TOP DECKS OF MARCH 2015
The Top Deck of the format this month was an Aggro build, Azorius Heroic Cruise. This build adds the power of Treasure Cruise to a combination of efficient White and Blue Heroic and Prowess creatures with effective combat tricks to trigger these mechanics, protect threats, and frequently cantrip into more of the same. With four wins, Heroic Cruise has won twice as many events as any other competing archetype. It's performance in the Top Four is also better than any other list, making the cut nine times out of nine, an amazing 100% events-to-playoffs ratio.
Azorius Heroic Cruise
1st Place at MPDC 28.03, March 9th, 2015, by Forli
| Creatures 4 Akroan Skyguard 4 Hopeful Eidolon 4 Wingsteed Rider 2 Jeskai Student 2 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer 16 cards Other Spells 3 Jeskai Sage 4 Defiant Strike 4 Feat of Resistance 4 Gods Willing 4 Treasure Cruise 3 Refocus 2 Chosen By Heliod 18 cards |
Lands 10 Plains 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Tranquil Cove 2 Island 20 cards
Sideboard
3 Negate 3 Retraction Helix 2 Ajani's Presence 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Last Breath 2 Pillar of Light 1 Erase 15 cards |
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That means it's not just the breakout builds of the season. It will go down in history as one of the greatest Standard Pauper decks of all time!
The Metagame is almost evenly split between Aggro and Control strategies, with 19 of the former and 16 of the latter being piloted to Top Four status. The most top-performing Control deck is Izzet Tokens Control, a "creatureless" strategy with the win conditions Flurry of Horns and/or Rise of Eagles, generating two large tokens at once, and backed up with counters, bounce, and burn. Behind Azorius Heroic Cruise is the other best Aggro deck, Boros Heroic Aggro, which forgoes the card-drawing prowess in blue for more aggressive red creatures and direct damage.
Other decks of note are the Black-splash-Blue Devotion builds running Gray Merchant of Asphodel, at once a win condition and an engine for staying in the game. These also play Treasure Cruise along with blue and black removal and card advantage spells for controlling board until Gary drops down on the battlefield. Some players have splashed an additional color, the most popular being White for even more drain-life effects useful in the long-game. On the Aggro end of the spectrum, an Orzhov Tokens strategy has become popular this month, featuring powerful white token-makers for card advantage and enough black removal to clear a path before a well-time white mass pump spell.
Only one Top 8 deck, Mono Blue Control, has completely dropped off the radar after appearing earlier in the month. Most recently, entirely new builds have surprised contestants and won events in their first entry! The last two events were won by an Izzet Blitz list, looking very much like "Red Deck Splashes Blue for the Win," piloted by the event host himself. The next day, a Grixis Control build by rrmedio1 with no Gary or Izzet token makers (but plenty of Treasure Cruise and a scary Hexproof finisher) took the top spot at the last MPDC tournament of the month.
TOP STORIES OF THE MONTH
Treasure Cruise Banned in Pauper, Remains Legal in Standard Pauper
The most powerful card in the format is hands down Treasure Cruise. No hard numbers are needed to back this up: the card was banned in Classic Pauper last month. Having already been banned in other Eternal formats, this makes Standard Pauper one of the last places to play Magic where the card is legal and not overpowered.
Still, the conversation about possible ban-hammer-worthy cards is contentious - even when they are commons - and we Standard Pauper players must remain vigilant to make sure no single card destroys our format. Until then, it's safe to say that Cruise has replaced Gary as the boogie man of Standard Pauper, for better or for worse. It is this Pauper's opinion that the ship should remain on the waters and not be banned, and the rest of the community seems to have come to the same consensus. It's a sure bet that Treasure Cruise will remain legal in the 29th seasons of MPDC and SPDC starting soon.
Campaign to Get Standard Pauper Listed on the Magic Formats Web Page
The banning of Treasure Cruise in Pauper raised questions of whether or not the card would still work with the Magic Online Standard Pauper filter. In researching this, I came to discover that finding information on Standard Pauper on the official Magic: the Gathering Formats page on Wizards of the Coast web site is impossible: Standard Pauper is not listed as a format.
This month, other top players and I began discussing (perhaps a little too strongly at first...my bad!) on how to change this lack of information this long-running format, which has existed and thrived on Magic Online for going on ten years and is now being explored In Real Life at Local Game Shops as a result of the MTGO v4 debacle. Stay tuned to the PDCMagic.com and other forums (and, of course, this blog!) for updates on the ongoing campaign to get Standard Pauper listed on the Magic: the Gathering Formats information page.
IN CONCLUSION
The month of March 2015 in the World of Standard Pauper is now in the history books. Looking ahead, the month of April 2015 starts off with a bang: The SPDC Worlds Season Championship takes place this Sunday and the MPDC finale will take place about a week later. It is very rare that new winning decks take players by surprise the week before these season finales. Based on the metagame this month, one can expect the above-discussed archetypes to have a good change at the top trophies of the season(s).
Best of luck to and congratulations the Paupers who earned invitations and byes to the championships. And to all participants, may your topdecks be relevant, your maths be accurate. Good luck & have fun...and hey...Good Friday, too :-) Peace,
- C
Nice post, Cabel! Only a small correction: Cruise wasn't banned in Standard. It is still legal.
ReplyDeleteThank you, comrade. That certainly is a massive mistake! The erroneous language has been purged.
DeleteThis makes me wish MTGO v4 worked for me. These Monthy Metagame Reports are very similar to those I used to publish on PureMTGO. I had editors there. Apparently, I still need them.
There's aaaaaaaalways something! No matter how hard Cabel the Red's Bureau of Corrections and Re-Education Facilities works...
Nothing can bring me down today, though. I'm loving my new color scheme based on my favorite wedge and favored workers' state. Go Jeskai! ¡Viva Cuba!
Thanks again & feel free to share some thoughts on that killer Grixis deck.
That Grixis deck is good but it is more like a bad version of Izzet Control. But Izzet can't gain much life and I figured out it would be important. I tried similar lists in Season 27 and I thought it was a good time for the deck to make a comeback :)
DeleteAbout the banning mistake: it was a very small one when compared to all nice information you assembled in this post. Keep them coming!