Dies to Removal

I like the list a lot, I feel it's where I would have ended up once I stopped messing around with bad creatures and Evolving Wilds...

Doubt it. I think it's good enough to maindeck, so you don't have to spend all your sideboard slots on it. I guess that's meta dependent ultimately.

The best cheap (CMC) replacements for Chained appear to be Singing Bell Strike and Suspension Field, along with Banishing Light. Strike stands out in particular, as it is still a tempo play even if they enchantment removal, and it won't trigger ETB blow outs.

It would also allow the mana base to be slanted more towards blue. On second thought, maybe that's not what we want, casting Strike + Bird-dude on T4 might be difficult.

EDIT: Void Snare might be good enough

Cool, nice to know someone else was thinking about it too! I wasn't too worried about mantis rider, because it gets hit with lightning strike as well as all the other removal. Pump spells a la Jadine's list?

Yeah totally, I was just trying to keep the curve low. I'm not sure Chained is worth the hoops you have to jump through.

Vk and WT are fine when you are curving out, but bad topdecks, just like any early drop aggro creature. Apart from the mirror, it seems to me that not a lot of decks are utilising fliers. They don't have trouble getting in. The power level is a tad low, I'm not in denial or anything.

Hey guys, thought I'd hijack this thread to tell you about my brew. I've been playing around with Jeskai until some more "stock" Tempo/Burn lists are developed. I really summoned the spirit of Skyknight Legionaire Pyroskies with this one, to mixed results...

[deck]Jeskai Skies V.1[/deck]
So this was my first draft. I really wanted to see if these 3 colour decks could support Chained to the Rocks. Turns out Mountains are pretty bad at casting Mantis Riders and Jeskai Charms. If you are all in on Chained, I think you want at least 11 Mountains (/Evolving Wilds). No one else seems to be bothering with Chained, so I guess I missed the memo on that one.

I had anticipated the ground getting quite clogged in the world of Courser of Kruphix/Sylvan Caryatid, and it turns out Siege Rhino hasn't helped... Goblin Rabblemaster seemed like it wouldn't get there a lot of the time, so I wanted to see if you could play all fliers and go over the top. I built around the redundancy of Welkin Tern and Vaporkin as cheap, aggressive, evasive beaters, adding other powerful fliers up the curve. Mantis Rider is an amazing magic card, and I've been impressed with Ashcloud Phoenix.

All I want to do is race, so the removal doubles as burn. I feel like Chained is what this deck wants as a cheap spell that you can use while deploying more dudes, but it might just be too greedy. Against aggro decks you take out all the guys that can't block. I like the sideboard options available in these colours.

Anyway, this deck wasn't great (not sure it ever will be...). Stormbreath Dragon was lacklustre, and 25 lands felt like too many. Mana Confluence was a pain, and I was jealous about not getting scrys out of my tapped lands.

[deck]Jeskai Skies V.2[/deck]
Hushwing Gryff seems like quite a gem, so I'm looking forward to testing it. I'm not super happy about the End Hostilities in the board, don't know what it should be.

TL:DR, Chained makes your mana awkward, playing with draft chaff commons is fun.