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| "Watch me soar!!!" |
"Mono Blue Pauper: Levitation Giant"
by:
Virgilio F. De leon Jr.
It was a lot harder to come up with a Mono Blue Pauper deck than all the other colors in the pie. Probably because it really takes a lot of mana in common to cast a creature that is worth your while in blue when it comes to power but I have come up with a few combinations that could make this work. And I hope that it does work.
Here is the deck list:
22 X Islands
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22 Lands
4 X Stealer of Secrets
4 X Frostburn Weird
4 X Murmuring Phantasm
4 X Trained Condor
3 X Benthic Giant
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19 Creatures
4 X Runners Bane
4 X Voyages End
3 X Essence Scatter
4 X Disperse
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19 Spells
Now the main combo of the deck starts with the Trained Condor. This bird takes one creature with it to the skies when it attacks. One of the best creatures to go with it would be the Stealer of Secrets that draws you a card when it deals damage to a player. Another one is the Hexproof Benthic giant that already smashes a lot of faces on the ground. Imagine what it can do while flying?
Now like I said it does take a lot of time for the combo to set up so what does a good Wizard need? Why easy creatures to cast that by you a lot of time. Frostburn Weird and Murmuring Phantasm does the trick. At 1/4 and 0/5 these are solid defenses to hide against while you wait for your mana to cast your bigger creatures.
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| "Murmur...Murmur..." |
While hiding behind the Walls you could counter creatures with Essence Scatter, tap them forever with Runner's Bane and if they get really big just bounce them all with Disperse and Voyages End. Since there is no mass removal in Pauper the longer the game progresses the better it is for a deck like this one that could take defensive creatures and attack with them like the Frostburn and the Benthic Giant.
All in all it may not be as explosive as other decks but it is quite satisfying to see a flying 4/5 giant hitting home with the Trained Condor.
Nice. I like the idea of the condor + the giant. If it was my deck I would replace some of the cards in case those 2 don't appear at all in the game.
ReplyDelete-4 Murmuring Phantasm --> +4 Delver of Secrets
Frostburn Weird is already a better wall since it can go on the offensive and get pumped. With the amount of non-creature spells in the deck, delver has a good chance of transforming. At worst, delver acts as a chump blocker to help stall the game more for the giant and condor.
-4 Stealer of Secrets --> +4 Scroll Thief
Same exact abilities. Difference in stats; stealer a 2/2 while thief is a 1/3. Thief is tougher and can also act as a wall while thief is more offence oriented at 2-damage. It depends on which one the player wants.
Also, I'd bring down the number for these two to 3 instead of a 4-of.
-4 Runner's Bane --> +4 Vapor Snag
Might as well get rid of the only enchantment in order to increase delver's chances of transforming. Also, Vapor Snag's "damage" to your opponent really helps keep the damage going.
-4 Voyage's End --> +4 Ponder
It's pauper so we have a reason to play Ponder again. Undoubtedly works well with delver but also helps in getting the key cards of the deck: the condor and the giant. Also helps in getting rid of bad draws (drawing another giant when you already have one in hand is not a pretty sight).
-3 Essence Shatter --> +4 Counterspell or +4 Daze or +4 Arcane Denial (plus 1 from the additional space gained from dropping one Stealer of Secrets / Scroll Thief)
Again, since it's pauper I'd rather go for Counterspell. Daze helps in baiting your opponent; tap all lands for the giant, opponent thinks you're tapped-out and drops his / her bomb spell, counter it with Daze. Arcane Denial is a sure counter for 2-mana that replaces itself, however, your opponents also draws 2-cards.
Thank you for the wonderful input Eric and yes I would also add all of those cool cards....I love the card pool variety for Blue because it really is powerful...I actually have a Mono Blue Infect deck that features some of those cards...Vapos Snag really is powerful....
DeleteHowever the deck I tried to do is based on the Standard Pauper Pool...It is the only competitive format that I play in at the moment but the cards you suggested are powerful in classic and Modern Pauper...I wonder if someone would ever really come up with the format in Manila...thanks for reading and keep those ideas flowing...always welcome....
Aaaahh I see. STANDARD Pauper Pool. Now the chosen cards actually makes sense. My mistake for not seeing it initially. ^_^
DeleteI'm not a high-tier player but I just love brewing decks. Since it's for standard, here's redo of the card list:
-4 Murmuring Phantasm --> +4 Omenspeaker / +4 Seacoast Drake
Omenspeaker is a 1/3 wall for 2-mana that helps plan out draws with her ETB Scry 2.
Seacoast Drake is also a 1/3 wall with evasion for 2-mana, however, it doesn't combo with the condor since it already has flying.
-2 Frostburn Weird --> +2 Cloudfin Raptor
Raptor is a very nice turn-1 play and with the power / toughness your creatures have it has a good chance of getting up to 2/3 at least.
-2 Voyage's End ~or~ -2 Runner's Bane --> Another +2 Cloudfin Raptor
I like Disperse more since it can also bounce walkers and troublesome Artifacts and Enchantments. Dropped Runner's Bane to 2 since Essence Shatter is already there alongside all of the bounce spells. Also, sooner or later the opponent will always play something that's more than 3 power -- rendering Runner's Bane a dead card or a very bad draw. I guess it's a meta call? If the area consists mostly of decks running weenies then 4 Runner's Bane is the way to go. If not, just 2 for me.
Dropped the bounce spells to 6. This is just me; I just don't feel comfortable running more than 6 bounce sources, more than 6 spot removals (destroy spells), more than 6 counter-spells etc.
Looking forward to your next deck article sir Virgilio. It doesn't look like it but I'm pretty sure a lot of MTG fans regularly read your article. The only problem is that most of them are lurkers (like me LOL!) or just don't have enough time. More power to you, sir. ^_^
Thank you for the input Sir Eric and I do love it when people come up to me in tournaments or talk to me and request things that they would love to read...There are really times that we are really bit by the Brewing Muse...I made most of these decks in one sitting...(I was waiting for my board results)...Always nice to meet a fellow brewer....All of the decks that I make are open to interpretation because like you for example gravitate toward a certain game play....people PM me how some of the decks run and what they improved on it....Always heart warming...It also filled me with pride when I actually fought a deck I initially made and was ground to a stand still....I love Omen speaker but as I was brewing this deck I ran out of copies! hahahahha so the abundant Murmuring phantasm took her place... And about Runners Bane and the Meta...the place where I play out tends to be on the fast attackers side of things....
DeleteThank you for always reading and your inputs have a great day Sir...