This card seems sweet in the right deck. It's very bad against hard aggro, but against everything else and with the right deck support it seems like it could be a potent turn 2 play. Does anyone have experience running this card in Cube?
I removed this from my cube because either you drop it turn 2 and just win, or you draw it late and it's dead.
Once it's active it's really hard to come back if you don't have enchantment removal.
My cube group prefers sparring type match ups rather than swingy victories.
Hated this card in multiplayer. The millisecond it dropped, you would draw the collective wrath of the remaining table, even if you weren't necessarily the biggest threat, player-wise.
Yes, one of the ultimate high-risk / high-reward cards in Multiplayer. Dropping it on Turn 2 is an iron-clad guarantee of seeing hate sent in your direction.
So you need to be prepared when you play it. In that sense, it probably works best in an Azorius control shell. But when it becomes active, it wins games, hands down.
I’m going to give Luminarch Ascension a spin. I recognize this sort of “matchup card” is not what everyone wants, but in theory it helps solve a matchup problem for us which is Boros and Orzhov control against blue control decks. The Moat / quake / wrath stuff usually makes these decks awesome against aggro, but anyone playing blue has a huge upper hand against these decks - which is where Ascension comes in. I like a couple minor synergies like constellation trigger for Archon of Sun’s Grace (which has been great for us) and a powerful target for E Tutor in the right matchup. I’ll cut it if it’s not good enough against midrange, because that’s the biggest question mark for me.
I didn't like this 5 years ago, and it's probably gotten worse as more efficient threats have been printed since then. Court of Grace / Emeria's Call / any white 4-cmc white planeswalker does everything this wants to do plus more.
I didn't like this 5 years ago, and it's probably gotten worse as more efficient threats have been printed since then. Court of Grace / Emeria's Call / any white 4-cmc white planeswalker does everything this wants to do plus more.
The thought is that these cards actually push some interesting archetypes that did not see much play in our Cube over the years (various white-based control decks that have either no blue or light blue splash, relying on some key enchantments and engines), so the goal is for Luminarch Ascension to help those decks. But yeah it could be going too deep, likely it won’t work out.
I've been playing Luminarch Ascension for a while - just swapped it for Court of Grace - and the card has been solid. Very Polar in nature, it mostly was a sideboard card, and if that's not your thing maybe the card isn't for you. When it's good, it's gamewinning, when it's bad, you wasted two mana or have a dead draw.
Definetly gets more interesting with possibilities to limit/discourage attacking, like Constant Mists or Thalia, Heretic Cathar.
I've been playing Luminarch Ascension for a while - just swapped it for Court of Grace - and the card has been solid. Very Polar in nature, it mostly was a sideboard card, and if that's not your thing maybe the card isn't for you. When it's good, it's gamewinning, when it's bad, you wasted two mana or have a dead draw.
Definetly gets more interesting with possibilities to limit/discourage attacking, like Constant Mists or Thalia, Heretic Cathar.
Thanks for the feedback. If you see this I’m wondering if you could tell how you observed the performance against midrange. It is clearly awesome against dedicated control and bad against 1-drop / red aggro, but I’m unsure how it will perform against a typical midrange deck that isn’t attacking all the time but has some value creatures and elves to pressure. Thanks!
I have to admit, my last Cube session dates somewhat far back in this year, so I can only give you an approximate overview. Against midrange, it is a bit too coinflippy for my taste, since many midrange-decks also have access to answers to the card by simply removing it. And if your gameplan revolved around not getting hit and you devoted resources to it, a Disenchant or an Oblivion Ring hurts. And that is what happened somewhat often. However, I will say that the card got quite a bit better with number of Flash-creatures rising. In those decks, the protection you want to work around perfectly aligns with the gameplan of ambushing random attackers with Nightpack Ambusher, Shark Typhoon, Archangel Avacyn, Brazen Borrower, Restoration Angel, etc. This happend a few times, but Luminarch Ascension is by no means the only payoff for such a playstyle.
My verdict would be: Completely skippable, but strong sideboard card.
This card seems sweet in the right deck. It's very bad against hard aggro, but against everything else and with the right deck support it seems like it could be a potent turn 2 play. Does anyone have experience running this card in Cube?
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Once it's active it's really hard to come back if you don't have enchantment removal.
My cube group prefers sparring type match ups rather than swingy victories.
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So you need to be prepared when you play it. In that sense, it probably works best in an Azorius control shell. But when it becomes active, it wins games, hands down.
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The thought is that these cards actually push some interesting archetypes that did not see much play in our Cube over the years (various white-based control decks that have either no blue or light blue splash, relying on some key enchantments and engines), so the goal is for Luminarch Ascension to help those decks. But yeah it could be going too deep, likely it won’t work out.
Definetly gets more interesting with possibilities to limit/discourage attacking, like Constant Mists or Thalia, Heretic Cathar.
Thanks for the feedback. If you see this I’m wondering if you could tell how you observed the performance against midrange. It is clearly awesome against dedicated control and bad against 1-drop / red aggro, but I’m unsure how it will perform against a typical midrange deck that isn’t attacking all the time but has some value creatures and elves to pressure. Thanks!
My verdict would be: Completely skippable, but strong sideboard card.