12/11/17 - Brad VS. Stevens: Bloodbraid Jund vs Jace Jeskai [Modern-ish]

[@Melcheor]

This Video just became very relevant

[@dustinbrown4759]

Postillion right lol

[@cornflakewins]

I play control saw the unban of jace and now i dont even waan to play modern for it turns into who lands jace first or dodge the jace.

[@TheGingervit1s]

Yes because literally no deck in the entire format has a way to interact with Jace. It's all just a race to land the first one or kill them before they play it. I forgot they banned all discard, direct damage, counterspells, creatures, direct planeswalker/permanent removal etc as well so modern is dead now.

[@dustinbrown4759]

Goffman they didn't you noob

[@dustinbrown4759]

cornflakewins there are many ways to get rid of him, and counter him

[@donnietreece5257]

WE MADE IT GUYS. WE ARE THE DOG AND WE HAVE CAUGHT THE MAIL-TRUCK. WHAT DO WE DO NOW. like if you're watching on or past 2/12/18

[@ecksofresh]

Didn't really show how jace was busted. However, it did show just how good Search for Azcanta is.

[@alexherzfeld260]

Search for Azcanta is the new Deathrite Shaman. Does way too much for too little mana.

[@baconboy1547]

Jace isn't too powerful. Todd Stevens is too powerful. Unban Jace. Ban todd

[@thetruth4654]

Now that it got unbanned. Now it can get banned again

[@GreenMonkeySam]

#BamTodd !

[@RogerLoUSPSA]

your wish has been granted

[@simracingsemantics9821]

*cries in spanish*

[@klob4524]

Steven Pedersen todd isnt even that good.

[@ElGrilledCheezus]

It wasn't even the strength of Jace, jeskai just beat jund

[@stephenlofton5403]

Spoilers man cmon

[@NYoumans]

always...

[@EvonyBasics]

When jeskai plays 12 maindeck removal spells, its hard to get mad at opp for drawing bolt for Bob

[@Tryo707]

This is a good example of why I prefer Abzan. Lingering Souls and Voice do the heavy work against control.

[@downsjmmyjones101]

People are thinking that Junk is dead but you have amazing tools against the boogeymen of the format. You beat control with Voice, Loxodon Smiter and Lingering Souls. You beat Jund(liliana of the Veil+Kolaghan's Command)with Loxodon Smiter and Wilt-Leaf Liege. I love me some BBE but Junk is still top dog as far as I can tell.

[@juicyjugo6187]

pretty hilarious that these are the actual unbannings

[@augusthasbirk5033]

Just saw modern ish in the title. Have never liked a video that fast before! Merry Christmas Brad and Todd!

[@joshuacherney9029]

These two should do more together, its very fun and interactive, where as some of the other dudes just are rude to each other when they are losing. This one is all about them having fun and playful interactions!

[@eddiegaytan236]

I have always said unban Bloodbraid Elf. Snapcaster Mage has out performed BBE every game lol.

[@MC-ep8cu]

Eddie Gaytan I was going to say that. Ban snap

[@SkulblakaFreohr]

Jace is basically a win more card in most of the modern format. If you're resolving a 4 mana planeswalker and it's living, chances are you were already miles ahead anyway. The only reason not to unban Jace is the monetary risk. If they had to pull a Golgari Grave Troll and ban it right after it gets unbanned, people would get pissed.

[@bzfiddleness]

SkulblakaFreohr you're missing a key point in this video. Jace isn't only good when you're winning, it usually breaks attrition wars and board stalls, and if blue decks are playing Jace, trying to play towards an attrition war is no longer a good strategy. Interaction is less valuable because you just need to beat your opponent before jace can be good, and modern becomes a solitaire format.

[@SkulblakaFreohr]

Benjamin Zorn This video literally illustrates that the deck doesn't need Jace. Jace wouldn't break the format at all. The only reason to keep it banned is, again, monetary.

[@myaramiu]

I agree, which is why when they announce an unbanning of Jace, if they do, I'd like them to announce that he'd be printed in Masters 25. He's a fine card to have in modern, and people need to stop freaking out when he's brought up. He's only great in the format that can protect him with Force of Will and Daze, and where nobody runs these hectic aggro creature strategies because they can't afford to die to combo so they run slower things. Legacy is a slower format than Modern because of the free counterspells. That's why Jace can be played and protected.

[@Born2KillITA]

Yeah, instead a turn 3 Karn is so fun and healthy for modern!

[@wildsnivy7225]

The big difference between Karn and Jace is that you actually need to build your deck around Karn (with Tron lands) to get him out Turn 3, and that's assuming you land a natrual Tron. Meanwhile, just about any controlling blue deck (Jeskai, Esper, even GDS to an extent) can get a ton of mileage out of Jace turn 4; double blue by turn 4 is a lot easier to do in Modern than 7 colorless by turn 3. With that aside, Brainstorming each turn for selective card advantage is way, *way* better than hard spot removal each turn (not even then either, since that's a minus; Jace Brainstorms each turn for free). I mean, this is a format where Ponder, Git Probe and Preordain are banned; why the hell should a more powerful, reusable cantrip stapled onto a fateseal and wincon be allowed?

[@Born2KillITA]

SnYves I get your point, the thing I don’t like is the way Brad (and many people out there) react to a resolved Jace. If you are brainstorming, jace still on 3 loyalty. A single bolt could take him down, the same is true if you’re facing decks like collected, humans, affinity and many others that could overwhelm the board. Perhaps jace is the best walker out there, but it’s on the par with many powerful things that happens regularly in modern: Karn (as I mentioned before), storm end the game on turn 3/4, through the breaching an Emrakul, blood moon that wins games if you don’t see it coming. The real problem is that people are freaking out about him, but modern does not have free way to protect it like FOW, and if you hold it till turn 6/7 it’s fair as a finisher. I hope to see it unbanned to find out if it’s really too busted, but I doubt it will ever happen.

[@wildsnivy7225]

Part of me kinda wants to see that as well, in part to see how he stacks up against other Tier 1 walkers like Karn and Lily. A big thing to keep in mind is that he'd almost exclusively see play in control decks (I kinda remembered in typing this that GDS doesn't really have the mana to safely jam Jace and develop their board presence simultaneously), and he's not going to single-handedly stop Storm, Living End, Breach, Ad Nauseam, Dredge and whatever else from oops-ing into a game ender. And yeah, in a format that's as fast as Modern is, where nothing is guaranteed to stick around for a long time, there's a good chance that Jace only fires off one Brainstorm before he dies. That said, if you do stick him, then he just goes berserk. One Brainstorm is fine, but if you're playing a deck that just can't get to him for whatever reason, then you're going to fall way behind. And again, Brainstorm is a powerful cantrip that in the format is exclusive to Jace. So that means the control decks of the world get a ton of utility that other blue decks don't have access to because they are either too fast or just don't have room for him. I still think he's gonna be on the banlist for a while, but if he came off I wouldn't be horribly surprised.

[@Born2KillITA]

SnYves guess we’ll see on 15th January!

[@jtyree0226]

lol you don't need to have it unbanned to know "if it's too powerful ". The format would turn to more linear garbage vs Jace and that's all you would see.

[@mariofisher6340]

i love the way todd gives brads deck the finger when he "cuts" it

[@torksendal3020]

So game 3 Brad opted to not get back his Thrun from the grave and discard his Liliana of the Veil just to drain 2 life... No wonder he's loosing...

[@GreenMonkeySam]

This spooky prediction just became very relevant.

[@jonbrown2551]

Every time you flick a card a tiny angel says "please stop doing that."

[@Jorgelufe]

So THIS just happened. Great simulation of what modern is gonna be from now on.

[@FlourescentPotato]

too much salt on the jund side.

[@ncannavino11]

what exactly are the decklists? I play Jeskai Control and I'm wondering what is cut from it now

[@stephenlofton5403]

I like that this series is still done in paper rather than making the jump to modo. It's definitely easier to read cards on modo but seeing it in paper is nice for w change of pace from most content. Also jace is very strong but is fine modern is just so fast at this point. "Jace out of combo sideboards" isn't exactly world shattering imo.

[@blarghts]

Watched a video about Blood braid and Jace saw a video where good ol snappy outperformed both of them. Tbh in most cases snappy is just a better blood braid elf due to it not being random. and he is much more flexable than jace meaning that he does more in more board states.

[@eddiegaytan236]

A 2 drop that flashes to block BBE, and cast bolt to return the favor. How is BBE banned? lol

[@stonerainproductions]

I really like the concept of this video and I'd like to see more of it! Trying banned cards in matches.

[@bb223300]

sick to watch Todd to snap back the helix and killed the land and put the helix back to the yard and helix again to finished G2！thanks pros！

[@StarskySTARS]

I don't think jace would be that bad in most decks but wouldn't he potentially make Lantern Control a lot stronger than it is?

[@ethancollins7575]

can we get the decklists?

[@isaiahwieland]

"I cant imagine them also getting Jace The Mind Sculptor" lol

[@brianhaidle3474]

Ugin -2 destroys search for azcanta if it is flipped correct? He doesn't specify non land and it is still blue I believe

[@DiscoGhost2009]

Brian Haidle it’s flipped into a land at that point, is colorless, and 0 cmc

[@binouilol]

Rules changed for transform cards with Innistrad, so I'm pretty sure azcanta, the sunken ruins is a land colorless of CMC 2 (like flipped delver is cmc 1 now)

[@Andrew-sx7wq]

This works, actually. That's cool.

[@stickmanphil12345]

It has cmc 2 but it's a land that is colorless, it would have to say it's blue on the land side

[@MichaelKober]

Lol when Brad realized he screwed up and picked up his land when Todd played his cryptic😂😂

[@BlanktonFAB]

And alas they unban Jace and BBE

[@LrP-su8pc]

The decklist please!?!?!??

[@HollywoodModelling]

Well.. I guess bbe can safely be unbanned

[@mizinhozinho]

Show us the deck lists please.

[@tyehowling8134]

yah so bloodbraid jund without deathrite is so weak got beat by basically jaceless jeskai

[@austinp8192]

Merry Christmas everyone at SCG!

[@MrFrazzleDazzle]

Where can I find these deck lists?

[@SCGCommander]

Splah-dow: articles.starcitygames.com/premium/brad-vs-stevens-bloodbraid-jund-vs-jace-jeskai/

[@Sykdude]

Was taking Jace in game 2 the correct play?

[@myaramiu]

I don't think this proved anything about jace lol. In fact he lost with a jace in play on game 4 during one of the first times he resolved it. Control is just better, but brad is biased as hell and acts like it was a major part of him losing when it was really just search for Azcanta and cryptic command that did the job. Jace is fine to unban, and many people just have these phantom fears about him when it's really not a big deal in this meta.

[@collinblair4115]

Miramu yeah but people like me who play bg decks really would be hurt by it. We already are hurting in the meta and our matchup against fair blue decks would get even worse

[@myaramiu]

I completely disagree. BG archetypes are only losing to decks like tron and valakut builds that don't really react to what your strategies are doing as much as they just warp your gameplay. Cards like Grim Flayer and early pressure with thoughtsieze and inquisition are still good against grindy control matchups, and Goyf / Souls and other recurring threats are great against a planeswalker. You have to remember, Jace is never good on turn 4, which is when you have all of your creatures or powerful threats on board anyways. You wouldn't take Jace with a thoughtsieze because you take their wrath or their cryptic and now they have a dead jace because they can't play him into a board with Goyf and Flayer/Tracker because he brainstorms and dies, or bounces and dies and they prolonged death for a turn. Jace doesn't make the game unfair, it changes how the control player has to think about the game. It's just a winmore card in a deck that wins evenly right now, and isn't a complete strategy or overpowering force against your deck. In fact, Jace is traditionally horrible against aggro or strategies running smaller creatures because he cannot deal with them, so Jund (if they unban bbe it'll be even better) and abzan (with Lingering Souls / Scooze / Goyf) are still fairly good in the matchups and the same as they were against control before the jace. The whole scare tactic of saying jace is too good isn't really working anymore when a lot of people know he was banned in a format with a limited card pool and not many answers for him, and he was a terrible card when he was first printed because of aggro decks like Jund at the time. Pros even said the Beleren was better at the time and through extended because of how the decks were built. The only time jace got good was when the format slowed down and he saw support from Squadhawk, SFM and 3-4 other good equipments. People need to get over their fear of Jace and at least allow an unban for a testing period after you can find a space to reprint him because his price needs to be fixed as soon as he's unbanned. He's legit one of the last "Bitterblossom" style cards left on the banlist, aside from BBE. I would be happy to see Bloodbraid and Jace unbanned at the same time, and see how wonderful the format changes to a grindier style of play with Jund and Temur lists running the Elf, and a more splash friendly modern for zoo and some control lists like Grixis being made a bit better with a shell to build around instead of being Death Shadow without the Shadow. And honestly I think there are some other cards that can talk about being unbanned at the moment too, but I'd like to wait to see these 2 come off the list to begin with. Just think about it and look into how Jace would fit into the format and slow things down a bit more, helping work against decks like Storm and Dredge and really exemplify the interactions.

[@collinblair4115]

Miramu i want to see some testing with sfm in this format. For dexks like abzan it honestly feels awkward because we would have some really tough decisions on what to cut for it

[@myaramiu]

I think SFM breaks the decks a little too much and shoehorns the color white into playing it because all other white based or white splashed decks are leagues worse for not playing sfm and not running batterskull, swords and other equipments. SFM is the reason why cawblade was so great, and the tutor effects and toolbox is why Pod was banned, because it gives an answer to everything. SFM needs to stay out for now, unless they get rid of Batterskull, because a turn 3 batterskull off of a SFM is a bit harsh atm, and adding that in D&T would also make it a bit harder to deal with threats like SFM being blinked to tutor repeatedly. It's not the strongest card on the list by far, but it doesn't need to come off for better reasons than Jace. All white decks would be forced to play it, and the format would IMMEDIATELY have to warp to play against it, whereas Jace is hard to splash for, and fits in very specific strategies as a control finisher. I'd like to see some things off or tested, you could test SFM but I guarantee it'd be a mess for the diversity in white atm.

[@sjdhrjrjejdhdhsh]

This deck was just slapped together and he basically just jammed Jace in a control deck.

[@LegitFos]

I'd love to see a Modern-ish match with good ole' SFM

[@landgin3781]

No vexing shusher?

[@MrFrazzleDazzle]

I always loved playing against Jeskai Jace with mono black devotion after boarding lol

[@commanderpower99]

Where are the decklists?!

[@EngineerfifeninerO]

MH/2 has come in and completely terraformed these archetypes. It’s hilarious for sure!

[@georgecolby7488]

Wow, now we have both in modern for real, jace sees very little play and jund is still tier 2. Both are safe, apparently. Btw Brad, stfu, jeskai has always played a ton of removal spells.

[@dragoncitybr.9618]

Where I can see the decklists?

[@KurtleTheTurtle907]

I found the actual article on SCG from 12/11/17, but you need a premium subscription to view it I guess. Even though they ended up uploading the video :(

[@SventFulgur]

Best Cedric cameo ever lol xD

[@iankniel]

43:00 What rhythm to that sequence of turns! Black-midrange players, get used to this.

[@jundlife2502]

decklist?

[@zackestin1368]

If your entire premise is jace is broken in combo but fair in control, shouldn’t you have shown him in that instead of against a deck jund already loses to? Jace wasn’t broken there the matchup was.

[@vladimirstrange9405]

12:37 he didnt play Verdant, Fetch Swamp/Forest and draw out last snap why?

[@vladimirstrange9405]

brad takes Snapcaster, leaving Todd with Snap+Bolt available. While T odd is forced to deal with the Ravines...

[@nickswift6044]

2 years later and I’m here to say, Oko that is all.

[@phoenixgagnon1559]

Stoneblade Decks plz

[@fingolfin879]

Isn't Jace-skai a better name for it?

[@justincochran5229]

It’s actually unbanned did they call this?

[@sidepocketbetray]

if they unbanned bloodbraid I probably wouldn't even put it in my deck

[@dustinbrown4759]

Eric Smothermon well they just did

[@sidepocketbetray]

yea and guess where it's not going?

[@dustinbrown4759]

Eric Smothermon on the ban list

[@sidepocketbetray]

Did you even read what I wrote or are you just trying to have an I told you so moment with a random person? Because I never said it wouldn't be unbanned.... I said I'm probably not going to put it in my deck, and as of right now, I'm not putting it in my deck.

[@dustinbrown4759]

Eric Smothermon chill I was just being dumb

[@jamesfowler206]

Brad loves to thoughtseize. It seems like he does it in every vid I watch him play.

[@xmiiasma3997]

Brad is the world's best salt lord.

[@Taalanos]

"We gotta make sure Jace stays banned forever in this format" lol

[@ZasseG]

And yet here we are and came to be

[@adccda892]

Cryptic and good draws kept jeskai floating, not Jace

[@joeyrulz86]

Whelp... its unbanned today. Both cards. Time to see how modern warps.

[@fandomewhisper]

Jacekai, the mind sculptor

[@tyehowling8134]

jace would just be a fair control card with no miracles,top or free counters the card is easily answered by almost all of the aggro deck in the format and its to slow to beat combo. but also bloodbraid is more impactful than jace but nowhere near as good as it used to be

[@japprecielesfruitsausirop6911]

A month and a half later... both cards got unbanned...

[@SeasOfCheese929]

This aged well

[@torksendal3020]

You guys knew! You're psychic!

[@PotatoGobbler_]

This video just got better.

[@sosalty6806]

I really like those two guys ! Very entertaining Video, great !

[@heyySandmann]

This video is about to be alot more popular haha :P

[@zcxcfsad]

And here we are

[@benmcgovern401]

I hate that jund was pushed out of the format still my favirote deck

[@JaysonSunshine]

Brad had the emotional disposition of a 12-year old.

[@sergioDGO]

Brat Nelson.

[@PinkSparklyGamer]

I think no ban list modern is actually alot of fun and balanced. Jace is too weak against the turn 3 format that is current modern. None of his abilities will stop storm or deaths shadow

[@sidasdf]

PinkSparklyGamer Except the one that gets you card advantage every turn that allows you to draw answers to Death’s Shadow, which is a deck centered around 1 for 1’s.

[@PinkSparklyGamer]

Sidney LeVine except you can't live that long. And if you can then you've already won. It's a good card but only in certain decks, not anything in blue. That's why people shouldn't throw aside the argument to unban it

[@sidasdf]

PinkSparklyGamer I am an avid Death’s Shadow player, and I will tell you that it is as much an aggressive deck as a Snapcaster attrition deck. I’ve had many games where my opponents just have all of the answers, and we play a grindy game where I come out on top because of the more value oriented pieces of the deck (Snapcaster, Kommand, Post board Liliana’s), a resolved Jace puts the nail in the coffin like nothing else, except maybe Elspeth, Sun’s Champ.

[@PinkSparklyGamer]

Sidney LeVine you're actually probably right in the case of deaths shadow. I haven't played modern since the deck showed up so I guess it helps in that matchup. Nonetheless, if card advantage was what makes a card good then burn wouldn't exist

[@sidasdf]

PinkSparklyGamer Jace is not good versus linear decks. However, the same is true for other cards on the ban list *that deserve to be there*, such as punishing fire, or dig through time.

[@SimonNielsenMTG]

Well this aged well...

[@SkifterOk]

And now, this video looks scary. Seriously, they made it 2.5 months before actual unban. Wooo......mystical thingiesssss.....

[@saiyangoomba1244]

"ARE YOU EVEN A REAL PERSON!?!"

[@JamFlexx]

how

[@rasm007d]

These guys were slightly ahead of their time

[@sleepngdemon]

Brad "Salty" Nelson?

[@imanalbatross5978]

Why do these videos always pit bloodbraid elf against jace in the format of Jund Vs Control? Jund has a bad control matchup already so unbanning things proportionally isn't going to change that. BBE literally DID keep Jace in check in standard and it wasn't until it rotated that Jace dominated the format. You wanna see how bbe keeps jace in check you should try a more even MU like Zoo or GB ponza

[@B1gLupu]

I'd like WotC to unban Bloodbraid and Armageddon. Geddon would do good for the format.

[@renatobotao2785]

whatching this a day after both Jace and BBE where unbanned.... funny

[@alexandrest-cyr5747]

we all know jund sucks versus an american control shell . the issue is versus all the other aggro to mid range lists thats where it shines

[@E10so]

Real Modern decks now lol

[@canman87]

Wait, the Jace deck beat up on a slow midrange green deck??? What a surprise!!!!!! Seriously, though. Play Jace against any of the combo decks of the format and you instantly lose; the card is fine to unban. It would shake things up a bit, but it can be contained. There are enough decks in the format that apply sufficient pressure to prevent him from getting out of control, but that last game in particular is a perfect example of what you can't do with any expectation of winning. So yeah, maybe people that are locked in on all the fair GB decks would be hurt by his unbanning, but I think the format as a whole can take it. It would be kind of similar to giving Eye of Ugin back to the Tron decks in that it would make them even better against the control decks, but a number of other archetypes don't give two shits about it. Those unbans would give their decks' respective good matchups an even better one and maybe help in other areas, but they aren't format-busting unbans by any stretch of the imagination.

[@haloboyproduction239]

They are now playing modern decks

[@TheMCGamerZ]

Of course jace is good in a fair match up, play him vs the decks iffy match ups that are usually fast

[@bzfiddleness]

zachary reiff that's also the point of this video. Jace is unbanned and fair decks are unplayable. That's a bad format.

[@adccda892]

Can't agree more. And even if wizzy unbans Jace I'd still prefer to have a drop 4 cryptic instead of a Jace vs a Tron Scapeshift Storm and probably I m still forgetting something else

[@pauljohnson3317]

Relevant video.

[@simonwillig5316]

Video a bit relevant now LOL

[@E10so]

They knew that they will be unbaning those cards...

[@theDizzyO2]

i saw jace get used once in game 2 died turn after, the 2nd time in game 4 jace got beat, game 5 it was too early a concede to be relevant...

[@julienorsomething]

both these cards unbanned now LUL

[@Black_RoseGaming]

Well i complete agrre with you never unban jace, but bbe could see light in modern and i think wizzards would do a really good job bye unbaning BBE and stone forge mistyc, both of than have amd will keep having a horrible match againt tron, and wont make any tier 1 deck broken but would for sure be 2 really powerfull cards in moderm and stoneforge would make kolaghan’s command play mutch more

[@Black_RoseGaming]

Sorry for my english dude i know i am not that good, but i try my best 😅

[@lastofusclips5291]

lol time to watch this for realzies now.

[@QQcol]

Relevant after what happened today

[@ink_stain525]

Triptic command :D

[@flaash69]

The moment that these actually got unbanned....lol

[@Neologare]

They called it....

[@purpl3882]

and now they are unbanned

[@BloodValeOfficial]

Little did they know....