Back when I was on my MBC kick, I had mentioned, in a bit more than passing, the revival of the Nightsky Aggro deck. This was directly influenced by the rise in Storm decks and the perceived rise of decks designed to beat Storm. At a similar time in Pauper's past, such a deck was able to win two weekend challenges in a row, before disappearing almost completely. What made this deck tick? Why was it successful?

Nightsky Aggro was a metagame machete. It had the disruptive tools to combat Storm and the win from nowhere capability to win before control decks could establish their position with removal. The original versions of this deck ran Castigate along with Chittering Rats or its Ravenous brother to help strip the hand of any offending materials. Crypt Rats played mop up duty for any creatures that managed to sneak on to the field of play. The win-from-nowhere capability came from the trio of Nip Gwyllion-Edge of the Divinity-Nightsky Mimic. Putting the pants on the Hag turn two was devastating if left alone, as little can match a 4/4 lifelink beater. Similarly, being able to suit up the Mimic in its best Lord of the Pit costume could end the game in short order. These decks tended to also run Unmake to clear out blockers and Blind Hunter as another threat.

Nightsky's moment in the spotlight was short lived. The metagame shifted towards control decks with better recovery ability in Mulldrifter and Probe, and then the Red Menace came. This deck stood no chance.

The top decks are cyclical, and again, combo became a pervasive threat, as did those decks that preyed on the intricate machinations of Johnny, Combo Player, and I saw an opportunity to relive the glory days of Orzhov.

Here is the list born of conversation between Greg Weiss and myself (mostly Greg telling me my choices were terrible):

Nightsky Aggro

 

Creatures 4 Nightsky Mimic 4 Kor Skyfisher 4 Ravenous Rats 3 Blind Hunter 4 Nip Gwyllion 4 Chittering Rats 23 cards Other Spells 2 Serrated Arrows 4 Sign in Blood 4 Edge of the Divinity 4 Castigate 14 cards

Lands 7 Plains 4 Orzhov Basilica 2 Kabira Crossroads 10 Swamp 23 cards Sideboard 4 Duress 1 Serrated Arrows 4 Echoing Decay 1 Grim Harvest 1 Death Denied 11 cards

This version still has the “I win” capability of the hybrid trinity, but eschews cards like Unmake and other traditional removal. Why? As Greg put it, “Are you worried about blockers?”

The answer: it appears no, this deck does not worry about the defenses of another deck. Blocking a 4/4 Drain Life every turn is no easy task, and when it is active, blocking a Mimic is just plain difficult. In addition, this deck was designed with a control oriented metagame in mind, so I did not anticipate many blockers. The beef of a creature backed with Edge backed up by the air-force of Skyfisher and Hunter made the need to deal with the few blockers control presented a secondary concern.

The next section of the deck is the disruption. Castigate makes a repeat appearance, as do the Rat brothers, but the gem here is Kor Skyfisher. I am going to elaborate on this guy latter, but I want to point out that I have had many great turn fours where I have attacked with a Rat, bounced it with the Skyfisher, then replayed said rat to eke out another card from my opponent's hand. Do not underestimate the power of incremental advantage plays based around Skyfisher.

The mana is fairly standard- the two Crossroads being a concession to the synergy with Skyfisher and the fact that I had so few “must play” White cards. Having it come into play tapped was rarely a detriment to my overall game plan and the life I netted from playing tricks with the land saved my skin many times.

The deck is rounded out with the card advantage of Serrated Arrows and Sign in Blood. Sign is the best true draw spell available, and the advantages of two cards as opposed to the one provided by Phyrexian Rager is far from negligible. The Arrows have caught on recently due to their ability to eat multiple creatures and then come back for more. Since they do not go away as soon as the last counter is removed, Blue decks caught on and started combining the Artifact with Capsize to rebuy removal. While I do not have access to the best bounce spell, I do have Skyfisher, which gives the option to use Arrows again, if the need arises.

So, Kor Skyfisher. This guy is something else. A fine beater (albeit at a tempo hit), this guy will block or trade with just about any creature in the Pauper skies (aside from an Errant Ephemeron). When using one of the spell lands, you just drew yourself the same spell over again. While it is not out yet, I can imagine many a deck coupling Skyfisher with either (Sejiri Steppes) or Smoldering Spires to create an offense off of a land drop.

In a deck like this one, however, Skyfisher lets you wring every last bit of value out of your Rats and Bats. One reason a deck like Parlor Tricks has so many followers is that it gets to play with Ninja of the Deep Hours which gives you the ability to reuse a card like Ravenous Rats. Here, you can do the same thing, only without having to do all that messy attacking. Instead, you get to choose the card you “draw.” After his second place finish in a Weekend Challenge, LSV commented about how much fun it was to play with Dimir Aqueduct again because it let him draw a card in exchange for a land drop. While Skyfisher sets you back on tempo, it still lets you “draw” a card, and you know what you will be getting, allowing you to set up turn where you can take some of the best cards from their hands (hint: I try to cast Ravenous Rats before Castigate when dropping both on the same turn. Ravenous Rats will often hit doubles or excessive cards, meaning what I hit with Castigate is likely to hurt more).

But wait, the late great Billy Mays would say, there is more! Skyfisher gives this deck the opportunity to reset a Mimic. Eventually this deck will run out of triggers, but Skyfisher can come to the rescue and pick up an Edge to turn on the mini-Angel again. All in all, Skyfisher is probably the second biggest reason to run the deck (after silly Hybrid tricks).

The sideboard has your usual suspects: Duress to fight control and combo, Echoing Decay to fight the swarms with another Serrated Arrows. Death Denied and Grim Harvest provide an out in the long game. (Soltari Visionary), however, was an out to the Azorious Control decks that were springing up at the time. Running both Journey to Nowhere and Circle of Protection: Black, the UW defender could make life increasingly difficult with the Enchantments it brought to the table. Visionary helped to combat this deck by being able to eat multiple permanents while also going unblocked. Was it the best choice? I am not sure, but it was fun to bust out one of my old favorites. The better choice is likely Disenchant, as it also hits those nasty cards called Artifacts.

All that being said, I would not recommend this deck right now, but I would not feel comfortable throwing my hat in with any contender. Right now, Pauper seems to be embroiled in a shift. These times, I like to call the Wild West. Any deck can come out on top and the usual determining factor is the play skill of the pilot. What led to such a metagame?

After Storm fell from the top spot, a variety of control decks that utilized black rose up, but none took a plurality. Decks like Teachings, MBCu and MBC all snaked their way back into the meta but none took a position of dominance. Rather, White Weenie and Storm remain the most played decks, but not by much. A tournament can go five rounds, and yet the winner can somehow dodge most top archetypes until the last two rounds before the top eight (as happened recently). So how does one prepare?

At times like these, I say play the deck you know inside and out, but do not make poorly informed decisions. Make sure your deck still has game against most of the big players and is not an auto-loss to Storm or random aggro strategies. Try to have outs to popular fringe strategies as well- Dead Dog has picked up quite a few followers, as have big mana decks based on Cloudpost, so know what to do when facing a deck that can make more mana than you ever thought possible and cast the same creature so often you might want to vomit on your keyboard. More than anything, however, know your deck. In days gone by I would have picked up Deep Dog at a time like this, just because I could pilot it through a field with ease- although the fields were far easier in the days of PDC. If I had to pick a deck, I would either choose MBC shocker or a Nightsky Deck with a stronger removal package- I am looking at you Disfigure!

That is all for today. I cannot wait to get my digital hands on some Worldwake and seeing what unfolds when the lands come to life. Oh, that's right. No common creature-lands.

Keep slingin' commons...and not attacking with your lands,

-Alex