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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Pyromancer Ascension
Image from Wizards.com

Pyromancer’s Ascension
- Zendikar

Reviewed Aug. 25, 2016

Constructed: 4.25
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 1.75
Multiplayer: 3.88
Commander [EDH]: 4

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 - Horrible  3 - Average.  5 - Awesome

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Card of the Day Reviews 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Pyromancer Ascension
 
Of all the thousands of cards we've gotten in the past few years, this is the one I wish there were a way to go back and rewrite. As regular readers will recall, I mostly play singleton formats, and this is an amazing card that does basically nothing in such settings. Come to think of it, it does only slightly more in a deck that isn't completely built around it, and it depends very strongly on what sort of instant and sorcery cards are available (though now that it belongs strongly to Modern, Legacy, and casual, that's the least of our problems!). 
 
Actually, come to think of it, there's just one other tweak I'd make to this card. There was a story that early designs for the Ascensions had a World of Warcraft-esque clause about "Your opponents must refer to you as the [Luminarch/Archmage/Bloodchief/Pyromancer/Beastmaster]". I really wish that could have survived - it would have made Zendikar Standard a very different sort of game!
 
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 2/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5
James H.
Pyromancer's Ascension (8/25)
 
If you see a Pryomancer's Ascension, run. It rarely means anything good.
 
Part of the Ascension grouping of cards in the original Zendikar, the Ascension has shown itself to be the preferred tool of degenerate decks, like Storm and related entities. It's easy to turbo through your deck to load up the graveyard with cheap cantrips and looting spells (like Thought Scour and Faithless Looting), and a turned-on Pyromancer's Ascension is pretty much "game over" for an unprepared deck. (This is why Relic of Progenitus and Rest in Peace are good sideboard cards in Modern.)
 
As the linchpin to a potentially powerful deck, Pyromancer's Ascension is a card to always keep your eyes open for. If you see one, try to kill it. You'll regret not doing so.
 
Constructed: 4.5 
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 1.5
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander: 4
 

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