Jeskai Prowess. Sigh. Well, we all knew that we would see some kind of URx deck to highlight the one and only Stormchaser Mage. I mean, Monastery Swiftspear is played in standard and does so much work in Atarka Red. Hell, it even makes waves in modern in Zoo and Naya burn! So seeing a version that can fly is fantastic.
This deck plays fast and tries to get damage in as fast as possible. By turn 5 we usually have lethal with evasive threats, but can be as early as a turn 3 kill under lucky circumstances. This deck is similar in play style to the UW Heroic deck of Theros. We get to play fast threat, evasive threats that almost all have prowess.
Without further adieu, here is the deck.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/progro/
CREATURES
Monastery Swiftspear - One of the best one drops ever printed, Swiftspear sees competitive play in both standard and modern, making waves everywhere.
Stormchaser Mage - So, you are telling me that for one more mana I get to make Monastery Swiftspear fly and be pseudo bolt proof? This card is going to help make UR Delver a much more powerful deck in modern. Hell yeah Im in.
Mantis Rider
- One of the best creatures from the khans clans (okay okay, Siege Rhino is better),
Mantis Rider
is one of the big reasons to splash white in the UR prowess deck. Hits immediately, hits hard, and can still stay back to block.
Seeker of the Way
- Not only another pretty good prowess body, the ability to help us regain some of the damage we take from our painlands and other creatures makes
Seeker of the Way
look way better than Elusive Spellfist.
Jori En, Ruin Diver
- Now. I was very undecided on this card. If Jori sticks to the battlefield he tends to draw me a bunch of cards. Originally, I was running Treasure Cruise in his place. However, without being able to reliably cast Cruise, Jori more consistently drew me cards, often times more than 3 cards per game. Being 3 toughness is relevant in standard right now as well.
CANTRIPS
Slip Through Space - One of the main reasons to be running blue, allows unblockable, prowess trigger, AND draws you a card. Yup, Im in.
Titan's Strength - Allows you to sneak in a couple points of damage, minor card selection with Scry 1, and allows me to sneak in fatal hits with Temur Battle Rage. Being on color in Red helps a lot.
Jeskai Charm
- A little bit mana intensive, but the payoff is insane. Every single mode on this baby does something sweet. 4 damage usually knocks your opponent within killing range, so too does the +1/+1 and lifelink. Return a creature to the top of their deck is a huge tempo play and can get my creatures by impenetrable blockers.
Defiant Strike
- Another almost free cantrip, just in white, Defiant Strike triggers the prowess, increases the attack, and draws me more spells. Being in white is slightly less favorable as to being our least desirable color.
Temur Battle Rage - CCCCOMBO. This card single handily finishes people off taking them from double digits to meager single digit life points. Titans Strength, & Temur Battle Rage ( and the two prowess triggers) takes huge chunks of life along with it.
REMOVAL
Fiery Impulse
- Cheap removal, picks off your opposing creatures with toughness 3 or less. 90% of the time we have spell mastery due to the number of cantrips we are running.
Valorous Stance
- slightly more expensive removal at 2 mana (and in white) but it takes care of creatures greater than 3 toughness and has the ability to save our creatures from removal.
MANABASE
Woah. Now why on earth in a world with fetches, there isnt a single one to be seen. Long answer short speed and consistency. Being in Jeskais colors leads us to more complicated mana solutions. Because our base color is red, taking up almost half of the deck, the only fetch land in our color is Flooded Strand. Flooded Strand however gives us NO way to fetch us a red source of mana. In order to get red, we need to go into either black or green. each has its advantages and disadvantages, but green ended up being preferable because of the threat of
Become Immense
. Wooded Foothills + Windswept Heath became the preferable fetches of choice. Wooded Foothills however couldnt fetch blue where Windswept Heath could fetch red, white, and blue (with the battle lands). Now, because we are aggressive, we need to have as many of our lands come into play untapped as we possibly can. But when you start combining fetches, battle lands, and pain lands, so many of our lands were coming in tapped and slowed us way down. Mystic Monastery,
Shivan Reef
, and Battlefield Forge became way preferable. Even tho Grixis and Izzet colors have better manabases, the power of Jeskai is overwhelming.
- The fastest kill Ive had was with my opponent fetching twice, playing Swiftspear(T1) into Stormchaser Mage(T2) into Titans Strength + Temur Battle Rage(T3) putting my opponent to 0. -
CARDS THAT DIDNT MAKE THE CUT
Abbot of Keral Keep
- Abbot didnt provide enough advantage in this deck. Having three colors made it even more likely that the exiled card couldnt be cast. For two mana to draw a card, for a body that doesnt affect the board immediately, it was way too slow. Not triggering prowess is relevant.
Elusive Spellfist - This was one of the first creatures that sat side by side with Monastery Swiftspear and Stormchaser Mage. Elusive Spellfist consistently snuck past defending creatures.
Seeker of the Way
ended up being a little bit better at keeping itself alive and providing my life total with a little buffer as well.
Treasure Cruise - Without fetch lands, Cruise couldnt be cast. I found myself with the mana and graveyard to cast treasure cruise very few times.
Jori En, Ruin Diver
More consistently drew me the cards that cruise would have.
Expedite - This card feels fantastic at triggering prowess. With most of the creatures with haste however, Expedite didnt have high enough impact.
Monastery Mentor - I have wanted to see this card make waves in standard but there hasnt been enough free cantrips. Mentor is a little too slow to be played in the main, but in the sideboard it can be good against slower matchups. Even then, it just wasnt good enough.
Monastery Seige
- Against slower matches this card was to help give me fuel where removal and counters got me down.
Reflector Mage -
Jeskai Ascendancy
-
MATCHUPS
