Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[Thestatusquo]

They banned seething song because they're the worst.

RIP my enduring Ideal deck.

[bv310]

Plus, it seems to be a consistent Turn 3 win, and they've said that they don't want those in Modern.

[InflatablePie]

In Standard news, after going 2:2 at FNM I decided to trade my old cards (Rabbles etc.) for Abzan Reanimator. Going to WNM with the following list:

3x Elvish Mystic
4x Satyr Wayfinder
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Nyx Weaver
2x Whip of Erebos
4x Commune with the Gods

^Reanimation, GY fillers, and Dorks. Goldfished a lot of hands with 4 Elvish Mystic, and it can feel really bad as a 4th-of. I'm never super unhappy to see the Spider. It might be right to go back to 4/3 Mystic/Weaver, or run 3 Weaver and either another fatty or one-of finisher, but we'll see.

2x Necropolis Fiend
2x Hornet Queen
2x Ashen Rider
4x Siege Rhino

^Dudes. Fairly standard, I could see maybe adding another Hornet Queen main if I dropped a Spider, but I have an extra in the SB because more than 6 7+ CMC dudes seems bad against aggro.

4x Murderous Cut
1x See the Unwritten

^Filler. Murderous Cut pretty good removal, and See the Unwritten can win you the game in the right matchups. Even if I don't have a Rhino/N-Fiend/Rider on the field to trigger Ferocious, it can still potentially help in a topdeck "I need to draw SOMETHING" scenario. If it hits 3+ big dudes, I can Whip the third back later. I could see cutting it for another filler card (Empty the Pits, another Hornet Queen, etc.)

4x Temple of Malady
2x Temple of Plenty
4x Llanowar Wastes
4x Sandsteppe Citadel
3x Windswept Heath
2x Swamp
2x Forest
2x Plains
1x Urborg

^Manabase. I'm tempted to switch one Malady for a Temple of Silence because I feel this deck can have some problems hitting White (drawing all Malady/Wastes/etc), but I'm bad at manabases so I don't want to tamper with things yet. Luckily I have a Russian Malady (only temple they had left), which while it bugs me that they're not all the same, I can easily track when it would be better to have a Silence. Third Temple of Plenty could also be better for hitting green over black. Maybe even a fourth fetch, but I'm only running 4 basics I can fetch with Windswept, and sometimes I mill my Urborg and I feel bad.

Sideboard:
2x Bile Blight, 2x Drown in Sorrow, 1x Resolute Archangel - Aggro Package. Drown feels kinda bad with Mystics and Wayfinders, but I can use those to chump and save damage. I have inevitability anyway. Usually siding out N-Fiends, A-Riders, and the See the Unwritten. Angel can also come in versus Burn and mindrangey matchups where I need to reset my life total.

2x Reclamation Sage - for the mirror and decks also running Banishing Light and etc.
2x Banishing Light - it might be right to run another one or two of these (it's great to hit off Commune) but it feels bad when removed. There's a solid amount of enchantment hate out there (B-Light, RecSage, Erase, Back to Nature, etc.) and I don't want to get blown out.
2x Duneblast - testing this out. It seems great against BGx decks, either the mirror/Abzan Midrange/Sultai Delve. Hits value cards like Wingmate Roc and Hornet Queen, and I don't care if I sac a few guys if I can whip them back later. Easier to hit mana-wise than End Hostilities, and I think the +2 mana effect is worth it, since this comes in agaist grindy midrange games where I'll be at 7 mana easily.

Dunno what to fill my last 4 slots with though... Was thinking a Hornet Queen (for matchups where a horde of deathtouchers are good) and 3 Heros' Downfall. HDF is good against control/planeswalker decks - if I need to take out an Ashiok or Sarkhan, my only other option is attacking them or Banishing Light and more answers is good. I could also add more Banishing Lights but like I said earlier, I hate getting blown out. Utter End could maybe work, but since my mana is basically splashing W, exile is a negligible effect. Also HDF is better against Stormbreath. I did see a Naya Midrange, Mardu Control and a few token decks that ran Stormbreath, so this seems okay.

Another option if I'm expecting loads of Aggro is 2x Nylea's Disciple, but I feel like the Whips, Rhinos, and Bile Blights/Murderous Cuts can hold things off, and a Drown usually stabilizes pretty well. Plus I don't know what else to side out (2 of - 1x Wayfinder/1x Spider/1x Commune?) if I need to side in 7 cards. If I was going this route, my 15th would be either another Banishing Light or a single Empty the Pits, depending.

I could also just drop the Duneblasts if I wanted to, but I feel like it's worth testing them out at least.

[Natirasha]

I've never been afraid of the reanimator deck unless it runs Soul of Innistrad--that's the card that made the deck in playing against it(I was running either Abzan or UB control btw).

[bv310]

So I'm trying a new thing out for Pod. Basically cut the Melira combo pieces (Melira, Viscera Seer, and Ranger of Eos) for disruption in the form of Thoughtseize and MD Entomber Exarch, and a bit more midrangey goodness from an Anafenza, the Foremost. Results so far have been pretty positive, but I'm not sure if this maindeck is optimal, or if I'm missing really key sideboard cards.

http://deckstats.net/deck-5052641-ef4d8 ... b00c7.html

Thoughts?

[bv310]

I may also decide to be weird and throw in Doran, the Siege Tower instead of Anafenza, though it makes certain parts of the Twin matchup weird.

[Thestatusquo]

Doran doesn't fit with the deck. If you want a doran deck build a doran deck. He doesn't solve any problems that the deck has.

I don't like that you cut a chord or voice of resurgence. Voice is close to your best card in the BG matchups and he's pretty great in aggro matchups and blue matchups as well. Abzan charm does not seem good enough to justify having 2 non creature slots in the maindeck. You need a critical mass of creature spells. Chord and a shriekmaw is almost surely better. Imagine this scenario that happens quite a bit with the deck your opponent has killed your creatures and you just need a creature to go off. You draw a.... Insert card here. Does that card win you the game from this spot? No? Then its bad. Thoughtseize might be a necessary evil ala angel pod but abzan charm is not strong enough imo. You have the best tutor engine in the format. Why include cards you cant tutor for?

Anafenza seems meh. In what situations will you want to pod for it? Against what matchups is it better than just kitchen finks with a gavony township?

[InflatablePie]

Went 2:3 at Standard. One win against Jeskai Tempo, one win against an unknown opponent who dropped.

Three losses against, respectively: GR Monsters, Naya Monsters, Temur Monsters. Match 1 got beat down with Fanatic of Xenagos into Stormbreath, Match 2 got turn 2 Fanatic'd, Turn 3 Fanatic'd. Both matches my Whip to stabilize got R-Sage'd post-board. Match 3 had me get beat down by Savage Knuckleblade game 1. Game 2 I started to stabilize with a hardcast Ashen Rider, only to lose to a Crater's Claw off the top.

I dunno if I sideboarded wrong, I think I mulliganed correctly... I dunno what happened, but goddamn getting beat down by variations of the same deck three times in one night is frustrating.

Duneblast did work pretty well when I got to play it, so that's good to know at least.

[sthar8]

Savage Punch confirmed for the Ultra Pro playmat art for Khans!

Go preorder from your LGS now.

[InflatablePie]

If I didn't already have two playmats...

Trying the same deck with 4:3 Elvish Mystic: Nyx Weaver. I feel like the ramp is more helpful after all. Goldfished some post board hands with a new SB plan against GRx, we'll see how it does.

[GreyICE]

I'm building Temur Ascension deck. I really need the tree and World Eater, but then the deck should be rolling.

Drawing a card off playing fatties with haste is fairly silly.

[Thestatusquo]

not nearly as silly as jeskai ascendancy.

[Natirasha]

I've been playing Abzan Midrange except I cut Courser+Caryatid for Fleecemanes, Anafenzas, and Seeker of the Way. The guy I got the list off of(Fatsuno--he's a streamer on twitch) runs Rakshasa Deathdealer over Seekers, but, eeeh.

It's pretty sick and I like it way more than Coursyatids. It feels like its actually, you know, trying to win the game vs gaining a life off land.

[Shanba]

Some guy who writes on channel fireball agrees with me about treasure cruise

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... l-problem/

Edit: also in the comments for that article, Sam Pardee

After playing the Jeskai Ascendancy deck, I predicted that cruise will not be legal in any eternal format this time next year. I also don't think that's any kind of tragedy or anything; it's fine for them to push the envelope too far sometimes, makes things interesting while they do.

[InflatablePie]

Went 1-3 last night. Won against a silly Morph deck, even after wiping my own board with a Drown in Sorrow. Secret Plans OP.

Lost against Sultai control (wrecked by Ashiok and the reverse Genesis Wave, and Garruk postboard), Temur dudes (Savage Knuckleblade, man...) and Abzan Midrange.
Thinking of making some bigger changes, I'll post a list when I get home. Not looking forward to revamping the manabase

[Thestatusquo]

Shanba how has treasure cruise impacted pauper?

[InflatablePie]

Gonna spoiler all this, but if someone wants to skim it and check if my mana base is okay I'd love you foreer.

Spoiler: Standard rant/decklist

So I've learned a few things in the 8 or so matches I've played with Abzan Reanimator so far.

- The deck can be slooooow. Sure, some hands give me Caryatid into Rhino into Whip, but a lot of the time I'm instead going Mystic into Wayfinder into Nyx Weaver, while my opponent is dropping Knuckleblades and Rhinos.

- Far too much GY stuff in the main, especially with midrange being common at my store and Abzan Reanimator being more on everyone's radar than at the first event or so. Plus, after sideboarding, I end up cutting a lot of the GY stuff anyway.

- 4 Mystic or 4 Nyx Weaver is both too much. Mystic helped slightly more but it was never SUPER necessary, and Nyx Weaver does nothing against some decks. Six mana for a chump, maybe self-mill two, and Treasured Find is a bit pricey.

- 4 Murderous Cut is not enough MB removal. Aside from Murderous Cut, I don't have ways to deal with Knuckleblades or other big things in the midgame, and there were times I would need to remove stuff when I couldn't drop my own creatures the same turn. So I need better midgame.

- Mana is kinda iffy. I found that there were a few times I would get stuck with 6 mana and have Hornet Queen in hand unable to do anything. At least once I had all 4 GW basics in play and had a Windswept Heath. And 10 CitP-tapped lands is a LOT. Especially when the scry matters less if you're selfmilling so much.

- NecroFiend is not amazing. Yeah, it has evasion and 4/5 is a good stat distribution but a lot of the time I'd delve a ton of stuff away and it'd die or get bounced.

- Post-board, GY hate hurts and enchantment hate hurts worse. I've never sided in Banishing Light because I'm afraid of Revelry/Erase/Rec-Sage/etc, and that might be my own fault - usually only 2-3, maybe 4 enchantment hate cards come in and maybe overloading their targets is the best idea.

All that said, I've found that some more MB removal and a solid midgame threat might help me here.

Deck:

3x Elvish Mystic
4x Caryatid
4x Satyr Wayfinder

Running 3 Mystic, because as I said above, 4 can be too much. Also allows me to be slightly lenient on t1 Green mana-wise. Only slightly.

2x Nyx Weaver
3x Herald of Torment
4x Siege Rhino

Midgame stuff. I'm gonna test Herald of Torment, because a 3/3 flier seems a lot better than Courser (especially in a mill deck when the top card matters less), plus in theory the Bestow should be incredibly helpful. Suited-up Mystics and Wayfinders become traders rather than chumpers, and going Caryatid into Rhino into bestow Herald drop you to ten on turn 4 seems good. I still want to try out Nyx Weaver, it can be really really good sometimes. And worst-case I guess I can make it a 5/6 with Herald?

2x Hornet Queen
1x Soul of Innistrad
1x Ashen Rider

Lategame threats. I was going to run one NecroFiend over the third Herald, but I think I'd rather have the Herald in most situations. Soul is better than the other Necrofiend, as with less self-mill it's usually around the same cost-wise. Soul can also help out lategame when I'm stuck on mana and no way to recur all my dead dudes.

2x Commune - not amazing early, but helps when digging for solid creatures or finding that Whip
2x Bile Blight - more MB removal! Deals with Rabbles/Mantis Riders and other aggro dudes, Hornet Queen tokens, and seems generally okay.
2x Banishing Light - there's not a ton of MB enchantment hate and is just a catch-all for the mid/lategame.
4x Murderous Cut - still 4 of these. I'm fine with casting this for 3-4 if I have to, and sometimes I can go Wayfinder into Cut and feel awesome.
2x Whip - duh


4x Sandsteppe Citadel
4x Temple of Malady
4x Llanowar Wastes
3x Windswept Heath
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

16/24 lands. Self-explanatory.

3x Forest
3x Swamp
1x Plains
1x Caves of Koilos

The other 8. This gives me 7(10 counting fetches) untapped green turn 1/2, one Plains to fetch with Windswept if I need it, 9 untapped Black (okay for t1/2 TSeize post board, t2 Bile Blight main). Plus the 8 taplands. I was tempted to go with two Plains, but I don't need much White (only really need one by turn 4 and only 6-7 cards really need White), so a Caves seems good for both helping White (there

is

an Ashen Rider and Resolute Archangel in the 75) and also supporting Black to power out all the double-black. I'm also not sure if I should run two or three Swamp with Urborg. It's possible I want another Forest, but at the same time that seems like too much... This is the part I'm most unsure about. All I know is I wanted less CitP-tapped lands for sure.

SB:
3 Hero's Downfall - more removal
2 Reclamation Sage - enchantment removal
1 Resolute Archangel - good against midrange and aggro
2 Drown in Sorrow - aggro hedge
3 Thoughtseize - moving Blights and B-Lights main frees up room for TSeize, so why not
1 Hornet Queen - because in some matches she is amazing
1 Duneblast - I still believe in this card. Two is the wrong call because it feels bad alongside Hornet Queen. It's possible super-Garruk might be better in this slot, especially with Hornet Queen support.

I don't know for sure what I want in the last two SB slots.

1x Banishing Light
1x [NecroFiend or Soul of Innistrad]
1x [Hero's Downfall or Bile Blight]
2x Despise (probably not)
1x Thoughtseize
1-2x Utter End
1x Silence the Believers
1x Erebos
1x Empty the Pits (worse w/o as much selfmill)
1x Ashen Rider

Going with one Silence and one Erebos unless anyone has better suggestions. I really like Erebos against other Abzan decks, or decks where I want a good chunk of card draw, and with all the double-black permanents there's a solid chance I can make him active.

thanks in advance for anyone willing to lend a hand

[Shanba]

Dailies are in the weekend shea so I don't know yet. Also I can't really play them. Have to admit I haven't really been thinking about the format since KTK came out.

It's probably better than the Accumulated Knowledge delver builds that some people were doing, but then again it's competing with gush as card draw in that deck so yeah.

Arguably lacking reasonable fetches makes it significantly less busted, much like brainstorm is significantly less busted in that format.

[GreyICE]

Careful Study seems like it would combo well, knocking it down pretty quickly. Giving Madness a free way to restock seems fairly solid.

Pauper High Tide can probably also use it nicely.

[Shanba]

Careful Study seems like it would combo well, knocking it down pretty quickly. Giving Madness a free way to restock seems fairly solid.

Pauper High Tide can probably also use it nicely.

You mean the ghostly flicker combo? Possibly, though arguably when they both cost 1 mana anyway foresee is better.

Madness is a good shout. I don't have a lot of experience with the deck though I do know it plays circular logic - how important is keeping the yard stocked for that card?

[Natirasha]

I really liked pauper before I started boycotting MTGO. I was actually one of the original people to play the RW Glint Hawk deck--if you look back at the old dailies(pre-Fissure ban), I was even the first person to put Guardian of the Guildpact in the deck(my MTGO name is Wexort).

It's my most successful deck that I can say I really 'brewed'.

[Shanba]

http://www.mtgo-stats.com/decks/122530

That might be a thing.

[Thestatusquo]

Standard legal viable combo deck makes me soooooo happy.

[Sudo_Nym]

Countdown until Jeskai is banned in every format...

[bv310]

It'll probably stick around in Standard. The deck isn't that insane from what I've seen.