[Primer] Mono Blue Control

[zemanjaski]

[deck]Pauper MUC Delver v4[/deck]
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Spire Golem

Instants
4 Counterspell
4 Deprive
2 Essence Scatter
4 Exclude
2 Oona's Grace
4 Repeal
4 Think Twice

Sorceries
4 Preordain

Lands
20 Island
2 Quicksand

Sideboard
3 Curse of Chains
4 Hydroblast
4 Piracy Charm
2 Sea Gate Oracle
2 Serrated Arrows
[/deck]

[zemanjaski]

I am trying out Amass the Components in place of Deep Analysis. The deck wins by going long and that much selection seems really good.

[DarthStabber]

I am curious as to why deprive and a singleton mana leak over rune snag and something else? Runesnag does all sorts of work, and keeps getting better as the game goes on. Alternately miscalculation can ditched when ineffective. Deprive just seems like a really loose choice, unless you are planning on hitting the island replay for a 1 mana counter, which is way shakey early (throwing off your development). All and all though it seems pretty good, personally I would replace oona's grace with looter il-kor (anti-synergy with delver be damned).

[zemanjaski]

Deprive is Counterspell when games go long, which most games do with this deck. All of the other cards you've mentioned go dead. Hence 1 Mana Leak is better than any of the alternatives.

[zemanjaski]

6-2 today.

Amass the Components is approved; I like it. Being able to offload cards late is great.

Trying out -1 Mana Leak; +1 Repeal.

[zemanjaski]

Repeal is nice when cards sneak under your counterspell wall; and its particularly good against the weenie aggro decks.

[zemanjaski]

-1 Exclude, +1 Essence Scatter.

[zemanjaski]

SB needs some work. Only deck I want 4 Hydroblast against is the Kiln Fiend deck and Curse of Chains is already excellent there.

When I have some time I want to look at splashing red or black for cheap removal. Red removal is generally better (cheaper, no limitations, go upstairs) but awful vs. Hexproof and pretty bad vs. Affinity.

Black removal is solid except for MBC being everywhere

That leads me to Flame Slash; but that's not instant speed, and doesn't go upstairs; so it's an awkward middle point.

Following from that, I really like how the mono U deck sides into a control deck with Mill as a win con; I could potentially explore that. The splash in either configuration is more appealing because your splashing for specific answers in a deck that already works; ie: play mono U game 1, then bring in
splash SB cards.

Ill let you know how deep the rabbit hole goes. Expect to see a lot in trinket mages in the future.

[LP, of the Fires]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT TRINKET MAGE FOR ARTIFACT LANDS.

Old Extended was the best eternal format.

[LP, of the Fires]

My dick is palpably hard. If you concentrate, you'll be able to feel it in the background.

[zemanjaski]

I KNOW!! TRINKET MAGE!!

[hamfactorial]

Trinket Mage...

[zemanjaski]

Updates!

[deck]Pauper MUC Control v3[/deck]
Creatures
4 Mulldrifter
4 Spire Golem

Instants
4 Counterspell
4 Deprive
4 Essence Scatter
4 Exclude
1 Oona's Grace
3 Repeal
1 Rewind
4 Think Twice

Sorceries
4 Preordain

Lands
19 Island
4 Quicksand

Sideboard
3 Curse of Chains
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Hydroblast
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Serrated Arrows
[/deck]

Slowly getting happier with it. Thoughts:
- Delvers are in the board for matchups where I need to be more aggro. Usually -3 Repeal, -1 Quicksand, +4 Delver when they come in.
- I wanted to experiment with Dimir Guildgate + 2 Mystical Teachings, but that probably makes Spire Golem too crappy and the deck already has enormous CA potential.
- Rewind is the worst card and I am open to ideas for replacements. Probably just need
to wade through a Gatherer search

[DocLawless]

Probably just need to wade through a Gatherer search

Here. http://magiccards.info/

Better advanced search options, IMO. Higher resolution card scans. Oracle wording, Gatherer card rulings, printing editions, format legalities (though Pauper isn't a format it sorts out) and market prices all readily available too.

[Jack]

http://magiccards.info/query?q=o%3Acoun ... rd&s=cname

[zemanjaski]

Haha thanks guys...sadly I already spent more than an hour trawling through Gatherer

Merchant Scroll is interesting, as is Prodigal Sorcerer / Thornwild Faeries.

[zemanjaski]

Took down back to back 8-mans; need to tune the deck a little more.

Much work to do!

[RedNihilist]

Seems fun!

[zemanjaski]

Updates!

[deck]Pauper MUC Control v3.1[/deck]
Creatures
4 Mulldrifter
4 Spire Golem

Instants
4 Counterspell
4 Deprive
4 Essence Scatter
4 Exclude
1 Oona's Grace
3 Repeal
4 Think Twice

Sorceries
4 Preordain

Artifacts
1 Serrated Arrows

Lands
19 Island
4 Quicksand

Sideboard
3 Curse of Chains
3 Hydroblast
4 Prodigal Sorcerer
4 Spreading Seas
1 Serrated Arrows
[/deck]

Little bit of tuning, slowly getting better. 7-1 in testing.

[zemanjaski]

Debating:
-1 Serrated Arrows in the main; +1 Repeal (its that good in the format)
-1 Hydroblast, +1 Serrated Arrows in the board

Maybe Sea Gate Oracle over Prodigal Sorcerer vs. fast aggro?
- SGO blocks right away and will be a 2-4-1
- Sorcerers eventually take over the game, especially when you get multiples down
- SGO also seems pretty good against MBC, where it walls all their creatures that resolve under your counters; combines well with Serrated Arrows and Quicksand.

[zemanjaski]

So I have slots for Sorcerer / Oracle against:

White Weenie: SGO locks down the ground; Sorcerer kills all the 1/1s. In multiples locks them out of the game.
Goblins: SGO is just better, it's a very fast matchup
Elves: SGO stops the early rush, Sorcerer wins going long
Faeries: SGO does nothing, Sorcerer beats their deck

SGO is much better against Boros Kitty's Kuldotha Rebirth.

Will look deeper into my options.

[zemanjaski]

More i think about it, the more I like what Sea Gate Oracle does for the deck.

Anyone else had a chance to test? Would love some feedback!

[zemanjaski]

Thinking something like:

[deck]Pauper MUC v4[/deck]
Creatures
4 Mulldrifter
2 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Spire Golem

Instants
4 Counterspell
4 Deprive
2 Essence Scatter
4 Exclude
1 Oona's Grace
4 Repeal
4 Think Twice

Sorceries
4 Preordain

Lands
19 Island
4 Quicksand

Sideboard
3 Curse of Chains
2 Hydroblast
2 Prodigal Sorcerer
2 Sea Gate Oracle
2 Serrated Arrows
4 Spreading Seas
[/deck]

vs MBC: no changes
vs Aggro: -4 Deprive, -2 Exclude, +2 Sea Gate Oracle, +2 Prodigal Sorcerer, +2 Serrated Arrows
vs RUG Tron: -4 Repeal, +4 Spreading Seas
vs Kilnclops: -2 Sea Gate Oracle, +2 Hydroblast

[zemanjaski]

And a version with Delver; this would involve a lot more combat interaction which I think is more skill-rewarding:

[deck]Pauper MUC Delver v2[/deck]
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Spire Golem

Instants
4 Counterspell
4 Deprive
2 Essence Scatter
4 Exclude
2 Oona's Grace
4 Repeal
4 Think Twice

Sorceries
4 Preordain

Lands
20 Island
2 Quicksand

Sideboard
3 Curse of Chains
4 Hydroblast
4 Piracy Charm
2 Sea Gate Oracle
2 Serrated Arrows
[/deck]

1-0 so far!

[zemanjaski]

3-0 in an 8-man

2-1 vs UG Combo
2-0 vs MBC
2-0 vs White Weenie

[zemanjaski]

3-0 in an 8-man

2-0 vs Trinket Control
2-1 vs MBC
2-1 vs MBC

[Pendulum]

And a version with Delver; this would involve a lot more combat interaction which I think is more skill-rewarding:

[deck]Pauper MUC Delver v2[/deck]
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Spire Golem

Instants
4 Counterspell
4 Deprive
2 Essence Scatter
4 Exclude
2 Oona's Grace
4 Repeal
4 Think Twice

Sorceries
4 Preordain

Lands
20 Island
2 Quicksand

Sideboard
3 Curse of Chains
4 Hydroblast
4 Piracy Charm
2 Sea Gate Oracle
2 Serrated Arrows
[/deck]

1-0 so far!

I don't get it, you reduced the land count but doubled your dependence on Oona's Grace? Plus, the
Delvers just seem really greedy to me, doesn't the deck want to drag it out to the late game?

[zemanjaski]

Yeah, looks weird right? Let me try to explain:
- the deck wins by accumulating enough CA going long that you soft-lock your opponent with counters. They'll have like 2 cards in hand to your four counters etc.
- mulldrifter was amazing because it's a 3-for-1; bad because it costs 5 and against most decks you can't tap out at 5; you need to wait to 7+; this makes your Oona's Grace worse and keeps cards stuck in your hand. Heat card against MBC and the mirror, often bad elsewhere if you're not already winning...
- delver comes down faster and has basically a 50% flip rate (28 hits out of 60; but two of the 60 are delver and an island); the faster clock makes your counters much better because now when your opponent gets soft locked theyre just dead, whereas before you might flood out letting them back in the game.
- delver, flipped, is actually a relevant blocker in the format; especially against stompy and Hexproof.
Mull sifter is too slow here.
- the clock from delver gives you a nutdraw that you didn't have; some decks can't beat turn 1 delver flip game 1.
- the second oona's grace because once you've got an advantage it's the card in your deck you most want to draw to stay ahead; I used to run two and liked how often I would see it; a single wasnt enough. You could run a Merchant Scroll instead though. The second copy is obviously useless, but it does cycle.

Very impressed by Sea Gate Oracle so far. More CA; relevant body; protects your threats from edicts, works well with Piracy Charm and Serrated Arrows. The deck actually likes the extra help beating down haha

[DroppinSuga]

I've had a lot of rage quits from flipping Delver immediately. There's a lot of decks in Pauper that can't handle it.

[hamfactorial]

T2 Delver blind flip

You can't explain that

[DroppinSuga]

It's a good feeling when the box pops up. DroppinSuga has won on Turn 2. BOO YA!

[zemanjaski]

You though Delver flip reveal mana leak was bad?

Huehuehue

[zemanjaski]

I'm going to play in next weekend's PE; should be streaming too.

[hamfactorial]

What time does it start? I'll watch if I'm awake.

[zemanjaski]

630pm my time.

[zemanjaski]

Repeal is so ridiculous.

[zemanjaski]

Sideboarding strategy:

vs big aggro (white weenie or gw slivers)
-4 Deprive
+2 Sea Gate Oracle, +2 Serrated Arrows

Explanation: Deprive puts you behind too much too early; its only good when you've already taken over. These decks don't have a lot of non-creature spells anyway, so Exclude / Essence Scatter is sufficient going long. Your goal is just to survive; Sea Gate Oracle goes a long way towards that. These decks have no real sources of card advantage, so as long as you survive, Think Twice and Ooona's Grace will eventually out you ahead. Careful use of Repeal is very important; bouncing lords and equipment to make favourable blocks is a big game; or even just breaking up their attacking format to gain life and cycle. Remember that you can pick your depleted Serrated Arrows up with Repeal, so try and time the last charge so that you can pick it up on your opponent's EOT.

[i:
35itwl76]Note: Curse of Chains is really loose. Against Slivers it leaves lords in play, so the targets upon which it is worth casting are very few. White Weenie runs Kor Skyfisher, so they can just bounce the guy.[/i]

vs little aggro (elves, goblins, stompy)
-4 Deprive, -4 Counterspell
+4 Piracy Charm, +2 Sea Gate Oracle, +2 Serrated Arrows

Explanation: Similar to above really, although now you have the benefit of Piracy Charm acting as a terminate effect most of the time. Your goal is again to survive, stabilize the board, then draw a million cards and bury them in card advantage.

vs Kilnclops
-4 Delver of Secrets, -4 Deprive
+4 Hydroblast, +2 Curse of Chains, +2 Serrated Arrows

Explanation: Delver just isn't a good blocker in this matchup. Its their only target for Lightning Bolt, and they run a bunch of effects to let them get passed anyway. You need to disrupt their early pressure, so Repeal is amazing, as is Hydroblast. Delver
isn't a huge threat because it is hard to combo off with it; Kiln Fiend and Nivix Cyclops are bigger issues but Hydroblast kills them. Serrated Arrows can lock them out going long and Quicksand is unfair against Kiln Fiend. Just fight over creatures resolving, ignore everything else. They only have 12 creatures, so they are all that matters. It is OK to let a Delver resolve if you have an active Arrows, or a Kiln Fiend to resolve if you have a Quicksand. Be aware that Apostle's Blessing can cause Curse of Chains to fall off, so it might be better to bring in the extra Sea Gate Oracles instead.

vs Mono Black Control / UB Trinket Control
-4 Repeal
+2 Sea Gate Oracle, +2 Serrated Arrows

Explanation: All their creatures have ETB 2-for-1 effects, making Repeal very bad. Sea Gate Oracle locks out all of their ground creatures. The cards you need to counter are Liliana's Specter, Chittering Rats, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and later on, Corrupt. Pretty much everything else is
irrelevant. Its nice to counter a Phyrexian Rager, but them drawing a card is much less relevant than them disrupting your development; going long you have so much more card advantage than they do that you just need to drag the game out. They have a lot of removal, but eventually you will run them out of resources. Try to hold your threats (Delver and Golem) until you have a SGO in play, this protects you from their edicts.

vs RUG Tron
-4 Repeal
+2 Curse of Chains, +2 Hydroblast

Explanation: There isn't anything that you would want to pick up anyway, so Repeal needs to go. Curse of Chains is very good against Ulamog's Crusher, but pretty bad against Fangren Marauder, since all the lifegain might make them impossible to kill. Hydroblast helps fight their Pyroblasts and Rolling Thunder. It is possible that you might want -2 Sea Gate Oracle +2 Hydroblast as your Oracles aren't going to be doing much given they run SGO as well. Save your counters for Mulldrifter, Fangren
Marauder and Ulamog's Crusher. Nothing else matters; you'll eventually overwhelm their removal going long enough.

Esper Familiar Combo
-4 Repeal
+4 Piracy Charm

Explanation: Again, nothing you would want to bounce. Piracy Charm lets you pick apart their hand, kill the black familiar or Cloud of Faeries. They don't run counters or disruption in Game 1, so counter all the card draw creatures, ignore the familiars and card draw. Post board, you just want to get an active Delver as quickly as possible, then support it with counterspells.

vs Affinity
-4 Delver of Secrets, -4 Deprive, -3 Repeal
+3 Curse of Chains, +4 Hydroblast, +2 Sea Gate Oracle, +2 Serrated Arrows

Explanation: I am not 100% sure this is correct, since a lot of players tell me that Delver is essential to this matchup, so there is a good chance that I am doing it wrong. I like SGO for walling Frogmites, so you can save your counters for their creatures. Like many matchups,
nothing matters but their creatures, so save your counters for those. They only have 4 Galvanic Blast, so eventually you'll resolve a winning threat. I like to keep Repeal in to bounce Atog and Carapace Forgers that resolve under counters, then counter them on the way back down. Hydroblast kills Atog and counters Galvanic Blast and Pyroblast. You can manage resolved 4/4s with good blocks, Quicksand and Serrated Arrows.

vs Mono U Ninjas
-4 Delver of Secrets, -4 Deprive
+4 Piracy Charm, +2 Sea Gate Oracle, +2 Serrated Arrows

Explanation: You're not the aggro deck here, and they have so many ways to bounce your Delvers that they are too unreliable as blockers. Instead, Piracy Charm and Repeal can disrupt their early pressure; once the game enters draw-go it's a fight to resolve Spire Golem; which blanks all their creatures. You have the edge because you'll hit six islands first, run the full four Spire Golem and have more draw. Arrows will dominate any board state.

[u:
35itwl76]Aside[/u]: I have barely faced any mirrors. My reading on the format tells me that people don't think MUC is good now, which doesn't surprise me, it is a MUCH harder deck to play than MBC, RUG Tron or Affinity, and it lacks the style points of Elves! or one of the combo decks; doesn't have the free-win draws of Mono U Ninja's etc. My advice for the matchup is to broadly sideboard the same as the Ninja's matchup, as everytime I do see the mirror they have Cloud of Faeries and Spellstutter Sprite, both of which are terrible cards when you know how to play around them. The only thing that matters in the matchup is Spire Golem, so pick lines around resolving that; it walls everything else and that is why I cut Delver; it can't fight through Spire Golem and it is too easy for them to bounce it as a blocker; Sea Gate Oracle in multiples can attack through anything though, and they won't want to bounce it. Open to suggestions though.

Best card in the deck: Preordain
Hardest card to use
in the deck: Preordain
Honorable mention: Repeal

Overall deck rating: I have been playing this archetype all week and have had ridiculous success. I have run through a bunch of variations and tweaks to tune it. The deck is immensely customizable, and the SB can really change dramatically depending on what you want to beat. I have run Prodigal Sorcerer and Spreading Seas as crazy hate; but generally you don't need that much dedicated hate for other decks wanting to go long.

[zemanjaski]

Sorry, forgot one:

vs Mono Red Burn
-4 Exclude, -4 Repeal
+4 Hydroblast, +4 Piracy Charm

Explanation: Hydroblast is obvious, Piracy Charm is basically Duress which is better than nothing. If they're running Curse of the Pierced Heart there's an argument to cut Essence Scatter for 2 copies; though remember Hydroblast can kill it too.

[zemanjaski]

Ill write something on Oona's Grace management when I have time.

[zemanjaski]

You'll notice the number of Islands has increased. This makes the UU spells and Spire Golem better. To compensate for less early game interaction I have the 4th Repeal and the pair of SGO. Hopefully this is OK. There are definitely going to be times when I want the 3rd or 4th Quicksand; but with everything else running a little better it'll hopefully work out.