I've started playing Magic
since I was 18 years old, around the time when Mirrodin reared its head in
Standard. The jump to semi-competitive play came shortly thereafter, as I
started grinding local events on a regular basis. I attended my first Grand Prix
in Athens, in October 2006. Up until today I've taken part in 12 premier
events, although Nagoya will mark my Pro Tour debut. My short resume most
notably includes a top 8 at Romanian Nationals 2009, as well as several PTQ top
8s in Germany and The Netherlands. For those interested in what goes on outside
my realm of Magic influence: I'm currently studying for a Master’s degree in
Astrophysics, as I find it one of the most interesting and rewarding branches
of science at the moment.
Virtual Pauper
New Phyrexia’s impact on
Limited and Constructed formats alike is gradually revealed, as more and more
tournament results confirm or dismiss players’ initial assessments.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the set has managed to shake up Standard and
reverberations can be felt all the way into Legacy. While events are in full
swing across the globe, Magic Online is once again late to the party and can
only offer an antiquated metagame at the moment. For this reason, I chose to
delve into an offbeat topic that will still be of interest to the community
once NPH hits the virtual shelves.
Pauper attempts to create a
wide format that is also accessible to anyone by restricting deck construction
to all common rarity cards ever released on Magic Online. If we look at the
distribution of cards in packs (11C/3U/1R) it becomes clear that this isn’t
much of a restriction at all. There are many options available for the aspiring
deckbuilder and even established decks can be efficiently tweaked by making use
of the huge card pool at each player's disposal. In addition, the fact that the
Pauper B&R list currently consists of a single card is testament to the
format's stability and health. Apart from placing restrictions on the cards
themselves, MODO can regulate the ebb and flow of things by introducing cards
at higher rarity than common. Examples include Hymn to Tourach and
Goblin Grenade, both released with silver expansion symbols in the
first Masters Edition although they were printed as commons on paper.
If I were to compare Pauper
to one of the other popular constructed formats, I would most associate it to
Legacy. While it is true that a great portion of the cards is available to
both, with notable inclusions such as Lotus Petal,
Brainstorm and Fireblast, I mostly refer to
similarities in metagame evolution. Unlike Standard, Pauper graces us with a
more evolved version of the rock-paper-scissors metagame, where combo decks
come in all shapes and sizes and tribal interactions work alongside stompy
strategies to provide the aggro element. Much like in Legacy, it is possible to
play a turn 2 kill Storm deck or a bunch or angry Goblins bent on board
domination.
In order to get a better
grip on the format itself, I suggest we review some of the decks that have put
up decent numbers in Daily and Premier Events in the past weeks. I will group
these together according to the general strategy, while also providing a few
key thoughts on each archetype in part. The lists included in the article are
either my own creations or taken from the event coverage webpage. I
shall give credit where credit is due and also make it easier to track the deck
back to its original event. If you follow the link, you'll see that Pauper
events fire at an equal rate to that of Standard and Block Constructed.
Although regular grinders would dabble into any format with a healthy prize
payout, the high turnouts do speak volumes for how interesting the format has
become over the years. Now, without further ado, the decks...
The constructed Pauper
format is in full bloom on Magic Online. I'll take you through a rundown of the
most popular decks at the moment, be they aggro, control or combo complete with
a live 2 man event. For those who haven't tried slinging commons yet, this is a
recipe that should get your juices flowing.
True to their name and
nature, Goblins are capable of executing quick kills even without their Legacy
flagships, namely Piledriver and Lackey. With a curve that tops out at two and
sporting 30 creatures, this deck takes advantage of the relative lack of cheap
sweepers and floods the board in the first turns of the game. The playset of
Raiders and Sledders are ready to turn expendable dorks into cannon fodder in
case they happen to be blocked in combat or otherwise killed. Moreover,
Goblin Bushwhacker takes the ‘strength in numbers’ and does a
decent Glorious Anthem impression for one turn. I’ll take the
liberty of saying that Bushwhacker-fueled starts are the most powerful thing
the deck can do and without a constant stream of spot removal leading up to the
crucial turn, the opponent is likely to succumb on the spot.
I’ve mentioned mass
removal, or its lack of therefore, as the main reason why a strategy like this
is viable. The common rarity doesn’t offer a lot in the way of sweepers, but
given the conditions it is important for the Goblin pilot to be aware of any
dangers to its army. White decks are constrained to Holy Light,
which they can use to turn the tide of combat in their favor. Goblin Sledders can help keep part of the team alive and some of the larger
dudes are likely to survive on their own, but under the proper setup the spell
can clear the board. A similar, albeit less powerful effect can be found in
black. Shrivel doesn’t feature the boost benefit and fails to
discriminate between your own or the opponent’s creatures, making it more
difficult to wield effectively. Crypt Rats is probably the default
option for black when dealing with large hostile hordes. Lastly, red gets its
own 1 toughness sweeper version (see Seismic Shudder) and adds
Martyr of Ashes to the tally for dedicated mono-colored decks.
What Goblins lacks in
disruption it makes up for in pure speed. Even when confronted with removal heavy
matchups, the deck can rely on a consistent burn package in order to finish the
job. While the addition of non-creature spells may contribute to diluting the
overall synergy, the versatility of Bolt effects and the raw power of
Fireblast make them maindeck contenders.
The constructed Pauper
format is in full bloom on Magic Online. I'll take you through a rundown of the
most popular decks at the moment, be they aggro, control or combo complete with
a live 2 man event. For those who haven't tried slinging commons yet, this is a
recipe that should get your juices flowing.
Eschewing tribal synergies
in favor of more efficient individual threats, mono green attempts to overpower
the opponent’s early defenses rather than overwhelm them with a critical number
of weenies. Oftentimes, a single unanswered creature is enough to seal the
game, after a flurry of pump spells. Stompy was fielding Rogue Elephants and Quirion Rangers to great effect ever since 1997, after the release of Mirage
block. While the latter is still used in order to get more mileage out of the
low land count, the elephant was dropped in favor of evasive threats. In the
presence of 20 power-boosting spells being unblockable or having trample is
more important than greater raw stats.
I am a huge fan of Silhana Ledgewalker ever since Ravnica Block Constructed, when attaching a Moldervine Cloak on the third turn of the game represented a very fast clock. While it is
true that the rest of the team is less resilient than the trollshroud elf, it
is necessary to answer each one in particular, as one unblocked attacker is
enough to spell doom for the opponent. Unlike the matchup against Goblins,
where strength came in numbers, a single Nettle Sentinel can deal
upward of 8 damage in one swing. In this respect, Mono Green Stompy behaves
much like a burn deck, one that can only cast its direct damage in combat.
With the addition of Phyrexian
mana, the list of options for the deck has increased. Porcelain Legionnaire provides an above average power-to-cost ratio, but as I
mentioned in the case of the 3/3 elephant, evasion is more important to the
deck than raw stats. With this being said, Vault Skirge seems like
an efficient way of sneaking through damage and the lifelink couples well with
pump spells when racing rival aggressive strategies. Time will tell if the
increased liability of being an artifact will keep it from appearing in future
decklists.
All in all, the two
beatdown decks showcased here represent two opposite ends of the aggro
spectrum, each with its own general strengths and weaknesses. While the Goblin
game plan to overwhelm the opponent's defenses and resources leaves them
vulnerable to sweepers, Stompy is able to field better individual threats. As
such, it is harder for the red deck to dodge sweeper effects as most of its
attacking force relies on a continuous stream of creatures. On the other hand,
spot removal is less effective versus Goblins, unless it comes in large
quantities. The same cannot be said about Stompy whose reliance of pump spells
makes it vulnerable to various x-for-1 situations. Irrespective of
this dilemma however, it is true that both decks display great speed and a
high degree of consistency, characteristic of mono colored decks. Fans of
aggressive builds will definitely enjoy trying them out.
The constructed Pauper
format is in full bloom on Magic Online. I'll take you through a rundown of the
most popular decks at the moment, be they aggro, control or combo complete with
a live 2 man event. For those who haven't tried slinging commons yet, this is a
recipe that should get your juices flowing.
With the release of Urza’s
Prophecy on Magic Online came the trademark collection of ‘free’ spells, cards
that allow you to untap a number of lands equal to their converted mana cost as
they resolve. This deck tries to take the tempo advantage to the extreme by
adding the Ravnica karoos to the mix. Playing a Cloud of Faeries
with an Azorius Chancery on the board nets you one mana. Playing
Snap on your own faerie then adds one more mana to your pool and
allows you to continue the process, often ending in a large Temporal
Isolation that clears the board. The singleton Mnemonic Wall functions as a lock by recycling the Isolation. From then on, it is
possible to replay the latter with a storm count of 2 each turn, targeting the
land your opponent just played and your own wall.
While the deck is quite
resistant to hand disruption and can withstand a sizable amount of
Duress effects, it does have trouble closing games. While leaving
the other player with an empty board puts you firmly in command, actually
dealing 20 points of damage with Mulldrifter and Nightscape Familiar takes some time. In some cases, this leaves the opponent enough
time to get back into the game, either by redeploying or by drawing that lethal
burn spell. Furthermore, shortening the round clock to 25 minutes per match
also acts as a constraint for Frantic Storm. Going through the motions while
comboing out does take some time and in some cases going to game three may
cause you to rush things past the point of careful play.
The impressive numbers the
archetype has been putting up lately is testament to its viability. While the
reason why Frantic Search is on the Legacy ban list is probably
High Tide, the Pauper community has found a way to break it even
in the absence of the powerful instant. Joined by the more traditional
Empty the Warrens storm deck, this forms the basis of non-interactive
combos in the current metagame and the natural predator of disruption light
beatdown decks. If you are a fan of challenging play decisions or just enjoy
goldfishing to great extent, this may be the deck for you.
The constructed Pauper
format is in full bloom on Magic Online. I'll take you through a rundown of the
most popular decks at the moment, be they aggro, control or combo complete with
a live 2 man event. For those who haven't tried slinging commons yet, this is a
recipe that should get your juices flowing.
The way this deck plays out
is reminiscent of Rock archetypes, combining hand disruption and one-for-one
removal with multi-purpose threats. Moreover, having sweepers available allows
Mono Black to mimic a veritable control game plan, by stockpiling threats and
spot removal while luring the opponent into overextending. While most of the
deck's creatures benefit from a comes into play effect, Unearth
plays the double part of upping the deck's threat count and triggering various
abilities for a second time. With this in mind, the card is easily
distinguished as the most versatile spell in the deck. It cycles early on in
order to dig for more disruption, while later in the game it has access to a
graveyard full of reanimation targets. Crypt Rats recursion is
probably the most unfair play the archetype is capable of, especially when
facing creature-based aggressive strategies, and it is for this reason that I
think fielding a full playset of both is the correct choice in the current
metagame.
Regarding the specific card
choices, I kept untargeted discard effects to a minimum in the above build,
instead relying on more removal. I've seen builds that make use of Augur of Skulls as Ravenous Rats 5 to 8, but in the most common scenario the
Rats fare better than their Future Sight cousin. More often than not, the
delayed trigger provides enough time for your opponent to deal with the threat
of discarding two cards by expending a single removal spell. At this point,
both cards have plucked a card from the opposing grip, yet only one of them has
lived to tell the tale. It is true that the potential of the Augur is greater,
especially against combo decks. However, I consider this angle to be inefficient
on average, as most decks are designed to work through mild hand disruption.
The same argument goes for Wrench Mind, an immediate 'discard 2'
effect that sometimes turns into a joke against Affinity (n.b. Affinity unloads
its hand so fast that actually playing discard against them leads to a lot of
dead cards past turn 3). Lastly, I should mention that Augur of
Skulls doesn't even provide a good blocker for Kiln Fiend
in the neo-Burn decks of today. While the regeneration clause will keep the
black creature alive through lethal damage, one direct damage spell aimed at
its frail frame will tap it for the whole duration of combat.
The way the sideboard is
shaped at the moment allows to swap between the anti-aggro measures to specific
combo hate. Choking Sands works well in tandem with
Befoul in an attempt to disrupt the storm decks' manabases. Frantic Search is less frightening when it fails to net a profit in mana and
the six land destruction spells are there to achieve just that. The other odd
choice in the board is represented by the 3 copies of Echoing Decay. While it is a decent point removal spell against the majority of
aggro decks out there, its primary role is that of nullifying Empty the Warrens. Even through an arbitrarily large storm count holding 2 mana up
makes it possible to stave off the beatings of angry goblin tokens throughout.
To get a better feel of how
matches at the helm of Mono Black Rats play out, I've recorded some short
videos of a Pauper 2-man queue on Magic Online. It is important to note that
the deck employs different strategies across different games, according to what
the opponent is playing and that this match in particular depicts a limited
number of situations. While I was initially planning on doing a full Daily
Event, I figured that this was a better way to get accustomed to the
intricacies of video capture and live commentary, so that my next attempts will
yield better results.
While the match wasn't
overly exciting, it served its purpose of illustrating the basic modus operandi
of Mono Black. Knowing when to turn the tables and go on the offensive is
especially important here, due to the relatively narrow window in which the
opponent is taken off balance by the flurry of discard and removal spells.
Corrupt packs quite a punch and in conjunction with one or more
Crypt Rats activations, it represents the most common (see what I
did there?) method of ending games.
As this was my first video,
I appreciate all the comments and critics you can contribute with. I promise
that future events will be both longer and of better quality, both in terms of
content as well as sound and video implementation. In addition, if you have any
suggestions regarding video topics that you would like to see me cover, feel
free to post them in the comments section below.
Bonus Section
The first local events of
the new PTQ season debut this week and I plan on being there from the start.
While I haven't dabbled into Standard quite as much as I would have hoped, I do
have a pretty sweet list that I'm willing to try out this weekend. Since you've
been such good readers and managed to bear with me until the end of this
article, you've earned a sneak peek at my current decklist.
The constructed Pauper
format is in full bloom on Magic Online. I'll take you through a rundown of the
most popular decks at the moment, be they aggro, control or combo complete with
a live 2 man event. For those who haven't tried slinging commons yet, this is a
recipe that should get your juices flowing.
This deck combines all the
best 2-drops the format has available in one neat little package. Swapping blue
for green does take Jace 2.0 off the list of available options, but gives me
access to a Fauna Shaman toolbox, as well as explosive
Cobra-fueled opening hands. Turn 3 Baneslayer or Gideon anyone? If you're
curious to see how the deck fared in its first test, tune in next month when I
share my impressions of New Phyrexia Standard.
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Nice article. Good to see pauper reviewed again as always. I have to say its a shame that its only played online. I mean other than you friends getting together to mess around and make an actually deck for fun.
But I guess it does give me a reason to play MTGO XD.
I agree with Kixar - pauper is awesome. I also like the look of your w/g stoneforge/vengevine deck. It is almost sad to see Stirring wildwood, the red-headed stepchild of manlands in a decklist.
its nice to finally get some mtgo vids on here
Thanks for covering one of my Pet formats. I think people really underestimate the Power of all-commons.
Recently, my motivation for pauper decreased by a fair bit, because of my inability to find an appropriate Solution against twiddlestorm. The deck just feels miles ahead.
I think you could have mentioned TPPS and Post As well, I think they are reasonable choices at the moment.
Cheers, dom