Too Hot To Handle

Remember how as we were approaching the release of Mirroden Beseiged, I said again and again that Standard would become much faster and beatdown would seriously profit? Well considering even the control decks are curving into creatures every turn, I would say I was dead right. But there always has to be a major control deck right? Don't fear! I have just what you need! Remember this card?

I have had a love affair with this card for the past year and a half, going back and forth with how much I play it. It became a "real" deck between M11 and Scars with the infinite combo between Call to Mind and Time Warp, but things have changed a little, notably the loss of Ponder and Time Warp. But as creatures become more and more prevalent, removal gets better and better. This makes Ascension better in 2 ways:

1. Our removal is also our win condition (burn) so against creature heavy decks we can stabalize, against no creature decks, we become counter-burn
2. Oust? Disfigure? Doom Blade? Condemn? Go for the Throat? Mystifying Maze? Yeah, we blank all of those

The time is now! Here is the list I am testing with right now:

4x Pyromancer Ascension
3x Jace Beleran

4x Ponder
3x Forsee
3x Call to Mind

4x Mana Leak

4x Lightning Bolt
4x Burst Lightning
4x Staggershock
4x Slagstorm

4x Halimar Depths
4x Island
8x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Evolving Wilds

Sideboard:
3x Tumble Magnet
2x Inferno Titan
4x Archive Trap
2x Trapmaster Snare
4x {Open Slots} Arc Trail? Deprive? Into the Roil? Flashfreeze?

The last 4 SB slots are wide open for now, but I kinda want to play Arc Trail... However, Arc Trail really puts me all-in on the anti-aggro plan. On the other hand, I feel like Flashfreeze is good because it makes the RUG (and Valakut) matchup better. If you have any suggestions, send me a message on facebook, leave a comment, or e-mail me at the address at the bottom. The Archive Traps, and Trapmaster Snares are there to beat Valakut. I don't like mill at all, but Valakut is the one deck it is viable against. Milling their Valakuts and mountains is backbreaking against them, and they tutor almost every turn, so we should always have a 0 costing Trap. 4 Ascension mills 52, which is good for a kill, but we can get there faster with our Ascension.

I tested this deck in game 1s against GW Vengevine Aggro, Mono-Red, and Caw-blade, and I found myself around 50-50 against all of them (vs mono-red was before I moved slagstorm to the main). I feel like this deck can always get better post board, and thats thanks to them 2 Inferno Titans. I expect everyone to side out all creature removal against us, so we have an untouchable Inferno Titan, which completely ends games by itself.

Tumble Magnet is a card that is absolutely INSANE right now!!!! If your not playing Tumble Magnet, you better be playign Shape Anew. It can clear open the board for your finisher to bash through, it can hold that sword equipped bird at bay, it can stop their Grave/Inferno Titan from ruining your day, it moons mono-white quest, it gives you time to activate Ascension or whatever game plan you're developing. The only reason I'm not playing it maindeck is because I don't want to durdle game 1, and instead take my opponent by suprise and kill them as fast as possible. I play Baby Jace because it comes down faster  than TMS, and the only thing we want Jace for is a card draw engine, and a pre-emtive answer to their Jace.

One last reason I like Ascension is because its simply intimidating when you have an active ascrension and then cast Forsee. First, your drawing 4 cards, but they are 4 cards that you really want, and will likely close the game out by themselves. Even just having an active Ascension and cards in hand is scary because everything in your deck is an instant, so they can never tell if you are packing 3 lands or lethal in hand.

Anyways, that's all from me tonight, let me know what you think about those last 4 slots in the sideboard. Until next time, stay classy!

Email me:
Lackie_xc_06@yahoo.com
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com