Common Sense: Weighing in on Removal

Hey gang! Welcome back to another installment of Common Sense, the column devoted to keeping current with the Pauper format! Allow me to begin by stating that this is my favorite time of the year as a Magic player. Introducing a shiny new set and examining formats with a new breath of life in them is the traditional setting for the most fun experiences I’ve enjoyed in Magic. Let’s dive in to check out two new Innistrad commons that allow us to rethink how we approach opposing creatures in Pauper: Dead Weight and Victim of Night.

Allow me to begin with the value Victim of Night brings to the table as a removal spell that ignores a card’s color. One of the primary restrictions black mages have faced in the past is the appropriate selection of removal in their decks. I’m not talking about the objective strength of the removal available; rather, I would like to focus on the diversity of threats an opponent can produce.

The inherent value of cards such as Victim of Night is that its targets are restricted by an unusual criteria that most deck designers are not prepared to work around. To illustrate my point in a more practical sense, check out the top-performing decks posted on the Wizards of the Coast home site (linked here). After skimming through half the posted dates, how many maindeck creatures are protected from the ‘monster clause’ built into Victim of Night? The answer is two: Guardian of the Guildpact and Nightscape Familiar.

The implication here is that Victim of Night has such a high utility value that any deck able to support its mana cost has a new option that can trump most other removal spells. A dedicated black deck can simply answer more threats with this spell than with the predominant weapons of choice prior.

For those who are familiar with black-based control strategies, the comparison to Rend Flesh is an easy one to make. While Rend Flesh has fewer restrictions, its extra mana cost is very relevant, given the speed of top decks such as Affinity, Infect, and Goblins. In similar fashion to the comparison between the highly-valued Duress and its more expensive brethren, Victim of Night offers the right combination of speed and flexibility. This balance is often the trademark of high-quality support cards such as Counterspell or Lightning Bolt. Cards like these are not enough incentive on their own to single-handedly play a given strategy, but with enough of them allocated to the right colors and mana costs, a linear game plan becomes very appealing.

What I mean to say is that, given a deck that wants to consistently destroy creatures efficiently and can afford to pay 2 black mana for the spell early in the game, Victim of Night and cards like it can build a solid foundation to a deck. However, if a deck cannot supply the appropriate mana or does not need the solid removal suite this card fits into, Victim of Night will never be more than just an ok spell.

In addition to this, Innistrad also brought us a brilliantly designed 1-drop removal spell in Dead Weight. I’m completely sold on this card because it does a number of valuable things that cheap removal tended to be unable to do in the past.

First, Dead Weight does not wear off once the turn ends. Although Myr Enforcer and Razor Golem do not make ideal targets for the card, having the option to cut the opponent’s beefier creatures down to size is an important option to have. The striking similarities to Disfigure are obvious, but Dead Weight is far superior for slowing down big aggressive creatures without forcing the opponent into awkward combat scenarios. Blocking a 4/4 creature with your 2/2 and hoping Disfigure allows you to trade leaves you open to any combat trick or removal spell the opponent is holding. If you instead play Dead Weight on your turn and the opponent still chooses to attack, you can be more aware of their tricks or discern the value of trading the weakened creature.

Also, Dead Weight is a great help to turning off effects that pump up opposing creatures. Trading a Disfigure for a Giant Growth is much less appealing than trading that Disfigure for a creature. Because the enchantment is a permanent solution to the creature, these effects (which are becoming more relevant due to the Infect mechanic and the appearance of Atog as a common) don’t gain the added value they used to have as a situational Spell Pierce.

Lastly, like Disfigure, Dead Weight’s efficient mana cost allows its caster to play multiple spells in a turn. Using this little enchantment to bait out a Negate-type effect and responding with instant-speed removal while both spells are on the stack is relevant because there are some threats you simply need to eliminate as soon as possible.

The current trend in deckbuilding adds value to these cards as well because it is very hard for a deck to be built around both of these cards. Very few cards in the Pauper environment can dodge Victim, and the value of solid fatties will keep value cards like Gravedigger or Vampire Hounds at bay. Meanwhile, decks that play smaller aggressive creatures or cards with effects like Mulldrifter will still be eaten up by Dead Weight.

With that last point in mind, let’s check out what creatures demand your removal spells immediately in the current environment and see exactly how these two new spells stack up to the competition.

PAUPER’S MOST WANTED

Atog: Since he was reprinted as a common, Atog has become the frightening finisher Affinity decks have chosen over previous workhorses like Somber Hoverguard. The important value these removal spells gain here is that they can both kill this little pest without further support, whereas the previous options such as Grasp of Darkness would normally fall short. It’s worth noting that both Victim of Night and Dead Weight also handle his partner in crime Disciple of the Vault.

Glistener Elf: Representing the entire Infect family, both of these removal spells can eliminate any little green men you may come across, and for a discount price. The popularity of this deck adds even more value to Dead Weight because other damage-based or shrinking removal gets trumped by Mutagenic Growth, Invigorate and the like, but Dead Weight has nothing to fear from the Infect deck but their Vines of Vastwood.

Ulamogs Crusher: Being able to destroy Ulamog’s Crusher with Victim of Night is actually very important. The usual answer to this is Doom Blade or a sacrifice effect like Diabolic Edict, but now the black mage doesn’t have to choose between playing these cards and being mindful of the other creatures available in the format. Tricky players may even strap some Dead Weight on the Crusher to spare their lands from its unique annihilator ability.

Goblin Sledder and Mogg Raider: These particular Goblins can be a nightmare for the aggro-versus-control matchup because they render your removal ineffective. Former options like Disfigure or Firebolt did not handle the threat in an efficient manner, but now Dead Weight can make them look pretty harmless.

White Weenie and Mono-Black Control creatures: While these decks use a stream of like-minded creatures rather than a single offender, being able to consistently deal with white’s cheap threats and destroy black creatures at the same time shores up a player’s matchup against these decks without weakening their overall plan for decks with more unique threats.

Now that we’ve expounded on what our deck plans to fight against, let’s check out a decklist and see how it uses its removal to fight the current leading decks.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle by Souljah632

Creatures (15) 4 Ravenous Rats 2 Kor Skyfisher 4 Phyrexian Rager 4 Chittering Rats 1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi Other Spells (23) 4 Duress 3 Unearth 3 Dead Weight 4 Sign in Blood 3 Victim of Night 2 Castigate 2 Echoing Decay 2 Journey to Nowhere Lands (22) 4 Orzhov Basilica 4 Terramorphic Expanse 2 Plains 12 Swamp Sideboard (15) 1 Dead Weight 2 Diabolic Edict 4 Seal of Cleansing 2 Snuff Out 2 Unburden 4 Suture Priest

Buy this Deck

This deck takes the shell of past Mono-Black Control lists, puts new removal options into place and takes into consideration the need for more incremental advantage without the inclusion of Corrupt.

As we denoted earlier, answering the top threats of the format is a priority we must consider and the latest removal options allow us to do that. Playing three copies of both Dead Weight and Victim of Night gives us the opportunity to answer important threats while maintaining our ability to answer unexpected ones. I chose to include the rest of my removal suite by building around these two cards and keeping in mind certain trouble spots.

Journey to Nowhere is a high-utility answer to various creatures and gets around the possibility of Protection from Black, which several sideboards may include.

The use of Echoing Decay is simply an acknowledgment that Storm Combo is a very real deck and we must come prepared for it. Our maindeck plan against them is often running disruption on our first turns, such as curving from Ravenous Rats into Chittering Rats into the Okiba-Gang, but the removal is mostly a pile of blank cards until we can reach for the sideboard. Echoing Decay also assists in unique situations where we face multiples of a card or want to save our more explosive removal for other threats.

Unearth is a card that got a lot of press on its release but has since been unable to find a specific role to play. Here we use it as additional disruption with our typical black creatures or extra advantage with the Phyrexian Ragers or Auramancers, but it also is important to put pressure on opponents once we assume the aggressive role. The sorcery allows us to trade creatures early and still have enough action in our deck to close out the game swiftly, and when we don’t need it, we can cycle it away for a new card. I feel the best use of Unearth is in a deck with a variety of creature effects for it to pick from, thusly giving it relevant use against any opponent. Because each of our creatures has value against a certain type of deck that is considerably powerful, I believe this is a step in that direction.

Kor Skyfisher plays a similar role in that it slows down aggro decks, hits for damage when we need it, and lets us reuse the proper effects we need to keep any game under control. Once a player becomes comfortable running this deck, the tricks we can find with Skyfisher seem endless. It can untap a Plains if we need to cast another white spell this turn, it lets us use our enchantment-based removal more aggressively since we can reassign it later and encourages us to attack with and replay our creatures to hold our defenses while simultaneously ending the game quickly.

The mana allows us to shave off a land because Orzhov Basilica essentially draws us an extra land and our 1- and 2-casting cost spells ensure we can operate on 4 to 5 mana with ease. The extra Plains becomes necessary, so we are not completely reliant on drawing a Basilica and we don’t go soft to random land destruction spells that some fringe strategies may throw at us. I included the lone Sejiri Steppe as a miser’s card, or an extra option that may come in handy but has no virtual cost to our deck’s function. We can either attack for the win with it, bait out a removal spell that would otherwise be turned off for the turn, or sneak the Okiba-Gang behind enemy lines.

Speaking of the ninja, Okiba-Gang Shinobi was once one of the most devastating cards in the format, and it still can be very useful in certain situations today. I decided on one copy in the main knowing some decks may warrant extras in the sideboard, especially topping out our curve against Storm Combo. It may only connect once with its ninjutsu ability, but usually once is enough to make a game incredibly lopsided.

Once the top sideboard card, I have gotten used to including Duress in the maindeck because it gains so much value against almost every opponent. The only times I’m disappointed to see it in my opening grip are against White Weenie or Goblins, but because we have so much built-in advantage against those decks already, the loss can be minimal. Once the game reaches its end stages, it’s certainly plausible that simply casting it to see the opponent’s last couple cards is quite good. The knowledge Duress gives you is almost equal to the tricks it can eliminate, so I am uncomfortable siding them out unless I know exactly what my opponent is up to.

The sideboard is geared toward shifting our game plan to accommodate our opponent’s game plan. Even though the deck is not as explosive or as exciting as other top performing decks, our ability to react to so many different strategies gives the pilot enough flexibility to combat various opponents.

Diabolic Edict is a necessary option to avoid being cold to threats like Guardian of the Guildpact or Silhana Ledgewalker. It also works well against bigger threats because our Dead Weights and Echoing Decay can remove their lesser creatures and ensure we are hitting them where it hurts the most. Geths Verdict is similar, but I already have several cards with heavy black mana costs and some decisions had to be made to allow the white splash.

Auramancer is something I am looking forward to testing more thoroughly, as it combos well with Dead Weight against those pesky aggro decks. Being able to burn a Dead Weight early to save your life total and then spending Turn 4 dropping a decent blocker and killing a creature is pretty valuable. Once you have more cards in hand than the Goblin or White Weenie players, the game becomes easier because you can answer most of their cards with one of your own. This added value may not be necessary but seems mildly powerful, and is therefore worth looking into.

Seal of Cleansing adds value to Auramancer and allows for maximum mana efficiency against Affinity. Casting the seal early allows this deck to answer Affinity’s best threats with the enchantment already in play, while being able to cast more expensive creatures later and use both in the same turn. Also the Auramancer sideboard plan keeps this deck ahead on cards against Affinity.

Suture Priest racks up extra damage against aggressive creature decks and completely shuts down Empty the Warrens. Discard loses value against aggressive decks, so swapping out the Ravenous Rats for the Priest can tilt the game further in your favor.

Snuff Out is a solid removal spell that gains value against the Infect deck because it allows you to interact with a tapped land in play on Turn 1. Like the majority of the cards in the sideboard, these cards are options to shift your game without losing the control options that the deck is based on.

Right now this may be my deck of choice in the given metagame because I need to ensure I can beat decks that can randomly draw a lethal hand. Goblins, Infect, and Storm Combo are topics I bring up a lot in articles because when they work, there isn’t a lot you can do to adjust your game plan and keep up with them. You either come prepared for the matchup or you don’t. It also hits some of the decks most likely to see tournament play with sideboard options such as Obsidian Acolyte, Suture Priest, Crypt Rats, and Snuff Out.

At its core, though, my enthusiasm for this deck stems from its ability to showcase skill rather than luck. A lot of the value that these cards hold is in their open-ended abilities. Duress can stop a lot of different things, but focusing on what goal needs to get accomplished first can make it the best card in your deck or exceedingly mediocre, depending on your train of thought. An example would be in fighting off the Storm Combo, where I would much rather have them try to go off and unleash an Empty the Warrens, so I can dig for Echoing Decay, rather than hit me with a Grapeshot I can’t otherwise interact with. If you choose to pilot this list, take the time to look over other popular decks and see what cards you need to answer right away, so you can prioritize your decisions and get the most value out of your hand.

Well, that wraps it up for this week. Tune in for my next installment, where I tackle a reader’s request from last time to look into mulligan decisions and give you an update on my testing with this list. If you have any questions on my card choices, tips you’ve tried out in playing this type of deck or requests for future article topics, feel free to post below and I’ll answer as best I can! Until then, enjoy brewing decks with Innistrad and work on dissecting matchups as we’ve done today!