Since Ascendant Rewards is being discontinued, we could put the freed-up rewards to other uses. For example, we could host small weekly events—like short and snappy sit-and-gos or smaller tournaments. @ruby skiff is already leading the way and showing that people really do enjoy interacting with one another.
Alternatively, I’d still love to see Survival Mode with rewards. That wouldn’t be a grind like in Gauntlet Leaderboard (where skill is pretty much irrelevant—rank 1 is simply the person who plays the most), but rather the best team, combining skill and knowledge, would come out on top.