Dies to Removal

I think that Lightning strike should be the first burn spell to be cut in all honesty. Card selection is a big deal and unless lighting strike kills something that magma jet doesn't (fleecemane lion being one) then I would cut strike over jet. Mantis Rider? Magma Jet is usually the first cut. It's bad vs control and Abzan midrange...

My current deck: [deck] Creatures (12) 4 Seeker of the Way 4 Mantis Rider 4 Hushwing Gryff Spells (24) 4 Magma Jet 4 Lightning Strike 3 Nullify 4 Jeskai Charm 4 Stoke the Flames 2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker 3 Dig Through Time Lands (24) 4 Shivan Reef 4 Battlefield Forge 3 Temple of Epiphany 3 Temple of Enlightenment 4 Mystic Monastery 2 Flooded Strand 3 Island 1 Plains Sideboard (15) 2 Erase 3 Magma Spray 1 Glare of Heresy 1 Reprisal 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Negate 1 Gainsay 1 Nullify 2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos [/deck] I had a lot of fun last week with my Brimaz/Rabblemaster build, going 5-1 for the night, but I like experimenting and this seems pretty good against the field in general...

That's a strong finish regardless. Congrats...

Yeah it's quite good. I'm not going to argue which is better between him and Gryff in this deck, but Rabblemaster is probably tied for the best three drop in Standard right now. It certainly does not suck...

Purp, I really wish you'd stop saying that. You sound obtuse...

That mana needs work. 8 fetches on 4 basics...

Indeed. Dig gives you a lot more leeway to play as a control deck whenever you desire. Strasky's mirror plan seems pretty standard, but I guess I have the advantage of understanding the matchup despite having played so little LP, I like the list. Nullify is so good, but I wonder if it's actually better than Banishing Light. It's clearly better in postboard games since it dodges enchantment removal, so maybe it's worth it for that alone...

No, 6 is definitely too many on 25. 4 is pretty much your max at 25 land. This deck doesn't run mana dorks after all...

I would not run 3-3. That's far too high and you'd need 26 lands to hit them on curve with any sort of consistency. Top-heavy green decks are in abundance in my meta, so Disdainful Stroke is rarely dead. I anticipate a ton of Abzan because the locals love green so much...

Hey I love Sarkhan, but if playing Stormbreath increases the Abzan percentages while holding against the other decks then I'll run it instead...

Yeah, he's been good but he's kind of awkward against decks with 5+ toughness creatures as well as Wingmate Rock, and Dragon is better against Jeskai. I like moving Sarkhan to the board for control matchups...

If we really want to go deep we could play Vaporkin over Seeker, but it would make our other matchups worse...

I'm on board with Hushwing Gryff provided we try and play a different game than we've been playing. I think we need to focus more on going over the top of Siege Rhino like we did during the days of Thragtusk. This lines us up well against opposing planeswalkers as we get to play with more evasion and promotes more play at instant speed, but reduces our explosiveness as we must cut Goblin Rabblemaster from the 60. We should also consider going to Stormbreath Dragon over Sarkhan if we really want to beat Abzan Midrange. It can't be killed by attacking into it, it's immune to Utter End and Abzan Charm unlike Sarkhan, and it can't be blocked by Wingmate Roc. This is what I'm considering: [deck=Valdarith's Je"skies"] Creatures (16) 4 Seeker of the Way 4 Mantis Rider 4 Hushwing Gryff 2 Ashcloud Phoenix 2 Stormbreath Dragon Spells (22) 4 Magma Jet 4 Lightning Strike 2 Disdainful Stroke 4 Jeskai Charm 2 Banishing Light 4 Stoke the Flames Lands (24) 4 Shivan Reef 4 Battlefield Forge 4 Temple of Triumph 3 Temple of Epiphany 2 Temple of Enlightenment 1 Mystic Monastery 2 Flooded Strand 1 Island 3 Plains Sideboard (15) 2 Erase 3 Magma Spray 2 Glare of Heresy 1 Reprisal 1 Disdainful Stroke 1 Negate 1 Pillar of Light 2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos 2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker [/deck...

That's much better. I'd probably swap one Temple of Enlightenment for a Temple of Epiphany since you need RR with Stoke and Sarkhan. Shouldn't effect Seeker much...

It doesn't look like your manabase can support Nullify...

Not running Seeker is a mistake. It's one of the best cards in the deck...

Brimaz is all the tech you need. I played a Jeskai burn mirror last night and I won because I had Brimaz and he did not...

It's actually the best performing deck on MODO right now...

I don't mind Firedrinker in the deck since you're running Chained to the Rocks and Chandra maindeck. It lines up well against Caryatid which is nice. Just makes your aggro mirrors worse...

Strawman arguments are not helpful. LP made a good point...

We just disagree on what the deck should actually be. I think Deflecting Palm is a niche sideboard card at best and a wasted slot at worst. It's pretty good to "get em" for a bunch from their attacking fatty, but that's about it. I'd feel pretty dumb drawing it against small aggro decks where I actually care about killing their creatures and not 0-for-1ing myself. Searing Blood is really pushing it in a deck that's already stretching the mana base. I happen to think the deck wants to play Brimaz as well and that makes Searing Blood a no-go...

Looking back I think it's fine for the most part. I think I may have mixed up the two decks you posted into one bad deck in my mind. For instance, I don't think Steam Augury or Deflecting Palm are remotely playable. Dig Through Time is okay but I don't think it's where this deck wants to be, though I'd gladly be wrong there...

I think Ashcloud is fine on the play against green decks but not where I'd want to be on the draw. Could say the same thing about Chandra though (and to an extent Sarkhan)...

[deck] Creatures (14) 4 seeker of the way 4 mantis rider 3 brimaz, king of oreskos 3 goblin rabblemaster Spells (22) 4 magma jet 4 lightning strike 4 jeskai charm 2 banishing light 4 stoke the flames 2 chandra, pyromaster 2 sarkhan, the dragonspeaker Lands (24) 4 shivan reef 4 battlefield forge 4 temple of triumph 1 temple of epiphany 2 temple of enlightenment 3 mystic monastery 2 flooded strand 1 island 3 plains Sideboard (15) 2 erase 4 magma spray 2 reprisal 1 glare of heresy 1 spear of heliod 3 arc lightning 2 open slots [/deck] This is what I'm thinking of running for FNM just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from...

There's really no room for it in aggro because you want to be playing more efficient cards against them. Arc Lightning does the same thing for one mana less...

I'm going to be honest and say that I don't like dpaine's list at all, and lack of efficient building could be a source of the issues you are having. With that out of the way, building a good sideboard is pretty difficult right now since the meta hasn't fully shaped up and there's such a large variety of decks in the field. Basically, you need to diversify your board a bit and run answers to multiple decks. I am high on Erase right now as an answer to both Courser, mono black, and reanimator strategies. I also like the full playset of Magma Spray postboard to really hose small aggro. Mana efficiency is key in this deck so subbing them and taking out Stoke the Flames is what you want to be doing. I am also fond of Arc Lightning for obvious reasons. For midrange matchups I really like Reprisal. Ashcloud is good against control decks but there really aren't many of those out right now so it could be wasted slots. Glare of Heresy is a pretty solid one-of as well. There are a lot of white cards out there right now and this is a versatile answer. Hushwing Gryff seems suspect but if Reanimator strategies become more of a thing I expect this to be a decent answer to Ashen Rider and Hornet Queen...

Purp, can you go into specifically what difficulties you are having along with your 75? It could be as simple as having the wrong deck configuration...

Purp having a brainfart. You may cast if tribute isn't paid. You're implying that you get the counters if you don't cast a spell...

Would rather play Chandra or Ashcloud vs control...

8 painlands are already pushing it. Just build your manabase better and don't be so greedy with your curve...

I'm thinking of something like this: [Deck] Creatures (12) 4 Seeker of the Way 4 Mantis Rider 3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos 1 Ashcloud Phoenix Spells (24) 4 Magma Jet 4 Lightning Strike 1 Suspension Field 4 Jeskai Charm 1 Arc Lightning 2 Banishing Light 4 Stoke the Flames 2 Chandra, Pyromaster 2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker Lands (24) 4 Shivan Reef 4 Battlefield Forge 4 Temple of Triumph 2 Temple of Enlightenment 1 Temple of Epiphany 3 Mystic Monastery 2 Flooded Strand 1 Island 3 Plains [/deck] Reposting since everyone keeps questioning whether or not the mana can work...

I posted a list with Brimaz yesterday. The mana is fine...

I'm thinking of something like this: [Deck] Creatures (12) 4 Seeker of the Way 4 Mantis Rider 3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos 1 Ashcloud Phoenix Spells (24) 4 Magma Jet 4 Lightning Strike 1 Suspension Field 4 Jeskai Charm 1 Arc Lightning 2 Banishing Light 4 Stoke the Flames 2 Chandra, Pyromaster 2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker Lands (24) 4 Shivan Reef 4 Battlefield Forge 4 Temple of Triumph 2 Temple of Enlightenment 1 Temple of Epiphany 3 Mystic Monastery 2 Flooded Strand 1 Island 3 Plains [/deck...

I'm inclined to agree on Brimaz if Jeskai becomes more popular. Right now besides Jeskai there are no real decks playing red removal, so Brimaz tends to die to the same spells Rabblemaster does while being harder to cast. I expect that to change though. He is definitely more flexible though since he's so good at playing defense and attacks midrange decks more successfully. I think the ultimate fate of this archetype is to play more of a midrange game like the green decks while having access to more reach and flexible cards. Decks like that are where Brimaz really shines...

Phoenix actually seems pretty good against all these midrange decks full of x/4s. You can play defense if you want and then you get a 2/2 out of the deal with the upside of getting it back again. What I've come to discover is that this deck actually sees 6 land quite often and being able to loop Phoenix ad nauseum seems unbeatable in midrange matchups...

He's not talking about the "as" effect. He's referring to the "if" trigger, which can be responded to...

You also don't really need Monastery as long as you've built the deck properly. As long as you have 19-20 red sources you can comfortably play Temple of Enlightenment instead...

Dig is instant. Cruise is sorcery. UU is the big hindrance on Dig...

I think one blue from Cruise makes it better. Your numbers seem about right to me. I like Chandra a lot though. Works pretty well with Seeker and Rabble...

For instance, the guy that won had to build a manabase to support Dig and Steam Augury. The latter clearly should not have been in there and I'm not convinced that Dig should have been either...