It has been a pretty big year. Pauper got sanctioned and what started with a monthly Premier Event became a weekly challenge. I got to fly out to Wizards and live the dream. I also wrote some articles, although not as many as I would have liked. But, that was 2009. 2010 is rere, but before we say close the door on 2009, I decided to pander to that common denominator that unites many writers during this time of year: lists!
So, without any further ado, here are some of my lists to round out 2009.
Top 10 Pauper Creatures for 2009
10) Warren Pilferers A card advantage and graveyard tricks means this creature finds home in all sorts of decks; the 3/3 body means it gets the nod over similar creatures.
9) Aven Riftwatcher A Corrupt for four, this guy finds home in both aggressive White decks and controlling Momentary Blink strategies as a way to fight off the beats.
8) Myr Enforcer/Disciple of the Vault Free 4/4s and a combo kill are just some of the many reasons to play Affinity.
7) Chittering Rats Absolutely backbreaking when played correctly; mildly annoying when played improperly.
6) Muscle Sliver/Sinew Sliver Having two crusades that only help your army is pretty good I hear.
5) Shade of Trokair/Order of Leitbur These are the reasons to play White Weenie, in my opinion. The ability to turn mana that would otherwise be laying around into damage is one of the reasons White Weenie is able to remain a contender.
4) Goblin Bushwhacker This card helps to solve the problems that aggro decks have late. Hording creatures in your hand against control and then unleashing them all in one turn for a huge burst of damage...well that is just good beats. I expect this card to show up in more decks in 2010.
3) Mulldrifter It is Blue, need I say more? It draws you cards and attacks for two, and most of the time will do those over and over again.
2) Crypt Rats The Pauper Wrath and another win condition for MBC. This card helps to define the format and will do so in perpetuity.
1) Goblin Sledder/Mogg Raider These are the reason the Goblin deck has been so successful. Much like White Weenie turns old mana into extra damage, Goblins uses these creatures to turn blocked creatures into more damage, all the while countering one of the best removal spells in the format. Without these two, Goblins would not be the dominant force it is today.
Top 5 Albums of 2009
5) Teenage Bottlerocket "They Came From the Shadows" If you like the Ramones, pick this album up. TBR's fourth full length as like a great B-Movie- you might have seen it before, but this one has all the best lines. A great album to for a morning run.
4) Banner Pilot "Collapser" Passionate Mid-Western punk with catchy rhythms and good lyrics. Not much else to say. A great album for that six pack you have sitting around.
3) American Steel "Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts" These guys have been around a long time, but this album has some of the most anthemic songs I have heard in a long time with some great dance style tunes. A great album for good times with good friends.
2) The Sidekicks "Weight of Air" A great leap forward from their previous full-length. Thoughtful and sincere lyrics backed up with wonderful arrangements. A great album to which you should pay attention.
1) Dear Landlord "Dream Homes" If I was 16 again, and my best friend told me to listen to this album to get an idea of punk rock, I would not be disappointed. A great album for that thirty minute drive.
Top 5 SpikeBoyM decks of 2009
These are the decks I really enjoyed playing and writing about this past year.
5) Golgari Aggro. For the first PE, I went rogue, running a deck I had built maybe three days ahead of time. I was happy with my 29th place finish, but quickly set the deck aside for other options
4) Battlegate Boros. Anyone who knows me knows I am a fan of Red-White decks. When Nightsky Aggro became all the rage, I decided to delve into my bag of tricks and build this number. It might not have been tier one, but I had a blast.
3) RG Burn. This was from a while back. After watching the coverage of a Legacy Grand Prix, I was inspired to build a Gruul deck that focused more on being a “burn” deck than an “aggro” deck. This is what I came up with. Shortly after posting the list, someone took a very similar build to a top 16 finish in a Pauper Premier Event.
2) Black-Red Husk. For the third premier event, I felt like I had the best deck. I was working closely with two different players who skill I respect and from who have learned a great deal (Boin and ghweiss) and was rewarded with a tenth place finish. This deck was perfectly positioned to combat MBC on the day, and was rogue enough to slip past sideboard defenses. If not for a huge mistake in the final game of the final round, I could have slid into the top eight. Alas, this deck was neutered by the removing of stacked damage. Oh well.
1) White Weenie. This deck started as a bet. On PDCmagic.com, there was discussion about how White brought nothing to the table as an aggressive color. I disagreed, and put together the predecessor to the modern chart topping deck. From rogue option to constant contender, I am pleased that I got one right.
Top 2 Food Items Eaten at Magic Tournaments This Year
2) Philly Cheese Steak. I drove to a PTQ in Philadelphia a few weeks ago, and the venue was superb. This was due in no small part to the amazing food market where I was able to get a superb sandwich.
1) Buffalo Chicken Pizza. My local FNM shop is a few blocks from this amazing little pizza joint called Romeo's. There you can buy gigantic slicer of pizza, topped with amazing buffalo chicken, for four bucks. One of these can feed me for two meals.
Top 5 Pauper Decks of 2009
5) Affinity. The original Boogie Man of the format. Take one inherently unfair mechanic and give it all the pieces it needs to compete and you would have Affinity. Free spells are fun, but can lead to broken decks and this was no exception. Even without the nuttiness of Arcbound Ravager, this aggro beast can still compete and do well when no one is prepared. The convergence of undercosted fatties and a combo kill involving one of the best sweepers in the format and Disciple of the Vault makes Affinity a monster. How big of a monster? It runs the only reliable draw seven in Pauper (that is still really good as a draw six). How big? This is the only deck from which a key card has been banned, and that took place before the first sanctioned Pauper match was paid. Cranial Plating is just that good. Affinity may not have all the big results as some of the other decks here, but, like Dredge in Extended, when people ignore this deck, it is almost certain to rise to the top.
4) White Weenie. This started as a bet. Around one year ago, an argument was brewing at pdcmagic.com about the viability of White as an aggressive color, and White Weenie as a viable deck. Some paupers felt that there was nothing White could do that the other colors could not do better. I took the opposite position and built the predecessor of the modern White Weenie decks. Then it started to win, and with cards like Order of Leitbur main and Obsidian Acolyte in the side, the deck was able to hold ground against MBC, the early dominant deck. White Weenie combined cheap aggressors with the ability to turn mana into damage late, providing it with something other beat down stacks lacked: a late game plan that was not dead early, and the Suspend mechanic helped one accomplish this, thanks to Shade of Trokair. This efficiency of mana, hand in hand with White's ability to defend against the best weapons of other top decks has contributed to the deck's standing at the end of the year.
3) Storm Combo. Another specter of eternal formats, take good Ritual effects and cheap draw spells, mix with lands that produce more than one mana and Grapeshot/Empty the Warrens, and you have an incredibly potent weapon. Much like Affinity, this deck thrives when the masses choose to leave it alone. Unlike Affinity, there is no Ancient Grudge to keep this deck down. Storm is incredibly resilient and now, with Goblin Bushwhacker, does not have to waste a turn post sideboard to get a kill off, and those kills can happen fast; as fast as turn two. In a format of all commons, there is a deck that will let you see one untap phase. Think about that. Storm is held in check, thankfully, when multiple people come prepared with hate; fighting through hate sporadically is a lot easier than facing dedicated disruption every round. Storm is poised to take a leap forward with the addition of the Urza's Block “free spells,” and as long as disruption is pushed to the side, Paupers are going to be nibbled to death by copies of one damage spells or overrun by hordes of Goblin tokens.
2) Goblins. The Red Menace is quite good, and was a contender even before the release of Bushwhacker. Where White Weenie pumps mana into a few heavy hitters, Goblins diversifies its investments in a tribe of things that go pop in the night. Being able to obsolete the best removal spell and win before the best sweeper is active is a feather in this decks already festooned cap. Aside from being lightning fast and filling the tribal players everywhere with joy, this deck knocked the very impressive former best deck in Pauper from its pedestal, and took a spin at the throne. Even as Goblin's reign seems to be going by the wayside, it is hard to forget how incredibly dominant the deck was at the height of popularity. Even if a sweeper was laid out, the Red Menace would only have to tap some Mountains, play out some dudes and a Whacker and cut through an opponent's remaining life points lickety split. This deck will never die, as Wizards loves printing Goblins, and they will be waiting in their warrens, eager to strike.
1) Mono-Black Control/Blue. The former king and queen of the castle. I almost gave Goblins the top slot, but could not bring myself to do that. Goblins is great, but it really has one angle of attack, and that is attacking. Granted it can be sped up thanks to a well timed Bushwhacker, but that is all it can do. MBC can strip your hand, wipe your board, Time Walk you two separate ways, eat your life total, kick your mother and will not ask you on a second date, and the Blue version does all this while drawing cards as well. How good is this deck? Two decks on this list were designed to render MBC's best tools, Tendrils of Corruption and Crypt Rats as useless as possible. It is the deck that helps to keep the other two decks here in check. Highly adaptable, MBC is capable to morphing itself into a tool for nearly any metagame and has the tools to take out the biggest threats in Pauper- removal for creatures and discard to neuter combo. With two format limiting cards and the best end game cards, how could MBC not be the top deck on this list? Splashing Blue just made this deck better thanks to the backbreaking tag-team of Probe and Mulldrifter, because ruining your day is not good enough, MBC wants to rub it in your face.
2009 was a banner year for Pauper, and 2010 looks to be very exciting. Entering the second full year of sanctioned play, the format will be getting access to the very powerful Urza's Block that features cheap aggressive creatures and cards like Pestilence at common in addition to multiple “free spells” (the kind that untap your lands when they come into play). While I do not see the major archetypes getting usurped anytime soon, I see more tools coming their way, and perhaps some cards to help out the fledging tier two.
Keep slignin' commons in 2010, and I'm sure you will have a great ride-
-Alex
12 Comments
Like the article, one quibble: LSV is the man, but shouldn't credit for the decklist have gone to the guy who played the exact same 75 the week before?
buffalo chicken pizza is one of the greatest foods ever invented.
Elves will probably be a serious contender, now with Priest of Titania. Acridian is also an awesome card against the current field.
Nate i wouldn't worry about it too much Alex is obviously out of touch with the format as he hasn't been playing in at all, and is just looking at deck lists and guessing at what makes things tick rather then have the play experience himself. Else he'd know that the little green men were only tier2 till bushwacker got released. And crypt rats not being the top creature? A card that helps define the entire format and had been called out by the masses for banning till goblins came on the radar in mass, not the top creature really?
With regards to posting LSV's decklist- I did so for marketing purposes. If someone is just learning about the format, but knows enough about Magic to recognize the name/initials LSV, then they might be more intrigued.
With regards to the anonymous comment- Goblins was, in my opinion, a tier one deck before Zendikar came online. Counting from the deck's first appearance in a top 8 (On September 27th) until Zendikar's Release (October 19th), there were 4 Pauper Weekend Challenges. Out of a possible 32 top 8 slots, Goblins claimed 6, or nearly 19% of the Top 8. Only MBCu had more appearances by my count (11, accounting for over 34% of all Top 8 slots).
As for Rats vs Sledder/Raider for my choice for top creature- this was close, and I went back and forth a few times. Rats is a limiting factor of the format and an absolutely fantastic creature, but MBC decks can succeed without the card in the main. While it presents a true threat, I feel that Raider/Sledder are better for the following reasons:
1)They potentially represent more damage in their deck, thanks to Mogg War Marshal or Dragon Fodder (two mana for three damage; Rats is a 1:1 ratio)
2)They counteract the best removal spell in the format
3) Goblins, as we understand it, would not exist without having the full compliment of these creatures. Recent Black based and Black/Blue control lists have been eschewing Rats due to their ineffectiveness against the current field.
-Alex
Great to see you back again Alex and I love lists. I still can't get my pauper on yet but I enjoy reading about it. :) Ignoring the negativity I have to agree (as a total outsider) that Crypt Rats seems like the most format warping card of the bunch.
yeah
i very xcited for the news decks becasue...all and all and all are goblins and this is...awfull
good article, but you have awful musical taste :S
says you, i havent heard of the bands, but i listened to a couple...they are probably better than your music
methinks goblains was more defining than MBCu, as I never found that the deck dominated to the same level as goblins or affinity, although it has been good and solid for a loong time, unlike many control options
I've been playing a version of the RG beats/burn (my own brew) deck in quees for a while, which has been decent. It has some decent incremental card advantage from firebolts, low land count, granger gruul mage, but it haasnt quite been able to break the "ok" mark. Weak 2-drops (I've played mongrel and mire boa in all variants, and river boa, tin-street houligan, etc. in others), a vulnerability to control decks with legitimate stage 3s (teachings, mbcu), and an all-too often awkward manabase make it just a little too weak.
BTW diggin the punk tunes; I'm kindof out of it atm. To anyone in the pauper community, i say get a Protest The Hero album, but thats very random.
Lastly a shout-out to you for supporting and writing about the pauper community throughout the year, you've boosted it alot.
Alex, you have definitely kept my interest in Pauper high for the last couple of years. Your articles keep making me try to invent variables of your decks, and are the main reason I keep coming back to PureMTGO. I think you're one of the main reasons Pauper is still an active format (Of course there are other influential Pauper/PDC players - but you're in top 3 in my opinion because you share your enthuiasm with the rest of us :)
Keep up the good work.
Mr Moto aka Morten
music tips.
Hadn't heard of any of those bands, but quite liking what I'm hearing.
The decks & commentary are interesting too ;).
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