I’ve felt like Heroic has been well-positioned in Standard for a while, and Harlan Firer has brought something new to the game. Heroic has been doing well
in the Open fields of Abzan and Jeskai, and it has enough consistency and power to compete against rares and mythics with its commons and uncommons.
Compare it to an earlier list of Jeskai Heroic Combo.
Creatures (10)
Lands (21)
Spells (29)
- 4 Raise the Alarm
- 3 Springleaf Drum
- 4 Retraction Helix
- 4 Stoke the Flames
- 4 Jeskai Charm
- 4 Hordeling Outburst
- 2 Dig Through Time
- 4 Jeskai Ascendancy
Sideboard
Creatures (16)
- 4 Akroan Crusader
- 4 Favored Hoplite
- 2 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
- 2 Seeker of the Way
- 4 Monastery Swiftspear
Lands (18)
Spells (26)
- 4 Springleaf Drum
- 4 Gods Willing
- 4 Dragon Mantle
- 4 Retraction Helix
- 2 Jeskai Charm
- 4 Defiant Strike
- 4 Jeskai Ascendancy
Sideboard
This is basically an updated version of Ivan Jen’s Open winning deck from SCG Oakland. Harlan’s deck is more focused on a general solid plan A of beatdown
while using Jeskai Ascendancy to supplement attacks and to enable convoke while having a backdoor infinite combo with Jeskai Ascendancy + Springleaf Drum +
Retraction Helix. It has game at all stages of the game with early aggression from Monastery Swiftspear and Seeker of the Way, a burn plan with Jeskai
Charm and Stoke the Flames, lategame with card filtering and the power of Jeskai Ascendancy and Dig Through Time, and a combo element that the opponent
always has to respect–often to the point where they have to leave up mana just in case, thus hindering their own board development.
As far as Jeskai Ascendancy decks are in Standard, this is the first one that I actually like. Adding Stoke the Flames alongside tokens and Jeskai
Ascendancy squeaks additional use out of the untap clause of the Ascendancy. I’m still not in love with Springleaf Drum, and while I don’t like to count it
as a mana source or to be tapping my creatures in a way that doesn’t involve attacking in the early turns, the tokens created by Hordeling Outburst and
Raise the Alarm ensure that that the creature being tapped isn’t costing you an entire card.
Harlan’s deck really makes cards like Hero’s Downfall and Crackling Doom and even Chain to the Rocks look foolish. In Standard where Mardu Midrange is
picking up, I really like the approach with Heroic here, as Mardu tends to give W/U Heroic a pretty hard time. The tokens make one-for-one removal a poor
gameplan against you, and the Jeskai Ascendancy makes sure that tokens don’t get blanked too often by random blockers.
R/W Heroic is an archetype that I’ve been thinking about for a while. Heroic is good and people do adapt to the current flavor of it that’s most popular,
but a shift in its plan, whether it’s another color or another axis, can surprise even the most prepared of opponents. Gerry Thompson recently talked about
a build that’s been having success on Magic Online, and I have to say it looks like a nice aggressive take on the deck that doesn’t give the opponent much
time to develop a defense against.
Creatures (20)
Lands (20)
Spells (20)
Phalanx Leader is a card that I haven’t been quite able to get behind, as its initial body is so small and requires a reasonable boardstate before you ever
start pulling ahead in value with it. Drawing two+ Mountains alongside it can get awkward quickly, and without Mana Confluence or Battlefield Forge,
there’s no way to curve a one-drop red creature into it on turn 2. However, Phalanx Leader is more of a turn 3 or 4 play that you want to trigger the turn
you play it or leave a protection spell like Gods Willing or Feat of Resistance open to protect it. I like the style of the deck as it has great nut draws
and requires a bit of finesse and awareness of what your opponent might have in order to navigate your low-power but high-synergy cards into a winning
position.
Gerry brought up an interesting point in Arc Lightning as being a decent removal spell that can spill leftover damage onto one of your creatures like
Phalanx Leader to trigger heroic while still interacting with your opponent’s board. Overall the concept is interesting, but of course, three mana is a
lot. In theory, Blinding Flare ought to be good as well, as you can spend your leftover mana on triggering your heroic as well as getting in some good
damage (though that hasn’t paid off in practice). That said, I can see some number of Arc Lightning out of the board for matchups that you’d want it anyway
while having some slight additional value of targeting your own creatures as a bonus side effect.
I definitely want four copies of Battlefield Forges and likely a Mana Confluence or two to smooth out the curve of the deck. Also having a bunch of Plains
in play while wanting to pump mana into Dragon Mantle can leave you short of lethal more often than I like. Five lands that enter the battlefield tapped
might still be too many, but it’s tough to want to play the full four Mana Confluence in any deck, even hyper aggressive ones. The deck really wants access
to as much white and red mana as it can get on all of the early turns. Seeker of the Way helps somewhat in relieving all the pain taken from Battlefield
Forge and Mana Confluence, but hopefully you won’t get put into that sort of racing situation; if the game goes long towards that point, you’re likely
losing anyway. Here’s my take on the list that takes the elements of Boss Sligh that make blocking tough and also adds the increased power level that comes
from adding white.
Creatures (20)
- 4 Akroan Crusader
- 3 Phalanx Leader
- 4 Favored Hoplite
- 2 Arena Athlete
- 3 Seeker of the Way
- 4 Monastery Swiftspear
Lands (20)
Spells (20)
SCG Columbus was a great tournament for W/U Heroic, but since then the cat’s been basically out of the bag, and people have grown accustomed to what the
deck is capable of and have been building, sideboarding, and playing accordingly. Still, even with less of an edge than before, I like W/U Heroic, as it’s
very powerful and resilient. Many decks can’t beat a Favored Hoplite into Ordeal of Thassa on the play, and any hiccup of not removing your creatures on
key turns will leave them fighting a losing battle of three-mana removal spells against one-mana answers. This is what I like for W/U Heroic going into the
weekend of Grand Prix San Antonio and SCG Atlanta.
Creatures (20)
- 4 Battlewise Hoplite
- 4 Favored Hoplite
- 4 Hero of Iroas
- 1 Eidolon of Countless Battles
- 1 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
- 3 Heliod's Pilgrim
- 3 Seeker of the Way
Lands (22)
Spells (18)
Eidolon of Countless Battles is the card I get the most questions about, and it for sure looks bad when it’s in your opening hand or when it’s the only
creature in play. It’s a strong card that enables some landslide victories but very close to being categorized as a “win more” card. That said, I do like
how it gives some reason to have two Hero of Iroas in play, as it makes the Eidolon cost WW, and how well it pairs with Seeker of the Way to compete in
slugfest races like against Whip of Erebos, multiple Siege Rhinos/Nylea’s Disciples, or in the mirror match. Overall, I like putting the second one in the
sideboard for matches that you really need a huge power boost in like against Green Devotion that don’t have much targeted removal if any. As for game 1,
drawing one is alright, but drawing two will have the second copy on very fast diminishing returns.
Singing Bell Strike has been moved to the sideboard, as you can often maneuver past blockers or outrace attackers in game 1. There were just too many
matchups where Singing Bell Strike was a blank and its best use is against Stormbreath Dragon, so I’d reserve it for matchups that involve that card or
similar really hard to combat threats.
Glare of Heresy is essential now that mirror matches are popping up. Harlan Firer’s win further pushes the fact that Ascendancy is on the map again, and
you can expect to face it at least once in the swiss rounds in this weekend’s tournaments. Given that Glare solves some of the problems that Erase did,
like opposing Jeskai Ascendancy, I’m comfortable going down to just one Erase to make room for now.
The Heroic archetype is inherently powerful but likely has the most decisions to make of any of the current archetypes in Standard right now. The margin
for error is very slim and unforgiving. One of the biggest reasons to run the deck is the intangible fact that your opponent has to constantly respect what
your deck is capable of, whether it be the Jeskai Ascendancy combo for an auto-win or crazy burst damage turns that involve a flurry or Defiant Strikes or
Ordeal of Thassas. As much room as there is to make mistakes with a Heroic strategy, there are an equal number of opportunities for your opponents to make
mistakes playing against it.
Once you have the repetitions in and your game tight, all you have to do is sit back, turn creatures sideways, and wait for your opponent to slip up.