December Standard Pauper Snapshot

Better late than never right? Here, at last, is my much delayed metagame snapshot for the month of December in Standard Pauper. With the holiday season, this month only featured three weeks of events, and with our typical end of season slump, the final SPDC of the year failed to reach the minimum number of players to actually count. This left me with five events to consider as I put together this snapshot, each of which included a Top 4 playoff.

The finalists within this events accounted for 12 distinct archetypes, touching all five colors but centered around the Sultai colors of Blue,  Black, and Green. Interestingly enough though, all of these archetypes can really be grouped into four different categories: spell-based Control decks, "Big" creature decks (typically with a sacrifice sub-theme), Orzhov Aura-recursion decks, and Vehicle decks (which tended to be Red and/or Black, sometimes splashing Blue or White). Of special note is that December also included a full ban on Self-Assembler, leaving players free to innovate without having to worry about that card's dominance in the format. Let's take a closer look at each of these four categories.

1. Coming into the month, Izzet Control was the archetype to beat, but its popularity waned as the month progressed. In fact, this deck never finished better than second place (in SPDC 35.08 and 09), but a Grixis variation did take the trophy in SPDC 35.08, piloted by MisterMojoRising. Of course, it's arguable whether it even belongs in this same category, since it primarily relied upon card advantage and Black removal spells, rather than direct damage, as its primary win condition.


2. Sultai Control has been the other major archetype in the format for quite some time, primarily built around the Emerge sacrifice abilities of It of the Horrid Swarm and Wretched Gryff combined with the raw power of Pulse of Murasa. While most early builds were actually straight Simic, the ability to augment the deck with Black removal tended to make these decks much more successful in the long run. Some builds also were more sacrifice focused, primarily utilizing Altar's Reap, Bloodbriar, and/or Bone Splinters to good effect. Moromete captured the only 1st place trophy for this category in SPDC 35.09 with a somewhat different variation that played Byway Courier and Moldgraf Scavenger as additional ways of taking advantage of the Emerge theme of this archetype.

Interestingly enough, in this same event are two other decks that I also included in this category. These decks weren't built around the archetype-defining Emerge creatures at all, but instead went for a more aggressive stance with efficient beaters like Brazen Wolves, Kessig Dire Swine, and Riparian Tiger, or included creatures that had their own sacrifice synergies like Blisterpod, Gavony Unhallowed, and Voracious Null. Yet another build swapped White for Blue, giving the deck access to Ninth Bridge Patrol, Thraben Inspector, and Unruly Mob. However, none of these variations made more than a single appearance in the playoffs.

3. Perhaps the most successful archetype in the month of December was Orzhov Auras, which captured the trophy in MPDC 35.08 and 35.10, with two other Top 4 finishes. JackSlagel's build from 35.08 is pretty typical, utilizing Boon of Emrakul, Choking Restraints, and Dead Weight as removal spells that can be recurred with Ironclad Slayer while also getting additional use out of Prophetic Prism and Vessel of Ephemera with Aviary Mechanic.

4. Finally, our last category is all about Renegade Freighter and Sky Skiff, the Common Vehicles from Kaladesh that rely upon other creatures to activate them. As I mentioned above, there was a lot of variation on which colors supported this deck best, ranging from the single-colored MonoBlack all the way to the three color Mardu. But it was Bubalix's Rakdos build that took the only trophy for this category in MPDC 35.09, combining them with aggressive creatures like Makindi Sliderunner and Thriving Grubs and setting up a lethal combo of either Built to Smash or Rush of Adrenaline into Uncaged Fury for a surprise alpha strike.

Let me extend a special thanks to everyone who participated in these events in the month of December and especially all those who made their voice heard in regards to Self-Assembler. My hope is that the metagame continues to be relatively healthy and enjoyable for everyone as we move closer to the release of Aether Revolt. And if you've never joined us for one of our Standard Pauper events, I encourage you to browse over to PDCMagic.com for all the information and then come join us on Sunday at 12:00pm EST / 5:00pm GMT in the #SPDC channel or on Monday at 2:00pm EST / 7:00pm GMT in the #MPDC channel. Hope to see you then!

What's Current In Standard Pauper

As small as our community of Standard Pauper players is, there still always seems to be something going on that's worth mentioning. So today I thought I would just post links to a few of the more interesting items of note.

1. The Standard Pauper Double League is officially over, but you can still watch video from the three biggest matches of the event - the Finals for Phase One, the Finals for Phase Two, and the Grand Championship.

2. DrChrisBakerDC took the trophy in SPDC 32.04 with an innovative Temur Token Control deck. He also posted a deck-tech and videocasts of his match, which you can find in full here.

3. Speaking of Chris, there has also been some discussion about another Standard Pauper Sealed league. Right now the leading contender is some form of a Zendikar "unified" theme using boosters from both the original Zendikar block and the current Battle for Zendikar block. You can check out all the discussion over on the pdcmagic Standard forums here.

4. Despite the diversity and innovation in the Top 4 finalists of MPDC 32.04, Izzet Control earned yet another trophy, continuing its domination of the format. Rounding out the finalists was a Jund Tokens build, a Jund Allies list, and an Exploit/Delve themed Sultai deck.

5. Finally rremedio1 has started updating his Metagame Tracker app once again. It's current as of this post, and has a ton of useful information about the current state of the Standard Pauper metagame. For example, apparently Negate is the most commonly played card in the format right now. Definitely check that out.

That's all from me for today. If you've got news or content about Standard Pauper, definitely send me an email or let me know in the comments below. I'm always happy to cross-promote solid content for our great format!

A Future with Azorius

I've been fairly ill this week, which is why I not only missed my Tuesday post but was absent entirely from MPDC as well. I'm slowly getting back on my feet, and I should have another post Saturday to make up for the one I missed on Tuesday. Thanks for your patience!

A couple weeks ago, I was discussing the dominance of the Izzet Control archetype in Standard Pauper right now and examining whether or not Azorius might have the right tools to combat it. After that post, I spent some time experimenting with a very aggressive build that relied on powerful 2-drops and a great deal of spot removal to try and put a lot of early pressure on Izzet Control. And while the build seemed to have promise, ultimately it wasn't proving to be very effective. So I went back to the drawing board, and starting looking at ways to delay and sidestep Izzet's plan through effects that tap down creatures rather than removing them. This lead to playing quite a few more spells, which pushed the deck more towards the midrange and made Prowess creatures particularly attractive. Here's where I ended up:

Azorius

by gwyned

Creatures 4 Elusive Spellfist 4 Jeskai Student 4 Lotus Path Djinn 4 Mardu Hordechief 2 Student of Ojutai 18 cards Other Spells 4 Anticipate 4 Send to Sleep 4 Treasure Cruise 2 Crippling Chill 2 Whisk Away 1 Clutch of Currents 1 Feat of Resistance 1 Sheer Drop 19 cards

Lands 7 Plains 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Island 4 Skyline Cascade 4 Tranquil Cove 23 cards Sideboard 4 Pacifism 3 Cleric of the Forward Order 3 Felidar Cub 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Negate 1 Whirlwind Adept 15 cards

These five creatures represent some of the stronger ones in Azorius colors, play well with spells, and have the added benefit of being immune to Twin  Bolt and other 2 point damage spells. The deck can also sift through its library very quickly thanks to Anticipate and Treasure Cruise, all the while casting plenty of spells to keep fuel for Delve. Send to Sleep has proven to be quite strong as long as you have Spell Mastery active, and this deck also finally gives Skyline Cascade a chance to shine. It's quite capable of locking down the worst creatures for two or three turns in a row, giving you plenty of time to power through with your Prowess-enabled creatures for the win.

Thus far I've had great success with this build against Izzet Control specifically. I also had three very close games against the sacrifice-themed Rakdos deck that is seeing more play. I wouldn't say I'm totally satisfied with this build, but I'm certainly pleased so far.

What changes or additions would you make? Let me know in the comments below.

Controlling Izzet Control

If you've been following what's being going on in Standard Pauper for the past couple weeks, Izzet Control has become one of the most dominant decks in the format, capturing the 1st place trophy in three of the past four Standard Pauper PREs. Like the Dimir Mill deck of the past, it attacks on a different axis than the other popular decks by drawing a ton of cards and relying exclusively on spells to win the game (albeit via creature tokens).

One way to defeat Izzet Control is to try to rapidly go over the top with aggression, knocking it out before it can get its powerful engine going. The other is to go even deeper along the Control axis, using counter magic and defensive cards to hold out against it.

So when I sat down to design a deck to beat Izzet Control, it was the latter option I chose. Here's what my list looked like yesterday:

UB Control

MPDC 27.04 Top 4

Creatures 4 Disowned Ancestor 4 Returned Phalanx 3 Benthic Giant 3 Disciple of Phenax 3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel 17 cards Other Spells 4 Pharika's Cure 3 Negate 3 Read the Bones 2 Font of Return 2 Treasure Cruise 2 Voyage's End 1 Aqueous Form 1 Asphyxiate 1 Feast of Dreams 19 cards

Lands 10 Swamp 6 Island 4 Dismal Backwater 4 Evolving Wilds 24 cards Sideboard 3 Mind Rot 3 Baleful Eidolon 3 Festergloom 2 Disdainful Stroke 1 Negate 1 Voyage's End 1 Feast of Dreams 1 Asphyxiate 15 cards

I decided to start with a fairly typical Mono-Black shell, then cut it back enough to add a fairly sizable Blue suite of counterspells, card draw, bounce, and the excellent Hexproof Benthic Giants. The plan against Izzet Control is simple: get a few creatures down early, pick off their token spells through a combination of Negate and removal, and try not to fall too far behind in card advantage. Disowned Ancestor is particularly good, as it is cheap enough to attack with early and big enough that it is very difficult to remove.

I ended up going 5-2 in games against Izzet Control, beating it in two matches without dropping a game before losing the third match against it 1-2. My draws in the third match were pretty land light, forcing me to shuffle away too much value in order to find land, and at the end of long games I couldn't overcome my opponent's massive card advantage. Overall though I was fairly happy with how the deck performed, and placed in the Top 4 in Monday's MPDC 27.04.

If you've got some thoughts on how the deck could be improved, I'd love to hear it. Thanks for reading.