MyGalaxy Winner of MPDC 27.12 Interview

Yours, Ours, His, Hers, MyGalaxy !!!

1- MyGalaxy, congrats on your 5-0 record few days ago at MPDC 27.12.  Your decklist 

"Wins" is actually 10-0, defeating other aggro lists as well as more control orientated 

decks. What does WW Tokens have to offer in the currrent metagame?

My list has a lot of flying creatures and is able to put 6 creatures on the table by turn 3.

Pegasus>Raise the alarm>triplicate spirits>Charge!:) Not so many decks have air protection in

the current meta.


2- What are WW Tokens best and worst matchups in the current metagame? Please 

describe your favorite 4 first turns plays, whether on the draw or on the play.

The best match up is everything without Scouring Sands and Merchant.  Mono black is able to

put defenders on the table, gain life with Pharika (2 damage+gain 2), make me discard with the

Prophet and after this gain life with the Merchant.

Favorite turns are above.


3- WW Tokens is an Aggro pump strategy mainstream, sounds and plays pretty straight 

forward. We know you as a skilled aggro player with more than 370 matches played in 

STD Pauper competition. What does this experience and knowledge of this archetype bring 

you event after event?

Wow, now I know how many matches I have played :D This is a hard question I just saw a

possibility to play this deck. Gwyned played tokens last season, so I just tweaked this a little and

it works.  My experience allows me to predict some turns my opponent may make, probably.


4- Playing a token list nowadays is a big bet, with so many hate cards around like Scouring 

Sands or Festergloom, how do you play around them and what are the key cards allowing 

you to do so?

My decks was often called “Looses to scouring sands”, when I lost a match to this card. I can

save creatures by sacrificing a Selfless Cathar or by casting Ajani’s Presence. Sometimes there is

no need to throw all creatures on the tableat once, So, I can recast tokens on the cleared table.

But most of the time I hope the opponent won’t draw the wrath card.


5- There's a shift in the STD Pauper metagame nowadays, as we can see new archetypes 

emerging and doing well, like those Mono U control decks. They look good versus Heroics, 

how were your matches against them overall (for both MU and Heroics)?

I didn’t find MonoU really strong. My deck is much faster. Heroics decks, otherwise, can cause

problems. I’d say a match vs Boros Heroic deck is favored for Boros if they have lifelink.


6- What interesting additions could Fate reforged bring to your list and do you think WW 

Tokens will still be viable when Fate is released?

This new guy with a spirit token is good. Flying 1/1 for W is so-so, but maybe can be good in

terms of creating a value for spirit tokens. Red looks very strong.


7- Did you register for the STD Pauper Sealed League hosted by Gwyned and what will be 

your take on the Boosters distribution?

No I didn’t. I also play standard, so MPDC is the only one event I can play outside of grinding

now.

Thank you for the Interview mate, and see you around fate Reforged with an even more efficient WW build !
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Fate Reforged is Here!

Season 27 for both MPDC and SPDC is getting to its final moments as the new cards from Fate Reforged begin to be made available in MTGO. We talked about the new cards previously and I've got the overall feeling most of the new cards are not going to be added to the existing top decks and while I am a bit skeptical about this, I can see some of those cards improving "tier 2" (do we have tires in Standard Pauper?) decks like Mono Red aggro.

Of course we will know about that very soon, but only when the new cards hit our beloved tournaments.

To get you started, I'm bringing here my two current brews aiming for the next season.

Disclaimer: these decks were loosely tested using software that lets you play the game without rules enforcement and all the other goodies MTGO has to offer. They are in early stages of development and will be tested and tweaked in MTGO during the next weeks. So don't expect them to be ready to competitive play.

Things are Harsh for Gary

Gray Merchant of Asphodel is without any doubt one of the most powerful cards in Standard Pauper right now, second only to Treasure Cruise. But despite all the sheer power Gary had, he hasn't shined in KTK season as much as he used to do in the previous formats. This is because of the lack of synergy black cards have with him in the current card pool. Gary really misses Devour Flesh, Basilica Screecher, Quag Sickness and Stab Wound, as well as the fine creatures with double black mana casting cost RTR had. Also, the fact that current removal is so weak and White is always adding new protecting spells to it's arsenal, makes things even worse.

The solution is to pair Black with other colors, be it Blue for better card draw and bouncing tricks to replace removal or White or Red for better removal. That way, Gary decks could retain part of their power and the Merchant got five wins out of 21 appearances in the Top 4. Not bad, really, but most of them were in the first half of the season, before Boros Heroic, Izzet Control and White Weennies were consolidated as the decks to beat in the format.

Then FRF arrives and I want to talk about a card that may not be obviously fit for a Gary style deck, but I'm pretty sure it will find a home there. Meet Harsh Sustenance:

This card obviously fit a token swarming deck very perfectly and the token shell is the one most people will try to fit it in. But with it's effect somehow mirroring Gary's ETB trigger and being a 3 mana instant removal as well (something MBC and family misses badly), I want to try it in a control deck. We could start adding it and some token generating cards to Orzhov Control, but I feel we can use Gary's real power more effectively when we pair him with Treasure Cruise. This way we can make up for the slowness of the deck and the bad quality of other creatures by drawing billions of cards. 

The deck I use as a base is my Dimir Gary Discard deck, which my friend Dan has been showcasing in MagicGatheringStrat youtube channels. Here is a sample match: 

It is a grindy and ugly deck trying to make up for the usual weakness of this kind of decks to cards like Gods Willing and Feat of Resistance, by using Black Cat, Mardu Skullhunter and Disciple of Phenax to force our opponent to cast those cards in moments he do not want to do it, leaving his creatures open to further bouncing and removal. You can check a list here. Now, to be able to use Harsh Sustenance we need more creatures and white mana, which can be a problem, so we are tweaking our mana base and starting with three Harsh Sustenance. White can generate more creatures so we are also adding two copies of Raise the Alarm (which can later be replaced by Sandsteppe Outcast, since the flying ability of the token can be very important). We are also going to add a single Scholar of Athreos, since we are all about the drain game and she is a great mana sink. To finish our brew, we are testing Sultai Emissary: it is not an impressive card, but it replaces itself with another creature when it dies, keeping our creature count.

We don't need a huge amount of creatures to make Harsh Sustenance effective here. The card will serve as instant removal and as a way to put us back in the game after taking some early damage. After the Gary-Draw-Gary stage of the game started, Harsh Sustenance can also finish him before he has a chance to come to balance.

The sideboard is pretty much the one I use in the current meta plus Whisk Away, one of the best commons from Fate Reforged.

The Simic Manifest

My other brew tries to create a new deck based around the Manifest mechanic. The new cards Ethereal Ambush and Write into Being are really interesting, specially the later which can be really powerful setting up some tricks depending on the card you chose to manifest. Since it is required by Ethereal Ambush, I chose Simic colors to work with but this is mainly a Blue deck splashing Green.

We will use Blue suite of bouncing effects to slow our opponents and get manifested cards back to our hand when we need them. Divination and Treasure Cruise will get our game going, Nessian Asp and Lotus Path Djinn are our beaters, in case the manifest creatures can't handle it by themselves. We have no removal, but Nullify can be extra valuable here since we are running Voyage's End, Peel from Reality and Whisk Away to force our opponent to cast his creatures again. Jeskai Sage is not a very good creature, but it can be cast and morphed for cheap, which means we can pay 1B to draw a card when it is about to die if it's faced down. I thought about having Sedge Scorpion for surprise Deathtouch or some Morph creatures to get more value out of manifest, but none of them is really good, so here is the list I want to try:

Bonus Sction: Boros Heroic

A new card that is surely going to be a major player in the next months is Temur Battle Rage. It is probably an auto include in RDW and Boros. Here is what I think Boros can look like with the new card. Prepare to become very frustrated when you face this card. It will stole many games from you.

That's all folks, let's see what the new format will look like. Have a good one!

Taigam's Scheming

Scheming for the win

Hello everyone.

A short post today, a focus on a card that's a bit underplayed in the STD Pauper format, but that surely deserves a slot in some current competitive lists.

That card is Taigam's Scheming.
And it's a great card !
It's blue, so both the emerging Mono Blue and already well known Izzet Control / Tokens can make benefit of it.

The card plays at sorcery speed, Instant would have been better but the effect is still great, considering that it allows you to plan up things depending on what's going on, and work on efficiency.

Let me explain.

It's great in the early game when you are mana screwed or looking for an early threat answer, because both Izzet and Mono Blue Control need to be ahead on mana and card draw. Of course it's not the best way to use the card, since you would better leave your mana open for counters on your opponent's turn early game rather than digging your deck in search of a way to get rid of the early aggro pressure.

It's also great in the middle to late game, because once you are settled with enough mana, you'll be able to sort the 5 cards on top of your library and write your near future game plan from there, even finding your win conditions, for a very low investment.

And now we come to the best part, Taigam's Scheming has a real good synergy with the most broken card in the format, AKA Treasure Cruise. It fills the graveyard for your Delve action, helps you avoiding the useless land draws late game. Let's say, put 2 useless cards in the graveyard, then 3 useful cards on top of it, and play Treasure Cruise in order to draw those 3 nice cards on top.

So even if the spare card slots are rare and it may seem difficult to find room for Taigam's Scheming in lists playing blue and Treasure Cruise, I highly recommend trying it out, because it's really worth it.
At least as a one or two of's, you'll never be disappointed with drawing and using it.

I'd like to hear your feedback on it !

Good luck and have fun !

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Quick 'n Dirty Fate Reforged Review!

Hello everyone. Here is the Fate Reforged Quick 'n Dirty review from the Standard Pauper Clan!

This an overview of the new cards. We are going to just comment a few words about each card without much detail. Mouse over the card names to view the card images.

I think the set is not bad and it's nice that Wizards allowed a bit more complexity than the previous recent sets. Most of the creatures will probably stay in the shadows of the more effective ones from Theros, so I expect these cards to become better after rotation.

White
Abzan Advantage - Interesting card. An enchantment edict. Not many reasons to play it in Standard Pauper right now.
Abzan Runemark - Lifelink, Wizards. We wanted lifelink!
Abzan Skycaptain - Not bad. But I don't expect to see too much of this, while Theros is around at least.
Arashin Cleric - Good against Red, but not that good.
Aven Skirmisher - Not that good right now. But cards like this can be useful.
Dragon Bell Monk - Again, not bad. But competition is harsh.
Great-Horn Krushok - No.
Pressure Point - I'm not sure. Looks weak. But surprise effect with cantrip is nice. If you plan to put this in your heroic deck, use Defiant Strike instead.
Sandblast - Kill Shot is better, but this one can also get blockers.
Sandsteppe Outcast - This one is good. Mardu Hordechief grandpa!
Soul Summons - One of the weakest manifest cards.

Blue
Aven Surveyor - Worst in the cycle. Costs too much.
Enhanced Awareness - Costs too much, but great value at instant speed.
Jeskai Runemark - Not sure, but this one is almost making the cut. I like it. Surely the best of the cycle.
Jeskai Sage - Not every card that is good in limited will be good in Standard Pauper.
Lotus Path Djinn - If you make a Prowess deck you probably want this one. But I don't see it earning a place in the current decks.
Rakshasa's Disdain - The one colored mana might help it. But it's Cancel with downside.
Refocus - It's like Pressure Point, but maybe a little more useful.
Sultai Skullkeeper - Blue self mill creature. Similar to Necromancer's Assistant. If this one ever sees play, it's because it's blue (Simic Delve?).
Whisk Away - Costs less than Griptide. I like this one. The downside is not very important.
Will of the Naga - Nice effect and can be cheap. But do you want to Delve for this?
Write into Being - Interesting Manifest card. I'm not sure if this will see play, but I like it a lot.

Black
Alesha's Vanguard - Not as good as the Red one.
Ancestral Vengeance - I wish this had a bigger effect, even if it costed more.
Douse in Gloom - Play Pharika's Cure. I'm not sure the single black mana requirement will save this one.
Gurmag Angler - If you want to play a dumb black fattie for cheap, play Marshmist Titan.
Hooded Assassin - Nice effect, but hard to profit.
Reach of Shadows - Costs too much. But it's a bit easier to cast than Flesh to Dust.
Sibsig Host - Everybody mills! Good blocker, but hard to fit in any deck.
Sultai Emissary - I like this one. It's like it had Undying.
Sultai Runemark - Deathtouch is good to put in your Nimbus Naiad;
Tasigur's Cruelty - Not cruel enough. Again, it's a fair card, but you want a really good effect to compete against the other Delve cards.
Typhoid Rats - You know them, you hate them, you love them.

Red
Bathe in Dragonfire - 3 mana Flame Slash may inhabit some sideboards.
Collateral Damage - Lightning Bolt with downside. Sac the Black Cat!
Defiant Ogre - Why does this cost so much? Why is it so big?
Fierce Invocation - One cute interaction would be manifest one of the Outlast anthem creatures and then unmorph it. But it costs too much and sorcery speed makes it compete with creatures. You would rather play a goblin.
Goblin Heelcutter - This one has potential because you can repeat the effect. Best Dash common.
Gore Swine - It's so bad that it may work.
Lightning Shrieker - Oh this is cool! Oh this is bad!
Mardu Runemark - Please, reprint Madcap Skills. Not terrible, but competition will not be easy.
Mardu Scout - You probably won't dash this one. RDW likes it.
Smoldering Efreet - No, thanks.
Temur Battle Rage - Seriously, I'm afraid of this one. That Boros Heroic deck will beat you so fast you won't even notice.

Green
Ainok Guide - I want to play this, but putting the land in the top of the library can be so bad.
Anbush Krotiq - Good body, good effect, bad cost.
Archers of Qarsi - Nooooooooooooo.
Feral Krushok - Better than the white one.
Formless Nurturing - See Fierce invocation.
Frontier Mastodon - Needs the right deck to shine. Not reliable.
Hunt the Weak - You again?
Map the Wastes - Not good for the cost.
Return to the Earth - 4cmc is bad. But flexibility is good. It's almost a 4 mana charm. This will be played, but I'm almost sure it won't be good.
Temur Runemark - Green likes this, specially on a Nessian Asp. But may not be strong enough to make the cut.
Whisperer of the Wilds - Green likes this too. But it can be clunky.

Multicolor
Cunning Strike - The coolest card in the set costs too much to be played in any current deck. But you want to find a way to have it.
Ethereal Ambush - Cool Manifest card. Makes me want to create a Manifest deck.
Grim Contest - 3 mana instant removal is good for black. I expect this one to find a place.
Harsh Sustenance - Probably the best card of the cycle. The effect is just too strong to be ignored.
War Flare - It is good, but also is the competition.

This is all for now. Clan member DrChirsBakerDC has made a nice, detailed video review of the set. You also want to watch the first part of the video review being made by the Standard Pauper Show. And of course, we may expect another complete review by gwyned at PureMTGO.

After that, go brew some cruel decks to take over MPDC and SPDC.

Take care and have a good one!

We are all Charlie !!!

Suscribe Charlie Hebdo right now !!!

HNY 2015 and Magic Set Editor

The Standard pauper Players Clan wish you all a Happy New Year for 2015.

2014 passed away, it's been a more or less good year for MTGO players and staff, you can read Pete Jahn's state of the program recently published at PureMTGO right here :

http://puremtgo.com/articles/state-program-year-review

I do have my own opinion about what happened this year and what is to come online for 2015, but it may sound a bit too pessimistic (once more) to write it here so I will keep that for myself.

Fact is that half of the Clan members did not make the V4 turn six months ago. I do hope they will change their ways and minds and come back and enjoy the opportunity to play MTGO again.

Few weeks ago, I got in touch with a really good software. I want to share it with you in case you never heard of it before.

It's called Magic Set Editor, and it's available for free download here :

http://magicseteditor.sourceforge.net/

This software is a true gem for all card playing games addicts, because it allows you to create your own customized Magic sets and cards, for fun sake !

The interface is very simple and efficient, and there are so many templates you can select from.
You can import your own arts using the JPEG format, or use any you can find on the internet, beware of Copyrights in case you intend making a commercial use of your work, though.

So once downloaded and installed, you will be able to create any custom Magic card with this software. Then you can export your sets to visual slides and print them on paper. I'm only making family use of my sets, sometimes playing custom made themed decks with friends, using plastic backed sleeves.

The best part for me is that this software also allows you to create any card game, and not only MTG related stuff. Set up your own rules and game mechanics, and there you go !

I am actually working on a Prehistory themed card game, check below for a few samples of the work in progress.




So if you think Magic Set Editor can bring some fun and is of interest for what you want to do or create, I highly recommend you to give it a try.

A few samples in french !

See you Online this year, Enjoy, Have FUN !!!

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