Easily one of the least interesting articles I've read in this site. No one's playing MUC at the moment. Also,w ay too specific to be interesting. You're talking about beating a single deck that is not even really around anymore, from just a single strategy's point of view. And who cares about your apparent pet peeve against MUC? Your arguments against the deck are ridiculous, it is a very difficult deck to pilot, requiring intensive skill and important decisions every turn in order to do well. In future if you write again, choose a more timely and widely relevant topic.
The slight against blue players at the beggining of the article...not true.
Sure, anyone can pick up muc and do alright, BUT it is a very unforgiving deck, and there are some fantastic muc players in pauper.
At this point, the article is somewhat redundant. 1st, its been discussed very thoroughly, including by spikeboy (I think) in a great article that can be found on PDCmagic.com, 2nd, and more importantly, noone really plays muc competitively right now; the formats too fast, it hasn't gained anything from new sets, and affinity, a bad match up, is everywhere. Lastly, you only talk about how aggressive decks can beat muc. Aggro and Aggro control shouldn have a problem with muc in the first place, and you say nothing about tactics control and combo should apply, such as train of thought.
I used to play muc a lot, the mbc match up is very good. Main reason is that they have very few early drops so you can just sit back and counter everything they play and create card advantage while they rarely if ever land a relevant spell.
Thanks for your comments Alex. They are much appreciated and I will take them all into consideration. Hopefully, I will be able to grow as a writer and my next article will be much improved. Also, I'd like to take this chance to apologize to you in the last way that I addressed you. That was very uncalled for and you are a big enough pillar in the Pauper community to be addressed with more respect than that. Thank you again for the constructive critisism and words of advice. And also, on a side note, I wrote this article a very long time ago. I had no clue what M10 consisted of at the time.
Yep MUC is a very tough match up especially if they have access to enough draw to keep there hand full. Imo best counter is lots of discard thus the reason a lot of people people play MBC.
My biggest concern with this article is that it does nothing to address how the deck changes post M10 rules changes. I know you are talking about how to beat the deck, but using a less than ideal opponent is not the most useful thing to do. MUC will have to change its game plan somewhat in the current rules since it can no longer stack Fathom Seer damage, then unmorph it, and Repulse it for a trade. This interaction has been very important to MUC in the past and losing it will force the deck to move in a somewhat different direction.
The overload strategy is great if your are straight burn and can effectively cast spells at their end of turn step, but it is not as good if you are an "average" aggressive deck. You seem to give passing mention to baiting, which is incredibly important, learning when and why to bait, and also how to not get blown out by Exclude. You also neglect mentioning attacking MUC's sideboard plan, which often includes more specialized counters (Remove Soul/Essence Scatter, Negate, Hydroblast).
As some one who has played against this deck and has learned it by piloting it in testing, more often than not it is holding land. This does not mean to go throwing spells out there with abandon, but rather, as the author correctly recognizes, trying to stick one threat that will be difficult for them to solve.
Perhaps the thing that stands out most to me in this article is that you talk about fun. Since this is a Pauper article, I can only presume you are gearing this towards people in the queues and Weekly events who want to win. If this is the case, this notion of "fun" has to be changed. Is playing against counters fun,- probably not, but you're goal is not top have fun here, your goal is to win. I know this sounds soulless, but it is a tough realization to come to when you enter tournament formats.
I concede to turn two isochron scepter and pretty much any turn scepter :-) i hate that card beyond words.
I can take just about anything but a 2cc reusable "whatever" is just low..an example is turn 2 boomerang starting to bounce your lands on turn 3 so you always have 2 lands...bann that #"¤%#%#¤%
Hibernation's End is one of my favorite cards, and I've never really been able to get it to work either. I really should have mentioned it here though, any card with a cumulative upkeep pairs well with Braid of Fire..
I'm surprised (Hibernation's End)never got a mention. I tried to fit those two together for ages, but never managed to find much of a combo out of creatures with consecutive mana costs.
Mutavault will hit 5 or less after rotation. Classic has Mishra's Factory (which is at 3ish, a place where the vault won't go below), and it isn't played in extended except for in faeries. Heck, it's not played much standard right now due to five-color being king.
I think, but am not positive, that with the Efreet, if the player picked one of his own goblin tokens, and two of his opponents permanents, that after he picked he would have a chance to Siege-Gang the token to guarantee one of his opponents two permanents were selected as the goblin token would leave play. At least some coverage of GP Boston leads me to believe that.
In my pre-release pool I ended up 2-2, I went Red-Black due to the removal it offered and okay creatures. I had the Efreet, Bogardan Hellkite, Pyroclasm, and a Nightmare. The Efreet lucked me out a win in a game in which it toasted my opponents Djinn the first chance it could which turned the game around for me. The Hellkite never got played, the only games that went long enough to have 8 lands in play I never drew it.
I could only afford a single pre-release pool and I agree that M10 sealed is 'Bomb' dependant. I ended up building UW as I had 2xDjinn of Wishes and 2xSerra Angel. I finished 2-2 after starting 0-1 and giving myself false hope at the 2-1 stage. I mean, the 2xDjinn were nice and all but when your last game pits you against an opponent with a planeswalker and Xathrid Demon in thier deck they don't quite cut it.
Thanks for sharing the interface tips. I go through a similar thought process but I hadn't worked out how to make the interface help me do that like you have.
Seems to me like (Flurry of Wings) would be strong in your bant fog deck, seiing as it's a fog, which could conceivably be used as a win condition, if you've got a few turns worth of fogs in hand?
If my local extended looks anything like the fairy-fest it was last season, i might just build:
4 Spellbreaker behemoth
4 great sable stag
52 other cards.
Thing is, the behemoth will just get nicked by a sower of temptation, and then i'll be screwed again.. Maybe I'll add oversoul of dusk as well. That'll teach them.
vindicate is not functionally the same as pulse...Vindicate can target lands, meaning it can randomly turn an opponent's mana-light draw into full on mana-screw, winning you games. I don't think either card is that great in classic, but given the choice, I'd choose vindicate.
["Since most people check their rares instinctively anyway this is no hidden gem of sealed-deck wisdom, but it’s good to reinforce that the move is correct from a deck-building standpoint and not just a present-opening standpoint."]
Thank you. XD I tell that to myself most of the time.
Everyone seemed to have a better initial M10 sealed than I did. Ajani was the only bomb I got, and 2 Mesa Enchantresses didn't really make my day.
Absolutely. I did this a lot more in the second and third flights, actually. I had a BW build in #2 that wasn't the better build in a vacuum, but was much better against flyers than BU.
One of the things my deckbuilding system does is really put in your face the different options you have. As you filter the different combos, it's good to take note of what each build is strong and weak against. If you don't have time to actually save out different builds during dekbuilding, which is ideal, you should be able to make one of the alternate versions pretty quickly during sideboarding and save it out then.
If it's a PE with lots of rounds, you can take any time you have between rounds one and two to load up your pool and save out your alternate builds for easy loading.
Easily one of the least interesting articles I've read in this site. No one's playing MUC at the moment. Also,w ay too specific to be interesting. You're talking about beating a single deck that is not even really around anymore, from just a single strategy's point of view. And who cares about your apparent pet peeve against MUC? Your arguments against the deck are ridiculous, it is a very difficult deck to pilot, requiring intensive skill and important decisions every turn in order to do well. In future if you write again, choose a more timely and widely relevant topic.
Yeah, mbc gets blown out by muc.
The slight against blue players at the beggining of the article...not true.
Sure, anyone can pick up muc and do alright, BUT it is a very unforgiving deck, and there are some fantastic muc players in pauper.
At this point, the article is somewhat redundant. 1st, its been discussed very thoroughly, including by spikeboy (I think) in a great article that can be found on PDCmagic.com, 2nd, and more importantly, noone really plays muc competitively right now; the formats too fast, it hasn't gained anything from new sets, and affinity, a bad match up, is everywhere. Lastly, you only talk about how aggressive decks can beat muc. Aggro and Aggro control shouldn have a problem with muc in the first place, and you say nothing about tactics control and combo should apply, such as train of thought.
Reread that and it sounded slightly unclear, I mean that muc wants to play against mbc, it's favorable for muc.
I used to play muc a lot, the mbc match up is very good. Main reason is that they have very few early drops so you can just sit back and counter everything they play and create card advantage while they rarely if ever land a relevant spell.
Nice coverage. Not my cup of tea, but good effort must go commended
Thanks for your comments Alex. They are much appreciated and I will take them all into consideration. Hopefully, I will be able to grow as a writer and my next article will be much improved. Also, I'd like to take this chance to apologize to you in the last way that I addressed you. That was very uncalled for and you are a big enough pillar in the Pauper community to be addressed with more respect than that. Thank you again for the constructive critisism and words of advice. And also, on a side note, I wrote this article a very long time ago. I had no clue what M10 consisted of at the time.
-Ricky
Do you have any that you would like to share with the rest of us?
Wrong MBC gets owned by muc. People play MBC bc it has good matchups against most critter decks.
Yep MUC is a very tough match up especially if they have access to enough draw to keep there hand full. Imo best counter is lots of discard thus the reason a lot of people people play MBC.
My biggest concern with this article is that it does nothing to address how the deck changes post M10 rules changes. I know you are talking about how to beat the deck, but using a less than ideal opponent is not the most useful thing to do. MUC will have to change its game plan somewhat in the current rules since it can no longer stack Fathom Seer damage, then unmorph it, and Repulse it for a trade. This interaction has been very important to MUC in the past and losing it will force the deck to move in a somewhat different direction.
The overload strategy is great if your are straight burn and can effectively cast spells at their end of turn step, but it is not as good if you are an "average" aggressive deck. You seem to give passing mention to baiting, which is incredibly important, learning when and why to bait, and also how to not get blown out by Exclude. You also neglect mentioning attacking MUC's sideboard plan, which often includes more specialized counters (Remove Soul/Essence Scatter, Negate, Hydroblast).
As some one who has played against this deck and has learned it by piloting it in testing, more often than not it is holding land. This does not mean to go throwing spells out there with abandon, but rather, as the author correctly recognizes, trying to stick one threat that will be difficult for them to solve.
Perhaps the thing that stands out most to me in this article is that you talk about fun. Since this is a Pauper article, I can only presume you are gearing this towards people in the queues and Weekly events who want to win. If this is the case, this notion of "fun" has to be changed. Is playing against counters fun,- probably not, but you're goal is not top have fun here, your goal is to win. I know this sounds soulless, but it is a tough realization to come to when you enter tournament formats.
Further reading on playing against MUC: http://puremtgo.com/node/610
-Alex
I concede to turn two isochron scepter and pretty much any turn scepter :-) i hate that card beyond words.
I can take just about anything but a 2cc reusable "whatever" is just low..an example is turn 2 boomerang starting to bounce your lands on turn 3 so you always have 2 lands...bann that #"¤%#%#¤%
Hibernation's End is one of my favorite cards, and I've never really been able to get it to work either. I really should have mentioned it here though, any card with a cumulative upkeep pairs well with Braid of Fire..
I'm surprised (Hibernation's End)never got a mention. I tried to fit those two together for ages, but never managed to find much of a combo out of creatures with consecutive mana costs.
Mutavault will hit 5 or less after rotation. Classic has Mishra's Factory (which is at 3ish, a place where the vault won't go below), and it isn't played in extended except for in faeries. Heck, it's not played much standard right now due to five-color being king.
So now is NOT the time buy Mutavault.
Auto-followup: I just finished my first Commander game. It took forever, but it was really fun! :D
Even my pauper deck lasted long enough to cast Intet 4 times! :)
Nice, but these decks don't do much with Braid of Fire that you couldn't do with it pre-M10. Kumano is still always fun though.
Also you can budgetize Armageddon with Ravages of War.
I think, but am not positive, that with the Efreet, if the player picked one of his own goblin tokens, and two of his opponents permanents, that after he picked he would have a chance to Siege-Gang the token to guarantee one of his opponents two permanents were selected as the goblin token would leave play. At least some coverage of GP Boston leads me to believe that.
In my pre-release pool I ended up 2-2, I went Red-Black due to the removal it offered and okay creatures. I had the Efreet, Bogardan Hellkite, Pyroclasm, and a Nightmare. The Efreet lucked me out a win in a game in which it toasted my opponents Djinn the first chance it could which turned the game around for me. The Hellkite never got played, the only games that went long enough to have 8 lands in play I never drew it.
I could only afford a single pre-release pool and I agree that M10 sealed is 'Bomb' dependant. I ended up building UW as I had 2xDjinn of Wishes and 2xSerra Angel. I finished 2-2 after starting 0-1 and giving myself false hope at the 2-1 stage. I mean, the 2xDjinn were nice and all but when your last game pits you against an opponent with a planeswalker and Xathrid Demon in thier deck they don't quite cut it.
Thanks for sharing the interface tips. I go through a similar thought process but I hadn't worked out how to make the interface help me do that like you have.
Seems to me like (Flurry of Wings) would be strong in your bant fog deck, seiing as it's a fog, which could conceivably be used as a win condition, if you've got a few turns worth of fogs in hand?
I think Bloodbraid Elf will be played in extended as well.
If my local extended looks anything like the fairy-fest it was last season, i might just build:
4 Spellbreaker behemoth
4 great sable stag
52 other cards.
Thing is, the behemoth will just get nicked by a sower of temptation, and then i'll be screwed again.. Maybe I'll add oversoul of dusk as well. That'll teach them.
vindicate is not functionally the same as pulse...Vindicate can target lands, meaning it can randomly turn an opponent's mana-light draw into full on mana-screw, winning you games. I don't think either card is that great in classic, but given the choice, I'd choose vindicate.
In the end I went with this: http://www.mtgotraders.com/store/PLC_Intet_the_Dreamer.html . I hope I can put togheter something fun to play, with big and flashy spells. :)
["Since most people check their rares instinctively anyway this is no hidden gem of sealed-deck wisdom, but it’s good to reinforce that the move is correct from a deck-building standpoint and not just a present-opening standpoint."]
Thank you. XD I tell that to myself most of the time.
Everyone seemed to have a better initial M10 sealed than I did. Ajani was the only bomb I got, and 2 Mesa Enchantresses didn't really make my day.
Absolutely. I did this a lot more in the second and third flights, actually. I had a BW build in #2 that wasn't the better build in a vacuum, but was much better against flyers than BU.
One of the things my deckbuilding system does is really put in your face the different options you have. As you filter the different combos, it's good to take note of what each build is strong and weak against. If you don't have time to actually save out different builds during dekbuilding, which is ideal, you should be able to make one of the alternate versions pretty quickly during sideboarding and save it out then.
If it's a PE with lots of rounds, you can take any time you have between rounds one and two to load up your pool and save out your alternate builds for easy loading.