Certainly worth playtesting, although the Threshold might not be active quick enough for when you need it, and it's parasitic with Cruise; you'll have to cast Sandstorm fist because if you cast Cruise you'll have to spend 2-3 turns filling the grave again in order to cast Sandstorm. I'll go straight to playtesting it in the side. If you want to then by all means try, but honestly I think we will have to jump through many hoops. If you just want to be on the safe side against swarms you have Electrickery / Scouring Sands, Holy Light / Arc Lightning, Serrated Arrows or Lava Storm / Pyrotechnics (if they allow it) each at a different point of the curve.
Has anyone dabbled into Bantblade / Esperblade yet? The benefits of Esperblade are rather obvious: better removal, discard, and the ever-so-good Executioner's Capsule, which can even be recurred with Leonin Squire. But what about Bantblade? Only thing I can think about are Rancor and Howling Wolf. Are there any green based card advantage spells that I'm missing?
Added back Seat of the Synod as it's practically and island and although I don't need to fetch for it for its color, I can fetch for it to make land drops. Ponder works excellent, being able to make land drops, dig for answers, filter chaff and feeding Cruise is great. Since I had to cut on taplands and fetches are a no-go, I had to cut 2 Tranquil Cove and 1 Swiftwater Cliffs in order to add some more basics / artifact lands. I also added two Radiant Fountain for the lifegain I lost taking out the refuges, as Kabira Crossroads still ETB tapped, and haven't been dissapointed by them now. Sure this is a tricolor deck and they don't provide mana of any color, but they gain 2 life, enter untapped, and can cast artifacts, pay their equipment costs, and pay the colorless. Alternatively I can take out one more Cliffs for another basic, but being able to maintain these duals to some degree for when I draw Fountain and the 9 lifegain total from the landbase make me hesitant to take it out. I could certainly swap 1 Radiant Fountain for 1 Tranquil Cove, but it trades 1 life and a land that enters untapped...
About the deck, I'd like to readd the two Flame Slash I had to take out for Ponder, or any combination of Flame Slash, Journey to Nowhere and Deprive (I'm looking specifically at Slash + Journey to catch big threats).
Yeah, fountain is a necessary evil, specially against Burn and Stompy, but I haven't had problems due to the amount of Ponder, Brainstorm, fetches, duals and Trinket Mage.
What are your thoughts about the new Ojutai's Summons? It's super expensive and double colored and a super big tempo loss if countered, but it gives us two creatures in one card, which helps our low creature count and card advantage philosophy, and it also fuels Cruise.
Out of curiosity, which decks run Gurmag Angler? I've been keeping an eye on him, but since MBC was on the decline, I thought Hooting Mandrills was the better creature, and Sultai Scavenger better suited for suicide black since it has flying.
Gurmag Angler seems to have spawned an archetype for itself, using Mental Note and Thought Scour on top of tons of other cantrips, removal and countermagic to fuel delve for angler and Cruise. It's had some form of success online.
The Angler is more popular than Mandrills and Scavenger because he is a 5/5, which makes him surprisingly hard to deal with. He's bigger than Affinity creatures, and trades with everything except Ulamog's Crusher in Tron. the big body just outclasses everything, and at a cheap cost.
There are also a couple combo-like decks that are using it with things like Dragon Breath.
I don't think Ojutai's Summons is what you want for your deck. Had it been an instant, it would have been more interesting. Paying 5 mana on your own turn is just very risky and clunky. I don't think it's playable.
Decided to cut back on Ponders for more answers. Also added Prohibit back to the deck, as it's a great early game counter that alongside 1-CMC removal and less ETB tapped lands speeds up the deck quite a bit, and retains it's usefulness through the game (except against Delve cards and Tron). Here's the deck:
Have had a few games today against Infect, UW Rebels, Stompy, Rakdos Aggro, and a strange creatureless UB Turbo Fog-esque build that operated by resolving Curse of the Bloody Tome and gaining a ton of life with Dismal Backwater, Radiant Fountain, Dimir Aqueduct, Deprive, Pristine Talisman and controlled the board with lots of removal like Innocent Blood (didn't hurt him), Chainer's Edict which was a 2-for-1 and used the ramp from Aqueducts and Talismans, and counters. In these matches, I never got color screwed except in a risky keep against UW Rebels where I had 1 Island and 2 Brainstorm and was on the draw. This means that Radiant Fountain doesn't hurt us at all, and having added both Prohibit and Journey to Nowhere as cards to use the colorless mana on, alongside every one of the creatures and all of the equipment and their equip costs, it's inclusion doesn't feel wrong at all. What's more, the 2 life + entering untapped was heavily appreciated against Stompy and Rakdos as I was able to recover 2 life and cast a Hawk for chumpblocking, throw a Journey or save up for a Prohibit, so I added a second one, which will surely become handy against Burn. Also added back the 4th Mage as I really missed it sometimes.
The MB is currently at 62 cards. Any suggestions on what to take out? Was thinking in 1 Counterspell and perhaps 1 Bonesplitter, but I'd really not cut any of the equipment as each one of them is very necessary in it's own way and two splitters speed up the clock greatly.
Here's hoping that the white Rebound common from the Ojutai brood is a Survival Cache downgrade. I would love a white Divination that gains me 4 life as the closest thing to Sphinx's Revelation we will ever hope to have, but knowing Wizards it will probably be some silly "Tap target creature" shenanigans
EDIT: Seems like we got a nice toy in Anticipation. Sure we had Impulse but I believe it's not online legal for people that use the online banlist / rarities. What are you guys thoughts on it (assuming you can't play Impulse)?
I just have to say, this is an amazing primer. I've just recently tried my hand at pauper picking up both a U Delver list and an Elf list, but this just looks like so much more fun. I've been checking the primer each day since monday fkr updates and such, but I just have to say great work thus far and I hope you continue to test and fine tune this list.
Thanks! FRF didn't add too much to the deck except an enemy in Gurmag Angler. I'm seeing why YavimayaWurm say it was shaking up the format, the RB deck with Faithless Looting, Tormented Voice and Exhume for Ulamog's Crusher is a pain to deal with if we can't counter the Exhume / Angler and we haven't drawn a Journey yet. Thankfully, the most popular version seems to be Golgari, which runs no card draw whatsoever.
I'll update the Primer post with the remaining matchup analysis including Turbo Angler, Red and Black and the DTK options when the spoiler is completed, so stay tuned because soon the Primer will be officially finished!
Has anyone tried Esperblade now? If so, this is the time to post your builds, discuss and fine tune them here so the optimal Esperblade list gets posted come DTK. Here's hoping they don't ban Treasure Cruise since it gives the deck so much gas...
Wow you did a really good job with your primer! It looks completely different! I'm definitely taking a few ideas.
Impulse isn't legal online? Anticipation is still definitely playable in decks that need to dig for answers at instant speed (like MUC), but Impulse is just better. 3 is good, but 4 is better!
It seems like Impulse is legal online indeed, it was reprinted in Duel Decks: Speed vs Cunning this year. However, I can't find any place in my list for Impulse, sadly, becuase it would be a really good addition. Now onto the DTK spoilers:
White:
- Resupply: Overcosted by at least 2. This would have been great SB tech against Burn and other super aggro matchups. Pass.
- Student of Ojutai: Doesn't have any form of protection, and for my 4-drop I'd rather run Guardian. Pass.
- Artful Maneuver: We're not Tempo or Heroic. Pass
- Center Soul: Although a nice trick, same as above.
Blue:
- Contradict: I was seriously hoping for a Dismiss downgrade when I saw the art, and I got it. Only that it's overcosted by 1. Gets a resounding meh from me, but could do the job as a 1-2 of until we hopefully get the real deal downgraded in the Mercadian Masques online expansion. Will test, but I don't expect much from a 5CMC pseudo Cryptìc Command. I hope I'm wrong and this is good.
- Elusive Spellfist: Better suited for Delver, Weefiends and other Tempo decks. Pass.
- Gurmag Drowner: This one is actually interesting. It's comparable to Mulldrifter since it replaces itself with the best of the top four cards of the library and also feeds treasure cruise a lot. Doesn't fly but has 4 toughness. We don't have many creatures to exploit, though...
- Ojutai's Breath: Really good tempo card. Although we're not tempo, it could see some use just for the Rebound ability to nullify two creatures, but we have better removal.
Black:
- Defeat: Narrow sorcery removal is narrow. We have Last Breath as an instant without the necessity to splash.
- Vulturous Aven: This could actually complement or replace Mulldrifter in black lists. It costs 1 less to cast and has 1 more toughness, but it has to Exploit a creature, which is it's biggest downside... If we can work around that, this promises a lot as one of the main reasons to splash black alongside Executioner's Capsule.
Red:
- Twin Bolt: I was thinking the other day: if Electrolyze got downgraded in MM2015 somehow, would I play it? Welp, there's only one way to know now! (although this doesn't cantrip).
So far, I'm interested in testing Contradict, Twin Bolt and Vulturous Aven. It's more than FRF brought us, and these cards could actually be interesting toys, so I won't complain
I haven't run into UB lists yet, but Golgari all day long and Rakdos from time to time. UB doesn't seem that hard, as it only runs 4 Delver of Secrets and 4 Gurmag Angler as it's creatures in the lists I've seen. Delver is easy to answer, and well, I guess I can chump block Angler till I draw an answer...
As you can see, I swapped 1 Swiftwater Cliffs for 1 Tranquil Cove because Cliffs it's the optimal T1 play, as it enables T2 Brainstorm + Evolving Wilds, T2 Radiant Fountain + Prohibit against Burn, Stompy or other fast matchups, or simply another CipT land + mana for Bolt or Slash, and we don't need the white mana until turns 4-5 where Trinket Mage can fetch the Den if we don't have a white source yet anyways (I never play a T2 Squadron Hawks and I encourage everyone to not do it as well, as it's important to leave mana open for counters or removal).
First of all, I'm thinking about swapping the 2 Journey to Nowhere for 1 Counterspell and 1 Flame Slash and beat Angler and Fangren Marauder by countering, chumpblocking and racing, trading with it with multi-equipped creatures, stopping them cold with Guardian of the Guildpact or simply 2-for-1ing myself in the worst case scenario with a block + Lightning Bolt or post-combat Flame Slash after recklessly attacking into them. Then I could run some number of Reprisal and / or Disdainful Stroke in the SB as an out to both + Ulamog's Crusher, since Turbo Angler doesn't seem to be that popular as of now. Perhaps I can move back to Journeys after the deck has become a lot more popular.
With this said, I'd want to make room for testing at least 1 Contradict (somewhat easy, swap a Counterspell for it) and two Twin Bolt (more difficult since the deck needs Lightning Bolt and Flame Slash to deal with higher-toughness creatures). After these tweaks, I'll consider the Jeskaiblade list as fine-tuned as possible and start working on an Esperblade list featuring Vulturous Aven and Executioner's Capsule.
@Upkeep: We have to tweek our RB sac.decks to fit that card! Card advantage is too good to pass up, right?
This seems like a promising card, indeed. I'm very skeptical about it, though. I'm not sure it will fit very well into this deck, as you do need a creature to exploit for it to be worth it. I imagine it will often be a Hawk, so it curves out nicely. It's not clear card advantage like it is with Mulldrifter, that much is obvious.
Why would you swap a removal spell that can actually trade 1-for-1 for counters and removal that will require you to 2-for-1 yourself? If you're trying to fight these creatures in particular, I think Journey is the best solution. Counters and damage-based removal will just make your life more complicated. I feel the same way about conditional removal in this deck. 2 mana is not too much to pay for exiling a creature at sorcery speed.
Why would you swap a removal spell that can actually trade 1-for-1 for counters and removal that will require you to 2-for-1 yourself? If you're trying to fight these creatures in particular, I think Journey is the best solution. Counters and damage-based removal will just make your life more complicated. I feel the same way about conditional removal in this deck. 2 mana is not too much to pay for exiling a creature at sorcery speed.
It's more complicated than it seems. Part of the deck's speed consists that even with 10 CipT lands, I can start burning creatures as soon as T2 while still playing tapped lands, which helps me keep up with the tempo. Prohibit also helps a ton because it can follow a tapped land on T1 with an untapped land, pass the turn, which more often than not results in a time walk for me. In an average T3 for the deck I could be playing a burn spell + have mana up for a counter, which starts swinging the game in my favor. So most of the time I find myself wishing for another 1 CMC removal spell instead of Journey to Nowhere, the very exceptions being Angler and Marauder which can somewhat be managed with a 2-for-1 to myself. If this helps boost other matchups significantly, I'm more than willing to bite the bullet, specially since I rarely see Tron anyways. Counterspell was swapped in because it's also an answer to these threats, and the only condition is being timed correctly, and it's the only way to interact with spells on the stack like Treasure Cruise, Mulldrifter, Corrupt or Gray Merchant of Asphodel that Prohibit can't take out.
Alright, it's just that you mentioned ways to fight against Angler and Marauder, and the cards you proposed to swap aren't going to help you fight those cards efficiently.
Twin Bolt is the most solid and obvious option for it's flexibility. It might as well read:
1R Choose one:
Destroy target creature with toughness 2.
Destroy up to two target creatures with toughness 1.
Twin Bolt deals two damage to target player.
Not to mention the shenanigans of casting it in the combat phase. It's only problem is stiff competition with Lightning Bolt and Flame Slash because of their cheaper cost and ability to take out larger threats, but I will try and do what I can to sleeve in 2, potentially 3 copies of the card. It's just that good.
Contradict is another solid option in the vacuum. An Exclude that is never dead is certainly nothing to scoff at. The problem is that it costs 5, and trading with a 2-3 CMC card feels kinda bad, but I will test it nevertheless.
Finally, Vulturous Aven will be great in Esperblade if we feed a way to reliably find him.
On a side note, what are you people thoughts on moving more towards a Negate / Dispel suite? Since the meta is becoming more and more noncreature spell based, I think it could be good.
I hadn't thought about how flexible twin bolts was, especially when cast during combat. I'm also very interested in seeing the esper variant of this deck, but due to my current financial situation I have to wait before trying angthing out. I love the idea of this bird, my only concern is that I'm not knowledgeable/creative enough to build around it properly but I can definitively see the potential power. I haven't played against enough current meta decks to provide helpful insight on negate/dispel, but it sounds promising.
Just as I expected and feared, Treasure Cruise got banned and we lost a very powerful tool that gave us gas to keep fighting, and so, the Red splash has lost a lot of it's appeal, it's main perks being feeding cruise easily while providing cheap removal that could go to the head and finish a game. We're now relying in Mulldrifter. As such, we need some other form of refilling gas to keep up the card advantage. Mono Black will make a comeback, so without the Red splash to kill them when we've pushed damage through this is even more necessary. The main candidates I'm looking at are Accumulated Knowledge, Think Twice, Deep Analysis and cards like Amass the Components or Compulsive Research. Of these cards I'm going to go with AK first since it's the cheapest and can be cast at instant speed if we don't counter anything relevant. If it doesn't work I'd definitely switch to Deep Analysis, although the main thing against it right now is it's 4 CMC and our inability to discard it. This is the list draft after the ban:
The banning of Cruise means we can go back to playing 4 Journey to Nowhere without any disadvantage, which greatly increases our chances at beating Angler decks and Tron. Playing Jeskai also taught me the importance of having 1 CMC removal, so Sunlance is also there. Since I now lack the reach Lightning Bolt gave me, a singleton Cenn's Enlistment is there to give me the edge in outgrinding MBC and having reach and inevitability against decks that can answer Guardian of the Guildpact. And finally, since I don't have the raw power of Cruise drawing me cards, I upgraded to 1 more land. Obviously MD isn't going to look like that, I just more or less ported the Jeskai version to UW. It's missing the draw spells, which will be 4 AK first, and if they don't work, 2-3 of some other thing. We also need as many cantripping answers as possible, so a singleton or two Exclude and a single Contradict could find their place up there, and freeing up slots for Impulse is also a possibility. Overall, I'm looking towards freeing at least 5, and potentially 9-10 slots for the least important cards (Contradict and the Impulses). What are your thoughts in this?
My thoughts initially are disappointment lol, I just ordered the deck on TCG last night (our store has a paper pauper event each week based on mtgo bannings)
Wow, that sucks a lot... At least you can still play the Jeskai version if you manage to replace Treasure Cruise with some other drawing cards, like Deep Analysis like I've been doing. Here's the list I'm running:
The deck has been faster with only 8 taplands now (counting fetches), and a steady dose of lifegain from Radiant Fountain + Tranquil Cove, coupled with the manabase's enhaced speed has proven that Sunlance is not as necessary as I thought in the beginning. I'm trying to find a place for a second Last Breath but overall the deck is starting to put up results. Deep Analysis was the preferred option over Accumulated Knowledge; the first AKs were rather pathetic, the first one being Think Twice without Flashback and the second one being a 2 mana instant speed Divination. I rarely saw the third one, and practically never the fourth one, and since they were consuming more spots than I'd like to devote for card draw, they've been swapped for DA. Analysis is the king of CA, boasting a resilience to counterspells and discard, and giving me 4 whopping cards for just one. It's 3 life payment is even marginal since I have so much lifegain in the manabase and a single Sylvok Lifestaff activation covers it, I just need to be careful with casting it from the grave against Burn. The only problem with Analysis is it's steep casting cost of 4 at sorcery speed and my lack of discard outlets, but since I doubt we have a more efficient option or a strictly better Analysis is printed at 2U or as an instant and as a common, we'll have to run this (which is not that bad if you're not being swarmed to death).
I also like this list. Actually, I think I like this list more than any other you've posted before. I think 3 Deep Analysis is going a bit overboard, however. You don't want to see too many of these cards, as both the cost and the flashback are expensive in their own ways. I think it's playable as a singleton, maybe a 2-of. I think you'll find that 3 is a lot in your testing.
I think another draw/dig spell might be better in its stead.
Thanks, I didn't even notice, they're so close lol. I will try swapping 1 Deep Analysis for 1 more Last Breath, but so far I've never been sad to draw Deep Analysis, as just 1 puts me way ahead the other player, and chaining 2 is absolutely devastating. Plus I can always Brainstorm them in if I find that I have too many clogging my hand, but I'll try with 1 less to see if I miss it. For the Impulse I seriously don't know what to take out since all of the components are answers, card draw, creatures and lands. It's so tight, but once I find a spot I'm pretty sure I'll be loving them.
About Azorius Chancery, maybe swap for a Plains or is that one too many tapped lands?
After an extesive testing taking out some pieces of removal, the Deep Analysis and a Land, I found out that Impulse is a real boon to the deck, like half a Dig Through Time (costs "half" the mana by being 1U instead of UU, digs roughly half the cards deep, and puts half of the cards that Dig puts in your hand), but it's no use adding them if I take out the card draw and removal. Here's the list I've been playing:
I'm ok with only 3 Impulse going in, but if there isn't space for all them, I'd rather just have the third Deep Analysis. It's time to make some cuts, but what?
This is the list that I have been running for a little while now. (I did just recently drop Doom Traveler for Palace Familiar as a potential fight against MBC (that run witches and Hymms). Still testing so I'm not sure how well they work.
My local meta is somewhat diverse, but has a heavy Delver group of players. My list is tuned to beating that matchup since a lot of the meta is comprise of different delver list. There are 2 fairly strong MBC (both of which run Witches, Hymm of Tourachs and Sinkholes) that are probably played by two of the better players that we have. I started tuning some of the deck to match up well against those list (hence the palace familiars testing). Also, Bogles floats around every so often and I have already conceded game ones to that matchup, but the player that play the bogle list are newer to pauper and do not build their list around the hate I have in my sideboard. Lastly, some of the combo players from modern have started playing with us and they been playing the Familiar Combo deck. I actually do not really know how to deal with this deck as much since interacting with seems difficult. I've up the last breath mainboard for the familiars, sage's row, and the wall but beyond that I do not much thoughts.
I would cut back Palace Familiar for Doomed Traveler. MBC has to deal with it twice, which will take away two of their cards if you take good care of Cuombajj Witches. You might also want to add some heavier counters (up to 4 Counterspell) and swap Mana Leak for either Prohibit if you want an early game counterspell that stays relevant throughout the game and can trump most of your meta's cards or Deprive for bouncing lifeland shenanigans. You might also want some sort of CA engine from the grave or that can be repeated such as another Drifter, Oona's Grace or Deep Analysis, which can be used against the discard part of MBC. Finally, remember that if you feel yourself running slower you can take out two fetchlands for two basics and add a second Bonesplitter to add more pressure and finish the game if the first one gets countered or destroyed.
About your sideboard, I would move Enlistment to mainboard if your MBC players are giving you much trouble. Alongside counters, removal and cards like Flayer Husk and Doomed Traveler which waste their resources, and Guardian of the Guildpact which is difficult to deal with, you will have the upper edge as long as you up your card advantage count. You won't need CoP: Green as long as you're packing Standard Bearer, and the general counters in the side (Counterspell, Prohibit) can be switched to narrower ones like one or two Disdainful Stroke more against MBC and Tron, Dispel against Delver, or Hindering Light against MBC and Burn. Finally, Viridian Longbow and Holy Light can go a long mile in the Delver MU, and Feldon's Cane is good against MBC and helps against random things like Turbo Fog. Curse of the Bloody Tome is a good option against control that I've been testing lately.
I've revamped the maindeck to include a sheer amount of cantrips. These changes mean that the deck can now afford to run silver bullets as 1-of that can easily be found by all the deck manipulation, digging, card drawing and deck thinning. The problem, though, comes in finding and fitting the bullets themselves. Here's the list:
I've cut the two Last Breath, two Deep Analysis, an Island and the Cenn's Enlistment for 4 Ponder and 2 Impulse. However, this is not the final decklist, as Enlistment definitely needs to come back as the silver bullet against MBC and grindy decks, and Analysis needs to come as a 1-of for more drawing power against decks that try to out-attrition me. The real problem though comes in the manabase. I know 21 lands is a little too much with 10 cantrips, but I don't want to go that low on the land count if I want to support Enlistment, and I don't want to slow down the deck's speed since all the 8 lands that CiPT (Coves, Wilds) are an absolute must, thus cutting down basics slows down the deck. Any of the people who like Hypergeometric Distribution care to chime in about this fact? The list of 1-ofs I'm considering in no particular order:
- Cenn's Enlistment as an inevitability win condition against decks with a plethora of removal that can also deal with Guardian (MBC, Izzet Control).
- Deep Analysis as a draw engine that circumvents countermagic and discard and represents 4 whopping cards against decks that try to grind me out of the game (Also MBC, Kuldotha Boros).
- Oblivion Ring as an extra removal card that also doubles against nonland permanent hate, hitting Rancor, Oubliette, Journey to Nowhere, Equipment, Auras, Jace's Erasure, Curse of the Bloody Tome and Tron's Prophetic Prism.
- Faith's Fetters as a second, toned down Oblivion Ring that gains me 4 life against aggressive matchups where I need to deal with a creature + gain life at the same time.
Has anyone dabbled into Bantblade / Esperblade yet? The benefits of Esperblade are rather obvious: better removal, discard, and the ever-so-good Executioner's Capsule, which can even be recurred with Leonin Squire. But what about Bantblade? Only thing I can think about are Rancor and Howling Wolf. Are there any green based card advantage spells that I'm missing?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
2 Bonesplitter
1 Flayer Husk
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
Creature (14)
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
4 Mulldrifter
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Lightning Bolt
Sorcery (9)
4 Ponder
3 Treasure Cruise
2 Flame Slash
Land (21)
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Swiftwater Cliffs
2 Tranquil Cove
2 Radiant Fountain
5 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Ancient Den
1 Great Furnace
1 Seat of the Synod
Added back Seat of the Synod as it's practically and island and although I don't need to fetch for it for its color, I can fetch for it to make land drops. Ponder works excellent, being able to make land drops, dig for answers, filter chaff and feeding Cruise is great. Since I had to cut on taplands and fetches are a no-go, I had to cut 2 Tranquil Cove and 1 Swiftwater Cliffs in order to add some more basics / artifact lands. I also added two Radiant Fountain for the lifegain I lost taking out the refuges, as Kabira Crossroads still ETB tapped, and haven't been dissapointed by them now. Sure this is a tricolor deck and they don't provide mana of any color, but they gain 2 life, enter untapped, and can cast artifacts, pay their equipment costs, and pay the colorless. Alternatively I can take out one more Cliffs for another basic, but being able to maintain these duals to some degree for when I draw Fountain and the 9 lifegain total from the landbase make me hesitant to take it out. I could certainly swap 1 Radiant Fountain for 1 Tranquil Cove, but it trades 1 life and a land that enters untapped...
About the deck, I'd like to readd the two Flame Slash I had to take out for Ponder, or any combination of Flame Slash, Journey to Nowhere and Deprive (I'm looking specifically at Slash + Journey to catch big threats).
Thoughts?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
What are your thoughts about the new Ojutai's Summons? It's super expensive and double colored and a super big tempo loss if countered, but it gives us two creatures in one card, which helps our low creature count and card advantage philosophy, and it also fuels Cruise.
Out of curiosity, which decks run Gurmag Angler? I've been keeping an eye on him, but since MBC was on the decline, I thought Hooting Mandrills was the better creature, and Sultai Scavenger better suited for suicide black since it has flying.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
The Angler is more popular than Mandrills and Scavenger because he is a 5/5, which makes him surprisingly hard to deal with. He's bigger than Affinity creatures, and trades with everything except Ulamog's Crusher in Tron. the big body just outclasses everything, and at a cheap cost.
There are also a couple combo-like decks that are using it with things like Dragon Breath.
I don't think Ojutai's Summons is what you want for your deck. Had it been an instant, it would have been more interesting. Paying 5 mana on your own turn is just very risky and clunky. I don't think it's playable.
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
2 Bonesplitter
1 Flayer Husk
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
Enchantment (2)
2 Journey to Nowhere
Sorcery (5)
2 Flame Slash
3 Treasure Cruise
Instant (15)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
3 Prohibit
Creature (14)
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
4 Mulldrifter
4 Trinket Mage
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Swiftwater Cliffs
3 Tranquil Cove
2 Radiant Fountain
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
1 Great Furnace
1 Mountain
1 Plains
5 Island
2 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Feldon's Cane
2 Hydroblast
2 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Standard Bearer
3 Pyroblast
Have had a few games today against Infect, UW Rebels, Stompy, Rakdos Aggro, and a strange creatureless UB Turbo Fog-esque build that operated by resolving Curse of the Bloody Tome and gaining a ton of life with Dismal Backwater, Radiant Fountain, Dimir Aqueduct, Deprive, Pristine Talisman and controlled the board with lots of removal like Innocent Blood (didn't hurt him), Chainer's Edict which was a 2-for-1 and used the ramp from Aqueducts and Talismans, and counters. In these matches, I never got color screwed except in a risky keep against UW Rebels where I had 1 Island and 2 Brainstorm and was on the draw. This means that Radiant Fountain doesn't hurt us at all, and having added both Prohibit and Journey to Nowhere as cards to use the colorless mana on, alongside every one of the creatures and all of the equipment and their equip costs, it's inclusion doesn't feel wrong at all. What's more, the 2 life + entering untapped was heavily appreciated against Stompy and Rakdos as I was able to recover 2 life and cast a Hawk for chumpblocking, throw a Journey or save up for a Prohibit, so I added a second one, which will surely become handy against Burn. Also added back the 4th Mage as I really missed it sometimes.
The MB is currently at 62 cards. Any suggestions on what to take out? Was thinking in 1 Counterspell and perhaps 1 Bonesplitter, but I'd really not cut any of the equipment as each one of them is very necessary in it's own way and two splitters speed up the clock greatly.
Here's hoping that the white Rebound common from the Ojutai brood is a Survival Cache downgrade. I would love a white Divination that gains me 4 life as the closest thing to Sphinx's Revelation we will ever hope to have, but knowing Wizards it will probably be some silly "Tap target creature" shenanigans
EDIT: Seems like we got a nice toy in Anticipation. Sure we had Impulse but I believe it's not online legal for people that use the online banlist / rarities. What are you guys thoughts on it (assuming you can't play Impulse)?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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I'll update the Primer post with the remaining matchup analysis including Turbo Angler, Red and Black and the DTK options when the spoiler is completed, so stay tuned because soon the Primer will be officially finished!
Has anyone tried Esperblade now? If so, this is the time to post your builds, discuss and fine tune them here so the optimal Esperblade list gets posted come DTK. Here's hoping they don't ban Treasure Cruise since it gives the deck so much gas...
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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Impulse isn't legal online? Anticipation is still definitely playable in decks that need to dig for answers at instant speed (like MUC), but Impulse is just better. 3 is good, but 4 is better!
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
White:
- Resupply: Overcosted by at least 2. This would have been great SB tech against Burn and other super aggro matchups. Pass.
- Student of Ojutai: Doesn't have any form of protection, and for my 4-drop I'd rather run Guardian. Pass.
- Artful Maneuver: We're not Tempo or Heroic. Pass
- Center Soul: Although a nice trick, same as above.
Blue:
- Contradict: I was seriously hoping for a Dismiss downgrade when I saw the art, and I got it. Only that it's overcosted by 1. Gets a resounding meh from me, but could do the job as a 1-2 of until we hopefully get the real deal downgraded in the Mercadian Masques online expansion. Will test, but I don't expect much from a 5CMC pseudo Cryptìc Command. I hope I'm wrong and this is good.
- Elusive Spellfist: Better suited for Delver, Weefiends and other Tempo decks. Pass.
- Gurmag Drowner: This one is actually interesting. It's comparable to Mulldrifter since it replaces itself with the best of the top four cards of the library and also feeds treasure cruise a lot. Doesn't fly but has 4 toughness. We don't have many creatures to exploit, though...
- Ojutai's Breath: Really good tempo card. Although we're not tempo, it could see some use just for the Rebound ability to nullify two creatures, but we have better removal.
Black:
- Defeat: Narrow sorcery removal is narrow. We have Last Breath as an instant without the necessity to splash.
- Vulturous Aven: This could actually complement or replace Mulldrifter in black lists. It costs 1 less to cast and has 1 more toughness, but it has to Exploit a creature, which is it's biggest downside... If we can work around that, this promises a lot as one of the main reasons to splash black alongside Executioner's Capsule.
Red:
- Twin Bolt: I was thinking the other day: if Electrolyze got downgraded in MM2015 somehow, would I play it? Welp, there's only one way to know now! (although this doesn't cantrip).
So far, I'm interested in testing Contradict, Twin Bolt and Vulturous Aven. It's more than FRF brought us, and these cards could actually be interesting toys, so I won't complain
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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Here's my list pre-DTK tweakings:
2 Bonesplitter
1 Flayer Husk
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
Creature (14)
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
4 Trinket Mage
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Mulldrifter
Instant (14)
3 Counterspell
3 Prohibit
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Brainstorm
Enchantment (2)
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Flame Slash
3 Treasure Cruise
Land (21)
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Great Furnace
1 Ancient Den
4 Swiftwater Cliffs
2 Tranquil Cove
2 Radiant Fountain
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Hydroblast
3 Pyroblast
3 Standard Bearer
As you can see, I swapped 1 Swiftwater Cliffs for 1 Tranquil Cove because Cliffs it's the optimal T1 play, as it enables T2 Brainstorm + Evolving Wilds, T2 Radiant Fountain + Prohibit against Burn, Stompy or other fast matchups, or simply another CipT land + mana for Bolt or Slash, and we don't need the white mana until turns 4-5 where Trinket Mage can fetch the Den if we don't have a white source yet anyways (I never play a T2 Squadron Hawks and I encourage everyone to not do it as well, as it's important to leave mana open for counters or removal).
First of all, I'm thinking about swapping the 2 Journey to Nowhere for 1 Counterspell and 1 Flame Slash and beat Angler and Fangren Marauder by countering, chumpblocking and racing, trading with it with multi-equipped creatures, stopping them cold with Guardian of the Guildpact or simply 2-for-1ing myself in the worst case scenario with a block + Lightning Bolt or post-combat Flame Slash after recklessly attacking into them. Then I could run some number of Reprisal and / or Disdainful Stroke in the SB as an out to both + Ulamog's Crusher, since Turbo Angler doesn't seem to be that popular as of now. Perhaps I can move back to Journeys after the deck has become a lot more popular.
With this said, I'd want to make room for testing at least 1 Contradict (somewhat easy, swap a Counterspell for it) and two Twin Bolt (more difficult since the deck needs Lightning Bolt and Flame Slash to deal with higher-toughness creatures). After these tweaks, I'll consider the Jeskaiblade list as fine-tuned as possible and start working on an Esperblade list featuring Vulturous Aven and Executioner's Capsule.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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This seems like a promising card, indeed. I'm very skeptical about it, though. I'm not sure it will fit very well into this deck, as you do need a creature to exploit for it to be worth it. I imagine it will often be a Hawk, so it curves out nicely. It's not clear card advantage like it is with Mulldrifter, that much is obvious.
Why would you swap a removal spell that can actually trade 1-for-1 for counters and removal that will require you to 2-for-1 yourself? If you're trying to fight these creatures in particular, I think Journey is the best solution. Counters and damage-based removal will just make your life more complicated. I feel the same way about conditional removal in this deck. 2 mana is not too much to pay for exiling a creature at sorcery speed.
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BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
It's more complicated than it seems. Part of the deck's speed consists that even with 10 CipT lands, I can start burning creatures as soon as T2 while still playing tapped lands, which helps me keep up with the tempo. Prohibit also helps a ton because it can follow a tapped land on T1 with an untapped land, pass the turn, which more often than not results in a time walk for me. In an average T3 for the deck I could be playing a burn spell + have mana up for a counter, which starts swinging the game in my favor. So most of the time I find myself wishing for another 1 CMC removal spell instead of Journey to Nowhere, the very exceptions being Angler and Marauder which can somewhat be managed with a 2-for-1 to myself. If this helps boost other matchups significantly, I'm more than willing to bite the bullet, specially since I rarely see Tron anyways. Counterspell was swapped in because it's also an answer to these threats, and the only condition is being timed correctly, and it's the only way to interact with spells on the stack like Treasure Cruise, Mulldrifter, Corrupt or Gray Merchant of Asphodel that Prohibit can't take out.
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
1R Choose one:
Not to mention the shenanigans of casting it in the combat phase. It's only problem is stiff competition with Lightning Bolt and Flame Slash because of their cheaper cost and ability to take out larger threats, but I will try and do what I can to sleeve in 2, potentially 3 copies of the card. It's just that good.
Contradict is another solid option in the vacuum. An Exclude that is never dead is certainly nothing to scoff at. The problem is that it costs 5, and trading with a 2-3 CMC card feels kinda bad, but I will test it nevertheless.
Finally, Vulturous Aven will be great in Esperblade if we feed a way to reliably find him.
On a side note, what are you people thoughts on moving more towards a Negate / Dispel suite? Since the meta is becoming more and more noncreature spell based, I think it could be good.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
2 Bonesplitter
1 Flayer Husk
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
Creature (14)
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
4 Mulldrifter
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
Instant (11)
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
3 Prohibit
4 Journey to Nowhere
Sorcery (5)
1 Cenn's Enlistment
4 Sunlance
Land (22)
1 Ancient Den
1 Seat of the Synod
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Kabira Crossroads
2 Radiant Fountain
5 Island
3 Plains
2 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Standard Bearer
2 Hindering Light
2 Disdainful Stroke
The banning of Cruise means we can go back to playing 4 Journey to Nowhere without any disadvantage, which greatly increases our chances at beating Angler decks and Tron. Playing Jeskai also taught me the importance of having 1 CMC removal, so Sunlance is also there. Since I now lack the reach Lightning Bolt gave me, a singleton Cenn's Enlistment is there to give me the edge in outgrinding MBC and having reach and inevitability against decks that can answer Guardian of the Guildpact. And finally, since I don't have the raw power of Cruise drawing me cards, I upgraded to 1 more land. Obviously MD isn't going to look like that, I just more or less ported the Jeskai version to UW. It's missing the draw spells, which will be 4 AK first, and if they don't work, 2-3 of some other thing. We also need as many cantripping answers as possible, so a singleton or two Exclude and a single Contradict could find their place up there, and freeing up slots for Impulse is also a possibility. Overall, I'm looking towards freeing at least 5, and potentially 9-10 slots for the least important cards (Contradict and the Impulses). What are your thoughts in this?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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2 Guardian of the Guildpact
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Mulldrifter
4 Trinket Mage
Artifact (4)
2 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Flayer Husk
Enchantment (4)
4 Journey to Nowhere
Instant (12)
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
3 Prohibit
1 Last Breath
3 Deep Analysis
1 Cenn's Enlistment
Land (22)
3 Radiant Fountain
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Ancient Den
1 Seat of the Synod
6 Island
3 Plains
2 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Standard Bearer
2 Hindering Light
2 Disdainful Stroke
The deck has been faster with only 8 taplands now (counting fetches), and a steady dose of lifegain from Radiant Fountain + Tranquil Cove, coupled with the manabase's enhaced speed has proven that Sunlance is not as necessary as I thought in the beginning. I'm trying to find a place for a second Last Breath but overall the deck is starting to put up results. Deep Analysis was the preferred option over Accumulated Knowledge; the first AKs were rather pathetic, the first one being Think Twice without Flashback and the second one being a 2 mana instant speed Divination. I rarely saw the third one, and practically never the fourth one, and since they were consuming more spots than I'd like to devote for card draw, they've been swapped for DA. Analysis is the king of CA, boasting a resilience to counterspells and discard, and giving me 4 whopping cards for just one. It's 3 life payment is even marginal since I have so much lifegain in the manabase and a single Sylvok Lifestaff activation covers it, I just need to be careful with casting it from the grave against Burn. The only problem with Analysis is it's steep casting cost of 4 at sorcery speed and my lack of discard outlets, but since I doubt we have a more efficient option or a strictly better Analysis is printed at 2U or as an instant and as a common, we'll have to run this (which is not that bad if you're not being swarmed to death).
The side could also use some Dust to Dusts, currently thinking in swapping the Hindering Lights for them, but I don't want to have dead cards against Burn (Journey to Nowhere, since Last Breath can at least give me some life when used on my dudes) and Dispeller's Capsule are a no-go since they're my only outs to Pestilence, Turbo Fog's Jace Erasure, Domain Zoo's Nylea's Presence and Tortured Existence, as well as a support card against Affinity and Bogles for taking out Auras that resolved before dropping Standard Bearer.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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I think another draw/dig spell might be better in its stead.
In your primer, you mixed up Anticipate and Impulse.
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BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
About Azorius Chancery, maybe swap for a Plains or is that one too many tapped lands?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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2 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Flayer Husk
Creature (14)
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
4 Mulldrifter
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
3 Prohibit
2 Last Breath
Enchantment (4)
4 Journey to Nowhere
Sorcery (3)
2 Deep Analysis
1 Cenn's Enlistment
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Tranquil Cove
3 Radiant Fountain
3 Plains
6 Island
I'm ok with only 3 Impulse going in, but if there isn't space for all them, I'd rather just have the third Deep Analysis. It's time to make some cuts, but what?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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1 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Flayer Husk
Creatures (17)
4 Palace Familiar
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
3 Mulldrifter
Instants (13)
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
3 Last Breath
2 Ponder
Enchantments (3)
3 Journey to Nowhere
Lands (22)
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Ancient Den
1 Seat of the Synod
4 Tranquil Cove
3 Desert
5 Island
2 Plains
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Cenn's Enlistment
2 Reinforcements
3 Standard Bearer
2 Circle of Protection: Green
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Counterspell
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Prohibit
My local meta is somewhat diverse, but has a heavy Delver group of players. My list is tuned to beating that matchup since a lot of the meta is comprise of different delver list. There are 2 fairly strong MBC (both of which run Witches, Hymm of Tourachs and Sinkholes) that are probably played by two of the better players that we have. I started tuning some of the deck to match up well against those list (hence the palace familiars testing). Also, Bogles floats around every so often and I have already conceded game ones to that matchup, but the player that play the bogle list are newer to pauper and do not build their list around the hate I have in my sideboard. Lastly, some of the combo players from modern have started playing with us and they been playing the Familiar Combo deck. I actually do not really know how to deal with this deck as much since interacting with seems difficult. I've up the last breath mainboard for the familiars, sage's row, and the wall but beyond that I do not much thoughts.
Any suggestions for improving the list.
About your sideboard, I would move Enlistment to mainboard if your MBC players are giving you much trouble. Alongside counters, removal and cards like Flayer Husk and Doomed Traveler which waste their resources, and Guardian of the Guildpact which is difficult to deal with, you will have the upper edge as long as you up your card advantage count. You won't need CoP: Green as long as you're packing Standard Bearer, and the general counters in the side (Counterspell, Prohibit) can be switched to narrower ones like one or two Disdainful Stroke more against MBC and Tron, Dispel against Delver, or Hindering Light against MBC and Burn. Finally, Viridian Longbow and Holy Light can go a long mile in the Delver MU, and Feldon's Cane is good against MBC and helps against random things like Turbo Fog. Curse of the Bloody Tome is a good option against control that I've been testing lately.
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2 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Flayer Husk
Creatures (14)
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Mulldrifter
4 Trinket Mage
4 Journey to Nowhere
Instants (13)
4 Counterspell
3 Prohibit
4 Brainstorm
2 Impulse
Sorcery (4)
4 Ponder
1 Ancient Den
1 Seat of the Synod
3 Radiant Fountain
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Evolving Wilds
5 Island
3 Plains
I've cut the two Last Breath, two Deep Analysis, an Island and the Cenn's Enlistment for 4 Ponder and 2 Impulse. However, this is not the final decklist, as Enlistment definitely needs to come back as the silver bullet against MBC and grindy decks, and Analysis needs to come as a 1-of for more drawing power against decks that try to out-attrition me. The real problem though comes in the manabase. I know 21 lands is a little too much with 10 cantrips, but I don't want to go that low on the land count if I want to support Enlistment, and I don't want to slow down the deck's speed since all the 8 lands that CiPT (Coves, Wilds) are an absolute must, thus cutting down basics slows down the deck. Any of the people who like Hypergeometric Distribution care to chime in about this fact? The list of 1-ofs I'm considering in no particular order:
- Cenn's Enlistment as an inevitability win condition against decks with a plethora of removal that can also deal with Guardian (MBC, Izzet Control).
- Deep Analysis as a draw engine that circumvents countermagic and discard and represents 4 whopping cards against decks that try to grind me out of the game (Also MBC, Kuldotha Boros).
- Oblivion Ring as an extra removal card that also doubles against nonland permanent hate, hitting Rancor, Oubliette, Journey to Nowhere, Equipment, Auras, Jace's Erasure, Curse of the Bloody Tome and Tron's Prophetic Prism.
- Faith's Fetters as a second, toned down Oblivion Ring that gains me 4 life against aggressive matchups where I need to deal with a creature + gain life at the same time.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!