I've missed over a week of daily posts here thanks to the hectic pace of the American Holiday Season. As good and universal excuse as any!
But it is true! Magic: The Gathering kind of has to take a backseat at this time of year. Playing Standard Pauper on Magic Online keeps me going year-round. The holidays, even though I don't necessarily follow the religous reasons for them, are still a traditional time to set aside some time for others in my life. My family and my friends, those I love and those who love me.
So this blog has been on the back-burner in the lead-up to the big one, Christmas. Now that Santa Claus gets to cash in on his seasonal unemployment compensation (snicker!) I can return to blogging about Standard Pauper.
And I've got more than cookies on my plate!
In the final days of the Old Year, Cabel the Pauper will be making preparations for the New Year. Here's what you can expect:
1) A regular posting schedule, the most constant of any Standard Pauper blog, that is still consistent with my in-real-life schedule...
2) The next installment of my continuing monthly Standard & Pauper series at PureMTGO...
3) Final details on the next season of Standard Pauper Deck Challenge tournaments sponsored by PDC Magic on Thursdays in 2014!
You will find all that and more on Cabel the Pauper in 2014. More Post-Tournament Posts and more Cards of the Day, more random posts on philosophy, and the addition of posts on the music I love and make as well.
But first...let me make it through the rest of the holiday season and maybe get a couple of relaxing matches of Standard Pauper in :-) Until next year, good luck and have fun! Peace,
- C
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Standard Pauper Card of the Day: Fate Foretold
I'm not feeling particularly wacky this Wednesday. Instead, I'd like to mention an interesting Aura that caught my eye upon the release of Theros but hasn't really found a home until recently.
I discovered the power of this card alongside another important metagame piece while facing GodZo's Azorius Fortress deck at last weeks' Standard Pauper Deck Challenge. When I first saw it spoiled, I was reminded of another two-mana enchantment that could conditionally draw two cards, Zendikar's Ior Ruin Expedition
That card never never really caught on back then, and I can see why. Having to wait three land drops to draw your cards meant the inexpensive cost did not matter much. I expected Fate Foretold to do no better. But I now see this was big mistake in card evaluation on my part. Ior Ruin was just an enchantment. Fate Foretold is an Aura. Auras are going to be dependent upon the power of their targets. And Fate Foretold has the most perfect target possible, Keening Apparition.
Bonus! It's written all over the combo when you can pull it off. Drawing two cards while taking care of a threatening Aura or even killing one of the Bestow threats is fantastic, and my aura-abusing aggro deck could not keep up with the card advantage and combat versatility this pair could generate. I see now that even in corner cases, the Apparition can draw the extra card as Fate Foretold itself provides a target for the sacrifice ability. You can get your two cards automatically, and you'll get them when you blow up an Eidolon with two other auras attached after chump-blocking another threat.
Now I'm not a perfect enough Magic player to know what goes to the graveyard first, Keening Apparition or Fate Foretold (pretty sure it's the creature). But I'm positive you just got some cool value out of playing these two together. Even in the worst case, Fate Foretold always cycles for two mana and with the heavy amount of removal around, it's kind of nice to at least get a card out of things when your dudes get killed. Once again I'm glad a card that initially appeared a bit weak found some work.
Apparition even does work for us here! You get a bonus Card of the Day, and I get to take a day off blogging to focus on hosting SPDC Season 19 Worlds on Magic Online at 8:30 PM Eastern tomorrow night. I hope to see you there. Peace,
- C
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Tuesday Post-Tournament Post - MPDC 23.09
It's the second week in a row that White Weenie has defeated a Red Deck in the finals match of MPDC in the Standard Pauper tournament scene And just like last week, the White pilot was BigBee with the same list he won with before! It seems another winning streak could be underway. The burn decks were a bit different from last week, though, as was the rest of the Top Eight. Once again, some defining archetypes returned while some entirely new ideas emerged victorious. Check out the full metagame report for a closer look at some of these innovative new decks.
As for me, there was just one little difference between the Boros Aggro list I used yesterday to finish in the Top Four, my best all season. The last time I played Boros I found myself still having trouble stumbling on mana because of color requirements.
The biggest offender in Boros was Rakdos-Shred Freak, whose double red conflicted with the guilded cost of Wojek Halberdiers in the two-drop slot. Freak is a great turn two play and gets very aggressive in multiples, working especially well in Red Decks and Monoblack.
But in the long run, I'd get more difficult turn twos and more late game draws where he's just another one toughness non-threat on a controlled board. Or just three more life points for Dimir Mill to gain from Crypt Incursion when they inevitably die. The problem wasn't just the casting cost. The problem was that Shred Freak was a creature. One that was not dealing enough damage in the long game in a meta dominated by long game decks.
As for me, there was just one little difference between the Boros Aggro list I used yesterday to finish in the Top Four, my best all season. The last time I played Boros I found myself still having trouble stumbling on mana because of color requirements.
The biggest offender in Boros was Rakdos-Shred Freak, whose double red conflicted with the guilded cost of Wojek Halberdiers in the two-drop slot. Freak is a great turn two play and gets very aggressive in multiples, working especially well in Red Decks and Monoblack.But in the long run, I'd get more difficult turn twos and more late game draws where he's just another one toughness non-threat on a controlled board. Or just three more life points for Dimir Mill to gain from Crypt Incursion when they inevitably die. The problem wasn't just the casting cost. The problem was that Shred Freak was a creature. One that was not dealing enough damage in the long game in a meta dominated by long game decks.
Razortip Whip fixed all of that. As a traditional artifact, it's the easiest card to cast in the deck. It deals more damage in the long run and gives me some extra use out of my spare lands. It's not easy to deal with, and any sideboard with artifact hate will end up diluting its plan to deal with my swarm of creatures, which are all solid enough with Rakdos Shred-Freak.
Freaks did work great in the scary-looking Red Deck piloted to second place by NT_Smith, though. We were both running with Akroan Crusaders and plenty of stuff to throw at him for token swarms, but his used a solid suite of direct damage instants differs wildly from Boros. Some builds have packed burn spells before, and I've tried to fit them in, but to try and stuff a burn strategy in a deck that's already working two angles (swarm and enchantments) has proved too much so far.
But there were times, especially in the critical match against BigBee's White Weenie that overwhelmed me in the semifinals, one stupid Shock or "Bolt" would have either kept me alive long enough to find another out or just sealed the deal for me. This is probably going to be the next angle to explore with my Boros Aggro project if other aggro decks like White Weenie or Boros Aggro itself become more prevalent.
I believe Standard Pauper players will definitely have to adjust to White Weenie now. We've already had one deck and pilot win two weeks in a row with Mill, and that went on to win a third time and is still heavily present in the environment. We'll have to wait until the new year to see if Monowhite Aggro matches Dimir Mill's winning streak after MPDC takes a two-week holiday break.
In the meantime, I will be hosting the SPDC Season 19 Worlds Tournament this Thursday at 8:30 PM Eastern Time. The event will be open to all who wish to participate in order to make up for the fact that the series is just returning after a drop-off. Closing the season in a fun and clean way is the goal for me, and I'm interested to see how many of the top players from the past years' season I can whip up into attending. Stay tuned, and thanks for stopping by! Peace,
- C
Monday, December 16, 2013
Standard Pauper Card of the Day: Razortip Whip
Once again I have to apologize for a missed deadline as there was no Weekend Update. The excuse this time comes in the form of eight inches of powder falling over the weekend as well as some increased musical activity. I'll share more about that last bit someday, but for now, I'm pressed for time again and still need to make some changes to my Boros Aggro deck before MPDC starts today.
But I've got time for a pretty interesting Standard Pauper Card of the Day that I'll be going into battle with:
One of the things I make sure to do on the blog is link to a place to purchase an online copy of the card (always to MTGO Traders, because they support Standard Pauper more than anyone else) in case you don't yet own a copy. I had to stock up on these after they made their debut in the metagame long after their Gatecrash release. They didn't look like much then, but these days they count for a lot more than met the eye.
Whip was first employed to break Dimir Mill mirrors from the sidebaord. These acted as an extra "ping" threat akin to the Archaeomancers that served as the back-up plan to milling the opponent to death in the original version of the deck. The nice thing about them was the neither list had anything beyond counterspells that could interact with an artifact. They were guaranteed to stick and put the opponent on a more strict clock than any creature could.
Soon, Whip became used even more. According to a Gatherling search, it's been featured in over 20 decks entered in Standard Pauper contests, from Dimir Mill itself to aggressive Red-based builds and controlling Black ones and even completely unrelated Azorius builds!
But I've got time for a pretty interesting Standard Pauper Card of the Day that I'll be going into battle with:
Razortip Whip - MTGO Traders - 0.02 Tix
Whip was first employed to break Dimir Mill mirrors from the sidebaord. These acted as an extra "ping" threat akin to the Archaeomancers that served as the back-up plan to milling the opponent to death in the original version of the deck. The nice thing about them was the neither list had anything beyond counterspells that could interact with an artifact. They were guaranteed to stick and put the opponent on a more strict clock than any creature could.
Soon, Whip became used even more. According to a Gatherling search, it's been featured in over 20 decks entered in Standard Pauper contests, from Dimir Mill itself to aggressive Red-based builds and controlling Black ones and even completely unrelated Azorius builds!
Presently, sideboards are starting to feature artifact-hate and one would be hard pressed to cite a source other than Razortip Whip to justify such inclusions. I like when older cards that get overlooked upon their release finally reveal themselves to be relevant. It helps prove that Standard Pauper is always evolving and the small card pool has more opportunities to explore than meets the eye.
Off to go find some sideboard or maindeck space for a couple more! Thanks for reading, and sorry for the delay again. Peace,
- C
Friday, December 13, 2013
I Think It's Thursday...But It's Freakin' Friday!
Sorry about the missed post yesterday, folks. I think I've got a good excuse: I was re-acquainting myself with the hosting process for running Standard Pauper tournaments on Magic Online!
And the SPDC 19.37 and Last Chance Qualifier event did fire and go off without a hitch. I'm happy to report we had just enough players to make it a real tournament, there were no client or computer freezes on my end, and hosting has become kind of like riding a bike. This bodes very well for the future of the SPDC series.
You can see how the tournament played out in the Gatherling Metagame Report. Despite a low turnout, there are still interesting developments for the format we haven't seen in the MPDC series yet. Blue-White Control has won for the first time during Theros-era Standard Pauper, thanks to GodZo's innovations and piloting with Azorius Fortress.
But DrChrisBakerDC's Izzet Razor-Burn put up a good fight in the finals after a strong performance all night. I'll bet DrChris will have something to say about his build over at his Draft Brewery pauper blog...
Oooh, lookie here! Read up on this awesome new archetype from the horse's mouth :-)
As for me, I can say I've been thinking about crafting a "bigger" Izzet strategy to face both Dimir Mill and Monoblack while still holding fast against the aggro strategies also gunning for those two. Also, I'm looking for other ways to abuse the card in common to Mill and the new Azorius and Izzet builds: Archaeomancer! Much more on her to come. For now, though, I'm just glad the event went smoothly and I'm looking forward to hosting the next one.
Speaking of which, SPDC Season 19 Worlds will take place the next time I think it's Thursday. Hopefully it's not freakin' Friday by the time the time that happens! Seriously, though, I will keep players posted in the coming days as to the particulars of next Thursday's event. As for now, I'm off to figure out how to craft a trophy for GodZo to commemorate this victory. Thanks for playing and following along. Peace,
- C
And the SPDC 19.37 and Last Chance Qualifier event did fire and go off without a hitch. I'm happy to report we had just enough players to make it a real tournament, there were no client or computer freezes on my end, and hosting has become kind of like riding a bike. This bodes very well for the future of the SPDC series.
You can see how the tournament played out in the Gatherling Metagame Report. Despite a low turnout, there are still interesting developments for the format we haven't seen in the MPDC series yet. Blue-White Control has won for the first time during Theros-era Standard Pauper, thanks to GodZo's innovations and piloting with Azorius Fortress.But DrChrisBakerDC's Izzet Razor-Burn put up a good fight in the finals after a strong performance all night. I'll bet DrChris will have something to say about his build over at his Draft Brewery pauper blog...
Oooh, lookie here! Read up on this awesome new archetype from the horse's mouth :-)
As for me, I can say I've been thinking about crafting a "bigger" Izzet strategy to face both Dimir Mill and Monoblack while still holding fast against the aggro strategies also gunning for those two. Also, I'm looking for other ways to abuse the card in common to Mill and the new Azorius and Izzet builds: Archaeomancer! Much more on her to come. For now, though, I'm just glad the event went smoothly and I'm looking forward to hosting the next one.Speaking of which, SPDC Season 19 Worlds will take place the next time I think it's Thursday. Hopefully it's not freakin' Friday by the time the time that happens! Seriously, though, I will keep players posted in the coming days as to the particulars of next Thursday's event. As for now, I'm off to figure out how to craft a trophy for GodZo to commemorate this victory. Thanks for playing and following along. Peace,
- C
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Wacky Wednesdays - Pauper Dailies Whacked!
It's a great time for the Standard Pauper tournament scene - the revived MPDC series is halfway through its new season and the revival of SPDC starts tomorrow! But Classic Pauper players just got whacked by Wizards big time.
I did not notice Monday's announcement as I was too focused on Standard Pauper, but apparently Wizards has completely pulled support for Classic Pauper Daily Events on MTGO. The Pauper community is all abuzz about this (check out this long thread on Reddit) and the vast majority of them are not happy. Not one little bit. They are correct in saying this is whack.
I can't add much to the discusion because I rarely play Classic Pauper and have never participated in a DE. The Player Run Events offered by PDCMagic have always served my Magic gaming needs. But I acknowledge that Dailies have a huge following and that Pauper Dailies in particular have a strong following and legacy on Magic Online. Classic Pauper players often experiment with Standard, so this inadvertently affects us, too.
I will only say that this is also blow to Standard Pauper players. Many of us are hoping for the same kind of official support for our format that Classic Pauper recieves. I was even more optimistic this was on the way when we got our filter a short while ago. But now that WotC is pulling support for the big Pauper format, I'm not as hopeful that Standard Pauper will get any Dailies anytime soon. I hope Classic gets theirs back as soon as possible.
In the meantime, some are suggesting that PREs are a good way to fill the void. If Wizards is going to actively destroy opportunities to play Pauper, then by golly, us Pauper players are just going to have to actively create new opportunities ourselves. Sure, it requires players to step up to host, but I've found before that hosting is a fun and rewarding challenge. I'm up for it again, with accidentally good timing. So if you're a Classic Pauper player whose Daily just got whacked (thanks, Wizards!) then I encourage you to stop by the Anything Goes room tomorrow at 8:30 PM, Eastern Time, for the Standard Pauper Deck Challenge event!
Until then, I offer my condolences to Classic Pauper players everywhere. Give Standard Pauper a try while we wait for Wizards to get their act together. See you soon and have a Wacky Wednesday! Peace,
- C
I did not notice Monday's announcement as I was too focused on Standard Pauper, but apparently Wizards has completely pulled support for Classic Pauper Daily Events on MTGO. The Pauper community is all abuzz about this (check out this long thread on Reddit) and the vast majority of them are not happy. Not one little bit. They are correct in saying this is whack.
I can't add much to the discusion because I rarely play Classic Pauper and have never participated in a DE. The Player Run Events offered by PDCMagic have always served my Magic gaming needs. But I acknowledge that Dailies have a huge following and that Pauper Dailies in particular have a strong following and legacy on Magic Online. Classic Pauper players often experiment with Standard, so this inadvertently affects us, too.
I will only say that this is also blow to Standard Pauper players. Many of us are hoping for the same kind of official support for our format that Classic Pauper recieves. I was even more optimistic this was on the way when we got our filter a short while ago. But now that WotC is pulling support for the big Pauper format, I'm not as hopeful that Standard Pauper will get any Dailies anytime soon. I hope Classic gets theirs back as soon as possible.
In the meantime, some are suggesting that PREs are a good way to fill the void. If Wizards is going to actively destroy opportunities to play Pauper, then by golly, us Pauper players are just going to have to actively create new opportunities ourselves. Sure, it requires players to step up to host, but I've found before that hosting is a fun and rewarding challenge. I'm up for it again, with accidentally good timing. So if you're a Classic Pauper player whose Daily just got whacked (thanks, Wizards!) then I encourage you to stop by the Anything Goes room tomorrow at 8:30 PM, Eastern Time, for the Standard Pauper Deck Challenge event!
Until then, I offer my condolences to Classic Pauper players everywhere. Give Standard Pauper a try while we wait for Wizards to get their act together. See you soon and have a Wacky Wednesday! Peace,
- C
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Tuesday Post-Tournament Post - MPDC 23.08
The MPDC series broke 30 players yesterday at MPDC 23.08. The Top 8 players favored mono-colored decks this week, with BigBee's White Weenie taking the gold in the finals against dueyutah's Red Deck. As for me, we won't get too into that. All I'll say is played my Boros Auras deck
one more time and barely avoided very last place. It was fun for a bit, but now I've reached that point in the season where I just don't know what to play.
Dimir Mill seems to be dropping off slightly, though it is still a huge metagame consideration (one player even showed up with a 90-card deck, presumably to fight this). Mono Black Control is fast replacing it as the top control deck to beat. And stumbling on mana against either one really isn't much of an option. This keeps on happening to me with Boros Aggro, and I suspect I'll run into the same trouble if I try out the Selesnya Tokens or Simic Evolve decks that have been popping up and sparking my interest.Chances are this week I'll load up a stock list that I feel has a good chance to auto-pilot me to a decent showing. Right now, I'm concentrating a little harder on reviving the SPDC series, which starts again in just two more days!
In any case, despite a poor performance, I really enjoyed yesterday's MPDC and I'm really looking forward to hosting the next Standard Pauper event and hope to see you there! Until then, good luck & have fun! Peace,
- C
Monday, December 9, 2013
Monday Musings: Return to Hosting for SPDC
Welcome to the third week of blogging on Cabel the Pauper. It's Monday and the MPDC Standard Pauper tournament is about to start. I'm looking to outdo myself with Boros Aggro and Auras once again. But that's really not what's got me so excited this week. I'm guns-a-blazing getting ready to return to hosting Standard Pauper events myself by reviving the dormant and long-running SPDC series!
Right now, there is only one Standard Pauper weekly Player Run Event on Magic Online. MPDC is run on Mondays at 2:00 pm Eastern because this caters to Europeans during their evening down time from work and family. But it used to be that PDCMagic would run two Standard Pauper tournaments, and this series was the first. "SPDC" stands for "Standard Pauper Deck Challenge" and first began in 2006. Many hosts have lead this Thursday night event to provide a convenient time slot for American players to get the same chance to play competitive Standard Pauper for prizes. And glory!
But for the past few months, the current season has been without a host. Now, just at the time when a new Standard Pauper Clan arises and the old host of MPDC, gwyned, returns to regular events, it seems fitting that if I've got Thursday nights free and clear to provide that opportunity once again. So I'm bringing back SPDC!
PDCMagic will continue to sponsor the series with 15 tix worth of prizes each tournament. We'll be using the PDCMagic.com Gatherling feature for registration, reporting, and deck list posting just like MPDC. And I'll keep things at the traditional time slot, that is Thursdays at 9:00 PM, Eastern Time.
And I'm getting started this week with the SPDC 19.37 & LCQ event!
More info is sure to follow. After I "sleeve up" my deck for today's event! I hope to see you there and wish you good luck & good games. Peace,
- C
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Weekend Update: Quality Over Quantity
If you are one of my handful of regular readers, you probably noticed I took a day off yesterday. There was no Card of the Day or weekly column to speak of. To be honest, I just didn't have the energy yesterday. I had gotten back from playing a show at five in the morning. After something like that, I pretty much sleep and don't get up to do any work...unless it's to get back in the van and rush off to the next gig!
In any case, this missed deadline means it's time to pick up where I left off with the Weekend Update last week, wherein I allowed myself to write this weekend column instead of continuing with daily posts. This seems like a good time to consider an even further reduction in content for two main reasons.
First of all is my own real life. It seems two posts a day are too much to fit into my daily schedule, but I'm sure I can manage once a day and still get things up even when something extra like an on-the-road gig comes my way. Also, like I mentioned last week, I'm still doing more writing about Standard Pauper than playing of Standard Pauper! That might make for some well-written sentences and paragraphs, but eventually my topics (and my plays!) are going to be irrelevant if this imbalance is maintained.
This blog has to be about quality, not quantity.
And second of all, there is a higher quantity of quality Standard Pauper writings out there than ever before. This blog is just one of many places reporting on the format, part of a recent mini-explosion of regular new content. Even if I didn't update daily, one could still discover something new about Standard Pauper every day at other awesome sites. So my audience really doesn't need one guy posting a dozen times a week because there's half a dozen other guys posting once or twice.
So I'm concluding that two-posts-a-day was overkill; it was quantity over quality. But the first couple weeks of posting too much wasn't without it's good side-effects. It was fun, for sure, and I needed some technical practice with the new Blogger interface. I had to come up with the themes to keep me on task, and I believe I will use them in future. Sometimes I'll do a Wacky Wednesday or Top 5 Friday, and if I haven't got time for that sort of thing, a Card of the Day or some other short musing should do.
And some days, I think I'll just point you to other awesome Standard Pauper articles - they are popping up like wildfire. Here's one the best I've ever read just to get started, from DrChrisBakerDC over at The Draft Brewery, Ten Reasons To Play Standard Pauper. Enjoy!
I'll still keep the Weekend Update to let you know if any other changes to the Blog are in the works, or just continue random musings about Magic before taking my day off :-) Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the weekend! See you next week. Until then, good luck! Peace,
- C
In any case, this missed deadline means it's time to pick up where I left off with the Weekend Update last week, wherein I allowed myself to write this weekend column instead of continuing with daily posts. This seems like a good time to consider an even further reduction in content for two main reasons.
First of all is my own real life. It seems two posts a day are too much to fit into my daily schedule, but I'm sure I can manage once a day and still get things up even when something extra like an on-the-road gig comes my way. Also, like I mentioned last week, I'm still doing more writing about Standard Pauper than playing of Standard Pauper! That might make for some well-written sentences and paragraphs, but eventually my topics (and my plays!) are going to be irrelevant if this imbalance is maintained.
This blog has to be about quality, not quantity.
And second of all, there is a higher quantity of quality Standard Pauper writings out there than ever before. This blog is just one of many places reporting on the format, part of a recent mini-explosion of regular new content. Even if I didn't update daily, one could still discover something new about Standard Pauper every day at other awesome sites. So my audience really doesn't need one guy posting a dozen times a week because there's half a dozen other guys posting once or twice.
So I'm concluding that two-posts-a-day was overkill; it was quantity over quality. But the first couple weeks of posting too much wasn't without it's good side-effects. It was fun, for sure, and I needed some technical practice with the new Blogger interface. I had to come up with the themes to keep me on task, and I believe I will use them in future. Sometimes I'll do a Wacky Wednesday or Top 5 Friday, and if I haven't got time for that sort of thing, a Card of the Day or some other short musing should do.
And some days, I think I'll just point you to other awesome Standard Pauper articles - they are popping up like wildfire. Here's one the best I've ever read just to get started, from DrChrisBakerDC over at The Draft Brewery, Ten Reasons To Play Standard Pauper. Enjoy!
I'll still keep the Weekend Update to let you know if any other changes to the Blog are in the works, or just continue random musings about Magic before taking my day off :-) Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the weekend! See you next week. Until then, good luck! Peace,
- C
Thursday, December 5, 2013
I Think It's Thursday: Magic and Philosophy
At least I'm pretty sure this is Thursday. I have a show tonight in the Adirondack Mountains with my old band, Black Mountain Symphony, so it feels like the weekend...
So I'll be quick. Last week I noted that philosophy has become as important a hobby to me as playing music Pauper Magic. It seems to me a marriage of any two of theses makes sense to explore as well, the ones that marry philosophy and any of my other interests are the most worthwhile to me.
That's what the Philosophy of Magic is, the combination of the two, both applied to the other at once.
That's a broad generatlization for some specifics that I haven't figured out yet. Surely other thinkers also enjoy this game and do the same from time to time. How might Kant's categorical imperative apply to tough game states? What might Walter Benjamin have thought of the aesthetics of the game? What's the logic behind how Richard Garfield's design that makes everything work?
I've found similar questions asked of other areas of arts and entertainment, namely in series of books that take on pop culture phenomena and delve into the philosophy of them. These include the Blackwell/Open Court Pop Culture and Philosophy series that famously began with Seinfeld and Philosophy.
::
The THOUGHT for today is simple: I'd like to see a Magic and Philosophy book published in the same way. The game is certainly a pop culture phenomenon and its design, mechanics, following, game play, and subject matter all lend themselves just as well to philosophical examination as the television shows, movies, musicians, and other games that have been written about. Hopefully someday Magic will get the same treatment as these sitcoms and rock bands.
And now I'm off to play in a rock band myself! Until next time, good luck! Peace,
- C
So I'll be quick. Last week I noted that philosophy has become as important a hobby to me as playing music Pauper Magic. It seems to me a marriage of any two of theses makes sense to explore as well, the ones that marry philosophy and any of my other interests are the most worthwhile to me.
That's what the Philosophy of Magic is, the combination of the two, both applied to the other at once.
That's a broad generatlization for some specifics that I haven't figured out yet. Surely other thinkers also enjoy this game and do the same from time to time. How might Kant's categorical imperative apply to tough game states? What might Walter Benjamin have thought of the aesthetics of the game? What's the logic behind how Richard Garfield's design that makes everything work?
I've found similar questions asked of other areas of arts and entertainment, namely in series of books that take on pop culture phenomena and delve into the philosophy of them. These include the Blackwell/Open Court Pop Culture and Philosophy series that famously began with Seinfeld and Philosophy.
::
The THOUGHT for today is simple: I'd like to see a Magic and Philosophy book published in the same way. The game is certainly a pop culture phenomenon and its design, mechanics, following, game play, and subject matter all lend themselves just as well to philosophical examination as the television shows, movies, musicians, and other games that have been written about. Hopefully someday Magic will get the same treatment as these sitcoms and rock bands.
And now I'm off to play in a rock band myself! Until next time, good luck! Peace,
- C
Standard Pauper Carte du Jure: Traveling Philosopher
This is an appropriate choice for Thursdays, which are philosophy-focused days here. One of the things I like about philosophy is that it aids in figuring out how things are no good or just plain wrong. And I really don't think this card is any good at achieving what it's trying to do and the flavor is wrong on so many levels:
So what's my beef with this card? There's obviously nothing wrong with it from a mechanical standpoint. White typically gets a vanilla 2/2 in at least one set of every block, usually the big set like Theros. It's a hole that needs to be filled for Limited play, so the only real thing Wizards has to do is make the flavor fit and just call a Grizzly Bear something else. But filling in a mechanical hole only to leave a flavor chasm is not acceptable.
That's my beef with this card: how am I supposed to accept that a Human Advisor in soft robes who calls herself a "philosopher" acts exactly the same way from a mechanical standpoint as a hulking, angry mass of fur? I mean, even the flavor text points out that this lady doesn't win her battles through brute force but through words, just as a philosopher should. So why the lack of any white-styled ability to show this mechanically?
Travelling Philosopher should have been a card more in line with the every other Advisor ever printed. There are tap-down abilities white has access to that fit in perfectly with the story told on the card. There are life gain and card drawing and pump effects that could represent the effect that hearing a Traveling Philosopher might have on other creatures. But to try to pass off a card as a philosopher when it's clearly just a plain-old white-washed bear!?
Yeah, that's not gonna work with somebody who actually knows a little something about philosophy. Good thing white has plenty more options in Standard Pauper so I do not have to even consider adding this piece of flavor fail to our decks. We'll have good luck and have fun and good games without it. Thanks for reading! Peace,
- C
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Standard Pauper Carte du Jure: Ethereal Armor
Since we are in White this week and the current Standard & Pauper side story is about all the Aura decks in the format, it's only fitting to make the Card of the Day the Enchantment that makes it all possible.
The appearance of Ethereal Armor in Return to Ravnica wasn't really much of big deal, but you can see how Wizards designs for inter-block synergy. Given Theros would include more enchantments than usual thanks to the Bestow mechanic, I'll be they decided to place this card in a bordering block to make sure Theros limited did not get out of hand.
And luckily, things haven't gotten out of hand in Standard Pauper. While Armor is strong in a deck built around it (an to be an Aura deck, you pretty much have to) it can still be answered by any number of enchantment hate cards. And which color has the best access to these? White, of course!
Anyway, so far Ethereal Armor has been the starting point for the many Aura Decks in Standard Pauper. Three of the Top Eight decks at this week's MPDC featured it as their base. So they are doing better than before thanks to this powerful aura and we'll have to stay tuned to see if they get even better. Good luck & good games with that! Peace,
- C
The appearance of Ethereal Armor in Return to Ravnica wasn't really much of big deal, but you can see how Wizards designs for inter-block synergy. Given Theros would include more enchantments than usual thanks to the Bestow mechanic, I'll be they decided to place this card in a bordering block to make sure Theros limited did not get out of hand.
And luckily, things haven't gotten out of hand in Standard Pauper. While Armor is strong in a deck built around it (an to be an Aura deck, you pretty much have to) it can still be answered by any number of enchantment hate cards. And which color has the best access to these? White, of course!
Anyway, so far Ethereal Armor has been the starting point for the many Aura Decks in Standard Pauper. Three of the Top Eight decks at this week's MPDC featured it as their base. So they are doing better than before thanks to this powerful aura and we'll have to stay tuned to see if they get even better. Good luck & good games with that! Peace,
- C
Wacky Wednesday: Color Screw is Whack!
You know, while I do love this game, sometimes I hate it. The color wheel may be the nuts and bolts of Magic, but sometimes it just acts like a wacky screw. Especially if you're going for two-color Aggro like Boros in Standard Pauper.
I'm still a bit torn about color-smoothness in two-color aggro and a very, very bad mana base mathematician., are Prisms a good idea here? I'm thinking of keeping them as the fourth and fifth cantrip to compliment Dragon Mantle. They seem like a good way to get rid of whack color screw and provide a little extra gas to guild-based aggro decks.
What do you think? Is raising the curve with a non-threat only going to hurt an aggro deck, or is this a better option than our "Shimmery" functional reprint...that...isn't too functional in this deck style? Or just share you favorite color-screw-induced bad beats story :-) Thanks for reading and have a Wacky Wednesday! Peace,
- C
I ran into a lot of color-screw with Boros last week, but not this time. I included two Prophetic Prisms and singleton Unknown Shores to assist my Gates to make sure I could cast my golden three-drops. But I may have overcompensated: I ended up trading color screw for tempo screw at some points (thanks, shuffler, for giving me all my color fixing by my first draw step!). Prisms did topdeck and manafix me to speed up a couple of starts.
Unknown Shores, though? See ya when I splash black for Crypt :-)
I'm still a bit torn about color-smoothness in two-color aggro and a very, very bad mana base mathematician., are Prisms a good idea here? I'm thinking of keeping them as the fourth and fifth cantrip to compliment Dragon Mantle. They seem like a good way to get rid of whack color screw and provide a little extra gas to guild-based aggro decks.
What do you think? Is raising the curve with a non-threat only going to hurt an aggro deck, or is this a better option than our "Shimmery" functional reprint...that...isn't too functional in this deck style? Or just share you favorite color-screw-induced bad beats story :-) Thanks for reading and have a Wacky Wednesday! Peace,
- C
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Standard Pauper Carte du Jure: Gods Willing
I mentioned during the Post-Tournament Post that the MVP of my Aura Boros Aggro was without-a-doubt this one:
Gods Willing got me through my toughest match of the night, Round One against long-time Dimir Control player moromete. This fellow always comes up with the meanest blue and black control decks every time the card pool shifts, and then has good sense to pilot them like the Red Baron. I knew my deck would face the fiercest competition possible right off the bat and if I could make it past this, I was in good shape. And his Esper list had even more options to destroy me. But I had white, too. I had Gods Willing!
In key moments in both games, this card solidified my path to victory more than any other. First it staved off an early Voyage's End, which meant I not only saved my guy but got to scry into more aggression instead of my opponent scry'ing for more answers. Second, it invalidated a Grisly Spectacle when all he had to block my lone dude were other black creatures, allowing me to safely unload my pump and swing for twelve lethal points. These were the most pivotal of several examples of Gods Willing consistently saving my butt all night.
This is why I saw early on that Gods Willing is the glue that really keeps an Aura-based Boros deck together. Almost any Aura deck will want it and it has great applications as a surprising singleton in control. I expect Gods Willing to remain one of the tricks to watch out for as long as Theros is in Standard.
That's the Card of the Day for this Tuesday. There's more White cards and Boros Aggro to follow all week. Thanks for reading, good luck & have fun! Peace,
- C
Tuesday Post-Tournament Post - MPDC 23.07
Yesterday's MPDC 23.07 event finally broke what I've dubbed "The Dimir Milling Streak." As for me, I ended a long streak of games as well...as losing streak! I took my Boros list from last week that failed to make the cut to Top Eight and turned it inside out. I lowered the curve to make it faster. I stuffed in more haste. I even turned it into Aura deck at the same time. And this time, it got me past the wall.
It took a little bit of experimentation to the get he numbers seeming right. I knew space would be tight and I would be sacrificing the consistency of Boros by lowering the creature count to make room for the Auras suite. So I ended up making the somewhat weird-looking choice to only go with two copies of Ethereal Armor even though these are the most powerful Aura on its face. What's the deal with that?
The results were pleasing, and I think if I'd played better throughout the event I'd have had an easier time of making it into the playoffs and pressing onward. The deck really only gave me awkward draws related to mana, which I think is my fault, too. Considering this, if I can make so many mistakes all night and still get to the second half of the tournament, then perhaps I've finally found a decent list. Or at least the start of one. I call it...
| MAINDECK | |
| Creatures | |
| 4 Akroan Crusader | |
| 4 Wojek Halberdiers | |
| 3 Foundry Street Denizen | |
| 3 Hopeful Eidolon | |
| 3 Minotaur Skullcleaver | |
| 3 Rakdos Shred-Freak | |
| 3 Viashino Firstblade | |
| 2 Auramancer | |
| Spells | |
| 3 Dragon Mantle | |
| 3 Gods Willing | |
| 3 Madcap Skills | |
| 3 Titan's Strength | |
| 2 Ethereal Armor | |
| 2 Prophetic Prism | |
| Lands | |
| 9 Mountain | |
| 6 Plains | |
| 4 Boros Guildgate | |
| 1 Unknown Shores | |
| SIDEBOARD |
| 3 Razortip Whip |
| 3 Keening Apparition |
| 3 Electrickery |
| 3 Chandra's Outrage |
| 3 Celestial Flare |
It took a little bit of experimentation to the get he numbers seeming right. I knew space would be tight and I would be sacrificing the consistency of Boros by lowering the creature count to make room for the Auras suite. So I ended up making the somewhat weird-looking choice to only go with two copies of Ethereal Armor even though these are the most powerful Aura on its face. What's the deal with that?
The thing is, I found Armor became a win-more card for when things were already working out here than in other Aura decks, where it's a pure backbone card. Also, Madcap Skills is just perfect as a three-of in Boros; this was not my innovation, so I did not want to touch it. The decision came down to the balance between Armor, Dragon Mantle, and Titan's Strength, two spells that have been doing well in aggressive Monored builds In the end, I went the more red route and ended up relying less on the optimal draws Armor wants and just ended up with draws to begin with. This helped me out tremendously in testing and in-tournament and I would still get the concessional Eidolin + Armor god draw.
I was also taking my new one-drop into consideration, taking a build-around me approach. Akroan Crusader can be a real nastyman, especially in an opening hand with any of of the buffs. Some of my testing matches before the tournament convinced me when I was able to swing for almost half my opponent's life total on the second turn. No joke, give the deck a test run and see how high you can get your second turn swing! You just need one of the other dudes and some buffs. More on these in later post since Boros is the Deck of the Week.
Above all, the real MPV of the deck is not any of its creatures or auras or pump spells. It's Gods Willing. No contest. More about this later in the Card of the Day since I haven't even mentioned the players who did even better than Boros.
The trophy honors went to Grociu's Monoblack control, giving the archetype its second win this season. All this talk about how mean, nasty, and prevalent Dimir Mill is has kind of overshadowed this beast. In fact, it seems Dimir Mill has failed to place at all! Are happy days here again? Or have we traded one awful control build for another?
Only time will tell, and there are plenty of contenders to knock Control off the throne developing. The rest of the players who had success after the Swiss had as wide a variety of decks as we've seen all season. Gwyned's new Turtle Power! deck based around Nivix Cyclops took second place and is the most refreshing entry to me, but there's even more variety this week, from new Simic strategies to trie-and-true Hexproof.
Looks like some changes are a-happenin'! We're already pretty much halfway through the season and the environment is still in far from solved. See you around the second half the season! Thanks for reading, good games, and good luck. Peace,
- C
Monday, December 2, 2013
Standard Pauper Carte du Jure: Court Street Denizen
Because why not mix up the languages for my intended international audience? Anyway, Court Street Denizen is a great first Card of the Day for a White-themed week. This girl is just chock full of flavor:
All that and, hey, she doesn't look he'd do too bad in a Standard Pauper deck. Let's see if she shows up in Boros, Azorius, or White Weenie deck at today's tournament. Good luck & have fun. Peace,
- C
PS: I'm also happy to report that my first article in the revived Standard & Pauper series has been published on PureMTGO! I Hope you enjoy reading those, too.
So much thematically related to White's philosophy and place in the color pie are shown here, it's hard to tell where to begin! We've got two signature creature types, a trigger that hones in on the color's communal nature, and a tap-down ability that is another very white ability.
And what about that revealing flavor text? That's a pretty direct statement of color pie philosophy that rarely appears on a card. This a great example about the weighty philosophical issues that Magic's color pie can represent, which is a testament to the power of a game design tool that is at once logical and aesthetic.
All that and, hey, she doesn't look he'd do too bad in a Standard Pauper deck. Let's see if she shows up in Boros, Azorius, or White Weenie deck at today's tournament. Good luck & have fun. Peace,
- C
PS: I'm also happy to report that my first article in the revived Standard & Pauper series has been published on PureMTGO! I Hope you enjoy reading those, too.
Monday Matchup: White & Boros Aggro
Welcome to the first full week of blogging on Cabel the Pauper! This is also the final entry where I will establish the schedule for this week. Monday is the beginning of the new week and is also the day of the Monday Pauper Deck Challenge Standard Pauper tournament. So before that starts at 2:00, I'll get up the Card of the Day, let you in on what the themes will be this week, and share a few pre-tournament Standard Pauper thoughts.
Just like the first partial week on the blog saw a Red theme, I'll have a prismatic standard bearer to keep the blog focused starting each Monday. This does not mean we're going from red to blue to black to white to green and back again every five weeks. Not by a long shot. I count thirty-one total color combinations, not counting colorless, which should allow me to offer a decent variety.
Seeing as how I've been writing about Red for days now, it's only fitting I switch it up. We'll get started right at the beginning for this week and just go with White as the weeks' color on Cabel the Pauper. I'm still in establishment mode so I'll skip a basic description for now. But note that for the future I'll be getting even more specific and move on to focusing on just one aspect of the color, guild, shard, or wedge being considered. For now, white-in-general is our color on Cabel the Pauper.
Moving on, I'll also establish a Standard Pauper deck to focus on all week, usually the one I'm working on most and about to play in MPDC. You know, so that everybody can sideboard against me specifically and continue my epic losing streak :-)
And this week I am still working on Boros Aggro. I know I've already written about me playing such a deck, but hear me out. I am the type of guy who keeps plugging away when it comes to winning games of Magic. If I truly believe a deck has the potential to win but I end up losing, I'm not one to drop the project and move on immediately. I go back to the drawing board, do more tweaking and playtesting, sometimes even consider an entirely new angle, and try, try again.
Last week I focused on the Battalion and Unleash aspects of Boros and did not make the cut to Top Eight. I've been checking out other Boros lists that have and tried to keep the core cards from those builds. Might as well use what works! But I've also taken note that this deck archetype can go several different directions. And it has been successful in each of them. Here's a quick run-down:
First, you have your basic Boros Aggro build, or at least the build that established the decks potential when rhysticy won MPDC 23.03 with a creature-heavy list. The key innovations I see here is the use of Madcap Skills to push through even more damage along with two key copies of God's Willing and less than a playset of burn spells.
The pure beatdown approach was first attempted in the first event of the season by PRObosczcz with his Humans-style Boros build based around the tribal synergy of Cavalry Pegasus.
Finally, there was Gamelen's major revision by adopting a Boros Tokens strategy one week ago. I'm always interested in decks that make tokens so I'll be keeping my eye out for improvements to the deck. I'll definitely be giving it a spin later this week after my experiment with my own approach to Boros.
Which is what? Well, you'll just have to stop by tomorrow for my tournament report after MPDC. Or, just come to the tournament and play some friendly but competitive games of Standard Pauper with me and a host of other great folks to duel with. Hope to see you there! Thanks for reading, good luck & have fun! Peace,
- C
Color(s) of the Week: White
Old School White Symbol, Baby!
Just like the first partial week on the blog saw a Red theme, I'll have a prismatic standard bearer to keep the blog focused starting each Monday. This does not mean we're going from red to blue to black to white to green and back again every five weeks. Not by a long shot. I count thirty-one total color combinations, not counting colorless, which should allow me to offer a decent variety.
Seeing as how I've been writing about Red for days now, it's only fitting I switch it up. We'll get started right at the beginning for this week and just go with White as the weeks' color on Cabel the Pauper. I'm still in establishment mode so I'll skip a basic description for now. But note that for the future I'll be getting even more specific and move on to focusing on just one aspect of the color, guild, shard, or wedge being considered. For now, white-in-general is our color on Cabel the Pauper.
Moving on, I'll also establish a Standard Pauper deck to focus on all week, usually the one I'm working on most and about to play in MPDC. You know, so that everybody can sideboard against me specifically and continue my epic losing streak :-)
Deck of the Week: BOROS AGGRO
And this week I am still working on Boros Aggro. I know I've already written about me playing such a deck, but hear me out. I am the type of guy who keeps plugging away when it comes to winning games of Magic. If I truly believe a deck has the potential to win but I end up losing, I'm not one to drop the project and move on immediately. I go back to the drawing board, do more tweaking and playtesting, sometimes even consider an entirely new angle, and try, try again.
Last week I focused on the Battalion and Unleash aspects of Boros and did not make the cut to Top Eight. I've been checking out other Boros lists that have and tried to keep the core cards from those builds. Might as well use what works! But I've also taken note that this deck archetype can go several different directions. And it has been successful in each of them. Here's a quick run-down:
First, you have your basic Boros Aggro build, or at least the build that established the decks potential when rhysticy won MPDC 23.03 with a creature-heavy list. The key innovations I see here is the use of Madcap Skills to push through even more damage along with two key copies of God's Willing and less than a playset of burn spells.
The pure beatdown approach was first attempted in the first event of the season by PRObosczcz with his Humans-style Boros build based around the tribal synergy of Cavalry Pegasus.
Finally, there was Gamelen's major revision by adopting a Boros Tokens strategy one week ago. I'm always interested in decks that make tokens so I'll be keeping my eye out for improvements to the deck. I'll definitely be giving it a spin later this week after my experiment with my own approach to Boros.
Which is what? Well, you'll just have to stop by tomorrow for my tournament report after MPDC. Or, just come to the tournament and play some friendly but competitive games of Standard Pauper with me and a host of other great folks to duel with. Hope to see you there! Thanks for reading, good luck & have fun! Peace,
- C
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