Beggars CAN be Choosers: A Metagame-Focused View of a Deck

Let me introduce myself before I begin to dig into a metagame of which I am admittedly ignorant. I am a scientist by day (and night, and weekends), a husband and father of two, and a nearly lifelong Magic player. I began this game at the beginning of Revised (3^rd Edition) and played through the beginnings of Ice Age, before I sold most everything. I picked it back up around Onslaught (going back a few sets in the process). I then took a break after Kamigawa Block and returned with Lorwyn. As you can see, I have a long history and have played in a wide variety of formats, although the bulk of my play has been casual.

I have only recently begun online play, as my schedule does not allow for much out-of-house gaming (although my lovely wife does encourage frequent FNM-ing, which I have been lax in attending lately). MTGO, to me, is mainly a source of fantastic Limited play. I love to draft (almost to a fault) and have found MTGO perfect for this. After drafting numerous times, I got the bug and convinced a friend of mine to join me in playing online (he is in New Mexico while I am in Georgia). But budget concerns and competitive formats (especially Limited formats) don’t mix well on MTGO, so we began exploring Pauper. Shortly after this, I found myself unloading the bulk of my paper collection to convert it to Tix, and thus I solidified my collection online.

The first deck that I chose to tackle is the most expensive deck currently in Pauper, Frantic Storm. This list was found winning a Daily, though I did not note who created it. It is a pretty stock list, however, so attribution is likely not that important anyway. I built the deck as a way to solidify my commitment to playing this format. By purchasing an “expensive deck,” I figured I would be giving myself impetus to actually try to play it competitively. So, here is the list I began with:

(To load a .txt deck into Magic: Online’s Deck Editor, click “Load”, select “Local Text Deck”, find the location of the downloaded deck file and double-click the deck.)

I also began this project in an attempt to acquire all of the available “good” Pauper decks. This experiment should leave me with a permanent collection such that I can play a competitive, eternal format, without breaking the bank!

Let me make this one thing clear from the start: I am a newb to Pauper. I know next to nothing of the current metagame, or of the archetypes that comprise it. I expect comments from you lot, trolls included. I think this series can be a jumping-off point for players semi-intrigued by Pauper, as well as a focal-point for the discussion of my mistakes, false assumptions, and general bad play. But – and here is the main point – I think my lack of knowledge will help this series. It offers an advantage other writers can’t: a fresh, unbiased perspective. I come at this not knowing if Red Deck Wins (RDW) is a dog, or if White Weenie (WW) is king. I will do some research prior to playing to get a sense of this, but research is no substitute for experience. As such, I plan on learning along the way, and you are encouraged to join me on the ride. It’s going to be bumpy, and likely ugly at times, but we learn more from failure than success.

I aim to address this series in the following manner: I will choose a deck (Frantic Storm this time, obviously), and describe its relative position in the metagame. Then I will play two to three Tournament Practice matches with the deck both to get a small feel for the opposition and to “learn” how to play the deck. Clearly, this will not be enough practice to master the decks in question, but it should at least allow me to be competent. Next, I will dive into a Pauper Daily Event, or, if the timing is poor, will join three to four 2-man queues and report the matches as I go. Hopefully, I will win a pack or two in the process, but if not, maybe my mistakes will help you to win some yourself by providing some useful information. So, onward we go! Into the storm!

The Metagame:

I looked to the event standings on the Wizards of the Coast website to begin to get a feel for the decks out there. Here are a few recent events, with just the decks placing in the prizes noted:

2-18-11 Daily #1

4-0

• Post Combo
• Frantic Storm
• Green Stompy

3-1

• Goblins x3
• Goblin Storm
• Frantic Storm
• Green Stompy
• Mono Black Control

2-18-11 Daily #2

4-0

• Affinity
• RDW

3-1

• Storm Combo
• Frantic Storm x2
• RDW
• Post Combo
• Goblins

Pauper Premier 2-19-11

• 1^st Aggro Green
• 2^nd Frantic Storm
• 3^rd Frantic Storm
• 4^th MBC
• 5^th Affinity
• 6^th Goblin Storm
• 7^th Goblin Storm
• 8^th MBC

2-22-11 Daily

4-0

• Green-White Aggro
• Goblins
• Affinity

3-1

• Goblins x4
• MBC x2
• Post Combo
• Frantic Storm
• Affinity
• Storm Combo
• Snow Control

Most represented decks from these four recent events:

• Goblins appear nine times in the prizes.
• Frantic Storm appears seven times in the prizes.
• Mono Black Control (MBC) appears four times in the prizes.
• Affinity appears three times in the prizes.
• Post Combo appears three times in the prizes.

While there are many other archetypes represented at lower density, these decks seem to be a good representation of the current metagame. It is important to note that these data are gleaned from only four events, and thus may be too narrow to draw strong conclusions from, but it is certainly a place to start. Goblins is the clear, popular choice, likely due to extremely low cost (the only exception being the sideboard Gorilla Shaman, fetching a ridiculous $3.75 currently, and a card that many versions of the deck opt not to include).

The Matches:

I began the adventure in the Tournament Practice Room, where I felt I could get a feel for the deck without losing money. The first match I had was against a very pleasant opponent playing Mono Black Control, with lots of removal, discard, and recursion effects.

Tournament Practice Match 1: MBC

Game 1
On the opening, I mulliganned a one-land-hand to six cards: Island, Plains, Sunscape Familiar, Sunscape Familiar, Deep Analysis, Temporal Fissure.

I am put on the play, play a land, and am Duressed immediately, losing my Temporal Fissure. (Sidenote: my wife read through this article and told me, “I have no idea what this means, but it sounds painful.”)

Turn 2: I played Cloud of Faeries and Sunscape Familiar.

Turn 2: Opponent played Ravenous Rats, and I pitch Deep Analysis (yay flashback!).

Turn 3: Found myself short on lands, so I flashbacked Deep Analysis, and still found no land.

Turn 3: Opponent played Phyrexian Rager.

Turn 4: I played my second Sunscape Familiar but still had only Island and Plains in play land-wise.

Turn 4: Opponent attacked with everything; I blocked, then got blown out by double Disfigure, killing both my Walls.

Things went from bad to worse after that, including a misclick on my part that skipped some opportunity for spells, and then I died miserably.

Game 2
I chose to draw and kept the following: Island, Island, Nightscape Familiar, Frantic Search, Dimir Aqueduct, Mulldrifter.

Turn 1: Opponent played no land and passed back. So I questioned him, and he apparently was on the phone, and just clicked through. I could think of no way to “fairly” pass it back to him, since I drew Deep Analysis, and that would have been discarded. So we played on.

Turn 1: I played Evolving Wilds, got a Plains.

Turn 2: I played Dimir Aqueduct and discarded Deep Analysis.

Turn 3: I followed up with a Nightscape Familiar. I don’t recall exactly what was going on the other side, but I think he had cycled a Barren Moor or two, and not played much.

Turn 4: I attempted to combo out, digging hard into my library, and whiffed on the Temporal Fissure.

Nothing much else went on here for a few turns. I got hit a few times with insignificant small beaters.

Turn 7: I combo-ed out and stormed him back to one Swamp, but was sitting on a board state of very little pressure (two Cloud of Faeries), and my clock was down to 7:00.

Turn 9: I stormed him to zero permanents, and then won on Turn 10, with 3:19 on the clock.

It seems at this point that time management, especially while taking notes, is going to be an issue.

Game 3
As you might have guessed, I was very rushed. I was establishing board position and was on my way to a win, but couldn’t make it in time. Overall, I think this matchup is favorable for me, but I need to concentrate on playing, and not note taking. I determined to play a few more practice matches without notes, as the time is just very tight.

Tournament Practice Match 2: RDW

Game 1
My opponent kept a one-land hand and was stuck on it for around five turns. He managed to finally get me to 5 life, but I kept storming him back to zero permanents, and he couldn’t maintain tempo. He conceded the match after Game 1. This may be an issue in the practice rooms, as illustrated by the next match.

Tournament Practice Match 3: Big Green

Game 1
My opponent opened quickly with lots of ramp auras on Forests, followed by a huge Aura Gnarlid. On my turn I storm and reset him partway, at which point he curses at me in the chat window and tells me I am a horrible player and am not even “doing it right.” This may be the case, of course, as I am practicing the deck, but far be it from me to educate the likes of this player. As expected, he conceded immediately after his tirade.

Pauper 2-Man Queue Match 1: Blue-Black Post

At this point, I figured the deck must be decent enough for me to try some real games, so I moved over to the 2-Player Pauper Queues, as I missed the Daily Event already on that day, and I only had time for one match just then anyway. I again decided taking notes was not going to work, as the clock is a real concern for me with this deck. The deck I ended up playing against, I am still very unclear about. It was a Black-Blue Post deck that ran lots of countermagic and lots of creature removal. I don’t believe I ever saw a kill condition from this player, although talking with some friends and evaluating some lists, I think it must have been Ulamogs Crusher. Regardless, my opponent countered many of my Familiars early, which left me lots of room to breath when hitting my combo. Game 1 sees me winning quickly, never seeing anything but removal for my minor threats (which is really all the deck has). Game 2 was much closer, with my opponent removing almost every relevant creature early, but I summoned a storm that left him with no permanents and me with two Cloud of Faeries, three Mulldrifters, and a few Familiars. The game ended shortly thereafter. My opponent was very gracious and claimed he was running twenty removal spells and just didn’t get enough of them. This, to me, seems very high, but, who knows, maybe it is correct in that build and the current metagame. Either way, I walked off (figuratively) with my pack of M11 and feeling pretty good about this deck. Even with the awkward play experiences, and my general dislike of this type of deck (I am an aggro player at heart), it seems very powerful, and I have not found a deck against which it seems very poor. Mind you, I had only played these few games to this point.

Pauper 2-Man Queue Match 2: Mono Black Control

Game 1
I mulliganned to five on the draw, then proceeded to draw no significant spells at all and lose my hand to discard. This resulted in a quick loss.

Game 2
My opponent got a decent start and seemed to be going for a Ninjutsu play with Okiba-Gang Shinobi (seen last game) with his attacking Lilianas Specter when he disconnected from the game. After trying for some time to get back in, he just lost to inactivity. Not very good for playtesting, but hey, down 4 Tix total, up two packs of M11 (worth roughly 3 Tix each to bots) – not too shabby!

Pauper 2-Man Queue Match 3: Green-White Cloak

Game 1
Holy cow, that was fast! I was dead on Turn 5 to a Silhana Ledgewalker with two Armadillo Cloaks and a Rancor on it. Not much to do against that, since the shroud really prevents my deck from doing anything relevant to it.

Game 2
I was able to get combo and control of the board much faster this time, but not being able to bounce the Silhana Ledgewalker really ended my hopes fast. Even repeated Temporal Fissures resulted in Silhana Ledgewalker remaining, only to have Rancor cast on it. Shortly thereafter, I lost.

Cost to Play: 6 Tix
Resulting Prize Value: 6 Tix (roughly)
So I broke even – not too bad!

Conclusions

I find at this point that my sample size may just be too low to draw any useful conclusions about this deck in regard to its position in the metagame. The combination of my own playtesting and tournament matches, along with the review of recent events, does lead to the conclusion that this is one of the decks to be prepared for in the Pauper field. It is clearly a Tier 1 deck, and, likely, if played by someone more familiar with it, would be a truly terrifying deck to face! The inevitability present with the huge turns and seemingly unfair “free” spells means that most of the time even countermagic will have problems with this deck. Aside from the price point, I can’t recommend anything other than giving this one a go. Take it for a spin and win some packs yourselves.

If any of the information presented here strikes you as misinformation, or you think I played the games wrong, you are likely correct! Please let me know in the comments section, and we can hash out some of the errors, hopefully to everyone’s benefit as Pauper players. Thanks for taking the time to read, and look out next month for the next installment, where I will take either Mono Black Control or Goblins for a run.