[ARTICLE] How to Magma Jet like a Pro

[zemanjaski]

How to Get the Most from Magma Jet in Your Red Deck

While Theros has generated a great deal of excitement as the collective tries to explore all of the opportunities that the new cards bring, my thoughts have turned to an old red mage favourite - Magma Jet.

For {1}{R}, Magma Jet deals two damage to target creature or player, then lets you scry 2. In this article we are going to consider both when you want the card in your deck and how to get the most value out of it. Let’s break down the card into its two components:
• Shock is slightly underpowered at {R}, but if the metagame calls for it (there are a plethora of valuable targets) or if there are enough synergies in your deck (such as with Ash Zealot, Chandra’s Phoenix or Young Pyromancer) then Shock can be a very playable. Costing a full {1} more than Shock, Magma Jet will need
to be at least as well positioned as Shock at both removing creatures and interactiving favourably with your own to be worthy of consideration; and
• the value of Scry 2 is difficult to quantify, ranging from “do absolutely nothing” to “place two dead draws on the bottom of my deck”. This filtering can be powerful in an aggro deck, where you need maximum impact from every draw step. Every instance of Scry lets you see more cards, increasing the chance of finding the right combination of cards to find a win.

Should Magma Jet be in your Red Deck?

There is a lag effect between making the Scry, and actually seeing the benefit. This lag might be effectively zero (the end of turn Magma Jet) to more than two full turns away (even if you bottom two cards, it may take longer than that before you can make use of your new spells) – so getting full value from each Magma Jet involves both making correct Scry decisions and having enough time for those decisions to benefit you.

[i:
3n8jsiu7]Time[/i] is why Turtenwald and Duke eschewed Magma Jet in their hyper-aggressive Red Deck Wins (RDW) variant from the start of the season. Their RDW was designed to exaggerate the number of turn four and five goldfish wins possible, and Magma Jet fits very poorly into that strategy. Magma Jet only does as much damage as Shock, for twice the cost. When your deck’s success is predicated on quickly establishing a board presence and instigating a race, you want your interactive removal to be as cheap as possible, allowing you to remove a blocker while adding another creature to the board to increase your clock. Shock is much better for this than Magma Jet. While they did opt for a more expensive burn spell, the choice was Lightning Strike, which imoprtantly does an extra point of damage, allowing it to remove a greater range of blockers (or opponents – red mages aren’t usually picky). Their deck typically won or lost in four to six turns, which is often not long enough to see the full value out
of the Scry half of Magma Jet. They elected for the more efficient or powerful alternatives. Magma Jet wouldn’t help their deck if it finds a Burning Tree Emissary (BTE) on turn six – this deck wants the BTE in the opening hand. In contrast, the longer the expected game, the greater the number of instances where a specific card, or combination of cards will allow you to win through an increasingly hostile board state. The Devotion Red variant likes to run Magma Jet to allow it to find additional copies of Fanatic of Mogis to win through stalled board states – this is an example of where the ability to filter your deck is at its strongest.

The ability to filter through your deck is at its weakest when all of the cards in your deck are fungible (for example, in the Turtenwald-Duke list where most of the cards are just variations on “2 power dork”) and at its strongest when you are trying to assemble a specific combination of cards either in your hand or in play. The more that your red deck can play like a
combo deck, the more valuable Magma Jet will be. Instead of just acting as an overpriced Shock, Magma Jet will now be assisting both elements of your game plan:
• removing a blocker or dealing damage to your opponent; and
• helping to assemble a specific combination of cards that answer the board state questions posed by your opponent. Sometimes you already have the answers in hand and you just need the mana to see them cast in a timely fashion.

Even more in post-sideboard games, there is a premium placed on drawing your high impact, sometimes game winning cards. For example, in the Mono Red vs. Mono Black Control matchup, a timely Act of Treason can turn a board position dominated by an early Desecration Demon into a win. Whereas Shock would typically have few to no targets (you would typically want to board it out), having the Scry 2 tacked on for a single mana can be a game-winning effect, perhaps letting you find the winning card as much as a full two turns earlier (before it is too late!). The
most important consideration with any filtering effect is knowing what you’re looking for. The primary consideration is finding cards that lead to winning outcomes. You need to look for cards that will see you on the path to victory, which can (and should) mean calculating a few turns ahead. An extra creature might help you pressure your control opponent for a shorter game, but if they have the Supreme Verdict, you’ll feel silly. It might be better to look for more burn spells to keep rebuying your Chandra’s Phoenix. Once you know what cards you need to win, you can make more effective Scry decisions. My general rule is that if I cannot see a card improving my position to a winning one, then I need to put that card to the bottom and look for a card that will.

Scry allows you to improve the sequence of your draws and thus your plays and to find the winning lines. The better your understanding of the varying worth of your cards in differing board states and your knowledge of what the defining elements of a
matchup are, the better informed your decisions will be when making the Scry. This can range from the simple “Rakdos Cackler would do absolutely nothing in this board state, so easy bottom” to “I really need a creature to put some pressure on now. There isn’t one in my top two, but there is a Mutavault – is that good enough or should I bottom it and dig a card deeper?”. There aren’t always easy answers, but both experience and familiarity with your deck will improve your decision making. You should get in the habit of taking as much time as you can to consider the alternatives. Here are some thoughts on the different Scry 2 decisions:

Scenario One: Leave Both on Top

Sometimes you would have drawn the cards you need you need anyway. Doesn’t mean you cannot give this outcome no thought however. You should still take a moment to consider in what order it is best to draw these two cards. Usually, this is predicated on what other cards are in your hand, what the board state is and
what you predict your opponent will do in their next few turns.

For example, if faced with the choice between drawing a creature and a burn spell, you might prefer to draw the creature if the burn spell would be a second copy of one that you already have in hand as having the creature may create broader lines of play. You may wish to deploy the creature on your next turn, then draw the burn spell the turn after to remove a blocker and allow the creature to attack. Alternatively, the burn spell may sequence better with your current hand, improving your mana efficiency and allowing you to more quickly effect your plays. So take a moment to consider what options changing the draw order will give you and whether or not there is greater potential for advantage in one selection.

Finally, it is worth being mindful that many decks are maindecking hand disruption, so delaying a critical spell for a turn might prevent it from being stripped from your hand – I have delayed drawing the lethal Act of Treason for
a turn, so that my opponent could not sequence Thoughtseize into Desecration Demon, stripping away my game winning spell. Instead, Thoughtseize took something else, and my next draw brought the game-winner.

Scenario Two: Keep One, Bottom One

This situation is usually quite easy if you correctly understand what you’re looking to do over the next few turns. Maybe the lethal burn spell or haste creature is right there, so you can keep that card and put the other to the bottom, looking for the land to cast your winner. Just keep in mind that you need to keep cards that will advance your position to a winning one, and that you should only keep “just in case” cards if you are already well ahead.

Scenario Three: Bottom Two

In contrast two Scenario One, I would strongly urge you to think again before immediately putting two cards to the bottom. While these cards might not seem to be immediately winning, perhaps it is possible that they are likely winning
and with some consideration, it is possible to sequence your plays in such a way as to win. Maybe you were looking for that lethal Lightning Strike, but a pair of humble Firedrinker Satyr that can be sacrificed to the Desecration Demon impeding your board will suffice to get you there for the final points of damage. So while the Lightning Strike would be a guaranteed win, the pair of Satyr are likely winning often enough that you should keep them and try to win that way – this is because even if you bottom them both, the chance of drawing the necessary Lightning Strike is still extremely low, so it is better to make the best of what you have. It is really only when you must find a single, specific card or when the two cards do truly nothing (for example, truly excess lands do nothing for your red deck, but don’t bottom your third and fourth land because everything in your hand costs one and two but your deck runs Stormbreath Dragon) that you should put both to the bottom.

Some Final Ideas to
remember:
• Magma Jet’s playability is heavily dependent on whether or not a simple Shock is well positioned in the format. If you wouldn’t play a Shock in your deck, you should think twice before playing Magma Jet, as by itself, deal 2 to an opponent and scry 2 is not very powerful. Having other interactions in your deck that benefit from casting a spell help to compensate here; and
• in addition to the obvious end of turn Magma Jet, you can also cast Magma Jet in your own upkeep to fix your draw. If you know you’re going to cast Magma Jet anyway, this is often the best time to cast as it gives you maximum influence over your next few turns. Sometimes you really need to find a specific card (or just a land) and this is a good way to go about it.

Magma Jet won’t suit the plan of every red decl. Getting the most out of your Magma Jet requires a lot of consideration, but if you take the time to really think about the decision you will win more games, even if it just means that you’re top
decking more wins (you did just bottom two blanks!). Be sure to take that extra moment to consider your options before pointing another card at your opponent.

Zemanjaski.

[LP, of the Fires]

I feel like Z is my spiritual predecessor in a world where I'm not lazy.

You are a champ sir.

[Helios]

My body is ready.

[NerdBoyWonder]

Looking forward to this because my friend is insisting that this card is a trap card. I beg to differ.

[Jack]

I think the name of this thread should be "how to Magma Jet better than the pros."

[zemanjaski]

I'm referencing an old dojo article "how to brainstorm like a pro". This won't be as complicated (scry 2 is no brainstorm) but I want to give some newer players some things to be mindful if to get more value from the card. Being able to use the card well is winning me a lot of red mirrors I think.

[Jack]

Question: do you ever cast this during your upkeep in order to hit a land drop? I feel smart when I do this, but it could be a very stupid decision.

Of course, casting this during your upkeep in order to turn a "back against the wall" situation into a game win feels so sweet, especially when you scry away both cards and randomly draw the one you need.

[zemanjaski]

Yeah it's going to be one of my key recommendations, it's a sweet interaction.

[NerdBoyWonder]

Question: do you ever cast this during your upkeep in order to hit a land drop? I feel smart when I do this, but it could be a very stupid decision.

Of course, casting this during your upkeep in order to turn a "back against the wall" situation into a game win feels so sweet, especially when you scry away both cards and randomly draw the one you need.

I tend to Magma Jet at the end of my opponents turn as long as I am not staring down a Voice. Only problem I've found with Magma Jet is in certain match ups where it is dead as a removal in game 1.

[Jack]

Question: do you ever cast this during your upkeep in order to hit a land drop? I feel smart when I do this, but it could be a very stupid decision.

Of course, casting this during your upkeep in order to turn a "back against the wall" situation into a game win feels so sweet, especially when you scry away both cards and randomly draw the one you need.

I tend to Magma Jet at the end of my opponents turn as long as I am not staring down a Voice. Only problem I've found with Magma Jet is in certain match ups where it is dead as a removal in game 1.

Yes, it
is better to play it on their turn, but what if you're taped out? What if you're on the play, they just took their second turn, and you have two Mountains on the field, and a hand with a Reckoner, Chandra's Phoenix, a Shock and no mountains. Do you cast it during your upkeep, or just wish really really hard for a Mountain? I've experimented with both choices, and after seeing 2 nonlands a number of times when I decided to cast it during my upkeep, I've adopted the position of always casting it during my upkeep to try to find a third land.

[F.I.A]

You haven't enjoyed your life if you haven't "Magma Jet, Scry 2, Put Magma Jet on top" for turns.

I don't think I have used it during upkeep yet. It's not impractical these days to play draw go and burn any relevant threat (And fix your library at that).

[neenja88]

Just came back from Magic night at my LGS, I was wondering if its justified to keep some amount of magma jets vs matchups where it is not removal. For example, against esper control, I remove -2 shocks, -4 reckoners, -4 lightning strikes, -2 magma jets for 3 burning earth, 3 mortar, 2 hammer, 1 mutavault. But that seems to be a case where magma jet is better than lightning strike because the +/- 1 damage is negligible. What about games vs. midrange where both are not removal at all?

I was curious and found an old post from Z and LP about it:

The big question is this:

Both
Lightning Strike and Magma Jet are both about 1.5x as good as Shock, so which would you rather draw?
- in your opener?
- in a top deck?
- which would you sideboard out if removal were bad in a matchup?

The answers will vary in circumstances, so try to give complex responses!

Unless I really need to deal 3 damage, I want magma jet 100% of the time. In the opener on the play, spear is technically better if you end up using it early in the game because you ideally want to hold magma jet till you have more information and know what you're digging to(assuming you're past curving out and are looking for answers/proper questions). It's very similar to thoughtseize in that manner. Scry just helps good players so much that I would be tempted to play 8 magma jets if I could.

LP had a great response but I do want to open this discussion up to more opinions as the more views I can get on this matter, the better I can improve on my decision making

[zemanjaski]

It's a really good question.

Strike is better in shorter games, where efficiency is paramount. Need to kill someone quickly? 3 damage for 1 card is a good rate.

Jet is better in long games, especially where winning is going to be settled by who draws their powerful sideboard cards. 1 extra damage is negligible next two finding your hammer two turns earlier and then being able to play around resolving it.

This will be covered in the article, but bottoming two lands, past a certain point, is closing in on draw 2 over a long enough game.

Neither card is ever really dead; they're frequently rebuying a Phoenix >:)

[neenja88]

That's some good reasoning on magma jet.

As for Chandra's Phoenix, in game 2 vs decks that I don't want strike or jet, is their a min. amount of burn I should always keep to be able to re-buy phoenix? If I'm putting in mortars and hammer of purphoros and removing burn for them, should i take out 1-2 phoenix (this is vs. Junk midrange)? I find that f I don't take out any phoenix it just becomes a 2/2 flier for 3 in most cases.

[F.I.A]

Magma Jet and Lightning Strike are still relevant against midrange, but if you are to remove burns from your deck, consider this priority rank:

Shock -> Lightning Strike -> Magma Jet

Magma Jet is higher here because it allows you more chances to draw those cards you sided in.

[warwizard87]

Mortars are okay but I wouldn't play em main. Hammer is possible but no more then one main

[warwizard87]

Mortars are okay but I wouldn't play em main. Hammer is possible but no more then one main

[neenja88]

Mortars are okay but I wouldn't play em main. Hammer is possible but no more then one main

yeah, I'm talking about postboard situations. I dont run those main - too narrow

[warwizard87]

Mortars are okay but I wouldn't play em main. Hammer is possible but no more then one main

yeah, I'm talking about postboard situations. I dont run those main - too narrow

sorry my bad, I would take out shocks, phoenix is far to important in those match ups

[DarthStabber]

Even without recursion pheonix is haste and flyinng, and how often does red get cheapish flyers?

[hamfactorial]

I never considered playing Magma Jet on my upkeep to hit a land drop. Value thread is valuable.

[InflatablePie]

I never considered playing Magma Jet on my upkeep to hit a land drop. Value thread is valuable.

I actually didn't think of doing this until I watched a SCG deck tech/match with RDW vs Naya Midrange. It nabbed me a few wins last Friday (usually Jetting at 3 lands to hit my fourth and either dropping a Zealot, or hitting a Lightning Strike for the win)

[zemanjaski]

Working on this now. Should be up over the weekend.

[Zooligan]

Sweet! I've been really looking forward to this!

[Mage of hot stuff]

Working on this now. Should be up over the weekend.

Awesome, just in time for MNM =]

[magicdownunder]

Really looking forward to this zemanjaski

[quote="[url=viewtopic.php?p=120517#p120517:1wtl94tq]freedom » Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:48 am[/url:1wtl94tq]":1wtl94tq]Question: do you ever cast this during your upkeep in order to hit a land drop? I feel smart when I do this, but it could be a very stupid decision.

Of course, casting this during your upkeep in order to turn a "back against the wall" situation into a game win feels so sweet, especially when you scry away both cards and randomly draw the one you need.[/quote:1wtl94tq]

I think if you have three drop in hand Magma Jetting on T2 is the correct play (in fact, this very play ensured I curved out correctly today other wise I would of been stuck on T2 lands)

[zemanjaski]

BOOM. Get Jet'd!

[LP, of the Fires]

Show me on the doll where the magma jet'd you.

[DarthStabber]

He's one bad magma

Shut yo mouth

I'm only talking 'bout JET

We can dig it.

[Kyarie]

Excellent article Z. It is important to remember that decks that have a very high individual card power aren't looking for the jet as much as those decks with intrinsic card synergy. Like Z said, not every deck wants jet but it can provide good sequencing for those that do.

[rcwraspy]

Wonderful article! Thanks for the learnings.

[Jack]

The section on the decision to bottom two is very insightful. I never considered doing anything but bottoming the two one drops in this situation (and it comes up fairly often. They're usually in burn range by the time they find the demon unless they nut draw). However, when they're nothing but fogs and you don't have an established board that can win, bottom them, since your opponent will be drawing real cards while you have to wait two turns to do the same.

[biadetic]

Hey there. New to the site and found this article very interesting.
Just wondering though. Why would you Upkeep Jet instead of just EOT jet?you influence the draws just the same and you're not down two mana for the turn? Or is it in the situation that you're tapped out EOT?

Thanks

[RaidaTheBlade]

The idea there is that you already spent your mana for the last turn, so theres no way for you to actually cast it EoT. In that case, jetting during the upkeep does put you out 2 mana that turn, but the draw fixing gets sped up by a turn

[Aodh]

Definitely when you're tapped out EOT; otherwise it's strictly better to do it on their EOT.

[Jack]

Say you begin your second turn with 1 land, Ash Zealot, Magma Jet, Shock and Chandra in hand. You draw a Reckoner. The correct play here is to drop the Ash Zealot, since you want to establish early game pressure. You swing and pass the turn. Your next upkeep comes around, and you question what to do. Are you fine with a board of Ash Zealot and a 1 drop with some burn as backup, or is the matchup one in which can't afford to get mana screwed and you really want to cast Reckoner on turn 4? If your next draw is a 2 drop or a land, you're in good shape, but if not, you gain no more board advantage than you would have if you had sent Magma Jet upstairs on your upkeep.

[Jack]

Sometimes the play pays off and sometimes you scry to see 2 lands. Whether or not you cast Magma Jet on your upkeep so that its effect is Preordain rather than Serum Visions depends completely on personal playstyle. In the above situation, I almost always Magma Jet before I draw, but there is no right or wrong answer to "should I trade potential early game tempo and a Magma Jet in exchange for consistency with my land drops/flood prevention?"

[zemanjaski]

If there's a creature I want to kill, or if its critical i fix my draw, I'll jet in my upkeep (assuming I can't EOT).

[Jack]

Oh, that's another good point. If your opponent has a creature with two or less toughness, the decision to Magma Jet before you draw becomes a whole hell of a lot easier.

[zemanjaski]

^its more about remembering to do it before you draw.