from reddit:

I just 4-0'd a Legacy daily with a really cool, new deck. I wanted to share the deck, so I'm posting it here.

After seeing Wrapter's innovative Modern Ascendancy engine, I wanted to try applying that combo to Legacy. The Cruise/Cantrip legacy draw engine is absurd, but I haven't been happy with any of the creature suites that I've tried. So, I added the Ascendancy engine to the Cantrip Control shell (similar to the draw engines from URW Delver and BBD's Stoneblade list).

The result was Legacy Jeskai Ascendancy Control. I haven't tuned this yet -- I literally made this in five minutes. It was absurd, though. I felt like I was playing a broken Vintage deck, with the ability to play the control game until it was time to combo out.

// Win Condition A

4 Young Pyromancer



// Win Condition B

4 Jeskai Ascendancy

4 Fatestitcher

// I can't believe we get to do this

4 Treasure Cruise

4 Ponder

4 Brainstorm

4 Gitaxian Probe



// Control Elements

2 Spell Pierce

4 Force of Will

2 Pyroblast

3 Swords to Plowshares

2 Lightning Bolt



// Manabase

// The Conclaves are for combo'ing with Ascendancy

// This tech taken directly from Wrapter's Worlds deck

4 Flooded Strand

2 Arid Mesa

4 Scalding Tarn

2 Tundra

2 Volcanic Island

1 Island

1 Plains

3 Faerie Conclave



//Untuned Sideboard:

3 Grafdigger's Cage

1 Blue Elemental Blast

1 Pyroblast

3 Kor Firewalker

2 Wear/Tear

1 Flusterstorm

1 Electrickery

1 Council's Judgment

2 Meddling Mage

I beat BUG Delver, 2 Elves decks, and Carsten's UWR Control deck. The deck just felt really ahead -- I dropped one game, to the Elves deck when he used Cradle to hardcast two Behemoths in a row. I'm pretty excited about this deck. I thought you might get a kick out of it.
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[–]Rich_Shay[S] 147 points 1 day ago




We are accustomed to thinking of decks as being either aggro, combo, or control. This deck might look a little bit strange, because it does not neatly fall into one of those archetypes. Instead, this is a control-combo deck. Let me describe what I mean. I'm going to talk about the theory behind a deck such as this, and try to explain why you would want to put Jeskai Ascendancy and Fatestitcher in the same deck as Swords to Plowshares and Treasure Cruise.

You have seen Legacy Combo decks like Show and Tell and Ad Nauseam. Those decks are designed to win the game very quickly. Those decks use cantrips in order to assemble a game-winning combination of cards, such as Emrakul and Show and Tell. They use their disruption not to hobble the opponent, but rather to push through their own cards. Combo decks are powerful. However, they are also fragile and linear. They can execute their trick, but generally aren't in very good shape if their primary plan fails.

We have also seen decks built around gaining card advantage. These decks, such as Blue-Red Delver, use a heavy Cantrip engine like the combo decks. Unlike the combo decks, however, they are using their cantrips not to find a particular combination of cards, but instead to find whichever cards are suited to the situation at hand. Maybe they need a Force of Will, or maybe a Swords to Plowshares. Instead of using their disruptive elements to push through their own cards, they use their counters to hinder the opponent's game plan. In their current forms, these types of decks decks generally win the game by using the Attack step, with the occasional Lightning Bolt.

The problem with Blue-Red Delver decks, and similar decks, is that they aren't great at actually winning the game. They tend to get a massive tempo advantage, or a massive card advantage, and win through that. If an opponent manages to get ahead against a Delver deck, then that opponent is likely to win. In other words, the Delver decks aren't very good at winning without having already established an advantage on the board or in the hand.

Now that we've discussed the strengths and weaknesses of combo decks and Delver-style card-draw-heavy decks, we can consider the strengths of combining the archetypes. My deck list above is a hybrid of combo and control. Its primary job in life is to play a control game. It has Swords to Plowshares and Lightning Bolts. Its counters are more intended to halt the opponent than to advance its own agenda. The first thought isn't necessarily assembling a combo, but rather creating card advantage.

What separates this deck from a traditional card-draw-based deck, however, is that it contains a game-winning combo: Ascendancy and either Fatestitcher or Conclave. There will come a point in the game where you realize that the time is right to shift roles from the control role to the aggressive role. Then, you pull the trigger and end the game. Having this two-card combo means you can leverage your card advantage to win games more immediately than a Delver deck. It also means that you can win the game, even if you are way behind on cards.

Finally, it is worth noting that the specific card of Jeskai Ascendancy is extremely powerful. Like the rest of this deck, it has a Gemini quality that lets it function both in combo mode, and in fair mode. In its combo mode, it can end the game. In its fair mode, it gives you extra digging. It also has tremendous synergy with Young Pyromancer. Both cards reward you for casting Instant and Sorceries; and the Elemental tokens that you get with Young Pyromancer can quickly become large.

I hope you found that helpful.