with an 8/8 at the same time. And best of all, you get to win by attacking with an Octopus. What more could you want?
Grip of the Roil - Another surge card that can keep aggro decks in check, and draws you a card right back.
Electrolyze - A bit costly, but can be very useful in some matchups and it draws you a card back.
Mana Leak - The other counterspell of choice. It's good, but it doesn't synergize well with path. And a jeskai grind deck typically goes to the point where they're able to pay for leak before the game ends.
Monastery Mentor - The reason it works in legacy is because it gives control a finisher, as they already have good draw and advantage. This deck already has a solid stream of tokens off of Pyro, but no real advantage engine. For this reason, Jori tends to work better than Mentor in this deck.
Regarding Eldrazi and the rise of zoo lately, I definitely want some Supreme Verdict in my 60. We'll have to stall out early and get out our board wipe as soon as we can. Seer of course makes that much harder to consistently do, but they won't always have Seer+Cavern of Souls. And when they don't, our counters can hold them off. Are there any cards that punish colorless cards, kind of like a reverse All is Dust?
I've considered an old classic, Porphyry Nodes. It seems quite good against a lot of decks right now. Going 1-for-1 is never a bad thing, and it even forces them to slow down and maybe skip playing a creature on their turn. What are thoughts on this?
I've come up with a whole new approach for the deck. I don't like the whole esper control style shell because the whole deck wants to play at instant speed, and then you have this awkward engine at sorcery speed. Instead, I decided to try something more like Grixis Control that plays stuff out on your own turn a lot of the time. This build feels a lot more smooth, everything works together. Undying Evil with persist is also phenomenal. I think even Eerie Interlude could work out here potentially as a 1 or 2-of.
Definitely sounds like Fulm would be worth it in the sideboard. Logic Knot kind of works well with Snap and Tasigur. Logic Knot exiles stuff you don't want out of the grave so Tasigur gives you better stuff. It is a lot of delve though, so you gotta be careful with the amount of delve cards total you play. Logic Knot doesn't usually delve more than 1-3 cards early on. And you really just need to leave a card or two behind for snap, so he's never a problem.
I've gotten a few games in. Shriekmaw is amazing, Mulldrifter is a bit iffy/slow. Undying Evil is absolutely amazing. It works so well with Snapcasters, it's rediculous. And it's not just a crazy dream either. It has very consistent synergy with Snapcasters, I will very freqeuntly Undying Evil my snaps (often off of the snap trigger itself). I want to replace Drifter with another Evil combo target, but I'm not quite sure what else would work. Maybe I do just try out mainboard Fulm. Ideas appreciated here!
As I mentioned above, I can definitely agree with Drifter feeling a bit lame. Unburial Rites seems interesting, but I don't see why I would want it, honestly. If I wanted more sorcery speed value, I'd rather just keep the Drifters in.
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Shriekmaw
3 Wall of Omens
2 Murderous Redcap
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Restoration Angel
Spells
4 Undying Evil
4 Path to Exile
4 Serum Visions
2 Esper Charm
2 Mana Leak
2 Plains
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Watery Grave
2 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Celestial Colonnade
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Mulldrifter
2 Stony Silence
2 Dispel
2 Negate
2 Thoughtseize
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Celestial Purge
2 Disenchant
This is my first time playing esper, so let me know if anything with my core can be improved. But anyway, the idea for this deck is the interaction between evoke creatures and Undying Evil. You can cast a spell for its evoke cost, play Evil with the sacrifice trigger on the stack, and let both triggers resolve. You get its ETB effect, and it comes back with a +1/+1 counter, landing you the creature in play and a second ETB trigger. Undying Evil even works well with Snapcaster. You can flash in snapcaster, flashing back Evil on himself. You can then block and trade, and he will return with a counter. Then he triggers again and you can flashback something else.
Overwhelming Denial performed amazingly well beyond belief, but I was only running 2 at the time. Every time I drew it, it took down a threat and it never sat dead in my hand. Early on, surge is easily enabled. If you end up hellbent lategame, you have enough mana to hardcast it. I even snap'd a Denial and casted it for its full 2UU twice. Hard counters are phenomenal, this card is phenomenal.
Remand tested alright. Most of the time I had to remand some pretty pitiful 1 mana spells which were just cast again. Against the blue decks, remanding my own stuff helped out a bit.
Crush of Tentacles of course didn't do well due to the complete lack of decks that keep creatures or anything on the field. I would put it in if your meta has lots of zoo, but mine had no eldrazi or zoo-style decks whatsoever.
I was very unprepared to fight burn, which ended very poorly. I definitely want to find some room for some Lightning Helixs, they seem quite solid right now in most matchups. 3 Dragon's Claw have been added to the sideboard. I upped Denial to 4 and adding in a Grim Lavamancer. Not sure if anything else could be cut for Lavamancer, so I put Jori down to 1 for now.
I value the 8/8 very highly, its won me many of my games so far by itself. Verdict can clear the board, but if you have nothing to back it up, you're still not in a great spot. And you've probably committed your creatures to the board early, so it will likely leave you without any defense. Crush can bounce more stuff, like problematic chalices and planeswalkers. Verdict has a decent number of matches where it does little to none, but Crush has proven to be pretty good in almost every matchup. Bouncing back Snapcasters has also proven to be a lovely additional benefit to it, when it happens. Perhaps my opinion will change after more testing, but these are my current thoughts and I've been liking it a surprising amount more than I thought I would.
Helix and Snares I've considered putting in. I probably should get some helixes up in here especially. I'm also considering Grip of the Roil. Dispel doesn't really seem main deckable, a lot of decks are just throwing creatures around from what it seems.
The reasoning for Crush is a tech against all these big zoo decks popping up lately, like eldrazi. It lets you immediately stabilize. Even in matchups where they lay nothing down, I've had times where I will Crush just to get an Octopus and bounce some Snapcasters back too. You hold Crush if you're ahead. When you're behind, you're using the tokens from Pyro to block or trade anyway.
Edit: Added to the card choices section. Matchups will come after I've gotten more testing and an FNM or two in.
And yeah, I honestly completely forgot about Serum Visions. What do you think could be cut for it?
Overview
Do you like free spells? Do you like endless value? Do you like playing legacy staples in modern? Welcome to Jeskai Surge!
Jeskai Surge aims to play a lot of spells to trigger creatures like Young Pyromancer, easily flip Delver of Secrets, and enable surge whenever it is needed. It can be built as an aggressive delver deck, or as a midrange value-based deck.
Decklist and Card Choices
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Young Pyromancer
Spells (30)
4 Manamorphose
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Overwhelming Denial
3 Remand
2 Lightning Helix
1 Electrolyze
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Keranos, God of Storms
3 Stony Silence
3 Dragon's Claw
2 Shadow of Doubt
1 Gut Shot
1 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Celestial Purge
1 Disdainful Stroke
Snapcaster Mage
Young Pyromancer
Delver of Secrets
Jori En, Ruin Diver
Grim Lavamancer
Manamorphose
Gitaxian Probe
Path to Exile
Lightning Bolt
Serum Visions
Lightning Helix
Overwhelming Denial
Crush of Tentacles
Remand
Spell Snare
Dispel
Grip of the Roil
Electrolyze
Mana Leak
Monastery Mentor
Matchups
---Coming soon---
Side note: Detention sphere and o ring get around Reality Smasher's discard clause because the target is not chosen on cast.
I've considered an old classic, Porphyry Nodes. It seems quite good against a lot of decks right now. Going 1-for-1 is never a bad thing, and it even forces them to slow down and maybe skip playing a creature on their turn. What are thoughts on this?