Pyromancer Ascension

[OlegtheSuper]

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]

Here's my summarized February 2016 TR with UR storm.

http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/20...-red-blue.html



Edit:
1st week of March 2016

http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/20...-with-red.html




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

[paeng4983]

http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/20...-2016.html?m=1

GP Guangzhou
TR
37th

[paeng4983]

http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/20...rm-modern.html

Take Inventory is a house.

[CaptainTwiddle]

http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/20...rm-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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Here's what I have been doing lately with this deck

http://deartiyopaeng.blogspot.com/20...-ur-storm.html

cheers everyone!

[Mr. Safety]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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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