I think at this point my deck is going heavy enough on red walkers and cheap instants and sorceries that including Chandra, Acolyte of Flame is worth it to me, which then also incentivises adding Chandra, Awakened Inferno, and then because of wanting that I'm tempted to put in Sarkhan the Masterless and maybe some of the dragons that are big enough to survive Jaya's inferno, something I'm using less and less and moving more towards the Incinerate ability, paired up with Kumano, Master Yamabushi and Hazoret the Fervent to help keep the board clear and pressure opponents.
Tectonic Reformation is a card I'm very tempted by for many of the same reasons as Weebo and Shenanigans just seems like a really handy way to keep control of artifacts on the board which seems worth it to me. The Sword of Fire and Ice is out of my price range by a long shot, so Sword of Sinew and Steel being printed is great for me being able to get another pro-red sword. Though I do have an Ulamog the Ceaseless Hunger I could trade in and maybe be able to afford fire and ice that way. I might also consider Sword of Truth and Justice just because of how walker heavy I am, but it's unlikely.
I don't know when I'll get the chance to play her again though because we've recently moved onto playing Oathbreaker more because we frequently don't have the time for the 2+ hour games that are Commander, so we get to play more and no one gets frustrated by the combo/control deck taking seven 10 minute turns in a row because as a group we collectively avoid infinite combos.
Modern Horizons has full art snow basics! This is great for those of us who want the snow lands but buying the older ones was too difficult. And also they look amazing.
I put a Jaya, Venerated Firemage into my Jaya deck after the prerelease (because a friend of mine got one and gave her to me) and I drew her in that game. I found her to be quite helpful in the deck with the various red damage sources I have such as Jaya, Hazoret, Kumano, my planeswalkers, and the phoenixes (I also keep going back and forth on Magmatic Force, its won me games and survives a Jaya inferno, but I'm just unsure). Used her and Magma Phoenix to kill an Ajani (the new one) on my turn right after it came down. I think I want to try and get my hands on a Karn's Bastion maybe finally take out the Arcane Lighthouse cause that never really seems to come up in my meta. I also want to include the new Chandra, Fire Artisan because I saw her used in a planeswalker deck against me and she most definitely does work. New Ugin is also on the consideration, I find myself moving a little bit more towards a heavier planeswalker build, Ugin is pretty good I'm just not sure if he's right for how my deck is going.
Just thought I'd add my thoughts on how new Jaya played and other things I'm considering for changes from this set.
Are there any other cards like Reckless Rage that deal a bunch of damage to an opponent/opponents creature and a smaller amount of damage to your creature?
I’m definitely looking forward to trying out Eletrodominance for the cast spell of cmc X or less shenanigans. I like Light up the Stage but I feel like I’ve managed to find a good spot of card draw for my deck and I’m not really interested in the impulse draw, especially since in all my time using it I’ve found I very rarely actually play the cards exiled and am sad to see them exiled because I would have liked to have drawn them.
Had another chance to play Jaya again today, didn't get to test out the Experimental Frenzy or the Eye of Ugin package (desolation twin, emrakul, kozilek, darksteel colossus, steel hellkite, and stuffy doll. I think I'm gonna add Void Winnower, Reality Smasher, and one of either Bosh, Iron Golem, Ancient Stone Idol, or Metalwork Colossus as well.)
Mostly cause I saw none of my card draw and only had a single mountain for the entire game. Lucky for me though I got Hazoret the Fervent in my opening hand and oh boy did she ever put in some work. I know Jaya usually the plan is to avoid having an empty hand and most of us put a lot of effort into keeping the hand stocked, but only playing a single red source and still being the deadliest threat at the table until Niv-Mizzet, Parun stabilised with a Torrential Gearhulk to block with. I'm half tempted to pick up an Invocation Hazoret and put a little more focus on being a fast aggressive list, instead of my current one that plays much slower into the massive beaters.
Finally had the chance to play Jaya again today, I have really missed playing her, had one of the longest and most fun games of commander I've had in a long time.
Thoughts from the game; I was trying a silly thing with running all the red walkers that make emblems and Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker really surprised me with how much help he was, removed one opponent's Nissa, Voice of Zendikar by attacking and then later killed his Ravos, Soultender with the -3, almost had the emblem out but I drew Reforge the Soul that turn and went for the miracle instead. I think his emblem is a bad addition in Jaya since it leaves you with no cards in hand for other player's turns, but his +1 is nice to be able to swing with a 4/4 indestructible flier every turn. I'll probably cut him for the Experimental Frenzy in all honesty but it was definitely a surprise.
The number of times I got a draw effect it was usually a full wheel, or a copied big draw spell, and I didn't see Alhammarret's Archive or most of my small draw effects. So I'm still not sure whether I'm going to get the kind of value out of it I hope, or if it's going to fluctuate in performance. I may have to put a Reliquary Tower or Thought Vessel in here.
Over all. Very glad to be playing Jaya again, Alhammarret's Archive is probably going to be worth it (if I can draw it), and I'm looking forward to seeing what Experimental Frenzy is going to play like.
I haven't actually gotten to play Jaya since I started running Alhammarret's Archive so I'm gonna see how it plays out, I'll probably switch it for something like Staff of Nin if I find it's not performing how I'd like. As for the Ring of Valkas, I used to run a fair few more red creatures at 6 toughness, things like Combustible Gearhulk and Inferno Titan, so the ring with one turn would put them out of inferno range. I'm probably going to switch it for the boots soon, especially if I put the Meekstone in.
The three maybe cards are things I'm iffy about. My usual meta is one player that uses either an Abzan +1/+1 counters deck that runs about 10 enchantments, or a Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder deck with very little change from out of the box (I think it just added Maelstrom Wanderer), or a mono-white Soldier tribal deck. The other player runs either a Zur the Enchanter deck, or a Naban, Dean of Iteration wizard tribal.
So I think the Enchanter's Bane might be a good include as a way to deal with their enchantments flying around. I'm already running Torpor Orb to deal with the Naban deck sooo?
Meekstone is also to help against the Wizard deck and the Yidris/Abzan deck, since they are frequently getting to 3+ power and in the case of the wizard deck, tapping frequently. Scrap Mastery is a choice I'm not sure about because I'm the only player running mass artefiact destruction and I'm the only artefact player.
Also what's the opinion on the new Phoenix from the 2019 gift pack? Immortal Phoenix4RR for a flying 5/3 phoenix that when it dies returns to owner's hand.
Something I just noticed about the title for this is that you put: 1/10 at the end, does that mean you intend to do one for each of the five walker commanders and five flip walkers?
Chaos Warp unfortunately cannot fit the flavour of Chandra but as it's a Pentagram game I only have to be concerned about beating two players, it's less of an issue.
Blood Moon, good as it is, has the same problem as land destruction, whilst it might not be removing the land it still constitutes attacking the other players mana so that's a no go.
Stranglehold is unnecessary for the same reason as Chaos Warp, doesn't really fit flavour wise and isn't that necessary.
The Leyline of Punishment is good but at least for this game I don't need it, the white deck has one prevent damage spell and one protection card. Sulfuric Vortex will get me killed just as, if not faster than, my opponents, unfortunately. Otherwise I would run that for sure and probably will after this game.
So a quick explanation, my brother, three friends and myself are all making a deck based on the flip walkers, specifically what their cards have done previously and things related to their travels. For example Chandra has never been to Theros that we know of so it doesn't make sense to call on the help of Purphoros, God of the Forge. I've just had the chance to test the deck and I've noticed some trouble with Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh because she needs to deal at least two damage then tap for the third damage in order to transform her I only really play her once a game, usually when I have three mana and then in the next two or three turns cause her to flip and try to reach ultimate; I have yet to successfully ultimate her.
I'm looking for some suggestions on ways to make it easier to flip/ultimate Chandra. I can't run a number of the more effective or efficient burn spells because they usually depict lightning in some variant and Chandra is a pyromancer, she specialises in fire. Other cards I can't run are things like the proliferate cards or The Chain Veil, Chandra's never been to Mirrodin/New Phyrexia and The Chain Veil is a Liliana card. Also I don't want to run Dragons/Goblins out of both personal choice and Chandra historically has had more to do with elementals and phoenixes than other creature types. Mass land destruction and infinite combos are also not allowed at all in my group.
Oh and we're only allowed to use the full name version of the commander and the flip walker, so Chandra Nalaar in my case.
With that out of the way here's what I'm currently working with:
Obviously there are some cards that don't fit the flavour like Charmbreaker Devils but there's a limit to how far I'm willing to compromise a deck for a one off game. I still intend to take the win after all and as one of my tests today against Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Nissa, Vastwood Seer proved if given the chance I can annihilate my opponents with little warning.
I wanted to do something different to what I've seen before for Alesha decks, a multiple combat step deck was considered but it never seemed to come together the way I wanted it to, Voltron seemed too easy with the Equipment and Aura cards available in white, not to mention all the support for those types of cards, eventually I decided on creatures that almost always do something when they hit the board, creatures that support having others hit the board plus a few other cards that are also in flavour of being part of the Mardu Horde, like Brutal Hordechief. The large number of enchantments I run came about from trying to find a way to have my many small creatures stand up to my opponents much larger creatures, giving power and keywords was what I started with and things like Assemble the Legion, Debtors' Knell and Grave Betrayal came around later, when I found I needed a way to make lots of creatures and also the ones I currently had seemed to die too often for Alesha to bring back on her own.
I'm also considering Starfield of Nyx because of the high number of enchantments I run.
(Side Note: the only flavour restriction I have is that there be no sac-outlets and none of the watermarks from Tarkir block except Mardu/Kolaghan)
Good point on the elixir, it's unnecessary with only Jaya Ballard, Task Mage and Heartless Hidetsugu. I find that Jaya doesn't tend to stick around very long and is pretty easy to see coming, having Mizzium Mortars as a alternative that they can't see coming makes for some pretty good blowouts, plus it combines so well with Repercussion.
Tectonic Reformation is a card I'm very tempted by for many of the same reasons as Weebo and Shenanigans just seems like a really handy way to keep control of artifacts on the board which seems worth it to me. The Sword of Fire and Ice is out of my price range by a long shot, so Sword of Sinew and Steel being printed is great for me being able to get another pro-red sword. Though I do have an Ulamog the Ceaseless Hunger I could trade in and maybe be able to afford fire and ice that way. I might also consider Sword of Truth and Justice just because of how walker heavy I am, but it's unlikely.
I don't know when I'll get the chance to play her again though because we've recently moved onto playing Oathbreaker more because we frequently don't have the time for the 2+ hour games that are Commander, so we get to play more and no one gets frustrated by the combo/control deck taking seven 10 minute turns in a row because as a group we collectively avoid infinite combos.
Just thought I'd add my thoughts on how new Jaya played and other things I'm considering for changes from this set.
Mostly cause I saw none of my card draw and only had a single mountain for the entire game. Lucky for me though I got Hazoret the Fervent in my opening hand and oh boy did she ever put in some work. I know Jaya usually the plan is to avoid having an empty hand and most of us put a lot of effort into keeping the hand stocked, but only playing a single red source and still being the deadliest threat at the table until Niv-Mizzet, Parun stabilised with a Torrential Gearhulk to block with. I'm half tempted to pick up an Invocation Hazoret and put a little more focus on being a fast aggressive list, instead of my current one that plays much slower into the massive beaters.
Thoughts from the game; I was trying a silly thing with running all the red walkers that make emblems and Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker really surprised me with how much help he was, removed one opponent's Nissa, Voice of Zendikar by attacking and then later killed his Ravos, Soultender with the -3, almost had the emblem out but I drew Reforge the Soul that turn and went for the miracle instead. I think his emblem is a bad addition in Jaya since it leaves you with no cards in hand for other player's turns, but his +1 is nice to be able to swing with a 4/4 indestructible flier every turn. I'll probably cut him for the Experimental Frenzy in all honesty but it was definitely a surprise.
The number of times I got a draw effect it was usually a full wheel, or a copied big draw spell, and I didn't see Alhammarret's Archive or most of my small draw effects. So I'm still not sure whether I'm going to get the kind of value out of it I hope, or if it's going to fluctuate in performance. I may have to put a Reliquary Tower or Thought Vessel in here.
Over all. Very glad to be playing Jaya again, Alhammarret's Archive is probably going to be worth it (if I can draw it), and I'm looking forward to seeing what Experimental Frenzy is going to play like.
1x Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
Lands // 36
1x Arcane Lighthouse
1x Arid Mesa
1x Buried Ruin
1x Command Beacon
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Flamekin Village
1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
1x Great Furnace
1x Inventors' Fair
1x Mirrorpool
20x Mountain
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Scavenger Grounds
1x Shivan Gorge
1x Terrain Generator
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Creatures // 13
1x Anger
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Firewing Phoenix
1x Goblin Welder
1x Hazoret the Fervent
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1x Kumano, Master Yamabushi
1x Magma Phoenix
1x Magmatic Force
1x Obsidian Fireheart
1x Runehorn Hellkite
1x Steel Hellkite
1x Stuffy Doll
1x Chandra Ablaze
1x Daretti, Scrap Savant
1x Jaya Ballard
1x Koth of the Hammer
1x Rowan Kenrith
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Artifacts // 28
1x Alhammarret's Archive
1x Armillary Sphere
1x Basilisk Collar
1x Bonehoard
1x Caged Sun
1x Crawlspace
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Darksteel Plate
1x Endless Atlas
1x Expedition Map
1x Gauntlet of Power
1x Ghirapur Orrery
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Loxodon Warhammer
1x Mind Stone
1x Mirage Mirror
1x Nevinyrral's Disk
1x Pyromancer's Goggles
1x Ring of Valkas
1x Rings of Brighthearth
1x Ruby Medallion
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Sol Ring
1x Spine of Ish Sah
1x Thousand-Year Elixir
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Torpor Orb
1x Vedalken Orrery
1x Chaos Warp
1x Comet Storm
1x Reiterate
1x Reverberate
1x Urza's Rage
Sorceries // 9
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Fiery Confluence
1x Jaya's Immolating Inferno
1x Khorvath's Fury
1x Mizzium Mortars
1x Reforge the Soul
1x Tormenting Voice
1x Trash for Treasure
1x Vandalblast
Enchantments // 2
1x Gratuitous Violence
1x Repercussion
Maybe // 3
1x Enchanter's Bane
1x Meekstone
1x Scrap Mastery
The three maybe cards are things I'm iffy about. My usual meta is one player that uses either an Abzan +1/+1 counters deck that runs about 10 enchantments, or a Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder deck with very little change from out of the box (I think it just added Maelstrom Wanderer), or a mono-white Soldier tribal deck. The other player runs either a Zur the Enchanter deck, or a Naban, Dean of Iteration wizard tribal.
So I think the Enchanter's Bane might be a good include as a way to deal with their enchantments flying around. I'm already running Torpor Orb to deal with the Naban deck sooo?
Meekstone is also to help against the Wizard deck and the Yidris/Abzan deck, since they are frequently getting to 3+ power and in the case of the wizard deck, tapping frequently. Scrap Mastery is a choice I'm not sure about because I'm the only player running mass artefiact destruction and I'm the only artefact player.
Also what's the opinion on the new Phoenix from the 2019 gift pack? Immortal Phoenix 4RR for a flying 5/3 phoenix that when it dies returns to owner's hand.
Blood Moon, good as it is, has the same problem as land destruction, whilst it might not be removing the land it still constitutes attacking the other players mana so that's a no go.
Stranglehold is unnecessary for the same reason as Chaos Warp, doesn't really fit flavour wise and isn't that necessary.
I only run three X spells and am already running Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power and Sculpting Steel to copy one of them. So Mana Flare would cause more problems by giving others mana.
The Leyline of Punishment is good but at least for this game I don't need it, the white deck has one prevent damage spell and one protection card. Sulfuric Vortex will get me killed just as, if not faster than, my opponents, unfortunately. Otherwise I would run that for sure and probably will after this game.
I'm looking for some suggestions on ways to make it easier to flip/ultimate Chandra. I can't run a number of the more effective or efficient burn spells because they usually depict lightning in some variant and Chandra is a pyromancer, she specialises in fire. Other cards I can't run are things like the proliferate cards or The Chain Veil, Chandra's never been to Mirrodin/New Phyrexia and The Chain Veil is a Liliana card. Also I don't want to run Dragons/Goblins out of both personal choice and Chandra historically has had more to do with elementals and phoenixes than other creature types. Mass land destruction and infinite combos are also not allowed at all in my group.
Oh and we're only allowed to use the full name version of the commander and the flip walker, so Chandra Nalaar in my case.
With that out of the way here's what I'm currently working with:
1x Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
Artifact (17)
1x Caged Sun
1x Catalyst Stone
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Expedition Map
1x Gauntlet of Power
1x Loreseeker's Stone
1x Mind's Eye
1x Pyromancer's Gauntlet
1x Pyromancer's Goggles
1x Ruby Medallion
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Shrine of Burning Rage
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Sphinx-Bone Wand
1x Staff of Nin
1x Trading Post
Instant (12)
1x Comet Storm
1x Fiery Impulse
1x Flame Javelin
1x Incinerate
1x Increasing Vengeance
1x Magma Jet
1x Pulse of the Forge
1x Ravaging Blaze
1x Reiterate
1x Reverberate
1x Searing Spear
1x Shattering Pulse
1x Outpost Siege
1x Vicious Shadows
Planeswalker (1)
1x Chandra Nalaar
Creature (16)
1x Ashcloud Phoenix
1x Chandra's Phoenix
1x Charmbreaker Devils
1x Embermaw Hellion
1x Fire Servant
1x Firewing Phoenix
1x Guttersnipe
1x Inferno Titan
1x Magma Phoenix
1x Magmatic Force
1x Obsidian Fireheart
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Scab-Clan Berserker
1x Skarrgan Firebird
1x Thopter Assembly
1x Young Pyromancer
Sorcery (15)
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Breaking Point
1x Browbeat
1x Chandra's Ignition
1x Devil's Play
1x Faithless Looting
1x Flames of the Firebrand
1x Mana Geyser
1x Past in Flames
1x Recoup
1x Reforge the Soul
1x Shattering Spree
1x Tormenting Voice
1x Volley of Boulders
1x Wild Guess
1x Buried Ruin
1x Dwarven Hold
1x Foundry of the Consuls
1x Kher Keep
1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
25x Mountain
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Shivan Gorge
1x Temple of the False God
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Maybeboard (2)
1x Circle of Flame
1x Surreal Memoir
Obviously there are some cards that don't fit the flavour like Charmbreaker Devils but there's a limit to how far I'm willing to compromise a deck for a one off game. I still intend to take the win after all and as one of my tests today against Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Nissa, Vastwood Seer proved if given the chance I can annihilate my opponents with little warning.
I'm a little unsure on Circle of Flame, it might be good against the elf-tribal Nissa, Vastwood Seer soldier tribal Kytheon, Hero of Akros and zombie tribal Liliana, Heretical Healer decks and Surreal Memoir just seems like a good card in a deck that uses so many spells.
1x Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
Creatures 27
1x Abbot of Keral Keep
1x Anarchist
1x Archetype of Finality
1x Auramancer
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Boltwing Marauder
1x Brutal Hordechief
1x Duergar Hedge-mage
1x Erebos, God of the Dead
1x Figure of Destiny
1x Flayer of the Hatebound
1x Graveblade Marauder
1x Hound of Griselbrand
1x Ignition Team
1x Iroas, God of Victory
1x Karmic Guide
1x Mardu Hordechief
1x Necroskitter
1x Nekrataal
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Priest of the Blood Rite
1x Reveillark
1x Silverblade Paladin
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Tuktuk Scrapper
1x War Priest of Thune
1x Wingmate Roc
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Artifacts 9
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Commander's Sphere
1x Hammer of Purphoros
1x Hero's Blade
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Mardu Banner
1x Sol Ring
1x Spear of Heliod
1x Whip of Erebos
Instants 7
1x Crackling Doom
1x Kolaghan's Command
1x Path to Exile
1x Rakdos Charm
1x Silence the Believers
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Utter End
Sorceries 6
1x Buried Alive
1x Diabolic Revelation
1x Diabolic Tutor
1x Increasing Ambition
1x Plea for Guidance
1x Victimize
Enchantments 11
1x Assemble the Legion
1x Cathars' Crusade
1x Debtors' Knell
1x Dictate of Erebos
1x Dictate of Heliod
1x Fervent Charge
1x Fervor
1x Grave Betrayal
1x Mardu Ascendancy
1x Palace Siege
1x True Conviction
5x Swamp
6x Mountain
6x Plains
1x Akoum Refuge
1x Bloodfell Caves
1x Boros Guildgate
1x Clifftop Retreat
1x Command Tower
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Homeward Path
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Mirrodin's Core
1x Nomad Outpost
1x Opal Palace
1x Orzhov Guildgate
1x Rakdos Guildgate
1x Scoured Barrens
1x Temple of Malice
1x Temple of Silence
1x Temple of Triumph
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Wind-Scarred Crag
I don't particularly like sacrificing my own creatures, I did start out with an Alesha Aristocrat deck and until recently I was still running an infinite damage combo with Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Butcher of the Horde and Mardu Heart-Piercer.
I wanted to do something different to what I've seen before for Alesha decks, a multiple combat step deck was considered but it never seemed to come together the way I wanted it to, Voltron seemed too easy with the Equipment and Aura cards available in white, not to mention all the support for those types of cards, eventually I decided on creatures that almost always do something when they hit the board, creatures that support having others hit the board plus a few other cards that are also in flavour of being part of the Mardu Horde, like Brutal Hordechief. The large number of enchantments I run came about from trying to find a way to have my many small creatures stand up to my opponents much larger creatures, giving power and keywords was what I started with and things like Assemble the Legion, Debtors' Knell and Grave Betrayal came around later, when I found I needed a way to make lots of creatures and also the ones I currently had seemed to die too often for Alesha to bring back on her own.
I'm also considering Starfield of Nyx because of the high number of enchantments I run.
(Side Note: the only flavour restriction I have is that there be no sac-outlets and none of the watermarks from Tarkir block except Mardu/Kolaghan)