Jeskai Fires Perfect Guide

(Editor’s Note: fixed Sideboard Guide against Azorius Control part on March 16.)

Introduction to the Best Deck

Hello everyone, it’s nice to finally be back from vacations to talk to you about what is the best deck in Standard for me (I admit it is probably not the best deck, but it’s my favorite one and everytime people understimate it, it comes back and wins everything – or loses in the finals if you are me), Jeskai Fires.

As you know, I played this deck at World Championship XXVI for a second place finish, and after taking a few days off to enjoy sunny Hawaii, I decided to run it back at the Mythic Point Challenge. The deck once again performed great, with me getting to 10 wins and only one loss and some precious Mythic Points for this year’s Magic Pro League (MPL) Race.

Feels good coming back from vacation and going 10-1 in the Mythic challenge , #Hareruyapros pic.twitter.com/wm4gi2HgEO
— Márcio A Carvalho (@KbolMagic) March 1, 2020

My Decklist at the Mythic Point Challenge

Here is the decklist I used:

Marcio Carvalho
– Jeskai Fires

Mythic Point Challenge
(10-1)

Text for MTG Arena（Click to Expand）

Changes after World Championship XXVI

Main Deck

Let’s talk about changes I made after Worlds:

《Dream Trawler》 was not good enough anymore as you want to be very efficient with your mana, and sometimes you stop at the 5th land and you are happy with it. I decided to give a chance to the powerhouse which is 《Elspeth Conquers Death》: It might look odd to have it on this kind of deck, but the card is very powerful and allows you to come back from behind on unwinnable spots. Also, all the targets on your deck that you can bring back with chapter three are game breaking, and will win some games on the spot.

Another card I decided to try was 《Brazen Borrower》, so as I thought aggressive decks were going to be less represented, I decided to give this guy a chance. Let me tell you the truth:

PLEASE DON’T PLAY THIS CARD ON YOUR FIRES DECK!!! IT’S NOT GOOD!!

Sideboard

In the sideboard I also changed a few things:

《Mystical Dispute》 wasn’t very good for me when I played four, so I decided to go down to only two and add two more 2 CMC creatures to pressure my opponents.

Some people asked why I decided to run 2 of each 《Tithe Taker》 and 《Robber of the Rich》 instead of the full four of either of them. There are two things that made me choose the split:

(1) 《Tithe Taker》 was a must 4-ofs in the previous format, as there were a lot of Flash decks and also a counter heavy Azorius Control. The card alone owned those match-ups, so it was necessary to run all copies to make sure you had it on turn 2 against them. Those decks are less popular now (Some might say they do not even exist), so there is no need for the card there. But it can still be useful to have some copies against decks that plan on running counterspells against you, or even as a fodder to be used against the Sacrifice decks that try to lock you from playing big creatures with 《Priest of Forgotten Gods》.
(2) 《Robber of the Rich》 on the other hand is a great play exactly on turn 2 when you are on the play after sideboard, and completes perfectly with 《Legion Warboss》. But the card loses a lot of its impact on the draw, as well as in multiples, besides not being a good top deck later in the game.

Why Jeskai Fires is so Good right now?

So Marcio, would you run Jeskai Fires this weekend at MTG Arena Mythic Invitational Qualifier if you could?

Here is my answer:

do you really need to ask ? pic.twitter.com/3jt8gvIjmm
— Márcio A Carvalho (@KbolMagic) March 9, 2020

Yes! I think Fires is VERY well positioned right now.

You ask me why?

After Mono Red won Grand Prix Lyon last weekend, and the rise of Rakdos Sacrifice, both very good match-ups for my beloved Fires, the deck is definitely the right choice. Both Bant Ramp and Temur Adventures are also match-ups that are slightly even, so with tight play and good draws you can come out on top.

I would bring back the 4th 《Deafening Clarion》 to the main deck to combat the aggressive decks, and maybe run a 《Heliod’s Intervention》 in the main deck. I made this suggestion to another Fires master, Toni Ramos and he crushed the Standard Challenge last weekend with an impressive 10-0 score.

pepeteam
– Jeskai Fires

Standard Challenge – #12102013
(Champion)

Text for MTG Arena（Click to Expand）

If I would make a change I would play another 《Elspeth Conquers Death》 in the sideboard for sure because I think having 2 in the 75 is very important (Probably replacing the second 《Disenchant》 on this list).