Anything But: The First Five

Last time on Anything But…

With the release of Return to Ravnica we have been introduced to a new type of lands, which have a sub-type of “gate”. These two-colored lands are specific to each of the guilds and were released half in Return to Ravnica with the other half to show up in Gatecrash. There has been a lot of discussion based upon what, if any, impact these cards will have on Classic Pauper. My feelings on the subject are spelled out there, and we talked about some of the basic theory behind the cards and their potential impact (click the link above to check it out). This time around, however, we’re going to get a bit more specific and have some fun looking at what we can do with each of the guilds. Before we get into that, we need to first take a minute to venture into…

The Competitive Corner

This is one section I have not been looking forward to writing. At this point in time, I’m sure you are all aware of the recent (although initially hard-to-find) announcement from Wizards with regard to Daily Events. Because I’m sure you’re all tired of not only discussing it, but hearing it as well, I won’t be going into much detail. Instead I recommend checking out any of the recent articles written by MTGO Academy’s own BlippyTheSlug. who has really taken to effectively championing the cause. The bottom line is that it has been decided that Wizards will no longer be posting all results from Daily Events and instead will only be putting up the results from one event per format each day. So what does that mean to us?

Well, this entire section was put together using the results data from these events. With this information no longer available, this section has been decimated. If I were to try to put together information out of the gimped results we now receive, it would be inaccurate to say the least. For perhaps the first time ever, I’m lost for words and really don’t know what else can be said on the subject. The bottom line is that the Competitive Corner, as it was, is no longer viable. Perhaps the change is fitting based upon the discussion of last week’s article. Change can be good, and this section needs to adapt or die.

So where does it go from here? Well, to be honest I’m not totally sure. By the time this goes up, I will have asked around for some ideas, but please feel free to leave your own suggestions in the comments if you have any. I’ve toyed around with a couple ideas from quickly spotlighting a rogue of the week to some sort of recap for specific Dailies to eliminating it altogether, but have yet to come up with a solution that I’m willing to move from theory to practice. I think the bottom line is that I don’t feel comfortable giving a “meta” report anymore using incomplete information.

Finally We Enter…

Let us step back for a minute and muse over the ideas of a past self. Each day we must live and accept decisions that have been made by our past selves whether they are good or bad. My past self tends to be quite the zealous soul. He has great ideas, and we love him for those great ideas, but his greatest pleasure is the fact that he’s just the idea man… future me has to execute on those plans. With the release of Return to Ravnica, I really could not pass up the opportunity to take a look at what guildgates brought to the table and had a great idea to take a look at each of these five guilds individually. It was going to be great! I was going to talk briefly about the guilds and what the colors have to offer Pauper players while supplementing things with sample decks. Well, no worries, my dear readers, because I will not let you down, and you will indeed get all this information. I just want to say what a task it was that I had set out for myself! What am I getting at with all this chatter? Well, it is a bit of a disclaimer or maybe just an explanation about my basic thoughts. While I have spent many hours tinkering with these decks, they are still pretty rough and are more for casual play.

Now that’s not to say that something similar cannot eventually make its debut, but there is something quite interesting about the goal of making a deck around such a generic nonbasic land. If I were to sit down and say, “OK, I’m going to build a deck based around Karakas,” then things would be different. I would be able to build a deck that had mechanics such as the one offered by Leyline of Singularity, where I would use effects to make any creature my opponent played a legend. However, what I’m basically saying in this article is, “OK I’m going to build a deck that is blue and white”… it is too open-ended and can eventually have little to no impact on the flow or win condition of the deck. Sitting down and saying that I’m going to build a deck around a specific dual land results in an entirely open-ended challenge. Why am I bothering to say all of this? Well, because I know that at this point in time, some readers may feel that these types of decks aren’t really their thing. The bottom line is that I cater to both casual and competitive, but this week we’re going to be riding that casual line a bit closer. However, don’t worry, my competitive friends, because we’re coming back to you next week! Let’s get down to business, shall we?

Enter and rejoice! The Conclave stands united, open to one and all.

It only seems appropriate that we start with the guild that is often associated with life and growth. My favorite classification of Selesnya is: “brainwashing nature cult.” Whatever flavor association there is aside, the reason I’m going to start here is that I want to work from the least-favorite/cooperative guild to the most. The Selesnya guild is made up of two well-established aggro colors for Pauper. In green we’ve come to know the incredible power of not only the Infect combo, but also a deck known as Stompy, which might be the best aggro variation in the format. White has also had a lot of success with putting together a weenie aggro strategy with the help of soldiers and cards like Squadron Hawk.

The problem that is shared by both of these colors is the lack of solid removal options. Outside of the format restrictions of Pauper, white has some of the best Classic removal spells. When you’re looking for 1-mana removal, white brings to the table Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile to just name a few. However, when you narrow the search down to only commons, the best removal that white has to offer doesn’t show up until the 3-mana-cost slot. Even then these options are less-than-favorable spells such as Unmake, which requires a full set of white mana to cast, or Exile, which can only target creatures that are attacking and non-white. When looking for removal in Pauper, why would I look to these spells when I can find something more efficient in black or even red? These colors can put together nice aggro strategies, but those rely more on the fact that they are mono-color so that you don’t miss drops and can keep tempo.

When it comes to Return to Ravnica, we were granted a new mechanic for the Selesnya guild known as populate. While this is an interesting strategy, it finds little use in a format like Pauper. Out of the few common cards with populate, only one or two are usable and not necessarily as full sets. To use something like Coursers Accord isn’t as favorable with regard to mana cost as I would like it to be. You can ramp into some of these new populate spells, but would then find yourself without a lot of great options for creating tokens. Not to mention the fact that because of Empty the Warrens Storm, it’s not uncommon that you can find yourself facing something like Echoing Truth, which would be game over. So after trying things and reworking decks over and over, here is what I decided upon…

The deck ended up being a variation of a rogue deck that became popular for almost a month and then disappeared completely, which I referred to as RG Aggro/Burn. The deck runs as a very creature-heavy/centric aggro deck with minimal removal options. I think the best fit here was of Azorius Arrester, which is a great start for the emergence of what could be white control. The detain ability is only a temporary option; however it works well in an aggro-based deck as a way to sneak in the win by locking out creatures in a stalemate. I also attempted to run Avenging Arrow, which I’m not sure worked out. While there is some potential for the card as a result of it not having a target restriction, the card really loses out based on the fact that damage has to be done by the target first. The bottom line is that the deck will have to do most of its control through combat and not through other spells.

Check out the video to see how the deck can run, and hear more of my thoughts on card choice and potential…

Enter the Senate, the seat of justice and the foundation of Ravnican society.

In the world of Ravnica, the Azorius guild served as the governing body. The Azorius Senate created and enforced the laws, or in other words, they controlled Ravnica. Control is easily the most common association between blue and white. This is my second-favorite color combination for control. However, we’ve never had any type of established blue-white deck in Pauper. As I mentioned earlier, when talking about Selesnya, white cards in Pauper really suffer from the lack of solid control. The small options that are available come mostly in the form of enchantments, which contradicts the blue control game plan. When playing countermagic, the ideal state is to have your lands untapped during your opponent’s turn so that you can respond to whatever play he/she makes and because enchantments are cast at sorcery-speed you have to choose between making a play now or hopefully finding a better play later.

So if that contradiction eliminates your choices for playing control, why not just go aggro? Well, unfortunately for blue aggro, it is not really a strong option. It’s rare that you’ll hear something being referred to as “blue aggro” outside of a tribal strategy. Most of the creatures that are printed in blue can get away with some evasion, but often lack the big bodies of something like green. This means that creating something in between has to rely on evasion, minor control, and maybe even a little bit of combo flavor. So here it is…

Now this is a variation of a UW Blink list of the past. The deck looks to run off of a combo, which allows you to permanently remove creatures using a combination of Kor Skyfisher/Dream Stalker + Oblivion Ring/Journey to Nowhere + Momentary Blink/Cloudshift. This three-card combo allows you to keep your opponent’s creatures off the field for as long as you have blink spells available. There are a lot of keys to making this work, so I’m going to save you the reading by typing it all out and just suggest you watch the video to see how the deck runs and learn more about some of the card interactions…

Enter and indulge your darkest fantasies, for you may never pass this way again.

A group of individuals that share beliefs or practices that are deemed to be strange or sinister to others. This is the definition of a cult. This is the definition of Rakdos. This Ravnica guild was founded by an ancient demon, which is continually worshiped by its members. Whenever I think of Rakdos I always go straight to evil and devilish, which works well for black and red. In the world of Magic, these two pieces of the color pie sit well within the realm of chaos through things like direct damage and hand destruction. In Pauper these two colors can make for an interesting combination of control and speed.

Red’s history with Pauper is most often associated with Goblins, which is well-known for its ability to put a swarm of creatures on the table and do so with relative speed. Other variations of mono-red usually take advantage of the fact that Pauper’s common restriction still allows for the best burn spells in the game to be put together into a solid deck. On the other side of things, black is well-known for its control-heavy shell with rats aplenty. Put the two colors together, and you’ve got a great opportunity to put down cheap, big, and fast creatures alongside enough removal to allow those creatures to swing through.

When it comes to Rakdos, everyone will immediately think of Blightning. The damage and discard on this spell make it tempting to most, but the drawback of a 3-mana casting cost and its color requirements often keep people away, not to mention the sorcery-speed. While the use of Rakdos Guildgate isn’t the card that finally makes Blightning playable, it doesn’t hurt. When putting together a Rakdos deck I personally feel that you need to build a fast shell and not ignore the strengths of both colors. The deck should bring in fast creatures, burn spells, and plenty of black control. Here’s what I’m proposing…

While black does have the best and most options for creature control, running Rakdos should require a bit heavier focus on the use of burn spells as removal. Most Rakdos decks will work to be as fast as possible, and having burn available means that you get an opportunity to use these spells as direct damage as well as creature control. This is where things like Ghitu Slinger come in. While the echo cost makes this card usually unplayable, the addition of black gives you great combo options such as Unearth and Undying Evil in order to get the most use out of Pauper’s own version of Flametongue Kavu. You can also look to use these on Kathari Bomber, which is also usually considered to be unplayable. From time to time we have actually seen different variations of RakDeck Wins show up in Daily Events. While it has been awhile it might be worth considering once again with the continually high showings of Storm. With a bit of fine-tuning and the creation of a sideboard, I think that RakDeck Wins can become a regular rogue.

Check out more of my thoughts on the deck and see how it plays in this video…

Enter those who are starving and sick. You are welcome among the Swarm when the
rest of Ravnica rejects you.

Life and death. There is no causality in this world that is greater, but these two ends of the spectrum find common ground within the Golgari guild. The Golgari, also known as The Swarm, exist as almost a fringe society within the plane of Ravnica, but in my mind the absence of this color combination from Pauper has always been a bit of a mystery. Many variations and evolutions of a deck-type known as “The ROCK” have shown up throughout the ages of Magic, but in Pauper the combination of green and black is most often associated with the combo deck known as Dead Dog. At the very basics of the color pie, these two colors fit together swimmingly as black provides the creature kill, which green never gets, while green provides the big creatures without the drawbacks that black gets stuck with. Let’s take a quick look at what a Golgari deck might look like…

In the same way that Blightning is overlooked within the Rakdos color scheme, Putrid Leech is a strong card in the Golgari colors that is definitely underplayed. Paying life for creatures is nothing new to the black mage, so they’re more than happy to jump into the ring alongside this guy. During the reign of Shards of Alara, Putrid Leech was a staple for Jund and was even deemed “one of the best [offensive?] 2-drops we have seen in some time!” by Mike Flores. So the big question is why it has not had much impact in Pauper. Well that is a topic all on its own, but just remember that every card has a home; you just need to find it. Return to Ravnica has also brought us a few more great cards for these colors.

Since we’re going to be using Golgari Guildgate, it seemed only appropriate to bring in both Gatekeeper Vine and Ogre Jailbreaker. The Gatekeeper Vine grants us great opportunity to find the lands that we need in order to not miss a drop while Ogre Jailbreaker is a creature that is relatively cost effective. I’ve always talked about how a creature sitting at or above that 4-toughness mark puts them in the category of troublesome. When you consider the fact that you’ll easily be able to find guildgates with the Gatecreeper Vines and Grisly Salvages, it’s easy for you to find the guildgate that is required in order to enable the Ogre Jailbreaker to attack. Grisly Salvage is another great card that we have recently been introduced to with Return to Ravnica. While drawing cards is nothing new to the typical black mage, it is something that green mana often struggles with.

A card like Grisly Salvage enables you to dig through your deck and find the cards you need for whatever situation you find yourself in. The drawback of Grisly Salvage is the fact that whatever card you do not chose is going to find its way into your graveyard, so you need to look for ways to take advantage of that. The first choice for me was Unearth, which can target the majority of the creatures in the deck. My second choice was Spinning Darkness, which can use the black cards that you just threw away in order to kill off an opponent’s creatures. Also, between all of the land ramping you’re able to do between the Grisly Salvages and Gatecreeper Vines, you can usually find a decent amount of fuel so you can use Ravens Crime more than once.

Check out the video to see how the deck can run and hear more of my thoughts on card choice and potential…

Enter those with the vision to create and the daring to release their creations.

Passionate thirst for knowledge. Is there a better way to describe Izzet? This Ravnica guild is often associated with that eternal curiosity diving into both technological and magical endeavors in order to satisfy a longing for discovery. Of all the guilds in Ravnica, Izzet is the one we’re most familiar with thanks to the popularity of the colors within 8-post. The two colors bring together an interesting contrast with blue being best known for draw and countermagic, while red is best known for direct damage and ability to cause chaos. Unlike the combination of, say, the Simic colors, which bring control alongside big creatures, these colors often work to be complementary in a way that almost blurs the line between the two colors. What red mana brings to the table is a way that blue can control creatures without simply tapping them down or returning them to hand. Think of it as a better extension of onesself such as the transformation into robot! Here’s a look at what I think an Izzet control deck can bring to the table…

Before the release of Return to Ravnica, we were given a teasing glimpse at what the set may offer us through the Izzet vs. Golgari set, which provided us with a few new cards. This special set introduced us to a card that I thought was going to really find a great place in Izzet control: Goblin Electromancer. My first thoughts were that this card could be used to create a new version of FissureStorm (if it were used in place of the Nightscape Familiar); however, the fact that the cost reduction is limited to only instants or sorceries holds it back a bit. One of the best, and most abusive, facts about the ability of Goblin Electromancer is the fact that the cost reduction will work on a number of different card mechanics. While it may be easy to understand that a kicked card will have a reduced cost, you may not be aware of the fact that the Goblin Electromancer ability also reduces the cost of spells that are flashed back as well as the overload ability, which we were introduced to in Return to Ravnica. This makes spells such as Think Twice and Electrickery significantly more powerful when a Goblin Electromancer is on the table. With the deck I put together, in an ideal situation, it will look to get a Goblin Electromancer into play and protect it in order to get the most use out of the deck’s other spells.

Perhaps the oddest choice I made with this deck was attempting to turn it into a Teachings variation. Within the past few months we’ve seen the success of a Dimir version of Teachings Control, which seems almost meant to be thanks to the fact that the flashback cost on Mystical Teachings uses black mana anyway. Using Mystical Teachings in this deck does allow an opportunity to grab pieces of a control toolbox, but being without a black focus, the Mystical Teachings themselves tend to become a bit underwhelming. While it does seem a bit random, I did decide to use Evolving Wilds and a single Swamp in order to grant that flashback opportunity while not entirely focusing on a third color. I think one of the current drawbacks of the deck is that I’m running a creature base that is probably a bit heavier than intended, but I like the options that the new Splatter Thug brings to the table as a cost-effective beater. Alongside the tutor ability of Mystical Teachings, I also wanted to bring in a relatively strong undertone of card advantage with the potentially cheap draw of Think Twice and the double use of Staggershock. With the printing of Electrickery, we were introduced to the overload mechanic, and while this may be the only one that sees regular use in Pauper, I wanted to give Mizzium Skin a try as a way to make sure Goblin Electromancer would stay on the table. Usually, in most control decks, you run a small creature package alongside a number of spells meant to protect those creatures and I think that Mizzium Skin fits that role perfectly as countermagic for a targeted spell. Think of it as a Hindering Light for a single blue mana or an Intervene that has a chance to spread across multiple creatures.

Check out the video to see how the deck can run and hear more of my thoughts on card choice and potential…

Weeks later…

It started with an idea. Take a look at the five different guilds and build decks that hopefully interact with the concepts that each color brings to the table. Now, after a few weeks and many invested hours, that has finally been accomplished. So now you’re starting to understand what my articles are all about, but where does it go from here? Well, you’ll just have to keep coming back to find out.

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