Ascender's Bane

Curse

This Curse enters your deck at the start of every run on Ascension 5 or higher. It is Unplayable and Eternal, so it can never be removed or transformed, and it is Ethereal, so if it is in your hand when your turn ends it exhausts and stays out for the rest of that combat. Its only effect is to take a draw slot. Run modifiers never generate it.

Type
Curse
Cost
Unplayable

When to take Ascender's Bane

There is nothing to pick here. A larger deck draws it less often, and exhaust payoff decks turn it into a small plus, so never spend shop removal chasing it out.

Cards that synergize with Ascender's Bane

Pagestorm
Power
1
Whenever you draw an Ethereal card, draw 1 card.
Pagestorm draws a card whenever you draw it.Whenever you draw an Ethereal card, draw 1 card.
Ashen Strike
Attack
1
Deal 6 damage.
Deals 3 additional damage for each card in your Exhaust Pile.
Ashen Strike counts it once it sits in the exhaust pile.Deal 6 damage.
Deals 3 additional damage for each card in your Exhaust Pile.
Feel No Pain
Power
1
Whenever a card is Exhausted, gain 3 Block.
Feel No Pain and Charon's Ashes trigger when it exhausts at end of turn.Whenever a card is Exhausted, gain 3 Block.
Dark Embrace
Power
2
Whenever a card is Exhausted,
draw 1 card.
Dark Embrace replaces the draw it cost.Whenever a card is Exhausted,
draw 1 card.

Relics that synergize with Ascender's Bane

Charon's Ashes
Feel No Pain and Charon's Ashes trigger when it exhausts at end of turn.Whenever you Exhaust a card, deal 3 damage to ALL enemies.

Rules and timing

Excluded from cards generated by run modifiers.

✦
Folly
Curse
Ethereal.
Innate.
Unplayable.
Eternal.
Bad Luck
Curse
Unplayable.
At the end of your turn, if this is in your Hand, lose 13 HP.
Eternal.
Clumsy
Curse
Ethereal.
Unplayable.
Curse of the Bell
Curse
Unplayable.
Eternal.
Greed
Curse
Unplayable.
Eternal.
Debt
Curse
Unplayable.
At the end of your turn, if this is in your Hand, lose 10 Gold.
Decay
Curse
Unplayable.
At the end of your turn, if this is in your Hand, take 2 damage.
Doubt
Curse
Unplayable.
At the end of your turn, if this is in your Hand, gain 1 Weak.

Changes by version

  1. 2 Jul 2026Bug fixEntropyPlaytest
    Fixed Entropy card being able to transform curses into Ascender's Bane
  2. 20 Nov 2025ArtInternal playtest
    Added portrait art
  3. 30 Oct 2025Bug fixInternal playtest
    Sealed Deck/Draft modifiers still add Ascender's Bane to deck
All 7 patch notes4 older
  1. 2 Oct 2025Bug fixInternal playtest
    Fixed Ascender's Bane card art
  2. 30 Jan 2025ArtInternal playtest
    A9 version of Ascender's Bane card now has beta art
  3. 12 Dec 2024AddedInternal playtest
    Added Ascension 9: Ancient's Scorn - "Ascender's Bane grows stronger."
  4. 17 Oct 2024ChangeInternal playtest
    Ascension 5 - Ascender's Bane

Internal playtest notes are from before the Early Access release. Names and numbers in them can differ from the game today.

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