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By: Blackdeckwins, Anthony Davis
Jul 25 2016 12:00pm
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Eldritch Moon is out in paper, and with it comes the Banned and Restricted List announcement: nothing. This means, for better or worse, Peregrine Drake is here for a few more months. Decks utilizing the Drake have put up impressive numbers, including five Izzet Drake decks and one Tron Drake achieving a 5-0 record on July 22. The deck is powerful enough that the metagame has to warp around it, either finding a way to get under the turn-five clock or bringing enough answers to take care of the Drakes and Counterspells that the deck plays.

Since the most common version is Blue for the combo and counterspells and Red for some burn-based removal, hexproof creatures (like those found in Bogles) are a step in the right direction of beating the deck. Elves also has enough creatures to get around any removal the Peregrine Drake decks can play and has access to removal for the Drake and Mulldrifter in the sideboard. Affinity can power through the removal and represent a faster clock. Goblins and Red Deck Wins can potentially get under the combo and Mono Blue Delver can leave up counterspells to at least slow down the combo. The combo is beatable, but takes careful play and some luck to break through the resilient Combo-Control deck.

While Eternal Masters brought Peregrine Drake to the Pauper format, it may also have brought us the perfect foil: Nimble Mongoose. At a single mana, it can hit the battlefield before Drake’s Counterspells are online, or it can be easily defended with counterspells later. It has Shroud, so it dodges essentially every removal spell Red has available, and once threshold is turned on, it can attack through a resolved Peregrine Drake (or about any creatures those decks play not named Mnemonic Wall). Its numbers seem to line up well to fight the Drake, but so far, it hasn’t had the deck necessary to push it to the top.

A few weeks ago, two Magic Online players may have found such a deck:

UG Threshold
5-0 Pauper League Deck by GLNemesis
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
3 Werebear
11 cards

Other Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
1 Dispel
2 Gush
3 Mental Note
1 Oona's Grace
4 Ponder
4 Rune Snag
4 Thought Scour
4 Vapor Snag
31 cards
Lands
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Forest
9 Island
4 Thornwood Falls
18 cards

Dispel

 

UG Threshold
5-0 Pauper League Deck by seedy_k
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
3 Werebear
11 cards

Other Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
1 Deprive
2 Gush
3 Mental Note
1 Oona's Grace
4 Ponder
4 Rune Snag
4 Thought Scour
4 Vapor Snag
31 cards
Lands
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Forest
9 Island
4 Thornwood Falls
18 cards

Deprive

 

I previously tested Nimble Mongoose in a Red/Green Madness version, but let’s be honest: counterspells are pretty necessary in Pauper right now. Pairing the ‘goose with Blue gives the deck Thought Scour and Mental Note to help fill your graveyard quickly to turn on threshold, while also digging through your deck to find more counterspells and getting excess lands out of the way. Four copies of actual Counterspell are a given, but four copies of Rune Snag show up, since any that get milled boost the previous ones, and it can be cast when you only have one Blue mana.

Sometimes, an early threat lands before your counterspells are ready; when that happens, Vapor Snag can send creatures back to meet a counterspell later. Ponder and Brainstorm help to find counterspells and answers quickly while making sure you don’t lose anything valuable to your mill spells. The selection spells also set up Delver of Secrets, so it can start the quick aerial beat down while you get Nimble Mongoose and Werebear online. Gush gives the deck a little card advantage, and Oona’s Grace can turn late-game lands into actual cards while still being usable if milled. The only main-deck difference between the two builds is the choice between a single Dispel or a single Deprive; I prefer the former as it answers counterspells well and does not fight with Gush, but either is reasonable.

The main difference between the two decks lies in the sideboard. Both chose to run two Naturalize, three Dispel, and three Stormbound Geist, along with at least one Moment’s Peace, but after that there are some slight variations. The first list chose to run fewer options, maxing out on Moment’s Peace to fight against the popular all-in aggressive decks like Delver Fiend, Goblins, and Elves. Having flashback also means the card can be milled early and still be valuable later. This deck also runs three copies of Piracy Charm, a personal favorite of mine, as it functions as removal for small creatures, pump for Werebear or Insectile Aberration, evasion against Blue decks (like Izzet Drake), and discard to punish decks whose hands get low, or who need all of their resources to succeed. Rather than trying to have a ton of options, this deck chooses specific, flexible cards that can come in in multiple matchups.

The second deck, in contrast, included a mix of one-of options. Natural State, Feed the Clan, and Serene Heart are all clearly targeted for artifact decks, burn decks, and Bogles, and a single Moment’s Peace for aggressive decks. It also included three copies of Gut Shot, perfect against Delver, and good at hitting key Goblins and Elves. I preferred the first deck’s sideboard, as it played flexible cards and maxed out on Moment’s Peace which helped against all of the aggressive decks that are trying to outpace Izzet Drake.

When I started testing Blue/Green Threshold, I had hoped it would be quite strong against Izzet Drake. About halfway through testing, I thought the matchup was unwinnable. In the end, however, I believe it is a pretty evenly split matchup. It comes down to the Threshold deck resolving a Nimble Mongoose, using counterspells to keep as many creatures off of the board as possible (so the ‘goose can attack freely) and never, ever tapping out. Delver of Secrets and Werebear are pretty bad in the matchup, as both are easily killable by the burn spells that the deck is forced to hold in hand while you play out the shrouded mongoose. I wouldn’t sideboard them out, though, because Izzet Drake actually ends up with less removal after sideboarding, and getting a faster clock is helpful.

I tried sideboarding in Dispel and Stormbound Geist initially, but the Geist just didn’t cut it: every time I cast it involved tapping out, and tapping out leads to losing games; even if the combo doesn’t happen then, multiple creatures are impossible to attack through, and that stalls the game long enough for them to find the combo. In the end, I decided to just bring in the Dispels in exchange for a few Vapor Snags which were not bad, but rarely pulled their weight.

Outside of Izzet Drake (which was the bulk of the games that I played) I faced Elves, Goblins, Affinity, and Blue/Black Teachings. Moment’s Peace was a godsend against the first two, allowing Insectile Aberration and Nimble Mongoose to push through for the win. Naturalize was expectedly helpful against Affinity, though Moment’s Peace may be necessary to help that matchup. Blue/Black Teachings was a tricky game to navigate, but it boils down to resolving Nimble Mongoose and saving counterspells for anything that would kill the ‘goose. Stopping Pristine Talisman is also important, as the life gain it adds makes winning nearly impossible.

Throughout my testing, one thing kept popping up about the deck: Werebear was consistently the worst card in the deck. It can’t be played in the early game, as anything kills it before threshold is online. In the later game, it’s just as blockable as Nimble Mongoose without dodging targeted removal. I consistently wanted it to be either Nimble Mongoose for protection or Delver of Secrets for evasion: the bear was always worse than either of them. In order to move forward with the deck, I want to find a better creature to fill this slot.

I was also unimpressed with Oona’s Grace. In theory, it’s a perfect card for the deck, as UG Threshold basically tops out at four-to-five lands, Brainstorming the rest away as you can, and not often needing the later ones. However, the nature of topping out at five lands means the three mana is a bit of a stretch for the deck. If games routinely went late, I would probably like the card more, but for now, it was unimpressive.

Finally, I wish so, so badly that Pauper had a mana base to support three-color, because this deck would love a Lightning Bolt. Red could give the deck the extra boost to close games before the opponent takes control. Unfortunately, Pauper really does not have the mana base to support a three-color Aggro-Control deck, so until then, Nimble Mongoose is likely best paired with Blue.

Moving forward, my top priority is to find a better creature than Werebear for the deck, and perhaps get a better grip on the best mix of card draw/selection spells. UG Threshold is certainly fun, if a bit challenging when properly sequencing the mill spells, selection spells, and card draw spells. I recommend leading on Island and Brainstorm or Ponder instead of playing a tapped land as it helps you plan later turns better, and the deck has plenty of things to do on turn two with one mana.

UG Threshold has the potential to stand toe-to-toe in the current Pauper format, as Black’s edict spells have taken a back seat to Red’s targeted removal and control decks are leaning on their five-mana win condition that is still vulnerable to Counterspell. The matchup certainly is not an auto-win, but it certainly has the potential to face the king of the format head-on and put up a fight.

Thanks for reading! What replacements do you know of for Werebear? Let me know! If you have any questions or thoughts about anything else, you can always contact me on Twitter (@blackdeckwins) and on Tumblr (also @blackdeckwins), where I write articles about Limited and custom Magic card design. You can also check out all of my previous articles on PureMTGO by following this link.

3 Comments

Just nix the wearbear and run by deluxeicoff at Mon, 07/25/2016 - 17:27
deluxeicoff's picture
4

Just nix the wearbear and run pulse of murasa as creatures 1-3 missing - giving you ample time to live to 'threshold stage' :)

That will both help life gain by deluxeicoff at Mon, 07/25/2016 - 18:57
deluxeicoff's picture

That will both help life gain angle as well as trigger delver more often, making it feel like delver's # 5-7...mongoose too

Take Inventory and by Rerepete at Mon, 07/25/2016 - 17:43
Rerepete's picture

Take Inventory and Spontaneous Mutation might fit into this deck as well