Zandl's Standard Pauper Challenge - Round 1, Part 1

Deck Challenges

zandl

29 April 2013

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Rejoice! Results!

Just so we’re all on the same page, these results don’t cover the entire first round’s games. There are a staggering forty matches in the first round, so have patience. In the meantime, enjoy the first half’s results!

Also, the great and powerful KrazyCaley has been helping me play the decks together over Cockatrice. So a big shout-out goes to him for his contributions to this challenge.

Lo, and the good zandl spake, “Let the festivities commence!”

Or, y’know. Whatever.

Here are this article’s decklists and entrants, by Guild colors.

Orzhov Syndicate

Nobilior’s [Put Clever/Corny Name Here]
Azure124’s the enchanting pauper
Goody’s Of Vampires and Men [PAUPER]
morek’s Morek's Orzhov Beat Down
goldpro89’s Extortion Specialist
shuflw’s it-dont-matter-if-shes-pauper
Wike900’s Death and Extortion
Owlus’s Extorting to victory
Taytora’s Just Dying to Live
SomethingRandom’s pauper-extortionist
twiggles’s e-e-winnings

Gruul Clans

JamesHughes’s A Rush of Blood to the Head
dimas9’s zandl pauper challenge
ChiefWannaHacka’s its-cheap-in-the-woods

Selesnya Conclave

Blakkhand’s Blakk's Pauper G/W
JakeParkbench’s zandl sszc
Savulon’s Enchanted
Fathinar’s selesnya pauper

Boros Legion

Ohthenoises’s zandls-pauper-boros
krushul’s std-pauper-human-boros
BiggRedd54’s my-redemption
HOBONOMO’s rw-pauper-humans-in-standard
carpediem’s so-common-its-pauper
Chubbub’s zandls-pauper-boros-enchants
Jimhawk’s strength-in-numbers-1

Simic Combine

mrbloo1848’s pokemon-so-cheap-team-rocket-wont-steal-it
The_Darkhorse’s Simic Pauper challenger
landgrafb’s zandl-started-another-cult

Rakdos Cult

Taiyouai’s the-pauper-riot-to-start
pumpkinsword’s kill-and-burn-all-the-commons
8vomit’s rakdos-commons
m12fox’s zpc-2013-for-fun

Azorius Senate

jkarnes’s Combo Decks are Real

House Dimir

MTG_Player’s pauper-challenge-dimir-delver
Demarge’s The poor miller
GureiSeion’s Pauper Challenge - Kill Mill
doinitwrong’s shadow-slicers

Golgari Swarm

LittleBlueHero’s Scavenge Hex

Izzet Legaue

Lionheart’s Izzet Delving into Pauper

Partial round 1 results:

winning player (games won) vs. losing player (games won)

Nobilior (2) vs. JamesHughes (0)

Game 1: Daggerdrome Imp hit the board turn-2 for Nobilior and a pair of Ethereal Armor were attached to it the following turn. The 10-point swing in the air each turn meant that JamesHughes couldn’t produce enough damage each turn to race.
Game 2: Nobilior just had too much instant-speed removal and was finding ways to Extort at least once a turn. Seraph of Dawn with a Dark Favor is a force to be reckoned with.

Blakkhand (2) vs. Ohthenoises (0)

Game 1: Pacifism shuts down the Aura-Tron strategy pretty efficiently. Unruly Mob was out when Thatcher Revolt was cast, but Seraph of Dawn bonded to a Trusted Forcemage doesn’t care.
Game 2: Even when trying to split up the threatening Auras on two different creatures, if your opponent draws two copies of Pacifism, you’re still kinda screwed.

Azure124 (2) vs. Goody (1)

Game 1: Azure124’s Seraph of Dawn got Voltron’d. End of story.
Game 2: Azure124 drew about 7 lands in a row before conceding with no answer to Goody’s veritable army of creatures.
Game 3: Our friend, Seraph of Dawn, got an Ethereal Armor, Dark Favor, and Predator's Gambit. Goody couldn’t find a way to trigger Morbid for Tragic Slip, and game 2 ended rather suddenly.

dimas9 (2) vs. mrbloo1848 (1)

Game 1: Drakewing Krasis and Cloudfin Raptor literally flew over dimas9’s board and kept things in control by hitting each turn with Hands of Binding.
Game 2: dimas9 loaded up two copies of Madcap Skills on a Drudge Beetle and swung for the fences. mrbloo1848 tried to retaliate with a Hands of Binding, but dimas9 had Pillar of Flame for the Encoded creature.
Game 3: The Werewolves on dimas9’s side of the battlefield weren’t a big deal until they all flipped over at once. At that point, they were far too large to hold back for long.

morek (2) vs. goldpro89 (0)

Game 1: These two decks are fairly similar, but goldpro89 opted for some cheap removal in place of more Auras. And because morek had more Auras to work with, his Aven Squire couldn’t be stopped once it had Ethereal Armor, Dark Favor, and Guildscorn Ward (which protected it from Executioner's Swing).
Game 2: morek’s Tormented Soul got loaded up with the three big Auras from the last game and goldpro89 had no removal for it. Erase stopped the Ethereal Armor, but the damage was done and he still died to the little-Spirit-that-could in a matter of turns.

Taiyouai (2) vs. JakeParkbench (1)

Game 1: JakeParkbench gained about 12 life by the sixth turn of the game and stalled out Taiyouai’s aggro deck once Seraph of Dawn hit the board. Sitting on two Attended Knights as blockers, the air-assault began and Taiyouai was helpless.
Game 2: JakeParkbench’s draws were far less potent in the second game. The only things coming up were lands, Avacyn's Pilgrim, and Cathedral Sanctifier. The Sanctifier is alright, but it really does nothing unless you have somewhere to go after stalling a bit. Splatter Thug with a pair of Deviant Glee shut this game down pretty quickly.
Game 3: By the time JakeParkbench was dropping his would-be stabilizing creatures, like Seraph of Dawn and Sentinel Spider, Taiyouai was sitting on a hand of removal spells. Auger Spree is very powerful in this format and it showed no mercy to Jake’s X/4 creatures. Once the beats started, Jake had nothing left to defend himself.

krushul (2) vs. MTG_Player (0)

Game 1: MTG_Player survived the initial Boros onslaught and stalled the game out beyond thirty minutes (on Cockatrice, mind you). Even with Archaeomancer and Ghostly Flicker comboing a free spell each turn, Syndic of Tithes, of all things, sat quietly and slowly drained down MTG_Player’s life total until it got to zero.
Game 2: In this less epic, 6-minute game, krushul got it going with three copies of Wojek Halberdiers and Madcap Skills. MTG_Player was drawing removal spells here and there, but too much damage was dealt early on to stabilize out of burn-reach. Double Searing Spear ended this match handily.

shuflw (2) vs. Savulon (0)

Game 1: Savulon loaded up a Keening Apparition with two copies of Call To Serve and an Ethereal Armor with an extra Keening Apparition on the side, for what looked to be the ballgame. However, a well-placed Pacifism on the Voltron Apparition forced Sav to sacrifice the lesser of the two to destroy the Pacifism. In doing so, however, Morbid was online and Tragic Slip felled the monstrosity. shuflw then came creeping back with twoExtort triggers each turn and small, aerial beats.
Game 2: Not to be intimidated, Savulon jacked up his Primal Huntbeast with a handful of Auras. But shuflw coolly drew his card for the turn, cast Tragic Slip on Sav’s Arbor Elf, cast Devour Flesh to erase the Primal Tronbeast, and the beats commenced. By the time Savulon built up his side of the board again, Extort was in overdrive with three triggers per turn.

Demarge (2) vs. BiggRedd54 (0)

Game 1: BiggRedd54’s aggressive Boros deck swung all out with all its might, but Demarge’s deck laid down some solid tempo. Two copies of Curse of the Bloody Tome eroded redd’s library down to zero the turn before the lethal swing could be made.
Game 2: Once again, it was an intensely close game. After decimating each other down to one card in each hand (and BiggRedd54 with 2 cards left in the library, staring at Curse of the Bloody Tome), the only out was Explosive Impact to the dome. Demarge, however, denied it with Psychic Strike and finished the match with a sigh of relief.

HOBONOMO (2) vs. ChiefWannaHacka (1)

Game 1: ChiefWannaHacka went first and outfitted a Somberwald Dryad with Volcanic Strength after HOBONOMO tapped out for Wojek Halberdiers instead of keeping mana open for Searing Spear. (I think this was the right play, since Wojek Halberdiers is arguably much better than burning off a 2/2 with an inactive landwalk ability.) Volcanic Strength gave Somberwald Dryad the right kind of landwalk, though, and Titanic Growth put HOBONOMO from 8 (a few turns later) to 0.
Game 2: Riot Ringleader landed on turn 3, a pair of Kruin Strikers came down on turn 4, and Thatcher Revolt on turn 5 blew this game out of the water.
Game 3: ChiefWannaHacka was hapless to stop HOBONOMO from having nearly the same start he did in game 2. Mugging killed off the Riot Ringleader but Thatcher Revolt is an extremely explosive spell when you build around it properly.

pumpkinsword (2) vs. jkarnes (1)

Game 1: pumpkinsword’s deck was showing off its aggressive nature pretty well until Seraph of Dawn landed on jkarnes’s side of the battlefield with a Scroll of Avacyn already out. pumpkinsword had to target the Angel with Victim of Night to keep the beats on, but jkarnes inevitably popped the Scroll in response, netting him 5 life and effectively Fogging for the turn. After his next untap, jkarnes dropped another Seraph of Dawn as well as a Cathedral Sanctifier and began gaining life at a relatively high rate. Seraph of Dawn could start swinging int the air and it alone eventually brought down pumpkinsword’s Rakdos empire.
Game 2: The second game of this match was very quick. A Rakdos Shred-Freak landed, followed by another the turn after. With three Searing Spears in his hand, pumpkinsword dropped the combo deck like a sack of bricks.
Game 3: jkarnes just couldn’t pull off the combo without pumpkinsword igniting the Archaeomancer in response to Ghostly Flicker. Nevertheless, the game was drawn out. Every time is seemed like pumpkinsword was getting the upper hand and jkarnes was getting down into Morbid Brimstone Volley range, jkarnes would gain life somehow and the game would inch along yet again. In one final Hail Mary attack, pumpkinsword swung in with 6 or 7 creatures and cast un-Morbid Tragic Slip on Seraph of Dawn before damage, making a post-combat, Morbid Brimstone Volley exactly lethal.

Carpediem (2) vs. Chubbub (0)

Game 1: Chubbub’s downfall in this game inevitably came from the fact that his deck has more Auras than creatures. If the opponent kills just one of his creatures, he could be looking at a hand full of Auras with nothing to Enchant.
Game 2: A turn-1 Trained Caracal found itself a Furor of the Bitten on the second turn and the race began. Whenever Chubbub tried to block the cat that had to attack each turn, Carpediem had the burn-spell to protect it. One Ethereal Armor later, Carpediem ended the game with 31 life and Chubbub at 0.

GureiSeion (2) vs. LittleBlueHero (1)

Game 1: Since LittleBlueHero’s deck takes a little bit to crank out the damage, [GureiSeion had no trouble landing two copies of Curse of the Bloody Tome by the end of turn-4. With all the mill, LittleBlueHero resolved a Primal Huntbeast and started Scavenging through his dead creatures, only to be thwarted by a surprise Devour Flesh. The rest of the Scavenging this game was met with 2-for-1 deals, brought to you by Grisly Spectacle and Murder.
Game 2: The game ground out slowly but steadily. With GureiSeion burning through removal spells to stop lethal damage, he soon found himself without any. A one-of Terrus Wurm (fun fact: the only 7-drop card in the challenge) crashed into the battlefield and LittleBlueHero had plenty of mana to then cast an Essence Harvest for the game.
Game 3: Gurei went first with 2 Curse of the Bloody Tome, 1 Devour Flesh, 1 Murder, and 3 lands, and just drew into more and more removal. When it came down to crunch time, LittleBlueHero had nothing left to Scavenge on but Undying creatures, effectively erasing the Undying keyword. Gurei used this to his advantage and then proceeded to kill them off without needing to worry about any resurgence. A few more turns of the Curses grinding away and Hero found himself one upkeep without a deck.

Wike900 (2) vs. Fathinar (0)

Game 1: Wike900’s deck gets to the meat and potatoes of Pauper B/W – removal spells and Extort triggers. Fathinar’s Selesnya combat tricks would have worked, but removal makes the dreaded 2-for-1 play far too easy. Extort rounded off this game pretty handily.
Game 2: As with game 1, removal was all too common for Wike900. Even with Sheltering Word to save his Seraph of Dawn’s bacon, there are functionally 16 removal spells in Wike’s deck and a Stab Wound (interestingly, the antithesis of Seraph of Dawn) was drawn and Extort/flying beaters ended the game pretty efficiently.

8vomit (2) vs. Owlus (1)

Game 1: 8vomit dropped a turn-2 Daggerdrome Imp that casually met a Madcap Skills and Deviant Glee on the following turn. With huge life-swings each turn and Owlus without removal, the game ended after just five turns.
Game 2: This game, Owlus’s removal showed up to the party and he contained 8vomit’s aggressive board rather nicely. By the end of game, Owlus was Extorting his spells three times each. A Lightning Helix each turn is obviously a cushy way to end the game.
Game 3: After about 16 turns of back-and-forth annihilation, both players were in top-deck mode. Owlus had a Syndicate Enforcer with just an Altar's Reap in his hand at 2 life, while 8vomit sat with nothing in the hand or on the board, at 1 life. Drawing into Pillar of Flame, he cast it at Owlus’s face and Syndicate Enforcer couldn’t Extort Altar's Reap (as the Syndic would have been sacrificed and gone by the time Reap would technically be cast). Forcing the sacrifice, however, Owlus drew a Swamp and a Devour Flesh, then took 2 and died.

Taytora (2) vs. Jimhawk (0)

Game 1: Renegade Demon, of all things, backed up by removal won this game singlehandedly. Without having enough creatures on the board to kill the beefy flyer with Massive Raid (the only removal in the deck), Jimhawk couldn’t stop the aerial onslaught.
Game 2: Taytora’s Thraben Sentry  ^Flip flipped over at Instant-speed when he nuked his own Doomed Traveler, and Jimhawk was suddenly staring down a 5/4 trample with only a Captain's Call to defend himself. A few turns into the beatdown and Taytora’s Extorting creatures emerged, further sealing the fate of the game in his favor.

The_Darkhorse (2) vs. SomethingRandom (1)

Game 1: The_Darkhorse’s turn-1 Delver of Secrets  ^Flip became a turn-2 Insectile Aberration  ^Flip with a Forced Adaptation and 2 Ranger's Guile in his hand. This game was over at this point. Murder #1 failed, Murder #2 failed, and a blocking Basilica Screecher with Ethereal Armor and a Dark Favor failed when a Titanic Growth was cast.
Game 2: When the Delver doesn’t flip over right away, the deck needs to have some sort of tempo or removal going on in order to avoid being overwhelmed by threats. A simple Unsummon would’ve demolished SomethingRandom’s Voltron strategy, but it didn’t happen.
Game 3: Very close. SomethingRandom had Extort triggers draining down The_Darkhorse’s life total, but Forced Adaptation on an Insectile Aberration  ^Flip and another on a Cloudfin Raptor meant that it was only a matter of time until that Basilica Screecher with Dark Favor and a pair of Divine Favors wouldn’t be enough.

PenitentKnight (2) vs. twiggles (1)

Game 1: twiggles fell all the way to 2 life, but top-decking a Skeletal Grimace for his Kingpin's Pet would be able to stave off the would-be lethal Skyknight Legionnaire. From there, twiggles kept drawing spells and Extorted out of the red zone and found enough removal and life-gain to start attacking and take the game.
Game 2: PenitentKnight flooded the board with cheap creatures and Overloaded a Dynacharge on turn-6 for, like, 31 damage.
Game 3: Court Street Denizen works quite well when you stockpile cheap White creatures in your hand until you can swing for lethal damage. Also, having out three Court Street Denizens seems good.

m12fox (2) vs. doinitwrong (0)

Game 1: doinitwrong couldn’t draw any other creatures aside from Keymaster Rogue, which is pretty awful when it’s the only creature you can play and you have 3 cipher spells in your hand. Hands of Binding was used defensively to stall, but the game was really already over.
Game 2: Artful Dodge kept popping up in doinitwrong’s hand, but most of the creatures in that deck are already unblockable. With that and Way of the Thief, the deck had too many redundant spells and kept tripping over itself.

Lionheart (2) vs. landgrafb (0)

Game 1: landgrafb saw two Doorkeepers with an Axebane Guardian and a Gatecreeper Vine. The milling was going well until Lionheart flipped a Delver of Secrets  ^Flip mid-game and started drawing burn. And Fog doesn’t stop burn, sadly. landgrafb got Lionheart to 15 cards left, but that’s not 0.
Game 2: landgrafb’s deck really has nothing to do unless there is a Doorkeeper and several Defenders alongside it. Lionheart burned the only Doorkeeper on the board and then turned on the Goblin Electromancer and Elgaud Shieldmate beats. Nothing in landgrafb’s deck can kill creatures, unless an X/1 swings into an Archaeomancer, so this was eventually game-over after the last few Fogs dried up.

Those of you whose decks won their games can expect to see their decks listed again in the next round’s results. But before we can move into the next round, we must finish this one! Expect the next article sometime next weekend.

This article is a follow-up to Zandl's Standard Pauper Challenge - Pairings The next article in this series is Zandl's Standard Pauper Challenge - Round 1, Part 2