A Nice Look at Ascendancy

By Luis Scott-Vargas

Luis Scott-Vargas plays, writes, and makes videos about Magic. He has played on the Pro Tour for almost a decade, and between that and producing content for ChannelFireball, often has his hands full (of cards).

We finally get to see what in the worlds is going on this week, as all the Standard and Modern decklists from the World Championship are out. Seeing what these 24 players chose to take into battle is very interesting, and there are definitely a few standouts in the lists. The Worlds metagame isn't that different from a normal metagame, now that there are 24 players invited instead of 16. Adding 50% more competitors makes the field that much harder to predict, and you can no longer rule out decks with quite as much confidence. As a result, these decks are pretty "real," which has not always been the case in small-attendance events. Among these decks, there were more decks based on ascending than I thought there'd be, with Ascensions and Ascendancies of both the Pyromancer and Jeskai variety making an appearance.

Jeskai Ascendancy | Art by Dan Scott

The Modern Jeskai Ascendancy list may be the best new deck to come out of this tournament. It was built by Josh Utter-Leyton and piloted by Josh, Tom Martell, and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa:

Josh Utter-Leyton's Jeskai Ascendancy

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (4)

4 Fatestitcher

Sorcery (9)

4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Serum Visions 1 Treasure Cruise

Instant (21)

4 Thought Scour 3 Remand 4 Izzet Charm 4 Dig Through Time 3 Lightning Bolt 3 Path to Exile

Enchantment (4)

4 Jeskai Ascendancy

Land (22)

4 Flooded Strand 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Faerie Conclave 1 Arid Mesa 1 Sacred Foundry 2 Steam Vents 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Seachrome Coast 2 Island 1 Plains 1 Mountain

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

3 Wear // Tear 3 Gifts Ungiven 1 Unburial Rites 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 2 Swan Song 1 Pact of Negation 1 Deprive 2 Timely Reinforcements

Deal Another Hand

The combo in this deck is very simple:

Combining either Faerie Conclave or Fatestitcher plus Jeskai Ascendancy makes all your one-mana draw spells free by untapping these mana-producing creatures, and lets you start ripping through your deck because of the Jeskai Ascendancy draw triggers. Eventually, you find a Treasure Cruise or Dig Through Time, which often finds a second Fatestitcher (and being able to discard Fatestitcher to Ascendancy so you can unearth it is a very big part of why this deck is good). Once you have two creatures out, most of your spells generate mana and cards, and eventually you attack your opponent to death with a very large Fatestitcher or Conclave. Any excess untap triggers let you tap your opponent's blockers with Fatestitcher, and Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile supplement this.

There are a few reasons that this deck is so good:

Fatestitcher has haste when unearthed. This deck doesn't have to start the turn with it in play, or even in the graveyard, due to Jeskai Ascendancy letting you discard. That means that the opponent never knows if you are poised to go off, making him or her play more conservatively, which often loses to Remands and Dig Through Times.
Because of Thought Scour, Lightning Bolt, Dig Through Time, and Izzet Charm, this deck has a plausible shot of going off through a removal spell. Depending on whether you are playing around Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, or Abrupt Decay, you can either unearth [autocard]Fatestitcher[.autocard] first or play Ascendancy first, and either way the instants in your deck will let you trigger Ascendancy a few times in response to removal. That will often find the pieces you need to go off again, or even grow Fatestitcher enough to survive Bolt.
This deck interacts with the opponent, which gives it time to find the combo. Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, Remand, and Izzet Charm all stop any deck that purports to be faster than this deck, all while not unduly slowing this deck down. Izzet Charm is especially key, as it provides a lot of disruption while also looking at multiple cards when you are just trying to race.
I love the sideboard plan of Gifts Ungiven + Unburial Rites + Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite/Iona, Shield of Emeria. I may be a sucker for Gifts and Elesh Norn both, but being able to wildly swing matchups by attacking from a different angle is always something to look for, and this plan doesn't cost a ton of sideboard slots. This deck even has Izzet Charm and Ascendancy to discard with, letting it have a shot of comboing without Gifts (which I've done in testing).

Tom, Josh, and Paulo went 8–4 combined with this deck, which is an impressive feat at the World Championship. I played games against the deck prior to Worlds, and it soundly crushed my Pod deck, even when I had Abrupt Decay and Thoughtseize at the ready. I've also been playing the deck online since Worlds, and it's pretty sweet, although if the Pyromancer Ascension deck that Owen Turtenwald, Reid Duke, and William Jensen played gets more popular, that isn't great for Ascendancy. When two combo decks clash, speed is usually the most important quality, and the Ascension deck feels like it's a half-turn or turn faster than Ascendancy.

Owen Turtenwald's Pyromancer Ascension

Decklist Stats Sample Hand