I'd like to work Mantis Rider and Whisk Away into this, I feel it might be light on creatures and blockers, but I'm not sure how it will feel to pilot it. Is it better to use a win-con of burn/counter burn? Or swap in more prowess guys and cantrips?

I like the creature package you have here but the noncreatures don't seem to maximize their potential due to high cmcs and the fact that many of them are usually used on the opponent's turn. Cantrips and cheap protection spells are your best friend, and Jeskai Ascendancy is probably a must along withTreasure Cruise.

This will do ok as a counterburn deck, but just be aware that your creatures won't be as effective as wallet busters like Goblin Rabblemaster and Monastery Mentor.

ChrisHansonBiomancin, Should I whisk away instead of valorous stance? I feel like Jeskai ascendency isn't that useful when all my creatures have prowess, right? If I were to bring some in, what would I take out?

Should I go with more War Flare and Refocus to trigger prowess? I like the combo of a flying lifelink double striking monk that swings for 10 after a War Flare and using Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest but once prowess goes off even from a Shock then ferocious is triggered for crater claws, so that's a nice win-con,

Maybe removing the general counter/tempo plays and doing Jeskai agro will be more successful? I'd like to play Mantis Rider if I can! but it's not as effective as Savage Knuckleblade is in Temur Ramp, so maybe it doesn't matter much?

How about Monastery Swiftspear instead of Mistfire Adept.

Also, why the Windswept Heath? You aren't playing green so wouldn't Flooded Strand be better? You may want to add in some more copies of Swiftwater Cliffs, Wind-Scarred Crag and Tranquil Cove.

awesomeguy37 that was a typo! I do have a flooded strand in there! not a Windswept Heath :-) thanks!

The swiftspears are in the sideboard, because it's not really an agro deck and I value the evasion mistfire brings over the 1 drop haste - though I guess drop that then War Flare but I'd rather save a flare for during combat, unless I used Jeskai Ascendency to give all my elves prowess! then use them for the final swing...

I guess if I'm going non-agro, I can have more taplands and not hurt too much because of it. I'll play around with them. I just happen to have a Flooded Strand so I threw it in.

A third color might be fun: black to get Bloodsoaked Champion/Whip of Erebos, or green to bring back Hornet Queen? :O

Also, might Goblin Rabblemaster be good in here?

If you're looking for a sac outlet, Goblin Bombardment is a thing, although it kinda sucks. Butcher of the Horde would be the most obvious one if you add black, but if you throw green into the mix you could try Life's Legacy and/or Scourge of Skola Vale.

CORRECTION: I was thinking about Barrage of Expendables, which was M14 anyways. So discount what I said, Goblin Bombardment is NOT Standard legal. Sorry about that.

OH OH OH what about Collateral Damage? Forgot about that card. Sorry, ideas are just spewing about at this point.

alexthegreat38 thanks for the suggestions. I just realized that if I splash blue (as this deck originally was jeskai), the Jeskai Ascendancy can let me discard ponyback, or even Elite Scaleguard so I can cast them via alesha. I'd rather reanimate than whip, but also I'd like to keep it 2 color and seriously budget ($50 total, otherwise rabblemaster is a "duh" card)

if I do go black instead of blue (Mardu prowess deck??) then I get butcher for sac of course, and topping the mana curve at 4 isn't that bad, especially if it's for him - the chart currently has it at 4, but that's to flip ponyback which I don't have the mana for, so it's a 3, chump/sac/discard, cast via alesha for 2cmc.

If you want to discard stuff you can stay in your colors and try Tormenting Voice. Putting in black for Butcher of the Horde and maybe Whip of Erebos could make the reanimator thing a lot more interesting and viable. Adding black would also give you the option of some great removal like Hero's Downfall (probably too expensive), Murderous Cut (affordable), and Harsh Sustenance (very good with lots of tokens around). Have you thought about Outpost Siege? If you end up sacrificing a lot of guys, the Dragons mode can be very good, but the Khans mode is extremely useful when a red deck has trouble with card advantage.

alexthegreat38 wow thanks!! Collateral Damage is perfect in this deck!!!

I'm worried about the Alesha as a four-of, because, although you want to see it every game, you don't really want more than one at a time. Maybe drop it to a three-of, and add a copy of something currently at 3?

Also, +1 for interesting Standard reanimator shenanigans.

Tormenting Voice sounds like a great side-able with the siege which I have a couple of laying around...

Thanks, erabel! It's a non-Sidisi non-whip ;-) that deck is just so tired.

Part of the reason I have 4x is she will die. At some point, someone always kills her. Having another just waiting in hand can be nice. It's not super agro, it's tempo-by-attrition, but I do see your point.

If I were to add black for Butcher (whip is too $$ I think) what else in black would I even add besides Murderous Cut? Just Harsh Sustenance? Mana base suddenly gets trickier and pricier, that's why I was trying to limit to 2 colors.

Do I have better options for red/black? Alesha can do R/B but I lose the Jeskai reanimation surprise... Any good black ETB tokens? Hoping KTK/FRF but as long as it's budget, I'm open to any ideas...

If you are looking for Sac outlets, Kheru Bloodsucker, Merciless Executioner, Qarsi High Priest, and Tormented Thoughts are probably your best bets. I know the last isn't repeatable, but to have an opponent discard 2 isn't the worst. The rest are also interesting.

FatherLiir there's no black! this is R/W, I don't want to slow the deck down and/or increase my costs of mana base...

Add Tormenting Voice and Vaultbreaker to get the ability to discard cards so you can add Hornet Queen without splashing green.

bfretro those are all good suggestions! that's a great way to get the queen in, but at that price! maybe is rather a rabblemaster! not sure...

The Vaultbreaker and Tormenting Voice for sure! though, where to make room? I'm running 4x Alesha for sure... Maybe Pressure Point can be replaced? Especially with more cheap card draw at least...

DTK is gonna be sooooooo good for this deck.

6tennis I bet it really will - already in the spoilers:

Sandcrafter Mage white common 2W 2/2 ETB bolster 1

Stratus Dancer blue rare 1U 2/1 flying megamorph when turned face up counter spell. even if it only counters once, it can go in the sideboard and still comes back as a 2 power flyer.

Though I think flying as a form of evasion is about to become USELESS.

Oh, I thought Stratus Dancer was non-creature counter. It's only instant/sorcery, so that guy won't make the cut. Cheap common bolsterers though? Sure, all day long.

So this deck is only costing me 1 tix on MTGO (this site has a high price, it says the mountains are like 4 tix...)

Anyway, playtesting tonight!