Dime a Dozen #27: Riot in the Streets

Hello everyone!

Is it just me, or is getting casual in here? But wait! Don’t fight it. Don’t resist. Because to tell you the truth, casual actually feels pretty good.

Today we are going to build some theme decks! No pressure, no high expectations, no scrutiny. Yes brewing fun, yes all around nerdy-ness.

So what is a theme deck? A theme deck is a confederation of cards that adheres to a central idea or principle above all else. It is part brewing exercise, part creative expression. The theme itself can stem from a certain tribe, mechanic, flavor concept, or pretty much anything else you can think of.

Can you guess what our theme will be for today? Here’s a hint: look at the title of the article!

Today we’re building a riot theme deck! Revolt! Rebellion! Pretty much anything having to do with angry mobs and infuriated peasants. In other words, an I’m so punk rock kind of deck.

As a disclaimer I should mention that this article is in no way meant to reflect current events or the 21st-century social climate. It’s really just an idea I’ve had for a long time and am pretty jazzed about. Let’s get started!

Theme of the Crop

Theme is king. Theme is all that matters. To build around our theme we need to determine what cards and colors truly fit.

So what color hates the system? What color wants to mobilize a mob? What color just wants to watch the world burn? Have you figured it out? Have you identified the most punk rock color of them all?

Dun dun dunnn!!!

Disagree? I don’t think you should. Here’s a few reasons why.

Mob Justice

This is a perfectly on-theme type of card. It’s flavorful, requires a large gathering of angry people, and let’s see, what else… Oh yeah, the name of the card is mob fapping justice! It could tap all our lands and give our opponent a 0/1 goat and we’d still probably play it.

The card also gives our deck reach, and that’s something I think we’ll need. The caveat to playing a riot theme deck is that it needs to be angry. So start gritting your teeth.

Riot Devils, Riot Piker and Riot Ringleader

All three of these could easily be considered for today’s theme deck, with Riot Ringleader being the most playable (if we build around him properly). While I did say that theme is king, it doesn’t mean I’ll be playing every theme-worthy card under the sun. I mean, Devils and Piker both have “riot” in their names, but they’re not necessarily synonymous with militant masses. They’re also just kinda weak overall.

Smash to Smithereens

Another on-theme burn spell! What kind of a riot would we be instigating if we didn’t end up smashing stuff? The more priceless and antique the better, of course. Frogmites, Prophetic Prisms, Spire Golems, we don’t really care as long as we get the Lightning Bolt tagged on at no additional cost.

Thatcher Revolt

Now these folks are mad. In fact they’re so mad that by the end of the turn they somehow manage to kill themselves. What’s great about this card is not just its obvious theme-y-ness, but also its potential to synergize with a number of other cards (which we’ll get to later, but for now here’s a hint: one of them rhymes with run Julie: blob!).

Green equals Grrrr!

Every once in a while the nonred factions show a bit of their chaotic side too. Let’s first turn to green for a couple of examples:

Matca Rioters

Fitting artwork and a nice “build around me” feel, but these guys are just too much work to include. Rioters puts us into a precarious situation, trying to shoehorn as many land types as we can for a less-than-stellar reward. Our deck grows more sloth-like and disjointed with each compromise we make towards improving domain… I mean, I’m getting sad just thinking about it.

Might of the Masses

Another flavorful option, and a decent possibility if we decide to go into green. However, I’m not sure there’re enough support cards to warrant such a decision. I’ll put this one on the mental backburner for now.

Those Townsfolk are Pissed

What do you say we ratchet up the riot a bit and look at a real color of chaos…

…wait, what? That’s right: White! The color of law, order and Unruly Mobs!

To be honest with you, I can’t really make sense of it either.

What I can say is that the Innistrad Block introduced a number of cards dealing with vigilante-style justice, peasants with pitchforks and townsfolk with torches. And to be fair, white does have a reputation for amassing armies and emboldening the meek. This makes white an ideal color for our riot-themed deck! Let’s see why:

Gather the Townsfolk

Have you seen the artwork for the human tokens? Pissed off, pony-tailed pitchfork wielders with villages burning in the background. These townsfolk aren’t gathering to pick volunteers for the county fair. I think Gather the Townsfolk is on-theme enough to be included here.

Unruly Mob

Also known as run Julie: blob! The card’s title pretty much says it all. If not, then I’m sure the artwork and flavor text can fill in the gaps. The biggest problem here is that there aren’t enough cards that both fit the deck’s theme and synergize with Mob. The best one I can think of is, of course, Thatcher Revolt (which will deal some damage and put three +1/+1 counters on our Mob, making it that much more unruly and that much mobbier).

Rebel Yell

I’m on the fence about extending the theme to include rebels. I think it makes enough sense flavorfully, especially because many of the rebels can tutor up friends, thus adding to the “mob.” Here are the two rebels I’m looking at currently:

Aven Riftwatcher

One of the most playable rebels in Pauper. This life-gaining bird has vanishing, which synergizes with Unruly Mob’s triggered ability. It can also be tutored up by…

Amrou Scout

A rebel that can tutor both Aven Riftwatcher and additional Scouts later in the game. This is more of a backup plan if the initial rush fails.

I think I’ve gone long enough without showing you a decklist. Please keep in mind that this is going to be primarily for casual purposes. Hiya!

Well, this turned out pretty weird. To explain the rest of the card choices, what good is a mob without the potential to start a fire? Hence, Blazing Torch and Goblin Arsonist.

Goblin Bushwhacker fits flavorfully (I think) since (I’m guessing) even a mob can utilize guerilla tactics. Krenko’s Command works because Krenko, Mob Boss is, you know, a mob boss. Lastly Raid Bombardment mentions fire raids in its flavor text, and I think a bunch of rioters could be capable of executing those.

It’s true that I’m stretching the boundaries of my theme a bit, but I think the spirit of the deck remains in spite of my foolery.

If you like the tokens-ish Boros premise of this deck, but want something a little more powerful (with admittedly no thematic cohesion), I would try something like this:

This list deviates from the theme deck flavor for the sake of letting us play slightly more effective cards. For instance, Raise the Alarm works better than Krenko’s Command due to its instant-speed upside. I say this because we can use it to ambush attackers or dodge countermagic (and sorcery-speed removal).

Similarly, Goblin Matron and Mogg War Marshal provide a ton of value and redundancy. Keep in mind that pseudo-anthem effects like Bushwhacker, Raid Bombardment and Fortify are very important in these kind of decks. Without them we’re just spamming 1/1s, and that doesn’t tend to beat anybody.

Squadron Hawk is another value creature that works well with anthems (and racing), and the incidental evasion happens to be something that the aforementioned theme deck was lacking.

Protecting our guys in the red zone and against dastardly damage dealers like Electrickery is Veteran Armorer. This guy is actually pretty sweet for a common, especially (especially especially) in multiples.

The final benefit of going off-theme exists in the form of Lightning Bolt, which is pretty self-explanatory. For good measure I’ll just say that it is very cost-effective, and versatile enough to supply us both with reach and creature removal.

Squadron Sideboarding

While I did not provide a sideboard for this deck, here are some cards I think should be at least given some consideration.

Dust to Dust or Gorilla Shaman

I like that Shaman doesn’t need to hit the table on Turn 1, and therefore will do just fine alongside our 10 CIPT lands. Sundering Growth may seem like a reasonable fit, but I don’t think the populate benefit is all that exciting here (they’re just 1/1s after all).

Flame Slash or Journey to Nowhere

I’ve elected these cards because they help us deal with hefty threats like Kiln Fiend and Nivix Cyclops. They also have applications vs. Affinity, with Journey being an obviously superior answer to Atog.

Prismatic Strands

This one helps keep the team intact, kill their team (Boros player used combat blowout. It’s super effective!), or fill their Nivix Cyclops gun with blanks (or a flag that says BANG! — take your pick).

Pyroblast

May or may not be necessary as countermagic vs. Delver, Cloudpost variants, etc. I think the biggest targets for this card would include Ghostly Flicker, [cadr]Mnemonic Wall[/card] and Mulldrifter.

Raze

I am the most skeptical about this one simply because sacrificing lands is not one of my favorite activities. Nevertheless, this might be one of our best (in other words only) options against the dreaded Cloudpost mana behemoth. Molten Rain and Stone Rain are also possible, but are obviously going to be that much slower.

Standard Bearer

This is standard Stompy countermeasure fare, with the much appreciated benefit of having Veteran Armorer right next door. Why’s that? Because Armorer goes a long way towards keeping them from removing Bearer with Hornet Sting or Viridian Longbow. This card is also playable vs. Nivix Cyclops.

(Not So) Quiet Riot

I hope you’ve enjoyed this foray into casual Pauper. Please let me know any questions, comments, or concerns you may have.

I want to personally thank all of you readers and supporters, as Dime a Dozen is about to celebrate its one-year anniversary! I think this column has come a long way, and I’m constantly looking for ways to improve it.

As far as Pauper goes, we have Magic 2014 on the horizon and the potential return of Slivers. Keep your eyes open and start thinking about how that tribe might impact Daily Events in the near future. Don’t forget that players will often start to sleeve up the currently legal slivers in anticipation of the core set being released on MTGO. Stay sharp out there, and feel free to report any of your online findings!

Here’s to another exciting year of spell-slinging and Pauper promoting. As always, thanks for reading, and please comment!

You can find Jason
hosting the Pauper’s Cage podcast
on MTGO as BambooRush
on Twitter @dimecollectorsc
and on Youtube at youtube.com/dimecollectorsc