The first Open Series with Fate Reforged has brought both new decks to the mix as well as nice updates to existing archetypes. Going into the tournament,
everybody knew that Abzan Midrange and Jeskai Tokens would still be good. I ended up running an updated Jeskai Tokens list, albeit admittedly not optimized
at all. With Pro Tour Fate Reforged around the corner, my mind has been occupied with Modern decklists, and Standard has been second to that. In fact, I
built my deck mainly to have fun and wasn’t worried a bit if I didn’t make day two of the Standard Open, as I would’ve been more than happy to try out my
new Infect list in the Modern Premier IQ, but that has been postponed for testing during the weeks before the Pro Tour.
I’m happy to say that I’ve joined Team Pantheon for this Pro Tour. I highly respect all of the players on the team including Patrick Chapin, Owen
Turtenwald, Reid Duke, and William Jensen and have always wanted the opportunity to work with the old school masters like Kai Budde, Jon Finkel, and
Gabriel Nassif. I was reached for by many great teams and it was tough to choose among them, but I’m happy with the decision and hope to learn from some of
the best while being a helpful team member myself.
For the Standard Open, my Jeskai Tokens list had a little bit of everything in order to get a feel of what cards I like. Although testing ought to be done
prior to an event as big as a $20,000 Open with first place being a very significant $5,000, there simply wasn’t much time to get testing in. I imagine I
wasn’t the only person in the same boat, as week one is typically the Wild West of a new metagame where people can show up with literally anything, even Temur Ascendancy Combo.
This is what I played in the Open.
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (28)
The list that I settled on was a blend of new cards that I wanted to try out, some fun one-ofs that I wanted to test to see if they’re good, and in a shell
that’s a mix of Yuuya Watanabe’s original Jeskai Tokens list and a Jeskai Tokens Control list that myself and Austin Bursavich have been working on locally
before Fate Reforged. For reference, this is the more control-oriented version that we previously played.
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (33)
- 2 Magma Jet
- 4 Raise the Alarm
- 4 Lightning Strike
- 1 Anger of the Gods
- 2 Steam Augury
- 2 Stoke the Flames
- 2 End Hostilities
- 1 Jeskai Charm
- 2 Disdainful Stroke
- 4 Treasure Cruise
- 4 Hordeling Outburst
- 1 Dig Through Time
- 4 Jeskai Ascendancy
Sideboard
This version cut all of the actual creatures in Goblin Rabblemaster and Seeker of the Way in order to focus on going bigger in the mirror and to blank all
one-for-one removal like Lightning Strike, Chained to the Rocks, and Hero’s Downfall for the most part. It also had the angle of your opponents not being
entirely sure what you’re up to. To incorporate the higher curve, a 25th land was added, which crossed over into the build I played in Washington DC.
With that tournament in the books, I learned about which cards I liked and disliked. Playing less than four copies of Stoke the Flames and Hordeling
Outbursts were mistakes. Additionally, there weren’t enough red creatures in general to reliably convoke Stoke the Flames. Goblin Rabblemaster is a card
with a huge bullseye on its head when it’s in play, or even has the potential to enter the battlefield, but will lead to some quickly overwhelming games
when left uncontested. Rabblemaster doesn’t play well on defense and won’t tend to get you out of a bind when you’re behind, so currently I like it in
small numbers as to not be stuck with too many of them if you start on the backfoot. There’s an argument that they’re good in multiples, as of course they
trigger +1/+0 off each other, but more importantly, you have another to follow up with after the first inevitably eats a removal spell. Even so, I think
with just a couple of Goblin Rabblemasters in the list, you’ll be able to orchestrate a situation that leaves you with value the turn you cast it and
hopefully the following turns as well.
This is the version of Jeskai Tokens that I’d play today.
Creatures (8)
Lands (24)
Spells (28)
Soulfire Grand Master was decent for me in DC but was often worse than Seeker of the Way, enough that I want to go back to the Seeker. Attacking into
Sylvan Caraytid and threatening to trade with Fleecemane Lion and opposing Seeker of the Ways was something that Soulfire Grand Master simply couldn’t do.
Also Soulfire Grand Master is redundant in multiples so playing a low number of them is going to be correct. The lifegain is nice and rebuying spells
(specifically Stoke the Flames) gets you nice value later in the game when things are stable, but Jeskai Tokens has enough going on in that stage, like
going off with Jeskai Ascendancy and/or chaining Treasure Cruises.
The times I played against Outpost Siege, and from what I’ve watched on camera, it was extremely impressive. Surprisingly, the Dragons mode of “Whenever a
creature you control leaves the battlefield, Outpost Siege deals 1 damage to target creature or player” is more often the more useful and powerful of the
two. The Khans mode of “At the beginning of your upkeep, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card” is most of what you
wanted out of Chandra, Pyromaster anyway and will assume that role as necessary in the matchups where that effect is wanted.
VS Abzan Midrange
Out:
In:
If they have Fleecemane Lion, you should leave in the Lightning Strikes and pass on the second Outpost Siege and Elspeth. Most decks will have some way to
remove Jeskai Ascendancy after sideboard and this is no exception, so try to play it on a turn that you at least get a trigger from it. Their multiple
Siege Rhino draws are their best against you (and coincidentally the best against everyone) and fighting off those are a priority.
VS Abzan Aggro
Out:
In:
Probably your toughest matchup. They can run you over quickly, and your burn spells might not matchup well against them if you have a bunch of Wild Slashes
and Lightning Strikes against Anafenza, the Foremost and Wingmate Roc. Thoughtseize can keep you off-curve, and End Hostilities can be a turn slow before
they’re able to monstrous Fleecemane Lion. When blocking and trading, try to diversify your tokens as their main removal is Bile Blight.
VS Mardu Midrange
Out:
In:
This matchup is pretty good, as they have a bunch of one-for-one removal that matches poorly against your tokens, though you can still get run over by
Goblin Rabblemaster or an uncontested flyer like Butcher of the Horde or Stormbreath Dragon. Since they’re weak against tokens, they always have a few
copies of Drown in Sorrow in their sideboard, so I recommend sideboarding out some of the token-makers. You want to play as the control player in this
matchup, attrition them out, and then ride the advantage of Treasure Cruise to victory.
VS W/U Heroic
Out:
In:
This matchup is very play/draw-dependent. Neither deck plays well defensively, and the difference between them leaving up a bare heroic creature into
Lightning Strike turn 2 or not is a world of difference. Wild Slash helps in this aspect, but you need to be able to put on pressure against them at the
same time they’re pressuring you to be competitive. After sideboard, be wary of Stubborn Denial (though it should be sort of obvious when they leave it
up).
VS Jeskai Tokens
Out:
In:
The mirror is all about big swings and life management. There’s a bunch of chump blocking going on, and there’s risk of losing too much of your board as
opposed to going down into burn range from Stoke the Flames and the like. You don’t want too many reactive cards at the wrong time, so side them in
sparingly. This is the best matchup for Outpost Siege’s Dragons mode, as plenty of creatures will be dying on both sides and their toughness is small. On
the play, you may not want Anger of the Gods; and on the draw, you may want End Hostilities, depending on builds. The above sideboard guide is a general
outline for both.
VS U/B Control
Out:
In:
Game 1, you’re hoping to not draw much of your bad burn spells and for them to draw expensive removal like Hero’s Downfall. After sideboard, things get
generally easier when you have countermagic. Your spells are so cheap compared to theirs, and the difference ends up being that you can operate as strongly
as them with less lands in play.
VS G/B Constellation
Out:
In:
Most of the time you win will be from killing their enablers and stranding them with haymakers in hand or from them only drawing one or two cards that
matter and you dealing with those. Game 1, you don’t have good ways to deal with cards like Hornet Queen or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, but after you get some
Negates and Disdainful Stroke going, things gets a lot better.
VS R/W Aggro
Out:
In:
Very similar to a mirror match of Jeskai Tokens, except they very rarely stumble in any way. Stormbreath Dragon is a good one out of them, and you really
want to land an Outpost Siege on Dragons on a stable board before they do. If you see the Siege game 1, consider bringing in an Erase as well. Try to bait
out their Erase with Jeskai Ascendancy as Outpost Siege will be more powerful most of the time.
VS Sultai Control
Out:
In:
The Champion Gerard Fabiano’s deck. I haven’t seen this deck in action much outside of watching his feature matches, so the sideboarding is speculative
albeit kinda obvious, and I expect this deck to be played more following his win in DC. They often plan on playing very few creatures or creatureless in
the maindeck then sideboarding into them on the assumption that their opponent sides out their removal. Fortunately here, Jeskai Tokens doesn’t have any
dedicated creature removal that doesn’t also hit players, so the best one in Stoke the Flames can stay in in case a stray Courser of Kruphix or such shows
up.
I believe Jeskai Tokens is a really strong deck moving forward and is certainly something I’d be considering for Winter Regionals if I wasn’t playing in
Pro Tour Fate Reforged. That said, I am looking forward to this Pro Tour and working with The Pantheon. Wish me the best of luck!