MTG Salvation

I'm main decking 3 Thermal Gliders now since all my decks run 4 Gut Shot vs each other.
Nightwind Glider isn't as good vs black as Thermal Glider is vs red.

Snap doesn't do enough in my meta. Replaced w/Gut Shot.
Ponder was main deck, now in SB now due to lack of space.

-4 Swamp, +4 Night's Whisper from my previous build. I was worried about mana screw but found the cantrip brew rule is true: For each 2 cantrips you add, subtract 1 land from your build. So I basically went from 26 lands to 24 lands.

Night's Whisper allowed me to cast Gurmag Anglers earlier than ever!

Removed Gut Shot from my SB. 8 main deck spells that cost me 2 life apiece seem painful enough.

7/3/20 M21 Release - Draft - 2 rounds - 3rd place - MonoRed.

-We had 2 pods - experienced (6 players) and novice (8 players.) I was seated in the experienced pod.
-I first pack/first picked a Barrin, Tolarian Archmage but then blue dried up.
-I read https://www.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/articles/alex-nikolic/an-in-depth-early-look-at-m21-draft/ and decided to move into Izzet, since it's said to be the strongest archetype.
-Red high picks kept coming my way so I settled into red. I didn't realize I was the only red drafter on my table until we all started deck building and an onlooker commented on my draft pool.
-Even tho I had a high mana curve, I was still mono-colored so no color screw for me. I went w/16 lands + 4 cantrips to smooth out my draws.

Round 1 vs Azorious, 2-0.
Opponent was my opposite seated player from the experienced pod. From what I recall, I mulliganed both games while he was too shy to take that risk.

Round 2 vs Simic, 2-1.
Opponent was from the novice pod.
Game 1, I got milled to death.
Game 2, I burned him out w/a Volcanic Geyser. Close game.
Game 3, Furious Rise was too much card advantage for him.

Awards were given out within pods. So I got the 3rd place prize in my 6 player pod. 2-0 record/6 ppl, I finish in the middle? Oh well *shrugs*

6/26/20 M21 Prerelease - Sealed - 3 rounds - 2nd place - Bant.

R1 vs Boros, 2-0.
R2 vs Mardu, 2-1.
R3 vs Orhzov, 2-1.

All my opponents made the mistake of trying to race vs card advantage.

“1/3rd Red Minimum" - Donate - 1st.

2nd - Goblins
3rd - RDW
4th - Burn

R2, I used Pyrokinesis to survive vs RDW. Goblins player took notice...
R3, Goblins player played around Pyrokinesis by emptying his hand... then I cast Cave-In instead. Instant concession!

“Instants/Sorceries/Lands” - Mardu Discard - 1st.

2nd - Naya Tokens (Clever, I overlooked creature tokens.)
3rd - Boros Lifegain (Lifegain is more efficient than burn.)
4th - Mono Red

Someone called me “crazy” for running 12 fetch lands!

AllianceStandard - CasualSpores

*Lifeforce has synergy w/Fungal Bloom: Hold up Lifeforce mana, then use Fungal Bloom during their end step.

*50 card theme - Mirage era - "Artifacts" - 1st.

*Theme meant every card (except basic lands) had to have the deck’s name.

Defeated:
-2x Goblins
-WBfirstStrike (Both White Knight and Black Knight off 100% basic lands…)
-Minotaurs (Only opponent I used Winter Orb on.)

Backstory:
-Literally handed a MonoWfirstStrike list to a Goblins player (I feared Goblin Vandal/Goblin Tinkerer.)
-Goblins player secretly tested my MonoWfirstStrike list w/a rival… Rival added black to my FirstStrike list b/c "Pro-White.”
-Both suckers showed up overconfident! Red herring 2-for-1.

40 card theme - Homelands era - "Memory Lapse."
Backstory: Built this deck to prove Memory Lapse doesn’t “suck."

Decks i’d use in hindsight:

Worlds94 - The Deck


USnats95 - ErhnamBind


USnats95 - BlackAggro

*Black Vise wasn’t restricted during USnats95.

*PT1 - NecroDeck

*PT1 had a handicap of a 5 card minimum from each Type 2 set.

*USnats96 - JundNecro

*Dennis Bentley splashed red into his USnats96-NecroDeck to deal w/WW.

AllianceStandard - Prison


*MirageStandard - BuriedPox

*I won a LGS event w/this deck. An opponent ran MonoGreen, preboarded for me:
-Lifeforce
-Warthog
-Whirling Dervish
Sweeping a player hater 2-0 was so satisfying!

UrzaStandard - SuicideBlack

BudgetOath (no restricted cards)

3/27: Mystic Sanctuary can't abuse your Gush (Gush is banned.)

4/15: If you're going to add Brainstorm max out to 4 copies and use Evolving Wilds + Terramorphic Expanse for shuffling.

my list: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/pauper/paper-pauper-and-peasant/808934-monouninjas

3/7/20 Pauper
4 rounds, 14 players.
2-2 record, 7th place.


round 1 vs Mono B, 1-2.
SB: +2 Nightwind Glider, -2 Thermal Glider. He had a high removal count.
Found out he main'd: 4 Defile, 4 Tendrils of Corruption, 3 Geth's Verdict, 3 Crypt Rats.
Game 3, he even killed my Nightwind Glider w/Nausea!

round 2 vs GR Slivers, 2-1.
SB: +4 Gut Shot, +1 Thermal Glider. -4 Ramosian Sergeant, -1 Nightwind Glider. He had a low removal count.
Fetched Thermal Gliders to block his red Slivers.
Fetched a Bound in Silence on his Rancor'd Sliver (didn't want Rancor returning to his hand.)
Zealot il-Vec wiped out his army. SB Gut Shot made this faster.

round 3 vs Mono W Prowess, 2-0.
SB: +4 Patrician's Scorn, +1 Thermal Glider. -4 Ramosian Sergeant, -1 Nightwind Glider. He had a low removal count.
Game 1, he gave his dude w/2 white auras - pro white...
me - This creature gains pro white?
him - Yup.
me - Your auras fall off -_-;
him - 0_0 i'll target him instead!
me - *sigh* sureee.
Game 2, I surprised him by casting Patrician's Scorn for free.

round 4 vs Mono B LD, 1-2.
SB: +2 Nightwind Glider, -2 Thermal Glider. He had a high removal count.
Game 1, he goes 1st. Swamp, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Thorn of the Black Rose. I ended up swarming him and we traded monarch back and forth. He never got to abuse his land destruction.
Game 2, he killed all my Rebel searchers.
Game 3, he goes 1st again. Swamp, Dark Ritual, Cuombajj Witches. He kept my Rebel numbers low.

conclusion: discovered Mono Black decks can actually run enough removal to answer my 16 Rebel searchers... That's pretty scary! At least I overcame my fear of timing out due to removing Bonesplitter from my build (I played fast.)

2/29/20 Legacy Tribal Wars
12 players, 3-1, 1st place

Tourney Rules:
The Tribal Wars event will use the following rules:
The banned list found here: https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Tribal_Wars
As well as any card currently banned in the modern format

Merfolk Tribe:

*Lily and Aether Vial nonbo so I chose Lily over Vial.

Test vs R/g Satyr, 0-1.
Satyrs are pretty limited in selection. I'm surprised he could jam the 20 minimum into his deck!
I was winning but then our TO announced registration... My test partner wouldn't budge so I just scooped.

Round 1 vs B Zombies, 2-0.
SB: +3 Leyline of the Void, +1 Spreading Seas. -4 Ancestral Visions.
In game 1, I saw graveyard recursion. Leylines arrived too late in game 2 to make a difference.

Round 2 vs B/w Knights, 2-0.
SB: none
He didn't like my True-Name Nemesis (held off his army) or my Underground Seas (too expensive.)

Round 3 vs (Dason Lee) B/w Vampires, 1-2.
SB: none
I named this opponent b/c of all 4 black decks I've faced tonight, Dason was the smartest since he also ran 4 Witch's Vengeance. Kudos!
He seemed to think Ancestral Visions was broken. I disagree since it left modern's ban list. I would run Ponder instead, if I could, *shrugs*
Even though I lost, I felt my deck was more consistent due to all the card draw (Ancestral Visions, Benthic Biomancer, Brainstorm, Silvergil Adept.)

Round 4 vs B/w Vampires, 2-0.
SB: none
Post match, I gave him budget card advice, such as:
-add 4 Evolving Wilds, 4 Terramorphic Expanse, 1 Plains. His deck only had 4 Godless Shrine to cast his 4 white cards.
-add 4 Sign in Blood. It's a cheap cantrip that can trim 1-2 lands from your build. His deck also gains life.

After round 4, there were no undefeated players. There were four 3-1's.
-1st tiebreaker criteria: we all defeated each another so we all had no superior opponents.
-2nd tiebreaker criteria: I finished w/a game record of 7-2.
Since I had the best game record of the 3-1's, I got the nod into 1st place.

"only rare/legendary/expensive/high CMC cards are good cards."
Ramp/MidRange can sate this preference.

my mono-white pauper:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/pauper/paper-pauper-and-peasant/811699-rebels
we both use - 4x Bonesplitter.

my mono-black pauper:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/pauper/paper-pauper-and-peasant/812854-mercenaries
we both use - 4x Gray Merchant of Asphodel, 4x Sign in Blood, 2x Tendrils of Corruption and 2x Diabolic Edict.

This is how I'd rebuild your MonoUmill:


1. Dramatic Reversal is a "win more" card. It only works when you're already ahead - it won't help you get ahead.
2. Ponder/Preordain should be maxed out. Cantrips are powerful!
3. Sandbar/Sanctuary aren't Snow-Covered. I prefer my 8 fetch lands but they enter tapped out so your Sandbar/Sanctuary would be too slow.

I think the biggest problem in multi-color pauper is the land base. Is it possible to base your deck off G and just splash B/U?