This is the closing of an important chapter in the history of Magic: the Gathering.
So much has happened right here on these forums. The website has changed so much over the years, constantly adapting to the interests of its users, old and new. It helped shape and reinforce what it means to play and love Magic for thousands of people.
I've been here just two months short of seven years. Salvation has really shaped who I am as a player. I started in the Legacy forums talking about Stax, Burn and Reanimator, but thanks to the open nature of these forums and its users I slowly transformed into a Pauper and Commander player. If I look back at my first posts, I'm a completely different person.
Thank you.
Here's to the end of something great and the beginning of something new and interesting, created by the backbone of MtgSalvation.
- Upkeep
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Member for 11 years and 9 months
Last active Fri, Jun, 3 2022 07:55:40
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May 14, 2014Upkeep posted a message on Primer constructionAnything new over here? How's it coming?Posted in: -spooky- Blog
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Feb 4, 2014Upkeep posted a message on Launch Giveaway!Good change! Looks a lot more stylish. Although it feels kinda like Facebook and Twitter at the same time. Why do all community websites just imitate the big social media guys?Posted in: Announcements
My favorite card is Deftblade Elite. Although I'm not generally a White player, this card is just so sweet; he has won me games. Whether he's killing a provoked creature every turn with lots of pump like Honor the Pure or Catapult Squad, or he's getting a dangerous blocker out of the way so my other creatures can get through (and lives to do it again!),he gets the job done! Just an all-round good card. and a common 1-drop, too! -
Jan 15, 2014Upkeep posted a message on Primer constructionI really like your introduction! Very concise and explains where the archetype comes from.Posted in: -spooky- Blog
Is Cadaverous Knight really a core creature? It barely looks playable, to me anyways.
Maybe comment on each creature and specify in what style it belongs to (control or aggro), so that we can get a better idea of where they belong. You can also include ''shells'' of decks, in other words cards that must be run in order to make the deck function.
A notable exclusion from your otherwise rather full list is Nameless Inversion. This card is a complete beast in this deck, as it's recurable removal, with cards like Ghoulcaller's Chant and Ghoul Raiser.
Bonesplitter probably deserves a mention, as do other pump spells like Unholy Strength (there are many variants available).
I think Top 8 and Video sections are wishful thinking, as there are no sanctioned paper pauper tournaments. If you can get your hands on some MTGO videos playing Zombies, that might be a useful tool.
I suggest a section on Peasant (five uncommons max). It doesn't require a much bigger metagaming knowledge, just another card search. There are lots of uncommon candidates for Zombies.
A brief (or very detailed) matchup breakdown and analysis would be very appreciated. I like to test against many of the top decks in Pauper to see where mine stands, but I understand it's not possible for everyone, considering play-mates and time.
Overall, I think you're scraping the bottom of the barrel for playable cards, and cutting some of the more "fringe" ones is probably a good idea (you can also use the rating system to determine the value of each card to the deck). But it's a really good start! I look forward to seeing the rest! - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Well, that's certainly a strange announcement. This is likely going to fracture the community even more. I'll definitely be maintaining my primers here, but I will also move over to MTGNexus to try and foster a great Pauper Community there.
I'll definitely add you on MTGO. Thanks!
There's no denying that Puzzle is a great card. In a deck with little to no Jace's Erasure, it's one of the best draw spells to choose from. Among late game options, it's probably the best. It's like a fat Impulse. I just don't think I can justify 4 copies given that it's a sorcery, costs 3 mana and doesn't get lands in my 18 land deck. It's still worth running at least as a 2-of in my deck, though. Thanks again for the great suggestion!
I feel even better running a single copy of Erasure because I can fetch it up with Muddle the Mixture. I'm not quite ready to give up on Muddle yet, especially since it fetches Erasure, Weather the Storm, Moment's Peace and a third or fourth Accumulated Knowledge. Maybe with less draw triggers, Curse would end up pulling more weight, and would allow me to get away from brainstorm and fetchlands and lean more heavily on Impulse and friends. We'll see.
This game:
I could really tell he was tilted in the second game. He had the right idea to wait for Clear the Mind to come up, but it was so late in the game that I just had way too much countermagic to fight back. Tell your buddy I'm sorry! I legitimately felt bad playing this deck because it was such a horrible grind for everyone.
When it comes to burn, I think we would need multiple Weather the Storms to be able to beat them, but shuffling copies back in certainly helps. I'm just afraid that with Thermo-Alchemists, Ghitu Lavarunners and Curse of the Pierced Hearts, they just have too much constant damage for us to handle. Penumbra Spider certainly helps in that matchup as well. Desert will probably play a role there too.
Respite could definitely be due for a comeback. Maybe I would replace 1 Moment's Peace and 1 Fog for 2 of them. Good call!
Thanks for chiming in! That's what forums are for! This is the best place on the internet to talk about Turbo Fog and improving our game!
I used to store all my decklists there to test them out before buying cards, but as I got busier I ended up cutting out that part of the process and working mostly on MTGO for deck-building. I never actually used it to play against people.
First off, Is your username the same as your name on MTGO? If so, I think I've watched you play a couple games or maybe we've actually played each other. Your name is very familiar. Maybe some 5-0s in the leagues?
Okay, the deck: I'm glad I took the time to read all of your explanations for each card, because some of it really wasn't obvious to me at first. Thanks again for taking the time to write this up!
Overall, I think the proportions of the deck are pretty decent and follow along with how I like to play my versions of the deck.
The only thing I think you definitely should reconsider is your land count. I've recently dropped to 18 and have felt pretty good about it. I even run 3 Deserts! I'm a pretty greedy guy, though... This makes room for more card draw, which helps you make land drops in the early game and also fuel you in the late game. It's an adjustment, but one well worth it.
1 Weather the Storm in the maindeck is very much worth it. Even after only a couple games, this is a card I want to see and shuffle back into the deck frequently. It's extremely easy to gain 9-12 life with it, and it becomes game-winning with more copies. I'm wondering if it might not be worth including more of them in the maindeck in exchange for actual fogs. This is matchup and meta dependent, however.
I like your comment on Stream of Thought. It seems we have to make some choices in terms of actual playability of our win conditions at this point. I'll post my updated list after this, but I'm now at a 2:2 split between it and jace's Erasure, but I'm starting to think that maybe 3:1 in favour of Stream is probably better. Erasure certainly helps provide faster wins and only having one copy means we don't rely on it.
An idea I've been toying with in my mind because of Stream of Thought has been to run Take Inventory in the place of cards like Deep Analysis. Shuffling copies 3 and 4 back into the deck is just so good with Accumulated Knowledge that maybe having an extra set of similar cards would be worth it. What do you think?
Otherwise, I think I will replace my Deep Analysis for two copies of Pieces of the Puzzle This card definitely seems strong enough, though it doesn't help with land drops. 4 copies seems like a lot because of that reason.
The sideboard is where things get really interesting for me. I had not heard of Rust. Rust seems like a great card, when you explain it the way you did. I will have to try Rust. Rust will certainly catch people off-guard. Rust is also only 30 cents.
Rust.
I did not consider No Escape in Turbo Fog. I am not totally convinced that it should be played over Faerie Trickery, if you're looking for that kind of effect. The mana cost certainly helps its case. Have you tried Faerie Trickery instead?
I tried Faerie Macabre for a while, if I remember correctly. It never seemed to be enough to stop the Tron deck. It's a decent answer, but doesn't really solve the problem. I'll have to take another swing at it sometime.
Dispel v. Counterspell is always a tough call for me. I tend to miss the classic answer in matchups where I wouldn't bring in Dispels, like MBC and Elves. I'll stick with my split for now just for the flexibility of Counterspell.
What artifacts and enchantments do you need to deal with using Return to Nature?
With the new meta currently being shaped, I am expecting the death of Delver as an archetype. Desert is being bought out and will be seeing regular in any manabase that can afford it (and some that can't). That being said, I still am running 2 Aerial Volley and 2 Penumbra Spider, which is taking up a lot of room in my sideboard that maybe isn't necessary anymore. Maybe Aerial Volley could go, but Penumbra Spider is still a decent answer to fliers and is a great blocker in general. I'm a bit torn here. You don't seem to have a sideboard plan versus Delver aside from Dispels. How do you manage?
I feel the need to thank you a third time for your writeup. It's not every day that I get such a great, well-researched contribution like this in the forum, which makes me even more melancholic that it's being shut down.
With my small amount of testing so far and with your writeup, here's how I'm seeing my current deck:
3 Fog
4 Tangle
4 Moment's Peace
1 Weather the Storm
Countermagic (6)
4 Arcane Denial
2 Muddle the Mixture
Card Draw (20)
4 Brainstorm
4 Preordain
3 Impulse
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Think Twice
2 Pieces of the Puzzle
3 Stream of Thought
1 Jace's Erasure
Lands (18)
3 Desert
2 Thornwood Falls
4 Terramorphic Expanse
7 Island
2 Forest
1 Counterspell
1 Faerie Trickery
2 Dispel
3 Weather the Storm
2 Penumbra Spider
2 Rust
2 Lignify
2 Faerie Macabre
Merchant Scroll will also be making a splash for me. I think it's a great way to fetch up our card draw or countermagic.
3 Fog
4 Tangle
4 Moment's Peace
1 Weather the Storm
Countermagic (7)
4 Arcane Denial
2 Muddle the Mixture
1 Foil
Card Draw (20)
4 Brainstorm
4 Preordain
3 Impulse
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Think Twice
2 Deep Analysis
2 Stream of Thought
1 Jace's Erasure
Lands (18)
3 Desert
2 Thornwood Falls
4 Terramorphic Expanse
7 Island
2 Forest
2 Counterspell
2 Dispel
3 Weather the Storm
2 Penumbra Spider
2 Aerial Volley
3 Lignify
1 Relic of Progenitus
I for one am very excited to jam Desert into all my decks. The Delver deck is dead.
Ashnod's Altar is going to cause some problems. I could see this card being banned.
Goblin Grenade is going to make Goblin tribal viable again. It will also fit into many other decks...
Darkness is already climbing in price. I recommend everyone playing online pick them up ASAP.
I will finally be able to mess around online with Unstable Mutation and Sunken City.
Red Elemental Blast and Blue Elemental Blast will ease the market off of Pyroblast and Hydroblast, some of the most ubiquitous sideboard cards in Pauper. They were prohibitively expensive online, but there are a lot of copies of REB and BEB.
Wizards has finally done it. Pauper is now a sanctioned format both online and in paper.
Not only this, but there is one unified ban list for both, which adds all the cards that previously were not available online into the format. That's something like over 400 cards.
This is likely to change up Pauper in some way. Things like Merchant Scroll, Desert, Darkness, Ashnod's Altar, Sunken City, Goblin Grenade, Flood, Crown-Hunter Hireling (if they publish it online), Feldon's Cane, Unstable Mutation, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast and many more are going to make their way online!
This also means that cards like Chainer's Edict and Battle Screech, which were originally only commons online, should also be considered legal in paper (if that was a issue or anyone).
I can't express how happy I am with this change. This is a great day for Pauper and for Magic: the Gathering.
Link to the Prof's video: Prof's Video
Link of cards added to the online pool: New cards to MTGO
As WMP was saying, Celestial Flare would probably be a good inclusion to fight not only Hexproof, but Ulamog's Crushers and Dinrova Horrors from Tron, since they can't Ghostly Flicker out of it.
Maybe something like this:
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
2 Drifting Meadow
4 Expedition Map
You really only need 1-2 white sources in a turn thanks to the colourless activation of Rebel tutors. Expedition Map can always get a plains in a pinch if you're only on tron, but with 12 sources, you're very likely to get one in your opening hand (about 81%).
You could also not play a full playset of the Tron Lands. I am not a tron specialist by any means, so this might be considered heresy.
Cool deck! It's nice to occasionally see rebels making an appearance in Pauper.
I'm surprised that you aren't splashing any colours. Especially with 4 Bojuka Bogs, splashing black for Blightspeaker andRathi Trapper, which are both quite good.
People also splash Blue to play a more traditional Rebel "draw-go" gameplan, which is quite effective in pauper. Condescend, Mana Leak, Counterspell... Seems like a great thing to do while holding up instant speed fetch for board presence.
Still waiting for something juicy!