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.

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