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By: RCueva, Rene Cueva
May 03 2010 12:36am
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   Hello and welcome to another installment of A Caveman’s Look. Like I said in my first article that black decks hold a soft spot and  I’ve recently noticed that I started to stray away from my favorite color. My last RWu Pauper deck was definitely fun and certainly did its job, but still didn’t have the flavor I was looking for. So I started looking and cards and reading a lot of articles. In one article, I can not remember who wrote it, I read about the synergy of two cards:

nameless inversion + Aurochs Herd

   I thought to myself how come I didn’t see that? I also looked at a deck called Yak Attack by The Dwarf. Here is it for reference:

 

 

  So I had put this deck together some time ago and I have to admit that when I actually got to finish a game without my opponent conceding I really was that impress.  I was like deluxeicoff said in a comment to one of Motu’s articles. Seems the ill fate of all LD strategies...that you draw it when your opp. is flooded, and come up one short when they're hurting. So I left the deck alone until I found the Aurochs Herd + Nameless Inversion combo. So when I was looking threw my virtual binder I found some other cards I wanted to play with. One being Battlewand Oak. So lets take a look at the cards that made the first cut.


Aurochs Herd Our main finisher that replaces itself in our hand with either another one or removal.
Nameless Inversion Removal that can also act as a pump spell. It can also be tutored by Aurochs Herd.
Battlewand Oak Our second finisher that also gets pumped up with Nameless Inversion. He can go from a 1/3 to 6/2 with one Nameless Inversion.
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss Helps accelerate us into Aurochs Herd and also pumps Battlewand Oak. Can also punish an opponent for keeping a mana light hand.
Game-Trail Changeling Pumps up Battlewand Oak and can be tutored by Aurochs Herd. The changeling can also get through stalemates with the power of trample and also provides a good blocker.
Woodland Changeling Does everything that Game-Trail Changeling does except it cast 3 mana less and is a bit smaller.
Krosan Tusker Makes sure we hit our lands every turn to get Aurochs Herd out on time and to pump our Battlewand Oak every turn. Does that while also giving us a little card drawing. Can be another finisher given the opportunity.
Drain the well This will give us a little bit of life and will hopefully hurt our opponents mana.
duress One of my favorite discard cards.
Elvish Visionary Gives you a 1/1 and replaces itself with another card.

So the deck looks like this:

 

Cruel Treefolk Herd V.1
By RCueva
Creatures
4 Aurochs Herd
4 Battlewand Oak
2 Borderland Ranger
2 Elvish Visionary
4 Game-Trail Changeling
4 Krosan Tusker
4 Woodland Changeling
24 cards

Other Spells
4 Drain the Well
2 Duress
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4 Nameless Inversion
14 cards
 
Lands
12 Forest
6 Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse
22 cards

 
Aurochs Herd

 

   So after about 15 games or so I’ve noticed a couple of things I liked and disliked. First off Drain the Well was not pulling its weight. Also Game-Trail Changeling usually just sat in my hand. I never won any games off of it either.  So I cut them and change the list to something like this:

 

Cruel Treefolk Herd V.2
By RCueva
Creatures
4 Aurochs Herd
4 Battlewand Oak
2 Borderland Ranger
2 Elvish Visionary
4 Krosan Tusker
2 Viscera Dragger
4 Woodland Changeling
22 cards

Other Spells
2 Cruel Revival
4 Duress
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4 Nameless Inversion
2 Rootgrapple
22 Cards
16 cards
 
Lands
12 Forest
6 Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse
22 cards

 
Cruel Revival

 

 

  So lets take a look at the cards that I added.

Cruel Revival A gem card that I found in my collection that seem to scream to be in this deck. Its expensive as far as removal goes but it doesn’t have the non-black clause that a lot of black removal has. It also can bring changelings from the graveyard back into your hand. *cough* Nameless Inversion *cough*.

 Rootgrapple I mainly added these to help against white weenie to get rid of all those pesky enchantments. It can also be targeted at you opponents mana if they are having problems. Also helps pump up your Battlewand Oak at instant speed.

Viscera Dragger I wanted another option for Cruel Revival and at the same time give me another draw outlet.

   I took this deck list out for about another 15 games until I decided that there were some other changes I would like to make. First off the deck had a lot of problems with one of my favorite cards Guardian of the Guildpact. The other issue I ran into is protection from black decks that seem to have gain some popularity in the casual room.  So in order to help me in these situations I added the following:

Snakeform This card helps against protection from black and the Guardian of the Guildpact.

Putrid Leech Another card I put in to combat the Guardian, gives me another 2 drop, and also puts slower decks on a short clock.
 So to make room for these changes I decided to cut the borderland rangers since I was drawing plenty of land as it was. I also drop duress down to a 2 of since it only worked in some situations.

 

Creul Treefolk Herd V.3
By RCueva
Creatures
4 Aurochs Herd
4 Battlewand Oak
2 Elvish Visionary
4 Krosan Tusker
3 Putrid Leech
2 Viscera Dragger
4 Woodland Changeling
23 cards

Other Spells
23 Cards
2 Cruel Revival
2 Duress
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4 Nameless Inversion
2 Rootgrapple
1 Snakeform
15 cards
 
Lands
12 Forest
6 Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse
22 cards

 
Putrid Leech

  If you would like to add some more cards for the protection from black decks you can also try Serrated Arrows or Lignify. Although this deck seem to be yet another set up it still could use some more fine tuning. So I dropped the Rootgrapple for Wickerbough Elder. I also upped the Cruel Revival to four. So lets take a look at the final decklist:
 

Creul Treefolk Herd V.4
By RCueva
Creatures
4 Aurochs Herd
4 Battlewand Oak
2 Elvish Visionary
4 Krosan Tusker
3 Putrid Leech
2 Wickerbough Elder
4 Woodland Changeling
23 cards

Other Spells
4 Cruel Revival
2 Duress
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4 Nameless Inversion
1 Snakeform
15 cards
 
Lands
12 Forest
6 Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse
22 cards

 
Wickerbough Elder


 So even after these updates I'm still not 100% sold on Putrid Leech or Viscera Dragger I think Serrated Arrows would do more for the deck. The reason I don't like Putrid Leech is because this deck takes a little longer to get going and the life lost by the leech is sometimes not work it. A couple of other options you can look at would be:

Gangrenous Zombies This could be a nice addition if you added snow lands.

Weed-Pruner Poplar Could be a cool card. This deck seems to provide plenty of mana for it.

  So lets take this deck out to the casual room and see how it works.

Game 1

Stutterbean
Naya Aggro

I play first with the following hand:
cruel revival cruel revival cruel revival Mwonvuli Acid-Moss battlewand oak swamp forest

A little light on land but if we draw it we should be fine.

I play a forest and then pass. Stutter mountain and pass.

I draw Aurochs Herd and play my swamp then pass. Stutter plays a forest and Plated Geopede. After reading JustSin's "Creepy Crawlers" article I have been reminded how much a pain in the rear Plated Geopede can be.

I draw a Duress play it revealing:
teetering peaks grazing gladehart kor skyfisher mountain rampant growth colossal might
I make Stutterbean discard Colossal Might. Stutter plays a forest and a Grazing Gladehart then attacks for 3 with the Geopede.

I draw a much needed Nameless Inversion and pass. Stutter plays Pilgrim's Eye and in response I play Nameless Inversion on his geopede. Stutter gets a plains for Pilgrim's Eye and attacks me with his gladehart.

I draw a forest and play my Battlewand Oak. Stutter attacks with Pilgrim's Eye and is done.

Again I draw another land but this time its a swamp. I play it and a Mwonvuli Acid-Moss destroying mountain. I pass  with no attack. Stutter plays a mountain and attacks with Pilgrim's Eye again.

I draw Krosan Tusker and then attack with Battlewand Oak. Stutter blocks with his gladehart and I Cruel Revival it, returning Nameless Inversion to my hand. Stutter plays Teetering Peaks on Pilgrim's Eye and attacks for 3. That little pesky flyer is getting on my nerves now.

I get a Woodland Changeling off my draw. First I cycle Krosan Tusker to grap a forest and draw a Duress. I play the forest and Duress seeing the following:
terramorphic expanse forest plains kor skyfisher rampant growth colossal might

I force Stutter to discard Colossal Might so I don't have to worry about combat tricks. I play the changeling and swing with the Battlewand Oak for 5. Stutter plays a plains and a Kor Skyfisher returning Teetering Peaks to his hand. He finishes his turn by attacking with the Pilgrim's Eye.

I draw a forest and play it. I use Nameless Inversion on the Kor Skyfisher and attack with battlewand and changeling, bringing life totals to 10-9 in Stutter's favor. Stutter starts off with Teetering Peaks targeting Pilgrim's Eye. Then Kor Skyfisher joins Stutter's side and returns the Teetering Peaks to his hand again. I use a Cruel Revival on the Pilgrim's Eye and return my Nameless Inversion back to my hand.

I draw my putrid leech but decide to play the Nameless Inversion on his Kor Skyfisher. Stutter then promptly laughs and ask if I have any other cards in the deck since it seems all I've played are Cruel Revival and Nameless Inversion. I swing for 5 and play the leech. Stutter plays another Plated Geopede and is done.

I draw and play a forest. I lock the game up by Cruel Revival the geopede and get my Nameless Inversion back to my hand. Then swing for the win.

This game went very well other than the lack of land at the beginning of the game. The interaction of Cruel Revival and Nameless Inversion worked out awesome.

nameless inversion

 

Game 2

DoubtlessProphet
UBw Mystical Teachings

I go first with the following hand:

nameless inversion Krosan Tusker nameless inversion forest terramorphic expanse Snakeform forest

So this is a pretty decent hand. I'm just missing an early threat.

I start off by playing my Terramorphic Expanse and I go ahead and crack it on my turn for a swamp. Doubtless does the same except he finds an island instead.

I manage to draw an early threat in the form of Battlewand Oak. I lay my forest and pass. Doubtless just plays another Island and is done.

I draw a swamp and I am thinking he has to have a counterspell but I play my Battlewand Oak anyways. What do you know it gets Remove soul. Oh well had to get it out of his hand some time. Doubtless once again plays Terramorphic Expanse cracks it for a swamp this time and passes.

I draw a Duress which shows me:

Plains Twisted Abomination Mystical Teachings Island Terramorphic Expanse

I go ahead and make him discard the only thing I can which is the Mystical Teachings. Doubtless cycles his Twisted Abomination for a swamp before the end of my turn. He then plays his third Terramorphic Expanse, sacrifices it for a swamp. End of Doubtless's turn I cycle the Krosan Tusker fetching a a forest and netting  another forest from the draw.

Duress is my next draw, so I go ahead and play it. This is what I see:

swamp plains island Innocent Blood

The Innocent Blood goes to the graveyard , then I drop a forest, and give the turn to Doubtless. He then plays a plains and then a card that I hadn't seen play yet, Mysteries of the Deep.  He refills his hand and I get the turn back.

I draw Aurochs Herd and play my forest. I also get to play my Aurochs Herd with out the threat of a counterspell. I play the herd which replaces itself with another one. Doubtless simply plays a swamp and passes.

I draw a Woodland Changeling, attack with the Aurochs Herd but my herd is meant with a Ghastly Demise. I play my second (Aurchos Herd) and use it to tutoring for another
. Doubtless doesn't like that so he decides to play Wail of the Nim and Agony Warp
 to take care of my herd before the end of my turn.  Doubtless just plays an island and passes.

I get a Putrid Leech of my draw. I play my third Aurochs Herd and I get the fourth one in my hand. Before I end my turn Doubtless goes ahead and plays Mystical Teachings flashback to get Grim Harvest.  He plays the harvest getting his (Twisted Abomination back into his hand. Then passes.

I draw a Krosan Tusker and then attack with my (Aurchos Herd) which finally connects for four damage. I try to play my fourth herd but his soul is removed via Remove Soul. Doubtless plays his Twisted Abomination with regeneration mana open and is done.

I get another forest and play a Nameless Inversion on his Abomination which also exiles his Grim Harvest.  I swing with the herd again and then I play my Putrid Leech followed by a Woodland Changeling. The changeling gets Disfigured before the end of my turn. Doubtless plays Aven Riftwatcher putting his life back to 13 and mine at 19.

I draw a (Elvish Visonary) and play it. I draw a Mwonvuli Acid-Moss. I cycle my Krosan Tusker getting another forest and a second Mwonvuli Acid-Moss. I play my forest and attack with the herd and the leech. The (Aven Riftwatcher blocks my herd so I Snakeform it and Doubtless (Agony Warps) both my creatures. I pump the Leech to get a damage in but lose my herd to his riftwatcher. I get a foret from my snakeform and pass. Doubtless just plays an Island and is done.

I get another Terramorphic Expanse and decide to attack with both my leech and elf. I pump the leech and get in for 5 damage. I then try to destroy his plains with a Mwonvuli Acid-Moss but it gets counterspell. So I just use the second one to get the job done. Play my Terramorphic Expanse and get another forest. Doubtless just passes his turn.

On my turn I draw another Krosan Tusker and delivery the final beating with the Putrid Leech and the Elvish Visionary.

This was a good example of the card advantage this deck can get once it starts going. Grim Harvest is a card that might be worth trying in this deck.

putrid leech

 

Game 3

mBlinkley
MonoBlack Zombies

For some reason I have good dice rolling skills and am granted the chance to go first. Here's my starting hand:

Putrid Leech Putrid Leech Elvish Visionary swamp forest woodland changeling krosan tusker

A pretty nice starting hand. One that can put the beats down but it is a little light on removal but I don't think going down to six is even an option.

I start off with a swamp and so does mBinkley.

I draw a third forest which will help and play one. Then I decide to lay down the law with a Putrid Leech. mBinkley plays a Shepherd of Rot. Now I'm thinking that my Cruel Revival are all dead cards.

I draw yet another forest and then attack with the leech for 4 damage. mBinkley doesn't block. I play my second Putrid Leech and my second forest as well. mBinkley plays his third swamp and a Nantuko Husk.  He then activates his Shepherd of Rot and we both lose 4 life. I draw my Battlewand Oak and attack with both leechs and mBinkley decides to take all 8 damage putting him at 4. I play my second forest and decide to play the Elvish Visionary. I get a Duress off the draw and decide to play it. I get to see mBinkley hand which look liked this:

swamp Cruel Revival vengeful dead sign in blood tendrils of corruption

So I take the obvious chose by forcing mBinkley to discard Tendrils of Corruption. mBinkley plays his Vengeful Dead and passes.

I draw another Battlewand Oak and attack with 2 leeches. He blocks both one with Nantuko Husk and the other with his Vengeful Dead. I decided not to pump  the leeches because I would then lose more life because of the Shepherd. So I lose both my leeches and 4 life thanks to Vengeful Dead. After I play a Battlewand Oak. mBinkley plays his fifth swamp and I get to see how it feels to get hit by and Cruel Revival. I say my fairwells to my Battlewand Oak and mBinkley says hi  to his Vengeful Dead.

I draw a Terramorphic Expanse, play my second Battlewand Oak, and then play the Terramorphic Expanse. I then attack with my elf offering a trade which mBinkley takes but not before he activates the shepherd so we both lose one life, leaving our life totals at 3 to 5 with me ahead. mBinkley plays a morphed down creature and Skinthinner. I pop the Terramorphic Expanse for another forest (later I noticed I should have found my second swamp instead).

I draw a forest and cycle my Krosan Tusker getting another forest and Mwonvuli Acid-Moss. I play my forest and Woodland Changeling making my Battlewand Oak a 5/7. I attack and the Skinthinner jumps in my Treefolks path and is sent into the graveyard. mBinkley plays a swamps then morphes his facedown card up revealing Infernal Caretaker. I get my two Putrid Leeches back to my hand. mBinkley plays a (Sheperd of Rot) before he ends his turn.

I draw a Cruel Revival and what do you know I actually have a target seeing that Infernal Caretaker is a human cleric! But first thing is first I play my forest then I get rid of the Caretaker. mBinkley then chats saying he didn't expect that to happen. Here's where I could have used the second swamp that way I could play a leech as well. I attack with both and the Shepherd blocks the Battlewand Oak but mBinkley he still takes 2 damage from the changeling. mBinkley plays another swamp giving him seven now. He replays his Nantuko Husk and his Vengeful Dead. I see that if I can draw a removal next turn this game will be over.

I draw a Elvish Visionary and play it. What do you know I get my removal in the form of Nameless Inversion which I use to take care of the Vengeful Dead. mBinkley then tells me Good Game and concedes.

cruel revival

 

So that was an interesting game. That was the first time I had seen a pauper zombie deck which was cool. So if you are still looking for a deck to play for Shards Tribal Pre I have included mBinkley Zombie deck.

 

OMG Zombies Ahh!
By mBinkley
Creatures
4 Shepherd of Rot
2 Nantuko Husk
2 Haunted Cadaver
4 Infernal Caretaker
4 Vengeful Dead
4 Gempalm Polluter
20 cards

Other Spells
3 Sign in Blood
3 Drain life
4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Cruel Revival
2 Corrupt
16 cards
 
Lands
24 Swamp
24 cards

Sideboard
4 Diabolic Edict
4 Duress
4 Psychotic Haze
2 Corrupt
1 Drain Life
15 cards
 
shepherd of rot

 

  The main objective of this deck is to play all your zombies and killing them with Shepherd of Rot or Gempalm Polluter. He also has Corrupt or Drain Life as a back up plan. With this deck you want to trade as much as you can to stat alive since you have Infernal Caretaker to return your creatures back to your hand. While talking to mBinkley I suggested to him that he put Nameless Inversion into his deck. He liked the idea and said he would exchange 2 Nameless Inversion for 2 Cruel Revival. So if you have the cards or $1.41, to get the cards from MTGOTRADERS.com, then I would try it out.

Well there you have it I'm glad that you guys stopped by to read my article. If you have any suggestions or what not go ahead a let me know in the comments or give me an email. Good luck to everyone at the PRE this weekend. I won't be able to make it more than likely since I just bought an older house and have a lot of work to do to it.

MTGO Screen name: RCueva

Email: CuevaCustoms@yahoo.com

14 Comments

It is nice to see such a vast by Paul Leicht at Mon, 05/03/2010 - 07:52
Paul Leicht's picture
5

It is nice to see such a vast improvement in your articles Rene. Keep up the good work. (You still need a proof reader but the flow was so good I almost didn't notice the typos.) The Cruel Treefolk deck looks interesting and the aurochs combo is indeed good for casual. Not sure how well it would do in PDC but I am curious to hear if you do enter that. I may have to build some variant of that myself and take it for a spin.

RE: the zombies deck, can't say I love the card choices but zombies can be very fun and occasionally can be good. (Weren't so good for me this weekend vs Just Sin's improved Snakes (based loosely on my snakes deck that failed a previous event. But that's what happens when you draw a god hand only to have it disappear in a remake of the table.) Of course Tribal gets no sideboard so you'd have to take that out to run that deck in the apocalypse.

I wrote about the by sanhedrin at Mon, 05/03/2010 - 09:17
sanhedrin's picture

I wrote about the Herd+Inversion combo in an article. I use the Herd as a finisher that's hard to answer (since it replaces itself in your hand), but obviously you can't depend on it for removal since it's not online until about turn 5. But it's easy to survive the early turns with stuff like Tribe Elder and Firebolt. The addition of one important card from RoE makes the deck semi-viable. I'll have to write it up soon.

a bit late for the PRE :P by JustSin at Mon, 05/03/2010 - 10:07
JustSin's picture

a bit late for the PRE :P though my Zombie deck was quite similar if I hadn't lost my USB drive its what I planned on running

I had also had a pauper Auroch tribal deck together too for the same reason of fetching Namelesses, but found the Bulls were a bit too fragile

- Paul thanks for the by RCueva at Mon, 05/03/2010 - 11:12
RCueva's picture

- Paul thanks for the comments. I'm trying really hard to get my articles to a higher level. I did proof read the article before I sent it in and decided to read it one more time after I submitted it and noticed the typos. As far as me entering a PDC with the deck, I don't think it would happen due to scheduling conflicts. I would really like to try it out cause the deck does have some game. I know the Zombie deck looks a little strange. I myself ended up changing some stuff and the deck runs good to say the least.

- Sanhedrin, I'm sorry I couldn't remember it was you that mentioned the Herd + Nameless combo or else I would have made sure you had gotten credit for it. Thanks for the comment.

- Sin I had the article done before the PRE but it didn't get published in time. I think Shard would make another Pauper Tribal event due to its success anyways. I thought about a Auroch Tribal deck but never got around to actually putting it together.

Again thanks everyone for the comments.

Aurochs are tough to play. by Paul Leicht at Mon, 05/03/2010 - 11:16
Paul Leicht's picture

Aurochs are tough to play. High costs and non evasive creatures make them less desirable even if you can get some of that back with card advantage.

Standard card valuation holds by sanhedrin at Mon, 05/03/2010 - 20:53
sanhedrin's picture

Standard card valuation holds that trample=evasion, or is a close analogue. And if you trade for 4 of their power, you lay another, and another, and another. As for the speed, it’s Mulldrifter turn +1. And playing it already puts you in green for acceleration like Tribe Elder and Ondu giant. SOMETHING has to be the top of your curve.

Aurochs are not good. They by Paul Leicht at Tue, 05/04/2010 - 04:17
Paul Leicht's picture

Aurochs are not good. They really really suck. They have some unusual uses that can make them suck less but the fact is they do.

You should not rate cards in by JMason at Tue, 05/04/2010 - 09:23
JMason's picture

You should not rate cards in a vacuum. If Aurochs are not good in normal magic they rate a lot higher in Pauper formats.

Yes they cost 6 mana, but the rule of thumb that says nothing should cost more than 4 is weaker in pauper and green has the best mana ramp.

Being 4/4 they negate much removal, most burn spells and things like nameless inversion.

Green particularly is short on card advantage, making the cantripping effect desirable, particularly as you can tutor for removal with it (nameless inversion).

Finally it has trample, another positive ability where green doesn't have ways to deal damage outside combat.

The final analysis says it doesn't have a tier 1 deck in pauper to go in today, but it has in the past and should always be considered in new green decks.

All good points for sure. And by Paul Leicht at Tue, 05/04/2010 - 09:48
Paul Leicht's picture

All good points for sure. And I was thinking of tribal when I talked about the poorness of the aurochs TYPE. However you are correct that given pauper's lack of good green cards that particular does stand out a little more. Indeed I admired the use of it to abuse Cruel Revival and Nameless Inversion in this article.

Right, and not just by sanhedrin at Tue, 05/04/2010 - 10:28
sanhedrin's picture

Right, and not just cantriping but selective cantriping. If you’ve hit your 6 mana and play the Herd, it’s not going to draw a Farhaven Elf or Tribe Elder, it’s always going to hit another top-of-the-curve cantriping fatty or a Nameless Inversion.

I'll echo what Paul said, by Doctor Anime at Mon, 05/03/2010 - 13:43
Doctor Anime's picture
5

I'll echo what Paul said, this article is superb and a great improvement. I also would never have thought to have used Nameless Inversion so creatively. Very well done!

Thanks for the comments by RCueva at Tue, 05/04/2010 - 11:01
RCueva's picture

Thanks for the comments again. I haven't made a tribal Aurochs deck but I think they could work for casual play atleast.

Bosk Banneret? by Kumagoro42 at Tue, 05/04/2010 - 17:42
Kumagoro42's picture

Why not replace Woodland Changeling with the more useful Bosk Banneret? It got the same cost, same converted body (with a more defensive 1/3 ratio), can pump the Oak the same way and in addition can also reduce the cost of the other treefolks and Nameless Inversion as well.
Good deck, BTW, always love Aurochs Herd. It can also form the core of a Treefolk pauper tribal deck.

The only thing it can't do by RCueva at Thu, 05/06/2010 - 14:03
RCueva's picture

The only thing it can't do that the changeling can is be resurrected by cruel revival. It is definently worth a try though. Thanks