Deck by mysza, Pauper Premier Event, 6th place, 1/11/14
I can't find any recent discussion about this deck in the forum. Where I did find it, it was the old version before Temporal Fissure got banned. This appears to be the new version.
I didn't know where to post my discussion about this deck. It is not in the established section, but this is NOT a developing deck in my humble opinion. The roots of the deck are very old from what I've heard, and it is also just bonkers good in my humble opinion, and thus not 'developing.'
I posted the deck in here mainly because I am thinking about building it and I had some questions. Any help would be sincerely appreciated.
1) Why is the above deck playing Seat of the Synod? I am looking through the whole 75 and can't find a reason you would run this instead of Island.
2) ONE Sage's Row Denizen? Isn't this our win con though? I know we are running Reaping the Graves and all, but still...
3) Similar to question 1, I can't really figure out how Wormfang Drake is good, or in what matchups you would want to side it in.
Also, any random thoughts people have about the deck, feel free to post them here!
So in the past 24 hours I've gotten in a bunch of games with the deck. I think you're right about Wormfang Drake - it is to protect a combo piece in the face of hate. You can get the creature from underneath the Wormfang Drake whenever you're ready to combo off.
And you're also right about Denizen, I've found one is plenty.
My problem with the deck is that if your opponent isn't kind enough to concede when they see you have the combo, you can really come close to running out of time. Perhaps I will play faster the more experienced I get with it. But I've played against a couple players that wouldn't concede when I had the combo, and clicking as fast as I can, I still used almost half of my time on the first game. If we went to 3 games I don't know if I would be able to finish in time. I guess you just need to play as fast as you can when you're not comboing out.
The time issue aside, the deck is as I imagined - insane. Opponents will tap out midgame, and thats the game - when you see they can't interact with you, the cheap draw spells and ways to generate LOTS of mana before you get to the infinite mana combo allows you to draw enough cards to combo out. Then you draw your entire deck, then you mill them. How is this deck not in the "established" section of the forum!?
How is this deck not in the "established" section of the forum!?
It's not in the "established" section because it's not really putting up numbers. The combo is a little bit too quirky to be really consistent, countermagic and discard are everywhere, and even when it's working, you can still just lose to the clock.
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Oh, you think the losers' bracket is your ally, but you merely adopted the scrub tier. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t 4-0 an FNM until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but an extra pack to sell for store credit!
It's not in the "established" section because it's not really putting up numbers. The combo is a little bit too quirky to be really consistent, countermagic and discard are everywhere, and even when it's working, you can still just lose to the clock.
I think the real reason it's not in the established section is because this board is rarely updated. 8-Post is still in established despite having it's core card banned, and affinity was top tier for over a month before it was finally moved to established.
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Lycanthropy Awareness Day.
Hoping for a cure, or at least an outbreak.
The deck is actually fairly resilient to discard. We can get back instants and sorceries we discard with Mnemonic Wall / Archaeomancer and we can get back ALL the creatures in our graveyard with Reaping the Graves.
It is also resilient to removal. Cards like Snap and Ghostly Flicker (not to mention Reaping the Graves) can protect our guys. Counterspells are probably good against it, but I have yet to play against a counter-heavy deck. I imagine it can't be a total blowout - how many counterspells can you hold up? When I have familiars out, I can cast a ton of spells.
One kryptonite I am scared of would probably be graveyard exile effects. Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus - to combo off, I need my graveyard. And, in fact, as discussed above, for the deck to function pre-combo we need our graveyard.
The actual reason the deck doesn't have an "Established" thread is because no one's written a primer/intro post for it. Unless you want to limit "established" to Delver and MBC, this deck is pretty comfortably in the next tier down.
Well established or not, I am going to unofficially make this the Esper Familiar Storm thread. I feel weird being the OP because I've been playing the deck for a few days. If there are any experienced veterans with this deck in the forum, please speak up!!
Here are some new thoughts I have from practicing with the deck.
- Powerful aggro strategies (like Stompy) are tough for the deck. You have creatures to block with, but you want them on the field for when you combo off. You have cards like Snap to slow your opponent down, but you would rather be targeting your own guys. It seems that the sideboard is geared well to combat aggro strategies. Stonehorn Dignitary is bonkers for beating these aggro decks. In fact, I like siding out the Sage's Row combo and just bringing in Stonehorns. You can blank their combat infinitely with Ghostly Flicker targeting Mnemonic Wall and Stonehorn, and then just beat them down in the air with Cloud of Faeries and Mulldrifter.
I kept thinking this deck is monoblue and looking right past the BUW listing for it...
Anyway, yeah, you would need someone to write a primer for it. Take a look around the other threads in the Established and Developing forums for an idea of the level of detail involved - I used Dromar's Goblins thread as my basis, you want to clearly explain the different parts of the deck, what they do, what other options there are for a particular role...
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Oh, you think the losers' bracket is your ally, but you merely adopted the scrub tier. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t 4-0 an FNM until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but an extra pack to sell for store credit!
Since creating this thread I have taken the deck apart and have no intention to rebuild it anytime soon. I still stand by that I think it is a very powerful deck and one of the strongest in the pauper meta. But the deck doesn't really fit my play style and running out of time is a very legitimate concern. I'm sure I could get faster and more efficient with tons of practice, but I'm not patient enough / don't have enough time to put in tons of practice.
I only bring this up because if a primer were to get made for this deck, I am definitely not the one to do it. Not only because of lack of experience but also because I am no longer playing it.
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3 Dimir Aqueduct
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Island
1 Plains
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Swamp
3 Terramorphic Expanse
21 lands
1 ArchAeomancer
4 Cloud of FAeries
1 Lone Missionary
1 Mnemonic Wall
4 Mulldrifter
2 Nightscape Familiar
1 Sage's Row Denizen
3 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Sunscape Familiar
4 Compulsive Research
1 Deep Analysis
2 Foresee
3 Ghostly Flicker
3 Preordain
1 Reaping the Graves
4 Snap
18 other spells
1 Capsize
2 Dispel
3 Hydroblast
2 Lone Missionary
2 Prismatic Strands
1 Serrated Arrows
2 Stonehorn Dignitary
2 Wormfang Drake
Deck by mysza, Pauper Premier Event, 6th place, 1/11/14
I can't find any recent discussion about this deck in the forum. Where I did find it, it was the old version before Temporal Fissure got banned. This appears to be the new version.
I didn't know where to post my discussion about this deck. It is not in the established section, but this is NOT a developing deck in my humble opinion. The roots of the deck are very old from what I've heard, and it is also just bonkers good in my humble opinion, and thus not 'developing.'
I posted the deck in here mainly because I am thinking about building it and I had some questions. Any help would be sincerely appreciated.
1) Why is the above deck playing Seat of the Synod? I am looking through the whole 75 and can't find a reason you would run this instead of Island.
2) ONE Sage's Row Denizen? Isn't this our win con though? I know we are running Reaping the Graves and all, but still...
3) Similar to question 1, I can't really figure out how Wormfang Drake is good, or in what matchups you would want to side it in.
Also, any random thoughts people have about the deck, feel free to post them here!
And you're also right about Denizen, I've found one is plenty.
My problem with the deck is that if your opponent isn't kind enough to concede when they see you have the combo, you can really come close to running out of time. Perhaps I will play faster the more experienced I get with it. But I've played against a couple players that wouldn't concede when I had the combo, and clicking as fast as I can, I still used almost half of my time on the first game. If we went to 3 games I don't know if I would be able to finish in time. I guess you just need to play as fast as you can when you're not comboing out.
The time issue aside, the deck is as I imagined - insane. Opponents will tap out midgame, and thats the game - when you see they can't interact with you, the cheap draw spells and ways to generate LOTS of mana before you get to the infinite mana combo allows you to draw enough cards to combo out. Then you draw your entire deck, then you mill them. How is this deck not in the "established" section of the forum!?
It's not in the "established" section because it's not really putting up numbers. The combo is a little bit too quirky to be really consistent, countermagic and discard are everywhere, and even when it's working, you can still just lose to the clock.
*cough*
I think the real reason it's not in the established section is because this board is rarely updated. 8-Post is still in established despite having it's core card banned, and affinity was top tier for over a month before it was finally moved to established.
Hoping for a cure, or at least an outbreak.
Level 1 Judge (yay)
It is also resilient to removal. Cards like Snap and Ghostly Flicker (not to mention Reaping the Graves) can protect our guys. Counterspells are probably good against it, but I have yet to play against a counter-heavy deck. I imagine it can't be a total blowout - how many counterspells can you hold up? When I have familiars out, I can cast a ton of spells.
One kryptonite I am scared of would probably be graveyard exile effects. Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus - to combo off, I need my graveyard. And, in fact, as discussed above, for the deck to function pre-combo we need our graveyard.
Here are some new thoughts I have from practicing with the deck.
- Powerful aggro strategies (like Stompy) are tough for the deck. You have creatures to block with, but you want them on the field for when you combo off. You have cards like Snap to slow your opponent down, but you would rather be targeting your own guys. It seems that the sideboard is geared well to combat aggro strategies. Stonehorn Dignitary is bonkers for beating these aggro decks. In fact, I like siding out the Sage's Row combo and just bringing in Stonehorns. You can blank their combat infinitely with Ghostly Flicker targeting Mnemonic Wall and Stonehorn, and then just beat them down in the air with Cloud of Faeries and Mulldrifter.
I kept thinking this deck is monoblue and looking right past the BUW listing for it...
Anyway, yeah, you would need someone to write a primer for it. Take a look around the other threads in the Established and Developing forums for an idea of the level of detail involved - I used Dromar's Goblins thread as my basis, you want to clearly explain the different parts of the deck, what they do, what other options there are for a particular role...
I only bring this up because if a primer were to get made for this deck, I am definitely not the one to do it. Not only because of lack of experience but also because I am no longer playing it.