The 2 Dig/1 Cruise split will probably just become 3 Dig if I can get a third by then. I think the Divination will come out too, probably for either another Taigam's Scheming or another Tormenting Voice. I dunno how I feel about Nissa as my win-con, maybe she'll just come out for another Briber's Purse and I'll Twinflame my opponents to death.
My sideboard at this point consists of a playset of Swan Song and a couple Circle of Flame/Nyx-Fleece Ram. I feel like running playsets of both of those two is a waste of slots and I haven't tested them in the aggro matchups enough to know which is better.
Nissa is too clunky and slow. I like Altar of the Brood, it's quicker, easier to explain etc. Twinflame is fine too. Divination is not good, I would go with Treasure Cruise if you can't find Dig. Dig is easily the best here.
I like Taigma's Scheming over Commune (both are good) but the card disadvantage is nothing if you're just going to win. Plus no milling of Retraction Helix/Purse. Tormod's Crypt is another option considering how popular Whip decks are now (just to annoy them)
Saying "I make infinite mana, cast Nissa, +1 Nissa, bounce Nissa, recast Nissa" isn't very tough to explain, and I despise Altar of the Brood as a card, but I'm inclined to just replace her with a second Purse. Commune's ability to replace itself makes it way better than Scheming for me, and the only piece of the combo it doesn't grab is Helix. Briber's Purse just seems better than Crypt, since you can cast it in a pinch to stall for another couple of turns.
Divination is coming out, I just don't know what for yet. I'm not thrilled with the idea of running 4 delve cards, since I've hit several games where I don't draw fetches/Commune/Scheming and just sit there with a Dig in my hand unable to cast it. My biggest problem is trying to figure out my sideboard.
Saying "I make infinite mana, cast Nissa, +1 Nissa, bounce Nissa, recast Nissa" isn't very tough to explain, and I despise Altar of the Brood as a card, but I'm inclined to just replace her with a second Purse. Commune's ability to replace itself makes it way better than Scheming for me, and the only piece of the combo it doesn't grab is Helix. Briber's Purse just seems better than Crypt, since you can cast it in a pinch to stall for another couple of turns.
Divination is coming out, I just don't know what for yet. I'm not thrilled with the idea of running 4 delve cards, since I've hit several games where I don't draw fetches/Commune/Scheming and just sit there with a Dig in my hand unable to cast it. My biggest problem is trying to figure out my sideboard.
Really badly. I played against Mardu (by far our worst matchup) three times and made a series of horrible misplays that only got worse as the tournament went on and I continued to beat myself up for it.
I ended up running Goblinslide over Nissa and a second Scheming over Divination, so my final decklist was
I didn't take good notes or anything, but here's what I can remember.
Round 1, 1-2 vs Mardu Midrange
Game 1 he taps out for a Butcher of the Horde on turn 4 followed by a Sarkhan on turn 5 and I go off without disruption. Game 2 I drop a Nyx-Fleece Ram on turn 2 followed by another on turn 3. He tries to Crackling Doom but I hit it with a Swan Song and he durdles for a while as I drop a Caryatid and bait a Lightning Strike on a face-down Rattleclaw Mystic. Eventually he Hero's Downfall's a Ram and drops two Butchers and a Rabblemaster. Turn eight (I believe) I'm ready to go off, cast Ascendancy, and go for the Twinflame on my lone Caryatid, tapping a Yavimaya Coast for colorless and Caryatid for red. He Erases my Ascendancy in response and I have a Swan Song in hand, but my only untapped land is a Temple of Abandon.
Game 3 is a lot like the last one, but I only get one Ram which bites the dust to a Crackling Doom. He gets early pressure with a Rabblemaster, and on turn six I try to go off with four cards in hand (after casting Retraction Helix), Ascendancy, Caryatid, and Briber's Purse on the table. I begin looting and he has no response, so I figure he doesn't have the Erase and after finding a Twinflame I go for it, then he Erases my Ascendancy. I absolutely could've looted into a Swan Song first and I beat myself over it the rest of the day. This guy ends up finishing second.
Round 2, 2-0 vs. Jekskai Tokens
Not much to say about this match. I went off turn five both times and she had no disruption.
Round 3, 1-2 vs. Mardu Midrange
I was not thrilled about seeing this match a second time. Game 1 I go off turn 5 after she taps out for a Butcher, and game 2 she beats me to death with Rabblemaster and Sarkhan while I try to find a second creature. Game 3, I set up two Caryatids, each with a Mantle, with Swan Song, Rattleclaw, Ascendancy, and Helix in hand. She casts an Anger of the Gods, and I look at my land, see that I'm tapped out, and let it resolve without considering that I could just tap my Caryatid for Swan Song. I scoop a couple of turns later, as I draw some land and can't recover.
Round 4, 2-1 vs. Sultai Constellation/Devotion?
This guy is my previous opponent's boyfriend, and she dragged him to the tournament despite him being mainly a kitchen table player and he's frustrated that he's doing so badly. His deck appears to be a weird combination of BG Constellation and Gx Devotion, with blue splashed for Sultai Charm. He maindecks both Bow of Nylea and Agent of Erebos. Game one I mull down to five and keep a hand with one land and a Dig Through Time. He slowly masses a bunch of Elvish Mystics and Voyaging Satyrs and eventually just wins as I try to find any of my combo pieces. Game 2 features two minor judge calls after he casts a Naturalize on my Ascendancy before it resolves and then after I explain the loop and he tells me to "go through the motions." He appeals the judge's ruling to the head judge, who agrees with the floor judge, and then he says something like "if you want to run some ******* stupid ***** like that, you should have to actually do it." and gets a warning. Game 3 he goes for a Naturalize again, but I leave up Swan Song mana and he scoops.
Round 5, 1-2 vs. Mardu Midrange
I'm pretty much on full tilt by now, after my three match-loss misplays and my previous opponent's less-than-pleasant demeanor. I'm sure I make plenty more misplays this match, but I'm frustrated and don't really notice or care. I know I win game 2, but I don't remember much about this match and I drop from the tournament after this.
It was a good learning experience in that I learned that I always need to leave up Swan Song mana, that Nyx-Fleece Ram is a complete house, and that Jeskai Tokens is a much easier matchup than I'd feared. I think this deck is pretty well-positioned right now, since we do very well against Whip decks and Gx Devotion.
Hello, last weekend I top-8'ed a local pptq, unfortunately losing in the quarterfinals to a good matchup. The event had 32 players and was a total of 5 rounds before the cut to top 8. I can post my decklist here if asked. The main things that are important to know about the list are that my only mana producing creatures are 4 caryatid, 2 rattleclaw mystic, I run 3 raise the alarm mainboard, and I have a 3-3 split between tormod's crypt and dragon mantle. My wincons are 1 altar of the brood and 1 messenger's speed. I can also go over the logic behind those numbers when I post the decklist.
Round 1, Jeskai tokens, 2-0:
Usually a heavily die roll influenced matchup, I won game one on the play and happened to set up a clean turn 4 combo on the draw in game 2.
Round 2, UW Heroic, 2-0:
Game 1 was simple; he was playing as if he had all the time in the world as I didn't reveal my fourth color until turn 4 when I tried to cast an ascendancy. He countered it with a stubborn denial but I dug for another one and combo'd next turn. Game 2 is more complicated; he casts a turn 4 eidolon of rhetoric stopping my combo efforts, i try to swan song it but he swan songs my swan song, leaving me with a token. I had a better board presence at the time and decided to race him considering that he had no way to overload me unexpectedly without exposing himself. I ended up winning with the beat-down plan using primarily the bird to knock him all the way from 18 to 0 over the course of the game while he desperately tried to establish a board presence through his own eidolon.
Round 3, 5 color cromanticore, 1-2:
Game 1 I'm on the play. I mulligan to 5, keep a caryatid ascendancy 2 lands and a crypt. I land a turn two caryatid with a dragon mantle as the draw. he plays a tapped land and passes the turn. I untap, cast ascendancy, crypt to untap the caryatid and loot, dragon mantle for a loot+draw and on the last draw hit a helix for the kill. He reveals his 2 crackling dooms in hand. We go to game 2. Sideboarding was wierd as I first suspected only a mardu midrange deck as his only two lands were nomad outposts. Game 2 he surprises me with a fourth color while I get a bad draw and die a horrible death. Game 3 gives me a similarly bad draw and I lose the match. It wasn't until the end of the match that he shows me his chromanticore. He ends up double-drawing into top8 while I have to play round 4.
Round 4, 5 color again, 2-0:
A friend from a local game store decided to brew a pile of cards the night before the tournament and died horribly to bad draws while I get turn 4-5 kills both games. I am in a position to ID into top 8 at this point with an abzan player from my local store.
Top 8 Round 1, RG Aggro, 0-2:
This matchup is generally good for us but my draw is sub-par and his is extremely aggressive. Having the higher seed than me, he is on the play and if he were not on the play, I would have won game 1. Game two is a situation of me mulliganning to 5 with nothing good going on. I simply die.
I am still fiddling with the sideboard but I like this one more than most of the board plans that I have seen. The kiora is there mostly for fun and to fill space and it should probably be something else but it does do things in matchups like abzan where they board out removal like hero's downfall and you just get to kraken them while their rhinos stand around and look sad. I have also thought a lot about the possibility of Bow of Nylea and in theory it is great as an alternate (incase you mill the altar of the brood) wincon while having other utility as well. As for altar of the brood over other wincons, just altar is by far my favorite simply for the low opportunity cost. As soon as you go infinite you win. You dont need more than a caryatid, a helix, an ascendancy, a crypt, and a card in your hand to loot to the altar, play it, and win. Messenger's speed is nice as an alternate wincon because it fits well into the theme of surprising your opponent along with raise the alarm. Nobody really expects this deck to be able to go off the turn after they pass with an empty board but this version can do that between raise the alarm end of turn and caryatid with messengers speed into the combo. It feels really nice to make it seem like your shields are down and then go for the kill out of nowhere. With raise the alarm, there is also the possibility of blocking with one half and then untapping and comboing off with the other. I have done that a lot and it feels really great. I would also consider cutting the rattleclaws for things like more raise the alarms, hordling outburst, goblin rabblemaster or similar cards as I generally want to make their removal inefficient and I don't necessarily need a mana guy to combo off with helix and crypt. I hope this list helps!
Delfam, my record was 3-1 with an ID into top 8 and a loss in the first round of top 8. You can see the round-by-round breakdown about 3 posts above yours
Why Tormod's Crypt over Briber's Purse? Purse can at least be cast for mana and can prolong your life by a few turns. Having a card that you need to sac to hate out Delve and Whip decks as your primary wincon seems risky to me.
I am not playing Tormod's Crypt as a graveyard hate spell, even thought it can fill that role in a pinch. It is there over briber's purse mainly to allow for a free mana towards my own delve spells. I have thought about switching over to briber's purse though and it often does seem appealing.
GodofConfusion, as far as I can tell the deck struggles with anything that can outrace you consistently, things like mono red aggro. The worst matchups though are the ones where your opponent has built-in disruption along with a fast clock. Things like mardu, due to their combination of rabblemaster and crackling doom and temur aggro with counterspells are the most difficult matchups to overcome. Keep in mind that this deck has the best nut-draws in the format though and can overcome any bad matchup. The good matchups are really anything slow with minimal disruption. Decks that rely on whip of erebos or any devotion mechanic are basically a bye. Things like control, abzan midrange, and jeskai tokens are roughly 50-50 in my experience, with jeskai tokens being a play/draw dependent matchup: generally the player going first in game one wins as the matchup in game one is a race. Abzan and control of any kind are difficult matchups due to their disruption, though they can be beat if you play right and have a decent draw. In general, you should play for the "long game" (a turn 6-7 win) unless you have the nut draw or are put under imminent pressure with something like a good curve from abzan or a perilous vault from control.
Mardu Midrange is harsh thanks to Anger, Crackling Doom, Rabblemaster, and Butcher of the Horde. UB Control can be a toss-up, but the longer you try to grind the more time they have to find Vault/Dissolve/PLA. Jeskai Tempo was/is hard to beat but nobody (at least where I am) plays that deck anymore. Jeskai Tokens and Boss Sligh put on quick pressure which can be a problem and Nyx-Fleece Ram really shines in that matchup. Whip decks are too slow and don't pack enough disruption to hurt you. Constellation can be fairly explosive, but in general a lot of their cards are pretty bad against us and they can take way too long to grind a game out (especially if they use Whip).
Tower Archer: Vs decks with lots of removal I assume, but what do you take out.
Ram: vs Burn and Tokens, but what about Abzan Aggro and/or Mardu?
Swan Song: Vs Thoughtseize and Removal decks, but does this come in vs Tokens?
Arc Lightning: Only Tokens, or Mardu as well?
Cornucopia: Vs grindy matchups where the mana is useful?
My main thing is I usually know what to bring in but not what to take out. Vs Removal to you bring in extra creatures or just the counters, or both? Do Voyaging Satyrs come out for Archers? etc.
but my area is inundated with midrange decks, and if I were facing a field that contained any Boss Sligh or tokens, I'd be running Circle of Flame.
You take out non-Caryatid (usually) dorks to replace creatures, since you only actually need one mana dork to go off and Caryatid is the best one by far. I usually sub out the Kiora's Followers for Nyx-Fleece Rams against Mardu, Abzan, and Jund (amazingly, Jund is a real deck around here). Ram effectively holds back ground threats (especially Rhino) and provides another Crackling Doom target (as opposed to Caryatid), and the lifegain is very relevant. It's effective against Sligh and Jeskai too, since they have to waste burn on it. I likely would not bring it in against Gx Devotion, GB Constellation, UB Control, Sidisi, etc. since they're usually in full grind-mode. Tower Archer, on the flip-side, is great against UB Control and good against Mardu, since it stops most of their interaction, but I don't know if it's better than Ram against Mardu and you can only afford to bring in one or the other. Negate is essentially Swan Song #5, but it's not quite as good and I've been contemplating dropping it. Lightning Strike is for Sidisi and Rabblemaster. Bow is for Abzan, mostly, since it slows Hornet Queen and can stall with life, but it's also good against Mardu and Jund.
To bring in Swan Songs and Negate, I cut my worst cantrips (Tormenting Voice, Taigam's Scheming) and sometimes one of my Briber's Purses or Twinflames. To bring in Tower Archer, I bring out Rattleclaw; to bring in Ram, I board out Follower (maybe it's more correct to bring out 3 Rattleclaw and 1 Follower). Lightning Strike and Bow also eat weak cantrips.
Swan Song is crucial against any red deck. They will bring in Anger of the Gods, and it will hurt (or even just kill) you if you aren't prepared. Against green and white decks, play Ascendancy as though it were a sorcery and the effect ends at the end of the turn, since they have sorcery-speed removal in the form of Reclamation Sage and Glare of Heresy, though some green decks are packing Back to Nature now (Whip decks and Constellation will not, since it hurts them more than it hurts tokens and the mirror). Unfortunately, knowing when to cast Ascendancy vs Abzan can be tricky, since they have Thoughtseize in addition to these two.
On a totally different note, does anyone else think Monastery Siege has a place in this deck? Both modes are incredibly useful, I think it's definitely maindeck-able. The only question is what to cut, since our only other three-drop is Ascendancy.
Out of those 4, Refocus definitely seems good to me and Rite of Undoing is playable but seems just a bit clunky to me. Temporal Trespass will be extremely hard to cast mid-combo taking up mana for your Dig Through Times and an extremely overrated can-trip when not comboing off and Whisperer of the Wilds doesn't make blue mana so we can't really do much with it, we had the same problem with Elvish Mystic. So far, the only FRF card that I really like is the Refocus as a simple enabler and I think that it might push us towards a 12 "free can-trips plan" playing 4 Dragon Mantle, 4 Defiant Strike, and 4 Refocus with the possibility of something closer to Matt Nass' Astro Ascendancy deck being the result. I will definitely be testing this plan with a lot of variants.
How do you guys feel about Reality Shift? I think it could be a really powerful sideboard removal option for this deck as we don't really care about the residual value that it gives our opponent and the efficient removal could help deal with otherwise oppressively resilient threats such as Siege Rhino and a card that I tend to have lots of problems with: Ashcloud Phoenix.
How do you guys feel about Reality Shift? I think it could be a really powerful sideboard removal option for this deck as we don't really care about the residual value that it gives our opponent and the efficient removal could help deal with otherwise oppressively resilient threats such as Siege Rhino and a card that I tend to have lots of problems with: Ashcloud Phoenix.
those creatures are irrelevant for this deck, a 4-drop is too slow and we should be able to combo off by then. This deck is strong but is very hard to beat aggro decks with it. The upcoming meta looks heavy aggro so my suggestion would be to pick up a new deck, play that deck, and when the meta shifts that is when you play Ascendancy Combo.
So im running ths lee-shi thian ver and im trying to get some refocus put in the deck and humble defector but i can figure out what i should drop out to fit them in any one have thoughts on this as i havent played the deck for as long as others might have
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I don't see how you can add Defector to the deck. Adding more creatures makes Ascendancy worse, and removing mana creatures slows the deck down. Refocus I'm still testing right now and have a 2/2 refocus/tormenting voice switch going on for now.
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4 Kiora's Follower
3 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Retraction Helix
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
2 Twinflame
1 Briber's Purse
1 Nissa, Worldwaker
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Dig Through Time
1 Taigam's Scheming
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Divination
4 Mana Confluence
3 Yavimaya Coast
3 Frontier Bivouac
1 Mystic Monastery
2 Temple of Mystery
1 Temple of Abandon
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Flooded Strand
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
The 2 Dig/1 Cruise split will probably just become 3 Dig if I can get a third by then. I think the Divination will come out too, probably for either another Taigam's Scheming or another Tormenting Voice. I dunno how I feel about Nissa as my win-con, maybe she'll just come out for another Briber's Purse and I'll Twinflame my opponents to death.
My sideboard at this point consists of a playset of Swan Song and a couple Circle of Flame/Nyx-Fleece Ram. I feel like running playsets of both of those two is a waste of slots and I haven't tested them in the aggro matchups enough to know which is better.
| Omnath | Zada | Alesha | Scion |
| Mazirek | Animar |
Modern
UR Storm RU
UBRG Dredge GRBU
Standard
UR Thermo-Thing RU
I like Taigma's Scheming over Commune (both are good) but the card disadvantage is nothing if you're just going to win. Plus no milling of Retraction Helix/Purse. Tormod's Crypt is another option considering how popular Whip decks are now (just to annoy them)
Divination is coming out, I just don't know what for yet. I'm not thrilled with the idea of running 4 delve cards, since I've hit several games where I don't draw fetches/Commune/Scheming and just sit there with a Dig in my hand unable to cast it. My biggest problem is trying to figure out my sideboard.
| Omnath | Zada | Alesha | Scion |
| Mazirek | Animar |
Modern
UR Storm RU
UBRG Dredge GRBU
Standard
UR Thermo-Thing RU
how you do at the PPTQ?
I ended up running Goblinslide over Nissa and a second Scheming over Divination, so my final decklist was
4 Kiora's Follower
3 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Retraction Helix
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
2 Twinflame
1 Briber's Purse
1 Goblinslide
4 Commune with the Gods
3 Dig Through Time
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Taigam's Scheming
4 Mana Confluence
3 Yavimaya Coast
3 Frontier Bivouac
1 Mystic Monastery
2 Temple of Mystery
1 Temple of Abandon
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Flooded Strand
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Swan Song
3 Bassara Tower Archer
2 Lightning Strike
1 Negate
1 Bow of Nylea
I didn't take good notes or anything, but here's what I can remember.
Round 1, 1-2 vs Mardu Midrange
Game 1 he taps out for a Butcher of the Horde on turn 4 followed by a Sarkhan on turn 5 and I go off without disruption. Game 2 I drop a Nyx-Fleece Ram on turn 2 followed by another on turn 3. He tries to Crackling Doom but I hit it with a Swan Song and he durdles for a while as I drop a Caryatid and bait a Lightning Strike on a face-down Rattleclaw Mystic. Eventually he Hero's Downfall's a Ram and drops two Butchers and a Rabblemaster. Turn eight (I believe) I'm ready to go off, cast Ascendancy, and go for the Twinflame on my lone Caryatid, tapping a Yavimaya Coast for colorless and Caryatid for red. He Erases my Ascendancy in response and I have a Swan Song in hand, but my only untapped land is a Temple of Abandon.
Game 3 is a lot like the last one, but I only get one Ram which bites the dust to a Crackling Doom. He gets early pressure with a Rabblemaster, and on turn six I try to go off with four cards in hand (after casting Retraction Helix), Ascendancy, Caryatid, and Briber's Purse on the table. I begin looting and he has no response, so I figure he doesn't have the Erase and after finding a Twinflame I go for it, then he Erases my Ascendancy. I absolutely could've looted into a Swan Song first and I beat myself over it the rest of the day. This guy ends up finishing second.
Round 2, 2-0 vs. Jekskai Tokens
Not much to say about this match. I went off turn five both times and she had no disruption.
Round 3, 1-2 vs. Mardu Midrange
I was not thrilled about seeing this match a second time. Game 1 I go off turn 5 after she taps out for a Butcher, and game 2 she beats me to death with Rabblemaster and Sarkhan while I try to find a second creature. Game 3, I set up two Caryatids, each with a Mantle, with Swan Song, Rattleclaw, Ascendancy, and Helix in hand. She casts an Anger of the Gods, and I look at my land, see that I'm tapped out, and let it resolve without considering that I could just tap my Caryatid for Swan Song. I scoop a couple of turns later, as I draw some land and can't recover.
Round 4, 2-1 vs. Sultai Constellation/Devotion?
This guy is my previous opponent's boyfriend, and she dragged him to the tournament despite him being mainly a kitchen table player and he's frustrated that he's doing so badly. His deck appears to be a weird combination of BG Constellation and Gx Devotion, with blue splashed for Sultai Charm. He maindecks both Bow of Nylea and Agent of Erebos. Game one I mull down to five and keep a hand with one land and a Dig Through Time. He slowly masses a bunch of Elvish Mystics and Voyaging Satyrs and eventually just wins as I try to find any of my combo pieces. Game 2 features two minor judge calls after he casts a Naturalize on my Ascendancy before it resolves and then after I explain the loop and he tells me to "go through the motions." He appeals the judge's ruling to the head judge, who agrees with the floor judge, and then he says something like "if you want to run some ******* stupid ***** like that, you should have to actually do it." and gets a warning. Game 3 he goes for a Naturalize again, but I leave up Swan Song mana and he scoops.
Round 5, 1-2 vs. Mardu Midrange
I'm pretty much on full tilt by now, after my three match-loss misplays and my previous opponent's less-than-pleasant demeanor. I'm sure I make plenty more misplays this match, but I'm frustrated and don't really notice or care. I know I win game 2, but I don't remember much about this match and I drop from the tournament after this.
It was a good learning experience in that I learned that I always need to leave up Swan Song mana, that Nyx-Fleece Ram is a complete house, and that Jeskai Tokens is a much easier matchup than I'd feared. I think this deck is pretty well-positioned right now, since we do very well against Whip decks and Gx Devotion.
| Omnath | Zada | Alesha | Scion |
| Mazirek | Animar |
Modern
UR Storm RU
UBRG Dredge GRBU
Standard
UR Thermo-Thing RU
Round 1, Jeskai tokens, 2-0:
Usually a heavily die roll influenced matchup, I won game one on the play and happened to set up a clean turn 4 combo on the draw in game 2.
Round 2, UW Heroic, 2-0:
Game 1 was simple; he was playing as if he had all the time in the world as I didn't reveal my fourth color until turn 4 when I tried to cast an ascendancy. He countered it with a stubborn denial but I dug for another one and combo'd next turn. Game 2 is more complicated; he casts a turn 4 eidolon of rhetoric stopping my combo efforts, i try to swan song it but he swan songs my swan song, leaving me with a token. I had a better board presence at the time and decided to race him considering that he had no way to overload me unexpectedly without exposing himself. I ended up winning with the beat-down plan using primarily the bird to knock him all the way from 18 to 0 over the course of the game while he desperately tried to establish a board presence through his own eidolon.
Round 3, 5 color cromanticore, 1-2:
Game 1 I'm on the play. I mulligan to 5, keep a caryatid ascendancy 2 lands and a crypt. I land a turn two caryatid with a dragon mantle as the draw. he plays a tapped land and passes the turn. I untap, cast ascendancy, crypt to untap the caryatid and loot, dragon mantle for a loot+draw and on the last draw hit a helix for the kill. He reveals his 2 crackling dooms in hand. We go to game 2. Sideboarding was wierd as I first suspected only a mardu midrange deck as his only two lands were nomad outposts. Game 2 he surprises me with a fourth color while I get a bad draw and die a horrible death. Game 3 gives me a similarly bad draw and I lose the match. It wasn't until the end of the match that he shows me his chromanticore. He ends up double-drawing into top8 while I have to play round 4.
Round 4, 5 color again, 2-0:
A friend from a local game store decided to brew a pile of cards the night before the tournament and died horribly to bad draws while I get turn 4-5 kills both games. I am in a position to ID into top 8 at this point with an abzan player from my local store.
Top 8 Round 1, RG Aggro, 0-2:
This matchup is generally good for us but my draw is sub-par and his is extremely aggressive. Having the higher seed than me, he is on the play and if he were not on the play, I would have won game 1. Game two is a situation of me mulliganning to 5 with nothing good going on. I simply die.
2 Rattleclaw Mystic
3 Dragon Mantle
4 Retraction Helix
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Messenger's Speed
1 Altar of the Brood
4 Commune with the Gods
4 Dig Through Time
4 Taigam's Scheming
2 Treasure Cruise
3 Raise the Alarm
1 Swan Song
4 Mana Confluence
2 Yavimaya Coast
3 Frontier Bivouac
3 Mystic Monastery
2 Temple of Mystery
2 Temple of Abandon
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Mountain
1 Forest
2 Lightning Strike
1 Magma Spray
2 Hornet Nest
3 Seeker of the Way
2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
2 Erase
I am still fiddling with the sideboard but I like this one more than most of the board plans that I have seen. The kiora is there mostly for fun and to fill space and it should probably be something else but it does do things in matchups like abzan where they board out removal like hero's downfall and you just get to kraken them while their rhinos stand around and look sad. I have also thought a lot about the possibility of Bow of Nylea and in theory it is great as an alternate (incase you mill the altar of the brood) wincon while having other utility as well. As for altar of the brood over other wincons, just altar is by far my favorite simply for the low opportunity cost. As soon as you go infinite you win. You dont need more than a caryatid, a helix, an ascendancy, a crypt, and a card in your hand to loot to the altar, play it, and win. Messenger's speed is nice as an alternate wincon because it fits well into the theme of surprising your opponent along with raise the alarm. Nobody really expects this deck to be able to go off the turn after they pass with an empty board but this version can do that between raise the alarm end of turn and caryatid with messengers speed into the combo. It feels really nice to make it seem like your shields are down and then go for the kill out of nowhere. With raise the alarm, there is also the possibility of blocking with one half and then untapping and comboing off with the other. I have done that a lot and it feels really great. I would also consider cutting the rattleclaws for things like more raise the alarms, hordling outburst, goblin rabblemaster or similar cards as I generally want to make their removal inefficient and I don't necessarily need a mana guy to combo off with helix and crypt. I hope this list helps!
| Omnath | Zada | Alesha | Scion |
| Mazirek | Animar |
Modern
UR Storm RU
UBRG Dredge GRBU
Standard
UR Thermo-Thing RU
| Omnath | Zada | Alesha | Scion |
| Mazirek | Animar |
Modern
UR Storm RU
UBRG Dredge GRBU
Standard
UR Thermo-Thing RU
Tower Archer: Vs decks with lots of removal I assume, but what do you take out.
Ram: vs Burn and Tokens, but what about Abzan Aggro and/or Mardu?
Swan Song: Vs Thoughtseize and Removal decks, but does this come in vs Tokens?
Arc Lightning: Only Tokens, or Mardu as well?
Cornucopia: Vs grindy matchups where the mana is useful?
My main thing is I usually know what to bring in but not what to take out. Vs Removal to you bring in extra creatures or just the counters, or both? Do Voyaging Satyrs come out for Archers? etc.
4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
3 Bassara Tower Archer
2 Lightning Strike
1 Negate
1 Bow of Nylea
but my area is inundated with midrange decks, and if I were facing a field that contained any Boss Sligh or tokens, I'd be running Circle of Flame.
You take out non-Caryatid (usually) dorks to replace creatures, since you only actually need one mana dork to go off and Caryatid is the best one by far. I usually sub out the Kiora's Followers for Nyx-Fleece Rams against Mardu, Abzan, and Jund (amazingly, Jund is a real deck around here). Ram effectively holds back ground threats (especially Rhino) and provides another Crackling Doom target (as opposed to Caryatid), and the lifegain is very relevant. It's effective against Sligh and Jeskai too, since they have to waste burn on it. I likely would not bring it in against Gx Devotion, GB Constellation, UB Control, Sidisi, etc. since they're usually in full grind-mode. Tower Archer, on the flip-side, is great against UB Control and good against Mardu, since it stops most of their interaction, but I don't know if it's better than Ram against Mardu and you can only afford to bring in one or the other. Negate is essentially Swan Song #5, but it's not quite as good and I've been contemplating dropping it. Lightning Strike is for Sidisi and Rabblemaster. Bow is for Abzan, mostly, since it slows Hornet Queen and can stall with life, but it's also good against Mardu and Jund.
To bring in Swan Songs and Negate, I cut my worst cantrips (Tormenting Voice, Taigam's Scheming) and sometimes one of my Briber's Purses or Twinflames. To bring in Tower Archer, I bring out Rattleclaw; to bring in Ram, I board out Follower (maybe it's more correct to bring out 3 Rattleclaw and 1 Follower). Lightning Strike and Bow also eat weak cantrips.
Swan Song is crucial against any red deck. They will bring in Anger of the Gods, and it will hurt (or even just kill) you if you aren't prepared. Against green and white decks, play Ascendancy as though it were a sorcery and the effect ends at the end of the turn, since they have sorcery-speed removal in the form of Reclamation Sage and Glare of Heresy, though some green decks are packing Back to Nature now (Whip decks and Constellation will not, since it hurts them more than it hurts tokens and the mirror). Unfortunately, knowing when to cast Ascendancy vs Abzan can be tricky, since they have Thoughtseize in addition to these two.
On a totally different note, does anyone else think Monastery Siege has a place in this deck? Both modes are incredibly useful, I think it's definitely maindeck-able. The only question is what to cut, since our only other three-drop is Ascendancy.
| Omnath | Zada | Alesha | Scion |
| Mazirek | Animar |
Modern
UR Storm RU
UBRG Dredge GRBU
Standard
UR Thermo-Thing RU
So far, these cards may be good; Refocus, Rite of Undoing, Temporal Trespass, Whisperer of the Wilds.
This might be crap, but it's worth mentioning that Soulfire Grand Master+Kioras follower+Jeskai Ascendancy+Market Festival+Refocus goes Infinate.
That's the only Infinate combo with Soulfire and Ascendancy I can find (besides have 5 mana dorks or Nissa).
About Mindslaver rulings:
those creatures are irrelevant for this deck, a 4-drop is too slow and we should be able to combo off by then. This deck is strong but is very hard to beat aggro decks with it. The upcoming meta looks heavy aggro so my suggestion would be to pick up a new deck, play that deck, and when the meta shifts that is when you play Ascendancy Combo.