Pauper Caw Blade is a deck with elements of both tempo and control based on it's legacy's bigger sister. Caw Blade plays drowning the opponent in Card Advantage with cards like Squadron Hawks, Brainstorm, Mulldrifter, and the Stoneforge of Pauper, Trinket Mage, hard to deal with creatures like Guardian of the Guildpact, or ETB creatures that even if killed right there they have already provided us a nice bonus, allowing us to trade 1-for-1 while slowly gaining an edge. We complement Brainstorm with a handful of ways to shuffle away irrelevant cards: both the aforementioned Trinket Mage and Squadron Hawks shuffle the library and retrieve back cards previously shuffled (equip and more hawks), and the "fetchlands" Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds shuffle as well. Alongside with this engine, we run cards to control the board in the form of counterspells like Prohibit, Counterspell and Exclude, removal like Journey to Nowhere, Last Breath and Gideon's Reproach, or even board wipes like Fade Away, Serrated Arrows and Holy Light if it's the correct meta call. All of this coupled with equipment and value creatures like Man-o'-war that create huge tempo swings, or Aven Riftwatcher which trades with a creature and leaves 4 life behind, alongside with some powerful sideboard options in our color, allow Caw Blade to put at least an even matchup against practically everything.
- Doomed Traveler : The best one-drop we could ever wish for. It costs just 1, can carry Bladed Bracers, normally slips past countermagic (and if it doesn't we're gaining a big advantage since the opponent is wasting a 2 CMC counter in our 1 drop), and fights attrition by providing an additional body that comes with evasion after it's killed.
- Squadron Hawk : We wouldn't be a very good caw blade list without this. "Draws" us three cards, it's hard to deal with them all, and carries equip like a champ. It flies in order to connect as often as possible and clock the opponent like hell, so with a Lifestaff can trade with a Delver and gain us 3 life. Has great synergy with Brainstorm, providing a shuffle effect and tossing other Hawks to be retrieved later. Run this always, no questions asked.
- Leonin Squire : A pretty interesting card to have in some numbers, especially in 3-color builds where we can recur Executioner's Capsule or Pyrite Spellbomb on top of broken equipments or artifact lands discarded to Retrace cards. Keep an eye on this.
- Trinket Mage : The other half of the core and the Stoneforge of Pauper. It doesn't only search for our equips but can wear them as well. He's a human so he gets the boost of Bladed Bracers if you decide to run them, and can fetch us artifact lands in a pinch by simply acting as a Borderline Ranger. Acts as a toolbox with 1 CMC artifacts in the side too, so totally run 4.
- Aven Riftwatcher : Before Kitchen Finks appeared, this was the card that filled their role in bigger formats. 4 life, a flying offensive creature that has a big butt, trades with Delvers, hits twice and can carry equipment. He makes a lot easier the Delver, Aggro and Burn matchups, and plays well with Sylvok Lifestaff.
- Seraph of Dawn : The Baneslayer of pauper, and main reason for carrying Bladed Bracers. We need a toughness boosting equip, and Bracers does that, so in top of getting out of Flame Slash range, blocking Werebear, Carapace Forge, Spire Golem, Delver, Kor Skyfisher and Myr Enforcer profitably, she gets vigilance. 3/5 flying, lifelink and vigilance is nothing to scoff at, and she turns into nightmare fuel if she carries Bonesplitter, making an 8 point lifeswing each time she connects.
- Guardian of the Guildpact : If you have ever played Trueblade decks in Legacy, you know what this card is capable of. This is our pauper's True-Name Nemesis, the finisher of choice. He only dies to counters, edicts and obscure things like Terminate or Unmake, so if you can make him land past counters, you just need to hold up mana to protect him until the job is done. Blocks everything that lacks evasion and stays there, and with a Bonesplitter equipped he can go to town pretty easily and fast.
- Cenn's Enlistment : Since all this does is produce tokens, I will count it as a creature. This is a great card to have in grindy matchups or ones that have a lot of removal like MBC, which can deal quite easily with Guardian of the Guildpact. For 3W, you can turn extra lands you draw into two tokens ready to charge with weapons at the opponent. It has synergy with Trinket Mage fetching you lands to retrace them too.
- Mulldrifter : This is not called the best creature on Pauper for nothing. Drawing two cards and leaving a 2/2 flying beater that can very well carry equipments behind is getting the maximum bang for your buck. Whenever both of you are at low hand, landing this can often lead to a win if the opponent can't manage to recover from the huge card advantage swing you got. Plus, it can be casted as a Divination if needed.
- Custodi Squire : Another interesting finisher on the deck, competing with Cenn's Enlistment and Guardian of the Guildpact. This one is a threat on it's own: a 3/3 flying can trade with Delver and easily eat up all 2/2 that populate the meta, while roadblocking Spire Golem and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. With a Bonesplitter equipped, this guy can trade alone with Gurmag Angler and is a 4-turn clock, taking huge chunks of life from the opponent unimpeded. It comes with solid value similar to Drifter: upon entering it will recover any broken piece of equipment or destroyed / discarded / countered Journey to Nowhere, as well as dead creatures, primarily Mulldrifter for insane value. The inevitability comes from looping two of these: against grindy matchups like MBC, you just cast the second targetting the first one in the grave and when it dies, you play the first one to bring the second one. Eventually, the opponent will run out of removal and you will go to town.
- Brainstorm : In a deck so packed with shuffle effects like this, this is Pauper's Ancestral Recall. We can use it at the end of the opponents turn if we didn't counter anything and we can put back irrelevant cards to shuffle them for 2 more. This plays great with both Squadron Hawk and Trinket Mage, as you can put back a weapon or some hawks and retrieve them back with another Hawk or Trinket Mage, both of which are also shuffle effects. Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse and Lat-Nam's Legacy also help shuffle cards away. Definitely better than Ponder in a deck like this, it should be a 4-of no matter what.
- Ponder : Another shuffle outlet for Brainstorm and a way to set up our next draws, make land drops and filter away chaff, all while cantripping and feeding Cruise. Very efficient. There's a reason this is one of the best Blue cards in Pauper and banned in Modern. If you want Brainstorm 5-8 or simply you're trying to support the full playset of Cruises, these are your choice.
- Impulse : It's a crossover between Brainstorm and Preordain. Costing one more sure sucks, but this digs 4 (!) cards deep at instant speed, so it can be played at the end of the turn if you didn't counter anything relevant. Run either this or Ponder.
- Rhystic Study : This is a great card to have in slower metas. It's an enchantment, so it's effect is permanent. And it's a win-win card since it either gives us the edge by having extra cards in hand or taxes their mana, which alongside cards like Daze, Mana Leak,Rune Snag, Miscalculation or Fade Away helps us have a nice little tax subteme a la Death and Taxes, which still gives us the edge. It's worse in metas full of tempo decks like Delver, where if this is our T3 play and it gets countered we just gave them a free time walk. Nevertheless, it's the best card advantage engine if your meta call is correct.
- Think Twice : Standard instant speed card draw which can be played from the grave. It's also resilient to counterspells since it has flashback, and it's Instant speed and can be played either from the hand or grave when you have enough mana left. Dropped for Treasure Cruise. Otherwise, it's a pretty solid card.
- Oona's Grace : A great card to have as a singleton in order to be prepared for long, grindy games, where you give all your lands cycling for 2U. If your meta is full of other control decks, this is a pretty good option to have as a 1-of.
- Thoughtcast : Miss drawing a lot of cards for just U after Cruise got banned? This is your card now. Draws 1 less, but is a lot less restrictive in the deckbuilding than Cruise was, and it also needs less work to cast, and you can even chain one after another! If you run this, run full playsets of both Artifact lands. 3 is the correct number, no questions asked.
- Deep Analysis : The substitute for Treasure Cruise in artifact-light builds after it's banning. Analysis represents 4 new cards in just one and divided between two payments, the second one being half the price but Lightning Bolting yourself. Although this would have been a top-tier card if it either had cost 1 less or was an instant, let's be realistic: it doubt it will ever happen, even at uncommon. This card also has other applications besides from drawing 4, mainly baiting a Counterspell and drawing 2, or being discard fodder against MBC and drawing 2. Very solid and resilient card, I'd run 1-2 since it's pricy in both it's normal and flashback cost.
- Artificer's Epiphany : The best draw spell ever printed at common for a build like this, and one we have been waiting a long time for. Instant speed card draw really makes Control decks tick by sinking the mana you saved for counters and removal at the end of the opponent's turn. With just an artifact or artifact land out, which is not very difficult, it's downside will be overridden for the rest of the game unless the opponent is playing heavy artifact hate. Always run 3-4 of these.
Answers
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- Sunlance : This is the most efficient and fast answer in our colors. Since Delver decks are running rampant, and White decks are less prominent, we need this to combat tempo and super fast decks. It's no Lightning Bolt, but this is what we have to work with. And even if it's no Bolt, it's pretty good because it covers one of our highest weaknessess: fast aggro decks and tempo.
- Judge Unworthy: : The second best instant speed removal available in white. For two mana you take care of every threat in the Pauper format as long as it's attacking or blocking (which they should do if they plan to win anyways, unless they're a Presence of Gond or Familiar Storm combo). And on top of it, you get to dig 3 cards deep to search your next answer. At the end of the post is a Java calculator used to calc the chance of Judge dealing X damage depending on your deck, but trust me, at least it's practically always a Magma Jet that can't go to the dome but can scry 1 more.
- Gideon's Reproach The best instant speed removal we have gotten in White, and one of the best removal spells in the color overall. This card is a godsend, since 4 damage means this can flat out destroy 90% of Pauper's creatures, the most notable exceptions being Eldrazi, Gurmag Angler and Fangren Marauder. A great compliment to Journey to Nowhere, the "attacking or blocking" restriction is not that great because we can generally jump through it by attacking ourselves or by leaving our defenses open to provoke an attack. Between this and Artificer's Epiphany the deck has got a huge boost in the Instant speed game.
- Journey to Nowhere : The classical, catch all white removal. For a mere 1W take care of every creature in the format regardless of it's color or size. Due to the printing of Treasure Cruise you might not want to overload on these and run a playset, so diversifying your removal in order to deal with the higher number of threats possible is recommended.
- Celestial Flare : A viable option which eases the G1 against Bogles, which is our worst matchup, and also fuels Delve for Treasure Cruise. Kills creatures with protection like other Guardian of the Guildpact, but it's bad against swarm strategies since we're not able to pick which creature to kill.
- Holy Light : Great card against swarm decks such as Elves, Goblins, Tokens, Faeries and the Presence of Gond deck that has been seeing play lately. Kills any number of faeries and weenies as well and doesn't even touch our Squadron Hawks. Other than that, very situational, so maybe it's better as a sideboard card.
- Fade Away : Another great card against aggro decks that use additional mana outlets such as Lotus Petal or free dudes like affinity. Cast it when they tap out early without much lands and watch them blow a few permanents. Furthermore it adds to the tax subtheme you can run alongside Rhystic Study and counters.
- Serrated Arrows : This is a great card all around to have somewhere in the 75. It shrinks dudes permanently, it kills creatures, puts big creatures into Desert range, it makes combat awkward and can be even a 3-for-1 by killing three X/1's or a 2-for-1 by killing a X/1 and a X/2. Shines in aggro matchups, and if you can resolve it against Delver, it's a house.
Counterspells
- Counterspell : The classical and the best. The unconditional "no" spell. For UU, you can say "no" to anything and everything. With the advent of the Tranquil Cove cycle, it's now a lot easier to support double color requirements, so this can be run in more numbers, sometimes even the full playset.
- Deprive : Counterspell 5 to 8. It's "disadvantage" can be turned to an advantage by bouncing our lifegain lands, and in the late game can serve as a cute trick to make it cost just 1 mana by replaying the land we used to bounce it. Plus, it has synergy with Retrace spells by bouncing lands we don't need in the battlefield anymore.
- Rune Snag : Pretty good counter if you run the full playset, the first one is only slightly worse than Mana Leak and the second one already being better. Even at late game, having to pay 4 or 6 to let our spell resolve can often make the difference in counter wars, or it can act just as a time walk.
- Mana Leak : The best alternative if you opt to not devote a full playset to Rune Snag or if you simply find that your opponents are paying the 2 mana easily. It's a great counterspell, but it's dead lategame and it's outclassed by Snag if you draw multiples.
- Condescend: : Good at all stages of the game. Since we play so many cheap spells, it's fairly easy to leave mana open for this, and once Mana Leak starts to die out, this can take it's place. It can also be playeda at the early game if the opponent taps out too. You also get to scry 2 and search for another answer to replace this, so it caters with the CA philosophy of the deck.
- Prohibit : A really good counter to have in slower metas. It counters almost everything in the Pauper metagame except Tron creatures, so if your meta packs a lot of control this is the second best counter to have around. Beware the pesky 3-drops that might sneak in that turn 3 window.
- Contradict : The real Cryptic Command of Pauper. It's never dead and it will counter EVERYTHING under the sun while cantripping. It's only disadvantage is it's steep 5 CMC cost, 1 more than Dismiss. Costing so much can cause real feel bad moments when you tap out just for this to get countered, but it's power is very real. Requires further testing.
- Bonesplitter : The strongest equipment we can fetch with Trinket Mage. This is our real win condition, it brings the beats and puts a fairly decent clock on the enemy. Plus, a creature equipped with Bonesplitter can trade with almost everything.
- Sylvok Lifestaff : Best option to fetch for when fighting Delver, Aggro or MBC. Makes all your dudes trade with theirs while netting you 3 life for each death to get ahead in the race and up to the long game.
- Viridian Longbow : Great card for pinging pesky X/1's, and a house against Delver. It can also ping players although you will rarely find yourself doing it. You should always run 1, even if it's on the Side.
- Flayer Husk : It helps because it comes with it's own clock (if equipped with a Bonesplitter). If you want to ability to fetch an equipment that pumps both ends of your creature and that comes with a body as well, this is a card to look at. It's also interesting with bouncing / blinking to generate various dudes against matchups full of removal like MBC.
Lands
- Quicksand : "Free" removal that can kill a broader number of guys that desert can't touch, but it's inability to hit fliers and the fact that you have to destroy itself makes Desert the better option. However, it should be worth noting that it completely blanks Kiln Fiend where Desert does not, and it's OK for tempo builds that forgo the control aspect.
- Kabira Crossroads : If Burn or super aggresive builds are seeing play in your meta it might be worth considering replacing 2-3 plains for this. Beware though, this comes tapped and can't be fetched.
- Radiant Fountain : An alternative to Crossroads if you have way too many ETBT lands. This enters the battlefield untapped, but is unable to produce any color, so adjust your lands accordingly.
- Seat of the Synod / Ancient Den : Artifact lands fetcheable by Trinket Mage. We lose nothing swapping 2 plains and 2 islands for this since they come untapped as well and they can be fetched then pitched to Retrace for example.
- Tranquil Cove Another newcomer from KTK, this is ten times better than Azorious Guildgate, because it does not only fix our colors like all dual lands, but also gains us life, which is a crucial aspect of every control deck. These make stabilizing much more easier, and they compensate for the tempo loss by gaining us life against aggresive decks.
Sideboard Options
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- Circle of Protection: Green : Absolutely needed card. Bogles crushes us, and this practically shuts them down. No matter how loaded with auras is their creature if they inflict no damage with it. It also helps against Stompy, which is a difficult matchup as well, Infect, and stops Tron's big creatures, like Fangren Marauder, Walker of the Grove or Auroch's Herd, and can be of help against Elves.
- Circle of Protection: Red : The second best circle of protection. Straight out kills WeeFiends and Burn since they have no way to remove enchantments in their 75. It also stops X burn spells from tron like Kaervek's Torch or Rolling Thunder, prevents surprise Fling + Atog kills and can be of use against Goblins.
- Circle of Protection: Black This is the one we will use the least, as it's pretty straightforward: board in against heavy MBC metas to stop them killing with Corrupt or Crypt Rats used as a X burn spell. Sadly, doesn't protect against Gray Merchant of Asphodel, that would make this a lot more playable.
- Standard Bearer Humans and Tempo substitute for CoP: Green. This carries Bladed Bracers, but the important part is that this shuts down Bogles, Stompy and Infect. The bad part is that if they've already loaded up their creatures, you're going to wish you boarded in CoP: green.
- Dust to Dust : A great card against Affinity, and the best one we could board in. It screws with their manabase and gives a -2 to their Affinity count. Breaks their Equipment, utility artifacts like Springleaf Drum, and can hit Myr Enforcer and Frogmite in a pinch. Always have some at hand.
- Patrician Scorn : A full hate card against Bogles, which can be used as a 1 or 2-of if you opt to run Standard Bearer in Tempo builds to stop them if they've already loaded their Bogle when you drop Bearer. Besides that, it's not very useful.
- Reinforcements : Great for grindy matchups like MBC or MUC in order to retrieve back utility creatures, finishers, or straight up 3 Hawks. It's easy to cast and sneak through, since it's and Instant and it just costs W, so as long as you don't play it recklessly, it will resolve almost always.
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- Curse of the Bloody Tome : Very good way to win against grindy matchups. Coupled with Reinforcements, this gives us a lot of inevitability if the game goes long. Although pretty slow, it does it's job in the matchups that it matters, since they have no way to remove it once it hits the field.
- Dispel : Handy counterspell to have in the board, since this wins counterspell wars against decks like Delver or MUC, and counters important spells against other decks like Lightning Bolt, Vines of Vastwood and other utility instants.
- Hydroblast : Counters red spells or destroys red permanents is a very good way to have the upper hand against a slew of decks like Affinity (FlingAtog), Burn, Goblins, Tron, Boros Kitty or Weefiends. However, since they might as well carry Pyroblast, CoP: Red is generally the wiser option unless you're playing the Tempo build.
- Curfew : A mediocre option to have against Bogles, WeeFiends or Infect when you already have the CoP: Red or CoP: Green or Standard Bearer. Stay away from this unless you play a tempo build which can abuse bouncing it's own creatures.
- Echoing Truth : Good card to have against token swarms like the Presence of Gond decks and some Goblin / Elves decks.
- Hindering Light : Yeah, yeah, it's multicolor and in the Blue section, but this card is such a boss. It protects your permanents from ANY kill spells, from land destruction to creature removal to artifact destruction, and it evens protect Guardian of the Guildpact from Edict effects. Not only that, but it also protects you from X Burn spells, burn itself, discard, Corrupt, the rare Curses, and the icing on the cake: it replaces itself.
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- Tormod's Crypt : Playing this as a 1-of ensures we don't get wrecked by Graveyard decks like Dead Dog, which is now stronger than ever, or decks that abuse the new Delve cards, Madness decks, or any recursive decks that uses the graveyard. Again, recursive decks can wreck us and this is fetcheable by Mage, so run this as a 1-of even if you don't expect graveyard decks. It won't take that much space in your SB, and, as they say, "better safe than sorry".
- Feldon's Cane : While we wish this was Elixir of Immortality, this makes a great impersonation. Being able to reuse all of your counterspells, dead creatures, removal, and even Fetchlands is a great boon in grindy control matchups, and making MBC waste all of their removal to just bring back the creatures feels great. It has pretty good synergy with Hawks: crack it with one in hand when the rest have died to bring back all four for more hawk action.
- Relic of Progenitus : Weaker than Crypt, but it can control the yard if you drop it early without the necessity of nuking itself into oblivion. Speaking of nuke, it also blows your yard, so be careful. At least it cantrips, and that's pretty good for a utility artifact.
- Origin Spellbomb : A fetcheable dude that cantrips, nothing more, nothing less. Gets significantly better with Leonin Squire.
- Sunbeam Spellbomb Gain 5 life or cantrip on choice, and is fetcheable too. Gets significantly better with Leonin Squire.
I'd rate it 50-50. We have to play tightly here. Your priority is countering or killing their 1-drop, be it with Daze or Sunlance (or Journey into Nowhere if you are on the play). Their Nettle Sentinel is the priority target since it can pay for any amount of Gather Courage by itself and hit us pretty hard. Quirion Ranger is another prime target since it will give them pseudo-vigilance and let them reuse their low land count by bouncing Forests back to hand. Things like Skarrgan Pit-Skulk can also be dangerous with their added evasion. Quicksand helps if they're relying in Rancor buffs only after they've exhausted their instant and sorcery pump. Try to get to the late game to start dropping Aven Riftwatchers and start trading creatures equipped with Sylvok Lifestaff with their dudes to stabilize, and if you're running a number of Kabira Crossroads alongside Tranquil Cove, that works too. A resolved Guardian of the Guildpact or Seraph of Dawn is usually too much for them to handle. If you have the chance to counter Land's Grant first turn with a Daze, do it and leave them screwed. Post SB things get easier for us as we can bring in Spell Pierce to counter their T1 Land Grant and their 1-mana combat tricks, which can save us a ton of life. We also have Spreading Seas, which cripples their lowland manabase if you want to go that route. Just make sure they don't bounce a forest with Quirion Ranger in response. And we have the cards that lets us sit comfortably: Circle of Protection: Green and Standard Bearer. The first card negates all their beats if it resolves, and if we drop a Bearer they have no option except to beat us with a bunch of 2/2's and 3/3's with a low manabase. Just watch for enchantment hate in G3 if there's one. I'd rate it 60-40 in our favor after they sideboard
Burn is surprisingly easy game for a control based deck thanks to all the passive lifegain we're packing. I'd rate it 60-40 in our favor in G1. The mindset of this match should be countering as much spells as posible while gaining life as they quickly empty their hand. Burn is a deck that is built to count to 20 as fast as possible or die trying, and once they reach topdeck mode the last situation is the more likely to happen. Our playset of Tranquil Cove and some number of Radiant Fountain already hinder their strategy as soon as the game starts by gaining us life passively at the same time we develop our mana. Deprive sinergizes surprisingly well with these, countering a burn and gaining us enough life to negate another one. Aven Riftwatcher gains us 4 life and gives us a body to start beating them down or blocking their threats shall they pack Spark Elemental, Keldon Marauders and the such. Finding Sylvok Lifestaff is a must here, as something as simple as an Aven Rifwtacher dying with the Lifestaff backed up by some land lifegain can give us the game. Seraph of Dawn is a pretty backbreaking card against them since it's out of their burn rich and it gives us life back while racing them. Keep in mind that each burn spell you counter is another 3 life gained and another card out of their hand, so this is very important. Keep an eye on Needle Drop; it can cycle while pinging you for 1 damage. In a dire situation, Last Breathing one of your creatures for some life points is not a bad option at all, since it makes Last Breath not as dead as Journey to Nowhere or other removal in this match. Post board, things drastically rise in our favor, as we can side out our dead removal cards and switch in gems like Hindering Light, which counters one of their burn spells while maintaining our card advantage, Hydroblast which counters everything they have for 1 blue mana, the Dispel and Spell Pierce duo, and finally, the icing on the cake that is Circle of Protection: Red. They have absolutely no way of winning if we stick that. Post board it's a 80-20 situation in our favor. Just be wary of their Pyroblasts.
The omnipresent, dreaded matchup is not that dreaded for us if we know how to combat it. Pre board is a 50-50, and I'll go as far as even say a 55-45 in our favor. The correct lines of play should be us trying to make them tap out and bait their counters, preferably with counters of our own. Mana Leaking a Cloud of Faeries when it comes down on T2 and force them to either remain tapped out or bounce back an Island in order to cast Daze is one of the greatest plays we could aim for. Countering Spellstutter Sprite is also a big bonus. Their CA outlets are Ninja of the Deep Hours, which can't be countered (beware of Ninjutsu tricks if you're trying to removal him), Gush, which if countered will set their tempo back a whole lot, and the more menacing Thoughtcast, which is an absolute must counter. Once you make them tap out (beware the Dazes!), drop down an Aven Riftwatcher and try to pivot from there on; slowly turning your defense into offense on the back of the Aven is easy to do as it eats up all of their threats except Spire Golem while netting you the life lost the first few turns. Cast your Thoughtcasts to reload your hand with answers and counters and keep them from casting theirs. Guardian of the Guildpact is another roadblock, especially when equipped with Viridian Longbow to take out on flyers after it has been declared as a blocker. Squadron Hawk is a must-counter bomb against then, Doomed Traveller can chumpblock, and even kill, several times with the help of weapons, and Desert completely wrecks them. Post board, cheap counterspells like Dispel or Spell Pierce, Viridian Longbow if you don't have it MB and a singleton Dispeller's Capsule as a fetchable answer against Spire Golem rise chances to 60-40 in our favor. Just be careful with their nut hands in every game; they can be beaten with this deck, but it requires very tight maneuvering.
The other aggro deck of choice in the Pauper meta. Playing a ton of cheap artifacts that quickly buff their creatures makes Affinity a force to be reckoned with. Since it's just an aggro strategy with a combo finish and literally no disruption, I'll rate this matchup a 55-45 to our favor. The trick here is surviving the early onslaught of beefy creatures. Destroy Ardent Recruit, Auriok Sunchaser and Carapace Forger while they're still vulnerable, and do whatever you can to turn off their metalcraft. Chumpblock their bigger dudes until you can find an answer to them, and be extremely wary of Atog. This is the card that makes the deck tick. As soon as you see an Atog, snipe it as quickly as possible, be it by counter magic or unconditional removal. Be wary of the Fling + Atog combo, as it can simply win a game out of nowhere, and Disciple of the Vault can rack up damage pretty quickly when paired with Atog too. Gain life to stay out of their range, stabilize, and strike back! Post board, you have some great tools at your disposal: Dust to Dustexiles two artifacts, thus not triggering Disciple's ability. Use it to exile your opponent's lands since they have few actual artifact dudes, but feel free to dispatch a Myr Enforcer or a Frogmite if you need it. Coupled with the MB removal and answers, this card alone makes our G2 and 3 much, much easier. Dispeller's Capsule is more tutorable hate against this deck, and a few copies ofCircle of Protection: Red turns off all of their FlingAtog shenanigans and adds splash hate against versions running Galvanic Blast. I'd rate this 70-30 in our favor after post board
This is our arch-nemesis. Besides from the uncommon Turbo Fog, this is the only deck we don't have a chance beating before sideboard. I'd rate it 90-10 in their favor on G1. The deck is pretty straightforward so you can't even count on the skills of the pilot or for him/her to make mistakes you can punish, and the only way to snatch a G1 if they manage to get mana-screwed or can't draw a Trample card so you can chumpblock forever with Guardian of the Guildpact. Try to counter their creatures instead of their auras, since our removal is actively dead unless you predicted a lot of Bogles in your meta and actively slotted in a few copies of Celestial Flare. Post board things get better, though: we have plenty of hate. Standard Bearer, Circle of Protection: Green, Patrician Scorn, and, to a lesser extent (since they might have another creature to prevent it), Curfew. Dispeller's Capsule breaking their trampling aura can also buy us some time to chumpblock with Guardian of the Guildpact until we find our hate. Overall, our chances post-board increase drastically to 70-30 in our favor: we just need to draw our hate in order to win.
A deck that is on the verge of extinction, since now that MBC has gone, so has done the last incentive to play this. I'd rate it 60-40 in our favor. If you don't pack a removal suite of Sunlance + Exile you shouldn't have more trouble with them. Our removal spells mostly exile, so they get through their "dies" creatures like Safehold Elite and Loyal Cathar. Desert can also help against their 1-toughness creatures, namely Squadron Hawk, although it's better if you directly counter them. Guardian of the Guildpact will block them all day long except for Razor Golem or equipped Safehold Elite. Beware their own Guardians though since we can't deal with them. Save a counter for them, and remember that they run Unmake so they can deal with your Guardians. Post board side in some board control to help with the situation: both Serrated Arrows (which can answer their Guardians) and Fade Away are pretty valid options.
Control
The other omnipresent matchup, black based Control is like the Jund deck of Pauper. Featuring card advantage, efficient removal, good disruption, recursion, value creatures, and even a board wipe in Crypt Rats, this deck packs quite the big punch. This matchup is the epitome of 50-50: it can go either way depending on the skill of both pilots and the variance, but you can tip the scales to your favor often enough if you pack enough attrition spells like Doomed Traveler, Cenn's Enlistment and Welking Hawk. The games will basically be a grindfest: try to stay ahead on the race as soon as you can. Squadron Hawks and the other Hawks you can carry, coupled with Doomed Traveler and Flayer Husk's extra bodies, Guardian of the Guildpact's protection against targeted removal and Cenn's Enlistment's inevitability are your best allies here. Make sure to not overextend in order to not lose the card advantage against a Crypt Rats sweep. Don't let them gain life by countering Tendrils of Corruption, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Corrupt, and try to snipe out Rats and Cuombajj Witches before they start causing damage, be it with counters or straight up removal. And remember to always maintain a healthy life total with your life gaining cards and refill your hand with Thoughtcast and harcasted Mulldrifters. It's very important to actually hardcast them to keep the pressure going by drawing more threats and answers while leaving a 2/2 flying body behind that can carry equip and demands yet another answer from their hand. Post board, things get better: we have cards like Feldon's Cane and Reinforcements that will win us attrition wars. Plus, we have two of the best counters available against this matchup: Hindering Light, which counters edict effects and removal, targeted discard, and the dreaded Corrupt. Post board, our chance at winning becomes 60-40.
Dimir Trinkets is basically the same matchup except that they trade their ability to abuse Corrupt, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Tendrils of Corruption for a card advantage package consisting of Mulldrifter and Trinket Mage, and they tend to be slower and exclude things like Cuombajj Witches, so I'd rate this matchup 60-40 in our favor. Their mage will fetch Executioner's Capsule as removal and Sylvok Lifestaff to take advantage of self-sacrificing creatures like Augur of Skulls, Fume Spitter and Crypt Rats. They will also use Undying Evil on an evoked Mulldrifter to gain an impressive amount of card advantage while retaining a 3/3 flyer on board for cheaper that hardcasting Mulldrifter itself, so it's important you counter it on sight, especially if they have Black mana up. They can do the same with Augur of Skulls, which is a super resilient blocker for you ground creatures and can strip your hand naked if they Undying Evil it. Post board you do the same than MBC: side in your attrition-fighting cards. Don't side in Disdainful Stroke though, as their only 4 or above CMC spell is Mulldrifter. After SB accordingly it can be a 65-35 or even a 70-30 if you are skilled enough to take good care of Mulldrifter and Augur of Skulls, which are their only problem cards. As always, chaining Thoughtcasts is very powerful against decks like this that aim to grind us out of the game.
This is a difficult, uphill matchup. Our removal is 100% dead, and we don't pressure fast enough to blaze past their Fog effects. It's a 55-45 in their favor. What we have to do G1 is to flood the board with threats as quickly and humanly possible while trying to counter their Jace's Ingenuitys. Attack them every turn while and make them waste Fogs, then when you have sufficient board presence start countering their Fogs to force through. Do not draw more cards than the strictly needed or your time for winning goes way down. After board, the matchup is way better, a 60-40 in our favor. You have Feldon's Cane, Dispeller's Capsule and Curse of the Bloody Tome against them.
A grindy matchup and one where both sides draw a lot of cards. However, due to their slower nature of card draw (bouncing Ichor Wellspring and Prophetic Prism with Glint Hawk or Kor Skyfisher) we have the edge. Unfortunately for us they have a lot of burn to use as both removal and reach to compliment their flier suite, and they have a little bit of recursion in Sanctum Gargoyle and Remember the Fallen. I'd rate it 60-40 in our favor since all we have to do is disrupt their clock and clunky draw engine with counters and removal while clocking them. Since they pack both Galvanic Blast and Lightning Bolt, lifegain is quite important, so keep your life total at 10 or above and you'll comfortably win. Watch out for Kuldotha Rebirth since 3 bodies + a possible extra card by sacrificing Wellspring can complicate combat math. Post board you get to bring in Hindering Light, Dispeller's Capsule and Dust to Dust, which significantly improves our chances. A 1-of Circle of Protection: Red could also be boarded in as a shield against their burn spells. Post matchup our chances are 65-35. You draw more cards and faster than them, so bury them in card advantage and show them who's boss.
This deck has been on the decline since the ban against Cruise, but it's still seen nonetheless. It's a 60-40 in our favor in G1. They have a lot of burn that acts as both direct damage and removal (Lightning Bolt, Staggershock, Twin Bolt, Firebolt and Skred are all seen in this deck), while also packing counters, card draw and cantrips. Their weakness is the lack of a strong clock, since all their creatures can be easily dispatched with normal removal. They usually consist of a suite including Delver of Secrets, Frostburn Weird, Mulldrifter and Sea Gate Oracle. Counter their burn, remove their creatures, and don't let your life total fall enough to get into their burn's reach. However they are slow with the beatings, so a little lifegain here and there and some counters will solve that. You draw more than them, so you can effectively bury them in card advantage. The only thing you should fear is if they're running a hexproof dude as a finisher, like Benthic Giant or Waterwhirl Adept, so be wary and counter them on sight. If they slip past countermagic, roadblocking them with Guardian of the Guildpact is also an option. Post board we have Hindering Light, Hydroblast, Dispel, Curse of the Bloody Tome and even some numer of Circle of Protection: Red to cover their burn spells against you. Post board our chance remains more or less the same, since we don't bring anything too relevant to the table except counter, so overall this is a very good matchup for us.
This is a deck that can grind us out if we aren't careful and win quickly. Our counterspells do nothing against their creatures since they're recurrable, but on the flip side they can be pointed at Tortured Existence, Commune with the Gods, and the few noncreature spells they have, and almost all of our removal exiles creatures. Game 1 is a super-grindy 50-50, which measures both pilot's skills and ability to punish small mistakes and capitalize on them, so it's pretty intense and can go one way or the other. They can recur Fume Spitter to shrink and kill our guys, Sylvok Replica to destroy our equipment, and Golgari Brownscale to keep gaining life, so they are must-exile targets. Stinkweed Imp fills their yard by a whole 5 cards while keeping coming back to block and kill our fliers. Post board we have Reinforcements, Feldon's Cane and Dispeller's Capsule, which helps us keep on grinding and destroy their TortEx respectively, and Relic of Progenitus, which nukes their entire yard. Post board it's more like a 60-40 in our matchup, but it's still a very skill intensive matchup which rewards the best pilot, even moreso if you don't manage to draw Relic. Remember: slow and steady wins the race.
Combo
I feel this matchup is easily a 65-35 in our favor, if not more. Then after sideboard I feel confident it's at least 80-20 in our favor, specially if you opt to pack Quicksand instead of Desert. They have to play around our counters and to expect Daze at every corner if your build runs it, thus dropping their threats a turn late to keep the 1 mana open to counter them. Our counterspell suite deals with them pretty good, and even if they sneak a threat past our countermagic, you can counter pieces of their combo like Assault Strobe or cards that keep giving them more gas like Shadow Rift. They will usually play Gitaxian Probe before dropping a guy or comboing out to check if we have Counters in hand, so they will know what to expect (although they will still have to play around counters if they see one). Sunlance, Last Breath (beware to cast it only if they don't have mana open or they can grow in response!) and Journey to Nowhere crush their Kiln Fiends, the latter two also hitting Nivix Cyclops (which is their only chance at comboing, so either don't let it get in or save a Journey because if it sneaks and hits you're dead). Quicksand makes their Fiends completely useless unless they're packing some toughness-boosting effect (usually Mutagenic Growth), which you can very well counter. Two Quicksands at once also deter Cyclops from attacking. Finally, we have a ton of lifegain in the form of Kabira Crossroads, Tranquil Cove, Aven Riftwatcher, Sylvok Lifestaff, and even Last Breathing our own creatures. Post board things get even better: we have Hydroblasts and Circle of Protection: Red. Use Hydroblasts to counter Fiend and Cyclops rather than destroying them because they might have an Apostle's Blessing in hand. If CoP: Red sticks around we won though, since they have 0 ways of removing enchantments.
Although rarely seen, Tron can be difficult if you don't have hard answers like Journey to Nowhere and Counterspell. If you don't, then the matchup is a 55-45 in their favor. However, if you do, it's more like a 60-40 in your favor. You can let them freely assemble the Tron: all you have to worry about is to answer Fangren Marauder as soon as he comes out. You can out CA their Mulldrifters, but managing to counter one sets them back a fair margin. If you're also able, counter their Compulsive Research to delay them and Prophetic Prism to color screw them. Basically, saving a hard counter for Rolling Thunder, answering Marauder and other big dudes they might play ASAP and countering Drifter is all you have to win this matchup. In the sideboard, Disdainful Stroke counters any and all big plays they might want to do, Spreading Seas screws with their Tron lands while cantripping, Hindering Light counters X-burn spells and any Ancient Grudge they might have boarded in for our Bonesplitter (extremely dangerous as it destroys our main wincon) or Ray of Revelation they might use to destroy our Seas or Journey to Nowhere. And finally, a 1-of of both Circle of Protection: Grene and Circle of Protection: Red nullifies their main win-cons and relegates them to Mulldrifter beats (or Ulamog's Crusher if they pack it).
This is arguably harder than Stompy since Infect practically negates our lifegain. They can have highly explosive starts with things like T1 Glistener Elf, T2 Groundswell, Giant Growth, Mutagenic Growth, you're dead. I'd rate this matchup 55-45 slightly in their favor, since if they don't play a Glistener Elf on T1 your timespan to do something increases considerably. You priority is countering their T1 drop with Daze or killing it with Sunlance or Journey to Nowhere if you're on the play. Usually tapping out and playing a Squadron Hawk is not the way to go since they can just have things like Apostle's Blessing or Distortion Strike if they're playing blue, so you just need to save the counterspells for their pump. If you can survive the first 2-3 turns, then you're at good shape to control the game from there since they only have one shot at comboing before running out of stuff. Post SB, things like Circle of Protection: Green for Glistener Elf, Standard Bearer, Viridian Longbow (their usual creatures are Glistener Elf, Ichorclaw Myr, Blighted Agent and Plague Stinger) and Spell Pierce and Dispel duo, Reprisal and Curfew will make it much easier for us to hang in there. I'd rate it 60-40 in our favor after the sideboard changes.
The infamous combo based in the interaction between Cloud of Faeries, Mnemonic Wall and Ghostly Flicker. I rate this matchup 60-40 in our favor. They are slow in assembling their engine: they need some bouncelands which set their tempo back, they also need Nightscape Familiar and Sunscape Familiar, and finally, they need to go off. Just keep removing and countering their Familiars while clocking them. Remember to save a counter for Ghostly Flicker or instant speed removal for Cloud of Faeries / Mnemonic Wall in response to Flicker to completely throw them off the game. Post sideboard things get a bit better, since you can run such things as Tormod's Crypt to nuke their yard in response to Mnemonic Wall entering the battlefield after the first Flicker resolves. You can also bring in Standard Bearer, and, since they have to target it with Ghostly Flicker it means they can't target both Faeries and Wall, thus disrupting their combo. I'd rate it 70-30 in our favor post sideboard.
I'll categorize Elves as combo because most of the time they will run silly shenanigans like Mob Justice, Distant Melody, and/or arbitrarily large amounts of mana in any combination of the previous three. I'd rate this 50-50. Elves swarm the board very quickly, so you have to be fast and remove their key pieces, mainly Priest of Titania, Timberwatch Elf and Lys Alana Huntmaster, but especially Priest. As long as you deny them the mana, they can't do much. Wellwisher might be nasty because it wins them a ton of life, but it's a trap to distract you from the really important elves. Counter their back-breaking plays like Distant Melodies, key elves or Mob Rule and try to stay alive until they run out of gas. After sideboarding, things get better. You get to run Holy Light, which wipes all of their elves except Timberwatch and Huntmaster, and Serrated Arrows can quickly decimate their army. Finally, Circle of Protection: Green, although not stellar, can save you from a beating coming from giant elves powered by Timberwatch. I'd rate it 60-40 in our favor.
Important! Judge Unworthy Java damage calculator (among other utilities)
This Java calculator I did myself can be used in order to calculate the average damage of Judge Unworthy taking into account the overall CMC's of your decks. While in a traditional build the chance of Judge dealing at least 2 damage is a raw 100% and the chances of it dealing at least 3 damage range from 60 to 70%, you might find that the chances of it dealing 4 or more damage are too low for your likings (for reference, about a 50% chance of dealing 4 or more damage will usually mean that you have minimum 70% chance of dealing 3 or more if you only run the Trinket Mage playset as your 3 CMC card and no Exile, Exclude or Aven Riftwatcher, which I find pretty good). Aside from that it can also be used to calculate the chances of drawing seeing off a scry a certain type of card (like any of your 2 CMC cards, any Instant or just a copy of your playset of Mana Leak).
try {
divisor = card / cardsinlibrary;
} catch (ArithmeticException e) {
System.out.println("Error: you tried to divide by zero.");
return null;
}
if (topdeck == 0) {
multiplier = divisor * 100;
String result = Float.toString(multiplier);
return result;
} else {
multiplier = divisor * topdeck;
float percentage = multiplier * 100;
String result = Float.toString(percentage);
return result;
}
In the first variable, card, you introduce the number of cards that meet the criteria you're looking for (for example, number of instants, 3 CMC cards or Trinket Mage copies left in your deck). In the second variable, cardsinlibrary, as the name clearly indicates you introduce the numbers of card left in your library at the time you want to take the calcs into account (for example 53 if it's your first turn on the play without taking a mulligan). And in the third variable, topdeck, you introduce the number of cards you're looking at (3 for the Scry 3 of Judge Unworthy or drawing from Treasure Cruise, 2 for the Scry 2 of Condescend or drawing from Mulldrifter, 1 for a single draw like the one from your regular draw step or cantripping spells like Exclude, or 0 if you want to calc your chances of some card being in your opener.).
Very detailed primer for a very complex deck! Congratulations! I like the thorough explanation of every card and how it is useful to the deck. It helps people who are building the deck make informed decisions on card choices according to their taste and play style. Wonderful!
The primer could use a quick spell check. also, some card links don't work. Æther Adept comes up a few times.
I also think that the card ratings would be better placed before the explanatory texts, as they aren't helter skelter across the page.
I'll take a more in depth look at the primer a little later, but from my cursory read, it's great!
Sorry for the late reply, my laptop is broken and I had to send it to repair a few weeks ago, posting from a borrowed one right now. I will fix the OP as soon as I can to fix the card links and the overall presentation and aesthetics like Obermeir said. I've already requested a banner for the primer in the Sig Shops subforum as well.
While browsing the KTK, I've found two tools that greatly enhace the deck: Tranquil Cove is a great dual land we can run as a 2-3 of alongside Kabira Crossroads. With the lands, Aven Riftwatcher and Sylvok Lifestaff, we're gaining a critical mass of life, which buys us a lot of tempo (something we need with so much ETB lands and 2-3 mana plays) and practically puts us out of range in burn / aggro matchups by helping us stabilize in a fast, sturdy manner that doesn't require dedicated cards (other than Riftwatcher, but it's just a great creature overall).
The second one is the one that has me the most excited. While it isn't instant speed, Treasure Cruise is just damn bonkers. With all the fetchland, counters, cantrips in Brainstorm, Riftwatchers dying by themselves, evoked Mulldrifters, instant speed removal, traded creatures, and so on and so forth this is practically Pauper's Ancestral Recall. The card advantage we get from this is totally unreal, since most of the time we can reduce it's cost to 3U or 2U without too much effort by just countering, fetching and cantripping, and later in the game it can be just cast for U. It even has synergy with the retrace spells, Oona's Grace and Cenn's Enlistment, which provide lands to fuel Delve. I'm super excited to test this card as a 2-of, replacing Think Twice, which although at instant speed, it nets us less card for around the same cost.
Overall, we will need to work out that manabase to accommodate the new duals without having too much ETB lands, and we will have to work around the counterspell and removal suite in order to have more instant speed removal, preferably non-conditional like Last Breath or Sunlance.
Your deck seems very tempo heavy with all the cantrips and Doomed Traveler. I really like his inclusion as a 1-drop, tempo creature that can eat removal and chumpblock that can still carry a weapon after dead even better due to flying. How is it working for you? That said, with all those cantripping spells I think you can be more generous with your Treasure Cruise count, since you have 12 1-CMC cantrips, 6 fetchlands and the 4 Doomed Traveler.
I also think you're very light on creatures even counting Doomed Traveler so a deck full of removal like the ubiquitous MBC will stomp you. My suggestion is that you use some mix of Guardian of the Guildpact for a solid, inevitable finisher kind of like True-Name Nemesis plays in Legacy Stoneblade decks, and Cenn's Enlistment in order to fight attrition decks, alongside Flayer Husk which gives you a toughness boosting equipment that comes with a body. Those two, which are the best reasons to splash white alongside removal, Hawks and Riftwatcher instead of playing a straight up Delver deck, alongside with some Mulldrifter and Treasure Cruise for refill and massive CA allow you for a much more solid mid to late game plan if your tempo gets disrupted and you fall behind. Some Aven Riftwatcher in the sideboard for taking the control role against super aggresive decks like Affinity or Burn.
Finally, if you're going for the full tempo gameplan, Daze and Quicksand seem like pretty good options that also fill your grave quickly to cast Cruise earlier. You could even try and splash some number of Delver of Secrets due to the amount of sheer cantrips you have.
Searching for instant speed removal to feed Treasure Cruise that was better than the super conditional Last Breath, Reprisal or Puncturing Light, I found this gem. Not only is instant speed removal, but it also fixes our next draws, with caters with the whole card advantage philosophy of the deck. I ran some calcs regarding to my list right now which is the following:
The calcs are ran on the second turn both the draw and on the play and assuming you don't mulligan and it just considers the Judge Unworthy being cast and the 2 lands in play you need to cast it (IE it doesn't count the CMC of the cards you have in hand, but it's a rough estimate of the power of the card since having more lands and 1-2 CMC cards than 4+ CMC cards it means you're more likely going to draw land / 1-2 CMC spell, thus powering up potential damage).
% land on the play: 100 %
% 1 CMC on the play: 40.38 %
% 2 CMC on the play: 86.54 %
% 3 CMC on the play: 40.38 %
% 4 CMC on the play: 11.53 %
% 5 CMC on the play: 17.31 %
% 8 CMC on the play: 17.31 %
Total % of dealing 2 or more damage on the play: 100 %
Total % of dealing 3 or more damage on the play: 86.54 %
Total % of dealing 4 or more damage on the play: 46.15 %
Total % of dealing 5 or more damage on the play: 34.62 %
% land on the draw: 100 %
% 1 CMC on the draw: 41.18 %
% 2 CMC on the draw: 88.24 %
% 3 CMC on the draw: 41.18 %
% 4 CMC on the draw: 11.76 %
% 5 CMC on the draw: 17.65 %
% 6 CMC on the draw: 17.65 %
Total % of dealing 2 or more damage on the draw: 100%
Total % of dealing 3 or more damage on the draw: 88.24 %
Total % of dealing 4 or more damage on the draw: 47.06 %
Total % of dealing 5 or more damage on the draw: 35.3 %
This means that at the very least, the card is a white Magma Jet that can't go to the face but scries 1 more card. The potential of being a Scry 3 Lightning Strike that can't go to the face or an instant scry 3 Flame Slash are also huge since as I said, you're more likely to draw 0 to 2 CMC cards than you are to draw 3-4 CMC cards. The only thing keeping it from being an auto include is the attacking and blocking clause, but at least it isn't just attacking or just blocking, and this only matters for combo decks like Presence of Gond or Familiar Storm, since if they never attack or block they will lose anyways.
I have seen Judge Unworthy in a few Hawks lists and I use it in my own as well. It definitely has paid off way more times than not. Even when it does fail, I still get the Scry out of it so it's never a complete waste.
Also, I only cast it on an attacking creature before I declare blockers, so in the cases where it might fall a point or two short of killing a creature then I can toss a Mage or Hawk in the way to trade or finish off the creature.
It's what I initially had, but in this format we lack the super quick ways of filling the graveyard that legacy has: Multiple color coming in untapped, Fetchlands (we can't really afford to run more than 5 without screwing ourselves a lot), Wasteland, Thoughtseize, Force of Will, a lot of 1 CMC cantrips that eat up deck space without doing anything in particular since we don't have tempo threats such as Tarmogoyf or Tombstalker... Without all that it's really hard to feed Treasure Cruise, which IMO is really a beast.
I'm trying to find a maindeck space for Cenn's Enlistment since that + Cruise can simply give you the game if it comes to a grindy late game situation: Enlistment produces dudes to fight the attrition on board while feeding Cruises and Cruise gives us the card advantage. This seems like a great way to fight off MBC, too. We negate both their discard and their removal by simply making more dudes.
Speaking of which, how has been Doomed Traveler testing for you? The more I think about the card, the more I like it, but I simply don't know what to take out for them.
Whops, forgot to credit the shop. I didn't do the banner myself. What do you guys think about Disdainful Stroke in the sideboard? It's really powerful against both MBC and Tron, two matchups that felt too even for my tastes. With Stroke, we can gain the upper hand in those matchups and counter their big stuff (Gary, Tendrils of Corruption and Corrupt in MBC, Fangren Marauder, Rolling Thunder and Mulldrifter along with other big creatures in Tron).
I will update the matchup section in the OP again in the next few days, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, let's talk about what a Red or Black splash could offer.
Just crossed my mind: would a singleton Ornithopter be worth running in the Trinket Mage package? It's a 0/2 evasive creature that can be fetched and costs 0 to cast, and carries equipment like a champ as other formats have showed us for quite some years now.
Interesting idea. I think you have enough creatures that carry equipment well already, and your other Trinket targets are just plain better in most situations.
What cards would you consider in the black or red splash? From what I can see, you would gain a lot in the removal department with Doom Blade or Jilt, but other than that, I can't see many creatures or spells of any kind making it in, off the top of my head. I suppose you could get fancy with Ravenous Rats into Kor Skyfisher and abuse ETB triggers.
The number of Squires and Refuges can be bumped to 4 and 8 respectively, but I'd honestly not have more than 10 lands coming into play tapped. Then I'd play some more instant speed removal like Judge Unworthy, Diabolic Edict (which helps a lot in the mainboard against Bogles), counters like Mana Leak (important that they don't have double-color requirement like Counterspell) and the usual draw + lifegain package consisting in Mulldrifter, Treasure Cruise and Aven Riftwatcher plus some number of disruption and a finisher like Guardian of the Guildpact.
Despite costing double-black, Liliana's Specter is the most promising creature card we can include in the deck: it caters with the EtB philosophy of the deck, meaning that even if it's killed as soon as it enters we have already gained an effect, it provides card advantage and disruption by making the opponent discard, it has 2 power and evasion to carry equips, and it's immune to Doom Blade. It's definitely a card worth testing.
So I am going to start testing this, Counterspell is just so hard to cast w/ double blue since you'd like to at least cantrip that turn as well and it is always awkward to tapout or hold it up since all of our cards are sorcery speed. Plus, our hand is always full with the CA we get in this deck and so we always have something to play.
This deck is all about just CA, CA, CA and cantripping to find either removal, threats, or more CA to grind out opponents (plus it fills the yard for Cruise).
Their really isn't any pure spell based combo anymore now that storm has been banned. The only hard matchups I could see having are Familiar and Tron but both arn't played that often and Tron may not even be that bad since we have removal that can kill their large things and we can probably jsut out CA their Mulldrifters.
Don't you miss some Aven Riftwatcher or Mulldrifter in the main? The card advantage that Mulldrifter provides is just ridiculous: if you cast him for his normal cost you get a +1 in the CA deparment while keeping a 2/2 flying body that can carry equipment to the red zone on board. And Aven Riftwatcher is simply amazing against Stompy, Burn, MBC and Delver. I would tone down the removal, probably some Sunlances since having cards that can be dead, in this particular case against Burn, Turbofog, White Weenie or Bogles (which is our worst matchup G1 if we don't carry Celestial Flare MB) is not good for a deck like this that feasts on card advantage. Of course we do need removal, but going overboard can spell doom.
I would also take down a set of cantrips in favor of a set of Mana Leak: they're easy to cast, they're pretty good against Delver and MBC, the two most important matchups due to sheer number, and can be used to disrupt people that are trying to combo out on the spot, aside from serving extra removal spells, and some more CoP: Green in the side, since Green decks are generally difficult matchups (Stompy, Infect, Bogles).
I am now exploring the possibility of Condescend: it's softer than Counterspell, but it's easier to cast and more reliable than Mana Leak in the late game, since we're playing a lot of cheap spells we can dump the extra mana on Condescend, and the ability to dig up for another answer while we're doing it is pretty big. My list right now:
I'm trying to fit in again at least 2 Aven Riftwatcher, the full 3 that I had if I can, but I currently don't know what to take out. As you can see, I'm testing Doomed Traveler as well like Chaam had in his list. I'm also trying to fit a singleton Dispeller's Capsule in the sideboard in order to further hate Affinity and Bogles and as splash damage against fringe played decks like Turbo Fog or Pestilence that rely on enchantments as their main win conditions. It's either that or another Disdainful Stroke, but I think two are alright for now.
I'd also have Judge Unworthy rather than Journey to Nowhere in this build since I need to feed treasure cruise and Judge can dig for more answers as I kill one of their threats. It usually goes for 3, and sometimes 4 damage, which coupled with a Desert or one of our expendable blockers like Traveler or Flayer Husk, should be enough to kill even a Fangren Marauder. Thoughts?
EDIT: For those interested, here's a calculator I quickly programmed myself to run the Judge Unworthy calcs. It can also be used to calculate your chance of seeing a certain type of card (for example an Instant, a CMC 3 card or any copy of your Trinket Mage) at any turn between the top X cards of the deck.
try {
divisor = card / cardsinlibrary;
} catch (ArithmeticException e) {
System.out.println("Error: you tried to divide by zero.");
return null;
}
if (topdeck == 0) {
multiplier = divisor * 100;
String result = Float.toString(multiplier);
return result;
} else {
multiplier = divisor * topdeck;
float percentage = multiplier * 100;
String result = Float.toString(percentage);
return result;
}
In the first variable, card, you introduce the number of cards that meet the criteria you're looking for (for example, number of instants, 3 CMC cards or Trinket Mage copies left in your deck). In the second variable, cardsinlibrary, as the name clearly indicates you introduce the numbers of card left in your library at the time you want to take the calcs into account (for example 53 if it's your first turn on the play without taking a mulligan). And in the third variable, topdeck, you introduce the number of cards you're looking at (3 for the Scry 3 of Judge Unworthy or drawing from Treasure Cruise, 2 for the Scry 2 of Condescend or drawing from Mulldrifter, 1 for a single draw like the one from your regular draw step or cantripping spells like Exclude, or 0 if you want to calc your chances of some card being in your opener.).
I will be editing the OP with this so it's easily available.
Thanks for pointing this out. The first one to appear was intended to be Judge Unworthy.
Also swapped back Counterspell for Condescend. The card is very good, but sometimes paying 5U for countering a spell and scrying 2 isn't worth it. Plus, I needed harder answers so Counterspell fits more the bill there.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the banner
Primer formatting idea taken from Kamahl, the Fallen
Original thread: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/casual-related-formats/paper-pauper-peasant/562038-deck-caw-blade
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Here's my decklist. It has some different card choices in it, but it's been very effective in testing.
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
3 Dispel
1 Exclude
2 Judge Unworthy
2 Lat-Nam's Legacy
2 Memory Lapse
Artifact
2 Bonesplitter
1 Conjurer's Bauble
1 Viridian Longbow
2 Hussar Patrol
3 Mulldrifter
1 Seraph of Dawn
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Trinket Mage
Enchantment
1x Empyrial Armor
3x Journey to Nowhere
1x Oblivion Ring
1 Ancient Den
4 Azorius Guildgate
3 Evolving Wilds
8 Island
5 Plains
1 Seat of the Synod
The primer could use a quick spell check. also, some card links don't work. Æther Adept comes up a few times.
I also think that the card ratings would be better placed before the explanatory texts, as they aren't helter skelter across the page.
I'll take a more in depth look at the primer a little later, but from my cursory read, it's great!
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
While browsing the KTK, I've found two tools that greatly enhace the deck: Tranquil Cove is a great dual land we can run as a 2-3 of alongside Kabira Crossroads. With the lands, Aven Riftwatcher and Sylvok Lifestaff, we're gaining a critical mass of life, which buys us a lot of tempo (something we need with so much ETB lands and 2-3 mana plays) and practically puts us out of range in burn / aggro matchups by helping us stabilize in a fast, sturdy manner that doesn't require dedicated cards (other than Riftwatcher, but it's just a great creature overall).
The second one is the one that has me the most excited. While it isn't instant speed, Treasure Cruise is just damn bonkers. With all the fetchland, counters, cantrips in Brainstorm, Riftwatchers dying by themselves, evoked Mulldrifters, instant speed removal, traded creatures, and so on and so forth this is practically Pauper's Ancestral Recall. The card advantage we get from this is totally unreal, since most of the time we can reduce it's cost to 3U or 2U without too much effort by just countering, fetching and cantripping, and later in the game it can be just cast for U. It even has synergy with the retrace spells, Oona's Grace and Cenn's Enlistment, which provide lands to fuel Delve. I'm super excited to test this card as a 2-of, replacing Think Twice, which although at instant speed, it nets us less card for around the same cost.
Overall, we will need to work out that manabase to accommodate the new duals without having too much ETB lands, and we will have to work around the counterspell and removal suite in order to have more instant speed removal, preferably non-conditional like Last Breath or Sunlance.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
This is the list I plan on building:
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
Sorceries (11)
2 Preordain
4 Ponder
3 Sunlance
2 Treasure Cruise
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
Enchantments (3)
3 Journey to Nowhere
Artifacts (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Viridian Longbow
Lands (21)
3 Evolving Wilds
3 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Seat of the Synod
2 Ancient Den
4 Tranquil Cove
5 Island
2 Plains
1 Sunlance
1 Journey to Nowhere
2 Aven Riftwatcher
3 Hydroblast
2 Dispel
2 Negate
2 Disenchant
1 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Relic of Progenitus
I also think you're very light on creatures even counting Doomed Traveler so a deck full of removal like the ubiquitous MBC will stomp you. My suggestion is that you use some mix of Guardian of the Guildpact for a solid, inevitable finisher kind of like True-Name Nemesis plays in Legacy Stoneblade decks, and Cenn's Enlistment in order to fight attrition decks, alongside Flayer Husk which gives you a toughness boosting equipment that comes with a body. Those two, which are the best reasons to splash white alongside removal, Hawks and Riftwatcher instead of playing a straight up Delver deck, alongside with some Mulldrifter and Treasure Cruise for refill and massive CA allow you for a much more solid mid to late game plan if your tempo gets disrupted and you fall behind. Some Aven Riftwatcher in the sideboard for taking the control role against super aggresive decks like Affinity or Burn.
Finally, if you're going for the full tempo gameplan, Daze and Quicksand seem like pretty good options that also fill your grave quickly to cast Cruise earlier. You could even try and splash some number of Delver of Secrets due to the amount of sheer cantrips you have.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
3 Aven Riftwatcher
4 Squadron Hawks
4 Trinket Mage
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
3 Mulldrifter
Enchantment (2)
2 Journey to Nowhere
Instant (14)
3 Judge Unworthy
4 Brainstorm
4 Mana Leak
3 Counterspell
3 Treasure Cruise
Equipment (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Flayer Husk
Land (23)
1 Ancient Den
3 Desert
1 Seat of the Synod
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Tranquil Cove
1 Kabira Crossroads
3 Plains
6 Island
The calcs are ran on the second turn both the draw and on the play and assuming you don't mulligan and it just considers the Judge Unworthy being cast and the 2 lands in play you need to cast it (IE it doesn't count the CMC of the cards you have in hand, but it's a rough estimate of the power of the card since having more lands and 1-2 CMC cards than 4+ CMC cards it means you're more likely going to draw land / 1-2 CMC spell, thus powering up potential damage).
1 CMC: 7
2 CMC: 15
3 CMC: 7
4 CMC: 2
5 CMC: 3
8 CMC: 3
% land on the play: 100 %
% 1 CMC on the play: 40.38 %
% 2 CMC on the play: 86.54 %
% 3 CMC on the play: 40.38 %
% 4 CMC on the play: 11.53 %
% 5 CMC on the play: 17.31 %
% 8 CMC on the play: 17.31 %
Total % of dealing 2 or more damage on the play: 100 %
Total % of dealing 3 or more damage on the play: 86.54 %
Total % of dealing 4 or more damage on the play: 46.15 %
Total % of dealing 5 or more damage on the play: 34.62 %
% land on the draw: 100 %
% 1 CMC on the draw: 41.18 %
% 2 CMC on the draw: 88.24 %
% 3 CMC on the draw: 41.18 %
% 4 CMC on the draw: 11.76 %
% 5 CMC on the draw: 17.65 %
% 6 CMC on the draw: 17.65 %
Total % of dealing 2 or more damage on the draw: 100%
Total % of dealing 3 or more damage on the draw: 88.24 %
Total % of dealing 4 or more damage on the draw: 47.06 %
Total % of dealing 5 or more damage on the draw: 35.3 %
This means that at the very least, the card is a white Magma Jet that can't go to the face but scries 1 more card. The potential of being a Scry 3 Lightning Strike that can't go to the face or an instant scry 3 Flame Slash are also huge since as I said, you're more likely to draw 0 to 2 CMC cards than you are to draw 3-4 CMC cards. The only thing keeping it from being an auto include is the attacking and blocking clause, but at least it isn't just attacking or just blocking, and this only matters for combo decks like Presence of Gond or Familiar Storm, since if they never attack or block they will lose anyways.
Thoughts?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Also, I only cast it on an attacking creature before I declare blockers, so in the cases where it might fall a point or two short of killing a creature then I can toss a Mage or Hawk in the way to trade or finish off the creature.
I'm trying to find a maindeck space for Cenn's Enlistment since that + Cruise can simply give you the game if it comes to a grindy late game situation: Enlistment produces dudes to fight the attrition on board while feeding Cruises and Cruise gives us the card advantage. This seems like a great way to fight off MBC, too. We negate both their discard and their removal by simply making more dudes.
Speaking of which, how has been Doomed Traveler testing for you? The more I think about the card, the more I like it, but I simply don't know what to take out for them.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Also, did you make the banner yourself? If you did not, you should let us know who made 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 will update the matchup section in the OP again in the next few days, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, let's talk about what a Red or Black splash could offer.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
What cards would you consider in the black or red splash? From what I can see, you would gain a lot in the removal department with Doom Blade or Jilt, but other than that, I can't see many creatures or spells of any kind making it in, off the top of my head. I suppose you could get fancy with Ravenous Rats into Kor Skyfisher and abuse ETB triggers.
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
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
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Leonin Squire
2 Executioner's Capsule
1 Bonesplitter
4 Brainstorm
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
6 Refuges
The number of Squires and Refuges can be bumped to 4 and 8 respectively, but I'd honestly not have more than 10 lands coming into play tapped. Then I'd play some more instant speed removal like Judge Unworthy, Diabolic Edict (which helps a lot in the mainboard against Bogles), counters like Mana Leak (important that they don't have double-color requirement like Counterspell) and the usual draw + lifegain package consisting in Mulldrifter, Treasure Cruise and Aven Riftwatcher plus some number of disruption and a finisher like Guardian of the Guildpact.
Despite costing double-black, Liliana's Specter is the most promising creature card we can include in the deck: it caters with the EtB philosophy of the deck, meaning that even if it's killed as soon as it enters we have already gained an effect, it provides card advantage and disruption by making the opponent discard, it has 2 power and evasion to carry equips, and it's immune to Doom Blade. It's definitely a card worth testing.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
This deck is all about just CA, CA, CA and cantripping to find either removal, threats, or more CA to grind out opponents (plus it fills the yard for Cruise).
Their really isn't any pure spell based combo anymore now that storm has been banned. The only hard matchups I could see having are Familiar and Tron but both arn't played that often and Tron may not even be that bad since we have removal that can kill their large things and we can probably jsut out CA their Mulldrifters.
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
Sorceries (14)
4 Preordain
4 Ponder
3 Sunlance
3 Treasure Cruise
4 Brainstorm
Enchantments (4)
4 Journey to Nowhere
Artifacts (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Viridian Longbow
Lands (21)
3 Evolving Wilds
3 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Seat of the Synod
2 Ancient Den
4 Tranquil Cove
5 Island
2 Plains
1 Sunlance
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Circle of Protection: White
1 Circle of Protection: Black
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Circle of Protection: Green
1 Circle of Protection: Blue
2 Aven Riftwatcher
2 Hydroblast
2 Revoke Existence
1 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Relic of Progenitus
I would also take down a set of cantrips in favor of a set of Mana Leak: they're easy to cast, they're pretty good against Delver and MBC, the two most important matchups due to sheer number, and can be used to disrupt people that are trying to combo out on the spot, aside from serving extra removal spells, and some more CoP: Green in the side, since Green decks are generally difficult matchups (Stompy, Infect, Bogles).
I am now exploring the possibility of Condescend: it's softer than Counterspell, but it's easier to cast and more reliable than Mana Leak in the late game, since we're playing a lot of cheap spells we can dump the extra mana on Condescend, and the ability to dig up for another answer while we're doing it is pretty big. My list right now:
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
3 Mulldrifter
Instant (14)
2 Condescend
4 Mana Leak
4 Brainstorm
4 Judge Unworthy
Sorcery (3)
3 Treasure Cruise
1 Flayer Husk
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Bonesplitter
Lands (23)
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Kabira Crossroads
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
3 Desert
6 Island
3 Plains
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Viridian Longbow
3 Circle of Protection: Green
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Hindering Light
3 Dust to Dust
I'm trying to fit in again at least 2 Aven Riftwatcher, the full 3 that I had if I can, but I currently don't know what to take out. As you can see, I'm testing Doomed Traveler as well like Chaam had in his list. I'm also trying to fit a singleton Dispeller's Capsule in the sideboard in order to further hate Affinity and Bogles and as splash damage against fringe played decks like Turbo Fog or Pestilence that rely on enchantments as their main win conditions. It's either that or another Disdainful Stroke, but I think two are alright for now.
I'd also have Judge Unworthy rather than Journey to Nowhere in this build since I need to feed treasure cruise and Judge can dig for more answers as I kill one of their threats. It usually goes for 3, and sometimes 4 damage, which coupled with a Desert or one of our expendable blockers like Traveler or Flayer Husk, should be enough to kill even a Fangren Marauder. Thoughts?
EDIT: For those interested, here's a calculator I quickly programmed myself to run the Judge Unworthy calcs. It can also be used to calculate your chance of seeing a certain type of card (for example an Instant, a CMC 3 card or any copy of your Trinket Mage) at any turn between the top X cards of the deck.
{
float divisor = 0;
float multiplier = 0;
try {
divisor = card / cardsinlibrary;
} catch (ArithmeticException e) {
System.out.println("Error: you tried to divide by zero.");
return null;
}
if (topdeck == 0) {
multiplier = divisor * 100;
String result = Float.toString(multiplier);
return result;
} else {
multiplier = divisor * topdeck;
float percentage = multiplier * 100;
String result = Float.toString(percentage);
return result;
}
In the first variable, card, you introduce the number of cards that meet the criteria you're looking for (for example, number of instants, 3 CMC cards or Trinket Mage copies left in your deck). In the second variable, cardsinlibrary, as the name clearly indicates you introduce the numbers of card left in your library at the time you want to take the calcs into account (for example 53 if it's your first turn on the play without taking a mulligan). And in the third variable, topdeck, you introduce the number of cards you're looking at (3 for the Scry 3 of Judge Unworthy or drawing from Treasure Cruise, 2 for the Scry 2 of Condescend or drawing from Mulldrifter, 1 for a single draw like the one from your regular draw step or cantripping spells like Exclude, or 0 if you want to calc your chances of some card being in your opener.).
I will be editing the OP with this so it's easily available.
Also, what do you guys think about Welking Hawk as Squadron Hawk 5-8?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
EDIT: Never mind, fixed it.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Journey to nowhere is listed twice in the primer
Also swapped back Counterspell for Condescend. The card is very good, but sometimes paying 5U for countering a spell and scrying 2 isn't worth it. Plus, I needed harder answers so Counterspell fits more the bill there.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Been messing around with this, going to try tonight how it works out.
4 trinket mage
2 mulldrifter
2 sea gate oracle
4 brainstorm
4 ponder
3 duress
2 countespell
2 mama leak
1 daze
1 vapor snag
3 snap
1 doom blade
3 disfigure
1 stlvok lifstaff
1 bone splitter
2 flayer husk
2 oblivion ring
1 azorius guildgate
1 dimire guildgate
4 orzhov guildgate
4 island
1 plains
1 swamp
1 seat of the synod
1 ancient den
1 vault of whispers
3 evolving wilds
Off the bat I got note creature control than you can shake a stick at. Few counters. Deffinatly 4 counter spell is a must. Leak sucks.
My mama base is bank. Never out of a color and I don't think its to slow. I need a way to pitch excess. If zombie infestation was common oh yes.
I am getting the new life lands next week.
If I can get a creature in quick with enough removal or counter magic I can hold out. A good burn feck might hurt me till I get lifegain going.
I need more bone splitters, I want atleast 3 tbh. I almost want a bomb better than muldrifter but nothing I find is worth it.
I love treasure cruse but thf more than 3 may be pushing it, if I can exile 14+ cards I had better be winning.