Might as well just use reprisal instead since it also kills something big, is cheaper, and triggers Talrand.

I don't like Arrest at all, I don't ever really consider it for my white decks. I dislike Reprisal as well, I don't have any decks that play it.

I think both are perfectly fine.

The issue I think is that both strike me more as SB cards. Well, I can see them being MD, but mostly in decks that can afford to really play with them.


Reprisal is actually a pretty good way of killing fatties at instant speed on the cheap. Biggest problem is how often the spell is going to be dead. I don't think running Reprisal is bad, but I wouldn't run more than 1-2 copies MD. Even then, the card really works best when coupled with other effects that make it dead less often (like how my 5 color creature-less control deck uses the effect on Obelisk of Alara to hit things both Obelisk and Reprisal are usually dead against).

Arrest is decent as well, although I do think it is a far cry from being the best removal in the format.

It does have it's advantages I will grant that. The biggest being that it is removal that doesn't send the target to the GY, which can be very relevant in a meta such as this where GY based strategies are powerful and common. It also has a few niche applications, like being an Aura for Hero of Iroas and a permanent for Pyxis of Pandemonium.

I think it has too many downsides to be considered really good. Arrest is slow, both in cost (3 cmc) and in use (sorcery speed). It folds hard to decks that have methods of bouncing or sacrificing their own creatures. It is an Enchantment, meaning you not only have to worry about stuff like counterspells and protection effects (Gods Willing) blanking your removal, you have to worry about incidental Enchantment removal blanking your removal as well. It also doesn't do anything to stop triggered abilities, meaning it really doesn't do much to stop something like Talrand or Rabblemaster from doing exactly what they do to win games, accrue value.

I personally think both are better relegated to the SB unless you have a specific means to build around them (like Pyxis+Arrest for example), only coming in in matchups where you know they are going to provide sufficient value.

Arrset is nice in steal/cloudshift decks. You neutralize a threat and can still use it later.

That's pretty niche, though.

I forgot about ground assault, the actual best targeted removal in the game.

But let me spend some more words in praise of arrest: it's a 3 mana removal spell that disables creatures of any size. If it was competing with go for the throat or path to exile that would be nothing special, but in this game it's as good as it gets.
Sorcery speed is a problem, but the instant speed alternatives are flesh to dust and reprisal - which is great, but a dead card in some matchups. My take is that if you need to deal with a really big creature - the kind that reprisal can kill - you are probably at a point in the game where you have enough mana to cast arrest and still leave a counterspell up.
And if you need removal early, say to kill a turn 3 brimaz, arrest is clearly the card you want.

Arrest still enables the use of Prey Upon and it can easily be removed with enchantment removal or Gods Willing. I don't like leaving a big threat on the battlefield not knowing if my opponent can free it up and blow me out. An Arrested creature is also nice protection against sacrifice effects like Tribute to Hunger. Obviously you would build you deck with that in mind, but it is a consideration.

I just don't like it.

I don't run Reprisal in anything either, but I still say it's better than Arrest.

I agree that Reprisal is preferable to Arrest and I don't mind a copy or two in certain decks.

My take on a Jeskai Token deck with a slight focus on card draw. I like the idea; swarming the board with tokens and drawing tons of cards with mentor, military intelligence and bident, (hopefully with chasm skulker out) but it doesn't feel that good in practice.* I think maybe cutting something to max out on think twice and both bidents might help maybe.. F.ex the arsonists? The arsonists doesn't synergize that well with the theme of the deck, but they really make me feel much safer against other token decks, or versus aggro in general. Would also like to maybe max out on negate to protect against sweepers?

Would love some help with this one!

*(Okay, after playing some more games, it actually seems pretty consistent. Definitely functional. Though, a disproportionate number of games were won because of trumpet blast. Might max out on those.)

Hi, I just registered on the site.
I rather like my Jeskai token deck with counterspells and card draw.
Generally it has more legs than an aggro deck and is too resilient for control to handle, but struggles against midrange strategies.

I seem to be on a bit of a Jalira kick right now........ thanks Hakeem.

So my first deck was all about value over in the Temur thread. This time I wanted to use Jalira to drop bombs into play.



I still liked the control shell so the counter spells are still in.

To make sure I hit a bomb I had to choose my creatures carefully. I decided that raise the alarm and it's worse cousin Krenko's command were what I needed. Also thankfully there are 2 legends that make tokens. Talrand and Brimaz join the party.

On to the bombs, I tried splashing black for rune scarred demon but the mana was too bad and the payoff was not worth it. To fill that slot I have soul of Ravnica.

I obviously have to include baneslayer Angel and inferno titan. My last 2 bombs are charmbreaker devils. This guy is amazing to drop at the end of turn, you get the upkeep effect and then can usually smash for a billion with the help of God's willing to push the damage through.

Speaking of God's willing, it is an all star in this deck, you win a lot of games by protecting a Talrand or Jalira for 1 turn. This gives you time to untap and hide behind counter spells.

Hope you enjoy the deck, suggestions are welcome.

Rabblemaster over Krenko's Command? You still get the tokens and grabbing him off Jalira wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

I did test rabblemaster in that exact slot but I usually only get 1 or 2 activations from Jalira as every removal spell goes at her so wasting that hitting a rabblemaster is pretty terrible. Also command triggers Talrand and is good with devils to build a mini army.

Sounds good, is Soul of Ravnica better than Stormbreath Dragon?

Possibly not, the draw comes in handy in long games, I am not sure the dragon has enough of an impact especially as the haste does not matter when using Jalira

Pro-white is pretty handy, though, but Soul has the bigger body off the bat. I guess the pro-white could actually be a minor downside since you can't use Gods Willing to protect it. Speaking of which, I think you want the full four copies. Maybe drop down to three Visions? GW is basically a counterspell in this deck anyway.

I might test 4 God's willing but I only run 10 creatures, there are times where you draw multiple God's willing and no creatures. For the most part you can play control until you are ready

All solid points, I think this is possibly the deck I was looking for.

@ Monk - Any problems with the early game/ creature count? You've got to hit 1 of 6 cards to get some tokens into play and double white for Brimaz on T3 for early board state. If not, you've got Shock and Dissolve (doulbe blue) to hold your board to get to a later game. This all coming in on 12 tap lands which has to be costing at least 1 to 2 turns of tempo (noting the 13 blue sources to fix with Traumatic Visions). Just seems like the early game would be tough?

Also, I see it could be a dead draw considering your creature selection but being in both red and white with no sweepers; in a control shell, seems like you could get into some troubled board states?


It's a shame there isn't a way to make Jalira cheaper to accelerate into the creatures she finds. She's 4 mana that can activate on T5 to find creatures you could hard cast T5 & 6. She's still a decent tutor as long as the cards aren't in hand. Maybe some convoluted Sultai w/ramp, fatties and additional tutor options could be something?


elk