pyromancer ascension r/u comet storm counter-manipulator (Modern)

this Modern deck combines Blue control and low-cost cards on a creatureless deck while also using Red mana acceleration to cast powerful burn spells and copy them with pyromancer ascension.

this is a powerful and fun casual deck or a weak local tournament deck. don't bother to play this against anyone with tarmogoyf, they spent more money than you so they win. unlike many burn decks, it usually works in multiplayer, too.

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purposes of different cards:

clockspinning speeds up your counter-heavy deck (braid of fire, pyromancer ascension, reality acid) and (potentially) gives card advantage.

izzet charm, lightning bolt, electrolyze, echoing truth, and reality acid provide creature hate. (echoing truth is powerful against creature decks.)

izzet charm and muddle the mixture provides spell hate - muddle the mixture often acts as a tutor for pyromancer ascension, braid of fire, or comet storm, and can also tutor for manamorphose, echoing truth, izzet charm, and (technically - consider pyromancer ascension activation, although i've never used this) itself.

reality acid and tectonic edge provide special hate - lands in particular, although reality acid also works on enchantments, artifacts, and planeswalkers. note the interaction of reality acid and echoing truth.

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statistics:

card advantage cards: clockspinning (buyback), electrolyze (draw), gitaxian probe (draw), izzet charm (draw/discard; unusual), muddle the mixture (tutor), reality acid w/ echoing truth (bounce and replay; only vaguely counts as card advantage).

creature removal (U/R sorry no doom blade): electrolyze, lightning bolt, comet storm, echoing truth, izzet charm.

spell hate: izzet charm, muddle the mixture, reality acid (permanents), echoing truth (permanents).

there aren't any cards in this deck that must be played for more than 3 mana, except sideboard cards (although you'll often play comet storm and clockspinning for more). it's a low-mana deck and can skimp on land a bit, filling holes with braid of fire and manamorphose, using a plethora of instants instead so as to be able to use the mana from braid of fire.

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special card notes:

echoing truth can be used on your own pyromancer ascensions in response to something like all is dust. it's certainly a setback, but it can help. especially if you don't have a muddle the mixture or an izzet charm.

reality acid can be targeted by echoing truth and by clockspinning.

manamorphose, when pyromancer ascension forks it, nets positive mana.

clockspinning can be played targeting a pyromancer ascension with no counters. if you have another one in the graveyard, a counter is added on cast, and then when it resolves, you can add the second counter.

you can't cast braid of fire, pyromancer ascension, or reality acid (or sowing salt, or leyline of punishment) using mana from braid of fire. it goes away before your main phase. everything else, however, is instant speed.

think of muddle the mixture primarily as a tutor. 7 of the card names in your deck have CMC 2. (for reference, that's everything but reality acid, electrolyze, clockspinning, and lightning bolt.) have fun.

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sideboard:

side twisted image in against players that love to play high-power, low-toughness creatures (or if you want to take out an important low-power high-toughness creature using twisted image and your direct damage - or by state-based for e.g. birds of paradise). it's a cheap way to make that 6/1 Ball Lightning into a CMC 3 half-a-shock (and it even cantrips!). remember to keep an eye on pyromancer ascension while doing this - forking twisted image is great since it becomes draw 2, but you don't want to double swap p/t on a single creature, because then it'd go back to normal. i'd probably side out reality acid against aggro unless i had a great faith in the heart of the cards (i don't).

side sowing salt in against urzatron, dark depths, and the like - it's a hard counter to both if you can get it out. urzatron loves to play CMC 7 things, so izzet charm remains useful. i'd consider siding out izzet charm against dark depths, though.

side blasphemous act in against midrange beatdown, non-haste creature combo decks, elves, myr, exalted, slivers, and a number of other weenie-based decks, as well as in multiplayer games. consider siding out reality acid against non-exalted weenies, electrolyze against non-weenies, and manamorphose against decks not running land hate (grab twisted image vs birds of paradise?).

side leyline of punishment in against white. i've played against felidar sovereign and i've played against an auriok replica and i've played against burrenton forge-tender and i've played against gideon jura and i've played against hallow. they all make you really sad. and this makes you not sad! although it makes white sad, but we're playing U/R, we don't care about white. consider siding out muddle the mixture (aww), manamorphose, reality acid, or electrolyze, depending on the deck they're playing.

you can side cryptic command if you want, instead of blasphemous act. side cryptic command in against a lot of stuff, like non-aggro beatdown. it's a great card, although you'll probably only play it once in this deck. the beatdown decks i play against are mostly aggro though, not midrange. i haven't played much against dark depths, but cryptic command might be useful. consider siding out electrolyze if they don't have many weenies (if they use Elf or Bird mana acceleration, yes they do...).

if you're buying these cards on a budget, note that cryptic command is the expensive card of the sideboard. the rest can be had for $0.20 (twisted image) to $2 (sowing salt).

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strategy:

generally, reasonably optimised yet still casual decks optimally win in 5 turns and practically in 6-7 (tournament decks a couple turns faster); this deck uses heavy control to delay loss for a couple extra turns before firing off a difficult-to-counter combo with comet storm and pyromancer ascension, using braid of fire with its X mana/multikicker cost. most of the spells are instants (except the enchantments and reality acid), so braid of fire works with them - you'll play a lot on the enemy turn. being creatureless, the enemy deck will probably have a number of wasted cards, furthering your card advantage.

more specifically, you'll want to get out an early pyromancer ascension or braid of fire - preferably two in any combination. eventually, you'll almost certainly need at least one pyromancer ascension.

use izzet charm to pick off early creature threats, and into the roil to delay enemy mana acceleration and bounce your enchantments. countering scary spells is a good idea. don't be afraid to tutor with muddle the mixture, those cards are very important.

after turn 4 or 5, you should have a braid of fire with a couple of counters or a pyromancer ascension with at least one (often even both cards or both counters). drop clockspinning at the end of the opponent's turn whenever you get a chance - you want an active pyromancer ascension as soon as possible. you should probably have used an izzet charm or two by now, or maybe a lightning bolt and a reality acid.

your finishing move comes in once you have a braid of fire with about 5-9 counters, a running pyromancer ascension, and a comet storm (or two pyromancer ascensions and significantly less braid of fire counters, or after some lightning bolt burn, or...). by turn 8, you should have 12 mana available to you; cast a comet storm for 10, copy it, deal 20 damage.

if things are going badly, a midgame comet storm and (especially) pyromancer ascension usually work well for clearing any beatdown board, and Timmy will feel sad when they keep seeing reality acid and echoing truth (separately or in combination) hitting any champion they have. the deck has sufficient spot removal (izzet charm is a workhorse, electrolyze can pick off multiple 1-toughness creatures, lightning bolt makes almost all early game creatures feel unsafe) that early game threats generally aren't too much of a challenge to handle while also building an enchantment base.

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future considerations:

leyline of punishment or everlasting torment?

quash or counterbore might be nice against decks with a single win condition. sowing salt targets non-spells, so it's still useful. we don't have black, so we can't get the other "exile all of the cards!!" spells.