Since last Friday I decided to try playing a different deck than Abzan Control. Partly it was because this deck won't survive rotation and also because to some extent Boros/Jeskai decks were a mystery to me. When I was watching some players (or played against them) I couldn't believe how many misplays they have done. I've seen so many games lost because players couldn't play the right cards on turn 2 and 3. This is something that showed later in the game but if played correctly it would win the game. Also burning the opponent was possible in many cases but the players did not realize that. So I wanted to try that myself and see what the deck can do and why this deck sticks around. Those are also the decks that beat me at GP Prague - it was the first time I actually saw someone pilot the deck well and learned the real value of Jace. Because Jace is the card that made this deck good once again.
You might be familiar with Jeskai already but I certainly wasn't before playing my first game with it. I should have played with the deck before GP Prague because it would help me understand how the deck actually works. (so far all the Jeskai decks I encountered I beat but only because the players weren't the best pilots of the deck)
My first experience with the deck was the worst one I ever had with a deck in my whole life. I knew that this deck is not for me, but I couldn't imagine myself playing the deck so badly. Ages ago, when someone gave me a deck to play no matter what it was I was capable of playing with it fairly well. It was relatively easy to figure out how the deck works and I knew the meta usually so playing well was possible even without prior experience with the deck.But nowadays this does not really work. Nowadays decks are not build because they function well on their own but rather because they can handle certain meta and Jeskai seems the most meta deck. With that what I mean is that the deck needs to be tweaked quite heavily against the meta (with Abzan I could change one or two cards but with this deck I could change up to 12 cards in the deck). I came to that conclusion after few games with it utterly dying (not really but the games I lost I was crushed). The deck can be heavily tweaked and that is its greatest advantage for some players but one of big disadvantages for other (not so good) players.
What was wrong? Well the deck I played in those games wasn't really prepared for burn and Abzan Aggro or rather it wasn't prepared for something too aggressive and something playing Hangarback Walker. So after few games I changed both main deck and sideboard because I did not believe I could win any game with the list I had. The changes I made did not really change the type of deck. I put Magma Sprays in main deck, added Arashin Clerics, Disdainful Stroke and Anger of the Gods in the sideboard. I actually cut the single Disdaiful Stroke from the main deck and replaced it with Rabblemaster which did not show as a good idea in the end (since it is a card that ends up sideboard out most of the time anyway). But I needed to learn what the deck can do and for that I needed slightly more creatures (thus I either tried to play with Goblin Rabblemaster, Hordeling Outburst or Monastery Mentor). At this point I had no idea what the deck can possibly do but I knew that going more 'midrangy' is not the way in general but after sideboarding this deck can take a more control approach (so I put Elspeths in SB as well)
How did the actual games go? I have to admit that I do not remember being more ashamed when playing Magic. In the first match I was completely lost and just couldn't figure out a strategy how to win which was my primary problem. 'How the hell am I supposed to stop a devotion deck' was my question during the game and that was the wrong one as it should have been 'how do I beat a devotion deck?'. The answer is 'faster than my opponent can develop his game plan' but when I came to that conclusion it was already too late because I tried to deal with his threats instead of killing him (which was actually doable). The reason why this was so difficult for me is that I played Abzan Control for far too long. Abzan Control usually has a strong board presence, the best disruption in terms of Thoughtseize and removal spells that can usually hit anything (except Ultimate Price). This deck though could simply wait, late game was not bad at all and could deal with almost everything. Jeskai Tempo on the other hand is a completely different deck. It plays differently in two different parts of game...in one which the pilot puts a lot of pressure on the opponent somehow. With few creatures that usually immediately die (two two drops), then with a three drop that sticks for a while. One can try to keep this for a while but then the game needs to change since other decks start to overwhelm the Jeskai player. At this stage one needs to burn the opponent to deal the last few points of damage. That is the reason why I lost the first games I played even though I could have won them pretty easily because green devotion decks can hardly deal with Mantis Rider. I simply did not realize that I need to be very proactive early game and close the game in mid-game and if possible never get to late game with this deck as it can hardly do anything then. This deck has means to deal with Atarka or another annoying creature with Ojutai's Command and Disdainful Stroke but when dealing with these creatures the player should already be close to beating his opponent. If this is not the case the game cannot really be won.
This is a great example how NOT to fetch when one needs one red open all the time
In this match I also learned that playing the right lands is crucial. One needs to be aware of what mana he needs access to and also needs to keep the life loss at a minimum. This most probably means that the mana base is pretty bad but I guess there is no way around that. Played a tapped land t1, t2 basic/fetchland/painlant -> 2-drop, t3 tapped land -> 2-drop, t3 basic/fetch/paintland -> 3-drop is ideal. But when the majority lands one has are painlands it becomes tricky. When playing this deck one really needs to be cautious about the lands because that is something that can cost a game in this deck.
It was also the first time I ever played with Jace (if I don't count a Powered Cube experience with that card in which Jace usually played Ancestral Recall and tried to mill my opponent - it worked). With Jace in play I had to be aware of more things and also I needed to loot well. But since I wasn't aware of the power level of the cards I couldn't loot that well. Tracking the number of cards in my graveyard during combat was a novelty. I also completely messed up Jace's +1 ability while trying to kill some Thopter tokens in another match. Would you think this possible? To mess something like giving a creature -2/0 till your next turn? Everything matters in this deck. Be it playing a burn spell or using Jace's ability. My opponent knew what he was doing ulike me so I felt pretty bad and it felt even worse when I won the match in the end. Those 50 minutes were really embarassing. I couldn't believe how dumb my plays were sometimes. After this game I understood how such silly plays can happen^_^.
I was not only struggling with mana base and the deck in general but also with the Magic Online client as it sometimes did not register my clicks (since the last update it does this for some reason) and this slowed me down. But still playing online has its advantages. MODO forces rules and that is a good thing because it shows how certain cards interact. For example that if Grandmaster dies when you have a burn spell on the stack it loses Lifelink. This is a common scenario in Magic (how many times have you destroyed a creature that gives haste in order to save yourself from an attack of a creature that just came into play?) but sometimes some people do not realize that it works like this and they need to be reminded of that. Or for example playing Foul-Tongue's Invocation in response to Siege Rhino's trigger to gain 4 life and not die to Rhino's ability. Many players don't even know that you can do that. On a side note MODO is bugged and there are things that don't work as they should and sometimes the bugs are obvious (for example Damnable Pact gaining a player life except losing it) but some not - convoking a creature and sacrificing for mana at the same time (this was possible when Modern Masters was around so some people thought that it is how it works but it is not like that.)
When I finally realized that the best way to play the deck is as a tempo (and well this deck is usually named Jeskai Tempo) I finally started winning games. This might be obvious the deck's name IS 'Jeskai Tempo' but actually adapting the play style to tempo is not that obvious. Even a small mistake messes the game hell a lot (and I knew that only by watching others play the deck). I had to reevaluate the (use of) cards in the deck. Mantis Rider turned to be the number one creature I wanted to keep alive, burn spells were hitting my opponents more often than their creatures, Jace is most of the time a lightning rod but that is good and if Jace sticks he can help a ton but is not necessary for the deck's game plan, Soulfire Grand Master is lightning rod as well but it usually manages to gain some life before it dies (unlike Jace) and this is very important since majority of the field is super aggressive or burn. Dig Through Time usually translates to 6-8 damage to opponent's face.
When I was first expected to sideboard I just stared at the deck for a while. Then I asked myself...why certain card is in the deck (Valorous Stance - removal spell or someting that helps your creatures survive?) and what does it do (well it kills Siege Rhinos and Courser of Kruphix and thus it is hardly relevant against Burn as it won't in most cases save your creature anyway and it does not have targets to kill). Valorous Stance is an easy choice to side out but what about Rabblemaster on play against different decks? (the card I always forgot to side out was Stormbreath Dragon^_^) Rabblemaster is a card I would side out against Abzan Decks but what about other decks? Before one can be able to sideboard well he or she needs to understand the deck he or she plays. After figuring out what cards are good and and bad in certain matchups and what the deck needs against those decks one can come up with a sideboard and sideboard strategy. I would expect to side out burn spells against control decks and add Anger of the Gods and counterspells but is that ok? I don't know yet.
I'd like to tweak the deck a bit more. I really like Ojutai's Command. I've seen many people bring back Jace but it seems to be that bringing back Soulfire Grandmaster can actually bring a way bigger value unless Jace can end the game the next turn or wipte the board for example. Even though it seems awesome to bring back Soulfire Grandmaster back into play I'd like to try what it could possibly do with Harbinger of the Tides but I'm quite afraid of playing the card since it costs double blue (after seeing how much I struggled to play Dig Through Time). Hangarback Walker seems like an option as well but it's a nonbo with the Command.
In general I don't like the deck (I expected that). It is a pure Tempo deck and one difficult to master. I'm ok with the latter but the type of deck does not really suite me. Even though I play Delver in Legacy this is too much. I'll continue playing with the deck till the rotation and I will see then if I will change decks or not.
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