So I've been testing this out and feel like the deck has no good ways to close out a game fast. Creature base was 4 squad Hawks, 4 trinket Mage, 4 mulldrifter, 2 guardian of the guild pact. 3 artifacts and the usual cards that everyone has been playing such as brainstorm, prohibit, Gideon's reproach. I ended up 0-2-2 for the night. Losing to u/b teachings, u/r kiln fiend and drew against mono white and 4 color gate control. The gate control was a brew and won the game from 2 curse of the bloody tome. Not sure how people are successful with this deck but like anyone I want to make it work. The deck overall seemed lackluster and uninteresting to play however. The top of the standings were green stompy, mbc, u/r kiln fiend, blue delver, and a Jund brew. Very diverse metagame and was kind of disappointed since I knew what everyone was playing and they didn't know what I was playing at all. Maybe a more refined list and testing with sea gate oracle would help.
I ran Jeskai for a while last year back when Treasure Cruise was still legal and I think his Jeskai list can be a bit more refined, but is somewhat solid. I dislike his Azorius decklist, though. Here's what I think should be the core:
I would include up there at least 2-3 removal spells, 2-3 counters, 3 draw spells and 2 finishers of choice to round it up. The default number of artifact lands should be two of each unless you're playing something that requires artifacts like Artificer's Epiphany or Thoughtcast which require you to go up in your artifact land count.
@bugmage95
We're not about closing a game fast, that's for sure. We control the board, trade 1 for 1 as much as possible, then refill our hand and take the driver's seat. Your opening hands should include at least 2-3 counterspells or removal and 2-3 lands to cast them, with one Brainstorm if you're in the low end of both. You start countering every creature they play and removing each one that sticks, then when they're low on gas you cast Squadron Hawk or Mulldrifter and lock down the game from there. Kiln Fiend is an easy matchup, so definitely something went wrong there, maybe you kept the wrong hands or assumed the beatdown too early?
U/B Teachings is slow enough, so we prey on them. Counter Teachings and their relevant spells like Mulldrifter or Gurmag Angler, don't overextend so you don't fall prey to Evincar's Justice (if you have a Sylvok Lifestaff even better, because that means you're unkillable through Justice), and we can outdraw them if we play our cards right. Curse of the Bloody Tome is a tough card to beat G1, but if it sticks just keep your draws to the minimum necessary, pressure fast with a Bonesplitter (5-turn clock on 2-power creatures, 4 turn if you run Custodi Squire) and board in Dispeller's Capusle and your own Curses G2 and 3.
Is 1 copy the correct number of Bonesplitter? Yes you can tutor for it, but how often is a Bonesplitter dead in hand or bad in multiples? Two at least seems reasonable, no?
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I think Flayer Husk is better than the Homunculus because it can be equipped to good creatures to make them better, as opposed to just having a 2/2, which can have very little impact on the game.
Bonsplitter is of course very good in multiples. Having a variety of equipment is better in my opinion, because it allows you to make better plays with Trinket Mage according to what the opponent is playing. There is also very little room for multiples of equipment, and so fetchable stuff is usually the first thing to be reduced in number in order to make room for counters/removal/etc.
Flayer Husk is better because it doesn't really die, whereas Court Homunculus just needs a removal to fall dead. If the oponent kills the Germ, you can continue equipping Husk on other creatures to make them better. A 3/3 Mulldrifter or 3/4 Guardian of the Guildpact are pretty good creatures on their own, capable of pressuring fast and with evasion, and even a 3/3 Trinket Mage can be a roadblock for a lot of aggro decks who gum up the ground with their 1/1s and 2/2. It also equates to CA, since the Germ token it brings has to be dealt with.
You're right about Blazing Torch however, it's generally better and cheaper and brings with it a marginal effect that could be useful from time to time. It however requires a creature to equip, and for you to tap the creature, so I guess that's a point for Explosive Apparatus: it doesn't need creatures. However, since this isn't Modern / Legacy where you have a lot of creatures with toughness 2 > you want to kill, I don't think I would be running either, unless utility X/2 or X/1 creatures start popping up everywhere.
Finally, about Bonesplitter I agree it's exponentially better in multiples (except when you don't have any creatures out) and that it's not a bad draw, but since we can fetch for it and so little decks run artifact removal MB (and even then we can protect it with counters) I think 1 is enough. I ran 2 for a while since I had a flex spot, and the extra one was nifty and all, but in the end I needed space for something else and cut it out. In the end, you should achieve the same result if you're controlling the game and accumulating CA, only 2-3 turns later.
How does Puncturing Light compare to Gideon's Reproach? Ultimately I think it is not as good, since the majority of creatures with 3 or less power have 4 or less toughness. There are also a few creatures with 4+ power and low toughness (like a Stompy creature with Rancor attached). Also, you can combine Gideon's Reproach with combat damage to kill Gurmag Angler and the like. However, I could be wrong.
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UW Caw-Blade GW Bogles U Delver GBTolarian Community College's/Turn One Thoughtseize's $2 Dredge UR Drake RUG Murasa Tron
UWR Twin GW Bogles B 8-Rack (budget) UWR Delver/Geist UW Gifts Tron UR Bedlam Delver WRG Burn UBR Death's Shadow
UR Artifacts (~M15) UW Heroic (~Theros) WBR Warriors (~KTK) R Aggro (~Origins) RUG Wombo-Combo Energy (~Kaladesh)
How does Puncturing Light compare to Gideon's Reproach? Ultimately I think it is not as good, since the majority of creatures with 3 or less power have 4 or less toughness. There are also a few creatures with 4+ power and low toughness (like a Stompy creature with Rancor attached). Also, you can combine Gideon's Reproach with combat damage to kill Gurmag Angler and the like. However, I could be wrong.
I tried Puncturing Light a long time ago, before Gideon's Reproach even saw print. It did it's job, but only sometimes and never too well. It can't destroy Rancor or Bonesplitter boosted creatures, Atog and Wild Mongrel make it fizzle easily (they do so with Reproach too, but at the cost of a 2-for-1 with Atog and a 3-for-1 with Mongrel). It will never flat-out destroy a Kiln Fiend / Nivix Cyclops, or a Carapace Forger or a Myr Enforcer. Then Hooting Mandrills was also printed, so Puncturing Light almost always did nothing. Kill a Delver here, destroy a Stompy creature in response to pump there. Reproach is much, much better as it flat-out destroys 90% of Pauper's creatures, notable exceptions being Gurmag Angler, Fangren Marauder, and a super-pumped Atog or Mongrel.
Yesterday I went to a 24-man tournament in my LGS, with promo Arlinn Kord and regular Archangel Avacyn, Sorin, Grim Nemesis and Jace, Unraveler of Secrets as prizes for the top 4 respectively, on top of some boosters for the rest of the top 8 and an extra booster for everyone. This is the list I took:
I believe this can be definitely considered the stock list, with the flex spots being the 4 Accumulated Knowledge, 1 counterspell and 1 removal spell. Keep in mind that trimming one Knowledge means we're running 1-3 Artificer's Epiphany as the draw spell. The decklist functions very well against most of the meta, the obvious weak matchup being Bogles, which is not seen very much to start with. If Bogles becomes prevalent in a meta, swapping the Reproach for Celestial Flare (which by the way bypasses their Edict fodder, since Flare specifies attacking or blocking) and including Circle of Protection: Green or Standard Bearer (even Patrician's Scorn if you're up for narrow, all in hate) in your sideboard is the go-to strategy.
Round 1 vs MBC: 1-0
First round I got paired against MBC, with Sink into Takenuma as tech (we expected the meta to be slow) which I knew beforehand, so I was prepared against it. First match I won the dice roll, and opened with a turn 1 Tranquil Cove into a turn 2 Radiant Fountain. On her turn 2, she casts Sign in Blood, which I promptly deny with a Prohibit. Turn 3 I drop another land and cast Trinket Mage for a Sylvok Lifestaff. She plays a Chittering Rats, and I put the Lifestaff I fetched on top of the library as she passes the turn. I play and equip Sylvok Lifestaff and swing for 4, while she goes for the trade with Rats, leaving me at 26 life. Turn 4 she goes for a Sink into Takenuma, to which I swiftly responded with a Counterspell. At this point she has 4 cards in hand and I have a Squadron Hawk and an Accumulated Knowledge. I draw a 5th land, drop Hawk and equip Lifestaff onto it and pass, leaving UU up in order to feign another Counterspell in order to stop her from dropping Gray Merchant of Asphodel. She buys it and casts Chainer's Edict and eats the Hawk, gaining me 3 more life, and follows up with a Cuombajj Witches. EOT I cast the Knowledge and draw a Mulldrifter, then in the draw step I grab a Journey to Nowhere. I kill Witches and drop and equip another Hawk, and she goes for Gary. I draw a Tranquil Cove and attack with Hawk right into Disfigure, then I play the land and Mulldrifter to refuel the hand, drawing a Brainstorm and a Trinket Mage. She drops a land, flashes back the Edict to kill the Drifter, and passes the turn. I draw a Flayer Husk and play Brainstorm, drawing a Gideon's Reproach, a Prohibit and a land. I send the Husk and a Hawk back and play the land and a Hawk, shuffling the cards away and leaving 4 mana up for Reproach and Prohibit. Next turn she goes for another Sink into Takenuma, which I respond with a kicked Prohibit. She casts Sign in Blood and swings with Gary. I draw another Accumulated Knowledge, equip Staff onto the Hawk, play Trinket Mage fetching Bonesplitter and start pecking away with Hawk. She drops a land, plays a Phyrexian Rager and swings with Gary again, on which I use Gideon's Reproach. I draw a land, drop and equip Bonesplitter onto the Hawk and swing. She uses Geth's Verdict, I sacrifice Mage and she takes 4. She drops Gurmag Angler and at the end of the turn I cast Knowledge drawing a Brainstorm and a Land. Draw step I get a Counterspell and I use Brainstorm in order to desperately dig for a Journey. I get the Journey and exile the Angler, while hitting again with Hawk. On her turn she casts another Gary right into my Counterspell. From there on, she was left with no hand and I kept playing threats and swinging with equipment while removing or countering all her plays. Second match started more or less the same, but we didn't manage to finish in time, so I went to round 2 1-0.
Round 2 vs Izzet Blitz: 2-0
This is one of the deck's easiest matchups, and it's quite easy to see why: we have more answers than they have threats. The stock lists usually run a full playset of Delver of Secrets, Kiln Fiend and Nivix Cyclops, and that's it. Furthermore, they're also geared towards dealing 20 damage as soon as possible, so incidental lifegain from our manabase directly messes with their combo turn, because they'll have to play more spells the more life we have. The first match I win the dice roll and open with a Tranquil Cove. He plays a Swiftwater Cliffs and passes back. I play Seat of the Synod and hold a Counterspell back to counter Ichor Wellspring thinking it's Kuldotha Jeskai. He plays Kiln Fiend directly into it, and I counter it. I play an Evolving Wilds and pass the turn, holding a Prohibit in case he decides to drop Delver or another Fiend. He drops Nivix Cyclops, which I can't counter, but I don't sweat it that much since I have a Gideon's Reproach in hand. I play a Radiant Fountain, go up to 23 life and pass the turn back. He tries to go all in for the combo, confident in that even if the spells don't resolve, the "cast" clause on Cyclops will allow him to hit me for a good chunk of damage. He plays a Chain Lightning on me, making me go down to 20 and making the Cyclops a 4/4. He then proceeds to cast Temur Battle Rage which makes Cyclops a double-striking 7/4, taking a huge toll on my life and ending the game in the next turn. I Gideon's Reproach it, and he responds with Apostle's Blessing on the Cyclops, growing it into 10/4 and making it able to swing for lethal now. However, I Prohibit the Blessing, and the 10/4 killing machine isn't able to get it's protection up and dies to the Reproach, leaving my life the same as the beginning of the match. He concedes there, having both his threat nuked, only 2 cards in hand, and me still up at full health. I sideboard in Circle of Protection: Red, mulligan to 6, and keep a risky, slow hand with just Evolving Wilds as a land, Brainstorm, Circle of Protection: Red, Journey to Nowhere, Squadron Hawk and Counterspell. I scry a Trinket Mage down to the bottom and pray. He starts with Cliffs again, and I draw a Bonesplitter, play Wilds and fetch for an Island. He plays Kiln Fiend, and next turn I draw Cenn's Enlistment. I cast Brainstorm, hoping to rip a white mana from the top, and I see a saving Tranquil Cove. I play it and pass the turn. He drops a land, plays Ponder and Lightning Bolt, and I go down to 11 life. Next turn I drop the saving CoP: Red and he concedes on the spot, only having Dispel as backup and no ways to get rid of the Circle.
Round 3 vs Kuldotha Jeskai: 2-1
He wins the roll and opens up with a Tranquil Cove, which I mirror on my own turn. On turn two he drops an Ancient Den and plays Prophetic Prism to draw a card and fix for Red. I play a Plains and pass the turn. He plays a Kor Skyfisher trying to start the engine and I Prohibit it. I play a Radiant Fountain into Trinket Mage and search for a Sylvok Lifestaff in order to come ahead when we start trading resources. He plays Glint Hawk, bouncing and replaying Prophetic Prism, and leaving one Great Furnace up for a burn spell. I swing with Trinket Mage after playing a Seat of the Synod and he uses a Lightning Bolt on it. I pass the turn holding up Gideon's Reproach and Counterspell. He plays a Mulldrifter right into Counterspell thinking I was holding up for a Kicked Prohibit. He attacks me and Glint Hawk gets destroyed by Reproach. I play Evolving Wilds, cast Squadron Hawk refilling my hand, and cast and equip Sylvok Lifestaff into it. Next turn he casts another Kor Skyfisher returning Prism, replays it and plays an Ichor Wellspring. I draw another Prohibit, and use Journey to Nowhere on the Skyfisher, then peck away with hawk. On his turn he casts Kuldotha Rebirth sacrificing Ichor Wellspring, which I counter with Prohibit, but he still gets to draw a card. He plays another Ichor Wellspring, then uses Glint Hawk to bounce it back. I swing with Hawk, and he casts Galvanic Blast on it. I play Mulldrifter and play a land, leaving two Blue mana open to bait him into not playing something impactful. He casts Journey to Nowhere on my Drifter, swings with Hawk, and plays Faithless Looting. He plays a Skyfisher and bounces the Prism, then replays it. At the end of the turn I play Accumulated Knowledge. I draw a Counterspell and then a Gideon's Reproach in my draw step. I drop a land and play a Hawk, equip Staff, and save mana up for Reproach and Counterspell and pass the turn. He plays another Drifter into the Counterspell thinking I'm bluffing again, and then Galvanic Blasts the Hawk and swings with his own Hawk and Skyfisher. I destroy the Skyfisher with Reproach, and play a Mulldrifter on my turn. I draw a Journey to Nowhere on my turn and use it on his Hawk, while equipping Lifestaff on Drifter. He Bolts Drifter in response and goes to his turn. He casts a Prism and a Wellspring, visibly running out of cards. I draw the Cenn's Enlistment and then proceed to bury him in CA from there. I boarded in Dust to Dust, a Curse of the Bloody Tome and Dispeller's Capsule. Game 2 I keep a 2-land hand with Prohibit, Gideon's Reproach, Trinket Mage and Accumulated Knowledge after taking 1 Mullingan, and lost due to not seeing the third land until it was too late. Third game I kept a hand with Brainstorm, two lands, two Dust to Dust, a Prohibit and a Gideon's Reproach. It worked really well since I draw the third land in my first draw step and proceeded from there. I destroyed his rocks and an Ancient Den, cutting him out of White mana and stopping the engine cold, then around turn 5 or 6 I dropped Curse of the Bloody Tome and stalled him in his attrition game, which gave me the victory 2 turns short of making it a draw. I can't stress enough how good Dust to Dust is in the current metagame, since it's at the very least a double Stone Rain against both Affinity and Kuldotha Jeskai, while also killing threats in the former and stopping the later's draw engine. I played a friendly match against Affinity between rounds and Dust to Dust utterly wrecked it every time I cast it.
Round 4 vs Mystical Teachings: 2-0
Another Control vs Control match. Teachings is way slower than us, so we have plenty of time to prepare and set up the beatdown. I win the roll and we play nothing but lands the first 3 turns. On the 4th turn he plays Dimir Aqueduct bouncing his Dismal Backwater and leaving him with only UB open, an opportunity which I quickly seize to drop Squadron Hawk under the Counterspell radar. He casts a Prohibit, to which I respond with one of my own, and draw 3 Hawks into my hand. He plays a Pristine Talisman and passes the turn back. I play Trinket Mage, which he lets resolve, and I search for a Sylvok Lifestaff. He taps the Talisman for life EOT and then proceeds to cast an Evincar's Justice with Buyback, wiping my board. I play a Mulldrifter and play and equip the Lifestaff to it, leave two mana up and pass the turn. He plays a land and passes back. I attack with Drifter, and he uses Mystical Teachings to search for Disfigure then plays it, which I counter with a Counterspell, then pass the turn. He plays Chainer's Edict and I sacrifice Drifter, gaining 3 life in the process. I draw Cenn's Enlistment and play it, equipping Sylvok Lifestaff to one of them to nullify his Evincar's Justice wincon and force him to win by other means. EOT he casts another Teachings and gets Echoing Decay, killing both tokens. However, I start grinding him out with the Enlistment's retrace, forcing him to repeatedly cast Justice in order to wipe the board and slowly kill himself while I gain life thanks to Lifestaff. At some point he draws another Pristine Talisman, and he completely negates the damage from Justice, so the game comes to a halt until I sandbag enough counterspells to start a war. He casts Justice, which I try to counter with a kicked Prohibit. He Dispels the Prohibit and I Counterspell the Prohibit. He Deprives the Counterspell, and I use another Counterspell on his Deprive. Not having enough mana left to keep up with the draw and losing his wincon, he concedes there in order to have enough time to at least make it a draw. I board in Feldon's Cane, Hindering Light, both Curse of the Bloody Tome and leave 2 Journey to Nowhere in case Gurmag Angler appears. This game was a lot quicker than the first one: I mulliganed down to 5 searching for a Curse (which I didn't get), then aggressively Brainstormed in order to dig for one. I found it at the end of his turn 5. He let Brainstorm resolve, and had 3 mana untapped (he played a Dimir Aqueduct bouncing a land). I dropped a land and played Squadron Hawk trying to bait a counter. He falls for it, casts Counterspell on Squadron Hawk, then landed the Curse. The game came to a stalemate, with both countering each other's cards and drawing more. Eventually, I resolved Lifestaff through another counter war and he conceded there, seeing that he wasn't going to be able to win through it in time.
Round 5 vs Tortured Existence: 1-1
We didn't play through this round because we were both hungry and we had the top 1 and 2 secured, so we made it a draw and went to eat together in the meanwhile. We decided not to play a casual match just in case we got paired in the top 8, since we didn't want the other to know the deck we were playing. I know this was TortEx because just as we thought, we got paired later in the day.
My record so far was 4-0-1, the highest so far alongside the TortEx guy since there were no 5-0's.
Top 8, quarter finals vs Izzet Control: 2-1
Another slow, Control match, like every one before it except the Izzet Blitz one. Here I saw Pyre Hound in action, and it's a really good UR Control card: he grows naturally by just playing the game and has evasion of his own. His only downfall was it's lack of protection, which he covered with countermagic and another finisher option in Calcite Snapper. The deck copied and mixed aspects of both Teachings and Kuldotha Jeskai very well: it had Teachings lifegain manabase to fend off aggro with Pristine Talisman, Radiant Fountain, Swiftwater Cliffs and Izzet Boilerworks, while it also used the very same Talisman, Artifact lands and Serrated Arrows to power up Galvanic Blasts and Thoughtcasts. Deprive rounded it up as a solid counterspell that bounced the lands to gain life and turn on Calcite Snapper. First game was an attrition war through counterspells, removal and card draw which he managed to win through thanks to a resolved Calcite Snapper (which I had no ways of getting rid of) coupled with some help of Lightning Bolts, Galvanic Blasts and Firebolts to the dome. I boarded in two Dust to Dust, two Curse of the Bloody Tome and Hindering Lights. We started fighting counter and removal wars again for straight up 10 minutes, in which a Curse got countered, until I managed to resolve the second one. He resolved Calcite Snapper again, but I held it off long enough for the Curse to make it's job. Third game both Curses got countered, and he resolved a Curse of his own. I managed to take down some of his lands with Dust to Dust, slowing him down a little bit. I took the beatdown role with Bonesplitter-equipped Hawks and started bashing his face before he could manage to start recovering life. He stabilized and played a Pyre Hound which grew all the way up to 5/6. I could not find a Journey to Nowhere anywhere and I now had to race the trampling Red Tarmogoyf and the Curse. Eventually, I drew a Journey to Nowhere and managed to resolve it, exiling the Hound, and some axe-wielding Kithkin tokens finished the job with 7 cards in the library and 4 life left.
Top 8, semifinals vs Izzet Blitz: 2-1
The guy from before managed to sneak into the semifinals of the top 8 by taking advantage of the predicted slow meta with the Izzet Blitz deck, and we faced each other again. The games went pretty similar than the ones before: he tried to win as quick as possible while I tried to answer all his threats 1 for 1 and leave him with useless spells in hand. Game 1 he started pretty fast and left me at 8 life with Delver of Secrets beatdown + burn, helped by some beats of Kiln Fiend. However, I managed to answer the fiend, and resolved Sylvok Lifestaff in order to start gaining life. Hawks traded with Delver, and I started refilling my hand with Drifters and Knowledges, which eventually led to his doomfall. Game 2 I got mana screwed on two lands and saw no CoP: Red, so he stole the win away quickly with both a Kiln Fiend and a Nivix Cyclops beating me down. Game 3 was the quickest game I've had in a while: I dropped Evolving Wilds on turn 1, while he went with Ponder. I cracked the Wilds for Plains EOT, then dropped a Seat of the Synod and played CoP: Red, to which he conceded on the spot.
Top 8, finals vs Tortured Existence: 1-2
The guy from before got to the finals with a classic Golgari Existence deck. He didn't splash White for Auramancer, Lone Missionary and Kor Skyfisher. He had a deck full of diverse silver bullets like Faerie Macabre against Flashback / Graveyard decks, Wickerbough Elder against Artifacts / Enchantments, Augur of Skulls against Control, Brindle Boar against Aggro decks, Krosan Tusker as uncountereable mana-fixing, dredge engine and card draw, Crypt Rats against tokens & swarm decks, and Spore Frog as a "Fog every turn" card against decks like Kiln Fiend, Infect or Bogles. He also packed Sanitarium Skeleton, which did some serious work as an inevitability engine coupled with TortEx, and Arrogant Wurm for cheap, fat TortEx enablers. Game 1 he won the dice roll and dropped Tortured Existence right away from the first turn. I started countering and removing his creatures, but it was no use: slowly, he overwhelmed me with Grave Scrabblers returning two creatures and Arrogant Wurm putting fat on the battlefield while resurrecting guys. Sanitarium Skeleton was just the final nail in the coffin: the creature was simply impossible for me to interact with. He never played it, so I couldn't counter it or remove it, and even if I could it would come back right away (Journey to Nowhere being the exception). Game 2 it took him longer to drop the TortEx, since I countered the first one in turn 3 after he found it with Commune with the Gods in turn 2. I dropped a Trinket Mage, finding Relic of Progenitus in order to slow him down from dredging. I gained time removing creatures with Journey to Nowhere and countering his cards while beating down with Mulldrifter, until I finally nuked his entire 'yard when it was about 12 cards. A second Mage searching for Dispeller's Capsule took care of the TortEx he had on the field while I delivered the final beats. Game 3 he took a bit to get going, but after he finally dropped TortEx, he reduced my hand to dust looping Augur of Skulls again and again while beating with Arrogant Wurms and Gurmag Anglers. As I expected, Sanitarium Skeleton performed crazy good, and according to his reports, he was never sad to see it, even if it was on the early turns when he didn't have TortEx, as he's a chumpblocker and Edict fodder. I really believe this deck will start slowly becoming the Pod of Pauper once more utility creatures see print at common.
Overall, the experience was pretty good as always, and I ended up second taking an Archangel Avacyn. The SB cards that overperformed were certainly Dust to Dust: the card is an absolute beast in this meta, where Affinity runs rampant and other decks think that they can run Artifact lands with no downside or punishment. Curse of the Bloody Tome is also a very real wincon, and I'd totally maindeck it in slow metas, as I found myself siding it in in almost all matchups. If the balance between fast decks and slow decks in the format is good enough, I think it could even see MB play.
Stompy has been on the rise lately, but I haven't heard practically any reports on how Caw-Blade fares against it. I've yet to play against Stompy myself. What should I expect? How good is the matchup? Does it play out similarly to goblins?
Also posting this in the MTGO pauper forum.
EDIT: I'm aware that the primer already covers the stompy matchup, but that section of the primer also mentions cards that aren't really played in Caw-Blade lists anymore such as Spell Pierce, Daze, Spreading Seas, Aven Riftwatcher, Quicksand, Sunlance and Standard Bearer. Does anyone know how good the stompy matchup is with newer lists?
I'll reply on both threads so people who don't frequent both forums can see the answer.
Against Stompy you'll want to aggressively trade 1 for 1 like any other Aggro deck, with a few minor notes. Ideally, you want to snipe out fast-mana guys like Nettle Sentinel (Can spam Gather Courage for free, literally) and Quirion Ranger in order to keep them from flooding the board too fast. Kill them on sight either with a timely counterspell or a Journey to Nowhere. Second, Rancor is a must counter. It's one of the few spells that grant Trample, and as a recursive buff it can do a lot of damage. Third, Hunger of the Howlpack. While not as deadly as Rancor, putting three +1/+1 counters can really steal the game away if you don't have a way to kill the threat, so try to counter it.
Search for Sylvok Lifestaff and trade your guys with them. Don't sweat it if they pump in response as you're still trading 1 for 1 while gaining life (unless they have Trample) Bait pump spells with Gideon's Reproach, and if you can counter them, better.
Those cards are tweaks you can made to the stock list. If you feel that you will need them for your meta, they're still playable, so tweak accordingly!
Hey guys, so the main cards I see in Eternal Masters that we would consider in Caw-Blade would be Peregrine Drake, Warden of Evos Isle, and maybe Humble. Also Stupefying Touch might be a sideboard card. Thoughts? I think we might be able to use both flyers. 1-mana Squadron Hawk, 3-4-mana Mulldrifter and 2-3-mana Seraph of Dawn seems legit. I'll try to post a preliminary list utilizing some of these cards soon.
The set also reminded me of Memory Lapse, although we already have access to it, is it a card we can consider in Caw-Blade or is it better to just max out on Counterspell/Prohibit?
Hey guys, so the main cards I see in Eternal Masters that we would consider in Caw-Blade would be Peregrine Drake, Warden of Evos Isle, and maybe Humble. Also Stupefying Touch might be a sideboard card. Thoughts? I think we might be able to use both flyers. 1-mana Squadron Hawk, 3-4-mana Mulldrifter and 2-3-mana Seraph of Dawn seems legit. I'll try to post a preliminary list utilizing some of these cards soon.
The set also reminded me of Memory Lapse, although we already have access to it, is it a card we can consider in Caw-Blade or is it better to just max out on Counterspell/Prohibit?
The only one I like there is Peregrine Drake, because it's a flyer that eats up oppossing Faeries, Mulldrifters and Glint Hawks unequipped, stonewalls Spire Golem and Kor Skyfisher unequipped and eats them up when equipped, and costs virtually no mana (although it's vulnerable to counterspells, so that's something to be wary of). Warden of Evos Isle is too low-impact IMO, just a Wind Drake that doesn't provide any value upon ETB and that has to stick in order to pay off. We can pass it. Humble is pretty bad removal considering the options we have. Stupefying Touch seems legit as SB tech, but what activated abilities are we interested in stopping besides Cuombajj Witches?
Memory Lapse is a tempo card, like a Pauper Remand but rather than drawing a card, it negates a draw step for the opponent. I don't like it here.
What are the pros/cons of running Cenn's Enlistment v. Guardian of the guildpact. I have guardian in at the moment, but I see most people running Cenn. Is Cenn better?
Cenn was mainly used to combat MBC's myriad of Edict effects since you can always keep retracing it and outgrind them. But since we draw so many cards anyways and MBC is nowhere to be seen, Guardian of the Guildpact is what I run right now.
Is the deck you mentioned back on your APR. 11 post on page 8 basically what you're running still with 1 guardian instead of cenn now? I'm wondering if 1 is enough on him or not atm.
Here's my actual list, although I haven't played it very much thanks to Drake. I guess I'll retake it once Kaladesh hits the shelves and Drake gets the banhammer:
I'll revamp the sideboard once the meta settles after bans and Kaladesh. For now I'll swap Flayer Husk for Inventor's Goggles and maybe the 3 Drifters and a land for 4 Ponder, but I'm hesitating a lot on pulling the trigger on that one. I hope we at least get some good removal / counterspell since the block seems chock full of tokens and efficient cards.
It's super expensive so I don't have high hopes, but having access to tutorable Vindicate in a format like this is always good. I'm going to test both this and Implement of Improvement, even if the latter is just a formality.
The mana cost certainly seems like a huge drawback, but then again being tutorable at least makes it interesting for the sideboard when dealing with many problematic permanents. What deck would this be effective against?
I think it's more useful in MB than SB. It helps against Dimir Teachings by breaking Curse of the Bloody Tome and against Turbi Fog by hitting Jace's Erasure. Curse of the Pierced Heart, Oubliette/Journey to Nowhere and Domain Zoo's enchantments are also interesting targets. Hitting vehicles if they start seeing play (Renegade Freighter already does to some extent) and some other artifacts is also a good point. While Dispeller's Capsule is a more efficient and streamlined card to draw from the sideboard, having it in the MB can make it a dead draw a lot of the time against decks with no targets. This would solve the problem in G1 and come out for Dispeller in G2 and 3.
Hello guys!
What do you think about 2 Propeller Pioneer ?
This enable an Inventor's Goggles a Bladed Bracers and makes very good synergy with both.
In my last tests making a 5/5 flying vigilance was a very good finisher against aggro decks like mono green.
And If using blades I'll try to use Sea gate Oracle instead of drifters.
The only non human Will be the Hawks.
Hello guys!
What do you think about 2 Propeller Pioneer ?
This enable an Inventor's Goggles a Bladed Bracers and makes very good synergy with both.
In my last tests making a 5/5 flying vigilance was a very good finisher against aggro decks like mono green.
And If using blades I'll try to use Sea gate Oracle instead of drifters.
The only non human Will be the Hawks.
4 CMC for a non-resilient threat seems one mana too expensive to be playable. For a flying 2/1 that comes with a Token there's Eldrazi Skyspawner and I'm not sure if I would play it. The Artificer/Human synergies aren't worth the extra mana IMO, but I'm pretty sure there's some Human or Artificer out there worth playing if you really want it. I haven't revisited the Human spin on the deck in a long while, so maybe you're willing to provide some options and results on that front?
How does Aether Swooper look for this deck? It is an artificer, so it works with the goggles, but is it worth it? It can produce a 1/1 token that's an artifact, which at that point with all the equipment and artifact lands we could consider a red splash for Galvanic Blast and other Metalcraft options. The only downside is the Token created is a Servo and not a Thopter, so it does not have Flying, but at that point I'm sure it would be an Uncommon card.
Are there any other good Energy cards that would go well with Caw Blade to help push Aether Swooper for this deck or is Swooper too lacking in power to be considered?
I ran Jeskai for a while last year back when Treasure Cruise was still legal and I think his Jeskai list can be a bit more refined, but is somewhat solid. I dislike his Azorius decklist, though. Here's what I think should be the core:
4 Trinket Mage
4 Mulldrifter
4 Squadron Hawk
Instant (8)
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Journey to Nowhere
Equipment (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Flayer Husk
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Ancient Den
2 Seat of the Synod
I would include up there at least 2-3 removal spells, 2-3 counters, 3 draw spells and 2 finishers of choice to round it up. The default number of artifact lands should be two of each unless you're playing something that requires artifacts like Artificer's Epiphany or Thoughtcast which require you to go up in your artifact land count.
@bugmage95
We're not about closing a game fast, that's for sure. We control the board, trade 1 for 1 as much as possible, then refill our hand and take the driver's seat. Your opening hands should include at least 2-3 counterspells or removal and 2-3 lands to cast them, with one Brainstorm if you're in the low end of both. You start countering every creature they play and removing each one that sticks, then when they're low on gas you cast Squadron Hawk or Mulldrifter and lock down the game from there. Kiln Fiend is an easy matchup, so definitely something went wrong there, maybe you kept the wrong hands or assumed the beatdown too early?
U/B Teachings is slow enough, so we prey on them. Counter Teachings and their relevant spells like Mulldrifter or Gurmag Angler, don't overextend so you don't fall prey to Evincar's Justice (if you have a Sylvok Lifestaff even better, because that means you're unkillable through Justice), and we can outdraw them if we play our cards right. Curse of the Bloody Tome is a tough card to beat G1, but if it sticks just keep your draws to the minimum necessary, pressure fast with a Bonesplitter (5-turn clock on 2-power creatures, 4 turn if you run Custodi Squire) and board in Dispeller's Capusle and your own Curses G2 and 3.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Is 1 copy the correct number of Bonesplitter? Yes you can tutor for it, but how often is a Bonesplitter dead in hand or bad in multiples? Two at least seems reasonable, no?
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Bonsplitter is of course very good in multiples. Having a variety of equipment is better in my opinion, because it allows you to make better plays with Trinket Mage according to what the opponent is playing. There is also very little room for multiples of equipment, and so fetchable stuff is usually the first thing to be reduced in number in order to make room for counters/removal/etc.
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
You're right about Blazing Torch however, it's generally better and cheaper and brings with it a marginal effect that could be useful from time to time. It however requires a creature to equip, and for you to tap the creature, so I guess that's a point for Explosive Apparatus: it doesn't need creatures. However, since this isn't Modern / Legacy where you have a lot of creatures with toughness 2 > you want to kill, I don't think I would be running either, unless utility X/2 or X/1 creatures start popping up everywhere.
Finally, about Bonesplitter I agree it's exponentially better in multiples (except when you don't have any creatures out) and that it's not a bad draw, but since we can fetch for it and so little decks run artifact removal MB (and even then we can protect it with counters) I think 1 is enough. I ran 2 for a while since I had a flex spot, and the extra one was nifty and all, but in the end I needed space for something else and cut it out. In the end, you should achieve the same result if you're controlling the game and accumulating CA, only 2-3 turns later.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
UW Caw-Blade
GW Bogles
U Delver
GBTolarian Community College's/Turn One Thoughtseize's $2 Dredge
UR DrakeRUG Murasa Tron
UWR TwinGW BoglesB 8-Rack (budget)UWR Delver/GeistUW Gifts TronUR Bedlam DelverWRG Burn
UBR Death's Shadow
UR Artifacts(~M15)UW Heroic(~Theros)WBR Warriors(~KTK)R Aggro(~Origins)RUG Wombo-Combo Energy (~Kaladesh)
My (upgradable) $150 Modern budget UR Delver (possibly outdated): http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/budget-modern/738332-ur-bedlam-delver
My Pauper Cube: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/69019
I tried Puncturing Light a long time ago, before Gideon's Reproach even saw print. It did it's job, but only sometimes and never too well. It can't destroy Rancor or Bonesplitter boosted creatures, Atog and Wild Mongrel make it fizzle easily (they do so with Reproach too, but at the cost of a 2-for-1 with Atog and a 3-for-1 with Mongrel). It will never flat-out destroy a Kiln Fiend / Nivix Cyclops, or a Carapace Forger or a Myr Enforcer. Then Hooting Mandrills was also printed, so Puncturing Light almost always did nothing. Kill a Delver here, destroy a Stompy creature in response to pump there. Reproach is much, much better as it flat-out destroys 90% of Pauper's creatures, notable exceptions being Gurmag Angler, Fangren Marauder, and a super-pumped Atog or Mongrel.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
UW Caw-Blade
GW Bogles
U Delver
GBTolarian Community College's/Turn One Thoughtseize's $2 Dredge
UR DrakeRUG Murasa Tron
UWR TwinGW BoglesB 8-Rack (budget)UWR Delver/GeistUW Gifts TronUR Bedlam DelverWRG Burn
UBR Death's Shadow
UR Artifacts(~M15)UW Heroic(~Theros)WBR Warriors(~KTK)R Aggro(~Origins)RUG Wombo-Combo Energy (~Kaladesh)
My (upgradable) $150 Modern budget UR Delver (possibly outdated): http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/budget-modern/738332-ur-bedlam-delver
My Pauper Cube: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/69019
4 Mulldrifter
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
Artifact (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Flayer Husk
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
Enchantment (4)
4 Journey to Nowhere
Sorcery (1)
1 Cenn's Enlistment
Instant (18)
4 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Prohibit
3 Gideon's Reproach
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Radiant Fountain
2 Seat of the Synod
2 Ancient Den
6 Island
2 Plains
1 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Curse of the Bloody Tome
2 Hindering Light
2 Holy Light
3 Dust to Dust
I believe this can be definitely considered the stock list, with the flex spots being the 4 Accumulated Knowledge, 1 counterspell and 1 removal spell. Keep in mind that trimming one Knowledge means we're running 1-3 Artificer's Epiphany as the draw spell. The decklist functions very well against most of the meta, the obvious weak matchup being Bogles, which is not seen very much to start with. If Bogles becomes prevalent in a meta, swapping the Reproach for Celestial Flare (which by the way bypasses their Edict fodder, since Flare specifies attacking or blocking) and including Circle of Protection: Green or Standard Bearer (even Patrician's Scorn if you're up for narrow, all in hate) in your sideboard is the go-to strategy.
Round 1 vs MBC: 1-0
First round I got paired against MBC, with Sink into Takenuma as tech (we expected the meta to be slow) which I knew beforehand, so I was prepared against it. First match I won the dice roll, and opened with a turn 1 Tranquil Cove into a turn 2 Radiant Fountain. On her turn 2, she casts Sign in Blood, which I promptly deny with a Prohibit. Turn 3 I drop another land and cast Trinket Mage for a Sylvok Lifestaff. She plays a Chittering Rats, and I put the Lifestaff I fetched on top of the library as she passes the turn. I play and equip Sylvok Lifestaff and swing for 4, while she goes for the trade with Rats, leaving me at 26 life. Turn 4 she goes for a Sink into Takenuma, to which I swiftly responded with a Counterspell. At this point she has 4 cards in hand and I have a Squadron Hawk and an Accumulated Knowledge. I draw a 5th land, drop Hawk and equip Lifestaff onto it and pass, leaving UU up in order to feign another Counterspell in order to stop her from dropping Gray Merchant of Asphodel. She buys it and casts Chainer's Edict and eats the Hawk, gaining me 3 more life, and follows up with a Cuombajj Witches. EOT I cast the Knowledge and draw a Mulldrifter, then in the draw step I grab a Journey to Nowhere. I kill Witches and drop and equip another Hawk, and she goes for Gary. I draw a Tranquil Cove and attack with Hawk right into Disfigure, then I play the land and Mulldrifter to refuel the hand, drawing a Brainstorm and a Trinket Mage. She drops a land, flashes back the Edict to kill the Drifter, and passes the turn. I draw a Flayer Husk and play Brainstorm, drawing a Gideon's Reproach, a Prohibit and a land. I send the Husk and a Hawk back and play the land and a Hawk, shuffling the cards away and leaving 4 mana up for Reproach and Prohibit. Next turn she goes for another Sink into Takenuma, which I respond with a kicked Prohibit. She casts Sign in Blood and swings with Gary. I draw another Accumulated Knowledge, equip Staff onto the Hawk, play Trinket Mage fetching Bonesplitter and start pecking away with Hawk. She drops a land, plays a Phyrexian Rager and swings with Gary again, on which I use Gideon's Reproach. I draw a land, drop and equip Bonesplitter onto the Hawk and swing. She uses Geth's Verdict, I sacrifice Mage and she takes 4. She drops Gurmag Angler and at the end of the turn I cast Knowledge drawing a Brainstorm and a Land. Draw step I get a Counterspell and I use Brainstorm in order to desperately dig for a Journey. I get the Journey and exile the Angler, while hitting again with Hawk. On her turn she casts another Gary right into my Counterspell. From there on, she was left with no hand and I kept playing threats and swinging with equipment while removing or countering all her plays. Second match started more or less the same, but we didn't manage to finish in time, so I went to round 2 1-0.
Round 2 vs Izzet Blitz: 2-0
This is one of the deck's easiest matchups, and it's quite easy to see why: we have more answers than they have threats. The stock lists usually run a full playset of Delver of Secrets, Kiln Fiend and Nivix Cyclops, and that's it. Furthermore, they're also geared towards dealing 20 damage as soon as possible, so incidental lifegain from our manabase directly messes with their combo turn, because they'll have to play more spells the more life we have. The first match I win the dice roll and open with a Tranquil Cove. He plays a Swiftwater Cliffs and passes back. I play Seat of the Synod and hold a Counterspell back to counter Ichor Wellspring thinking it's Kuldotha Jeskai. He plays Kiln Fiend directly into it, and I counter it. I play an Evolving Wilds and pass the turn, holding a Prohibit in case he decides to drop Delver or another Fiend. He drops Nivix Cyclops, which I can't counter, but I don't sweat it that much since I have a Gideon's Reproach in hand. I play a Radiant Fountain, go up to 23 life and pass the turn back. He tries to go all in for the combo, confident in that even if the spells don't resolve, the "cast" clause on Cyclops will allow him to hit me for a good chunk of damage. He plays a Chain Lightning on me, making me go down to 20 and making the Cyclops a 4/4. He then proceeds to cast Temur Battle Rage which makes Cyclops a double-striking 7/4, taking a huge toll on my life and ending the game in the next turn. I Gideon's Reproach it, and he responds with Apostle's Blessing on the Cyclops, growing it into 10/4 and making it able to swing for lethal now. However, I Prohibit the Blessing, and the 10/4 killing machine isn't able to get it's protection up and dies to the Reproach, leaving my life the same as the beginning of the match. He concedes there, having both his threat nuked, only 2 cards in hand, and me still up at full health. I sideboard in Circle of Protection: Red, mulligan to 6, and keep a risky, slow hand with just Evolving Wilds as a land, Brainstorm, Circle of Protection: Red, Journey to Nowhere, Squadron Hawk and Counterspell. I scry a Trinket Mage down to the bottom and pray. He starts with Cliffs again, and I draw a Bonesplitter, play Wilds and fetch for an Island. He plays Kiln Fiend, and next turn I draw Cenn's Enlistment. I cast Brainstorm, hoping to rip a white mana from the top, and I see a saving Tranquil Cove. I play it and pass the turn. He drops a land, plays Ponder and Lightning Bolt, and I go down to 11 life. Next turn I drop the saving CoP: Red and he concedes on the spot, only having Dispel as backup and no ways to get rid of the Circle.
Round 3 vs Kuldotha Jeskai: 2-1
He wins the roll and opens up with a Tranquil Cove, which I mirror on my own turn. On turn two he drops an Ancient Den and plays Prophetic Prism to draw a card and fix for Red. I play a Plains and pass the turn. He plays a Kor Skyfisher trying to start the engine and I Prohibit it. I play a Radiant Fountain into Trinket Mage and search for a Sylvok Lifestaff in order to come ahead when we start trading resources. He plays Glint Hawk, bouncing and replaying Prophetic Prism, and leaving one Great Furnace up for a burn spell. I swing with Trinket Mage after playing a Seat of the Synod and he uses a Lightning Bolt on it. I pass the turn holding up Gideon's Reproach and Counterspell. He plays a Mulldrifter right into Counterspell thinking I was holding up for a Kicked Prohibit. He attacks me and Glint Hawk gets destroyed by Reproach. I play Evolving Wilds, cast Squadron Hawk refilling my hand, and cast and equip Sylvok Lifestaff into it. Next turn he casts another Kor Skyfisher returning Prism, replays it and plays an Ichor Wellspring. I draw another Prohibit, and use Journey to Nowhere on the Skyfisher, then peck away with hawk. On his turn he casts Kuldotha Rebirth sacrificing Ichor Wellspring, which I counter with Prohibit, but he still gets to draw a card. He plays another Ichor Wellspring, then uses Glint Hawk to bounce it back. I swing with Hawk, and he casts Galvanic Blast on it. I play Mulldrifter and play a land, leaving two Blue mana open to bait him into not playing something impactful. He casts Journey to Nowhere on my Drifter, swings with Hawk, and plays Faithless Looting. He plays a Skyfisher and bounces the Prism, then replays it. At the end of the turn I play Accumulated Knowledge. I draw a Counterspell and then a Gideon's Reproach in my draw step. I drop a land and play a Hawk, equip Staff, and save mana up for Reproach and Counterspell and pass the turn. He plays another Drifter into the Counterspell thinking I'm bluffing again, and then Galvanic Blasts the Hawk and swings with his own Hawk and Skyfisher. I destroy the Skyfisher with Reproach, and play a Mulldrifter on my turn. I draw a Journey to Nowhere on my turn and use it on his Hawk, while equipping Lifestaff on Drifter. He Bolts Drifter in response and goes to his turn. He casts a Prism and a Wellspring, visibly running out of cards. I draw the Cenn's Enlistment and then proceed to bury him in CA from there. I boarded in Dust to Dust, a Curse of the Bloody Tome and Dispeller's Capsule. Game 2 I keep a 2-land hand with Prohibit, Gideon's Reproach, Trinket Mage and Accumulated Knowledge after taking 1 Mullingan, and lost due to not seeing the third land until it was too late. Third game I kept a hand with Brainstorm, two lands, two Dust to Dust, a Prohibit and a Gideon's Reproach. It worked really well since I draw the third land in my first draw step and proceeded from there. I destroyed his rocks and an Ancient Den, cutting him out of White mana and stopping the engine cold, then around turn 5 or 6 I dropped Curse of the Bloody Tome and stalled him in his attrition game, which gave me the victory 2 turns short of making it a draw. I can't stress enough how good Dust to Dust is in the current metagame, since it's at the very least a double Stone Rain against both Affinity and Kuldotha Jeskai, while also killing threats in the former and stopping the later's draw engine. I played a friendly match against Affinity between rounds and Dust to Dust utterly wrecked it every time I cast it.
Round 4 vs Mystical Teachings: 2-0
Another Control vs Control match. Teachings is way slower than us, so we have plenty of time to prepare and set up the beatdown. I win the roll and we play nothing but lands the first 3 turns. On the 4th turn he plays Dimir Aqueduct bouncing his Dismal Backwater and leaving him with only UB open, an opportunity which I quickly seize to drop Squadron Hawk under the Counterspell radar. He casts a Prohibit, to which I respond with one of my own, and draw 3 Hawks into my hand. He plays a Pristine Talisman and passes the turn back. I play Trinket Mage, which he lets resolve, and I search for a Sylvok Lifestaff. He taps the Talisman for life EOT and then proceeds to cast an Evincar's Justice with Buyback, wiping my board. I play a Mulldrifter and play and equip the Lifestaff to it, leave two mana up and pass the turn. He plays a land and passes back. I attack with Drifter, and he uses Mystical Teachings to search for Disfigure then plays it, which I counter with a Counterspell, then pass the turn. He plays Chainer's Edict and I sacrifice Drifter, gaining 3 life in the process. I draw Cenn's Enlistment and play it, equipping Sylvok Lifestaff to one of them to nullify his Evincar's Justice wincon and force him to win by other means. EOT he casts another Teachings and gets Echoing Decay, killing both tokens. However, I start grinding him out with the Enlistment's retrace, forcing him to repeatedly cast Justice in order to wipe the board and slowly kill himself while I gain life thanks to Lifestaff. At some point he draws another Pristine Talisman, and he completely negates the damage from Justice, so the game comes to a halt until I sandbag enough counterspells to start a war. He casts Justice, which I try to counter with a kicked Prohibit. He Dispels the Prohibit and I Counterspell the Prohibit. He Deprives the Counterspell, and I use another Counterspell on his Deprive. Not having enough mana left to keep up with the draw and losing his wincon, he concedes there in order to have enough time to at least make it a draw. I board in Feldon's Cane, Hindering Light, both Curse of the Bloody Tome and leave 2 Journey to Nowhere in case Gurmag Angler appears. This game was a lot quicker than the first one: I mulliganed down to 5 searching for a Curse (which I didn't get), then aggressively Brainstormed in order to dig for one. I found it at the end of his turn 5. He let Brainstorm resolve, and had 3 mana untapped (he played a Dimir Aqueduct bouncing a land). I dropped a land and played Squadron Hawk trying to bait a counter. He falls for it, casts Counterspell on Squadron Hawk, then landed the Curse. The game came to a stalemate, with both countering each other's cards and drawing more. Eventually, I resolved Lifestaff through another counter war and he conceded there, seeing that he wasn't going to be able to win through it in time.
Round 5 vs Tortured Existence: 1-1
We didn't play through this round because we were both hungry and we had the top 1 and 2 secured, so we made it a draw and went to eat together in the meanwhile. We decided not to play a casual match just in case we got paired in the top 8, since we didn't want the other to know the deck we were playing. I know this was TortEx because just as we thought, we got paired later in the day.
My record so far was 4-0-1, the highest so far alongside the TortEx guy since there were no 5-0's.
Top 8, quarter finals vs Izzet Control: 2-1
Another slow, Control match, like every one before it except the Izzet Blitz one. Here I saw Pyre Hound in action, and it's a really good UR Control card: he grows naturally by just playing the game and has evasion of his own. His only downfall was it's lack of protection, which he covered with countermagic and another finisher option in Calcite Snapper. The deck copied and mixed aspects of both Teachings and Kuldotha Jeskai very well: it had Teachings lifegain manabase to fend off aggro with Pristine Talisman, Radiant Fountain, Swiftwater Cliffs and Izzet Boilerworks, while it also used the very same Talisman, Artifact lands and Serrated Arrows to power up Galvanic Blasts and Thoughtcasts. Deprive rounded it up as a solid counterspell that bounced the lands to gain life and turn on Calcite Snapper. First game was an attrition war through counterspells, removal and card draw which he managed to win through thanks to a resolved Calcite Snapper (which I had no ways of getting rid of) coupled with some help of Lightning Bolts, Galvanic Blasts and Firebolts to the dome. I boarded in two Dust to Dust, two Curse of the Bloody Tome and Hindering Lights. We started fighting counter and removal wars again for straight up 10 minutes, in which a Curse got countered, until I managed to resolve the second one. He resolved Calcite Snapper again, but I held it off long enough for the Curse to make it's job. Third game both Curses got countered, and he resolved a Curse of his own. I managed to take down some of his lands with Dust to Dust, slowing him down a little bit. I took the beatdown role with Bonesplitter-equipped Hawks and started bashing his face before he could manage to start recovering life. He stabilized and played a Pyre Hound which grew all the way up to 5/6. I could not find a Journey to Nowhere anywhere and I now had to race the trampling Red Tarmogoyf and the Curse. Eventually, I drew a Journey to Nowhere and managed to resolve it, exiling the Hound, and some axe-wielding Kithkin tokens finished the job with 7 cards in the library and 4 life left.
Top 8, semifinals vs Izzet Blitz: 2-1
The guy from before managed to sneak into the semifinals of the top 8 by taking advantage of the predicted slow meta with the Izzet Blitz deck, and we faced each other again. The games went pretty similar than the ones before: he tried to win as quick as possible while I tried to answer all his threats 1 for 1 and leave him with useless spells in hand. Game 1 he started pretty fast and left me at 8 life with Delver of Secrets beatdown + burn, helped by some beats of Kiln Fiend. However, I managed to answer the fiend, and resolved Sylvok Lifestaff in order to start gaining life. Hawks traded with Delver, and I started refilling my hand with Drifters and Knowledges, which eventually led to his doomfall. Game 2 I got mana screwed on two lands and saw no CoP: Red, so he stole the win away quickly with both a Kiln Fiend and a Nivix Cyclops beating me down. Game 3 was the quickest game I've had in a while: I dropped Evolving Wilds on turn 1, while he went with Ponder. I cracked the Wilds for Plains EOT, then dropped a Seat of the Synod and played CoP: Red, to which he conceded on the spot.
Top 8, finals vs Tortured Existence: 1-2
The guy from before got to the finals with a classic Golgari Existence deck. He didn't splash White for Auramancer, Lone Missionary and Kor Skyfisher. He had a deck full of diverse silver bullets like Faerie Macabre against Flashback / Graveyard decks, Wickerbough Elder against Artifacts / Enchantments, Augur of Skulls against Control, Brindle Boar against Aggro decks, Krosan Tusker as uncountereable mana-fixing, dredge engine and card draw, Crypt Rats against tokens & swarm decks, and Spore Frog as a "Fog every turn" card against decks like Kiln Fiend, Infect or Bogles. He also packed Sanitarium Skeleton, which did some serious work as an inevitability engine coupled with TortEx, and Arrogant Wurm for cheap, fat TortEx enablers. Game 1 he won the dice roll and dropped Tortured Existence right away from the first turn. I started countering and removing his creatures, but it was no use: slowly, he overwhelmed me with Grave Scrabblers returning two creatures and Arrogant Wurm putting fat on the battlefield while resurrecting guys. Sanitarium Skeleton was just the final nail in the coffin: the creature was simply impossible for me to interact with. He never played it, so I couldn't counter it or remove it, and even if I could it would come back right away (Journey to Nowhere being the exception). Game 2 it took him longer to drop the TortEx, since I countered the first one in turn 3 after he found it with Commune with the Gods in turn 2. I dropped a Trinket Mage, finding Relic of Progenitus in order to slow him down from dredging. I gained time removing creatures with Journey to Nowhere and countering his cards while beating down with Mulldrifter, until I finally nuked his entire 'yard when it was about 12 cards. A second Mage searching for Dispeller's Capsule took care of the TortEx he had on the field while I delivered the final beats. Game 3 he took a bit to get going, but after he finally dropped TortEx, he reduced my hand to dust looping Augur of Skulls again and again while beating with Arrogant Wurms and Gurmag Anglers. As I expected, Sanitarium Skeleton performed crazy good, and according to his reports, he was never sad to see it, even if it was on the early turns when he didn't have TortEx, as he's a chumpblocker and Edict fodder. I really believe this deck will start slowly becoming the Pod of Pauper once more utility creatures see print at common.
Overall, the experience was pretty good as always, and I ended up second taking an Archangel Avacyn. The SB cards that overperformed were certainly Dust to Dust: the card is an absolute beast in this meta, where Affinity runs rampant and other decks think that they can run Artifact lands with no downside or punishment. Curse of the Bloody Tome is also a very real wincon, and I'd totally maindeck it in slow metas, as I found myself siding it in in almost all matchups. If the balance between fast decks and slow decks in the format is good enough, I think it could even see MB play.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
Also posting this in the MTGO pauper forum.
EDIT: I'm aware that the primer already covers the stompy matchup, but that section of the primer also mentions cards that aren't really played in Caw-Blade lists anymore such as Spell Pierce, Daze, Spreading Seas, Aven Riftwatcher, Quicksand, Sunlance and Standard Bearer. Does anyone know how good the stompy matchup is with newer lists?
UW Caw-Blade
GW Bogles
U Delver
GBTolarian Community College's/Turn One Thoughtseize's $2 Dredge
UR DrakeRUG Murasa Tron
UWR TwinGW BoglesB 8-Rack (budget)UWR Delver/GeistUW Gifts TronUR Bedlam DelverWRG Burn
UBR Death's Shadow
UR Artifacts(~M15)UW Heroic(~Theros)WBR Warriors(~KTK)R Aggro(~Origins)RUG Wombo-Combo Energy (~Kaladesh)
My (upgradable) $150 Modern budget UR Delver (possibly outdated): http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/budget-modern/738332-ur-bedlam-delver
My Pauper Cube: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/69019
Against Stompy you'll want to aggressively trade 1 for 1 like any other Aggro deck, with a few minor notes. Ideally, you want to snipe out fast-mana guys like Nettle Sentinel (Can spam Gather Courage for free, literally) and Quirion Ranger in order to keep them from flooding the board too fast. Kill them on sight either with a timely counterspell or a Journey to Nowhere. Second, Rancor is a must counter. It's one of the few spells that grant Trample, and as a recursive buff it can do a lot of damage. Third, Hunger of the Howlpack. While not as deadly as Rancor, putting three +1/+1 counters can really steal the game away if you don't have a way to kill the threat, so try to counter it.
Search for Sylvok Lifestaff and trade your guys with them. Don't sweat it if they pump in response as you're still trading 1 for 1 while gaining life (unless they have Trample) Bait pump spells with Gideon's Reproach, and if you can counter them, better.
Those cards are tweaks you can made to the stock list. If you feel that you will need them for your meta, they're still playable, so tweak accordingly!
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
The set also reminded me of Memory Lapse, although we already have access to it, is it a card we can consider in Caw-Blade or is it better to just max out on Counterspell/Prohibit?
UW Caw-Blade
GW Bogles
U Delver
GBTolarian Community College's/Turn One Thoughtseize's $2 Dredge
UR DrakeRUG Murasa Tron
UWR TwinGW BoglesB 8-Rack (budget)UWR Delver/GeistUW Gifts TronUR Bedlam DelverWRG Burn
UBR Death's Shadow
UR Artifacts(~M15)UW Heroic(~Theros)WBR Warriors(~KTK)R Aggro(~Origins)RUG Wombo-Combo Energy (~Kaladesh)
My (upgradable) $150 Modern budget UR Delver (possibly outdated): http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/budget-modern/738332-ur-bedlam-delver
My Pauper Cube: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/69019
The only one I like there is Peregrine Drake, because it's a flyer that eats up oppossing Faeries, Mulldrifters and Glint Hawks unequipped, stonewalls Spire Golem and Kor Skyfisher unequipped and eats them up when equipped, and costs virtually no mana (although it's vulnerable to counterspells, so that's something to be wary of). Warden of Evos Isle is too low-impact IMO, just a Wind Drake that doesn't provide any value upon ETB and that has to stick in order to pay off. We can pass it. Humble is pretty bad removal considering the options we have. Stupefying Touch seems legit as SB tech, but what activated abilities are we interested in stopping besides Cuombajj Witches?
Memory Lapse is a tempo card, like a Pauper Remand but rather than drawing a card, it negates a draw step for the opponent. I don't like it here.
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!
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
3 Mulldrifter
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Trinket Mage
Artifact (3)
1 Bonesplitter
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Flayer Husk
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Prohibit
3 Gideon's Reproach
Enchantment (4)
4 Journey to Nowhere
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Radiant Fountain
2 Seat of the Synod
2 Ancient Den
2 Plains
6 Island
I'll revamp the sideboard once the meta settles after bans and Kaladesh. For now I'll swap Flayer Husk for Inventor's Goggles and maybe the 3 Drifters and a land for 4 Ponder, but I'm hesitating a lot on pulling the trigger on that one. I hope we at least get some good removal / counterspell since the block seems chock full of tokens and efficient cards.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
What do you think about 2 Propeller Pioneer ?
This enable an Inventor's Goggles a Bladed Bracers and makes very good synergy with both.
In my last tests making a 5/5 flying vigilance was a very good finisher against aggro decks like mono green.
And If using blades I'll try to use Sea gate Oracle instead of drifters.
The only non human Will be the Hawks.
4 CMC for a non-resilient threat seems one mana too expensive to be playable. For a flying 2/1 that comes with a Token there's Eldrazi Skyspawner and I'm not sure if I would play it. The Artificer/Human synergies aren't worth the extra mana IMO, but I'm pretty sure there's some Human or Artificer out there worth playing if you really want it. I haven't revisited the Human spin on the deck in a long while, so maybe you're willing to provide some options and results on that front?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Are there any other good Energy cards that would go well with Caw Blade to help push Aether Swooper for this deck or is Swooper too lacking in power to be considered?