Mono-R Control with Jaya Ballard!

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SocorroTortoise
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Post by SocorroTortoise » 3 years ago

I don't actually have the reasoning for not including Sol Ring in the primer, so maybe that's the middle ground. Add some verbiage about fast mana in the card options section with a note under the decklist, similar to how I'm treating Painter's Servant or Distorting Lens.

I never got around to a set review for M21 or Jump Start (I'll blame quarantine for not actually playing in months), so now seems like as good a time as any. Starting with JMP because there's a lot less to cover.

Jump Start
Red
  • Immolating Gyre - Fun card without enough instant/sorcery support in my list. I'd be looking for a minimum of 4 damage out of this, ideally more like 5-6, every time it was cast to compete against other similar options (e.g. Mizzium Mortars). With 18 instants/sorceries in the list, that only happens on curve around 20% of the time. As the list is now, this is almost as much as a Jaya activation for about half the damage in a lot of cases, and it's about equally reliable because I already use the GY enough to draw some incidental hate.
  • Lightning Phoenix - The recursion trigger is easy to hit here, but the body is too low impact to matter. A two power flier that can't block isn't doing any of the things that this deck wants to be doing. There are other phoenix that are a better fit and I'm not currently running any of those either, so this is very low on the list.
  • Living Lightning - I could see this finding a home. Easily accessible recursion is still not particularly common in mono-R and the mana cost can be split up across a couple turns, unlike something like Past in Flames or Underworld Breach. Four mana is a little more than I want to pay for the effect and I still haven't really gotten a chance to play with Breach or Chandra, Acolyte of Flame which both fill a similar role. I'll keep it in mind, but have no immediate plans for it.
  • Spiteful Prankster - I like that this triggers off of every creature death, not just your own. Not a big fan of the fact that it only hits players and walkers. Two toughness with no built in resilience makes it a lot less appealing because most of the times you're the one triggering it, it's dying with the rest of the board. While I'm sure I'll find slots for this somewhere they're not going to be in this list.
M21
Red
  • Brash Taunter - This one I love. Stuffy Doll is a great force multiplier, solid wall for anything without evasion, and occasionally a way to give someone else some evasion. Taunter does all of this equally well and has the potential to be a lot more damaging. It's also nice that it can self trigger for much higher damage than Stuffy. Large creatures are something that Jaya has traditionally had some trouble with and Taunter makes them a liability. I also appreciate that it doesn't need to be reset to stay effective if the original target is knocked out.
  • Chandra, Heart of Fire - Notable for being a source of card advantage while ticking up. Unfortunately, the first activation is the most likely to hurt you and that's the only guaranteed one. It's also coming in at 5 CMC, which makes it tougher to make use of the first +1 on the turn it comes down. I'd put this behind a couple other Chandras and Ugin, the Ineffable as a card advantage walker. There are also a number of other recent prints to help generate card advantage. Not a terrible card, but probably not a first choice.
  • Chandra's Incinerator - There are a few ways to bring this in at a discount already. The problem is that the best way to take advantage of the trigger, Jaya's inferno, will also kill it and a pretty good number of the creatures on the board. This feels like it could be a solid threat in a more burn focused list. I'm guessing it will be solidly average in here.
  • Double Vision - I like it a lot in theory. It plays as well with the cheap rummaging effects that are currently in the list at the same price as Alhammarret's Archive, which was briefly here for that reason. Copying things like burn spells is much higher impact than lifegain as a secondary effect. It does have the same problem as a lot of other artifacts/enchantments that I've considered (and run) over the years - it does nothing on its own. Like with Immolating Gyre I'm only likely to see ~3 instants/sorceries by the time this comes down, and this requires that they be played afterwards. It's effectively more of a 7-8 drop and I don't think that the power level is high enough in this list to be worth it.
  • Fiery Emancipation - In contrast to Double Vision, this is a do nothing enchantment that I'm completely behind. In the lightly magical Christmas land scenario of curving this into a Jaya inferno, you can knock off half of every opponents' starting life. While it does nothing on its own, it's a game ending threat with a number of other cards in the list. Like I posted a while back, it also plays nicely with the Gauntlet effects - if they both stick (unlikely), there's potential for immediate use of the triple damage. More often, one is going to be cover for the other because opponents are likely running the same removal for each. I do feel that it's less win-more here than it is in other formats. The direct damage that I frequently try and close out the game with is scaled up a little, but definitely less than the life totals and number of opponents.
  • Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge - It comes with all the usual disclaimers about dying to Jaya, but it at least is likely to return the mana you spent on it. It does also serve as a decent defensive creature when it can't attack. It's not likely to be the thing that keeps you alive, but it's big enough to discourage chip damage. I still don't think this is quite the deck this card wants around it.
  • Transmogrify - Yet another option for the polymorph list. Red is getting plenty of these and Jaya as a general is reasonably well suited to take advantage, because you're already likely to be playing creature light if the gameplan is to nuke the board. I've been staying away from it mostly for the reason that it's hard to balance for the power level that I'm targetting. Because the cheating part of it can be made to be pretty consistent, the power level part of it is coming from what gets cheated in and I really don't want to deal with trying to find the right balance there.
  • Chandra, Flame's Catalyst - I like this more than I should. I'm a fan of burn in this format, so ticking up to bolt all opponents is appealing. The other abilities are also solid. At the end of the day it's paying 6 for something difficult to protect and not high enough impact, so not worth it. I'm still a little tempted. This lives in a similar space to Chandra, Awakened Inferno, another card I would really like to make work someday.
Colorless
  • Chromatic Orrery - Fun card, but pretty medium here. If you're going to run a big mana rock, you're much better off with something like Thran Dynamo or Gilded Lotus that comes down earlier. They're reasonable substitutes for Gauntlets if you don't have those. The non-mana producing parts of this card are just not helpful for this deck. An artifact heavy mono-R list doesn't need much fixing, and 5 mana for a card is poor even by mono-R standards.
  • Mazemind Tome - This isn't a bad one, honestly. Worse than Endless Atlas, but I'd probably put it second if I was making a list of this effect. It's cost effective and I don't usually expect this kind of card to survive past 2-3 draws, whether that's because someone wants to attack the card advantage engine or because it gets swept. Removing itself after 4 draws is a form of protection, too. It's harder to justify a removal spell when it's going to take care of itself in a couple turns, especially if you've already gotten some value from it. Scrying is very rarely going to be the right call because of the limited activations and the lifegain is unlikely to matter all that often, but adding some additional abilities to the card certainly doesn't hurt it.
Bonus - Notable Reprints (M21 and 2XM)
Presented without notes because the discussion is already out there, but feel free to ask why I'm highlighting anything in particular. I'm mostly focusing on the more costly (money) stuff here and didn't see anything of note in JMP on a quick skim through the spoiler. The things I'm planning on immediate cuts for are Brash Taunter and Fiery Emancipation, probably over Tectonic Reformation and an as-of-yet-undecided card. The things that caught my eye at first glance are all much lower on the curve, which I'm not eager to cut for 5/6 drops. Stuffy Doll or Gratuitous Violence are possibilities, but both of them are effects I'd rather double up on than replace. I'm realistically in no particular hurry, seeing as I'm in southern California. It's still going to be a while before I'm comfortable going in to the LGS to get some games in, so there's a pretty good chance I'll need to make similar choices after the next set before I get a chance to try out any of them.
[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

@SocorroTortoise I have a post from the first page of your mtgsalvation primer thread. xD

I took this deck apart a couple of years ago and always regretted it. so I'm throwing it together again. I know I need to pick up Hatred, Brash Taunter, Tuktuk scrapper and Blasphemous Act again at some point. Here's the remnants of my old list that I had on hand (as best as I can remember it) and pulled together. I wonder how you think it is look now a days.
Decklist
Approximate Total Cost:

Other cards I was considering
Approximate Total Cost:


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Post by SocorroTortoise » 3 years ago

So I've kind of been neglecting this thread thanks to Covid. I haven't played in a year, so there's not a lot of motivation to upkeep and I haven't been on the site as much. I'll hit a couple of the things that have happened in that time.

@materpillar It's been a few months, but you're doing some fun stuff there. Here are some thoughts on it. If you still have the deck and have played it at all, I'm interested in hearing how it's evolved since posting. The thing that seems most at odds internally is the number of little creatures that need to stay on board to affect the game (e.g. Fortune Thief and Goblin Sharpshooter) in a Jaya deck running Pyrohemia. My preference leans towards creatures with immediate impact, or at least creatures where I'm going to be OK with them only sticking for a turn. I'm also wondering how good Tower of Calamities is. Activating seems possible with the mana doublers and rituals, but how often are you running into creatures large enough to need it?

In terms of additions, you have a decent goblin package there. Goblin Engineer makes a lot of sense with what you're already doing and fills a similar role to Hoarding Dragon, so that seems like an easy swap. Brash Taunter is a goblin that plays very nicely with the spread damage and could be a reason to stick with the Tower if you want to keep it around.



The other thing that's happened as time moves on is several set releases. This is still all theoretical because, like I said earlier, I haven't actually played any Magic in a year. If anyone is still playing by whatever means, I'm curious to hear how some of the newer stuff has been performing for you. All of that said, here are my thoughts on the new stuff. I have no idea what cuts I'm going to make yet. There are several cards I know I want to play, so I might end up doing a light rebuild rather than a bunch of little tweaks.

Zendikar Reborn
  • Cleansing Wildfire - I like this card a lot. This is a format where powerful utility lands can reasonably be expected in most games, and answering them in a card neutral way has a lot of value. This is also pretty low social cost, as it replaces the land you're taking. Doesn't play nicely with Blood Moon, but I think this is still a reasonable consideration in a lot of decks.
  • Crawling Barrens - I don't know that I have a strong interest in any creature lands in this deck. If I did want to add one, this is the current frontrunner. Being able to sink mana if you hold it up for Jaya and don't need it is nice, and I like that you can buff it out of inferno range before ever turning it into a creature, not that an 11 mana line is likely to be all that common. I don't think any of them are necessary, but this fits better with typical Jaya lines than most creature lands.
  • Forsaken Monument - While I don't run a lot of colorless sources or colorless creatures, it's not an uncommon feature of mono-R lists. Incidental life gain is nice, it takes creatures like Steel Hellkite to the 7 toughness threshold that Jaya is looking for, and monocolor lists can afford a higher density of colorless utility lands and rocks. It's a solid consideration for some lists even if it doesn't fit my current one.
  • Leyline Tyrant - Batteries on their own are pretty bad, but one that comes attached to a flying beater with some direct damage potential on death is more appealing. I don't like that it dies to Jaya even with the death trigger. I think it's a fine card and dodges some of the issues smaller creatures in Jaya decks have. I don't currently plan to try it out in Jaya.
  • Lithoform Engine - Kill on sight value artifact. Rings of Brighthearth is already a nice card in this deck and Engine is frequently Rings+. Obviously a lot of value in a tap out control list. It's a little bit of a boring goodstuff card. I'm still going to try out a copy when I get out to play again.
  • Magmatic Channeler - Feels a little too slow for a creature that dies so easily. The activated ability is nice, I just don't like it attached to a haste-less body. Because I'm so behind on set comments, this gets to be foreshadowing for Kaldheim though.
  • Nahiri's Lithoforming - Super fun card to combo with Crucible of Worlds if you have it. Without that, I still kind of like it for some late game refueling and as a way to trigger Valakut multiple times in a turn. It's a passable way to cycle lands in hand. this one might be a casualty of having too many new cards at once, despite me liking it.
  • Roiling Vortex - Selective anti-life gain and chip damage. The second ability is very meta-dependent and not nearly as relevant in a 40 life format. My instinct on this is that the effects are nice but too small to merit inclusion.
  • Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass - I like the idea behind MDFCs. That said, this one is not my favorite for this list. The front isn't a card I would run on its own and basic mountain counts are important, so I would want to replace a utility land slot. I already have more options for those than I can comfortably fit in the deck, so this doesn't make the cut.
  • Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge - On the flip side (pun intended), this one looks very nice. Instant speed hand cycling is solid with the GY play already in the list and it's a land in a pinch. This is tied for the best Jaya card in the set for me and will definitely find a place in my list.
  • Valakut Exploration - The other card tied for best Jaya card in the set. Landfall impulse draw is a great effect, especially if you have fetches and Crucible. Adding direct damage to each opponent and not cutting off GY interactions makes this a snap include.
Overall, solid set for Jaya. Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge and Valakut Exploration are the clear winners and are worth considering for any Jaya list. Lithoform Engine is a generically good card for this style of deck. It's going to play well, but it's not doing anything particularly suited to Jaya.


Commander Legends
  • Bladegriff Prototype - Aside from my usual complaints about small creatures in Jaya lists, this is a decent one. It has the potential to fill a niche that mono-R usually has trouble with, removing enchantments, albeit with some opponents willing to work with you. It costs about 1 CMC more than I would like to be a serious consideration.
  • Coercive Recruiter - Another copy of Zealous Conscripts if you're after Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker/Splinter Twin combo pieces. It has some additional value in that it can threaten all opposing creatures as part of comboing off, which is a little bit overkill if you're already making an arbitrary number of dudes.
  • Commander's Plate - It's a nice card. Protecting Jaya from the majority of opposing removal is nice, especially because the remaining open color relies primarily on damage based removal. It's sadly missing the most important protection color for Jaya. Powerful card even with a painful equip cost.
  • Court of Ire - Holding on to the monarchy is tough in a creature light deck unless you're already way ahead on board. This feels very win-more to me. Without the monarchy it's definitely not worth the mana cost and if you have the monarchy, the extra card every turn is going to put your farther ahead than the damage. This is one where I could be misevaluating.
  • Emberwilde Captain - Basically the same as above. The monarchy is powerful but difficult to hold onto.
  • Fathom Fleet Swordjack - Not terrible. Mono-R usually has enough artifacts to make the trigger hurt and the encore ability gives a decent amount of late game reach. I didn't pay much attention to this earlier, but it's catching my eye as I go through the set now. This feels worth testing out.
  • Horizon Stone - Another pseudo-payoff for holding up mana. If you're already running plenty of mana sinks, this might be a better choice than another one. Lots of potential for explosive turns with a little setup. It's less effective at that than a Gauntlet effect because it can't be used as a ritual, but it's decent if you can get it to stick for a turn or two.
  • Jeska's Will - My favorite card in the set for Jaya. Impulse draw has been decent and this has the potential to staple it to a ritual. While I would expect the ritual to be the much less used mode when choosing one, the flexibility still has value. This obviously replaces Act on Impulse if you're running that and have a copy of this.
  • Jeweled Lotus - Honestly kind of mediocre here, because Jaya's abilities are so mana and card intensive. There's not a lot of advantage in rushing Jaya out early and going down a card to do it hurts. The best application of this is playing Jaya when you can give her haste and still keep mana up for an activation, which is a very narrow scenario.
  • Phyrexian Triniform - Plays nicely with Goblin Welder and the encore is passable for the extreme late game. I would pass on this most of the time as it's just a beater/army in a can. As those cards go, it's at least a passable one.
  • Soulfire Eruption - The delayed impulse draw is very powerful and a big part of why I've liked Commune with Lava so much. Limiting it to a 9-drop hurts it a lot, even with the added possibility of direct damage. I would look at this as primarily card advantage given how difficult it is to plan the damage. In the rare cases where the top of deck is known (Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack) or you get lucky, it's a nice bonus.
  • War Room - Solid utility land. Four mana and a life for a card is a fine exchange rate in colors that are hurting for card draw. Doing it at instant speed makes for a nice mana sink. I'm planning on finding a spot for this even if I have no idea what the cut is going to be.
None of the themes in this set were really lined up with what I'm doing with Jaya. Despite that there are still a couple gems. I'm a lot more interested in Fathom Fleet Swordjack as late game reach now that I'm revisiting the set a few months later. Aside from that, Jeska's Will and War Room both seem like solid inclusions that fit my gameplan well.


Kaldheim
  • Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty - Starting off strong! The front side of Birgi is OK, even if I forget the second ability even exists. The part of this card that I'm really looking forward to is Harnfel. Ditching a card for double impulse draw is great. It's a nice way to convert things like basic lands from Armillary Sphere into business late or dig like crazy prior to firing off a Wheel for a big turn. I'm looking forward to some nonsense with this card.
  • Cosmos Elixir - Jaya does have some potential for explosive lifegain. This is probably win-more if you're drawing. There's some value to incidental lifegain, but I wouldn't spend a card on it.
  • Goldspan Dragon - If you have a number of treasure generators, this isn't bad. I don't think it fuels itself well enough to run outside of that scenario.
  • Magda, Brazen Outlaw - Strong card, better in her own deck. The caveat to that is if you're running enough treasure generation to take advantage of the tutoring, then it's solid. Jaya is probably not the best general for the treasure deck that this is looking for - realistically, Magda as general is where you want to be for that.
  • Raiders' Karve - Decent if you can reliably crew. It plays nicely with topdeck manipulation and fetches, where you can use the trigger to scry. Jaya's ability to board clear makes it a little more likely that there will be an open opponent to swing into, even if it's difficult to crew this after activating Jaya.
  • Seize the Spoils - The most recent entry in this style of card. Worse than Tormenting Voice and Wild Guess, better than some of the others. If you're playing those, this is a consideration.
  • Tibalt's Trickery - Red counterspell is nice, the downside is potentially very bad. This is definitely something to hold for a game ending threat or combo piece, not use as a value counter. It is still red stack interaction, which means it's worth testing out. There's a reason I'm still running Chaos Warp after all this time. Sometimes an unknown threat is preferable to a known one.
  • Toralf, God of Fury // Toralf's Hammer - Best for the Toralf side. This potentially works like Repercussion if your opponents have board with many small creatures. It also works equally well with damage multipliers like Furnace of Rath or Fiery Emancipation. You can also combo those together to chain through multiple little creatures and end with a (probably lethal) shot at an opponent.
  • Tyrite Sanctum - Very slow. The upside of making Jaya indestructible is very high, even as telegraphed as it is. I doubt this is better than other utility lands. It's still a defensible choice and I'm picking up a copy to try out.
Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty and Tibalt's Trickery are the ones I'm most interested in trying here. I picked up a copy of Toralf, God of Fury // Toralf's Hammer and Tyrite Sanctum as well, though I think those are less likely to stick longer term.
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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

SocorroTortoise wrote:
3 years ago
@materpillar It's been a few months, but you're doing some fun stuff there. Here are some thoughts on it. If you still have the deck and have played it at all, I'm interested in hearing how it's evolved since posting. The thing that seems most at odds internally is the number of little creatures that need to stay on board to affect the game (e.g. Fortune Thief and Goblin Sharpshooter) in a Jaya deck running Pyrohemia. My preference leans towards creatures with immediate impact, or at least creatures where I'm going to be OK with them only sticking for a turn. I'm also wondering how good Tower of Calamities is. Activating seems possible with the mana doublers and rituals, but how often are you running into creatures large enough to need it?

In terms of additions, you have a decent goblin package there. Goblin Engineer makes a lot of sense with what you're already doing and fills a similar role to Hoarding Dragon, so that seems like an easy swap. Brash Taunter is a goblin that plays very nicely with the spread damage and could be a reason to stick with the Tower if you want to keep it around.
Here's my current list. I've only played it a couple of times. I'm thinking of adding in Stuffy Doll, Repercussion, Star of Extinction as ways to actually close out the game because I find myself struggling with actually ending people.

I've found Pyrohemia to be constantly exceptional. Tower of Calamities is solid in slower metas. This deck got rated into mid on EDHrec so I need to power it up some so unfortunately tower got axed. I'm also way too light on graveyard hate. I should also add Lightning Greaves back in because I find myself really wanting haste.

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Post by SocorroTortoise » 3 years ago

I like a lot of your additions. In the updated list the stuff I'm curious about is
  • Hoarding Dragon - I'm not seeing any dragon interactions and Goblin Engineer finds most of the same things while playing nice with the goblin package. Is that worth a swap?
  • Mana-Charged Dragon - How often do other players actually pay into this? If the answer is rarely, you might look at Moonveil Dragon for a similar effect that helps you go a little wider. You're losing the ability to pump colorless mana into it but it should be a little more resilient to spot removal. I will say I'm not sure whether that's better than trample in this deck.
  • Mind's Eye - I've found this to be a little too resource intensive for my taste. Is it working well for you?
  • Searing Wind - Seems too pricey for what you get. Is this better than an earthquake effect (Rolling Earthquake is a lot more affordable now, though not an instant) or an X-cost burn spell like Rolling Thunder? You're losing out on a little bit of mana efficiency in favor of more flexibility, both in terms of how many things you can hit and when you can play the card. You could also look at Price of Progress, which is almost always a house in my experience.
  • Chandra Nalaar - I think there are better Chandra walkers that fill a similar role available at this point. Chandra, Flamecaller in particular has been excellent. Ablaze still has merit as a disruptive element because you can pull everyone down to three random cards, but if you're looking for card advantage some of the printings with impulse draws-e.g. Chandra, Fire Artisan or Chandra, Torch of Defiance (which has come down in price a lot)-might work well while being a little more effective at dealing some incidental damage as well.
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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

SocorroTortoise wrote:
3 years ago
I like a lot of your additions. In the updated list the stuff I'm curious about is
  • Hoarding Dragon - I'm not seeing any dragon interactions and Goblin Engineer finds most of the same things while playing nice with the goblin package. Is that worth a swap?
  • Mana-Charged Dragon - How often do other players actually pay into this? If the answer is rarely, you might look at Moonveil Dragon for a similar effect that helps you go a little wider. You're losing the ability to pump colorless mana into it but it should be a little more resilient to spot removal. I will say I'm not sure whether that's better than trample in this deck.
  • Mind's Eye - I've found this to be a little too resource intensive for my taste. Is it working well for you?
  • Searing Wind - Seems too pricey for what you get. Is this better than an earthquake effect (Rolling Earthquake is a lot more affordable now, though not an instant) or an X-cost burn spell like Rolling Thunder? You're losing out on a little bit of mana efficiency in favor of more flexibility, both in terms of how many things you can hit and when you can play the card. You could also look at Price of Progress, which is almost always a house in my experience.
  • Chandra Nalaar - I think there are better Chandra walkers that fill a similar role available at this point. Chandra, Flamecaller in particular has been excellent. Ablaze still has merit as a disruptive element because you can pull everyone down to three random cards, but if you're looking for card advantage some of the printings with impulse draws-e.g. Chandra, Fire Artisan or Chandra, Torch of Defiance (which has come down in price a lot)-might work well while being a little more effective at dealing some incidental damage as well.
You've picked out a bunch of pet cards that are in there because they're pet cards.
  • I ran Goblin Engineer for a while and never really found that I liked it much. I don't have enough artifacts I'm willing to sacrifice to get back a 3cc artifact. Goblin Welder lets me get Gauntlet of Might and such while also acting as pseudo-removal towards my opponents.
  • Mana-Charged Dragon rarely has my opponents put mana into it. I've still been fairly happy with it. It can close out games once its in a 1v1 situation very very quickly. It should probably be Inferno Titan honestly.
  • I haven't drawn mind's eye recently. Hard for me to say.
  • I've found that this deck is really good at getting people to middle teen amounts of life. Searing Wind + Reverberate is a great way to get someone dead at instant speed. It only costs 8RRR to do that instead of 10RRRR. I actually lost the last game I played because I discard searing wind early game and got an opponent to 7 before they went infinite and killed the table. Maybe it'd still be better to run Electrodominance but I'm not positive.
  • I've got a Chandra Nalaar |28678 and I want to cast it. xD

    I need some more graveyard hate pretty badly.

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Post by Ruiner » 3 years ago

materpillar wrote:
3 years ago

[*]I've got a Chandra Nalaar |28678 and I want to cast it. xD

I need some more graveyard hate pretty badly.
I totally get wanting to play Chandra Nalaar. I run her in my Chandra Burn/Planeswalkers deck and while it isn't the most powerful version of Chandra, it is the original Chandra (I don't have that sweet alt art version you have though) . It can do some work too, high starting loyalty and the ultimate can end someone. I find people don't tend to throw much hate her way either when she is in play since she is only hitting one player.

For graveyard hate, I pretty much try to include Scavenger Grounds and Soul-Guide Lantern in most decks. The land still gives mana if graveyard stuff isn't a big deal and the lantern replaces itself in those situations. Maybe consider those?

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Post by SocorroTortoise » 3 years ago

All fair. Being a pet card is a good enough reason to run something. I stick Markov Blademaster into way more decks than I would if I were just optimizing for power.

For GY hate, I like asymmetrical options here. Jaya plays nicely with GY interaction and usually isn't stocked with nice reanimation targets, so I like to keep my yard around when possible. Soul-Guide Lantern and old standby Tormod's Crypt are my go-to options. Scavenger Grounds and Relic of Progenitus are both solid options too - you're a little lighter on GY use, so it might not hurt so much to lose your yard.
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Post by SafetyValve » 2 years ago

I know this thread hasn't been updated in a while, but is anyone still running Jaya? Conspiracy Theorist made me want to revisit

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Post by silversnakes » 2 years ago

Yes, I built her recently actually. The deck is fun and can do things you may not think red can do. My list runs the snow package for some added utility. Here's the list https://archidekt.com/decks/1477559#Jay ... d_Control). Conspiracy Theorist is actually very very good here and I've used it to good effect. What never gets old though is getting a collar and a sword on jaya and just watching the world burn in fire haha.

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SocorroTortoise
Not A Turtle
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Joined: 4 years ago
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Location: San Diego, CA

Post by SocorroTortoise » 2 years ago

I still have the deck together, I just haven't played a game in a couple years so I'm a little out of the loop on the newer stuff. I still drop in and check the forum every once in a while. I will say that out of the more recent printings Moonsilver Key looks great if you have a Gauntlet effect or two in the list.

I'm a big fan of the second ability on Conspiracy Theorist. The thing that gives me pause about it is that I usually try and run out Jaya once early, then hold off until I have the resources to immediately threaten inferno. I don't expect Jaya to last most of the time, so I'm a little apprehensive about fragile creatures that enhance Jaya. It gains a lot of stock if you're heavier on other discard effects, e.g. the Tormenting Voice style cards.

I'm also completely with @silversnakes here. Getting a couple buffs on Jaya and wiping the board is still one of the most satisfying play patterns I've had in this format after years of doing it. Aside, how have you liked the snow package you're running? I haven't run Rimescale Dragon or Glacial Crevasses in a long time (since I got Mindslavered with Crevasses down just after the SOM Slaver reprint, if I remember correctly).
[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box

silversnakes
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Joined: 4 years ago
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Post by silversnakes » 2 years ago

Yeah, the snow package for me at least has been pretty good so far. My playgroup doesn't run mindslaver or anything like that though so no bad beats at least not yet. In my decks I enjoy playing cards that are just obscure and have weird effects for there colors. Especially, since my playgroup is pretty new at the game. The dragon has been decent slowing ppl down has been pretty good allowing me to either dig for an answer or to just stall until the table does. All in all the package has been pretty solid and the deck in general is a blast to play as well. The deck isn't oppressive and its actually really fun to see everything come together.

Anastopholies
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Post by Anastopholies » 1 month ago

Would it be possible to build a similar control mono red on a budget? I love the idea... but I like playing cheap :P
(After looking at your well written article I doubt it, but you guys are smarter than me)

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