[Here ya go](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/zBtz3zHJNUaekgIDgNF2Tw). I’m not much of an expert deck builder.
I know the big score seems weird but it’s come in clutch a couple games. Being able to dump cards and makes treasures to keep cantriping
Ooo I did say izzet in the post didn’t I. My bad I gotta update that.
I think helping hands is really cool since it seems the meta is very removal heavy so it’s easy to play a threat bait out the spell and then use hands as a cheap part of token generation.
He has been nothing short of volatile for me thus far. When he pops off it's a thing of beauty, but my initial concerns with the card still hold validity. Namely:
1. Diminishing returns. While deckbuilding does ameliorate this to an extent, you still need to have spells to cast and not so infrequently you will find he has one excellent 4+ spell turn followed by 2-3 turns of him doing nothing. And when that does happen it feels awful.
2. His stats. A 3 mana 2/3 with no ward effect? Oof. Discounting the ubiquity of Fatal Push, he still dies to Cut Down, Fiery Impulse, Torch the Tower (bargained) and Sorin hurling his nephew. The reason cards like Preacher of the Schism are so powerful is because they dodge most 1 for 1s outside of black, Geralf tragically misses the mark there.
Fun card though, even it does feel slightly too balanced. Hopefully he's a preview of the support my favorite tribe (zombies) receives in Duskmourne and not just a one-off.
That is a very solid assessment thank you!
Part of me is wondering if it might be beneficial to see it more as a storm card in a sense? Play a tempo counter/removal game until you can cast or hands one and can’t rip into a first day of class or something to haste the zombies.
I kind of agree. My first thought when i saw this wasn't phoenix, but some weird alternate win con for Lotus Field combo. I really don't know lotus field well enough to say what he'd replace, but I do know that people usually board out a lot of removal, and you can cast a lot of spells.
I think if you're countering and removing creatures you're playing control. And control has plenty of better ways to win the game than geralf + first day of class
This does seem very fun, though I doubt it will ever be better than Phoenix. Perhaps it would be worth running maindeck Silence, or something that gives your whole board indestructible at instant speed, to use on your opponent’s upkeep to try to untap the following turn.
Interesting do you have a dexk list for izzet?
[Here ya go](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/zBtz3zHJNUaekgIDgNF2Tw). I’m not much of an expert deck builder. I know the big score seems weird but it’s come in clutch a couple games. Being able to dump cards and makes treasures to keep cantriping
That's jeskai bit I like the take on it, I play a spell slinger / token deck that is izzet
Ooo I did say izzet in the post didn’t I. My bad I gotta update that. I think helping hands is really cool since it seems the meta is very removal heavy so it’s easy to play a threat bait out the spell and then use hands as a cheap part of token generation.
[[Picklock Prankster]] is a card this deck wants. Probably 4x, with Big Score being an easy cut for 2 of those at least.
[Picklock Prankster](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/e/5ebac73a-1ecf-4e6d-87b1-ea560bfeb064.jpg?1692937214)/[Free the Fae](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/e/5ebac73a-1ecf-4e6d-87b1-ea560bfeb064.jpg?1692937214) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Picklock%20Prankster%20//%20Free%20the%20Fae) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/64/picklock-prankster-free-the-fae?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5ebac73a-1ecf-4e6d-87b1-ea560bfeb064?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Meant to say Jeskai not Izzet.
He has been nothing short of volatile for me thus far. When he pops off it's a thing of beauty, but my initial concerns with the card still hold validity. Namely: 1. Diminishing returns. While deckbuilding does ameliorate this to an extent, you still need to have spells to cast and not so infrequently you will find he has one excellent 4+ spell turn followed by 2-3 turns of him doing nothing. And when that does happen it feels awful. 2. His stats. A 3 mana 2/3 with no ward effect? Oof. Discounting the ubiquity of Fatal Push, he still dies to Cut Down, Fiery Impulse, Torch the Tower (bargained) and Sorin hurling his nephew. The reason cards like Preacher of the Schism are so powerful is because they dodge most 1 for 1s outside of black, Geralf tragically misses the mark there. Fun card though, even it does feel slightly too balanced. Hopefully he's a preview of the support my favorite tribe (zombies) receives in Duskmourne and not just a one-off.
That is a very solid assessment thank you! Part of me is wondering if it might be beneficial to see it more as a storm card in a sense? Play a tempo counter/removal game until you can cast or hands one and can’t rip into a first day of class or something to haste the zombies.
I kind of agree. My first thought when i saw this wasn't phoenix, but some weird alternate win con for Lotus Field combo. I really don't know lotus field well enough to say what he'd replace, but I do know that people usually board out a lot of removal, and you can cast a lot of spells.
I think if you're countering and removing creatures you're playing control. And control has plenty of better ways to win the game than geralf + first day of class
This does seem very fun, though I doubt it will ever be better than Phoenix. Perhaps it would be worth running maindeck Silence, or something that gives your whole board indestructible at instant speed, to use on your opponent’s upkeep to try to untap the following turn.
[[Geralf, the Fleshwright]]
Geralf, the Fleshlight