(POST ROTATION) JESKAI BURN

[Valdarith]

I like it. It allows him to play a grinder game since he doesn't have a card that usually says "deal four." Running them makes you lose virtual CA vs any deck with lifegain, which is a lot of decks.

[BlakLanner]

Maybe it is because I use the other two modes often enough that I might feel the loss. I can certainly see running less than 4. I am certainly going to spend some time looking at the list and massaging the numbers.

[Valdarith]

I think the swap was for Valorous Stance. I mean, why put a creature on top of the deck when you can just deal with it permanently? It's much better against Siege Rhino and can be used to counter removal spells against your own creatures.

[LP, of the Fires]

I used the lifelink mode like, 40% of the time to COMPLETE blowouts.

[Valdarith]

I will admit to pulling that off quite a bit.

[Jamie]

Jeskai charm is 3mana and 3colors in a deck that wants to be playing four other 3mana spells. In the problem matchups (abzan aggro and control imo), the most relevant mode - lifelink +1+1 - is pretty awful. I can see zero jcharms being correct. I can see 1 being correct. More than that I don't think so.

I think its great in other matchups like vs sligh or u/w heroic or tokens or aggressive green decks.

Some people are playing dissolve in the board? what does that do that dstroke not?

[LP, of the Fires]

Scry's towards lands which can be important?

I'm dubious on Dissolve. I think it's more as just an extra safety net, but overall, Stroke seems better.

[BlakLanner]

I definitely don't like Dissolve. The only card I care about that isn't hit by Stroke or Negate is Anafenza and I have Glare and Stance to knock that out.

Hybridizing Juza's list, I came up with this. Submitting for opinions:

[deck]Jeskai[/deck]

I would like to fit in a second Erase and the Elspeth but I don't think I can without giving up the Deflecting Palms that have saved my ass so many times.

[Valdarith]

4th Seeker before first Grand Master. Consider cutting one Wild Slash to make room. Mana needs some work too. In particular, you don't need any basic Mountain.

[LP, of the Fires]

Current deck I'm considering for SCG:

[deck]

Creatures:
4 Seeker of the Way
1 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Mantis Rider
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells:
2 Dig Through Time
2 Valorous Stance
4 Wild Slash
3 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
1 Abzan Advantage
1 Outpost Siege
2 Jeskai Charm
1 Disdainful Stroke

Mana:
2 Temple of Epiphany
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Mystic Monastery
2 Plains
2 Island
4 Flooded Strand
2 Battlefield Forge
4 Shivan Reef

SB:
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Negate
1 Glare of Heresy
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Outpost Siege
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Valorous Stance
1 Erase
1 Circle of Flame
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker[/deck]

4 slash over Strike cause tempo. Experimental 2nd Jeskai charm. Could be either dig, 3rd stance, or second stroke(with a slight reshuffling of SB). Maindeck stroke for value. Single circle of flame in the board because the upside over a 3rd anger is pretty massive.

Sideboard plans? Play it by ear.

[BlakLanner]

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... kai-aggro/

[LP, of the Fires]

Read that. There's also a pretty good video of GerryT playing Jeskai on SCG. He goes 2-2, but you should watch it for the dech tech if nothing else since he reasons through a lot of the stuff including convo's he had with Juza and Dave Shiels before the GP.

Just know that Wingmate Roc's probably unplayable without Outburst.

[BlakLanner]

I never was a fan of Roc in this deck. Having a 5 drop that relies on other creatures attacking just to get its value seems a bit off with only 12-16 in our deck.

[Jamie]

Wow some of these lists from the open are exciting.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat ... ckID=80308 Wow haha this deck by Kelvin Young is fucking sick

[Valdarith]

Needs more Dig Through Time. I seriously want to jam four in all Jeskai decks.

[BlakLanner]

I prefer Cruise myself but it is hard to argue against 4 of either.

[LP, of the Fires]

I want to put ashcloud phoenix and crater's claw in jeskai. that sounds sweet.

[BlakLanner]

I liked Phoenix when I had room for it. I stopped when everyone started playing more exile effects. As far as Crater's Claws, I would rather play Miindswipe since ferocious is so hard to us to trigger. May as well try for some extra value.

[Purp]

This was the list I played for reference.

[deck]
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Mantis Rider
4 Seeker of the Way
1 Soulfire Grand Master
3 Stormbreath Dragon


1 Abzan Advantage
4 Lightning Strike
2 Outpost Siege
4 Stoke the Flames
3 Treasure Cruise
3 Valorous Stance
3 Wild Slash


2 Battlefield Forge
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
4 Mystic Monastery
2 Plains
4 Shivan Reef
2 Temple of Epiphany
4 Temple of Triumph


SIDEBOARD
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Disdainful Stroke
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Negate
1 End Hostilies
1 Erase
[/deck]

Changes? Honestly Idk. I feel like I want 2 more end hostilities, but maybe I am just boarding for GR the wrong way.

[Jamie]

gods willing + white valuemancer is insane! I'm getting free turns because my opponent doesn't want to attack, lest he risk me untapping and playing a jeskai charm for 16 damage... That just means free digs, free soulfire spells, more more more.
Yeah, it is 'actually' as expensive as elspeth. Yeah, it relies on other cards to be good. This deck is the real deal regardless.
Just gotta fix that vs control matchup.

[Valdarith]

The nice thing about Grandmaster is that he fills the two spot in two archetypes that are generally light on turn two plays (RW and Jeskai). Until recently the only 2 cmc spells were Seeker and Lightning Strike.

I liked Ben Stark's approach with Grandmaster in his RW deck. It wasn't immediately obvious to me to take that approach (lowering the curve and playing more Grandmaster to make the deck leaner) but I'm not sure that a similar strategy could be used for Jeskai.

[LP, of the Fires]

Sperling posted this brew on Twitter earlier today.

[deck]4 Seeker of the Way
4 Soulfire Grandmaster
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Mantis Rider
2 Prognostic Sphinx
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

1 Wild Slash
2 Valorous Stance
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
3 Citadel Siege

2 Island
2 Plains
1 Mountain
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mystic Monastery
4 Shievan Reaf
2 Battlefield Forge
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Temple of Epiphany

Sideboard:
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Outpost Siege
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Valorous Stance
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Wild Slash
2 Negate
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Erase
1 Glare of Heresy[/deck]

[Jamie]

Why are there blue cards in that rw aggro deck?

[Purp]

I wonder if monastery siege has a home in this deck as a 1 of or two of.

[Valdarith]

I'd rather play outpost siege. I feel almost unbeatable if it sticks around for more than two turns.

[LP, of the Fires]

Played Jeskai Tokens tonight. Mopped up the competition. Attacked for 55 one game with 5 tokens thanks to triple ascendancy. Depending on how I do at PPTQ tomorrow, I may do a write up on the merits of tokens and how it compares with the other rw/x decks.

[Purp]

Tokens is for sure a strong deck, but i dislike its Gx devo matchup.

here was my post from reddit comparing tokens vs tempo

"I prefer tempo for the current meta (I don't think one is strictly better than the other, however, in the current meta I think tempo is a much better deck).

Tokens is great, very explosive and is probably favored vs RW, but it's not as good as it used to be. The problem with Tokens, is that it relies HEAVILY on ascendancy. When the deck fails to draw one, it feels like a bad version of RW (and makes you wonder why you are playing the 3rd color). In the current meta, there is a lot of enchantment hate coming out of SBs (glare, erase, abzan advantage, reclamation sage, sultai charm and back to nature) due to the popularity of one of the best decks, RW. So postboard, your ascendancies are already weaker. Previously, you could go bigger and play elspeth, counters and end hostitlies to beat devotion decks, but thanks to whisperwood, this is not a reliable strategy anymore. imo, tokens has a HORRIBLE matchup vs green/x devo decks, and in order to fix it, your game plan has to change so much, at that point you might as well be playing tempo.

What I like about tempo, is that it has a very proactive gameplan vs GR, Abzan variants, RW and Control decks. The SB can be tuned to meta and play style. I think in the current standard format being the one applying the pressure as opposed to being reactive is where you want to be. Token/Tempo nut draws are both fairly similar, however tempo's mediocre draw is just much better."

[LP, of the Fires]

Top 8'd PPTQ today with tokens losing to RW(got a game loss for stupidity) in swiss and Abzan agro in quarters. Will post write up tomorrow or Monday since I need to sleep and I'm playing an online PPTQ tomorrow.

[Jamie]

[deck]Kevin Jones Baltimore 5k 2015-03-01[/deck]

[Jamie]

Looks perfect.

[Purp]

wheres your report lp?!

[LP, of the Fires]

TL:DR,

R1: Played UB control. I know everything he can do at every stage of the game and had the cards that allowed me to maneuver through his sequencing. Things like play around dissolve for x turns, then play into it the turn he wants to dig. When he plays vault, jam rabble so that he doesn't time walk me since he has to kill it in combat or risk taking a million damage. 2-0 easily.

R2: Play abzan control. At some point, he reveals blight off the top with courser so with a bunch of goblins and raise the alarm tokens in play, I play another raise the alarm eot going up to 7 tokens. Untap, jam rabble, he decides against blighting after I attack with just goblins. he does something maybe. My turn he blights rabbles I attack with everything trying to race his lifegain with suicide attacks playing to burn. He drops Elspeth. and starts racing. On my last turn, I draw cruise and cruise into strike. Game 2, he plays 4 fleecemane lions and I'm super dead. Game 3, I'm ahead all game and he missed a critical land drop. I kill him dead. Post game, he says if he hits his land, he can sorin and stabilize with lifegain then follow up with something relevant. My hand was stacked though and I think I would actually win a long game against him that game so whateves.

R3: RW agro, get double outpost sieged into infinite rabblemastered. G2, jeskai ascendancy is superior enchantment. He kills 1, I have a second. g3, he mulls to 5. I keep the SKETCHIEST hand on the draw of double rabble as my only early plays. He does nothing and dies.

R4: Lose g1 to deck check. Had other standard legal cards in box. Lose g2 because I deal 7 damage to myself in a game I otherwise dominate.

R5: play UB control, see round 6.

R6: Draw into top 8.

Quarters: play against carmate. Lose game cause on the draw. Win long game 1 that looked close, but I had siege and cruise giving me mad CA and kill him with monstrous stormbreath dragon. G3 was epic. I'm behind all of it to anafenza and double lion. Play outburst, take some damage. Play Chandra, zero, hit land number 5. take some damage. play seeker, in combat, block, stoke anafenza, go to 9. Play Elspeth, pass stare at judge because I can't watch what happens. If has blight I lose, if not, I take over game. Topdecks blight, I die.

[Purp]

4-0 tonight with a hybrid version of my list from my IQ win and kevin jones baltimore list.

I think jeskai wins the gp.

[Valdarith]

Here's a list I've been toying with:

[deck]
Creatures (15)
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Mantis Rider
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos

Spells (21)
3 Wild Slash
4 Lightning Strike
3 Valorous Stance
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3 Dig Through Time

Lands (24)
3 Mystic Monastery
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Temple of Epiphany
3 Shivan Reef
3 Battlefield Forge
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Plains

Sideboard (15)
2 Erase
1 Wild Slash
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Negate
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Arc Lightning
3 Outpost Siege
[/deck]

Part of me wonders if the Outpost Sieges in the board should just be Mastery of the Unseen. It dies to Glare of Heresy in the mirror but gets under Disdainful Stroke from control decks.

[dpaine88]

4-0 tonight with a hybrid version of my list from my IQ win and kevin jones baltimore list.

I think jeskai wins the gp.

Whats your list? I was just gonna roll with Kevin jones list but have been on RW the past few months.

[LP, of the Fires]

If I played at GP Miami this weekend, this is what deck I would play and I think my friend Mark(9-0 day 1 GP Vancouver, victim of Cheonmaggedon) is gonna run it. We where talking about it on facebook and Boland told us he got this list from Andrejas Prost who also plays a lot of jeskai. After 1 game, I was hooked. Evolving wilds is brilliant for fueling delve, and the maindeck wraths and counters let you play as more of an agro control deck while simultaneously covering up tokens weakness against aggressive starts.

[deck]4 Raise the Alarm
4 Hordeling Outburst

4 Jeskai Ascendancy

3 Lightning Strike
3 Wild Slash
3 Stoke the Flames
2 Anger of the Gods
1 End Hostilities
1 Jeskai Charm
1 Negate
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Valorous Stance
4 Treasure Cruise
2 Dig Through Time




2 Evolving Wilds
2 Temple of Triumph
2 Temple of Epiphany
4 Mystic Monastery
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Mountain
4 Flooded Strand
3 Shivan Reef
2 Battlefield Forge

SB:
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Anger of the Gods
1 End Hostilities
2 Negate
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Valorous Stance
2 Mentor of the Meek
2 Glare of Heresy[/deck]

[Jamie]

Looks alright I guess. People were already doing the control-tokens deck when frf was released by maining anger and end. Usually they maindecked elspeth too.
There was a lot of abzaggro about back then which is the worst matchup so maybe that's why it fell off pretty fast.

[Valdarith]

Speaking of, what ever happened to Jeskai Heroic Combo?

[Purp]

3-0-1 tonight. Deck feels great.

Played this:

[deck]
4 Manits Rider
4 Rabble
3 Seeker
2 Soulfire Grandmaster

4 Wild Slash
3 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke

3 Valorous Stance
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Outpost Siege
1 Jeskai Ascendency

2 Dig
1 Treasure Cruise

1 Elspeth
2 Sarkhan

24 lands

sb
1 outpost siege
2 anger
2 brimaz
2 negate
2 disfainful stroke
2 erase
1 glare
1 elspeth
1 valorous stance
1 end hostilities


[/deck]

Only change I would make is cut the treasure cruise for a 3rd dig.

deck is great, and honestly only loses to variance of not drawing lands.

[Mr. Metronome]

3-0-1 tonight. Deck feels great.

Played this:

[deck]
4 Manits Rider
4 Rabble
3 Seeker
2 Soulfire Grandmaster

4 Wild Slash
3 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke

3 Valorous Stance
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Outpost Siege
1 Jeskai Ascendency

2 Dig
1 Treasure Cruise

1 Elspeth
2 Sarkhan

24 lands

sb
1 outpost siege
2 anger
2 brimaz
2 negate
2 disfainful stroke
2 erase
1 glare
1 elspeth
1 valorous stance
1 end hostilities


[/deck]

Only change I would make is cut the treasure cruise for a 3rd dig.

deck is great, and honestly only loses to variance of not drawing lands.

Any reason for the Ascendancy over the second Siege?