I agree magic was more fun when i was discovering it, but the game itself probably is better now: more balanced, more combat based. You could stabilish a casual format for your group so that no online strategy cannot be applied (something like alternative drafts, tribal wars (Google), some format based on intro packs and a limitation in the change of cards...), or you could Just play no format at all and Just agree it is casual magic.
Could be tested. I think it probably wouldn't be worth a cars, but i was wrong so many times already xD... I'll test with 2 of them later, as redundant ones wouldnt be good in this deck.
I don't believe graveyard removal is a big deal: There are not many grave decks. In this build, for example, I run 1 grave hate in the sb just because i can tutor for it and it makes a matchup that would otherwise be very bad into a favorable one. galvanic blasts are a possibility, but would require more testing: I believe it would be non-metalcrefted most times, but maybe it is worth it. Firebolt is inneficient in this shell, because i already have enough CA and i dont need an overcosted burn spell: I'd rather play good old bolt. Same applies to archeomancer and rolling thunder. Those artifacts can't be removed because they are core to the deck's engine and mana fixing. Syndic could be replaced by something, as long as it is something that contributes to our early game: i like it because it is playable early against beatdown, but has big effect in the lategame.
So, my thought so far is that i dont need shrapnel blast or stoke the flames. I'd go with Thopter, raptor, engineer, illusory angel, and ensoul artifact, all blue, with citadel. with this package, you have 3 fitting high profile threats (angel, engineer, ensoul). I agree with anyone using 4 doom engines since it is not a bad card without engineer. as for the middle game, I like the idea of bident (3 at the most) and trading post sure will be awesome, cycling those thopters, returning doom engine, gaining life. add prophetic prism to work with post and ensoul and i actually believe you have a great monoblue artifacts deck, with room for some counterspells for those games in which you land and early huge dude and wants just to hold your position, and some room for bounce too. I know splashing in this list, especially because of prism, is fairly easy, but i'd wait for a really good reason to do so, or else we can just play more colorless lands (mutavaults, gain 2 life lands).
Even if it's a "bad" Divination, it's still something red can use.
Yeah, I have no problem with this. It's good for Red and better for the game than Harmonize.
I like the design, and i think it will be goos in storm, but it is not true thar a dad divination would be good for red: most red decks (in standard) can't afford to lose too much tempo, and that is the reason why no one used tezzeret's gambit in red, even if come creatures had +1/+1 counters in red decks those times. Also, in normal decks, this will somehow card advantage only by turn 4, with luck: 3 lands in play, play a land and a shock from that. Very unimpressive.
as for the lands, i'd trade for shocks or even buy'em cause eventually they will rise in price. if you don't feel like doing so, use a mix of guildgates and Underground river, or drowned catacombs if price is good for you.
go on and test it more please, but i have been so underwhelmed by my own ajanis that i started my list with 2, cut to 1, then 0. obzedat is just the best against control, much harder to remove than ajani, so if this is your concern keep the ghost.
Hey guys! I want to ask to experienced GP players if the promos supplies are sufficient for all players to have a participation promo... I ask this because I want to play GP São Paulo, but the format is team sealed and my friends are not willing to pay the entry value if they don't get a promo Batterskull.
Counter is placed before damage, becuase the life trigger occurs when you declare attack, making you gain life and triggering pridemate's ability. Block and damage phases occur after attack, hence the counter is placed before damage.
Go to decklist database. I agree with most of things Dies_to_Doom_Blade quoted, except for wall of omens. Defense is never bad, and it works with roon so I like it. I'd add that I like wrath effects in Roon, but not false prophet because you don't have full control of the timing.
Hey guys! This topic is about a deck i have been trying on cockatrice for a long time. Now I'm safe enough to day this deck can work, although I'm not entirely sure of how good it is because, while my results have been good, I'm playing with the same deck for several months so my good results are partially because I know this deck inside out.
Many years later, I decided to actually play pauper and started with this list. I realized I wanted more cheap removal for decks like the omnipresent Delver U and goblins, and upped the Pyrite Spellbomb to 4, while cutting black entirely because blind hunter was not entirely needed and searching and paying for the double black in Executioner's Capsule was really clunky. Also, I took out all the karoo lands because I figured I'd rather have tempo since there were so many CA engines in the list. Following those same lines, I realized I did not need so many spellbombs since they were mostly tutor targets and Leonin Squire Targets, so, inpired by the philosophy of Bloodbraid elf jund the one day reigned in modern, this deck became a pile of CA in Squire, Mage and Mulldrifter, and some goodstuff removal like Lightning bolt and journey to nowhere / flame slash as a concession to 4/4 creatures the affinity deck plays. Also, I included Sindic of Tithes in the hopes that in a deck with so many cantrips it would be a real machine (like Tarmogoyf, getting tempo and no CA).
Court Homunculus: Helps agressive starts against control, but is mostly to keep the threats coming. 2 seems like the minimum.
Syndic of Tithes: Just a lightning rod against many decks, and not always so relevant. recently, I'm in doubt if it is worth keeping 4, but honestly, he's just the best against decks that can't either remove him or rush you hard. Against White weenie, he's the king, and against Delver U I believe he's gonna be good, though, on cockatrice, I did not find many people using this deck, even though it is recognized as the best right now.
Leonin Squire: After playing with this list a lot, I think he's just bettet than Trinket Mage. Card advantage, a lot of times gives you options... and cheap body, which is very important. 2/2 trades with most things in pauper. Must play 4.
Kor Skyfisher: This is another uncertainty in the list. However, observe that it can halt aggro openings being played by 2 mana bouncing land/spellbomb/chromatic stuff, while in late game he's very expensive CA. It is a multiporpose card, though not awesome in either mode.
Trinket Mage: CA that happens to find what you need. The reason the deck exists.
Sanctum Gargoyle: More Recursion, flying, tough body. Came from the realization that a 2/3 flier is darn good in pauper. I'm unsure of the number, but I believe there is a number of those to be run, and against monoblack drawing 2 of those feels very good.
Mulldrifter: It seems to make no sense but is good to the jund-ish game plan. I believe 2 or more is the right thing. I need your opinion on how this card fares against Mono U, since I have few exeprience against it. Been seriously considering upping to 3.
Chromatic Star and Chromatic Sphere: They make your mana actually good and have the plus side of turning on those Leonin Squires and Sanctum Gargoyles. I have been pretty happy with seven of those combined, but this is the kind of thing that is hard to get right.
Pyrite Spellbomb: Removal. Tutorable by Trinket Mage. Recurrable by Leonin Squire. Absolutely needed, and 3 is probably the right number: while the second one is usually unimpressive (after you have 1 you'd rather have bolt), it can be cycled, and it is good to have them when you don't draw trinket mages. If I had to change this number, it would be for more.
Sunbeam Spellbomb: Almost always to avoid burn when you're already in control. Can be cycled though, and to me 1 slot is a small price to pay for having a HUGE improvement against burn and some against many other decks. Running anything different than exactly 1 seems wrong.
AEther Spellbomb: Like sunbeam, it will be a cycler most times you draw it naturally. However, it is a good tutor option, for example, in grindy matchups where you want to bounce your mulldrifter or just have it on the field protectiong your CA guys of removal. Also, bounces Ulamog's crusher, which I haven't seens much, but when it heppens it is a big deal. Again, 1 seems to be right.
Bonesplitter: I like having one to use as Van Lunen taught me: Trading with 4/4 guys. Sometimes useful in matches when your only hope is racing, like GW auras.
Lightning Bolt: I really need more insight of the metagame. I know what kills what, but which decks are really being the most played? I have set for now on 3 bolts, not the best removal but can be thrown do the face in the matchups in which we are the agressive part.
Flame Slash: Removes everything I can remember now, expect for Ulamog's Crusher. Not Present in bigger numbers because white is more present than red in the list, though that might be wrong.
Journey to nowhere: Is here because it is easier to cast in this build than flame slash. Sometimes getting Ulamog's Crusher is gratificating.
LANDS: 1 of each of the artifact lands for Trinket Mage package: Being "destroyable" by artifact removal isnt bad in this deck because it is probably wrong bringing artifact removal against us: out artifacts are not important on the battlefield, often, and even aganst ancient grude removing, say, Sanctum Gargoyle and a land, that CA they got has only paired the one we got by casting the Gargoyle. Guildgates are fixing Without much tempo loss; plains are more present than other basics because i want the ability to play Homunculus turn 1 and Syndic of tithes turn 2. Also, Syndic is white mana hungry.
Sideboard
Ancient Grudge: Affinity is really popular, and one of those gives us a huge edge. not sure if 4 is the number but this is a must in the sb for sheer power.
Electrickery: Maybe Should be 4? Is serves you well against infect, White weenie, Goblins, Monogreen Stompy and monoblue.
Leonin Scimitar: Almost exclusively against mono B devotion, since both players have so many 2/2's and that gives you the edge in those wars.
Stone Rain: Tron seems so hard to beat that I considered removing it, but since it is good against combo decks with Karoo lands too (I still did not face any) I kept them.
Nihil Spellbomb: Probably the most satisfying card in the sb. I put it against dredge decks, at fisrt, because while not really common, this changes the whole math in those games: they usually have more CA than you, but now you get to shut their engine off. With time, I realized there are more graveyard thigs happening in other black decks and some control decks, so now I side it in against a lot of decks.
MATCHUPS
First, I should advise you that this is based on my impressions of the matchups, since against many decks I did not play enough games. If you guys can help me to test and shre your impressions, It would be nice.
Mono U delver: We get early removal and dudes so that we are not really outpaced by them, and we have much more and more reliable CA engines. I believe this is a favorable matchup.
Mono B: I believe against non-devotion monoblack we have a small edge, because they play less creatures, and we can get away with trinket mage for court homunculus, then return the homunculus. However, most Mono B I have seen lately is Devotion, and they have as much CA as us in phyrexian rager and chittering rats, and i believe this version has a small edge against us. Observe that this matchup can be improves by the inclusion on MD/SB of Mulldrifter and Momentary Blink to win the attrition war, while for them the same can be done by using Grim Harvest, Death Denied or similar.
RUG Tron: They have advantage against us, because they have so much CA and we don't kill them often by being agressive, also because of Sea Gate Orcale (that is the right way to play against them). We do side 4 Stone rains, but they are able only to slow them down, and we probably lost G1 already. I'm not sure is this deck can even be adapted to win against them... Maybe only if we gor rid of a lot of them tempo plays like Syndic of Tithes for more Mulldrfiter, Mulldrifter and momentary blink and Journey to nowhere to remove the huge dudes, but that would make the deck a whole other deck.
Monogreen Stompy: They have pumps, but we can block a lot. Not an easy mathup, but it is favorable for us. Hunger of the Howlpack is a card that can be problematic making big dudes we can't handle always, but we have journey to nowhere and aether spellbomb. Syndic of Tithes shines becase thay can't remove him, so he'll help a lot in racing them.
Goblins: Even, maybe? Our plan is similar to the one against monogreen, but burn is better than pump. Needs more testing.
Affinity: I'd guess even, but I did not play a lot against it: the tough part of their deck is the amount of 4/4's. Against them, we try to tutor Bonesplitter to make our guys 4/2, thus trading with theirs. Otherwise, we have just 3 removal that kill those guys against 8 of them is their decks. I call the matchup even because seems advantageous to them G1, but G2 we have 4 Ancient Grudges, which make things look better for us.
White Weenie: Matchup that we should win: they don't really put pressure on us, and we have removal, more CA and blockers. Syndic of Tithes, if not removed, will win for us because those games take some times and that is how Syndic works. The 2/3 fliers in both lists are important as a way to break stalemates (or defend against opposing 2/3 flier).
Burn: Favorable, cause Syndic must be killed, costing them a burn spell and Sunbeam Spellbomb is awesome against them. You need to draw those cards, though, so it is not an auto win.
The deck seems well-rounded, and doesn't have many bad mathups, though it really hurts that tron is so hard to overcome. This deck could have more focus on CA engines and lose a little against the aggro decks, mitigating the problem against the black ones. My problems facing Sea Gate Oracle are making me consider running that card and make this deck focused on blinking. Also, I have seen more attrition decks than agressive ones lately, which makes this option look really good.
so, im not sure if this isnt fitting the style of the deck, but i observed keranos likes some draw on opponent's turn to use the ability more frequently. cards that come to mind are Thirst for Knowledge, cause it is already good, and Gush, that has a tradiotion of being combined with those orbs.
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I like the design, and i think it will be goos in storm, but it is not true thar a dad divination would be good for red: most red decks (in standard) can't afford to lose too much tempo, and that is the reason why no one used tezzeret's gambit in red, even if come creatures had +1/+1 counters in red decks those times. Also, in normal decks, this will somehow card advantage only by turn 4, with luck: 3 lands in play, play a land and a shock from that. Very unimpressive.
as for the lands, i'd trade for shocks or even buy'em cause eventually they will rise in price. if you don't feel like doing so, use a mix of guildgates and Underground river, or drowned catacombs if price is good for you.
A brief history of why I chose this deck
This deck was initially thought many years ago, inspired by Jacob Van Lunen's list you can find here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/boab/20
Many years later, I decided to actually play pauper and started with this list. I realized I wanted more cheap removal for decks like the omnipresent Delver U and goblins, and upped the Pyrite Spellbomb to 4, while cutting black entirely because blind hunter was not entirely needed and searching and paying for the double black in Executioner's Capsule was really clunky. Also, I took out all the karoo lands because I figured I'd rather have tempo since there were so many CA engines in the list. Following those same lines, I realized I did not need so many spellbombs since they were mostly tutor targets and Leonin Squire Targets, so, inpired by the philosophy of Bloodbraid elf jund the one day reigned in modern, this deck became a pile of CA in Squire, Mage and Mulldrifter, and some goodstuff removal like Lightning bolt and journey to nowhere / flame slash as a concession to 4/4 creatures the affinity deck plays. Also, I included Sindic of Tithes in the hopes that in a deck with so many cantrips it would be a real machine (like Tarmogoyf, getting tempo and no CA).
Most Recent Decklist
4 Court Homunculus
2 Syndic of Tithes
1 Jeskai Sage
4 Leonin Squire
4 Trinket Mage
2 Sanctum Gargoyle
3 Mulldrifter
Non-land, noncreature artifacts (12):
4 Chromatic Star
3 Chromatic Sphere
3 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb
1 AEther Spellbomb
1 Bonesplitter
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Flame Slash
2 Journey to Nowhere
Lands: 21
2 Wind-Scarred Crag
3 Swiftwater Cliffs
7 Plains
1 Island
1 Great Furnace
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
2 Mountain
2 Tranquil Cove
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pyroblast
1 Momentary Blink
4 Electrickery
4 Ancient Grudge
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Dead // Gone
1 Hydroblast
Card-by-card:
Court Homunculus: Helps agressive starts against control, but is mostly to keep the threats coming. 2 seems like the minimum.
Syndic of Tithes: Just a lightning rod against many decks, and not always so relevant. recently, I'm in doubt if it is worth keeping 4, but honestly, he's just the best against decks that can't either remove him or rush you hard. Against White weenie, he's the king, and against Delver U I believe he's gonna be good, though, on cockatrice, I did not find many people using this deck, even though it is recognized as the best right now.
Leonin Squire: After playing with this list a lot, I think he's just bettet than Trinket Mage. Card advantage, a lot of times gives you options... and cheap body, which is very important. 2/2 trades with most things in pauper. Must play 4.
Kor Skyfisher: This is another uncertainty in the list. However, observe that it can halt aggro openings being played by 2 mana bouncing land/spellbomb/chromatic stuff, while in late game he's very expensive CA. It is a multiporpose card, though not awesome in either mode.
Trinket Mage: CA that happens to find what you need. The reason the deck exists.
Sanctum Gargoyle: More Recursion, flying, tough body. Came from the realization that a 2/3 flier is darn good in pauper. I'm unsure of the number, but I believe there is a number of those to be run, and against monoblack drawing 2 of those feels very good.
Mulldrifter: It seems to make no sense but is good to the jund-ish game plan. I believe 2 or more is the right thing. I need your opinion on how this card fares against Mono U, since I have few exeprience against it. Been seriously considering upping to 3.
Chromatic Star and Chromatic Sphere: They make your mana actually good and have the plus side of turning on those Leonin Squires and Sanctum Gargoyles. I have been pretty happy with seven of those combined, but this is the kind of thing that is hard to get right.
Pyrite Spellbomb: Removal. Tutorable by Trinket Mage. Recurrable by Leonin Squire. Absolutely needed, and 3 is probably the right number: while the second one is usually unimpressive (after you have 1 you'd rather have bolt), it can be cycled, and it is good to have them when you don't draw trinket mages. If I had to change this number, it would be for more.
Sunbeam Spellbomb: Almost always to avoid burn when you're already in control. Can be cycled though, and to me 1 slot is a small price to pay for having a HUGE improvement against burn and some against many other decks. Running anything different than exactly 1 seems wrong.
AEther Spellbomb: Like sunbeam, it will be a cycler most times you draw it naturally. However, it is a good tutor option, for example, in grindy matchups where you want to bounce your mulldrifter or just have it on the field protectiong your CA guys of removal. Also, bounces Ulamog's crusher, which I haven't seens much, but when it heppens it is a big deal. Again, 1 seems to be right.
Bonesplitter: I like having one to use as Van Lunen taught me: Trading with 4/4 guys. Sometimes useful in matches when your only hope is racing, like GW auras.
Lightning Bolt: I really need more insight of the metagame. I know what kills what, but which decks are really being the most played? I have set for now on 3 bolts, not the best removal but can be thrown do the face in the matchups in which we are the agressive part.
Flame Slash: Removes everything I can remember now, expect for Ulamog's Crusher. Not Present in bigger numbers because white is more present than red in the list, though that might be wrong.
Journey to nowhere: Is here because it is easier to cast in this build than flame slash. Sometimes getting Ulamog's Crusher is gratificating.
LANDS: 1 of each of the artifact lands for Trinket Mage package: Being "destroyable" by artifact removal isnt bad in this deck because it is probably wrong bringing artifact removal against us: out artifacts are not important on the battlefield, often, and even aganst ancient grude removing, say, Sanctum Gargoyle and a land, that CA they got has only paired the one we got by casting the Gargoyle. Guildgates are fixing Without much tempo loss; plains are more present than other basics because i want the ability to play Homunculus turn 1 and Syndic of tithes turn 2. Also, Syndic is white mana hungry.
Sideboard
Ancient Grudge: Affinity is really popular, and one of those gives us a huge edge. not sure if 4 is the number but this is a must in the sb for sheer power.
Electrickery: Maybe Should be 4? Is serves you well against infect, White weenie, Goblins, Monogreen Stompy and monoblue.
Leonin Scimitar: Almost exclusively against mono B devotion, since both players have so many 2/2's and that gives you the edge in those wars.
Momentary Blink and Mulldrifer: To generate CA in attrition games.
Stone Rain: Tron seems so hard to beat that I considered removing it, but since it is good against combo decks with Karoo lands too (I still did not face any) I kept them.
Nihil Spellbomb: Probably the most satisfying card in the sb. I put it against dredge decks, at fisrt, because while not really common, this changes the whole math in those games: they usually have more CA than you, but now you get to shut their engine off. With time, I realized there are more graveyard thigs happening in other black decks and some control decks, so now I side it in against a lot of decks.
MATCHUPS
First, I should advise you that this is based on my impressions of the matchups, since against many decks I did not play enough games. If you guys can help me to test and shre your impressions, It would be nice.
Mono U delver: We get early removal and dudes so that we are not really outpaced by them, and we have much more and more reliable CA engines. I believe this is a favorable matchup.
Mono B: I believe against non-devotion monoblack we have a small edge, because they play less creatures, and we can get away with trinket mage for court homunculus, then return the homunculus. However, most Mono B I have seen lately is Devotion, and they have as much CA as us in phyrexian rager and chittering rats, and i believe this version has a small edge against us. Observe that this matchup can be improves by the inclusion on MD/SB of Mulldrifter and Momentary Blink to win the attrition war, while for them the same can be done by using Grim Harvest, Death Denied or similar.
RUG Tron: They have advantage against us, because they have so much CA and we don't kill them often by being agressive, also because of Sea Gate Orcale (that is the right way to play against them). We do side 4 Stone rains, but they are able only to slow them down, and we probably lost G1 already. I'm not sure is this deck can even be adapted to win against them... Maybe only if we gor rid of a lot of them tempo plays like Syndic of Tithes for more Mulldrfiter, Mulldrifter and momentary blink and Journey to nowhere to remove the huge dudes, but that would make the deck a whole other deck.
Monogreen Stompy: They have pumps, but we can block a lot. Not an easy mathup, but it is favorable for us. Hunger of the Howlpack is a card that can be problematic making big dudes we can't handle always, but we have journey to nowhere and aether spellbomb. Syndic of Tithes shines becase thay can't remove him, so he'll help a lot in racing them.
Goblins: Even, maybe? Our plan is similar to the one against monogreen, but burn is better than pump. Needs more testing.
Affinity: I'd guess even, but I did not play a lot against it: the tough part of their deck is the amount of 4/4's. Against them, we try to tutor Bonesplitter to make our guys 4/2, thus trading with theirs. Otherwise, we have just 3 removal that kill those guys against 8 of them is their decks. I call the matchup even because seems advantageous to them G1, but G2 we have 4 Ancient Grudges, which make things look better for us.
White Weenie: Matchup that we should win: they don't really put pressure on us, and we have removal, more CA and blockers. Syndic of Tithes, if not removed, will win for us because those games take some times and that is how Syndic works. The 2/3 fliers in both lists are important as a way to break stalemates (or defend against opposing 2/3 flier).
Burn: Favorable, cause Syndic must be killed, costing them a burn spell and Sunbeam Spellbomb is awesome against them. You need to draw those cards, though, so it is not an auto win.
Final Considerations and possible Changes
The deck seems well-rounded, and doesn't have many bad mathups, though it really hurts that tron is so hard to overcome. This deck could have more focus on CA engines and lose a little against the aggro decks, mitigating the problem against the black ones. My problems facing Sea Gate Oracle are making me consider running that card and make this deck focused on blinking. Also, I have seen more attrition decks than agressive ones lately, which makes this option look really good.