I've been putting together an Impact Tremors/Raid Bombardment/Hissing Iguanar deck to try to get the most out of cheap tokens. I've attempted to be very stingy with the deck to keep it ~1tix. When it works it works amazingly well, when it falters it falters hard. I'm looking for some input on how to increase consistency. I usually play in the "for fun" room, I'm not looking to be super competitive. Thanks in advance.
One thought I had was to get rid of Tremors and Captains Call completely and go for a full set of Raid and Hissing, with a set of Krenko's Command to back it up.
First, I think you're in the wrong forum, you want the online pauper forum. This is the paper pauper forum, which has some different cards in play and a lot of staples cost different amounts than online.
That aside, this deck is cool but too slow. You are all but incapable of hurting the opponent before turn 3, and your best damage there is four. Any aggro deck is going to be cutting into your flesh with abandon, and control has enough time to set up by the time you starting doing things. Token decks usually use black because it gives you kill and control spells for 1-2 mana, for instance discarding your enemies counter spells. White and Red don't add anything to each other, since both have the same tokens and similar spot removal options.
Raid Bombardment and the like are bad spells for this deck, because they don't actually do anything. They speed up a slow deck, but not by enough to be a fast deck, and take up slots that would let the deck work as a slow deck.
TLDR: you are going to find this deck is in the wrong colors and doesn't have the ability to fight through hate. If you want to play tokens I suggest looking into B/W or B/R, which will let you run discard spells and play like a mid-range token deck.
Thanks for the reply! I actually posted this in both forums hoping to get input from as many people as possible (plus both forums tend to move somewhat slowly). I agree with your assessment of slow, I've often found myself falling behind right away. Elite Vanguard is becoming pauper legal in a week so I may be able to use that as a quick one drop to help the curve and put some damage on the board.
I disagree about Raid Bombardment, it's proven itself to be far more useful than Impact Tremors over the long haul. Then again, when it has no creatures it does indeed sit there (although that's rare in this deck). I suppose it would be better if I focused on one effect (enter, leave, attack) rather than all of them.
Would this shore up any of the issues? (I'm using uncommons that will become common with VM)
Pauper has three boogeymen in my experience. Black Control, Delver, and Infect. Any deck should be decent against at least two of those, even in casual games.
Infect requires a decent 1 mana or 0 mana kill spell to keep it from getting traction, Delver requires the same and a way to fight counters, and black control requires the ability to fight through discard and kill spells (which is how it beats the others).
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Pauper: UB Wight Phantasm RB Burn UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
I agree about the boogeymen, although I've only encountered infect once. I feel like there's enough burn in there to deal with the Delvers (also I'm too cheap to buy a Bolt). My real problem is that, as you mentioned, I'm not really getting enough early pressure on the board. I've putzed with the list a bit and am thinking about throwing in a play set of Elite Vanguard for the pressure. As it stands the list looks like this:
The Tormenting Voice has been ok but not great, although it's gotten a little better with rally. The sanctifiers provide a life cushion while I'm getting hit in the face the first few turns while the Soltari are a good evasive body. If I switched out the sanctifiers for some Vanguards then I could put more evasion in with War Falcon. Sanctifiers could also be replaced by Children of Korlis I could also cut the Iguanar entirely, although he is great late in the game and swings for 3. Thoughts?
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4 Perilous Myr
3 Hissing Iguanar
2 Selfless Cathar
Tokens
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Gather the Townsfolk
2 Captain's Call
4 Impact Tremors
3 Raid Bombardment
3 Dynacharge
Burn
3 Brimstone Volley
3 Lightning Strike
Land
4 Wind-Scarred Crag
10 Mountain
5 Plains
4 Smash to Smithereens
3 Veteran Armorer
1 Hissing Iguanar
3 Tremor
1 Weapon Surge
3 Sylvok Lifestaff
One thought I had was to get rid of Tremors and Captains Call completely and go for a full set of Raid and Hissing, with a set of Krenko's Command to back it up.
That aside, this deck is cool but too slow. You are all but incapable of hurting the opponent before turn 3, and your best damage there is four. Any aggro deck is going to be cutting into your flesh with abandon, and control has enough time to set up by the time you starting doing things. Token decks usually use black because it gives you kill and control spells for 1-2 mana, for instance discarding your enemies counter spells. White and Red don't add anything to each other, since both have the same tokens and similar spot removal options.
Raid Bombardment and the like are bad spells for this deck, because they don't actually do anything. They speed up a slow deck, but not by enough to be a fast deck, and take up slots that would let the deck work as a slow deck.
TLDR: you are going to find this deck is in the wrong colors and doesn't have the ability to fight through hate. If you want to play tokens I suggest looking into B/W or B/R, which will let you run discard spells and play like a mid-range token deck.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
I disagree about Raid Bombardment, it's proven itself to be far more useful than Impact Tremors over the long haul. Then again, when it has no creatures it does indeed sit there (although that's rare in this deck). I suppose it would be better if I focused on one effect (enter, leave, attack) rather than all of them.
Would this shore up any of the issues? (I'm using uncommons that will become common with VM)
4 Elite Vanguard
4 Perilous Myr
2 Veteran Armorer
3 Hissing Iguanar
Tokens
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Raise the Alarm
2 Triplicate Spirits
4 Gather the Townsfolk
3 Raid Bombardment
3 Rally the Peasants
2 Tormenting Voice
Burn
3 Brimstone Volley
3 Collateral Damage
Land
9 Mountain
6 Plains
4 Wind-Scarred Crag
4 Smash to Smithereens
2 Veteran Armorer
1 Hissing Iguanar
3 Hurly-Burly
2 Dual Shot
3 Sylvok Lifestaff
Pauper has three boogeymen in my experience. Black Control, Delver, and Infect. Any deck should be decent against at least two of those, even in casual games.
Infect requires a decent 1 mana or 0 mana kill spell to keep it from getting traction, Delver requires the same and a way to fight counters, and black control requires the ability to fight through discard and kill spells (which is how it beats the others).
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
4 Cathedral Sanctifier
4 Perilous Myr
4 Soltari Foot Soldier
4 Hissing Iguanar
Tokens
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Gather the Townsfolk
2 Triplicate Spirits
2 Raid Bombardment
3 Rally the Peasants
3 Collateral Damage
2 Tormenting Voice
Land
4 Wind-Scarred Crag
8 Mountain
8 Plains
The Tormenting Voice has been ok but not great, although it's gotten a little better with rally. The sanctifiers provide a life cushion while I'm getting hit in the face the first few turns while the Soltari are a good evasive body. If I switched out the sanctifiers for some Vanguards then I could put more evasion in with War Falcon. Sanctifiers could also be replaced by Children of Korlis I could also cut the Iguanar entirely, although he is great late in the game and swings for 3. Thoughts?