I've heard folks complain IRL about having to splash black or red for removal and mono-blue not being viable. Sure there's always Angler to entice you to add black to a deck, but I've seen people add black to Deep-Hours Aggro / delver shells just for Disfigure. There's two-three things about this that aren't good.
1) You're adding a second color to a deck which doesn't necessarily need it, and everything that goes with that, least of all pushing the acquisition price of the deck.
2) Disfigure, which seems to be the removal of choice in my play area, doesn't deal with Wild Mongrel, and a lot of other things infesting the metagame. Some folks have swapped it out for Dead Weight, and this worked out well for them. So that's something to consider. Sure, Disfigure's an instant, but Dead Weight is way more thorough. Yes, Dead Weight doesn't work with Augur of Bolas, but it does kill stuff properly dead and cripples low-threat density decks allowing you to race more easily.
3) If you're only doing it for the Disfigure / Dead Weight, try Sea Legs. Instant speed, -2 toughness, one mana, blue. Messess up Mongrels, Delves, Tireless Tribes, Sparksmiths, Priest of Titania, early Slivers, most Infect dudes, whathaveyou. If simply dealing with power for cheap is your thing, there's Sensory Deprivation and Spontaneous Mutation - both much better cards than one would think at first glance, especially vs. low threat density decks, and in particular ones which can't bounce their own dudes (and they do lose cards and tempo if they do bounce them depending on what they bounce with). In the right matchup, especially if dealing with non-flying threats, those two do a good Path to Exile impression.
Also, bonus Anti-Tron tech:
4) If your metagame is filled with players who had tron pieces and decided to port them to pauper (seems to be the no.1 reason for so much Delver and Tron in the meta), folks in my area did what we always do when faced with silly nonsense and opened up Mercadian Masques block spoilers to look up silly answers. That block is a goldmine. In case of Tron, and in particular the one which goes for Mnemonic Wall spell-recursion shennanigans, a very silly and effective answer seems to be Blaster Mage. It's a madness outlet which also lets you take care of Mnemonic Walls. It's not that Relic of Progenitus won't help deal with recursion, sure it will, but this also removes a blocker, swings a small bit and helps with your madness shennanigans.
There, I'm lucky to have a rich metagame and I don't see a lot of experimentation in the format, so I thought I'd share some stuff that we found out works but doesn't seem to be common enough knowledge.
EDIT:
5) And another bit of tech that got really popular around here but doesn't seem to be present in popular online lists is Dead // Gone. You do not know how silly red bounce is until you've tried it, and the card has game against Delver, Ninja, all the utility stuff - but also against Angler, Hooting Mandrils, flashed in Wurms, Tireless Tribe and, most importantly, reanimated Ulamog Crusher and pumped up Izzer Blitz guys. It's become a don't-leave-home-without sideboard card in my meta.
"Masques Block is the worst block ever! There's not one decent card in there! The whole internet say's so, you're literally the only person who ever said it was good!" - random noob in a conversation with an Eldrazi.
4) RE: Blaster Mage that's an interesting idea, but I've found Faerie Macabre to be even better in that role of shutting down Ghostly Flicker loops. Just hold it in their hand until they put the Mnemonic Wall trigger on the stack, then bam, make it fizzle. The best part is it's just an activated ability, so they can't even counter it or remove it in any way. Unless they played chosen discard like Divest, but I've never seen any Tron deck do this.
It's also randomly good against other decks. Hose Reanimator decks...remove an opponent's Prismatic Strands during their end step so you can swing in for lethal...etc.
Yep, Faerie Macabre is really good at this and a lot more flexible. But I have seen it around, while I've seen rather fine R/G Madness and flashback Boros builds not pack the much cheaper Blaster Mage in the board and actually struggle vs. Tron. So, you know, throwing it out there, it's niche in terms of what sort of deck wants it and what it shuts down, but it's very cheap to acquire and what it does it does well.
Here's a few more things that my community's been mulling over lately.
1) Online Inside-Out combo lists seem to go for that instant which gives a dude shadow and draws a card as their unblockability provider. We've kinda all switched to Slip Through Space. It can't be countered by Pyroblast, due to devoid. It can't be countered by DISPEL , which seems to show up in decks folks copy-paste off the net. And on a completely random note, we've got a Rebels deck in the sideboard which can fetch a dude with shadow and block your tribe, and this doesn't work if you're properly unblockable. The 3. is minor, but the first two are serious things.
2) Fathom Seer. Seriously. Mono Black Control / Devotion is no joke, especially vs Inside-Out. Black guys run edicts. This guy pre-counters an edict, chumps stuff, blocks small stuff and can't be countered by Pyroblast, Dispel, Negate and whatever it is that doesn't counter dudes. Also, in grindier matchups with Delver you can bounce it back with the Ninja. We're even brewing a really stupid but effective Esper Splice build where you bounce it occasionally with that splice spell which has "bounce your own dude" as it's splice cost. It's quite possible that Inside Out might prefer this guy to Gush, or at the very least run some number of them in addition to Gush, and he might have a place in other blue things. Not seeing enough play, that card.
3) Dispel is showing up way more often than it merits. Pauper Burn seems to have a lot of sorceries, and as seen above, sneaky buggers have been exploiting the fact that you can play around it gloriously with decks you'd least expect.
4) Inside Out can be countered by Hydroblast. This is both silly and important to note, as if the Inside-Out Player can't flip the Tribe, they're in big trouble. I've seen a guy side in Hydroblasts vs Tribe and just sit on them. The blast couldn't counter anything else in the deck, but it didn't need to. The Tribe Player couldn't win.
"Masques Block is the worst block ever! There's not one decent card in there! The whole internet say's so, you're literally the only person who ever said it was good!" - random noob in a conversation with an Eldrazi.
Have been playing Sea Legs in my monoblue Delver lists a lot after reading this post last week. I can say confidently that this card is a lot of fun, you have my thanks. It enables tons of profitable blocks/attacks with Augur and Ninja and is a neat 1 or 2 of. Im not sure if its the best for the job, but its cute and fresh nonetheless, and got me looking into similar effects. It seems in part to be outclassed by Stream of Unconsciousness in some situations due to a natural density of Wizards (Spellstutter Sprite, Delver of Secrets, and friends) to cantrip and a stronger -X, but being an enchantment is a neat upside to blank certain threats.
Unfortunately, I think even in mono blue, Vapor Snag/Snap/Boomerang is going to outperform combat tricks most of the time.
I'm sorry about some inaccuracies but here's some tech that's been working out splendidly for us over at the Black Cat Bar. Faerie Duelist turned out so good that we retooled a Deep Hours Aggro towards Mono U Fae (w Ninjas, Bonesplitters and Spire Golems) and it won a tournament. Turns out that with another Faerie on board he tackles Delvers, flash lets him be EoT setup for next turn Ninja's, he literally kills Tireless Tribe if played at the right moment, and beats face when you put a Bonesplitter on him. So that's what we're running in the instant-speed power reduction slot currently.
And speaking of bounce, the same deck also runs Withdraw and Rushing River for major shennanigans with Spellstutter Sprite, the Duelist and all sorts of nonsense.
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"Masques Block is the worst block ever! There's not one decent card in there! The whole internet say's so, you're literally the only person who ever said it was good!" - random noob in a conversation with an Eldrazi.
Have you tried Curfew for bounce instead? At only U it seems extremely strong in Spellstutter lists, but really havent seen much of it at all. Its a pseudo edict effect in monoblue against decks like bogles, and a huge tempo positive play a lot of the time.
I've seen Curfew in Anti-Bogles sideboards, but i'm reluctant to go all-in on it since it doesn't really do the trick against go-wide, and my local meta is infested with it. I've seen Edicts do nothing against Bogles, too, since they often have a token or simply a non-pantsed Bogle to bounce. The only way edicts work is if you have a lot of them and use them as follow-up to a mini-boardwipe, and a mono blue deck doesn't have a mini-boardwipe. And too many decks which aren't even aggro have something to sac/pick as a curfew target (think Thraben Inspector in Boros and Tooth & Claw, Augur of Bolas in blue decks, hasty and ETB critters in Red and Green, Gary and Chittering Rats in black decks, Basking Rootwalla and Grave Scrabbler in madness / Tort/Ex, Icatian Javelineers in Rebels, or even just random undecosted dudes), and at the same time there are may matches where you really want to pick your target / targets for bounce (Atog , Gurmag Angler , Tireless Tribe , Wild Mongrel , whoever the goblins pump up with sledder/raider, Ghostly Flicker targets, Spore Frog, the Infect guy who's about to receive the pumps, etc.)
Withdraw, however, has been hilarious against most things, and Rushing River is there to step in when non-creature permanents are what's giving you trouble / you need more bounce. With Faerie Miscreant, Ninja, Spellstutter Sprite and Faerie Duelist in the deck, there's just no end to shennanigans with those two. You can even use either to save 2 guys from a Crypt Rats activation.
"Masques Block is the worst block ever! There's not one decent card in there! The whole internet say's so, you're literally the only person who ever said it was good!" - random noob in a conversation with an Eldrazi.
I've seen Curfew in Anti-Bogles sideboards, but i'm reluctant to go all-in on it since it doesn't really do the trick against go-wide, and my local meta is infested with it. I've seen Edicts do nothing against Bogles, too, since they often have a token or simply a non-pantsed Bogle to bounce. The only way edicts work is if you have a lot of them and use them as follow-up to a mini-boardwipe, and a mono blue deck doesn't have a mini-boardwipe. And too many decks which aren't even aggro have something to sac/pick as a curfew target (think Thraben Inspector in Boros and Tooth & Claw, Augur of Bolas in blue decks, hasty and ETB critters in Red and Green, Gary and Chittering Rats in black decks, Basking Rootwalla and Grave Scrabbler in madness / Tort/Ex, Icatian Javelineers in Rebels, or even just random undecosted dudes), and at the same time there are may matches where you really want to pick your target / targets for bounce (Atog , Gurmag Angler , Tireless Tribe , Wild Mongrel , whoever the goblins pump up with sledder/raider, Ghostly Flicker targets, Spore Frog, the Infect guy who's about to receive the pumps, etc.)
Withdraw, however, has been hilarious against most things, and Rushing River is there to step in when non-creature permanents are what's giving you trouble / you need more bounce. With Faerie Miscreant, Ninja, Spellstutter Sprite and Faerie Duelist in the deck, there's just no end to shennanigans with those two. You can even use either to save 2 guys from a Crypt Rats activation.
Sure if your local meta is rife with go wide, id agree, though i'd say you're overselling Curfew's downsides. The card is more than just a Vapor Snag, and if i wanted that effect i'd run Snag, and I do, snag is good. Being likely a blue tempo list and running creatures that minimize downside for a spell with both broad defensive, removal, and effect recursion applications for U is a nice package. The flexibility and cost are hard to beat, and i'd actually say its easier to maintain an empty edict prime boardstate playing blue-based Tempo against most decks that dont go wide. If you're using the card to recur a Spellstutter Sprite, Ninja of the Deep Hours, or Faerie Duelist, or save a dude, who cares what they're bouncing in some matchups? Its free tempo as long as they dont have etb payoffs.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm sitting on a stack of Curfew ready to go into several decks, it's regarded as default tech vs. some stuff. The problem is, as I said, that my meta is so full of go-wide it's not even funny. That's in part because folks were at one point getting pushed around by Mono-Black and are still pushed around by Rakdos Control, and they managed to turn the tables by proofing themsleves vs. edicts. You've got go-wide Goblins, Tooth & Scale which is pretty much white Goblins, GB Aristocrats, Bogles that play a lot of dudes/tokens and prey on MBC and black in general, other Mono U Tempo decks where you really don't want to bounce the wrong thing, Rebels, Boros Tokens and whathave you. Curfew would be my first choice of double-bounce, but not when over half the field is the way it is over here. And you just get so much out of that sort of bounce to just stick Vapor Snag in.
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"Masques Block is the worst block ever! There's not one decent card in there! The whole internet say's so, you're literally the only person who ever said it was good!" - random noob in a conversation with an Eldrazi.
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1) You're adding a second color to a deck which doesn't necessarily need it, and everything that goes with that, least of all pushing the acquisition price of the deck.
2) Disfigure, which seems to be the removal of choice in my play area, doesn't deal with Wild Mongrel, and a lot of other things infesting the metagame. Some folks have swapped it out for Dead Weight, and this worked out well for them. So that's something to consider. Sure, Disfigure's an instant, but Dead Weight is way more thorough. Yes, Dead Weight doesn't work with Augur of Bolas, but it does kill stuff properly dead and cripples low-threat density decks allowing you to race more easily.
3) If you're only doing it for the Disfigure / Dead Weight, try Sea Legs. Instant speed, -2 toughness, one mana, blue. Messess up Mongrels, Delves, Tireless Tribes, Sparksmiths, Priest of Titania, early Slivers, most Infect dudes, whathaveyou. If simply dealing with power for cheap is your thing, there's Sensory Deprivation and Spontaneous Mutation - both much better cards than one would think at first glance, especially vs. low threat density decks, and in particular ones which can't bounce their own dudes (and they do lose cards and tempo if they do bounce them depending on what they bounce with). In the right matchup, especially if dealing with non-flying threats, those two do a good Path to Exile impression.
Also, bonus Anti-Tron tech:
4) If your metagame is filled with players who had tron pieces and decided to port them to pauper (seems to be the no.1 reason for so much Delver and Tron in the meta), folks in my area did what we always do when faced with silly nonsense and opened up Mercadian Masques block spoilers to look up silly answers. That block is a goldmine. In case of Tron, and in particular the one which goes for Mnemonic Wall spell-recursion shennanigans, a very silly and effective answer seems to be Blaster Mage. It's a madness outlet which also lets you take care of Mnemonic Walls. It's not that Relic of Progenitus won't help deal with recursion, sure it will, but this also removes a blocker, swings a small bit and helps with your madness shennanigans.
There, I'm lucky to have a rich metagame and I don't see a lot of experimentation in the format, so I thought I'd share some stuff that we found out works but doesn't seem to be common enough knowledge.
EDIT:
5) And another bit of tech that got really popular around here but doesn't seem to be present in popular online lists is Dead // Gone. You do not know how silly red bounce is until you've tried it, and the card has game against Delver, Ninja, all the utility stuff - but also against Angler, Hooting Mandrils, flashed in Wurms, Tireless Tribe and, most importantly, reanimated Ulamog Crusher and pumped up Izzer Blitz guys. It's become a don't-leave-home-without sideboard card in my meta.
It's also randomly good against other decks. Hose Reanimator decks...remove an opponent's Prismatic Strands during their end step so you can swing in for lethal...etc.
Corrupt Control B | Burn R | UG Turbofog UG | White Weenie W | GW Tethmos WG | BG Cycling Combo BG
Enchantress GBW | Colorless Tron C | Red Deck Wins R | UG Madness UG | Mono-G Tron G | UR Puzzlehorns UR
Rhystic Tron WU| WU Prowess WU | BR Reanimator BR | Mono-R Control R | Stompy G | Temur Tron URG
Mardu Infinite Priest WBR | 85-Card Dredge BRG | Elves GU | Boros Bully RW | Jeskai Familiars RWU
Here's a few more things that my community's been mulling over lately.
1) Online Inside-Out combo lists seem to go for that instant which gives a dude shadow and draws a card as their unblockability provider. We've kinda all switched to Slip Through Space. It can't be countered by Pyroblast, due to devoid. It can't be countered by DISPEL , which seems to show up in decks folks copy-paste off the net. And on a completely random note, we've got a Rebels deck in the sideboard which can fetch a dude with shadow and block your tribe, and this doesn't work if you're properly unblockable. The 3. is minor, but the first two are serious things.
2) Fathom Seer. Seriously. Mono Black Control / Devotion is no joke, especially vs Inside-Out. Black guys run edicts. This guy pre-counters an edict, chumps stuff, blocks small stuff and can't be countered by Pyroblast, Dispel, Negate and whatever it is that doesn't counter dudes. Also, in grindier matchups with Delver you can bounce it back with the Ninja. We're even brewing a really stupid but effective Esper Splice build where you bounce it occasionally with that splice spell which has "bounce your own dude" as it's splice cost. It's quite possible that Inside Out might prefer this guy to Gush, or at the very least run some number of them in addition to Gush, and he might have a place in other blue things. Not seeing enough play, that card.
3) Dispel is showing up way more often than it merits. Pauper Burn seems to have a lot of sorceries, and as seen above, sneaky buggers have been exploiting the fact that you can play around it gloriously with decks you'd least expect.
4) Inside Out can be countered by Hydroblast. This is both silly and important to note, as if the Inside-Out Player can't flip the Tribe, they're in big trouble. I've seen a guy side in Hydroblasts vs Tribe and just sit on them. The blast couldn't counter anything else in the deck, but it didn't need to. The Tribe Player couldn't win.
Unfortunately, I think even in mono blue, Vapor Snag/Snap/Boomerang is going to outperform combat tricks most of the time.
And speaking of bounce, the same deck also runs Withdraw and Rushing River for major shennanigans with Spellstutter Sprite, the Duelist and all sorts of nonsense.
Have you tried Curfew for bounce instead? At only U it seems extremely strong in Spellstutter lists, but really havent seen much of it at all. Its a pseudo edict effect in monoblue against decks like bogles, and a huge tempo positive play a lot of the time.
Withdraw, however, has been hilarious against most things, and Rushing River is there to step in when non-creature permanents are what's giving you trouble / you need more bounce. With Faerie Miscreant, Ninja, Spellstutter Sprite and Faerie Duelist in the deck, there's just no end to shennanigans with those two. You can even use either to save 2 guys from a Crypt Rats activation.
Sure if your local meta is rife with go wide, id agree, though i'd say you're overselling Curfew's downsides. The card is more than just a Vapor Snag, and if i wanted that effect i'd run Snag, and I do, snag is good. Being likely a blue tempo list and running creatures that minimize downside for a spell with both broad defensive, removal, and effect recursion applications for U is a nice package. The flexibility and cost are hard to beat, and i'd actually say its easier to maintain an empty edict prime boardstate playing blue-based Tempo against most decks that dont go wide. If you're using the card to recur a Spellstutter Sprite, Ninja of the Deep Hours, or Faerie Duelist, or save a dude, who cares what they're bouncing in some matchups? Its free tempo as long as they dont have etb payoffs.