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Anusien
03-06-2013, 04:12 PM
4 Pyromancer Ascension
1 Grapeshot
1 Past in Flames

4 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Thought Scour
3 Desperate Ravings

4 Manamorphose
4 Desperate Ritual

4 Remand
4 Lightning Bolt

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Mountain
5 Island

kusumoto
03-06-2013, 05:19 PM
How do you Grapeshot without Regrowth?

Davran
03-07-2013, 08:50 AM
How do you Grapeshot without Regrowth?

Past in Flames

kusumoto
03-07-2013, 09:38 AM
It doesn't seem like it would ever do very much damage though would it?

How much do you usually end up dealing with it?

Phoenix Ignition
03-07-2013, 12:34 PM
It doesn't seem like it would ever do very much damage though would it?

How much do you usually end up dealing with it?

It deals at least 20, which is the point of this deck.

Try this or any other modern storm deck out, then post more questions if you have any.

kusumoto
03-07-2013, 03:16 PM
You have actually cast 20 spells in a turn with this deck? On what turn was that?

Assuming you have an active Pyromancer Ascension, you cast Manamorphose and draw 2, netting +2 mana.

When you cast Desperate Ritual you can only splice onto the real versions and not the copies right? Splicing wont give you storm count and neither do any of the copies of cards.

So you cast that Manamorphose and get your +2 cards and mana with the plan to draw into Past in Flames with cantrips getting copied and then flashback the mana acceleration/cantrips and Grapeshot.

That seems like it would be really difficult to pull off. What is your average kill turn and how often do you fizzle?

Davran
03-07-2013, 03:40 PM
Remand on your own Manamorphose with an active Ascension (and the correct stacking of the triggers/copies) allows you to draw your deck and generate a very large storm count. It's not all that hard to pull off.

Anusien
03-07-2013, 04:06 PM
If you ever get to copy a Manamorphose with Pyromancer Ascension, you basically can't lose. On a typical good draw, you'll cast Ascension on turn 2, make it active on turn 3, and kill on turn 4.

You don't need to do a full 20 with Grapeshot because of Lightning Bolts. It is possible though to do the full 20 with either Lightning Bolts or Grapeshot. You can also limit the amount of gas you need by casting Grapeshot for about 8-9 (easy) and then either Past in Flames or Remanding it and recasting it. It's pretty easy to do 20 once you untap with an active Ascension.

To go infinite with Manamorphose and Remand, you actually need two Ascensions.

kusumoto
03-07-2013, 05:59 PM
If you ever get to copy a Manamorphose with Pyromancer Ascension, you basically can't lose. On a typical good draw, you'll cast Ascension on turn 2, make it active on turn 3, and kill on turn 4.

You don't need to do a full 20 with Grapeshot because of Lightning Bolts. It is possible though to do the full 20 with either Lightning Bolts or Grapeshot. You can also limit the amount of gas you need by casting Grapeshot for about 8-9 (easy) and then either Past in Flames or Remanding it and recasting it. It's pretty easy to do 20 once you untap with an active Ascension.

To go infinite with Manamorphose and Remand, you actually need two Ascensions.

OK I get the infinite go with the two Pyromancer Ascension , Manamorphose, and Remand.

Is a single Past in Flames enough? Do you ever have fizzles because of not finding it?

This seems like it could be a fun deck. Have you played any sideboard games with it? It seems like boarding out anything would be seriously detrimental to the combo.

P.S. You should use card tags in the OP. It's [ cards ] [ /cards ] without the spaces.

CaptainTwiddle
03-08-2013, 07:01 PM
I played UR Storm prior to the Seething Song banning, and I have to say, Faithless Looting was much nicer than Desperate Ravings. Also, some of the Sulfur Falls may be better off as Shivan Reef, since the low land count makes keeping a one land hand with a land that comes into play tapped kind of terrible.

paeng4983
03-09-2013, 11:41 AM
Oh hello fellow UR storm players!
Ever since the banning of seething song, I'm still optimist that this deck can still perform well.
And so far, I've been playing around the metro here and here are my results:

3-Feb-13 4-1-1
won vs. shoal tron, bw control, rg tron, infect
lost vs. rdw
draw vs. jund

16-Feb-13 3-1
won vs. affinity, mbc, mbc
lost vs. kithkins

26-Feb-13 3-2 (GPT: Beijing)
won vs. mono u control, rdw, bug
lost vs. pod, rug

9-Mar-13 3-1-1 (GPT: Beijing)
won vs. rwu, esper, jund
lost vs. gifts control
draw vs. rdw
*then lost to ur twin in the top8.

And just incase anyone here is interested in my local meta, here is my page:
http://mtglegacy.freeforums.org/modern-results-and-decklist-here-10-mar-13-t9-20.html

*cheers

Phoenix Ignition
03-09-2013, 03:16 PM
Thanks for the results Paeng. Do you play a similar maindeck as Anusien posted? What's your sideboard? Any comments on what in particular gives you trouble (I wouldn't expect the deck loses to things like Kithkin, so some of these losses must have just been to fizzling out), or what to watch out for when people decide on bringing this to a tournament?

Anusien
03-09-2013, 08:48 PM
Sulfur Falls is fine. I actually kept it on a one-lander and it was totally okay. I went 5-3 at the local PTQ, with my losses in basically equal parts skill and luck.

My sideboard was:
2 Gigadrowse
3 Stone Rain
3 Shattering Spree
2 Combust
2 Pyroclasm
3 Echoing Truth

RG Tron - W (Game 1 was sick; I got to go off without Ascension, just by Grapeshot + Remand + a hand full of free spells)
5C Zoo - L (Abrupt Decay + beats)
RG Tron - W
RG Aggro - W
RG Tron with mana Walls instead of artifacts - W
UWR - L
UWR Twin - W
Infect - L

Echoing Truth was a complete brick and I never needed it, although I did side it in some. I found myself wanting a little help against the aggro decks; I am very interested in Spellskite post-board. It can eat Abrupt Decay and it blocks.

Remand was mediocre; I Remanded my own spells a lot and their spells very little. I was on the draw for most of my games though. Desperate Ravings was kind of weak too. I almost never flashed it back too.

paeng4983
03-10-2013, 10:01 PM
@ Phoenix Ignition

Do you play a similar maindeck as Anusien posted?
Well, like 80% the same. I don’t have 3 desperate ravings, 4 remands and 4 bolts in my main. I opt to include 2 faithless looting and 2 peer to the breech for additional cantrip and 4 pyretic ritual for additional mana ramp. And my favorite – epic experiment.


What's your sideboard?
What I currently have in my sleeve:
3 bolts, 2 combust, 4 defense grid, 2 echoing truth, 4 ETW


I wouldn't expect the deck loses to things like Kithkin
uhmmm… well, despite having an online PA then, the deck did not gave the kill con (ETW or grapeshot) I was praying then - thus I lose.


Any comments on what in particular gives you trouble
Decks that are packed with disrupts or/ and counters in it. I’m actually thinking of adding in the main deck silence. And replacing some of the lands into rainbow lands.


what to watch out … on bringing this to a tournament
Decks like GW variants, D&T, BW variants have main deck hate. Mostly thalia, others also have teeg and canonnist. Next in the list are decks that are packed with disrupts and/ or counters. Then lastly, super fast decks such as god draw burn that can kill you at turn 3, RG beats and the like.

Anusien
03-11-2013, 11:31 AM
So a few thoughts on your list:
1) I originally had both Pyretic and Desperate Ritual. I was finding that I was drawing them too often and they weren't good enough. I cut Pyretic and was never sad about it.
2) Epic Experiment seems like trash now. I only barely had enough mana to make it good in UR Storm, and that was with Electromancer and Seething Song. I am confident it is not good enough now.
3) Peer through Depths is interesting, but it doesn't find Ascension.

If you're losing to disruption, just put Gigadrowse in your sideboard. I had 2, and I am probably going up to a 3rd. The blue decks basically can't beat it if they try to sit on counters. You can still lose to quick Geist though.
If you are worried about losing to random hatebears, the Bolts are pretty good, and I might sideboard in Pyroclasm too. Having maindeck Bolt made my game versus random decks so much better, because I don't scoop to a single Canonist anymore (yes I know you can beat Canonist slowly with Ascension, but still).

kicks_422
03-11-2013, 02:01 PM
@Anusien:

If Remand was mediocre and Ravings was weak, are you thinking of replacing them?

Anusien
03-11-2013, 03:19 PM
Something like this:

4 Pyromancer Ascension
1 Grapeshot
1 Past in Flames
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Thought Scour
4 Faithless Looting

4 Manamorphose
4 Desperate Ritual

3 Remand
4 Lightning Bolt

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Mountain
5 Island

Sideboard:
3 Gigadrowse
2 Stone Rain
3 Shattering Spree
3 Spellskite
2 Pyroclasm
2 Echoing Truth

Beatusnox
03-13-2013, 01:37 PM
Noxious Revival seems really good with Ascension and removes the need to have remand.

Anusien
03-14-2013, 12:07 PM
Noxious Revival is basically dead until you're going off. You'll notice I strictly limited the amount of cards that are in that position.

paeng4983
03-16-2013, 01:48 PM
Just got home from our PTQ. x-2 was my record. I won vs the following: mbc control, tron, urw, ur twin, urg twin. Lost to two jund decks. UR modern storm is really an awesome deck.

The list that I sleeved:

4 Pyromancer Ascension
3 Grapeshot
2 Past in Flames
2 Epic Experiment

4 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Thought Scour
2 Faithless Looting

4 Manamorphose
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Pyretic Ritual


4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Mountain
3 Island

SB
3 spellskite
3 gigadrowse
3 empty the warrens
2 echoing truth
2 pyroclasm
2 shattering spree


Gigadrowse is an awesome SB card. It really stun U base players. Although i use it sometimes to tap mana of disruptful decks and/ or those of his attackers/ blockers.

tournament report:
http://mtglegacy.freeforums.org/post17.html#p17

claudio.r
05-04-2013, 08:14 AM
Having played my fair share of modern storm before the seething song ban, i'm glad to see this thread, since i was thinking about a version that used Pyro Ascencion to power grapeshots and bolts.

One card i thought about was Goblin Electromancer, since it allows us to go off easier without an active Pyro. Electromancer is pretty good with manamorphose and the rituals.

To you who already tested and played this version of the deck, what's your opinion on Electromancer?

Opaco
05-06-2013, 05:51 AM
With the losing of the critical mass of rituals maybe we can forego the storm combo approach and try a control one, burning/countering early threats while sculpting with cantrips, then droping a pyromancer to get an incremental advantage until we can finish the opponent with a couple of snapcaster attacks plus doubled or tripled burn spells to the face. For reference this list (http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.php?id=10378&iddeck=75684) took first place in a japanase 100+ PTQ a couple of moths ago:

Creatures [4]
4 Snapcaster Mage

Instants [18]
3 Burst Lightning
3 Cryptic Command
4 Electrolyze
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak

Sorceries [12]
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand

Enchantments [4]
4 Pyromancer Ascension

Lands [22]
1 Desolate Lighthouse
2 Mountain
2 Steam Vents
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Sulfur Falls
6 Island

Sideboard: transformational into Splinter Twin.

It is a rather different version from the other disscused previously in this thread, but due to the little movement in the modern section I'll post here instead of creating a new one if that is ok. I will try get the cards to give it a chance in my LGS next weekend, as anyone tested something like this before? Maybe swap a burn spell and a cantrip with Noxious Revival, although is card disadvantage early on, and Manamorphose, which at least is a free cantrip fixer, so there is still a way to combo out in one turn?

Anusien
05-07-2013, 05:00 PM
Electromancer is pretty terrible. All the spells it was good with got cut.

I've seen the Japanese list and it's interesting. I'm not sure what matchups it's supposed to be better in. It's taking a combo deck and turning it into a control deck. I don't see a real presence of combo hate that would make me want to make this decision.

Also the transformational sideboard is pretty bad. People keep doing things to try and beat us like siding into Spellskite that we aren't affected by that Splinter Twin is.

Opaco
05-08-2013, 11:54 AM
I think the control approach has less to do with specific combo hate and more about how the deck so little business, just Pyromancer and some number of Past in Flames, and any delay in getting it running tends to be fatal. The combo approach could only use so many cards after filling with purely combo pieces like rituals, usually things like remands for timewalking or multipurpose bolts, so any speedbump that slows our game, like targeted discard or taxing counterspells could leave us exposed to been attacked while digging for solutions, as sadly the remaining cantrips are not as good as former ones. The control approach trades speed with the ability to reach midgame in a more comfortable position, as it fills the deck with more burn, more couterspells and Snapcaters redundancy. In my LGS I see a good fare of BG (discard+goyf beats), UWR (conterspells+flash beats) and R based blitz (competing speed) to at least try a new angle.

The transformational sideboard, either in Twin or RU aggro is not because of random combo hate, like the Spellkites that you mentioned, but because both Ascension and PiF are totally dependant on the graveyard and in random/open metas graveyard hate is the usual choice to round-up any sideboard. I don't know if after the decline in graveyard decks like Second Sunrise, straight PiF, Melira Pod and Snapcaster UWx, people are cutting it to the point it's preferable to push the original intent of the deck that changing strategies, but I think it will be more of a meta thing now that we are out of season and each place evolves in its own way without having a competitive enviroment reference.

paeng4983
05-11-2013, 11:23 AM
RE: Electromancer
Positive stuffs:
-it cuts 1 generic mana off your spell's cost
-it neutralize Thalia's taxing power.
-a blocker that can buy you enough time to delay your opponent from depleting your life points.

Negative stuffs:
-waste of space in terms of interaction with Pyromancer and PiF.
-multiple copies of it, especially during early turns, is not a good thing to see.


*Personally, I do not use this goblin anymore because it does not do any interaction with PiF and Pyromancer.


RE: shift from combo to control
Well it really depends on your playing style and meta. Base from the the list that you posted, the one that is from the Japanese PTQ months ago, I would say, the deck originated from a UR control one. He just added the Pyromancer stuffs as his alternate wincon in his main deck. And judging from the look of it, I think his meta then was board pieces hate on non-creature spells and control decks.

RE: transforming the deck from pyromancer to a twin one
Well a cool one if you're able to kill him off guard. But as what Anusien said, it is pretty bad. Just try to use a SB-line up that suit well against your local meta.

as for me: I still have the same list since our March PTQ: 2 shattering spree, 2 echoing truth, 3 ETW, 3 gigadrowse, 3 spellskite, 2 pyroclasm.


After our March PTQ here, I participated in some modern tournaments and most of my loses came from thalia + one friend of hers, like thalia + aven mindcensor; another was thalia + canonist. The other one was thalia plus milira and finks; thalia + cage; etc.

And from those lessons, I'll have a set of bolt again plus 2 more faithless looting in my main replacing 3 thoughtscour, 2 peer through depths and one epic experiment. I'll let you know more after playing in modern tournaments. ^_^

mojoiskewl
05-13-2013, 08:32 PM
So for those that missed it

Jon Finkel - Top 16 GP Portland May 2013


4 Goblin Electromancer

4 Pyretic Ritual
2 Increasing Vengeance
3 Desperate Ravings
4 Manamorphose
1 Peer Through Depths
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Serum Visions
3 Past in Flames
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Grapeshot
4 Pyromancer Ascension

3 Island
1 Mountain
3 Shivan Reef
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Cascade Bluffs
2 Steam Vents

Sideboard
2 Defense Grid
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Dispel
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Empty the Warrens
3 Shatterstorm

Tanith
05-14-2013, 03:34 AM
I am really happy for seeing this deck "back". Still, there are some points I don't really understand
Why no Epic experiment? I'm new to this deck and try it after seething song ban and find out i really like it, even when you draw only 6 cards it allows you to cast all the spells generating storm and saving mana. I do really see as a must 2 copies at least...

Also, why only 2 copies of Leyline? If he pretended to pay them manamorphose, I think its a waste of resources. If he hoped to open in the 7 hand then maybe its fine, avoiding bad draws when other spells where needed.

Anyway, congrats to Finkel :)

mojoiskewl
05-14-2013, 08:39 AM
Epic experiment without seething song is just awful

In order to generate enough mana with the current unbanned rituals for a big experiment you need active ascension(s)/started a turn untapped with a electromancer. If you are in that position you should be winning anyways.

I dunno about the two-off leyline maybe he aggressively mulligans to it in discard heavy matchups.

YamiJoey
05-14-2013, 10:29 AM
Epic experiment without seething song is just awful

Epic Experiment with Seething Song is awful. You have to generate about. 8 mana, and it's much more prone to a Counterspell than any ither direction you could go.

mojoiskewl
05-16-2013, 03:22 AM
Epic Experiment with Seething Song is awful. You have to generate about. 8 mana, and it's much more prone to a Counterspell than any ither direction you could go.

Lets just agree that epic experiment in a non ramp deck is awful

paeng4983
05-16-2013, 06:01 AM
Lets just agree that epic experiment in a non ramp deck is awful

Epic Experiment works fine for me. It only fizzled like twice from X number of times I used this with or without an online pyromancer ascension.

RE: 2 leyline of sanctity
yeah, i also cannot figure out why there's two of that in his SB.

dontbiteitholmes
05-19-2013, 09:26 PM
I like the Finkel list but I've been testing it and IMO
-1 Electromancer
-1 Peer Through the Depths
-1 Grapeshot
+3 Faithless Looting

The 4th Electromancer goes in the side for when you expect GY hate and want to cut down on some of the card that are weak to GY removal (with 4x Ascension and 3x PiF you are really going balls in on the GY being there when you need it).

Looting really helps the deck in a lot of ways.
#1 - Early game it can dig through being land flooded.
#2 - Late game lets you dig super deep and turn the many lands in your hands into gas.
#3 - Can help fuel Ascension and PiF when you need it.
#4 - On those occasions where you need to go off with only an assload of red mana (example 4 lands in play have to cast 2x dig spells to turn on Ascension then you can ritual for a bunch) lets you dig into more cards + Manamorphose to continue to combo out.

Kynes
06-20-2013, 04:27 PM
Hi everyone,

I was first interested in this deck when it was standard legal and was lead to victory in France national championship.
Nowadays, in modern format I find it a perfect compromise between power/full cost and except for the fetchlands, I would put it in the budget category.
So here is the deck I'm testing and happy with...but still thinking cause I do hesitate on some disappointing cards and some proportions :

4 pyromancer ascension
4 lightning bolt
4 desperate ritual
4 manamorphose
4 peer through dephts
4 gitaxian probe
4 remand
4 serum vision
4 thoughtscour
4 noxious revival
1 echoing truth
1 grapeshot
1 epic experiment

4 scalding tarn
4 misty rainforest
2 island
2 mountain
2 steam vents
1 bredding pool
1 stomping ground
1 watery grave
1 gemstone cavern

Side
4 inquisition of kozilek
4 ancient grudge
3 pyroclasm
2 echoing truth
2 gemstone cavern

This is an ugly 61 but I'm planning to go down to 60.

Noxious revival is a great card in this deck.
It allows you to get back a discarded key card in the early game or to save a graveyard card if your opponent sacrifice a relic of progenitus. Or in the take off turn, it allows you to play a second grapeshot that will be lethal if you're short on spells for the lethal storm.
But mostly, with an active ascension and combined with manamorphose it gives you an infinite loop and infinite mana of the colour of your choice. This is perfect for the storm.
With that, you can even kill in response if you can combine with thought scour.

Of course without the noxious combo, you're still able to create a loop with remand and manamorphose alone combined with two active ascension.

Another strange card is gemstone cavern that can reach to 3 copies post side (if you're not on the play) in order to play a turn 1 pyromancer ascension (this is priceless).

Here the cards I'm disapointed about :
- remand is a poor counter, seeing opponent still casting a countered spell makes me upset. But it is absolutely necessary cause it's cantrip (and it's a combo deck and you need to draw with almost every spell to assemble the combo) and cause it's part of the combo as well. Il will stay in the deck.
- epic experiment, of course when played with an active ascension and desperate ritual and manamorphose epic experiment can end the game in a hurry with an incredibly large grapeshot but mostly it will be playable for a poor 2 or 3 cards and sometimes these 2-3 will be 2 lands or an unuseful desperate ritual. That's gonna leave so I'll be back to 60 cards,
- peer through depht, great to end the game with the ability to dig deep in the deck (especially with an active ascension) to find grapeshot, 4 is maybe too much furthermore it cannot find pyromancer ascension. I'm planning to go down to 2.

Here the cards I'm thinking about for the 2 remaining slots :
- faithless looting, even if I'm a bit afraid of the discard 2, especially in end game. Interesting cause it's red, I think it's better if you play Pif with them and I don't play PiF
- reach through mists, a cheap draw spell that fits well with desperate ritual,
- mana leak to get some hard counter to help remand
- past in flames, but I find the mana cost too expensive
- simian spirit guide, to increase the ability to play a turn 1 pyromancer ascension or to put into play if there's too much pressure when things go wrong
- gigadrowse (these could go to the sideboard as well)

Thanks for reading this (long) very first post. But this deck is a passion.

paeng4983
10-21-2013, 10:33 PM
I'm still this deck in each modern tournament I could possibly join. 3-1; 3-3; 4-0 were my results. Anyone here still uses the same?

Kynes
12-02-2013, 05:01 PM
Hi,

quite happy to meet another player fan of this deck.
After playtesting, I've made small evolutions to the list above :
4 pyromancer ascension
4 lightning bolt
4 manamorphose
4 sleight of hand
4 gitaxian probe
4 remand
4 serum vision
4 thoughtscour
4 noxious revival
3 echoing truth
2 grapeshot
1 peer through dephts

4 scalding tarn
2 misty rainforest
2 island
2 mountain
2 steam vents
1 forbidden orchard
1 cascade bluff
1 breeding pool
1 stomping ground
1 watery grave
1 gemstone cavern

That could be -1 grapeshot, +1 peer through depht (I'm thinking about that these days).
Side (spells are 4 exemplars to maximize the ability to trigger ascension)
4 inquisition of kozilek (to stop the hate graveyard before she hits the table or against combo decks)
4 destructive revelry (against aura decks, the 2 damages are pretty sweet)
4 anger with the gods (instead of pyroclasm, to get rid of persist creatures in pod decks, good as well against merfolk where it hits for 3 points, so it destroys everything even with a lord in play)
2 ghost quarter (against tron decks, you can replay ghost quarter if you want with noxious revival)
1 gemstone cavern (to try to race another deck il you're on the play)

See you soon.

ThomasDowd
07-25-2014, 11:35 PM
Is there a reason people have stayed away from Swasey's version?

other than the low land count? personally i'd play the 16th land somewhere and probably cut the main deck echoing truth


1 Echoing Truth
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Grapeshot
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
4 Noxious Revival
3 Peer Through Depths
4 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Remand
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Thought Scour

2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Watery Grave

paeng4983
08-04-2014, 01:55 AM
We had two GPTs over the weekend here in Manila.
1st was on Saturday. 18 players, 5 rds cut to top8.
I went 5-1-2. Lossing only in the finals to a jund.

And on Sunday. 93 players, 7 rds cut to top 8.
I went 5-1-1. Top 8 players just split out the cash prize.

And here's my report
http://mtgmetasamanila.freeforums.org/ur-storm-modern-2-aug-2014-t1.html

Thanks for reading

YamiJoey
10-17-2014, 10:00 AM
So I've been getting onto this as my combo deck of choice. My list currently looks like:

(MDN) Pyromancer Ascension

Draw Spells: 28
4 Faithless Looting
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Thought Scour
4 Treasure Cruise

Business Spells: 13
4 Noxious Revival
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyromancer Ascension
1 Remand

Lands: 19
5 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
4 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool

Sideboard
2 Swan Song
1 Void Snare
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Remand
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Blood Moon

So firstly: It's not a Storm deck. It's UR Ascension. Grapeshot and Rituals are lame. Rituals were only good for Goblins and a quick Moon, anyway. Which is usually bad because it leaves you with a single Blue for the rest of the game. So we'll cut the crap and play pure cantrips and kill from our enablers. The deck can actually kill without Lightning Bolt using Thought Scour, as there's a tonne of infinite mana loops that are really easy to find, and Noxious Revival redraws cards so you never deck. There is room to cut them down to either zero or one, as your win condition involved an infinite loop to draw your whole deck, and make infinite mana, so you only need one to win with.

Lightning Bolt's effectiveness comes in the form of disruption. It is our only point of interaction. It kills Eidelon of the Great Revel and Ethersworn Canonist, which are just wins against us, interrupts a Perstermite/Twin or Melira combo, and can just kill random guys to buy us time. Plate up your Memnite? Bolt it. If you have an active Ascension you can start taking a more controlling roll. If you have two, you can Remand their Spells infinitely until you find a kill, which really should just happen on the next turn, but even if you brick on draws it's 2-mana "Reveal this card. Bounce a Spell, draw 2."

After some discussion and testing, I agreed with my friend Sean on the Lands. Faithless Looting, Sleight of Hand, and Serum Visions help stave off the flood, and you lose games mostly by missing Land Drops. We can kill so effectively when we're actively casting Spells. I may look into cutting a Land and a Cruise for a pair of Tormenting Voices. They were really good during my initial testing with 15 and 17 Lands, so playing 18 Lands with a pair of Traimatic Visions seems fine.

Treasure Cruise is obnoxiously good. I have currently not found it a problem with Ascension. I'll be testing out Dig at some point to see how that goes, but probably not before FNM tonight. I also have three foil Cruises, so I'm in no rush to cut them.

paeng4983
11-03-2014, 02:33 AM
Hello there fellow Ascension storm lovers!
I am still using the deck.
Since September, I participated in four modern tournaments.
Here are my results:

8/14
1st out of 14 players
4-0

9/6
60 players
3-1 (drop)
Its my own tournament and I don't want to sneak into the top 8.

10/18
8th out of 36 players
4-2

10/3
3rd out of 8 players
2-1

11/1
3rd out of 18 players
3-1-1 after swiss
4-2-1 after semis

I'll post again my results in the weeks or months to come.
Happy storming everyone!

The list that i am running btw:
4 tarn, 3 misty, 2 vents, 3 falls, 3 island and a mountain

4 D.ritual, 4 P.ritual, 4 manamorphose

4 probe, 4 serum, 4 sleight, 3 thought scour, 1 peer through depths, 1 gifts the ungiven

2 grapeshot, 2 PiF, 3 goblin electromancer, 4 P.ascension, 4 L.bolts

SB
2 Leyline sanctity, 2 torpor orb, 2 spellskite, 1 surgical extraction
2 shatterstorm, 2 ETW, 2 gigadrowse, 2 void snare

Spam
11-18-2014, 03:38 PM
Hi to all, I've been playing this deck for some time now, with some decent results. However, there are some things that keeps bothering me and I would like to discuss them.
So here my, pretty standard, list:

4 Goblin Electromancer

4 Pyretic Ritual
1 Increasing Vengeance
4 Desperate Ravings
4 Manamorphose
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Serum Visions
3 Past in Flames
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Sleight of Hand
2 Grapeshot
4 Pyromancer Ascension
2 Faithless Loothing

3 Island
1 Mountain
3 Shivan Reef
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
2 Steam Vents

Sideboard
1 Defense Grid
2 Blood Moon
1 Swan song
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Empty the Warrens
2 Shatterstorm
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Echoing Truth

So, in my opinion, the deck is incredibly strong and has so much potential, but it can be largely improved. I've dropped the 4 Thought Scour long time ago because I felt they were the weakest part of the deck. As all of you can see, I replaced them with one Increasing Vengeance, two Faithless Looting and one more Desperate ravings.
I do like the single Vengeance, since it can play a multiple role during our comboing (although I often use it to get that extra drawing spell that we need to win). The two Faithless (yes I know that everybody hates them) are there to "filter" our hands when comboing, getting rid off all those dead draws that we might encounter. It's also red which, in my opinion, is easier to cast since I'll rather spend my blue mana for Serum, Sleigh or flashback Reavings. Last but not least, the fourth Desperate is my "flexible" slot; I like it, but I still think it could be something else.
About my sideboard:

-3 Empty the Warrens: I think three is the correct number, since I like the "turn 2 goblin rise and eat everything you see" plan.

-1 Defense Grid: I actually like the grid quite a lot. Against control or twin is almost heaven, since they must have an answer to it.

-2 Blood Moon: Good against jund and control ok, but I'll never mulligan for them and that's why I only have two of them.

-1 Swan song: Meh, never been a big fan of them.

-3 Lightning Bolt: Now THIS is my biggest question. I mean, don't get my wrong, I love them, I've just bought four BB lightning bolts and I do really want to play them, but I keep feeling they're losing weight since more people are playing that pesky Eidolon of Rhetoric or Rule of law... Those card turns a good matchup like Pod or Affinity into a nightmare. However they are helpful against Ur Delver.

-2 Shatterstorm: The best card against artifacts

-1 Anger of the Gods: Meh, I've tried it against Infect and Ur. It's good but not enough to stop Ur...(I mean, maybe we need two of them).

-2 Echoing Truth: I just like to bounce stuff!

So, in the end, I'm looking to improve my chances against Ur, Rule and Eidolon; I'll probably try two Anger and two void snare, but I don't know what to cut.
Do you guys have been facing the same problems or am I the only one who can't play around them?
I do apologies for my poor grammar.

paeng4983
12-19-2014, 03:24 AM
Hello SPAM



I've dropped the 4 Thought Scour long time ago because I felt they were the weakest part of the deck.

They’re not. They fuel your PA and gives you a card. I’d pick Thought Scour over Faithless because with TS you are digging three as compared to FL’s two. And if you find yourself in a situation where you are just top decking (especially with an online PA), cards drawn from TS gets more valuable than FL’s. Do not worry about the cards being thrown by TS, you’ll be able to recycle them when Past in Flames reach your hand.


I replaced them with one Increasing Vengeance, two Faithless Looting and one more Desperate ravings.

I have these in my deck when our meta were Twins, Scapeshifts, URW mid range and Birthing Pods. But when the meta shifed to Burn-Cruise base decks, I decided to add a Gifts the Ungiven and Lightning Bolts into the main deck and ousted 2 IVs, 3 DRs. Bolts are there to help me deal with their creatures (Thalia, Arbiter, Aven, Delver, YP, and Eidolon).



3 Empty the Warrens

I agree with you. But right now I only have an ETW in my board, in-order for me to free some space for other sideboard slots.


Defense Grid and Blood Moon

White-Red base decks definitely will have at least a couple of Wear/ Tear in their sideboard. I opted with Gigadrowse. Tapping all his lands at his EOT almost equates to win. Gigadrowse can also buy me some time by tapping his attacking creatures.


I keep feeling they're losing weight since more people are playing that pesky Eidolon of Rhetoric or Rule of law

Right now, I have an Echoing Truth and 2 Void Snare to help me against non creature hates such as those.


Shatterstorm

Yes. Totally a house against them. By the way, have you checked their SB slots (im referring to the recently worlds championships)? They have Wear/ Tears and a Hallowed Fountain. With this tweak, it improve our matches agaist random hate that our opponent usually brings. Hate like Rest in Peace, Cage, Relic of Progenitus, Rule of Law, Aethersworn Canonist etc. I like this update, I give it a shot and give you a feedback on this.


Anger of the Gods
As of the moment, I have a set of Bolts in my main. And since UR Cruise is rampant, I am thinking of giving Pyroclasm a chance in my main deck.

Happy Holidays to all UR PA Players!

YamiJoey
12-19-2014, 05:50 AM
In case anyone was wondering where I'd gone with this; it got very dark.

Playing the Game: 28
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Izzet Charm
4 Remand
4 Electrolyze
4 Dig Through Time

Winning the Game: 12
4 Noxious Revival
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyromancer Ascension

Lands: 20
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Steam Vents
2 Shivan Reef

Sideboard
1 Plains
4 Path to Exile
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Wear / Tear
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Young Pyromancer

Post board I get reeeeaaaaally slow and grindy, often just pulling in the Pyromancers, as their removal is entirely dead. I play entirely face-up in G1 so that they see I have zero Creatures or Rituals, so they know their removal is entirely dead, so the only thing 'Mancer dies to is Abrupt Decay, but that deck is generally bad right now, anyway. It's a big part of my anti-Storm plan, as we are a slower combo deck once they have Empty the Warrens, so being able to just make more Elementals than they have Goblins just to block the kill will often me you the extra turn I need to assemble my contraption, and then it functions as a win condition if I can't go off.

The quad Path are where the deck gets interesting. I become the best control deck in the format when I have an Ascension online, and I very much can just start Pathing my opponent's guy and then hitting my token with the copy to help me get the mana I need to play my much slower game. Snaps help once I slow down, as I can draw 2 copies of a Serum Visions and get my Ascension online instantly, and it also becomes nuts with Manamorphose. Cast Morphose, draw 2, add 4. Spend 4, add 4, draw two. Suddenly I have 2 additional mana (as I would), 3 cards in hand, and a Snapcaster Mage to play with. It's also not uncommon to just beat people to death in the usual 'Bolt -> Snap -> Bolt you' method other decks do, only my Bolts do 6. When I don't have Ascension, Snap helps me find it, or helps me control the game with removal and counters.

I think Wear / Tear is better than Void Snare and such, as you kill everything we care about so you can play the game. Void Snare means you only get a turn, so you have to find some seriously good action, or a kill onthat turn. With Wear / Tear you can just kill it and play on as normal, rather than having to burn your hand out on one turn. You can just start making Serum Visions -> Other stuff -> Go turns to sculpt a good kill, rather than walking into Decays or removal because you had no other option.

Spam
12-19-2014, 07:18 AM
Hello SPAM




They’re not. They fuel your PA and gives you a card. I’d pick Thought Scour over Faithless because with TS you are digging three as compared to FL’s two. And if you find yourself in a situation where you are just top decking (especially with an online PA), cards drawn from TS gets more valuable than FL’s. Do not worry about the cards being thrown by TS, you’ll be able to recycle them when Past in Flames reach your hand.



I have these in my deck when our meta were Twins, Scapeshifts, URW mid range and Birthing Pods. But when the meta shifed to Burn-Cruise base decks, I decided to add a Gifts the Ungiven and Lightning Bolts into the main deck and ousted 2 IVs, 3 DRs. Bolts are there to help me deal with their creatures (Thalia, Arbiter, Aven, Delver, YP, and Eidolon).




I agree with you. But right now I only have an ETW in my board, in-order for me to free some space for other sideboard slots.



White-Red base decks definitely will have at least a couple of Wear/ Tear in their sideboard. I opted with Gigadrowse. Tapping all his lands at his EOT almost equates to win. Gigadrowse can also buy me some time by tapping his attacking creatures.



Right now, I have an Echoing Truth and 2 Void Snare to help me against non creature hates such as those.



Yes. Totally a house against them. By the way, have you checked their SB slots (im referring to the recently worlds championships)? They have Wear/ Tears and a Hallowed Fountain. With this tweak, it improve our matches agaist random hate that our opponent usually brings. Hate like Rest in Peace, Cage, Relic of Progenitus, Rule of Law, Aethersworn Canonist etc. I like this update, I give it a shot and give you a feedback on this.


As of the moment, I have a set of Bolts in my main. And since UR Cruise is rampant, I am thinking of giving Pyroclasm a chance in my main deck.

Happy Holidays to all UR PA Players!
Went 5-4 at Gp Milan with storm.
Sadly I had bad luck with some pairings, but I pretty much enjoyed the experience (it was my first GP).
Anyway, I still have mixed opinnions about TS and FL. I'm actualy starting to see that they do deserves a role in the deck, but I also think that, sometimes, we need a "card filter" in our hand; just to get rid of lands or fetches when comboing. At the GP my sideboard was:
1xTreasure cruise
2xWear/Tear
2xShatterstorm
3xBolts
1xDefense grid
1xSwan song
3xETW
1xEco
1xland W/U

In the main deck I had a Treasure Cruise, replacing the 4° desperate.
To me the deck performed well, I just lost against random top decks and cards like slaughter game и.т.д... I faced a Pod player that simply won by resolving that card twice in two games.
Maybe is just me, but I can't manage to wing against Pod post side. O well, I'll just keep on testing.
Has anybody tested the world's championship list? Dose TC performs better than Desperate? I mean, the delve ability dose not look particulary appealing to me in this deck.
I'll start testing two pyroclasm in side, because the UR match needs a cheap mas removal, and Anger is to much expensive.
Last but not least, here some sweets I gathered at the GP. I felt like a child, a happy child.[emoji51] happy holidays to all!
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/12/19/7c4fed5bcc8a2e42bee2633ac1c9c5fe.jpg

P.s. the card that is harder to see is my fourth Entomb.

P.s.p.s: Yami, if I'm able to gather those cards, I'll actually give your list a try. Looks promising to me.

Edit. Paeng, don't you have problems with blu mana? I mean that a drawing red spell like desperate is pretty much mandatory for the deck in my opinion.

YamiJoey
12-19-2014, 08:34 AM
A word of warning; Dig Through Time has been underperforming massively. I may cut a pair for the Snaps out of the board, freeing up some room there. They never trigger the Ascension anyway, so only having 2 isn't a big deal. There's also the chance of putting stuff like Stone Rain in the sideboard for the Shift or BG Match-up, but I'm not sure it's really needed. It would definitely be fun.

The card I was genuinely interested in was Sudden Shock. Killing the UR Delver decks seems really important for us, and Sudden Shock feels like it will help a tonne. Stops countermagic, and also stops hen getting tokens in response, or pumping Swiftspear out of range. Can be timed to mess with their burn-out plans so they go for the throat, and then you murder their Swiftspear leaving them short on damage and low on mana for countermagic. It's also reasonable as additional Bolts against Pod, putting us up to 14 1 or 2 mana removal Spells, 2 Snaps, and some sweepers.

paeng4983
12-22-2014, 08:50 PM
I'll try to do a transformational thinggy.

4 Delver
4 YP
4 Monastery
3 Lava Spike

^_^

YamiJoey
12-23-2014, 08:04 AM
You might be better off with 4 Twin, 4 Exarch, 2 Pestermite.

Spam
12-23-2014, 08:14 AM
You might be better off with 4 Twin, 4 Exarch, 2 Pestermite.
I do agree with Yami, the Twin side is the best option since most people do expect goblins post side. Pyroclasm is omnipresent in this meta.

YamiJoey
12-23-2014, 10:02 AM
Results based testing, yadda, yadda, but we had someone at a recent (ish) PTQ do it, and then did not do well. The meta's a little harsh towards fast combo at the moment, so they were up against the wall to begin with. Consider Dig Through Time builds if you are going for that, or possibly jam some in the sideboard. When you're going off, the only issue you might have with Dig is the second U source, so I'm not certain it's good enough, but with Twin variants it's obscene.

YamiJoey
12-27-2014, 04:38 AM
Went 2-1 in a very poor turnout for Modern FNM yesterday. But it was Boxing Day so I can't say I expected much. The list I played:

Draw Spells: 28
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Izzet Charm
4 Manamorphose
4 Remand
4 Electrolyze

Other Spells: 12
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Noxious Revival

20 Lands

Sideboard
1 Plains
4 Path to Exile
2 Sudden Shock
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Wear / Tear
4 Young Pyromancer

Beat Affinity 2-0 when she simply failed to make a Signal Pest on T1, meaning my Remand was a significantly better card. In G2 I simply played around a Shrapnel Blast efficiently, Noxious Revival'd an Izzet Charm to the top of my deck, then Remanded my own Remand so that I could Izzet Charm it leaving her with just mana and no CiH. Then I poured some Izzet Charms down her throat.

Beat Shamanism 2-0 (Paired up. It was 6 people.) because Lightning Bolt is better than every Creature in their deck, and Electrolyze is a complete beating. He managed to make a really late combo of "Shuffle your Graveyard into your deck" + Auriok Replica(?) to kill my Ascension, leaving me on Lands and double Path to Exile. I topdecked an Ascension, Path'd all his guys, then drew a third Path. Because I am a very skilful Magic the Gathering player.

Lost to Scapeshift 1-2. He cast Scapeshift twice all day in the 8 games he played. I managed to get his Sakura Tribe-Elder with a Sudden Shock. Haha! That card is so bad in this matchup and I have no idea why it was even in my deck. Eventually he tried to Swan Song his own Izzet Charm, so I Remand his Izzet Charm. He Negates my Remand, and I Izzet Charm his Negate. Remand puts Izzet Charm back in his hand, I draw a card, Swan Song fizzles. I was quite happy with that stack. He then untapped, Looted with his Izzet Charm, and Snap-Bolted me at 3. I Noxious Revival the Bolt to the top of his deck. I then drew a Serum Visions. I have lethal next turn with a Young Pyromancer so long as I can deal with the Bolt. Visions nets me a Remand, then I scry a Remand to the top of my deck and a Land to the bottom. If I hit a third Remand in a row then he can't replay his Bolt. I did not.

Overall I was happy with how the deck played out. I think I may want to have something in the board against Scapeshift. It feels like a difficult match-up, but I have an 1-X record against Scapeshift in sanctioned Modern at this point, so maybe I'm evaluating things wrong overall. I did want to put a pair of Sowing Salts in the board. It may be cute, but it's good against UWR Control, Scapeshift, and the BGx decks. I also think I want to find room in the main deck for some Lightning Helixes. If I ever resolve a doubled Lightning Helix, the Bolt plan is completely out of the window. It may come in place of the Gitaxian Probes. They're worse against all of the very aggressive decks right now. I'm often paying way too much life to go off, and so my mana is more constricted, and needing 2 mana to actually combo out with the first Manamorphose can be a pain. Playing Helixes should buy me the turn I need to untap.

Spam
01-19-2015, 02:31 PM
With the ban of Pod, Treasure and Dig, I do think that Modern will change a bit (hopefully so). Will this play to our favour or not, only time will tell, but I do think that our deck went Back to Basics:
http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/daily/mm/mm166_backToBasics.jpg

Any thoughts?

YamiJoey
01-20-2015, 07:41 PM
Best decks in the format:

BGx Midrange (Bad MU)
Twin (Bad MU)
Affinity (Coin flip)
Burn (Suddenly, somehow, bad MU)

We are actually no longer faster than burn, due to them only ever being slightly slower than us, but having more consistency, and having access to a card that simply kills us on the spot for two mana.

This is where I like my Noxious Revival version. You are immune to discard, as everything is a redundant card, you have a good Affinity match-up, as you can race them with some hands, and the rest kill all of their guys, and you can actually just kill an Eidolon. I understand I am very much in the "To prove" camp here, but I would urge people to try it out. If you don't want to, you can always go for the traditional version, that loses to an Eidolon, but beats BGx. You do also have 4 maindecked Bolts, which helps in a tonne of MUs, though you no longer get to mise people with Instants + Pyromancer Ascension + Bolt to kill their Eidolon of Rhetoric the turn it comes down. (It's 4 Ascension, 4 Bolt, 4 Noxious Revival, 19 Lands, 1 Remand, and 28 1-mana cantrips, including Visions of Beyond.)

paeng4983
02-26-2015, 09:21 PM
Hello there fellow UR Storm players!
I am still with the deck after all these bannings.
21 February, i participated in a small modern at my LGS.
We had it four rounds and here are my MUs

Burn 2-0
UW control-aggro 2-0
Boogles Aura 2-1
Boros 1-2

and 28 February, I played the deck again although we only had it 3rds because there were only 8 players.
My MUs are as follows:

Abzan 2-0
esper control 2-0
UR YP 1-2

I'm still using my same list

4 tarn, 3 Flooded, 2 vents, 3 falls, 2 island, 1 H.fountain and a mountain,

4 D.ritual, 4 P.ritual, 4 manamorphose

4 probe, 4 serum, 4 sleight, 4 thought scour, 1 gifts the ungiven

2 grapeshot, 2 PiF, 3 goblin electromancer, 4 P.ascension, 4 L.bolts

SB
2 Leyline sanctity, 2 torpor orb, 2 spellskite, 3 wear / tear 1 ETW, 3 gigadrowse, 2 void snare

Spam
03-02-2015, 12:32 PM
Nice result. What are your thoughts about the main board Gifts and the 2 leylines in your SB? Currently my meta is dominated by Burn and Abzan, and I don't have much space to manoeuvre.
While main board bolts are actually awesome against burn, but I feel that it is only luck that make us win against them. It all depends on how many Eidolons they see.

paeng4983
03-02-2015, 09:01 PM
Nice result. What are your thoughts about the main board Gifts and the 2 leylines in your SB? Currently my meta is dominated by Burn and Abzan, and I don't have much space to manoeuvre.
While main board bolts are actually awesome against burn, but I feel that it is only luck that make us win against them. It all depends on how many Eidolons they see.

@SPAM
It was the time when Eidolon of the Great Rebel came to modern, GW hatebears and Zoo were on the rise when I decided to cut Increasing Vengence, Faithless Looting, Desperate Ravings, Peer Through Depths and lessen a Past in Flames for Lightning Bolts, fourth copy of Thought Scour and Gifts the Ungiven. I did the changes because those decks deal damage so fast and a handful of their creatures are nuisance in our playing style. Bolts in order for me to deal with pesky creatures. To name a few: Thalia, Teeg, Delvers, Aethersworn, Eidolon, Aven, YP, Nacatl, Pestermite, Pod creatures. Also, Lightning Bolt helps Grapeshot in a way that it acts as an alternate win-con as the game progresses.

Taking out that much cantrips means my deck losses its digging power. So I need to look for a replacement that will help me cover for their lost. Something powerful enough that can affect my hand and graveyard. In the early process, I tried Treasure Cruise, Telling time, Dig Through Time, Steam Augury, Perilous Research, Uncovered Clues and Gifts the Ungiven. Gifts really provide the steam needed by the deck. Searching for four cards at the end of your opponent’s turn gives you a higher win rate.

I am still sticking with 2 Leyline of Sanctity because burn decks are still rampant here. Always save your bolts for eidolon. Grapeshot can handle Goblin Guide. Pay four life points if Vexing Devil comes down in his first two turns.

As for Abzan, these guys packed Abrupt Decays. In this match up, I value our goblin goblin more than the red enchantment.

Cheers!
-Paeng

Spam
03-08-2015, 02:32 PM
@paeng4983

Well, since I wanted to reply in a sensible maner, instead of just discussing about nothing, I basicly pick up your list (with some minor changes) and tried it out.
Yesterday I had a small tournament in my local shop and I ended up making top 8 with some realy good wins and some terrible loss. However, the result was really good.

So, let me start with the list.


7 fetches , 2 vents, 3 Shivan, 3 island, 1 Mountain

4 D.ritual, 4 P.ritual, 4 Manamorphose

4 Probe, 4 Serum, 4 Sleight, 1 Gifts the Ungiven, 3 Desperate ravings

2 Grapeshot, 2 PiF, 4 Goblin Electromancer, 4 P.Ascension, 4 L.Bolts

SB
3 Leyline of Sanctity, 1 Defense Grid, 3 Shatter Storm, 3 Blood Moon, 3 ETW, 1 Echoing Truth , 1 Void Snare

Round one: UR Twin 0-2

So basically my deck died in both games all alone. I was able to cast Pyromancer ascension both times and charge it, but both times I lost by drawing only lands..Nothing to say here, just that the match is hard but not impossible.

+ 3 ETW; 1 Eco; 1 Grid
- 4 Bolts; 1 Gift

Round two: Abzan 2-0

Well, well, here's the bad one. My opponent (a good friend of mine) is extremely happy to see me.
-If I win the dice roll there's no way to win this for Storm, you know that right?-
-Usually goes that way, yes.-
Roll...
Roll...
He wins:
-Well I guess it's all the more easy for me!-
Except it's not.
Game one I basically crush him by killing his Scavenging ooze with Bolt and playing around his discard spells with Visions. Death by many spells at turn five.

Game two starts really badly with a mull to five. At seven I had no land, at six no lands, at five no lands, but I had Leyline and Blood Moon. ( to be exact 2 Serum; 1 Leyline; 1 Sleight; 1 Moon)
Since it can only go worst from there I decided to keep, and it was glorious.
He did not expect the leyline and I did not expect to draw a land, but sometimes thing just goes well to you. The game went on and I was also able to cast Blood Moon killing his deck.
Isn't moder such a fun and INTERACTIVE format!? I felt a bit guilty for it.

+ 3 ETW; 3 Leyline; 3 Blood Moon
- 4 Probes; 1 Gift; 4 Bolts

Round three: Abzan 2-0

-Hello there my Storm friend, are you aware of your chances of victory if I win the dice roll?-
-Yeah, what ever.-
Roll...
Roll...
He wins.
Round one basically goes like the other one. Again, playing well your Serums makes a Huge difference. Death by many bolts)
Round two I kept an awesome hand at seven with Blood Moon that got discarded, this saved my ascension and allowed me to kill him at turn three.
Blood Moon is so good even when it doesn't enter the battle field.

+ 3 ETW; 3 Leyline; 3 Blood Moon
- 4 Probes; 1 Gift; 4 Bolts


Round four: Temur Moons 2-0

Control with Goyfs? Hell yeah, this is going to be painful!
Turns out that, by winning the dice roll, there's nothing he can do to stop me. Death by many spells on turn four with Ascension.
Round two he must down to six and opens the game with a Breeding Pool taped. I probe his hand and saw: 2 Spell Snare, 1 Bolt and 2 Island.
I had: 1 Goblin, 2 Ascension, 2 Fetches, 2 Visions and a Sleight (thanks to probe).
The game basically ended when I was able to resolve my Ascension and kill him with no rush, since he started to 3 lands for to long.

+ 3 ETW; 1 Defense grid
- 4 Bolts

Round Five: Draw

Since we're both in top 8 there's no reason to play this one (Spoiler Alert. This guy played Burn, which kicked me out from the final.

+ 1 Beer
- Getting home early

Top 8!

Round one: The Rock. 2-0

Oh boy, this was hard. Game one he basically destroyed my hand with discard spells, but didn't cast a creature until turn 6. This gave me the time to rebuild my hand and kill him with a bolt! Actually, I also had three active ascension on the ground. Silly me.
Round two: Leyline plus Moon = GG

+ 3 ETW; 3 Leyline; 3 Blood Moon
- 4 Probes; 1 Gift; 4 Bolts



Round 2 Burn 0-2

My adventure ended here. He had the highest rating and gave me not enough time to combo off.
Game two. I did not find a Leyline. So I lost again.

+ 3 Leyline; 1 Eco; 1 Void
- 4 Probe; 1 Gift.

In the end:
- Bolts made my day. I've never, ever, regret seeing them.
- Gift is a nice addition, the few time I drew it felt awesome.
- Ravings is, in my opinion, mandatory. I can't really count how many turn three games I've won by just casting Goblin, Ritual, Manamorphose, Ravings and Ravings from the graveyard. The random discard is rarely an issue.
- 3 Leyline were actually pretty good. I feel there's no need for the forth one, but two are probably not enough for my taste.
- 3 Blood Moon is still the best card against Abzan, not only because it will kill their deck, but they will always discard it, leaving our ascension/Goblin/spell we need in and.
- Man, I really like to trow goblins at people.
- Need to test more against burn.

Thanks for reading. Next week I'll be still riding the storm, but with TES! It's legacy week!

YamiJoey
03-09-2015, 04:23 AM
You boarded Gifts out in almost every match.

Spam
03-09-2015, 05:29 AM
Yes, you're right. However, my primary goal was to keep consistency intact. It's fair to say that Gifts, in the end, isn't necessary to win, but gives us an extra bust that we might need in game one.

Edit:
Thinking back on my sideboard choices, I probably should have kept Gifts more often. Siding in all that cards made me extremely greedy in terms of space.

YamiJoey
03-09-2015, 09:41 AM
I think I intended to analyse that statement, but just sort of posted it.

Is there a chance that Gifts is a G1 card, and is just significantly worse in G2?

Spam
03-11-2015, 10:26 AM
It really depends on how much we plan to use the graveyard in G2. Gifts is all the more strong if we plan to win through PIF, but turns incredibly bad against any sort of hate that targets our graveyard or our deck from there (Surgical).

Since post board I tend to dodge this, I prefer to put Gifts in the back for more goblins and try to naturally draw a Past in Flames.

paeng4983
03-16-2015, 02:48 AM
Never take out gifts. it is our best weapon out there next to PA and Goblin.

I participated again at my LGS here.
My MUs were:

Dredge 2-0
Mono G aggro 2-0
GW hatebears 2-1
Abzan 2-0

I won a Windswept Heath KTK.

I am still with the same 75.

--------------------------------
22 March 2015
1:18pm

One week after, I played the same 75 again in another LGS here in Manila.
I went 4-0. My MUs were:

Abzan 2-0
UG Infect 2-1
Dredge 2-1
Zoo 2-1

------------- 0 --------------------------

22 March
11:50pm
Spent my sunday afternoon playing at another LGS.
Gw hatebears win
Abzan loss
Mono b control win
Abzan win

We have a gpt Chiba this coming sunday. If i am not able to assemble urw mentor deck, most probably i am still with this.

*Did not bother to create a new post for this since i am the last one. i just included it here.*

IlCannone
03-31-2015, 12:55 AM
Has anyone yet considered playing UWR and fitting Mentor in this just as a second angle of attack?

I'm brewing around with a list, but want to test it first, before posting here ;)

paeng4983
04-04-2015, 02:41 PM
Has anyone yet considered playing UWR and fitting Mentor in this just as a second angle of attack?

I'm brewing around with a list, but want to test it first, before posting here ;)

Before, I was playtesting the mentor as my game two sort of semi transformational thing. To sum it up, I wasn't satisfied. Most of my opponent side in anti token hate expecting a mob of goblins from etw which is bad for the tokens off MM.
And, most of the time when the 1st MM dies, it takes a long time for me to take a hold on the second one.

And as for my TRs
Last week's GPT Shang, 5rds cut to T8
I scrub-out 2-3
Rd1 loss due to late
Rd2 abzan 1-2
Rd3 affinity 2-0
Rd4 burn 1-2
Rd5 abzan 2-0

Then awhile I participated again in another shop's gpt. We only had it 4rds cut to T8.
My MUs were
Bloom 2-0
Scapeshift 2-0
Bw tokens and living end id

Q: bw tokens 0-2

Tomorrow we have another gpt on modern, hopefully i'll be able to attend that one too.

Adan
04-24-2015, 08:34 AM
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=9529&f=MO

Anyone saw this already?

YamiJoey
04-24-2015, 07:20 PM
MY DECK! <3 <3 <3

Three things stand out to me here:

1) The Breeding Pool does almost nothing. It's better as a Steam Vents.
2) Cryptic, similarly, does nothing. You need 4 mana to cast it. If you have 4 mana, you either win or you're dead.
3) The rest of the decks in that T8 seem less than stellar. It's basically a bunch of brews and a poorly built Twin deck.

Spam
04-25-2015, 03:31 AM
When I saw the list, I actually thought it was you Yami.

YamiJoey
04-25-2015, 04:35 AM
I've been on Esper Mentor for a while now. I might screw around with some UWR Ascension Mentor build. Stormout or just make a thousand guys.

Ghiwo
04-28-2015, 03:29 PM
MY DECK! <3 <3 <3

Three things stand out to me here:

1) The Breeding Pool does almost nothing. It's better as a Steam Vents.
2) Cryptic, similarly, does nothing. You need 4 mana to cast it. If you have 4 mana, you either win or you're dead.
3) The rest of the decks in that T8 seem less than stellar. It's basically a bunch of brews and a poorly built Twin deck.

Hi!
What would you replace Cryptics with? Izzet Charm? Faithless Looting? Electrolyze? Ravings? I'm asking because I'm a storm player and own basically every card to try thi version, and you seem to be the expert with it! :smile:

Thanks a lot!

YamiJoey
04-28-2015, 03:38 PM
I hope to shit that wasn't a troll post. <3

That last slot can sometimes be difficult to fill, but it's often a main-decked sideboard-style card. I used to play 4 maindeck Pyromancer. They allow you to have multiple angles of attack, but also block cards like Tarmogoyf for days, until such a time that you're ready to kill. At this point; I would probably look into playing mentor. That would usually mean increasing the Land count, probably to around 20 (a number I often used to play) but Mentor is a house. Resolve one, make a thing happen, they are dead.

If you wanted something more standard, Izzet Charm would be a good call. It kills guys, Pierces Spells, and draws cards. It's everything you need.

Ghiwo
04-28-2015, 04:43 PM
It wasn't a troll, I can assure you! :tongue:

Great, I'll try both Mentor (as a 2-of?) and Izzet Charms. Also I remember you was playing in the Cruise-legal meta with just 1 remand and 4 Looting, while now Pascal Wagner has 4 Remands and 0 Looting. Would you still play those Lootings and just a singleton Remand? Given that we need to have as many 4 ofs as possible ancd can't play a split I suppose.

YamiJoey
04-28-2015, 05:03 PM
Ah! I thought I saw Lootings in the deck. The Lootings are some of the best cards in the deck, in my opinion. I would never cut them. 4 Looting, 1 Remand is fine, as Remand + Manamorphose is a powerful combo.

Ghiwo
04-29-2015, 03:38 PM
Since I'm used to traditional Storm I usually handle Rituals and PIFs, that's why I'm not in confidence with all the combos this deck has in it. I understood the infinite mana one, with 2 Noxious Revivals and 2 Manamorphoses (am I right?), but I'm unsure about the others: with Manamorphose and Remand I just get to pay 2 mana to draw 2 cards and still have Manamorphose in hand? Or am I missing something? Instead the same combo but with 2 Ascensions in play gives me infinite mana and draw my deck right?
Are there any other interactions that I'm missing?

Thanks! :smile:

YamiJoey
04-29-2015, 07:14 PM
Remand + manamorphose + 2 Ascensions gets you to draw your whole deck, which then finds you the infinite mana, and infinite of any Spell combo. You are looking to assemble:

COMBO 1:
Table: Active Ascension
Hand: Noxious Revival and any cantrip
Graveyard (Or hand): 2 Manamorphose, and an additional Noxious Revival

With this, you cast Revival, putting Morphose and Revival on top of your deck.
You cast your Cantrip (-1 mana) drawing Morphose and Revival

LOOP
Cast Morphose (-3 mana) Draw Revival. (-1 mana)
In response to your Morphose, cast Revival, putting Morphose and Revival on top.
Draw the Morphose (+1 Mana)
LOOP

That is the worst entry point to the combo, and leaves you with the least flexibility coming out of it. If you don't have another card in hand, you have a couple of options:

Assuming you have a third Noxious Revival still in your deck, you cast Manamorphose to draw Revival, then Revival your best cantrip. (Serum Visions, or Visions of Beyond are the best to hit, but almost anything that generates card advantage with Ascension works. Even Faithless Looting is good if you've got a Land or two in your hand, though it can just be flashed back.) This is the only risky part. You can brick at this point and practically just lose the game on the spot, but it is highly unlikely when you're looking at 4 cards for any cantrip. At this point, you will just cast multiple cantrips until you find a Noxious Revival and another Ascension. Play Ascension, revival your combo back. Your combo will activate your Ascension. Now you go:

Noxious Revival, putting Morphose, Revival, and any Spell on top of your deck.
Morphose, draw the combo and the extra card.

If the extra card deals damage (ie. Lightning Bolt), you win with Infinite damage.

The only real advice you need on this, is that you should just state you are holding priority unless you say otherwise during your combo turn.

COMBO 2:
Morphose and Remand in hand. Double Ascension on the battlefield.

LOOP
Cast Manamorphose (-2 mana)
Draw 2 cards (+2 Mana, +2 Cards)
Cast Remand. (0-mana) The card targets the remaining Manamorphose. The first copy targets Manamorphose, the second copy targets Remand.
Return Remand, draw a card (+3 cards)
Return Manamorphose (+4 cards)
LOOP

You only need 2 mana, and every time you go around the loop you draw 4 cards for 0 mana and 0 cards. If you have a Remand or a Manamorphose, you can find a third Ascension and generate mana, and in turn a kill. This means you can still win with just a pair of Lightning Bolts left in your deck if you have no more Noxious Revivals. This is very important to know, sometimes.

The other takeaway, is that if you manage to jam a load of Ascensions on the table and activate them, you can still win if they make a RiP the turn after you miss, as your Bolts each do 9-12 damage. This rarely comes up, but again is good to know.

______________________________________

Some important points:
Ascension turns all of your Bolts into slightly better than Lava Axes. A single Ascension on the table will often mean a kill from just 3 Lightning Bolts, and with all of the Cantrips, a full set of Bolts, and a full set of Revivals, that is a trivial feat. You should be winning a good 50% of your games just by doing this. Get an Ascension on the table, activate it, and throw Lightning at their face until they die. The real kicker, is that you can also cast them as Searing Blazes if you really need to, and when it REALLY comes down to it, R: Destroy target Tarmogoyf is a very playable Spell.

The final point I will make, is that you cannot lose to the Thoughtseize/Decay decks unless they have Scooze. You are not a deck that cares about volume of cards like Storm, so Liliana is irrelevant, Thoughtseize rarely has a target that you care about losing, and if they kill an Ascension, you have a total of 8 copies of it in your deck, so you WILL find another one. This is your true advantage over regular Storm. The flip side of that, is that you are generally slower, especially due to the fact that you have no access to a T2 Blood Moon, or Empty the Warrens. This makes traditional Storm, and decks like Amulet bad Matchups. You also lose even harder to decks like UR Delver, but Storm rarely beats those anyway, so that's not a big deal.

I love this deck, but the field has to be right for it. That T8 has Junk, Twin, Merfolk, and a bunch of slow decks with no cards you truly care about. The other main MU that gets worse is Burn, as you are often paying a lot of life to cast Noxious Revivals. That would be where the Breeding Pool comes in from that deck, but you have to play the deck so slowly for that to matter, I'm not sure how much you actually gain.

paeng4983
04-29-2015, 10:09 PM
GP SG is now fast approaching.

Any storm brother/s here who is/ are going to the said event?

I hope to meet you in person guys, just like what I did at GP Kyoto TES group.

:cool:

Nice list Yami! I will give it a shot in one of my grinds here.

^_^

Ghiwo
05-09-2015, 05:52 AM
Remand + manamorphose + 2 Ascensions gets you to draw your whole deck, which then finds you the infinite mana, and infinite of any Spell combo. You are looking to assemble:

COMBO 1:
Table: Active Ascension
Hand: Noxious Revival and any cantrip
Graveyard (Or hand): 2 Manamorphose, and an additional Noxious Revival

With this, you cast Revival, putting Morphose and Revival on top of your deck.
You cast your Cantrip (-1 mana) drawing Morphose and Revival

LOOP
Cast Morphose (-3 mana) Draw Revival. (-1 mana)
In response to your Morphose, cast Revival, putting Morphose and Revival on top.
Draw the Morphose (+1 Mana)
LOOP

That is the worst entry point to the combo, and leaves you with the least flexibility coming out of it. If you don't have another card in hand, you have a couple of options:

Assuming you have a third Noxious Revival still in your deck, you cast Manamorphose to draw Revival, then Revival your best cantrip. (Serum Visions, or Visions of Beyond are the best to hit, but almost anything that generates card advantage with Ascension works. Even Faithless Looting is good if you've got a Land or two in your hand, though it can just be flashed back.) This is the only risky part. You can brick at this point and practically just lose the game on the spot, but it is highly unlikely when you're looking at 4 cards for any cantrip. At this point, you will just cast multiple cantrips until you find a Noxious Revival and another Ascension. Play Ascension, revival your combo back. Your combo will activate your Ascension. Now you go:

Noxious Revival, putting Morphose, Revival, and any Spell on top of your deck.
Morphose, draw the combo and the extra card.

If the extra card deals damage (ie. Lightning Bolt), you win with Infinite damage.

The only real advice you need on this, is that you should just state you are holding priority unless you say otherwise during your combo turn.

COMBO 2:
Morphose and Remand in hand. Double Ascension on the battlefield.

LOOP
Cast Manamorphose (-2 mana)
Draw 2 cards (+2 Mana, +2 Cards)
Cast Remand. (0-mana) The card targets the remaining Manamorphose. The first copy targets Manamorphose, the second copy targets Remand.
Return Remand, draw a card (+3 cards)
Return Manamorphose (+4 cards)
LOOP

You only need 2 mana, and every time you go around the loop you draw 4 cards for 0 mana and 0 cards. If you have a Remand or a Manamorphose, you can find a third Ascension and generate mana, and in turn a kill. This means you can still win with just a pair of Lightning Bolts left in your deck if you have no more Noxious Revivals. This is very important to know, sometimes.

The other takeaway, is that if you manage to jam a load of Ascensions on the table and activate them, you can still win if they make a RiP the turn after you miss, as your Bolts each do 9-12 damage. This rarely comes up, but again is good to know.

______________________________________

Some important points:
Ascension turns all of your Bolts into slightly better than Lava Axes. A single Ascension on the table will often mean a kill from just 3 Lightning Bolts, and with all of the Cantrips, a full set of Bolts, and a full set of Revivals, that is a trivial feat. You should be winning a good 50% of your games just by doing this. Get an Ascension on the table, activate it, and throw Lightning at their face until they die. The real kicker, is that you can also cast them as Searing Blazes if you really need to, and when it REALLY comes down to it, R: Destroy target Tarmogoyf is a very playable Spell.

The final point I will make, is that you cannot lose to the Thoughtseize/Decay decks unless they have Scooze. You are not a deck that cares about volume of cards like Storm, so Liliana is irrelevant, Thoughtseize rarely has a target that you care about losing, and if they kill an Ascension, you have a total of 8 copies of it in your deck, so you WILL find another one. This is your true advantage over regular Storm. The flip side of that, is that you are generally slower, especially due to the fact that you have no access to a T2 Blood Moon, or Empty the Warrens. This makes traditional Storm, and decks like Amulet bad Matchups. You also lose even harder to decks like UR Delver, but Storm rarely beats those anyway, so that's not a big deal.

I love this deck, but the field has to be right for it. That T8 has Junk, Twin, Merfolk, and a bunch of slow decks with no cards you truly care about. The other main MU that gets worse is Burn, as you are often paying a lot of life to cast Noxious Revivals. That would be where the Breeding Pool comes in from that deck, but you have to play the deck so slowly for that to matter, I'm not sure how much you actually gain.

Thanks so much, that is pretty much golden for me!
Right now I'm trying a version as you suggested with:

4 serum visions
4 sleight of hand
4 faithless looting
4 thought scour
4 gitaxian probe
4 visions of beyond
4 lightning bolt
4 noxious revival
4 manamorphose
2 remand

4 pyromancer ascension

18 lands

I cut Cryptics and 2 Remands as you suggested for Lootings and I'm liking them. The deck plays fairly differently from straight UR Storm that I'm used to, so I feel I need some practice before bringing it to a tournament. Right now I'm trying to figure out all of the possible plays. What's most hard for me is understanding how to use Noxious Revival. Do you usually play it outside from the combo turn and the obvious "to recycle milled Ascensions"? I found myself often put a cantrip that already charged Ascension to 1 on top during upkeep, so I'll draw it and charge to 2.

YamiJoey
05-09-2015, 06:06 AM
Using Revival well is what makes the deck tick, and I am more and more seeing the merits of Breeding Pool, considering how much life I am paying. (I once paid 17 life by turn three to kill my opponent. O.o)

Forcing Ascension activations is a big deal, and I have made T1 Visions, T2 Ascension, T3 Visions, Revival, Visions, active Ascension with a mana spare to now cast another cantrip and kill next turn. With a pair of Gitaxian Probes or Manamorphoses, you can kill on T3, and it's about the only way to kill on T3 in the deck. (This is what you give up when you cut fast mana, obviously.)

I have before now had a hand with Acension, Bolts, Revivals, and Lands, and just made T1 Bolt, T2 Ascension, T3 Bolt, Bolt, cantrip, T4 Revival, Bolt, Bolt. There is a T3 kill if your cantrip is a Gitaxian Probe, but that's an exact opening 7, and two draw Steps of 3 Bolts, 3 Lands, Ascension, Probe, Revival, and all in the right order. You don't have to burn anything by going for it, though. Against some decks it's really just good enough to start Bolting their face on T1, and if your hand is Revival, Ascension, 2 Lands, you just want to make sure you land your Ascension and get it online, so even a Thoughtseize isn't a problem, and is actively good for you. (As you won't need the final Bolt to kill.)

Noxious Revival is what makes the deck so good. It is an incredibly unique effect that is not respected enough. It may be card disadvantage, but Vampiric Tutor is a powerful Magic Card.

Ghiwo
05-12-2015, 04:10 AM
I'm not liking so much Visions of Beyond, as I can never play them as a Treasure Cruise unless when they are overkill (when I loop to kill them). They are always a blue instant card that says: U, draw a card. A Reach Through Mists. I never have 20 cards in my graveyard by turn 4.
Maybe there's something better, I don't know. I already have the set of Faithless Looting, so I don't really know. I'll search for sure! :smile:

YamiJoey
05-12-2015, 11:08 AM
With 4 Faithless Lootings and Thought Scours, you can fill up your Graveyard super fast. Visions is often a Reach Through Mist with minor upsides, but I have never played more than one. I've always had better things to be doing with my time. I think there's even room for Anticipate/Telling Time in these lists. (I prefer Telling Time, personally.)

paeng4983
05-26-2015, 10:03 PM
This is where I am at the moment.

Creatures
3 Goblin Electromancer

Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Manamorphose
4 Thought Scour
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Pyretic Ritual
2 Gifts Ungiven
2 Past in Flames
1 Grapeshot

Enchantments
4 Pyromancer Ascension

Lands
1 Mountain
2 Island
3 Steam Vents
3 Flooded Strand
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Torpor Orb
2 Gigadrowse
2 Echoing Truth
2 Rending Volley
1 Bloom Moon
1 Empty the Warrens

How's everyone doing with this deck?

^_^

@Ghiwo
If you do not like it, try Peek. It's an instant, modern legacy and it makes you feels like running 8 probe effects.

paeng4983
06-03-2015, 01:18 AM
Participated at HobbyPro's Modern Sunday event in which 21 players showed up.
My Mus were:

bye 2-0
Abzan Company 2-0
RUG 2-0
Belcher 2-0
Abzan Rhino 2-0

We have GPT SG this coming saturday, and if my schedule permits me to play, i'll be with the same 75 that I used.
Here it is:

Creatures
3 Goblin Electromancer

Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Manamorphose
4 Thought Scour
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Pyretic Ritual
2 Gifts Ungiven
2 Past in Flames
1 Grapeshot

Enchantments
4 Pyromancer Ascension

Lands
1 Mountain
2 Island
3 Steam Vents
3 Flooded Strand
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Torpor Orb
2 Gigadrowse
2 Echoing Truth
2 Rending Volley
1 Bloom Moon
1 Empty the Warrens

Ghiwo
06-07-2015, 07:43 AM
Hey guys!

Yesterday I went to my very first tournament with the Ascension list. It felt really good, I managed to win consistently on turn 4, and the deck overall felt good. I really like it, and I definitely want to learn to play it properly. I hope the switch from "rituals-storm" to this won't be so long and difficult.

My list was:

4 serum visions
4 sleight of hand
4 faithless looting
4 thought scour
4 gitaxian probe
4 visions of beyond
4 lightning bolt
4 noxious revival
4 manamorphose
2 remand

4 pyromancer ascension

18 lands

Sideboard was the same of Pascal Wagner's, just with 2 blanks because my Timely Reinforcements are still somewere with the Post :laugh: Here it is:

3 Young Pyromancer
3 Rest for the Weary
3 Swan Song
2 Pyroclasm
2 Wear/Tear
2 blank - should be Timely Reinforcements

The tournament:

Round 1: UW Control.

In the first game I manage to land Ascension, with a Probe I see him with double Cryptic Command and 3 blanks (Gideon, Elspeth, Path to Exile). I can't win before he gets to Cryptic my Ascension back to my hand, I land it again, he bounces again, I land it again, he Snares, I Noxious Revival it back and draw it off a Probe to play it again with him tapped out. That puts me on 6 life. he untaps and says go, i know everything but a card in his hand and it's all blanks. Unfortunately the last card is a Snapcaster that targets Cryptic to bounce again my Ascension and I can't charge it again this turn, I pass, he chooses to activate Colonnade and I die.
This game felt like I was able to grind the control deck without any problem if just I had a Breeding Pool to pay for Revival, unfortunately I saw the first fetchland when I was at 6 life :cry: That because I had to Revival a couple of times to charge Ascension and take it back from counters. Also his topdeck was lucky, and I felt good even if I lost.
In game 2 I board in 3 Swan Song for 3 Bolts, I don't know if it's good.
It was not, since he starts with double Leyline of Sanctity :frown: I'm not an expert of Modern (I mainly play Legacy), and really did not expect Leyline from such a deck. I thought they had something like Kor Firewalker to handle Burn. Anyway I show my best poker face and keep on playing, I combo off on turn four, hoping that he concedes when I show him the loop, but he does not and I have to give up. I guess these are situations where having Cryptic Command shines.
0-2

Round 2: Affinity

He wins on his turn 3 the first game :eek: . I bring in 2 Pyroclams and 2 Wear/Tear for the Gitaxians. Game 2 I start, land Ascension on turn 2, swipe his board with a Pyroclasm on turn 3 and go off turn 4. Again, he starts, I land Ascension turn 2, on his EOT turn 3 I have double Manamorphose, double Visions of Beyond and a Bolt in my hand, so I proceed to charge Ascension, kill his Skirges, untap and win.
2-1

Round 3: U-Tron

I land double Ascension, while he is a bit slow, he has an O-Stone in play but no mana to break it, so I proceed to Manamorphose, Bolt him for 9, Bolt again for 9, he goes to 2, so with the last Manamorphose on the stack I Revival back the Bolts and proceed to Bolt him for other 9 :laugh:
I sideboard in 3 Swan Song and 1 Wear/Tear (don't know if this one's good). Game 2 I land Ascension on turn 3 with Swan Song backup, charge it the turn after and win.
2-0

Round 4: GR Tron

I manage to win on turn 4 with him doing more or less nothing. Again my ignorance about Modern shows up: I believe he has just Pyroclasm to deal with Pyromancers, and that he will board them out, so I bring my Pyros in. I manage to Pyro for some tokens, but on his turn 4 he lands Ugin and swipes the board. I didn't know Ugin was played in Modern :eek: my fault, I've been so stupid here! In game 3 I have Ascension on the battlefield and he has a Wurmcoil beating me down. A Relic exiles my graveyard, and a Karn exiles my Ascension :rolleyes: I have another Ascension in my hand but I'm at 4 life and can't charge it and win in the same turn. What could I do in this situation? There's some way to beat Karn?
1-2

In the end, I'm 8th out of 16 and win a booster, I'm really happy of my first run with the deck. Obviously I need to get used to Modern much more, but I had a great time piloting such a beauty. I'm looking forward to the next 4/5 rounds tournament next Saturday! I'll let you know!

Bye! :smile:

paeng4983
06-17-2015, 12:53 AM
GP Charlotte has ended.
GP decklist are already uploaded.

Sad to say no UR Storm nor Unstorm version were there.

Did anyone here went to the said GP?
Please share your match ups.

In two weeks time, GP Singapore will take place. And it will be on modern.
I'll be there, and promise to do my very best.

And just in case there's anyone here who is on UR Pyromancer as well, let's meet up!

Cheers!

-Paeng

And, for the past weeks I've been grinding with this

Machine Gun
UR Ascension Storm

4 Pyromancer Ascension
3 Goblin Electromancer
2 Past in Flames
2 Gifts Ungiven
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Grapeshot

4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Thought Scour
4 Gitaxian Probe

4 Manamorphose
4 Desperate Ritual
3 Pyretic Ritual

4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flood Strand
3 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
1 Mountain

Sideboard
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Rending Volley
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Echoing Truth
2 Spellskite
1 Blood Moon
2 Gigadrowse
2 Torpor Orb

and here are my results:
5-0
1-2 (then drop)
4-1
2-1-1
5-2

Ghiwo
06-17-2015, 11:59 AM
I believe it's pretty normal not to see any (Un)Storm deck at the GP, usually Pros get the top tier deck of the moment, and the average modern player doesn't pick such a deck up. It's usually played by Legacy Stormers as me and you, in fact, are.
Anyway I'm fine if the deck is under the radars, as long as too much popularity could bring to specific hate in sideboards and hate from WotC (Finkel's result at the Pro Tour led to the prints of red and white Eidolons :( ).

Anyway I'll make an exception and cheer for you at the GP! :D

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Admiral_Arzar
06-18-2015, 12:54 PM
I 4-0'd a 24-player local event with this list:

4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Visions from Beyond
4 Thought Scour
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Noxious Revival
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyromancer Ascension
2 Remand

3 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Mountain
3 Island
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest

Sideboard

2 Ancient Grudge
1 Grapeshot
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Blood Moon
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Cryptic Command

Matchups were RUG Twin 2-0, Grixis Twin 2-0, Sliver Tribal 2-1 (that deck is fast), Dredge 2-0. It was the first time I'd played the deck and I made numerous mistakes. However, it is very powerful and consistent if you can get past the mind-melting complexity involved (as a former High Tide and Storm pilot in Legacy I'm used to this kind of thing). My sideboard wasn't particularly great although CC was solid vs. Twin and Anger vs. Slivers. One thing I really like about the Unstorm list is there is no such thing as a fizzle really, you don't blow all your resources like you do in regular Storm. There were a couple of points where I just stopped my combo and passed with Cryptic mana up (or cast a sweeper vs. Slivers then waited to draw more business) and ended up winning the games. I also fought through EE @ 2 and a bombardment of Raven's Crimes vs. Dredge without too much difficulty. Visions from Beyond is kind of insane in long grindy matchups like that.

Ghiwo
06-19-2015, 06:45 AM
Your list is my exact one except for lands. How did you feel without white Burn-hate cards in the sideboard? Of course you didn't get paired vs. the deck, but maybe you have some thoughts about it. I think this deck loses a ton of life and in my games against burn slowing down for casting white spells wasn't good enough. I think the match-up is awful and pretty much impossible to make positive.
What is the singleton Grapeshot supposed to do in your sideboard? :smile:

Admiral_Arzar
06-19-2015, 10:45 AM
Your list is my exact one except for lands. How did you feel without white Burn-hate cards in the sideboard? Of course you didn't get paired vs. the deck, but maybe you have some thoughts about it. I think this deck loses a ton of life and in my games against burn slowing down for casting white spells wasn't good enough. I think the match-up is awful and pretty much impossible to make positive.
What is the singleton Grapeshot supposed to do in your sideboard? :smile:

I dropped the burn hate cards because there isn't much burn in my meta and I kind of felt they were bad to begin with. This deck is certainly suicidal in terms of lifeloss so I could see how the matchup would be awful (only Infect cuts itself as much as this deck IMO). The Grapeshot was just a hedge against Surgical Extraction on Bolt. I've learned from playing High Tide for years that's it's useful to have an out to that situation, so I always brought the Grapeshot in for game 2 (usually just shaved a Remand or a Faithless Looting). I also typically brought at least one Cryptic in every game 2 in case of non-creature permanents like Leyline of Sanctity or Chalice of the Void.

Ghiwo
06-23-2015, 04:33 AM
If they Surgical your Bolts you can still kill them with the infinite mana loop and infinite Thought Scour loop. So Grapeshot seems a wasted sideboard slot to me and a brick floating in your deck.

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Admiral_Arzar
06-23-2015, 10:23 AM
If they Surgical your Bolts you can still kill them with the infinite mana loop and infinite Thought Scour loop. So Grapeshot seems a wasted sideboard slot to me and a brick floating in your deck.

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LOL I completely forgot you could win that way. I'm still learning the deck and don't have my head completely wrapped around the infinite loops yet. I guess Emrakul decks probably aren't going to run Surgical Extraction so the need for the Grapeshot is super low as you said.

bum_man
06-24-2015, 08:33 AM
LOL I completely forgot you could win that way. I'm still learning the deck and don't have my head completely wrapped around the infinite loops yet. I guess Emrakul decks probably aren't going to run Surgical Extraction so the need for the Grapeshot is super low as you said.
I run the standard Wagner list but I swapped out 1 land for 1 electrolyze to have a looping damage based win con at instant speed in the md. Came in crucial against decks like burn that could kill you before they draw incase you scour kill them. It's also removal and a cantrip so it isn't as much a dead slot. I suggest you try it.

paeng4983
06-24-2015, 09:43 PM
PAX TI CUM fellow storm brothers!

GP Singapore is just hours away.

I wish this reach you on time.

Can you pls share your sideboarding guide with the unstorm version.

This will be a big help for me in understanding the unstorm version more.

I wish to see how you guys deal with this.

Thank you very much!

Paeng

Ghiwo
06-25-2015, 10:50 AM
PAX TI CUM fellow storm brothers!

GP Singapore is just hours away.

I wish this reach you on time.

Can you pls share your sideboarding guide with the unstorm version.

This will be a big help for me in understanding the unstorm version more.

I wish to see how you guys deal with this.

Thank you very much!

Paeng

hi!
I don't have written ins and outs, but I usually try to cut the most useless playset of cards (since you don't want to cut 1X, 1Y, 1Z because of Ascension) for the cards I want to bring in. Some examples are:

Against Twin I would go -3 Lightning Bolt +3 Swan Song, and think about an additional -1 Lightning Bolt +1 Wear/Tear.
Against Affinity I do -2 Remand -2 Gitaxian Probe +2 Pyroclasm +2 Wear/Tear.
Against Elves I do -2 Remand +2 Pyroclasm
Against Jund I didn't board anything
Against Burn, -4 Gitaxian Probe -2 Remand +3 Rest for the Weary +2 Pyroclasm +1 Timely Reinforcements
Against UW/(r) Control I would do -3 Lightning Bolt +3 Swan Song
Against Tron -2 Lightning Bolt +2 Wear/Tear
Against Collected Anafenza I would do -2 Remand +2 Pyroclasm

I don't plan before when to board in Pyromancer, I bring it in when I feel my opponent is overboarding and cannot handle it. It won me some games alone. Also, in match-ups when you don't have to grind through counters/decays/discard you can shave 1 Noxious Revival I think.
I'm still learning the deck so don't take these notes for golden, but I think they are quite reasonable. Let me know if you need other decks/match-ups :smile:

Good luck for the GP, I'll be refreshing the standings and hoping to see you at the top tables!

Admiral_Arzar
06-29-2015, 10:03 AM
Some updates from my recent play with this deck. I split top 2 in another local event, then took it to a GPT and a PPTQ this weekend.

At the GPT, I went 3-0-1 in the Swiss (ID round 4), beating Twin, Tron, and a third deck that I can't remember. I conceded to my top 4 opponent as I wasn't intending on attending the GP and thus didn't need the byes. The deck performed very well all day although I never got much use out of Blood Moon (even against Tron).

At the PPTQ, I lost round one to 8Rack which seems awful. I had never expected the matchup, although in fairness I could have won game 1 if my last four draws (while I had active Ascension) hadn't been land, land, land, Ascension. I beat GW Hatebears (game 3 double Pyromancer overwhelmed him), Tron, and Affinity. I then misplayed my way out of an easy win against Twin and thus knocked myself out of top eight contention. The final round I lost to Burn which is of course atrocious, although I did manage to win one game. I played this list in all three events:


4 Faithless Looting
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Noxious Revival
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Thought Scour
4 Visions from Beyond
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyromancer Ascension
2 Cryptic Command

1 Breeding Pool
4 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls

Sideboard

2 Ancient Grudge
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Pyroclasm
2 Spellskite
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Blood Moon

I'm cutting Blood Moon for Spell Pierce, as it rarely did enough (even against Tron but that matchup is pretty good anyway). Pierce is a good all-around answer to a bunch of different problems. I may also shave 1 Pyromancer or 1 Grudge for another Hurkyl's, not sure about that yet. The deck has been performing really well for weeks now, I really only lose to terrible matchups (which are rare) or my own misplays (which sadly are more common).

sum1unopk
07-05-2015, 10:36 AM
I really only lose to terrible matchups (which are rare) or my own misplays (which sadly are more common).

I'm curious - and will try running this deck later today - what are these "terrible" matchups? Any deck with RIP?

Admiral_Arzar
07-06-2015, 12:07 PM
I'm curious - and will try running this deck later today - what are these "terrible" matchups? Any deck with RIP?

Yeah RIP is pretty bad but it's rare. I would bring in 4 Pyromancer against anything you suspect has RIP. Also, I would splash white for Wear/Tear if RIP is a thing in your meta (just cut the Breeding Pool for a Hallowed Fountain and suck up not having the green mana). 8-Rack seems pretty damn unwinnable unless you have T2 Ascension and get it active before they empty your hand (a tall order against a deck with double digit numbers of discard and Liliana). Burn is of course atrocious, although you can race them at times - if there's a lot of Burn in your meta the white splash is mandatory. I haven't noticed anything else as being particularly bad. The Twin matchup is amazing, BGx can be hard but is definitely winnable, Tron is very good. The deck is slightly faster than Elves and Affinity and can pack a significant amount of hate for both so I would consider them good matchups. I lose to my own misplays more often than to something my opponent does.

AlterEgo
07-06-2015, 01:53 PM
8-Rack seems pretty damn unwinnable unless you have T2 Ascension and get it active before they empty your hand

In principle, yes that's true, but I see better chances with the Noxious version. They can empty our hand - as long as we either get Ascension onto the field OR get a Noxious Revival to put one back on top.
When they also start exiling graves, THAT is when we're lost. Even with a good hand, 8-Rack is slower and it has a hard time once Ascension becomes active (their discard can even HELP us to a certain degree)

Admiral_Arzar
07-07-2015, 09:45 AM
In principle, yes that's true, but I see better chances with the Noxious version. They can empty our hand - as long as we either get Ascension onto the field OR get a Noxious Revival to put one back on top.
When they also start exiling graves, THAT is when we're lost. Even with a good hand, 8-Rack is slower and it has a hard time once Ascension becomes active (their discard can even HELP us to a certain degree)

The issue I had was dying before I could combo off even if I resolved the Ascension. A flurry of discard spells followed by two rack effects is a FAST clock.

Mammutti
07-09-2015, 05:02 PM
I run the standard Wagner list but I swapped out 1 land for 1 electrolyze to have a looping damage based win con at instant speed in the md. Came in crucial against decks like burn that could kill you before they draw incase you scour kill them. It's also removal and a cantrip so it isn't as much a dead slot. I suggest you try it.

With just 1 copy of Electrolyze you can't infinite loop the damage without a second active Ascension. And with two Ascensions out you can also infinite loop a Bolt. This deck wants as many 4-ofs as possible as well.

bum_man
07-11-2015, 07:00 AM
With just 1 copy of Electrolyze you can't infinite loop the damage without a second active Ascension. And with two Ascensions out you can also infinite loop a Bolt. This deck wants as many 4-ofs as possible as well.
Actually you can, just do the infinite mana loop then once you have X number of U, R, G floating, you can replace one of the manamorphose with electrolyze.

I took out the 18th land for electrolyze so it doesn't hinder my number of 4offs. I just wanted a kill spell that doesn't require me to pass back the turn when I could possibly be killed on the upkeep that also only requires 1 ascension active.

sawatarix
07-14-2015, 02:29 AM
Some updates from my recent play with this deck. I split top 2 in another local event, then took it to a GPT and a PPTQ this weekend.

At the GPT, I went 3-0-1 in the Swiss (ID round 4), beating Twin, Tron, and a third deck that I can't remember. I conceded to my top 4 opponent as I wasn't intending on attending the GP and thus didn't need the byes. The deck performed very well all day although I never got much use out of Blood Moon (even against Tron).

At the PPTQ, I lost round one to 8Rack which seems awful. I had never expected the matchup, although in fairness I could have won game 1 if my last four draws (while I had active Ascension) hadn't been land, land, land, Ascension. I beat GW Hatebears (game 3 double Pyromancer overwhelmed him), Tron, and Affinity. I then misplayed my way out of an easy win against Twin and thus knocked myself out of top eight contention. The final round I lost to Burn which is of course atrocious, although I did manage to win one game. I played this list in all three events:


4 Faithless Looting
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Noxious Revival
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Thought Scour
4 Visions from Beyond
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyromancer Ascension
2 Cryptic Command

1 Breeding Pool
4 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls

Sideboard

2 Ancient Grudge
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Pyroclasm
2 Spellskite
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Blood Moon

I'm cutting Blood Moon for Spell Pierce, as it rarely did enough (even against Tron but that matchup is pretty good anyway). Pierce is a good all-around answer to a bunch of different problems. I may also shave 1 Pyromancer or 1 Grudge for another Hurkyl's, not sure about that yet. The deck has been performing really well for weeks now, I really only lose to terrible matchups (which are rare) or my own misplays (which sadly are more common).

How does this deck work? You need Noxious Revival+Manamorphose in both your hand and graveyard to get infinite mana and then do the same with Noxious Revival+Thought Scour to mill your opponent, right?
Or am I missing something?

ScatmanX
07-14-2015, 04:53 AM
How does this deck work? You need Noxious Revival+Manamorphose in both your hand and graveyard to get infinite mana and then do the same with Noxious Revival+Thought Scour to mill your opponent, right?
Or am I missing something?
Or kill them with a couple of Lightning Bolts copied n times.

Waikiki
07-14-2015, 05:12 AM
Is there any primer with sideboard guide written about the deck?

sum1unopk
07-14-2015, 08:38 AM
I took out the 18th land for electrolyze so it doesn't hinder my number of 4offs.

Which land is #18? A Sulfur Falls, or a Misty Rainforest?

Admiral_Arzar
07-14-2015, 11:09 AM
How does this deck work? You need Noxious Revival+Manamorphose in both your hand and graveyard to get infinite mana and then do the same with Noxious Revival+Thought Scour to mill your opponent, right?
Or am I missing something?

1 Ascension, Manamorphose and Noxious in hand, Manamorphose and Noxious in yard = infinite mana of all relevant colors.

Adding a second active Ascension allows you to Noxious a third card to the top each repetition of the loop. That third card can be either Lightning Bolt or Thought Scour (or Cryptic Command if you need to bounce your opponent's board for whatever reason).


Is there any primer with sideboard guide written about the deck?

No. All the primers that I'm aware of are for UR Storm which is entirely different from this deck. I generally pull the Looting playset if I need to board in a bunch of cards, I will also shave 1 Cryptic and sometimes a couple Bolts or Scours depending on the matchup.

bum_man
07-14-2015, 01:45 PM
Which land is #18? A Sulfur Falls, or a Misty Rainforest?
1 island was the 18th land that I cut. Then I also replaced the 3rd Steam Vents with a 2nd sulfur falls to keep the number of untapped lands I have that doesn't damage me fairly the same.

I wasn't too happy drawing into more real lands using my cantrips mid-combo when searching for the 2nd revival or/manamorphose so I just replaced the 18th land with a cantrip/removal/win con.

Mammutti
07-17-2015, 07:53 PM
Actually you can, just do the infinite mana loop then once you have X number of U, R, G floating, you can replace one of the manamorphose with electrolyze.

I took out the 18th land for electrolyze so it doesn't hinder my number of 4offs. I just wanted a kill spell that doesn't require me to pass back the turn when I could possibly be killed on the upkeep that also only requires 1 ascension active.

With just one Electrolyze the win is not guaranteed if you brick on lands/bolts/noxious revivals.

Example:
After infinite mana your hand is: Noxious, Manamorphose, Electrolyze. You Electrolyze for 4dmg, draw 2X*. Noxious back a Noxious Revival and Electrolyze, cast Manamorphose, draw NR and Electrolyze. Cast Electrolyze, deal another 4, draw 2X*. Now if both of the Electrolyze draw 2's (4 cards) are any combination of lands/noxious revivals/bolts your loop is over. More often than not you draw into more cantrips anyway but what I was saying is that it is not an infinite loop as it requires you to hit more cantrips in order to keep going. This situation happened to me in testing. Electrolyze certainly is a strong card, but saying you can just replace a Manamorphose with one Electrolyze and loop infinitely is wrong as you can't use Electrolyze draws to draw itself back if you only have one of them.

I have also tested Muddle the Mixture in place of the 18th land as someone here suggested it. However, I have yet to play enough games to determine if it's worth it. The transmute looks good on paper but being sorcery speed and not cantripping is a problem. Needs more testing though. I am also tempted to test Blue Sun's Zenith as it would be a guaranteed instant speed win with one Ascension and infinite mana. But that might just be a bit too cute. So far I haven't had any problems winning with Thought Scours or Bolts.

Oh, just got my Japanese foil Ascensions and Manamorphoses in the mail. Cant wait to confuse my opponents with them. :cool:

bum_man
07-18-2015, 03:19 PM
With just one Electrolyze the win is not guaranteed if you brick on lands/bolts/noxious revivals.

Example:
After infinite mana your hand is: Noxious, Manamorphose, Electrolyze. You Electrolyze for 4dmg, draw 2X*. Noxious back a Noxious Revival and Electrolyze, cast Manamorphose, draw NR and Electrolyze. Cast Electrolyze, deal another 4, draw 2X*. Now if both of the Electrolyze draw 2's (4 cards) are any combination of lands/noxious revivals/bolts your loop is over. More often than not you draw into more cantrips anyway but what I was saying is that it is not an infinite loop as it requires you to hit more cantrips in order to keep going. This situation happened to me in testing. Electrolyze certainly is a strong card, but saying you can just replace a Manamorphose with one Electrolyze and loop infinitely is wrong as you can't use Electrolyze draws to draw itself back if you only have one of them.

I have also tested Muddle the Mixture in place of the 18th land as someone here suggested it. However, I have yet to play enough games to determine if it's worth it. The transmute looks good on paper but being sorcery speed and not cantripping is a problem. Needs more testing though. I am also tempted to test Blue Sun's Zenith as it would be a guaranteed instant speed win with one Ascension and infinite mana. But that might just be a bit too cute. So far I haven't had any problems winning with Thought Scours or Bolts.

Oh, just got my Japanese foil Ascensions and Manamorphoses in the mail. Cant wait to confuse my opponents with them. :cool:
With ascension active, using the same hand and "infinite" mana, the correct play should've been cast electrolyze then before resolution of the copy and original electrolyze, you noxious back a noxious and manamorphose or Serum Visions or thought Scour on top, so you get to draw both off the electrolyze resolution. Then cast any of those cantrips then noxious back electrolyze and noxious on top before resolution again. Just rinse and repeat.

You never get to draw any new cards because your draws are always the cards you revival back. It's basically the same as Thought Scour kill except you do it with damage. It's the same as the way the deck generates infinite mana. For the wincons, you don't necessarily need to loop them against the same cards, you just need to loop them with any "draw a card" spell to make the infinite loop. With gratuitous amounts of mana, it's not like you need to deal damage each revival cycle to win anyway, which is why you only need at least 1 electrolyze to do this.

Hope that clarifies.

Mammutti
07-18-2015, 07:14 PM
With ascension active, using the same hand and "infinite" mana, the correct play should've been cast electrolyze then before resolution of the copy and original electrolyze, you noxious back a noxious and manamorphose or Serum Visions or thought Scour on top, so you get to draw both off the electrolyze resolution. Then cast any of those cantrips then noxious back electrolyze and noxious on top before resolution again. Just rinse and repeat.

You never get to draw any new cards because your draws are always the cards you revival back. It's basically the same as Thought Scour kill except you do it with damage. It's the same as the way the deck generates infinite mana. For the wincons, you don't necessarily need to loop them against the same cards, you just need to loop them with any "draw a card" spell to make the infinite loop. With gratuitous amounts of mana, it's not like you need to deal damage each revival cycle to win anyway, which is why you only need at least 1 electrolyze to do this.

Hope that clarifies.

Thank you for the reply and I apologize for my ignorance. I'm still fairly new to the deck. I completely overlooked the fact that you can use Electrolyze every second loop. Essentially chaining piles of Noxious Revival x Cantrip and Noxious Revival x Electrolyze. Now this makes much more sense. Feels like Electrolyze is worth the inclusion. Thank you for clarifying. How does your current sideboard look like btw?

bum_man
07-20-2015, 10:09 AM
Thank you for the reply and I apologize for my ignorance. I'm still fairly new to the deck. I completely overlooked the fact that you can use Electrolyze every second loop. Essentially chaining piles of Noxious Revival x Cantrip and Noxious Revival x Electrolyze. Now this makes much more sense. Feels like Electrolyze is worth the inclusion. Thank you for clarifying. How does your current sideboard look like btw?
I play the stock sideboard except I play 4 rest for the weary and just 1 timely reinforcements. There are a lot of burn where I play so I feel gaining more life is more relevant than potentially having blockers.

sum1unopk
07-20-2015, 05:21 PM
This list was 6th in the MTGO PTQ

Mainboard:
2 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
4 Noxious Revival
4 Remand
4 Thought Scour
4 Visions of Beyond
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Pyromancer Ascension
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Mountain
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
2 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls

Sideboard:
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Lightning Helix
3 Swan Song
2 Wear // Tear
2 Pyroclasm
2 Timely Reinforcements

Has some interesting splashes. The lightning helixes definitely seem interesting.

Admiral_Arzar
07-21-2015, 11:02 AM
This list was 6th in the MTGO PTQ

Mainboard:
2 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
4 Noxious Revival
4 Remand
4 Thought Scour
4 Visions of Beyond
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Pyromancer Ascension
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Mountain
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
2 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls

Sideboard:
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Lightning Helix
3 Swan Song
2 Wear // Tear
2 Pyroclasm
2 Timely Reinforcements

Has some interesting splashes. The lightning helixes definitely seem interesting.

I really like this list, will have to mess around with it next time I play this deck. My one dislike is the 3 Steam Vents - it's too many shocks IMO and there should be more Sulfur Falls.

Pilhas
07-22-2015, 07:45 AM
Can anyone post a small SB-guide for the ascencion stormless deck?
Have a tournament this weekend and I am not a modern aficionado

sum1unopk
07-22-2015, 08:51 AM
Can anyone post a small SB-guide for the ascencion stormless deck?
Have a tournament this weekend and I am not a modern aficionado

I'll try to. I'll be running this deck for the foreseeable future. Deck just looks too damn fun. I'll try and throw together some sideboard / how-to-play notes

AlterEgo
07-22-2015, 01:55 PM
Okay, I'll make myself ready to get humiliated:
Can someone PLEASE explain, why that decklist above has 1-off Oboro and Minamo?
They seem to make the deck more vulnerable to Moons and LD but bring nothing valuable that an Island wouldn't.

Admiral_Arzar
07-22-2015, 02:03 PM
Okay, I'll make myself ready to get humiliated:
Can someone PLEASE explain, why that decklist above has 1-off Oboro and Minamo?
They seem to make the deck more vulnerable to Moons and LD but bring nothing valuable that an Island wouldn't.

Boil and Choke. The question is, which is more likely - Boil/Choke or Blood Moon/Fulminator? I would say Boil and Choke probably are as nobody should ever board Blood Moon in against this deck. The biggest issue I have with those two lands is they make Sulfur Falls much worse, and Sulfur Falls is the best land in this deck.

paeng4983
07-22-2015, 09:52 PM
Magmatic Insight
R
sorcery

As an additional cost to cast ~, discard a land card.

Draw two cards.

------------------------

This one, aren't you guys loving this?

thanks

Redkid43
07-23-2015, 09:56 AM
Considering the deck is pretty land light this card seems eh.

AlterEgo
07-23-2015, 03:50 PM
Considering the deck is pretty land light this card seems eh.

further elaborated: This card is GOOD, when you're going off, as you can pitch excess lands you surely will find.
The big issue in this deck is FINDING and LANDING PyroAscension - in this stage of the game, you need every land drop to pay for cantrips.

When it's useful, you can't afford it, when you can cast it, any cantrip will do just as fine.

If it was discard any card (or even two cards) I'd strongly consider it, but as is... nope

kkkant
08-03-2015, 12:15 AM
Hey guys, im new to the Unstorm build and being toying with it for a few weeks.
Im really in love with the deck, i love the fact that it has nearly no dead draws (like rituals) and except from the bolts and ascensions, all cards cycle themselves, making it really easy to find what you need.
Its also very complex and it demands constant decision taking at every cantrip you play (what makes a deck interesting to play IMO), and im sure theres where i fail the most, but well, only practice can remedy that.


After several tournaments, i have found that the only matchup i cant really seem to take a grip on is Jund/Junk. I know that playing 8 virtual copies of pyro ascension makes it really difficult not to find it even after it being discarded, but them running 4 decays and sometimes pulse is really bad, specially since you cant counter AD, and the tempo loss sometimes is irreversible if you have to pay 2 life and lose a card in order to noxious it, not to mention to get it active again. It really is a mana and card investment and there is when liliana and tarmogoyfs fast clock puts a lock on you.
Post SB the thing gets even worse, since they bring in choke, golgari charm and rakdos charm, cards that deal not only with pyro ascension but with young pyro and its tokens.
Can someone give me some advice on how to play it? Or maybe a sideboard choice to fight it, since my meta seems really infested with it. Ive been thinking of blood moon, and maybe monastery mentor (at least it doesnt die to golgari charm).

Thank you a lot! Its a pitty that this thread, which seems to be the only one in the net to even discuss some UNstorm, has so little activity. I think the deck is underestimated and has some potential.

Admiral_Arzar
08-03-2015, 11:03 AM
Hey guys, im new to the Unstorm build and being toying with it for a few weeks.
Im really in love with the deck, i love the fact that it has nearly no dead draws (like rituals) and except from the bolts and ascensions, all cards cycle themselves, making it really easy to find what you need.
Its also very complex and it demands constant decision taking at every cantrip you play (what makes a deck interesting to play IMO), and im sure theres where i fail the most, but well, only practice can remedy that.


After several tournaments, i have found that the only matchup i cant really seem to take a grip on is Jund/Junk. I know that playing 8 virtual copies of pyro ascension makes it really difficult not to find it even after it being discarded, but them running 4 decays and sometimes pulse is really bad, specially since you cant counter AD, and the tempo loss sometimes is irreversible if you have to pay 2 life and lose a card in order to noxious it, not to mention to get it active again. It really is a mana and card investment and there is when liliana and tarmogoyfs fast clock puts a lock on you.
Post SB the thing gets even worse, since they bring in choke, golgari charm and rakdos charm, cards that deal not only with pyro ascension but with young pyro and its tokens.
Can someone give me some advice on how to play it? Or maybe a sideboard choice to fight it, since my meta seems really infested with it. Ive been thinking of blood moon, and maybe monastery mentor (at least it doesnt die to golgari charm).

Thank you a lot! Its a pitty that this thread, which seems to be the only one in the net to even discuss some UNstorm, has so little activity. I think the deck is underestimated and has some potential.

Honestly the Jund matchup is just really bad post-board. Leyline of Sanctity could work against the discard, although we'd need to run a Sacred Foundry mainboard. Blood Moon can maybe shut them down if it doesn't get discarded. Junk isn't quite as hard simply because they usually don't have as many live cards against us as Jund, but it's still hard. Spellskite helps a little postboard as it can eat Decays. Honestly with this deck you want to play against Twin, Control, Tron, and Affinity. Fast red-based aggro is pretty bad for us (Burn especially is nigh unwinnable) and midrange is hard. Fast combo is pretty hand dependent, decks like Bloom and Grishoalbrand are inconsistent so you can steal games despite being slower.

kkkant
08-03-2015, 02:27 PM
Honestly the Jund matchup is just really bad post-board. Leyline of Sanctity could work against the discard, although we'd need to run a Sacred Foundry mainboard. Blood Moon can maybe shut them down if it doesn't get discarded. Junk isn't quite as hard simply because they usually don't have as many live cards against us as Jund, but it's still hard. Spellskite helps a little postboard as it can eat Decays. Honestly with this deck you want to play against Twin, Control, Tron, and Affinity. Fast red-based aggro is pretty bad for us (Burn especially is nigh unwinnable) and midrange is hard. Fast combo is pretty hand dependent, decks like Bloom and Grishoalbrand are inconsistent so you can steal games despite being slower.


Leyline could work both vs discard (8rack, jund) and burn, which are both bad matchups. Ive never been a fan of its randomness, and castingi t4 isnt really an option, even if we have the mana available, but once online it could give us the time we need.
Lately ive been somehow disappointed with young pyromancer. I know its great in paper, and the times i managed to get him online it was awesome, but its only good aggainst matchups that are already good (basically control), with the exception of jund, were i find it meh. I think we would take a bigger advantage if we use those 4 slots to fight midrange decks.

paeng4983
08-12-2015, 12:09 AM
Modern wmcq is now around the corner.
Joining sanctioned modern tournaments weeks before the event is my way of preparing for it, and here are my results.

8/10/15
1st pod 12nn FNM pod (1-4)
win: burn 2-0
loss: mono G aggro (1-2), URW Twin (0-2), BG reanimator (1-2) and coco elves (1-2).

2nd pod 6pm FNM pod (3-1)
win: Mono U Tron (2-1), mono G aggro (2-0) and RG Tron (2-0)
loss: affinity (1-2)

3rd regular saturday modern session (3-1)
win: grixies (2-0), Mono U Tron (2-1), Grixies (2-1)
loss: URW twin (0-2)

----oo0oo -----

8/17/15
FNM
win: RDW (2-1), Affinity (2-0)
loss: Jund (1-2). Ad naus (0-2)

After my fnm, i playtested with a teammate that is on living end.
We played a total of 5 games, all main deck only. (0-5)

PPTQ
win: BW tokens (2-0), GW Hate (2-0), abzan coco (2-0)
loss: naya burn (0-2), infect (1-2)

kkkant
09-01-2015, 10:01 PM
Since no one is speaking in this thread i will come up with my bad ideas for the deck for someone to appear and prove me wrong haha.
I was wondering about the UNStorm version of the deck, and im trying 4MD Repeal instead of the visions of beyond.
For starters, i wanted to switch visions because, besides being AWESOME in control matchups (which are already good), it is really bad. Repeal, on the other hand, can cycle itself while gaining tempo advantage, plus its really good vs faster matchups, which are really bad. The only downside of the card is that it needs a target, but i figure the only decks that dont have a target for it (besides some combo ones) are control decks, which really are a good matchup for the deck.

What do you guys think?

sum1unopk
09-01-2015, 10:20 PM
im trying 4MD Repeal instead of the visions of beyond.

I love this idea. Having another cantrip answer seems awesome. I'm trying this out tomorrow :D

Edit: I lied. This doesn't seem that good. It's not the best when copied with Ascension, and it requires a target. I know that's stating the obvious, but against decks like Living End and Tron, they don't run many permanents (that stay on the battlefield) that it would be reasonable to cast.

SakuraTribeAlderman
09-22-2015, 10:29 AM
I love this idea. Having another cantrip answer seems awesome. I'm trying this out tomorrow :D

Edit: I lied. This doesn't seem that good. It's not the best when copied with Ascension, and it requires a target. I know that's stating the obvious, but against decks like Living End and Tron, they don't run many permanents (that stay on the battlefield) that it would be reasonable to cast.


The card you're looking to replace Visions of Beyond with is Quicken. It's a deceptively good spell here, especially in the early game when deciding whether to cantrip, slam Ascension, or Remand on turn 2 is a leap of faith. On the play, Quicken + Gitaxian Probe at the end of their first turn is close to perfect information, which will sometimes give you the OK to take the game and run with it by showing an Ascension to a tapped out blue player or an answerless BGx player. In less fortunate (but still keepable!) opening hands, it allows you to leave mana up for a turn 2 Remand to stall the board while also keeping the option to dig effectively four cards deep with Serum Visions.

Quicken also boosts this deck's main selling point over a traditional storm Ascension list: stealing a game at instant speed like you're some Solidarity-playing mofo. Just one Quicken with an active Ascension is a free pass for two more cantrips when you need to Combo or Bust in response to an Abrupt Decay. This is just such a shot in the arm for the deck's consistency in these situations.

It's not an answer, but it's gas, and relevant gas at that. Visions of Beyond is do-nothing when you're not comboing, and win-more when you are. Altogether unnecessary and outclassed in comparison to Quicken's utility. Besides, if you're not already going off by the time you have twenty cards in the bin, then you probably never will.

AlterEgo
09-23-2015, 01:52 AM
Just one Quicken with an active Ascension is a free pass for two more cantrips when you need to Combo or Bust in response to an Abrupt Decay. This is just such a shot in the arm for the deck's consistency in these situations.

Very good point... Just remember, you have to cast the first Sorcery cantrip just after the copy-Quicken has resolved, with the original still on the stack. That's because both apply to the NEXT Sorcery, which isn't cummulative.

SakuraTribeAlderman
09-24-2015, 02:24 AM
Very good point... Just remember, you have to cast the first Sorcery cantrip just after the copy-Quicken has resolved, with the original still on the stack. That's because both apply to the NEXT Sorcery, which isn't cummulative.

Good point! I'll remember that from now on. Thankfully I hadn't made any illegal plays due to my misunderstanding.

I took the deck to a weekly modern event. I have a few thoughts, but I have a potentially controversial opinion. Let's start with that.

1. Remand is poopy. It's dead most of the time, and waiting until four mana to fight over an Ascension can be a huge stall for our game plan and a major blowout. I found myself discarding and boarding these out in just about every match. It might just be my meta, but I would main Dispel over this. As for sideboard space, it could be good -- but for a deck that's not figured out, our sideboard is pretty choked for space already. You need 4 Young Pyromancer, some greater-than-one-each split of Dispel & Spell Pierce, and possibly 2, but closer to 4 Spellskites. (Honorable mentions go to the usual suspects of Swan Song and Blood Moon.) Taking up even more space to feature Utility Counter 3: This Time, It's Temporary seems lackluster. There was a list I saw with only one Remand in the main, and at the time I questioned it. Now I think it's closer to the right number: 0. I'm playing Visions of Beyond over it now. Which is ironic, considering my last post.

I thought we might have some justification for Remand, as we are a turn 4 / 5 goldfish. (Turn 3 if we're just stupid lucky on our Manamorphoses.) Being a turn slower than Storm in most situations and thus needing the stalling is an argument, but more cantripping makes the deck a bit faster and even more consistent. Visions also has "NO WHAMMIES" written all over it. I suppose you could use the infinite mana cards + Remand in order to draw your deck and find the last piece of a combo kill, but drawing 6 gets you there well enough. Visions can also draw cards early without making you wait on your opponent with a play that competes for the same curve space as your win condition. Finally, Remand might as well not even be a cantrip since it costs 2. It's such a prohibitive cost for a deck that wants to chain multiple spells in a single turn. This is also why I don't much care for Desperate Ravings here.

I would like some discussion on this. Some number of Remands in the main have been in just about every list to date; sometimes it even gets priority over Cryptic Command, which I find interesting -- not correct or incorrect, though, since I don't own any Cryptics to test with. Sadly enough. :'(

TL;DR -- I recommend 4 Quicken + 4 Visions of Beyond over the more common X Remand + 4 Visions of Beyond configuration.

2. Let's talk counters. How do you play against them? Do you play through them or around them? It all depends on how you Probe, of course, but I'm curious about how other people see them. I'm much more likely to brute force my way through opposition when I have redundant Ascensions or Noxious Revivals handy. Young Pyromancer is basically targeted discard for 2 out of the board since he strains their Spell Snares so hard. I'm honestly a fan of 4 YP + 4 PA in game 2 VS control. Putting down must-answer stuff every turn is a lot for them to handle. They'll slow themselves by keeping mana up for counters every turn to begin with, so pressuring their hand in order to further restrict their line of play seems good.

3. I got a single Day's Undoing to put in my sideboard since I already play 4 Quickens mainboard. I can't afford the Skites, Moons, etc. that other people run, so I might as well get creative. I figured it gives us some nasty tech against GBx, which can be a tough matchup with all their Inquisitions, Thoughtseizes, and Abrupt Decays. Quicken + Undoing "counters" all of these while letting you start a new turn with a full hand, at least four mana, and whatever permanent they wanted to hit so badly. This might seem late, but my second games against these decks often get grindy due to Young Pyro and topdecks. You'll probably be on your second or third Ascension by that time due to all their disruption.

And, well, exiling an Abrupt Decay from the stack is a long-held revenge fantasy of mine. This way is at least better than Mindbreak Trap.

I would LOVE some discussion on all of the above. Please, tell me what you think. I want to make this deck better for everyone who's cool enough to play it.



EDIT: I am a lying liar who lies. Day's Undoing is restricted by an "If it's your turn" clause.

I guess it would still be pretty useful for an EOT Quicken on your opponent's turn, as drawing seven new cards with an active Ascension should win you the game right there.

Another thing: Lightning Bolt is weird. If you can't win or stall with it, then it's basically Looting fodder. And stalling with it can be tough because the format's got an abundance of 4 and 5 toughness creatures as well as Lingering Souls tokens. How would others feel about shaving it down to 3 in the MD and keeping the fourth in the board?

sum1unopk
09-29-2015, 07:23 PM
I strongly dislike Remand as well in the main. It's SUPER good against Tron, and with two active ascensions, it's a very soft lock (yes, this has happened. I was flooded. With 17 lands in my main)

I'm thinking a visit to Faithless Looting might be needed?

I agree with the previous comment, about how against control you need to have all 4 YP and PA. If you get lucky and they take out their creature removal, YP will go WILD over them.

Maybe Into the Roil might be a better spell against decks where we need interaction?

SakuraTribeAlderman
09-29-2015, 08:52 PM
I strongly dislike Remand as well in the main. It's SUPER good against Tron, and with two active ascensions, it's a very soft lock (yes, this has happened. I was flooded. With 17 lands in my main)

I'm thinking a visit to Faithless Looting might be needed?

I agree with the previous comment, about how against control you need to have all 4 YP and PA. If you get lucky and they take out their creature removal, YP will go WILD over them.

Maybe Into the Roil might be a better spell against decks where we need interaction?

Interaction in general is weird for us. Even Cryptic Command can be awkward since by the time we want to cast it we really need red sources that don't hurt us -- in order to initiate infinite mana and win we'll lose a minimum of 1-3 life with casting Noxious Revival on top of the damage our opponents have been dealing us + our Reefs, Probes, fetches, shocks... This deck's life loss really adds up. Bolt is the only card that effectively stalls for us since it's 1 mana and can blank a creature, most notably Scavenging Ooze. I also don't hate Bolting Hierarchs since that delays their game by an entire turn.

But needing interaction? I dunno about that. Spending 4 mana to bounce + draw is way less attractive than sequencing Sleight of Hand, Serum Visions, Ancestral Visions, Faithless Looting, etc. The latter is what wins games by finding or turning on Ascensions. And only spending 2 mana to bounce something important means the blatant card disadvantage for a merely temporary fix will really hurt. At that point, I'd rather just run Wipe Away. (Which is a great SB option, by the way.)

As for Looting specifically, I run 4 in the main and usually side them all out for Young Pyromancer VS control. Looting is usually the last card in all my cantrip sequences, so simply replacing it with the win condition it's looking for doesn't seem like a bad deal. It also prevents the card disadvantage from Looting, which matters a good bit against permission but not so much against creature strategies where I'd prefer to dig 2 / discard 2 rather than dig 1. Remember, though, that Looting also helps turn on Visions of Beyond, which helps to make up for the disadvantage.

Here's my current list for some insight into how I'm coming to these opinions. Warning: budget mana base ahead.


Engine
4 Pyromancer Ascension

Combo // Win
4 Manamorphose
4 Noxious Revival
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Thought Scour

Cantrips
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Quicken
4 Visions of Beyond
4 Faithless Tooting

Land
3 Shivan Reef
3 Sulfur Falls
2 City of Brass
6 Island
3 Mountain


17 lands + Looting is great for anyone without fetches. Stems any flooding and lets you discard lands instead of gas during more pivotal turns. Honestly, I haven't had any issues with my mana base. Performs quite consistently.

If you want to win on turn 4 with any consistency, I would heavily recommend maxing out on cantrips instead of trying to include expensive interaction in the main. Bring in your Skites etc. game 2. Which, by the way, I would recommend siding out Quicken for. Looting + Quicken are usually my go-to cuts from the main when I need Young Pyromancers, Dispels, Spellskites, or whatever else. If I suspect or know of any Leylines coming in, then I cut Bolts for more disruption.

Bolt has the dubious honor of being both the best and the worst card in the deck. It can win you the game without giving your opponent an upkeep to burn you with, but it doesn't replace itself, so it can be totally dead when you're not comboing off. It's like drawing an Emrakul with no Show and Tell.


EDIT: My local shop is hosting a no ban list modern tournament. Will sleeve up my Ponders and Preordains and give a fun report. Unfortunately, my testing has shown that Ascension is a cruel mistress – Treasure Cruise slows us way down, triple draw be damned.

Grizzly_Bear
10-31-2015, 07:47 AM
Hi guys,

I'm a Legacy-veteran considering getting into Modern. The weapon of choice in this format seems like a no-brainer to me, all of these different UR ascension decks seems like so much fun.

I would like the more experienced players pros and cons lists regarding the three different versions I have found.

- Standard AscensionStorm, Jon Finkel style
- NoStorm Ascension, with lightning bolts as only wincon
- Maindeck EtW, Young Pyromancer & goblin bushwhacker

My main problem with the NoStorm version is that it is entirely dependent on having ascension in play. If this one spell gets countered or answered, the deck basically does nothing! (?) Both other versions at least have alternative gameplans in PiF/Grapeshot or smashing face with tokens.

paeng4983
11-03-2015, 04:07 AM
@Grizzly Bear

Go with the standard Finkle style. It is the strongest, at least for me.
Although, numerous people also are having a success in Wagner's list (Unstorm).

Welcome aboard pal, and good luck in your future games with our deck.

^_^

paeng4983
11-03-2015, 04:10 AM
Engine
4 Pyromancer Ascension

Combo // Win
4 Manamorphose
4 Noxious Revival
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Thought Scour

Cantrips
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Quicken
4 Visions of Beyond
4 Faithless Tooting

Land
3 Shivan Reef
3 Sulfur Falls
2 City of Brass
6 Island
3 Mountain



Hi, my suggested mana base for you is this

4 Reefs
4 Falls
2 Mountain
6 Islands

So how was the no banned modern tourney?



my thoughts on the new kid on the block: BR Eldrazi
http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/2016/01/welcome-to-earth.html

ThomasDowd
12-10-2015, 02:51 AM
No. All the primers that I'm aware of are for UR Storm which is entirely different from this deck. I generally pull the Looting playset if I need to board in a bunch of cards, I will also shave 1 Cryptic and sometimes a couple Bolts or Scours depending on the matchup.

There is totally a primer, but it is ~ 3 years old at this point. no lootings. more remands, some weird other cards. not much has changed really.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/23788_Your--Pyromancer-And-You--The-Long-Awaited-Sequel.html

edit: also i think there is probably better action than quicken.

Swasey had a list ~ 1.5 years ago that was this:
https://swaseyshuffle.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/infinite-storm.png

felt a little land light to me but was still good, could probably cut some number of peer through depths/ truth/ grapeshot/ or inquisition for lands. I probably wouldn't play fewer than 16 or more than 17 though, deck has enough velocity. Twin board dodges GY hate, gemstone cavern may be too cute.

paeng4983
01-13-2016, 07:25 PM
How are you fellow modern storm troopers!
Here's my two cents on the new kid on the block
cheers!

http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/2016/01/welcome-to-earth.html

------------------
1-31-16
UR Storm at Regran Open Modern (Manila)
80 plus players 7 rounds
5-0-2
Top 8: split prizes so that we can go home early

MUs
Skred Red 2-0
RUG 2-1
Scapeshift 2-0
RDW 2-1
Naya aggro 2-1
Ad naus id
Hatebears id

List: Take Jonny Magic's 60 then less 3 Desrapate Ravings and one Goblin Electromancer for one Flooded Strand, 2 Faithless Lotting and one Gifts the Ungiven. I used the same 15.


TR
http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/2016_02_01_archive.html

OlegtheSuper
02-17-2016, 09:33 AM
Sorry about this but can someone explain me how does UNstorm kill an opp after getting eternal mana?

AlterEgo
02-17-2016, 12:02 PM
@Oleg:
7 Bolts kill a player - Recursion viv Noxious does the trick.

paeng4983
02-18-2016, 04:13 AM
:cool:

You can also win my milling his library, just replace the lightning bolt in the loop with Thoughtscour.

:cool:

Others have one Grapeshot in the deck. So all they have to do is dig that lone GS and win.

Good luck in your tournaments and keep us updated with your results and MUs!

:tongue:


----

Just got home from our Modern regular Thursday session.
My MUs were:
Tron 2-0
Eldrazi 2-1
Eldrazi 2-1
Affinity 2-1

Next stop: GPT modern this Saturday.

Spam
02-18-2016, 05:11 AM
Remeber, you can also draw your entire deck with remand after you've got infinite mana. (Random tip.)
Anyway, I find the Unstorm version is having a horrible time with eldrazi, but the normal version is quite ok, I mean, if they don't destroy you, Blood moon can take the game.
At least it's better than burn, which has disappear thanks to the aliens...

OlegtheSuper
02-21-2016, 12:09 PM
So my first modern tournament is ended.
1. Scapeshifr 2-0
2. Merfolk 2-0
3. Merfolk 2-0
4. BR deathshadow 0-2
5. Burn 0-2
6. Colorless eldrazi 1-2
7. Coco 2-0

What do we have to play in sb vs eldrazi?

P.s. i'm playing UNstorm.

paeng4983
02-21-2016, 09:04 PM
From this week,
Thursday at HPC, 4-0.
Saturday at Scrappy Coco (GPT), 5-0-2 then gave the win to my friend in the finals because he wanted the points for him to reach at least the minimum points required for wmcq.

list:
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=11605&d=266039&f=MO

:smile:

RE: sb vs eldrazi

As for the traditional list, I bring-in the moons. Sometimes ETWs. :tongue:

OlegtheSuper
02-22-2016, 01:45 PM
So today we have a 148-people modern tournament. I've lost last round for top 8. It was my second modern tournament. 5-1-2

The list:
Instants [25]
2 Cryptic Command
3 Noxious Revival
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
4 Remand
4 Thought Scour
4 Visions of Beyond

Sorceries [13]
1 Faithless Looting
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand

Enchantments [4]
4 Pyromancer Ascension

Lands [18]
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mountain
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Flooded Strand
3 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
5 Island

Sideboard:
3 Rest for the Weary
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Wear // Tear
2 Pyroclasm

T1: 2-0 RBU Grixis control
T2: 1-1 Kiki chorde
T3: 2-0 Blue Moon
T4: 0-2 RG Eldrazi
T5: 2-0 Grizelbrand reanimator
T6: 2-0 WGB Smthing with creatures, discard and lingering souls
T7: 2-0 UW control
T8: 0-2 UW Eldrazi

paeng4983
02-23-2016, 02:16 AM
@OlegtheSuper
Can you pls share your experiences on your three eldrazi opponents?
And also, how you sideboard.

Thanks!

OlegtheSuper
02-23-2016, 11:52 AM
Can't win this match with this unstorm list.

I sbin 2 pyromancers, 2 Timely Reinforcements, 1 wear/tear just for wining some time for my ascention. Sbout 4 remands and loothing.

paeng4983
02-29-2016, 12:01 AM
Here's my summarized February 2016 TR with UR storm.

http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/2016/02/february-counting-1-to-20-with-red-blue.html

:tongue:

Edit:
1st week of March 2016

http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/2016/03/march-unable-to-count-to-20-with-red.html

:tongue:


EDIT: MAY 2016:

Regran Open V
14 May 2016
4-1-1
win: Infect 2-0; Naya Burn 2-1; UW control 2-0; Merfolk 2-0
lost: Naya Brun 0-2
draw: Infect

GPT modern at Madcap
15 May 2016
4-1

win: Naya Zoo 2-1; Affinity 2-0; Jund 2-0; BW Tokens 2-0
lost: Living End 0-2


:cool:

paeng4983
09-03-2016, 09:05 AM
http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/2016/09/september-grand-prix-guangzhou-2016.html?m=1

GP Guangzhou
TR
37th

paeng4983
02-12-2017, 11:49 PM
http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/2017/02/feb-ur-storm-modern.html

Take Inventory is a house.

CaptainTwiddle
02-14-2017, 06:00 PM
http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/2017/02/feb-ur-storm-modern.html

Take Inventory is a house.


I wonder if Take Inventory would work well in the Gifts Ungiven versions. It seems solid, but the only card I could see cutting from those lists is Merchant Scroll, which might be fine, as the only thing Scroll does is find Gifts.

Mr. Safety
04-25-2017, 09:46 PM
I am currently on the gifts storm version with Baral. Deck is sweet, probably better than ascension versions. Turn three kills happen sometimes and the gifts engine is absurd, easily the best use of the card in modern to-date.

Holiday
04-26-2017, 09:01 AM
I used to run the old Pyromancer's ascension version. I'd like to try out the new gifts list but I'm not exactly sure how to play it.

Can someone give me an example of what 4 cards you typically take with gifts based on some common scenarios?

Mr. Safety
04-26-2017, 09:47 AM
It depends on whether you have grapeshot or past in flames in hand (and to a lesser extent remand). The first gifts pile is usually desperate, pyretic, manamorphose, past in flames (with a red floating and an electro/baral on the battlefield.) Doesn't matter what they give you if you aren't pinched on mana. Combo turn usually loops at least 2 gifts ungiven, the final ine giving you grapeshot. That is the most common line. Alternatively a storm count of 9 is lethal with two grapeahots or a grapeshot plus remand. Plan B is empty for 10-16 goblins early if your mana dork dies/gets countered.

Post board lightning bolts can help with a tight storm count because its essentially storm 3, I've killed with exact damage that way before. I was intimidated at first, but just get some goldfishing in and youtube it. That helped a ton for me.

Mr. Safety
04-29-2017, 09:27 AM
I'm not sure if there should be another thread for gifts storm, for now I'll post here.

Looking at some cards to splash into the deck and really questioning Merchant Scroll. I feel like Remand isn't enough protection, and its too expensive without a baral/electromancer on the battlefield. Its role with grapeshot is rarely used (in the 50+ games I've played so far) and counterspells/removal are a much bigger problem. Silence and Dispel seem much stronger, especially considering we can play a dude and go off the same turn. On the fringe side of the deck I'm wondering if unburial rites/griselbrand is an option (taking up only 2 slots.) The white splash would have to be instead of the blood moon sideboard plan I think.

Saw this deck and it got me thinking:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=15374&d=293509&f=MO

Holiday
05-03-2017, 08:29 AM
I'm not sure if there should be another thread for gifts storm, for now I'll post here.

Looking at some cards to splash into the deck and really questioning Merchant Scroll. I feel like Remand isn't enough protection, and its too expensive without a baral/electromancer on the battlefield.



I've been testing the gifts version. What I really like about this one, compared to the pyromancer's ascension version, is that there's really no guess work and you know when you can win. With ascension sometimes I felt like I was rolling the dice. If I can stick my creature and cast gifts it's pretty much game over.

I've also been underwhelmed by Remand. What do you think about Pact of Negation? Too risky?
Merchant Scroll isn't too bad. Drake Sasser just made top 16 at a big SCG event running 3 of them MD. I'm hesitant to splash white.

What do you think about the Mapcap Experiment/Platinum Emperion combo in MD or SB? I'm starting to test this out.

Edit: I also tested Take Inventory and it sucked. I would only run that if Intuition was legal in Modern.

Mr. Safety
05-04-2017, 08:01 PM
White splash is awful, early testing killed that. Pact of Negation does seem risky maindeck, but I can see it as a sideboard option if control decks start getting really prominent. Honestly, I think Dispel should get some playtesting in the maindeck. The only card it doesn't countwr (that matters) is abrupt decay.

I do think sideboard leyline of sanctity should be a strong consideration. Discard heavy strategies (shadow decks) can really unravel even a fast draw.

Merchant scroll is still iffy to me...I am testing a 2nd empty the warrens maindeck just to have a higher chance of getting a fast combo (turn 3 empty for 10-12) which is less powerful than a gifts/pif/grapeshot win but it is still FAST, which I think is more important, especially against discard. I'd love to jam an unburial rites/iona/elesh norn in the board but grave hate is already hard to beat.

Overall I like this better than ad nauseam as the format's spell based combo deck, which has become too slow.

Holiday
05-06-2017, 09:59 AM
I like the idea of running a second ETW. I find I'm always looking for a win con.

What are your thoughts on Spell Pierce over Dispel? We can counter Sorceries like discard spells and artifacts like CotV.

Mr. Safety
05-06-2017, 04:51 PM
I'm not quite sure what to do about discard yet. Leyline seems ok, but I'm not sold on it taking 4 slots.

Spell Pierce seems weak. I think we need a hard counter, and dispel seems like the best.

As for finding more win cons, I'm testing out a 3rd grapeshot in the maindeck. It makes it more reasonable to do a small storm count andcombo with Remand for eeking out wins. I cut the 2nd scroll for it (still 1 warrens maindeck.)

paeng4983
05-20-2017, 09:52 PM
Here's what I have been doing lately with this deck

http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/2017/05/may-2017-ur-storm.html

cheers everyone!

Mr. Safety
05-21-2017, 03:21 PM
I think ascension requires more commitment to cards like faithless looting and thought scour. I am way too committed to gifts to go that route. Here's some thoughts:

1) is there a reason for avoiding simian spirit guide? I feel like 18 lands is correct but I know I could pull off turn 2 kills with spirit guide. I am testing it out with 2x ssg and instead playing 7 mana dudes and cutting a merchant scroll. I also cut the other scroll for Peer through Depths. Instant speed is relevant, and it gets more spells than just gifts (however I understand sideboard support for echoing truth etc.)

2) how do others feel about the white splash for sideboard options? I'm not sold yet, but I can see it being good.

CaptainTwiddle
05-22-2017, 06:39 PM
1) is there a reason for avoiding simian spirit guide? I feel like 18 lands is correct but I know I could pull off turn 2 kills with spirit guide. I am testing it out with 2x ssg and instead playing 7 mana dudes and cutting a merchant scroll. I also cut the other scroll for Peer through Depths. Instant speed is relevant, and it gets more spells than just gifts (however I understand sideboard support for echoing truth etc.)

SSG could certainly make the deck more explosive, but at the cost of consistency. Overall, I don't think the increase in speed offsets the reduction in consistency. At best the shift might be a wash (in terms of an equal trade-off), but if that's the case, what's the point?


2) how do others feel about the white splash for sideboard options? I'm not sold yet, but I can see it being good.

I generally don't think the splash is worth it. Playing the sideboard cards that white provides really just detracts from your game plan. Stony Silence doesn't seem like the type of card you'd want to concern yourself with. Things like Wear/Tear or Fragmentize are basically handled in blue with Echoing Truth. If you wanted to splash white, I'd do so because of an Unburial Rites package.

A card that might be worth considering is Pentad Prism. I played a build for a while with Prism before Baral was printed. I was actually running it in place of Electromancer (probably should have been in addition to). Prism can add explosiveness and isn't hit by creature removal. My thought was that the mana discount provided by Electromancer/Baral isn't usually much more than 2 "relevant" points during your combo turn. Additionally, you can cast the Prism as a "free" card to up your storm count, provided your can produce U/R to cast it.

Mr. Safety
05-26-2017, 10:51 AM
Thanks for the response. I tend to agree on the SSG idea. I could never fit in a set, 1 maybe 2 at the most, which would help to get a turn 1 Electromancer/Baral on the table and a turn 2 combo. It would also allow for a turn 2 mana dork and win the same turn with a SSG providing the initial red mana for rituals. I was just thinking that some games are a pure race (zoo, affinity) and others matchups are really reliant on not getting destroyed by discard (jund, gb rock, death shadow, 8rack.) Weathering a turn one discard seems easier if we can still blast a turn 2 combo (or big Warrens anyways.) The longer we wait against discard decks, the harder it gets to win.

White I think needs to be looked at solely for Leyline of Sanctity (see above.) Silence seems like a decent option, but redundancy really helps against counterspells already.

Pentad Prism seems good, and it sets up for a turn 3 Empty the Warrens really well. I could see cutting one Baral (3/4 split with Electromancer) and one Merchant Scroll/Peer through Depths for a pair of Pentad Prism.

What are thoughts on Merchant Scroll vs. Peer through Depths? I tend to think that PtD seems like a better option, simply because it does more than JUST find Gifts. Sideboard cards (Echoing Truth, Dispel) get a lot more consistent with Merchant Scroll however. Most of the lists I've seem are MTGO decks, and I don't play online, only paper.

Mr. Safety
05-31-2017, 09:45 AM
Martin Muller made top 4 at GP Copenhagen with UR Storm...playing Peer through Depths over Merchant Scroll and adding a Simian Spirit Guide. Now I know the ideas are at least legit, and I'll be using this list moving forward. It's really tempting to drop a Baral for a 3rd Peer through Depths (or a 3rd Remand, he only played 2 remand) but in a room with 1800+ people making top 4, I'll follow his lead until something better shows up.

Link:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=15707&d=296154&f=MO

EDIT: He played a full 4 Empty the Warrens between the main and side as well. I'm looking forward to playing this version!

Mr. Safety
08-09-2017, 07:34 AM
Storm is still playing well (4 copies in top 16), here is the top 8 from Syracuse:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=16452&d=301659

The classic at Syracuse also had a storm list top 8:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=16453&f=MO

It looks like the plan for multiple natural Grapeshots is getting more common (lots of those lists had 3 copies of Grapeshot maindeck.) I didn't see *any* copies of Merchant Scroll however, all of them opted for Peer through Depths (and Caleb Scherer even dropped Remand for Thought Scour!) So it looks like on the whole, multiple Grapeshots (sometimes with Remand) has become a much bigger focus rather than playing out multiple copies of Gifts. One Gifts is sufficient, and in some cases (Death's Shadow decks) just ripping a few rituals into Grapeshot/Remand/Grapeshot gets there without Gifts.

What are everyone's thoughts on Merchant Scroll vs. Peer through Depths? I always had better results with PtD, but I haven't put in tons of games like others have.

Spam
08-09-2017, 01:52 PM
I find the flexibility of Peer to be more useful. Sometimes I just want to dig more with my cantrips for a Grapeshot or a PiF; especially when I'm comboing off without Gifts, I'm a bit short on mana and a shuffle would nullify all my work.
I also like the idea of dropping Remand, since I prefer to have a more efficient list. Remand give us a lot of flexibility, but if does feel clunky at times. I like the fact that Caleb dropped fetches all together, or at least the last list I saw did, this way serum visions and sleigh of hands do perform a bit better (imo).

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Mr. Safety
08-09-2017, 02:29 PM
Good catch on the no-fetches, I missed that part. I can see that the deck thinning (miniscule difference in draws) isn't necessary and there can be perfect mana without them. Scrying with Serum Visions sometimes gets awkward with fetches. I don't think the deck can handle the scry lands like Ad Nauseam, but the thought has crossed my mind.

I still like Remand, but I don't like 4 copies. I think Remand actually gets better if there is 3 Grapeshots main, making it so I don't have to lean on Gifts so hard for the kill. I'll probably stick to 3/3 of Remand/Grapeshot (and this is a spot where Peer through Depths shines, because it can further the storm chain for only U, again without needing PiF or Gifts.)

Spam
08-09-2017, 03:07 PM
I think Remand isn't a bad card, but I've never felt the need of it; to me, Pif has always been enough. If I would run the card I would set for two copies, but three is defensible.
I've actually considered scry-lands myself. Caleb runs four islands and one mountain, which looks a bit of a waste, but the deck plays a lot of stuff every turn and a taped land hurts us quite a lot; besides, they diminish the chance of our (already rare) turn three kill. Ironically, I find combo decks working a lot better without fetches in a non Brainstorm/Ponder environment.

Mr. Safety
08-10-2017, 07:37 AM
I think Remand isn't a bad card, but I've never felt the need of it; to me, Pif has always been enough. If I would run the card I would set for two copies, but three is defensible.
I've actually considered scry-lands myself. Caleb runs four islands and one mountain, which looks a bit of a waste, but the deck plays a lot of stuff every turn and a taped land hurts us quite a lot; besides, they diminish the chance of our (already rare) turn three kill. Ironically, I find combo decks working a lot better without fetches in a non Brainstorm/Ponder environment.

I agree with all of this. Turn 3's are getting more rare because the best deck (Death's Shadow variants) are so heavy on discard; it's basically the new jund but leaner and meaner. Decks that don't play Thoughtseize allow for t3's much more often. I think the synergy of Remand with Baral is overstated. I've had maybe 2-3 times it has mattered in about 20 games. The Remand buying me a turn is significant, but the looting wasn't. I just needed time.

I did some playtesting last night and I love the 3 Grapeshots. Past in Flames + Grapeshot, or Remand + Grapeshot can get the job done just as well as a Gifts chain. Peer through Depths was stellar.

What I really want is another 1-mana cantrip that isn't garbage. I don't think Thought Scour is that great, at least in my experience, and without Pyromancer's Ascension it loses a lot of its power. Pieces of the Puzzle might be the card I want, but three mana is A LOT. Sorcery speed is so rough.

Nilsfit
08-29-2017, 03:54 PM
hey people!

Pyromancer ascension combocontrol is not dead! I added snapcaster mage to the deck and it's awesome. I've had decent results with it. Here's the list:

Maindeck

3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Pyromancer Ascension

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Thought Scour
4 Manamorphose
4 Remand
4 Path to Exile
3 Visions of Beyond
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand

2 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mountain
2 Island
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
1 Plains


Sideboard

1 Engineered Explosives
2 Monastery Mentor
1 Stony Silence
2 Wear // Tear
2 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Rest for the Weary
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Pieces of the Puzzle

I feel like the deck's only bad matchups are eldrazi tron, Gx tron and dredge with the current sideboard. Grixis shadow is 50/50. Almost all small creature based decks are good matchups.

I think the maindeck is probably perfect, but I don't know if the sideboard is 100% correct. I've been disappointed by ceremonius rejection, since eldrazi decks play cavern of souls, but I don't really know any other card that's really good against eldrazi tron. Do you have any suggestions?

Let me know what you think!

schweinefettmann
02-16-2019, 10:08 AM
Do a 3/2, 4/1 split of remand/unsubstantiate (doesn’t counter, avoids caverns)


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schweinefettmann
02-16-2019, 11:46 AM
Had a double look of your list.. I tried a list like that before, and here’s a few things I see.
Ponder is good, accumulated knowledge can definitely be a thing, you can run a one-of grapeshot-kill against decks with a lot of permission. Echoing truth can be good against belcher, and I’d strongly consider a wipe away, krosan grip, or something along those lines against CB on 1 (blocking you off thought scour).
Also, mission briefing over snapcaster mage (dig 4, and allows you to cast alternate costs from GY). Or at least put snap in as well, giving you more mana and reuse out of SCM.

You might wanna try a transformational sideboard. Your deck is very one-dimensional, so your opponents are gonna sub out terminuses and swords - so hit em back with cliques and SCM beatdown or jaces maybe!


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