How has Custodi Squire performed for you? I've got a 32 man tournament next week and I'm going to take Caw Blade as there's going to be heavy competition (first prize's a Savannah), so I think it's time to cut something for the third and last Prohibit.
Is there something cuttable for 2-3 Impulse? More digging at instant speed for counters / removal / card draw will always be appreciated. A playset of Ponder is something I've been considering for a while, as it's a card that adds raw power and consistency to any deck, but it's sorcery speed.
I've been so busy these past weeks building my Tortured Existence deck and my Rakdos, Lord of Riots EDH deck that I actually haven't had the chance to test extensively.
A 32-man tournament playing for a Savannah is huge for Pauper! This exactly the kind of constructed tournament I'd be interested in playing in. I'm jealous!
For adding a Prohibit, you don't have that many options, if you want to keep the deck's consistency to about what it is now. There is a delicate balance between Removal and Countermagic to be made, and I think it ends up being a meta-game call and a personal preference. Maybe switch a Gideon's Reproach for a Prohibit? The only other option I would seriously consider is cutting either a Bonesplitter or a Flayer Husk, since they are tutorable.
As for Impulse, maybe (and that's a big maybe), you can cut a land to add one? I don't think it's an elegant solution. Most of your draw is instant speed anyways, and the cards you currently have are already better than impulse (in my opinion).
We've transcended this thought of cutting cards for other cards blindly. You have a found a balance of card function that you like, which means that if you want to keep your deck working in a similar way, you can only substitute cards with similar functions, or risk changing the deck in a big way. You can't just "fit" cards in anymore. It will always come at the expense of other card categories. The only way you can possibly tell at this point is testing the changes.
You can't change the number of creatures below 12, in my opinion, without gearing into a different strategy. This is mostly due to Squadron Hawk requiring other copies of itself in order to work. I think 14 is ideal.
Having approximately twelve draw spells is a very common pattern for control decks. Seeing as this is an aggro-control deck, I think it's perfectly reasonable to have eleven draw spells. This can't really go any lower, nor should it go much higher, I think.
13 removal and counterspells might be a lot, but this number is the most variable one in aggro-control decks, because they take up such a wide spectrum. If anything, you could removal some of these to add more creatures to put it more on the aggro than the control. Or you could do the opposite, I suppose (but run the risk of not having enough threat density, so we're talking about another strategy).
22 lands is perfectly acceptable in Pauper. I've found that for some reason, Pauper gets away with ridiculously low lands counts all the time. It's no different here. In any other format, you would expect a deck with such a long curve (1-5) would run 24 lands. Yet this is rarely the case in Pauper. I'm not complaining. This seems ideal.
Having written this, I've understood a few things. You want to add more controlling elements to your deck (draw and countermagic). Throughout this thread, this has been something you've been trying to do. What I'm about to say sounds a bit crazy, but: I think you should think about taking out the Squadron Hawks. Using another creature that doesn't take up 4 slots in your deck and that isn't as fragile will open up a lot of space for you to add the control elements you need. I'm talking about things like Guardian of the Guildpact, Cenn's Enlistment and Custodi Squire.
Basically, you've been wanting to turn this deck into a pure control deck this whole time, perhaps without knowing it.
About the tournament, it took me a while to get big tournaments going (since August more or less), but it's proof that definitely anyone can! You just need 6-8 people willing to play and some sweet prize support (If there's enough of us and people are willing to pay a higher entry fee, our LGS puts highly sought-after cards for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd and some boosters for the rest of the top 8 instead of the usual boosters / store credit). Eventually, it'll attract both regular veterans that frequent the LGS to play other formats due to the prize support and newbies / casual players who don't have the income to build a Standard or Modern deck!
Back on topic, yes, I've been wanting to turn this list into pure control, as close as Legacy Stoneblade as possible, but for me Squadron Hawk is a very big part of the deck, and the main point for being in white. I consider it a control card more than an aggro card, because of all the card advantage it implies as well as the evasion and ability to act as a finisher to get into the red zone. Cutting it would mean that we're simply playing as an inferior version of Dimir Trinkets, which can tutor removal and has Gurmag Angler and Crypt Rats.
I'm probably going to cut one Bonesplitter and see how it fares, now that I have Custodi Squire as a creature with a respectable natural power in case my only splitter gets lost, and it can also get it back to boot. The draw suite is great, as I usually find myself overflowing with cards and having to play carefully in order to not discard to maximum hand size EoT.
About the land count, I'm thinking it's because the Legacy-esque curve of the average deck. Since Blue is the most dominant color, this means that a good part of the decks run playsets of Ponder, Preordain or both, which lets them cut a few lands. The low curves mean that you can cut even more lands, and free spells like Cloud of Faeries, Gut Shot or Gitaxian Probe or cards with mana cheating mechanics like Gurmag Angler, Spire Golem or Fangren Marauder (cheated by Tron) only exacerbate this. The only cards above the 3-4 mana that don't have any cheating mechanic are usually game-winning cards like Mulldrifter or Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
The MB feels versatile and really powerful, with a perfect mixture of just enough threats, permission, draw suite and answers. Cutting one Bonesplitter was the right call, since every time I've lost it (I'm encountering more and more MB hate like Qasali Pridemage or Wickerbough Elder nowadays, don't know if there's been a subtle metagame shift that I'm missing), Custodi Squire has been able to recover it, so thanks Upkeep for the advice! I think I'm done with the MB until another powerful card shakes up the metagame.
Embolden and Celestial Flare are two last minute additions. I heard there's going to be a handful of Aggro decks as well as UR / Kitty style decks, so Embolden is useful against both preventing a lot of damage from creatures and preventing my guys from dying to burn spells. The fact that it can be flashed back in the same turn to prevent 8 damage in the mid game is ridiculous, and acts like a Time Walk if I time it right. It's still useful against Burn and MBC like Hindering Light was by preventing their direct damage (Crypt Rats, Gary and etc in MBC).
Celestial Flare is a new candidate over Standard Bearer. The reasoning behind it was that while Bearer was good, it had to be dropped exactly on T2 or it would come a turn too late and the enchanted Boggle would wreak havoc unopposed (same against Infect). By substituting it Celestial Flare, it's never too late to draw it (well, except when we're dead). It also circumvents their Edict-circumventing tech of Khalni Garden or another guy to serve as sac fodder by making them sacrifice an ATTACKING creature. This also works against Infect and is more splash damage against Izzet Blitz, of which will be 2 for sure. The alternative to this is Curfew, which doesn't require attacking or blocking and also costs 1 mana (on top of letting us reuse a creature), but this also means they can return the Plant token. There's no time to test this thoroughly, so people who have had experience with them which one do you think it's better?
Our lists are now even more similar, the only difference now being that you have an extra counter and I have a 15th creature instead. Oh, and I suppose Radiant Fountain, now too.
For your sideboard, wouldn't Circle of Protection: Green solve your problems against Hexproof quite nicely? It's also a card that has broader applications than Flare. Cops are just so unfair, I feel like every White deck should be running a good deal of them. There's a reason they don't print them anymore.
I'd like to know how Embolden does for you. I have a feeling that the initial cost for the spell is too expensive and will be prohibitive.
I switched back to CoP: Green for now. Embolden has been good: saving creatures from Crypt Rats as well as softening its blows, surviving a horde of 1/1 tokens, turning combat in my favor or negating 2 cards in Burn's hand (even a Fireblast if timed correctly) has proven to be miles better than Hindering Light. I wish I could include Echoing Truth to beat tokens since they give me some headaches, but they're manageable and I'm relying on MBC to sweep the floor with them.
Besides from that, I think the deck is finally completed and sufficiently tweaked to my liking
I think it's about time to discuss the long awaited Black splash. Upon closer inspection I figured that even with Gideon's Reproach there's still reason to think about it: Fetcheable removal in Executioner's Capsule, recursion in Mortuary Mire and the most important of all, a repeatable wrath effect in Evincar's Justice. Custodi Squire plays a bigger part here as he's now able to recur removal by bringing back Executioner's Capsule. The downsides to this are slowing the manabase and taking out Radiant Fountain, who worked well against Burn. We would also become a little bit more tap-out oriented but would still retain the ability to operate at instant speed to some degree. Liliana's Specter, if we're able to fit him, is a very good Control creature: provides both an evasive clock and forces a 2-for-1 in the form of discard + eating removal or trading with something. It can also trade with Delver.
Hi everyone! The tournament yesterday was great! A competitive, yet friendly atmosphere. Got second and won expedition Prairie Stream + Canopy Vista on top of 2 MM Boosters, and a promo Batterskull from a giveaway! The prize support was fantastic: since we surpassed the 32 mark up to 41 because of the Savannah, so the store owner was able to raise prize support with the extra money. Savannah + 3 MM2 Boosters for the first place, Expedition Stream + Vista and 2 MM2 Boosters for the second, Expedition Sunken Hollow + 1 MM2 Booster for the third place and a promo Kolaghan's Command + BFZ Boosters for the 4th, with the 5 to 8 receiving either 6 Boosters or Store credit. The giveaway prizes were the Batterskull, a promo Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, a playset of foil Gurmag Angler, a playmat, two deckboxes and two packs of 100 Dragon Shield sleeves. A great experience overall, and even the newer players (there were even 2 14 year old boys) were all willing to come again in the near future.
About the matchup analysis: there were 5 rounds of swiss, with the top 8 being the usual eliminatory rounds: you lose, you're out.
Round 1: Izzet Blitz 2-0
I get paired with a friend, one of the pauper regulars. We know each other and we know the decks we're playing inside out from previous matches, so bluffing and the psychological aspects of the game were difficult to pull of for both parties. I win the dice roll and start with a Tranquil Cove. He plays Island, Ponder, go. I play Ancient Den and pass the turn with Prohibit up, prepared for the incoming Kiln Fiend. He uses Gitaxian Probe to see if the coast is clear and plays Kiln Fiend regardless of what I had, thus telegraphing he had another one and wanted to bait Prohibit out. I counter it, next turn I play Island and pass the turn. He plays another Fiend as I suspected, to which I respond playing Brainstorm to try and rip another Prohibit from the top. I get a Counterspell I couldn't cast because having only Cove and Den open, but I also get a Journey to Nowhere and next turn I drop Radiant Fountain and Journey with Counterspell backup in case he has Apostle's Blessing. Third turn he goes Nivix Cyclops with no land drops, to which I respond with Counterspell. After making my 5th Land drop I play Hawks, while he digs for threats. The next turn I drop Mage and fetch a Splitter and start to pressure him while controlling his board until he's dead. In the second game, I board CoP: Red and Embolden. With things going badly for me, he tries to go for lethal with a Kiln Fiend and Nivix Cyclops, but Embolden + Flashback keeps me alive for a turn. I draw Brainstorm, rip CoP: Red from the top and he concedes.
Round 2: Kuldotha Boros 2-1
One of the newbies had a classical Boros Kitty build without Blue for Drifters or Perilous Research. Game 1 I let him resolve his Ichor Wellspring but counter his Kor Skyfisher / Glint Hawk to get rid of a threat while also interrupting his bounce and draw engine. Things start to get ugly as he starts outdrawing me because I'm not seeing any Drifter / Epiphany and he has managed to start bouncing Wellspring and uses Faithless Lootings to sculpt his hand. He dropped a Guardian of the Guildpact I could not race and he took the win. Game 2 was better for me: I start slowly drowning him in card advantage and I sandbag a Prohibit for Guardian, using some Counterspells so he lets the guard down and drops a Guardian thinking I've used enough Counterspells already. I punish him for the mistake and then start using Dust to Dust and Dispeller's Capsule on his artifact lands until he's left with a Forgotten Cave and a Mountain. Game 2 was even faster since I drew a Dust to Dust in my opener and punished him for keeping a two-lander expecting to use the cantripping artifacts to dig for more. When he drew another land it was already too late.
Round 3: Bogles 1-2
Yes, I'm not kidding. I faced Bogles on round three, who managed to avoid all the MBCs in the room in rounds 1-2 and thus went undefeated. Game 1 he smashed me hard obviously. G2 I side in CoP: G and some Embolden to gain time. I start countering his threats and manage to drop a CoP: G. He concedes because he has no outs to it. G3 I mull to 5 searching for CoP or Brainstorm. I settle for Brainstorm because I didn't want to mull to 4 and I see CoP in the scry 1. I drop CoP, he starts enchanting his Boggle and then when it was massive he Nature's Claims my CoP and I lose on the spot.
Round 4: Delver Angler 2-0
This is suppossed to be the new meta deck and better than straight up U Delver, but it's a turn slower, and that's all the difference I need. Knowing that I don't have to worry about randomly losing to a Cloud of Faeries nut draw, or T1 Delver with Daze backup. I play a Tranquil Cove and pass. He starts with a Delver. Next turn I drop Island while having Gideon's Reproach and Counterspell in hand so I'm quite confident. He drops Dismal Backwater, blind fips Delver and attacks, so Delver dies. He starts tossing his library into his graveyard with Thought Scour and the next turn he plays Mental Note and casts Gurmag Angler. I counter it, then lay down Trinket Mage and start to pressure him. He manages to control the board for a bit until he plays another Angler but it eats Journey to Nowhere. Ultimately, my card advantage and the fact that he was running fewer counters and removal due to needing subpar cards to feed Angler led to his downfall. The second match was pretty similar: he starts fast but I stop him in his tracks. He also played some Sultai Scavenger on G2, but Hawk + Splitter roadblocked it.
Round 5: MBC 2-1
This was a grindy, boring match, too long to comment on it. Game 1 he takes the role of beatdown and I assume a controlling position, so he starts casting the usual Phyrexian Rager, Chittering Rats and Crypt Rats to help him clear the board aided by some Edicts. I save my counterspells for Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Tendrils of Corruption to prevent him from gaining life, and manage to secure a win. G2 we switch roles with me being Aggro and him Control. The game starts to get grindy, but eventually he manages to chain some Garys and blow me up with Crypt Rats. G3 I switch to Control again and the game starts to get grindy again. I start controlling and pressuring him, slowly drowning him in card advantage, but the game goes to time. I try to take him down within the 5 turns margin, but it's too few turns, so it seems like a draw, but in the last turn in a feat of sportsmanship he concedes the game because with a turn or two more he would be dead anyways and he said it would be unfair for me to make it a draw
I entered the top 8 4-1, with the Izzet Blitz friend and another one who was playing Affinity (although a MBC friend was left behind), and after a break, we went on to the top
Round 1: MBC 2-1
Again, another MBC deck. The usual grindy exchange between the big control deck and us, until she surprises me with Sink into Takenuma and blows all my hand because I had no counter backup. I've seen this online a few times, but it took me by surprise here, and with an empty hand, I promptly lost to lifeloss from Gary, Rats and Corrupt combined. Games 2 and 3 I was more aware and sandbagged counterspells and left mana open so she couldn't rip my hand apart again. Since the build was more "spells oriented" than "creatures oriented" (with things like Oubliette, Cuombajj Witches, Liliana's Specter and Chittering Rats to go big on Devotion), I found it easier to deal with the deck due to the lack of pressure. The main sources of damage were Crypt Rats, Gary and Corrupt, so countering those and Sink into Takenuma were the biggest concerns here.
Round 2: Izzet Blitz 2-1
I met my Izzet Blitz friend from round one here again. The matches were pretty similar to round 1, each of us calculating drops and playing around the other. Game one he manages to win because I got screwed on three lands, but in games 2 and 3 CoP: Red delivers and I beat him down without him being able to do anything besides trying to win via Elusive Spellfist, which got countered / killed every time it appeared.
Final: Affinity 1-2
Another friend of mine, so we knew each other's deck inside out and knew what to expect (which in my opinion only made it better because neither of us would lose to unexpected cards or jedi mind tricks unless they were sick enough to deceive the other). I won the roll and opened with Evolving Wilds. He starts slow with a Chromatic Star, and I take advantage of it by leaving mana up for counterspells and gaining tempo while trading one for one. The board starts to get clogged on both sides, but I start burying him in cards. He lands an Atog and passes. I use a Journey to Nowhere I sandbagged for it and he goes for the sac everything + Fling in response to burn me for lethal. I Prohibit the Fling and he concedes on the spot. Round 2 he plays and, learning his lesson, he starts lightning quick with T1 Ancient Den, Ardent Recruit into T2 Springleaf Drum, Carapace Forger. He starts playing all his cheap / free huge creatures and beating me down, and eventually, I'm unable to deal with the myriad of 3/3 and 4/4 and die. Game 3 I keep a risky hand with 2 Dust to Dust, Tranquil Cove, Island, Counterspell, Seat of the Synod and Journey to Nowhere in order to slow him down to a crawl while gaining life and waiting for the second white to appear and wreck his mana base. Needless to say, it didn't appear until turn 6, and by then it was already too late.
I'm still pretty happy to make it to second place, because except against Boggles, I never thought I didn't have a chance to win the matchup I was in! On a side note, I saw a few Delvers and never encountered one, but there were two Delver Anglers in the top 8, and also an Abzan Existence decks. Burn, Elves, White Weenie and Stompy were there, but fortunately I didn't encounter any, because those matchups can often be very uphill (but winnable with precise playing) nonetheless. Great experience, great prize support, and great people, I hope my LGS pulls another one like this soon!
So...I'm looking to build this deck on MTGO, and I've come to learn that Custodi Squire isn't online. I really like your build of it, but apparently will need to find a replacement for Squire. What do you both suggest?
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Currently Playing: R8whackR WUBGAtraxa Stax-Superfriends *Under Construction*WUBG
The creatures we've both been cycling through have been Guardian of the Guildpact, Aven Riftwatcher and Cenn's Enlistment. They all have their ups and downs, and it really depends on the decks you want to have an edge over. Am I forgetting any, Zephyr? You can always check the creature section of the primer to see the choices that he's listed.
Guardian is pretty good against slower aggro decks and non-black control decks. He's a very good game-ender.
Aven Riftwatcher is very good against Aggro and Burn.
Cenn's Enlistment is excellent against MBC and Permission decks.
Zephyr,
Thanks so much for the great writeup, and congratulations on your excellent finish! That is an excellent turnout, great prize support and a great overall experience! You seem to have played very well, and you know your deck even better.
This is why I have so little respect for the Delver Angler deck; it uses so many bad cards to enable a cheap 5/5 that it loses out in basically every other aspect of the game, be it card advantage, threat density, removal...
Sink into Takenuma is a card I've never seen played, but I imagine it must be a blowout in many cases. I'll have to keep that card in mind.
Okay, thanks! I've got a pair of Riftwatcher's in there right now, and I'll keep that in mind. I just started on MTGO and so I'll keep checking out the meta. Have either of you done much online? Is the meta vastly different from paper?
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The meta is pretty similar in Paper tournaments, because people use the online banlist as a base, in addition to accounting for most rarity downshifts in MTGO and Paper. My LGS uses the online banlist with every common as fair game (You can use both Chainer's Edict and Custodi Squire for example), but in return, it has Hymn to Tourach, Goblin Grenade and Sinkhole banned (this last one mostly due to money concerns and keeping the format budget friendly). There are no decisive cards in either online only or paper only that would make an entire archetype except perhaps Madness, and the Paper crowd here tends to mirror the MTGO metagame, so there's no much difference.
About the finisher for your deck, if you're facing a meta with a lot of MBC and Edict effects, Cenn's Enlistment and a 23rd land instead of the Squires is all the inevitability you need. Keep generating bodies and drawing cards until MBC runs out of removal and then go to town. On the other hand, if you see less Edicts, Guardian of the Guildpact is a powerhouse. It's basically Pauper's True-Name Nemesis, and the only thing in the meta that hits it right now is Agony Warp from Delver Angler decks.
Prohibit is over Mana Leak because both serve two different purposes. While both are two CMC counters with splashable cost, Prohibit is a hard counter that will work always, no questions asked and no mana payments, with the downside of only working against two or less CMC spells. Since 80% of Pauper's spells are 2 CMC or less, this won't matter anyways. Furthermore, the Kicker cost makes it useful in the late game as well, by expanding the range of spells it can counter to 4, which catches practically everything except Mulldrifter, Myr Enforcer, Spire Golem, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Gurmag Angler and Fangren Marauder, so it's never a dead draw. All of this makes it a perfect counter for control.
Mana Leak, on the other hand, costs the same and has no CMC restriction, but it's a soft counter because it requires a payment of 3 in order to do nothing. It will work in the early game, or even in the midgame when the opponent taps out to cast Gary or Drifter, but after that it will get obsolete. In the late game, the opponent will simply pay those 3 to have those key spells resolved, and since we thrive in the late game, Mana Leak will be a dead draw. This makes it a counter best suited for tempo decks.
@Upkeep
I wouldn't say I don't respect Delver Angler, because with more tweaking it can be definitely a deck: it's reminiscent of Grixis Delver in Modern and Team America in Legacy. It has permission, removal, and cheap big threats. Proof of it is that two of them top 8'd while Delver was left in the dust. However, they are running too much subpar cards at the moment, so they're not my biggest worry for now since they're a turn too slow to beat this deck. But we have to keep in mind that every 1 CMC Cantrip, every fetchland (if we even get better ones), every 1 CMC discard like Duress and overall, every cheap / free card that fills the grave or ones that do it as part of its cost will only strengthen the deck.
EDIT: I asked my LGS owner if he could forward me the results of the tournament to better see the meta, so here they are:
1º - Affinity
2º - Caw Blade
3º - MBC
4º - Izzet Blitz
5º - Abzan Existence
6º - Delver Angler
7º - MBC
8º - Delver Angler
9º - MBC
10º - Affinity
11º - Burn
12º - Tron
13º - Mono Blue Delver
14º - Esper Familiars
15º - Kuldotha Jeskai
16º - Boggles
17º - Stompy
18º - Burn
19º - Elves
20º - Boros Kitty
21º - Mono Blue Delver
22º - White Weenie
23º - MBC
24º - Tortured Existence
25º - Burn
26º - Izzet Control
27º - White Weenie
28º - Goblins
29º - Stompy
30º - Mono Blue Delver
31º - Gond Combo
33º - Rebels
34º - Izzet Blitz
35º - Bant Boggles
36º - Kuldotha Jeskai
37º - Elves
38º - Boros Heroic
39º - Simic Defenders
40º - Mono U Control
41º - Zombies
There are more Delvers than I thought, but it seems like they didn't do good. There's plenty of rogue stuff too like Rebels, Zombies or Boros Heroic. There are also some decks that placed super low that should have placed higher in my opinion, like 14, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30, 34, 36 and 39, but since I don't know who played those decks, I'll assume it was either because the pilot was inexperienced with the deck, new to Pauper, or simply had bad luck.
4 MBC, 3 Delvers, 2 Affinity, 2 Stompy, 2 Bogles, 3 Burn... This was a very diverse tournament! It was also very different than what we see online, where Delver, MBC and Esper Familiars basically dominate the metagame.
I think it was more due to the fact that there were newer players, players that were there to have fun and maybe snag a sweet price, and players that didn't bother ordering a deck online because they already had a Tier 1-1.5 deck that they were comfortable with. I'm speculating that the next one will have both more Affinity and Anti affinity sideboards for sure (which will also probably hurt me as splash damage), and perhaps more MBC and Esper Familiars. It surprised me how people seriously underestimate Familiars. Although it didn't even top, it's probably the most powerful deck in the format right now. Unfortunately, it seems that some people that watched the Familiar pilot play some games will probably try to build the deck.
About the black splash, what cards are worth it? I'm thinking:
And probably some Duress even in the MB. Basically no deck runs fully on creatures and lands, and I'm willing to bet that less than the 30% of the decks would keep a land of just creatures and lands unless it's a very aggresive one, and even these usually have things like Bolts, pump, counters or removal.
Big thanks to Zephyr Scarlet for the great primer! When Cloud of Faeries got banned I was looking for a new blue deck to replace Delver in my Pauper deck rotation and Caw Blade turned out to be just the thing! After a week or so of playtesting I think I've got my list tuned just the way I want it, and it can compete with all the big decks in the format really well.
I stuck fairly close to what makes the core of the deck work (the immense card advantage generated by Squadron Hawk, Trinket Mage, and Mulldrifter as well as the synergy between Brainstorm and the deck's 12 shuffle effects) but made a few meta choices such as running Oblivion Ring over Journey to Nowhere to deal with pesky artifacts and enchantments like Tortured Existence and opposing Sylvok Lifestaffs in addition to creatures. Not to mention the huge tempo swing that O-Ring'ing a Mono Black Control player's Oubliette on one of your creatures with an enter the battlefield effect can generate. The versatility of O-Ring was worth the one extra mana to me.
I also really love the Seraph of Dawn and Bladed Bracers package, since by the time Seraph comes down I usually have a least one Bonesplitter in play too and end up swinging with a 5/5 Flying, Vigilance, Lifelink beat stick with counterspell protection the following turn. That massive amount of life gain has really turned the tides on several matches against aggressive decks like Goblins and Affinity on more than a few occasions, allowing me to stabilize and come back out of burn range. A 3/3 Vigilance Trinket Mage is never a bad thing to have either, and the Bracers often transform him from a creature that just blocks and trades for value with an opponent's 2/2 whatever into something that I actually attack with.
Lastly, I feel like it would be almost a sin to not play two copies of Cenn's Enlistment. Being able to turn every land drawn in the late game into creatures means that there is no such thing as a bad topdeck with Caw Blade, and you'll inevitably win any war of attrition with other control decks that don't have ways to get value out of their late game lands.
So thank you again to Zephyr for developing this archetype! It really is astounding what an absurd amount of card advantage Caw Blade can generate, and how well it can take on almost any other deck in the current meta.
How are you doing with 3 Seraph of Dawn and 2 Cenn's Enlistment? Seems a bit overkill to me, I would take an Enlistment (two are parasitic with each other) and 1-2 Seraph for cheaper removal to compliment Oblivion Ring against faster decks.
How are the Rune Snags going? Have you ever drawn one and hoped it was a more definitive counterspell? I tried them in the first iterations of the deck but quickly dismissed them since there were times where they felt really bad, especially a late-drawn first or second one.
Finally, if you like the card advantage aspect of the deck you should definitely try a few copies of Artificer's Epiphany and rework your manabase a bit to support it with Artifact lands. Instant speed card everything is the kind of game the deck wants to be playing as often as possible, and card draw is no exception.
The AKs work wonders against MBC by drowning them in card advantage, and are cheaper than Artificer's Epiphany, so I'll run the full playset. The first one just cycling doesn't hurt at all, since you usually cycle it in the first few turns where you have a big hand and Epiphany would be uncastable anyways. I took out the Custodi Squires since my meta has seem to finally reckon that the deck is a powerful contender and started running exiling removal MB, so it would obsolete Squire loops. I took in Cenn's Enlistment since my meta is too Edict heavy for Guardian of the Guildpact, and Cenn's Enlistment turns every topdecked land into two guys, which is pretty good against them. I'm missing a 3rd Radiant Fountain for even more lifegain and lands for Retrace, but it works really well.
Thanks for the reply and feedback Zephyr! The five primary win conditions in my build might seem like overkill, but the meta I play in is largely dominated by Mono Black and U/B control decks that pack loads of removal so right now there's no such thing as having "too many threats". Goblins and Affinity are probably the next most played decks in my area, and when I tested Guardian of the Guildpact and Custodi Squire over the angel I kept finding myself not being able to gain enough life to stabilize against the hyper aggro decks.
The two copies of Cenn's Enlistment might seem redundant, but there were a couple reasons that I chose to run 2. The biggest is that it's a card I want to see every game, and running just 1 led to a lot of games that I'd never draw it. The other reason is that due to the rise of Gurmag Angler as a popular win condition in B/X control decks, pretty much everyone in my meta runs some amount of graveyard hate in their sideboard (and sometimes main deck) now. Getting Enlistment exiled would be a very bad thing for the deck's late game potential, so I like to run 2 to not only improve my chances of drawing it but also give me a backup in case the first one gets exiled. At worst it's two 1/1's for four mana, which is no worse than Squadron Hawk and the fact that they come from a single card rather than two is still card advantage.
As far as the removal and counter package goes, I'm pretty happy with it. Rune Snag scales in effectiveness as the game goes on and can stop some important things that Prohibit can't, such as Angler or a Corrupt to the face. I really like the 4 copies of Desert in the mana base too. Getting two Deserts active is just a wall against most creatures in the format, and since I'm running the angels for life gain I can get away with playing a set of them over Radiant Fountain.
I have wished I could work a little more removal and card draw into the deck, since I have found myself in topdeck mode a few times after being on the receiving end of a couple Hymn to Tourach, but sadly there's only so many cards you can fit in a deck and anything I could take out to add more draw or removal (the angels, Enlistment, and Bonesplitter mainly) would seriously impede the deck's ability to actually win the game. If I could I'd love to find a way to drop down to 3x Oblivion Ring and cram a full set of Journey to Nowhere in there, and 3x Artificer's Intuition or even a full playset of A.K. like you're running would be great too. I'm just having difficulty finding anything to cut that wouldn't compromise the deck's ability to finish the game or stabilize against the hyper aggro decks that make up a substantial portion of my meta.
Still though, I'll play around with it a bit more and see what I can come up with.
Edit: After tinkering with my list a bit I wasn't able to fit in any more draw without nerfing an important part of the deck, but I was able to squeeze in a set of Journey to Nowhere by dropping 1x Desert, 1x Cenn's Enlistment, 1x Oblivion Ring, and 1x Rune Snag then swapping the 3 remaining copies of Rune Snag for Mana Leak. I'm not sure how well it will play compared to my previous list, especially going down to 1x Cenn's Enlistment, but I will playtest it this weekend.
I may also give Guardian of the Guildpact another try, running 3 copies of it instead of Seraph of Dawn then swapping the Bladed Bracers for a Flayer Husk and dropping the 3 Desert in the mana base for 3 Radiant Fountain to see if the life gain from them offsets the loss of Seraph of Dawn. It should be a fun weekend of playtesting.
This seems like a really cool deck guys! Started messing around with Pauper just recently, and the amount of options this deck has is great. I play casually with my roommate, who is a fan of big aggro decks, so I'm using no Cenn's Enlistments, a couple more counters and the Custodi Squire loop. How have you found that the deck runs against smaller aggro decks like Stompy and Goblins? I've heard plenty of comments about it just folding on game 1, but haven't gotten to test it yet.
This seems like a really cool deck guys! Started messing around with Pauper just recently, and the amount of options this deck has is great. I play casually with my roommate, who is a fan of big aggro decks, so I'm using no Cenn's Enlistments, a couple more counters and the Custodi Squire loop. How have you found that the deck runs against smaller aggro decks like Stompy and Goblins? I've heard plenty of comments about it just folding on game 1, but haven't gotten to test it yet.
Zephyr has played this deck a lot longer than I have, so he might have the best advice to offer, but I have done pretty large amount of playtesting against Goblins so I'll offer my perspective. Game 1 is very winnable if you know how to play it. The trick is to just trade your creatures for theirs at every available opportunity as long as you trade 1 for 1. Don't be afraid to throw a Squadron Hawk in front of every attacker they play as long as you can kill it by blocking it. Sylvok Lifestaff will be very helpful for this since it gains you life to offset burn damage when you trade creatures, and Desert is especially useful here as well. Save your counterspells for their burn spells or creatures that are too large for you to trade with right away.
Eventually Goblins will run out of creatures and Stompy will run out of pump spells, at which point you'll be able to stabilize since you draw quite a few more cards than they do and will have creatures to play long after they run out of threats. Game 1 against aggro decks is very winnable, you just have to be willing to throw everything you have under the proverbial bus until the opponent runs out of steam.
Like Jin said, you need to trade 1-for-1 your creatures as much as possible, while countering and killing their ones with removal. Eventually, they will run out of gas, and you will keep drawing cards and burying them in card advantage. Sylvok Lifestaff is excellent for this purpose and should always be the weapon you reach for in aggro matchups, as it gives more power to creatures and turns trades into life, essentially buying you even more time. The Lifestaff also makes Hawks able to trade with Insectile Aberration, which is key against Delver. If you play your cards right and counter problem cards like Mogg War Marshal, Triplicate Spirits or Beetleback Chief that put multiple bodies for one card you should be alright. Flayer Husk is also a good equipment to grab if you ever draw a second mage, as it provides a body for chumpblocking and afterwards gives a boost to all your creatures, so they might even survive in combat.
@Jin I think you will quickly take out the Mana Leaks. They're an excellent tempo counter, but we want to go into the late game to start generating card advantage non-stop, and at that point, Leak is quite weak. It can work in the first stages of the game, but it won't stop MBC, Tron or Teachings late-game spells like a harder counter would. Prohibit is good because good counters and removal usually cost 2 or less, and every deck runs one or the other. It also stops early creatures, and stays relevant throughout the late game thanks to the Kicker option.
@Jin I think you will quickly take out the Mana Leaks. They're an excellent tempo counter, but we want to go into the late game to start generating card advantage non-stop, and at that point, Leak is quite weak. It can work in the first stages of the game, but it won't stop MBC, Tron or Teachings late-game spells like a harder counter would. Prohibit is good because good counters and removal usually cost 2 or less, and every deck runs one or the other. It also stops early creatures, and stays relevant throughout the late game thanks to the Kicker option.
Very good point about Mana Leak. I've found Rune Snag to be a good counterspell because it scales up in effectiveness as the game goes on, but I can definitely see Mana Leak being fairly ineffective in the later portions of the game. I think I'll alter my test build a little to remove the Mana Leaks then try out 2x Prohibit or 2x Condescend and a 23rd land in their place. I really like Rune Snag the best for a secondary counterspell, but they require you to devote space to a full set of them to really be effective and I'm not sure there's anything else I'd want to cut to make room for a fourth. So, I'll try going down to 6 counterspells and see how Prohibit or Condescend treat me.
Like Jin said, you need to trade 1-for-1 your creatures as much as possible, while countering and killing their ones with removal. Eventually, they will run out of gas, and you will keep drawing cards and burying them in card advantage. Sylvok Lifestaff is excellent for this purpose and should always be the weapon you reach for in aggro matchups, as it gives more power to creatures and turns trades into life, essentially buying you even more time. The Lifestaff also makes Hawks able to trade with Insectile Aberration, which is key against Delver. If you play your cards right and counter problem cards like Mogg War Marshal, Triplicate Spirits or Beetleback Chief that put multiple bodies for one card you should be alright. Flayer Husk is also a good equipment to grab if you ever draw a second mage, as it provides a body for chumpblocking and afterwards gives a boost to all your creatures, so they might even survive in combat.
Awesome, thanks for the tips! So, since I play pretty casually and am trying to get a few other people interested, how would you guys run the deck with the Seraph of Dawn, Bladed Bracers and possibly Doomed Traveller? I don't want to counter them too much, as that leads to a lot of frustration for some players, so I was thinking of removing a few for those cards so that there is a more creature based strategy. Thoughts?
So, since I play pretty casually and am trying to get a few other people interested, how would you guys run the deck with the Seraph of Dawn, Bladed Bracers and possibly Doomed Traveller? I don't want to counter them too much, as that leads to a lot of frustration for some players, so I was thinking of removing a few for those cards so that there is a more creature based strategy. Thoughts?
If I was to remove the counterspells from the list I posted above for a more creature based strategy I would go...
Is there something cuttable for 2-3 Impulse? More digging at instant speed for counters / removal / card draw will always be appreciated. A playset of Ponder is something I've been considering for a while, as it's a card that adds raw power and consistency to any deck, but it's sorcery speed.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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A 32-man tournament playing for a Savannah is huge for Pauper! This exactly the kind of constructed tournament I'd be interested in playing in. I'm jealous!
For adding a Prohibit, you don't have that many options, if you want to keep the deck's consistency to about what it is now. There is a delicate balance between Removal and Countermagic to be made, and I think it ends up being a meta-game call and a personal preference. Maybe switch a Gideon's Reproach for a Prohibit? The only other option I would seriously consider is cutting either a Bonesplitter or a Flayer Husk, since they are tutorable.
As for Impulse, maybe (and that's a big maybe), you can cut a land to add one? I don't think it's an elegant solution. Most of your draw is instant speed anyways, and the cards you currently have are already better than impulse (in my opinion).
We've transcended this thought of cutting cards for other cards blindly. You have a found a balance of card function that you like, which means that if you want to keep your deck working in a similar way, you can only substitute cards with similar functions, or risk changing the deck in a big way. You can't just "fit" cards in anymore. It will always come at the expense of other card categories. The only way you can possibly tell at this point is testing the changes.
You can't change the number of creatures below 12, in my opinion, without gearing into a different strategy. This is mostly due to Squadron Hawk requiring other copies of itself in order to work. I think 14 is ideal.
Having approximately twelve draw spells is a very common pattern for control decks. Seeing as this is an aggro-control deck, I think it's perfectly reasonable to have eleven draw spells. This can't really go any lower, nor should it go much higher, I think.
13 removal and counterspells might be a lot, but this number is the most variable one in aggro-control decks, because they take up such a wide spectrum. If anything, you could removal some of these to add more creatures to put it more on the aggro than the control. Or you could do the opposite, I suppose (but run the risk of not having enough threat density, so we're talking about another strategy).
22 lands is perfectly acceptable in Pauper. I've found that for some reason, Pauper gets away with ridiculously low lands counts all the time. It's no different here. In any other format, you would expect a deck with such a long curve (1-5) would run 24 lands. Yet this is rarely the case in Pauper. I'm not complaining. This seems ideal.
Having written this, I've understood a few things. You want to add more controlling elements to your deck (draw and countermagic). Throughout this thread, this has been something you've been trying to do. What I'm about to say sounds a bit crazy, but: I think you should think about taking out the Squadron Hawks. Using another creature that doesn't take up 4 slots in your deck and that isn't as fragile will open up a lot of space for you to add the control elements you need. I'm talking about things like Guardian of the Guildpact, Cenn's Enlistment and Custodi Squire.
Basically, you've been wanting to turn this deck into a pure control deck this whole time, perhaps without knowing it.
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
About the tournament, it took me a while to get big tournaments going (since August more or less), but it's proof that definitely anyone can! You just need 6-8 people willing to play and some sweet prize support (If there's enough of us and people are willing to pay a higher entry fee, our LGS puts highly sought-after cards for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd and some boosters for the rest of the top 8 instead of the usual boosters / store credit). Eventually, it'll attract both regular veterans that frequent the LGS to play other formats due to the prize support and newbies / casual players who don't have the income to build a Standard or Modern deck!
Back on topic, yes, I've been wanting to turn this list into pure control, as close as Legacy Stoneblade as possible, but for me Squadron Hawk is a very big part of the deck, and the main point for being in white. I consider it a control card more than an aggro card, because of all the card advantage it implies as well as the evasion and ability to act as a finisher to get into the red zone. Cutting it would mean that we're simply playing as an inferior version of Dimir Trinkets, which can tutor removal and has Gurmag Angler and Crypt Rats.
I'm probably going to cut one Bonesplitter and see how it fares, now that I have Custodi Squire as a creature with a respectable natural power in case my only splitter gets lost, and it can also get it back to boot. The draw suite is great, as I usually find myself overflowing with cards and having to play carefully in order to not discard to maximum hand size EoT.
About the land count, I'm thinking it's because the Legacy-esque curve of the average deck. Since Blue is the most dominant color, this means that a good part of the decks run playsets of Ponder, Preordain or both, which lets them cut a few lands. The low curves mean that you can cut even more lands, and free spells like Cloud of Faeries, Gut Shot or Gitaxian Probe or cards with mana cheating mechanics like Gurmag Angler, Spire Golem or Fangren Marauder (cheated by Tron) only exacerbate this. The only cards above the 3-4 mana that don't have any cheating mechanic are usually game-winning cards like Mulldrifter or Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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2 Custodi Squire
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Mulldrifter
4 Trinket Mage
Equipment (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Flayer Husk
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
Enchantment (4)
4 Journey to Nowhere
Instant (17)
3 Prohibit
3 Gideon's Reproach
3 Artificer's Epiphany
4 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Radiant Fountain
4 Seat of the Synod
2 Ancient Den
4 Island
2 Plains
2 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Viridian Longbow
3 Celestial Flare
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Embolden
2 Reinforcements
2 Dust to Dust
The MB feels versatile and really powerful, with a perfect mixture of just enough threats, permission, draw suite and answers. Cutting one Bonesplitter was the right call, since every time I've lost it (I'm encountering more and more MB hate like Qasali Pridemage or Wickerbough Elder nowadays, don't know if there's been a subtle metagame shift that I'm missing), Custodi Squire has been able to recover it, so thanks Upkeep for the advice! I think I'm done with the MB until another powerful card shakes up the metagame.
Embolden and Celestial Flare are two last minute additions. I heard there's going to be a handful of Aggro decks as well as UR / Kitty style decks, so Embolden is useful against both preventing a lot of damage from creatures and preventing my guys from dying to burn spells. The fact that it can be flashed back in the same turn to prevent 8 damage in the mid game is ridiculous, and acts like a Time Walk if I time it right. It's still useful against Burn and MBC like Hindering Light was by preventing their direct damage (Crypt Rats, Gary and etc in MBC).
Celestial Flare is a new candidate over Standard Bearer. The reasoning behind it was that while Bearer was good, it had to be dropped exactly on T2 or it would come a turn too late and the enchanted Boggle would wreak havoc unopposed (same against Infect). By substituting it Celestial Flare, it's never too late to draw it (well, except when we're dead). It also circumvents their Edict-circumventing tech of Khalni Garden or another guy to serve as sac fodder by making them sacrifice an ATTACKING creature. This also works against Infect and is more splash damage against Izzet Blitz, of which will be 2 for sure. The alternative to this is Curfew, which doesn't require attacking or blocking and also costs 1 mana (on top of letting us reuse a creature), but this also means they can return the Plant token. There's no time to test this thoroughly, so people who have had experience with them which one do you think it's better?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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For your sideboard, wouldn't Circle of Protection: Green solve your problems against Hexproof quite nicely? It's also a card that has broader applications than Flare. Cops are just so unfair, I feel like every White deck should be running a good deal of them. There's a reason they don't print them anymore.
I'd like to know how Embolden does for you. I have a feeling that the initial cost for the spell is too expensive and will be prohibitive.
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BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
Besides from that, I think the deck is finally completed and sufficiently tweaked to my liking
I think it's about time to discuss the long awaited Black splash. Upon closer inspection I figured that even with Gideon's Reproach there's still reason to think about it: Fetcheable removal in Executioner's Capsule, recursion in Mortuary Mire and the most important of all, a repeatable wrath effect in Evincar's Justice. Custodi Squire plays a bigger part here as he's now able to recur removal by bringing back Executioner's Capsule. The downsides to this are slowing the manabase and taking out Radiant Fountain, who worked well against Burn. We would also become a little bit more tap-out oriented but would still retain the ability to operate at instant speed to some degree. Liliana's Specter, if we're able to fit him, is a very good Control creature: provides both an evasive clock and forces a 2-for-1 in the form of discard + eating removal or trading with something. It can also trade with Delver.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
About the matchup analysis: there were 5 rounds of swiss, with the top 8 being the usual eliminatory rounds: you lose, you're out.
Round 1: Izzet Blitz 2-0
I get paired with a friend, one of the pauper regulars. We know each other and we know the decks we're playing inside out from previous matches, so bluffing and the psychological aspects of the game were difficult to pull of for both parties. I win the dice roll and start with a Tranquil Cove. He plays Island, Ponder, go. I play Ancient Den and pass the turn with Prohibit up, prepared for the incoming Kiln Fiend. He uses Gitaxian Probe to see if the coast is clear and plays Kiln Fiend regardless of what I had, thus telegraphing he had another one and wanted to bait Prohibit out. I counter it, next turn I play Island and pass the turn. He plays another Fiend as I suspected, to which I respond playing Brainstorm to try and rip another Prohibit from the top. I get a Counterspell I couldn't cast because having only Cove and Den open, but I also get a Journey to Nowhere and next turn I drop Radiant Fountain and Journey with Counterspell backup in case he has Apostle's Blessing. Third turn he goes Nivix Cyclops with no land drops, to which I respond with Counterspell. After making my 5th Land drop I play Hawks, while he digs for threats. The next turn I drop Mage and fetch a Splitter and start to pressure him while controlling his board until he's dead. In the second game, I board CoP: Red and Embolden. With things going badly for me, he tries to go for lethal with a Kiln Fiend and Nivix Cyclops, but Embolden + Flashback keeps me alive for a turn. I draw Brainstorm, rip CoP: Red from the top and he concedes.
Round 2: Kuldotha Boros 2-1
One of the newbies had a classical Boros Kitty build without Blue for Drifters or Perilous Research. Game 1 I let him resolve his Ichor Wellspring but counter his Kor Skyfisher / Glint Hawk to get rid of a threat while also interrupting his bounce and draw engine. Things start to get ugly as he starts outdrawing me because I'm not seeing any Drifter / Epiphany and he has managed to start bouncing Wellspring and uses Faithless Lootings to sculpt his hand. He dropped a Guardian of the Guildpact I could not race and he took the win. Game 2 was better for me: I start slowly drowning him in card advantage and I sandbag a Prohibit for Guardian, using some Counterspells so he lets the guard down and drops a Guardian thinking I've used enough Counterspells already. I punish him for the mistake and then start using Dust to Dust and Dispeller's Capsule on his artifact lands until he's left with a Forgotten Cave and a Mountain. Game 2 was even faster since I drew a Dust to Dust in my opener and punished him for keeping a two-lander expecting to use the cantripping artifacts to dig for more. When he drew another land it was already too late.
Round 3: Bogles 1-2
Yes, I'm not kidding. I faced Bogles on round three, who managed to avoid all the MBCs in the room in rounds 1-2 and thus went undefeated. Game 1 he smashed me hard obviously. G2 I side in CoP: G and some Embolden to gain time. I start countering his threats and manage to drop a CoP: G. He concedes because he has no outs to it. G3 I mull to 5 searching for CoP or Brainstorm. I settle for Brainstorm because I didn't want to mull to 4 and I see CoP in the scry 1. I drop CoP, he starts enchanting his Boggle and then when it was massive he Nature's Claims my CoP and I lose on the spot.
Round 4: Delver Angler 2-0
This is suppossed to be the new meta deck and better than straight up U Delver, but it's a turn slower, and that's all the difference I need. Knowing that I don't have to worry about randomly losing to a Cloud of Faeries nut draw, or T1 Delver with Daze backup. I play a Tranquil Cove and pass. He starts with a Delver. Next turn I drop Island while having Gideon's Reproach and Counterspell in hand so I'm quite confident. He drops Dismal Backwater, blind fips Delver and attacks, so Delver dies. He starts tossing his library into his graveyard with Thought Scour and the next turn he plays Mental Note and casts Gurmag Angler. I counter it, then lay down Trinket Mage and start to pressure him. He manages to control the board for a bit until he plays another Angler but it eats Journey to Nowhere. Ultimately, my card advantage and the fact that he was running fewer counters and removal due to needing subpar cards to feed Angler led to his downfall. The second match was pretty similar: he starts fast but I stop him in his tracks. He also played some Sultai Scavenger on G2, but Hawk + Splitter roadblocked it.
Round 5: MBC 2-1
This was a grindy, boring match, too long to comment on it. Game 1 he takes the role of beatdown and I assume a controlling position, so he starts casting the usual Phyrexian Rager, Chittering Rats and Crypt Rats to help him clear the board aided by some Edicts. I save my counterspells for Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Tendrils of Corruption to prevent him from gaining life, and manage to secure a win. G2 we switch roles with me being Aggro and him Control. The game starts to get grindy, but eventually he manages to chain some Garys and blow me up with Crypt Rats. G3 I switch to Control again and the game starts to get grindy again. I start controlling and pressuring him, slowly drowning him in card advantage, but the game goes to time. I try to take him down within the 5 turns margin, but it's too few turns, so it seems like a draw, but in the last turn in a feat of sportsmanship he concedes the game because with a turn or two more he would be dead anyways and he said it would be unfair for me to make it a draw
I entered the top 8 4-1, with the Izzet Blitz friend and another one who was playing Affinity (although a MBC friend was left behind), and after a break, we went on to the top
Round 1: MBC 2-1
Again, another MBC deck. The usual grindy exchange between the big control deck and us, until she surprises me with Sink into Takenuma and blows all my hand because I had no counter backup. I've seen this online a few times, but it took me by surprise here, and with an empty hand, I promptly lost to lifeloss from Gary, Rats and Corrupt combined. Games 2 and 3 I was more aware and sandbagged counterspells and left mana open so she couldn't rip my hand apart again. Since the build was more "spells oriented" than "creatures oriented" (with things like Oubliette, Cuombajj Witches, Liliana's Specter and Chittering Rats to go big on Devotion), I found it easier to deal with the deck due to the lack of pressure. The main sources of damage were Crypt Rats, Gary and Corrupt, so countering those and Sink into Takenuma were the biggest concerns here.
Round 2: Izzet Blitz 2-1
I met my Izzet Blitz friend from round one here again. The matches were pretty similar to round 1, each of us calculating drops and playing around the other. Game one he manages to win because I got screwed on three lands, but in games 2 and 3 CoP: Red delivers and I beat him down without him being able to do anything besides trying to win via Elusive Spellfist, which got countered / killed every time it appeared.
Final: Affinity 1-2
Another friend of mine, so we knew each other's deck inside out and knew what to expect (which in my opinion only made it better because neither of us would lose to unexpected cards or jedi mind tricks unless they were sick enough to deceive the other). I won the roll and opened with Evolving Wilds. He starts slow with a Chromatic Star, and I take advantage of it by leaving mana up for counterspells and gaining tempo while trading one for one. The board starts to get clogged on both sides, but I start burying him in cards. He lands an Atog and passes. I use a Journey to Nowhere I sandbagged for it and he goes for the sac everything + Fling in response to burn me for lethal. I Prohibit the Fling and he concedes on the spot. Round 2 he plays and, learning his lesson, he starts lightning quick with T1 Ancient Den, Ardent Recruit into T2 Springleaf Drum, Carapace Forger. He starts playing all his cheap / free huge creatures and beating me down, and eventually, I'm unable to deal with the myriad of 3/3 and 4/4 and die. Game 3 I keep a risky hand with 2 Dust to Dust, Tranquil Cove, Island, Counterspell, Seat of the Synod and Journey to Nowhere in order to slow him down to a crawl while gaining life and waiting for the second white to appear and wreck his mana base. Needless to say, it didn't appear until turn 6, and by then it was already too late.
I'm still pretty happy to make it to second place, because except against Boggles, I never thought I didn't have a chance to win the matchup I was in! On a side note, I saw a few Delvers and never encountered one, but there were two Delver Anglers in the top 8, and also an Abzan Existence decks. Burn, Elves, White Weenie and Stompy were there, but fortunately I didn't encounter any, because those matchups can often be very uphill (but winnable with precise playing) nonetheless. Great experience, great prize support, and great people, I hope my LGS pulls another one like this soon!
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
R8whackR
WUBGAtraxa Stax-Superfriends *Under Construction*WUBG
Guardian is pretty good against slower aggro decks and non-black control decks. He's a very good game-ender.
Aven Riftwatcher is very good against Aggro and Burn.
Cenn's Enlistment is excellent against MBC and Permission decks.
Zephyr,
Thanks so much for the great writeup, and congratulations on your excellent finish! That is an excellent turnout, great prize support and a great overall experience! You seem to have played very well, and you know your deck even better.
This is why I have so little respect for the Delver Angler deck; it uses so many bad cards to enable a cheap 5/5 that it loses out in basically every other aspect of the game, be it card advantage, threat density, removal...
Sink into Takenuma is a card I've never seen played, but I imagine it must be a blowout in many cases. I'll have to keep that card in mind.
I'm very surprised there wasn't more Delver.
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
R8whackR
WUBGAtraxa Stax-Superfriends *Under Construction*WUBG
R8whackR
WUBGAtraxa Stax-Superfriends *Under Construction*WUBG
About the finisher for your deck, if you're facing a meta with a lot of MBC and Edict effects, Cenn's Enlistment and a 23rd land instead of the Squires is all the inevitability you need. Keep generating bodies and drawing cards until MBC runs out of removal and then go to town. On the other hand, if you see less Edicts, Guardian of the Guildpact is a powerhouse. It's basically Pauper's True-Name Nemesis, and the only thing in the meta that hits it right now is Agony Warp from Delver Angler decks.
Prohibit is over Mana Leak because both serve two different purposes. While both are two CMC counters with splashable cost, Prohibit is a hard counter that will work always, no questions asked and no mana payments, with the downside of only working against two or less CMC spells. Since 80% of Pauper's spells are 2 CMC or less, this won't matter anyways. Furthermore, the Kicker cost makes it useful in the late game as well, by expanding the range of spells it can counter to 4, which catches practically everything except Mulldrifter, Myr Enforcer, Spire Golem, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Gurmag Angler and Fangren Marauder, so it's never a dead draw. All of this makes it a perfect counter for control.
Mana Leak, on the other hand, costs the same and has no CMC restriction, but it's a soft counter because it requires a payment of 3 in order to do nothing. It will work in the early game, or even in the midgame when the opponent taps out to cast Gary or Drifter, but after that it will get obsolete. In the late game, the opponent will simply pay those 3 to have those key spells resolved, and since we thrive in the late game, Mana Leak will be a dead draw. This makes it a counter best suited for tempo decks.
@Upkeep
I wouldn't say I don't respect Delver Angler, because with more tweaking it can be definitely a deck: it's reminiscent of Grixis Delver in Modern and Team America in Legacy. It has permission, removal, and cheap big threats. Proof of it is that two of them top 8'd while Delver was left in the dust. However, they are running too much subpar cards at the moment, so they're not my biggest worry for now since they're a turn too slow to beat this deck. But we have to keep in mind that every 1 CMC Cantrip, every fetchland (if we even get better ones), every 1 CMC discard like Duress and overall, every cheap / free card that fills the grave or ones that do it as part of its cost will only strengthen the deck.
EDIT: I asked my LGS owner if he could forward me the results of the tournament to better see the meta, so here they are:
2º - Caw Blade
3º - MBC
4º - Izzet Blitz
5º - Abzan Existence
6º - Delver Angler
7º - MBC
8º - Delver Angler
9º - MBC
10º - Affinity
11º - Burn
12º - Tron
13º - Mono Blue Delver
14º - Esper Familiars
15º - Kuldotha Jeskai
16º - Boggles
17º - Stompy
18º - Burn
19º - Elves
20º - Boros Kitty
21º - Mono Blue Delver
22º - White Weenie
23º - MBC
24º - Tortured Existence
25º - Burn
26º - Izzet Control
27º - White Weenie
28º - Goblins
29º - Stompy
30º - Mono Blue Delver
31º - Gond Combo
33º - Rebels
34º - Izzet Blitz
35º - Bant Boggles
36º - Kuldotha Jeskai
37º - Elves
38º - Boros Heroic
39º - Simic Defenders
40º - Mono U Control
41º - Zombies
There are more Delvers than I thought, but it seems like they didn't do good. There's plenty of rogue stuff too like Rebels, Zombies or Boros Heroic. There are also some decks that placed super low that should have placed higher in my opinion, like 14, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30, 34, 36 and 39, but since I don't know who played those decks, I'll assume it was either because the pilot was inexperienced with the deck, new to Pauper, or simply had bad luck.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
About the black splash, what cards are worth it? I'm thinking:
- Executioner's Capsule
- Gurmag Angler
- Mortuary Mire
And probably some Duress even in the MB. Basically no deck runs fully on creatures and lands, and I'm willing to bet that less than the 30% of the decks would keep a land of just creatures and lands unless it's a very aggresive one, and even these usually have things like Bolts, pump, counters or removal.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
For reference, here's what I'm running:
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
4 Mulldrifter
3 Seraph of Dawn
[14 Spells]
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Rune Snag
2 Cenn's Enlistment
[4 Artifacts]
2 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Bladed Bracers
4 Oblivion Ring
[23 Lands]
4 Desert
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Evolving Wilds
5 Island
2 Seat of the Synod
2 Plains
2 Ancient Den
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Dispeller's Capsule
2 Circle of Protection: Green
3 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Prismatic Strands
3 Holy Light
I stuck fairly close to what makes the core of the deck work (the immense card advantage generated by Squadron Hawk, Trinket Mage, and Mulldrifter as well as the synergy between Brainstorm and the deck's 12 shuffle effects) but made a few meta choices such as running Oblivion Ring over Journey to Nowhere to deal with pesky artifacts and enchantments like Tortured Existence and opposing Sylvok Lifestaffs in addition to creatures. Not to mention the huge tempo swing that O-Ring'ing a Mono Black Control player's Oubliette on one of your creatures with an enter the battlefield effect can generate. The versatility of O-Ring was worth the one extra mana to me.
I also really love the Seraph of Dawn and Bladed Bracers package, since by the time Seraph comes down I usually have a least one Bonesplitter in play too and end up swinging with a 5/5 Flying, Vigilance, Lifelink beat stick with counterspell protection the following turn. That massive amount of life gain has really turned the tides on several matches against aggressive decks like Goblins and Affinity on more than a few occasions, allowing me to stabilize and come back out of burn range. A 3/3 Vigilance Trinket Mage is never a bad thing to have either, and the Bracers often transform him from a creature that just blocks and trades for value with an opponent's 2/2 whatever into something that I actually attack with.
Lastly, I feel like it would be almost a sin to not play two copies of Cenn's Enlistment. Being able to turn every land drawn in the late game into creatures means that there is no such thing as a bad topdeck with Caw Blade, and you'll inevitably win any war of attrition with other control decks that don't have ways to get value out of their late game lands.
So thank you again to Zephyr for developing this archetype! It really is astounding what an absurd amount of card advantage Caw Blade can generate, and how well it can take on almost any other deck in the current meta.
How are the Rune Snags going? Have you ever drawn one and hoped it was a more definitive counterspell? I tried them in the first iterations of the deck but quickly dismissed them since there were times where they felt really bad, especially a late-drawn first or second one.
Finally, if you like the card advantage aspect of the deck you should definitely try a few copies of Artificer's Epiphany and rework your manabase a bit to support it with Artifact lands. Instant speed card everything is the kind of game the deck wants to be playing as often as possible, and card draw is no exception.
Here's my current list:
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
4 Mulldrifter
Enchantment (4)
4 Journey to Nowhere
Equipment (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Flayer Husk
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
Instant (18)
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Prohibit
3 Gideon's Reproach
1 Cenn's Enlistment
Land (22)
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Radiant Fountain
2 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
3 Plains
6 Island
3 Circle of Protection: Green
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Dust to Dust
2 Hindering Light
2 Holy Light
The AKs work wonders against MBC by drowning them in card advantage, and are cheaper than Artificer's Epiphany, so I'll run the full playset. The first one just cycling doesn't hurt at all, since you usually cycle it in the first few turns where you have a big hand and Epiphany would be uncastable anyways. I took out the Custodi Squires since my meta has seem to finally reckon that the deck is a powerful contender and started running exiling removal MB, so it would obsolete Squire loops. I took in Cenn's Enlistment since my meta is too Edict heavy for Guardian of the Guildpact, and Cenn's Enlistment turns every topdecked land into two guys, which is pretty good against them. I'm missing a 3rd Radiant Fountain for even more lifegain and lands for Retrace, but it works really well.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
The two copies of Cenn's Enlistment might seem redundant, but there were a couple reasons that I chose to run 2. The biggest is that it's a card I want to see every game, and running just 1 led to a lot of games that I'd never draw it. The other reason is that due to the rise of Gurmag Angler as a popular win condition in B/X control decks, pretty much everyone in my meta runs some amount of graveyard hate in their sideboard (and sometimes main deck) now. Getting Enlistment exiled would be a very bad thing for the deck's late game potential, so I like to run 2 to not only improve my chances of drawing it but also give me a backup in case the first one gets exiled. At worst it's two 1/1's for four mana, which is no worse than Squadron Hawk and the fact that they come from a single card rather than two is still card advantage.
As far as the removal and counter package goes, I'm pretty happy with it. Rune Snag scales in effectiveness as the game goes on and can stop some important things that Prohibit can't, such as Angler or a Corrupt to the face. I really like the 4 copies of Desert in the mana base too. Getting two Deserts active is just a wall against most creatures in the format, and since I'm running the angels for life gain I can get away with playing a set of them over Radiant Fountain.
I have wished I could work a little more removal and card draw into the deck, since I have found myself in topdeck mode a few times after being on the receiving end of a couple Hymn to Tourach, but sadly there's only so many cards you can fit in a deck and anything I could take out to add more draw or removal (the angels, Enlistment, and Bonesplitter mainly) would seriously impede the deck's ability to actually win the game. If I could I'd love to find a way to drop down to 3x Oblivion Ring and cram a full set of Journey to Nowhere in there, and 3x Artificer's Intuition or even a full playset of A.K. like you're running would be great too. I'm just having difficulty finding anything to cut that wouldn't compromise the deck's ability to finish the game or stabilize against the hyper aggro decks that make up a substantial portion of my meta.
Still though, I'll play around with it a bit more and see what I can come up with.
Edit: After tinkering with my list a bit I wasn't able to fit in any more draw without nerfing an important part of the deck, but I was able to squeeze in a set of Journey to Nowhere by dropping 1x Desert, 1x Cenn's Enlistment, 1x Oblivion Ring, and 1x Rune Snag then swapping the 3 remaining copies of Rune Snag for Mana Leak. I'm not sure how well it will play compared to my previous list, especially going down to 1x Cenn's Enlistment, but I will playtest it this weekend.
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
4 Mulldrifter
3 Seraph of Dawn
[12 Spells]
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
3 Mana Leak
1 Cenn's Enlistment
[4 Artifacts]
2 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Bladed Bracers
4 Journey to Nowhere
3 Oblivion Ring
[22 Lands]
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Desert
2 Seat of the Synod
2 Ancient Den
5 Island
2 Plains
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Dispeller's Capsule
2 Circle of Protection: Green
3 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Prismatic Strands
3 Holy Light
I may also give Guardian of the Guildpact another try, running 3 copies of it instead of Seraph of Dawn then swapping the Bladed Bracers for a Flayer Husk and dropping the 3 Desert in the mana base for 3 Radiant Fountain to see if the life gain from them offsets the loss of Seraph of Dawn. It should be a fun weekend of playtesting.
Zephyr has played this deck a lot longer than I have, so he might have the best advice to offer, but I have done pretty large amount of playtesting against Goblins so I'll offer my perspective. Game 1 is very winnable if you know how to play it. The trick is to just trade your creatures for theirs at every available opportunity as long as you trade 1 for 1. Don't be afraid to throw a Squadron Hawk in front of every attacker they play as long as you can kill it by blocking it. Sylvok Lifestaff will be very helpful for this since it gains you life to offset burn damage when you trade creatures, and Desert is especially useful here as well. Save your counterspells for their burn spells or creatures that are too large for you to trade with right away.
Eventually Goblins will run out of creatures and Stompy will run out of pump spells, at which point you'll be able to stabilize since you draw quite a few more cards than they do and will have creatures to play long after they run out of threats. Game 1 against aggro decks is very winnable, you just have to be willing to throw everything you have under the proverbial bus until the opponent runs out of steam.
@Jin I think you will quickly take out the Mana Leaks. They're an excellent tempo counter, but we want to go into the late game to start generating card advantage non-stop, and at that point, Leak is quite weak. It can work in the first stages of the game, but it won't stop MBC, Tron or Teachings late-game spells like a harder counter would. Prohibit is good because good counters and removal usually cost 2 or less, and every deck runs one or the other. It also stops early creatures, and stays relevant throughout the late game thanks to the Kicker option.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Very good point about Mana Leak. I've found Rune Snag to be a good counterspell because it scales up in effectiveness as the game goes on, but I can definitely see Mana Leak being fairly ineffective in the later portions of the game. I think I'll alter my test build a little to remove the Mana Leaks then try out 2x Prohibit or 2x Condescend and a 23rd land in their place. I really like Rune Snag the best for a secondary counterspell, but they require you to devote space to a full set of them to really be effective and I'm not sure there's anything else I'd want to cut to make room for a fourth. So, I'll try going down to 6 counterspells and see how Prohibit or Condescend treat me.
Awesome, thanks for the tips! So, since I play pretty casually and am trying to get a few other people interested, how would you guys run the deck with the Seraph of Dawn, Bladed Bracers and possibly Doomed Traveller? I don't want to counter them too much, as that leads to a lot of frustration for some players, so I was thinking of removing a few for those cards so that there is a more creature based strategy. Thoughts?
If I was to remove the counterspells from the list I posted above for a more creature based strategy I would go...
- 4 Counterspell
- 3 Mana Leak
+ 4 Doomed Traveler
+ 1 Seraph of Dawn
+ 1 Desert
+ 1 Flayer Husk
Hope that helps!