Jeskai Ascendancy. Finally on the ban path?
Modern forum
Posted on Dec. 7, 2014, 3:14 a.m. by DrFunk27
With Fatesticher being what seems to have been the missing link, and Jeskai Combo now consistently killing turn 3, does it get banned? Or maybe Fatesticher? I've been watching a ton of streaming of this deck and it's just absurd. Even in its fair form, it destroys fair decks and then combos out of nowhere. It's now being played in Legacy and it's just stupid good. Already 4-0ing Legacy dailys on MTGO. Thoughts?
JexInfinite says... #3
Treasure Cruise makes the deck consistent enough to be really good. Remove that, and it will not be as good, leaving the Ascendancy combo legal for anyone who wants to have some fun. UR Delver can still be a great deck with Dig Through Time, so banning Cruise would not particularly hurt the format (It makes 4c and 5c burn crap. They shouldn't exist anyway.), whereas banning Ascendancy removes a cool combo deck. As much as Wizards hates storm, they hate banning things more.
The 3 colour deck is a lot slower, less greedy, and a more controlling version of the deck, and is a LOT more consistent. It does not win on turn 3, though. That is an ideal situation. I'm perfectly happy with the 3 colour deck, as it seems possible to beat, while also being threatening. It's like a slower version of Storm. It follows the turn 4 rule, so I don't think it's a problem.
December 7, 2014 4:08 a.m.
The 3 colour version with Fatestitcher is a lot slower than the old version but also more resilient.
There have recently been some worrying results put in where Ascendancy has been very prominent, for example: the World Championships, however that had a small sample size and various other problems in being used as an example. If it happens in two more large events then yes it probably will be banned. At the moment we only have 1 large event to go on.
Also remember that UR delver was massively, massively played for a few weeks and then settled down a bit once people realised it wasn't unbeatable. By the time we reached GP Madrid (was it Madrid?) with 2000 participants there wasn't a whole ton of delver left. We need to look to the future - if it keeps happening then definitely ban worthy, if not then obviously it's ok.
December 7, 2014 5:49 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #5
ChiefBell On MTG Top 8 there are still way more UR delver decks than any other deck...
December 7, 2014 5:50 a.m.
Also worth pointing out that there is NO WAY you can compare the legacy version to the modern version due to Tundra, Volcanic Island, Force of Will, Brainstorm Swords to Plowshares, Ponder, Pyroblast.
At least 50% of the deck is different.
December 7, 2014 5:51 a.m.
awesomeguy37 - yep, but you're usually only seeing one or two per top 8, which could be far, far worse. You see similar results posted by Pod, for example (just to put it into perspective). Yes it's (delver, I mean) played more, but the results it posts are equivalent to other tier 1 decks.
December 7, 2014 5:53 a.m.
Essentially: it's not about quantity, it's about quality. In terms of quality, delver doesn't seem to be any more disturbing that Pod. Ascendancy needs to be seen a bit more in order to make a judgment about its quality over time.
December 7, 2014 5:56 a.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #9
I love the talk regarding bans here. Normal reaction: "Oh this is really good! It doesn't seem to be putting up great numbers yet, but it could be banned in the future if it does" T/O reaction: "LET'S BAN THE FUCK OUT OF IT, IT'S DEGENERATE, HOLY SHITBALLS!"
I think it should also be noted that Wraptor's deck was really more of a control deck than pure combo. He was controlling the game until his opponent couldn't stop him.
December 7, 2014 11:23 a.m.
Ascendancy shows no signs of becoming overpowered. There are plenty of answers to it. No way it gets banned.
December 7, 2014 2:01 p.m.
So, ChiefBell, what do you think about instead of banning Treasure Cruise Dig Through Time or anything from this Jeskai combo deck, they unban Deathrite Shaman. Afterall it got banned for making jund to powerful and practically removing control. Now jund is nearly gone and the control decks are removing some of their snapcasters so that their delve spells are better. Maybe after an unban people will stop worrying about the delve spells
December 7, 2014 3:43 p.m.
That would be a bit mental though, because you'd just replace one (arguably) degenerate deck with another. Besides Deathrite Shaman wouldn't help at all because it can only exile one card per turn (due to tapping).
The Jund decks of the day were putting in better results than Ascendancy and Delver, it must be noted. There was a period where they placed first in some absurd number of major tournaments in a row.
December 7, 2014 3:56 p.m.
sirbar: Also assumes that anything needs to be done. I'm not sure. Watchful waiting is a good phrase. It means: do nothing but be careful to watch what is going on, in case something becomes clearer over time.
December 7, 2014 3:59 p.m.
If Wizards wanted a jund resurgence, they would unban bloodbraid elf.
December 7, 2014 7:13 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #15
I love how these always turn into discussing of the modern banned list as opposed to about the actual card.
December 7, 2014 8:33 p.m.
I just spent like 40 dollars on a playset of foil cruises... lets hope they dont get banned.
December 8, 2014 12:03 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #18
pretickle Even if it gets banned in modern, Cruise is a $20 foil because of legacy, and is super playable there. I doubt it's broken enough in legacy to be banned there.
December 8, 2014 7:24 a.m.
untranslated says... #19
Its pretty simple, ban TC and bring back ancestral visions. At least they cant chain turn4+5/6 Visions. I cant see anything really coming off the banned list to be honest, at least AC and TC mostly do the same thing.
December 17, 2014 7:12 a.m.
Nothing will change. None of the above cards have demonstrated stifling and consistent power. The last two GPs and testament to this.
Hjaltrohir says... #2
I think that ascendancy should be banned. without it Fatestitcher will be unplayed again and the deck wont be a problem
December 7, 2014 3:17 a.m.