MTG Salvation

Oh trust me, I understand that UR Post is a better deck and that the Kiln Fiend decks are things but unstable. I'm just trying to come up with something new that I would have fun with, while maintaining some level of competitiveness.

So I'm trying to brew up a UR counterburn style deck for Pauper. So far i have something like this:


lands

Looking for critique and sideboard help. I'm not that familiar with the format, I'm not sure if AK belongs in this deck, and I'm not sure if the Expanse is worth playing just for Brainstorm value and fixing.

There are some arguments for them being shocks, and there are some arguments being made against them being shocks that are wrong.

FOR:
1) It keeps the balance issue between promos figured out easily.
2) It helps newer players have a more flexible manabase, which in Limited(particularly Ravnica) can be hard to figure out.
3) It gets them out into the market immediately to begin stabilizing the price of them in Modern, making that entire format more accessible immediately.
4) It clearly introduces players new to the planes which guilds are which color, thereby providing instant insight into the sets flavor.

WRONG ARGUMENTS AGAINST:
'Shocks don't show the flavor'. Shocks clearly show the flavor of the guilds by letting you know what colors they are. They don't have guild names on them, but we are talking about them coming in the guild pack, so players will get the message.

'Price'. People obviously don't remember the rewards program Cryptic Commands.

'Shocks suck in limited'. I'm going to assume these are mostly new players, as anyone who played Ravnica limited in the past already knows how high a priority getting all the fixing was.

'The promo must be guild leaders'. These would be so hard to balance. Not saying they couldn't do it, but it would be far too easy to end up with something like the New Phyrexia/Mirroden packs(which were certainly not balanced).


I personally don't believe it will be shocks, but I'm not discounting the possibility.

@PWB

That really depends on what going on with the board. If i just cast Black Sun's Zenith last turn to sweep a RG aggro or WB tokens player and their turn was lackluster, I would easily tap out on turn 6 to slam Sorin.

Questions like 'Do I play this at point x/turn x' can't really be applied to UBx control decks right now. Every decision you make has to be based on way too many factors, which is why this deck, while one of the best, hasn't been the most popular. It's damn hard to play and every turn, even every opponents turn, is filled with decision points. To win an event you have to play high level magic for a number of round, that's much easier to do with Delver or Tokens or even Ramp decks like Conley's than it is to do with high interaction decks. This is why SCG events and GPs are often not pure control dominated, but aggressive decks that are occasionally backed up by controlling aspects. Pro Tours are often a tad different depending on the format, I expect lots of UBR or 4-5 CC at the Pro Tour this time around...but there will probably be far more people playing aggressive strategies than our kind of deck.

Kind of went on a bit of a rant there, my bad.

An appropriatly built Grixis deck is probably best, as it has tools against the aggressive decks and CA engines to win the long control mirrors. UB will also be solid. People will be hating out the tokens decks and Delver decks. Aggression is often good and popular the first set, but as the control decks get more options and flexibility they rise to the surface.

Sorin's Thirst is better than Wring Flesh. They kill about the same range of things yet Thirst gains you life, which I find much more relevant against the aggression decks than the ability to cast it on 1.

Quote from TheRogue

hand size doesn't mean **** in this format if the cards your drawing are not either threats or answers, hence why think twice is a terrible card. especially when arguing handsize.
this format it all comes down to what you draw, which is something ponder gives you some form of control over and a better the odds of, where as think twice does not!. hence ponder should always be run in place of think twice!

You analysis of the format is wrong. Always. Hand size is always relevant because it means more options.

While ponder does give you control, it isn't good when there are no shuffle effects you are playing. Ponder is only good in the capacity you are talking about if you have a way to get rid of the chaff cards.

Think Twice is an instant. This is highly relevant when you should be on the Drownyard plan instead of the 6 drop plan.

Against any deck that you would want dismember, which is the aggressive decks, you can't really afford to lose the life anymore. They are too fast, resilient to sweepers, and often pack Mana Leaks to prevent your big game swing or Shrines to just kill you. The 4 life is something you can't afford, and why wouldn't you just play more Doom Blades, Go for the Throats, or Victim of the Nights? Hard kills are much more important in a world of Solar Flare, Wolf Run, and aggressive decks.

Dismembers are bad against the current builds of aggressive decks because of their resiliency and speed, and bad against every other deck because it doesn't kill any control finisher, like Sun Titan or Sphinx. Dismembers time was here, but it has passed.

If you are looking for a way to styme early aggression I suggest Sorin's Thirst, although I have left my set in the board for red mostly. Thirst, Snapcaster Thirst really puts aggressive decks far behind.

Yeah, with my versions pretty much only way to 'win' being Drownyard, people definitly hate playing against me.

Quote from Sene

I'm 22, and I'm studying history (1st year), though I'd say my occupation is 70% student, 30% Magic player right now, but it goes up and down. I hope to work as a teacher when I'm done studying.

I started playing Magic almost 10 years ago (2002), and I have never had a real break from the game yet

Man, this made me feel really old. I remember the Millennium. I don't think a 23 year old should feel this aged.

I'm 23, and graduating college with a BS in Information Technology. I spend most of my off time training for MMA, and currently hold a 3-0 record in the sport. After college I plan to pursue a job as a military officer(ARMY), while continuing MMA. Future UFC Champion? One can dream.

I started playing magic at the beginning of Lorwyn block. My first deck was Faeries, then Jund, now UB.

Alot of people seem to not like this bill, but I for one am for it. Even as a hardcore gamer and internet junkie, I am pro some laws concerning the entity. Right now, the internet is pretty much this big lawless Wild West style thing when it comes to copyrights and intellectual property. There has to be some kind of rules and regulation, and punishment, for infringing the laws of IP and copyright.

To everyone that brings up the 'websites being responsible for what users post', thats true, but not ridiculous. Servers have a record of everything that gets uploaded, so it's not like the government is asking websites to be responsible for something they have no control over. It is relatively simple, if a tad taxing on resources, to have your server code scan uploaded data for potentially copyrighted images, files, or video and simply deny them posting access.

It's not asking them to be responsible for what users upload. It's asking them to be responsible for what they post to the actual website. Everything flows through the server code, and the server code can be controlled, so it is not out of the websites control what gets posted.

The methods of control might be alittle overbearing. I would prefer a grace period after a grievance is filed for the website to remove the file/image/etc voluntarily before they are just shut down. But I am also on the side that prefers my law to be TOO heavy handed, then scaled back to an appropriate level. People don't learn from too soft, but they certainly learn from too harsh.

Quote from SOMEBODY505

That reminds me. Does anyone have a consistant plan or cards for beating U/W humans? It seems that certain builds of that deck is near auot-loss for my deck. Maybe it's just me :/ I just can't beat 4 abolishers, moorland haunt, 4 doomed traveler...

Any help would be awesome

You have to auto kill the abolisher.

I don't know what else to say because I don't know your list(even if you posted here I havn't seen it). My gameplan is prevent any crusade effects from resolving and land a Curse of Death's Hold.

This is one of the prime examples of why some number of Curses is better than just Black Suns. Doomed Traveler and Midnight Haunting are cards, and Curse turns them into stone blanks, whereas Black Sun is actually quite weak against them.

Playing my list or Flores's, the gameplan is pretty much always the same. Kill all the things, drown them. The Blue Suns Zenith allow you to recover your hand from all the 1 for 1s you have to do and just bury them in your card advantage. Eventually you assemble double Curse or resolve a Karn and they die.

The Test Subject is sideboardable against Wolf-Run. I have never lost a game I cast it against them.

If you need 'straight up draw power', just play two Blue Sun's Zenith. That card is insanely powerful and draws countermagic to land a Karn or 6-drop(if you are still on that plan).