MPDC 24.03 Pre-Game Show

Greetings loyal readers!  I finally have the opportunity to play in today's Monday Pauper Deck Challenge Standard Pauper tournament after over a month away from the game due to real life dilemmas.  Now I face another dilemma:

What the heck do I play??

Without any spare time to brew a list of my own, normally I'd choose whatever deck seemed most dominant in the metagame. But it's too early - with only two events' worth of data - there is no easy answer as to which deck is the best in the format.  So far, Bant Hexproof has won an event and a BUG-colored Defenders deck has taken the top spot, both times beating out a uniform White Weenie list.  Decisions, decisions, decisions...

If I were to just netdeck one of these three hoping to repeat their success, I'd probably go for DrChrisBakerDC's Defender Mill for purely sentimental reasons: the last deck I played in an event was a wacky five-colored defenders deck I threw together just for fun.  Dr. Baker has improved things substantially by putting a lot of thought into how such a deck can actually win, turning a quirky casual deck into what looks to be a true powerhouse in the format.

But wait! There are more deck lists to copy and paste thanks to Standard Deviations Standard Pauper Gauntlet contest.  I will not be able to resist brewing a deck at a later date to enter this unique and exciting event:

Or I could browse on over to an excellent article published today on the most important website for Magic: The Gathering articles, Star City Games, to find out What Standard Pauper Has To Offer care of well-known writer Jason Moore.  It's great to see Standard Pauper getting some hard-earned attention here!  Just the fact that so much good reading is available on this little format from such big names threatens to eat up all my deck-building time as well...

...anyway, I hope you are not having the same indecisive problem as I am having today.  I'll simply encourage you to play whatever deck you feel most comfortable with and gives you the greatest satisfaction when the "fun factor" is given highest priority.  That's how I will make my choice today and I'm actually thrilled to be able to face this kind of dilemma again.  It means I've finally come back to my favorite hobby: playing Standard Pauper on Magic Online with awesome commons and even more awesome friends.

See you in the Getting Serious room in about an hour!  Good luck to all and have some good games today.  Peace,

- C

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

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!

These events will be run in a manner almost identical to MPDC, featuring the same Standard Pauper format and same Swiss/Playoff structure with similar prize support thanks to PDCMagic.  But SPDC will take place at 8:30 PM instead of starting registration at 2:00 PM, Eastern Time like MPDC to provide Paupers of the Western Hemisphere a weekday evening event.

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