Deck Tech: Jeskai Ascendancy Combo

While most EDH deck primers are on decks people have been working on and crafting for years, mine will be a bit different. My list of commanders is constantly shifting as I build and disassemble my decks frequently, and nothing has lasted for more than a few months (I have a bit of a problem). I am, however, an avid brewer - probably my favorite thing to do in EDH is brew new decks. I never actually build most of them and many times do not even test them in actual games, but I would still like to get the ideas out there for people to tinker with. And as such, for today, we have a pretty spicy adaptation of Jeskai Ascendancy Combo for EDH.



Decklist here: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jeskai-ascendancy-combo-edh/

Strategy:

This is a low-to-the-ground, glass-cannon combo deck that uses Jeskai Ascendancy and Intruder Alarm along with mana dorks as an engine to generate mana. Combined with the use of cards that untap all creatures as giant rituals for even more mana, it proceeds to use that mana to draw cards with Thrasios until it finds a way to end the game. It, like the Standard and Modern decks that inspired it, plays like a strange hybrid between Elfball and Storm. Whether it be infinite Saproling tokens, generating infinite mana and drawing the deck, using Zhur-Taa Druid to ping the table to death, or even just attacking with massively-sized Birds of Paradise, there are a lot of different ways to kill each opponent at the table, often using some obscure, lesser-seen cards.

Commanders:

Thrasios is most definitely one of the most important cards to the deck. While it was originally conceived as using Kydele in his place, I quickly realized that such a deck would be prone to flooding out and having nothing to do with all of the mana it generates. Thrasios can turn that mana into extra cards, allowing us to draw further towards our combo pieces and acting as an outlet for infinite mana.

Akiri, on the other hand, is pretty much there only for her colors. That is not to say the deck never casts her, but in a deck where she is a 4/3 at best, she is not the star of the show. The reason she was chosen over Bruse is simply because she costs less, but Bruse is a fine alternative to assist getting kills off of giant mana dork attacks.

Power Level:

While completely untested outside of goldfishing, the deck seems to be pretty strong, winning on turn 5 or 6 with no interruption reasonably consistently- a bit slower than the most competitive decks out there, but able to hold its own with a good draw, and still plenty fast to destroy an unprepared opponent. However, the deck looks incredibly fragile on paper, and a well-timed boardwipe could spell doom for this list. That being said, it has a few 2-card combos that can win the game on their own, and as such it could be more resilient than it looks. Either way, based on my rating score, the deck is about a Type 4.5, maybe just barely a 5.

Notable Cards:

Jeskai Ascendancy: The namesake of the deck and the card that it is built around. The ability to untap all of your creatures and loot whenever you cast a noncreature spell, combined with a high density of cantrips and mana dorks lets you tear through your deck very quickly to find something to win the game. This card is the reason the deck exists.

Intruder Alarm: Being the second broken 3-drop enchantment, Intruder Alarm is a powerful mana engine. Note that it untaps our creatures whenever ANY creature enters play, allowing us to generate mana off of opposing creature decks. The card is a bit risky to play as it untaps EACH creature and prevents them from untapping on the untap step. Still, the risk is far greater than the reward in this deck as it can lead to gross amounts of mana, especially when paired with Ascendancy.

Sprout Swarm: This Time Spiral Limited all-star is one of the potential finishers in this deck. As both an outlet for infinite mana and a combo-piece with Jeskai Ascendancy or Intruder Alarm, this multipurpose card is a great addition. It’s even an Instant!

Selvala: A mana dork that taps for mana, life, AND cards? Granted the mana is inconsistent and each player draws a card, but in a deck that is untapping her as much as this one, she can get out of hand very fast.

Bloom Tender: The most powerful mana dork in our list, tapping for a potential 4 mana and singlehandedly activating Thrasios. Bloom Tender can also generate infinite mana if enchanted with Pemmin’s Aura or Freed from the Real and can lead to our most explosive games. Akiri happens to provide a Red and White permanent for Bloom Tender, in case we need one.

Harabaz Druid: While at first glance this seems strange, it turns out that Akiri happens to be an Ally, and as such this lovely lady taps for 2 mana of any color. While not as powerful as Bloom Tender, this provides a bit of redundancy in our plan for infinite mana by way of Pemmin’s Aura or Freed from the Real.

Isochron Scepter: With all the cards we have to untap creatures, this card can provide serious value. If one of the creatures is Kiora’s Follower or Fatestitcher or if the spell is Dramatic Reversal, then this can go infinite pretty easily. Even without one of those cards, imprinting something like Eladamri’s Call or Swords is solid as well.

Aggravated Assault: While most commonly paired with cards like Sword of Feast and Famine or Bear Umbra, this card goes infinite with any board that gives us access to 5+ mana from creatures. The double-Red activation cost can be potentially awkward, but this acts as both an enabler and combo-piece in one card.

Concordant Crossroads and Mass Hysteria: In a deck built around tap abilities, one thing it really wants is Haste. These two provide global Haste for a mere 1 mana. The downside is that it gives other people’s things Haste as well, but the discount in mana is worth the risk.

Lightning Greaves: Protection AND Haste. It doesn’t let you attack with your creatures, but juggling the equipment between all of your summoning sick creatures allows you to use all of their tap abilities.

Gaea’s Cradle: The biggest, baddest land in any creature deck, and the de-facto target for Crop Rotation. If we get creatures that can untap it, truly disgusting amounts of mana to be generated.

Fatestitcher: A cool bit of tech adapted from the Modern list, you can discard this to Ascendancy and Unearth it to begin untapping lands or mana dorks to your heart’s content.

Zhur-Taa Druid: An obscure little card, this guy taps for mana AND pings each opponent with each tap, allowing him to be both a part of our engine and a way to end the game.

Budget Options:

The core of this deck is actually somewhat affordable with the bulk of the value being in the landbase and a few cards, some of which have comparable budget replacements. The loss of Gaea’s Cradle is sad but not game-breaking, and Imperial Recruiter doesn’t have a particular replacement but is not strictly necessary for the deck. One particularly interesting budget option is using the Ravnica bounce-lands in the manabase, allowing things like Voyaging Satyr, Kiora’s Follower, and Fatestitcher to go off with Freed/Pemmin’s as well. In such a build, Heliod’s Pilgrim and Open the Armory would be solid additions in order to more easily find the necessary auras.