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By: SpikeBoyM, Alex Ullman
Oct 02 2009 12:56am
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So how was your weekend?

Me? I played the role of rumor confirmation specialist.

I sat down at my Sunday Pre-Release, mere feet away from a group of Vampire Live Action Role Players and eagerly opened my packs, thinking that maybe I would be one of those lucky people who got to open priceless treasure.

Well, guess what was staring back at me in one of my six packs.

Volcanic Island

Hello fifty bucks.

As if that was not enough, I also managed to crack Ob Nixilis, Arid Mesa, and Goblin Guide. Needless to say, I stand to make a pretty penny.

I also went two and one with my nice Green-Black deck with two Green Expeditions and Harrow to power up Obivous Ob. I lost to a deck packing both Conqueror's Pledge and Bloodchief of Ghet, which also dropped Quest of the Gravelord early both games. Beat-ings.

But I don't make my bread and butter by telling you about random limited matches in the shadow of LARP or my wallet that will soon get nicely padded. No, you good people of the internet want to hear about all-commons Magic. I hope.

After gaming with Zendikar a few times, I firmly believe that it will have an impact in Pauper as we understand the format. It provides some interesting tools for control and aggro, while also injecting life into tempo strategies. I am not sure the additions will be enough to spawn new decks or create new contenders for the top table during the weekend, but if there is one thing the set will provide, it is massive fuel for thought.

 

Black Aggro

This is the deck generating a ton of buzz in the Pauper community. Not only do we get Vampire Lacerator, but in a few short months we also get Carnophage to fight alongside his blood sucking brother and increase the beats on turn one. Couple this with Guul Draz Vampire, cheap removal like Disfigure, the Dauthi, Dark Ritual, and the deck more or less builds itself.

Consider:

 

Black Aggro
A first draft
Creatures
4 Order of the Ebon Hand
4 Dauthi Slayer
4 Dauthi Horror
2 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
14 cards

Other Spells
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Guul Draz Vampire
4 Duress
4 Dark Ritual
4 Disfigure
4 Wrench Mind
2 Spinning Darkness
14 cards
Lands
20 Swamp
20 cards
 
Dark Ritual

 

The point of suck a deck is to attack and apply pressure, backing up the beats with discard. Wrench Mind might not be the best BB spell, depending on the metagame- running into Affinity with the Mirrodin special is a rough time.

The other sticking point for a deck like this is Tendrils of Corruption. This card is not going away and serves as the biggest litmus test for aggressive decks. As presented, this deck needs to get lucky with a Duress to nab the enemy, and even then that is asking quite a bit. There are a few options that slot into the Black aggro deck, but they would have to displace some of the other stellar one-drops.

Carrion Feeder has lost some utility under the M10 rules, but it is still the little Zombie that could against targeted removal. He does a good job and can approach Enforcer size, but might not be reliable enough to answer the Tendrils decks, since they also tend to pack Diabolic Edict.

Another less appealing and more mana intensive option is Smolder Initiate. A few years ago I ran an aggressive black deck featuring this Shadowmoor one drop to some success in PDC, in the face of Tendrils. This guy is a powerhouse against black decks, if left unanswered, as he turns every untapped land into a potential point of damage. While not enough on his own, when combined with pressure, it would often sneak in a few key points. Again, probably not enough on its own.

One card that I feel presents in interesting skill test is Vampire's Bite. Some people have been advocating this as a black Lightning Bolt, but it is far less versatile for obvious reasons. Paying full price for Kicker is still not enough. In this style of deck, paying four mana should go a long way to winning the game, but a Lightning Helix attached to a creature is just not enough in Pauper. For three damage and a little more at four mana, I would think a deck like this would prefer Okiba-Gang Shinobi.

 

Landfall

This mechanic will benefit the control decks of the format, as they like hitting their land drops more than most- ever watch the Teachings mirror? The initial investment on the Expedition cycle that you can get away with dropping one early for a payoff late. The white one is just useless, and the red quest's casting cost makes the deck most likely to want it shy away, as the five damage of Keldon Marauders seems more exciting than a potential Ball Lightning. While the green one is great, for limited, there is not exactly a green deck clamoring for any more ramp, and worse if you are missing land drops it cannot accelerate you a la Rampant Growth.

Ior Ruin Expedition presents something very similar to an Errant Ephemeron, only without the pay off. Ideally you would not want to cast this until turn four, but it also allows you to recover cards in hand at no cost late. Think Twice can do this, and at instant speed to boot, so as to not take up important Counterspell mana. If the level of card drawing in Pauper was not so high, I would consider this a staple, but as it stands, no deck that would want it needs it, thanks to better options.

Soul Stair Expedition, on the other hand, is more likely to see play. Decks that would be able to take advantage of this card are often looking for turn one action, and these same decks have no problem getting to the requisite Quest counters. Enchantment removal is also a scarce sight in Pauper, so keeping this on board until you are ready to pop it does not seem very difficult. However, most decks that run a graveyard recursion spell run two (that are not attached to creatures), and ideally, you would want to have four of these to guarantee getting one early. Unlike Grim Harvest or Death Denied, this also telegraphs to your opponent the possible moments of the raising of the dead. With this on board, you are leaving the cards on the table. As it stands, I would not be surprised to see this one make some appearances at the top, but I could just as easily see it being cast aside.

The creatures with Landfall also poised to make a splash. The Black and Green are little more than limited fodder, and the Blue one, while potent, just does not fit into any deck- too fragile and expensive for control and not likely to be big enough in aggro. The Boros brothers, though, are exciting.

Steppe Lynx will not see play in White Weenie, as the time you really need to be pouring on the damage; you will likely be done playing land. Plated Geopede is good in Red beatdown decks. The place where I think these cards will find a home, however, is in two-color aggressive decks that make use of both the Karoos and Terramorphic Expanse. Take a look at this old Boros list:

 

 

 

With both Expanse and Karoo, it is quite possible to keep a steady stream of damage coming out of these critters- you can always return a Karoo to itself. This style of deck would benefit from Landfall creatures as it builds towards a Kaervek's Torch to end the game, so it actively wants to put land on to the battlefield. I do not know if this deck will make a push towards viable status with the addition of such cards, but it is something I want to test out.

 

The Nitty Gritty

Whiplash Trap: I really like this card. Aether Burst is one of my favorite cards, and there are going to be times where you will be able to get a huge tempo swing against a deck like Slivers or Goblins. This card also puts a damper on the Suspend heavy White Weenie decks, giving Teachings a fantastic tutor target to buy some time.

Burst Lightning: Shock plus might have been good enough one day, but with Incinerate and Chain Lightning vying for slots after Lightning Bolt, I am wary of the Burst. That being said, it might take the place of a Torch endgame in certain decks since it can be cast at instant speed. Not a sure thing, but the Burst might be a new finisher in aggressive Red decks.

Seismic Shudder: Instant speed Nausea effects are pretty good in Pauper. Just ask Holy Light. This gives Red an instant speed answer to Empty the Warrens.

Blood Seeker: Interesting sideboard option against Goblin decks and Empty the Warrens Storm decks.

Goblin Bushwhacker/Goblin Shortcutter: These both seem like viable candidates for Goblins, providing important effects in a nice tribal friendly package. Whacker strikes me as more likely to see play, as it replaces Rites of Initiation with ease.

Torch Slinger: Most creatures in this format have two toughness, so I would not be surprised to see this one make multiple appearances in slower Red decks.

Explorer's Scope: This card poses an interesting question: at what price consistent card advantage? Provided you have a steady supply of creatures, you can draw a card, on average, once every three turns, helping you build your board position and filter lands off the top. At the same time, what will these decks do with all those lands? It is also a highly conditional form of advantage, and probably would not find a home in Blue or Black decks for obvious reasons. That being said, could a mono-Red deck take advantage of such a card? This one seems like it could be absolutely insane in a narrow application, and just about terrible outside of those circumstances.

 

Pauper to the Player of the Year Contender

If you were to look at the finals of the September 27th Pauper event, you would see something that you might not believe: LSV- Luis Scott-Vargas, in second place. I do not know which is more surprising: the fact that one of the greatest players on the planet right now played in a Pauper tournament, or the fact that he did not win the whole thing. All kidding aside, Luis was kind enough to answer some questions I had for him regarding Pauper and his participation in the event.

Pauper to the People: What made you decide to play in the Pauper Event this past weekend?

Luis Scott-Vargas: I actually decided to play Pauper on a whim. I logged onto Modo, and saw that a Pauper PE was starting in 20 minutes. I was planning on staying home and writing anyway, so I figured I might as well play in this PE.

PttP: Why did you choose MBCu/Probe Control?

LSV: Since I only had 20 minutes and I had never played Pauper before, I just went to the Decks of the Week on Magicthegathering.com and looked over the top 8 of the last Pauper event. The UB Probe/Rats deck, played by The_zzz, looked pretty good and fun to play, so I ran with his 75, no changes.

 

 

PttP:What was your MVP card of the day?

LSV: My MVP card of the day had to be Dimir Aqueduct. I hadn’t played with bouncelands in a while, and it was pretty nice. Essentially drawing you a card for no other cost than coming into play tapped, the Aqueducts let you discard lands to Probe while still hitting enough land drops. All the other cards in the deck are redundant (removal, card draw, etc), but Aqueduct is one of a kind, and pretty insane. My opponent in the finals drew double Aqueduct vs my none, and that contributed in a large part to my loss.

PttP: What did you like about the deck? Dislike?

LSV: I liked how well it ran against creature decks, since the combination of Tendrils, Edicts, Innocent Bloods, Crypt Rats, and Chittering Rats really did a good job stabilizing and then crushing any deck that was trying to beat down. Even WG Slivers was manageable with enough Edicts and Rats, and it seems like one of the best beatdown decks in the format. I didn’t like the maindeck in the control matchups, since it has a ton of removal and no counterspells, making it difficult to really get ahead. Grim Harvest helps, but there is only the one maindeck, and no way to search for it.

PttP: What are your thoughts on Pauper as a format?

LSV: Pauper was really fun, and it was pretty cool seeing such a diversity of decks. The only deck I played more than once in the tournament was WG Slivers (except the top 8, where I played two people I played in the swiss), and just watching replays of this one I event I saw a ton of different decks. Regardless of what you like to play, there is a good Pauper deck for you (Combo, Aggro, Control, Aggro-Control, etc).

PttP: Favorite common of all time?

LSV: Brainstorm of course! I didn’t get to play with it in Pauper, but I kind of wish I had.

PttP: 1st pick, 1st pack, all commons draft- what do you want to open?

LSV: In an all-commons draft, I guess Rolling Thunder is probably the best card.

 

I want to thank Luis again for taking the time to answer my questions.

As always, I cannot wait for Zendikar to come online so that the Paupers of the world can continue to brew. Until then, keep slingin' commons-

-Alex

5 Comments

Grats on the Volcanic! Nice by Paul Leicht at Fri, 10/02/2009 - 02:32
Paul Leicht's picture
5

Grats on the Volcanic! Nice interview. Interesting comment about the Aqueducts. I think people underestimate the power of the bounce lands because they open you up to tempo loss with bounce/ld, but if your opponent isn't running that kind of strategy you get a boost and can replenish things like gemstone mine (yeah yeah not pauper but still...) or as LSV says discard it to satisfy a cost. Good article.

Hooray for LSV. I am not sure by Lpettro (not verified) at Fri, 10/02/2009 - 12:53
Lpettro's picture

Hooray for LSV. I am not sure if it is inspiring that anyone could do so well on the back of being a good player with little preparation or depressing that extensive knowledge of the format paid such low returns.

A great read nonetheless.

as someone who plays faerie by psymunn (not verified) at Fri, 10/02/2009 - 15:13
psymunn's picture

as someone who plays faerie fish, seeing my opponent play a bounce land early game is scary stuff... unless i have a pestermite or 2. then it's normally hard to lose

Rats/bounce by Ankh (not verified) at Mon, 10/05/2009 - 02:53
Ankh's picture

I think I'm going to have to homebrew up another anti rats tempo deck. Bounce effects are under played and Karoo lands are played heavily. I'm newly back on mtgo and my collection is just like 1200 commons ATM but look for ankheg to be showing up in pe's and player run events soon

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