Hey wtwlf123, I was wondering, do you have a cap on the total number of aggressive one drops that you would put in your cube? And if so, is that cap number 42 total? Just curious.
I'm trying to balance my cube to enable 4 Aggro decks in a 12 man draft (or 2.66 in an 8 man), and also making it a viable archetype for sealed. How does one calculate this properly so that you meet the requirements without creating an excess clutter of one drops floating around?
Design question: Do you think the optimal mana fixing % should be different for a 540 cube intended primarily for glimpse drafting versus one intended mostly for regular 8 mans? I noticed as I was browsing through your blog on cubetutor that you cut vivids at one point because splashing and fixing in glimpse was too easy. I thought that was interesting.
Top 20 SOI piece was a great read, thanks for that!
I was curious if, at this time, you ever did a short synopsis of how the last cycle of changes have been playing for you.
I'm specifically wondering about the cycle of eldrazi that are colorless to cast or have colorless activated/triggered abilities. Have these all pulled their weight? Also, are you keeping these as a complete cycle, or are you willing to ax the weak ones and keep the good ones?
For me, I cut the blue and green ones. Matter reshaper is a maybe (if you consider activated/triggered abilities, he is the hardest colorless eldrazi to cast on curve), and mirrorpool hasn't really seen play in our group yet so I'm not sure about it. The white one, thought-knot, reality smasher, and Kozilek have been excellent, and the black and red guys have been solid.
Any thoughts or insights from your experience thus far you want to share?
Thanks, that's encouraging feedback, as I too had Gw Ramp as my first of three options. My 2nd build was a GW midrange token deck that had some nice elements but also had some random and confusing things together in the same deck. My 3rd build was an attempt to make the ramp deck mono G, but it seemed I was adding worse cards, and the fixing seems sufficient for some white anyway.
What do you think of this build? Any specific changes?
Regarding Sideboard options:
Leap- vs decks trying to attrition you out.
Library- vs control decks where you can aggressively spend life for cards.
Crucible- vs land destruction heavy strategies.
Ravages and Plow- on the play vs other midrange/ramp/control decks that seem vulnerable to this kind of disruption.
Secure- vs control decks to have a post-wrath instant speed threat.
Thoughts on SB?
Random thought that came during deckbuilding: how many colorless sources would I want for Reality Smasher in a midrange version of this deck?
As the title suggests, I want to refine and hone my skills in cube deckbuilding. I often find that I can draft a reasonable stack of cards, but sometimes I have trouble finding the optimal build.
Today I drafted the following and was unsure about which direction I should take it:
Hey Jex,
I'm heading to FNM tomorrow for a change, and wanted to play some Jeskai. I've always liked your lists. Do you have an updated version I could steal to get me on track?
Thoughts? Been playing a lot online. Streaming at Twitch.tv/stlzach
Only drawn the painful truths twice, both times it was outstanding. You will not convince me to drop the Ghost Quarters either I feel as though the ability to use Probe the same turn you drop Mentor on curve will win you the game in some matches (Jund, other grindy games), but against others it is completely useless and you might as well just play a different card instead. There are also times where you have 3 mentor tokens in play and top-deck the probe, where it becomes incredible. Then there's also the awkwardness of starting with it and inquisition in your opener. What's the consensus on Probe? When running both, which do you think you should play first on Turn 1? When I start with both I usually inquisition and save the probe for when it's either necessary to hit a land drop or when I have a mentor in play. Not sure if probing first to see what they have before you inquisition is better, since you would know if you have a [good] target for your inquisition.
Not surprised that Painful Truths is good here. It's kinda exactly what mentor wants. I am, however, appalled that you have 0 copies of Zealous Persecution in your 75. Sweeper vs decks with x/1's (Affinity!), Saves Mentor from Bolt, and can really swing damage races or even 1-shot kill people with all the tokens you got floating around. What gives?
Jex, it seems you have some depth of experience with this archetype. I wanted to start a conversation on this thread about finishers. Online results show Ajani, Gideon, and even Narset Transcendant in lists. You obviously favor Keranos. I guess I'm surprised that there's no consensus on the matter amongst the Jeskai practitioners. Could you share any experiences you have had with these different options and discuss their various strengths and weaknesses?
Honestly your list looks fine vs. Affinity. If you wanted to make changes maybe swap the Tec Edges for Ghost Quarters to battle Inkmoth and add a Stony Silence to the board. But you should be fine really. I would go -3 Cryptic -2 Remand -1 Mana Leak +2 Wear//Tear +1 EE +1 Anger +1 Staticaster +1 Stony Silence as a general sideboard plan. GL. Last Friday I had no trouble smashing Affinity in G2 and G3 using Verdict, EE, Staticaster, Stony Silence, and cheap removal. And you have more cards in that matchup than I do.
I'm trying to balance my cube to enable 4 Aggro decks in a 12 man draft (or 2.66 in an 8 man), and also making it a viable archetype for sealed. How does one calculate this properly so that you meet the requirements without creating an excess clutter of one drops floating around?
Thanks in advance!
Maybe a choice for some with new Thalia entering the mix?
I like Spiritkeeper more as a generic creature (obviously), but the ease of casting cost on Champion and both token/aggro support are compelling.
I was curious if, at this time, you ever did a short synopsis of how the last cycle of changes have been playing for you.
I'm specifically wondering about the cycle of eldrazi that are colorless to cast or have colorless activated/triggered abilities. Have these all pulled their weight? Also, are you keeping these as a complete cycle, or are you willing to ax the weak ones and keep the good ones?
For me, I cut the blue and green ones. Matter reshaper is a maybe (if you consider activated/triggered abilities, he is the hardest colorless eldrazi to cast on curve), and mirrorpool hasn't really seen play in our group yet so I'm not sure about it. The white one, thought-knot, reality smasher, and Kozilek have been excellent, and the black and red guys have been solid.
Any thoughts or insights from your experience thus far you want to share?
Cheers
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Sylvan Advocate
1 Voice of Resurgence
1 Blade Splicer
1 Eternal Witness
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Greenwarden of Murasa
1 Primeval Titan
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Channel
1 Regrowth
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Dismember
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Hedron Archive
1 Karn Liberated
Lands (16)
1 Brushland
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Temple Garden
1 Windswept Heath
1 Gaea's Cradle
7 Forest
4 Plains
1 Evolutionary Leap
1 Sylvan Library
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ravages of War
1 Plow Under
1 Secure the Wastes
What do you think of this build? Any specific changes?
Regarding Sideboard options:
Leap- vs decks trying to attrition you out.
Library- vs control decks where you can aggressively spend life for cards.
Crucible- vs land destruction heavy strategies.
Ravages and Plow- on the play vs other midrange/ramp/control decks that seem vulnerable to this kind of disruption.
Secure- vs control decks to have a post-wrath instant speed threat.
Thoughts on SB?
Random thought that came during deckbuilding: how many colorless sources would I want for Reality Smasher in a midrange version of this deck?
1 Channel
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Hedron Archive
1 Brushland
1 Wastes
Would this be sufficient? Would I even want some of these cards in a midrange beatdown shell? Still confused about this one.
Cheers!
Today I drafted the following and was unsure about which direction I should take it:
1 Gravecrawler
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Jungle Lion
1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Imposing Sovereign
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Sylvan Advocate
1 Voice of Resurgence
1 Blade Splicer
1 Eternal Witness
1 Soltari Champion
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Reality Smasher
1 Greenwarden of Murasa
1 Primeval Titan
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Channel
1 Evolutionary Leap
1 Regrowth
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Curse of Predation
1 Dismember
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Eureka
1 Hedron Archive
1 Ravages of War
1 Plow Under
1 Burning of Xinye
1 Karn Liberated
1 Secure the Wastes
1 Brushland
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Temple Garden
1 Windswept Heath
I came up with 3 different builds, but am unsure which is best. For reference this is a typical powered cube.
Can anyone give some feedback on how they would build this and/or come up with a list they feel is optimal? Thanks in advance!
I'm heading to FNM tomorrow for a change, and wanted to play some Jeskai. I've always liked your lists. Do you have an updated version I could steal to get me on track?
Many thanks!
Not surprised that Painful Truths is good here. It's kinda exactly what mentor wants. I am, however, appalled that you have 0 copies of Zealous Persecution in your 75. Sweeper vs decks with x/1's (Affinity!), Saves Mentor from Bolt, and can really swing damage races or even 1-shot kill people with all the tokens you got floating around. What gives?
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/323680#paper
I could be mistaken, but this looks amazing at first blush!
Run multiple
Ghost Quarter, Stony Silence, Sowing Salt, And Negate. GL