I used to play Madness back in the day. But, not pauper. My question is, is there anything that can replace Circular Logic or the Wurm, if your playgroup does NOT allow for the use of cards that were only downgraded online?
I used to play Madness back in the day. But, not pauper. My question is, is there anything that can replace Circular Logic or the Wurm, if your playgroup does NOT allow for the use of cards that were only downgraded online?
No, there isn't anything remotely close. The main reason this archetype gained a bit of traction was that both Arrogant Wurm and Circular Logic got downgraded at common in VMA. Otherwise, the deck becomes Deep Dog, an old archetype that gets advantage by discarding cards to Mongrel and pumping it. It used Rune Snag, Deep Analysis, Æther Burst, Basking Rootwalla and Gush to get mileage out of Mongrel's discard ability. You could try a similar thing adding Hooting Mandrills and Delver of Secrets to the mix, or if you abuse a lot of graveyard matters cards like Burst and Snag, Moldgraf Scavenger.
That's a quick draft of the deck. Finding slots for a pair of Gush is what I would focus on doing first, and maybe adding 1-2 more Terramorphic Expanses to feed Scavenger, but Mongrel already gets rid of excess lands.
Speaking of Moldgraf Scavenger, and those types of cards, are the artifact lands worth running? Like Seat of the Synod, and Tree of Tales? I'm just trying to figure this all out. Thanks in advance.
Yeah, I'm also starting to think that the Artifact lands might be pretty good. Since we don't need basic Forests explicitly for anything (unless sideboarding in Reverent Silence, which is a worse Serene Heart), we should swap 4 of the 6 or 7 most of our lists are running for Tree of Tales. I'd keep 2 Forests as a bare minimum in order to always have the option to fetch at least two of them just in case.
Seat of the Synod is a bit trickier, since I believe Daze is such a key card to the deck, protecting your Madness outlet when you tap out to deploy it on turn 2, so a moderate number of basic Islands has to be run. Gush is also a card, so we'll have to take that into account and maybe lower the number of Gushes in the deck. 5 Islands minimum + 4 Evolving Wilds to consistently enable Daze seems like a good number, so I would add Seats from there. Personally I run 7 Islands, so that means it's now 5 Islands and two Seat of the Synod.
I still don't think Careful Study is playable even with Scavenger and Artifact lands as the disadvantage it can give us is often too big. Unless they print something like Wonder or Roar of the Wurm at common in EMA (which I doubt since Roar was uncommon in VMA and Wonder is way too powerful), I believe we're better off using the Ponder and Preordain combo, which are also able to flip Delver.
I've been a long time observer of Pauper, but having a Macintosh kind of stopped me from ever really playing. But now I have a Windows and have been jamming a lot of the format. And mainly I have been jamming UG Madness for the past three or so months.
I love this deck so much. Although I could play top tier decks like MonoU Delver etc. for the tempo experience, there is nothing quite like Mongrels and Madness cards. My current list is:
Sideboard: (15)
3 Natural State
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spreading Seas
2 Waterfront Bouncer
2 Gut Shot
2 Pulse of Murasa
2 Aerial Volley
The typical Madness core is a given, but there's a few thing I'd like opinions on:
- I know a lot of you have discussed Study's problems, and I too have experienced the dead Study topdecks. At the same time, I always feel its very powerful in your opener (obv. particularly with Rootwalla), but also because Logic can be very difficult to turn on at times, with only Ponder or Wilds as turn one plays which can make turn three Logics valuable.
- Mandrills has been great, despite his occasional non-bo with Logic (but it hasn't been too much of an issue) but at the same time I'm open to other threats. Probably the one I've considered most is Stitched Drake, actually, since the deck is sorely lacking evasive creatures to close out the game. I guess Stormbound Geist is also something.
- The split of 2 DA and 1 Gush as card drawers has felt perfect to me. I only really like one Gush at the moment, as sometimes it is difficult to get two Islands.
- I've really been adoring Snaps - the card is a Pauper staple for a reason - and after trying things such as Aether Burst, Vapor Snag etc. (though I have yet to try Just the Wind) I'm really set on Snap being the best card for the job. Being a "counterspell" against removal at times while being mana-neutral has felt very impressive.
- Piracy Charm is my cute fun-of, but its been surprisingly okay. The deck struggles with swarm creature strategies (Elves, Goblins etc.) and having a main deck way to kill those (as well as kill a t1 Delver) has been quite functional. It also again can situationally let us break through boardstalls (again, the deck really needs some evasion) or be a bad discard outlet in a pinch.
- The sideboard is the biggest problem I've found. Mainly the slots involving Natural State. I've tried Gleeful Sabotage and was somewhat underwhelmed by it in the Affinity matchup (which has felt very hard for me), and instead I've gone towards the plan of "Stone Rain them out of the game before they can set up their engine". The instant-speed nature of State, as well as its singular green mana cost, has also always impressed me due to how instant-speed fits in with our tempo plan, as does being very cheap.
- 20 lands. I ran 21 before, but found myself having a few too many excess lands to pitch to Mongrel at times. I'm open to how to construct the mana base though. I feel only three Wilds is good so that we don't stumble too much (and of course fuels Logic, Mandrills and is a shuffle effect for Ponder), and I know a critical amount of Islands is needed for Gush and also just being able to cast Aquamoeba + Logic in the same turn.
Anyway, would love to hear everyone's thoughts. I'll be fighting hard to get UG Madness a 5-0 in the Leagues.
I stopped running the moldgraf scavenger. I found that I was usually upset every time I pulled it. Still haven't put together a sideboard yet but i'm pretty sure its just going to have a bunch of affinity hate. I'm also thinking about dropping ponder and preordain upping the deep analysis count to four and adding stratus walk or something for evasion. I just want to relive the glory days of wonder.
Have you considered Dragon Wings instead of Stratus Walk? Dragon Wings can be used early on Wurm and if it goes to the GY it can come back later for free on the Mandrills! It also can give you a draw with Cycling as well, so I feel it does more than Stratus Walk in this archetype.
No I haven't really looked into anything yet in terms of evasion. Stratus walk was the only thing that popped into my head at the time. But I'm probably going to keep the ponders and preordains since they help trigger the delver.
I think your deck has too few discard outlets. I would run 3-4 Aquamoeba alongside the full set of Mongrels, as they provide redundancy and consistency to the deck. About Stratus Walk or Dragon Wings, I don't think either of them have a place. Wings would be really really good if Wurm's normal cost was 4GG instead, so all of your 4/4's could use it, but as is, I think it's to weak. Neither of them really affect the board too much, so I'd rather leave the evasion to Delvers and the Trample guys.
I'm converting my pauper decks into peasant ones. If making a peasant version, what 5 uncommons would you add? I was thinking 2 roar of the wurm and 2 wonder, but what else? 1 Thirst for knowledge or fact or fiction?
I played this deck in type 2 and 1.5 back in the day with wonder and genesis and the wurms.
Excited to have stumbled on pauper on me reintroduction to MTG and happy to see people passionate about a deck I hold such nostalgia for. I'll post the list I've been testing when I'm not on mobile, but it is very similar to Zephyr's.
I'm running 2 heist and 4 merfolk looter instead of an aquameoba and the Mandrils. I've been looking for that evasive delver stopper and damage dealer. Heist has been good at 2/2 undying, has anyone played with Cloudfin Raptor? That's the next change I'm going to make. I think it fits well on the curve and would probably put me up to 3 aquameoba and drop a merfolk, but it evolves nicely on curve with merfolk, rootwalla, mongrel, aqua, and once you've played an arrogant wurm the raptor is a 4/5 flier. What do we think?
You can add a deck with the "Deck" button on the right side of the toolbar, above the box where you type. I've tried werebear and it didn't impress me because threshold takes so long to turn on, and mono black/grixis decks will edict it. I also don't run basking rootwalla because I have more counters, so I need the mana up, and it gets outclassed if you don't pump it. Delver has been a bit better than mongoose because it flies, and works well with cantrips and fewer lands to mitigate flooding. Aquamoeba sucks, but it can trade and it triggers madness multiple times a turn. Here's my list:
I've felt that Nimble Mongoose + Werebear are an excellent pair of beaters to complement Mongrel and Wurm.
Basking Rootwalla is there as a "free discard" card and also to eat the edicts that would take out your biggest guys were not for it. I also prefer Mongoose to Delver because while 'goose doesn't fly, it's significantly harder to get rid of. Here's what I'm running:
I've felt that Nimble Mongoose + Werebear are an excellent pair of beaters to complement Mongrel and Wurm.
Basking Rootwalla is there as a "free discard" card and also to eat the edicts that would take out your biggest guys were not for it. I also prefer Mongoose to Delver because while 'goose doesn't fly, it's significantly harder to get rid of. Here's what I'm running:
I'm probably going to trim one or two creatures in order to fit 2-3 Spell Pierce, probably a Wurm and something else.
Yea I've moved away from delver as well and we're running the same lists. Someone mentioned complete disregard and yea, it's a problem that mongoose can deal with it. Half the people in my shop play MBC and now the peregrine combos are coming around. Surprisingly, I was the only person playing with Delvers up until I switched them out.
UG madness is an aggro deck, so adding a third color slows the deck down a lot. The creatures get so big that gurmag angler and fangren marauder are your only issues, which get hit by counters or bounced. You can run quicksand for hard removal or even a pair of rancor to get through chumps in some metas. Also, been trying out the nimble mongoose version over the delver of secrets one for a few days and been liking it a lot. Goose is better than delver when it isn't on, and shreds control decks.
For kuldotha I side in a mix of coral net, spreading seas, steel sabotage, counterspell, and hidden spider, depending on what's in my board. If you can slow them down for a few turns, the beaters get threshold and kuldotha is too far behind to recover.
I love cloudfin raptor in this build. There's enough creature count that if your powering out threats with any tempo, hes great to draw on turn 1 or turn 5. It deals with delvers and after an wurm or 2 drops is a heavy threat with flying. Blastoderm I've been hit or miss on, but does some good work against anglers, plus shreds control if you can land him on the board. I'm going to keep running this for a while - but I might slide the 'derms out for rancor and see if recurring trample is what puts the deck over the edge.
I honestly think there isn't a drawback to having a creature like Merfolk Looter in your deck. It's a good draw and discard outlet, so it can help power up some Dredge cards you might have and also trigger Madness. If it becomes a lightning rod for spot removal, then that's also a good thing since your opponent will be wasting resources on it. It's a good creature to have in play, but losing it doesn't destroy our game plan since Wild Mongrel and Aquamoeba are the superior discard enablers.
My looter of choice is Looter il-Kor. Of course it loses the instant speed looting ability, but it gets to push through damage and works well with Moldervine Cloak since it's evasive.
Yes merfolk looter eats removal, but I hate aquameoba. I can not think of a time when I would prefer to ha e an aquameoba compared to any other card in the deck. The one thing it does is pump a 1/2 raptor so for the minute its staying in.
Raptor is great. Any 2 creatures drop after him and he's a 2/3 flier, which deals with most things. Co side ring our biggest threat is cmc4 its a pretty easy thing to do. Especially with ponder and preordain at our disposal. Snap can target our own creatures to save them from removal and when you play them again they pump raptor. I've gotten a lot of value out of it.
Looter ilkor is a great suggestion. If I run a build without the blastoderm I would sub in 2 rancor, and I think that's a perfect t opportunity for the looter ilkor to slot in as well. I'd probably put the lik in for aquameoba because I hate it, and would probably sub stormbound geist for raptor as there is too high a density of 1/1s to pump it effectively (I would guess). I do thing the main board flier is important though, and geist is a good threat with evasion. I'm definitely interested to gibe it a go!
Edit: So after thinking about this a little more I don't think I would take out the aquameobas for looter il kor - the benefit of being able to play at instant speed is too great. However, I still hate aquameoba.
Edit: has anyone tested Just the wind instead of snap?
Additions:
+ 2 Vines of Vastwood - I have a lot of MBC at my store and the protection is pretty key. The pump is also relevant to help push Mongrels and Wurms over the Anglers.
+ 1 Merfolk Looter - Not sure how I feel about this. Whenever I got it to stick to the board, it was great! However, it just felt miserable whenever I played it and it died before I could use it. Right now i'm at one and not sure where I want to go with it. Drawing multiple Aquamoebas is probably my least favorite thing.
+ 3 Careful Study - T1 pitching two rootwallas is pretty good. Also serves as a discard outlet when I can't keep a creature on the board.
Things I have been thinking about: Rancor - I'm debating on whether or not to run Rancors or Vines. Do I want the recursion of Rancor or the one time protection/pump of Vines. Either way, I feel the necessary pump from either of these cards is a bit necessary. just the wind - I like the tempo aspect of snap. A couple of times I was stuck on 2 Islands and 1 forest. Being able to float green and untap the forest with snap was pretty big for dropping two green creatures in one turn. I can definitely see the upside in just the wind though. Has anyone else tried it out over Snaps?
My sideboard is a mess. Any suggestions would be great. My meta is pretty standard with U/B Delvers, U/R Drake, MBC, Stompy, Goblins, Slivers and Izzet Blitz.
The bojuku bogs will be switched out with nihill spellbombs once I get them.
If you choose to go with Rancor i think Looter il-kor will be a good edition to the deck. Maybe instead of the Werebear. Having the virtually unblockable looter suited up with a rancor is pretty good for pushing through damage. If you cut something that isn't a discard outlet then the lack of instant discarding on the looter isn't as big of a deal.
I might try it out this week. +3 Rancor, +3 Looter il kor and Dropping -3 Werebear, -2 Vines, -1 Merfolk.
Any sideboard suggestions? I was thinking of tossing in some moment's peace which should help with some of the more aggressive decks like stompy/blitz.
I mainly play against some variant of control: MBC/UB Delver. They're not bad if aggresively mulligan and I can get a fast start with some counter back up.
I do run into Stompy/Blitz/GW Slivers every once in awhile and getting damage is a bit rough at times. So i think i'm leaning on rancors.
Echoing Truth might be a good choice. It helps against tokens and bouncing multiple Slivers during combat can really ruin their plans! I also agree with using Moment's Peace to hurt Stompy and Blitz. You might also want to use Ranger's Guile to really stick it to control decks as a couple of extra Hexproof effects.
No, there isn't anything remotely close. The main reason this archetype gained a bit of traction was that both Arrogant Wurm and Circular Logic got downgraded at common in VMA. Otherwise, the deck becomes Deep Dog, an old archetype that gets advantage by discarding cards to Mongrel and pumping it. It used Rune Snag, Deep Analysis, Æther Burst, Basking Rootwalla and Gush to get mileage out of Mongrel's discard ability. You could try a similar thing adding Hooting Mandrills and Delver of Secrets to the mix, or if you abuse a lot of graveyard matters cards like Burst and Snag, Moldgraf Scavenger.
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Moldgraf Scavenger
4 Werebear
4 Preordain
4 Ponder
3 Deep Analysis
Instant (11)
4 Rune Snag
4 Æther Burst
3 Daze
4 Evolving Wilds
8 Island
6 Forest
That's a quick draft of the deck. Finding slots for a pair of Gush is what I would focus on doing first, and maybe adding 1-2 more Terramorphic Expanses to feed Scavenger, but Mongrel already gets rid of excess lands.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Seat of the Synod is a bit trickier, since I believe Daze is such a key card to the deck, protecting your Madness outlet when you tap out to deploy it on turn 2, so a moderate number of basic Islands has to be run. Gush is also a card, so we'll have to take that into account and maybe lower the number of Gushes in the deck. 5 Islands minimum + 4 Evolving Wilds to consistently enable Daze seems like a good number, so I would add Seats from there. Personally I run 7 Islands, so that means it's now 5 Islands and two Seat of the Synod.
I still don't think Careful Study is playable even with Scavenger and Artifact lands as the disadvantage it can give us is often too big. Unless they print something like Wonder or Roar of the Wurm at common in EMA (which I doubt since Roar was uncommon in VMA and Wonder is way too powerful), I believe we're better off using the Ponder and Preordain combo, which are also able to flip Delver.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
I'm still debating on whether or not just the wind or snap would be better. I like the free spell but I also like the madness trigger.
Modern
GWBAbzan CompanyGWB
Pauper
UGU/G BeatsUG
I've been a long time observer of Pauper, but having a Macintosh kind of stopped me from ever really playing. But now I have a Windows and have been jamming a lot of the format. And mainly I have been jamming UG Madness for the past three or so months.
I love this deck so much. Although I could play top tier decks like MonoU Delver etc. for the tempo experience, there is nothing quite like Mongrels and Madness cards. My current list is:
Creatures: (18)
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Aquamoeba
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Arrogant Wurm
2 Hooting Mandrills
Non-Creature Spells: (22)
4 Ponder
3 Careful Study
4 Circular Logic
3 Daze
4 Snap
1 Piracy Charm
2 Deep Analysis
1 Gush
Lands: (20)
3 Evolving Wilds
10 Island
7 Forest
Sideboard: (15)
3 Natural State
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spreading Seas
2 Waterfront Bouncer
2 Gut Shot
2 Pulse of Murasa
2 Aerial Volley
The typical Madness core is a given, but there's a few thing I'd like opinions on:
- I know a lot of you have discussed Study's problems, and I too have experienced the dead Study topdecks. At the same time, I always feel its very powerful in your opener (obv. particularly with Rootwalla), but also because Logic can be very difficult to turn on at times, with only Ponder or Wilds as turn one plays which can make turn three Logics valuable.
- Mandrills has been great, despite his occasional non-bo with Logic (but it hasn't been too much of an issue) but at the same time I'm open to other threats. Probably the one I've considered most is Stitched Drake, actually, since the deck is sorely lacking evasive creatures to close out the game. I guess Stormbound Geist is also something.
- The split of 2 DA and 1 Gush as card drawers has felt perfect to me. I only really like one Gush at the moment, as sometimes it is difficult to get two Islands.
- I've really been adoring Snaps - the card is a Pauper staple for a reason - and after trying things such as Aether Burst, Vapor Snag etc. (though I have yet to try Just the Wind) I'm really set on Snap being the best card for the job. Being a "counterspell" against removal at times while being mana-neutral has felt very impressive.
- Piracy Charm is my cute fun-of, but its been surprisingly okay. The deck struggles with swarm creature strategies (Elves, Goblins etc.) and having a main deck way to kill those (as well as kill a t1 Delver) has been quite functional. It also again can situationally let us break through boardstalls (again, the deck really needs some evasion) or be a bad discard outlet in a pinch.
- The sideboard is the biggest problem I've found. Mainly the slots involving Natural State. I've tried Gleeful Sabotage and was somewhat underwhelmed by it in the Affinity matchup (which has felt very hard for me), and instead I've gone towards the plan of "Stone Rain them out of the game before they can set up their engine". The instant-speed nature of State, as well as its singular green mana cost, has also always impressed me due to how instant-speed fits in with our tempo plan, as does being very cheap.
- 20 lands. I ran 21 before, but found myself having a few too many excess lands to pitch to Mongrel at times. I'm open to how to construct the mana base though. I feel only three Wilds is good so that we don't stumble too much (and of course fuels Logic, Mandrills and is a shuffle effect for Ponder), and I know a critical amount of Islands is needed for Gush and also just being able to cast Aquamoeba + Logic in the same turn.
Anyway, would love to hear everyone's thoughts. I'll be fighting hard to get UG Madness a 5-0 in the Leagues.
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Arrogant Wurm
2 Hooting Mandrills
2 Aquamoeba
3 Preordain
3 Ponder
3 Deep Analysis
Instant (11)
4 Snap
4 Circular Logic
3 Daze
4 Evolving Wilds
9 Island
7 Forest
I stopped running the moldgraf scavenger. I found that I was usually upset every time I pulled it. Still haven't put together a sideboard yet but i'm pretty sure its just going to have a bunch of affinity hate. I'm also thinking about dropping ponder and preordain upping the deep analysis count to four and adding stratus walk or something for evasion. I just want to relive the glory days of wonder.
Modern
GWBAbzan CompanyGWB
Pauper
UGU/G BeatsUG
Modern
GWBAbzan CompanyGWB
Pauper
UGU/G BeatsUG
I decided to cut the Scavengers back too, since my meta has turned slow and there are both a lot of chumpblocks or even some Complete Disregards MB to deal with Dredge creatures, Guardian of the Guildpact and Stormbound Geist.
My MB right now:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
3 Aquamoeba
4 Arrogant Wurm
2 Hooting Mandrills
4 Snap
4 Circular Logic
3 Daze
Sorcery (9)
4 Ponder
3 Preordain
2 Deep Analysis
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Quicksand
7 Island
5 Forest
I'm currently looking for room for a 3rd Analysis and a 3rd Mandrills, so any suggestions are welcome!
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
3 Aquamoeba
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
3 Merfolk Looter
3 Cloudfin Raptor
3 Deep Analysis
4 Circular Logic
3 Daze
3 Snap
4 Ponder
2 Preordain
8 Forest
9 Island
1 Simic Growth Chamber
2 Quicksand
I played this deck in type 2 and 1.5 back in the day with wonder and genesis and the wurms.
Excited to have stumbled on pauper on me reintroduction to MTG and happy to see people passionate about a deck I hold such nostalgia for. I'll post the list I've been testing when I'm not on mobile, but it is very similar to Zephyr's.
I'm running 2 heist and 4 merfolk looter instead of an aquameoba and the Mandrils. I've been looking for that evasive delver stopper and damage dealer. Heist has been good at 2/2 undying, has anyone played with Cloudfin Raptor? That's the next change I'm going to make. I think it fits well on the curve and would probably put me up to 3 aquameoba and drop a merfolk, but it evolves nicely on curve with merfolk, rootwalla, mongrel, aqua, and once you've played an arrogant wurm the raptor is a 4/5 flier. What do we think?
I'll let you know how it goes with testing
Edit: What do you guys think about Errant Ephemeron?
4 Wild Mongrel
2 Merfolk Looter
3 Aquamoeba
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Hooting Mandrills
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Circular Logic
3 Counterspell
3 Daze
2 Vapor Snag
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Gush
1 Deep Analysis
5 Forest
10 Island
4 Thornwood Falls
I'm looking at cutting thornwood falls for evolving wilds and terramorphic expanse to up the island count, but needs more testing.
Basking Rootwalla is there as a "free discard" card and also to eat the edicts that would take out your biggest guys were not for it. I also prefer Mongoose to Delver because while 'goose doesn't fly, it's significantly harder to get rid of. Here's what I'm running:
4 Wild Mongrel
3 Aquamoeba
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Werebear
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Preordain
3 Deep Analysis
Instant (11)
4 Circular Logic
4 Snap
3 Daze
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Quicksand
7 Island
6 Forest
I'm probably going to trim one or two creatures in order to fit 2-3 Spell Pierce, probably a Wurm and something else.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Yea I've moved away from delver as well and we're running the same lists. Someone mentioned complete disregard and yea, it's a problem that mongoose can deal with it. Half the people in my shop play MBC and now the peregrine combos are coming around. Surprisingly, I was the only person playing with Delvers up until I switched them out.
Modern
GWBAbzan CompanyGWB
Pauper
UGU/G BeatsUG
For kuldotha I side in a mix of coral net, spreading seas, steel sabotage, counterspell, and hidden spider, depending on what's in my board. If you can slow them down for a few turns, the beaters get threshold and kuldotha is too far behind to recover.
3 Aquamoeba
4 Arrogant Wurm
2 Basking Rootwalla
2 Blastoderm
4 Wild Mongrel
3 Merfolk Looter
3 Cloudfin Raptor
3 Deep Analysis
4 Circular Logic
3 Daze
3 Snap
4 Ponder
2 Preordain
8 Forest
9 Island
1 Simic Growth Chamber
2 Quicksand
I love cloudfin raptor in this build. There's enough creature count that if your powering out threats with any tempo, hes great to draw on turn 1 or turn 5. It deals with delvers and after an wurm or 2 drops is a heavy threat with flying. Blastoderm I've been hit or miss on, but does some good work against anglers, plus shreds control if you can land him on the board. I'm going to keep running this for a while - but I might slide the 'derms out for rancor and see if recurring trample is what puts the deck over the edge.
My looter of choice is Looter il-Kor. Of course it loses the instant speed looting ability, but it gets to push through damage and works well with Moldervine Cloak since it's evasive.
Raptor is great. Any 2 creatures drop after him and he's a 2/3 flier, which deals with most things. Co side ring our biggest threat is cmc4 its a pretty easy thing to do. Especially with ponder and preordain at our disposal. Snap can target our own creatures to save them from removal and when you play them again they pump raptor. I've gotten a lot of value out of it.
Looter ilkor is a great suggestion. If I run a build without the blastoderm I would sub in 2 rancor, and I think that's a perfect t opportunity for the looter ilkor to slot in as well. I'd probably put the lik in for aquameoba because I hate it, and would probably sub stormbound geist for raptor as there is too high a density of 1/1s to pump it effectively (I would guess). I do thing the main board flier is important though, and geist is a good threat with evasion. I'm definitely interested to gibe it a go!
Edit: So after thinking about this a little more I don't think I would take out the aquameobas for looter il kor - the benefit of being able to play at instant speed is too great. However, I still hate aquameoba.
Edit: has anyone tested Just the wind instead of snap?
2 Aquamoeba
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
1 Merfolk Looter
3 Werebear
4 Nimble Mongoose
Sorceries (6)
3 Deep Analysis
3 Careful Study
4 Circular Logic
3 Daze
3 Snap
2 Vines of Vastwood
Land (20)
9 Forest
8 Island
3 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Aerial Volley
2 Bojouka Bog
2 Tranquility
2 Natural State
2 Stormbound Geist
2 Sandstorm
2 Pulse of Murasa
Here is an updated list I have.
Additions:
+ 2 Vines of Vastwood - I have a lot of MBC at my store and the protection is pretty key. The pump is also relevant to help push Mongrels and Wurms over the Anglers.
+ 1 Merfolk Looter - Not sure how I feel about this. Whenever I got it to stick to the board, it was great! However, it just felt miserable whenever I played it and it died before I could use it. Right now i'm at one and not sure where I want to go with it. Drawing multiple Aquamoebas is probably my least favorite thing.
+ 3 Careful Study - T1 pitching two rootwallas is pretty good. Also serves as a discard outlet when I can't keep a creature on the board.
Removed:
- 1 Snap
- 1 Aquamoeba
- 4 Preordain
Things I have been thinking about:
Rancor - I'm debating on whether or not to run Rancors or Vines. Do I want the recursion of Rancor or the one time protection/pump of Vines. Either way, I feel the necessary pump from either of these cards is a bit necessary.
just the wind - I like the tempo aspect of snap. A couple of times I was stuck on 2 Islands and 1 forest. Being able to float green and untap the forest with snap was pretty big for dropping two green creatures in one turn. I can definitely see the upside in just the wind though. Has anyone else tried it out over Snaps?
My sideboard is a mess. Any suggestions would be great. My meta is pretty standard with U/B Delvers, U/R Drake, MBC, Stompy, Goblins, Slivers and Izzet Blitz.
The bojuku bogs will be switched out with nihill spellbombs once I get them.
Modern
GWBAbzan CompanyGWB
Pauper
UGU/G BeatsUG
I might try it out this week. +3 Rancor, +3 Looter il kor and Dropping -3 Werebear, -2 Vines, -1 Merfolk.
Any sideboard suggestions? I was thinking of tossing in some moment's peace which should help with some of the more aggressive decks like stompy/blitz.
Modern
GWBAbzan CompanyGWB
Pauper
UGU/G BeatsUG
I do run into Stompy/Blitz/GW Slivers every once in awhile and getting damage is a bit rough at times. So i think i'm leaning on rancors.
Modern
GWBAbzan CompanyGWB
Pauper
UGU/G BeatsUG