You are a woodland mage, seeking a quiet and isolated life among the trees and the trickling streams and rivers, studying them and wielding the knowledge you gain from them. You are quick and furtive, and have no need for weapons or an army of monsters to protect you. Invading creatures sent by hostile mages return empty-handed and weary. Upon following your trail, they encounter thick, impenetrable fogs, paralyzing spores and impassable rivers. This mighty forest is your home, and any mage who dares enter it will slowly be stripped of all of their resources, knowledge and will to fight.
"The art of war is turning obstacle to advantage."
-Jaeuhl Carthalion, Juniper Order Advocate
Turbo Fog is a control deck consisting of two essential kinds of cards: Fogs and draw spells. The deck draws many cards in order to play a Fog every turn until victory, which is most often sealed through milling the opponent with Jace's Erasure or Stream of Thought.
Building the Deck
The deck can be categorized into five parts: Fogs, Draw, Mill, Counters and Lands.
When building your Turbo Fog deck, you'll want about 10-12 Fog cards, 16-21 draw spells, 4-6 mill cards, 3-7 counterspells and 18-21 lands.
There are tons of options out there, so I have compiled a list of cards for each category that I have played in the past or believe could be useful in the deck.
Fogs:
There are a great many Fogs available in Green. I advise against any Fogs costing 4 or more mana, as they are too expensive. Very few Fogs are playable at 3 mana, but there are some. 1 and 2 mana fogs are the easiest to play. Here is a non-exhaustive list of Fogs to choose from:
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Fog A no-brainer. The name-sake card can sometimes be cut if we want to maximize our fogs with additional effects.
Fog Patch This has advantages when playing against Flaring Pain. It also has the disadvantage of letting creatures with Trample deal all of their damage regardless.
Lull This is somewhat of a stretch in playability. There are very few situations where you'd rather cycle than keep the fog, but they do occur.
Moment's Peace This is the very best Fog spell in Pauper. Getting the effect twice out of one card is immensely powerful.
Respite Gaining a few life can save you a Fog later, or can put you out of burn range. A very nasty surprise for some opponents.
Spore Cloud This can act as a double Fog for an unsuspecting opponent. It gives you time on your turn to cast sorceries or tutors to get ahead. The double G can sometimes be difficult to obtain, however.
Spore Frog While having a Fog in creature form can have its advantages in certain decks (such as with recursion or in order to deal some damage), it is a much less reliable form of damage prevention than an instant or sorcery that can only be stopped with Countermagic. If the opponent has any instant-speed removal at all, the Fog effect will be completely wasted.
TangleWarning: this card was only printed as a common online in Vintage Masters, not all groups allow rarities from online expansions. It is, however, an excellent card to use if you're playing online.
Undergrowth If you feel like 4 Fogs are not enough, here are 4 more.
Draw:
Drawing cards is important to find more Fogs and to mill the opponent. Blue is what makes the deck come together. There is a panoply of draw to choose from in Blue, and this list is far from exhaustive. Here are some choices to consider:
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Accumulated Knowledge This card only feels terrible with its first cast. Once there are one or more in the graveyard, this is the best card draw spell in Pauper. Instant-speed is extremely important in this deck. The only disadvantage this card has aside from its first casting is graveyard hate. It becomes an interesting sub-game when the opponent is also playing them.
Brainstorm This is often the best choice of cantrips three reasons. First, it is an instant. Second, it actually draws you cards, triggering Jace's Erasure multiple times for a single mana. Third, it can allow you to use any of the cards you drew by placing cards already in your hand back on top, which also helps fight discard effects. It is often coupled with lands like Terramorphic Expanse to have a shuffling effect to put bad cards away.
Compulsive Research Essentially a better Divination since it draws a third card and lets you discard excess lands that may have been drawn.
Deep Analysis This will give you the most card advantage of the whole lot, but at a high cost (both life and mana being spent). A good choice, but to use in sparse numbers.
Fathom Seer Can be useful to block early creatures to save yourself some Fogs. It turns on your opponents' otherwise blank removal, however.
Gush Drawing cards for free is always nice. This can even help fuel Oona's Grace in the late game for even more cards.
Ideas Unbound This card has the huge upside of drawing you three cards for only two mana. Having to discard three at the end of turn however is an enormous drawback. It might be worth playing in some circumstances.
Impulse Digs very deep at instant speed and puts the other cards on the bottom. An excellent draw spell. Those who can't find copies can always use the inferior (but still good) Anticipate. Unfortunately, these cards don't trigger Jace's Erasure at all, as the cards are placed in hand, not drawn.
Keep Watch This card can have a huge impact on the game when it works. Capable of drawing you 4+ cards at instant speed, Keep Watch has huge potential. That being said, it is often hit and miss. Some decks never attack with more than one or two creatures, or rarely attack at all. Having a draw spell depend on your opponent playing a certain way can make this card difficult to use. It also comes with a hefty mana cost that makes playing it even at instant speed difficult. I think the window of opportunity for this card is narrow even in the best of scenarios.
Krosan Tusker "What is a green creature card doing in the draw section?!" you may ask. The answer is you never use it as a creature, but always for it's cycling. This card is a powerful draw spell because it's uncounterable, instant speed, guarantees you a land (something this deck needs a lot of), and uses green mana (which is otherwise only used to cast Fog spells). An uncounterable source of card advantage (2-for-1) is otherwise non-existent in Pauper. The fact that it costs three mana to use is the only thing holding this card back.
Oona's Grace Filtering your lands late in the game at instant speed can help you find the cards you really need. 3 mana is a bit steep, however.
Pieces of the Puzzle Since most of our deck is instants and sorceries, this card will essentially give you the best two cards of the top 5. The fact that it puts the others in the graveyard also synergizes well with cards like Accumulated Knowledge, Moment's Peace and Deep Analysis, which will often mean that Pieces feels like you are drawing 3+ cards. In the right build, this is well worth paying 3 mana at sorcery speed.
Ponder When choosing among the digging spells such as this one, I would recomend not using too many. They’re good at fixing your draws, but they don’t actually gain you any cards. The shuffling effect of Ponder is very welcome in this deck that's looking for specific cards at the right time.
Preordain Although you don't see as much of your deck as the other two, Preordain allows you to place the cards you see directly on the bottom, basically guaranteeing that you won't see them again (unless you shuffle).
Rain of Revelation Sometimes the simplest cards can be the most effective. Drawing 3 cards at instant speed is well worth the 4 mana and discard.
Scour All Possibilities This card will dig up to 3 cards deep to find the right card. The Flashback cost can be quite prohibitive for a sorcery, as opposed to Think Twice, which costs less and is an instant. Scry 2 is quite a big upside, however.
See Beyond Another 2-mana draw spell that draws you two cards. Although it seems like a worse Brainstorm, the fact that the card you choose is shuffled and not placed on top is very important.
Take Inventory This card is in almost all ways worse than Accumulated Knowledge. It's sorcery speed really makes it much worse, and not counting the cards in other players' graveyards can also come up. The real question is if this card should be run with AK. Even if the effect is strong, it is still sorcery speed, which means that other instant-speed draws will likely be better.
Telling Time This is is instant-speed, digs three cards deep and puts the worst card on the bottom. The only disadvantage Telling Time has over most other draw spells in this list is that it doesn't trigger Jace's Erasure.
Think Twice Although it is expensive to draw two cards from this, the fact that it has flashback makes Blue players very hesitant to counter it. The flashback also comes in handy in later turns where mana isn't an issue any more.
Tragic Lesson Drawing 2 at instant speed is always good. The drawback can even be a good thing when running utility lands or Thornwood Falls.
Tolarian Winds One of the biggest trap cards for the deck, Tolarian Winds appears to be the ultimate combo card with Jace's Erasure, both milling the opponent for a ton and getting rid of a hand full of dead cards. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Turbo Fog burns a lot of cards in a turn, and requires you to play your lands, so holding back cards in order to discard them doesn't make sense. If you built your deck correctly, you shouldn't even have many dead cards to begin with. Winds is also card disadvantage, which Turbo Fog really doesn't want.
Vision Skeins The same applies for this card as it does for Words of Wisdom, although this version gains the opponent an extra card, making it significantly worse.
Words of Wisdom instant speed draw-2 is good, but comes at the disadvantage of the opponent getting free cards. This is generally mitigated by the fact that the opponent most likely won't draw anything useful, as creatures and removal are useless against us. It also contributes to milling them out.
Mill
Milling the opponent is an efficient way to win, given the slowness of the deck in general. Here are a few options to choose from. Again, there are many options, but a few stand out as being the most efficient.
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Curse of the Bloody Tome An excellent option, this can be Jace's Erasure 5-8. Athough it is not as elastic, it mills an extra card naturally over Erasure. It does cost an extra mana, however. This is a bigger deal than one might think, as this means it can't be tutored with Muddle the Mixture.
Jace's Erasure Given that we draw a ludicrous amount of cards in a game, this card can mill a great many cards in a turn. It guarantees at least one, but can mill 6 cards and upwards easily.
Mind Sculpt An extra mana for an extra 2 cards milled, it is another efficient option, given that there is limited space for finishers.
Shriekhorn 6 cards milled for 1 mana, but over 3 turns. I find this card to be better than Tome Scour not only for its efficiency, but because it can often be used to disrupt players who manipulate their library with effects like Brainstorm. It also has the marginal advantage of leaving you with an extra permanent to sacrifice to Ulamog's Crusher.
Stream of Thought This is exactly what we want a mill spell to do. Not only does it mill the opponent, but it also shuffles back important cards into our deck, such as Fogs, countermagic, or more card draw. It's worth noting that it also provides a cheap shuffle effect for Brainstorm. As if this weren't already enough, it can also be replicated for an even greater effect to end the game.
Thought Scour Halfway between a draw spell and a mill spell, this card is not particularly good at either. It can speed up milling slightly while helping you go through your deck, but doesn't give you the card selection that other 1-mana spells do and isn't as efficient as other mill spells available. It is a good compromise between the two, and is also good at disrupting prepared Delver flips.
Tome Scour 1 mana for 5 cards is hard to beat from a mana to effect ratio.
Vision Charm What this spell lacks in mill-power it makes up for with its versatility and instant speed. It can screw with an opponents' mana for a turn, buying you time. It also can get rid of an attacking artifact creature, such as Myr Enforcer.
Countermagic
Turbo Fog wants to run a minimum of counterspells in order to protect itself against non-combat situations, for example against Combo or a giant Rolling Thunder, or to protect the Erasures. Again, there are tons of cards to choose from, but here are a few of the popular choices for this archetype:
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Arcane Denial This is probably one of the most underrated counters. In matchups where counters aren't needed, it turns into a draw-three by countering one of your own spells. Countering a copy from Weather the Storm generates extreme value. If an opponent uses countermagic against you, it is sometimes preferable to counter your own spell and get three cards back and wasting your opponent's counter. If the opponent is very low on cards, they sometimes decline to draw two, making this a two-mana hard-counter that cantrips.
Counterspell Can't go wrong with this one. The UU cost can sometimes be problematic, but shouldn't be an issue past the early game.
Memory Lapse With any mill, this becomes a better Counterspell, as the top card (the one that was countered) finds itself into their graveyard soon after.
Miscalculation While conditional counterspells are absolutely awful in the lategame, this one is acceptable because it can be cycled once it is no longer useful. I still would not recommend, as the counter just turns into a bad draw spell. We want the counters to stay useful throughout the game.
Muddle the Mixture This is a very relevant counter that also doubles up as a tutor for almost anything you'd need in your deck. It can fetch your Jace's Erasure, Moment's Peace or silver bullet for just three mana.
Negate Seeing as Turbo Fog will counter almost exclusively non-creature spells, this counter is very useful. There aren't very many creatures that the Fog spells won't handle, so this can easily take care of the rest.
Lands
Because of the simplicity of Turbo Fog mana requirements and because it’s so slow, it can afford to play around in the mana base. A land count of 20-24 lands is perfectly acceptable. Including lands that enter tapped can be very beneficial to fix your mana. Keep in mind, however, that on certain crucial turns, a land coming into play tapped can mean losing the game. Turbo Fog needs to have the right mana at the right time every turn.
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Ash Barrens This land can come into play untapped and produce colourless mana when you need it, or can be cycled from your hand in order to fetch the basic of your choice. It is most likely the go-to option for Bant builds and is very comparable to Terramorphic Expanse in utility and function. The ability to be an untapped land in a pinch makes it a very attractive choice over the traditional fetch land, at the cost of needing to pay to actually fetch.
Bant Panorama An excellent option as well, as it creates mana and comes into play untapped. It can then be traded in for the correct basic land at instant speed in later turns. A good option for WUG builds.
Simic Growth Chamber An excellent way to both fix your mana and return Cycling lands back to your hand later in the game to draw cards with them.
Simic Guildgate If ever 4 Thornwood Falls aren't enough. Again, pay attention to the number of lands coming into play tapped. Having too many can be very dangerous.
Thornwood Falls The easiest way to fix your mana. The life gain is also very welcome for this deck.
Tranquil Thicket/ Lonely Sandbar Cycling lands are an easy inclusion for the deck, as you generally won't want more than 8-10 lands in play. In the late game, these cyclers are very welcome draws.
Tree of Tales/ Seat of the Synod These have a very marginal purpose in some mana bases. Their only purpose is for matches where Quiet Disrepair is needed for the lifegain. It's possible to have Quiet Disrepair out as soon as turn two, making it difficult for Burn players to win. They enable Artificer's Epiphany and are useful against the odd Wrench Mind as well.
Sideboard Cards
Obviously, while most decks win through combat damage in Pauper, some do not. The sideboard is there to remedy matchups where the opponent can interact with Turbo Fog's strategy. The categories below highlight options that shore up Turbo Fog's weaknesses.
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Countermagic: Counterspell: hits absolutely anything for just two mana. The only disadvantage is that it is UU, making it harder to cast in some scenarios.
More Arcane Denial and Muddle the Mixture: These cards can shore up weaknesses efficiently, being generally good counters and either draw spells or tutors.
Hindering Touch: This is a very narrow counter to hit storm cards (if your meta plays them) or just obnoxious combo decks.
Anti-Flying: Scattershot Archer: Stops faeries dead in their tracks and can grind the Delver player to a halt. It can be very difficult for them to beat a resolved Archer.
Skyshroud Archer: A worse version of Scattershot Archer is still good enough to be considered playable. It can also shrink the attack of certain creatures to take less damage.
Hidden Spider: once active, it will block any flier all day and has enough power to also kill them.
Squall: perhaps too expensive, it can be a total blowout against decks relying on fliers.
Penumbra Spider: 4 mana is a lot to pay in Pauper, but this spider is particularly effective at fighting fliers in decks that also run removal (like SkredDelver, for example). It will eat up any common flier and has large enough toughness to survive. Once resolved, the opponent will have to sink at least two cards into it before they can continue their attack.
Bounce/Removal: Capsize: This will completely shut down other control decks with few win conditions.
Lignify: Lignify deals with the problematic Crusher while also taking away relevant abilities from creatures like Thermo-Alchemist.
Nature's Claim: Since we generally don't care about life totals, this is just a better Naturalize.
Graveyard Hate: Tormod's Crypt: Very vanilla, but it doesn't hit your own graveyard like other, potentially better options do.
Relic of Progenitus: Almost indisputably the best graveyard hate in the format. It replaces itself when you sacrifice it, so the cost of putting it in your deck is low. Its first ability can also keep an opponent's graveyard under control if they aren't filling it up too fast. It does hit all graveyards, which could be a disadvantage depending on your build. It also has the (unfortunate) benefit of being able to drain your opponent's time on MTGO, forcing them to click many more times, which can turn into a win condition itself (albeit of a dishonorable one).
Return to Nature: This card has enough modes that it is generally worth considering in your sideboard. It is likely to be useful in most matchups.
Faerie Macabre: Completely uncounterable, this card is difficult to interact with. Exiling two cards is often enough to disrupt someone's strategy. It is particularly effective against Exhume, leaving you with a 2/2 flier to either beat face or chump block.
Other Cards Jace's Phantasm: Against the decks where you board this, getting to 10 cards in graveyard is very easy.
It essentially becomes a faster clock than Jace's Erasure ever could be and can take the opponent completely by surprise. Another important function is as a blocker against fliers like Delver, being the biggest flier in Pauper to date. Nourish: The most amount of life for one card without dipping into White. It cancels out two Lightning Bolts with just one card, making it fairly effective against Burn.
Quiet Disrepair It helps fight Burn decks and can completely turn the game in your favour when fighting slower decks like MBC. Not only does it gain massive amounts of life but it can also destroy problems artifacts and enchantments.
Reclaim: This versatile card will get you back what you need: a Fog, a Draw spell, a Terramorphic Expanse, a Counterspell. The only catch is that you only get it the following turn unless you also have a draw spell to play afterwards.
Rust: Because the Turbo Fog deck has a tendency to play from the graveyard a lot, something to fight graveyard hate is sometimes necessary. Rust hits most of the graveyard hate out there: Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus and Nihil Spellbomb. These artifacts are sacrificed as part of their activation cost, so they hit the graveyard without doing a thing.
Weather the Storm has potential to lock up a match against difficult matchups like Burn. There are many decks that will easily play 3+ cards in a turn, netting easily 12 life or more for just two mana. The only other spell capable of comparing with that much raw life is Crypt Incursion.
Sample Decks
This is the list I am currently playing. You will find tournament-winning lists in a spoiler below it.
Bant Variants
White offers a lot of interesting options for Turbo Fog that can shore up on some of its weaknesses. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of running a 3-colour deck with subpar dual lands, which sometimes results in a loss. Some players get rid of the Green entirely. I think that the value of Moment's Peace is too great in itself to forego Green.
White gives access to superior Fog effects, namely Moment of Silence, its'variants, Dawn Charm and Riot Control. White has many other 1 mana Fog effects, namely Holy Day and Ethereal Haze. Just about every W-costing Fog spell is better than Holy Day, however. It also opens up avenues for the sideboard, such as Circle of Protection: Red. The Circle is a really powerful incentive to add white, as it improves the Burn matchup significantly.
Another interesting approach (proposed by Shoebaka) that tries to unite the stability of 2 colours with the greatness of CoP: Red is a UG deck with a small White splash:
In this deck, the single Plains is found or fetched only to include White sideboard cards.
Matchups
I've broken down my thoughts on many of the most popular archetypes in Pauper. This will give you a better idea of the decks’ strength and weaknesses and whether it’s worth playing in your playgroup/local game store. DECKS IN RED USE CARDS FROM THE BAN LIST.
Affinity:
Overall analysis: Slightly favorable. Affinity is largely based on dealing damage through creatures, so Turbo Fog is well positioned to fight it. I evaluate this matchup at 60-40 in favor of Turbo Fog.
Strategy discussion: As soon as you figure out it's Affinity, dig for countermagic. A single counter will often be enough to shut them down in the first game. Post-board you'll want more. Take as little damage as possible, because they have quite a bit of reach with Galvanic Blast. Post-board, Dispel/Hydroblast do a good job countering the real threats: Fling and Galvanic Blast.
Black Aggro:
Overall analysis: Very favorable. This deck has absolutely no way of getting out of the lock and has countless dead cards to draw. I evaluate this matchup at 90-10 for Turbo Fog.
Cards to board in/out: No boarding. However, If you see discard post-board, take out some more expensive fogs or life gain and add more countermagic.
Strategy discussion: Black Aggro kills on turn five on average, which gives plenty of time to set up. You want to be fogging as soon as possible however, as it stops them from shutting down Vampire Lacerator and keeps you out of range of Burn spells that could just kill you at a low life total. Draw, Fog, Mill, Win.
Black Control:
Overall analysis: Slightly unfavourable. This matchup varies depending on how much discard MBC is using and if Turbo Fog can find the countermagic in time to match their Gray Merchant of Asphodels. I evaluate this matchup up at 45-55 in favour of MBC.
Strategy discussion: Keep your life total high. Your life will drop drastically from Gray Merchant of Asphodel (unless it can be countered). There is usually no need to counter non-lethal Gray Merchants, however. If you play with artifact lands, always play them last in order to fight Wrench Mind as much as possible. Damage from Cuombajj Witches is easily negated with Weather the Storm. If you manage to have them in top-deck mode things look a lot more favorable, as Turbo Fog out-draws just about everyone. A few lucky mills can also win the game on their own. They have a ton of dead cards in this matchup, so it can be rather easy to leave up a counter for the crucial Gray Merchant of Asphodel (especially in game 1). Always double-count devotion!
Burn:
Overall analysis: Unfavourable. I evaluate it at about 30-70 in favour of Burn. Because they have so few creatures and so much straight burn, your fogs are almost useless. With mainboard Weather the Storm, it is possible to win the first game, but you chances to win the match lie mostly in games two and three.
Strategy discussion: Slow them down with your countermagic to keep your life total high while you find good opportunities to play Weather the Storm. Getting value from Weather the Storm is good, but it is sometimes fine to cast it for 6 life just to stay out of range longer while you stabilize. Playing Weather at low life means that your opponent might be able to respond with another Burn spell and kill you anyways. If your life total is already low and being pinged down by Thermo-Alchemist, consider transmuting for something like Lignify instead, as it will at least stop the bleeding immediately. Otherwise, save your Hydroblasts for creatures and enchantments that they manage to resolve.
Delver (Ux):
Overall analysis: This is one of Turbo Fog's worst matchups. Delver's efficient creatures, tempo and countermagic make for a very difficult deck to properly counter. The Delver player will let you draw cards and just whittle you down slowly and counter your fogs at crucial moments. I evaluate this matchup at 20-80 in Delver's favour.
Strategy discussion:The first player to run the other out of resources wins the game. Getting as many land drops as possible is the first important step. Keeping your hand full is equally important. It is often worth fighting over draw spells in the early/midgame. Don't let your life go down too low, because you might find yourself dead because of a countered Fog. Save your Weather the Storms for crucial counter wars or when opponent plays many cantrips. Consider fogging earlier if the Delver player has an early Ninja of the Deep Hours, even if your life total is high. If playing these cards, having an early Scattershot Archer or Penumbra Spider will really slow them down. Use Aerial Volley to disrupt Spellstutter Sprite.
Elves:
Overall Analysis: This matchup can vary greatly depending on the makeup of the Elf deck. In general, however, Turbo Fog is favoured, thanks to locking out combat and access to countermagic. I evaluate this matchup at 75-25 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy Discussion:Distant Melody or any of their card draw is not usually worth countering. Very few of their cards will be relevant and it brings them closer to milling out. Dig through your library for a counter (or two) in case they play an Ulamog's Crusher, Kaervek's Torch or any other actual threat. Elves deck frequently run an Ulamog or Viridian Longbow in their mainboard. Both cards must be countered. Post-board Return to Nature is a tutorable answer to the Bow. Be ready to protect your fogs with countermagic since Dispel is a popular card in Elves.
Eye-Candy:
Overall Analysis: Favourable. They depend on a single attack to win, and it is at the earliest turn three or four. This gives Turbo Fog plenty of time to set up a lock. I evaluate this matchup at 65-35 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy Discussion: Save yourMuddle the Mixtures as counters unless absolutely necessary.Fog is one of the best fogs to have when you are expecting a counter-war, so save them for later turns if possible. You can go to relatively low life totals if they have very little burn. Eye-Candy will also give you plenty of time to sculpt your hand before you start Fogging every turn, so take advantage of those 2-3 first turns to get greedy.
Familiars (WUx):
Overall Analysis: This is a difficult matchup in that if you do not find countermagic before they combo off, there is very little you can do to stop them from winning. I evaluate this matchup at 35-75 in favour of Familiars. There are many variations possible but the base is always White and Blue.
Strategy Discussion: The best advice I can offer is to choose an aspect of the combo that you wish to disrupt, and stick to it. For example, you can choose to only ever counter Ghostly Flicker/Ephemerate (I usually do this), in order to lock them off this important piece. but might be a bit more complex since you are using a mix of removal and countermagic. If you are using instant-speed removal, killing/bouncing the Snap target in response is a very powerful play, as it sets them back a lot of mana, cost them two cards, and often leaves them tapped out. Another important thing to remember is not to neglect finding Fogs in the late game, as they are definitely capable of winning through combat. Familiars can build up a surprisingly huge board presence that can go for a lot of damage. Penumbra Spider and a few fogs should be plenty.
Goblins:
Overall analysis: Favorable. A deck running upwards 30 creatures is bound to have a bad time against Turbo Fog. Depending on the makeup of Goblins however, they may stand a better chance than expected. I evaluate this matchup at 75-25 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy discussion: This creature matchup is the most important to have early fogs up and keeping them up, to avoid damage from creatures as much as possible to keep your life total high. This will avoid being killed by burn spells in the late game. Save as many counterspells as possible for the killing blow of a burn spell.
Handlock Control:
Overall analysis: This matchup is fairly even. Because of our lack of board presence, if the opponent achieves their lock, there is almost nothing Turbo Fog can do about it. However, Turbo Fog is usually equipped with lots of countermagic in the sideboard to deal specific pieces of this deck, which reduces it to just another slow control deck. I evaluate this matchup at 55-45 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy discussion: Handlock can only establish its lock in the late stages of the game, so there is lots of time to prepare for it. Just like against any control deck, the sooner you resolve a Jace's Erasure, the better. If possible, try to counter just a single piece of their lock in order to maximize your chances of denying it from them. This will usually mean countering Ghostly Flicker, as it can be targeted by all of our counters. It is however also a good idea to counter a Chittering Rats, but only if you are very low on cards and/or have very few draw spells in hand. Otherwise, a well-timed Reaping the Graves will quickly undo all of your progress. Handlock runs a surprisingly small number of counters in their 75 (usually as low as 5), so it's fairly easy to win counter wars. Keep in mind that Archaeomancer will usually net them another Counterspell.
Heroic:
Overall analysis: This is an excellent matchup, just like any Mono-White deck. They should have little to no interaction in the first game and only a few sideboard cards in the second. I evaluate this matchup at 90-10 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy discussion: Do what Turbo Fog does best: Draw cards, cast Fogs, mill them. You can usually go to really low life totals, since they have no way to deal the last points of damage. It is possible that they goldfish into a very fast kill, as early as turn 4-5. This can be difficult for any deck to beat, but it's not impossible for Turbo Fog.
Hexproof:
Overall analysis: Favorable. Game one is usually quite easy. Hexproof players are usually well equipped with countermagic and non-comabt win conditions after boarding, however. 70-30 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy discussion: Keep double counter open to fight Flaring Pain when possible. They will typically end up in the graveyard through mill, which means they can still be used once. Dispel is a common sideboard card, so it's important to be ready to fight to resolve your spells. Sorcery-speed card draw can leave you without enough mana to fog and leave open multiple counters on their turn, so use it wisely.
Infect:
Overall analysis: Favorable. Infect can pull wins out of nowhere with nothing you can do about it, but that’s part of the game. Most of the time though, you are in control, and there's nothing they can do to win. I evaluate this matchup at 80-20 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Cards to look out for:Glistener Elf on turn one. This opens up the possibility that if you don’t have Fog or Undergrowth , you might flat out lose. It's also very common to see Nature's Claim post-board
Strategy discussion: Try and mulligan into a hand with plenty of Fogs, ideally a 1-mana fog. Don’t be afraid to let them use their pump spells, then evaluating if it’s worth using a fog for it.
Inside Out Combo:
Overall Analysis: This is a terrible matchup. The opponent runs plenty of countermagic, can combo off very early and even sometimes has maindeck Gigadrowse, which is very hard for our deck to beat. I evaluate this matchup at 10-90 in favour of Inside Out combo.
Strategy Discussion: Counter Tireless Tribe if you can, this makes casting Circular Logic much more difficult for them. You can also disrupt Circular Logic by running Relic of Progenitus or any other graveyard hate. Otherwise, non-instant answers can be effective at disrupting the combo, like Lignify. If the opponent casts Gigadrowse on your end step, you're about to lose. If you have countermagic, counter a copy that is targeting a Forest to try to still have a Fog up on their turn. If they don't have countermagic on their turn, they can't combo off.
Izzet Control:
Overall Analysis: Slightly unfavorable. Many of these decks will pack plenty of Burn or Bounce that just isn't effective against Turbo Fog, so they have many dead cards. The Mill plan is also extremely effective against them, because they draw so many cards. That being said, their creatures are very efficient and, when backed up with countermagic, can take the game. I evaluate this matchup at 45-55 in favour of Izzet Control.
Strategy Discussion: The first game can go either way. The fact that they are forced to tap to counter on their turns is a huge advantage for Turbo Fog. When they play a 5-mana Mulldrifter, that is a window to play Jace's Erasure (ideally backed up with counters). Use your Moment's Peace as bait. When they counter it and are tapped out, you can then net greater advantages with Tangle, Respite or Spore Cloud. Weather the Storm works very well after a counter war, often buying many more turns. This saves the precious Fogs for when they actually matter.
Kuldotha Kitty:
Overall analysis: Slightly favourable. Being aware of the reach that this Kitty deck has is half the battle. They have almost no way to interact with Turbo Fog pre-board, but tend to have a lot of answers in games two and three. I evaluate this matchup at 55-45 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy Discussion: In the first game, keep your life total high to not get burned out. Weather the Storm helps stay out of range. Don't wait until you are in burn range to use it, or they might kill you with more burn in response. Kitty decks are usually very slow and durdly in the beginning, as they bounce their permanents to draw cards or gain life. This gives you time to prepare. Post-board, they have a lot more answers available. Flaring Pain is not a common sideboard card for them, but keep it in mind. If the the Kitty player has gotten rid of your win conditions, you can sometimes rely on Palace Sentinels to mill them out. This is a very risky line however, since they sculpt their hand into a deadly combination of counters and burn to unleash in a single turn. Prioritize more expensive fogs and counters in the early/mid-game so that you are ready for big turns with as many counters as possible.
Mystical Teachings:
Overall analysis: This is a favourable matchup. Although we have practically no use for Fog effects in this matchup, resolving a Jace's Erasure and countering a key spell are all it takes. They have so many dead cards that most of their draws are just as useless as an aggro players'. I evaluate this matchup at 75-25 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy Discussion: First game, resolving an early Jace's Erasure is usually all you need. If you don't have one early, make sure to have counters to protect it. Then, they will typically have 1 non-combat win condition, such as Capsize. Mill it or counter it, and you win. With a ton more countermagic, however, it should be very easy to completely control the game and resolve your spells. They will have extra counters from the sideboard, but not nearly enough to get rid of all their dead removal spells. Turbo Fog will be the proactive player and also has more counters.
Pestilence:
Overall analysis: Slightly favourable. Pestilence decks have multiple ways to deal non-combat damage, but also have many dead cards. Turbo Fog can stay ahead on life with Weather the Storm and has access to countermagic, provided discard does not pick apart the strategy. I evaluate this matchup at 55-45 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy Discussion: Get value out of your Accumulated Knowledges and Frantic Inventorys when you can, even if it means more get exiled. Pestilence decks have maindeck Bojuka Bogs (plus Orzhov Basilicas) and Castigates and bring in more graveyard hate post-board. Countering Guardian of the Guildpact is worth countering to make sure Pestilence can't stick around and will save you combat damage in the long-term. Keeping a full hand through the discard will win the game. Return to Nature is good for destroying Bonder's Ornaments or Pestilence. Otherwise, Pestilence decks have a lot of dead cards for the matchup, particularly in the first match.
Slivers (WGr):
Overall analysis: Very favorable. This is among the easier matchups, as Slivers have very few ways to interact outside of combat. I evaluate this matchup at 80-20 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy discussion: Slivers can easily have turn 4-5 kills, which means that holding up fogs for the whole game can be a challenge. Make sure to keep an eye on Poison counters as well. Try to find countermagic for Bladeback Sliver. Post-board, more Bladeback Slivers usually come in, as well as any enchantment hate. Focus on countering the sliver. Double counter backup can be important to fight Flaring Pain when possible.
Stompy:
Overall analysis: Very favorable. I evaluate this matchup at 80-20 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy discussion:Viridian Longbow sometimes appears maindeck in Stompy lists. Counter it when possible, but having access to Return to Nature helps if they manage to resolve it. Keeping some Weather the Storms in the maindeck can allow you to survive long enough to find an answer (or win). Otherwise, this is an easy matchup.
Storm:
Overall analysis: This matchup really depends on each players' opening hands. If they have their combo before you have countermagic or Weather the Storm, you will lose. I evaluate this matchup at 50-50.
Strategy discussion: Opening with countermagic or Weather the Storm is just about the only way to win against Storm. You might be lucky in game one, or you might not. As soon as you see them drop their first land, you should know what to look for. While it's unprofitable to counter a Grapeshot (it will generally still create a deadly amount of copies), it's countering the spell right before to stop the chain that will be most useful. Countering Manamorphose after they played a bunch of spells and have mostly black mana is enough to stop them. Countering their last spell before they go off will buy you lots of time because it usually means that they sacrificed all their lands and will take multiple turns to recover. They may even discard their win condition to an Ideas Unbound. If you have Weather the Storm, you can sit back and watch them combo off and play your life gain spell in response to Grapeshot. The matchup improves significantly after sideboarding.
Tokens:
Overall Analysis: This is a great matchup. Being combat-oriented and being usually mono-white, they have very few ways of interacting with Turbo Fog. They are also rather slow, which gives Turbo Fog plenty of time to set up. they have many dead removal cards. I evaluate this matchup at 90-10 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy Discussion: The first game should be very easy. In game two, play around instant-speed enchantment hate if possible, even if it means not playing a draw spell on their end step. If you see a bigger Red splash (it is fairly common for Rally the Peasants), you might be facing Flaring Pain. In that case, adjust your sideboarding accordingly.
Tortured Existence:
Overall Analysis: This is a very fair matchup. Turbo Fog has a slight advantage in the first game, but TE evens the playing field by having efficient and recurrable hate post-board. I evaluate this matchup at 50-50.
Strategy Discussion: Keep your life total as high as possible. Going under 10 life could be a big problem if they play Crypt Rats. They'll have difficulty in getting enough Black sources to take you down in one activation. Playing Jace's Erasure is not a priority; they mill themselves plenty through dredge and other abilities. Counter and destroy as many Tortured Existences as you can to prevent them from infinitely destroying your enchantments and attacking your hand. Battlefield Scrounger must be countered (and ideally exiled). It is possible to win through this card, but it is very difficult.
Tron (Temur):
Overall Analysis: Slightly favorable. Tron spends a lot of time and resources to assemble its manabase, and has a few dead cards. They are very threat-light, which makes it even easier to assemble the right countermagic. Lastly, the fact that they draw so many cards facilitates winning through mill. I evaluate this matchup at 70-30 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy Discussion:Ulamog's Crusher should be the only creature worthy of countering. This is a good matchup for Lignify and similar removal. Rolling Thunder is easily countered, but be ready for Kaervek's Torch making countering it more difficult. If you see Condescend, it may be worth boarding in Dispel. In the first turns of the game, start looking for countermagic as fast as possible, as well as potential life gain to stay out of range of X spells and Mulldrifter beatdowns before you start fogging. Keeping your life total high (15-20+) is important, so start fogging in the mid-game. Getting Jace's Erasure is a low priority, as they draw through their deck naturally, so a few hits from Erasure should be enough to stay ahead while they draw themselves to death.
Tron (Murasa):
Overall Analysis: This version of Tron runs countermagic and feeds off of its graveyard. Once they have access to their mana, they can loop countermagic and draw until Turbo Fog is out of resources, after which they bounce the board away with Dinrova Horror. I evaluate this matchup at 20-80 in favour of Murasa Tron.
Strategy Discussion: Several layers of disruption are required to effectively disrupt Murasa Tron. This often means a mixture of counters, graveyard hate and backup counters to prevent them from estalishing their flicker combo. Counter their Mnemonic Walls whenever you can, as this is how you will get locked out of the game. If not wait for them to pick their targets for a wall or Pulse of Murasa before using your graveyard hate to disrupt them. Countering their value spells like Mystical Teachings and Forbidden Alchemy can be good because it reduces their access to countermagic in their graveyard to recur later. Taking out many Fogs also opens up the possibility of being beaten down by Mulldrifters and random creatures. Save your Fogs for as long as you can to deal with bigger board states and keep your life total high with Weather the Storm to avoid getting burned out by Rolling Thunder.
White Weenie:
Overall analysis: Very Favorable. Like every creature-based aggro deck, the matchup is fairly easy. I evaluate this matchup at 90-10 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy discussion: Don't be afraid to take some damage and go to low life totals if it means only having to start fogging by turn 5-6. Be mindful of Icatian Javelineers+Kor Skyfisher, however. going to 5 or less life could put you in reach of being burned out by a White deck. Mana Tithe should only get you once (just make sure it's not countering a fog). Post-board, be ready to fight any kind of enchantment hate. Your maindeck counterspells should be enough.
Zoo (Domain):
Overall Analysis: This matchup varies a lot depending on the Zoo deck. Having access to every colour makes it difficult to know what to expect. The deck does have a number of staple cards, and the fact that it spends a lot of time preparing its mana base and usually can only play 1-2 spells per turn until very late gives Turbo Fog a lot of time to prepare. I evaluate this matchup at 55-45 in favour of Turbo Fog.
Strategy Discussion:Tribal Flames for 5 is worth countering at all stages of the game. Other than that, most Burn spells that aren't lethal can most likely be let through. Weather the Storm will eventually make up for the lost life and keep you out of Burn range. Their burn gives them a lot of reach, so it's important to not let too many attacks through. The second aspect of Zoo that Turbo Fog needs to address is the enchantment hate. Qasali Pridemage is often maindecked, and Ray of Revelation is a popular sideboard card, and is very effective against Turbo Fog. Spotting the opportune times and critical turns when this card will come out are essential to fighting it. Having access to all colours means you can expect just about anything from the sideboard, from Unearth to Dispel to Flaring Pain. Having more countermagic will help prepare against pretty much everything, but be ready to adapt your sideboarding to whatever you see.
This section is for the Peasant format, where a maximum of five uncommons may be added to the deck.
What does that mean for Turbo Fog? Constant Mists and Isochron Scepter. A recurable Fog is exactly what the deck needs to really go over the top. Other than that, looking around in other sections of the deck, I didn't find anything really valuable for the deck. We could use Hedron Crab as well, which would go very nicely with Constant Mists now that we're trying to hit every land drop.
Here is a Bant version of the deck created by Urdjur. Although built for his very specific metagame, it is a very well-rounded build to base your own on. Thank you, Urdjur!
Here is a short deck primer written by Urdjur to accompany his list:
Quote from Urdjur »
Peasant turbo fog plays much like the pauper version, with one important and build changing exception: Isochron Scepter. In pauper, you're forced to include lots of draw-2s to fuel your fogging. In peasant, you can simply lazily rely on this fog machine instead. This also means that you no longer must include spells that may help your opponent draw into key cards that can defeat your strategy - instead, more and deeper dig is called for to find that posterior saving scepter!
Brainstorm, Impulse and Muddle the Mixture ensure that you *will* be imprinting fogs on a stick by turn 4 at the latest every single game, much to your opponents' frustration. A key Constant Mists help defeat heavy artifact removal.
Isochron Scepter also affects the mana base in more subtle ways. Since it essentially allows fogs to be played for colorless mana, it makes a bant mana base much more stable than in pauper, so you can truly enjoy the best of both worlds. Bant Panorama really shines with it since you can use it to cast and activate scepter, pay for the colorless half of fogs and Impulse, and still have a fetch at hand mid game when you want to Brainstorm.
My build reflects a very varied, semi-casual/competitve meta using the legacy banlist and quite a few non-peasant/pauper decks (such as Dredge and Sac Land Tendrils). It is still a very solid deck in such a meta, for a super low price. If you don't have any eldrazi in your meta, you can safely ignore Moment of Silence (playing more Respite instead) and most likely ditch Incinerate as an imprintable/tutorable alt win con in the board as well. Meta adaptation mainly involves finding the counters and fogs that work best for you (see the pauper primer), as well as any 2 CMC instants that work well as silver bullets that can be imprinted on scepter and tutored by Muddle the Mixture (split as appropriate between main and side of course).
Thanks so much to Shoebaka and XBMYosho for helping in the development of Pauper Turbo Fog!
Thank you to XBM Yosho, Dedmer, and Urdjur for helping in the development of the Peasant Section!
The primer looks pretty solid for the deck within the Pauper format. Something I would add though is a Peasant section for the deck as we discussed, just some options to swap this or that out to bring it into the Peasant format as they're generally slightly stronger options once given the opportunity to use uncommons.
My feeling is that BantFog isn't necessary any more, given the storm bannings. If folks go for it, it'd be best to use Brainstorm + Fetches to grab a singleton Forest and just splash for Moment's Peace.
Quiet Disrepair is some fantastic tech, I gotta say.
My feeling is that BantFog isn't necessary any more, given the storm bannings. If folks go for it, it'd be best to use Brainstorm + Fetches to grab a singleton Forest and just splash for Moment's Peace.
Quiet Disrepair is some fantastic tech, I gotta say.
It may still be necessary as none of the banned cards effect paper, only Magic Online. Perhaps a deck list may be in order.
The primer looks pretty solid for the deck within the Pauper format. Something I would add though is a Peasant section for the deck as we discussed, just some options to swap this or that out to bring it into the Peasant format as they're generally slightly stronger options once given the opportunity to use uncommons.
Thanks so much! You're right about the peasant section. I'll get started on doing a little research on what cards could be good. There are good additions in all sections of the deck: Fogs, mill, counters and draw.
Quiet Disrepair is some fantastic tech, I gotta say.
Quiet Disrepair is really great! it allows for enchantment/ artifact removal on top of gaining some life, allowing to race certain decks. Very versatile!
My feeling is that BantFog isn't necessary any more, given the storm bannings. If folks go for it, it'd be best to use Brainstorm + Fetches to grab a singleton Forest and just splash for Moment's Peace.
That's actually pretty interesting tech! It's very synergistic with Jace's Erasure and it would ''filter'' dead cards in hand. Could be useful. The thing is that the only truly dead cards for a TurboFog player are lands (beyond 6-8). And cards like Oona's Grace and Compulsive Research already take care of that fairly well. And you might be forced to make difficult decisions if you have 1-2 good cards in a hand full of dead cards.
Thanks to turbofog I was finally able to defeat an Etherial Armor/Hexproof deck - my least favorite pauper deck; I had been encountering them all morning (They seem to be in vogue at the moment), none of my decks were strong enough, not even pauper RDW (kept losing steam, then losing to a 20/20 Slippery Boggle), until I switched to turbofog
In regards to Whirlpool Rider and Tolarian Winds - I second Obermeir. Unless You manage to get off a turn 2 Jace's Erasure, and play one of those two cards early game, then I would try to avoid them. Late game my hand is just full of Fogs, and you can't afford to lose those.
That's actually pretty interesting tech! It's very synergistic with Jace's Erasure and it would ''filter'' dead cards in hand. Could be useful. The thing is that the only truly dead cards for a TurboFog player are lands (beyond 6-8). And cards like Oona's Grace and Compulsive Research already take care of that fairly well. And you might be forced to make difficult decisions if you have 1-2 good cards in a hand full of dead cards.
I experimented with Tolarian Winds as a singleton for a while. It's unfortunately unpredictable and card disadvantage. I've been messing around with a combination of the two + Library of Leng, but it's pretty casual.
The real problem with TurboFog is a) getting Erasure to stick early & b) racing Cloudpost in terms of negating their win conditions. :i If only we had something along the lines of Megrim...
Thanks to turbofog I was finally able to defeat an Etherial Armor/Hexproof deck - my least favorite pauper deck; I had been encountering them all morning (They seem to be in vogue at the moment), none of my decks were strong enough, not even pauper RDW (kept losing steam, then losing to a 20/20 Slippery Boggle), until I switched to turbofog
It makes me really happy to see someone using TurboFog exactly the way it's supposed to: hating out creature decks. If Hexproof is popular online, that places TurboFog in a very good position.
I experimented with Tolarian Winds as a singleton for a while. It's unfortunately unpredictable and card disadvantage. I've been messing around with a combination of the two + Library of Leng, but it's pretty casual.
The real problem with TurboFog is a) getting Erasure to stick early & b) racing Cloudpost in terms of negating their win conditions. :i If only we had something along the lines of Megrim...
I suppose it's best to forget those two cards. I hadn't even considered that it's card disadvantage. That sorts the case for me.
I don't know if it's my playstyle, but I never stress out about getting an Erasure early against most decks. The milling always evens out in the end. I don't consider getting Erasure out early an issue.
As for 8post, well I'm currently testing, and frankly it's a close game almost every time. I'm trying to find the best way to sideboard, how many counters to put in, how/when to play certain cards, etc. I think so far the slight edge goes to 8post, but it always feels close. It really depends on the amount of counterspells they run. One thing's for sure, in this matchup, TurboFog is the control deck and 8post is the "aggro".
just curious, to make the COP: red board work in a non white splash deck, could we maindeck 4-8 fetchlands (depending on your taste) then add in 1-2 plain and 2-4 COP:red in the sideboard. Board them in when needed, don't run the splash when you don't.
That's not a bad idea. Running 4 Terramorphic Expanse, 4 Evolving Wilds and 2-3 plains would be a good idea. I wouldn't use only one; we want to have several activations of COP: Red. But is it worth having lands coming into play tapped all the time just to be able to hose Burn from time to time? I personally don't think so.
EDIT: I've added a WUG list, and I've added matchup analysis for 8post and Hexproof.
EDIT2: I've added a Peasant Section. It may or may not need some looking at. Didn't find much other than Constant Mists, which is pretty awesome, but still...
Sleep - This card takes the place of two fogs essentially as most cost 2 mana already, and it doesn't rely on the opponent to attack in order to tap like the crummy Tangle does. Even thought it costs one more then Spore Cloud I would also call it better as it once again doesn't rely on attacking. This can potentially free up 4 slots of the deck to add something else.
Elixir of Immortality - Pretty straight forward life gain and you get everything back.
Sleep - This card takes the place of two fogs essentially as most cost 2 mana already, and it doesn't rely on the opponent to attack in order to tap like the crummy Tangle does. Even thought it costs one more then Spore Cloud I would also call it better as it once again doesn't rely on attacking. This can potentially free up 4 slots of the deck to add something else.
Elixir of Immortality - Pretty straight forward life gain and you get everything back.
Thanks for the great suggestions! I've added Sleep, Elixir and Reunion.
I'm really not sold that Sleep saves card space. Actually, I'm not convinced that it should. TurboFog needs to draw into it's Fogs regardless, so having less of them (even if they do more work) means drawing them less often, which means that sometimes, there might not be a Fog handy on the turn you need it.
As for Holy Day: Pretty much any white Fog is better than it. Moment of Silence, False Peace, Ethereal Haze and all the 2 and 3 mana Fogs are better options, because they simply have a bigger effect. I've however taken the time to add it into the Primer and explain the other options.
Nice Primer, but all your card links containing a ' are broken because you used ’ instead:
Thanks so much! I was actually really surprised at how often words with ’ came up in the Primer! lol I'm always changing from french keyboards to english keyboards and sometimes I get them mixed up. Thanks a lot for pointing that out!
EDIT: I added a matchup analysis for Delver and Affinity.
hi. the deck idea is very interesting. i am building (copying) your sample list to try it out. i also found an interesting take on this via youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfF_tYA8ugE
hi. the deck idea is very interesting. i am building (copying) your sample list to try it out. i also found an interesting take on this via youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfF_tYA8ugE
what do you think on some of the card draw choices?
Glad to hear you're interested! You won't be disappointed.
The list has some good things and some bad things. I liked that in the video, he used Tolarian Winds to mill like 8 cards and look for a green source. However, he lost a card in doing so. I don't agree with it's inclusion.
He uses 2 Reclaim in the slots where Tome Scour would go in my deck, which is an interesting option. It would allow for extra uses of some Fogs, or to bring back dead Erasures. But again, card disadvantage.
Having lands coming into play tapped basically lost him the game 1. I'm glad I don't use any just for that reason.
He doesn't use any cards that make the opponent draw cards, which is interesting too. It just means that his cards are weaker on a card/ cost ratio, but don't grant the opponent a similar advantage. The nice thing about TurboFog though is that the opponent often has no use for extra cards. Accumulated Knowledge is interesting, but I find everything else to be subpar. 3 Deep Analysis is too much in my opinion. It's expensive draw.
He only uses 10 md Fog cards, which I also find quite dangerous. He could make it with 12 if he really wanted to, with those Reclaims.
Boarding into white is not a bad idea at all! Although, I think he could have simply put a single Plains in the main to save space, like Shoebaka had suggested before.
All in all, I'm not entirely convinced by his deck. It has a ''home-brew'' feel to it.
I want to give a big shout out to Ace5301 for making an amazing banner for this thread! It looks fantastic! He does all sorts of really great artwork for signatures, banners and avatars, and all out of the goodness of his heart. Here's a link to his shop: Ace of Spades Studio. He definitely spiced up my thread!
I also want to highlight that the detailed matchups section is complete, as well as many adjustments to other decks, and an extra deck list for the variants section is on its way.
I want to give a big shout out to Ace5301 for making an amazing banner for this thread! It looks fantastic! He does all sorts of really great artwork for signatures, banners and avatars, and all out of the goodness of his heart. Here's a link to his shop: Ace of Spades Studio. He definitely spiced up my thread!
I also want to highlight that the detailed matchups section is complete, as well as many adjustments to other decks, and an extra deck list for the variants section is on its way.
Looks awesome!
I might add that the Reclaim + AK interaction is pretty interesting (recurring your 3rd/4th AK for stupid amounts of draw).
I might add that the Reclaim + AK interaction is pretty interesting (recurring your 3rd/4th AK for stupid amounts of draw).
I will add that in, thank you. Am I underestimating Accumulated Knowledge? I never felt like it was that great a card, but I might be wrong. If I compare having 2 AK to 2 Words of Wisdom, Words still yields more cards. It would take 3 AK to be at parity with Words. The most obvious up-side is that the opponent doesn't draw cards. But is it worth it? I've found that against many decks, having them draw extra cards rarely amounts to much because of the soft-lock. I also feel like adding another graveyard component to the deck would make grave-hating against TurboFog viable, with Moment's Peace and Oona's Grace already in there. The interaction with Reclaim certainly is interesting, though. Do you get to pull it off often?
I will add that in, thank you. Am I underestimating Accumulated Knowledge? I never felt like it was that great a card, but I might be wrong. If I compare having 2 AK to 2 Words of Wisdom, Words still yields more cards. It would take 3 AK to be at parity with Words. The most obvious up-side is that the opponent doesn't draw cards. But is it worth it? I've found that against many decks, having them draw extra cards rarely amounts to much because of the soft-lock. I also feel like adding another graveyard component to the deck would make grave-hating against TurboFog viable, with Moment's Peace and Oona's Grace already in there. The interaction with Reclaim certainly is interesting, though. Do you get to pull it off often?
This deck relies on you having the right cards in your hand at all times. Words of Wisdom is leaps and bounds ahead better then Accumulated Knowledge is for the fact that you draw more at a faster rate. Giving your opponent a card here or there rarely if ever impacts your game when using this type of deck.
Good points, XBM Yosho and Shoebaka. Thanks! It's pretty nice to play a Visoin Skeins with an Erasure in play, essentially taking 4 cards from their library and drawing two cards ourselves. It starts getting ridiculous with multiple Erasures.
I've added a second deck to the WUG section. It's Shoebaka's idea to run a single Plains with fetches just to have the CoP: Red in the side. I think it's a viable strategy that's worth including.
Banner by Ace of Spades Studio
-Jaeuhl Carthalion, Juniper Order Advocate
When building your Turbo Fog deck, you'll want about 10-12 Fog cards, 16-21 draw spells, 4-6 mill cards, 3-7 counterspells and 18-21 lands.
There are tons of options out there, so I have compiled a list of cards for each category that I have played in the past or believe could be useful in the deck.
Fogs:
Countermagic:
Counterspell: hits absolutely anything for just two mana. The only disadvantage is that it is UU, making it harder to cast in some scenarios.
More Arcane Denial and Muddle the Mixture: These cards can shore up weaknesses efficiently, being generally good counters and either draw spells or tutors.
Hindering Touch: This is a very narrow counter to hit storm cards (if your meta plays them) or just obnoxious combo decks.
Blue Elemental Blast/Hydroblast: The hit only Red cards, obviously. Good against Burn spells, or destroying a Thermo-Alchemist that you couldn't counter the first time.
Dispel: A surprisingly flexible counter, it will hit most of the cards Turbo Fog is worried about in the post-board.
Faerie Trickery: very light graveyard hate attached to a counter. it is the perfect card to answer a recurring Ghostly Flicker or Ulamog's Crusher that could be brought back with Haunted Fengraf.
Anti-Flying:
Scattershot Archer: Stops faeries dead in their tracks and can grind the Delver player to a halt. It can be very difficult for them to beat a resolved Archer.
Skyshroud Archer: A worse version of Scattershot Archer is still good enough to be considered playable. It can also shrink the attack of certain creatures to take less damage.
Aerial Volley: Can act as a mini board-wipe against Delver decks and also a counterspell against Spellstutter Sprite.
Hidden Spider: once active, it will block any flier all day and has enough power to also kill them.
Squall: perhaps too expensive, it can be a total blowout against decks relying on fliers.
Penumbra Spider: 4 mana is a lot to pay in Pauper, but this spider is particularly effective at fighting fliers in decks that also run removal (like Skred Delver, for example). It will eat up any common flier and has large enough toughness to survive. Once resolved, the opponent will have to sink at least two cards into it before they can continue their attack.
Bounce/Removal:
Capsize: This will completely shut down other control decks with few win conditions.
Curse of Chains: Tapping down an Ulamog's Crusher every turn can win games.
Lignify: Lignify deals with the problematic Crusher while also taking away relevant abilities from creatures like Thermo-Alchemist.
Nature's Claim: Since we generally don't care about life totals, this is just a better Naturalize.
Graveyard Hate:
Tormod's Crypt: Very vanilla, but it doesn't hit your own graveyard like other, potentially better options do.
Relic of Progenitus: Almost indisputably the best graveyard hate in the format. It replaces itself when you sacrifice it, so the cost of putting it in your deck is low. Its first ability can also keep an opponent's graveyard under control if they aren't filling it up too fast. It does hit all graveyards, which could be a disadvantage depending on your build. It also has the (unfortunate) benefit of being able to drain your opponent's time on MTGO, forcing them to click many more times, which can turn into a win condition itself (albeit of a dishonorable one).
Return to Nature: This card has enough modes that it is generally worth considering in your sideboard. It is likely to be useful in most matchups.
Faerie Macabre: Completely uncounterable, this card is difficult to interact with. Exiling two cards is often enough to disrupt someone's strategy. It is particularly effective against Exhume, leaving you with a 2/2 flier to either beat face or chump block.
Other Cards
Jace's Phantasm: Against the decks where you board this, getting to 10 cards in graveyard is very easy.
It essentially becomes a faster clock than Jace's Erasure ever could be and can take the opponent completely by surprise. Another important function is as a blocker against fliers like Delver, being the biggest flier in Pauper to date.
Nourish: The most amount of life for one card without dipping into White. It cancels out two Lightning Bolts with just one card, making it fairly effective against Burn.
Quiet Disrepair It helps fight Burn decks and can completely turn the game in your favour when fighting slower decks like MBC. Not only does it gain massive amounts of life but it can also destroy problems artifacts and enchantments.
Reclaim: This versatile card will get you back what you need: a Fog, a Draw spell, a Terramorphic Expanse, a Counterspell. The only catch is that you only get it the following turn unless you also have a draw spell to play afterwards.
Rust: Because the Turbo Fog deck has a tendency to play from the graveyard a lot, something to fight graveyard hate is sometimes necessary. Rust hits most of the graveyard hate out there: Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus and Nihil Spellbomb. These artifacts are sacrificed as part of their activation cost, so they hit the graveyard without doing a thing.
Weather the Storm has potential to lock up a match against difficult matchups like Burn. There are many decks that will easily play 3+ cards in a turn, netting easily 12 life or more for just two mana. The only other spell capable of comparing with that much raw life is Crypt Incursion.
This is the list I am currently playing. You will find tournament-winning lists in a spoiler below it.
4 Tangle
4 Moment's Peace
4 Weather the Storm
Countermagic (6)
4 Arcane Denial
2 Muddle the Mixture
Card Draw (21)
4 Preordain
2 Ponder
2 Thought Scour
3 Impulse
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Frantic Inventory
2 Pieces of the Puzzle
3 Stream of Thought
Lands (18)
4 Thornwood Falls
3 Ash Barrens
2 Simic Growth Chamber
7 Island
2 Forest
4 Counterspell
4 Hydroblast
2 Dispel
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Return to Nature
1 Stream of Thought
1 Respite
4 Moment's Peace
3 Tangle
4 Weather the Storm
Countermagic (5)
3 Arcane Denial
2 Muddle the Mixture
Card Draw (19)
4 Preordain
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Frantic Inventory
1 Growth Spiral
3 Impulse
3 Pieces of the Puzzle
4 Stream of Thought
Lands (20)
4 Desert
2 Forest
7 Island
3 Simic Growth Chamber
4 Thornwood Falls
3 Dispel
2 Gut Shot
2 Hydroblast
2 Counterspell
4 Inside Out
2 Wilt
1 Fog
2 Lull
3 Moment's Peace
2 Tangle
4 Weather the Storm
Countermagic (3)
3 Arcane Denial
Card Draw (22)
2 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Frantic Inventory
3 Growth Spiral
2 Impulse
2 Pieces of the Puzzle
3 Stream of Thought
Lands (20)
2 Ash Barrens
2 Forest
7 Island
3 Simic Growth Chamber
2 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Thornwood Falls
2 Dispel
2 Hydroblast
1 Stream of Thought
3 Counterspell
1 Inside Out
1 Moment's Peace
1 Capsize
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Penumbra Spider
2 Fog
2 Tangle
3 Moment's Peace
4 Weather the Storm
Countermagic (5)
4 Arcane Denial
1 Muddle the Mixture
Card Draw (22)
2 Thought Scour
2 Ponder
4 Preordain
3 Growth Spiral
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Frantic Inventory
3 Pieces of the Puzzle
3 Stream of Thought
Lands (19)
4 Thornwood Falls
4 Ash Barrens
2 Simic Growth Chamber
7 Island
2 Forest
1 Aerial Volley
2 Dispel
2 Hydroblast
1 Nature's Claim
1 Stream of Thought
3 Counterspell
1 Moment's Peace
3 Faerie Macabre
1 Unwind
4 Tangle
4 Moment's Peace
4 Weather the Storm
Countermagic (6)
4 Arcane Denial
2 Muddle the Mixture
Card Draw (18)
4 Preordain
2 Impulse
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Frantic Inventory
4 Pieces of the Puzzle
4 Stream of Thought
Lands (20)
4 Thornwood Falls
2 Ash Barrens
2 Simic Growth Chamber
10 Snow-Covered Island
2 Snow-Covered Forest
2 Dispel
3 Gut Shot
4 Hydroblast
4 Counterspell
2 Wilt
2 Fog
2 Tangle
4 Moment's Peace
4 Weather the Storm
Countermagic (6)
4 Arcane Denial
2 Muddle the Mixture
Card Draw (21)
2 Thought Scour
4 Preordain
3 Telling Time
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Frantic Inventory
4 Pieces of the Puzzle
3 Stream of Thought
Lands (18)
4 Thornwood Falls
4 Ash Barrens
1 Simic Growth Chamber
8 Island
1 Forest
2 Dispel
1 Stream of Thought
4 Hydroblast
4 Counterspell
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Faerie Macabre
4 Ponder
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
4 Think Twice
Fogs (12)
4 Moment's Peace
4 Respite
4 Tangle
3 Muddle the Mixture
4 Arcane Denial
Artifacts/ Enchantments (6)
2 Pristine Talisman
4 Jace's Erasure
Lands (19)
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Forest
8 Island
4 Thornwood Falls
2 Counterspell
3 Dispel
2 Lignify
3 Natural State
1 Negate
3 Nourish
1 Reclaim
White offers a lot of interesting options for Turbo Fog that can shore up on some of its weaknesses. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of running a 3-colour deck with subpar dual lands, which sometimes results in a loss. Some players get rid of the Green entirely. I think that the value of Moment's Peace is too great in itself to forego Green.
White gives access to superior Fog effects, namely Moment of Silence, its' variants, Dawn Charm and Riot Control. White has many other 1 mana Fog effects, namely Holy Day and Ethereal Haze. Just about every W-costing Fog spell is better than Holy Day, however. It also opens up avenues for the sideboard, such as Circle of Protection: Red. The Circle is a really powerful incentive to add white, as it improves the Burn matchup significantly.
Here's an example of a WUG variant:
4 Dawn Charm
4 Moment's Peace
4 Riot Control
Draw (17)
4 Brainstorm
4 Preordain
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Think Twice
2 Compulsive Research
4 Jace's Erasure
Counter (6)
2 Arcane Denial
4 Muddle the Mixture
Lands (21)
8 Island
3 Plains
2 Forest
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Ash Barrens
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Rest for the Weary
4 Counterspell
4 Dispel
2 Aerial Volley
1 Journey to Nowhere
Another interesting approach (proposed by Shoebaka) that tries to unite the stability of 2 colours with the greatness of CoP: Red is a UG deck with a small White splash:
4 Fog
4 Tangle
4 Moment's Peace
Draw (16)
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Think Twice
2 Compulsive Research
1 Oona's Grace
3 Arcane Denial
3 Muddle the Mixture
Mill (4)
4 Jace's Erasure
Lands (21)
5 Forest
7 Island
1 Plains
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Ash Barrens
3 Dispel
1 Muddle the Mixture
4 Counterspell
4 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Journey to Nowhere
2 Scattershot Archer
In this deck, the single Plains is found or fetched only to include White sideboard cards.
I've broken down my thoughts on many of the most popular archetypes in Pauper. This will give you a better idea of the decks’ strength and weaknesses and whether it’s worth playing in your playgroup/local game store. DECKS IN RED USE CARDS FROM THE BAN LIST.
Black Aggro:
Black Control:
Burn:
Delver (Ux):
Elves:
Eye-Candy:
Familiars (WUx):
Goblins:
Handlock Control:
Heroic:
Hexproof:
Infect:
Inside Out Combo:
Izzet Control:
Kuldotha Kitty:
Mystical Teachings:
Pestilence:
Slivers (WGr):
Stompy:
Storm:
Tokens:
Tortured Existence:
Tron (Temur):
Tron (Murasa):
White Weenie:
Zoo (Domain):
Pauper Fox's Turbo Fog Guide
SBMTG's Turbo Fog Deck Tech
Pierakor's Bant Fog in Pauper Classic Tuesdays 6.33
Pierakor's Bant Fog in Pauper Classic Tuesdays 6.35
Pierakor's Bant Fog in Pauper Classic Tuesdays 6.36
Pierakor's Bant Fog in Pauper Classic Tuesdays 6.37
This section is for the Peasant format, where a maximum of five uncommons may be added to the deck.
What does that mean for Turbo Fog? Constant Mists and Isochron Scepter. A recurable Fog is exactly what the deck needs to really go over the top. Other than that, looking around in other sections of the deck, I didn't find anything really valuable for the deck. We could use Hedron Crab as well, which would go very nicely with Constant Mists now that we're trying to hit every land drop.
Here is a Bant version of the deck created by Urdjur. Although built for his very specific metagame, it is a very well-rounded build to base your own on. Thank you, Urdjur!
4 Seat of the Synod
5 Island
2 Forest
2 Plains
4 Bant Panorama
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Terramorphic Expanse
FOGS (11)
4 Moment's Peace
4 Dawn Charm
2 Respite
1 Constant Mists (u)
4 Brainstorm
4 Impulse
4 Isochron Scepter (u)
MILL (5)
3 Vision Charm
2 Curse of the Bloody Tome
COUNTERS (9)
4 Counterspell
3 Muddle the Mixture
2 Memory Lapse
TOOLBOX (2)
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Quiet Disrepair
2 Memory Lapse
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Vision Charm
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Negate
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Disenchant
1 Echoing Truth
1 Incinerate
Here is a short deck primer written by Urdjur to accompany his list:
Other options that were stumbled upon:
Fogs:
Sunstone
Spore Flower
Sleep
Draw:
Jace's Ingenuity
Skyscribing
Prosperity
Lore Broker
Sylvan Library
Other:
Sphinx's Tutelage
Heroes' Reunion
Elixir of Immortality
Enlightened Tutor
Dissipate
Psychic Spiral
Rise from the Tides
Thanks so much to Shoebaka and XBMYosho for helping in the development of Pauper Turbo Fog!
Thank you to XBM Yosho, Dedmer, and Urdjur for helping in the development of the Peasant Section!
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
Thanks to GR @ Yavin IV Studios for the signature!
W White Weenie
My feeling is that BantFog isn't necessary any more, given the storm bannings. If folks go for it, it'd be best to use Brainstorm + Fetches to grab a singleton Forest and just splash for Moment's Peace.
Quiet Disrepair is some fantastic tech, I gotta say.
It may still be necessary as none of the banned cards effect paper, only Magic Online. Perhaps a deck list may be in order.
W White Weenie
Thanks so much! You're right about the peasant section. I'll get started on doing a little research on what cards could be good. There are good additions in all sections of the deck: Fogs, mill, counters and draw.
Quiet Disrepair is really great! it allows for enchantment/ artifact removal on top of gaining some life, allowing to race certain decks. Very versatile!
I should create a matchup analysis for Storm and actually post a WUG decklist! Thanks for the suggestions, the primer's already getting 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
That's actually pretty interesting tech! It's very synergistic with Jace's Erasure and it would ''filter'' dead cards in hand. Could be useful. The thing is that the only truly dead cards for a TurboFog player are lands (beyond 6-8). And cards like Oona's Grace and Compulsive Research already take care of that fairly well. And you might be forced to make difficult decisions if you have 1-2 good cards in a hand full of dead cards.
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
In regards to Whirlpool Rider and Tolarian Winds - I second Obermeir. Unless You manage to get off a turn 2 Jace's Erasure, and play one of those two cards early game, then I would try to avoid them. Late game my hand is just full of Fogs, and you can't afford to lose those.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
I experimented with Tolarian Winds as a singleton for a while. It's unfortunately unpredictable and card disadvantage. I've been messing around with a combination of the two + Library of Leng, but it's pretty casual.
The real problem with TurboFog is a) getting Erasure to stick early & b) racing Cloudpost in terms of negating their win conditions. :i If only we had something along the lines of Megrim...
It makes me really happy to see someone using TurboFog exactly the way it's supposed to: hating out creature decks. If Hexproof is popular online, that places TurboFog in a very good position.
I suppose it's best to forget those two cards. I hadn't even considered that it's card disadvantage. That sorts the case for me.
I don't know if it's my playstyle, but I never stress out about getting an Erasure early against most decks. The milling always evens out in the end. I don't consider getting Erasure out early an issue.
As for 8post, well I'm currently testing, and frankly it's a close game almost every time. I'm trying to find the best way to sideboard, how many counters to put in, how/when to play certain cards, etc. I think so far the slight edge goes to 8post, but it always feels close. It really depends on the amount of counterspells they run. One thing's for sure, in this matchup, TurboFog is the control deck and 8post is the "aggro".
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
Legacy:
RGWBUDredgeUBWGR
:symrg:Belcher:symrg:
WD&TW
Affinity
WGriffinsW (pauper)
U/thopter comboU/ (peasant)
:symbg:Moosebite:symbg: (peasant)
RGobo tokensR (peasant)
R slide R (peasant)
:symur:pingers:symur:
EDIT: I've added a WUG list, and I've added matchup analysis for 8post and Hexproof.
EDIT2: I've added a Peasant Section. It may or may not need some looking at. Didn't find much other than Constant Mists, which is pretty awesome, but still...
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
Legacy:
RGWBUDredgeUBWGR
:symrg:Belcher:symrg:
WD&TW
Affinity
WGriffinsW (pauper)
U/thopter comboU/ (peasant)
:symbg:Moosebite:symbg: (peasant)
RGobo tokensR (peasant)
R slide R (peasant)
:symur:pingers:symur:
Under WUG variants:
Heroes' Reunion - One more life gained over Nourish even though GW
Under UG:
Sleep - This card takes the place of two fogs essentially as most cost 2 mana already, and it doesn't rely on the opponent to attack in order to tap like the crummy Tangle does. Even thought it costs one more then Spore Cloud I would also call it better as it once again doesn't rely on attacking. This can potentially free up 4 slots of the deck to add something else.
Elixir of Immortality - Pretty straight forward life gain and you get everything back.
For the Pauper section.
Under WUG variants:
Holy Day - Not as good as Safe Passage but for 1 mana it's pretty darn good.
W White Weenie
Right you are! Thanks for pointing that out to me! I've only ever played with Story Circle before, and I just figured it was the same thing.
Thanks for the great suggestions! I've added Sleep, Elixir and Reunion.
I'm really not sold that Sleep saves card space. Actually, I'm not convinced that it should. TurboFog needs to draw into it's Fogs regardless, so having less of them (even if they do more work) means drawing them less often, which means that sometimes, there might not be a Fog handy on the turn you need it.
As for Holy Day: Pretty much any white Fog is better than it. Moment of Silence, False Peace, Ethereal Haze and all the 2 and 3 mana Fogs are better options, because they simply have a bigger effect. I've however taken the time to add it into the Primer and explain the other options.
I've also edited the Peasant deck to suit the land-dropping theme a little more by taking out Oona's Grace and Compulsive Research, adding more land, Gush and Brainstorm/ Terramorphic Expanse.
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
e.g. you linked:
But correct would be:
Cockatrice is still going strong over at http://www.woogerworks.com[/B]
Ghostly Battlefield
The Winner is Judge [2]
Chasay, Caller of Fire
Skaab Corpse Looter
[B]This Winner is also Judge [0]
Thanks so much! I was actually really surprised at how often words with ’ came up in the Primer! lol I'm always changing from french keyboards to english keyboards and sometimes I get them mixed up. Thanks a lot for pointing that out!
EDIT: I added a matchup analysis for Delver and Affinity.
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
the deck list is in the comment section:
4 Brainstorm
3 Deep Analysis
4 Think Twice
4 Tolarian Winds
2 Counterspell
2 Muddle the Mixture
4 Jace's Erasure
2 Reclaim
4 Moment's Peace
4 Respite
3 Evolving Winds
4 Forest
9 Island
1 Lonely Sandbar
3 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Tranquil Thicket
4 Arcane Denial
4 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Dispel
2 Fog
1 Muddle the Mixture
2 Plains
what do you think on some of the card draw choices?
Glad to hear you're interested! You won't be disappointed.
The list has some good things and some bad things. I liked that in the video, he used Tolarian Winds to mill like 8 cards and look for a green source. However, he lost a card in doing so. I don't agree with it's inclusion.
He uses 2 Reclaim in the slots where Tome Scour would go in my deck, which is an interesting option. It would allow for extra uses of some Fogs, or to bring back dead Erasures. But again, card disadvantage.
Having lands coming into play tapped basically lost him the game 1. I'm glad I don't use any just for that reason.
He doesn't use any cards that make the opponent draw cards, which is interesting too. It just means that his cards are weaker on a card/ cost ratio, but don't grant the opponent a similar advantage. The nice thing about TurboFog though is that the opponent often has no use for extra cards. Accumulated Knowledge is interesting, but I find everything else to be subpar. 3 Deep Analysis is too much in my opinion. It's expensive draw.
He only uses 10 md Fog cards, which I also find quite dangerous. He could make it with 12 if he really wanted to, with those Reclaims.
Boarding into white is not a bad idea at all! Although, I think he could have simply put a single Plains in the main to save space, like Shoebaka had suggested before.
All in all, I'm not entirely convinced by his deck. It has a ''home-brew'' feel to it.
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
I want to give a big shout out to Ace5301 for making an amazing banner for this thread! It looks fantastic! He does all sorts of really great artwork for signatures, banners and avatars, and all out of the goodness of his heart. Here's a link to his shop: Ace of Spades Studio. He definitely spiced up my thread!
I also want to highlight that the detailed matchups section is complete, as well as many adjustments to other decks, and an extra deck list for the variants section is on its way.
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
Looks awesome!
I might add that the Reclaim + AK interaction is pretty interesting (recurring your 3rd/4th AK for stupid amounts of draw).
I will add that in, thank you. Am I underestimating Accumulated Knowledge? I never felt like it was that great a card, but I might be wrong. If I compare having 2 AK to 2 Words of Wisdom, Words still yields more cards. It would take 3 AK to be at parity with Words. The most obvious up-side is that the opponent doesn't draw cards. But is it worth it? I've found that against many decks, having them draw extra cards rarely amounts to much because of the soft-lock. I also feel like adding another graveyard component to the deck would make grave-hating against TurboFog viable, with Moment's Peace and Oona's Grace already in there. The interaction with Reclaim certainly is interesting, though. Do you get to pull it off often?
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
This deck relies on you having the right cards in your hand at all times. Words of Wisdom is leaps and bounds ahead better then Accumulated Knowledge is for the fact that you draw more at a faster rate. Giving your opponent a card here or there rarely if ever impacts your game when using this type of deck.
W White Weenie
Legacy:
RGWBUDredgeUBWGR
:symrg:Belcher:symrg:
WD&TW
Affinity
WGriffinsW (pauper)
U/thopter comboU/ (peasant)
:symbg:Moosebite:symbg: (peasant)
RGobo tokensR (peasant)
R slide R (peasant)
:symur:pingers:symur:
I've added a second deck to the WUG section. It's Shoebaka's idea to run a single Plains with fetches just to have the CoP: Red in the side. I think it's a viable strategy that's worth including.
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