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| Welcome to the Banquet, Ad' !!! |
While browsing some red cards eventually caught my eye and I chose to give an aggressive build a try and put some pressure on emerging control lists. Looked like the old Red Deck Wins archetype was worth considering in this new environment featuring a very limited cardpool. Straight forward !
Here's what I came up with for practice in the Just For Fun Room, testing versus standard legal lists because finding a STD Pauper opponent has become so difficult now that the format filter is gone online, sadly. To my surprise, the list was doing well enough and I thought I would take it to the SPDC the day after. Thanks to Amnaremotoas for the test games, they were so useful when it came to building the sideboard.
| RED EYE VAMPIRES |
Standard ·  Aggro |
 1st by Adner in SPDC 33.03 (4-1) |
| MAINDECK | |
| Creatures | |
| 4 Borderland Marauder | |
| 4 Mage-Ring Bully | |
| 3 Ember-Eye Wolf | |
| 3 Insolent Neonate | |
| 3 Sanguinary Mage | |
| 2 Bloodmad Vampire | |
| 2 Goblin Freerunner | |
| Spells | |
| 4 Fiery Temper | |
| 4 Infectious Bloodlust | |
| 3 Senseless Rage | |
| 3 Tormenting Voice | |
| 3 Touch of the Void | |
| 2 Titan's Strength | |
| Lands | |
| 15 Mountain | |
| 4 Looming Spires | |
| 1 Evolving Wilds | |
| SIDEBOARD |
| 4 Boiling Earth |
| 4 Boulder Salvo |
| 2 Pyre Hound |
| 2 Dual Shot |
| 1 Consuming Sinkhole |
| 1 Magmatic Chasm |
| 1 Mad Prophet |
And that is how the west was won. Playing the list was a lot of fun overall, though I had to fold a few games due to very bad mulligans, but playing 20 lands is where the shuffler takes you sometimes.
I will try and make a short recap of the matches, as well as give you my impressions and feelings about the key cards of the deck.
Round 1 VS Comixwriter (WG stuff allies)
G1 : Borderland Marauder comes enchanted with Infectious Bloodlust turn 3 making things hard for him. It turns a real biggie with another Senseless rage cast on it, sweeping everything on its way for the win. Note : there was a discussion between us and the hosts about the Marauder's legality in the format. Comixwriter, maybe like others, was not aware the card was legal. Neither was I to be honest. The STD filter just let me add it to the list so I figured out it could be legal...
G2 : The red swarm keeps growing though he casts double pacifism to try and stop it, too many fast threats overhelming and that's a concession when Goblin Freerunner enters the battlefield.
Win 2-0
Round 2 VS Yelloweyes (RB Madness)
G1 : He gets bad draws preventing him from doing anything or playing chumpblockers when the swarm gets going, then concedes when Bloodmad Vampire hits the field, ready to finish him along with an enchanted Ember Eye Wolf. Fast win.
G2 : He gets better draws but is quickly pushed backwards on the defensive side, trying to chump-block my threats, but my removals clear the way for a better board position, making Bloodmad Vampire a nice persecutor.
Win 2-0
Round 3 VS Amnaremotoas (WW Flyers)
G1 : He manages to break the swarm with a double pacifism, while playing his flyers then boosting them with Shoulder to Shoulder. Tight game finally ending in his favor. Race is lost in the air !
G2 : He swarms the ground faster than I do. He uses True Faith Senser and builds a flying-Vigilance biggie that completely ruins my hopes. I realize how wrong I was sideboarding the Boulder Salvos in, when I drew one he already had a 5/6 monster and it was too late. Funny thing is that we had played a few test games the day before, and he had beaten me with a Sudent of Ojutai built heavy on lifegain. I added The Boulder Salvos to the list since then in case this archetype was met again....
Lose 0-2
Top 4 VS Emerald000 (GB stuff with graveyard recursion)
G1 : He gets overhelmed by the vampire and friends swarm, forced to the defensive position. He suicides using the Vulturous Aven capacity. Samuraï code honors you my friend !
G2 : He fills up the battlefield with two Quilled Wolves and enough mana to pump one, until I get a better board position with 4 creatures and attack for the win with a Titan Strength finishing him off.
Win 2-0
Finals VS Amnaremotoas (WW Flyers)
Round 1 VS Comixwriter (WG stuff allies)
G1 : Borderland Marauder comes enchanted with Infectious Bloodlust turn 3 making things hard for him. It turns a real biggie with another Senseless rage cast on it, sweeping everything on its way for the win. Note : there was a discussion between us and the hosts about the Marauder's legality in the format. Comixwriter, maybe like others, was not aware the card was legal. Neither was I to be honest. The STD filter just let me add it to the list so I figured out it could be legal...
G2 : The red swarm keeps growing though he casts double pacifism to try and stop it, too many fast threats overhelming and that's a concession when Goblin Freerunner enters the battlefield.
Win 2-0
Round 2 VS Yelloweyes (RB Madness)
G1 : He gets bad draws preventing him from doing anything or playing chumpblockers when the swarm gets going, then concedes when Bloodmad Vampire hits the field, ready to finish him along with an enchanted Ember Eye Wolf. Fast win.
G2 : He gets better draws but is quickly pushed backwards on the defensive side, trying to chump-block my threats, but my removals clear the way for a better board position, making Bloodmad Vampire a nice persecutor.
Win 2-0
Round 3 VS Amnaremotoas (WW Flyers)
G1 : He manages to break the swarm with a double pacifism, while playing his flyers then boosting them with Shoulder to Shoulder. Tight game finally ending in his favor. Race is lost in the air !
G2 : He swarms the ground faster than I do. He uses True Faith Senser and builds a flying-Vigilance biggie that completely ruins my hopes. I realize how wrong I was sideboarding the Boulder Salvos in, when I drew one he already had a 5/6 monster and it was too late. Funny thing is that we had played a few test games the day before, and he had beaten me with a Sudent of Ojutai built heavy on lifegain. I added The Boulder Salvos to the list since then in case this archetype was met again....
Lose 0-2
Top 4 VS Emerald000 (GB stuff with graveyard recursion)
G1 : He gets overhelmed by the vampire and friends swarm, forced to the defensive position. He suicides using the Vulturous Aven capacity. Samuraï code honors you my friend !
G2 : He fills up the battlefield with two Quilled Wolves and enough mana to pump one, until I get a better board position with 4 creatures and attack for the win with a Titan Strength finishing him off.
Win 2-0
Finals VS Amnaremotoas (WW Flyers)
Needless to mention I felt a bit scared and hopeless before playing this match, as I had lost to the list during Swiss. Well things turned out quite differently this time.
G1 : An enchanted Insolent Neonate turn 2 quickly seals the deal, he is unable to recover from this fast start and burn to the face finishes him off. Menace is not bad when you can manage to keep the field clean with burn.
G2 : I have to mull a one lander, then keep another one lander, but the second mana source does not show up the next 2 turns. I had to concede, no remorse.
G3 : With 3 Fiery Tempers in my starting hand and 2 creatures, I feel confident on keeping the battlefield empty on his side. It works out until he manages to build a Felidar Club equipped with Bone Saw and True Faith Senser, setting a 2 turn clock on me. I dig the deck with Tormenting Voice finding nothing, leaving him at 3 HP, me at 7. He swings again with Felidar Club and I go down to 3. Then I draw Touch of the Void for the win in that epic and very close game.
Win 2-1 with luck.
Deck is overall 8-3 out of 11 games throughout the event. Not bad with a list built from scratch.
Now some thoughts on the key cards from the list :
G1 : An enchanted Insolent Neonate turn 2 quickly seals the deal, he is unable to recover from this fast start and burn to the face finishes him off. Menace is not bad when you can manage to keep the field clean with burn.
G2 : I have to mull a one lander, then keep another one lander, but the second mana source does not show up the next 2 turns. I had to concede, no remorse.
G3 : With 3 Fiery Tempers in my starting hand and 2 creatures, I feel confident on keeping the battlefield empty on his side. It works out until he manages to build a Felidar Club equipped with Bone Saw and True Faith Senser, setting a 2 turn clock on me. I dig the deck with Tormenting Voice finding nothing, leaving him at 3 HP, me at 7. He swings again with Felidar Club and I go down to 3. Then I draw Touch of the Void for the win in that epic and very close game.
Win 2-1 with luck.
Deck is overall 8-3 out of 11 games throughout the event. Not bad with a list built from scratch.
Now some thoughts on the key cards from the list :
These warriors are back into the STD Pauper Cardpool, better be aware. Check out Gwyned's inclusions of uncommons previously printed as commons for this season here.
They are one of the best 2 drops available when you are on the play, and are even more efficient when enchanted with Infectious Bloodlust or Senseless rage.
This wolf turned out to be very precious. Swinging instantly thanks to Haste in the early game, it's a threat your opponent would better care for. In the late game it can dodge your opponent's defensive plans and do a lot of damage as you can pump it several times. Also a quite good target for Infectious Bloodlust or Senseless rage.
Vampires, here they are.
This bloodmad is dangerous. You can cast it out of nowhere thanks to its Madness ability. It synergies well with Tormenting Voice and Insolent Neonate. Looming Spires grants it First strike. I chose to run 2 of them and I think they could be replaced. They did put some pressure on but never proved to be decisive for the road to victory.
The Freerunner is not really free, but in a list full of cheap spells and creatures, he will be a turn 3 or 4 menace with some kind of evasion, pushing your opponent on the defensive side, wich is good.
I would certainly consider making it a 3 of for sure. Surge is interesting because it helps you repopulating the battlefield quite easily and quickly.
Insane insolence ! The best 1 drop for RDW is there for sure. Again pushing your opponent on the defensive is good, Menace meaning the Vampire will swing every turn or so, it can be efficiently enchanted on turn 2 for more damage.
And guess what? This guy enables Madness when needed, very interesting when Fiery Temper, Bloodmad Vampire and Senseless Rage are around. And you get to draw a card as reward.... Not to mention the cool art !
Another good Vampiric surprise.
We have 7 Prowess dudes (Mage-Ring Bully is still there) and 19 spells to trigger and pump them. Its 1/3 basic stats are not bad when it comes to building an early defence in an aggro matchup. Getting rid of opposition on board with burn or mass removal while pumping those Prowess guys is just double duty ! Pushing it to a 4'-of may be too much, the list is happy with 3.
Burn. Burn. Straight to the dome or batllefield cleaner, up to the situation. Good synergies with other cards like Tormenting Voice or Innocent Neonate.
Fiery Temper deserves the 4-of's.
Just a sideboarding option in the list and that's maybe a mistake.
In fact, it was never sideboarded in during the event. See you next time, Pyre Hound? About the sideboard, Boiling earth and Dualshot VS Token strategies, Boulder Salvo VS annoying 4 power creatures, a burn spell, another Madness enabler, a solution for stalling grounded games, and it's still not fixed.
Well that's enough for now, getting back into the game with that list was a lot of fun, so was getting back to blogging. Don't hesitate to give your thoughts on the STD Pauper metagame, this list, or the event report written above, please use the comments !
See you next time, thanks for reading.
Adner
