How to beat )&%^)&%^ Pyro ascension
Deck Help forum
Posted on April 2, 2012, 11:04 a.m. by vrax
I played a 30 man modern tournament last night, 5 of the 30 decks were pyromancer ascension decks. Wanna know who the top 8 were? The Pryos plus 3 others. Anyone who knows how much FUN it is to wait for his opponent to play his 32 cards on turn 3, and count his red mana, his blue mana, his storm, etc.... will agree that most of the kids who play this net deck have a hard time counting past 11, and so it takes them like 20 minutes to play that one round and kill you... or fail because they didn't do it right. So let's make a list of good cards that can be main/sideboarded against pyro for each color you have.
I'll go first.
KorApprentice says... #5
If you are playing white, then you have access to many cards that just cripple Pyromancer's Ascension. There are still ways for it to win, but any good deck should still kick post-sideboard. However, I say good luck to any Pyro's having to play against:
Leyline of the Void, Leyline of Sanctity, True Believer, Ivory Mask, Ethersworn Canonist, Rule of Law, Curse of Exhaustion, Mindbreak Trap, or Witchbane Orb.
Even a well timed Silence can stall them going off long enough to get down an Ivory Mask or something similar.
April 2, 2012 12:40 p.m.
Korapprentice, good call! You've obviously well versed vs this kind of deck. Many thanks.
April 2, 2012 4:25 p.m.
KorApprentice says... #7
Yep, I used to demolish Storm decks with Arcane Laboratory before Modern was even a format.
April 2, 2012 4:29 p.m.
DarasuumKote28 says... #9
I played my Standard Esper Spirits this past Saturday in an informal tournament where the only limit was 60 cards. My God, one Pyromancer deck there, and I managed to be the only one to tie him. I brought in 3 Flashfreeze, 2 Negate, 2 Revoke Existence (Should've used my Celestial Purges instead, oh well), and 2 Surgical Extraction after losing game 1. Game 2 took SO DAMN LONG. Everyone else was screaming at us, so eventually I got my turns down to "Draw, swing, go." However, every turn he would look through his graveyard, draw, graveyard again, play some draw spells, graveyard again, burn a creature, graveyard, Grapeshot for 4 or Lightning Bolt for 6 (Charged Ascension). Moorland Haunt got the last couple points in. Game 3 I managed to Surgical Extraction both a countered Ascension and a Lightning Bolt, and he said "Oh, then I'll just let this go to time, then. I can't win anyway." SO MANY @$$#@ Pyroclasms!
At least karma kicked him in the teeth. I got fourth and pulled a foil Liliana of the Veil from my lone pack, he got second place because of the tie and pulled nothing but junk.
The moral of the long boring story is that Surgical Extraction is wonderful, because that stupid deck is dead in the water without its namesake. Just hope you don't play against a dick, because then no one wins.
April 2, 2012 6:54 p.m.
EleshBlade says... #10
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is really good against them.
April 2, 2012 7:05 p.m.
@ darasuum yes, it's the most annoying deck ever, takes sooooooooo long to play a turn. Surgical is about to be mainboarded for my deck.
April 2, 2012 10:31 p.m.
Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek can work well if you have the fast clock to win. They play about 20 draw spells so they will probably find another one if you let them live.
Really, you just need hard counters maindecked to try to pull out a win. If you have ever played Legacy or even heard about it, well, Storm in Modern is pretty much the same as Dredge in Legacy. It can never win anything if people adequately prepare for it, but as soon as players forget about it, it will demolish them. Just be sure to always be ready. Try to avoid Mindbreak Trap and Rule of Law, and focus on other hate. Even though they are less effective against Storm, Meddling Mage, Fall, and Relic of Progenitus are good against other combo decks too, so you'll focus fewer slots on individual matchups.
April 2, 2012 11:32 p.m.
KorApprentice says... #13
You know what is really hilarious against a storm deck? Brain Freeze. Let them play about 15 spells then smack them with a Brain Freeze, see how they react. Of course, you might still lose unless you are running something like Temple Bell.
April 3, 2012 1:06 a.m.
You should play against Eggs sometime, if you haven't already. It takes 30 minutes to combo out the win once it gets going. The plan is to win game 1, then go to time on game 2. Thus going 1-0-1 in the round, which gives you the win instead of a draw. I watched a couple guys do it at a modern GP trial at my local store. The round went to time during game 2, then on active play's turn #4, 30 minute combo to win! Everyone else in the store was pissed...
Pyro Ascension is one of the least interactive decks you can play against. But there are a lot of ways to shut it down.
April 3, 2012 7:16 p.m.
@Kor The trick would be to play Brain Freeze in response to a Serum Visions or Faithless Looting, so that they have to draw. But Brain Freeze isn't legal in Modern so it's a moot point.
April 3, 2012 8:08 p.m.
GoblinsInc says... #16
@dcarpntr
A 30 minute combo? Seems kind of over-long. I'd definitely watch that game to see if anyone was stalling.
April 3, 2012 9:22 p.m.
It doesn't take stalling to last that long. It's a pain in the butt to pull the combo off correctly. It uses Lotus Bloom, Second Sunrise, Ghost Quarter, and a TON of 1 CMC artifacts that let you draw when you sacrifice them. The main win condition in most Eggs decks is Pyrite Spellbomb. So you basically draw a ton of cards by sacking artifacts and dig out your lands with Ghost Quarter, then use Lotus Bloom to play Second Sunrise which returns all those artifacts and lands to the battlefield. You rinse and repeat this combo until you can finally win using Pyrite Spellbomb for enough damage. It's extremely tricky to pull off correctly. One mistake and the combo just shuts down and you'll lose. That's why it takes so long.
April 3, 2012 9:41 p.m.
Sorry, vrax. This isn't the "How to Beat Eggs" thread. I shouldn't be explaining different pain in the butt decks on your thread about Pyromancer Ascension. I'll reply to people on their personal walls from now on if they have questions about Eggs decks and keep my comments on this thread strictly towards Pyro Ascension. Again, my apologies.
mafteechr says... #2
Relic of Progenitus
would be better than Nihil Spellbomb
and sees a good amount of play in modern.
April 2, 2012 11:06 a.m.