Dies to Removal

Jeskai Charm is one of those cards where you think it has a low impact but it's actually the best one-of. I won a race against Abzan Aggro in one game thanks to the lifelink clause, and I topped a Whisperwood Elemental for tempo against Abzan Midrange while ahead on board to win another...

Got 3rd place at the IQ today with 73/75 cards of LSV's Jeskai tokens deck. I highly recommend it...

It's very good. Being able to scale up as the game progresses is valuable...

Monastery Mentor has been a pleasant surprise...

LSV's list seems pretty cool. 7-0 in videos. I'm playing it at an IQ this weekend within about five cards. It's very good...

The only way I keep that hand on the draw is if my only land is a scryland...

Citadel Siege seems neat. I wouldn't mind testing it, but I'm a fan of more burn plus two Outpost Siege between the main deck and sideboard. Watching LSV tear people up with his configuration has me wanting to test out a similar version. [deck] Creatures (7) 3 Soulfire Grand Master 4 Goblin Rabblemaster Spells (29) 2 Gods Willing 3 Wild Slash 4 Raise the Alarm 2 Lightning Strike 4 Jeskai Ascendancy 4 Hordeling Outburst 1 Jeskai Charm 1 Outpost Siege 4 Stoke the Flames 4 Treasure Cruise Lands (24) 4 Mystic Monastery 4 Temple of Triumph 2 Temple of Epiphany 3 Battlefield Forge 2 Shivan Reef 3 Flooded Strand 2 Plains 2 Island 2 Mountain Sideboard (15) 2 Magma Spray 2 Erase 1 Glare of Heresy 3 Negate 3 Disdainful Stroke 2 Anger of the Gods 1 Outpost Siege 1 End Hostilities [/deck] For LSV's games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB6pHCInLSg&list=PL04lbfeNAaS_sZQkckCn9-QxcJO8bt8ch He was playing Monastery Mentor instead of Rabblemaster. Each has their draws, but Rabblemaster is just so strong on its own. Monastery Mentor didn't actually impress me as much after watching his games. He did get to buy back a Treasure Cruise with Grand Master which was just beautiful...

Speaking of, what ever happened to Jeskai Heroic Combo...

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...

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

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...

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

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...

I will admit to pulling that off quite a bit...

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...

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...

http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/264693 Martin Juza's top 8 GP Seville list. I like it...

I think having Valorous Stance means you can now take out the counterspells completely and play a proactive role like RW aggro does. Unfortunately you cannot support Chained to the Rocks so you'd have to commit to playing cards like Banishing Light. Alternatively, play Chandra and never worry about him...

That's not immediately obvious to me, especially without knowing what UB control looks like post-FRF. Ugin and Perilous Vault deal with it fairly easily. It's nice that it isn't a walker so it can't die to Downfall, but with this flavor of Jeskai I'd rather just go kill my opponent than try to grind them out...

I support your right to be wrong. :) I'm not saying he wouldn't be useful in the sideboard, but I wouldn't want him there for control matches...

Think a minute about what you're saying though. Keranos is a grindy card. You can't outgrind a control deck...

Keranos is good when you want to play a control role postboard. Why would you want to do this against control...

You have way too many 3cmc spells. For instance, I don't think Jeskai Charm is an auto four-of. I also think Hushwing Gryff is overkill if you also plan on running Disdainful Stroke. The nice thing about Raise the Alarm is that it immediately fills the yard for Treasure Cruise and also lowers the curve of your deck...

Seems good. Any deck that can reliably play Treasure Cruise gets my approval...

Well your deck isn't exactly positioned to make good use of Dig so I'd drop it completely. It's hard to build a mana base that can support UU, RR, and WW while maintaining a modicum of consistency so you have to make concessions somewhere...

Similar to what I played last month but I played fewer bad cards. :p If you're on the Brimaz plan, try Chandra. The two work very well together...

9th place IQ yesterday (lost round 1 :( ) with outburst in my jeskai deck...wuhhhhhh I like that it works so well with Seeker and Jeskai Charm...

Nullify guys. Nullify. Hordeling Outburst still presents a problem, but Mantis Rider makes this less of an issue, and if those kind of decks are really big you can just run Scouring Sands or Arc Lightning (the latter is more expensive but also more flexible)...

Matej was probably hedging on Jeskai being the most popular deck in the field which explains the 3 Brimaz. I've harped on him multiple times since I started running this deck and my mirror matches have basically come down to who is running Brimaz vs who isn't (hint: the deck running Brimaz almost always wins). I think his deck is a bit creature dense but it is very proactive which is a good place to be in right now. I still like the Nullify lists though...

Thoughts on Brimaz vs Prognostic Sphinx in the board in a Nullify list? I've been playing Brimaz but I'm beginning to wonder if Sphinx would be better. It's very difficult for control decks and Jeskai to deal with if it resolves. I tend to sandbag threats in those matchups, playing spells at EOT and presenting ways for my opponent to tap out so I can sneak in a threat like Sarkhan, and that strategy has been fairly successful, so it has me wondering if I should be playing Sphinx out of the board. I like sphinx better. Your aggro matchup should be fine with all the burn and lifelink plus anger and spray from the board. Sphinx is just better in the mirror, against control, and even against abzan and green devotion. This was my conclusion as well. My meta is green green green. Always has been, always will be. That's not to say that there aren't other decks in my meta, but here it's green vs nongreen players always...

Thoughts on Brimaz vs Prognostic Sphinx in the board in a Nullify list? I've been playing Brimaz but I'm beginning to wonder if Sphinx would be better. It's very difficult for control decks and Jeskai to deal with if it resolves. I tend to sandbag threats in those matchups, playing spells at EOT and presenting ways for my opponent to tap out so I can sneak in a threat like Sarkhan, and that strategy has been fairly successful, so it has me wondering if I should be playing Sphinx out of the board...

There is an argument for Scouring Sands in that it doesn't die to enchantment hate and that Circle of Flame is nullfied by Hall of Triumph. Just something to consider...

But we're already huge favorites against Ascendancy and Green devotion so just run the card that's easier to cast for the deck you're worried about (Boss Sligh)...

If you're concerned about Boss Sligh then just run Circle of Flame or Scouring Sands. Does the same thing as Anger without the hefty mana requirement. It's not like you actually bring in Anger against other decks (that are real at least)...

Agreed on Magma Spray...

I do agree that Nullify makes the mana a little more difficult though, and have been considering your talking point lately. It is nice to have another two mana answer to aaggressive decks though...

What does nullify answer that isn't answered by our removal or stroke? I feel like the upside of stroke countering walkers, dig, and Stoke outweighs countering Courser/Rider/mono red, especially when our mana is significantly worse with nullify. Caryatid, Courser, Mantis Rider, Brimaz.....

Blasphemy...

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 I think if you're playing a list with Gryff you're doing yourself a disservice by not playing Nullify. It promotes a more draw-go strategy which is excellent at combating Abzan (and every other deck in the meta for that matter). In fact I'd try to find room for the third...

I don't think his arguments are decent at all, but some of that is because he's playing a list without Nullify...