Of Peasants and Paupers
Hello all, Welcome back. I know I took a week off after the championships from writing mostly to have chance to see how the format was going to pan out. For those of you just starting out let me talk a bit about Peasant. Peasant is a Pauper based format any deck you can play in Pauper you can also play in Peasant. There are two twists however the first is we use paper printed rarities for Peasant. That means cards like Blue Elemental Blast, Hymn to Tourach, and Sinkhole are legal. The second twist is you are given the choice to use 5 Uncommons in your build. Now the reason for just 5 is make sure you choose wisely, sure it is simple to grab a set of Putrefy and Rakdos Cackler, not to mention a great number of powerful uncommons and make a deck. However when you just have 5 spots you have to start weighing the odds if a card is really worth a spot or if the pauper alternative is better.
Ok if you would like to play in Peasant then please check out the summery below.
The Quick recap about Peasant:
- When: Registration opens at 7:30 EST and games start at 8:00 EST
- Where: On gatherling and in /join PEZ in the old Client or #PEZ in the new client. Thats www.pdcmagic.com/gatherling
- How: A Pauper based deck allowing the use of 5 Uncommons. For the banned list please look here
- Why: Prizes and Fun. The Prizes are from MTGOtraders.com Seriously check these guys out their website makes searching for cards easy and if by chance a card is out of stock you can have them Email you when it is back.
- Rules: for a full list of the Rules and times please look here
The Decks
We have a new set and new cards though being a small set I do not know how big of an impact we will see.
Peasant 12.01
This event was marked by two things Stompy and MBC, we had 3 Green decks in the top 4 One was Elves running distant memories but we won't hold that blue against them. MBC was the 4th deck and was being piloted by 3 different players this event. Let's take a look at the two that came out on top.
We have seen Stompy do very good in the post Storm meta. So seeing this deck show up is no surprise and we have talked about it a few times but this deck gets a great card.
- Strangleroot Geist This card amps up aggro and laughs in the face of removal. This card makes me wonder if Magma Spray might be a better Sideboard option then some of the anti aggro cards used.
I hate facing this deck truthfully it is a great midrange deck it has disruption, removal, and life gain combined with card draw and recursion. I hate playing against it because of Corrupt. Now this deck does not run any of the cards we normally see ranging from hymn to tourach at common and Vampire Nighthawk at uncommon, but it still preforms. This is the testament to the strength of the deck in Pauper.
Peasant 12.02
I know you are normally Expecting 2 deck lists per event. However there was an error in the amount of cards in the 2nd place deck. I have asked the person piloting the deck to please correct this issue but it has not been corrected by this point in time.
I love this deck. Personally I think this deck should be called Boom! With so many hi damage spells it makes finishing out the game a nightmare for opponents who do not pack any life gain. The cards that make this so powerful are.
- Goblin Grenade 5 damage to the face and this counts as a Common.
- Shrapnel Blast This gives the deck access to 3 more Grenades. This deck easily hits critical mass for damage and artifacts to keep it fueled.
- Memnite I understand the strength of a 1/1 for 0 artifact though I can't help but think there was a missed opportunity somewhere for Ornithopter to shine.
The Meta
I do not believe that Dragon's Maze has really impacted the meta of Peasant. The strength of a set for pauper is found in its mono colored commons and mono colored uncommons set the benchmark for Peasant, that being said there are no mono colored uncommons in Dragon's Maze. Let's see if the decks support this.
Peasant 12.01
|
Metagame Stats |
Aggro |
27% |
Combo |
13% |
Control |
7% |
Aggro-Control |
27% |
Unclassified |
27% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
33% |
27% |
40% |
13% |
33% |
|
Now we see in the top 8 a good deal of MBC in fact this event was describe by a player as MBC versus Stompy however looking at the color breakdown we see a surprise 40% of the decks played were blue. Simply put Stompy can just beat delvers and control matchups and this is what we see here the decks that were built for the meta.
Peasant 12.02
|
Metagame Stats |
Aggro |
33% |
Combo |
13% |
Control |
13% |
Aggro-Combo |
13% |
Aggro-Control |
13% |
Unclassified |
13% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
20% |
33% |
40% |
47% |
27% |
|
Now this event was much different while we still see some MBC but 47% of the decks were running red. I guess this is the start of a scorching hot summer. Ok bad jokes over, the name of the game in Peasant really is being well prepared and making sure you do not count out a deck to soon. Goblins have dominated in the past they may just be back in this season Post was gone for a while but here we see it taking 2nd place. When thinking about your sideboard think diversity. If there is a card your deck crumbles to you more than likely will face it.
The Wrap Up
Now Return to Ravnica Block has been good for Pauper and Peasant. The Gates have given us a new set of possibilities for decks. Electrickery has given us ok mass removal, and the gatekeepers open up some interesting concepts. In the long run though not many uncommons seem strong enough to warrant building a deck around.
I will not give up however and I think the way to do it is to go big how big a 7 mana 1/1 big.
Trostani's Summoner
I have to say this card seems like a flop at first 7 mana is just too expensive to be usable. Not if you're playing a Cloudpost deck, but I want to go deep with this card sure 10 power and toughness are nice but why not make it 19 or more after all this is a come into play ability after all. With cards like Astral Slide and Ghostly Flicker an opponent can be staring down a rather scary board state.
I will leave the brewing though to all of you as the best part about Peasant is breaking out a new type of deck.