Jeskai Fires is the new face of Tap-Out Control

Fires of Invention is a card that we've been brewing with since day 1 (check out our earlier brews here), and it seems to have found its place as a top-tier tournament deck in the form of a Jeskai planeswalker deck. This is a deck that plays all "good" cards in a tap-out control shell, and uses Fires of Invention as a way to get way ahead on mana by casting two huge spells per turn.

Jeskai Fires Decklist

4 Fae of Wishes/Granted
2 Realm-Cloaked Giant/Cast Off
4 Fires of Invention
2 Prison Realm
4 Deafening Clarion
2 Drawn from Dreams
2 Shimmer of Possibility
4 Narset, Parter of Veils
3 Sarkhan the Masterless
4 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 Ugin, the Ineffable
1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
3 Island (335)
2 Mountain (343)
1 Plains (331)
1 Castle Vantress
2 Fabled Passage
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Interplanar Beacon
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
2 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
1 Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
1 Casualties of War
1 Time Wipe
1 Command the Dreadhorde
1 Planewide Celebration
1 The Elderspell
1 Unmoored Ego
1 Redcap Melee
1 True Love's Kiss
1 Sarkhan the Masterless
1 Kaya's Wrath
1 Rubble Reading
1 Garruk, Cursed Huntsman

Jeskai Fires (Arena Formatted Decklist)

4 Fae of Wishes (ELD) 44
2 Realm-Cloaked Giant (ELD) 26
4 Narset, Parter of Veils (WAR) 61
3 Sarkhan the Masterless (WAR) 143
4 Teferi, Time Raveler (WAR) 221
1 Ugin, the Ineffable (WAR) 2
3 Island (XLN) 265
2 Mountain (XLN) 273
1 Plains (XLN) 261
1 Castle Vantress (ELD) 242
2 Fabled Passage (ELD) 244
4 Hallowed Fountain (RNA) 251
4 Interplanar Beacon (WAR) 247
3 Sacred Foundry (GRN) 254
4 Steam Vents (GRN) 257
2 Temple of Epiphany (M20) 253
1 Temple of Triumph (M20) 257
4 Fires of Invention (ELD) 125
2 Prison Realm (WAR) 26
4 Deafening Clarion (GRN) 165
2 Drawn from Dreams (M20) 56
2 Shimmer of Possibility (RNA) 51
1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno (M20) 127

1 Rubble Reading (RNA) 110
1 Ashiok, Dream Render (WAR) 228
1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno (M20) 127
1 Garruk, Cursed Huntsman (ELD) 191
1 Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God (WAR) 207
1 Sarkhan the Masterless (WAR) 143
1 True Love's Kiss (ELD) 34
1 Casualties of War (WAR) 187
1 Command the Dreadhorde (WAR) 82
1 Planewide Celebration (WAR) 172
1 The Elderspell (WAR) 89
2 Time Wipe (WAR) 223
1 Unmoored Ego (GRN) 212
1 Kaya's Wrath (RNA) 187

Fires of InventionFae of Wishes // Granted

Fae of Wishes is still an incredible card to pair with Fires of Invention, as it lets us cast the crazy and/or situationally perfect sideboard card that we grab immediately. It's cool that we can play cards of any color in our sideboard since Fires does not require us to use mana, but we still want to have plenty of castable options to fetch in case we haven't been able to stick Fires and just need to cast them naturally. However, Interplanar Beacon does go a long way in letting us actually cast some of the off-color planeswalkers anyway, so it's fun to go a bit off the deep end with the powerful options. Aside from these, we also include a smattering of cheap interaction in case Granted needs to be used in a pinch just to stay alive. It's worth noting the efficacy of Ashiok against the Bant Golos deck that is running rampant on the format right now, since it prevent them from searching with Circuitous Route or Golos, and it could potentially mill copies of Field of the Dead which could become relevant in a longer game.

Deafening ClarionTeferi, Time Raveler

Jeskai gives us access to a premium anti-aggro tool in Deafening Clarion, and Teferi, Time Raveler is just an auto-include in any deck in the Azorius colors. These powerful 3-drops help us play a control game while we climb towards our Fires gameplan, and give us a reasonable shot to just win normal games of planeswalker control. One trick to note with Teferi is that it is possible to bounce your own Fires of Invention if you have already cast two spells and can use the mana to cast a backbreaking third spell that turn.

Drawn from DreamsNarset, Parter of VeilsShimmer of Possibility

The card-draw package is quite good at digging for Fires of Invention specifically, but it also means we gain a lot more access to the other cards that we're running even in smaller numbers. Shimmer of Possibility can be useful in smoothing out the draw with a missing land if you already have the key spells. Narset, Parter of Veils can often dig twice, and the passive ability is certainly relevant against some decks in the format, such as against the Golgari Adventures deck running Edgewall Innkeeper. Drawn from Dreams is the most powerful in conjunction with Fires of Invention, as it will usually just let you find the two most needed spells in your deck and not need to spend any more time casting cantrips in lieu of powerful spells.

Sarkhan the MasterlessChandra, Awakened InfernoUgin, the Ineffable

In addition to Narset and Teferi, Sarkhan the Masterless plus the powerful 6-drops round out our planeswalker package. Five mana is the sweet spot with Fires of Invention, since we will often be looking to cast Sarkhan plus another big spell the turn after dropping it. Sarkhan does a good job of protecting itself, but its +1 ability is particularly potent in this deck. We'll often have a random Narset or Teferi laying around, which can immediately threaten any opposing planeswalkers. It also serves as an extremely fast win condition if we have managed to stay alive but need to get our opponent dead before they find more action. Running one copy each of Chandra, Awakened Inferno and Ugin, the Ineffable is useful as mentioned before because we have so much card filtering that we can select the card that is currently the most powerful.

Realm-Cloaked Giant // Cast Off

Realm-Cloaked Giant is certainly one of the standout cards from Throne of Eldraine for this deck and any white controlling strategy. Cast Off is a removal spell that is on par with the oft-played Time Wipe, but with considerable upside. The 7/7 vigilance body is not a bad thing to have in a deck that can simply play 7-mana spells for free if it has seven lands in play. The Giant works well in multiples over the course of a longer game as well, as the fatty will stay in play when your opponent's board is cleared and can simply attack in right away. The one downside to note is that Realm-Cloaked Giant counts as creature. In some decks, such as those running Once Upon a Time, this is an advantage, but in this deck it means we are not able to choose it with Narset. It's interesting to note that Time Wipe and Realm-Cloaked Giant could combine in a super long game to represent a seemingly endless supply of board wipes.

Ashiok, Dream RenderRubble ReadingTrue Love's KissSarkhan the MasterlessTime WipeChandra, Awakened Inferno

It's definitely a fun idea to run a couple powerful green or black sideboard cards to pair with Fae of Wishes and Fires of Invention (especially in best of 1 on Arena), but we also want some powerful options that we can cast off of the Faerie if we're not fortunate enough to have our key enchantment in play. There are plenty of options within these three colors, starting by simply playing more of the effects we already want in our maindeck such as Sarkhan, Time Wipe, and Chandra. Rubble Reading is a cute card that might not be good enough, but it's difficult to find reasonable cards that interact with Field of the Dead.

That's the deck! This list has a lot of things going for it that should let it always be a relevant strategy to consider: a broken mana engine (Fires of Invention), and a sound control strategy that just runs a pile of good cards that are powerful even when our main strategy does not go according to plan.

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Michael Schuller