Deck I have been playing online recently, it is very competitive against everything but teachings. Against aggro you put down a rat or drifter, then stamina or undeath them when they are blocking to grind your opponent's resources away. Against control you play for beats.
I actually think 8 undyings is slightly too many, 6 is probably better. I have been slowly shaving things (like anglers and dark rituals) based on games.
I think 1-2 crypt rats would be good in the side, but I don't want the deck to be too cute like some that are running flicker effects and archaeomancers and so the combo is too bulky.
Decks that this is good against:
Affinity
Infect
all manner of delver decks
All control decks except teachings
Bad against:
Tron
Teachings
Burn
Stompy
Rush Red (AKA green stompy)
The deck deals very well with any match that is grindy, and exceedingly poorly against decks that go wide on creatures. I need some for of lifegain or a quicker way to shut down enemy critters to deal with stompyesque decks, but decks like MBC and UB control just fall apart against this one. Nothing is as fun as trading a chittering rat with a 2/2, then you get yours back and they lose a card in hand.
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Pauper: UB Wight Phantasm RB Burn UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Would Tragic Slip be better than Vendetta here? It's the same mana cost, but it can kill really big threats without the loss of life. It works well with Evoke!
I'd also rather see Doom Blade or Victim of Night for spot removal, but I like how Tragic Slip works with the game plan.
You can also explore some sacrifice cards to help Chittering Rats trigger. Bone Splinters and Altar's Reap might be worth testing!
Your bad matchups are pretty tough even for Mono Black Control! Stompy is probably the toughest I've faced for MBC.
For Burn we really need to start with some early discard and life gain to get ahead. Gray Merchant really helps here. Have you thought about Merchant for life gain? It might be a little too slow to include for just one match up though. Spot removal is relevant now in this matchup since Thermo-Alchemist is in. Counters help too!
Stompy is usually a problem because we want to run more removal, but it ends up feeding into your opponents plans. They also gain value from edicts with Young Wolf and Safehold Elite as well as Hunger of the Howlpack. We also don't have any sweepers cheap enough and strong enough to be relevant here. This is where blue will come in handy. It's better to run more counters and just blank out a lot of their efficient spells and creatures. This coupled with good discard and their lack of Card Advantage can help close the game. Even then it might be a tough matchup, so it might be better to just accept the losses instead of tweaking the deck too much. Prohibit is very strong against Stompy.
Red Stompy is probably a complete opposite plan than Green Stompy. Red doesn't have access to tricky spells like Vines of Vastwood or resilient creatures like Young Wolf. Red just needs a fair amount of removal and counter spells and it should be good. (Unless Red Stomp has upgraded as I haven't faced that archetype in a long time).
Would Tragic Slip be better than Vendetta here? It's the same mana cost, but it can kill really big threats without the loss of life. It works well with Evoke!
I'd also rather see Doom Blade or Victim of Night for spot removal, but I like how Tragic Slip works with the game plan.
You can also explore some sacrifice cards to help Chittering Rats trigger. Bone Splinters and Altar's Reap might be worth testing!
Your bad matchups are pretty tough even for Mono Black Control! Stompy is probably the toughest I've faced for MBC.
For Burn we really need to start with some early discard and life gain to get ahead. Gray Merchant really helps here. Have you thought about Merchant for life gain? It might be a little too slow to include for just one match up though. Spot removal is relevant now in this matchup since Thermo-Alchemist is in. Counters help too!
Stompy is usually a problem because we want to run more removal, but it ends up feeding into your opponents plans. They also gain value from edicts with Young Wolf and Safehold Elite as well as Hunger of the Howlpack. We also don't have any sweepers cheap enough and strong enough to be relevant here. This is where blue will come in handy. It's better to run more counters and just blank out a lot of their efficient spells and creatures. This coupled with good discard and their lack of Card Advantage can help close the game. Even then it might be a tough matchup, so it might be better to just accept the losses instead of tweaking the deck too much. Prohibit is very strong against Stompy.
Red Stompy is probably a complete opposite plan than Green Stompy. Red doesn't have access to tricky spells like Vines of Vastwood or resilient creatures like Young Wolf. Red just needs a fair amount of removal and counter spells and it should be good. (Unless Red Stomp has upgraded as I haven't faced that archetype in a long time).
I'm thinking hydroblast for burn and RDW. Stompy is really bad, I might just count it as a loss.
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Pauper: UB Wight Phantasm RB Burn UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Would Tragic Slip be better than Vendetta here? It's the same mana cost, but it can kill really big threats without the loss of life. It works well with Evoke!
I'd also rather see Doom Blade or Victim of Night for spot removal, but I like how Tragic Slip works with the game plan.
You can also explore some sacrifice cards to help Chittering Rats trigger. Bone Splinters and Altar's Reap might be worth testing!
Your bad matchups are pretty tough even for Mono Black Control! Stompy is probably the toughest I've faced for MBC.
For Burn we really need to start with some early discard and life gain to get ahead. Gray Merchant really helps here. Have you thought about Merchant for life gain? It might be a little too slow to include for just one match up though. Spot removal is relevant now in this matchup since Thermo-Alchemist is in. Counters help too!
Stompy is usually a problem because we want to run more removal, but it ends up feeding into your opponents plans. They also gain value from edicts with Young Wolf and Safehold Elite as well as Hunger of the Howlpack. We also don't have any sweepers cheap enough and strong enough to be relevant here. This is where blue will come in handy. It's better to run more counters and just blank out a lot of their efficient spells and creatures. This coupled with good discard and their lack of Card Advantage can help close the game. Even then it might be a tough matchup, so it might be better to just accept the losses instead of tweaking the deck too much. Prohibit is very strong against Stompy.
Red Stompy is probably a complete opposite plan than Green Stompy. Red doesn't have access to tricky spells like Vines of Vastwood or resilient creatures like Young Wolf. Red just needs a fair amount of removal and counter spells and it should be good. (Unless Red Stomp has upgraded as I haven't faced that archetype in a long time).
I don't know about tragic slip. I don't want to get cute with the deck and make too many synergies for it to work properly. Good stuff first. Ghastly demise maybe.
I am going to grab hydroblast for burn and RDWs, seems the best bet. Stompy is probably just a loss.
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Pauper: UB Wight Phantasm RB Burn UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Running more 1 CMC removal like Disfigure and Ghastly Demise and a tad less cantrips and Mana Leak will go a long way. I prefer Prohibit in these kinds of decks since you're aiming to grind it into the late game, where Leak sucks. Prohibit is still as good early game hard countering the vast majority of important spells in Pauper while still being relevant late by virtue of being able to still hardcounter the same 2 CMC spells or having the option to upgrade it's range up to 4 CMC.
Augur of Bolas is also a pretty good card that has seen as much play as Burning-Tree Emissary and has all it takes to be a format staple. It will help against stompy and RDW by blocking their bears all day and helping you dig for removal against another creature. I would not leave home without a playset of these if I'm playing a controlling Blue deck.
Running more 1 CMC removal like Disfigure and Ghastly Demise and a tad less cantrips and Mana Leak will go a long way. I prefer Prohibit in these kinds of decks since you're aiming to grind it into the late game, where Leak sucks. Prohibit is still as good early game hard countering the vast majority of important spells in Pauper while still being relevant late by virtue of being able to still hardcounter the same 2 CMC spells or having the option to upgrade it's range up to 4 CMC.
Augur of Bolas is also a pretty good card that has seen as much play as Burning-Tree Emissary and has all it takes to be a format staple. It will help against stompy and RDW by blocking their bears all day and helping you dig for removal against another creature. I would not leave home without a playset of these if I'm playing a controlling Blue deck.
Ghastly Demise over vendetta, Augur of Bolas over preordain, prohibit over mana leak all seem good. I don't want to mess up my easy control matchup to beat an edge case though, so I am not sure about moving down counters.
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Pauper: UB Wight Phantasm RB Burn UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Update on the deck: The deck is great against most control decks/tempo decks, decent against burn and certain other aggro decks, and still dies horribly to stompy and infect.
Changed some things, took out Delver as I don't protect it well with this deck (this is midrange not tempo it turns out).
Ninja bounces my stuff back for more value, comes out for geist against control. I want to go up a gurmag angler or drop it though, as augur tends to shuffle it out of my way and I never see them. They also mess with demise, but I don't know what to replace them with.
Edit: Also my desire to keep the deck a goodstuff deck and one that synergizes don't always go together. The appeal of Supernatural Stamina + Archaeomancer is boundless. Recurring a 3/2 forever sounds amazing on paper, but archaeomancer just costs too much for it to work.
Ninja is always too clunky, took it out for the crypt rats. Gurmag Angler is nearly always awkward, trying out Renegade Freighter in its place as most of out creatures are 2/2s.
Edit III: Cheese and Parsley
Currently planning to take out the ghastly demises for main deck edict effects, not hitting black is a huge weakness in the deck. I also am not sure what to put in their place in the side, more mass removal would be nice.
10 island
8 swamp
4 ponder
4 preordain
4 supernatural stamina
4 undying evil
4 counterspell
4 mana leak
4 chittering rat
4 mulldrifter
2 gurmag angler
4 dispel
4 vendetta
3 stormbound geist
4 duress
I actually think 8 undyings is slightly too many, 6 is probably better. I have been slowly shaving things (like anglers and dark rituals) based on games.
I think 1-2 crypt rats would be good in the side, but I don't want the deck to be too cute like some that are running flicker effects and archaeomancers and so the combo is too bulky.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
10 island
8 swamp
4 ponder
4 preordain
2 supernatural stamina
4 undying evil
4 counterspell
4 mana leak
2 vendetta
4 chittering rat
4 mulldrifter
2 gurmag angler
4 dispel
2 vendetta
2 crypt rat
3 stormbound geist
4 duress
Updated as above.
Decks that this is good against:
Affinity
Infect
all manner of delver decks
All control decks except teachings
Bad against:
Tron
Teachings
Burn
Stompy
Rush Red (AKA green stompy)
The deck deals very well with any match that is grindy, and exceedingly poorly against decks that go wide on creatures. I need some for of lifegain or a quicker way to shut down enemy critters to deal with stompyesque decks, but decks like MBC and UB control just fall apart against this one. Nothing is as fun as trading a chittering rat with a 2/2, then you get yours back and they lose a card in hand.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
I'd also rather see Doom Blade or Victim of Night for spot removal, but I like how Tragic Slip works with the game plan.
You can also explore some sacrifice cards to help Chittering Rats trigger. Bone Splinters and Altar's Reap might be worth testing!
Your bad matchups are pretty tough even for Mono Black Control! Stompy is probably the toughest I've faced for MBC.
For Burn we really need to start with some early discard and life gain to get ahead. Gray Merchant really helps here. Have you thought about Merchant for life gain? It might be a little too slow to include for just one match up though. Spot removal is relevant now in this matchup since Thermo-Alchemist is in. Counters help too!
Stompy is usually a problem because we want to run more removal, but it ends up feeding into your opponents plans. They also gain value from edicts with Young Wolf and Safehold Elite as well as Hunger of the Howlpack. We also don't have any sweepers cheap enough and strong enough to be relevant here. This is where blue will come in handy. It's better to run more counters and just blank out a lot of their efficient spells and creatures. This coupled with good discard and their lack of Card Advantage can help close the game. Even then it might be a tough matchup, so it might be better to just accept the losses instead of tweaking the deck too much. Prohibit is very strong against Stompy.
Red Stompy is probably a complete opposite plan than Green Stompy. Red doesn't have access to tricky spells like Vines of Vastwood or resilient creatures like Young Wolf. Red just needs a fair amount of removal and counter spells and it should be good. (Unless Red Stomp has upgraded as I haven't faced that archetype in a long time).
I'm thinking hydroblast for burn and RDW. Stompy is really bad, I might just count it as a loss.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
I don't know about tragic slip. I don't want to get cute with the deck and make too many synergies for it to work properly. Good stuff first. Ghastly demise maybe.
I am going to grab hydroblast for burn and RDWs, seems the best bet. Stompy is probably just a loss.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
Augur of Bolas is also a pretty good card that has seen as much play as Burning-Tree Emissary and has all it takes to be a format staple. It will help against stompy and RDW by blocking their bears all day and helping you dig for removal against another creature. I would not leave home without a playset of these if I'm playing a controlling Blue deck.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Ghastly Demise over vendetta, Augur of Bolas over preordain, prohibit over mana leak all seem good. I don't want to mess up my easy control matchup to beat an edge case though, so I am not sure about moving down counters.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
Changed some things, took out Delver as I don't protect it well with this deck (this is midrange not tempo it turns out).
10 island
8 swamp
4 ponder
4 augur of bolas
2 supernatural stamina
4 undying evil
4 counterspell
4 prohibit
3 Ghastly Demise
4 chittering rat
4 mulldrifter
2 gurmag angler
4 dispel
2 crypt rat
3 stormbound geist
Ninja bounces my stuff back for more value, comes out for geist against control. I want to go up a gurmag angler or drop it though, as augur tends to shuffle it out of my way and I never see them. They also mess with demise, but I don't know what to replace them with.
Edit: Also my desire to keep the deck a goodstuff deck and one that synergizes don't always go together. The appeal of Supernatural Stamina + Archaeomancer is boundless. Recurring a 3/2 forever sounds amazing on paper, but archaeomancer just costs too much for it to work.
Edit 2: Electric Boogaloo
10 island
8 swamp
4 ponder
4 augur of bolas
3 supernatural stamina
3 undying evil
4 counterspell
4 prohibit
3 Ghastly Demise
4 chittering rat
4 mulldrifter
2 Renegade Freighter
4 dispel
1 ghastly demise
4 edict (pick one)
3 stormbound geist
Ninja is always too clunky, took it out for the crypt rats. Gurmag Angler is nearly always awkward, trying out Renegade Freighter in its place as most of out creatures are 2/2s.
Edit III: Cheese and Parsley
Currently planning to take out the ghastly demises for main deck edict effects, not hitting black is a huge weakness in the deck. I also am not sure what to put in their place in the side, more mass removal would be nice.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post