Land (19)
Utility (18)
-
2x
Boros Charm
- 2x Distortion Strike
- 2x Emerge Unscathed
- 3x Mutagenic Growth
- 1x Ojutai's Command
- 1x Peek
- 4x Serum Visions
- 2x Snapcaster Mage
- 1x Twisted Image
Finisher (2)
Tempo Creatures (10)
Counter (4)
Removal (7)
Sideboard
Other (15)
This deck is built around something called "The Jeskai Way".
I really wanted to build a control deck, but I also wanted to be fast, and I wanted to run my favourite colour combo: . Jeskai Tempo seemed like the perfect deck for me.
The idea is to attack with speed and precision, making every attack count, and playing defense only when needed.
This deck is truly a "Tempo" deck. Not built to bash face like an aggro deck, but also not slow like a control deck. It is meant to win before the opponent "turns the corner", so to speak, but it can definitely win the late game as well. It functions like an aggro deck with creatures and spells that have great synergy together.
So we need an efficient way to spend little mana and get huge creatures, while having synergy with all the spells we have. Fortunately WOTC gave us a great mechanic: Prowess! It makes tiny one drops into huge creatures by casting a few spells we would cast anyways.
To look at the different areas of the deck, just click through the different sections.
The creatures in this deck are made to have synergy with all the other cards in the deck. This includes a lot of creatures with Prowess or other ways to take advantage of our spells. Some also provide utility and extra card advantage.
- Delver of Secrets - Quite possibly the best tempo creature out there. With cards like Serum Visions to fix our draws, he will become a 3/2 flyer for most of the time.
- Monastery Swiftspear - One of the greatest Prowess creatures. Coming out attacking turn one and only getting better with our spells is great. Also having 2 toughness as an early blocker is OK.
- Abbot of Keral Keep - Another great Prowess threat, but he really shines because of his ability. Most of the time, his ability just says "draw a card", because we run so many one drops we will almost always have the mana. He also keeps us from getting mana screwed.
- Stormchaser Mage - This guy is pretty unreal. He is essentially a Monastery Swiftspear with an extra toughness and flying. The fact that he costs an extra is mitigated by the fact that he can sail over our enemies defense and doesn't die to 2 damage burn spells.
- Geist of Saint Traft - Our main finisher. The efficiency of this card is unreal. 6 damage, with 4 of that flying for just . The downfall of being just a 2/2 and easily chump blocked is mitigated by the evasion spells in the deck.
- Snapcaster Mage - He is just a staple in any Modern deck running blue. He can flashback anything we need, whether a counter, removal, or a burn spell to finish somebody off, he is incredibly versatile.
All the creatures in the deck deal huge damage when they are not blocked, and have amazing synergy with all the spells in the deck.
The spells in the deck are broken down into 5 main packages. The evasion package, the counter package, the burn/removal package, the filtering package and the utility package.
Evasion Package
These are likely the most important spells in the deck. These are the ones that will allow our creatures to sneak through a wall of blockers. They can also protect our creatures and they of course trigger Prowess.
Another advantage of (two of) these cards is that they have REBOUND.
This means they give us a free Prowess trigger at the beginning of our next upkeep. Huge value for the mana. Mutagenic Growth is an excellent combat trick. It can act as protection, removal, or a buff, and it is a free Prowess trigger. Free triggers are hard to come by since Probe got the axe, so it is a welcome addition.
Counter Package
We are definitely not a control deck, but we do need a few efficient counterspells that will devastate the opponent.
We will usually get the opponent into a situation where they have to cast a certain spell just to survive, such as wrath. When we can counter that, it is generally very hard for the opponent to bounce back.
Burn/Removal Package
This one is pretty simple. We basically want to use the most efficient burn and removal spells known to Modern.
Lightning Bolt is the most efficient burn spell in Modern, 3 points of damage for . Lightning Helix is just as efficient, providing a 6 point life swing for . Path to Exile is there to deal with threats that the burn spells can't. The other reason is that there are many 1 toughness creatures that are popular in Modern: Abbot of Keral Keep, Snapcaster Mage and Dark Confidant, just to name a few.
Filtering Package
The filtering package is important in any tempo deck, but especially important in ours for 2 reasons. They trigger Prowess, and they can set up plays for other creatures in the deck.
Utility Package
These are the spells that can do different things depending on the situation. They are key to the synergy of the deck.
Boros Charm most of the time is used to burn for the last 4 damage we need to win. How ever it can also be used to save our creatures from a wrath, or giving one of our finishers double strike. Ojutai's Command will usually be used to get back an ETB effect on Snapcaster Mage or Abbot of Keral Keep, but can counter a creature spell in a pinch. Twisted Image can be used in multiple situations both offensively or defensively on our creatures, or the opponents.
The land base in this deck is a fairly straight forward land base, but there are a few special and/or utility lands that require some explaining.
I will start off with Cavern of Souls. Considering that all our creatures except Geist of Saint Traft are of the Human type, it is basically free coloured mana for our creatures, and they are uncounterable, which is handy in a control matchup.
Eiganjo Castle is in the deck for no other reason than to protect Geist of Saint Traft. It has no other disadvantage, and the only reason I am running a Plains over a second copy is so I have something to fetch that can't get hit by Blood Moon.
Both Slayers' Stronghold and Faerie Conclave provide extra utility in addition to producing mana. They are especially relevant if we are being mana flooded, as they provide a place to spend the extra mana, and we get something out of it. Transforming a Faerie Conclave provides 2 damage in the air and gives the opponent something else to worry about. Slayers' Stronghold can be used in a ton of situations, but would be specifically devastating if it was used on a finisher.
The rest of the land base is fairly basic as I said, but it has great synergy and fixing abilities, and most of our lands come into play untapped, which is important in a tempo style deck.
It may seem thin at only 19 lands, but with the extremely low curve, lots of cantrips and filtering spells, as well as Abbot of Keral Keep, we will almost never be mana screwed.
The sideboard in this deck is incredibly important. It is in other decks as well, but not to this extent. Siding in certain cards in certain matchups can swing the odds in your favour by quite a lot. Lets take a look at the cards that make the Magic happen!
The Top End
These cards are the ones that allow us to survive the late game.
Chandra, Pyromaster's +1 ability is absolutely amazing in this deck. Being able to ping our opponent for 1 and make a creature unable to block, we can win out of nowhere. Her 0 ability is pure card advantage. Like Abbot of Keral Keep's ability, it will rarely be wasted. It will either be used as "flood insurance" or card draw. Chances are we will have the mana to cast whatever she exiles. Her ultimate will rarely be used, but it would be fun to finish someone off from 12 life by exiling a Boros Charm
Narset Transcendent is another great late game card. Her +1 is a lot of the time just going to say draw a card, because of all the instants and sorceries we run. It will at least give us an idea of what is coming up. Her -1 is where she really shines. Being able to rebound a burn spell or anything else really is great, especially with all the Prowess triggers we get for free. Once again her ultimate is rarely used, but could be an alternate win condition.
Monastery Mentor is possibly the best Prowess creature out there, and an amazing finisher in this deck. Once he sticks he can take over the game by himself. With his tokens and our spells combined, he has an insane board presence. He only isn't in the mainboard because game one we want to be as fast as possible, and he takes a little bit of time to take over the game.
Sword of Fire and Ice is a unique top end card, but fits the theme perfectly. It triggers Prowess it buffs a creature, and creates pseudo unblock-ability and of course protection. Along with all these things, it does extra damage, which can also act as removal, AND is a draw engine. This card truly does it all and is great for the top end of this deck.
Grindy Matchups
These are the cards that come in for the grindier matchups such as midrange and control.
Dispel comes in to win counter wars and to protect our important threats when we need them to stick.
Jeskai Ascendancy is a great card to provide additional card advantage and extra explosiveness among all the deck's creatures. The only issue lies in the fact that it takes a few turns to build an advantage. That being said, in game 1, we need to be as fast as possible, but in game 2 and 3, we need the extra advantage against slower, more controlling decks.
Specific Matchups
- 2 Deflecting Palm
- 2 Wear / Tear
- 1 Vapor Snag
- 1 Celestial Purge
- 1 Spellskite
- 1 Engineered Explosives
- 1 Mirran Crusader
These are the cards that come in to deal with specific cards in certain matchups.
Deflecting Palm comes in against any burn or combo deck. It throws the damage right back at them.
Wear / Tear is quick artifact removal for affinity, and more importantly, quick enchantment removal against Blood Moon decks. A great, versatile spell for several matchups.
Vapor Snag is a great removal spell that has the added bonus of doing a damage. It is great because there are things that our burn spells just can't deal with. Especially with Eldrazi decks running around the format now, we need an answer. The only time it isn't good is when it enables the opponent to abuse ETB triggers. That being said, we can use it on our own creatures as well, whether to protect them, or abuse ETB triggers.
Celestial Purge offers another great answer to several decks. It takes care of Grixis Control, deals with big eldrazi creatures in the R/B variant, and also deals with Blood Moon.
Spellskite is possibly one of the most flexible sideboard cards ever. It comes in against burn, auras, or anything with alot of single target spells.
Engineered Explosives is a great board wipe. It comes in against zoo, tokens, or any deck that runs alot of permanents with the same CMC.
Mirran Crusader comes in against any BGx deck, such as Abzan or Jund. 4 damage unblockable is a quick clock if it is not removed.
The main advantage of running a tempo deck like this is the synergy of all the pieces. Many of the disadvantages of the cards are mitigated by other cards in the deck. There are several examples of synergy like this in this deck.
- Geist of Saint Traft's biggest downfall is that he is only a 2/2, and since he has to attack to get the 4/4 angel, he is easily chump blocked. When combined with Distortion Strike, he becomes a 3/2 unlockable with the angel for TWO STRAIGHT TURNS! That is a huge clock that is almost impossible for the opponent to deal with.
- Abbot of Keral Keep's problem with his ability is that it is only useful when it exiles a low CMC spell. Fortunately, most of our spells are one or two drops that we will likely have the mana up for.
- Jeskai Ascendancy's loot ability provides great card advantage, but sometimes it sucks because you don't have anything you want to discard. This is especially true in this deck because almost all of our spells are live all the time. Having Snapcaster Mage in the deck almost completely mitigates this disadvantage because he basically makes our graveyard an extension of our hand.
These are just a few examples of synergy in this deck. There are many more.
Another synergy in this deck is the fact that many of the spells have different uses. Besides just triggering Prowess, they can do numerous other things.
- Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix can be used for both removal and direct damage. Both of these are useful tools for wining a match.
- Emerge Unscathed can be used to make a creature "unblockable" or protect it if an opponent tries to play removal.
- Remand can be used as a counterspell or to bounce one of our own spells if it is being countered so it doesn't go into our graveyard.
- Twisted Image can be used in many manners, both offensively (Switching one of our Stormchaser Mage's or Monastery Swiftspears) or defensively (protecting an Abbot of Keral Keep from a burn spell). It can also be used on opponents creatures to lower their power or defense to reduce damage input, or perhaps brining them within burn range. Or just kill any wall or Spellskite. The fact that it replaces itself makes it all the better.
- Boros Charm and Ojutai's Command can obviously be used in many different situations, as mentioned earlier in the description.
As you can see, this deck has a lot of synergy, and a lot of the downsides to the cards become mitigated, or sometimes advantages, depending on the situation.
Although it is not very likely, and requires a "God" hand, it is possible to win by turn three with this deck.
Opening Hand
- Cavern of Souls
- Steam Vents
- Delver of Secrets
- Monastery Swiftspear
- Monastery Swiftspear
- Distortion Strike
- Mutagenic Growth
Turn 1
- Play Cavern of Souls, naming Human
- Cast Delver of Secrets
No damage dealt this turn.
Turn 2
- Flip Delver of Secrets , revealing a Mutagenic Growth
- Draw second Mutagenic Growth
- Play Steam Vents
- Cast Monastery Swiftspear
- Cast Distortion Strike targeting Monastery Swiftspear
6 total damage dealt this turn:
- Attack for 3 flying with Insectile Aberration
- Attack for 3 unblockable with Monastery Swiftspear (1 Prowess trigger and +1/+0)
Turn 3
- Rebound Distortion Strike, targeting Monastery Swiftspear
- Draw third Mutagenic Growth
- Cast second Monastery Swiftspear
- Cast 3 Mutagenic Growth's targeting the unblockable Swiftspear
15 total damage dealt this turn:
- Attack for 3 flying with Insectile Aberration
- Attack for 12 unblockable with first Monastery Swiftspear (4 Prowess triggers, +1/+0 from Distortion Strike and +6/+6 from Mutagenic Growth)
- Attack for 4 with second Monastery Swiftspear (3 Prowess triggers)
Although it is not common to win by turn 3, it is easy to see how this deck can consistently deal lethal, evasive damage by turns 4-5, espescially when a finisher such as Geist of Saint Traft is dropped on turn 3-4.
Summary
Overall, this deck is really fun to play. It can win early, mid or late game. The synergy between all the pieces allows this deck to run like a machine. It is highly favourable in many matchups, especially post-board. I am incredibly happy with this build because there is almost nothing it cannot do.
Special Thanks
Special thanks to CurdBrosBrewingCo for all your support, kind words, and suggestions. They are greatly appreciated. Your brews are great and I drew much of the inspiration for this deck from yours, so thank you so much.
Please check out their decks, they are pretty amazing. This definitely isn't their only deck, but I drew a lot of inspiration from this build specifically:
Jeskai Prowess Unblockable
Modern
SCORE: 146 | 106 COMMENTS | 24409 VIEWS | IN 63 FOLDERS
Thank you to everyone else that commented as well, your comments are greatly appreciated and all suggestions are definitely considered.
That's It!
I hope you guys enjoy this deck. It is certainly fun to play. Please continue to post comments and suggestions, they are greatly appreciated!
If you have a chance, take a look at the other decks on my page. Full descriptions for all of them are coming.
A +1 is always appreciated, and if you post a link for a deck, I will definitely take a look!
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Revision 16 See all
(3 years ago)
| -2 | Flooded Strand | main |
| -1 | Gut Shot | main |
| -2 | Mishra's Bauble | main |
| +3 | Mutagenic Growth | main |
| +2 | Scalding Tarn | main |
| Top Ranked |
|
| Date added | 9 years |
| Last updated | 1 year |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 5 - 4 Mythic Rares 17 - 6 Rares 28 - 3 Uncommons 7 - 2 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 1.44 |
| Tokens | Angel 4/4 W, Emblem Narset Transcendent, Monk 1/1 W |
| Folders | Control, Modern, nice, Cool, Favorites, Fun decks, SNESy decks, upvoted, Jeskai, Modern Deck Ideas |
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