Dovin Baan is terrible. Can't beieve this deck took it.
Terrible based on what? On a meta he was released in with how many cards in the current pool missing?
It is not like people continue testing cards every day after their release until the day they rotate. He was released into a super ****ed up meta where... almost everything was terrible unless it was Emrakul, Gideon, Smuggler's Copter, or Aetherworks Marvel.
While I do agree that the card is nothing amazing, I think discounting cards at this point in standard is pretty ridiculous.
Does not seem like there is a whole lot of hype about The Locust God for UR focused Control decks, and I am honestly not entirely sure why. The deck has access to Fevered Visions out of the board and cards like Glimmer of Genius and Hieroglyphic Illumination. The card can really start closing out a stable board and sometimes more efficiently than Torrential Gearhulk.
I am curious why people seem to be so hard on for Censor. I get that it can cycle mid to late game, but splashing for something like Failure // Comply seems like it is just better at buying time throughout the course of an entire game. Splashing W or B can really give the deck some legs when it comes to flexing. I am not entirely sold on the idea of Grixis and Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh though, and suspect Jeskai is just a better way to go. Bolas is nutty strong, but I question the overall value of B over W when you can have extra tempo swinging cards like Spell Queller and Gideon of the Trials. I also think Cast Out is another strong talking point here.
Something I have also been working with was Reduce // Rubble. This card has continued to buy me a pretty incredible amount of time, especially when paired with Failure // Comply. Against most midrange and control decks, these two can make for really strong Fevered Visions plays to help you set up for The Locust God. The card has been shockingly powerful as a midgame play when you are looking to get out that 1 extra land or get into your next turn to untap a land that may have entered tapped. My list has been running both Reduce // Rubble and Supreme Will and I have found the aftermath option to be preferred over the digging option, the majority of the time. I do however, think a split is probably correct to a degree.
So far, I have been running a Grixis list and a Jeskai list and I tend to favor the Jeskai list over the Grixis list, despite really trying to force Nicol Bolas... because I am a sucker for him.
I think the problem with Locust God, Spell Queller and Gideon of the Trials is that none of them really play nice with Hour of Devastation which is just so good. Plus, unlike the minor black splash for Bolas (it's not really a Grixis deck at this point), having lots of taplands to play Jeskai really can make some games awkward, especially if Temur decks and their zillion cantrips are still popular. I am probably gonna try out 1x Locust God in URb though cuz he really does look nice in theory.
Also regarding Reduce // Rubble (and more specifically Rubble) it's nice midgame but it's only truly potent if it's backed up with either a drawspell or threat. Otherwise it just seems like a tempo play in a deck that's fine going to the late game, and is a terrible draw at that point too compared to Supreme Will. I think it might be better in Jeskai variants that run more tempo cards than UR or URb ones. I like it a lot as a sideboard card against ramp decks though, since generally speaking control decks actually try to become more aggressive against them.
Does not seem like there is a whole lot of hype about The Locust God for UR focused Control decks, and I am honestly not entirely sure why. The deck has access to Fevered Visions out of the board and cards like Glimmer of Genius and Hieroglyphic Illumination. The card can really start closing out a stable board and sometimes more efficiently than Torrential Gearhulk.
I am curious why people seem to be so hard on for Censor. I get that it can cycle mid to late game, but splashing for something like Failure // Comply seems like it is just better at buying time throughout the course of an entire game. Splashing W or B can really give the deck some legs when it comes to flexing. I am not entirely sold on the idea of Grixis and Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh though, and suspect Jeskai is just a better way to go. Bolas is nutty strong, but I question the overall value of B over W when you can have extra tempo swinging cards like Spell Queller and Gideon of the Trials. I also think Cast Out is another strong talking point here.
Something I have also been working with was Reduce // Rubble. This card has continued to buy me a pretty incredible amount of time, especially when paired with Failure // Comply. Against most midrange and control decks, these two can make for really strong Fevered Visions plays to help you set up for The Locust God. The card has been shockingly powerful as a midgame play when you are looking to get out that 1 extra land or get into your next turn to untap a land that may have entered tapped. My list has been running both Reduce // Rubble and Supreme Will and I have found the aftermath option to be preferred over the digging option, the majority of the time. I do however, think a split is probably correct to a degree.
So far, I have been running a Grixis list and a Jeskai list and I tend to favor the Jeskai list over the Grixis list, despite really trying to force Nicol Bolas... because I am a sucker for him.
I want to open up discussion on possible builds of Jeskai Control with some of the Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation cards, as I feel we may see a decent return for Control with the new sets.
The Aftermath cards have a solid early and mid game role in just buying you time. Reduce // Rubble can really put a damper on midrange decks trying to get on board before and can also help you in other control matches. Additionally, Failure // Comply can fill similar roles from a different angle with the added benefit of being cheaper overall. Supreme Will and Pull from Tomorrow are some decent options at sifting through for specifics, and Supreme Will can even double up as a leak effect.
I also am a pretty big fan of The Locust God. Doing Jeskai means you can draw more cards with Dovin Baan, while getting some flexibility with shrinking dudes or shutting off potential activated abilities. One thing I find pretty wild about The Locust God is that it pairs so well with Fevered Visions to give you an inevitable clock, barring a few off the wall situations.
So have any others been looking at Jeskai as a possible deck? If so, what do you like from the new set and what kind of sweet lists do you have cooking up?
I really love the new Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh card. Hefty loyalty and a huge board presence with a +2 activation. I have been looking at some of the cards that might fit into a Grixis Control deck that might have just been overlooked because it had no home, and perhaps the card that stood out the most to me was Reduce // Rubble. If the deck can play cards like Fatal Push, Essence Scatter, and Grasp of Darkness, it may be able to get some solid use out of Reduce // Rubble.
I am sure the default approach will be to use Torrential Gearhulk, but I am not entirely sold on that strategy yet. I like to look outside of the obvious at first.
Terrible based on what? On a meta he was released in with how many cards in the current pool missing?
It is not like people continue testing cards every day after their release until the day they rotate. He was released into a super ****ed up meta where... almost everything was terrible unless it was Emrakul, Gideon, Smuggler's Copter, or Aetherworks Marvel.
While I do agree that the card is nothing amazing, I think discounting cards at this point in standard is pretty ridiculous.
If I am running Jeskai, I am just running Fumigate and maybe an off Hour of Devastation. I don't think all in on Hour of Devastation is correct, even in Grixis.
I have had better results overall with Jeskai than Grixis, but it also seems that I am the only one even looking at Jeskai.
I am curious why people seem to be so hard on for Censor. I get that it can cycle mid to late game, but splashing for something like Failure // Comply seems like it is just better at buying time throughout the course of an entire game. Splashing W or B can really give the deck some legs when it comes to flexing. I am not entirely sold on the idea of Grixis and Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh though, and suspect Jeskai is just a better way to go. Bolas is nutty strong, but I question the overall value of B over W when you can have extra tempo swinging cards like Spell Queller and Gideon of the Trials. I also think Cast Out is another strong talking point here.
Something I have also been working with was Reduce // Rubble. This card has continued to buy me a pretty incredible amount of time, especially when paired with Failure // Comply. Against most midrange and control decks, these two can make for really strong Fevered Visions plays to help you set up for The Locust God. The card has been shockingly powerful as a midgame play when you are looking to get out that 1 extra land or get into your next turn to untap a land that may have entered tapped. My list has been running both Reduce // Rubble and Supreme Will and I have found the aftermath option to be preferred over the digging option, the majority of the time. I do however, think a split is probably correct to a degree.
So far, I have been running a Grixis list and a Jeskai list and I tend to favor the Jeskai list over the Grixis list, despite really trying to force Nicol Bolas... because I am a sucker for him.
Reduce // Rubble
Failure // Comply
Supreme Will
Pull from Tomorrow
The Locust God
The Aftermath cards have a solid early and mid game role in just buying you time. Reduce // Rubble can really put a damper on midrange decks trying to get on board before and can also help you in other control matches. Additionally, Failure // Comply can fill similar roles from a different angle with the added benefit of being cheaper overall. Supreme Will and Pull from Tomorrow are some decent options at sifting through for specifics, and Supreme Will can even double up as a leak effect.
I also am a pretty big fan of The Locust God. Doing Jeskai means you can draw more cards with Dovin Baan, while getting some flexibility with shrinking dudes or shutting off potential activated abilities. One thing I find pretty wild about The Locust God is that it pairs so well with Fevered Visions to give you an inevitable clock, barring a few off the wall situations.
White is really just a splash, but the reason I think it is better than the other colors is for Failure // Comply, Fumigate, Cast Out, and some fringe options like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Gideon of the Trials, Nahiri, the Harbinger, Solemnity, and of course Spell Queller. Fortunately there is not a whole lot that needs RR so you can have a bit more stability with UU and WW so long as you are not going heavy with red. Additionally you can use cards like Baral's Expertise over Fumigate if you want to focus on a UURRW core, utilising Expertise as a means to just stall into your token engine with The Locust God.
Here is a sample deck
// 4 Creature
2 The Locust God
2 Torrential Gearhulk
// 1 Enchantment
1 Cast Out
// 21 Instant
3 Reduce // Rubble
3 Failure // Comply
2 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Anticipate
2 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
3 Supreme Will
2 Disallow
// 25 Land
3 Wandering Fumarole
4 Prairie Stream
3 Port Town
3 Inspiring Vantage
4 Spirebluff Canal
3 Island
3 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Dovin Baan
// 4 Sorcery
2 Fumigate
2 Baral's Expertise
3 Fevered Visions
2 Solemnity
2 Cast Out
1 Negate
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Sweltering Suns
So have any others been looking at Jeskai as a possible deck? If so, what do you like from the new set and what kind of sweet lists do you have cooking up?
I really love the new Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh card. Hefty loyalty and a huge board presence with a +2 activation. I have been looking at some of the cards that might fit into a Grixis Control deck that might have just been overlooked because it had no home, and perhaps the card that stood out the most to me was Reduce // Rubble. If the deck can play cards like Fatal Push, Essence Scatter, and Grasp of Darkness, it may be able to get some solid use out of Reduce // Rubble.
Also was pretty interested in using The Locust God with something like Pull from Tomorrow.
I am sure the default approach will be to use Torrential Gearhulk, but I am not entirely sold on that strategy yet. I like to look outside of the obvious at first.