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By: blandestk, K.R.S.S.
Jan 19 2009 1:23am
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The more and more I play, the more I love Classic Pauper.  The field is open to more innovation and variance than other formats, such as Standard, Block, or Extended.  You never know what you will see and, even if you haven't seen something before, rogue decks have a great chance to be viable and successful.  The 4-Man and, more recently, 2-Man queues are fun, but I still prefer more traditional tourneys and the only way you can get your fix for these events is through player-run tourneys.  While MTGO's first Pauper Premier Event is on the way (February 1), the player-run events are great.  Check out www.pdcmagic.com for a list of upcoming events.

I have played in both of the newly-created Thursday Classic events with slivers.  Last week, I finished fourth, despite only losing in the last game to the first-place player since we did not have a Top 4.  The top deck from the first event was a red deck that featured one-mana 2/2 bodies and a bunch of hasty creatures, all backed up by burn.  The other three slots in the Top 4 all went to sliver decks, though I did not face one of the other two.  So going into this week's event, I thought I would pilot the same deck since it was successful, but tweak it to gain an edge against the mirror and fast red decks.

To shore up the deck against creature-heavy opponents, like the mirror, and red decks, I added some extra Pacifism-type cards to clear the road for my army, while adding some cheap life gain in the sideboard for the red decks.  Here is the deck I entered:

Some of the choices for the sideboard might seem a bit strange, but they are all answers to things I have encountered in the Tournament Practice Room and queues.  Last week, the winner of the first event, Christd, ran a deck that punished even mediocre draws with its speed and consistency.  If I did not hit a great sliver draw, I would be forced to block a lot of his creatures and blocking is something this deck does not want to do.  On top of that, red decks are running Flaring Pain aplenty these days, so the Prismatic Strands and COPs do not always help.  To that end, I included two nourish, which could easily allow me to win a race.  I did not want to ditch the COPs altogether, since they are such a house against decks that either can't find Flaring Pain or couldn't sustain enough damage after casting them.  Holy Light is a wrecking ball against Storm/Empty the Warrens/x/1 decks, though I have yet to see Storm in the weekly events, despite proliferation in the Tourney Room and queues.  Obsidian Acolyte is an absolute beast against Mono-Black Control, which is a popular choice.  The one main-deck Avian Changeling and two in the sideboard are for the mirror and they actually help quite a bit, despite the existence of Spinneret Sliver (if you can subdue the Spinnert with Shackles or Isolation, the Avian will often be bigger than anything that can block it).

All those ideas were solid in my daily testing and they sounded good in relation to what I saw last week.  Unfortunately for my deck, last week's metagame did not show up.  At all.

Round 1

Opponent: Christd - Black Hand

As I saw the round-one pairings, I had to sigh as I faced my nemesis from last week's finals.  Christd is solid in all aspects of the game, deckbuilding, deck selection, and play.  Further, he always seems to have a deck prepared for slivers.  I suppose he thinks everyone will end up playing the deck.  Last week, he used the red deck to beat me after I started 3-0.  I had Nourish waiting for him, but he did not have the same deck waiting for me.

He won the roll, while I looked at:

Spinneret SliverSnow-Covered ForestSidewinder SliverSpinneret SliverCenn's EnlistmentTranquil ThicketTemporal Isolation

Not exactly the explosive opening the deck is capable of.  I threw it back and kept a hand with Forest, Plains, Secluded Steppe, Plated Sliver, Virulent Sliver, and Avian Changeling.  At least I would plays on the first few turns.  Instead of seeing a mountain come out on his side, I see a Swamp followed by Raven's Crime.  I dump the cycler, as I didn't want to end up mana shy or waste early turns drawing cards.  I open with Plated Sliver and he then drops a turn-two Dauthi Slayer.  Virulent Sliver joined the team and I hit him for one and a poison counter.  On the next turn he ravaged me, as he hit my Plated with Echoing Decay and then used Funeral Charm on my Virulent Sliver.  Then the shadow beats commenced.  I draw a Muscle Sliver and pass.  Then he dropped the card that really stymied me, in the form of Order of the Ebon Hand.  I drew two Gelid Shackles to go with a Temporal Isolation, none of which could hit the Hand.  I use Isolation on his Slayer, but he drops another in its place.  By the time I hit another land to play the Avian, he has been hitting with a pumped Hand.  The Echoing Decay on my Muscle Sliver just adds insult to injury.  I concede after Dross Golem joins his team.

A match-up that Obsidian Acolyte loves.  They come in.  Game 2 I see a much better hand:

Sinew SliverSnow-Covered ForestSidewinder SliverTemporal IsolationThrill of the HuntObsidian AcolyteSnow-Covered Plains

Sidewinder is hit by Innocent Blood. Sinew goes bye-bye thanks to Echoing Decay.  Despite sacrifice cards, I play Acolyte.  I draw and play a bunch of slivers, but he has Tendrils of Corruption and Nameless Inversion, which leaves me wondering how many removal cards he doesn't have in his deck.  Eventually he gets down double Dauthi Slayer and double Dauthi Horror against my Acolyte, Plated Sliver, and Virulent Sliver, with the score 19-12 in his favor (one poison counter).  My only hope is to go for poison counters, since I have a Prismatic Strand I can use twice.  I hit to three counters and use the Strand on his turn.  I have Temporal Isolation to slow him on the next attack.  If I can draw just one sliver in the two turns I can win thanks to the Strand.  Unfortunately, I draw Thrill of the Hunt and Forest and lose.

Round 2

Opponent: Not a soul!

I had a bye and did a bit of reading.

Round 3

Opponent: Gromhan - Mono-Black

I know he is running a controlling build that takes some time to set up, so I keep a hand with Forest, Plains, Sinew Sliver, Plated Sliver, Temporal Isolation, Gelid Shackles, and Prismatic Strand, hoping to draw into more slivers.  He has removal for both creatures, though, and has disruption to force some discard.  I draw a bunch of land, managing just to two opening slivers in the first 12 cards.  I finally get down Spinneret Sliver and Muscle Sliver, while he manages Crypt Rats.  I have the trump, though, as I still have the Temporal Isolation that can shut it down.  He tries to blow up the board, but the Isolation nixes that plan.  I'm glad he didn't activate for just three and save two mana to activate in response to the Isolation.  I guess he worried about Thrill of the Hunt.  I bash him down to nine, but he uses Corrupt on the Spinneret.  I drop another Muscle Sliver and he hard casts Okiba-Gang Shinobi.  Gelid Shackles shuts down the ninja and I swing to make the score 20-6.  He uses Corrupt on my face and then I hit gold with Cenn's Enlistment for the long game.  I swing him back down to six and think I could be good to go, but then he casts another Crypt Rats and blows up the board.  A major blunder on my part, as I could have flashed back the Prismatic Strand I had to dump to discard earlier in the game with a Kithkin token.  I am stupid.  Luckily, I have land to retrace the Enlistment and draw more slivers, while he seems to draw blanks.

A marathon game.  Acolytes, come to me!

He mulligans, so I keep a four-land hand with Acolyte and double Spinneret.  I draw Sidewinder Sliver; it meets Diabolic Edict.  Spinneret meets Diabolic Edict.  Spinneret #2 meets Ghastly Demise.  Drawn Muscle Sliver meets Ghastly Demise.  I hit a second Acolyte and feel that he most likely doesn't have two sac cards.  His Crypt Rats can't really do much, thanks to my pro-black guys.  Plated Sliver joins my side and I start to bash him with a 3-1 damage ratio.  I knock him to one, at which point things get interesting.  Apparently he is splashing red, as he cracks Terramorphic Expanse for a Mountain.  He uses Corrupt on me, buying time, then tries to Skred an Acolyte.  I have a Prismatic Strand to save him.  He has a second Skred and I lose an Acolyte.  He runs out of fule, however, and eventually does the last point of damage to himself via Crypt Rats.

Top 4

Opponent: L.Yagami - Kodama's Thunder

Since the tourney didn't feature many players, we only went to three rounds and cut to Top 4.  1-1 with a bye and good tie-breakers was enough to make it, as apparently the rest of the field had beaten each other to a pulp.  Thanks!

I knew I faced a tough match, as Yagami had taken down Christd.  I wish I could provide a great recap of an interesting match, especially as he expressed his thoughts about waiting to face slivers.  Most times when you hit bad draws, you know it, but the opponent either does not know it or does not recognize it.  In this match, Yagami noted that my draws were the worst he ever saw for slivers.  Bon appetit!

In Game 1, I kept a promising hand with Plated and Muscle Sliver, as well as Thrill and Isolation.  I hit him down to 14 before he manages to clear the openers away.  I then go until Turn 10 before I draw another creature, Virulent Sliver, while he has triple Mulldrifter and double Krosan Tusker.

Game 2 I am affected by the lack of creatures and keep a hand with triple Sidewinder Sliver and Spinneret, but no Forest.  I draw into a green source, but go 12 turns without a creature, which is ample time to clear the meager 1/1s off the battlefield.  He doesn't miss a beat, as Warren Pilferers and Mulldrifters blow me out.

My draws should not detract from Yagami's deck.  I was very impressed by it and think it warrants some discussion.  After all, he features a unique finisher: Resounding Thunder

Kodama's Thunder
 Classic Legal Pauper by L.Yagami

Creatures

4 Mulldrifter
4 Steamcore Weird
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Warren Pilferers
4 Krosan Tusker
20 cards

Other Spells

3 Terminate
3 Skred
4 Kodama's Reach
1 Raven's Crime
2 Rolling Thunder

Resounding Thunder
17 cards

Lands

7 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Snow-Covered Swamp
5 Snow-Covered Island
4 Terramorphic Expanse
23 cards

 

Sideboard

4 Duress
4 (Hyrdoblast)
1 Terminate

1 Skred
1 Raven's Crime

4 Pyroblast
15 cards

Bitterblossom

 This deck has an interesting path to victory.  Sakura-Tribe Elder is able to block a few early beats, while accelerating and evening out the mana-base.  Kodama's Reach on turn three further speeds things along and finds the land you need.  If the opponent is able to amass an imposing team, Skred and Terminte are some of the most efficient and sure-fire pieces of removal in the format.  Steamcore Weird can also help out and block the mid-range creatures you might face.  All this can ramp up to Mulldrifters and Krosan Tuskers, which can also cycle for land.  These creatures might win the game on their own, but if they don't, the deck ramps up to a six-damage finisher that can't be countered.  Resounding Thunder is a fresh take on direct damage and, short of life gain and protection, it will definitely hit the face.  Rolling Thunder can also go to the face, but it can also take down several creatuers at once.  I particularly enjoy the singleton Raven's Crime to do something with the extra lands you're certain to draw.

In the sideboard, he can counter both red and blue decks.  Against combo decks, he can disrupt with Duress.  The deck can add more Skred and Terminate against creature-heavy decks, but these slots, along with the extra Raven's Crime, might be the only spots I see that could be improved, alvbeit slightly.  But I really am in no position to question any choice in this deck, as it destroyed me and took the tournament.

As far as my deck is concerned, I definitely made the wrong choice in regards to the rest of the field.  I would have been better served to pack more creatuers and less creature control.  The decks players bring seem to change quickly, so I'm not sure I should look too deeply into event-specific choices for the deck.  I think a good rule in general is to pack as much raw power into a deck as possible in the abstract and go with it.  If the number of players goes up and the archetypes stabilize, then I can look to tweek. 

I want to congratulate L.Yagami on his success in Thursday Classic Pauper 02.  His deck is a nice creation and I think it might warrant some play in the future!  I also encourage people to play in more player-run Pauper events.  They are definitely a good time.

2 Comments

winning deck by gimmie (not verified) at Mon, 01/19/2009 - 14:04
gimmie's picture

I mocked up the winning deck and think it may have just been good vs the particular field. My first three matches I lost to grapeshot combo, MBC, and a WUr deck featuring GotG. I think it has a lot of work before it can compete with the top decks.

I tweaked the deck and the by blandestk at Mon, 01/19/2009 - 23:03
blandestk's picture

I tweaked the deck and the sideboard a bit to have better game against the match-ups you mentioned. Life gain really helps against aggro and Storm. Mono-black control is a problem because usually the deck wants to get to the end game, where it will nearly always have the best spells available. But if they hit several Corrupts, things can be difficult. Guardian of the Guildpact is a nice target for Terminate.