[Primer] Mono Blue Control

[zemanjaski]

Yes I'm back to pauper, working on an updates list for the current meta. Deck is GAS.

[Khaospawn]

I'm interested in any current list you may have Z. I want to board the grind train headed to value town.

[Jack]

Yeah I don't like it, but I have a certain way of playing and it doesn't appeal to me for reasons related to that. I don't think Looter is on par with Oona's Grace for a few reasons; but I won't argue with success.

I tried Rewind at 4 mana and I quickly found that 4 mana counters are truly awful. The mana edge is the best part of counterspells and spending 4 mana is just rubbish. I was shocked at how bad Rewind was and that even doubles your mana! Basically keeping up two mana is way easier than 4. Exclude is only good because it's so well positioned, but it does often get cut on the draw against really aggro decks for costing too much.

I can't stress how important cheapness is; no deck has a chance in hell going long once you've stabalized so all that
matters is early interactivity.

When I get back from my holiday ill try this:

[deck]Pauper MUC Nouveau[/deck]
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Spire Golem

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

Sorceries
4 Preordain
4 Serum Visions

Lands
20 Island
2 Quicksand

Sideboard
x Coast Watcher
x Dispel
4 Hydroblast
4 Piracy Charm
x Sea Gate Oracle
x Serrated Arrows
[/deck]

If this deck doesnt test at 80%+ vs. MBC then it's an auto-scrap though.

This is still good enough. Play 3 Serrated Arrows.

[Jack]

Repealing Serrated Arrows in response to the upkeep trigger is probably my favorite play with this deck.

[zemanjaski]

With MBC being overwhelmingly the most popular deck:

[deck]
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Spire Golem

Non-Creature Spells
4 Counterspell
4 Deprive
2 Essence Scatter
4 Exclude
2 Oona's Grace
4 Preordain
4 Repeal
4 Think Twice

Lands
20 Island
2 Quicksand

Sideboard
2 Cufew
1 Dispel
4 Hydroblast
4 Piracy Charm
1 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Serrated Arrows
[/deck]

[Khaospawn]

I have a boner for Serrated Arrows. I remember playing that card when it was new...fuck, I'm old.

[zemanjaski]

Sure are.

[DarthStabber]

The dominance of MBC is the main reason I'm always playing burn.

[zemanjaski]

...

MBC's worst matchup is Mono U Control.

[Mr. Metronome]

I might make a foray back into pauper with this deck, around how many tix does it cost?

[Jack]

http://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/12278#online

[Jack]

So it's not cheap, but I wouldn't want to get into pauper with anything else.

[Jack]

Don't skimp on Serrated Arrows, that card wins you half the games you bring it in, and you bring it in against nearly every deck.

[Mr. Metronome]

That seems perfectly reasonable. Do pauper queues fire ever? Also, if serrated arrows is so good why not main some?

[Jack]

I'm not on MTGO so I can't answer that.

We don't main Arrows because, as a control deck, we don't want any dead cards game 1.

[zemanjaski]

You can main them game 1 if you're not expecting combo decks, cutting some Repeal.

[Alex]

That seems perfectly reasonable. Do pauper queues fire ever? Also, if serrated arrows is so good why not main some?

I played it in the main for a while, it was okay. Not great. I preferred to have Repeals for most matchups. It's a much better targetted hate card.

[Jack]

Does this deck want Treasure Cruise? I've tried it, and I'm really unsure if it's good or just win-more. I've found that I'm pretty much only be able to cast it and leave up enough mana to answer other stuff when I should already have control of the game, putting it in contention with cards like Think Twice, Oona's Grace and Mulldrifter. To be honest, I'm not even sure we need a draw 3, since we pretty much never run out of interaction to keep the opponent from getting back on their feet once we already establish control. I just thought it might be better than one of our Think Twices.