MTG Combo: Cryptolith Rite + Jeskai Ascendancy

pumpkinwavy on [Community Discussion]: Frontier Chat

7 years ago

So my lgs has been hosting frontier tournaments for a couple months now and I've had the opportunity to partake in quite a few of them. Here are some of the decks I've seen, sorted by deck type and with a short desripction:

Aggro:

White humans: About 16 1 drops followed by Thalia's Lieutenant and Always Watching

Artifact based aggro: Kind of a combination of the standard vehicles decks right now and the old Ensoul Artifact deck from standard past.

Red aggro: Generally paired with green for Atarka's Command, this deck has powerful aggressive creatures and lots of burn. Can either go for a go-wide tokens plan or the Become Immense + Temur Battle Rage .

Elves: A synergistic aggresive deck that wins off the power of Collected Company and multiple Shaman of the Pack.

All of these decks are fairy weak to Radiant Flames and similar cheap boardwipes.

Midrange:

Assorted Siege Rhino decks: Most midrange decks use the power are a collection of extremely powerful cards all put together into and abzan-based deck. Variants include abzan aggro, red abzan, abzan blue, and straight abzan. There is incredible variety within this archetype, so don't be surprised if you encounter Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip, Smuggler's Copter, Crackling Doom, or Stubborn Denial, but do expect Siege Rhino.

Delirium: Similar to above decks, but rely on the power of Grim Flayer and Ishkanah, Grafwidow and don't play white. They both have lots of removal and individually powerful cards, but vary enough that I decided to include them as a separate archetype.

Dragons: A deck that uses Draconic Roar, Thunderbreak Regent and Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury to pressure the opponent. Some variants play blue so that they can play a control game with Silumgar's Scorn and Dig Through Time.

Use efficient removal spells like Crackling Doom, Murderous Cut and Blessed Alliance as well cards like Disdainful Stroke to combat these decks, because around turn 4 is when they hit their stride.

Control:

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip decks: The most popular of these are grixis control and jeskai black, which use a combination of poweful removal, efficient cheap creatures, and broken delve spells. These decks capitalise on the cards that would immediately spring to mind when you think of 'broken'. Many complaints of frontier is that jeskai black would dominate with crazy spells, mostly voiced by those who have never played frontier, as this deck is very good but not overpowered.

Pure control: If you want to play under 5 creatures, this deck is for you. Combine counterspells with boardwipes, Dig Through Time and a top end of Torrential Gearhulk. Some variants may play a dragon package for ugin, Dragonlord Ojutai and Silumgar's Scorn.

Fight control decks with pressure + disruption. Unlike the claims of many who say frontier is just a bag of midrange and control is unplayable, the power of Torrential Gearhulk targeting Dig Through Time is undeniable. You can succeed with control.

Combo:

This is where you brew. These are only the combo decks I've seen, and I'm sure you all on tappedout can come up with many more. Here goes:

Aetherworks Marvel.dec: Similar to standard marvel, in frontier you can add Ugin, the Spirit Dragon to the list of powerful hits.

Ascendancy combo: Want to drop your opponent from 20 to 0 in one turn with a flurry of spells? Use the power of Cryptolith Rite + Jeskai Ascendancy with a couple tokens! Fun, but good luck winning a tournaent with a combo this inconsistent, even though you can turbo-Treasure Cruise!

And last but not least, the long awaited...

4-colour rally: In my opinion, this is the best deck in frontier. if you thought you were done playing against Collected Company, well this is just the start. Frontier-exclusive additions include Satyr Wayfinder and potentially Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip.

I may have missed your deck, but this is a quick guide to what you can expect to see at a frontier tournament. Thanks!