Now that Kolaghan's Command, Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Gurmag Angler have been released, everyone has suddenly realised how good Jund and Grixis decks are. Interactivity and grinding is the name of the game, and the goal is to stop your opponent from getting their gameplan started while getting out large and efficient threats, or winning through the Splinter Twin combo.
Whatsmore with the release of Collected Company, Abzan Pod-esque decks and Elf decks have increased in popularity, praying on the slower metagame.
Taking all of this into account, I've been adjusting my Jeskai deck, featuring my main man, Geist of Saint Traft. The objective vs aggressive the decks is to 1-for-1 their threats with our large burn suite, complimented by Path to Exile, and then try to land a Geist of Saint Traft to start swinging for 6 once they are out of steam. Snapcaster Mage and Restoration Angel also act as blockers in a pinch, or can start swinging back after you've flashed them in during your opponents end step, allowing you to leave mana for counters or removal. Batterskull also comes into its own here, and if you manage to untap with it then you're odds of winning multiply very quickly.
Against the control/combo decks we want to be the aggressor and slip in a Geist and start beating down, using our Remands and Mana Leaks to keep tempo. If we're playing against Twin we may want to hold out, and not let them cash in with Remand for free. Playing Restoration Angel or Snapcaster Mage in their end step will let us start forcing through damage, since its unlikely for them to tap out in their own turn and let us resolve a big threat in our own turn (hopefully while we have some way to stop combo in hand, eg. Path + spell snare).
Jund/Abzan is an interesting matchup, and I haven't had much chance to test it. A lot of their removal is blanked game 1, and their larger threats can be dealt with using Path to Exile. However they are a deck that runs 3/4 main deck Liliana of the Veil, being one of the few cards that can deal with Geist of Saint Traft efficiently. Game 2/3 we can side out Geist and turn into a grindy control deck, eventually landing an unanswerable Keranos to end the game for us, or swinging in with smaller creatures, Celestial Colonnade and our burn spell to finish them off.
In all of the above matchups we hope to generate card advantage via Electrolyze, Cryptic Command and Snapcaster Mage, staying ontop in terms of cards.
We also need to keep in mind we can burn them out a lot of opponents with 4 Lightning Bolt, 4 Lightning Helix, 2 Electrolyze, 4 Snapcaster Mage and the possibility of bouncing Snappy with our Angels. Keranos, God of Storms can also join in late game to lob bolts at their dome each turn.
I'm very interested in everyone's opinion of Narset Transcendent in this deck. Ticking up to 7 loyalty provides resilience AND potential card advantage on the way, and the possibility of rebounding Cryptics, Electrolyzes and Bolts/Helixes can quickly end games. Plus vs any combo or control deck, protecting her til 9 loyalty means victory. The question remains that is she better than say, Jace, Architect of Thought or the cheaper Jace Beleren
Any suggestions and recommendations are very welcome (especially sideboard), or questions/discussion you have regarding specific cards. Any experience playing with or against the deck too. Thanks for reading!
