Spring 2014 Standard Pauper Challenge
Deck Challenges
zandl
24 May 2014
2845 views
24 May 2014
2845 views
The good zandl is back at it again! It’s that time of year again! It’s Standard Pauper Challenge season! That’s right! It’s that thing that I have yet to actually finish from times past but, by God, I will finish this one! I humbly welcome you to and invite you to compete in… Zandl’s Spring 2014 Standard Pauper Challenge So come along, friends, and journey with me through the decorated halls of Pauper Challenges past. The road ahead will be packed to the brim with hordes of Centaur Healer, Skyknight Legionnaire, and Ethereal Armor. It will no doubt be a treacherous, if not foolhardy, endeavor. Should you remain at the end of your quest and stand alone atop the momentous pile of singed and mutilated Hoplites and Satyrs, you will be crowned the Spring 2014 Standard Pauper Champion! Come, and read through my witty, sophisticated banter as I depict each bone-crunching battle from which Magic Champions are forged!... Well, hopefully that got your attention. I was running out of flashy words to throw down. Now we can move to the soul-crushingly boring rules and guidelines, as well as general Challenge information.
What you will need to do:
- 1. Choose your colors!
- This Standard Pauper Challenge will test your deck-building skills within any amount of colors of your choosing. In past challenges, I narrowed the deck-building process to make submitted decks exactly two colors. Now, you are free to play a mono-colored deck, squish a couple colors together, or perhaps sew to one another the putrid, severed limbs of a five-color common abomination. Just remember, though, that you don’t really have access to terrific mana-fixing at common rarity and my experiences with these challenges suggest that less is usually more.
- 2. Build your deck!
- That’s not plural. You have just ONE (1) deck to give to this Challenge. Not one per color, Sparky. ONE. Total. When you submit your deck, be sure that it’s in the colors you want. Please read and follow the deck-building rules (found below) very carefully. My Anger doesn’t like to be awakened.
- 3. Submit your deck!
- Once your deck has a fancy, color-and-Pauper-reflecting name, head on over to my submission page, Spring 2014 Pauper Challenge Submissions, and leave a link to your deck in a comment.The deadline for submitting your deck is 11:59pm MST (Mountain Standard Time) on Friday, May 30.Revisions of decks will be held to the same deadline as deck submissions. Anything submitted after that time will be turned away, as I will start playing the decks together shortly thereafter.
What I will do:
- 1. Assemble your deck on Cockatrice!
- Once all of the submissions have been collected, I will add each deck onto my Cockatrice account.
- 2. Set up a giant bracket for all submissions!
- Unlike the last Pauper Challenge, I won’t be setting up individual brackets for each color. This way, everyone has a fair shot but it takes a more skillful hand to build a deck. Using a random number generator, I’ll be setting up the bracket with each deck facing a completely random opponent.
- 3. Play your deck on Cockatrice!
- I’ll whip open the Cockatrice Local Playtester, load up two decks, and assume the roles of both players. From there, I’ll play the matches out making all rational decisions that a skilled player would make. Sorry, but it’s just not realistic to think we all could set up a bracket, have everyone get Cockatrice, download the most recent updates, agree on when to play, play the correct decks, follow all the guidelines and rules, and accurately report back to me, all in a timely manner. It just can’t happen.Matches between decks will be based off the brackets and will be in a best-two-out-of-three format, much like your average FNM. There will be single-elimination rounds, narrowing down the decks until only one remains. For simplicity’s sake, these decks will NOT be played in a Swiss format.At the end of a large amount of matches, I will post a follow-up article with game highlights and information on how each deck did, as well as the pairings for the next set of matches. And simply because I’m a benevolent-ish kind-of guy, I’ll make it amusing to read. Generally speaking.
What you could WIN:
As with last year’s Pauper challenge, prizes will be doled out in the form of Feature Tokens credited to your account! When you click "Feature" on one of your deck’s pages, it uses up a Feature Token (assuming you have one) and the deck becomes part of the "Featured Decks" tab on the homepage for 24 hours. This is a great way to get a ton of feedback on a deck or simply show any visitor to the site for 24 hours what you’ve been working on. Either the top eight or the top four deck lists (haven’t decided yet) will be included in a sort of "challenge wrap-up" article and will be broken down for analysis and whatnot.
Deck-building rules:
For the love of all that is good and holy, please follow all of these rules and guidelines while building your deck. By the submission deadline, if your deck doesn’t meet the following requirements and limitations, it will not be accepted.
- 1. You can only use Standard cards!
- You may only use cards from the following sets:
- Return to Ravnica
- Gatecrash
- Dragon’s Maze
- Core Set 2014
- Theros
- Born of the Gods
- Journey Into Nyx
That’s about all I have for you at this time. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask me either here or on my profile.
Once again...
The deadline for submitting your deck is 11:59pm MST (Mountain Standard Time) on Friday, May 30, 2014.
It’s probably a good idea to go through and read all the commons in Standard for the colors you choose, or to help you determine which colors to build with. Cards that might be best used as soda-can coasters in Standard Constructed might be massive, game-breaking bombs in Pauper! Think outside the box, don’t underestimate any Common, and try to anticipate the specific Commons and types of strategies people may use.Remember: your deck could be pitted against any other Standard Pauper deck. You don’t want to build your deck to be too narrow, but having a clear focus is an attribute of every successful Magic deck in history.Make me proud, Pauperteers!
= page views
= unique viewers
Hey! Great idea. Personally, being pretty much only a standard player and on a budget, standard pauper is one of my favorite formats. Here is my entry. Thanks a ton! (Hopefully you don't DQ me due to my sideboard).
Master Paupeteers Playtest
Pauper*
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 8 VIEWS.
May 24, 2014 2:55 p.m.
Make sure you're all leaving your decks on Spring 2014 Pauper Challenge Submissions!
May 24, 2014 3:05 p.m.
zandl, are we allowed to use cards like Doom Blade that were commons at one point, even though they aren't in this current standard?
May 24, 2014 5:33 p.m.
Never mind, I understood your statement in the OP now. Only if the card exists as a common in the current Standard sets, therefore Doom Blade and Corrupt are out of the picture, among others.
May 24, 2014 5:35 p.m.
ryuzaki32667 says... #8
It was for a short time, but you can still get it from woogerworks.com they have thier own server.
May 24, 2014 6:20 p.m.
Dalektable says... #9
Dang, that common ruling with Doom Blade makes me really sad. Well, that makes the decision for me, I'm not going with U/B Control anymore haha.
May 24, 2014 6:48 p.m.
I apologize for this, but I am retroactively banning the use of Gray Merchant of Asphodel as, after some careful consideration, I believe it to be too powerful for the rest of the Standard Pauper environment. Its power level also causes nearly everyone to heavily invest in Black, warping the format to decks that are primarily Black and severely limiting the efficiency and balance of all other colors.
I hope this isn't an overwhelming inconvenience for you. You still have over 6 total days to construct something different (or just replace the Gary with something else). When you finish, just head back to Spring 2014 Pauper Challenge Submissions and leave a link to it your finished product.
Thank you! :D
May 24, 2014 8:50 p.m.
All you have to do is make a deck an link to it on the link above, and I take care of the rest. :D
May 24, 2014 11:08 p.m.
Dalektable says... #12
The banning of Gary makes me happy, as I am not playing him.
May 24, 2014 11:12 p.m.
Everyone is too slow!!! HAHAHA!!!
(as long as i don't run into first strike... oh wait Ethereal Armor is legal...)
May 25, 2014 12:19 a.m.
Make sure you're posting your decks to Spring 2014 Pauper Challenge Submissions so I don't miss them by accident!
May 25, 2014 1:59 a.m.
TristanTaylorsVoice says... #16
The removal in this format is atrocious, I really hope it shapes up to be more than 4 power haste and a pile of life gain derps, as after extensive seraching through the card pool I don't think a non creature based control deck is possible.
May 25, 2014 12:17 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #17
TristanTaylorsVoice, guess what I'm working on right now. Challenge accepted.
Also, your username is glorious.
May 25, 2014 12:29 p.m.
May 26, 2014 8:25 a.m.
May 26, 2014 5:02 p.m.
samuraizack says... #22
So wait, it says you'll be playing the decks we submit... against yourself? Why? I'm not trying to rain on any parade but why can't we just play it ourselves?
May 26, 2014 5:25 p.m.
Sorry, but its just not realistic to think we all could set up a bracket, have everyone get Cockatrice, download the most recent updates, agree on when to play, play the correct decks, follow all the guidelines and rules, and accurately report back to me, all in a timely manner. It just cant happen.
May 26, 2014 5:39 p.m.
MadScientist says... #24
Here is my submission for the contest. I was tossed up between two of my pauper decks but this is the one that is most consistent
Zero to 60 in 5 turns (Pauper) Playtest
Standard
SCORE: 273 | 15 COMMENTS | 21831 VIEWSMay 26, 2014 8:42 p.m.
Energycore says... #25
MadScientist i hope you don't mind me playtesting against your deck to tune out my brew :D
May 26, 2014 9:57 p.m.
Energycore says... #27
Hey zandl, why not playtest all the way to the top 8, then have the real players play their decks in the top 8? That would be 6 matches to arrange, and if a player doesn't show you can play his deck.
May 26, 2014 10:24 p.m.
@Energycore: We'll see how it goes once I get closer to that number of people.
May 27, 2014 10:05 a.m.
TristanTaylorsVoice says... #30
Keening Apparition is in the running for best card in the format.
May 27, 2014 12:24 p.m.
Mortal Obstinacy , Ray of Dissolution , Feast of Dreams , and Solemn Offering all seem mainboard-able.
May 27, 2014 12:26 p.m.
I've taken the liberty of piecing together some decks for your playtesting enjoyment!
Paup, Lock, & Drop It Playtest
Standard
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 7 VIEWS
Pauper Cherry Playtest
Standard
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 10 VIEWS
Make dat booty go paup Playtest
Standard
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 9 VIEWSMay 27, 2014 12:35 p.m.
TristanTaylorsVoice says... #33
@zandl the enormous advantage of Keening Apparition is that a bear never needs a target, though I definitely was maining some Ray of Dissolution before I remembered about that guy. This guy will really mess up combat this round, he can swing, block, mess up voltron, he can even kill some creatures! Also I'm really liking that Fog deck.
May 27, 2014 12:49 p.m.
Energycore says... #34
Here goes my first brew. Note that this isn't the submission, i'm thinking of brewnig a couple more decks, refining them and submitting the best one.
I made a BUG control brew. Thanks to the help of the guildgate, i believe three color decks are viable. Also Gladecover Scout , it's hexproof and the best win condition ever.
I'll probably brew Junk midrange and U/W/x control, see which one does best.
Cheap pesticide - Pauper BUG Control Playtest
Standard*
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 13 VIEWSMay 27, 2014 12:59 p.m.
Energycore says... #36
Is it me or is black the best color in pauper standard, even after Gary's ban? Every deck i've built in the format with success has black in it. Maybe i'm biased.
May 28, 2014 12:16 a.m.
Energycore says... #38
You think? I can't think of good white cards that aren't Keening Apparition .
May 28, 2014 1:13 a.m.
asasinater13 says... #40
darnit the fun free thing someone is doing that I don't have to participate in doesn't do exactly what I want it to do.
May 28, 2014 9:40 a.m.
@irindumaster: Most of your cards are not legal for the purposes of the tournament. Some are from older sets, while others are uncommon. Keep it to common standard legal cards. Here is a start:
http://magiccards.info/query?q=r%3Acommon+f%3Astandard&v=card&s=cname
May 28, 2014 9:44 a.m.
killroy726 says... #42
Here is my deck pauper challenge thingy good luck to everyone!
May 28, 2014 12:07 p.m.
@Boza: He linked to the wrong deck by accident. I'm already on it. :)
May 28, 2014 1:11 p.m.
TristanTaylorsVoice says... #44
With Gods Willing and enchantment removal everywhere this format, I'm not entirely comfortable leaning on Pacifism anymore. Beating the Boros menace is proving to be quite a challenge.
May 28, 2014 1:54 p.m.
So everyone thinks Gray Merchant of Asphodel is overpowered? And that Boros is the best deck with it removed?
I am amused.
May 28, 2014 2:04 p.m.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel is pretty over powered in pauper. Mono black is pretty much the 2nd best deck in pauper behind delver/fairies since theros came out.
May 28, 2014 2:13 p.m.
st0nedc0ld says... #47
May 28, 2014 3:07 p.m.
Energycore says... #48
I believe the correct answer to R/W Aggro is a combination of Devour Flesh , Keening Apparition and Deadly Recluse .
May 28, 2014 10:50 p.m.
Welp, made a random brew to submit, probably not going to do incredibly, but hey! Seemed like fun
Standard Pauper Hexproof Playtest
Standard
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 7 VIEWSMay 29, 2014 4:14 a.m.
I'm seeing a LOT of first strike in the Red and/or White decks. That kind of shuts down my first idea of Deathtouch everything in Deadly Recluse , Sedge Scorpion , Pharika's Chosen , and Baleful Eidolon .
@Energycore and zandl: Despite the rampant enchantment removal, Ethereal Armor seems to be a favorite in the white lineup, along with Akroan Skyguard .
May 29, 2014 2:14 p.m.
Energycore says... #53
I hope i don't die horribly for trying too hard, here's my deck
Secondhand Junk Playtest
Unknown
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 3 VIEWSIt can still use some refining (a non-zero amount of Ethereal Armor ) but that's how the list turned out and i ran out of time.
May 29, 2014 8:45 p.m.
My deck is ready:
Pauper goes the weasle Playtest
Pauper*
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 1 VIEWSGood luck all!
May 29, 2014 11:44 p.m.
SwaggyMcSwagglepants says... #58
Control in Standard Pauper? Playtest
Pauper*
SCORE: 1 | 0 COMMENTS | 16 VIEWSII think I can take out some aggros with dis deck hopefully.
May 30, 2014 7:20 p.m.
Submission entry is now closed. Look for a new article in the coming days.
May 31, 2014 4:15 a.m.
What Caligula said! It's always great to have community events like this, but time consuming. Thanks a ton!
June 1, 2014 4:34 p.m.
Energycore says... #64
After a lot of testing, even after my submission, i believe the best deck is some iteration of Esper Control.
Hopefully a list ilke this (or B/U Control) was submitted so we can see. I'm still hopeful that my Junk deck will go over most aggro decks and secure a high placing. Good luck to all!
Esper Control - Standard Pauper Playtest
Standard
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 2 VIEWSJune 1, 2014 10:30 p.m.
Tyrannosary says... #65
If you could give us updates about how the tournament is going or when you will think it will be finished by that would be great.
June 1, 2014 11:57 p.m.
I'll be posting an update probably tomorrow and then after half of the rounds (25 rounds is half) with game details. From there, I'll finish up the first round and release a new article for every round. Expect a new one every couple of days to a week, depending on real-life and whatnot.
Caligula says... #1
Ha!
Zandl's spring proper pauper power.
See how that works out i guess =P
May 24, 2014 2:50 p.m.