Standard

Why You Know Nothing About Pyromancer Ascension

Montreal is an island where there used to be a volcano, many many years ago. Still, there are laws against making buildings so high that you can’t see the mountain. Naturally, spending my childhood on a mountain on an island, I have gained a fondness for red and blue mana…

Many people have asked me why I have been playing [Card]Pyromancer Ascension[/Card] over, say, [Card]Splinter Twin[/Card] combo. There are a few reasons. The most obvious one is that playing a creature-less deck has its advantages. I have had many an opponent with a hand of [Card]Searing Blaze[/Card]s and [Card]Dismember[/Card]s that they couldn’t use. I have had an opponent who clearly [Card]Despise[/Card]d me (so much so that he cast the spell three times!) and not hit anything. And then when you board in creatures, they board OUT removal!

The second reason is that I find that Pyromancer is actually more consistent than Splinter Twin. While the advantage of Splinter Twin is that when you assemble the combo (often along with a [Card]Dispel[/Card] against the inevitable [Card]Into the Roil[/Card] or [Card]Dismember[/Card]), you actually just kill them. Dead. With Pyro, you don’t actually kill them, you just gain more and more of an advantage until either they can’t win anymore and you kill them, or they have 0 life points. Instead of spending 8 slots for combo pieces and more for protection, you need 4 slots for Ascensions, and the rest is card draw and removal. Thats why I prefer to look at the deck as a control deck rather than as a combo deck. You really just happen to kill them with a combo, rather than with a [Card]Grave Titan[/Card] or a Bird carrying a Sword(how cute!). People who play against you will not realize this: they will target your Ascensions with a vengeance, and ignore the fact that the real reason they are losing is that you get to see 2 to 5 times as many cards as they do every game. I have often let my opponent destroy my Ascensions and keep counters for their relevant spells instead of saving my Ascensions. When you draw your deck, you will find another one. The longer the game goes, the better your chance to win (as long as you still CAN win, you do need at least 1 ascension or lethal burn spells left in your deck to kill)

Once you look at the deck as a control deck that just uses a tighter win-condition package, you begin to play the deck better, and you WILL win more. Even Dan Lanthier, who I respect as a Magic player, called Pyromancer an uninteractive combo deck. This is the furthest thing from the truth. The deck is perhaps one of the MOST interactive decks in the format. You are constantly fighting the opponent’s threats, either by countering, bouncing them, burning them, or killing your opponent before they matter. The last one is actually fairly rare; you mainly set up a game state where you bury your opponent so much under card advantage that you neutralize every threat they have and everyone they could draw. That’s the kind of Magic I like to play.

Of course, there are games where you just steamroll your opponent, and get to look on at their face while you play [Card]Preordain[/Card] 10 times in a turn and then Bolt them for 24. Part of the fun of the deck is that when you have an active ascension, every spell you play feels so unfair. [Card]Ponder[/Card] copied is already borderline stupid, try paying 2 life to Probe someone and drawing 5 cards! Yeah…Free-Call is pretty sweet. Well, enough intro, here are some lists:

[Deck Title=Alexander Hayne – Pyromancer Ascension]
[Lands]
4 Halimar Depths
7 Island
8 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
[/Lands][Spells]
2 Call to Mind
3 Foresee
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Into the Roil
4 Jace Beleren
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
4 Preordain
4 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Staggershock
[/Spells][Sideboard]
4 Burst Lightning
4 Cancel
4 Combust
2 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Karn Liberated
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

This is the first list I played, after the Bannings had been announced, but before they had gone into effect. I came to this list after trials with the Mike Flores [Card]Archive Trap[/Card] versions, tinkering around with Tezzeret’s Gambit, trying the Splinter Twin hybrid deck, and various other iterations. Foresee was a last minute adjustment before a local tournament, and it was absolutely what the deck needed. Being able to refill and win attrition wars in the mid-late game was huge and let you win those games where you kept playing cantrips, answering your opponent’s threats, but just couldn’t find an Ascension to pull ahead. Now, you played Foresee, found 2 awesome spells, often one of them a second Foresee, and grinded out your opponent. I went 4-0-2 into the top 8, then split and lost to my good friend Justin Richardson who was playing TwinBlade, who I had beaten in the Swiss in a match that could have gone either way at certain points. After this, I felt very confident in the deck. After all, if it could beat [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card]s and [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card]s, what problem would a format without those cards be?

I tested the deck a bit more before the Canadian Magic Tour, deciding that [Card]Burst Lightning[/Card] maindeck was better than [Card]Staggershock[/Card] against Mono Red, which I expected a good number of people to be playing, as well as better against Twin decks, because it allowed you to kill the Exarch with a couple of burn spells for much less mana than before, or to simply Burst with kicker. The mana base had been a bit skewed towards Mountains, but I felt that there would be more [Card]Spreading Seas[/Card], with people fearing Valakut and still clinging to their Blue control decks even with the banning. Since I had moved Burst Lightning to the maindeck, I decided after some test games that I wanted another weapon against Valakut, so I put 4 Spreading Seas in the sideboard, to either buy time against them while I set up my own combo and got enough counter-backup, or to answer Valakut itself, which sometimes just killed me. People have asked why there are no [Card]Tectonic Edge[/Card]s, and it is because a colourless land is almost not a land at all in this deck. You really maximize your mana each turn playing cantrips, and can’t afford to have a land that neither casts Preordain nor Lightning Bolt. Spreading Seas therefore also helped against those man-lands in matchups where I would be using Bursts and Bolts on other creatures.

So I played this at the CMT:

[Deck Title=Alexander Hayne – Pyromancer Ascension (CMT Edition)]
[Lands]
4 Halimar Depths
7 Island
8 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
[/Lands][Spells]
4 Burst Lightning
2 Call to Mind
3 Foresee
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Into the Roil
4 Jace Beleren
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
4 Preordain
4 Pyromancer Ascension
[/Spells][Sideboard]
4 Cancel
4 Combust
2 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Karn Liberated
4 Spreading Seas
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

I once again made top 8, despite punting my feature match against Andrew Norwaj. (Thanks to Marc-Andre Levesque for conceding to me in the last round when he couldn’t make top 8!) People seemed to be catching on to the deck and many were watching my matches and asking me for my list in an attempt to emulate me. Alas, most of them had no idea what they were doing, and following in an unfortunate circle that happens to most of us Magic players, were attributing the lack of their success with their bad luck. Instead of mulliganning properly, playing all their cantrips correctly and patiently, and playing the deck as a control deck that won via simple card advantage, they were making all the wrong moves, and getting punished for it. The deck is powerful, but unforgiving. You will lose because of misplays, and will continue to do so many, many times, because you will never play this deck perfectly. It isn’t possible.

Despite my high finish, I had definitely felt that the deck needed some changes after this tournament. [Card]Combust[/Card] had been awful, not only was it actually not really what I wanted to be doing in the Splinter Twin matchup (I wanted to out-draw them and have general, not SPECIFIC answers). The Karn had always been amazing, but the Sphinxes were often overkill and/or too slow. The mono red matchup had also gotten worse due to not having Staggershock anymore. I decided that most of these problems were solved by switching Combust for Spellskite. I had thought about swapping the Sphinxes for Calcite Snappers, but I worried they weren’t high enough impact. I also felt that I was sometimes getting Jace-flooded, where I would not be able to use Jace to dig for an essential answer that turn because I already had one, so I thought about reducing the number.

After the CMT, I went canoeing up North in the wilderness, 100km from the nearest human being, for 2 weeks. Returning sore, badly bitten, and sun-burnt (despite putting sun-screen on 4 times a day, allergy to sunlight is a b!7ch), I discovered that my deck and name were mentioned on the mothership’s Daily Deck. People just love [card]Pyromancer Ascension[/card], mainly, I believe, because the deck is so fun to play. I had received many messages from people wanting to know my latest changes, and get my thoughts on the deck. M12 was now legal, so the deck had gotten a large, obvious boon in [Card]Ponder[/Card].

Another card that caught my eye from the spoiler was [Card]Visions of Beyond[/Card]. While it would probably be best in a Mill deck, or a Pyro list with Archive Traps, it was still a cheap cantrip to cycle through your deck early game, turn on Pyro mid and late game did what [Card]Foresee[/Card] did, and pull you ahead when you had 20 cards in your graveyard in those situations where you had been just ‘treading water’ as it were. With 8 additional cantrips, you could shave some lands, so I went down to 20 lands. As a general rule, you can cut 1 land for each 2 cantrips you add, but I also cut 2 [Card]Halimar Depths[/Card], so I felt that going to 20 lands was correct. In hindsight, maybe even going to 19 or even 18 is right, because I found myself getting flooded a surprising amount of the time, but at the time 20 seemed about right. I also added more Islands in lieu of Mountains, because of the increased number of cantrips, as well as the fact that Spreading Seas had seen a decline in popularity. I also cut the Sphinxes since I was playing less land for another anti-aggro card that was also awesome against random control decks, and as a backup plan to Pyro post-board. Here is the list I played at the local GPT:

[Deck Title=Alexander Hayne – Pyromancer Ascension (GPT Edition)]
[Lands]
2 Halimar Depths
8 Island
6 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
[/Lands][Spells]
4 Burst Lightning
2 Call to Mind
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Into the Roil
2 Jace Beleren
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Visions of Beyond
[/Spells][Sideboard]
3 Calcite Snapper
4 Cancel
1 Karn Liberated
4 Spellskite
3 Spreading Seas
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

I definitely felt the decrease in the number of Jaces and the disappearance of [Card]Foresee[/Card], though Visions did help in the late game, in the mid-game I needed that way to pull ahead, and it was difficult at times. I made the top 8, going undefeated in Swiss and beat Sebastien Alarie playing Valakut despite some VERY scary Gaea’s Revenge in game 2. Something that we remarked during the games was that he can’t really play around [Card]Mana Leak[/Card] because once I get time to get a Pyro active, my Leaks are doubled and effectively become hard counters. Definitely one of the big boons of the deck.

I then was faced against Eric Gaudrealt playing Mono Red, and I lost because I had just gotten back from nature, and didn’t know that [Card]Manabarbs[/Card] was in the format. I boarded out all my [Card]Into the Roil[/Card]s, and had I known about [Card]Manabarbs[/Card], I would have kept some in. He took game 3 where I still would have won if I had drawn a [Card]Call to Mind[/Card] (at 4 life, then I could add red, put the [Card]Manabarbs[/Card] triggers on the stack, and burn him out in response). I also made some other play errors, such as believing I had cast [Card]Preordain[/Card] already one game when I had not, so I only got my Ascension online a turn later than I could have. I definitely deserved to lose that one.

What I learnt this time was that the sideboard was just about perfect. I would not change it at all at this point. I think playing Splinter Twin combo in the sideboard is a mistake. It takes up so much space, and people are ready for it anyways, with more disruption, [Card]Celestial Purge[/Card], [Card]Nature’s Claim[/Card], [Card]Memoricide[/Card] and [Card]Surgical Extraction[/Card]. Sometimes they even expect it, and keep removal spells in! I would much rather just become even more of a Control deck, and ignore their 1 for 1 or 1 for 0 hate. Sure, not having an Ascension active is annoying, but then you are just playing a normal, fair deck, which is what everyone else is playing (more so if they have random hoser cards in their deck instead of threats you need to answer). There is nothing funnier than playing turn 2 Ascension and having your opponent turn 4 [Card]Memoricide[/Card] you. Nice Card.

In regards to the maindeck, I will continue to tune and work on various different angles of attack, but I definitely feel the deck needs to either play a [Card]Foresee[/Card] or two, or go up to 4 Jaces. It needs a way to pull ahead on cards in the mid-game, where it just begins to stabilize. If I were to play in a tournament tomorrow, this is what I would play:

[Deck Title=Alexander Hayne – Pyromancer Ascension (Today’s Edition)]
[Lands]
2 Halimar Depths
7 Island
5 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
[/Lands][Spells]
2 Call to Mind
2 Foresee

4 Ponder

4 Visions of Beyond
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Into the Roil
3 Jace Beleren
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Mana Leak
4 Preordain
4 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Burst Lightning
[/Spells][Sideboard]
3 Calcite Snapper
4 Cancel
1 Karn Liberated
4 Spellskite
3 Spreading Seas
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

Into the Roil seems to have lost some value now that people are either playing cheap creatures that they can simply recast, or expensive creatures with powerful comes-into-play effects. It was best when bouncing planeswalkers or equipped creatures, neither of which are prevalent at the moment. However, it is necessary to answer certain problems such as [Card]Kor Firewalker[/Card], and to buy time against aggressive strategies. It also allows you to keep tapping out without fearing anything the opponent might do in most matchups (exceptions being Splinter Twin, where it is obviously very good).

In regards to the sideboard, I am very much against Sideboarding guides where they tell you exactly what to take out and bring in for each matchup, because one match, even against the exact same 75, is never the same. You need to react to how you think your opponent is going to play the game, and how you play the game, and sideboard accordingly. Cancel and Spreading Seas are obviously good against Valakut. Cancel and Spellskite are good against Twin. Spellskite and Snapper are good against Mono Red. Karn, Snapper, and Cancel are good against control. Against Control, Twin, and Valakut, I usually take out all my burn except for 1 Bolt or 1 of each, since they don’t have value outside of the combo. Against Mono Red, I usually take out Leaks, Jaces, and now that they are playing Manabarbs, I would take out Foresee as well. In a deck with so many cantrips and dig, you have the distinct advantage of basically always drawing your sideboard cards, often in multiples. So even if game 1 is hard in a matchup, the matchup in general may well be in your favour if the sideboard helps at all. I feel that Valakut is bad pre-board, Mono red is 50-50, Control is very favourable, and Twin is also not a great matchup, but I would always want to play Pyro in any matchup post-board. Often your opponent is just fighting the wrong battles, and that can never be a bad thing.

Would I recommend this deck to you, dear reader? If you want to pick it up and go win a tournament, probably not. If you are looking for a fun deck to play at FNM or a smaller local tourney, definitely! If you are looking for a fun, skill rewarding deck that is slightly under the radar, but that will require dedication and practice to master, and feel you are a fairly competent player, then I definitely recommend the deck. It may well help you grow as a player, and learn to Ascend.

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