I threw the deck together a couple of hours before the tournament using what I had around. I know that many of the Jeskai lists that have been seeing play at the SCG tournaments have been running Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Flip, but I have not acquired any yet in my paper collection. Oh well.
In my haste, I also didn't think very clearly about some of the decks I would expect to see throughout the day. In particular, I was thinking about going big with my sideboard to help fight Abzan and control, and less about fighting the really fast decks like PT ORI finalists mono red and UR artifacts. This becomes relevant.
On to the matches!
Round 1: UR Ensoul 1-2 - Lost the die roll, but while we were making mulligan decisions for game 1 my opponent dropped an ornithopter on to the table, making the matchup fairly apparent. My hand was Mountain, Mystic Monastery, scryland, Wild Slash, Mantis Rider, and two other cards. Given the information my opponent so helpfully provided, I gambled and played mountain on my first turn, which allowed me to kill the ornithopter in response to his turn 2 Ensoul Artifact. He never got anything else going after that, and I easily won game one.
When going in to sideboarding, I realized my error in deck construction: I had no sideboard artifact destruction or additional bounce. I bring in what counters I can, as well as Deflecting Palm, but very timely Stubborn Denials from my opponent cost me games 2 and 3.
Round 2: BG Elves 2-0 - Wild Slash is a total MVP in this matchup as it kills essentially everything that they play. What Slash doesn't get, Lightning Strike finishes off, and gaining life off of both spells with Soulfire Grand Master becomes very relevant in the face of Shaman of the Pack. I was also very impressed with Pia and Kiran Nalaar here: the tokens are relevant against their creatures if they haven't stuck a Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen, and you can sac them to kill anything larger. Post-sideboard, Anger of the Gods cleans up if they get to a fast start. With all the burn, my opponent wasn't able to get anything going in either of our games.
Round 3: GW Renown 2-0 - My opponent this round made a number of unfortunate misplays that cost them this round, including not identifying that they were the aggressor in this matchup. This allowed me to get enough mana out to be able to recur a copy of Stoke the Flames with Soulfire Grand Master to take huge chunks out of my opponents life total while padding my own. Game two, they mulled to five on the play, and my draw of triple Mantis Rider was more than enough to put the match away.
Round 4: Jeskai Tempo 2-1 - My opponent was playing the more traditional version that has been seeing play, with the full four Jace's. Game one I was lucky enough to protect my Soulfire Grand Master for long enough to be able to create a soft-lock with Jeskai Charm. Game two resulted in a flurry of traded Mantis Riders and a lot of back and forth, but a flipped Jace swung the tempo back in my opponent's favour. Game three started out similarly close, but a resolved Outpost Siege flipping another unanswered Outpost Siege provided more than enough advantage to overwhelm my opponent with sheer spell density.
Round 5: Mono-red dragon aggro 0-2 - I was 3-1 going in to the final round of swiss and was hoping to ID in to the top 8. I ended up getting paired down against one of the regulars who had brought an interesting brew to the tournament and was forced to play it out. I lost the die roll and was on the back foot right away as my opponent had a Monastery Swiftspear I didn't have an answer for in hand. Each blocker I got down was met with a Draconic Roar + revealed dragon, taking out huge chunks of my life total. Going to the sideboard, I realized that I had also neglected to pack any kind of life gain out side of my Soulfire Grand Masters, which put me in a bit of a rough position facing down an aggressive red deck. Game two, my opponent had a turn 2 Dragon's Servant that I didn't have an answer for, resulting in a sequence of turn 3 Thunderbreak, turn four Stormbreath, turn five Stormbreath, burn you out.
While my dreams were slightly crushed, it turned out that the 3-2 record we both ended up with after this match was still enough to put us both in to the Top 8. Spoiler alert: my last-round opponent actually ended up taking down the tournament.
Quarterfinals: RG Devotion 1-2 - For the most part, I believe that R/G devotion is a pretty good matchup for Jeskai: you have burn for their dorks to keep them off their mana, and they have very few ways to interact with flyers. Game one played out pretty much exactly that way: slash the mana dorks to punish a land-light draw. I managed to get a huge blowout when they cast a courser and flipped a fetch when I had Jeskai charm up. Shuffle that dude away! Never hit another land after that.
Game two I kept a bad hand that did not get any better. Mulliganing is one area where I am trying to improve my play. My opponent was not on a fast draw, but double Whisperwood Elemental is a difficult thing to overcome.
Game three was tight, lots of back and forth. This was the only spot where Monastery Mentor really impressed me all day: I was able to cast enough spells to keep spitting out blockers and gum up the ground. I managed to whittle my opponent’s life total down to the point where my flyers or any top decked burn spell should finish them off. I rip a Mantis Rider and go in for the kill… only for my opponent to cast Atarka's Command giving his guys reach. I die on the crack-back.
The deck is a blast to play, and I had a lot of fun. I’ve already identified a couple of cards I am not super impressed with (looking at you Monastery Mentor), and some spots where I can tighten up my sideboard. Further updates and deck changes to follow!
