I have recently been caught dreaming the impossible dream. In a format full of blisteringly fast Goblin decks and dominating Black decks featuring tons of removal, I have lovingly, stubbornly, clung to Rancor. It all started with the anti-Goblin RG decks that featured Subterranean Shambler as a maindeck curve topper.
The little red men die to the Elemental's enter the battlefield trigger, and then he does the good work and sticks around to deter any attackers. Playing out a Shambler against Goblins buys you the all important resource of time like so many contestants buying vowels- it is very difficult for the deck to attack profitably into Shambler. If they do, they almost always trade their largest creature and quite possibly multiple members of their army. And what happens if you elect to not pay the echo cost?
Shambler was just one reason I was enamored with RG. Culprit number two was, and remains to be Rancor. As I have said in the past, this is one of the best burn spells available in Pauper, eating out chunks of life that Lightning Bolt can only fantasize about. Putting the angry pants on any creature whilst your opponent is tapped out is good times for the good guys since you will be getting in for damage and then some once Rancor comes back. That being said, the issue with Rancor is running enough creatures to make it worth the four slots in your deck. This idiot here once claimed that he wanted twenty creatures, at least, to run quads. Running fewer than twenty, I feel you run the risk of having all pants and no suitors.
The final piece of the puzzle lays in the interaction between Borderland Ranger and Plated Geopede. Geopede itself is a fantastic card. First Strike is not an ability to be underestimated in Pauper where creatures regularly crash into one another, having the creatures that come out on top goes a long way. Just ask Sidewinder Sliver. Geopede also has a lot in common with two of my favorite creatures: Shade of Trokair and Order of Leitbur. Like these cards, the 'Pede can turn late land drops into extra damage (although not at the same amazing ratio). Unlike them, however, Geopede can be an active threat as early as turn three. Keeping the flow of land up is Civic Wayfinder's newer, less Elvish brother. There is little I have enjoyed more (Magically) in the past month than going turn two Geopede, turn three Borderland Ranger, turn four land and more beats. Ranger is also a fine creature on its own. I used to be down on this card, as I felt that “drawing” a land was not worth the investment. The better I feel I am getting at this game, the more I see how valuable a creature like this is in Pauper.
Compare Ranger to Mulldrifter. For the same price as the Evoke cost, you not only get the 2/2 beater, but also get to draw a card, and with Geopede, that land is two cards. On top of that, at the same cost for the cheap side of Mulldrifter, you get to attack immediately, instead of waiting until turn six. And let's face it: I really enjoy attacking for two on the ground with mediocre creatures- just check my article history.
These three aspects were what I brought to the table. Greg had been excited back in December about the potential interaction between Goblin Bushwhacker and Horned Kavu. When I had the opportunity to meet him face to face at a Philly PTQ, we talked about Pauper and this particular interaction. Being able to rebuy Bushwhacker, it dawned on me, was reminiscent of Fires of Yavimaya. While Greg, who played late into the night, was also excited bout Kavu as a way to turn on Cohort and Conscript in a Green Goblins build, I, who went 1-3 drop and draft, was far more animated about the applications of suck a card in the Gruul decks I had been favoring at that time. I mean, being able to get more land with Ranger? Who could pass that up. Not me. That much should be obvious by now.
After enjoying some moderate results with the Shambler main builds I was advocating last decade (and it was only a few short weeks ago too), I went back and stripped away many of the underperforming cards. Surprise surprise, most of them were Green. As much as I loved casting and attacking with Wild Nacatl, when I cast Kird Kitty turn one, and my opponent played out a Swamp, I knew my chances dropped dramatically. When one of the things you want to see least is a basic land, I recommend rethinking you card choices.
Stripping out many of the unnecessary cards, I tried to build a RDW style deck that would enjoy the ability of both Kavu and Ranger to provide a steady stream of resources. This led me right to Keldon Marauders, who wears the Angry Pants quite well, since you get to deal more damage even if it gets chumped. Getting a second use out of Maruaders with Kavu just feels unfair. It feels filthy when you drop it again followed by a Bushwhacker for an extra Bolt.
I originally rounded out the creature suite with Mogg Fanatic. I liked having an extra one drop that could pick off other Goblins and just as easily wear Rancor without suffering too much of a hassle. Sure, I might have to make the Mogg go pop, but I would be able to get my aura back. After running into quite a few removal and permission heavy decks, I swapped it out for (Keldon Halbredier). I liked the prospect of a potent one drop that could fight off far larger monsters and block just as well. This also led me to altering the mana base and run three Green counterspells- better known as Vines of Vastwood- main. This helped me win against MBC and similar decks, but I sacrificed some first game strength against Goblins, especially when I moved Shambler to the sideboard. As it stands today, I like Hal against slower metagames, but probably would only run three, and add in either Fireslinger or Vithian Stinger. In a Goblin heavy meta, I would go down to three Bushwhackers and cut out Hal's entirely in favor of Fanatics and Fireslingers. I would make these swaps because against Goblins, you want to be able to pick off their offenses early. Fanatic forces them to reduce their army and Slinger can save you life by picking off attackers at the cost of one life. Against the control decks, I like Halbredier a little more because he allows for a “big turn” a la Suspend heavy White Weenie and is better, in my experience, in conjunction with Vines.
With all this in mind, this is the list I have been testing:
A few notes about the sideboard. I like having the fourth Vines here to help fight against removal (obviously). Being able to side into an eight counterspell package against UB goes a long way to fighting the good fight there. You can almost go aggro-control against them defending your best threats and win before they establish a dominant position. In fact, that is your plan of attack against such decks.
Pyroblast and Ancient Grudge are obvious, and go a long way in fighting the good fight when they slot in. Shambler is a card that I elaborated on previously, so I will not repeat myself again. The gem against Goblins, however, is (Grazing Gladeheart).
Dropping a Gladeheart turn four and then playing a land is quite a solid play. If Goblins does not win on the spot or deal with Gladeheart, it will gain you more than enough life to keep afloat. The Antelope proves his worth in ever aggro mirror as it rewards you for just playing your game at a regular pace, only you are gaining life every turn. I was initially down on this card when spoiled, but after gaming with it, I am a bit surprised it has not caught on more. Much like Geopede, it contributes to maximizing your resources. Now, every turn can be part of a free Fog. Against Goblins, you bring in the Antelopes and Elementals for a Vines, a Bushwhacker, and your Hals. You block early and do everything you can to make it to turn four. When you do, and start gaining life or wiping their board.
Against traditional White Weenie, you are in good shape. You can deal with them in combat and pick off their early defenses with Firebolt. Once again, Rancor makes it difficult for them to block for value. However, if they are pre-built against Goblins with Crimson Acolyte main, then you have a true uphill battle. It is much harder to beat them when you only have access to seven creatures that can interact with them. Good luck.
Affinity is straightforward- bring in your Grudges. I would take out Lightning Bolt here, if you are on the draw, as you will not be attacking into their Enforcers with Geopede. On the play, however, being able to get some First Strike tricks in helps a great deal.
Against many of the big mana style decks that have been garnering some notice recently, you just want to play the traditional aggro role and apply pressure. Rancor helps put these decks on a very fast clock, and
Halberdier
does a fine job of chewing through their defenses. I recall a game in tournament practice where an opponent confidently flung Penumbra Spider on to the digital table, only to be stymied by Hal.
The biggest problem for this deck, however, is Storm. The newer versions rely far less on Blue card draw, so trying to nail them with a well timed Blast is a thing of the past. Many advocate a Stone Rain package, but considering the new crop of Storm can win off of one land, that is a risky (even though they are running 12 land nowadays). Your best bet here is to side into Grudges and try to nail their Chromatic pieces if they play them out early. This will help to keep them from filtering into better mana and new cards. I would also side in Shambler and Gladeheart- the former to protect against Empty the Warrens and the latter to buy turns, forcing them to do more for a lethal Grapeshot. This is, in all my experience, your toughest matchup.
In an effort to show people more about the decks I choose and how I play them, I am attempting to write more game logs. My games will mostly take place in Tournament Practice and not the two man queues. This is because I feel the queues do not accurately represent what you are likely to face in a large event. The decks in the two-mans are ones that can win fast and do well when unmolested (like Storm). However, these decks, when people are prepared, do not perform as well over multiple rounds. While Tournament Practice is not an ideal room either (I recall multiple matches against Slivers with Red), it does provide similar decks to the queues (for the most part). It also helps when other people watch me play and then we discuss the match later- this is not as easy to do in a queue. So, here we go!
Today's game is from Tournament Practice is against a non-traditional Affinity deck. I lose the roll and mulligan a triple Mountain, double Expanse, double Hal hand into a hand with Expanse, Turf, Lightning Bolt, Firebolt, Halbredier and Bushwhacker.
With this hand, my goal is to Suspend on turn two while building up my mana and picking off threats. I have enough mana in this hand to cast everything in my deck, so I do not need to worry about drawing lands to cast my spells. I keep and my opponent leads with Vault of Whispers into Springleaf Drum.
Suddenly, my hand looks a lot worse. I have little early pressure and no way to Flashback Bolt to try and gain an incremental advantage against his board. On my turn I draw Vines and lay my Expanse,waiting until the end of my opponent's turn to crack it for Red. On his turn two, he plays Island and Star into Krark-Clan Shaman, then uses drum to play out another Star.
Shaman is bad news for me, as much of my offense has one toughness. Instead of Suspending on my turn, I plan on getting rid of the combo enabler. Of course, this is remedied when I draw a second Mountain, Firebolting the Goblin then suspending Halbredier, passing the turn.
My opponent then lays out Great Furnace, casts Thoughtcast, and follows that up with an Arcbound Worker. I draw into Geopede, a nice looking blocker here, and play it, returning a Mountain to get my Turf into play. Evil/Them/Not Me then plays a land and taps out for Mulldrifter. It is at this point that I realize this is no average Affinity deck. I am not sure what to expect, so I decide to play as aggressive as I can. I draw into Marauders, and play a land, the Vanisher, and kick my Bushwhacker to crack in for ten damage, plus on from Marauders, knocking my opponent from 20 to 9 in one turn.
Undeterred, the Other drops a land and casts Rush of Knowledge for five, refilling his hand, playing out a Welding Jar and another Worker, tapping down his Drifter to do so. I crack back in with my army, including a 1/1 Geopede. He blocks Marauder and Bushwhacker with his Workers, using Jar to save one while dropping to eight. I play out a freshly drawn Marauders to put him at 7, holding just a Vines and Lightning Bolt, leaving my Turf untapped with Halbredier coming into play next turn.
This is when Affinity vomits its hand on to the table. First comes a Thoughtcast, then a Disciple, then a Somber Hoverguard followed by the third Worker and second Shaman. With the Shaman on the stack, I bolt the Disciple to prevent the potential for a combo kill. It does not matter, since he follows this up with a second Disicple, and then an attack for two. This leaves me in a precarious position, since next turn Affinity can nuke my army, even with a Landfall trigger on the stack.
I end up drawing a Kavu. He is at six from a Marauder leaving. I know my best bet to win is to recur Marauders with Kavu and try to get him down to two, then rip a land for the Firebolt in my graveyard. I attack with the Marauder and Halbredier, and he predictably sacrifices a land to wipe out my army. He chumped the Marauders with a Worker, but now has a 3/3 Worker and has knocked me to 16 with Disciple. I play Kavu into Marauders, then Marauders again, knocking him to 4.
On his turn, he swings me down to 11, then plays Trinket Mage fetching Bonesplitter (no, I do not know why he did this after combat) and then another Disciple. I draw into a Marauders, pinging him to three and leave my men back to block. He plays out another Worker and attacks me to 4. On my turn my one Maurader dies, knocking him to 2, and I rip a Forest to burn him to exactly zero.
I side differnetly than I normally would against Affinity. In addition to the four Grudges, I bring in two Gladehearts and two Shamblers. I want the Gladehearts to absorb some hits, and since he is running a ton of 1/1s and Mages, Shamblers will do a fantastic job holding the fort. Instead of siding out all four Lightning Bolts, I leave two in, since I did not see Enforcers and want to have more action against potential odd balls. I also side out two Halbrediers and two Bushwhackers.
Things start poorly, however, as I have to mulligan two totally unplayable hands into a five containing two Mountains, a Lightning Bolt, and Mauraders. This hand is not ideal, but with some friendly draws, I could play decent defense. He leads with Furnace into Worker, where I lead with a Mountain and eye my freshly drawn Grudge. He drops a Vault turn two, followed by a Star and then a Disciple and Frogmite. While Disicple is on the stack, I bolt the Frog and take a hit to 19. I draw into Geopede and play out the blocker once more. Affinity plays out another Furnace then a Bonesplitter and passes the turn. I rip to Turf and swing in for three, bypassing the opportunity to maximize my mana and cast Maruaders. He does not block and goes to 17, then cracks me back to 14, evokes a Drifter, and drops a Frogmite.
I draw into Bushwhacker and ponder my options. I wanted to wrath away his army with Shambler, but I do not want to leave Frogmite around, so I play my land and attack him to 14, passing the turn. Affinity plays out a Drum then swings with his army. I cast Grudge with Flashback on his Drum and Frogmite, and the attack and triggers take me down to eight. I untap, swing for one, and play out Shambler. With no board, he packs it in.
While not a perfect example of deck selection or play skill, this match illustrates a number of important things about the deck. First, it can deal quite a bit of damage from no where, as illustrated by the eleven point swing in game one. It also has enough tricks and synergy to give it some mid-game pop. If you have Rancors, and want to try something aggressive that is not Goblins, I recommend this deck- if nothing else, it will teach you to love land.
Hi Alex,
I'm no expert on pauper, but what pauper I have played was with a R/G beatdown deck. I notice that you didn't mention Scab-Clan Mauler at any point, which is a card I found to be insane. I understand that with your lack of "real" 1 drops his power will tail off, but he still works neatly with keldon marauders, and rancor should help to ensure that you can get him bloodthirsted pretty easily.
I also didn't really follow your logic on dropping wild nacatl. Any chance you could elaborate?
Both of those questions can be answered, in part, by discussing the mana base, which for some reason, I totally neglected to do.
This is a Red deck. Sure, it has some Green cards, but they are only there to make the Red cards better and while it is nice to hit them on their ideal turn, it is not vital at all for the deck to function properly. Running Mauler or Nacatl would mean increasing the presence of Green in the deck, which would make it difficult to have a strong Bushwhacker turn, which require an abundance of Red mana. Having RG available on turn two for Mauler would hurt the rest of the deck, and then having one late just seems not so hot.
I abandoned Nacatl because it was not good. Having one on turn one felt good, until it was dealt with, at which point I had manipulated my mana base for the sake of a few points of damage. At the same time, to maximize Nacatl, you need to make a choice of developing your board presence through creatures/damage or through land. When it works and you get all of them naturally early, it's great, but otherwise, I was disappointed.
I guess what it really comes down to is I started winning more when I stopped playing Nacatl, so I cut it.
" Alex shares his latest version of Red Green Aggro. Can this deck succeed where previous versions have faltered? Can Plated Geopede and friends stand up to Goblins?"
re
okay so where does the example vs goblins come in at all? Very misleading there alex and truthfully you need to start playing in the PRE's/ques/ or PE's and put your money where your mouth is rather then just keep collecting it with articles that show little to no relevance to the format.
" Alex shares his latest version of Red Green Aggro. Can this deck succeed where previous versions have faltered? Can Plated Geopede and friends stand up to Goblins?"
re
okay so where does the example vs goblins come in at all? Very misleading there alex and truthfully you need to start playing in the PRE's/ques/ or PE's and put your money where your mouth is rather then just keep collecting it with articles that show little to no relevance to the format.
kiiiiiinda agree with this dude. while spikeboyM is all over the discussion boards and pretty active in terms of talking about decks and what not - i kinda wanna see how good (bad) he plays. theorizing is good and all, but it will give your articles more weight (yes, even more!) if you actually play. i'm all about people getting down into the trenches and playing in the PEs. no offense to you of course, just want to see if the man who talks of pauper so eloquently and frequently has the play to back it =) cheers.
Pauper has long been one of my favorite formats and as a result, Alex has been one of my favorite magic players. His play is tight and his decks powerful and innovative.
To be honest,the only thing he's really bad at is sticking to the winning deck (instead choosing to stay three more steps ahead of the curve).
Luckily for me, I can simply take his decks into the queue and be assured that I stand a great chance against the metagame (a fact I've personally abused countless times when I run low on tickets or am bored out of my mind).
I noticed that in this article and the previous one an "anonymous," probably the same one, has been flinging unjustified hate at Alex. Where is the mentioning of goblins in this article? Second paragraph after he posts his list.
I don't know if my 2cents mean anything to you guys but from the times I've played against Alex I can tell he knows what he's doing. In my mind, being able to soundly back up your card choices and playing properly aren't two seperate attributes, rather they overlap each other. You could argue with his choices, and sometimes I do (mana tithe? :P), but if you're unsure of his skill you can always challenge him online.
I can understand people wanting to see deck spotlights being seen in a competitive environment. 2mans are fine, but PEs require to devote an entire day towards. If the PE falls on a day that you're working/classes there's just no way to even try.
On the actual deck: I would say maybe -1 pyro +1 gladeheart for the SB. Shame about combo though. There's not much you can do in those colors, a combination of stone rain and grudge are your best bet and then pray for a non-bushwhacked warrens.
Regarding my ability to play in PREs/PEs/Queues. I stated in this article why I feel the queues are bad for testing, but I'll supplement my point here. The decks you are likely to face in a queue are those that are mostly likely to win one match of Magic. A deck like Storm, Affinity, Goblins (and to as lesser extent, Slivers and White Weenie). These decks are great for the queues since unless you run into specific targeted hate, you are likely to be able to win 2 out of the 3 games and therefore the entire tournament, netting you a pack. You are far less likely to face the slower control decks in the queues, mostly due to the fact that you can make a lot more profit by running a blitz deck over and over than winning with MBC. Storm can win on turn two (I know, it's happened to me in the queues); control takes much longer. For someone trying to shark with their collection, which is a better option?
I would love to play in the PREs and Weekend Challenges, but right now, my life does not permit that. I work at a college doing student activities, meaning I work a lot of nights and weekends. I also am active in my local MTG: Pants community, so between work and other responsibilities, I can't always set aside six-ten hours for an event.
So I play mostly in Tournament Practice, building decks and playing against whatever is in there. Sure, I queue once in a while, and I play on writing about those experiences when I have the time. At the same time, if you want to question my decks, play them for yourself.
I am sorry about the misleading header about Goblins, but I this deck does well against the Red Menace. Shambler + Gladeheart provides a solid package to wipe the board and gain life.
Take care,
-Alex
He makes a brief mention to the goblins deck in now way shape or form does it show any true ability to do anything against goblins. You never know till you've actually done the dirty work of actually play things out. Listing pet decks is fine and all but when u have a opening line like that then have a article like this is just reminds me of the bank commercial with the 2 little girls and the pony. You're really not getting anything relevant to the format. Also keep in mind Alex is supposed to be the community affairs liaison. So don't you figure maybe he should actually partake in the said community at least SOME ?
Also to comment thou on your reply Alex WW and goblins pretty DO make up the large majority of the meta right now. So playing vs those decks would actually be a good measure of a deck and or idea you have behind it. I'm sorry that i'm comming off to critical but time after time since you've effectively quit playing and focusing on school/work/ect, and nothin wrong with that doing that stuff mind you, infact i applaud it, We havne't seeing you write much of anything that's relevant to the current state of the format what decks are preforming well or why. I understand that this takes time in which u might not have but at least admit that rather then have newer players get mislead grap one of your decks and try to go into a que or PE or even PRE and get curb stomped and feel awful because of it. NO one wants a newbies first experience to be that way.
Thank you for your reply. I do want to spend more time writing about things that are relevant to the format as a whole- I felt this was one such item (and I wanted to write about Goblins, but MTGO ate those games).
I would like to write about my experience in the queues, but it isn't constructive for anyone to go "I played Storm three times and he did his thing and won" (which happened in the preparation for this article).
While Goblins and WW make up a significant portion of the meta, so do other decks, which I have yet to face in the queues. I also, as mentioned, like playing in TP so people can watch and we can discuss the game after the fact.
With regards to what's doing well and why, I did not know such an article was in demand. I can surely work on something to that effect.
Wasn't Spikeboy...
by Holy3456 (not verified)
at Wed, 01/13/2010 - 19:24
Wasn't Alex the one to come up with WW and Goblins to begin with. Not for PDC but I seem to remember all MBC and WG MBC Hate with a little Affinity thrown in there as the major arch-types.
Cool article Spike, the deck looks like a blast to play. Nice to see the sub shambler get some exposure. One problem... the store is out of Rancors!!!!
I think the comments are a little harsh and uncalled for. I partly agree that Spike should play in a few more events and yes the decks are slightly out there sometimes but I love reading these articles and I would much rather have them than not have anything at all. As far as a writer, Spike is really good and very few people could write articles on the same level, much less someone who actually understands and cares about pauper as much as Spike.
Harsh yea, uncalled for no. SpikeBoy's articles have a tone of authority, yet without that first-person "here's my experience" narrative. If I didn't know him personally, I would guess he's talking out of his ass. He isn't. But a walkthrough or two should do the trick, right? Let's see em, Alex!
Authority?
by TreasureM (not verified)
at Thu, 01/14/2010 - 13:34
If there are some readers here, who have problems with authority, they should consider taking them to the psychologist of there choice.
Alex's articles are very well written. If some readers cant bear them without seeing him win some tournaments, thats inherently their problem. He explained his card choices and his analysis in a coherent, logical and last but not least enjoyable way. What anyone wants to do with it - well thats a personal decision, isnt it?
In my opinion Alex's articles are the best ones you can find on pauper. If anyone thinks they could do better well then go ahead and try...this site's open to anyone to write.
I find his articles very informative and useful. I have been playing magic a long time and recently introduced the game to a long time friend. Because my friend has no experience in the game at all, he has been able to rely upon articles likes this one to help him create decklists and improve his game. Just because someone's article doesn't fit your personal need, doesn't meet it doesn't fit the need of another. Before you become overly critical of his lack of tournament playing, try going out and having a wife and 3 kids and a job, then come back and tell us how much time you really have to play the game. Personally I dont even know Alex, but attacking him for pursing things outside of the game is just plain ignorant. Seriously, there is more to life than Magic.
Keep writing the articles Alex, I know I enjoy them!
BTW I have been messing around with a Black/Green deck featuring a host of men and rancor. Mostly relying on a fast early game featuring carnopage and a few other 2/2 or 2/1 creatures, hello jungle lion.
Try messing around with these colors for me would ya!
actually if u re-read what i said actually said that applaud this desire to do things other then just play magic.
However my comments were directed at that his articles since he's quit playing the format in a competitive nature and should say as much rather then let newer players be mislead into believing that the decks have a realistic chance of winning a PRE let alone a weekend event. Just as the header for the article was misleading.
Keep in mind he created WW when he was still playing competitively and that was an amazing find alex well done
23 Comments
Hi Alex,
I'm no expert on pauper, but what pauper I have played was with a R/G beatdown deck. I notice that you didn't mention Scab-Clan Mauler at any point, which is a card I found to be insane. I understand that with your lack of "real" 1 drops his power will tail off, but he still works neatly with keldon marauders, and rancor should help to ensure that you can get him bloodthirsted pretty easily.
I also didn't really follow your logic on dropping wild nacatl. Any chance you could elaborate?
Both of those questions can be answered, in part, by discussing the mana base, which for some reason, I totally neglected to do.
This is a Red deck. Sure, it has some Green cards, but they are only there to make the Red cards better and while it is nice to hit them on their ideal turn, it is not vital at all for the deck to function properly. Running Mauler or Nacatl would mean increasing the presence of Green in the deck, which would make it difficult to have a strong Bushwhacker turn, which require an abundance of Red mana. Having RG available on turn two for Mauler would hurt the rest of the deck, and then having one late just seems not so hot.
I abandoned Nacatl because it was not good. Having one on turn one felt good, until it was dealt with, at which point I had manipulated my mana base for the sake of a few points of damage. At the same time, to maximize Nacatl, you need to make a choice of developing your board presence through creatures/damage or through land. When it works and you get all of them naturally early, it's great, but otherwise, I was disappointed.
I guess what it really comes down to is I started winning more when I stopped playing Nacatl, so I cut it.
-Alex
Is Rancor a promo or something? I know Urza's isn't online yet - where do you (or I) open rancors?
^ In the garruk vs liliana deck. garruk's deck has 2 copies of rancor.
" Alex shares his latest version of Red Green Aggro. Can this deck succeed where previous versions have faltered? Can Plated Geopede and friends stand up to Goblins?"
re
okay so where does the example vs goblins come in at all? Very misleading there alex and truthfully you need to start playing in the PRE's/ques/ or PE's and put your money where your mouth is rather then just keep collecting it with articles that show little to no relevance to the format.
" Alex shares his latest version of Red Green Aggro. Can this deck succeed where previous versions have faltered? Can Plated Geopede and friends stand up to Goblins?"
re
okay so where does the example vs goblins come in at all? Very misleading there alex and truthfully you need to start playing in the PRE's/ques/ or PE's and put your money where your mouth is rather then just keep collecting it with articles that show little to no relevance to the format.
kiiiiiinda agree with this dude. while spikeboyM is all over the discussion boards and pretty active in terms of talking about decks and what not - i kinda wanna see how good (bad) he plays. theorizing is good and all, but it will give your articles more weight (yes, even more!) if you actually play. i'm all about people getting down into the trenches and playing in the PEs. no offense to you of course, just want to see if the man who talks of pauper so eloquently and frequently has the play to back it =) cheers.
Pauper has long been one of my favorite formats and as a result, Alex has been one of my favorite magic players. His play is tight and his decks powerful and innovative.
To be honest,the only thing he's really bad at is sticking to the winning deck (instead choosing to stay three more steps ahead of the curve).
Luckily for me, I can simply take his decks into the queue and be assured that I stand a great chance against the metagame (a fact I've personally abused countless times when I run low on tickets or am bored out of my mind).
-Sebastian
I noticed that in this article and the previous one an "anonymous," probably the same one, has been flinging unjustified hate at Alex. Where is the mentioning of goblins in this article? Second paragraph after he posts his list.
I don't know if my 2cents mean anything to you guys but from the times I've played against Alex I can tell he knows what he's doing. In my mind, being able to soundly back up your card choices and playing properly aren't two seperate attributes, rather they overlap each other. You could argue with his choices, and sometimes I do (mana tithe? :P), but if you're unsure of his skill you can always challenge him online.
I can understand people wanting to see deck spotlights being seen in a competitive environment. 2mans are fine, but PEs require to devote an entire day towards. If the PE falls on a day that you're working/classes there's just no way to even try.
On the actual deck: I would say maybe -1 pyro +1 gladeheart for the SB. Shame about combo though. There's not much you can do in those colors, a combination of stone rain and grudge are your best bet and then pray for a non-bushwhacked warrens.
Ignore the trolls. No reasonable member of the MTGO community could doubt Alex's credibility.
This is the perfect deck for [card]Ember Weaver[/card]. Did you give the spider any consideration?
Regarding my ability to play in PREs/PEs/Queues. I stated in this article why I feel the queues are bad for testing, but I'll supplement my point here. The decks you are likely to face in a queue are those that are mostly likely to win one match of Magic. A deck like Storm, Affinity, Goblins (and to as lesser extent, Slivers and White Weenie). These decks are great for the queues since unless you run into specific targeted hate, you are likely to be able to win 2 out of the 3 games and therefore the entire tournament, netting you a pack. You are far less likely to face the slower control decks in the queues, mostly due to the fact that you can make a lot more profit by running a blitz deck over and over than winning with MBC. Storm can win on turn two (I know, it's happened to me in the queues); control takes much longer. For someone trying to shark with their collection, which is a better option?
I would love to play in the PREs and Weekend Challenges, but right now, my life does not permit that. I work at a college doing student activities, meaning I work a lot of nights and weekends. I also am active in my local MTG: Pants community, so between work and other responsibilities, I can't always set aside six-ten hours for an event.
So I play mostly in Tournament Practice, building decks and playing against whatever is in there. Sure, I queue once in a while, and I play on writing about those experiences when I have the time. At the same time, if you want to question my decks, play them for yourself.
I am sorry about the misleading header about Goblins, but I this deck does well against the Red Menace. Shambler + Gladeheart provides a solid package to wipe the board and gain life.
Take care,
-Alex
He makes a brief mention to the goblins deck in now way shape or form does it show any true ability to do anything against goblins. You never know till you've actually done the dirty work of actually play things out. Listing pet decks is fine and all but when u have a opening line like that then have a article like this is just reminds me of the bank commercial with the 2 little girls and the pony. You're really not getting anything relevant to the format. Also keep in mind Alex is supposed to be the community affairs liaison. So don't you figure maybe he should actually partake in the said community at least SOME ?
Also to comment thou on your reply Alex WW and goblins pretty DO make up the large majority of the meta right now. So playing vs those decks would actually be a good measure of a deck and or idea you have behind it. I'm sorry that i'm comming off to critical but time after time since you've effectively quit playing and focusing on school/work/ect, and nothin wrong with that doing that stuff mind you, infact i applaud it, We havne't seeing you write much of anything that's relevant to the current state of the format what decks are preforming well or why. I understand that this takes time in which u might not have but at least admit that rather then have newer players get mislead grap one of your decks and try to go into a que or PE or even PRE and get curb stomped and feel awful because of it. NO one wants a newbies first experience to be that way.
Thank you for your reply. I do want to spend more time writing about things that are relevant to the format as a whole- I felt this was one such item (and I wanted to write about Goblins, but MTGO ate those games).
I would like to write about my experience in the queues, but it isn't constructive for anyone to go "I played Storm three times and he did his thing and won" (which happened in the preparation for this article).
While Goblins and WW make up a significant portion of the meta, so do other decks, which I have yet to face in the queues. I also, as mentioned, like playing in TP so people can watch and we can discuss the game after the fact.
With regards to what's doing well and why, I did not know such an article was in demand. I can surely work on something to that effect.
-Alex
Wasn't Alex the one to come up with WW and Goblins to begin with. Not for PDC but I seem to remember all MBC and WG MBC Hate with a little Affinity thrown in there as the major arch-types.
I had nothing to do with the development of Goblins.
Cool article Spike, the deck looks like a blast to play. Nice to see the sub shambler get some exposure. One problem... the store is out of Rancors!!!!
I think the comments are a little harsh and uncalled for. I partly agree that Spike should play in a few more events and yes the decks are slightly out there sometimes but I love reading these articles and I would much rather have them than not have anything at all. As far as a writer, Spike is really good and very few people could write articles on the same level, much less someone who actually understands and cares about pauper as much as Spike.
Harsh yea, uncalled for no. SpikeBoy's articles have a tone of authority, yet without that first-person "here's my experience" narrative. If I didn't know him personally, I would guess he's talking out of his ass. He isn't. But a walkthrough or two should do the trick, right? Let's see em, Alex!
If there are some readers here, who have problems with authority, they should consider taking them to the psychologist of there choice.
Alex's articles are very well written. If some readers cant bear them without seeing him win some tournaments, thats inherently their problem. He explained his card choices and his analysis in a coherent, logical and last but not least enjoyable way. What anyone wants to do with it - well thats a personal decision, isnt it?
In my opinion Alex's articles are the best ones you can find on pauper. If anyone thinks they could do better well then go ahead and try...this site's open to anyone to write.
I find his articles very informative and useful. I have been playing magic a long time and recently introduced the game to a long time friend. Because my friend has no experience in the game at all, he has been able to rely upon articles likes this one to help him create decklists and improve his game. Just because someone's article doesn't fit your personal need, doesn't meet it doesn't fit the need of another. Before you become overly critical of his lack of tournament playing, try going out and having a wife and 3 kids and a job, then come back and tell us how much time you really have to play the game. Personally I dont even know Alex, but attacking him for pursing things outside of the game is just plain ignorant. Seriously, there is more to life than Magic.
Keep writing the articles Alex, I know I enjoy them!
BTW I have been messing around with a Black/Green deck featuring a host of men and rancor. Mostly relying on a fast early game featuring carnopage and a few other 2/2 or 2/1 creatures, hello jungle lion.
Try messing around with these colors for me would ya!
actually if u re-read what i said actually said that applaud this desire to do things other then just play magic.
However my comments were directed at that his articles since he's quit playing the format in a competitive nature and should say as much rather then let newer players be mislead into believing that the decks have a realistic chance of winning a PRE let alone a weekend event. Just as the header for the article was misleading.
Keep in mind he created WW when he was still playing competitively and that was an amazing find alex well done