[Primer] RW Artifact Control aka "Boros Kitty"

[zemanjaski]

[deck]RW Artifact Control v3.1[/deck]
Creatures
4 Atog
4 Glint Hawk
4 Kor Skyfisher
3 Sanctum Gargoyle

Artifacts
4 Ichor Wellspring
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
4 Propetic Prism

Spells
3 Faithless Looting
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Jouney to Nowhere
4 Lightning Bolt

Lands
4 Ancient Den
4 Boros Guildgate
4 Great Furnace
5 Mountain
3 Plains

Sideboard
2 Celestial Flare
2 Circle of Protection: Black
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Electrickery
3 Gorilla Shaman
4 Pyroblast
[/deck]

DromarX on RW Artifact Control Part 1
http://www.castingcommons.com/dromars-c ... ts-part-1/

DromarX
on RW Artifact Control Part 2
http://www.castingcommons.com/dromars-c ... er-part-2/

JustSin's Boros Kitty Spotlight (pre-bannings)
http://www.mtgoacademy.com/anything-but ... fulfilled/

Pauper Chat with Deluxeicoff Episode 3: Boros Kitty
http://puremtgo.com/articles/pauper-cha ... gray-ghost
*Deluxeicoff won the inaugural PureMTGO Pauper Championship with a 10-0 record playing a slightly modified version of the Boros Kitty list presented in this article.

PureMTGO Pauper Championship Match Videos
http://puremtgo.com/articles/boroskitty ... r-gauntlet

- sideboarding

[Jack]

Kor Skyfisher is a beautiful card. I love just how well it works with your whole deck. It allows you to use Journey to Nowhere on an early creature, since you can just bounce it when they play something more relevant (as a 2/3 can usually nullify their turn 1-2 play). Did they play another nasty aura? That's alright, just bounce your Sanctifier and kick it again. Have some extra mana and another Skyfisher on board? Swing with it, then play the one in hand and bounce the tapped one because you fucking can. Also gets rid of Pacifism variants.

[hamfactorial]

Looks like a lot of fun, will build this as my first foray into Pauper.

[DocLawless]

Standard Bearer is the poor man's Spellskite...

[hamfactorial]

I played a few hours worth of matches and really like the deck. If I wasn't going on a long trip for Thanksgiving, I'd be grinding the 8-mans with this. Finally, a way to win back the tix I lost while brewing Modern

Some thoughts on a few cards -

Mycosynth Wellspring: Getting some basics is nice, but I only play it on turns where I'm totally mana screwed or have nothing else to do. It's nice that there are only 2 in the deck, because I don't want to see it very often. I suspect that bumping the land count up to 21 might alleviate the need for Wellspring.

Faithless Looting: It's good for filtering, especially after we've filled our hand with a bunch of land, but it's another card that I don't really like to see early.

Atog: Very nice finisher,
just kills people out of nowhere. The Prophetic Prisms don't do much in the late game, so turning them into Atog food feels good.

Pyroblast: Holy balls, best card in the sideboard.

I've made a small tweak to the deck, which I'll test after vacation. I dropped the 2 Faithless Looting and 2 Mycosynth Wellspring, and replaced them with 3 Burst Lightning and an extra land. I often want to just sandbag stuff in the first few turns, and having extra answers to a turn 1 Delver is nice. Getting to 5 mana in the mid-game is completely reasonable, so the kicker effect is added value.

[deck=Boros Kitty 2: Electric Boogaloo]
Creatures:10
2 Atog
4 Glint Hawk
4 Kor Skyfisher
2 Sanctum Gargoyle

Artifacts:8
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Prophetic Prism

Spells:19
3 Burst Lightning
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Journey to Nowhere
4 Kuldotha Rebirth
4 Lightning Bolt

Lands:21
4 Ancient Den
4 Great Furnace
4 Kabira Crossroads
6 Mountain
3 Plains

Sideboard:15
2 Celestial Flare
n2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Electrickery
3 Gorilla Shaman
2 Kor Sanctifiers
4 Pyroblast
[/deck]

[zemanjaski]

I like it, but DromarX and I both think you'll need more artifacts to bounce for value. So that's a red flag for me, but maybe extra removal to give you time to draw into land is fine.

I always found Faithless Looting awesome; banking land after 4 then discarding two land for two spells, to do it again later is ridiculous IMO. Might just be a play style thing.

[hamfactorial]

I played a very interesting BW deck today that was recurring creatures from the graveyard with Pit Keeper and dredging with Stinkweed Imp.

Made me think that Relic of Progenitus might have a place in the 75. It hurts our recursion with the gargoyle, but could just completely shut them down, as well as the Ghostly Flicker / Mnemonic Wall combo.

Whatchu think?

[zemanjaski]

I don't mind it at all in the 75; you can just switch them with Gargoyle in sideboarding. I don't know enough about the meta so read to know whether it's worth doing though.

[hamfactorial]

Yeah, the only metagame I've studied is a few top 8 lists to see what they're trying to do.

[zemanjaski]

So how we're you playing with your late game? I try to hold lands after a while to fuel Looting.

I like Mycosynth because 2 land hand with Mycosynth is busted.

I'm open to alternate sac. Or win-con to Atog but I think that's the best available. It's such a quick clock vs. the non-interactive decks and just all around good value.

[hamfactorial]

I won most of my games with 2/3 beats in the air. I found that I had plenty of things to do with my mana instead of loot in the late game. Some games I just made a bunch of 1/1 Goblins and then burned my opponent out.

In games that went long, I spent a lot of time cycling Kor Skyfisher, Glint Hawk and whatever artifact I had available to fill my hand some more.

I killed one dude with Atog, but I mostly because he tried to bounce it back and I had a Pyroblast in hand.

[zemanjaski]

Yeah you win a lotus games with creature beats then burn them from 10+. Pretty funny.

[hamfactorial]

I like the deck a lot. 10/10 would stream.

[DarthStabber]

Why is it "Boros Kitty"? The boros part I get, but even sober the kitty part made no sense, and now i'm drunk and really don't get it.

[zemanjaski]

The original deck creator is called "TurboKitty3000".

[LP, of the Fires]

K, bothered finding games with the deck.

Beat mono-black through 2 corrupts totalling 17. Beat mono-blue including game 3 on the play with mull to 5 going to 2 after not seeing white source for first 4 turns. Win on turn 16.

Deck is legit as fuck. I mean, I played terribly too. Not afraid to admit that. Deck is powerful though, and with all the cards you draw plus looting being insane in the lategame, you just drown your opponent in card advanatge while pecking away at there life total.

Atog seems like the only "end game" the deck needs as just 2 power flier beats plus burn is enough. Atog is fine because he's a sac outlet, cheap, and can play defense fairly well. I'll research the format to see if I can find positive changes to suggest.

[Jack]

A lot of the Affinity lists run Fling as a 1-of to make use of an Atog that can't get through in the current board state. Considering the fact that we see half our deck in the typical game, thus making a 1-of more meaningful, this should is worth testing.

[Jack]

I feel like we could actually do with one less Kuldotha Rebirth, since, as I already mentioned, we see a LOT of cards in a game, and I think 3 is the sweet spot for this one. While not bad in multiples (know what's better than 3 goblins? 3 goblins and 3 backup goblins), seeing more than one also tends to knock you off Metalcraft if you didn't see many of your artifact lands. Sure, it's good and it's a major component of the deck, but I think (and maybe some of you do as well) that we don't need 4 of them.

[hamfactorial]

I spent some time searching the card pool and found a few promising cards that may be worth testing.

[cards]Forgotten Cave
Auriok Sunchaser
Perilous Myr[/cards]

[Helios]

I'm thinking I'll get into mtgo with this, if I can figure out some way to play. Because guess who doesn't support OS X? But seriously, this looks hella fun.

[DocLawless]

It is fun. I finally got it put together last night. I want to play it as soon as I have time to sit down for an evening. I did get to watch Zem dismantle a Jund deck for a few minutes, though.

Alternately, I'd like to smash my metalcraft deck into it.

I spent some time searching the card pool and found a few promising cards that may be worth testing.

[cards]Forgotten Cave
Auriok Sunchaser
Perilous Myr[/cards]

Auriok Sunchaser has been doing a lot of work for me in my affinity list. But she's reliably always a 3/3 on the board in that deck.

[zemanjaski]

Sunchaser / Forgotten Cave look good. My biggest concern is honestly fixing/perfecting the mana-base and as others have mentioned, the endgame.

Holy crap is Atog good in the deck though.

Dromar says 3 rebirth / 3 looting is better than 4-2 so I want to test that. He's on origin Spellbomb though, which I think is horrible.

[zemanjaski]

Sanctum Gargoyle gets better in multiples, I've considered running 3; returning a gargoyle with a gargoyle is amazing.

[zemanjaski]

FWIW oblivion ring and remember the fallen are good, but very clunky I found.

Bonesplitter might be good too.

[Jack]

I tested Fling in place of a Rebirth a bit today, and I have to say that I liked the change.

[zemanjaski]

If want more Atog first, but I'm interested in seeing notes, sure.

[Jack]

I don't really have notes, just a few games on Cockatrice where I drew Fling and was happy to have a Fling in my hand.

[zemanjaski]

So we're probably comfortable on ~50 cards.

In dispute:
- Atog
- Faithless Looting
- Kuldotha Rebirth no. 4
- Sanctum Gargoyle

Atog competes with Rebirth. What matchups do we NEED rebirth in? Is Atog just more compact? Rebirth is good vs. decks where you need chump blocks and good against MUC. More Atog would be bad vs. mono black.

I could see running Firebolt or Burst Lightning x 2.

Don't blow up your Prophetic Prism if its your only artifact; you need it for new Glint Hawks!

[hamfactorial]

Sanctum Gargoyle gets better in multiples, I've considered running 3; returning a gargoyle with a gargoyle is amazing.

Oh snap. I didn't realize that Gargoyle was an artifact creature.

I like Kuldotha Rebirth, but 1/1 goblin tokens haven't done a lot for me in the test matches I've played. Cutting 1 seems just fine.

[hamfactorial]

It is fun. I finally got it put together last night. I want to play it as soon as I have time to sit down for an evening. I did get to watch Zem dismantle a Jund deck for a few minutes, though.

Alternately, I'd like to smash my metalcraft deck into it.

I spent some time searching the card pool and found a few promising cards that may be worth testing.

[cards]Forgotten Cave
Auriok Sunchaser
Perilous Myr[/cards]

Auriok Sunchaser has been doing a lot of work for me in my affinity list. But she's reliably always a 3/3 on the board in that deck.[/quote:
3nct0kft]
In my goldfishing, she's been nice as a 2/3-of but suffers from consistency problems as a playset. Metalcraft is easy to obtain, but she's a pretty disappointing 1/1 in the early game while we're getting online.

A 3/3 flyer for 2 seems quite good though, especially in the mirror match.

[zemanjaski]

The hardest matchups are Tron and Esper Familiar combo. Mono Black is unfavourable but not bad (45% to 50% with no sideboard cards). Everything else feels really good.

2/3 fliers are really good, which makes me want more Sanctum Gargoyle. The body is just perfect. The only matchup I really want Rebirth is affinity for infinite blockers; but Atog can actually eat the 4/4s which is probably just better.

Atog lets you go aggro quick, which I like too.

Kinda want:

3 Atog
4 Glint Hawk
4 Kor Skyfisher
3 Sanctum Gargoyle

With no Rebirth. Atog is just so compact in the deck. Might not be enough sac. outlets though.

I also want to try and get Boros Garrison into the deck, maybe in the place of Crossroads? I don't feel that they're that necessary, given how good the aggro matchups already feel.

Thoughts?

[Jack]

I liked Crossroads as an easy turn 1 play. Garrison doesn't allow for that, so one shouldn't be thought of as an upgrade to the other. Making the change changes our plan. It's not that different (turn 2 Wellspring, turn 3 hawk replay Wellspring, compared to turn 2 Garrison turn 3 glint hawk and Wellspring) but it's something to be considered.

[zemanjaski]

Yeah you're right and I have enough issues with the mana. Maybe Boros Guildgate then?

[hamfactorial]

I tried Rugged Prairie in Modern and found that I very often wanted to use a single mana at any given time. Garrison has the same drawback, forcing you to spend RW all at once, leading to potentially awkward plays.

[hamfactorial]

I'm running Boros Guildgate in my goldfish list after dropping the Mycosynth Wellspring. It makes mulligans much easier since I often have the correct colors and I'm not trying to flood the board in the first turns.

[Jack]

If we keep Wellspring, I thing that the white cycle land (whatever it's called) would provably be our best bet in place of Crossroads.
Edit: oh, no. It seems that I've accidently typed "provably" into my phone so many times that it thinks it's a real word.

[zemanjaski]

I don't think eight draw cards are enough from my testing. The Azorius version has Preordain which we have no analogue for.

[zemanjaski]

2 land plus Mycosynth is awesome too.

[zemanjaski]

Went 5-0 in 2-man queues tonight with this significantly different version:

[deck]
Creatures
4 Atog
4 Glint Hawk
4 Kor Skyfisher
3 Sanctum Gargoyle

Artifacts
4 Ichor Wellspring
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
4 Prophetic Prism

Spells
3 Faithless Looting
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Journey to Nowhere
4 Lightning Bolt

Lands
4 Ancient Den
4 Boros Guildgate
4 Great Furnace
4 Mountain
4 Plains

Sideboard
2 Celestial Flare
3 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Electrickery
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Kor Sanctifiers
4 Pyroblast
[/deck]

OK, so obviously some radical changes.

Notes on Additions:

- 4 Atog is just the business. You really do like seeing them, and with Faithless Looting increasing in number, extras become discardable when they're not wanted. I liked to side
out a single copy when I am playing a deck without removal. This card just does everything the deck wants, and vastly improves the Tron matchup, that was previously really bad. Better than Kuldotha because it can sac. any number of wellsprings; which is even more important now that we have a 3rd gargoyle.

- 3rd Faithless Looting. I love this card in this deck, as the card disadvantage is rarely relevant; everything else generates card advantage and the ability to dig so deep, so quickly, is incredibly valuable. Adding a 3rd copy significantly increases the chance of discarding another Faithless Looting, and it also helps put artifacts in the bin for the extra gargoyle. Super impressed with this card. It actually fuels your endgame by preventing flood and by searching for win-cons...yep; balanced card.

- 3rd Sanctum Gargolye. Also love this addition, and it was super powerful in all my matches. A 2/3 flier is perfect, and Gargoyle rebuying Gargoyle is the most grotesque thing the deck can do - now you'
ll do it a lot more often. I even did Gargoyle get back Gargoyle get back Gargoyle against MUC once. The card improved a lot with the addition of a 3rd copy and an extra looting. Seriously, a 2/3 body shuts down pretty much everything in the format.

- Boros Guildgate. My love of good mana is well known, and this just improves the deck slightly in that regard, from 9r 11w to 12r 12w which helps a lot. Could probably -1 Mountain, +1 Plains, but I didn't have too many hands without a white source in my limited testing. Just a fucking great card.

Notable subtractions

- Kuldotha Rebirth. For a long time, I loved this card; and it isn't bad. But as we have all found, it isn't amazing either. The 1/1s just aren't that relevant in many matchups; you mostly want the card for artifact sacrifice and Atog just does that so much better. Even in the matchups where 1/1s are relevant (Elves or White Weenie), Atog is better there anyway...cutting Rebirth allows
for a more compact card advantage engine.

- Kabira Crossroads. Honestly, there arent that many scary aggro decks for this deck. White Weenie, Stompy and Elves are very good matchups already, and Auras is OK game 1 and very good post board. That leaves Affinity and Burn. Now, Affinity deals huge damage quickly, so gaining 2 life here and there is worse than improved mana fixing in every matchup. The 2 life is relevant against burn however, so you'll notice I have included a 3rd copy of Circle of Protection: Red in the sideboard to really address that matchup. With all the draw and looting, I am confident in finding a copy much faster.

Matchup Assessments:

MBC: slightly unfavourable
MUC: very favourable
Stompy: very favourable
Auras: even
Elves: very favourable
UR Delver: even
Burn: good
Tron: even
Esper Familiar Combo: slightly unfavourable

I would like a little more technology for MBC, as I think it will be popular when DEs start back up. However, the addition of
another Gargoyle is big, as it is one of your best cards in that matchup (walls everything, CA, beats down). The other popular decks, like Stompy, UR Delver, Burn and MUC are all even to very good; so the deck feels well positioned and super powerful.

Looking forward to getting feedback!!

[magicdownunder]

Isn't affinity a deck anymore? Also if MBC is a horrible MU why not run MBC hate cards like: Order of Leitbur or that Buy Back white card which produces 1/1 white tokens ok those first two were bad example perhaps 2x Guardian of the Guildpact

Edit: I forgot MBC all run Witches now, scrap the Token idea, but Order of Leitbur is still good.
EDIT2: Geez, I havn't been keeping up with pauper, seem like MBC runs 3x Shrivel, that makes the Order of Leitbur fairly lack luster as well.