Crovax, Ascendant Hero

Legendary Creature — Human

Other white creatures get +1/+1.

Nonwhite creatures get -1/-1.

Pay 2 life: Return Crovax, Ascendant Hero to its owner's hand.

Discussion (50)

DespairFaction on Combat as a Resource (Aurelia Warleader)

3 months ago

Hey its Commander Replay. I played about 7 games with the deck between your version and mine so ill share my analysis of everything. Ill start with the more general stuff, and then ill dig into card specifics.

First off the hate bear plan worked great against U/x combo decks. Had their combo lines covered early and easily. On the other hand I faced blood pod several times and that seems to be a pretty bad matchup. They have a ton of answers, and with Elesh Norn at the top end its just destroys this deck. It felt like they are doing the same thing but just way better cause of Gaea's cradle and green black tutors so that wasnt amazing. I had a chance to beat it in one game but missed some land drops and drew all the swords with the giant in play, and null rod down. Had i not drawn sinew and steel could have shot the null rod, reequipped jitte, and killed the kataki that followed. I also assume that any deck that is good against blood pod, will also be good against this list. Pyroclasm is real scary.

So the single biggest problem with this deck right now, and the single biggest opportunity for improvement is mana production. You are running very little fast mana and the land count was super low. This list was running 29 and your updated on moxfield was running 30. Both conceptually and in practice, this deck isn't going to win the game on 4 mana...its not flash hulk or consultation. So i think its begging for more lands. I was able to get my list to 31 lands but honestly I think 33 or 34 or would better. Again, this list isn't winning with 3 lands.

Following the land problem there is also not enough fast mana, and things to do with 1 mana. I noticed I was getting log jammed with 2 and 3 drops and was giving away a lot of precious time. And this sort of plays into mana curve issues as well, definitely need to trim back on the 4 drops. I was able to get down to 10, and as I mentioned Id still like to go lower.

So in short the curve was high, and the deck is mana hungry.

Two other smaller problems that I didn't elect to fix since they are matchup specific, but can be solved with a few card changes. Not a lot of removal for creatures. Again, soft to blood pod. Also no main deck pyroblast, REB and Angel's grace type stuff to prevent losing on the spot. Would like to see some answers main deck.

So here are the changes I made. I won't go through all the cuts, but ill mention the big ones. A few things were cut simply for deck space so I won't worry about those.

Out:

• Helm of the host - deck isn't producing enough mana to get anywhere close to equipping this. Plus a huge blow out to instant speed interaction.
• Stonehewer looks like the only possible path to victory with this.
• Ruination - a worse armageddon. switch to static orb. its more abuseable.
• Decree of Annhilation - high cost. but i think it could return due its hard to counter nature. went with static orb in place. the orb effects are more abusable IMO.
• Elspeth - not enough impact at 4
• Karn - bad card draw, slow. would rather just pay 1 to get some extra lands.
• Aurelia Exemplar - I cut this one, but it might be worth brining back. I may have cut too much damage from the deck.
• Angel of Jubilition - lot of good abilities, cut for deck slots. might return.
• coalition relic - turn this into fast mana.
• thrill of possibility - we can better than this.
• faithless looting - I'm not a huge fan, but i know people like it.
• glorybringer - this one may need to come back with better mana production. more damage and creature removal.

Must Adds: Ok here are the cards that I think are must adds for the deck to compete in the competitive space. - Land Tax - find your lands. card advantage.

• Tithe - find your lands. card advantage

• Springleaf Drum - this is fast mana in a deck like this.

• Chrome Mox fast mana, but card advantage problem. be sure to balance with draw.

• Curse of Opulence - more turn 1 plays and fast mana.

• Feast and Famine - bring this in from the Sb, its the best sword by a large margin. it also opens up combos with aggravated assault, and neheb.

• Mox Diamond - if you have the $$, MTGO, or proxies legal.

• Sword of the Animist - the ramp is very good, and the +1/+1 is relevant.

• Smothering Tithe - broken cards are broken.

Other fast mana worth considering:

• Mox Opal - rework to have metal craft fast

• Mox Amber - maybe. not reliable tho

• Simian Spirit Guide guide - one shot boost

• Lotus Petal - one shot boost

• Rite of Flame - one shot boost.

Card advantage tricks:

I still need to do some work in this area. Tectonic Giant needs more testing, but could consider Prophetic Flamespeaker instead. Its great with swords and you get both cards as opposed to always exiling one. no damage mode tho.

• Light Up the Stage i would strongly consider this is. should be 1 mana most of the time.
• Ignite the Future light up the stage #2.
• Commune with Lava this is very good with feast and famine (float first, untap then cast for like X=10) and dockside extortionist.
• Reforge the Soul strong consideration, but notion thief and narset are real cards.
• Instead of thrill of possibility i went with Daretti, Scrap Savant basically a repeatable thrill, that can bring back your equipments.
• Also I strongly considered Nahiri, the Harbinger and Ajani Vengeant for the 4 cmc slot.
• Palace Jailer strong consideration here
• Skullclampboth of us should probably be running

Win Conditions and Lock outs:

So this is where my deck was maybe a little thin, and Ill need to test a bit.

• As mentioned I took Helm out because I just don't think its ever going to happen on the current mana production (but maybe if we figure out some mana tricks) so instead I went for Neheb, the Eternal Sword of Feast and Famine and Aggravated Assault. This is a favorite of mine, all 3 pieces are great on their own and game winning when together.

• Winota, Joiner of Forces ridiculous with aurelia. Free creatures.

• Winter Orb and Static Orb with Blinkmoth Well ghirapur aethergrid Sword of Feast and Famine and either Neheb. One sided mana production. Use Goblin Engineer to find any of the artifact pieces of the this combo, as well as sword recursion or shenanigans with the orbs.

• Planar Chaos this is pet lock piece that I've been testing out. Haven't resolved it yet, but i can't imagine anyone is going to cast much into it.

• Ive been strongly considering Possibility Storm with all of the rule of law type effects as an additional source of lock. You can still cast your commander, and generally that should win the game.

• Helm of Possession is a fun trick I've used in some decks. good against decks where they really need their commander.

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

Given the absurd mana hunger of this deck I realized a massive difference in games with dockside extortionist and games without. That led me to thinking about more ways to get dockside extortionist. There are the 2 main recruiters, but I think goblin recruiter is worth looking at because you can put dockside on top, then kiki-jiki right beneath and copy it the following turn or anything else that might make sense (plus aurelia's untap)

testing out Crovax, Ascendant Hero this is to hose blood pod and green mana dorks. basically a second elesh norn. If the deck gets good at locking stuff or producing crazy mana, could look at Thalia's Lancers into Elesh Norn.

All of the 4 drops in my list require significant testing, feel free to cut any of them.

You should add Mikokoro to the main deck. Its solid.

Adriana, Captain of the Guard warrants testing. again for blood pod and other green decks...makes your team huge.

If mana production is good enough to warrant the return of Helm, also add Godo, Bandit Warlord for the additional tutoring and redundancy. Hammer of Nazahn is also pretty real. Could also consider cloud shift and ephemerate as protection and blink to further this combo.

Reanimation is needed. Could be a lot of things. Reveillark, Sword of Light and Shadow that one ajani, and Sevinne's Reclamation all come to mind.

king-saproling on Darien, King of Kjeldor Token/Lifegain EDH

3 months ago

You might like these: Daxos, Blessed by the Sun, Resplendent Mentor, Palace Jailer (flavor! plus being monarch incites opps to hit you. and it is a decent way draw cards for white), Throne of the High City, Coat of Arms, Aetherworks Marvel, Crovax, Ascendant Hero, Worn Powerstone (gets darien out T4), Coalition Relic, Goblin Lyre, Torture Chamber, Crashing Drawbridge

rdean14 on Card creation challenge

4 months ago

Unrelated: Ghost Council of Orzhova and Darien, King of Kjeldor are not Nobles, as they should be. I don't like that. Crovax, Ascendant Hero is done right.

king-saproling on Odric, The Master Tactician

10 months ago

Looks good especially considering the budget! You might like these: Valor in Akros , Mantle of Leadership , Hope Against Hope , Leonin Warleader , Daru Warchief , Requiem Angel , Crovax, Ascendant Hero , Crusade , Celestial Crusader , Paragon of New Dawns , Rhox Veteran , Accorder Paladin , Mask of Memory , Unbreakable Formation , Hero of Bladehold

king-saproling on Case of a disappointing

10 months ago

Oof that wording is unfortunate. At least he's aggressively costed! You might like these: Crovax, Ascendant Hero , Valor in Akros , Goldnight Commander , Archangel of Thune , Divine Visitation , Steelshaper's Gift , Jazal Goldmane , Dawn of Hope , Recruiter of the Guard , Weathered Wayfarer , Expedition Map , Vesuva , Thespian's Stage , Castle Ardenvale , Konda's Banner

rdean14 on Card creation challenge

1 year ago

Abasement

Sorcery

Take an extra turn after this one unless an opponent skips their next turn in order to counter this.

Crovax, Ascendant Hero or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite style white.

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Tywer on Brimaz, King of the Planes

1 year ago

Decided to keep Spear of Heliod so bye bye Honor of the Pure . also going to take out Ballyrush Banneret for Puresteel Paladin . Swapping out Lightning Greaves for Swiftfoot Boots , I feel the shroud would be more of a hindrance than benefit with this many equipments. Finally I'm removing Crovax, Ascendant Hero , it's an expensive anthem and I already have plenty of those. Going to replace it with Sword of Feast and Famine

Oloro_Magic on [Primer] - Ad Nauseam Combo [[Procellam Legit]]

1 year ago

Heretic_Dragoon:

Yes Keranos, God of Storms comes in against control matchups as well as most midrange type decks. The reason for this is that so-many decks are running Surgical Extraction (though the meta is shifting a little bit) so a plan B option in the sideboard felt like a necessary development (not being prepared for the multitude of Thoughtseize decks can be bad especially if you expect them to be out in force). Of the possible plan B's (most of which are listed in the primer above) Keranos, God of Storms is my personal favorite hence why he is included; this does not mean that he is the best option, that would probably be either Godhead of Awe or Dragonlord Dromoka right now looking at recent meta data, Crovax, Ascendant Hero may also have an outside chance if you are looking to play a plan B in the side. Honestly I'm thinking of making that slot a Boseiju, Who Shelters All as Dovin's Veto is a bit scary but I don't have enough data to gage how often I need to worry about that card. Otherwise the slot can be used for an extra Fatal Push / Path to Exile or as a flex spot.

As for Slaughter Pact I have always been a fan of it simply for its flexibility, it more reliably can answer certain problem cards such as Eidolon of Rhetoric than Fatal Push or it can buy a turn against decks like Amulet if things aren't going well. It also provides for some interesting scenarios with the math to win being free, most notably in the Humans matchup allowing us to beat a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben with 7 available mana, or remove something like Meddling Mage naming a combo piece for free and win at instant speed on time. Before putting in the plan B with Keranos, God of Storms I was actually on 2 Fatal Push and 1 Slaughter Pact and was happy with the results for a long time, when it came down to cutting one of those, I prioritized the Humans matchup where Slaughter Pact can be the difference, and at the same time allowing myself to have a removal spell for a quick Gurmag Angler or larger threat that push can't deal with as efficiently.