Dies to Removal

Is this guy headed to the top of the food chain?


[deck=Jeskai Heroic Combo, Ivan Jen, 1st Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 11/1/2014]Creatures (16)
4 Akroan Crusader
4 Favored Hoplite
2 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Seeker of the Way

Lands (18)
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Mana Confluence
4 Mystic Monastery
2 Shivan Reef
1 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Triumph

Spells (26)
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
4 Defiant Strike
4 Gods Willing
2 Jeskai Charm
4 Retraction Helix

Sideboard
3 Chasm Skulker
2 Seeker of the Way
2 Ajani's Presence
1 Disdainful Stroke
3 Erase
2 Magma Jet
2 Negate[/deck]

People have been saying -Jeskai Charm, +Stubborn Denial, - Trailblazer, +Seeker

How do you bust the combo?

Trailblazer is a good card, esp. against red where you can actually get raced pretty easily with a slower hand.

I've got the deck sleeved up at home, can't wait to try it out.

Re: Trailblazer vs Seeker
Trailblazer is inherently strong vs Anger and Drown in Sorrow, and I don't know how relevant would the lifelink mode of the Seeker.

I also thought Trailblazer was stupid, but I think jsilv is spot on in recognizing how good it is against aggro.

I do think Jeskai Charm needs replacing tho. Treasure Cruise doesn't seem like a fit for this deck, but a one-of seems attractive because it lets you actually have cards in hand when you're going through your deck with Ascendancy. Granted, you're probably winning any game with Ascendancy in play, so this is probably just not the right home for cruise.

I've seen Stoke the Flames suggested, but again it only really seems great with Ascendancy in play. That said, it pretty much does two of the roles of charm and convoke + ascendancy is a high ceiling.

Personally I wouldn't want to replace Jeskai Charm with more cards that are situationally good/help you go under (like Stubborn Denial). The thing I'm worried about with this deck is not having Ascendancy and getting walled by my opponent because all my cards are draft commons and my opponent is at a reasonable life total. Jeskai Charm is helpful in those situations, Stubborn Denial, Triton Tactics, or other cards that synergize with Heroic are not.

I wish we could play Chained to the Rocks

Maybe the deck wants Stratus Walk since it lets you soar over the ground and draws cards. I really wish this deck had more card draw since finding Ascendancy changes how good this deck is considerably.

Even though I think Charm is one of the weaker cards in the deck, we saw in the top 8 where when he was forced to go on the beatdown plan, his opponent had to take the Charm with Thoughtseize because it's just 4 more damage. I also imagine vs aggro decks, the life link could be a backbreaking swing.

Trailblazer is also one of the better creatures in the deck. If hate pops up in the form of anger/drown, it dodges both those AND is a house vs aggro decks.

Everyone just run 3/4 erase in your SB and you'll be fine VS this deck.

Everyone just run 3/4 erase in your SB and you'll be fine VS this deck.

Yeah, vs. this deck. But that kinda screws SB plans against a BUNCH of other decks.

I'm irrationally angry over a magic deck.

That's what fast combo decks that require specific narrow solutions do to people...

I feel like this deck has a not-so-good matchup vs non-combo Jeskai, though.

Jeskai and Mono Red are both very well situated against the deck, esp. the former if you can pack some actual countermagic in there. If you play a deck then could already beat the heroic aspect of it, then it's just a matter of making sure you run enough ways to not snap lose to the Ascendancy combo part. If you look at the Oakland results you'll see a ton of Green Devotion and Abzan lurking, which this deck preys on. It's yet another deck that should force the metagame to shift again.

Like level 1 at this tournament was Abzan, Mono Red and Jeskai
Level 2 was GR Hornets / Monsters, Temur and Mardu
Level 3 was GB Whip Devotion and Jeskai Heroic

Next week the levels may shift again. Also at all times a control deck that gets reasonable pairings can always do well at these things since most people aren't that competent and will give your cards extra value. If this deck catches on along with GB Devo, it may be the final coffin in the Abzan good stuff deck. Originally it had 55-60% matches across the board, now I'd say it's a dog to Mardu, dog to GR, even with Temur, dog to Jeskai Heroic & massive dog to GB Devo. Meanwhile Jeskai gets to try and lineup against slower big green decks that are softer to countermagic and strong openings, decks that deal shittons of damage to themselves and no longer has to be concerned with how the mirror plays out.

As for useful deck advice - Snap cut the two Magma Jet* for a pair of Triton Tactics and thank me in the morning. I also think you want the white Ordeal pretty badly against Mono Red, they have minimal removal unless they massively slow their deck down (which favors you) and having a non-Charm way to recoup some life is a big deal. It also can push your guys out of burn range on the play.

*This card does actual nothing.

What do people think of this Jeskai Heroic Combo list:

[deck]
Lands:
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Mana Confluence
4 Mystic Monastery
1 Plains
2 Shivan Reef
3 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Temple of Triumph

Creatures:
4 Akroan Crusader
3 Hero of Iroas
2 Heliod's Pilgrim
4 Favored Hoplite
2 Seeker of the Way

Noncreatures:
1 Aqueous Form
4 Defiant Strike
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Gods Willing
3 Retraction Helix
2 Springleaf Drum
2 Ordeal of Thassa
1 Singing Bell Strike
4 Jeskai Ascendancy

Sideboard:

2 Ajani's Presence
1 Aqueous Form
2 Erase
3 Magma Spray
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Triton Tactics
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Ordeal of Heliod
[/deck]

Tried to move away from the combo a little bit and provide some tools for pushing through with the Heroic plan in longer games.

I found games went one of two ways:

1. I went in on an the combo Plan

2. I went in on a Boss Sligh-ish or UW Heroic plan

Either way, if I drew combo pieces while trying to aggro, it was awkward, or if I didn't draw combo pieces when I needed to while trying to combo, it was also awkward. At the end of the day I just felt like I would be pulled in different directions by my draws too often, so I brewed up a list that could play aggro more efficiently (since Tom Ross's top 8 shows that the heroic plan works decently well) while still having access to the combo.

I talked to Ivan, he is sponsored by my LGS. If I can distill some (deserved?) arrogance out of his comments - he had a big information advantage of knowing essentially everyone's elses 75 while they didn't always get what he was doing.

Specifically he mentioned that people would hang back to block and get combo'd.


Also, deck is hard to play well.

Heroic Ascendancy
Ivan Jen
20th Place at StarCityGames.com Standard Open on 12/13/2014
Standard
[deck]
Creatures (16)

4 Akroan Crusader
2 Favored Hoplite
2 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
4 Meletis Astronomer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
Lands (18)

4 Battlefield Forge
3 Mana Confluence
4 Mystic Monastery
2 Shivan Reef
1 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Triumph
Spells (26)

4 Springleaf Drum
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
1 Ajani's Presence
4 Defiant Strike
4 Gods Willing
4 Retraction Helix
1 Treasure Cruise
Sideboard

4 Mantis Rider
3 Seeker of the Way
2 Erase
1 Magma Spray
2 Negate
3 Glare of Heresy
[/deck]

I've spent a little over a month on the deck and sometimes i go 3-0-1 in a daily and sometimes i go 0-4 at fnm.
I can't get it consistent no matter how disciplined the mulligans I take. I can no longer find mistakes in my play and I still lose, but I don't think there exist masters of the deck that could teach me that aren't Ivan Jen himself that could show me my mistakes, so I'm done with the deck.