Falling from the Jes-SKAI! [[WIP Primer]]

Commander / EDH* Budget Exile Midrange Partner RUW (Jeskai, America) Theme/Gimmick Tokens

Tiny_Sir

Lands (35)

• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 6x Island
• 1x Izzet Guildgate
• 8x Mountain
• 1x Mystic Monastery
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 8x Plains
• 1x Port Town
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Sunbaked Canyon
• 1x Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Thriving Bluff

Ramp (8)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Kor Cartographer
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Peregrine Drake
• 1x Sol Ring

Combo (4)

• 1x Dualcaster Mage
• 1x Felidar Sovereign
• 1x Heat Shimmer
• 1x Saheeli Rai

Burn (3)

• 1x Bogardan Hellkite
• 1x Flametongue Kavu
• 1x Inferno Titan

Recursion (3)

• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Scholar of the Lost Trove

Pin-Point-Removal (9)

• 1x Condemn
• 1x Crib Swap
• 1x Detention Sphere
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Fiend Hunter
• 1x Meteor Golem
• 1x Palace Jailer
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Return to Dust

Other-Flicker (8)

• 1x Charming Prince
• 1x Eerie Interlude
• 1x Ephemerate
• 1x Flicker of Fate
• 1x Flickerwisp
• 1x Mistmeadow Witch
• 1x Restoration Angel
• 1x Soulherder

Card-Advantage/Filter (6)

• 1x Bell Borca, Spectral Sergeant
• 1x Cloudblazer
• 1x Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Watcher for Tomorrow

Disruption (5)

• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Mindclaw Shaman
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Render Silent
• 1x Sublime Epiphany

Mass-Removal (3)

• 1x Sunblast Angel
• 1x Time Wipe
• 1x Vandalblast

Tutor (2)

• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Sunforger

Commanders (2)

Token-Makers (6)

• 1x Beetleback Chief
• 1x Goblin Rabblemaster
• 1x Legion Warboss
• 1x Myr Battlesphere
• 1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
• 1x Siege-Gang Commander *f-pre*

ETB-Payoffs (4)

• 1x Impact Tremors
• 1x Outpost Siege
• 1x Sakashima's Protege
• 1x Warstorm Surge

Grave-Hate (1)

• 1x Angel of Finality

Livio's-Friend (1)

• 1x Zirda, the Dawnwaker

---

Intro Does the idea of a Jeskai flicker deck get you excited? Do you want to spam an Inferno Titan ETB with Warstorm Surge out? Then this may be the deck for you! This is my current iteration of a Jeskai Blink deck led by Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel and Kraum, Ludevic's Opus! The idea of the deck is to flicker a ton and use some fun ETB effects to win.

Below is a WIP primer for these two commanders. I would love any feedback on formatting or cards to add!

Commanders

Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel is the inspiration behind this deck. The ability to give aegis counters to not only protect my big creatures from boardwipes but to make ETB's retrigger is amazing. I fell in love after seeing this card and decided I wanted to try something besides Bant or Esper flicker. Both of those are done by a multitude of Commanders (Brago, King Eternal,Aminatou, the Fateshifter,&Roon of the Hidden Realm come to mind) Then came the hard part, picking my colors.

Kraum, Ludevic's Opus may seem like a weird flicker partner. It has no ETB or LTB effect and doesn't flicker anything itself. Why run it? Mainly 2 reasons:

1. Kraum gives us red and blue. Blue gives us a ton more flicker effects and pay offs, while Red gives us some fun pay offs in Impact Tremors and Warstorm Surge, as well as fun cards like Siege-Gang Commander. This color gives us a fun token theme!

2. Kraum gives us incremental card advantage. Players cast spells all the time, so we will typically draw off his ability. Who doesn't like free cards?

Other Commanders?

There are many other flicker/bounce commanders. Here I'll go over a few popular ones and explain why I'm running these two partners instead. I know that some options will be more "optimized"/"competitive" but this is a more casual 75% deck so I won't be taking into account cEDH level decks.

Roon of the Hidden Realm: While a good comparison to Livio as he also needs to tap to use his ability, and is cheaper overall as he just needs 2 to flicker a singular creature compared to Livio's 5, he also has a weakness compared to Livio. The ability Livio has to be political with it's exiles is super intriguing, as well as mass ETB's. Exiling multiple things and bringing them back all at once can be back breaking in a game!

Brago, King Eternal: The king of the bouncy house himself, Brago does it all. Flickers all types of non-land permanents while only needing to attack instead of paying tons of mana. The advantage I see these partners have here is the extra color, timing, and infamy. The red in this deck adds faster ways to win then typical Brago stax lists, and the ability to bring back creatures on opponent's turns feels like a strong case for these two. Finally Brago is known to be a degenerate deck when built right, and this usually paints a target on your head. These two are much less assuming and seem to be fairly harmless.

Aminatou, the Fateshifter: A very good commander indeed. Many infinite combos that go through her, such as Spark Double on herself plus Altar of the Brood leaving you with a win. Other than someone in my playgroup already running this commander, I feel that like Brago she has an infamous reputation, as well as being in black. My main reasoning for making this deck was that I wanted Jeskai and some of these Red pay offs. Aminatou doesn't allow this to happen.

Emiel the Blessed: A very fun new commander. She is easy to use, and has many a combo associated with her. Aside from her being so expensive from the shortcomings of Jumpstart's limited print run, I feel her lacking blue is a huge blow to her abilities. Blue adds so many cool flicker targets as well as effects (See Peregrine Drake, Deadeye Navigator, Cloudblazer/Mulldrifter etc.). Being only Selesnya is a shortcoming here in my opinion when playing a flicker deck.

Burn

These cards are great flicker targets for targeted removal/burn to the face. They get even better when including cards like Warstorm Surge!

Bogardan Hellkite: A fun flicker target that can take small and medium sized creatures alike, sometimes picking off a few small ones! The 5 to the face isn't unwanted either!

Flametongue Kavu: A good cheap flicker target at 4 CMC, it allows it to removal certain creatures earlier than some of our other more destroy/exile removal flicker targets.

Inferno Titan: A titan indeed! ETB/attacking dealing 3 split however you want is a boon to have in this deck.

Card Advantage/Filtering

Bell Borca, Spectral Sergeant: Impulsive draw is a solid way to get cards into your hand, and this legend gives us just another Outpost Siege effect! Another fun thing to note is his clause about getting stronger from the highest CMC that was exiled. This INCLUDES cards that get blinked as they head to exile!

Cloudblazer: A very solid effect on a flying body. Spamming them to gain life and draw cards is a very good feeling. The 2 color restriction makes it a little worse than Mulldrifter, even with the lifegain however.

Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast: A fun way to generate card advantage through exiling one of our many tokens and hitting a fun ETB effect (hopefully). Other than that his + allows us to look through a few cards for a creature. This is an interesting way to get advantage in my opinion.

Mulldrifter: Better Cloudblazer, as he also can be played only for 3 mana in a pinch. Very solid card in any blink deck.

Preordain: Filtering early so we hit land drops and ramp is important. This is a mana intensive deck. This allows us to smooth out some early draws!

Watcher for Tomorrow: Let's us repeatedly select a card from the top 4 everytime we blink them! Very solid searching for win pieces and combos!

Combos

Sometimes we can't just outvalue our opponents, we need to combo out. The main combos are as follows:

Dualcaster Mage+Heat Shimmer: Give you infinite hasty 2/2's. If that's not enough for you, add in an Impact Tremors is infinitely damage your opponents!

Felidar Sovereign + Saheeli Rai: Infinite Felidar's and ETBS!

To Maybe Add: Naru Meha, Master Wizard+Ghostly Flicker: While not in the deck yet as I can't find a Ghostly Flicker at my store, this will also result in infnite ETB's for our pay offs of Warstorm Surge + Impact Tremors to enjoy!

Disruption

Dovin's Veto: Solid uncounterable counter. Can also be tutored by Sunforger!

Mindclaw Shaman: Picks an instant or sorcery from an opponent and steals it for free. Free Aminatou's Augury anyone?

Narset's Reversal: Technically a counter plus steals a spell for us. Or in a pinch can be used to bounce one of our own spells back for a replay. Very good card.

Render Silent: Another solid tutorable counter off Sunforger. The Silence effect can also save games.

Sublime Epiphany: A budget Cryptic Command. Very fun to clone a creature and get another fun ETB, as well as countering a spell, bouncing a commander, and drawing a card. Wowza. What a card.

ETB Payoffs

Impact Tremors: One damage to each opponent each ETB is very strong, along with being 2 mana. It can really speed up the game. With infinite ETB's this is also an outlet to win!

Outpost Siege: A reverse version of Impact Tremors. Good against board wipes and can be used for impulsive draw if need be late game. Very much worth the extra 2 compared to impact tremors.

Warstorm Surge: One of my favorite things to do will be to Bogardan Hellkite with this card on board. It does SO much damage!

Sakashima's Protege: Doubles up an ETB, and a free cascade trigger! Fun!

Grave Hate

Angel of Finality: We run a little low on graveyard hate which may be a mistake. Stonecloaker was originally in here but got cut for more impactful cards. I really like the Angel as it does a whole player's graveyard.

Lands

This is a very budget landbase based on what I had lying around. Feel free to run whatever duals and fetches you have! No real need to go into it.

Livio's Best Friend

Zirda, the Dawnwaker: A great cost reducer for Livio. Reducing that first ability to a W, and the second to a W as well! Also can help with cards such as Mistmeadow Witch. The activated ability comes into play less, but can still be useful. Overall an amazing card!

Mass Removal

Sunblast Angel: Repeatable wrath that causes our opponents to think twice before swinging out when on board. Very solid.

Time Wipe: Very solid boardwipe, even with only saving Livio, as the things you have in exile stay and can still be brought back with a new iteration.

Vandalblast: 5 Mana kill all mana rocks and screw over some artifact decks in my meta. I enjoy this card very much.

Other Flicker

Soulherder: Very good repeated blink and payoff all in one!

Charming Prince: Lovely card from Eldraine. It is very versatile even if we have nothing to flicker on board, and is a solid flicker target itself.

Eerie Interlude: A one time version of a few turns of Livio is very welcome here. Great for saving our field from boardwipes.

Ephemerate: 2 time Cloudshift is an amazing thing to have in our deck.

Flicker of Fate: One time effects are typically not my favorite for one permenant, but with flickering a Detention Sphere or other enchantment I feel good about it.

Flickerwhisp: Can target the opponents stuff as well, and has flash. Very solid flickerer and flicker target!

Mistmeadow Witch: Repeated flicker is very good. It's even technically less than our commander if only targeting one creature.

Restoration Angel: A blink deck classic. Can be flashed in as well. Same benefits as Flickerwisp besides targetting other people's stuff. Is a bigger body however.

Pin Point Removal

Condemn: A nice budget version of Path to Exile. Run Path or Swords to Plowshares if you have it, I just had this lying around. Will be replaced once I go buy cards for this deck.

Crib Swap: Another good budget exile removal. Nothing much else to say.

Detention Sphere: Could probably be replaced with Deputy of Detention. Good at exiling tokens or staples such as Sol Ring

Duplicant: Blinkable exile creature removal is always nice. What's nicer is that it's on an easy to cast color wise colorless body.

Meteor Golem: Good removal for any problematic permanent. See other reasons from Duplicant as well.

Palace Jailer: Getting monarch every turn is very nice for CA, as well as being a solid blinkable removal spell. 10/10 card.

Red Elemental Blast: Lots of blue players in my meta, so this is a nice 1 mana counter/kill spell. Change to something else if you don't have much blue in your playgroup.

Return to Dust: Solid exile removal for 2 on main phase, 1 on instant speed. Outclassed by Heliod's Intervention right now, but still acceptable.

Ramp

Once I get into more detail with this primer, I will list every card and it's use in this section.

Recursion

Once I get into more detail with this primer, I will list every card and it's use in this section.

Token Makers

Once I get into more detail with this primer, I will list every card and it's use in this section.

Tutors

Once I get into more detail with this primer, I will list every card and it's use in this section.

Final Thoughts

Overall I know these commanders won't be the most competitive, even more so with the current decklist. I just feel like Jeskai, my favorite Clan, could have some very fun potential for a flicker based deck. I would love to hear any suggestions to the decklist.

Thanks for reading!

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 31 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.66
Tokens	Copy Clone, Goblin 1/1 R, Myr 1/1 C, Shapeshifter 1/1 C, The Monarch, Thopter 1/1 C