G1 vs Tron we should win, so they will side out probably wurmcoil/maybe O-Stone because it cant stop the combo. So we board in Needles/Echoing Truth/Pack rat.
I should probably go to 2 Bontu's in the side, but yes anger is better vs Dredge and Gy based decks. But Bontu is better vs Spirits/humans/elves and other go wide strategies
I believe against Scales I took out 2 brutality, 1 Scheming, 1 Simian Spirit Guide, and 1 Chart a Course. I brought in 3 Pack rat and 2x Echoing Truth!
Against Spirits I brought in 2 Bontu's Last Reckoning, 1 Swan Song, 1 Echoing truth, 3 Pack rat. I boarded out 2 Apes, 1 Looting, 2 Schemings and Chart a Course and a Brutality.
SB: 3 Bontu's Last Reckoning
SB: 2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 4 Pack Rat
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Swan Song
SB: 1 Thopter Engineer
Before I get into the real matches I play tested vs Jeskai control/Burn/UB Mill and won 2-1 vs Jeskai, went 2-2 vs Burn, and 2-1 vs Mill. Now all of these games were pre sideboard but was still happy with the results of testing so It gave me the good ole feeling in da belly going into the night.
Match 1 vs DRAW - ****. Got to watch people play for an hour while I pray to the Ape Gods to bless me with some fast starts as most of the room is UW Control/Jund with a mix of Spirits/Tron/Scales.
Match 2 vs Affinity
Game 1: He pooped out some robots but he was a bit to slow. I lead with faithless looting discarding hulk and primus. He plays some dudes and says go, I rip an APE like sweet Ape Lord Harambe inteded and exile that bad boy to cast Footsteps on turn 2 for da win.
Game 2: Same thing happened g1 he had a bit faster of a start but a Brutality slowed him down into the turn 3 footsteps on da hulk father.
Match 3 vs Scales
Game 1: Im on the play which smells nice and I keep a risky hand of 3 reanimate effects, an Ape (God bless) 2 lands and a Brutality. I say land go as he plays a Hardened Scales. I rip a **Bad Ass Hulk** off the top, and pitch brutality draining and making him discard. He casts a Ballista with 2 counters on it from the good ole Scales. I combo next turn through the ballista trying to interrupt by shooting my Viscera Seers.
Game 2: Im expected some surgical and or Relic/Cage. I bring in my Pack rats and echoing truth's and get down to business. This game was grindy but ended up being won on the back of Pack Rat making 4 extra copies of itself.
Match 4 vs UW Spirits
Game 1: He leads on vial, i loot and discard hulk/body double. He gets a Wanderer in and that gets the Collective Brutality treatment making him discard his path as well. I go for the footsteps on hulk but he vials in a Wanderer.. BUT WAIT I HAD THE APE BOYS. Exile the ape to pay the (1) and go off.
Game 2: He gets some wanderer's into play but I am able to brutality one, which helps. At some point im at 9 and cast Makeshift Mannequin which forces him to sac his wanderer. On my turn I footsteps with no responses and go off.
Overall the deck felt great, I probably ran hot with the Apes coming in clutch. Not sure if I need 3 Bontu's in the sideboard, maybe go down to 2 and add another threat like Grave Titan or something..
Been testing the deck a lot as Im getting back into MTG. Primarily played Jeskai Ascendancy and did very well with it but wanted something different. Below is my current list that I've had very good success w/ in testing...
//Enchantment (7)
4 Dictate of Karametra
2 Heartbeat of Spring
1 Monastery Siege
//Instant (10)
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
2 Bound // Determined
4 Early Harvest
1 Reality Spasm
1 Research // Development
1 Telling Time
//Sorcery (23)
4 Edge of Autumn
4 Pieces of the Puzzle
4 Search for Tomorrow
1 Seasons Past
4 Serum Visions
3 Strategic Planning
2 Time Reversal
1 Wildest Dreams
//Land (20)
1 Breeding Pool
2 Flooded Strand
5 Forest
6 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Windswept Heath
SB: 1 Blue Sun's Zenith
SB: 2 Devastation Tide
SB: 1 Dissenter's Deliverance
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Haze of Pollen
SB: 3 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 2 Negate
I am not a fan of the list he's been playing as it has so many dead draws when going off.
Noxious Revival's are bleh, I was never impressed with Silence in the Main, I think there should be 4 fatestitchers as they typically win the game for us. View from above should be a 1 of as we can win from 1-2 cards in hand as long we have that. Glad he's playing the deck though.
Hey all! Long time ascendancy player here! Played the ever since it first showed up through all the banning and now looking to get back into it. This has been my current list and still trying to come back so any opinions are more than welcome!
So as you can see, i have 1 slot in the side, not sure what it could be. I think i should add swan songs to my sb since controls are a ***** otherwise. I also did run 2 silence in the main which helped a bit. But cutted those for 3rd opt and grapeshot but i'm not sure if those are even needed? And mystic speculation is there to go infinite once u have 3 dorks online. It can also be used as a cantrip early which i really like. View from above does absolutely nothing to help you get there so that's why i have this instead.
So yeah, not a perfect list so hit me up! Thanks!
So as someone whos been playing the deck for months now with good results I can give you some advice hopefully.
You need actual sideboard cards besides leyline and wish targets, you need at least 3 swan song's vs Control decks otherwise they make the matchup good to horrid.
Mystic speculation although a can trip early in the game isn't an instant, View from Above allows you to go off in response to something and also through an ensnaring bridge like against Lantern Control and you only need 2 dorks online which sometimes is a lot more easy to achieve then 3.
4 Wisps is a lot because if they remove your dork in response it doesn't resolve, Id go -2 wisps +2 ideas unbound. Also Claim // Fame is better then Lunge because its 2 spells in 1 which is very relevant late game, and is not dead in your hand if you dont have an ascendancy in play. Not really a need for grape shot in the main at all if your going off and you need to grape shot you can just win through combat or a flesh // blood. Id try to fit more faithless lootings in there as well as they let you go off from 1-2 cards in hands late game against grindier decks.
The Deck´s main Goal is to cast or reanimate a Devoted Druid on turn 1 or 2 and find the other Combo Peaces with tutors and cantrips.
Card choices:
4 Devoted Druid and 4 Vizier of Remedies: Main Combo for infinit mana.
1 Walking Ballista: Prime Wincondition and a great way to turn on Delirium
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt: Secondary Wincondition and also a great way to turn on Delirium (The reason to play her over Rhonas)
2 Duskwatch Recruiter: Finds the right Wincon or your Combo pieces if the Game goes Long.
4 Chancellor of the Tangle: A way to play Devoted Druid or 2 Cantrips Turn 1. Also Lets you turn on and cast Traverse the Ulvenwald with Looting. And a way To win the Game, if you fail to find your other wincons(just drop 2 6/7´s and beat down)
4 Street Wraith: for Delirium
4 Mishra's Bauble: for Delirium and sometimes you can time Fetchlands for scrying
3 Manamorphose: for Delirium and Mana Fixing
4 Faithless Looting: fastest Way to Turn on Delirium. Allows for an alternative way to play Devoted Druid early by reanimating it.
2 Claim // Fame: A way to get back Combo Pieces after they are delt with. and a way to combo off in one turn by giving Haste.
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald: Coretutor for Combo Pieces or missed Lnaddrops.
2 Commune with Nature: cantrip+Delirium
4 Oath of Nissa: cantrip+Delirium
Another Version of this Deck is with 3 Nahiri, the Habinger and an Emrakul as alternative Wincon.
Your list is very consistent how have you been doing with it?
Does that work? Its not like they're boarding out removal since killing our dorks is a valid play (ive had to stop comboing when a fatestitcher got pathd and wait to try again next turn). If anything caryatid will incentivize them to bring in sweepers that easily clear yp.
So The decks we bring in Peeze vs are decks that are really interactive with our combo, Shadow/Jund/Abzan/any thoughtseize.deck and most of these decks maybe run 1 sweeper if any tbh, were not bringing it in vs control because we already have 3 swan songs for control. In my testing so far, if you can untap with peeze in play, its really hard to lose because you can still go for the combo with ascendancy and can trips while making a huge army of elementals.
The sideboard plan looks really clean - just flat out 4 leylines 3 swan songs and a dispel. Do they have discard? Leyline. Do they have ways to counter or destroy ascendancy? Counters.
What do you take out generally though? Im often cutting the path and bolt and then just a mix of looting, abundant growth and other cantrips. Not sure if theres a better approach.
The biggest stumbling blocks I can see would be things like ethersworn canonist or thalia as we need to take the time to find a wish, wish for an answer, and cast it. If we're lucky we stick an ascendancy and dork first and away we go, but if we dont stick an ascendancy that is a long crawl uphill. I would guess that you also dont want to answer these cards until you're ready to go off to avoid them casting another copy right afterwards. That further slows you down if you need to find and resolve ascendancy before wishing for an answer to thalia/canonist/meddling mage.
Not many decks run Canonist, I've gone off through a thalia before, meddling mage is odd because game 1 a lot of people may not know whats happening, if we already have ascendancy in play, what do they name? If they name ascendancy we have wish to kill mage etc. Im messing around with my current list, going -1 dispel in the side and -1 fiery justice for +2 young pyromancer to make our BGx matchup closer to 50/50
This may have been asked before but is there any advantage to playing this deck over regular old storm?
We're slightly less vulnerable to grave hate but losing fatestitcher is still pretty rough, we're equally vulnerable to rule of law effects. To the extent we have an advantage id guess its being able to wish for answers - esp game 1. This insulates us from extraction on ascendancy - although again I dont think storm autoloses to a single extraction either (they play a few empty the warrens - and can win without past in flames in a pinch). We seem equally vulnerable to chalice.
So yeah when chips are down is this really a strictly worse storm deck? Or is there something we can do that a storm deck cannot? All I can think of is cracking someone for 20 with a jacked up bird through a leyline of sanctity
We are not a worse storm deck, we are a different combo deck with similar ways of winning if that makes any sense. We are less vulnerable to hate, We actually dont care about chalice sometimes,chalice on 1 slows us down but wish for decay and your good. IMO we are more turn 3 consistent then storm, and our sideboard plan is actually better... but thats just me, read my reports on reddit, im like 27-3-3 or something now in paper with the deck.
You are right about failure // comply I cut it from my list, you can read my reports under the Modern Reddit section with the deck Im usually 4-0 or 3-1 with it every week recently went 4-0 (8-0 in games) here's my current list.
Against Spirits I brought in 2 Bontu's Last Reckoning, 1 Swan Song, 1 Echoing truth, 3 Pack rat. I boarded out 2 Apes, 1 Looting, 2 Schemings and Chart a Course and a Brutality.
Pack rat was amazing
//Creature (16)
2 Body Double
1 Mogg Fanatic
4 Protean Hulk
2 Reveillark
3 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Viscera Seer
2 Woodfall Primus
//Instant (7)
2 Izzet Charm
2 Lightning Axe
3 Makeshift Mannequin
//Sorcery (18)
1 Chart a Course
3 Collective Brutality
4 Faithless Looting
4 Footsteps of the Goryo
4 Serum Visions
2 Taigam's Scheming
//Land (19)
1 Blood Crypt
2 Darkslick Shores
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
SB: 3 Bontu's Last Reckoning
SB: 2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 4 Pack Rat
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Swan Song
SB: 1 Thopter Engineer
Before I get into the real matches I play tested vs Jeskai control/Burn/UB Mill and won 2-1 vs Jeskai, went 2-2 vs Burn, and 2-1 vs Mill. Now all of these games were pre sideboard but was still happy with the results of testing so It gave me the good ole feeling in da belly going into the night.
Match 1 vs DRAW - ****. Got to watch people play for an hour while I pray to the Ape Gods to bless me with some fast starts as most of the room is UW Control/Jund with a mix of Spirits/Tron/Scales.
Match 2 vs Affinity
Game 1: He pooped out some robots but he was a bit to slow. I lead with faithless looting discarding hulk and primus. He plays some dudes and says go, I rip an APE like sweet Ape Lord Harambe inteded and exile that bad boy to cast Footsteps on turn 2 for da win.
Game 2: Same thing happened g1 he had a bit faster of a start but a Brutality slowed him down into the turn 3 footsteps on da hulk father.
Match 3 vs Scales
Game 1: Im on the play which smells nice and I keep a risky hand of 3 reanimate effects, an Ape (God bless) 2 lands and a Brutality. I say land go as he plays a Hardened Scales. I rip a **Bad Ass Hulk** off the top, and pitch brutality draining and making him discard. He casts a Ballista with 2 counters on it from the good ole Scales. I combo next turn through the ballista trying to interrupt by shooting my Viscera Seers.
Game 2: Im expected some surgical and or Relic/Cage. I bring in my Pack rats and echoing truth's and get down to business. This game was grindy but ended up being won on the back of Pack Rat making 4 extra copies of itself.
Match 4 vs UW Spirits
Game 1: He leads on vial, i loot and discard hulk/body double. He gets a Wanderer in and that gets the Collective Brutality treatment making him discard his path as well. I go for the footsteps on hulk but he vials in a Wanderer.. BUT WAIT I HAD THE APE BOYS. Exile the ape to pay the (1) and go off.
Game 2: He gets some wanderer's into play but I am able to brutality one, which helps. At some point im at 9 and cast Makeshift Mannequin which forces him to sac his wanderer. On my turn I footsteps with no responses and go off.
Overall the deck felt great, I probably ran hot with the Apes coming in clutch. Not sure if I need 3 Bontu's in the sideboard, maybe go down to 2 and add another threat like Grave Titan or something..
Open to Comments/Suggestions
//Enchantment (7)
4 Dictate of Karametra
2 Heartbeat of Spring
1 Monastery Siege
//Instant (10)
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
2 Bound // Determined
4 Early Harvest
1 Reality Spasm
1 Research // Development
1 Telling Time
//Sorcery (23)
4 Edge of Autumn
4 Pieces of the Puzzle
4 Search for Tomorrow
1 Seasons Past
4 Serum Visions
3 Strategic Planning
2 Time Reversal
1 Wildest Dreams
//Land (20)
1 Breeding Pool
2 Flooded Strand
5 Forest
6 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Windswept Heath
SB: 1 Blue Sun's Zenith
SB: 2 Devastation Tide
SB: 1 Dissenter's Deliverance
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Haze of Pollen
SB: 3 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 2 Negate
Noxious Revival's are bleh, I was never impressed with Silence in the Main, I think there should be 4 fatestitchers as they typically win the game for us. View from above should be a 1 of as we can win from 1-2 cards in hand as long we have that. Glad he's playing the deck though.
So as someone whos been playing the deck for months now with good results I can give you some advice hopefully.
You need actual sideboard cards besides leyline and wish targets, you need at least 3 swan song's vs Control decks otherwise they make the matchup good to horrid.
Mystic speculation although a can trip early in the game isn't an instant, View from Above allows you to go off in response to something and also through an ensnaring bridge like against Lantern Control and you only need 2 dorks online which sometimes is a lot more easy to achieve then 3.
4 Wisps is a lot because if they remove your dork in response it doesn't resolve, Id go -2 wisps +2 ideas unbound. Also Claim // Fame is better then Lunge because its 2 spells in 1 which is very relevant late game, and is not dead in your hand if you dont have an ascendancy in play. Not really a need for grape shot in the main at all if your going off and you need to grape shot you can just win through combat or a flesh // blood. Id try to fit more faithless lootings in there as well as they let you go off from 1-2 cards in hands late game against grindier decks.
Your list is very consistent how have you been doing with it?
So The decks we bring in Peeze vs are decks that are really interactive with our combo, Shadow/Jund/Abzan/any thoughtseize.deck and most of these decks maybe run 1 sweeper if any tbh, were not bringing it in vs control because we already have 3 swan songs for control. In my testing so far, if you can untap with peeze in play, its really hard to lose because you can still go for the combo with ascendancy and can trips while making a huge army of elementals.
Not many decks run Canonist, I've gone off through a thalia before, meddling mage is odd because game 1 a lot of people may not know whats happening, if we already have ascendancy in play, what do they name? If they name ascendancy we have wish to kill mage etc. Im messing around with my current list, going -1 dispel in the side and -1 fiery justice for +2 young pyromancer to make our BGx matchup closer to 50/50
We are not a worse storm deck, we are a different combo deck with similar ways of winning if that makes any sense. We are less vulnerable to hate, We actually dont care about chalice sometimes,chalice on 1 slows us down but wish for decay and your good. IMO we are more turn 3 consistent then storm, and our sideboard plan is actually better... but thats just me, read my reports on reddit, im like 27-3-3 or something now in paper with the deck.
//Creature (12)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Fatestitcher
4 Sylvan Caryatid
//Enchantment (4)
1 Abundant Growth
3 Jeskai Ascendancy
//Instant (7)
2 Cerulean Wisps
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Manamorphose
1 Path to Exile
1 View from Above
//Sorcery (21)
1 Claim // Fame
4 Faithless Looting
4 Glittering Wish
4 Ideas Unbound
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
//Land (16)
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Mana Confluence
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 Dispel
SB: 1 Fiery Justice
SB: 1 Flesh // Blood
SB: 1 Guttural Response
SB: 1 Jeskai Ascendancy
SB: 4 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 1 Scarscale Ritual
SB: 3 Swan Song
SB: 1 Wear // Tear