Temur Ascendancy
I feel like this thing has a ton of potential, not necessarily in standard but I'm more looking at modern. So I found creatures that are cheap and big enough to trigger the Ascendancy, so early game you can drop them and late game you can drop multiple while refilling your hand. Some of them are good on their own and some would really require Ascendancy out to be worth casting.
1&2 Drops
Imaginary Pet works really well with it. It gives it haste which makes it so you can actually attack with your 4/4 two drop. It also gets bounced to your hand every turn, allowing you to net another card with it, and with that card it can help ensure it gets bounced next turn. I see a lot of synergy there.
Sheltering Ancient will net you a card, and allows it to hit for 5 before it starts ticking up counters. Not as good as Pet, but still seems like it could be good.
Vexing Devil seems pretty dang good. They will almost always take the four damage because of the haste, and it will still net a card.
3 Drops
Vexing Sphinx has the potential of drawing a card, hitting for 4, then drawing another. If you have a card you don't care for at your upkeep, toss it, swing for another 4, and draw two cards your next upkeep.
Viashino Sandstalker could be decent for the same reason as Pet just not as good, but sandstalker is better on it's own.
Leatherback Baloth great stats with one drawback, restrictive mana cost. There is tons of mana fixing, but still could be hard to drop him.
Lavacore Elemental easy to cast, 5 haste damage. Low toughness sucks and the vanishing thing, but if you can connect the first time he can stick around.
Ravaging Riftwurm slightly restrictive mana cost but the stats are fantastic and even with the vanishing, not kickered, it can swing in twice.
Ball Lightning doesn't seem great at all. Maybe 6 damage, one shot, restrictive mana cost. Probably not the best choice; Arc Runner would probably be better, or even Cosmic Larva, because you will just sac him anyway, and he's bigger and easier to cast.
Esperoza flying, good stats, easy to cast, and will be cast multiple times for repeatable card draw.
Groundbreaker like Ball Lightning but green. Maybe if you are heavy in green you could play him. Probably should stay away though.
Hells Thunder enters twice with unearth, plus has flying and natural haste. Could be good.
Hunted Phantasm has high toughness and the unblockable+haste is pretty good, but 5 1/1's is a pretty big drawback.
4 Drops
Thrun, the Last Troll is obviously a great creature. Very powerful on his own as well.
Vengevine is good on his own and can be consistently reanimated since you can play a creature into another creature.
Polukranos, World Eater is good on his own for obvious reasons. Not much to say here other than that he can also clear the way for your other hasty attackers.
Purphoros, God of the Forge I'm not sure on the rulings for this but I don't think you get the card draw if you don't have the devotion. But either way, since you will be playing several creatures by drawing more with each one you play, the etb damage could stack up pretty quick.
Hero of Oxid Ridge is powerful on his own but is good at supporting your swarm, if you are able to get the deck working properly.
Cyclops Gladiator has a restrictive cost but could be great at picking off mana dorks and small threats. Haste is a big deal with him.
Cragganwick Cremator will always hit your opponent for 4 damage at least so long as you hit a creature, but it's still probably not good enough for the 4 drop slot.
Maro Will typically be pretty huge since you are going to (hopefully) be refilling your hand with every creature.
Now that's all of the creatures I could find/think of. Any other suggestions would be great, along with ideas for what instants and sorceries etc could be run!
tarmogoyf is kinda obvious, since you'll be fetching, bolting and digging for ascendancy and dropping vexing devil. dunno how competitive the deck is, but goyf is one of those obnoxious "goes in everything" cards. savage knuckleblade might be too slow for modern, but he protects himself. sounds like a lot of fun. good luck.
Yeah during the first part of typing it I wasn't sure if creatures with * toughness would trigger the ascendancy so I didn't pay attention to them, until later when I was on the 4 drops so I forgot about him. But yeah goyf would be great for the deck.
i kinda like hell's thunder. i wonder if you could splash white for a set of geist of saint trafts. probably not with all the double blue, green and red costs. that'd be so sweet, though. also, how do plan on getting vengevine into the yard?
That would be really good with Geist. Not sure how that would work mana wise but I could try it once a list is ready. And I didn't really plan on getting Vengevine out that way. Just gonna cast him regularly. But reanimating him will be really easy with a TA out, because you should typically have either two creatures in hand, or if not, be able to draw into one with a creature. If there was a 1-3 drop with 4 power and milled cards then maybe that would be a good way to get him in, but other than that I don't know.
I did put up cosmic larva in the OP, he would be really good. Easier to cast and bigger than ball lightning. Archwing dragon could be good, the only thing I'm wondering is if flying is worth another mana every turn compared to Viashino Sandstalker, and two more than Imaginary pet. Also, Esperzoa is cheaper and easier to cast and it has flying as well. Archwing might fit in well but would probably be an easy cut for something else.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Temur Ascendancy is my favorite card spoiled thus far, it's just so flexible and lends itself to so many different builds. Did a quick search for other fun things that work with it in modern, with an eye for creatures that are ok when you don't actually have the enchantment in play:
> Ghor-Clan Rampager - combat trick that can also be a hasty 4/4 that draws a card.
> Obstinate Baloth - a good card in general against hyper-aggro decks, to regain lost ground while playing midrangey creatures.
> Volcano Hellion - at worst a removal spell, at best a Flametongue Kavu that draws a card and beats for 6 before probably dying.
> Hour of Need - counter-removal that gives cards and 4/4 hasty flyers.
> Illusory Angel - an efficient, evasive creature without the Ascendancy. Pretty great with it.
And other things just for fun:
> Spellbreaker Behemoth - makes many of the things that trigger the Ascendancy uncounterable.
> Brackwater Elemental - a poor man's Hell's Thunder.
> Mul Daya Channelers - perhaps not good enough, as a deck with 4x Ascendancy will make this only draw a card roughly 50% of the time at best. Still, it's a 5/5 for 3 mana, that you can manipulate with fetchlands if you want to use it to ramp out more fatties or set off a huge Hour of Need.
Eater of days would definitely be good. And peek abilities (gitaxian probe primarily)would probably be a must with cards like that and, as you mentioned, cosmic larva swinging twice. Obstinate Baloth could be good in the sideboard I think, for black decks and aggro. Illusory Angel is decent, but really could only be played quickly with a probe or vexing devil. Hour of need is awesome. Not sure about the channelers. Baloth Cage Trap is a card I think could be pretty decent in the side board. Spellbreaker could be a good sideboard, or main board maybe, idk. It's a bit tough to cast but it shouldn't be a problem. I put together a rough list.
Dunno about how many lands for sure. 22? A lot of people say you shouldn't go below 24, but this decks curve tops out at 4. Couldn't find room for everything and I'm not sure about what to cut. Bolt for some board interaction, since the only other thing is cyclops gladiator. Probe and Visions to dig. Cyclops I think is really good and I'm gonna have to try it out to be convinced otherwise haha. Sheltering ancient, despite the upkeep, is a freaking 5/5 for 1G which is pretty dang good IMO. Awesome play is ascendancy t3, t4 Pet and Ancient. That's what I thought of when I first started imagining this deck.
there's also the new hooting mandrills. cheap and tramply. might be a thought if your manabase is stretched too thin. i like it. it's kinda like a 'goyf i can afford. this deck looks like a blast.
Sure. Maybe we will get a few more delve creatures that would work, and you could put goyf in with it and self mill, and have a whole new way of playing it with graveyard interaction.
The common problem with a deck like this is what happens when you don't draw the engine card. Imaginary Pet, Esperzoa, and Sheltering Ancient all do almost nothing if you don't have the Ascendancy out (and ancient is particularly bad against creatureless decks). That being said, I think I would go with a slightly different build:
Lightning Mauler allows an alternative to having the Ascendancy out, and Izzet Charm can be used for interaction or to loot away excess lands/maulers/whatever else. Maulers can also be cashed in for Hour of Need sphinxes when necessary, and can be used to force through damage with bloodrush from Ghor-Clan Rampager. I also had Ravaging Riftwurm instead of Imaginary Pet, but changed it to the latter due to curve reasons and the ability to recur. I'm not sure Tarmogoyf belongs in this list, but it's pretty easy to get at least land (fetchland) + creature (vexing devil) + instant (bolt or charm) into the graveyard early, so it just needs the opponent to Serum Visions or something to get it online by the time the Ascendancy is out.
Also, I thought of a few more creatures that would be interesting in an Ascendancy deck:
> Noble Hierarch - Lower curve, boosts single fatty attackers, turn 2 Ascendancy and possible white splash. Does add more chaff to the deck, though.
> Generator Servant - Great with Hour of Need and can haste out multiple fatties when you're lacking the Ascendancy. A little slow though, and again adds more chaff.
> Akki Underling - About as inconsistent as the channelers from before, but I did take note of it as a possible 2-drop that triggers the Ascendancy.
I like the lightning mauler inclusion a lot, and Izzet Charm would definitely help getting out the ascendency. I would replace the bolts in my list with those, and the ancient with mauler. I'm trying to think of something that could protect the ascendancy or fatties. Dropping the esperzoas for 2 vexing sphinx and 2 hour of need, a larva for the fourth mauler.
In the scenario where you get Ascendancy, that would be perfect. Only downside is the lack of draw without it. I do like the idea though. Xenagos seems pretty fitting as well. I would swap two esperzoas with gladiators or something that can interact with the board. The deck just needs more than two cards that can remove threats.
I tested out the card on Cockatrice and as everyone has predicted, once it's out it's quiet a massacre, especially in multiple, but when it's not, either not having it or it got destroyed, everything slowed down to a halt.
My version takes the route of Fires of Yavimaya where creatures are mostly midrange cost (Tarmogoyf, while being one of the best creature choice for this deck, is anything but fair), such as Obstinate Baloth, Blastoderm, Flametongue Kavu, and Shivan Wurm. The deck doesn't use Imaginary Pet due to its drawback without Ascendency, instead I used Saproling Burst, literally is 12 damage + 3 cards the turn it comes into play, then remain as blockers later as you chump out other biggies. I like this approach better because it allows the deck to function without Ascendency (which makes me wonder if I should have Fires of Yavimaya in addition to Ascendency).
Very true about remand. I could see that being really good as a potentially better Hour of Need.
Unfortunately, about what cyberium is saying, those are mostly non modern cards. Legacy is just too fast for this deck.
I tried one of my lists and every game I could stick a TA on turn three I won. The card advantage is just immense, while at the same time beating in hard. Imaginary Pet is insanely powerful. In the cases where they were able to remove him, I had already recast him at least once, making him do more than replace himself and beat in for 8.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I feel like this thing has a ton of potential, not necessarily in standard but I'm more looking at modern. So I found creatures that are cheap and big enough to trigger the Ascendancy, so early game you can drop them and late game you can drop multiple while refilling your hand. Some of them are good on their own and some would really require Ascendancy out to be worth casting.
1&2 Drops
Imaginary Pet works really well with it. It gives it haste which makes it so you can actually attack with your 4/4 two drop. It also gets bounced to your hand every turn, allowing you to net another card with it, and with that card it can help ensure it gets bounced next turn. I see a lot of synergy there.
Sheltering Ancient will net you a card, and allows it to hit for 5 before it starts ticking up counters. Not as good as Pet, but still seems like it could be good.
Vexing Devil seems pretty dang good. They will almost always take the four damage because of the haste, and it will still net a card.
3 Drops
Vexing Sphinx has the potential of drawing a card, hitting for 4, then drawing another. If you have a card you don't care for at your upkeep, toss it, swing for another 4, and draw two cards your next upkeep.
Viashino Sandstalker could be decent for the same reason as Pet just not as good, but sandstalker is better on it's own.
Leatherback Baloth great stats with one drawback, restrictive mana cost. There is tons of mana fixing, but still could be hard to drop him.
Lavacore Elemental easy to cast, 5 haste damage. Low toughness sucks and the vanishing thing, but if you can connect the first time he can stick around.
Ravaging Riftwurm slightly restrictive mana cost but the stats are fantastic and even with the vanishing, not kickered, it can swing in twice.
Ball Lightning doesn't seem great at all. Maybe 6 damage, one shot, restrictive mana cost. Probably not the best choice; Arc Runner would probably be better, or even Cosmic Larva, because you will just sac him anyway, and he's bigger and easier to cast.
Esperoza flying, good stats, easy to cast, and will be cast multiple times for repeatable card draw.
Groundbreaker like Ball Lightning but green. Maybe if you are heavy in green you could play him. Probably should stay away though.
Hells Thunder enters twice with unearth, plus has flying and natural haste. Could be good.
Hunted Phantasm has high toughness and the unblockable+haste is pretty good, but 5 1/1's is a pretty big drawback.
4 Drops
Thrun, the Last Troll is obviously a great creature. Very powerful on his own as well.
Vengevine is good on his own and can be consistently reanimated since you can play a creature into another creature.
Polukranos, World Eater is good on his own for obvious reasons. Not much to say here other than that he can also clear the way for your other hasty attackers.
Purphoros, God of the Forge I'm not sure on the rulings for this but I don't think you get the card draw if you don't have the devotion. But either way, since you will be playing several creatures by drawing more with each one you play, the etb damage could stack up pretty quick.
Hero of Oxid Ridge is powerful on his own but is good at supporting your swarm, if you are able to get the deck working properly.
Cyclops Gladiator has a restrictive cost but could be great at picking off mana dorks and small threats. Haste is a big deal with him.
Cragganwick Cremator will always hit your opponent for 4 damage at least so long as you hit a creature, but it's still probably not good enough for the 4 drop slot.
Maro Will typically be pretty huge since you are going to (hopefully) be refilling your hand with every creature.
Now that's all of the creatures I could find/think of. Any other suggestions would be great, along with ideas for what instants and sorceries etc could be run!
Right now I think the best creatures for it are gonna be
Tarmogoyf
Vexing Devil
Imaginary Pet
Vexing Sphinx
Thrun, the Last Troll
Vengevine
Maro
Also I just found Phyrexian Soulgorger which might be good. 8 damage hasty, one or two times. Not bad for 3 colorless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
> Ghor-Clan Rampager - combat trick that can also be a hasty 4/4 that draws a card.
> Obstinate Baloth - a good card in general against hyper-aggro decks, to regain lost ground while playing midrangey creatures.
> Volcano Hellion - at worst a removal spell, at best a Flametongue Kavu that draws a card and beats for 6 before probably dying.
> Hour of Need - counter-removal that gives cards and 4/4 hasty flyers.
> Illusory Angel - an efficient, evasive creature without the Ascendancy. Pretty great with it.
And other things just for fun:
> Spellbreaker Behemoth - makes many of the things that trigger the Ascendancy uncounterable.
> Brackwater Elemental - a poor man's Hell's Thunder.
> Mul Daya Channelers - perhaps not good enough, as a deck with 4x Ascendancy will make this only draw a card roughly 50% of the time at best. Still, it's a 5/5 for 3 mana, that you can manipulate with fetchlands if you want to use it to ramp out more fatties or set off a huge Hour of Need.
4 Imaginary Pet
4 Vexing Devil
3 Cosmic Larva
3 Sheltering Ancient
4 Esperzoa
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Cyclops Gladiator
4 Serum Vision
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Steam Vents
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Arid Mesa
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Island
Dunno about how many lands for sure. 22? A lot of people say you shouldn't go below 24, but this decks curve tops out at 4. Couldn't find room for everything and I'm not sure about what to cut. Bolt for some board interaction, since the only other thing is cyclops gladiator. Probe and Visions to dig. Cyclops I think is really good and I'm gonna have to try it out to be convinced otherwise haha. Sheltering ancient, despite the upkeep, is a freaking 5/5 for 1G which is pretty dang good IMO. Awesome play is ascendancy t3, t4 Pet and Ancient. That's what I thought of when I first started imagining this deck.
4 Vexing Devil
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Lightning Mauler
3 Imaginary Pet
4 Hell's Thunder
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Izzet Charm
4 Temur Ascendancy
2 Hour of Need
Lands
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Stomping Ground
4 Steam Vents
2 Breeding Pool
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Island
Lightning Mauler allows an alternative to having the Ascendancy out, and Izzet Charm can be used for interaction or to loot away excess lands/maulers/whatever else. Maulers can also be cashed in for Hour of Need sphinxes when necessary, and can be used to force through damage with bloodrush from Ghor-Clan Rampager. I also had Ravaging Riftwurm instead of Imaginary Pet, but changed it to the latter due to curve reasons and the ability to recur. I'm not sure Tarmogoyf belongs in this list, but it's pretty easy to get at least land (fetchland) + creature (vexing devil) + instant (bolt or charm) into the graveyard early, so it just needs the opponent to Serum Visions or something to get it online by the time the Ascendancy is out.
Also, I thought of a few more creatures that would be interesting in an Ascendancy deck:
> Noble Hierarch - Lower curve, boosts single fatty attackers, turn 2 Ascendancy and possible white splash. Does add more chaff to the deck, though.
> Generator Servant - Great with Hour of Need and can haste out multiple fatties when you're lacking the Ascendancy. A little slow though, and again adds more chaff.
> Akki Underling - About as inconsistent as the channelers from before, but I did take note of it as a possible 2-drop that triggers the Ascendancy.
4 Vexing Devil
4 Imaginary Pet
4 Lightning Mauler
2 Cosmic Larva
2 Vexing Sphinx
4 Izzet Charm
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
2 Hour of Need
2 Cyclops Gladiator
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
22 Lands
I would drop the thruns for something that gives my permanents protection from a color, especially enchantments. Anybody know a spell that does that?
Then add 2 Domri Rade and a Xenagos, God of Revels.
4 Vexing Devil
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Lightning Mauler
3 Imaginary Pet
4 Hell's Thunder
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
2 Goblin Bushwhacker
2 Savage Knuckeblade
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
1 Kalonian Hydra
2 Esperzoa
4 Temur Ascendancy
2 Domri Rade
My version takes the route of Fires of Yavimaya where creatures are mostly midrange cost (Tarmogoyf, while being one of the best creature choice for this deck, is anything but fair), such as Obstinate Baloth, Blastoderm, Flametongue Kavu, and Shivan Wurm. The deck doesn't use Imaginary Pet due to its drawback without Ascendency, instead I used Saproling Burst, literally is 12 damage + 3 cards the turn it comes into play, then remain as blockers later as you chump out other biggies. I like this approach better because it allows the deck to function without Ascendency (which makes me wonder if I should have Fires of Yavimaya in addition to Ascendency).
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
Unfortunately, about what cyberium is saying, those are mostly non modern cards. Legacy is just too fast for this deck.
I tried one of my lists and every game I could stick a TA on turn three I won. The card advantage is just immense, while at the same time beating in hard. Imaginary Pet is insanely powerful. In the cases where they were able to remove him, I had already recast him at least once, making him do more than replace himself and beat in for 8.