First of all, let me say how fun it is to make a home brew deck and actually sum up the nerve to play it in the weekly pauper tourney.  It's a scary outing playing something unestablished, but it's also ton of fun.  If your like me, you go off on a deckbuilding tangent, and arrive back at, "...why not just play _____?"  Like playing a storm mechanic deck using Ignite Memories - sure, that's cute, but if you want to win, why not just play the established goblin/grapeshot build? 

Lets face it, if you want to boost creatures stats - you’re probably looking towards green.  If your wanting to protect something - you'll favor white.  If you need a counter or draw - blue will be your choice etc..,  So there's nothing totally shocking or new in the below deck list.  As there aren’t new or undiscovered cards to choose from and still be competitive...I mean it’s not like you can make cards and play them online, but you can make some interesting metagame calls:

Creatures 4 Martyr of Ashes 4 Mulldrifter 8 cards Other Spells 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Chain Lightning 4 Firebolt 4 Fireblast 4 Searing Blaze 4 Thunderbolt 3 Deep Analysis 4 Rift Bolt 1 Foresee 32 cards

Lands 10 Mountain 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Terramorphic Expanse 2 Island 20 cards Sideboard 4 Gorilla Shaman 4 Martyr of Ashes 3 Smash to Smithereens 2 Flaring Pain 2 Vulshok Sorcerer 15 cards

It was pretty easy to name this one!  After having played some version of burn or burning kiln for weeks and taking meticulous notes, this strange creation above was born out of the need to reload my hand after burning out.
Is this the next big thing?! 
Nope. 
But the current meta-game is quite stagnant and I've rarely seen pauper stay still for as many weeks as it currently has...about five and counting...this is a mini-solution to what's been popular for the last five weeks:

 

The above list is a new spin on an old deck, (lets face it, what isn’t?!) and one I felt was super strong.  It is quite rare that I take a list and play it without a change or three, or twenty, but this decked proved to be the exception.  For most of May and June 2010, many other players obviously thought so too as it was in all the ques and top eight lists in one form or another.  Just last weekend proved this too, as five of the top eight decks were some form of the above deck.

I bring this up, because in creating my “Reload” deck it is quite relevant.  
You see, I knew I’d see the following in one form or another on the day of the latest tournament:



I expected a splash of the black/white pestilence deck and a blue/white/alt color rogue as well.  The latter usually being blue, red, white creations, which focus on each colors strength.  

All this comes back round to something you were probably wondering…

THUNDERBOLT?!
Yeah…thunderbolt. 
Neat card.  It’s no Incinerate, which is why I chose it.  The beauty of Thunderbolt is its ability to kill the two flying creatures pictured above.  I needed a main deck answer for these two and if that plan fails, well, then you just aim it at their head as the ground removal was solidified in one nice, main-decked package: Martyr of Ashes.

REWIND
First, let me take a moment here to talk about my recently deceased pet, “Scaldy” – you may remember him:


The whole reason for “Reload” was born out of my frustration of trying to make this deck list work:

Burning Kiln

 

Creatures 4 Spark Elemental 4 Keldon Marauders 4 Kiln Fiend 12 cards Other Spells 4 Lava Spike 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Chain Lightning 4 Firebolt 4 Fireblast 4 Searing Blaze 4 Rift Bolt 2 Staggershock 30 cards

Lands 18 Mountain 18 cards Sideboard 4 Gorilla Shaman 4 Martyr of Ashes 3 Smash to Smithereens 2 Flaring Pain 2 Quenchable Fire 15 cards

I still believe in this deck.  It is an absolute house of pain.  But I was so focused on it, that I refused to play anything else, despite the massive target on it's fiery back.  I played it to mild finishes for almost a month.  What happened?  Well, I'm not the best burn player out there first of all, and I also had two losses due to software issues, which despite a refund still hurts the magic ego.  Additionally many folks wrote about how burn didn’t want creatures…as it turns “on” your opponents removal spells:



This sounds good in passing, and it does have a point...but then why do so many burn deck lists run ANY CREATURES?  Keldon Marauders is a great example.  As an opponent, if you kill it you take two damage, if you don’t you get smacked for five.  Yet it remains a mainstay because 'most people' run it without thinking.  In logic circles, this is the "bandwagon fallacy.”  It comes from the phrase "jump on the bandwagon" or "climb on the bandwagon" - In past political campaigns, candidates would ride a bandwagon through town, and people would show support for the candidate by climbing aboard the wagon. The phrase has come to refer to joining a cause because of its popularity:


(I wish more politicians had "Vanishing 2!")

Here's a red mage's logic:
Keldon Marauders inclusion is popular.
Therefore, playing Keldon Marauders is correct.

I simply argued (and still do!) that Kiln Fiend was your best creature bet in burn.  I like both Kiln Fiend AND Keldon Marauders but if you had to choose just one, I think it's a no-brainer.  If Kiln Fiend lives for one turn, you win.  As I showed in both print and in multiple video clips...even life gain wasn’t an issue as the fiend can hit SO hard that any life gained is nullified in one swing.  Attacking for between ten to eighteen damage, well now, that’s some serious power in this format.
Overall the deck “Burning Kiln” did great, just not for me on tourney day.  For three weeks my first round would be either mana flood, or mana screw. 

Three weeks.  


Now, had this been one or the other, mana flood or mana screw - obvious observations could be made and analyzed, but there was simply no rhyme or reason to any of it.  Starting with a loss that way, as many of you know, is a horrible way to begin a long tourney.  One bad play, or good scenario from your opponent equals game over for your chances of being in the top eight.



So all of that led me to make the deck “Reload” mentioned above.  You’ll notice that at it’s core, it is a burn deck.  I wanted a way to have a ton of quality draws mid to late game.  Which is why the deck can draw upwards of twenty-plus cards! 

REGARDING BURN MENTALITY

Burn players have a very optimistic viewpoint of their draws when compared to other deck types.  A burn player is like a gambler that is broke, but won't shut up about how great his last winning jackpot was, despite it being a decade old and a fraction of the money lost.  I bring this up because I fell victim to it too...not the gambling, but playing burn.  Your hunting for that massive hand that will crush anyone...and they do happen, as they do in all decks.  And THAT is the point. All decks have their 'nuts' draws, the unbeatable set of seven that basically says, "Thanks for playing, good game!"  - it's just that when burn does it, it's quicker and louder, so, like gambling...everyone hears of it and takes note.  
Just imagine a casino where all the noises were made every time somebody lost!  Talk about a sonic eruption...Nevada residence would be deaf within three minutes!

In reality, burn decks often putter out.  Your opponent is at five-seven life and you draw more mountains and/or walk into counters in a slow march towards doom.  Reload is a deck that can still have these degenerate opening hands...but it also has tremendous midgame power, not from just drawing cards, but from drawing quality cards.  Remember all eight fetchlands in pauper are being used here.  They prevent you from drawing a land when you play that crucial draw spell...and even if you do, you may Foresee a better play.  Also be careful of timing when to play fetchlands.  This can be crucial, especially with maindecked spells like Searing Blaze.

Playing a full set of both Terramorphic Expanse, and its more artistically pleasing friend, (Evolutionary Wilds) ensures when you start drawing cards…they’re REALLY GONNA BE GREAT.  Obviously this makes for a slower start than a traditional burn deck, but surprisingly not by much - especially considering how often you bide your time when playing a more traditional build of burn deck, against a control player for example.  
Furthermore, you can really shock your opponents about what your playing with this deck as it makes for a great ‘unknown factor.”  Twice in the tournament during game one, I’d hold my island option if I was going to win…making my opponent think I was a simple burn deck.  Why give free information before sideboarding?  Hell…if that’s the case why am I writing this article?!  I won’t go into many of “Those” kinds of plays, as I already did in, (what I believe is my most important article) here.  Seriously, if your going to only read one of my articles, THIS is the one you should read.



REVIEWING VIDEO EXAMPLES

All three of the below videos were from the tournament played on Friday, June 18th, 2010.  The first is against storm.  I maindecked Martyr of Ashes because mathematically I was positive I'd face goblins and storm, turns out I faced goblins three times and storm once.  The second is against mono blue control, and the last is against goblins.  I purposely didn't record blowouts, as those don't teach much...instead I tried to find real 'nail-biter' games so you can feel the heat!

The first video below is game one of the storm matchup.  I won this round 2-0.  Had it not been for maindecked hate like the Martyr of Ashes I'm sure I would have lost:

This next video playback was against mono blue control - my only loss during the tourney was to this deck.  I've beaten this build more than I've lost to it but it's a super close matchup:

This last video is against goblins.  I wasn't surprised to see goblins, but I was surprised to see them in round one, three and five!  Reload has a nice plus side, allowing you to trade damage for creatures untill they fizzle out.  Then all you need to do is reload and go to the dome:

This deck is currently 21-4.  All four losses have been to mono blue control, or as I call it, Dolmir Blue…so obviously my deck needs to be worried about that list.  Remember however that I have won against Dolmir blue a total of five times, but as those stats warn, it’s close!  

REVISITING SIDEBOARD NOTES

My sideboard was really geared towards beating affinity, and boy can it.  At first glance, the Smash to Smithereens inclusion may seem overboard, but they’re actually additional insurance against blue’s Spire Golems and a good swap option for Searing Blaze when playing against storm so you can target one of their eight cantrips of the chromatic persuasion.  Two (Vulshok Sorcerers) in the side board are great for picking off various form of faeries…and important for another reason, they cost more than one and two mana.  While sideboarding…I’d often take out lightning bolts!  The logic being that they have so many quick counters for one casting-cost spells, that I wanted to neuter their chances of countering effectively. They're decidedly effective against goblins and other decks too. 
Four Rain of Embers may seem a bit extreme, but I absolutely knew I'd see three decks that this card and martyr would be great against; mono blue control, storm, and goblins.  The Rain of Embers isn't so great for goblins, but it's one of the only spells that can deal with flying creatures, and it serves double duty in the storm matchup, as the only way they can usually get you (hasn't happened yet!) is via Grapeshot.

REMEMBERING

So I made it to the top eight and boy was I hoping to play against first place (affinity) cause I could literally triple mulligan and win vs. that after boarding.  But my May luck was still hanging around a bit, and I got paired, for the THIRD time, against mono blue control, my coin toss matchup.  Unfortunately I lost a close one, had lethal damage on the stack but a well timed Dispel sent me packing.

So that's about all for this outing.  I seriously have no intentions of playing this or any other past pauper deck next week...its' all up in the air, as I will be today..I'm going hang gliding for Fathers Day 2010! 
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