As I mentioned earlier, DtK is a farily underwhelming set when it comes to constructed play. Besides some Thunderbreak Regent’s and Dromoka’s Command, it largely remains out of the picture. But Anticipate…. oh boy, that got a lot of people excited, and for good reason! It inspired me to go back to an old project: Jeskai Ascendancy Combo, and that extra card selection is absolutely BONKERS in this style of deck
Here’s my list:
Creatures (11)
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
2 Voyaging Satyr
1 Den Protector
Set-up (14)
4 Dig Through Time
4 Twinflame
4 Anticipate
3 Commune With the Gods
Combo (10)
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
4 Retraction Helix
2 Briber’s Purse
Utility (4)
4 Dragon Mantle
Lands (20)
Comes-Into-Play-Tapped (10)
4 Mystic Monastery
1 Frontier Bivouac
2 Temple of Mystery
2 Temple of Triumph
Untapped (11)
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
While DtK brings anticipate to the table, Twinflame is the piece of the puzzle this deck has been missing. It simply speeds to deck up a turn. Imagine a hand containing a mana dork, a Jeskai Ascendancy, and a Twinflame. T2 you cast the dork, T3 the Ascendancy, T4 you untap, Twinflame the mana dork, and start netting mana; in principle, winning the game. Every spell will net you mana or break even, you will start looting, and eventually loot through enough cards you can start netting cards with a Dig Though Time, or finding the Retraction Helix/Bribery’s Purse Combo, or just clear the Opponents board, and so on. The Den Protector is a nice safeguard to retrieve any
On average, this deck is looking for a turn 5 kill. This includes playing a mana dork on Turn 2, being able to fire off one or two spells to find your Ascendancy on Turn 3, playing it on Turn 4 (and with Twinflame start the engine right then and there), and untapping and winning on Turn 5.
The downside of the deck is that potentially, you CAN brick while going off by just being terrible unlucky with drawing lands and creatures rather than instants or sorceries. Turn 5 on the draw also might not be fast enough against RDW, so a decent amount of cards in the SB should be dedicated to that match-up. Nyx-Fleece Ram, with most of the RDW decks not playing Hammerhand anymore, should grant enough time to find the three mana pyroclasm DtK has given us, and from there the deck can win fairly easily.
A note of caution is that this deck is REALLY hard to play. The main opponent online might be the timer, as 25-minutes is enough to get two full-combo playthroughs, but might not be enough for three complicated sequences. It might be worth it though, as the amount of people caught off-guard by this list is HUGE.
I just 3-1’d a Daily with it, and besides a fairly hopeless match versus RDW, I had an fairly decent time comboing off against Sultai, Abzan Midrange and G/W Surrak, The Hunt Caller agro (Surrak is a SICK card, btw!). The last match came down to him starting with an Elf and a T2 Deathmist raptor; to no avail, as I went Caryatid, Ascedancy, Briber’s Purse and Twinflame to draw cards until I found a Dragon Mantle, drawing my deck and attacking for 60+. Turn 3 kill, yay!
Heroic Ascendancy
Another interesting take on ascendancy combo is the Jeskai colored Heroic version. With a curve lower than that of RDW, this deck does not try to combo off by untapping mana dorks, but rather uses a Retraction Helix – 2 creatures of any kind – Springleaf drum – Jeskai Ascendancy combo. As this requires more pieces then the regular combo, it is much harder pull off – however, the deck pays this back partially by providing the opportunity to just smash face with a humongous Heroic creature. As such, it is a less linear play-experience than the regular Ascendancy Combo,and the opponent is currently kept off-guard by second guessing whether its safe to play a threat or lose to the combo next turn. The lack of Mana-Confluence, however, is a great downside to this budget version – somewhat mitigated by the Springleaf Drum, it still feels shaky. It is INCREDIBLY fun to play, however!
Here’s the list:
Creatures (12)
4 Favored Hoplite
4 Lagonna Trail-Blazer
4 Akroan Crusader
Card Draw (6)
2 Dig Through Time
2 Treasure Cruise
2 Anticipate
Utility (12)
4 Defiant Strike
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Gods Willing
Combo (12)
4 Retraction Helix
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
4 Spring-Leaf Drum
Land (18)
4 Flooded Strand
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Mystic Monastery
1 Island
1 Mountain
2 Plains
Anyhow, that’s all folks, and I’ll be back soon with an U/B Delve/Exploit brew that’s looking very promising!
spikeonadiet 