Treasure Cruise obviously had to go and Dig Through Time was helping Scapeshift and Twin, neither of which needed help to begin with. As for Birthing Pod being banned...it's been a long time coming, I'm just a little surprised they actually did it.
I've been wanting to try but the cost is an issue for me online. Griselbrand used to be about $70 a piece online but has come down to about $45 it seems. That's still $180 for a playset of a card that doesn't see play anywhere else in Modern. Maybe it's just me but it doesn't seem worth it to spend all that money on a deck that's still as unexplored as it is.
All versions are legal because it was printed in Time Spiral. The older versions say "all Merfolk" but Lord of Atlantis wasn't a Merfolk himself. I'm guessing they reworded it to match the original design once they made him a Merfolk as well.
Jeskai Ascendency is not fragile from what I've seen. Maybe it's because I generally play "fair" decks but Jeskai Acendency has no trouble playing through hate. I suspect the only reason we're not seeing it get results is because of Burn and Delver, but once Treasure Cruise goes Jeskai Acendency will be next.
All of this is still very rough but the list posted has been destroying UR delver on MTGO. Maindeck Baloths and Thragtusks definitely help against Burn though so I may go back to testing them.
Now that UR Delver and Burn decks are everywhere this deck is doing quite well. UR Delver really doesn't seem to stand a chance even with Treasure Cruise, which sometimes gets cast 3 or 4 times a game. I have limited experience but UWR Geist and UWR Control seem like very good matchups as well.
The Skullcracks were thrown in more recently as a way to deal with Bogle and lifegain in general but I'm still experimenting with those slots. Thoughts?
Why are you playing 4 disenchants in your sideboard, so many better options for diversity.
It was the first draft I had thrown together in a text file before playing. The deck itself was no doubt rough and maybe not even viable but the point was how resilient Ascendency Storm was against removal.dek.
That's almost a 3rd of the deck dedicated to removal/disruption of some sort. Game 1 I won but every time I played a removal spell he spent his entire turn cantripping into more mana dorks. I could have easily lost that game had I not drawn into more removal.
I ended up casting 3 Disenchants that game and still lost. I ended up winning game 3 only because he had run his timer down. Maybe it was because I was playing non-blue control, and it was only one game, but I have a feeling this deck is way too powerful. Anyone not running a massive amount of removal will lose. Running a lot of removal is not even enough and will probably lead to very long games similar to pre-ban Eggs.
I used it in 4 dailies on MTGO and placed in 3 of them (4-0, 3-1, and 3-1). I haven't played enough to say for sure but the only difficult matchups seem to be Burn and Jund. I would say I've been about 50/50 against them though so they are still winnable.
I just recently sold off most of my collection to MTGOTraders. I was a bit worried to be honest because of the amount of money involved, but the trade went smoothly and in about a week I received the check in the mail. Definitely where I will go in the future should I wish to do this again.
Death's Shadow combos
http://www.mtgoacademy.com/i-dont-always-lose-all-my-life-but-when-i-do-i-prefer-dos-equis-x-x/
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=43004
Wizard Combo
http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/53818
Jund Scapeshift
http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/81570
Jund Scapeshift is actually pretty good and could possibly be tier 2 with a bit of refining.
All of this is still very rough but the list posted has been destroying UR delver on MTGO. Maindeck Baloths and Thragtusks definitely help against Burn though so I may go back to testing them.
Sideboard
Now that UR Delver and Burn decks are everywhere this deck is doing quite well. UR Delver really doesn't seem to stand a chance even with Treasure Cruise, which sometimes gets cast 3 or 4 times a game. I have limited experience but UWR Geist and UWR Control seem like very good matchups as well.
The Skullcracks were thrown in more recently as a way to deal with Bogle and lifegain in general but I'm still experimenting with those slots. Thoughts?
It was the first draft I had thrown together in a text file before playing. The deck itself was no doubt rough and maybe not even viable but the point was how resilient Ascendency Storm was against removal.dek.
4 Thoughtseize
3 Dismember
2 Smother
1 Disfigure
1 Go for the Throat
2 Black Sun's Zenith
4 Path to Exile
2 Utter End
2 Drown in Sorrow
That's almost a 3rd of the deck dedicated to removal/disruption of some sort. Game 1 I won but every time I played a removal spell he spent his entire turn cantripping into more mana dorks. I could have easily lost that game had I not drawn into more removal.
Game 2 I sided in:
4 Disenchant
1 Black Sun's Zenith
I ended up casting 3 Disenchants that game and still lost. I ended up winning game 3 only because he had run his timer down. Maybe it was because I was playing non-blue control, and it was only one game, but I have a feeling this deck is way too powerful. Anyone not running a massive amount of removal will lose. Running a lot of removal is not even enough and will probably lead to very long games similar to pre-ban Eggs.
4 Blood Crypt
4 Sulfurous Springs
4 Death's Shadow
4 Kiln Fiend
4 Nivmagus Elemental
4 Apostle's Blessing
3 Assault Strobe
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Ground Rift
4 Gut Shot
4 Mutagenic Growth
3 Tainted Strike
4 Thoughtseize
4 Marsh Flats
1 Swamp
1 Dismember
1 Duress
2 Shattering Spree
1 Slaughter Pact
3 Duress
3 Pyroclasm
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
I used it in 4 dailies on MTGO and placed in 3 of them (4-0, 3-1, and 3-1). I haven't played enough to say for sure but the only difficult matchups seem to be Burn and Jund. I would say I've been about 50/50 against them though so they are still winnable.