First, how I feel about the decks, in a vaccum: in-a-vaccumShow
1st: Rakdos Stax Control This deck does a great job of controlling the board, and I like that it can put its threats down without a lot of mana. I think the problem will be that players will still have removal by the time threats resolve. Clearing the board repeatedly on your own allows other players to hold onto their own removal.
2nd: Poorstilence Similarly to Stax Control, this deck can control the board very competently. Lifelink should have been played in place of Vampiric Link , since giving protection from black will make Vampiric Link fall off of Crypt Rats. The problem comes in with how succeptable to disruption this deck is. 4 Pestlience is a lot, and this deck needs a lot of mana. While the deck can roughly control the game without Vampiric Link, it basically becomes a suicide deck minus the aggro. If the deck works, it's very solid, it's just a bit too much of a glass cannon to be number one.
3rd: "Suicide" Black This deck doesn't care how many opponents it has. It seems slold, fast, and scary. The biggest shortcomming is that the deck doesn't seem to be able to answer threats. Its creatures are always going sideways, but they're inefficient. If creatures can't run into walls or players, they will die. 'A bit more control in the deck would have been nice,' is what I'm trying to say.
4th: Helphelpe's Pauper Trinket Mage The deck not only has solid card advantage and recovery, but it has a finisher on top of it. It seems very solid. I like that Curfew tempos other players, but serves you as an inefficient 'blink'.
5th: Pauper Aura Aggro The deck does a good job of being deceptively strong. The strategy is apparent, but the threats don't seem too dangerous. The problem comes in with the associated card disadvantage built into auras. Snake Umbra, Rancor, and Rofellos's Gift all try to compensate for this, and do a reasonable job at accomplishing it. I like that Khalni Garden sort of pardons the deck for going sideways as much as it wants to.
6th: Minus_Prime's Defender Ramp The deck works, but I do think it could be more finely tuned. I don't have much more to say on that.
7th: Will-O'-the-Moth I hate to say it like this, but I feel like this deck was poorly built. Its only removal is 4x Disenchant and 4x Unmake . Not that either card is bad, but that's not a lot of either card. You have more auras/equipments than you have creatures, and a lot of them are inefficient choices. Holy Strength does not serve most aggro decks well. Unholy Strength might as well be Bonesplitter in most cases. Leonin Scimitar is pretty much strictly better than Runed Stlactite . Goldenglow Moth is perhaps the worst creature to put in an aggro deck, and Accorder's Shield is not a very efficient card for aggro either. The premise has potential, but is much better suited to dueling rather than multiplayer.
Now, how I decided to rank the decks taking the meta into consideration: final rankingShow
1st: Seven points goes to Helphelpe's Pauper Trinket Mage. To me, I think this deck will handle Rakdos Stax's game plan the best. I may be overestimating Leonin Squire , though. The deck is able to handle any creature played, if only because of Man-o'-War /Curfew , but it can trade with any of Suicide Black's creatures. I'm not sure of the cloudposts, I can't tell whether or not they will get in your way or not. Nevertheless, the deck seems to be the most stable.
2nd: Six points goes to Cathaldus' Rakdos Stax Control. Opposing decks have two options: extend into the Stax and lose permanents, or not play Magic at all. I'm wondering how viable the strategy of doing nothing for the first few turns against this deck would work. If other players do stuff, then the pilot of this deck needs to blow permanents up, otherwise it will fall behind. This means you can let him kill everyone else's card advantage, and just play lands instead of discarding your eigth card each turn. Nevertheless, the deck seems to know exactly what it wants to do, and seems to do a good job of it. It's hard to overcome this disruption.
3rd: Five points for Captain_Estaban's Pauper Aura Aggro. This deck efficiently aggros out. It plays artifact/enchantment hate without lowering its creature count, which I really like. The deck can play defense, and the small presence of exalted can even encourages it to. One can stack Qasali Pridemage s with auras, then attack with Aura Gnarlid through nearly any defense. The deck has a few ways of generating card advantage, and sacrificing Rancor to Crack the Earth is pretty sound tech.
4th: Four points to CadaverousBloom's Poorstilence! As much as I like the deck, I just think it's faced with a bad meta.
5th: Three points for Tich's Jack "Suicide" Black. I get the feeling that all the decks in the meta are prepared to deal with "Suicide" Black. This deck needs to cast its Syphon Soul s and Blood Tithe s to stay alive. The deck will have a hard time surviving trading down with Aura Aggro and Stax, and Poorstilence will have little trouble clearing the deck's board. As aggressive and efficient as the strategy is, I don't expect it to thrive.
6th: I give Minus_Prime's Defender Ramp two points. The deck plays defense well enough, but will spend most of its time blocking Infectious Horror . Crack the Earth and Innocent Blood won't disrupt the deck's mana as much as it wants to, but I anticipate the cards will still cripple the deck. The deck could perform better than I am expecting it to, but I just expect it to be whittled down by everyone else's strategy, even if it isn't focused on.
7th: One point, and last place are awarded to ArtVenn's Will-O'-the-Moth. This deck just isn't ready for the meta. It needs to get combat damage in to do anything, and it isn't capable of generating a board position that would allow that. Later on in the game, if it recovers, its best move will generally be swinging into Defender Ramp's walls just to gain life in hopes of stabilizing. This is granted that Defender Ramp or someone else doesn't remove the creature in response to it attacking or it having auras attached to it.
This deck looks like it could steal the occassional game when things go your way, and you certainly improve those chances by being able to race through your deck. Your removal is also pretty solid, and should go a long way to slow the game down to improve your chances. Still, I think recurring your burn would be a better than trying to sift through your deck for it. Anarchist and Izzet Chronarch seem like ideal additions to this deck.
This deck is really far too creature-light, and their quality is less than a lot of other cards that people are playing. Putrid Warrior and Nightsky Mimic would have been perfect for this deck, for instance. You also are missing out on a lot of black's best commons, particularly syphon effects. This deck looks like it could potentially steal wins if opposing removal is light, although, given the removal people seem to be using in the format, that seems like it would be feww and far between.
Minus_Prime's Defender Ramp I still feel as if this deck could use a lot fo fine-tuning; a lot of the choices, while functional, don't seem ideal (particularly Reinforced Bulwark and Gnarlid Pack ). Still, it seems like a very solid deck with a number of credible finishers that can steal games away due simply to their power in the format. Your ramp-base also gives your a really solid defense, which can never be underestimated in multiplayer.
This deck definitely uses powerful and synergistic cards effectively, but I fundamentally question the need for white in this deck. It limits how much mana you can sink into Pestilence and splits your focus. It looks like it could still use a fair bit of tightening up, but I don't think that the deck's faults will cost it too much in the long wrong, given your otherwise exemplary card selection.\.
It's sad how much power the Trinket Mage deck loses when limited to only commons. However, it very successfully combines a rudimentary Trinket Mage package with a Momentary Blink deck to generate massive card advantage. I don't think that you're getting as much out of the Cloudpost s as you're intending to, but it's still not a bad idea. Overall it seems like a really solid deck that can do really well in the long run.
This deck is simple and strait-forward: play creatures, enchant, bash face. While you stand to possibly be 2-for-1ed with so many auras, the power they provide seems well worth the risk. Your threats are solid to begin with and only stand to get more powerful as the game progresses. I think that even with the sweepers that everybody seems to be using, this deck would pack a very resilient punch.
I think that this deck could benefit from a light white splash for Putrid Warrior (over Maggot Carrier , which doesn't seem to do enough in this deck). The rest of it is, in my opinion, downright brilliant. Gangrenous Zombie will kill so many things it's ridiculous. The decks puts the entire table on a pretty quick clock while simultaneously buffering your own life.
"Do not concern yourself with my origin, my race, or my ancestry. Seek my record in the pits, and then make your wager." --Arcanis the Omnipotent
I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.
Before they banned the format out of existence, I was a proud supporter of Modern.
I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.
Before they banned the format out of existence, I was a proud supporter of Modern.
Right, finally back after the most insane two weeks of work I've had in a while...
Firstly, my thoughts on the other seven decks: Spoiler:Show
ArtVenn's Will-O-The-Moth: It's definitely a suicide deck that needs to hang on for the win with life gain. With four Nips and four Edges, you know it's got a high chance of sticking a 4/4 lifelinker on the table by turn two, so it's going to get some damage in on someone (and therefore gain some life). But will it get stuck topdecking later on?
Capitan's Aura Aggro: I have a fondness for decks like this - Shield of the Oversoul has to be the key card here. Indestructibility is gold in this format. I love the choice of Qasali Pridemage, too - artifact and enchantment removal, and yet can turn into an indestructible bomb if you need it to. That's high utility. Like ArtVenn's though, I worry that there's no later game card draw available, and boy does that feel wrong in an aura deck!
Cathaldus' Raxdos Stax: Cathaldus, clearly your therapist has things to work on with you - this deck is just plain evil! Quick enough to cope with early threats, and can sit back and stall while it's waiting for its own threats to unsuspend. It's only going to worry about decks that put many threats on the table quickly.
Helphelpe's Pauper Trinket Mage: I really like this deck's design - it's got reusability and utility all over it, even down to the land base next to Expedition Map. Just sit back, combo, control, and then drop Moggy's Crusher FTW. My only question mark is whether it has enough removal - a singleton Dispeller's is going to need to get recurred a bit, and Executioner's is not going to hit black creatures... I think my Crypt Rats/Pestilence deck would be happy with this matchup.
Minus_Prime's Defender Ramp: Oh how I adore Overgrown Battlement, let me count the ways. Seriously, it's been so effective in the decks I've played it in that I cannot discount this deck's ability to ramp. It could be sticking minor Eldrazi on the board very early - fourth turn, easily. But can it stand up to heavy removal, or to non-creature threats?
Tich's Jack "Suicide" Black: In terms of the most annoying cards to be playing against, I think Maggot Carrier and Vengeful Dead are probably up there. This deck is certainly going to be ensuring low life totals for all, and has the Syphon-Mage, Blood Tithe and Syphon Soul to keep it afloat (plus Syphon Mind for card draw). But can it stack up against heavy artifact/enchantment lock?
Zovc's Uber-Grixis: Oh wow... it's an unholy amalgamation of Helphelpe's deck and Cathaldus's deck... having stuck my replies here before going back and reading the whole thread, was this on purpose, or is this just an awesome coincidence? Cathaldus's evil coupled with Helphelpe's utility and control looks like a nice match. Has it got enough firepower?
... man, I cannot fault any of these decks. They all look like fun to play, and they're certainly all capable of winning on their day. So I have to take into account the other decks they're up against to pick a winner....
Seventh: ArtVenn's Will-O-The-Moth. I must say that there is absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever with this deck. It is simply that much faster than the others, and therefore is probably going to look the biggest threat early on, drawing the wrath of the other players. If this drops Nip/Edge on Turn 2, this is the deck the others are scrambling to handle by Turn 3. And given that it needs to get its swings in early, I feel that the other decks its facing will control it until it runs out of steam. But I still want to play it.
Sixth: Minus_Prime's Defender Ramp. Again, nothing wrong with the deck - Overgrown Battlement is and always will be a house. But the environment we've produced is heavy in removal, and this is a very creature-reliant deck.
Fifth: Capitan's Aura Aggro. For much the same reason as Minus_Prime... with that many Innocent Bloods flying about, it's going to be hard to keep a creature on the table to get auras onto. That said, Capitan makes fifth because his Ledgewalkers are going to be hard to knock off the table, and just need that one Ancestral Mask on them...
Fourth: Tich's Jack "Suicide" Black. Those Vengeful Deads will be wishing that their fellow zombies were hanging around longer for them to go to work, but that life gain and card draw is going to keep Tich afloat for a while, and make it a close thing.
Third: Cathaldus' Rakdos Stax. It's really a close thing in my mind between these last three decks - they've all controlled the board well, and are now looking for the winning swing. Cathaldus comes third as the other two decks can Curfew in response to his moves from here.
Second: Zovc's Uber-Grixis. Kept alive by the awesome control, Zovc only comes second because the winning deck has better recursion (and therefore a better toolbox at this late stage of the game).
First: Helphelpe's Pauper Trinket Mage. There's no doubt about it - with four decks packing either heaps of Innocent Bloods and Crack the Earths, or recursable Executioner's Capsules, this is going to be an environment heavy in removal. Creature decks were going to have a heck of a time here. And so the deck that copes best with the removal should be the winner. With all that Blinking, Curfewing, hoiking back the artifacts that matter... this deck should weather the storm and come through for a crushing victory.
Congrats to all! A tightly fought contest, and some most excellent deckbuilding going on!
Trinket Mage Suicide Black Aura Aggro Stax Control Poorstilence Defender Ramp Uber Grixis Will-o-the Moth
- 7 5 4 6 3 2 1
0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 6 - 4 2 5 3 1
5 7 6 - 4 3 1 2
7 4 3 5 - 2 6 1
7 1 5 3 4 - 2 6
7 3 5 6 4 2 - 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals for Deck Builders
Current
33
28
24
22
20
15
14
12
Some clarification from Minus_Prime: You said: "And a tight race for the rest:" and listed 4 decks racing for last place. While there isn't anything wrong with this use of speech, it is quite unusual. So I am wondering if perhaps when you PMed your choices to Calthaldus, those numbers were based upon how many points you were giving the decks (as opposed to ranking, which would be the inverse). Or perhaps Cathaldus transposed the numbers for rank? Or it might be the case that you value recursion/defense first, aggro second, and control last.
Budget EDH:EDH on $20 a Deck. Join the Group Link has been defeated(X times) by Eyegorc in Dungeons 2(2x), 3(3x), and 6(3x).
I wasn't sure if we should rank the decks assuming a fight with all the other decks in the contest, or a fight in an unknown all-comers environment, so I ranked everybody first by their originality in this specific metagame:
((I'm not sure why some things are bolded down below. It's an accident, not emphasis))
Four of the contestants went straight for black kill-everything-simultaneously cards, Two went for low cost creatures and buffs, And one was Helphelpe's awesome U/W deck.
It's like everyone assumed Deft Duelist would be the card to beat, so everybody loaded up on cards that get around shroud.
Then it was more subjective for ordering these groups. I sent my ranks in a week ago. This is how I probably felt at the time:
If a fight goes on long enough, which a fight between all these decks probably will, Pauper Trinket Mage wins. It has answers for the usual artifacts, enchantments, and creatures, but also uses Feldon's Cane to recover from mass removal/sacrifice, and Relic of Progenitus to nullify anyone else's Feldon's Cane. Lifegain, card draw, giant Eldrazi beaters, even decent mana ramp. This deck is unique, versatile, and powerful. Would have liked to see Glimmerpost in there.
Will-O-Moth's cards are all inexpensive and have such flexible costs that it can restore its creature presence from mass board wipes and land destruction with a single Plains . Yes, it has few creatures, but it only ever needs one creature on the field at a time thanks to reusable buffs in the form of equipment. This is the only deck that can get any of Cathaldus's creatures off the board without triggering a mass sacrifice. Lifegain and a relatively low profile should keep this deck in the game longer than people think. Would have liked to see more reusable equipment instead of holy/unholy strength.
Pauper Aura Aggro has good creatures, great enchantments, and awesome synergy. If you leave it alone, its power grows exponentially, and half or more of its creatures are going to be some combination of huge and unblockable. It can also drop Armadillo Cloak on an opponent's creature in a bind for some defense, teamwork, leeching, or political hijinks. In comparison to Will-O-Moth, its spells are more expensive and stricter with their costs. 8 lands that enter tapped and without mana fixing combine with that to make recovering from mass land sacrifice much harder. Will-O-Moth is also the only deck that can block Silhana Ledgewalker and spot-remove this one's indestructible creatures.
The other four I figured like this: Poorstilence! got the higher of the rest because it seemed the most immune to its own antics. (Kill everybody's creatures except yours) beats (kill everybody's creatures). Even if most of its land gets taken away, most creatures can be cheated back in via Unearth . Vampiric Link can keep it in the game if it can't muster up any creatures. This is also the only deck of the last four that doesn't share any cards with the others.
Rakdos Stax Control looks to be the single most influential force in the game. It punishes you for attacking it, punishes you for not attacking it, will probably be the only deck doing much of anything for at least half the game, and is the deck most people will have to tiptoe around. The suspend creatures make it mostly immune to its own sacrifices, but also sends a telegraph to everybody else that tells them to prepare for something big happening in T-minus X turns. Then combine zero lifegain with 7 other angry, vengeful players and their ways to deal damage that can't be blocked. Might be one of those decks that's actually too good to win anything.
Uber Grixis felt like a mishmash of a bunch of other decks in the contest. Snow-covered lands seemed to be in here for no reason. It should be able to keep enough land on the board with all the card drawing and Feldon's Cane, until Relic of Progenitus has enough of that. It also looks like it'll be able to find and use its copies of Syphon Soul and Blood Tithe better than..
Jack "Suicide" Black, as its name implies, seemed the most likely to self-destruct unless everything goes exactly as planned. It does have the most mass lifegain spells, the only repeatable version of which requires a creature to stay on the board and discard cards. The creatures and spells are on the high mana cost end of the contest (...I should talk) with no recursion, no cheating, and no big penalties for attacking into a line of 1/1 and 2/2 creatures.
Defender Ramp is unlikely to ever get off the ground. It requires either 8 mana or a large volume of creatures to scale the power up, neither of which are sustainable in this environment.Gnarlid Pack can come out at any time, but you can't win 8-way free for all on the back of some 2/2s.
I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.
Before they banned the format out of existence, I was a proud supporter of Modern.
Minus_Prime, While I might disagree with a minor point here or there in your reasoning, overall it is quite sound. If I had looked at the decks with similar assumptions I would probably come to the same conclusion.
Budget EDH:EDH on $20 a Deck. Join the Group Link has been defeated(X times) by Eyegorc in Dungeons 2(2x), 3(3x), and 6(3x).
Rakdos Stax Control looks to be the single most influential force in the game. It punishes you for attacking it, punishes you for not attacking it, will probably be the only deck doing much of anything for at least half the game, and is the deck most people will have to tiptoe around.
It's like everyone assumed Deft Duelist would be the card to beat, so everybody loaded up on cards that get around shroud.
I'm sure that that's not the reason. The idea is more that they're the closest things to Wrath we have at common, which is key for keeping control of the board in multiplayer. It's the same logic why I included Undo in my (the same logic would apply to Branching Bolt as well).
"Do not concern yourself with my origin, my race, or my ancestry. Seek my record in the pits, and then make your wager." --Arcanis the Omnipotent
I'm both selfish and rational. I'm scheming, secretive and manipulative; I use knowledge as a tool for personal gain, and in turn obtaining more knowledge. At best, I am mysterious and stealthy; at worst, I am distrustful and opportunistic.
Before they banned the format out of existence, I was a proud supporter of Modern.
Proliferate w/ 
Elves)
