I’m going to be playing this at the SCG in Columbus this weekend, this is the list I’m tentatively sleeving up:
28 Creatures
2 Archfiend of Ifnir
4 Desert Ceradon
4 Horror of the Broken Lands
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Street Wraith
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Faerie Macabre
14 Spells
4 Violent Outburst
4 Demonic Dread
3 Living End
3 Beast Within
18 Lands
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
2 Grove of the Burnwillow
2 Swamp
1 Forest
Sideboard
2 Ricochet Trap
3 Ingot Chewer
3 Blood Moon
1 Slaughter Games
1 Lost Legacy
2 Faerie Macabre
1 Shriekmaw
1 Beast Within
1 Krosan Grip
Preface:
Meta has been shifting very heavily towards TitanShift, Jeskai, and Tron lately so I’m expecting a higher number of those decks to be present.
I’m also expecting some number of people to be metagaming for those, so the decks I’d objectively put myself on in that meta are: Storm, Taxes, Ad Nauseum, Burn, Affinity, and any Through the Breach deck (Grishoalbrand picking up steam in local level events).
Logic for Choices:
Archfiend of Ifnir was garbage as a 4-of, I’ll never make that mistake again. However, in a meta that I’m predicting will have at least a fair share of small creature decks, I’ve determined I like him in play more than Shriekmaw — his flying body has provided some reach against a clogged ground game, his ability has killed a lethal etched champion, and overall I’ve been alright with two in the list. If I took them out, it would probably be for 2 Shriekmaw or 1 Shriekmaw-1 Faerie Macabre — as it stands, I like killing blockers before combat.
3rd Beast Within MB is a concession to U/x decks and Big Mana decks, while still hedging minorly against Storm, Ad Naus, and random decks looking to put lock pieces into play. The 4th is currently in my SB, I’m considering swapping that for a Kolaghan’s Command as a direct upgrade against Affinity.
Skriewmaw is there for the BGx opponents, as well as anyone trying to play a heavy creature synergy deck (Vizier, GW Value, Humans, Fish, etc).
Krosan Grip is hands down the best way to remove Relic, and I think that’s going to be the most prevalent GY Hate going into this weekend. It also brings splash damage against Arcbound Ravager, decks trying to protect their lock piece (Lantern, UWx), and Split Second also gets around an opponent blinking the permanent in question (Flickerwisp shenanigans).
Lost Legacy is great against TitanShift, but Slaughter Games is better against Storm and Ad Nauseum (and Krark Clan, randomly). Slaughter Games can also lock away a game by ripping Ensnaring Bridge against Lantern, I’m actually considering a second one because of that.
2 Faerie is concession to not only opposing GY based strategies, but also opponents trying to Surgical Living End. It occasionally provides splash damage by removing opponents creatures from GY when we cascade, and a handful of times it has also provided GG by triggering Horror before damage.
Blood Moon shores up the TitanShift matchup, makes BGx decks look pathetic, turns Grixis Death Shadow into a pile of garbage, and brings splash damage against opponents trying to assemble tron the classic way. Strongly considered MBing this, not sold on that though.
Ingot Chewer is our best hate answer, I’m considering the 4th one over the Krosan Grip simply because of the body it provides. It’s also R, meaning it’s easier to use under Blood Moon, and it recurs against Affinity — the 4th is heavy on my mind.
Ricochet Trap is simply a blowout every time I cast it, I’ve never had an opponent play around it when I have just one R up — or especially when I have no mana available, and I get to exile SSG for the blowout. I’ve also randomly saved myself from an exact storm kill, kept a remand from hitting a Grapeshot, redirected a Surgical to remove my opponents Supreme Verdicts, and against Ponza nuked their land with the enchantment stacked on. I’ve tried three but it always clogs — two is strong enough for me.
Thoughts?? Who am I seeing there this weekend?
[bold] Update: 11 “Game Ones” in testing tonight[/bold]
6 Games against Red Affinity
5 Games against Fetchless Storm
3-3 Against Affinity. Two games I had GG but punted to something I “could” have prevented: one game I was greedy and didn’t cascade t3, he topdecked Plating and infect killed me; the other game I had him to 3 life (me at 6) with 18 power in play, I could’ve Beast Within’ed or Fulminator’ed his 2nd colored source to take him off Red mana. He topdecks 2nd galv blast (last card in hand was also galv blast) for GG. Technically he should’ve won that one, but I should’ve taken the line for Best chances anyway.
4-2 Against Storm, both losses were because I got impatient and tried rushing the game. My group has decided that if you have interaction of any kind, it’s best to wait out the Storm player. Both games where I “blinked first”, I lost — the four games where I just kept stocking my yard while I held up Beast Within or Faerie Macabre, I won.
Takeaways:
-The 2-of Faerie Macabre singlehandedly won me three of the 11 games and played a big role in two others. Very happy with it over Shriekmaw
-A t3 cascade against Affinity is a priority no matter what my GY is. Fulminator On t3 is just not as effective as killing their guys who can pick up plating or Feed Ravager next turn.
-Archfiend singlehandedly was responsible for beating an affinity draw that had me dead to infect on t3; my only cascade was Demonic Dread, instead of throwing t2 double Ceradon I threw Ifnir and was able to exile SSG to cycle Ceradon and kill his Inkmoth. 2 is still clunky but I want to see it more
-Kommand is missed against Affinity, but nuking Baral out of storm made up for it. Happy to hit Lands there also.
I like your list and completely agree with your current assessment of the meta. My lgs likes to shift rapidly and I'm seeing a few burn, storm, lantern, Tron, merfolk, affinity, control varients, and jund.
What do you consider your good, even, or bad matchups? I have a hard time with storm, what exactly are you targeting with beast within and faerie macabre? Do you have any experience/tips vs lantern?
I've been out of magic for about 4 months and am coming back with this deck. Already liked what mardu is trying to do. I have all the cards and am going to my lgs tonight without any play testing due to time.
Was just looking for some cliff notes from anyone who has experience with the stock selfiesk list. Only changes I've made due to card availability and local meta: drop 1 KCommand and md bloodmoon for helix 3 and 4. Replace 2 sb pithing needle for 3rd moon and a second claw.
Looking for advice on keeping vs a blind opp as well as SB vs a few known decks in my area. Tron, burn, merfolk, lantern, jund, elves, affinity, storm.
Hey everyone, I am looking for advice from anyone who has a decent amount of experience with Jeskai Control, specifically the 4 of version below. I am picking this deck up finally... I have been building into the expensive cards for a while now. I need advice with side boarding which has always been my downfall in this format. I know the format is incredibly diverse so I would like to post my MB and a few of the more popular decks I see at my LGS and if anyone would be kind enough to suggest which cards should be the first to cut and suggest some sideboard options against that archetype I would greatly greatly appreciate it.
The decks I most see at my LGS and would appreciate advice on:
Dredge
Counters Company
Bant Eldrazi/Eldrazi Tron
Jund/Abzan Mindrange
Grixis Control/Shadow
Burn
Bogles
Merfolk
Surprised the forum isn't more active considering the attention the deck has been getting via the deck tech and streamed comp leagues. Kind of feels like a hybrid affinity/ death and taxes and is really fun imo.
Try roast for the shadows and delvers. Only costs 1 with a reducer and is useful vs a wide range of strategies including both eidolons, devoted druid. I'm trying it in place of bolts/dismembers.
If I gifts for 2 rituals, empty, pyroclasm; getting the 2 rituals would be the worst case right? What would you gift for in a scenario were RiP is active? Is it better to gifts for ritual, grapeshot, empty, pyroclasm?
Ideally you have adjusted your deck for their gy hate by either taking out the gifts like in the Muller strategy or bringing in bounce spells in which case you will probably be digging for this before gifting.
Seeing you still had gifts as your opponent I would probably give you the 2 rituals knowing I'm not afraid of past in flames anytime soon.
The main is simply linear and aim to go off with grapeshot and goblins.
I want 4 remand becouse often i don't play baran on t2 but on t3 with 1 mana left for remand.
But the "star" of the deck is the sideboard: i win very massive matches with my incredoulus opponents
Everytime they side in all the graveyard hate, thalia, eidolon (red and white), leyline of the void etc etc...but always they are umprepared to our platinum emperion and kiki jiki combo
I love this list and new sideboard plane.
What do you think?
Without any peer or merchant scrolls I would be scared your not going to find gifts consistently in a big tournament game 1 over the course of 8+ matches. Sideboard is what it is, if it works for a local meta cool but people are already going to be bringing in as much removal as they can so I don't see a point in the exarch combo. The madcap sideboard plan isnt uncommon and I like it, ide prolly use 1 emperion to save space though. Currently not a big fan because of how popular KCommand is though.
Not to sound harsh, just providing my 2 cents and remember my opinions are based off an open meta at a large event. Anything can be good at a small set e went like fnm.
unwinnable for sure death and taxes (luckily no one play this deck xD)for leonin arbiter an thalia MD
Go the empty sideboard plan and kill thalia on sight. Your not going to be searching for leonin to matter and they can't beat empty unless they find a zealous persecution which isn't incredibly common.
that sideboard plan is not 100% clear to me. Empty the warrens against deck with leyline and graveyard hate for sure. But where does he side in pieces of the puzzle?
So normally you bring in 3 empty and 2 puzzle for 4 gifts and 1 grapeshot. You just use puzzle to find empty or more rituals or Manamorphose to up that goblin count
against which decks do you do it?
There are very few decks where you won't do it right now. Because of how popular dredge and living end are everyone has graveyard hate and due to the popularity of combo and discard Leyline are spiking hard. If in g2 you see no gy hate or Leyline you can consider going back to the grapeshot plan but it's worth keeping your opponents guessing.
I am considering buying into this deck. I always wanted to try a UR archetype and this seems to be super fun (at least for the one playing it). Could you guys sum up the pros and cons of playing a deck like this one? First of, it is super cheap, and I already own many pieces. I have been reading the premier and I have a clearer idea of how it works. Never played against it with my BW tokens deck (the one I usually take to FNM's) so haven't directly faced its consistency and reach.
Thanks a lot!
One of the biggest pros is the price tag, as well as the linear nature of the deck. It enables a better chance to win if your overall format knowledge is lacking. As far as a couple cons you need to goldfish and get proficient in comboing otherwise you will take to long and sometimes mess up the combo which shouldn't happen. Make sure you enjoy counting and floating Mana.
I prefer the Muller sideboard plan. All out Warren's package to ignore opp hate with dismembers for both eidolons and I added 1 echoing truth for worship.
I was doing this sideboard plan until I kept getting torn up by discards all over the place.
There's still some jank lantern decks around so it also helps when someone tries to get cute with the milling.
I get the Muller dismember though, and I may add it to my SB options.
I'm getting way better at emptying the warrens early on decks with a ton of hate. Turn 2 got 9 goblins = fast clock for an opponent concentrating on GY hate.
Lantern usually plays 4 Leyline now so gifts and grapeshot are often useless. Pieces of the puzzle are really good vs discard decks because it provides that card advantage. Only times I miss Leyline are vs death shadow when they draw 2+ discard spells and sometimes burn but as long as burn doesn't get a really good hand I can be patient and go off the same turn I cast my reducer.
that sideboard plan is not 100% clear to me. Empty the warrens against deck with leyline and graveyard hate for sure. But where does he side in pieces of the puzzle?
So normally you bring in 3 empty and 2 puzzle for 4 gifts and 1 grapeshot. You just use puzzle to find empty or more rituals or Manamorphose to up that goblin count
I prefer the Muller sideboard plan. All out Warren's package to ignore opp hate with dismembers for both eidolons and I added 1 echoing truth for worship.
So with mullers list the transformational sideboard package includes 3 empty and 2 Pieces of the puzzle usually for 1 grapeshot and 4 gifts? What are the first cards to cut for other matchups where your just bringing in 2-4 sideboard cards? Ide imagine remands, sleights, maybe a electromancer? New to the deck and trying to get a good feel for it.
I like your list and completely agree with your current assessment of the meta. My lgs likes to shift rapidly and I'm seeing a few burn, storm, lantern, Tron, merfolk, affinity, control varients, and jund.
What do you consider your good, even, or bad matchups? I have a hard time with storm, what exactly are you targeting with beast within and faerie macabre? Do you have any experience/tips vs lantern?
Was just looking for some cliff notes from anyone who has experience with the stock selfiesk list. Only changes I've made due to card availability and local meta: drop 1 KCommand and md bloodmoon for helix 3 and 4. Replace 2 sb pithing needle for 3rd moon and a second claw.
Looking for advice on keeping vs a blind opp as well as SB vs a few known decks in my area. Tron, burn, merfolk, lantern, jund, elves, affinity, storm.
My deck:
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Spell Queller
Spells
4 Serum Visions
4 Cryptic Command
4 Electrolyze
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Logic Knot
4 Path to Exile
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Steam Vents
The decks I most see at my LGS and would appreciate advice on:
Dredge
Counters Company
Bant Eldrazi/Eldrazi Tron
Jund/Abzan Mindrange
Grixis Control/Shadow
Burn
Bogles
Merfolk
Thanks in advance!
Ideally you have adjusted your deck for their gy hate by either taking out the gifts like in the Muller strategy or bringing in bounce spells in which case you will probably be digging for this before gifting.
Seeing you still had gifts as your opponent I would probably give you the 2 rituals knowing I'm not afraid of past in flames anytime soon.
Without any peer or merchant scrolls I would be scared your not going to find gifts consistently in a big tournament game 1 over the course of 8+ matches. Sideboard is what it is, if it works for a local meta cool but people are already going to be bringing in as much removal as they can so I don't see a point in the exarch combo. The madcap sideboard plan isnt uncommon and I like it, ide prolly use 1 emperion to save space though. Currently not a big fan because of how popular KCommand is though.
Not to sound harsh, just providing my 2 cents and remember my opinions are based off an open meta at a large event. Anything can be good at a small set e went like fnm.
Go the empty sideboard plan and kill thalia on sight. Your not going to be searching for leonin to matter and they can't beat empty unless they find a zealous persecution which isn't incredibly common.
There are very few decks where you won't do it right now. Because of how popular dredge and living end are everyone has graveyard hate and due to the popularity of combo and discard Leyline are spiking hard. If in g2 you see no gy hate or Leyline you can consider going back to the grapeshot plan but it's worth keeping your opponents guessing.
One of the biggest pros is the price tag, as well as the linear nature of the deck. It enables a better chance to win if your overall format knowledge is lacking. As far as a couple cons you need to goldfish and get proficient in comboing otherwise you will take to long and sometimes mess up the combo which shouldn't happen. Make sure you enjoy counting and floating Mana.
Lantern usually plays 4 Leyline now so gifts and grapeshot are often useless. Pieces of the puzzle are really good vs discard decks because it provides that card advantage. Only times I miss Leyline are vs death shadow when they draw 2+ discard spells and sometimes burn but as long as burn doesn't get a really good hand I can be patient and go off the same turn I cast my reducer.
So normally you bring in 3 empty and 2 puzzle for 4 gifts and 1 grapeshot. You just use puzzle to find empty or more rituals or Manamorphose to up that goblin count