I tested the Infect match-up today. Let's just say that if you have a lot of Infect in your meta, Assault // Battery in the Wishboard is a must.
(I've also swapped Abrupt Decay with Dreadbore in my Wishboard. I think it might have won a game against Linvala, but now my Twin match-up will get even worse...I'm also trying going down to 18 lands and playing Pyrite Spellbomb, as there are a lot of Burn decks on Cockatrice and I want a lower chance of dying to Eidolon of the Great Revel.)
The reason I bring it up on this thread is that the two decks are very similar in terms of goldfish speed, the wishboard, how they play out (in some aspects), and inherent weaknesses. I played hundreds of games with the deck and ended up winning about 50% of them. I think that there is no need to overload on the wishboard. A few intelligently chosen targets will win you far more games by allowing room for leyline of sanctity and silence to beat discard and counterspells respectively. That being said, a strategy that relies on one particular card (even if you get to play "seven copies") to drive an engine combo is most likely too fragile for tier one (and my deck even had the very realistic plan B of 8-12 goblin tokens on turn 1).
Oh yeah, I also played a strange post-board game today against No Blue Pod. I can't find Ascendancy for a while, they stick Pod, I Wear // Tear it, they stick Linvala, I dig and dig and Dreadbore her (I boarded Dreadbore in for Game 2--I learned my lesson and boarded Dreadbore back out for Game 3). They swing with Hierarch-Exalted Birds of Paradise, and I'm eventually on 1 life. I take the Birds down with Pyrite Spellbomb. I stare down another Pod that turned Hierarch into Qasali Pridemage, I Wish for Ajani Vengeant (yup, I boarded Lightning Helix in) and zap Pridemage, they blow up Abundant Growth in response. I then make Ajani V ice Pod when they search for Voice of Resurgence. I combo off a turn later, or at least attempt to...except I fizzle and am forced to Fiery Justice the Shriekmaw they wanted to OHKO me with (yup, I boarded Justice in). I swing with both Wind Zendikons (my other dorks are Caryatids), they Path to Exile the bigger one. They're at 6 life...but they actually topdeck jank for a couple of turns and I swing with Zendikon twice and Ajani V Helix them FTW. It was a very weird win.
Cinder Druid, I agree that trimming down the Wishboard to the essentials is a great idea--I'm trying to trim it myself. However, I suspect Ascendancy Storm will be higher-tier than your Kuldotha Beck because instead of rituals, it's filled to the brim with cantrips. Thus, it finds its answers and combo pieces sooner. Sylvan Caryatid being a great blocker helps.
I posted this in the other thread, but it seemed to be mostly ignored, so I'm posting against for hopefully better results. The deck doesn't run green, or a wish board, and I'm sure both of those things could be added. What it does add those is the ability to not fizzle. Once you start going off, it's next to impossible to fizzle. The turn or turn after you cast Ascendancy, you win. I'm going to look into adding green to it though. I wanted a proof of concept that green isn't necessary for this deck to work.
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
This is going to get something banned. It violates the 4 turn win rule. Turn 2 win easily by turn 3, with no real way to deal with the deck.
Except it involves a super frail mana dork that can be easily bolted/pathed/etc'd.
I think Fatestitcher is better than the OP gives it credit for. You can pitch it to the Ascendancy, and then it's a one mana, hasty dork. It's a strong way to go from one to two active dorks once the ascendancy is down, which means you start generating mana.
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imho, 3 treasure curse are too much. it's a card that i would like to see in one copy during a normal game, nad in an advanced phase of the game (surely not in the starting hand)
no basic forest? that means the dead at the first blood moon down, considering that red can kill easily the creatures
i have also a sensation: it seems to me that this deck is a more complicated version of storm
Cruise is the best card mid-combo. 3 is totally fine. PIF in Storm is a 3-of, which is quite similar in terms of value in starting hand vs value mid-combo.
Blood Moon is beatable because you have mana dorks and Manamorphose to generate non-red colors.
I think Fatestitcher is better than the OP gives it credit for. You can pitch it to the Ascendancy, and then it's a one mana, hasty dork. It's a strong way to go from one to two active dorks once the ascendancy is down, which means you start generating mana.
I play Wind Zendikon, which is basically the same thing. Zendikon triggers Ascendancy too, unlike Fatestitcher.
Casting a second Ascendancy is a more common way of generating mana (if only because I have more Ascendancies than Zendikons).
3rd decklist (source). Man, I didn't expect this deck to be so good.
So far all the decklists seem to be based on Sam Black's, meaning:
1) 16 lands, including Dryad Arbor if it's played
2) 3-4 Cerulean Wisps
3) 2 Arbor Elf
4) 3 Treasure Cruise
You'd only want to play Noxious Revival if you're playing Grapeshot. It doesn't do a lot outside of recovering from discarded Grapeshots.
Your options are (assuming you don't want to lose to a milled/discarded Grapeshot):
1) Grapeshot and Conjurer's Bauble
2) Grapeshot and NR
3) Sideboard Flesh // Blood
I don't like the 14 dork + Dryad Arbor setup. I think 12 dorks is plenty. I like the 1 of Zendikon as another alternative to grapeshot and a dork that is wonderful to draw into during combo. (I'd like a 2nd or a 3rd in the MD)
I think the 4th Cruise is correct. It's nearly impossible to lose after Cruising once.
Sylvan Caryatid is the best dork in the deck, imo. It's not any slower than the other dorks against other "unfair decks", except perhaps, UR Storm and Infect. (Low meta% share, not particularly relevant, imo)
I feel like some of our wishboard choices are awkward. We have never thought to ourselves "Yes, i want to Firespout right now" at any point during testing. So I'm considering cutting it for something better. (Assault Battery, likely)
The second Scarscale Ritual can be something else. I like the one-of, though. It's particularly good at making GW not make you fizzle on combo turn; I'm a big fan of NOT fizzling during the combo. Sam Black ran a Manamorphose in the SB for this reason, i think. But, I think the full 4 in the board is better (it nets you mana, afterall!), and it's spot is better served as Scarscale Ritual, if you're out of Silver Bullets.
@Lectrys: The dreadbore seems really awkward as a Linvala answer. She prevents Dorks tapping for mana. Dreadbore is sorcery. Outside of having a Mana Confluence it's stuck in your hand, unless I'm missing something? Perhaps, Terminate? You can wish for it ahead of time and float the mana in response to Linvala. (I'm not sure what 'Walkers are relevant at stopping the combo? Maybe Lili? But i feel like you drop dorks faster than she can edict, and you're faster than her killing your hand?)
I'm also an advocate of Debt over Flesh//Blood. Even if you can't make enough mana with Debt it can allow you to race. It was relevant in testing at one point against Jund. Combo'ing with Caryatid, fizzled out before i could reach lethal with Debt (or Flesh//Blood), but i was able to Debt to gain 12, drop another Dork, and chump block Goyfs until i drew into more gas to win.
We've also been calling it Dork Storm, since Ascendancy can also refer to Pyromancer Ascension, and Jeskai Storm can refer to the versions splashing W for Wear//Tear, lol.
I played against the scg indy 11th place deck posted above at indy in my win and in for top 8. I got the win playing affinity solely because he stumbled a bit on his game 3 and didn't draw into ascendancy. This deck is the real deal though, everyone at the IQ was talking about how something will be banned to break this deck up or it will warp the format. I saw it turn two win multiple times (once against me) and there was only a couple people playing it at the tournament. This deck is legit.
On the Dreadbore/Terminate/3 cmc answer slot:
I typically search for my Linvala answer after I see Linvala. My mana dorks are screwed, but Linvala decks are typically slow enough to let me hit any two colours I want.
I want to fit Abrupt Decay back in, so I'll pull either the Wishable dork or Ajani V.
"Only changes would be to:
1. Cut the Dryad Arbor and add a basic Forest. I lost 2 games and was forced to mulligan 2-3 times due to it not being a Forest for a turn 1 play.
2. Replace Simic Charm with something else but not too sure what. I never “needed it” per say, but it did bounce a Canonist which gave me a chance to win the game. I’d probably just play a card which I board in to deal with creatures like Linvala and hate bears (Maelstrom Pulse is what I’m leaning towards atm)."
This is going to get something banned. It violates the 4 turn win rule. Turn 2 win easily by turn 3, with no real way to deal with the deck.
Except it involves a super frail mana dork that can be easily bolted/pathed/etc'd.
I think Fatestitcher is better than the OP gives it credit for. You can pitch it to the Ascendancy, and then it's a one mana, hasty dork. It's a strong way to go from one to two active dorks once the ascendancy is down, which means you start generating mana.
But isn't Wind Zendikon just better though? Extra copies can trigger the ascendancy and it has evasion when it becomes big.
They're different. If you play any type of looting effects (faithless looting or ideas unbound) fatestitcher is insane, and allows you to unearth, drop ascendancy, then win on the spot more or less with only 3 mana.
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Cinder Druid, I agree that trimming down the Wishboard to the essentials is a great idea--I'm trying to trim it myself. However, I suspect Ascendancy Storm will be higher-tier than your Kuldotha Beck because instead of rituals, it's filled to the brim with cantrips. Thus, it finds its answers and combo pieces sooner. Sylvan Caryatid being a great blocker helps.
This is very true (though the same can be said of elemental combo, regular storm, and blistercore combo). I am glad that I happen to have a playset of wishes, and I might try this deck out. I really think Leyline of Sanctity is too good a card for this deck to not run at larger events since GBx seems to be its worst enemy.
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Cinder Druid, I agree that trimming down the Wishboard to the essentials is a great idea--I'm trying to trim it myself. However, I suspect Ascendancy Storm will be higher-tier than your Kuldotha Beck because instead of rituals, it's filled to the brim with cantrips. Thus, it finds its answers and combo pieces sooner. Sylvan Caryatid being a great blocker helps.
This is very true (though the same can be said of elemental combo, regular storm, and blistercore combo). I am glad that I happen to have a playset of wishes, and I might try this deck out. I really think Leyline of Sanctity is too good a card for this deck to not run at larger events since GBx seems to be its worst enemy.
The same cannot be said of Nivmagus because it runs substantially fewer cantrips.
The same can be said of Weird Paradise, but having only 4 Weirds instead of Ascendancy's 7 and only 4(-8 with Karametra's Favor?) Paradises instead of Ascendancy's 12+ definitely weakens the deck. Interrupt the Weird and they can't recover as quickly as Ascendancy can (especially since Ascendancy plays Hexproof mana dorks).
The same can be said of UR Storm--apt comparison! Countering Past in Flames (without Pyromancer Ascension out) is a huge blowout compared to countering Ascendancy, though, as they also effectively counter your rituals. The UR Storm equivalent of what Ascendancy tries to do is sticking 7 Pyromancer Ascensions in the deck instead of 4. PA is traditionally stronger against counterspells than PiF is, and they can't counter them all!
IMO, from testing with my 4 Wind Zendikon list, BGx Midrange isn't its worst enemy among the Tier 1 decks--Twin is. Ugh, they have disruption for just long enough, and then they combo out on me relatively safely pre-board or I Slaughter Games them or hold up Abrupt Decay and they beat me down while I dig for Ascendancy. I'm having a relatively even time vs. BGx Midrange pre-board, while Twin is a slog.
So what are people's thoughts on running Summoner's Pact? As a non creature spell it can trigger ascendancy, fuel Treasure Cruise, and thin the deck of mana dork's.
IMO, from testing with my 4 Wind Zendikon list, BGx Midrange isn't its worst enemy among the Tier 1 decks--Twin is. Ugh, they have disruption for just long enough, and then they combo out on me relatively safely pre-board or I Slaughter Games them or hold up Abrupt Decay and they beat me down while I dig for Ascendancy. I'm having a relatively even time vs. BGx Midrange pre-board, while Twin is a slog.
That's interesting to note. I would think that the 6-7 discard spells and 3-4 abrupt decays would be more difficult to deal with. I'm unsure as to how Wind Zendikon solves this. The deck isn't all that fragile to creature removal with caryatid and huge redundancy of mana dorks. You are correct that the deck has far more redundancy than the blistercore weird deck. It was perhaps a poor comparison on my part.
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(I've also swapped Abrupt Decay with Dreadbore in my Wishboard. I think it might have won a game against Linvala, but now my Twin match-up will get even worse...I'm also trying going down to 18 lands and playing Pyrite Spellbomb, as there are a lot of Burn decks on Cockatrice and I want a lower chance of dying to Eidolon of the Great Revel.)
4x City of Brass
4x Gemstone Mine
2x Reflecting Pool
1x Mountain
3x Beck/Call
4x Glittering Wish
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Infernal Plunge
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Manamorphose
3x Faithless Looting
4x Memnite
4x Ornithopter
4x Kuldotha Rebirth
4x Empty the Warrens
2x Young Pyromancer
1x Goblin Bushwhacker
1x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Firespout
1x Slaughter Games
1x Vexing Shusher
4x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Silence
1x Laboratory Maniac
The reason I bring it up on this thread is that the two decks are very similar in terms of goldfish speed, the wishboard, how they play out (in some aspects), and inherent weaknesses. I played hundreds of games with the deck and ended up winning about 50% of them. I think that there is no need to overload on the wishboard. A few intelligently chosen targets will win you far more games by allowing room for leyline of sanctity and silence to beat discard and counterspells respectively. That being said, a strategy that relies on one particular card (even if you get to play "seven copies") to drive an engine combo is most likely too fragile for tier one (and my deck even had the very realistic plan B of 8-12 goblin tokens on turn 1).
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Sylvan Caryatid
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Breeding Pool
4 Mana Confluence
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Cerulean Wisps
3 Manamorphose
1 Noxious Revival
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Glittering Wish
1 Grapeshot
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Treasure Cruise
1 Meddling Mage
1 Jeskai Ascendancy
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Guttural Response
1 Manamorphose
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Simic Charm
2 Swan Song
1 Firespout
1 Flesh
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Breeding Pool
4 Mana Confluence
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
1 Dryad Arbor
Creatures
2 Arbor Elf
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Jeskai Ascendancy
4 Cerulean Wisps
4 Manamorphose
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Glittering Wish
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Treasure Cruise
1 Meddling Mage
1 Jeskai Ascendancy
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Guttural Response
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Simic Charm
4 Swan Song
1 Firespout
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Fiery Justice
1 Flesh // Blood
Oh yeah, I also played a strange post-board game today against No Blue Pod. I can't find Ascendancy for a while, they stick Pod, I Wear // Tear it, they stick Linvala, I dig and dig and Dreadbore her (I boarded Dreadbore in for Game 2--I learned my lesson and boarded Dreadbore back out for Game 3). They swing with Hierarch-Exalted Birds of Paradise, and I'm eventually on 1 life. I take the Birds down with Pyrite Spellbomb. I stare down another Pod that turned Hierarch into Qasali Pridemage, I Wish for Ajani Vengeant (yup, I boarded Lightning Helix in) and zap Pridemage, they blow up Abundant Growth in response. I then make Ajani V ice Pod when they search for Voice of Resurgence. I combo off a turn later, or at least attempt to...except I fizzle and am forced to Fiery Justice the Shriekmaw they wanted to OHKO me with (yup, I boarded Justice in). I swing with both Wind Zendikons (my other dorks are Caryatids), they Path to Exile the bigger one. They're at 6 life...but they actually topdeck jank for a couple of turns and I swing with Zendikon twice and Ajani V Helix them FTW. It was a very weird win.
Cinder Druid, I agree that trimming down the Wishboard to the essentials is a great idea--I'm trying to trim it myself. However, I suspect Ascendancy Storm will be higher-tier than your Kuldotha Beck because instead of rituals, it's filled to the brim with cantrips. Thus, it finds its answers and combo pieces sooner. Sylvan Caryatid being a great blocker helps.
3x Arid Mesa
3x Flooded Strand
4x Hallowed Fountain
1x Island
2x Scalding Tarn
4x Steam Vents
2x Sulfur Falls
1x Devil's Play
4x Faithless Looting
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Ideas Unbound
2x Scarscale Ritual
2x Treasure Cruise
4x Everflowing Chalice
Instant (7)
4x Retraction Helix
3x Think Twice
Enchantment (8)
4x Jeskai Ascendancy
4x Wind Zendikon
Creature (5)
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Fatestitcher
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
Except it involves a super frail mana dork that can be easily bolted/pathed/etc'd.
I think Fatestitcher is better than the OP gives it credit for. You can pitch it to the Ascendancy, and then it's a one mana, hasty dork. It's a strong way to go from one to two active dorks once the ascendancy is down, which means you start generating mana.
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Cruise is the best card mid-combo. 3 is totally fine. PIF in Storm is a 3-of, which is quite similar in terms of value in starting hand vs value mid-combo.
Blood Moon is beatable because you have mana dorks and Manamorphose to generate non-red colors.
I play Wind Zendikon, which is basically the same thing. Zendikon triggers Ascendancy too, unlike Fatestitcher.
Casting a second Ascendancy is a more common way of generating mana (if only because I have more Ascendancies than Zendikons).
3rd decklist (source). Man, I didn't expect this deck to be so good.
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Temple Garden
2 Breeding Pool
2 Stomping Ground
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Mana Confluence
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Arbor Elf
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Jeskai Ascendancy
3 Manamorphose
4 Cerulean Wisps
1 Grapeshot
3 Treasure Cruise
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
2 Path to Exile
1 Jeskai Ascendancy
1 Simic Charm
1 Fiery Justice
1 Manamorphose
3 Swan Song
1 Wear // Tear
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Guttural Response
1 Aurelia's Fury
1 Sphinx's Revelation
So far all the decklists seem to be based on Sam Black's, meaning:
1) 16 lands, including Dryad Arbor if it's played
2) 3-4 Cerulean Wisps
3) 2 Arbor Elf
4) 3 Treasure Cruise
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Your options are (assuming you don't want to lose to a milled/discarded Grapeshot):
1) Grapeshot and Conjurer's Bauble
2) Grapeshot and NR
3) Sideboard Flesh // Blood
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
He's in my board in the OP. He's meant to be good in match-ups where I can't stick mana dorks, but I might rip him out.
4 Glittering Wish
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Cerulean Wisps
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Treasure Cruise
4 Manamorphose
2 Breeding Pool
4 Mana Confluence
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
1 Wind Zendikon
1 Grapeshot
1 Jeskai Ascendancy
1 Wear // Tear
1 Lightning Helix
1 Simic Charm
4 Swan Song
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Slaughter Games
2 Scarscale Ritual
1 Firespout
1 Guttural Response
1 Debt to the Deathless
I don't like the 14 dork + Dryad Arbor setup. I think 12 dorks is plenty. I like the 1 of Zendikon as another alternative to grapeshot and a dork that is wonderful to draw into during combo. (I'd like a 2nd or a 3rd in the MD)
I think the 4th Cruise is correct. It's nearly impossible to lose after Cruising once.
Sylvan Caryatid is the best dork in the deck, imo. It's not any slower than the other dorks against other "unfair decks", except perhaps, UR Storm and Infect. (Low meta% share, not particularly relevant, imo)
I feel like some of our wishboard choices are awkward. We have never thought to ourselves "Yes, i want to Firespout right now" at any point during testing. So I'm considering cutting it for something better. (Assault Battery, likely)
The second Scarscale Ritual can be something else. I like the one-of, though. It's particularly good at making GW not make you fizzle on combo turn; I'm a big fan of NOT fizzling during the combo. Sam Black ran a Manamorphose in the SB for this reason, i think. But, I think the full 4 in the board is better (it nets you mana, afterall!), and it's spot is better served as Scarscale Ritual, if you're out of Silver Bullets.
@Lectrys: The dreadbore seems really awkward as a Linvala answer. She prevents Dorks tapping for mana. Dreadbore is sorcery. Outside of having a Mana Confluence it's stuck in your hand, unless I'm missing something? Perhaps, Terminate? You can wish for it ahead of time and float the mana in response to Linvala. (I'm not sure what 'Walkers are relevant at stopping the combo? Maybe Lili? But i feel like you drop dorks faster than she can edict, and you're faster than her killing your hand?)
I'm also an advocate of Debt over Flesh//Blood. Even if you can't make enough mana with Debt it can allow you to race. It was relevant in testing at one point against Jund. Combo'ing with Caryatid, fizzled out before i could reach lethal with Debt (or Flesh//Blood), but i was able to Debt to gain 12, drop another Dork, and chump block Goyfs until i drew into more gas to win.
We've also been calling it Dork Storm, since Ascendancy can also refer to Pyromancer Ascension, and Jeskai Storm can refer to the versions splashing W for Wear//Tear, lol.
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I typically search for my Linvala answer after I see Linvala. My mana dorks are screwed, but Linvala decks are typically slow enough to let me hit any two colours I want.
I want to fit Abrupt Decay back in, so I'll pull either the Wishable dork or Ajani V.
4 Glittering Wish
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Manamorphose
4 Treasure Cruise
4 Cerulean Wisps
1 Crimson Wisps
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Mana Confluence
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
2 Breeding Pool
1 Jeskai Ascendancy
1 Flesh // Blood
1 Wear // Tear
1 Fiery Justice
1 Simic Charm
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Scarscale Ritual
1 Gutteral Response
3 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Swan Song
"Only changes would be to:
1. Cut the Dryad Arbor and add a basic Forest. I lost 2 games and was forced to mulligan 2-3 times due to it not being a Forest for a turn 1 play.
2. Replace Simic Charm with something else but not too sure what. I never “needed it” per say, but it did bounce a Canonist which gave me a chance to win the game. I’d probably just play a card which I board in to deal with creatures like Linvala and hate bears (Maelstrom Pulse is what I’m leaning towards atm)."
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
They're different. If you play any type of looting effects (faithless looting or ideas unbound) fatestitcher is insane, and allows you to unearth, drop ascendancy, then win on the spot more or less with only 3 mana.
This is very true (though the same can be said of elemental combo, regular storm, and blistercore combo). I am glad that I happen to have a playset of wishes, and I might try this deck out. I really think Leyline of Sanctity is too good a card for this deck to not run at larger events since GBx seems to be its worst enemy.
The same cannot be said of Nivmagus because it runs substantially fewer cantrips.
The same can be said of Weird Paradise, but having only 4 Weirds instead of Ascendancy's 7 and only 4(-8 with Karametra's Favor?) Paradises instead of Ascendancy's 12+ definitely weakens the deck. Interrupt the Weird and they can't recover as quickly as Ascendancy can (especially since Ascendancy plays Hexproof mana dorks).
The same can be said of UR Storm--apt comparison! Countering Past in Flames (without Pyromancer Ascension out) is a huge blowout compared to countering Ascendancy, though, as they also effectively counter your rituals. The UR Storm equivalent of what Ascendancy tries to do is sticking 7 Pyromancer Ascensions in the deck instead of 4. PA is traditionally stronger against counterspells than PiF is, and they can't counter them all!
IMO, from testing with my 4 Wind Zendikon list, BGx Midrange isn't its worst enemy among the Tier 1 decks--Twin is. Ugh, they have disruption for just long enough, and then they combo out on me relatively safely pre-board or I Slaughter Games them or hold up Abrupt Decay and they beat me down while I dig for Ascendancy. I'm having a relatively even time vs. BGx Midrange pre-board, while Twin is a slog.
That's interesting to note. I would think that the 6-7 discard spells and 3-4 abrupt decays would be more difficult to deal with. I'm unsure as to how Wind Zendikon solves this. The deck isn't all that fragile to creature removal with caryatid and huge redundancy of mana dorks. You are correct that the deck has far more redundancy than the blistercore weird deck. It was perhaps a poor comparison on my part.