Ixalan Legend Helps Revive Dead Archetype in Modern!

Up to this point, it’s incredible just how impactful Wilds of Eldraine has been within a multitude of Constructed formats. Even uncommons like Picklock Prankster Picklock Prankster Flying, vigilance and Imodane’s Recruiter Imodane’s Recruiter When this creature enters, creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain haste until end of turn. helped shape the Pioneer metagame as it stands today. In Modern, we saw just how dominant Up the Beanstalk Up the Beanstalk When this enchantment enters and whenever you cast a spell with mana value 5 or greater, draw a card. was before it would inevitably get banned on December 4. Beyond Up the Beanstalk, cards like Agatha’s Soul Cauldron Agatha’s Soul Cauldron You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to activate abilities of creatures you control.
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have all activated abilities of all creature cards exiled with Agatha's Soul Cauldron.
{T}: Exile target card from a graveyard. When a creature card is exiled this way, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. continue to have a massive role in the format.

With the recent release of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, the question was, how would the power level of these new cards compare? Would The Lost Caverns of Ixalan live up to the hype and introduce multiple Constructed all-stars into Pioneer and Modern? Obviously, with the addition of the Discover combo variants in Pioneer that resulted in the quick banning of Geological Appraiser Geological Appraiser When this creature enters, if you cast it, discover 3. (Exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card with mana value 3 or less. Cast it without paying its mana cost or put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom in a random order.) , it’s clear that The Lost Caverns of Ixalan sparked immense change in Pioneer.

In Modern, we’ve seen some cards like Spelunking Spelunking When this enchantment enters, draw a card, then you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. If you put a Cave onto the battlefield this way, you gain 4 life.
Lands you control enter untapped. and Tishana’s Tidebinder Tishana’s Tidebinder Flash
When this creature enters, counter up to one target activated or triggered ability. If an ability of an artifact, creature, or planeswalker is countered this way, that permanent loses all abilities for as long as this creature remains on the battlefield. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.) help add some power to well-established archetypes. Both of these cards received some hype during spoiler season, so this isn’t too surprising. However, one card that largely went under the radar for Modern was Inti, Seneschal of the Sun Inti, Seneschal of the Sun Whenever you attack, you may discard a card. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature. It gains trample until end of turn.
Whenever you discard one or more cards, exile the top card of your library. You may play that card until your next end step. . Inti’s abilities are quite powerful in the right shell.

Perhaps no shell makes better use of Inti’s abilities than Jeskai Ascendancy Jeskai Ascendancy Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. Untap those creatures.
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card. combo. Jeskai Ascendancy combo had largely fallen out of favor in Modern but appears to be making a bit of a comeback, in part, thanks to the addition of Inti. Today, we are going to take a deeper look at this cool Jeskai Ascendancy build and what it has to offer. Let’s start by focusing on exactly how the combo works.

How the Combo Works

The Jeskai Ascendancy combo revolves around a few key cards. The first of these is Jeskai Ascendancy itself. With Jeskai Ascendancy in play, every non-Creature spell you play grows and untaps your Creatures and allows you to loot. The next piece of the puzzle is Emry, Lurker of the Loch Emry, Lurker of the Loch Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)
When Emry enters, mill four cards.
{T}: Choose target artifact card in your graveyard. You may cast that card this turn. (You still pay its costs. Timing rules still apply.) . Emry naturally provides a lot of value in a deck with lots of Artifacts, but thanks to Jeskai Ascendancy’s ability to untap Emry over and over, things can get out of hand quickly.

That’s where Mox Amber Mox Amber {T}: Add one mana of any color among legendary creatures and planeswalkers you control. comes into play. In order to execute the combo completely, you need access to two copies of Mox Amber. Notably, they can start in your graveyard, so you don’t actually have to draw two copies. Now, with Emry and Ascendancy in play, you can execute the following steps to generate infinite mana, infinitely large Creatures, and loot through your whole deck!

• Tap Emry, targeting Mox Amber in your graveyard
• Cast Mox Amber, triggering Ascendancy. This will untap Emry and grow your Creatures
• Float a mana with the Mox Amber in play, then use Emry to target and cast the other copy of Mox Amber in your graveyard, triggering Ascendancy once again
• Sacrifice the tapped Mox Amber via “legend rule”
• Repeat this process, casting Mox Amber over and over

Eventually, you will end up with an enormous copy of Emry to attack with. This combo can also be achieved with Mishra’s Bauble Mishra’s Bauble {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Look at the top card of target player's library. Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep. in place of Mox Amber, as you can sacrifice it and bring it back repeatedly. Obviously, you won’t net infinite mana this way, but if all you are looking for is a big attacker, this works all the same.

Agatha’s Soul Cauldron Combos

Importantly, this combo is also possible to execute with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron. If you remove Emry from your graveyard with Cauldron, putting a +1/+1 counter on a Creature you control, that Creature will gain Emry’s activated abilities. Plus, it is possible to generate infinite mana even if you don’t have Ascendancy in play using Cauldron. You need access to two copies of Mox Amber, as well as Rona, Herald of Invasion Rona, Herald of Invasion Whenever you cast a legendary spell, untap Rona.
{T}: Draw a card, then discard a card.
{5}{B/P}: Transform Rona. Activate only as a sorcery. ({B/P} can be paid with either {B} or 2 life.) and Cauldron.

If you exile Emry from your graveyard with Cauldron and put a +1/+1 counter on Rona, Rona now has Emry’s abilities. You can now cast Mox Amber from your graveyard with Rona. This will untap Rona since Mox Amber is legendary, allowing you to float mana, cast the other copy of Mox Amber, and repeat. It may be difficult to actually kill the opponent even with infinite mana if you don’t have Ascendancy, but it’s a nice option to have.

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Generating Tons of Value

What’s nice about the Jeskai Ascendancy shell is that it is capable of generating lots of value. This provides you with a good backup plan and allows you to win grindy games.

Beyond Mox Amber, Emry can bring back Mishra’s Bauble Mishra’s Bauble {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Look at the top card of target player's library. Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep. to help churn through your library. This is a great source of value even without Ascendancy in play and helps dig towards Ascendancy.

Similarly, The One Ring The One Ring Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring. is an amazing source of card advantage that can help you find Ascendancy, too. Rona, Herald of Invasion Rona, Herald of Invasion Whenever you cast a legendary spell, untap Rona.
{T}: Draw a card, then discard a card.
{5}{B/P}: Transform Rona. Activate only as a sorcery. ({B/P} can be paid with either {B} or 2 life.) is excellent in a deck with so many legends and Ascendancy in it. So much of the deck is built around abusing Ascendancy, so having all of these ways to dig for it is essential.

As strong as the value synergies have been in this shell, Inti helped take things to a whole new level. This is because Inti’s second ability is completely abusable in this deck. Every time you loot from either Rona or Ascendancy, Inti’s second ability triggers, letting you exile the top card of your library and play it until the end of the turn. Given how efficient most cards are in this deck, there’s a good chance you will get to play that card immediately.

One issue this deck has faced in the past is that, as good as Ascendancy and Rona can be, neither individually pull you ahead on cards. With Inti in the mix, though, it’s easy to play extra cards, all while churning through your library for combo pieces. Inti even helps you cross the finish line when you have the combo assembled, as it can give your enormous Emry Trample when it attacks to get through a stream of chump blockers.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

Friendship ended with Underworld Breach, now Inti is my new best friend. 🫱🫲

Won local modern event, while undefeated in swiss with this gorgeous pile of cards. Heavily inspired by @Colomino_mtg and @DackFayden07.

Being less gy-dependent is big. The OTK also comes in clutch. pic.twitter.com/ONHapkkZp1

— julioespina (@julioespina5) December 9, 2023

One of the strengths of this Jeskai Ascendancy deck is that you can win both via the combo or with traditional combat damage. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer Whenever Ragavan deals combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token and exile the top card of that player's library. Until end of turn, you may cast that card.
Dash {1}{R} (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.) is an aggressive Creature that can pull you far ahead if unchecked. In a deck full of cheap Artifacts, it’s probably not shocking to see a playset of Urza’s Saga Urza’s Saga (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I — This Saga gains "{T}: Add {C}."
II — This Saga gains "{2}, {T}: Create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with 'This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.'"
III — Search your library for an artifact card with mana cost {0} or {1}, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. in the mix. Urza’s Saga can make a bunch of Constructs that are fully capable of winning the game on their own. Inti is an aggressive Creature in its own right that can give Trample to your large Construct tokens.

Against aggressive Creature decks, cards such as Unholy Heat Unholy Heat Unholy Heat deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
Delirium — Unholy Heat deals 6 damage instead if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard. and Prismatic Ending Prismatic Ending Converge — Exile target nonland permanent if its mana value is less than or equal to the number of colors of mana spent to cast this spell. can help keep you alive while you set up your combo. In attrition-based matchups where sticking Emry can be tough, the combination of Inti and Ascendancy allows you to gain a large resource advantage. Inti also helps you play through graveyard hate which messes up your ability to combo with Emry. The addition of Inti really does help shore up some of the deck’s weaknesses.

Even still, this deck does have some notable weaknesses. Given how many slots are dedicated to the combo and card advantage, the deck’s interaction is a bit limited. Without access to counter magic in the main deck, you risk losing to faster combo decks like Amulet Titan or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Protection from Humans
Pay 1 life, Sacrifice another creature: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature and draw a card.
{B}{B}, Discard a card: Proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) combo. Even with access to Unholy Heat, quick starts from Hammer Time can be hard to beat, especially if backed up by Surge of Salvation Surge of Salvation You and permanents you control gain hexproof until end of turn. Prevent all damage that black and/or red sources would deal to creatures you control this turn. .

What’s nice is that this deck can have a fast clock of its own. Playing Emry turn one alongside Mox Amber and Mishra’s Bauble does happen some games, putting a ton of pressure on the opponent to remove it right away. Even if you can’t fully combo, Ascendancy’s ability to grow your Creatures in conjunction with cheap non-Creature spells can increase your clock. The fact that Inti helps both add to your early pressure as well as accrue card advantage over time is a huge boon for the deck. Could this archetype be ready for a breakout? Only time will tell.

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