I wanted to share a deck I've been having some success with. It seems great in the control matchups against mono-u delver and mono-b. The idea is to use the control of blue paired with the evasive and resilient white weenies similarly to the old cawblade deck. Squadron Hawks is card advantage on a stick and can usually overpower control (particularly where it forces through uncounterable ninjas) while buying time vs. aggro.
Still working on the sideboard, and the specific spell package is also being fine tuned. Open to suggestions.
In most decks Preordain is better than Brainstorm, but with hawks I have been loving Brainstorm. The list I've been using is RWU but the core is about the same so it seems like you can use hawks as a strong draw engine here... Maybe not since you don't have any shuffle effects?
I'm curious why there's no Hydroblast I the board.
I have to agree with you on Brainstorm. I've been having trouble getting my Delvers to flip lately, so I'm going to replace the Journey into Nowheres with Smite. If anyone has a better suggestion for white instant or sorcery removal please let me know. I'm also considering Unmake and Sunlance for that spot, although Unmake's WWW requirement probably makes that a non-option.
Also considering switching Mana Leak for Counterspell to ease the color requirements. I'm hesitant because I typically like to save my counters for the late game, where they're more likely to be able to pay the 3 mana. On the other hand, ML can be paid for with one Azorius Chancery, which is pretty great.
Preface: I only play in paper and it's a relatively small meta, but...
Brainstorm seems to help make things tick so much better than Preordain in a Hawks deck. Instead of the Guildgates though I might try Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds for the added shuffle. You get a tapped land either way I guess.
Journey to Nowhere seems fine as a 2 of with 4 Snaps and the 2 Excludes. If you want to drop all of them I'd consider just going with a set of Vapor Snags.
If I built the board based on my own experience and a lot of watching MTGO "dailies" I would go with something like:
Smite hasn't been cutting it for me. I'd like some white spells to even things out a bit as I can't control my mana distribution as well with the Chanceries. Looking at the following as potential replacements:
Dawn Charm - versatility Feeling of Dread - reusable Hindering Light - more hard control, comes with built in draw, but stringent mana requirements Last Breath - hard removal, but has a downside and limited Mana Tithe - bad in the late game when I want to be countering, but a good card potentially Niveous Wisps - cantrips, minor control Reinforcements - great in the control mirror and vs. burn, lets me chump early on and maintain creature count. Particularly good in this deck since I can dump my hand fast late game with Cloud of Faeries ramping Chanceries. Moment of Silence - cheap fog
I also went ahead and removed the Chanceries to make the deck faster, replacing them with guildgates and terramorphic expanses
Why does it need to be balanced? It seems like running blue-heavy is fine and putting Dawn Charm in when Piracy Charm is probably better doesn't make sense. I look at all those cards and they sort of feel gimmicky and not at direct as you want. The deck has a good control spine with really good creatures... just use the sideboard to keep a bad matchup from blowing you away.
Won a small 6 person tournament at my local shop last night. We had 3 rounds swiss with no cut to top 2.
1st Round - Black Aggro - Draw:
Game 1: Quick game where fliers with a Bonesplitter did the work for us.
Game 2: Land flooded and didn't draw enough gas or a Squadron Hawk
Game 3: Ended in extra turns but I would have won with one to two more turns.
2nd Round - GU Tron - 2-0 Win:
Game 1: Had a Squadron Hawk and Bonesplitter in my starting hand. Had to fight through two fogs, each with buyback, which extended the game. He never found a threat.
Game 2: Trinket Mage ended up being the beater of choice since I never drew into a hawk. Bonesplitter added the damage. Was able to counter one fog. Journey to Nowhere was able to lock down his only threat.
3rd Round - White Weenie - 2-1 Win:
Game 1: I got out raced and it wasn't even close.
Game 2: We killed/exiled 8 Squadron Hawk during the game. A long attrition game that came down to the combat math and knowing if I attacked with everything the last two turns I just needed to avoid a creature or Disenchant. He drew an land and we went to game 3.
Game 3: Another long attrition war. Luckily he started off slow and was a bit mana light. He was bashing me in with three shadow weenies early but I was able to search for a Viridian Longbow and slowly took them out. He dropped an enchantment giving his creatures +0/+1 which blanked the Longbow so it turned into a very slow race. We went into extra turns and again it came down to combat math. I needed to avoid a flier without drawing my last Journey to Nowhere. He drew a shadow creature and I was able to finish him off to win the match and the tournament.
I really enjoyed the deck. It was my first Pauper tournement and I had fun the entire time. Got to see some older cards that don't get used a lot at our shop since we don't have Legacy events. The Origin Spellbomb never seemed to do much for me so I'm tempted to switch it out for an additional equipment piece. I'm not sure which equipment I want, but I know the Origin Spellbomb just didn't seem fast enough.
Sunlance is there because it's a 1 mana removal, and since we don't have Path to Exile this is the closest we can get. Also, this helps in the Delver matchup which is a very, very bad one. Desert helps against Delver as well and makes blocking awkward, and pinging can take some creatures out, and just becomes better in multiples. Quicksand is much more straightforward in what it can kill, but it misses fliers and costs us a land drop, although it kills Kiln Fiend alongside other important cards such as Ninja of the Deep Hours or Okiba-Gang Shinobi. I'm also thinking of switching two plains for Kabira Crossroads. Alongside the lifegain from Exile (which can turn the tides of a match, hence why I want to include one more), Sylvok Lifestaff, Aven Riftwatcher and potentially Seraph of Dawn, aggro decks will have a hard time beating us. In the sideboard, Curse of the Bloody Tome is good tech against MBC (which is hard on us) and traditional control lists, and Standard Bearer helps vs Stompy, Infect and Bogles. Finally, I'd like to squeeze either 2 Circle of Protections for Red (Burn) or Green (Generic G based aggro, elves, stompy and Bogles). I'm also interested on the following:
Still working on the sideboard, and the specific spell package is also being fine tuned. Open to suggestions.
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Squadron Hawk
4x Cloud of Faeries
4x Guardian of the Guildpact
4x Ninja of the Deep Hours
Spells:
4x Counterspell
2x Exclude
4x Mana Leak
3x Snap
4x Preordain
2x Bonesplitter
Land:
4x Azorius Chancery
2x Azorius Guildgate
9x Island
6x Plains
3x Hydroblast
2x Circle of Protection: Black
2x Circle of Protection: Red
3x Dispel
3x Holy Light
2x Sylvok Lifestaff
I'm curious why there's no Hydroblast I the board.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Also considering switching Mana Leak for Counterspell to ease the color requirements. I'm hesitant because I typically like to save my counters for the late game, where they're more likely to be able to pay the 3 mana. On the other hand, ML can be paid for with one Azorius Chancery, which is pretty great.
And I agree that Hydroblast should be in the board, likely where Hobble is. Maybe if I do that, I should replace Circle of Protection: Red with Circle of Protection: Blue or Circle of Protection: Green.
Brainstorm seems to help make things tick so much better than Preordain in a Hawks deck. Instead of the Guildgates though I might try Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds for the added shuffle. You get a tapped land either way I guess.
Journey to Nowhere seems fine as a 2 of with 4 Snaps and the 2 Excludes. If you want to drop all of them I'd consider just going with a set of Vapor Snags.
If I built the board based on my own experience and a lot of watching MTGO "dailies" I would go with something like:
2x Vedalken Outlander
2x Prismatic Strands
3x Dispel
2x Holy Light
1x Sylvok Lifestaff
3 Hydroblast
Maybe? Another card I've been really liking for the deck is Deft Dualist. 2 power first strike that's immune to spot removal seems like a decent play.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Dawn Charm - versatility
Feeling of Dread - reusable
Hindering Light - more hard control, comes with built in draw, but stringent mana requirements
Last Breath - hard removal, but has a downside and limited
Mana Tithe - bad in the late game when I want to be countering, but a good card potentially
Niveous Wisps - cantrips, minor control
Reinforcements - great in the control mirror and vs. burn, lets me chump early on and maintain creature count. Particularly good in this deck since I can dump my hand fast late game with Cloud of Faeries ramping Chanceries.
Moment of Silence - cheap fog
I also went ahead and removed the Chanceries to make the deck faster, replacing them with guildgates and terramorphic expanses
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
I don't feel like Hindering Light is necessarily gimmicky. It's the counterpart to Exclude vs. control and burn, especially vs. mono B with the draw.
I did try Reinforcements, and that card seems crappy.
I might just go with 4x Preordain to supplement Brainstorm.
Now that the Chanceries are gone, I'm also looking to lower the land count.
4x Trinket Mage
4x Mulldrifter
4x Squadron Hawk
2x Guardian of the Guildpact
4x Brainstorm
4x Preordain
4x Counterspell
4x Journey to Nowhere
2x Cenn's Enlistment
1x Origin Spellbomb
1x Viridian Longbow
1x Bonesplitter
1x Sylvok Lifestaff
1x Piracy Charm
10x Island
5x Plains
4x Azorius Guildgate
2x Ancient Den
2x Seat of the Synod
3x Hydroblast
2x Coast Watcher
2x Prismatic Strands
2x Kor Sanctifiers
2x Standard Bearer
1x Dust to Dust
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Shield Sphere
1x Piracy Charm
Won a small 6 person tournament at my local shop last night. We had 3 rounds swiss with no cut to top 2.
1st Round - Black Aggro - Draw:
Game 1: Quick game where fliers with a Bonesplitter did the work for us.
Game 2: Land flooded and didn't draw enough gas or a Squadron Hawk
Game 3: Ended in extra turns but I would have won with one to two more turns.
2nd Round - GU Tron - 2-0 Win:
Game 1: Had a Squadron Hawk and Bonesplitter in my starting hand. Had to fight through two fogs, each with buyback, which extended the game. He never found a threat.
Game 2: Trinket Mage ended up being the beater of choice since I never drew into a hawk. Bonesplitter added the damage. Was able to counter one fog. Journey to Nowhere was able to lock down his only threat.
3rd Round - White Weenie - 2-1 Win:
Game 1: I got out raced and it wasn't even close.
Game 2: We killed/exiled 8 Squadron Hawk during the game. A long attrition game that came down to the combat math and knowing if I attacked with everything the last two turns I just needed to avoid a creature or Disenchant. He drew an land and we went to game 3.
Game 3: Another long attrition war. Luckily he started off slow and was a bit mana light. He was bashing me in with three shadow weenies early but I was able to search for a Viridian Longbow and slowly took them out. He dropped an enchantment giving his creatures +0/+1 which blanked the Longbow so it turned into a very slow race. We went into extra turns and again it came down to combat math. I needed to avoid a flier without drawing my last Journey to Nowhere. He drew a shadow creature and I was able to finish him off to win the match and the tournament.
I really enjoyed the deck. It was my first Pauper tournement and I had fun the entire time. Got to see some older cards that don't get used a lot at our shop since we don't have Legacy events. The Origin Spellbomb never seemed to do much for me so I'm tempted to switch it out for an additional equipment piece. I'm not sure which equipment I want, but I know the Origin Spellbomb just didn't seem fast enough.
3 Aven Riftwatcher
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
Artifact (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Viridian Longbow
Enchantment (2)
2 Journey to Nowhere
Instant (18)
4 Brainstorm
4 Rune Snag
3 Daze
2 Counterspell
2 Exclude
2 Think Twice
1 Exile
3 Sunlance
Lands (23)
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Desert
9 Island
5 Plains
2 Serrated Arrows
3 Standard Bearer
2 Curse of the Bloody Tome
3 Dispel
3 Hydroblast
2 Dust to Dust
Cards I think need to go in, in order of preference:
1 Think Twice
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Seraph of Dawn
1 more land
1 Counterspell
1 Exile
2-3 Spell Pierce
Sunlance is there because it's a 1 mana removal, and since we don't have Path to Exile this is the closest we can get. Also, this helps in the Delver matchup which is a very, very bad one. Desert helps against Delver as well and makes blocking awkward, and pinging can take some creatures out, and just becomes better in multiples. Quicksand is much more straightforward in what it can kill, but it misses fliers and costs us a land drop, although it kills Kiln Fiend alongside other important cards such as Ninja of the Deep Hours or Okiba-Gang Shinobi. I'm also thinking of switching two plains for Kabira Crossroads. Alongside the lifegain from Exile (which can turn the tides of a match, hence why I want to include one more), Sylvok Lifestaff, Aven Riftwatcher and potentially Seraph of Dawn, aggro decks will have a hard time beating us. In the sideboard, Curse of the Bloody Tome is good tech against MBC (which is hard on us) and traditional control lists, and Standard Bearer helps vs Stompy, Infect and Bogles. Finally, I'd like to squeeze either 2 Circle of Protections for Red (Burn) or Green (Generic G based aggro, elves, stompy and Bogles). I'm also interested on the following:
Coast Watcher
Sea Sprite
Freewind Falcon
Duskrider Falcon
Since we don't own things like Sword of Feast and Famine, these could shore our unfavorable matchups.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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