Dies to Removal

So I took my Tokens to FNM this friday to try out the new cards. Overall I was very, very happy with the deck. I ended up going 3-0-1 due to a very slow opponent game 1 that was new to his B/G constellation deck. With another 5 min I would have won that game, and I only lost g2 due to mana issues. After that I got to play U/B control that was a super easy 2-0. Next was a mirror against Jeskai tokens. My opponen was playing Mentors/SGM build and lost due to it. I was better at triggering ascendancy and burning his cratures for tempo, another easy 2-0. The I played Sultai control the games where longer due to his charms hitting my enchantments but in the end I won the games rather simply 2-0.

The deck is super solid and consistent. Able to both win quick and grind long games. And against control I think it's the best deck in the format. Your just a better control deck post-SB. I even manage to outgrind a resolved Ugin g1 vs Sultai.





[deck] Land (24)

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

Instant (18)

3 Anticipate
1 Jeskai Charm
3 Lightning Strike
1 Secure the Wastes
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Wild Slash

Sorcery (9)

3 Dragon Fodder
2 Hordeling Outburst
4 Treasure Cruise

Enchantment (9)

4 Jeskai Ascendancy
4 Myth Realized
1 Outpost Seige

Sideboard (15)

3 Anger of the Gods
3 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dragonlord Ojutai
3 Erase
3 Negate
1 Impact Tremors[/deck]

I'm planning on it. I don't like Myth Realized.

My experience has been that it's great. It has "Prowess" dodges sweepers and sorc removal and really puts a strain on your opponents enchantment hate. Also it's normally a 5/5 or bigger after you play your Ascendancy so it's a respectible beater on it's own.

I mean, I don't think you can play less than 4 Outbursts if you plan on going creature less, I don't think you have enough dudes if you don't

I always found that Outburst was a nessesary evil before, it was expencive to cast and not really on curve pushing your big attacks back 2 turns. With Dragon Fodder you get the red creatures you need to cast free stokes and I'd rather have instant speed tokens to cast EOT and then "go off" on my turn.

If I'm playing creatureless tokens it's probably:

4 outburst
4 raise
4 fodder
2 secure the wastes

I have been looking at secure the wastes as a possible replacement for outburst. Allowing me to cut it and have more instant speed tokens and a more flexible card to play when trying to "go off" as I can cast it for X=0 just to get another trigger if needed.



I'm also thinking about adding Mentors to the SB for games where my opponent lacks removal but has loads of dudes, like the devotion matches. I feel like it's the only MU where I really need to have a lot of tokens in play to win.

I'll be playtesting the deck more and look over the numbers on my tokens to try and find a sweet spot where I have enough while still having spells tht impact the board.

This is what I'm currently testing with for Jeskai tokens. The deck has been cruching it lately, I might want some number of Soulfire Grand Master and extra Wild Slash in my SB if mono red and other really fast aggro decks start becomming more popular post rotation. But right now the deck has an OK game against mono red and will destroy both control and midrange.

I really like the no creature spells as every none-land card in the deck will trigger the Ascendancy and it's more cards in the yard for Cruise.

Anyone else testing with the same no-creature style of Ascendancy?

[deck]Land (24)

3x Battlefield Forge
3x Flooded Strand
2x Island
3x Mountain
4x Mystic Monastery
2x Plains
1x Shivan Reef
3x Temple of Epiphany
3x Temple of Triumph

Instant (17)

4x Anticipate
1x Gods Willing
1x Jeskai Charm
3x Lightning Strike
4x Raise the Alarm
4x Stoke the Flames
1x Wild Slash

Sorcery (11)

4x Dragon Fodder
2x Hordeling Outburst
4x Treasure Cruise

Enchantment (8)

4x Jeskai Ascendancy
4x Myth Realized

Sideboard (15)

2x Anger of the Gods
3x Disdainful Stroke
2x End Hostilities
3x Erase
3x Negate
2x Roast

[/deck]

Aside from the manabase(4 flooded, 1 mountain, 2 island would be much better) this deck is REALLY well built and I'm a fan.

Thanks man, I'v made some tweeks to the deck since then. Mostly the mana base as I'm bad at building that. Alesha has been great for me against Abzan/green deck, but in the end she was a win-more card in that MU. So I changed her for Brimaz to help more in the mirror. I also added 2 Gods Willing since I found it to be a huge tempo swing when playing the Mentor against opponents removal.

The funny thing I found when sideboarding was that i would normally take out my Mantis Riders and some number of cards that where inefficient(Like Valorous Stance against R/W/x) against a lot of decks and just adding more control/kill cards and ride the lifegain from SGM, charms and seekers while slowly building up with the Mentor. While the Mantis Rider is a great card I found he is the weakest of all the great cards in the deck unless your facing plainswalkers or control decks where the haste is huge. I have also had several games where I hit 7 mana and can bounce my opponents creatures every turn while using the buy back from Soulfire Grand Master.

[deck]Land (24)

2x Battlefield Forge
4x Flooded Strand
2x Island
1x Mountain
4x Mystic Monastery
2x Plains
2x Shivan Reef
1x Temple of Enlightenment
2x Temple of Epiphany
4x Temple of Triumph

Instant (20)

1x Dig Through Time
2x Gods Willing
4x Jeskai Charm
4x Lightning Strike
3x Stoke the Flames
2x Valorous Stance
4x Wild Slash

Creature (16)

2x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Mantis Rider
4x Monastery Mentor
4x Seeker of the Way
2x Soulfire Grand Master

Sideboard (15)

2x Arc Lightning
3x Disdainful Stroke
2x Erase
1x Glare of Heresy
1x Gods Willing
3x Negate
1x Soulfire Grand Master
1x Stoke the Flames
1x Valorous Stance

[/deck]

I'm also testing out 4 Cloudform over Brimaz, DTT and 1 Stoke the Flames(2-2 split between SB and main then). I'm not 100% on Cloudform yet but I think it might have some promise for the future. It will be interesting to see if I can make it work or not

The deck is a little more defenisve them most jeskai decks are. I'm not really trying to attack with it untill I have an overwhelming number of guys or if my opponent trys to attack into me then I'll normally block and kill everything he is attacking with and crack back for loads. Alesha has been really pulling her weight against removal hevy decks, just remember that you don't get any goblins when you buy back, it's one of the reasons I'm running Mentors since they have prowess and give me tokens when I use my burn.

This is the deck I played at a PTQ, going 6-2 and just missing out on the top8. My losses was to a PT player and a Judge

Anyway, the deck crushes Abzan of all flavour and is great in the R/W/x mirrors. There are just so much lifegain from the Charms, Seekers and Grand Masters. Alesha is a boss and between her the SGM and DTT the deck has some great card advantage going for it in the matches where it's relevant.


[deck]Land (24)

3x Battlefield Forge
3x Flooded Strand
1x Island
2x Mountain
4x Mystic Monastery
2x Plains
2x Shivan Reef
3x Temple of Epiphany
4x Temple of Triumph

Instant (20)

2x Dig Through Time
4x Jeskai Charm
4x Lightning Strike
1x Negate
3x Stoke the Flames
2x Valorous Stance
4x Wild Slash

Creature (16)

2x Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
4x Mantis Rider
4x Monastery Mentor
4x Seeker of the Way
2x Soulfire Grand Master

Sideboard (15)

1x Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
1x Anger of the Gods
2x Arc Lightning
3x Disdainful Stroke
2x Erase
1x Glare of Heresy
2x Negate
1x Soulfire Grand Master
1x Stoke the Flames
1x Valorous Stance

[/deck]

Fair enough, I might be running to many answers to enchantments with 2 Banishing Light main and 3 Erase in the SB. But I feel like the lifegain match-ups and combo match-up are the worst for the deck so I'm running extras. And Erase is great against constellation decks being a 1 mana removal against most of their board. but it's all meta calls in the end I guess.

I really like the Deflecting Palm, it's so fun to play with. There is nothing better having your opponents Rino kill his newly played Sorin and gaining no life from it

How big of a deal is Mindswipe for you? I'm running a similar list but I have 2 Banishing Light's(and a single DTT to help find them or a win-con) in there. My experience is that all the decks are playing Whip of Erebos nowadays and you really need to be able to deal with it or you just lose.

Brimaz is a boss against the Abzan decks as well. The T4 is a big deal against all the Bile Blights and Drown they can bring in. It's also huge against aggro where it combos nicely with Anger. I have been running 2 in the main for two weeks now and I'm very happy with them, I have also moved away from the Nullify and Hushwing build and chosen to just present more threts, trade and use my Disdainful Strokes and Suspension Fields against the big threats and just race/trade with the rest.
As a result of this I'm running more creatures.

Right now it's:
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Mantis Rider
3 Ashcloud Phoenix
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Stormbreath Dragon

Depends on how much you give up against aggro decks and if there are any aggro decks in your meta? I'm keeping my Brimaz since it gives me more play against mono red, that is in my opinion a rougher MU then Abzan or the mirror.

I'd add another 2 Stormbreath Dragons to the SB over Prognostic Sphinx and a third Suspension Field over the End Hostilities. End is not really worth it in my experience, I normally go for anger against swarm decks and G/x Devotion since the mana dorks are the problem and Disdainful Stroke and Hushwing Gryff deals with the annoying monsters and ETB triggers from Hornet Queen ect.

The SBD and Suspension help shore up the Abzan match that is your worst MU by far in my experience. Stormbreath winns that MU almost by itself since they only have the 4 Hero's Downfall to deal with it in the deck.

I have also upped my lands to 25 when playing the more draw-go type of Jeskai because I found that the games I struggled where the once where I missed a land drop the first 5 turns.

Sadly I',m missing out on GP Stockholm this weekend. But this is the deck I have been tweaking for the expected meta of Abzan, MGD, Jeksi and aggro. It's been doing really well in testing. I tend to go very controlling against any of the green decks and it's been really good to me so far and the extra land has really helped the deck with hitting it's mana while still being more then able to play a turn 2 seeker or hold open mana for counters against Abzan decks turns 3-4.

The 3 Stoke the Flames is a concession to losing Rabblemaster, and as a result I found myself paying retail for my stokes most games. And that was not a spot I wanted to be in. I'd still not sure if it is correct to play Nullify in this deck, I'm debating if a swap for 2 Banishing Light might be better. But since there are more and more Wingmate Roc, a card that Jeskai just can win against if it resolves with raid, I'm still holding on to the Nullify.

Any thoughts on the Nullify issue or the SB?

[deck]
Creatures (16)

4 Seeker of the Way
4 Mantis Rider
3 Hushwing Gryff
3 Ashcloud Phoenix
2 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells (19)

4 Lightning Strike
2 Nullify
2 Magma Jet
2 Disdainful Stroke
4 Jeskai Charm
3 Stoke the Flames
2 Dig Through Time

Lands (25)

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

Sideboard (15)

2 Erase
2 Magma Spray
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Suspension Field
1 End Hostilities
3 Dissolve
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos[/deck]

/Johan

Some of the best opening hands I have had has been 4-5 lands(2 temples if 5) and just anything really. Counterspells, cmc2 burn or a creature. The only things I dislike in my openers are Dig, Stoke or a cmc5 card like sarkan or stormbreath.

Hi guys,

I'm new to the site, but have played magic for awhile now. Last night I took my Jeskai deck to the top8 standard league tournament at my local shop, it's basically the players with the best results from the last 6 months of FNM getting to battle it out over a few boxes. I did fairly well coming in second, losing to big Abzan after missing my third and fourth land drop for to long in game 3, we played 3 rounds of swiss and a cut to top4. I got a box of Khans but sadly missed out on the trophy.

Anyway, I decided to pre-board my deck against midrange and being on the draw(I was 6th in the standing and any opponent I played that was higher seeded would get to go first). I did this because I feel like Jeskai on the play is probably favored against most decks in the current meta, but going second was always a big issue for me in testing the deck.

Here is the deck I played, I see some decks with Nullify in the main over Disdainful Stroke. I chose to do it this way since I really never felt that any of the 1-3 drops was a problem, my issue was always the 4+ drop creatures, plainswalkers and card advantage spells like Dig from the control decks and opposing Jeskai decks. It's also easier on the mana costing 1U instead of UU.

There are some things I'd change in the SB, like adding a second Erase, but most of that is meta dependent.

Any thoughts, tips or questions on the deck in general?

[deck]
Land (24)

3x Battlefield Forge
3x Flooded Strand
2x Island
1x Mountain
4x Mystic Monastery
2x Plains
4x Shivan Reef
3x Temple of Epiphany
2x Temple of Triumph

Instant (20)

3x Dig Through Time
3x Disdainful Stroke
4x Jeskai Charm
4x Lightning Strike
2x Magma Jet
4x Stoke the Flames

Creature (14)

4x Goblin Rabblemaster
2x Hushwing Gryff
4x Mantis Rider
4x Seeker of the Way

Enchantment (2)

2x Banishing Light

Sideboard (15)

3x Anger of the Gods
1x Disdainful Stroke
1x Erase
2x Magma Spray
2x Negate
1x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2x Stormbreath Dragon
3x Suspension Field
[/deck]