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By: longtimegone, That Guy
Jun 30 2014 12:00pm
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Christmas came early for Pauper with the recent release of Vintage Masters. To help create the kind of limited format the set wanted, a number of powerful cards have gone down in rarity to Common.  We will talk about some early standouts and look at some deck lists from PCT events using the new cards. 

 

Ok, now let’s take a closer look at a few that might see play right away.

Battle Screech

Anyone who has played VMA limited can tell you that seeing the opponent spend one card and 4 mana to create 4 1/1 flyers leaves you with a sinking feeling. This card can be very similar in practice to Lingering Souls, an uncommon that helped shape the face of Standard until it rotated. If it doesn’t slot in to the existing WW archetype, it might fit in to the Pauper version of Soul Sisters.

Circular Logic

It’s a counterspell variant that’s cheaper to cast when you discard it, usually for some benefit. When UG Madness was a standard deck, it had numerous variations, but this was its core:

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Circular Logic

 

You may notice that all of those cards are now common.

Chainer's Edict

This card is pretty simple to evaluate, you trade the instant speed of Diabolic Edict for the ability to flash it back later for 7 mana. Since the MBC deck in pauper can regularly expect to reach 7 mana, that’s a very nice option to have for a grindy deck that thrives when it can get in some 2 for 1s in addition to its many 1 for 1s.

I’ve seen a lot of people misunderstand how this card works when evaluating it, so let’s start with that. This is not a punisher card. It looks like your opponent has a choice, but due to the default effect in case of a tie, you can always use it for its default effect and your opponents “choice” does not matter.

This card is a one sided Flame Rift in black for the same CMC. A red burn deck is more than happy to pay the same mana cost and 4 life for this effect, and it wins games by doing so.

Clearly this is not a fit for MBC, but there have in the past been incredibly fast suicide black agro decks, and between this card and Bump in the Night, they may finally have the reach they needed to get over the top. Additionally, some have theorized about the possibility of RB burn coming to pauper. I’m not sure if there is enough benefit to outweigh the loss of Fireblast in such a deck, but it might well be close.

Beetleback Chief

This guy is an army in a can, and in a very relevant creature type. He isn’t a fit for the goblins deck as we now know it, but might fit in a more midrange version of the deck as has been seen in the past.

Goblin General

This is another goblin that would likely fit better in a different version of the goblin deck than what is currently popular. He might see play as a one of in that deck for now in the versions that use Goblin Matron.

Arrogant Wurm

Getting undercosted 4/4s has mostly been an ability only available in Affinity, but here comes the new guy. Don’t forget that the ability can be used at instant speed, and the wurm is big enough to eat most of the common creatures that might be swinging in. I’ve already seen this tested in both UG and BG madness Tortured Existence decks.

Tangle

Turbofog has been a deck in Pauper now and then, and this seems like another nice fog+ effect for the deck. I expect that someone will give it a try before too long.


Ok, now let’s see that in context by taking a look at some decks. 

 

First off, we have an MBC deck that dropped in Chainer’s Edict, for a total of 8 edict effects (12 counting flashback) and handily won the first event that included the new cards by going 7 rounds undefeated.

 

Next up, we see a BG madness deck with Tortured Existence taking Arrogant Wurm out for a test drive and riding it all the way to the top 8. 

The engine of this deck is a fairly innocuous card that many people might never have heard of. Tortured Existence is an enchantment that costs only a single black mana, allowing it to easily slip on to the board quickly and before counter mana is available. The effect is simple, pay one black mana, discard a creature, and return another creature card in the graveyard to your hand.  This might not seem like much, but when you are discarding cards like Basking Rootwalla, Grave Scrabbler, and now Arrogant Wurm this translates in to both card advantage and discount creatures at the same time.

Simic Madness by _Shaddai_
 
Creatures
3 Aquamoeba
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Werebear
4 Wild Mongrel
19 cards

Other Spells
3 Careful Study
3 Counterspell
4 Circular Logic
4 Deep Analysis
3 Moment's Peace
3 Rancor
20 cards
Lands
9 Forest
9 Island
3 Simic Guildgate
21 cards

Circular Logic

 

Here we have a first attempt at translating the old UG madness core in to a fleshed out pauper deck. I expect to see variants of this tested and revised some more in future events.

 

 

Lastly, I leave you with an exercise for the reader. This is a pauper turbofog list that came in 2nd in a PCT event a couple of seasons ago.  Tangle could be added to this list to buy it that extra critical turn it needs to mill away the last few cards. Depending on how it was changed, this might allow the deck to drop a color and end up with a more reliable mana base.


 PCT Meta Report

In this recurring section, I’ll give a very quick breakdown of what people are playing so that you don’t come unprepared. This week’s event included 46 players, and the two decks you just couldn’t dodge were Burn and MBC, each accounting for about 15% of the meta. The rest of the field was mostly an assortment of different archetypes, with nothing else really standing out in large numbers. Sideboard accordingly, and if you’d like to view much more detailed information and metagame information, the full event details are available here: