Deck Choice: Dimir Control
The Dynamic Duo of Pauper is back! Sneaky Snacker and Spellstutter Sprite are here to save the day. Post-Geddon Gavin City has been running into villains of the Grind Gang like Gates, Gardens, Orzhov and Jund a lot. Innocent citizens like Tolarian Terror and Gurmag Angler got stabbed by Tithing Blades out in the open, or herassed by some self-proclaimed “Guardians”. All the other fair and square decent Humans, Elves, Detectives and even creepy Bystanders who observed things from their Balcony got scared and diminished. A cry for help was sent out to stop the inevetable sorcery-speed malicious plan of the Grind Gang. And here we go: stacking up the Dimir Dynamic Duo with heaps of gadgets and ponderous answers like Abandon Attachments, Ninja of the Deep Hours and Thorn of the Black Rose, slide down the poles, into the Faemobile and on to save the day!
Card Choices: Abandon Attachments and Modern Age
Building around the Dynamic Duo, I prioritized 4 Abandon Attachments over anything and 2 Ninjas over 2 Gurmag. I wanted one of each Murmuring Mystic, Deep Analysis, Dispel, Spell Pierce, Suffocating Fumes and Extract a Confession in the mainboard to be set up for any scenario, ignoring only a life-gain option like Mukotai oder Dihada’s Ploy. For most of the testing I had two more slots to fill with either Mob Lookout, The Modern Age, Preordain, Dihada’s Ploy or Gurmag Angler. Mob Lookout is the prime option against any deck that relies on early board pressure like Rally, Weenies, U Fae or Gruul. But the Lookout falls off quickly against Grixis, Jund, Gates, Madness, Terror and other deck where the 1/4 body is irrelevant. That is why I ended up with 2 Modern Age to provide maximum support for Snacker and acquire another flying threat in Vector Glider.
Match 1 OTD vs Joaquin on Gruul Ramp (Cascade)
Game 1 they stumble on early development and pass turn two with only 2 Forest in play. My life total is only reduced by my own Snuff Outs phew, I steal the Initiative with Snackers pow, deploy a Ninja whoosh and it’s over 1-0
Game 2 I mulligan to six and keep 2 Snuff Out 1 Extract. They have a decent start with Arbor Elf, Utopia Sprawl. Turn 3 I get to counter a threat and then slam Monarch bam on turn 4 with 2 Snuff Out in hand. They respond with Boarding Party, Avenging Hunter, Ram Through on turn 5, but 2 Snuff Out holds Emblem on my side and Thorn in play. With all their Eldrazi Spawns sacrificed on the turn, I get to untap, steal Initiative grab as well and ride the two Emblems home 2-0
Match 2 OTD vs Tim on UB Terror
Game 1 they cast an early Snacker, which I respond to with Abandon + Snacker ka-pow. From there I am heavily ahead on cards, I get to resolve Spellstutter dash vs Thought Scour, I land another Modern Age and see only one Terror on the other side. My Snackers quickly take over 1-0
Game 2 I now have Spellbombs and I can basically only lose to an overload of Snackers, Terrors or an unanswered Mystic/Monarch. The rest of the matchup is a heavy advantage of Spellstutter/Ninja/Modern Age vs Thought Scour/Mental Note. In game I get to control the graveyard, only allowing overcosted Terrors with removal up. In a last attempt they slam Monarchy boom with 2 removal up vs my 3 Snackers 1 Vector Glider roar in play. I play it super safe on attacks, Monarchy draws them 2 cards, but I am too far ahead and keep attacking in the air whiish 2-0
Match 3 OTD vs Max M on Red Madness
Max is a close friend of mine and testing partner, and I would say we have played around 30+ matches of Dimir vs Mono Red over the course of the last three years. We happily shake hands and sit down for the feature match (link will folow here, make sure to watch it and see if I even remotely remembered things correctly).
Game 1 they get to resolve Highway Robbery + Snacker on turn 3 and I think I answer with Abandon + Snacker ka-da-wa-pleng. Turn 4 they raise the stakes with a Kessig Flamebreather and send me to 14. I have an iffy hand with only Extract to answer a potential Guttersnipe and one more Counterspell. I do get to remove the Flamebreather though, trade Snackers, prevent a draw two + Snacker revival, exile their Snacker with Bojuka Bog - and tap out to slam a Thorn on turn 5/6 with 9 life pfeeehw. If we had heart-rate trackers on the stream, I bet I would have hit 130+ on that moment. Max is kind of flooding though and I get to keep the Emblem, keep my life total around 6 and set up a lock of cards and countermagic 1-0
Game 2 I side in ten cards including a premier of mine: Campfire spliish. I snap keep 2 Lands 1 BEB 1 Campfire on a mull to 6 I think. Max early game is only a single Epicure and I get to hard core stabilize with Campfire. Over the course of the next turns we trade cards, I gain around 20 life with Campfire wrom, a spectacular stack battle with Guttersnipe in play puts me to 6 life jikes, I have 2 Mukotai in hand but cannot find a single other creature to deploy it and seal the deal. Finally I get a Snacker swish in play, Max answers the first Mukotai and I just slam the second one bang, which sticks. I am down to 6 life, but with Campfire and Mokotai in play against no more interaction it’s over 2-0
Match 4 OTD vs Perdo on Gruul Storm
Game 1 I think I am up against Cycle Storm and keep a good but pretty slow hand with Modern Age, Deep Analysis, Snacker, Counterspell. When I realize they are Gruul Storm on a mull to 5 (that relies on cost-reducers in play and resolving sorcery speed draw spells) I rub my hands, hold up mana and then deploy my draw engine + threats into the first possible windows. Snacker beat down paff + almost no resolved draw spells on their side seals the deal 1-0
Game 2 I get 5 Hydroblast bam and 2 Spellbombs pow, kind of all my deck is good against their engine-cards. Modern Age, Ninja and Abandon is an incredible slim draw engine when you try to hold up mana and trade cards 1 for 1. It’s kind of a slug fest 2-0
Match 5 OTP vs Trainer Lukas on Dredge
Sitting down at the match table I realized that Lukas and share a peculiar history in Pauper. We have faced exactly once before in tournament magic and that was the Top8 finals of the first Lega Season, where we had both clinched a Geddon Bye, and which Lukas took home 2-0 on Dredge vs Jund. On the second season we have both been struggling and finally failing to reach a single trophy, with lots of 3-2 and some 3-1-1 records, both missing the K.O. stage. Facing each other on 4-0 on this years first Lega stage, both with a trophy clinched, kind of closed a circle for me.
Game 1 they mull to 5 and I even get to Spell Pierce sling an early Malevolent Rumble. From there, I deploy my threats including a tap out Mystic babäm, answer a new Turtle-Pinger card and drive it home against few cards in Lukas’ hand 1-0
Game 2 I board only 2 Spellbomb 1 Extract and feel kind of confident that I am not gonna get hard core dredged or pranked by Gnaw to the Bone. Lukas keeps 7 I think and sets up a lot of enablers, including Scrapwork Mutt plus Stinkweed Imp and a Molten Gatekeeper. We trade some cards, including a timely Cast Down slack plus Spellbomb crush to take off some steam, but my hand turns into sth like 1 Spellstutter 2 Ninja of the deep Hours, which is good in general, but really bad when facing a beat down of some 1/1s and 2/1s. I kind of get Weenie’d & Pinge’d to death 1-1
Game 3 I am warned, but back on the play. My life total is a relevant ressource against their Plan B beatwdown and the Pingers in Molten Gatekeeper and some 1/3 Ninja Turtle. My hand is lacking stack-interaction but I have Sweepers against the beat down and an in-between Bojuka Bog, so I just tap out for Modern Age miau, then for Mystic wrom wrom, then even for Lorien Revealed boom bap to create a board of fliers. In the meantime Lukas uses up most ressources to deploy 2 Generous Ent via Dread Return and ping me down to 8 life with Molten gatekeeper in the process. We stare each other down some turns, but when I cannot find Cast Down or anything, I start swinging for lethal in the air rooaar straight into the remaining Ent and Food tokens uff. Lukas cannot find lethal on the swing back and we end on 2-1
Take Away
It was another great start into the Lega Season, fully booked out on the first Stage which is huge. It was a wholesome atmosphere with lots of people helping to set up the venue. Big Shout Outs to Pauper to the People!
Playing Dimir Control felt like comming home after a long journey. The deck speaks straight from my heart, I barely had to mulligan, I never got a single Snacker exiled, and the Grind Gang must have gotten scared, I saw none of that filthy bunch. The Dynamic Duo had a serious edge vs Dimir Terror and Gruul Storm. Dredge, Madness and Gruul were open but fell into my hands. As long as you don’t get knocked out by tempo or completely outvalued Tron/Wellspring-style, I feel like you have great tools to fight the whole meta. Looking forward to jam the Dynamic Duo again.