I have been using Crater's Claws as a "shock" type card in my list. It had been able to take down Rhinos and Roc's. Also I have been testing Icy Blast. It seems to make the Abzan aggro match a little better: from 45% game 2 win % to a Whopping 65% game 2 win %. Also, I believe you were right the last time. Tonight the Nexus won me 2 matches in a row. I drew it late in games 2 both times with Blast in had. Cheers to you

Abzan aggro really is a complicated match... Maybe Voyage's End instead of Retraction Helix ? I know it costs 1 more to play, but you don't have to tap a creture and can also scry.

I agree with Geoffrey1, both Crater's Claws and Icy Blast can do wonders since this deck is based in playing big guys.
But about the Nexus... Sure it can win the match, but i would rather not spend a slot with it since the only spell that can sac it is the blast. If we still have Trading Post them playing Nexus would be more "appealing" :D

@Soldcastro already did experiment with icy blast it's okay but the deck already gets in pretty well and wins quick. The way the deck is now is so tight The sideboard is the only place there might be two spots to try something like that but I already know how it is and more often than not Icy blast didn't really matter. I think retraction helix is better for the same reason stubborn denial is good in the deck costing one and allowing you to add more pressure. However if we added it, It would be more sideboard.

I started my journey, with this deck, playing a mono Blue version that ran 2x Bident. I like the card maybe I will give it a shot. I just found it, underwhelming half the time. But I trust you to lead the way. Perhaps it is good..... I have recently come across the Mardu Tokens decks. Game one is TERRIBLE. Game 2-3 can be blow outs on our side.. Do you have ideas for this match up?

@Geoffrey1 well the main threat is crackling doom vs Mardu and stubborn denial is our 4x answer vs that but siding in 3 storm breath and 3 circle of flame in addition gives us a real edge. I might actually take out the thassa and bidant and 1 engineer 1 servant 2 doom engine and add in the 2 arc lightning as well. This is just vs Mardu although rabble red is similar in siding, I keep 4 doom engines and just forget storm breath add in springleaf instead to speed us up and still side 3 circles and 2 arc lightning removing 2 Thassa and 2 bidant 1 chief and 1 servant from my list.

It may sound like we side out Thassa and dictate or bidant a lot but in this deck both of them are very useful most of the time, it's only in specific matches that they are too slow. Against all the brews you might play and all the other decks with a less hyper aggressive strategy those two cards are very solid. So we beat all the other decks and we just worry about winning those games against Mardu, Abzan and Jeskia tempo.

I guess if the Mardu list is playing 2 Sorin 2 Sarkhan then disdainful stroke is better than arc lightning then you just protect stormbreath counter the walkers and rely on circle to hold down rabblemaster. Eventually doom engine will walk right through goblins and even vampires.

I have discovered the same thing. Circle cuts the Master of Rabble to pieces. I am pondering Anger of the Gods v Arc Lightning. But I feel kill my OWN stuff is bad. As for the Dictate v Bident I will be testing both.

@Geoffrey1 I decided to try bident because it still give 2 blue devotion and it can be convoked on turn 2 at the earliest. Those turns we have ensouled darksteel or an ornithopter tower of ghostfire and our opponent wants to skip combat, well nope sorry buddy your attacking which can lead to us swinging in for leathal sooner and seeing that shrapnel blast win. Dictate is a little different, it can be great but it helps our opponent out too. I had to fear being burned out by jeskai and Abzan seeing way to much removal. I feel Bident is just very playable here because we can pay less and get more. Sorry if I made you track down dictates, at least they were cheap. They are still playable just risky vs those decks I mentioned.

I was about to ask you why Bident.
Do you know if we swing with a 0/2 ornithopter for 0 dam and draw?

@Soldcastro no you have to deal damage but with 3 blades in the list and Thassa's unblockable feature along with quite a few creatures hopefully it's not a problem. Additionally bident can make your opponent attack clearing the way for you.

To be honest the ONLY Dictates I found were the semi budget Game Day Foil Promo. But the look cool so it's all Good man.

I am not positive i'm done with dictate just giving bident a chance. Don't forget if you tap a chief or lol thassa if she by some impossible odd was already a creature you can add blue mana to your pool because when convoking you can add colorless or mana color of the tapped creature. This is important as you might have 2 blue and need 1 open for stubborn denial and this way you can still pay Bident of Thassa 's casting cost and retain a blue so long as you have a chief.

Even costing 1 more Bident looks more sinergic. Being an artifact and opening a path makes Bident a better choice than dictate imho.

Yea that's my feeling. dictate has flash though which can turn on thassa by surprise which is pretty good as then you start your turn untapped with a live thassa.

The only issue I have with Bident is that you have to attack in order to draw. I may test Treasure Cruise.

Dig through time is better

I just don't like it because it's a one time thing only.Bident puts more pressure.with three blades and flyers I can see at least drawing one a turn.

True.

Impressive! +1 for sure

nice deck been brewing a u/r artifact deck for 2 weeks now this seems nice plus 1

So I think the mardu list's in the meta are going to shrink but both Jeskai lists and Abzan are going to stick around now. All 3 are proven top 8 in every tournament that matters. Because of rabblemaster being included in Jeskai in the non heroic combo deck ,I feel circles unfortunately are still nesessary in our sideboards. Arc lightning might be the only change out for maybe something else that could interact with heroic besides stubborn denial which is very good to get spring leaf or ascendancy maybe siding in 2 negate in addition would help.

I like these kinds of decks, but I don't think it would be a good idea to turn it into a grixis deck. for 1, you have lots of colorless lands, which would make things difficult on that front. the other thing is that Grixis probably isn't good as an aggro deck in this format. if you would like to put together a grixis control deck, I would love to help you out anyway I can

I just thought of another reason to play Bident of Thassa After side board we can force our opponents to attack into our Circle of Flame 's lol. You can board out a couple doom engines or whatever and play your impersonator's to copy circles too, maybe I will side retraction helix.

Hey i couldn't read all the comments but with my very similar deck and cant count the games i won in this meta with Anger of the Gods