Intro – Trip to Paupergeddon Lucca
After a nice little holiday, Jan and me caught up with the Leipzig crew in a sweet little village close to Lucca on Wednesday. There was a lot of engagement with the place and its people immediately in form of long stays at the Bar/Social Center, a historical tour organized by our Godfather Milan, and of course tons of testing Pauper, eating Pizza and drafting Cube & Chaos in our testing house.
I had been doing my testing for the event well ahead of time on Mtgo, felt confident with my Dimir list, SB-Guide in my pocket, and I could just chill & enjoy the days leading to the event (can only recommend that to everyone). On Friday Max (red midrange), Luca (green midrange) and me (ub midrange) performed enjoyable but poorly at the Trios, which was good overall to get into the mood of playing at the venue.
Deck Choice
Since January I had been choosing between U Terror, UB Terror and Caw Gates, dismissing the later quickly because of time-troubles and needing to know all matchups inside out. Both Terror Decks provide good tempo, interaction and card selection for my taste, and were well placed within the meta. Terror Decks also do not require any tokens or dice, which I find very enjoyable like playing in a “pre-fire-creep” era. Comparing the two Terror decks I had three heuristics:
- U Terror is better against a narrow field (Madness, Jund, Gates, Gardens, Affinity), whereas UB is better against an open field (Spy, Blue, and especially Weenies and Elves which were on the rise).
- U Terror is the better deck when played absolutely correctly, whereas UB Terror allows to come back from small mistakes on long tournament days.
- My tracked winrate in tournaments & mtgo since december was 55% with U Terror and 71% with UB Terror – and that gave the final sign to trust Dimir and its natural playstyle to me.
Decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/JYjrzuSwXEilS0AYLZ08OQ
Card Choice
I played no Mystics. Had been doing a lot of testing with and without it, didn’t fall into the category of cards I wanted to slot into the genral tempo-plan of the deck. I last minute tested it again, because Utrom Monitor single handedly turned Affinity into an awfull matchup, but dismissed it after Trios. I did play a Thorn over it in the SB because it could fix the tough matchups vs Jund, Gates and Gardens, without me needing to protect a creature in play. I ran 2 Fumes and 2 Fangs in the 75 because I just love the versatility of those cards. The rest was basically stock with 4 Mental Note, 3 Abandon and 2 Spell Pierce.
If you haven’t already, you can check out good chunks of the testing on my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOyXOgGYRoglYhZORVmf-bd2mv91jM00y
Day 1 - Saturday 21st of March
I have had a bit rushed start into the day, but very chill company in the car, good moods on all sides, time to play some Pauper!
Round 1 Andrew on Elves (0-2)
They play Essence Warden, Lys Alana Huntmaster, Elvish Vanguard and even Ivy Lane Denizen post-board. Not sure what they cut for it, because they also had Avenging Hunter, Hydra, the Draw Spells, not sure about Timberwatch Elf.
G1 I have 4 Snackers early, find 3 Terrors in the mid-game, but their Draw Spells and topdecks outmuscle me 0-1
G2 Again I have 3 early Snackers and they even do some unfavourable combat by attacking and trading their Ents into my Snackers, but again they just find more gas 0-2
Round 2 Alessio on U Fae (0-2)
G1 I have 3 early Terror/Gurmag into their early Ninjas, but they are able to Snap them because I have to tap out. They have a million cards in hand, once I redeploy my 5/5s we race and they squeeze through 0-1
G2 I mulligan and then nothing I do ever works, resolves, blocks, impacts at all 0-2
So very early on I am 0-4 in games, 0-2 in matches, meaning I would have to win 6 matches in a row to make day 2. Cannot think of that yet, although we make some Reid Duke jokes. I try to reset mentally and just play the next matches for the sake of playing my deck.
Round 3 Kais on Blue Terror (2-0)
G1 I play it patient as they are the aggro, I have one more Terror in the race, they don’t find Sleep of the Dead 1-0
G2 I lose 11 life with Snuff Out and Deep Analysis but stay ahead on board. They deploy a late Mystic and a Serpent but are empty handed. I am at 5 life, they are at 20. I have one more Removal, take the risk and point it at the Serpent, swing for ten, next turn they have to chump with the Mystic 2-0
Round 4 Dex on Jund Snow (2-0)
G1 I have a solid Snacker lead after an eventless start. Soon the Terrors follow and I play 3-4 Lorien in that game to keep grinding through their Breath Weapon, Chrysalis and Sagus 1-0
G2 They don’t play Refurbs and Wildfire, so everything is just slower. I have a slow graveyard as well, but around turn 8 when I just have a Snacker and Terror in play against their Chrysalis, I go for it and slam Thorn. We fight Monarchy back and forth for several turns, but in the end, my deck finds more board-impact and Snackers reign superior 2-0
So I am back at 2-2, which calms me a lot mentally. Now I am out of the blur of questioning my existence, and this is the first time where I set the goal: New Tournament, Go 4-0, Make Day 2!
Round 5 versus Grixis Affinity (2-1)
G1 I mull to 5 and have a barely functioning hand, but they do very little on the first turns, so I counter what is needed and then slam 2 Loriens in a row just to come back from my empty hand. By the time I play my first Terror I am at 10 life and on their turn I go to 5. I do some stabilizing plays, but eventually they have enough Fliers, and a turn with 2 Brainstorm can’t find me Fangs to stabilize fully 0-1
G2 They mull to 4 and I just counter everything they attempt to do 1-1
G3 They keep seven and empty their hand on turn four into Refurb, Monitor, 2 Enforcer. I find Terror and Gurmag, Terror gets Extract’ed, Gurmag gets the Fangs in return. I hold the game from there, but the ground is a stalemate and I am still losing slowly in the air. Until end of the game I do not find a black removal to enable a clean attack into their 2 Enforcers, but on the last possible turn I manage to trade my Lifelink-Gurmag for an Enforcer and a Refurb. My Snackers, that already took care of their Monitor take it home in the air, pheeew! 2-1
Round 6 No Show
This break was very welcomed within this whole block of Grixis and Jund matchups.
Round 7 Gerard on Jund Wildfire (2-0)
G1 I have 5 Terror/Gurmag in hand but no real graveyard, so we timewalk each other with 4 mana Terror into 4 mana Cast Down for a while, until I break parity and send them home with some Double-Terror-Turns and more power in hand 1-0
G2 I keep a 3 Land 2 Lorien 2 Counterspell hand on a whim when they first mulligan - and get rewarded as they proceed to mull to 4 (this is a terrible keep, unless for exactly this scenario). I counter everything the try to do, deploy a Gurmag on an empty board, and when they topdeck Cast Down, for some reason I decide to not use my last Counterspell on it. Instead I „let them trade 1:1 with my tempo, but I get to deploy Lorien and have Counterspell for their next whatever“ – only to fully brick on Lorien and the next Brainstorms, and watch them fully rebuild with 3 Snuff Outs stuck in my hand. Yikes. We proceed to play the game 30 more minutes until extra-turns. At the end I have 4 cards left in my deck, no answers for their Gixians in play, no Counterspells left, and because Krark-Clan Shaman is lethal all the time I slow-roll my attacks - but Thorn and Snackers eventually carry me home 2-0
I slap my face at least three times and tell the story of my stupidity to everyone who is up to listen to it. One of my goals in training was to commit more to forcing lines instead of prioritizing value and control – but muscle-memory just took over here. Still on stress from almost giving this out of hand, I walk to the table of my win-and-in.
Round 8 Manuelle on Boggles (2-1)
G1 I have a draw-spell hand with Snuff Out, can mill them away when I realize the matchup, but only find Spell Pierce, Lorien and Lands. I wiggle to all outs, but find the first Terror when I am exactly lethal to Ethereal Armor and Rancor 0-1
G2 I have Counterspell and Spell Pierce to contest all their relevant Auras and slowly find a clock to outsize their 3/3 Boggle and race it home 1-1
G3 We both mulligan to 6, I keep 2 Ice Tunnel, 2 Snacker, 1 Annul, 1 Fumes OTD, which is risky, but unless they early buff a Bogles toughness, Fumes might get them good. I topdeck an Island which is huge, but still I lead with Ice Tunnel, to go for this turn three window with Fumes (accepting to be open for exactly Bogles + Ethereal Armor on turn two which kills me). They play Rumble on turn 2 and a Ledgewalker on turn 3, perfect!, and on turn 4 their Ledgewalker dies to Fumes with an Aura on the stack. From their I deploy a Snacker per turn with Annul backup, eventually put a Fangs on one of them and put them on a 3 turn clock with now 3 Annul backup 2-1
We did it *.* Moritz, Max and Luca stand behind me, give hugs and shake me, I can’t stop smiling.
Day 2 – 22nd of March
I start the day really calm and confident. Winning all these tough matchups yesterday with my back to the wall, taught me just to play every game turn by turn, create windows and seize opportunities. No matter the situation. Ironically today I have to go 6-0 again to make it to the Top 8.
Round 9 Marco on Dimir Terror (1-2)
Game 1 I keep a risky hand low on land, but it allows me to pump out 2 Terror and 1 Angler by turn 4. After I untap, I use my remaining 2 Counterspell to protect the tempo-lead 1-0
Game 2 I have a more reactive hand and take some damage, but after I trade off the Snackers and deploy 2 Terrors, the game seems on lock. When I start forcing attacks they have Fangs on a blocking Terror, which I cannot answer immediately. With just this, they stabilize the entire board and take it from there 1-1
Game 3 after a marginal lead on board they deploy Thorn. I manage to play through their layers, take over the Monarchy, but again when I have them on 1 Life they convert Dispel into Dispel into Fangs in overtime 1-2
After the game we discuss the matchup, and I take the lesson to play 2 Fangs, 2 Snuff Out post-board, as opposed to 4 Snuff Out vs U Terror which I was using as a blueprint.
Round 10 Samuel on Jund Wildfire (1-2)
Game 1 I counter their first Wellspring & Wildfire, Snuff Out their first Chrysi, but then they drown me in value and cast a total of 4 Chrysalis 0-1
Game 2 I aggro them as soon as possible, keep my graveyard, answer all Reachers and beat-down with Snackers, with them stumbling to draw something meaningfull, like a good old Jund 1-1
Game 3 we trade some early interaction, when my hand dries up I hail-marry a Thorn, they redeploy a Snacker, remove all my creatures, take Monarchy and take it home 1-2
Round 11 Gabriel on Caw Gates (1-2)
Game 1 they mull to 5, I just empty my hand on turn 4 and beat-down with Snakes 1-0
Game 2 I mulligan into a slow start, which is very bad, we get to the grindy mid-game where they resolve everything they need, and I have to answer every single creature, which fails at the 4th Squadron Hawk 1-1
Game 3 I have to mulligan into a bad hand with only Snackers and removal. I hard-cast 2 Snackers, Cast Down every Life-Linker, and actually put them to 2 Life, but again the 4th Hawk alongside Strands stabilizes them 1-2
At this point of course I feel defeated. I didn’t really play sharp all day, just solid. But „good enough“ don’t really get you nowhere on day 2 with these matchups. Still, all these matches came down to margins, which could have tipped the favors. It’s good to write about this now an review it. Who knows how these games would have ended, if I played my A-Game, and not like a Caramel-Pudding on 38°.
Round 12 Andrea on Red Madness (0-2)
Game 1 I keep an iffy seven with only interaction and lands OTD. Let’s have some fun now. Opponent goes T1 Epicure, T2 Epicure, T3 Sac 2 Blood discard and revive 2 Snackers. I had two blue up and a Counter, haha. I untap, play an Ice Tunnel on T3 and have an about 0,002% chance of a comeback 0-1
Game 2 they show me two early Relics into my 2 Hydroblast, 2 Thought Scour, 1 Terror hand. This kind of game, okay, I know what to do, let’s prepare some landdrops. Eventually I dance enough to force both Relics, I am at 12 life, deploy a Terror, but haha, I milled both Fangs in the process, and yep, they manage to burn me 12 around turn twelve 0-2
Round 13 Devis on Dimir Control (1-1)
Game 1 My heart lightens up when I see T1 Acquifier. The tables around us are empty, people dropped, ran home to cry or take care of their families, or support their friends, it’s round 13, we meet at a 6-6 score, back to an equal record, fighting as two equals, anything between exciting and sharing a dark secret, you choose.
To the game! I am very bad at recognizing decks, even when I play them myselves. I mistake their deck for Dimir Terror (Snuff Out and Fangs very good) for waaay too long, until I realize, they are just Dimir Control aka Snacker, card-draw, interaction and some Campfire for the extra spice (Abandon Attachments very good and excess coppies shouldn’t be discarded into each other). They do play Spellstutter Sprite as well, but to make my 3 Snuff Out hand look perfectly stupid, they don’t find any of them in the first 40 cards. Eventually I kind of deck myself with 20mins remaining on the clock and all Snakes answered 0-1 lovely
Game 2 I just throw every piece of creature into them, and hey, I am a smart tempo-player, sometimes!, I even keep up a Counterspell to protect them, geniues lines of play. They do finally show me really well placed Spellstutters, but I am even lucky enough to kill two of them with Fumes and I Bog some Snackers away, great stuff you know!, and I beat their Campfire with a bunch of Terrors 1-1
Game 3 we start with 7mins on the clock, and after an early tempo of mine, they just brick-wall me, alongside my deck which tries to attack them with Islands and Spell Pierces, very honorable 1-1
This matchup settles it for the day and the weekend, we both go 6-6-1 and drop out. Some people win their first Pro Tour, some people convert their first Geddon Day 2 into the Top 8! At least I can still achieve the first one…
Take Away
It was a great run and a great weekend with so many friends from Leipzig comming along to Lucca. I think none of the joy and success of this trip would have been there without this ever positive und engaging company. I feel always glad to be part of it, love to see it include new people all the time and look forward to join again. Thank you all!
I made it to Day 2 which is huge for me and has still not sunken in entirely. I was really looking forward to play on sunday, and this got a bit overshadowed by me not playing to the top of my game. I think you have to get used to seeing a Paupergeddon as a sports-event, a test of endurance and mentality. And it kind of itches me now to reach another Day 2 someday and play well there.
As for now, I think I will be good to give Brainstorm, Sneaky Snacker and Snuff Out a break for a while. I love these cards and the playstyle speaks from my heart. Let’s maybe do some stuff that’s less mentally challenging, like finishing my degree, or play Elves and Burn for some time.
Pauper to the People!