Going into Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar, everyone knew that Jeskai, specifically those with black, were going to be a potent threat. Both it and G/W
Megamorph were the best decks, so many people were scared to play them, as they thought everyone would be trying to beat them. Through some clever tuning,
you can end up with a deck that isn’t really scared at all.
The Battle lands give the deck consistent mana by allowing Bloodstained Mire to fetch blue mana through Sunken Hollow and Polluted Delta to fetch red
through Smoldering Marsh. Some say that splashing an additional color isn’t worth it, but if Polluted Delta could fetch a Mountain, you’d certainly play
it, and fetching Smoldering Marsh isn’t all that different. As a result, you accidentally end up with a lot of black mana sources in your deck, so you
might as well play some black cards.
The Pantheon put two members in Top 8, both with the same Jeskai Black list. Their deck is very similar to those being played on the Open Series, but with
some additional spice. For starters, they have a heavier black presence with four Crackling Dooms, three Kolaghan’s Commands, and three Tasigur, the Golden
Fang.
Tasigur is a nice upgrade over Treasure Cruise since the deck would rather have a threat most of the time. They still felt like the deck could support
additional delve cards, so there’s also a pair of Dig Through Times. The lategame consists of rebuying spells off Soulfire Grand Master or making Dragons
with Dragonmaster Outcast. With six Commands, doing so is quite easy.
This deck is aggressive in the earlygame and has trumps in the lategame, making it a very potent choice for Standard going forward.
Creatures (14)
- 1 Dragonmaster Outcast
- 4 Mantis Rider
- 2 Soulfire Grand Master
- 3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
- 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (26)
Spells (19)
- 2 Dispel
- 4 Crackling Doom
- 1 Utter End
- 2 Dig Through Time
- 2 Wild Slash
- 3 Ojutai's Command
- 3 Kolaghan's Command
- 2 Fiery Impulse
Sideboard
