But after a few months of cooling down, I found that Wizards of the Coast remedied the problem faster than I expected. And when I took the plunge to invest a few bucks into cards for some Standard Pauper decks just to see if Magic Online was working, I was pleasantly surprised with how well both the client and the deck I constructed were performing.
To make a long story short, the client has never once crashed, disconnected, or otherwise crapped out on me in three weeks of playing, during which I've had some of the most fun and successful Standard Pauper experiences of my "career" in the format. In other words, it's a fanastic time to stop hating on WotC and play some Standard Pauper!
So I guess I take back all those means things I said about R&D and Maro. Sorry guys! I suppose I just love the game too much and it makes me a jerk sometimes But enough of that, on to the deck!
Token Izzet Control
Not Your Mom's Blue-Red Deck by Cabel
| Creatures 0 cards Other Spells 4 Dragon Fodder 4 Lightning Strike 4 Magma Spray 4 Nullify 4 Treasure Cruise 3 Anticipate 3 Divination 3 Flurry of Horns 3 Ojutai's Summons 2 Cancel 2 Voyage's End 36 cards |
Lands 11 Island 5 Mountain 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Swiftwater Cliffs 24 cards
Sideboard
3 Scouring Sands 3 Disdainful Stroke 3 Negate 2 Whirlwind Adept 2 Pin to the Earth 2 Voyage's End 15 cards |
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As of this writing, on the eve of the MPDC Season 29 Worlds Championship, I've had greater Top 8 success with my Token Izzet Control build than any other stack of 75 digital cards I ever entered in a PDC tournament. I've twice made it the finals for a second-place finish and twice made it to the semi-finals out of five total entries. I consider this successful because, hey, winning isn't everything!
Just tonight I nearly won the SPDC Season 29 championship against a Mono Black Control build that I had bested in the Swiss. Unfortunately, my luck ran out against Izzet Control's toughest matchup.
But I still wouldn't change a thing about this list. All I'm going to do is update the Khans-block Dragon Fodders with the cool new Magic Origins printing that features the original Shards of Alara artwork. This brings me to a question I really have to ask:
Why have Izzet Control players not been using Dragon Fodder all season???
Dragon Fodder has always been a nuts card and fits perfectly into the strategy of using only token-producing spells to summon two dudes at once while leaving the rest of the list open for control, card draw, more control, and even more card draw.
Most importantly, by running Dragon Fodder in Izzet Control instead of relying only the five-mana big token spells, the deck suddenly has the opportunity to apply pressure in the early game. I've won games off the back of a single Dragon Fodder dropped on the second turn while taking care of every potential blocker and threat my opponent could muster. It almost feels like I'm playing a Red Deck Wins....with Treasure Cruise and Nullify!
That and those Goblin tokens are fantastic when you need a couple of chumps to fend off a Boros Aggro or Formidable Green assault. I cannot recommend using Dragon Fodder in Izzet Control lists any higher. This inclusion was the only main difference between my build and the established Izzet decks, some of which forgo tokens entirely and focus on on Whirlwind Adept (which makes for a nice sideboard option here) hence the name "Token Izzet Control" to distinguish it from the rest. I believe it's well positioned in the format and primed for a win...
I've got one last chance this season to take the top spot as MPDC Season 29 Worlds happens tomorrow! But after results like this, I'm happy just to play. Indeed, I'm happier now that I'm actually able to play without Magic Online blowing up and it's a bit easier to find opponents. That, and this Standard Pauper metagame is incredibly deep and diverse.
So it's good to be back and it's even better to have people reading the blog. For the few who do, don't expect me to go overboard again and post all the time. I've already decided that blogging about Magic doesn't make one a better Magic player, so my updates here will be infrequent and completely random.
But thanks for reading anyway and good luck & have fun for everybody who participates in the last event of the season. It's good to be back :-) Peace,
- C
