Last weekend Harlan Firer took down SCG Richmond 5k with a Jeskai Ascendancy combo deck and you might be thinking, what’s so great about that?
Well, what I think is really cool is that it is yet another different take on Jeskai Ascendancy and this is by now, a fourth, (or possibly fifth, sixth, seventh) take on it. Sure, there might be some of you who’d rather share a cab with Rolf Harris than play against combo. And I’m actually on the same boat. I too hate playing against combo. Last time my opponent cracked an Altar of the Brood I almost cried.
But watching the coverage of Harlan’s matches made me pay attention. I was actually enjoying watching the games. They were interesting, interactive, but most importantly – the deck oozed with raw power. It was versatile, technical and incredibly adaptive to whatever your opponent was playing – all key components of 75 cards I’d love to sleeve up.
Whilst it’s not a deck that I would call budget, another upside is that it’s still reasonably affordable and aside from a couple of Dig Through Time, Goblin Rabblemaster, Flooded Strand, and Mana Confluence most of the cards are either affordable rares or uncommons and commons you might have picked up whilst drafting (OK so there’s some Temples and Painlands too but the decks that don’t run these are few and far in-between).
I think that Round 3 was possibly winnable but miscalculating the necessary blockers cost me game one. Otherwise I think these videos are great proof that you don’t even need the combo (or Jeskai Ascendancy at all) to win and I don’t think this deck relies on drawing it.
After playing some more games I think I definitely have a better grasp on the sideboard but swapping cards is still very tricky. And playing the deck was a blast. If you’re thinking of sleeving this up for FNM then I think it’s a great choice and I hope you have fun with it.
Sideboard:
| (15) 4 Mantis Rider 2 Oppressive Rays 3 Gods Willing 3 Magma Spray 2 Negate 1 Glare of Heresy |
Community Question: Do you remember the first MTG combo deck you ever made? What was it?
