I think I’m cutting my one Mission Briefing for Finale. I’d rather it be an extra tool in my toolbox than formulate the strategy to use it as a focus of casting RB, so I won’t be including any Lootings.
Mission Briefing is best after the first balance and usually dead beforehand. I used to run 3, but eventually cut down to 1 main 0 side. I wouldn’t cut it, but I also wouldn’t add more.
I like the Echoing Truth. Bounces Phonixes, Holloweds, everything in dredge, Chalices, etc. Why not run any more in the board?
Y’know what? Let’s talk more about Gideon. He’s been one of those cards that I just kinda nodded at the inclusion and seeing in the list, but I want to analyze him a bit more.
Being double white and three mana means that 1. We can include him in all lists except UR EB; and 2. He puts us a bit harder in white, which hurts the ElectroBalance build a bit more (due to the necessities of cantrips and double red, double white on turn 3 is a tall glass of water).
He both stalls and acts as a wincon, two important synergies. He’s powerful against several different archetypes and can stall long enough to Balance and hit the opponent after a balance.
The issue is that playing him sacrifices dig effects. He doesn’t grant card advantage and he takes a slot that could. While this may seem minor, we pilot a deck that is dependant on casting one particular spell. Because of this, I recommend Gideon only for cascade variants of the deck. Because the cascade variant is only reliant on drawing a cascade spell, Gideon’s lack of card advantage doesn’t hinder the deck as much as EB, which required two pieces. That being said, I can still see him being played as a two-of in the sideboard for matchups like Death’s Shadow and Burn, where the stalling could be worth more than card advantage.
Is there a good resource for finding the pricing of specific test print cards? Is the best bet just to find closed ebay sales (of which there isn’t a result for some of the test prints I’m looking for)?
What other wincons do you run? I don’t like the logic of “if I have these two in my opening hand, it’s too slow.” That’s when you mulligan. We are playing Restore Balance, we can mulligan more aggressively than other decks. Also, that’s why I run 3 Nahiri, not 4. I’ve put some thought into dropping that to 2, but I feel that Nahiri is too good to not run at least 3.
I feel I’ve stated my opinion of Blood Moon in this deck enough that it doesn’t need repeating. I guess in UR non-cascade list, it’s a lot more effective (as long as you main at least 3 islands), but I still would rather use those precious slots on other threats.
Lastly, @Timota, I’ve been thinking of following your list’s idea of cutting two Bolts for two more opts. How has that been working out for you?
I play less towards the style of “dig dig dig till I get the combo” and more along the lines of “control my draw the best I can to get to my combo and disrupt the important threats along the way.” Hence my 4 Bolts. Nahiri’s -2 comes into play quite often and she proceeds to soak up damage, too.
But the real nail in the coffin for Jeskai is the sideboard. I have access to the best sideboard color in the format and i abuse that. Rip in Pepperonis, Leyline of Don’t Touch Me, Stoned Silence, etc. help in all those matchups.
I have yet to play against Shadow with this build, but I suspect it is still a bad matchup.
New cascade list looks solid as ever. I recall not liking Kiora in my testing all those years ago. Gideon is a strong improvement. I always preferred Beast Within to Detention Sphere.
I don’t like the blue/red lists. I feel they lack synergistic wincons. JtMS is nice and all, but he doesn’t offer much before the first balance. EDIT: I know you don’t run JtMS in yours, that was just a general statement. I like Chandra, but found running more than one led to feelbads when both were in my hand. That being said, my list can cycle Emrakul and dig to her again if the first one is destroyed, so running two in the UR build seems reasonable.
I mean, your Jeskai list is exactly mine, except swap two Opts for two Bolts and one Tolaria West for one Spirebluff Canal. I approve.
Yeah, current theme is no black, still. I miss the old days where my favorite color stood for something in our archetype.
It’s been mostly successful. It’s strong against a good number of the field and only really has a tougher matchup vs Spirits and Humans. It seems the cascadeless version has the same good and bad matchups as the cascade version, but the w/l percentage is push further in that direction (i.e. our matchup against spirits becomes worse, despite already being bad; but our matchup against control becomes better, despite already being slightly favorable), with the only exceptions being that cascadeless decks are better against thoughtseize matchups. Luckily, the versatility in sideboard options makes games 2 and 3 feel a lot less clunky. Being able to run shattering spree instead of ingot chewer feels so much better.
Overall, Cascade version feels “safer” walking into an unknown meta and cascadeless feels better walking into a meta where a majority of the floor is expected to be 50/50 or better.
This is by memory as I’m not near my list: but this is the current adaptation. It’s hardly a list I’d take to an event and is still here to test different cards.
Quoting and updating my list. As I said earlier, 1 Chandra and 1 Mission Briefing really feels right. They’re powerful, but I really don’t want to see them in multiples.
To my dismay, however, my lgs has closed down and work has taken over my life, so I won’t be testing any more in the foreseeable future. Maybe I’ll try something come MagicFest Tampa.
I prefer Bolt to path for the sole reason that it can hit Planeswalkers. I’ve also grinded out games where I was able to cast Bolt and Electrodominance targetting face multiple times thanks to cycling Emrakul and using my 1-of Mission Briefing.
It's been a while since I've played magic, but I can't help thinking about this deck. I've been fooling around with different versions and I think I settled on a list for now. Here's the tapped out link: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/lets-work-on-your-balance/
The build isn't as individualized as I would like it to be, but I plan on playing with other ideas. I have yet to test it in a competitive setting, so I plan on taking it to my LGS next month and will share results when I get them.
Hope everyone is well!
Huntmaster? And no As Foretold, but you’s running an expertise that is much more restrictive? The rest seems solid.
So why is everyone running Chandra? When did she become the go to in this version?
On average in your playtesting and actual games what turn can you RB + Summons? I feel if it's too late they'll counter the spell.
I guess my problem with this deck is the too many moving parts to accomplish what the old version can do with less. Probably me being old and set in my ways.
I’ll probably be cutting one of her so I only run one.
So, my main reasons are her strong removal and her ramp potential. Several times now, I’ll cast her turn three, then immediately electro into RB. She’s extremely powerful against an empty board because she easily kills anything that comes down or threatens opponent’s life totals if they don’t deal with her. Her ramp is great at all stages of the game. The only issue is her potential to exile something we need, which drastically decreases with As Foretold on the field. Serum Visions can also influence her lines of play.
Ultimately, I think she’s a perfectly reasonable 1-of that offers a lot to our game. Unfortunately, unlike Nahiri (who can cycle), a second copy in hand is usually more of a problem than anything.
That’s actually a similar list to my early tests. I eventually cut the baubles, gix, and wheels in favor of more bolts and dig spells. Baubles just don’t feel that great for us, gix is clunky with the mana spent to sacrifice permanents, and the wheels would help my opponent more often than myself.
I’m gonna test Mox Tantalite out. I know it’s easily the worst mox, but if there’s a deck that can rock it, it’s this one.
I haven’t seen many new toys for he cascade version recently. Dovin, Hand of Control, maybe?
I like the Echoing Truth. Bounces Phonixes, Holloweds, everything in dredge, Chalices, etc. Why not run any more in the board?
Being double white and three mana means that 1. We can include him in all lists except UR EB; and 2. He puts us a bit harder in white, which hurts the ElectroBalance build a bit more (due to the necessities of cantrips and double red, double white on turn 3 is a tall glass of water).
He both stalls and acts as a wincon, two important synergies. He’s powerful against several different archetypes and can stall long enough to Balance and hit the opponent after a balance.
The issue is that playing him sacrifices dig effects. He doesn’t grant card advantage and he takes a slot that could. While this may seem minor, we pilot a deck that is dependant on casting one particular spell. Because of this, I recommend Gideon only for cascade variants of the deck. Because the cascade variant is only reliant on drawing a cascade spell, Gideon’s lack of card advantage doesn’t hinder the deck as much as EB, which required two pieces. That being said, I can still see him being played as a two-of in the sideboard for matchups like Death’s Shadow and Burn, where the stalling could be worth more than card advantage.
I feel I’ve stated my opinion of Blood Moon in this deck enough that it doesn’t need repeating. I guess in UR non-cascade list, it’s a lot more effective (as long as you main at least 3 islands), but I still would rather use those precious slots on other threats.
Lastly, @Timota, I’ve been thinking of following your list’s idea of cutting two Bolts for two more opts. How has that been working out for you?
I play less towards the style of “dig dig dig till I get the combo” and more along the lines of “control my draw the best I can to get to my combo and disrupt the important threats along the way.” Hence my 4 Bolts. Nahiri’s -2 comes into play quite often and she proceeds to soak up damage, too.
But the real nail in the coffin for Jeskai is the sideboard. I have access to the best sideboard color in the format and i abuse that. Rip in Pepperonis, Leyline of Don’t Touch Me, Stoned Silence, etc. help in all those matchups.
I have yet to play against Shadow with this build, but I suspect it is still a bad matchup.
I don’t like the blue/red lists. I feel they lack synergistic wincons. JtMS is nice and all, but he doesn’t offer much before the first balance. EDIT: I know you don’t run JtMS in yours, that was just a general statement. I like Chandra, but found running more than one led to feelbads when both were in my hand. That being said, my list can cycle Emrakul and dig to her again if the first one is destroyed, so running two in the UR build seems reasonable.
I mean, your Jeskai list is exactly mine, except swap two Opts for two Bolts and one Tolaria West for one Spirebluff Canal. I approve.
Yeah, current theme is no black, still. I miss the old days where my favorite color stood for something in our archetype.
It’s been mostly successful. It’s strong against a good number of the field and only really has a tougher matchup vs Spirits and Humans. It seems the cascadeless version has the same good and bad matchups as the cascade version, but the w/l percentage is push further in that direction (i.e. our matchup against spirits becomes worse, despite already being bad; but our matchup against control becomes better, despite already being slightly favorable), with the only exceptions being that cascadeless decks are better against thoughtseize matchups. Luckily, the versatility in sideboard options makes games 2 and 3 feel a lot less clunky. Being able to run shattering spree instead of ingot chewer feels so much better.
Overall, Cascade version feels “safer” walking into an unknown meta and cascadeless feels better walking into a meta where a majority of the floor is expected to be 50/50 or better.
Quoting and updating my list. As I said earlier, 1 Chandra and 1 Mission Briefing really feels right. They’re powerful, but I really don’t want to see them in multiples.
To my dismay, however, my lgs has closed down and work has taken over my life, so I won’t be testing any more in the foreseeable future. Maybe I’ll try something come MagicFest Tampa.
Huntmaster? And no As Foretold, but you’s running an expertise that is much more restrictive? The rest seems solid.
I’ll probably be cutting one of her so I only run one.
So, my main reasons are her strong removal and her ramp potential. Several times now, I’ll cast her turn three, then immediately electro into RB. She’s extremely powerful against an empty board because she easily kills anything that comes down or threatens opponent’s life totals if they don’t deal with her. Her ramp is great at all stages of the game. The only issue is her potential to exile something we need, which drastically decreases with As Foretold on the field. Serum Visions can also influence her lines of play.
Ultimately, I think she’s a perfectly reasonable 1-of that offers a lot to our game. Unfortunately, unlike Nahiri (who can cycle), a second copy in hand is usually more of a problem than anything.