I thought about the Burst vs Bolt vs Slash. I tried slash, but often times I felt it was overkill, and plus I felt like I wanted to do it at end of turn. So, I went with E-bolt instead, and so far it's working out nicely. It comes in handy against blue when they have a Spire sitting out there, I can cast a creature, wait for them to counter, and then slip the bolt in to take out their heavy hitter. Also, it's nice for taking out weenies.
I went with Spawn of Rix-Maadi over the Drake and the Singe-Mind Ogre. It's such a nice late game card, but sometimes he's hard to cast with my mana curve. I took out Wrench Mind because I already have 8 discard effects maindeck, which is more than enough, although I do miss having it handy against storm. Fists of the Demigod has worked out VERY nicely for me, as it just allows me to pummel aggro decks, along with having spells to keep their chumps off the board. Still not certain about Psychotic Fury...it's nice, but every time I try to cast it, it either gets countered, the creature dies before I cast it, or I just don't have any creatures to cast it on.
I'm really digging that Jund build. One thing though...Raze is a pretty awesome card, especially against storm, but I would think it would hurt you quite a bit too... I really like the Vines though, there are multiple times I find myself wishing I had it, just to keep spells off whoever is equipped with Fists.
I know...I know...but I actually do have a good rationale behind this (at least I feel so) I took out Bolt because my deck kept running into Spire Golems. And it was at that moment I realized that there are tons of creatures with 1 toughness or 2 toughness, but not too many with 3. After game after game having a lightning bolt sitting in my hand, unable to kill the Spire Golem blocking my guys, I swapped it out for a card that could kill it late game, as well as a card that produces 1 more damage late game, while still being able to take care of weenies in the early game. If the deck were mono-red, I would play both, but I stand behind my decision of replacing bolt with burst.
I like the idea of dropping soul reap for splitter, we are both on the same page there my friend
I've thought about Emberstrike duo, I'm just not sure what to take him out for though....
Sewn-Eye Drake was definitely a guy on my list of things to cut. No sense in having a 4 drop that can't stand up to a Spire Golem or get chumped by Fairies/Hawks.
Following you on Decay for Trickery, making that switch ASAP. I'll give 4 gates/basics a try. I'm also going to try modifying it, having cards that are a little more splice friendly.
Thank you for the tips Dunkoro!
LordSaturn, I like both suggestions. I might put in Deathraiders in place of the Kathari bomber and the Drakes. I'll think of somewhere to play fury, I had never seen that card before. Gotta say, I think I could do some damage with it....
I really wanted to build Jund, but kept running into the same problems. However, I think that when Gatecrash comes out, Jund might actually be a playable deck with the emergence of some new R/G cards, as well as a R/G guildgate.
So far this prototype has done pretty well against storm, goblins, and mono green stompy. It does decent against UR Post. However, it basically folds to mono blue.
Here is my predicament...I'm feeling the deck is at the crossroads of being a pure aggro deck or more of a control deck. Mono Blue variants are starting to become more popular, and I keep seeing the less aggressive version (w/o fairies, ninja, sprites, etc) starting to make a big splash, and this deck has yet to win a match against it. Also, the deck tends to hose itself on mana one out of every 4 games...meaning I need to do something about the mana curve, or add in an artifact manafixer, ala Prophetic Prism or Veinfire Borderpost
Here are some other cards I have been thinking about:
As you can see...I'm a little all over the place with it and keep doing circles. However, it's pretty fun to play and I love nothing more than seeing Storm players suffer.... I think this can be good, but it just needs a lot more work. What do you guys think???
I did list MBC there. The u/r deck is basically a delver aggro deck with the steam hoppers and so on in place of bears and stitched drakes; I don't think the version that placed a few times even had red mana in it.
The white/black tortured deck has been in there more lately (though a green/black placed in a couple events yesterday); it's much more control-oriented and less of a beatdown deck than the green/black one. I should probably post about it here; it's been all over the tourney practice room lately. It munches creature-based aggro decks (4 dead weight, 4 spitters, and 4 stinkweeds sees to that) and makes MBC cry, is surprisingly solid against u/r post, but dies horribly to affinity and greenpost. Haven't played enough against storm to have a good sense there.
I think I've only played against green post and affinity once in all my times playing Pauper tourneys.
STILL HATE BLUE!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Might give that white/black deck a try next week. Tired of getting shafted by hydroblast/weatherseed fairies.
For one it just seems so slow. I loose to delver, goblins mono white pretty much anything. Maybe I am just not good of a pilot I don't know.
The problem I see is the deck is meant to overwhelm your opponents. However, in these aggro based matchups, it's hard to do that, because their creatures overpower yours, until you get the proper card to make them beefier. If I'm playing goblins, and I'm swinging, and you cast a cry, Sledder makes sure some of my guys survive, and the ensuing wrath continues.
If I'm playing White Weenie or Delver, I'm flying right over you.
Aggro is your worst enemy, so you need to focus on how to stop it. Perhaps in the board you can play some walls (wall of tanglecord being a key suggestion). As for control decks like Mono Black or Post, I think this deck would tear them apart. I too have a spores deck, and it does have its ups and downs. For what it's worth, I would say your design is better than mine. Keep tweaking it, but perhaps capitalize on its two biggest assets: the ability to overwhelm, and the element of surprise.
Hmmm....One-eyed Scarecrow would be kinda nice in the WW sideboard for the mirror match...
Like Quail said, Goblins, Infect, and Affinity are the only ones I see it being really good against. I would try and find a way to get more walls with reach that were maybe beefier...or find a way to add beef to them. Last tournament I played WW and ran into Mono Green Post, and the walls WRECKED me. If the current meta keeps going aggro, then you have a sweet surprise for them. But honestly, I can't see this one standing on its' own against U/R Post, or Mono U post, both of which have been seeing more and more popularity. My advice would be to check the "What's Happening?" on the MTGO site, look at the Pauper results, and if you keep seeing an increase in aggro decks, unleash the beast! Err...should I say....defender?
Awesome write up! This is a deck I've really been thinking about playing, seeing as it has just manhandled my WW deck every time I've gone up against it. However, I do get jovial when I'm playing against it with goblins, unless they get serrated arrows on the board. Honestly, I think this might be one of the better decks in the environment right now.
BTW, how do you get to do Primers? I'd really like to do one for Goblins or White Weenie.
I've seen Circle/Rune of Protection: Blue in WW sideboards. I always assumed thats what it was for.
I thought about doing that...my only beef is that it can really slow you down. Without enough threats on the table, it just gives them the opportunity to draw more counters and eventually take control of the game. I might give it a try next tournament though, just to see how it functions.
BTW, a lot of mono green post showing up lately, as well as a lot of green/x beatdown decks (excluding infect). Seems like Matsu Tribe Sniper gives them fits games 2 and 3. More food for thought....
I can't think of anything too good against them for the sideboard. Honestly, all I did was board in Holy Light, which was borderline useless.
So, I still hate this deck with a passion, and it's really killing Pauper for me (my favorite format right now). They seriously need to ban Brainstorm, or Delver. The combo of the two is unfair. I'll admit that you have to be a good player to pilot this thing, but as my stats indicated, it's really eating up the rest of the environment right now.
Lands can't be countered. Land Grant can. Lots of blue in the environment. If your opponent knows you are mana screwed and knows that you're just one land away from putting them against the ropes, they'll counter it.
Other than that, I think it's a great way to thin out the deck, especially one that needs so little land.
Totally messed up and forgot to put holy light into the board, thinking it was already in there. As for the main deck, I added in Leonin Skyhunter, which I've noticed that a lot of them haven't included Skyhunters. I felt they added a nice little boost to keep blue on their heels, not to mention it's one more flier to the deck.
Results against Mono Blue Post:
Very good. I didn't have enough juice on game 1, and got trumped by a Crusher, but it also didn't help that I made the mistake of thinking Guardian of the Guildpact had protection from him...oops. But games 2 and 3 Kor Sanctifers and speed took care of business. Overall, it was nice having Squadron Hawk. Once I casted one, I had plenty of ammo to keep me going, whether it was to press damage or to feed the Crusher.
Rest of tournament: Went 2-0, then 0-2. Guess what I played against? You guessed it...goblins. Maybe next time I'll double check my sideboard...
Looking over the DE results, I've found that 60% of decks are running blue. This includes: Fairies, Delver Aggro, Post (Mono blue, and UR since it's mostly blue itself), and Mono Blue control.
The deck just gives me fits. I hate it for the following reasons:
1. I've always hated blue. I've always hated counterspells. They make me rage.
2. Even in a pauper format, blue manages to have the most expensive cards overall.
3. Blue decks take FOREVER in DE's. When 2 blue decks play each other, an eternity passes. Though maybe this is for the best, as it causes me to do productive things like clean my apartment while I wait for the next round.
That being said, I want to come up with something to take charge an Thwart the current metagame. Every deck right now has its' pros and cons.
Goblins-
Very fast tempo deck, which gives blue fits. They counter something? Oh well, onto the next creature. All it takes is 3, followed by some burn spells to clear their board and they're sitting back on their heels. However, lack of creatures, or the wrong guy gets countered, and you're a helpless little child for the rest of the game. They stock up on counters, and if you don't do enough damage in time, they'll start drawing cards and stocking up on counterspells.
Rats-
Plenty of discard to milk out those counterspells. They either counter your discard spells, or get rid of them. However, not enough discard means they get to sit back on the one counter that matters, the one that counters your corrupt to win the game. Also, unlike red, black really doesn't have too many cards that straight punish blue, like pyroblast.
WW-
Once again, nice fast tempo deck. They counter, you just keep playing. Also, they don't get the pleasure of boarding in those hydroblasts to keep you down, and instead must rely on serrated arrows to be their savior. As long as you play Suture Priest, or Lone Missionary, or basically any other cards with nice CIP abilities, bounce really doesn't hurt you too much, albeit it does slow you down. However, there aren't really too many good sideboard cards against blue, meaning you basically have to rely on your deck as it is, whereas they get the Serrated Arrows to really mess your guys up. Once again, if you don't get the right draw, you're like a helpless little child against them.
Combo-
Never played combo, but out of the sample of DE's I took, I only saw 1 Combo Deck out of the 60% blue deck margin. I've never played combo, but my guess is that counterspell kinda sorta wrecks it.
Infect
More of the same with the aggro decks, but in this case you only need one threat to get the ball rolling. Just hope for no bounce spells once you start pumping your guys, or if they do have groundswell or apostle's blessing to back it up. Out of the aggro decks, I actually like this one's odds the best.
Affinity
More of the same, only going too fast and getting something countered really slows you down. What I like about this deck is that it has cards that can also hate on blue pretty well, like pyroblast, but they do, however, have steel sabotage.
U/B Control
I really like their odds as well, but part of me feels that it's too slow, and most of the creature is somewhat ineffective.
So what do you guys think? Shall we treat this deck like America treated the Aliens in the movie Independence Day?
I played against a version of Orzhov last week. It played a lot of the same cards that were used in the link.
Unfortunately, the guy that played it didn't do so well, but the deck had a sweet concept that made me want to build it. If I did, it would look something like this:
you might wanna consider adding in Inquisition of kozilek for the ramp match up so you can hit either there lands ramp spells or more importantly there sideboarded in slagstorms/pyroclasm.
the similar you could also go with despise for hitting either primeval titan or inferno titan, primeval being there primary means to ramp kill you.
discard suggestions aside
you already have about 7 means to kill there ramp creatures so you should be some what ok in that match up as far as build go.
but if they are wiping your vampires out to boot, and your forced to sit there for several turns and top deck into more vampires you might wanna evaluate how you play the match up in general.
I appreciate the advice. Honestly, I've had difficulty playing the deck. It's not my current style, but it's a style I'd like to evolve into. I keep trying to play it too aggresively, and it backfires. I'd really like to just watch a game with someone playing the deck and see their style. I'll try to get my hands on some IoK's too.
I've been losing to EVERYTHING tonight. Ramp has destroyed me 3 times, and now I just lost to a random mono black deck playing bonehoard and that Phyl Leech. The mana draw has been awful tonight. 3 games I had to muligan to 5 cards, some games I was stuck on 2 lands, just a very very frustrating night. I'll say that I had some awful draws, but now I'm starting to think that my deck just plain sucks and needs tweaking. Do I really need to bust the 20 tix to get myself some fetch lands? Also, how should I set up my removal?
4 Jund Hackblade
4 Grixis Grimblade
4 Radkos Shredfreak
2 Spawn of Rix-Maadi
3 Psychotic Fury
3 Fists of the Demigod
4 Duress
4 Blightning
4 Electrostatic Bolt
4 Terminate
7 Mountain
4 Radkos Guildgate
3 Stone Rain
3 Shivan Zombie
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Pyroblast
I thought about the Burst vs Bolt vs Slash. I tried slash, but often times I felt it was overkill, and plus I felt like I wanted to do it at end of turn. So, I went with E-bolt instead, and so far it's working out nicely. It comes in handy against blue when they have a Spire sitting out there, I can cast a creature, wait for them to counter, and then slip the bolt in to take out their heavy hitter. Also, it's nice for taking out weenies.
I went with Spawn of Rix-Maadi over the Drake and the Singe-Mind Ogre. It's such a nice late game card, but sometimes he's hard to cast with my mana curve. I took out Wrench Mind because I already have 8 discard effects maindeck, which is more than enough, although I do miss having it handy against storm. Fists of the Demigod has worked out VERY nicely for me, as it just allows me to pummel aggro decks, along with having spells to keep their chumps off the board. Still not certain about Psychotic Fury...it's nice, but every time I try to cast it, it either gets countered, the creature dies before I cast it, or I just don't have any creatures to cast it on.
I'm really digging that Jund build. One thing though...Raze is a pretty awesome card, especially against storm, but I would think it would hurt you quite a bit too... I really like the Vines though, there are multiple times I find myself wishing I had it, just to keep spells off whoever is equipped with Fists.
I know...I know...but I actually do have a good rationale behind this (at least I feel so) I took out Bolt because my deck kept running into Spire Golems. And it was at that moment I realized that there are tons of creatures with 1 toughness or 2 toughness, but not too many with 3. After game after game having a lightning bolt sitting in my hand, unable to kill the Spire Golem blocking my guys, I swapped it out for a card that could kill it late game, as well as a card that produces 1 more damage late game, while still being able to take care of weenies in the early game. If the deck were mono-red, I would play both, but I stand behind my decision of replacing bolt with burst.
I like the idea of dropping soul reap for splitter, we are both on the same page there my friend
I've thought about Emberstrike duo, I'm just not sure what to take him out for though....
Sewn-Eye Drake was definitely a guy on my list of things to cut. No sense in having a 4 drop that can't stand up to a Spire Golem or get chumped by Fairies/Hawks.
Following you on Decay for Trickery, making that switch ASAP. I'll give 4 gates/basics a try. I'm also going to try modifying it, having cards that are a little more splice friendly.
Thank you for the tips Dunkoro!
LordSaturn, I like both suggestions. I might put in Deathraiders in place of the Kathari bomber and the Drakes. I'll think of somewhere to play fury, I had never seen that card before. Gotta say, I think I could do some damage with it....
I really wanted to build Jund, but kept running into the same problems. However, I think that when Gatecrash comes out, Jund might actually be a playable deck with the emergence of some new R/G cards, as well as a R/G guildgate.
4 Jund Hackblade
4 Grixis Grimblade
2 Kathari Bomber
2 Sewn-eye Drake
4 Terminate
3 Soul Reap
4 Blightning
4 Burst Lightning
4 Duress
9 Swamp
6 Mountain
3 Radkos Guildgate
3 Evolving Wilds
3 Pyroblast
3 Wrench Mind
3 Echoing Decay
3 Stone Rain
3 Relic of Protogenitus
So far this prototype has done pretty well against storm, goblins, and mono green stompy. It does decent against UR Post. However, it basically folds to mono blue.
Here is my predicament...I'm feeling the deck is at the crossroads of being a pure aggro deck or more of a control deck. Mono Blue variants are starting to become more popular, and I keep seeing the less aggressive version (w/o fairies, ninja, sprites, etc) starting to make a big splash, and this deck has yet to win a match against it. Also, the deck tends to hose itself on mana one out of every 4 games...meaning I need to do something about the mana curve, or add in an artifact manafixer, ala Prophetic Prism or Veinfire Borderpost
Here are some other cards I have been thinking about:
As you can see...I'm a little all over the place with it and keep doing circles. However, it's pretty fun to play and I love nothing more than seeing Storm players suffer.... I think this can be good, but it just needs a lot more work. What do you guys think???
I think I've only played against green post and affinity once in all my times playing Pauper tourneys.
STILL HATE BLUE!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Might give that white/black deck a try next week. Tired of getting shafted by hydroblast/weatherseed fairies.
The problem I see is the deck is meant to overwhelm your opponents. However, in these aggro based matchups, it's hard to do that, because their creatures overpower yours, until you get the proper card to make them beefier. If I'm playing goblins, and I'm swinging, and you cast a cry, Sledder makes sure some of my guys survive, and the ensuing wrath continues.
If I'm playing White Weenie or Delver, I'm flying right over you.
Aggro is your worst enemy, so you need to focus on how to stop it. Perhaps in the board you can play some walls (wall of tanglecord being a key suggestion). As for control decks like Mono Black or Post, I think this deck would tear them apart. I too have a spores deck, and it does have its ups and downs. For what it's worth, I would say your design is better than mine. Keep tweaking it, but perhaps capitalize on its two biggest assets: the ability to overwhelm, and the element of surprise.
Like Quail said, Goblins, Infect, and Affinity are the only ones I see it being really good against. I would try and find a way to get more walls with reach that were maybe beefier...or find a way to add beef to them. Last tournament I played WW and ran into Mono Green Post, and the walls WRECKED me. If the current meta keeps going aggro, then you have a sweet surprise for them. But honestly, I can't see this one standing on its' own against U/R Post, or Mono U post, both of which have been seeing more and more popularity. My advice would be to check the "What's Happening?" on the MTGO site, look at the Pauper results, and if you keep seeing an increase in aggro decks, unleash the beast! Err...should I say....defender?
BTW, how do you get to do Primers? I'd really like to do one for Goblins or White Weenie.
I thought about doing that...my only beef is that it can really slow you down. Without enough threats on the table, it just gives them the opportunity to draw more counters and eventually take control of the game. I might give it a try next tournament though, just to see how it functions.
BTW, a lot of mono green post showing up lately, as well as a lot of green/x beatdown decks (excluding infect). Seems like Matsu Tribe Sniper gives them fits games 2 and 3. More food for thought....
Squadron Hawk: Stud
Kor Skyfisher: Stud
Bonesplitter: Stud
Icatian Javeliniers: Stud
Suture Priest: Stud
Razor Golem: Stud
Benevolent Bodyguard: Meh
Guardian of the Guildpact: Meh
Unmake: Meh
Journey to Nowhere: Meh
Prismatic Strand: Meh
I can't think of anything too good against them for the sideboard. Honestly, all I did was board in Holy Light, which was borderline useless.
So, I still hate this deck with a passion, and it's really killing Pauper for me (my favorite format right now). They seriously need to ban Brainstorm, or Delver. The combo of the two is unfair. I'll admit that you have to be a good player to pilot this thing, but as my stats indicated, it's really eating up the rest of the environment right now.
Lands can't be countered. Land Grant can. Lots of blue in the environment. If your opponent knows you are mana screwed and knows that you're just one land away from putting them against the ropes, they'll counter it.
Other than that, I think it's a great way to thin out the deck, especially one that needs so little land.
Here was my decklist:
3 Benevolent Bodyguard
3 Guardian of the Guildpact
4 Icatian Javelineers
3 Leonin Skyhunter
4 Kor Skyfisher
4 Razor Golem
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Suture Priest
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Prismatic Strands
3 Unmake
3 Benevolent Unicorn
3 Crimson Acolyte
2 Dust to Dust
4 Kor Sanctifiers
3 Standard Bearer
Totally messed up and forgot to put holy light into the board, thinking it was already in there. As for the main deck, I added in Leonin Skyhunter, which I've noticed that a lot of them haven't included Skyhunters. I felt they added a nice little boost to keep blue on their heels, not to mention it's one more flier to the deck.
Results against Mono Blue Post:
Very good. I didn't have enough juice on game 1, and got trumped by a Crusher, but it also didn't help that I made the mistake of thinking Guardian of the Guildpact had protection from him...oops. But games 2 and 3 Kor Sanctifers and speed took care of business. Overall, it was nice having Squadron Hawk. Once I casted one, I had plenty of ammo to keep me going, whether it was to press damage or to feed the Crusher.
Rest of tournament: Went 2-0, then 0-2. Guess what I played against? You guessed it...goblins. Maybe next time I'll double check my sideboard...
The deck just gives me fits. I hate it for the following reasons:
1. I've always hated blue. I've always hated counterspells. They make me rage.
2. Even in a pauper format, blue manages to have the most expensive cards overall.
3. Blue decks take FOREVER in DE's. When 2 blue decks play each other, an eternity passes. Though maybe this is for the best, as it causes me to do productive things like clean my apartment while I wait for the next round.
That being said, I want to come up with something to take charge an Thwart the current metagame. Every deck right now has its' pros and cons.
Goblins-
Very fast tempo deck, which gives blue fits. They counter something? Oh well, onto the next creature. All it takes is 3, followed by some burn spells to clear their board and they're sitting back on their heels. However, lack of creatures, or the wrong guy gets countered, and you're a helpless little child for the rest of the game. They stock up on counters, and if you don't do enough damage in time, they'll start drawing cards and stocking up on counterspells.
Rats-
Plenty of discard to milk out those counterspells. They either counter your discard spells, or get rid of them. However, not enough discard means they get to sit back on the one counter that matters, the one that counters your corrupt to win the game. Also, unlike red, black really doesn't have too many cards that straight punish blue, like pyroblast.
WW-
Once again, nice fast tempo deck. They counter, you just keep playing. Also, they don't get the pleasure of boarding in those hydroblasts to keep you down, and instead must rely on serrated arrows to be their savior. As long as you play Suture Priest, or Lone Missionary, or basically any other cards with nice CIP abilities, bounce really doesn't hurt you too much, albeit it does slow you down. However, there aren't really too many good sideboard cards against blue, meaning you basically have to rely on your deck as it is, whereas they get the Serrated Arrows to really mess your guys up. Once again, if you don't get the right draw, you're like a helpless little child against them.
Combo-
Never played combo, but out of the sample of DE's I took, I only saw 1 Combo Deck out of the 60% blue deck margin. I've never played combo, but my guess is that counterspell kinda sorta wrecks it.
Infect
More of the same with the aggro decks, but in this case you only need one threat to get the ball rolling. Just hope for no bounce spells once you start pumping your guys, or if they do have groundswell or apostle's blessing to back it up. Out of the aggro decks, I actually like this one's odds the best.
Affinity
More of the same, only going too fast and getting something countered really slows you down. What I like about this deck is that it has cards that can also hate on blue pretty well, like pyroblast, but they do, however, have steel sabotage.
U/B Control
I really like their odds as well, but part of me feels that it's too slow, and most of the creature is somewhat ineffective.
So what do you guys think? Shall we treat this deck like America treated the Aliens in the movie Independence Day?
I played against a version of Orzhov last week. It played a lot of the same cards that were used in the link.
Unfortunately, the guy that played it didn't do so well, but the deck had a sweet concept that made me want to build it. If I did, it would look something like this:
4 Nip Gwyllion
4 Blind Hunter
4 Morning Thrull
4 Beckon Apparation
3 Diabolic Edict
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Unholy Strength
3 Orzhov Basillica
10 Swamp
10 Plains
I appreciate the advice. Honestly, I've had difficulty playing the deck. It's not my current style, but it's a style I'd like to evolve into. I keep trying to play it too aggresively, and it backfires. I'd really like to just watch a game with someone playing the deck and see their style. I'll try to get my hands on some IoK's too.
4 Bloodghast
3 Pulse Tracker
3 Viscera Seer
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
4 Kalastria Highborn
4 Vampire Lacerator
2 Dismember
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Go for the Throat
2 Doom Blade
2 Arc Trail
4 Lavaclaw Reach
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Act of Aggression
3 Manic Vandal
4 Duress
3 Combust
I've been losing to EVERYTHING tonight. Ramp has destroyed me 3 times, and now I just lost to a random mono black deck playing bonehoard and that Phyl Leech. The mana draw has been awful tonight. 3 games I had to muligan to 5 cards, some games I was stuck on 2 lands, just a very very frustrating night. I'll say that I had some awful draws, but now I'm starting to think that my deck just plain sucks and needs tweaking. Do I really need to bust the 20 tix to get myself some fetch lands? Also, how should I set up my removal?