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By: Arctic_Ghost, Arctic_Ghost
Jul 18 2016 12:00pm
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As always, some great questions to start us off.

Question: Do you hate pauper?

 

Answer: No, I love the format and love writing about it.

 

Question: Then why do you promote decks with Peregrine Drake?

 

Answer: They are probably going to ban the big scary drake, so I am having my fun while it lasts.

 

Question: Have you ever lost to the drake deck?

 

Answer: Yes I have, but I still feel it shouldn't be banned.

 

Question: Do you feel bad for saying you believe it doesn't deserve to get banned?

 

Answer: Yes, but I feel it needed to be said.

 

 

As always, if the video isn't good for you or if you prefer a deck list, here is the deck list for your viewing pleasure

 

 

 

 

This is more of a control oriented version of the Peregrine Drake Urza Tron type of builds as you can see. You play more removal, counter spells and less card draw, so that you can win in the late game and combo off when you feel the time is absolutely right. This version shines against aggro decks, like Stompy, White Weenie, Elves and the like, where it has a tiny bit of a difficult time against the control decks of the format, it can still easily beat them. One big card you get is Pulse of Murasa, which allows you to throw your threats out early to gain an early advantage and set up and then get your threats back later, while also gaining a bit of life in the process. Now I will stop ranting and hopefully show you what the deck can do.

 

I am sure some of you may be wondering, what makes Pulse of Murasa better than Reaping the Graves? It is because the Pulse returns lands and gains 6 life, which can be very helpful against any fast aggro deck or any land destruction that comes your way.

 

Match 1 vs Affinity

 

 

Game 1 my opening hand wasn't exciting, but I don't think it was bad by any means. My opponent didn't have a super-fast draw, but I was put under a good amount of pressure early and I was far from getting Urza Tron put together. I am able to deal with most of my opponents board state and stabilized, but then I feel I punted and man do I feel bad about it. My opponent goes to equip Flayer Husk to their Frogmite and I figured they were going to try and use Fling to win the game, but I had a Pulse of Murasa in my hand to blow my opponent out. My opponent however, decided to say go and now if I try to play Pulse, I would die to their Fling and what I should have done, was cast Pulse in response to the equip, but I made the punt and my cards didn't come through for me fast enough after that and I lost the game. Let this be a lesson to you, never expect your opponents to do anything.

 

Game 2 I felt my opening hand was fine with a Circle of Protection: Red and Urza Tron on turn 3, I just needed my opponent to not have a broken draw. My opponent had a slow draw, but quickly picked up speed in just a few turns and I was under a lot of pressure. With Urza Tron online and Circle of Protection: Red on the board, I wasn't afraid of dying to a burn spell and so all I needed to do was deal with my opponents threats. I was using my life as a resource and was willing to go to 1 life and squeeze everything out of every card I had and thankfully, the plan worked. My opponent was flooded with answers to what my deck was trying to do, but it proved to not be enough as I was drawing more cards and Mystical Teachings was finding me all the answers I needed. A few turns later, my opponent decided that enough was enough and we were on to game 3.

 

Game 3 my opening hand was terrible, but I was afraid to go to 6 cards and decided to just keep it. My opponent didn't have a very quick draw and I drew an early Expedition Map to get the ball rolling. I got Urza Tron and a Circle of Protection: Red going early and while my deck was being very kind to me, my opponent had a 5 power Myr Enforcer attacking me and I knew it was gonna be a rough uphill battle for me. I cycled through many Moment's Peaces to buy me enough time to sculpt together a game plan and my opponent was flooding out. I drew a Mystical Teachings and some burn spells and dealt with my opponent's threats.  A few turns later I drew my combo and my opponent conceded.

 

I had to get very lucky in game 3 to win this match, but I feel the first game could have been won if I did not punt and the second game I won straight up. Affinity is a rough match because of how much power they can put onto the battlefield so early and so quickly, sometimes you just throw your hands in the air and accept it. Thankfully, Moment's Peace and Circle of Protection: Red can get you far in the matchup and I was able to pull out the victory.

 

Match 2 vs Mono Blue Delver

 

 

Game 1 my opening hand was pretty bad, but I didn't think going to 5 was worth it, considering it wasn't going to take much to make the hand good. My opponent had the turn 1 Delver of Secrets and also a turn 2 Spellstutter Sprite to counter my Flame Slash and I just got slaughtered from there. We were quickly on to game 2.

 

Game 2 my hand was not great, but it was definitely playable. My opponent countered my Prophetic Prism, which I think is a good play that a lot of players don't make. This deck is very hungry for colored mana, so cutting me off of it is a good play in the long run. I wasn't really mentally in this game and that is my own fault. I made a lot of mistakes and questionable decisions, but the deck also just didn't come together well and failed in the end.

 

Delver Blue is not a good matchup for this deck, they can easily out card you.  If a Delver of Secrets lands on turn 1, flips, and is backed up by counter spells, it can be a disaster for you from the start. You really need to remove everything and get Urza Tron quickly if your going to win and you will need to practice a lot.

 

Match 3 vs Grixis Metalcraft Control

 

 

Game 1 my opening hand was decent with 3 lands, a Compulsive Research and a Mulldrifter to help me dig and curve out and a Mystical Teachings to find me what I need. My opponent had a few mana troubles early on and my deck was coming through for me in every way. I had Urza Tron going and was drawing a good amount of cards and had full control of the game. My opponent tapped down to 1 mana, but left a red open and I decided to go for the win and luckily I got there.

 

Game 2 my opening hand was not the greatest, but it had a good amount of answers for what my opponent was going to do and all I needed was land. To my luck, I drew pretty perfectly for the first few turns of the game and again my opponents mana wasn't being very kind to them. My opponent and I spent a few turns with me trading removal spells for his BeetleBack Chief and I at this point was just waiting to draw the last few pieces of my combo. I cast a few Prophetic Prisms into a Compulsive Research and finally hit my combo and this was while my opponent tapped out. Luckily for me, my opponent drew the combo cards of his deck and not the removal.

 

This match can really go either way. The Grixis deck has many answers to your combo with counter spells and removal spells and they can kill you quickly with Beetleback Chief and Bleak Coven Vampires.  They can also have access to the Peregrine Drake combo because they play Ghostly Flicker for the raw card advantage anyway. You do have a big advantage with Urza Tron however and you can bury them in cards and threats and they usually give you too much time to set up and sculpt not only the perfect hand, but the perfect game plan as well.

 

Where we go from here? Updates to the deck list, aftermath thoughts and possibly more!

 

I like this deck a lot, but I feel as though with Peregrine Drake, you either want to be as fast as possible (Mono U Drake Tron) or you want to go as deep in control as possible (UR Drake Control). I feel that this version of the deck can get a little confused as to its role and can either draw too much of the combo and not enough answers, or it can draw all the answers but then run out of gas and fall short of winning. I think my list going in was pretty good, but I made some changes and feel it is a bit more cleaned up, let's check out what the changes are.

 

 

 

 

I made the change of taking out 1 Sea Gate Oracle to make room for the 3rd Flame Slash so that I can have just a bit more removal in the main deck to help curve out a bit better. I also took out the Rolling Thunder because I never really felt like I needed it in this version of the deck and it was making the control matchup just a little bit worse, so I went with Kaervek's Torch in the main instead, which thankfully also made sideboard space.

 

In the sideboard I added a Reaping the Graves to help against heavy removal decks and matchups that can be a straight grind (such as Kuldotha decks, Teachings and more of the like) and I took out the Gigadrowse. Gigadrowse was disappointing in further testing and it felt like it didn't go according to this versions game plan, so I replaced them with an extra Dispel and a Firebolt for a little bit more removal vs the aggro decks and Delver Blue.

 

Well that should be all for the Peregrine Drake decks for a little while. I hope you enjoyed this series of decks I have brought you and yes I know how much Peregrine Drake makes a lot of you angry, but someone needed to do it.

 

Twitch.tv/arcticghost_tv

 

Pauper Classic Tuesdays happens every Tuesday on Gatherling.com at 8:00pm, always Eastern Standard Time. It's free to enter a lot of fun!!! I also stream it as well!

 

Thank you all for reading and watching. See you all next time!

4 Comments

Hexproof by MichelleWong at Tue, 07/19/2016 - 09:18
MichelleWong's picture
5

Thanks Arctic Ghost for this article on Murasa Tron. I learnt something new about Murasa Tron.

Have you ever fought the Murasa Tron vs Hexproof matchup? If so, which deck do you feel is favored in your experience? Are you considering altering your sideboard to handle Hexproof (because currently your sideboard has little relevant to the Hexproof matchup), or is this not a matchup you are particularly fearful about?

Thanks,
Michelle

Thank you for checking out my by Arctic_Ghost at Tue, 07/19/2016 - 12:16
Arctic_Ghost's picture

Thank you for checking out my videos/article Michelle!

I personally don't fear any green or white based aggro deck enough to dedicate a large amount of sideboard space to combat them. Decks like boggles, white weenie, elves, stompy etc... They all get stalled out by Moment's Peace long enough that you should be able to find your combo and win and it's also why I play Mystical Teachings. Fog effects are your best friend against the aggro decks of the format and you already play 4 Moment's Peace in the main deck, but sometimes these aggro decks can just get a nut draw you can't handle because you didn't draw your fog cards early enough or didn't draw your combo early enough, but that should rarely happen. After further testing, I feel in your sideboard you just want more fog effects over removal and so I would recommend 1-2 copies of Tangle and I would at the very least take out Firebolt for one of them.

One thing Goblins, Red Deck Wins and even Boggles have going for them is their access to red mana and more importantly, Flaring Pain. That is also why Hydroblast is so crucial in the sideboard.

Doesn't seem like Drake is by Paul Leicht at Tue, 07/19/2016 - 14:04
Paul Leicht's picture

Doesn't seem like Drake is getting banned soon. The ban list for this quarter was empty.

Yes I know and I am quite by Arctic_Ghost at Tue, 07/19/2016 - 14:28
Arctic_Ghost's picture

Yes I know and I am quite happy about that personally. The decks are so fun to play.