The problem there would be that the deck has to be built differently to take advantage of the Auras. Soft removal is not that good because creatures stay on the battlefield, which is definitely important vs decks like Affinity or Mono Black Devotion, and auras get destroyed when the creature dies, as oppossed to Bonesplitter, where I can just keep sending and pumping dudes. I'm already working on a Death & Taxes'esque build with Pilgrim as a toolbox creature, so I will post it when I finish with this deck.
Great! I'd think you can try and remove either a Drifter of an Aven to make room for a last breath, but all in all I think the maindeck looks fairly solid.
I would keep in 1 Dispeller's Capsule, just for the fact that it's fetchable and useful versus two problematic matchups.
I put Counterspell there instead of Exclude as I thought it would solve your problem with Tron and its multiple threats. You can have your Journeys for creatures, and counters for torches and things.
Only 3 Pat Scorn + capsule might not be enough, in which case maybe cutting a Tome for another Scorn.
- Oona's Grace, sadly, is not needed. Against Control I can just keep making dudes that they have to respond to, and Cenn's Enlistment is pretty much counterproof. MUC has no trouble at all killing Guardian of the Guildpact since they carry counters, Quicksand, Spire Golem and Serrated Arrows, all of which destroy it. So I'd rather have more extra bodies than extra draw.
- 2 Circle of Protection: Red are even overkill since we already have a great matchup against both Burn and Weefiends. I'll stick with 2 for now just because Affinity is a bad matchup and I don't want to lose to Fling + Atog but might even downgrade to 1.
- 3 Circle of Protection: Green have been great against both Bogles and Stompy, the only time I don't like it is when they've already gone full damage in the first 2 turns, but even then, Standard Bearer won't save me probably. Pat Scorn is stellar against Bogles, letting me drop a Hawk + Kill all their enchantments is brutal and ruthless, but then Stompy and Infect would run all over me unmolested. I have to test more here the CoP: Green vs Standard Bearer to see which is more effective.
That leaves us with 3 extra SB slots, which can be dedicated to Tron and Affinity, or maybe even 1-2 Holy Light against Elves, Goblins, Presence of Gond, and other weenie decks, or Serrated Arrows against beefier creatures. My priority is Affinity now, so I suppose 2 of those 3 slots could be Dust to Dust and the extra slot can be an Exclude (covers some number of Matchups + Tron), Serrated Arrows (good against Delver, Affinity, Goblins, and other creature decks) or a singleton Patrician Scorn to help even more against Bogles without using 3 SB slots.
Also, will it be safe to fight Tron without any number of Spreading Seas?
Just played a match against a savvy player who was smart enough to board in Ancient Grudge. I didn't know until now how much that card wrecks us: it's absurdly difficult to counter packing only 6 counters which can hit it, and that's not even factoring in the Flashback which costs just 1. So we need two counters for the same card, because a broken Bonesplitter or Sylvok Lifestaff puts us behind so much that we might lose if we don't apply enough pressure with our 2/x alone. Because of this, I believe Leonin Squire could use some sideboard space. It's a standard bear, 2/2 for 1W, which is good on it's own with the tacked-on benefit of retrieving broken weapons. In addition to that, it's not the only thing it does, as it can recur lands that have been fed to Cenn's Enlistment, or the hate cards like Dispeller's Capsule. We could even use some cards like Blazing Torch (fetcheable, recurring removal that is also good against the fringe zombie decks), Golden Urn and Sunbeam Spellbom (lifegain and lifegain + draw), AEther Spellbomb (bounce) Flayer Husk (more equipment with dudes), Origin Spellbom (fetcheable cantripping dude), Tormod's Crypt replacing Relic, Conjurer's Bauble (cute recursion engine that also cantrips) or even something like a Myr Servitor package mainboard.
I know at least 75% of the cards listed are just cute interactions, but I believe there's potential if we explore that direction and I wanted to hear your opinions on it, especially with the Blazing Torch + Leonin Squire combo a la Punishing Fire + Grove of the Burnwillows (although this one isn't infinite)
Also, Library of Leng seems like a pretty legit option to fight against the discard variant of MBC, since we can choose if we put the card on the graveyard or on top of the library, thus not negating us our draws by putting back irrelevant card.
I hope Khans of Tarkir continues with the artifact theme M15 had for Standard, which hopefully will bring a common utility/hate 1 CMC artifact, or even better, a new weapon.
I would imagine Grudge is really good against you, indeed. Two spells to have to counter in one, and it wrecks your win condition. But is it really common enough to warrant making sideboard space just for that? You can't protect yourself perfectly, so trying to wreck entire strategies rather than boarding against a specific card seems much wiser.
I really recommend Tanglebloom over Golden Urn. The card is actually not bad against slow control decks, as it extends the game beyond what they were originally planning. It makes Corrupt suddenly not enough to kill you, and gives you time to draw more cards and build up a comeback. I had good success with it in my Pestilence deck. It will be even better here as it's fetchable.
Conjuror's Spellbomb is cute at best, and I don't think it will do much good. But it reminded me of a card that you might find useful: Reinforcements. Coupled with your last hawk, you can just return all the hawks in your graveyard to your hand. THAT would be a nasty play against removal-heavy decks.
AEther Spellbomb could actually be potentially good. And I still like Flayer Husk as a fetchable dude/equipment.
Library of Leng is powerful, but aside from the discard-heavy decks, there's no way to make a good use of it in your deck. If you had cards like Careful Study or Compulsive Research in your deck, than it could potentially be a good way to sculpt your hand and next few draws in multiple ways. Hmmm... Brewing possibilities here...
I think I will move a Viridian Longbow to the Sideboard because it's the last weapon I usually want to fetch for unless it's a relevant matchup. Instead I will try a single Flayer Husk since it's a fetcheable, extra body which provides a nice bonus, since a Leonin Scimitar in pauper turns our 2/2 into 3/3 able to trade with the efficient 2/2 and 2/3 usually seen. AEther Spellbomb can be nice tech against decks like WeeFiends, Infect or Presence of Gond which could become a thing thanks to Heliod's Pilgrim. I might also try Reinforcements instead of Curse of the Bloody Tome, since recurring hawks and guardians seems like a plan to beat control.
About Leonin Squire it was not solely to be a failsafe against Grudge but as a way to recur artifacts like Dispeller's Capsule or Blazing Torch, which combined with a block from Squire can take out two X/2s.
Do you think Reinforcements is better than Feldon's Cane? Cane can be fetched, but Reinforcements allows you to draw into important creatures right away like Guardian. They both have a similar effect with Hawks, though.
I think Cane gives the greatest value overall as it resets control's removal and counters by bringing back everything they've dealt with: it's our greatest trick up the sleeve against them. Counters, creatures, countered equipment, fetchlands, card draw... It can even stay there since T1. Reinforcements is for when we need a more inmediate answer: we EOT it to bring back Guardian, an evoked drifters and used up Riftwatcher to clog the skies and keep swinging some more. My most recent list:
So you decided to cut a Prohibit in the end. Very good, and I also see you cut Cenn's Enlistment completely in favour of sideboard Reinforcements and Feldon's Cane. I never thought I'd compare these types of cards with a token producer, but they are functionally similar in this deck! I think it's a good move as well.
That single Cop: Red seems a bit useless. With all your lifegain and recursion, is it really necessary?
Relic of Progenitus rather than Tormod's Crypt? I'd would have thought the 0 casting cost would be very appealing.
It's nice to see how far along you've come from your OP.
Glad to see a concept being tested so well! I have two main thoughts on this deck:
1) As I touched on in the Aura-related thread, I find it somewhat problematic that this deck can't drop significant threats without tapping out - or waiting a very long time until it can - say - drop a Guardian of the Guildpact and still keep UU open for counters. Are there any instant speed threats worth running, or 1-2 cmc options that really pack a punch? Also, cheaper counters (1 cmc) can help dropping a Trinket Mage on t4 (getting a Seat so you make your land drop for instance) and keep mana open for a counter or Brainstorm. In general, if I was build a deck like this, I'd probably look at counters costed U and 1U (3 of each?) and sorcery speed stuff (including threats) costed no more than 3. At present, Mulldrifter requires 7+ mana to hard cast with counter back up. Worth it? Prohibit is a good counter for Teachings 8-post but here I'm not so sure. 4 mana open is a lot if you can't drop threats with it EOT.
2) Would it be possible to include one black artifact land and 1 swamp to support a main deck Executioner's capsule? I think that could save you some deck space, possibly getting rid of Journey from the main all together and getting more instant speed stuff.
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Your Capsule idea seems appealing, and something I've thought about. I can't find how to tweak the manabase without damaging it, since I run 3 Desert, and by running a Vault I would need two mages, one for Capsule and another for the land. About counters, I'm swapping all Prohibit and the Exclude for Mana Leak. It hits Gary and Corrupt almost always and nails pesky 3-drops that sneak in past Prohibit. I will also look forward slinging in a third Counterspell to have more hard counters since Leak cannot protect me from removal in the later turns. In this iteration I feel that tapping out to cast drifter / guardian is not that bad since both can still block if needed and people often spell their first turns either dropping threats that can be countered or removed with our removal suite or they have to spend cards to deal with us, while we always maintain healthy CA thanks to Hawks and our draw spells.
@Obermeir The lone CoP is also there to fight WeeFiends and FlingAtog combo. I might also swap Capsule for a third Dust to Dust since it does double the duty for 1 less mana. It all depends on whether I need a silver bullet to remove enchantments or not. I chose Relic since I only have it for gravehate, so I'd rather snipe key cards like Stinkweed Imp or a Tortured Existence / Unearth target rather tan make it a free, 1-time thing. It also helps that I can nuke the entire yard and draw a card if I need it
Spell Pierce and Dispel are the typical 1-mana counters. Can't think of any other playable cards off the top of my head.
I think that even though the Doom Blade capsule is good, it's not worth splashing a colour for. One could go for a U/B equipment/toolbox deck, I suppose
Just to make sure, Relic of Progenitus doesn't let you choose what card to exile from the graveyard with its' tap ability. You target a player, and that player chooses which card is exiled. It's a very common mistake to make with these cards. Someone was pretty upset about this when playing a Web of Inertia deck against me.
Capsules could be abused to a great extent by using Leonin Squire, but I fear I don't have enough space, but this can be the seed idea for another deck. Now all that is left is to fit the third Counterspell mainboard and put an Exclude in the SB in it's place.
Well the easy fix would be to remove the Exclude from the main and switch it with a Counterspell in the sideboard. You could also remove a Prohibit from the maindeck, or maybe a Last Breath. Less attractive options (imo) would be the removal of a creature, maybe a riftwatcher. As it sits, thouhgh, I think you're pretty well balanced in creatures versus removal/countermagic.
Prohibit and Exclude for four Mana Leak in order to have a cheaper counter that can also hit 3 drops that sneak in in the third turn slipping past Prohibit. It can also hit Gary and Corrupt fairly well, but since it,s not useful lategame I wanted to sneak Counterspell to prevent things that could steal the game away. I believe that except Bogles we have at least a 45-50% chance against any other deck, as Leak eases the MBC matchup a lot, and the Tron one as well since it can delay their search for the pieces. It can also hit Marauder if they aren't careful with their drops.
I'd also want to remark Hindering Light, as though we cannot fit it in our already crowded sideboard, it's a great meta choice to counter edict effects, burn, Kaervek's Torch / Rolling Thunder, Fling or other discard effects. You are also right about Relic so im swapping it for Tomb.
My idea with the capsule was that, if you have the capsule but no black source, then you can fetch the black source - OTOH, if you have a fetch or a black source in hand, then you can fetch the capsule. Of course, it would be better to run maybe 3-4 black cards (or flashback costs etc) to make the black sources more worthwhile fetches. Dimir Trinkets is already a deck, but I think that only an esper (more precisely: Uwb, i.e. blue focus) deck can use Trinket Mage to its absolutely fullest potential (getting also dispeller's capsule and using a full four mages for actual mana fixing as well when needed).
My thoughts on the counter package was 3 Spell Pierce and 3 Mana Leak. Not sure if Pierce is good in your meta though.
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Which Black cards would be worth in your opinion? We already have plenty of removal, and I think that I'm missing some hidden gem, there are no Black creatures from the top players that would be worthwhile including. Liliana's Specter would be such a beast, but it includes double B.
As for Pierce, it's not really worthwhile since we aren't playing Tempo: for 1 blue mana more I have a hard counter to complement Leak in the lategame.
Yup, also really like the deck now Hindering Light seems awesome - 1-of main should be douable, as should 2-3 total between main and side.
As for splashing black in this deck, I'd look at instant speed alternatives to those Journeys mostly. I think Agony Warp is the most powerful removal spell available to an aggro-control deck because it's very easy to set up a 2-for-1 with it. MTGO Pauper Dimir Trinkets use black sac creatures to get value out of Sylvok Lifestaff and the immediately reanimate them with Undying Evil. They mostly splash blue for mulldrifter and mage itself. You already run mulldrifter and Aven Riftwatcher so with a few more sac dudes, you should be very well poised to take advantage of a couple of Undying Evil. I think Augur of Skulls is a very fine creature that's good against aggro and control.
Yes, I got rid of Guardian because I think tapping out 4 mana is too much for this deck. I also replaced Think Twice with Undying Evil because they seemed more like filler and rather bad card-to-mana ratio. Undying Evil will do yeoman's work in the deck, giving you either a 3/4 flyer and 4 life, a 3/3 flyer and 2 cards or a 2/2 regenerator that discards 2. I also replaced the husk with Court Homunculus, but I doubt either is necessary - Trinket Mage will have plenty to do anyways.
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Your deck looks really solid! I just think you might be underestimating Guardian as a finisher: I can tap out for him since if they don't have counters, edicts or bizarre things like Terminate or Putrid Leech, they just lost on the spot. Furthermore, curving Riftwatcher into Guardian is enough to halt most decks and leave me in the pilot's seat as they can profitably block plenty of things.
About Think Twice, it's there because it's the best instant speed draw available and I need some card draw apart from Drifters, but I could totally replace it for Undying Evil. I'm only keen on Augur, since the criteria I follow is the following:
- The creature has to net some value upon entering. That way, even if the crature is removed we are still advancing by trading 1 for 1 and gaining extra effects. Against blue decks, we make them spit Counterspells at a faster rate than they're used to, making them choose to use them to protect their threats or to deny us card advantage. We also win counter wars this way more often than not.
- If the creature doesn't meet the above criteria, it has to come with some sort of protection. Guardian or Shimmering Glasskite would fit this criteria.
- It has to have evasion. This is non-negotiable in order to connect with the weapon as often as possible. Only exception is mage because he's the backbone of the deck.
- Unless they give us a bomby effect like Hawks do for such a low cost, 2 power is also mandatory.
Augur is a very good card, but it doesn't meet the criteria. I am looking forward something more akin to Lili's Specter.
A very common example, though it's uncommon because I can't think now about more like this one, would be Shriekmaw. It has evasion, kills a guy upon entering, and doesn't have 2, but 3 power and the added flexibility of being a sorcery speed Terror. While I know this is busted and that there are no commons like this, you get the gist.
I am already working on a primer. In fact I decided to post here to polish the final list before finally posting. All in all, I believe we can put up different variations: Classic UW Caw Blade, and splashing a third color, Esper Blade and Patriot Blade. In R we have the ubiquitous Bolt, Flame Slash if you don't mind trading the possibility of aiming to the dome for being able to kill X/4 and Jilt, which is a super solid 2 for 1. Your thoughts?
Yes, the mana cost on Think Twice doesn't matter as much because it's instant-speed. While holding counters (and attacking on your own turn), if the opponent played nothing relevant, you can just spend 2, 3 or 5 mana to draw some cards instead. It's very versatile that way.
If you could really concentrate on this form of Cawblade, I think it would be preferable. I can't see tri-colour builds being anywhere near as successful in Pauper. It's just so clunky. Patriot sounds kinda cool, but the added benefits are just different types of removal, which isn't all that necessary, is it? I would also hate to be stuck with black cards in hand because I don't have enough black sources in the deck. What makes me dislike Tri-colour builds the most is the fact that it makes Trinket Mage give you less options, since you'll more often need it to fetch a land. Less screwing around, more sword-fetching, please!
I agree that the core of the deck is the UW shell using the synergy between brainstorm, birds and mage + equipment. Red or black splashes are not necessary but they are options with trade-off. Assembling 3 colors as needed isn't very hard with six fetches, 4 mages and 4 brainstorm - really. I think the fear of mana mismatch is unjustified, but otoh, the need for a third color is more gravy (and gravy can make you obese) than necessity.
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I also believe that plain UW would be the better simply due to it's solid manabase. That doesn't mean that without some tweaking it can't be as good. Both builds can abuse Leonin Squire + Executioner's Capsule / Pyrite Spellbomb as well as abuse better removal / burn and a wider SB. Once we finish this we could start brewing three colored versions with a little splash.
Absolutely. I think you're onto something with the capsules and Leonin Squire. Along with Pyrite Spellbomb, Trinket Mage and other artifact recursion and a bit of removal, there's potential for another solid deck.
Hell now, that I think about it, white also has Totem-Guide Hartebeest, so probably a toolbox-aura deck isn't so farfetched.
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For the sideboard:
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Oona's Grace
3 Curse of the Bloody Tome
3 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Patrician's Scorn
2 Counterspell
I would keep in 1 Dispeller's Capsule, just for the fact that it's fetchable and useful versus two problematic matchups.
I put Counterspell there instead of Exclude as I thought it would solve your problem with Tron and its multiple threats. You can have your Journeys for creatures, and counters for torches and things.
Only 3 Pat Scorn + capsule might not be enough, in which case maybe cutting a Tome for another Scorn.
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- Oona's Grace, sadly, is not needed. Against Control I can just keep making dudes that they have to respond to, and Cenn's Enlistment is pretty much counterproof. MUC has no trouble at all killing Guardian of the Guildpact since they carry counters, Quicksand, Spire Golem and Serrated Arrows, all of which destroy it. So I'd rather have more extra bodies than extra draw.
- 2 Curse of the Bloody Tome is enough to beat MBC and MUC, since I can draw one with all the Think Twice, Brainstorm and Mulldrifter and they have 0 ways of removing it if it sticks.
- 2 Circle of Protection: Red are even overkill since we already have a great matchup against both Burn and Weefiends. I'll stick with 2 for now just because Affinity is a bad matchup and I don't want to lose to Fling + Atog but might even downgrade to 1.
- 3 Circle of Protection: Green have been great against both Bogles and Stompy, the only time I don't like it is when they've already gone full damage in the first 2 turns, but even then, Standard Bearer won't save me probably. Pat Scorn is stellar against Bogles, letting me drop a Hawk + Kill all their enchantments is brutal and ruthless, but then Stompy and Infect would run all over me unmolested. I have to test more here the CoP: Green vs Standard Bearer to see which is more effective.
That leaves us with 3 extra SB slots, which can be dedicated to Tron and Affinity, or maybe even 1-2 Holy Light against Elves, Goblins, Presence of Gond, and other weenie decks, or Serrated Arrows against beefier creatures. My priority is Affinity now, so I suppose 2 of those 3 slots could be Dust to Dust and the extra slot can be an Exclude (covers some number of Matchups + Tron), Serrated Arrows (good against Delver, Affinity, Goblins, and other creature decks) or a singleton Patrician Scorn to help even more against Bogles without using 3 SB slots.
Also, will it be safe to fight Tron without any number of Spreading Seas?
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I know at least 75% of the cards listed are just cute interactions, but I believe there's potential if we explore that direction and I wanted to hear your opinions on it, especially with the Blazing Torch + Leonin Squire combo a la Punishing Fire + Grove of the Burnwillows (although this one isn't infinite)
Also, Library of Leng seems like a pretty legit option to fight against the discard variant of MBC, since we can choose if we put the card on the graveyard or on top of the library, thus not negating us our draws by putting back irrelevant card.
I hope Khans of Tarkir continues with the artifact theme M15 had for Standard, which hopefully will bring a common utility/hate 1 CMC artifact, or even better, a new weapon.
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I really recommend Tanglebloom over Golden Urn. The card is actually not bad against slow control decks, as it extends the game beyond what they were originally planning. It makes Corrupt suddenly not enough to kill you, and gives you time to draw more cards and build up a comeback. I had good success with it in my Pestilence deck. It will be even better here as it's fetchable.
Conjuror's Spellbomb is cute at best, and I don't think it will do much good. But it reminded me of a card that you might find useful: Reinforcements. Coupled with your last hawk, you can just return all the hawks in your graveyard to your hand. THAT would be a nasty play against removal-heavy decks.
AEther Spellbomb could actually be potentially good. And I still like Flayer Husk as a fetchable dude/equipment.
Library of Leng is powerful, but aside from the discard-heavy decks, there's no way to make a good use of it in your deck. If you had cards like Careful Study or Compulsive Research in your deck, than it could potentially be a good way to sculpt your hand and next few draws in multiple ways. Hmmm... Brewing possibilities here...
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About Leonin Squire it was not solely to be a failsafe against Grudge but as a way to recur artifacts like Dispeller's Capsule or Blazing Torch, which combined with a block from Squire can take out two X/2s.
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Fetch or card selection?
Also, let's see the most up-to-date list!
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3 Aven Riftwatcher
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
3 Mulldrifter
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
Artifact (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Flayer Husk
Enchantment (4)
4 Journey to Nowhere
Instant (14)
4 Brainstorm
2 Think Twice
2 Last Breath
2 Counterspell
1 Exclude
3 Prohibit
2 Kabira Crossroads
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Seat of the Synod
2 Ancient Den
3 Desert
3 Plains
7 Island
1 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Circle of Protection: Green
1 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Reinforcements
2 Counterspell
2 Dust to Dust
1 Exclude
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That single Cop: Red seems a bit useless. With all your lifegain and recursion, is it really necessary?
Relic of Progenitus rather than Tormod's Crypt? I'd would have thought the 0 casting cost would be very appealing.
It's nice to see how far along you've come from your OP.
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1) As I touched on in the Aura-related thread, I find it somewhat problematic that this deck can't drop significant threats without tapping out - or waiting a very long time until it can - say - drop a Guardian of the Guildpact and still keep UU open for counters. Are there any instant speed threats worth running, or 1-2 cmc options that really pack a punch? Also, cheaper counters (1 cmc) can help dropping a Trinket Mage on t4 (getting a Seat so you make your land drop for instance) and keep mana open for a counter or Brainstorm. In general, if I was build a deck like this, I'd probably look at counters costed U and 1U (3 of each?) and sorcery speed stuff (including threats) costed no more than 3. At present, Mulldrifter requires 7+ mana to hard cast with counter back up. Worth it? Prohibit is a good counter for Teachings 8-post but here I'm not so sure. 4 mana open is a lot if you can't drop threats with it EOT.
2) Would it be possible to include one black artifact land and 1 swamp to support a main deck Executioner's capsule? I think that could save you some deck space, possibly getting rid of Journey from the main all together and getting more instant speed stuff.
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@Obermeir The lone CoP is also there to fight WeeFiends and FlingAtog combo. I might also swap Capsule for a third Dust to Dust since it does double the duty for 1 less mana. It all depends on whether I need a silver bullet to remove enchantments or not. I chose Relic since I only have it for gravehate, so I'd rather snipe key cards like Stinkweed Imp or a Tortured Existence / Unearth target rather tan make it a free, 1-time thing. It also helps that I can nuke the entire yard and draw a card if I need it
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I think that even though the Doom Blade capsule is good, it's not worth splashing a colour for. One could go for a U/B equipment/toolbox deck, I suppose
Just to make sure, Relic of Progenitus doesn't let you choose what card to exile from the graveyard with its' tap ability. You target a player, and that player chooses which card is exiled. It's a very common mistake to make with these cards. Someone was pretty upset about this when playing a Web of Inertia deck against me.
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16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
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Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
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BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
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GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
I'd also want to remark Hindering Light, as though we cannot fit it in our already crowded sideboard, it's a great meta choice to counter edict effects, burn, Kaervek's Torch / Rolling Thunder, Fling or other discard effects. You are also right about Relic so im swapping it for Tomb.
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My thoughts on the counter package was 3 Spell Pierce and 3 Mana Leak. Not sure if Pierce is good in your meta though.
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As for Pierce, it's not really worthwhile since we aren't playing Tempo: for 1 blue mana more I have a hard counter to complement Leak in the lategame.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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I think the deck has what it takes to take on most decks at least 50/50. Some pure aggro matchups will be very easy games.
I can see Hindering Light as a poweful 1-of against many matchups. Cantripping for 2 mana is pretty OP.
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
As for splashing black in this deck, I'd look at instant speed alternatives to those Journeys mostly. I think Agony Warp is the most powerful removal spell available to an aggro-control deck because it's very easy to set up a 2-for-1 with it. MTGO Pauper Dimir Trinkets use black sac creatures to get value out of Sylvok Lifestaff and the immediately reanimate them with Undying Evil. They mostly splash blue for mulldrifter and mage itself. You already run mulldrifter and Aven Riftwatcher so with a few more sac dudes, you should be very well poised to take advantage of a couple of Undying Evil. I think Augur of Skulls is a very fine creature that's good against aggro and control.
So, how about this for a theoretical esper build?
3 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
1 Vault of Whispers
6 Island
2 Plains
2 Swamp
3 Desert
4 Trinket Mage
3 Mulldrifter
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Court Homunculus
2 Augur of Skulls
Artifact (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Executioner's Capsule
4 Brainstorm
3 Agony Warp
2 Last Breath
4 Mana Leak
2 Counterspell
2 Undying Evil
Yes, I got rid of Guardian because I think tapping out 4 mana is too much for this deck. I also replaced Think Twice with Undying Evil because they seemed more like filler and rather bad card-to-mana ratio. Undying Evil will do yeoman's work in the deck, giving you either a 3/4 flyer and 4 life, a 3/3 flyer and 2 cards or a 2/2 regenerator that discards 2. I also replaced the husk with Court Homunculus, but I doubt either is necessary - Trinket Mage will have plenty to do anyways.
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About Think Twice, it's there because it's the best instant speed draw available and I need some card draw apart from Drifters, but I could totally replace it for Undying Evil. I'm only keen on Augur, since the criteria I follow is the following:
- The creature has to net some value upon entering. That way, even if the crature is removed we are still advancing by trading 1 for 1 and gaining extra effects. Against blue decks, we make them spit Counterspells at a faster rate than they're used to, making them choose to use them to protect their threats or to deny us card advantage. We also win counter wars this way more often than not.
- If the creature doesn't meet the above criteria, it has to come with some sort of protection. Guardian or Shimmering Glasskite would fit this criteria.
- It has to have evasion. This is non-negotiable in order to connect with the weapon as often as possible. Only exception is mage because he's the backbone of the deck.
- Unless they give us a bomby effect like Hawks do for such a low cost, 2 power is also mandatory.
Augur is a very good card, but it doesn't meet the criteria. I am looking forward something more akin to Lili's Specter.
A very common example, though it's uncommon because I can't think now about more like this one, would be Shriekmaw. It has evasion, kills a guy upon entering, and doesn't have 2, but 3 power and the added flexibility of being a sorcery speed Terror. While I know this is busted and that there are no commons like this, you get the gist.
I am already working on a primer. In fact I decided to post here to polish the final list before finally posting. All in all, I believe we can put up different variations: Classic UW Caw Blade, and splashing a third color, Esper Blade and Patriot Blade. In R we have the ubiquitous Bolt, Flame Slash if you don't mind trading the possibility of aiming to the dome for being able to kill X/4 and Jilt, which is a super solid 2 for 1. Your thoughts?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
If you could really concentrate on this form of Cawblade, I think it would be preferable. I can't see tri-colour builds being anywhere near as successful in Pauper. It's just so clunky. Patriot sounds kinda cool, but the added benefits are just different types of removal, which isn't all that necessary, is it? I would also hate to be stuck with black cards in hand because I don't have enough black sources in the deck. What makes me dislike Tri-colour builds the most is the fact that it makes Trinket Mage give you less options, since you'll more often need it to fetch a land. Less screwing around, more sword-fetching, please!
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
A series of seven articles using Magic to explore the very stuff of the Universe!
"At least for those who can play cards, their present incarnation is not quite wasted."
[Click here for the articles!]
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