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Main » Articles » Dissecting Dark Ascension, Part 1

Dissecting Dark Ascension, Part 1

Darwin Kastle
Posted on February 6, 2012
 Reddit

I’ve studied the official Wizards of the Coast spoiler and assembled my initial thoughts and reactions to cards. The following observations are what stood out to me and some Standard deck lists for you to consider.

Gather the Townsfolk – On its own merits, it’s weak in draft, but as a common, it gives you another reason to draft an Intangible Virtue deck. I think it’s a great card for Standard. Along with Midnight Haunting, Lingering Souls, and White Sun's Zenith or Increasing Devotion, a deck featuring both Honor of the Pure and Intangible Virtue is starting to look extremely powerful:

"Oh, the Humanity!"

I suspect that base-white decks using both Honor of the Pure and Intangible Virtue will be among the first decks most players are going to try out with the addition of Dark Ascension to Standard. The deck has excellent tempo, putting pressure on early with big Humans and finishing the job later with a swarm of giant tokens. In addition to having plenty of action at between 1 and 3 mana, the deck has some flashback, a couple expensive cards, and a Vault to keep things going in the late-game.

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad – When combined with Lingering Souls and Intangible Virtue, you have the makings of a strong Constructed deck. It will be a bomb in Draft of course, but given that I think most people won’t be drafting W/B, I imagine it will end up becoming a prized card in lots of sideboards.

Increasing Devotion – At 5 mana, it’s too expensive to be a four-of in most aggressive Constructed decks, but it has such crazy synergy with Champion of the Parish, Intangible Virtue, and Honor of the Pure that it’s worth including one or two copies at the top of the curve.

Vault of the Archangel – While it’s no Gavony Township, the Vault can still help a token deck stay powerful in the late-game much like the Township.

Lingering Souls – It’s a solid Draft card. Though it costs more than Gather the Townsfolk, and in a deck without black, it’s just a bad Midnight Haunting, the flying makes it worth it. Other than being a great fit for the aforementioned white token deck, it will also be a reason to consider playing a Spirit-based deck.

Drogskol Captain – I’m starting to imagine problems with W/U Spirits becoming over-drafted. One of the reasons I loved it so much in Innistrad is that it was always there for the taking, but that seems about to change . . . sigh. This card should also be a solid four-of in W/U Spirit decks and a reason to play them. I expect to see it in decks with Honor of the Pure and a lot of Spirit-token generation:

"That’s the Spirit!"

This deck is full of early creature pressure with a lot of evasion. By playing twenty-four cheap creatures, the deck will either win quickly or the graveyard will start filling for Moorland Haunt. Between the Haunts and flashback on Lingering Souls, the pressure doesn’t let up if the game goes long. While I’m not main-decking any removal, the Lawkeepers and Niblis should help keep potential blockers out of the way. I’m generally fine with trading creatures because of the Haunts and because many of my creatures are hard to block anyway.

Niblis of the Urn – I can’t wait to draft some more W/U Spirits. Cards like this will make Battleground Geist an even higher pick. The Niblis will also be good for clearing the way for your ground creatures in G/W or R/W. I really like the way it fits into a base-red Vampire deck. Rally the Peasants and Bloodcrazed Neonate should become higher picks. It also should make it into a Standard deck in part for its ability to clear the way for Geist of Saint Traft.

Loyal Cathar – Another good reason to consider making your G/W and W/U Draft decks base-white (in addition to Spectral Rider, Chapel Geist, and Fiend Hunter.) It will also be a great fit in mono-white Human decks in Standard. A great 2-drop with Champion of the Parish and Honor of the Pure, it’s recovery from Day of Judgment and Black Sun's Zenith makes it extra special.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben – While just solid in Draft, it will be another reason that control decks will have fits with aggressive, white creature decks. Increasing the cost of cards like Day of Judgment, Ponder, and Mana Leak could be huge.

Screeching Skaab – The perfect 2-drop for U/R, G/U, and U/B. Having a 2-power creature that mills you may even be good enough for Constructed, such as in a Burning Vengeance– or Splinterfright-style deck. It could also be good in an aggressive deck with Snapcaster Mages and Moorland Haunts.

Secrets of the Dead – I’m intrigued by this card both in Constructed and Limited, but mostly in Draft. It’s a bit like a Burning Vengeance for blue. You didn’t really want to play Burning Vengeance without blue, and now you don’t even have to play red. Furthermore, it feeds itself by helping you dig for more flashback cards.

Stormbound Geist – I have always favored base-white for my W/U Spirit decks in Draft, but this card is a really compelling reason to reconsider. A 2/2 flyer for 3 would be pretty solid, but the ability to come back as a 3/3 flyer makes it a first-pick in a Delver-style deck or almost any base-blue Draft deck. I even expect this common to see play in Constructed, especially in an aggressive W/U Spirit deck—or possibly even in mono-blue aggression:

"Wet Zombies"

I’ve long been a fan of mono-blue creature decks like Merfolk; they’re just often not really viable. One of the biggest strengths of this deck is the ability to frequently make Stitched Drake a turn-three play. The deck is both fast and filled with card advantage: Snapcaster, Looter, and Geist. Delver decks have been popular for a while now, and this will play much the same—but with some exciting upgrades.

Thought Scour – A very solid card for Draft, especially in many of the same decks that Screeching Skaab will be a good fit in. If graveyard decks become and/or stay popular in Constructed (which I think they will), it should definitely see some play there, too:

"Forbidden Rites"

This is much like a Solar Flare deck, but it’s more similar to a reanimator deck. In this environment that I expect to be full of tokens and small creatures, I was tempted to play four Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Obviously it’s a legend, so I decided to just play three copies and one Sphinx. If you already have an Elesh Norn in play, it’s obviously better to draw a Sphinx. If not, the Sphinx can help you find one while improving your board position. In the situations in which Elesh isn’t exciting, you’ve got four Titans and a Sphinx, which will all provide you with card advantage and a big body. Given that you can animate a Cenobite or you can Titan for an Oblivion Ring, you have an excellent selection of removal you can essentially search for just by milling yourself.

As you can see, I expect the package of Thought Scour and Screeching Skaab to be useful in a variety of powerful decks in the new format. Next time, I’ll look more at red and green in Dark Ascension and what sort of decks might be viable besides Spirits , Humans, and reanimator. So far, I’m excited about Dark Ascension both because it seems to have a good number of Constructed-worthy cards and because some of my favorite Draft archetypes are receiving cool new cards to use. I hope you’ll join me for Part 2 of my look at Dark Ascension.

TAGS articles, standard, constructed, review, deck lists, dark ascension, darwin kastle

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