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7 months ago ::
Nov 03, 2012 - 8:58PM
#1
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Hey everyone, let me tell you a little bit about myself: I'm a guy that likes a challenge. For the last 10 or so weeks, I've started attending my local FNM, which is great fun, but I tend to lose quite often. I simply don't have the income to pour into magic like most other people, but I can still afford the five bucks for gameday each week at the very least. Like, really, I'd consider myself a fairly decent deckbuilder, but if I'm getting paired with a guy that's spent more than a hundred dollars on their deck, chances are I'm gonna lose. I've dedicated myself to attempting to build a clever deck to hopefully triumph over the FNM and finally get in the top 3. The very best I've done is 3-1, and that was under the most favorable conditions possible, but I still didn't place. I've tried a great deal of different deck builds of my own design, but each week produces the same lackluster results, most nights ending in 2 wins -- 2 losses, breaking even on average. So I've resigned myself to maybe just being on the losing end of things forever, but if I'm gonna be a loser I might as well have the most fun possible attempting to win, so I've come here! So your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to take a good hard look at the list of cards here that comprises my entire standard legal collection, and to make a deck out of it. I'll pick out the one I like, sleeve it up, and take it to FNM. I'm not asking for miracle here, I'm not asking for a golden gun deck that'll score me 1st place for sure. Hell, it doesn't even need to be competitive, just fun. That's what this game is all about afterall. Here's the list: Spoiler:
Show
Now, don't let that list restrict you, I can actually pitch in about 5-10 dollars to buy singles if I really have to. Keep that in mind. If I actually WIN FNM, or atleast place 2nd or 3rd, with the deck built here, well, damn, I guess I'll just have to declare you the winner of the Jank FNM Challenge.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 03, 2012 - 9:45PM
#2
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Honestly, if you can go 2-2 with this, you may be significantly more skilled as a deckbuilder than I am...
But, There is a standard pauper thread started by servicegames where Ive been throwing out some decklists with only commons. You can look at my G/W list there. I think that by adding 4x call of the conclave, and 4x selesnya charm, you can have yourself a deck that is somewhat reasonable (adding rancor is probably also a good idea).
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 9:24AM
#3
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Well, I have tried alot of ideas, and my strategy so far has been to make a control style deck (though I've tried aggro and tempo, believe you me. I don't have enough quality creatures for midrange) that heavily interacts with other people's decks and strangle out victories that way. I'm currently experimenting with a GRUB near creatureless, dedicated mill control, with a sideboard that allows me to transition out of mill into control that drops fatties for the wincon or transition into less creature-hate and more counterspells when facing the control matchup.
But I suppose I wanted other people's opinion. Building for pauper doesn't interest me, since my local card shop doesn't host pauper or peasant events.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 10:15AM
#4
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Your red/black cards are pretty decent. You could try a red/black control deck. It would include cards like mutilate, barter in blood, sign in blood, rise from the grave, chandra the firebrand, staff of nin, carnival hellstead, liliana of the dark realms, murder, and charmbreaker devils. Rise from the Grave seems really fun with chandra's -2 or returning with charmbreaker devils.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 10:23AM
#5
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I guess I was suggesting that investing 5-10 in quality commons/uncommons would likely get you a decent list, and then you could play that "pauper"-like deck in a normal standard tournament. Here is an example of such a list: 4 x avacyn's pilgrim  4 x centaur healer  4 x fencing ace  4 x call of the conclave  4 x selesnya charm  4 x dryad militant  3 x travel preparations  4 x rancor  4 x knight of glory  4 x giant growth  1 x deadbridge goliath  4 x selesnya guildgate  9 x forest  7 x plains  Sure, a lot of the above you dont have, but they are all commons/uncommons. The deck definitely has a direction. If people in your meta play wrath you really need strangleroot geist, and have rootborn defenses. A lot of what might work depends highly on what decks people play at your local card shop. At my card shop, most people have many more dual lands than basics in their decks, except a couple RDW players. Whether are not your gaming store is like this dramatically affects what strategies you can be successful with.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 10:44AM
#6
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Challenge Accepted! So what I did was go R/G for you. You'll have to buy some of the cards, but if you buy at your local shop or order online they should cost you less than the $10 you said your budget is. 4 x Rakdos Cackler  4 x Borderland Ranger  2 x Flinthoof Boar  2 x Elvish Visionary  2 x Instigator Gang  2 x Falkenrath Marauders  2 x Charmbreaker Devils  3 x Rancor  4 x Searing Spear  2 x Mark of Mutiny  2 x Caravan Vigil  2 x Faithless Looting  4 x Pillar of Flame  3 x Chandra Firebrand  10 x Mountain  10 x Forest  2 x Evolving Wilds  Buylist: 3 Rakdos Cackler 4 Borderland Ranger 2 Instigator Gang 2 Faithless Looting 4 Pillar of Flame
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 1:12PM
#7
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I rummaged through my older collection of cards stored behind my desk and I found 2 borderland rangers and an extra 2 elvish visionaries. I've updated the list to reflect this.
Also, I went to TCG player to sanity test the costs, without needing the extra two borderland rangers, Porvaznik is spot on just under 7 dollars approx.
Mr. Physics' selesnya crack team is a little over at 12.50 approx. Really underestimating the cost of selesnya charms, dryad militants, and the extra rancor, though I could try to scrape the few extra dollars if I decided to go with it.
I forgot to discuss the meta, just from the people I play, there's always atleast 2 people each playing some variation of Zombie tribal and UW tempo. Though there are some oddballs in there like the rakdos aggro guy, the RWG reanimator guy, and the golgari aggression that's getting a little bit more popular. It's a real diverse bunch full of people that aren't tryhards, alot of casuals as well, so it's not an intense atmosphere filled with top 8'd netdecks.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 1:37PM
#8
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Well, you can change up a couple cards in my "selesnya crack team" list, although most of the cards you mentioned are the best cards in the deck. Against decks that dont have sacrifice outlets, pacifism  can be a very good sideboard/maindeck card, taking care of things like thragtusk and messenger without going through the graveyard. nearheath pilgrim  is a reasonable option vs aggro in the place of fencing ace. dryad militant  maindeck should do well against the reanimator guy, and also you should be able to exile whatever he reanimates with charm. Well placed pump spells, pro black guy, and phealers help carry you past aggro (and lifelink with pilgrim is a good option, id recommend buying those over more fencing aces). If you want to cut costs, I guess sticking to 3 rancor is fine. Relevant sideboard cards: pacifism vs thragtusk (if they dont also have other ways to easily kill their own tusk) sundering growth  (kill an enchantment and sometimes randomly get a free guy. Dont forget you can kill your own rancor to switch which creature its on and get an instant speed free guy) intrepid hero  (against other G/W decks, you can rancor their guys and then kill with hero. You can do a similar trick with selesnya charm) rootborn defenses  (vs supreme verdict) ground seal  reasonable reanimator hate I guess Is it possible to trade for any of the cards? If not then probably a couple cuts could get you to $10, although any token maker cut weakens any possible populate significantly, and cutting militant will hurt you vs reanimator and a 2 power 1 drop is pretty nice. so: -1 rancor -3 fencing ace +3 nearheath pilgrim +1 pacifism maindeck
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 9:02PM
#9
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Well, you can change up a couple cards...
No no no! You misunderstand me, think of this as a forum game, with the rules I've given you being to build the best deck possible given the source of cards and pool of money. I won't change a thing in your list, I'll do it exactly as it's laid out unless it's impossible given the set limitations. So yeah, just think of it as a game, but unlike most other forum games though, this will have real life ramifications on me, atleast as far as FNM is concerned.
So if you're gonna add a sideboard as well, that'll need to be spelt out exactly card-for-card as well.
I most likely'll be starting with next week's FNM, since I want to give people that might be interested a chance to jump in and recommend a list, but also because the cheapest possible price for a list will need to come through an online retailer, as my local card shop marks up things by a not insignificant margin, with 25 cents for most commons, 50 cents for most uncommons (I've noted that all charms and things like rakdos cacklers are double the price at a dollar each), and even junk rares are a dollar or more each.
And about trading, to tell you the truth, I've never traded anything before. In my earlier and younger days of playing, I was always reluctant since I was never sure what I wanted to build, so I was afraid to let anything go, and I didn't know how valuable things were, so I could never reassure myself that I wasn't getting ripped off, so I just never did it. Now that I'm more experienced though, I could give it a try. And seeing as how I painstakingly wrote down the contents of my entire collection, I can just print it out and see if any of the traders find anything in there they like. I'll even highlight some of the good stuff like I've pulled like my Lotleth troll and my foil Liliana of the dark realms.
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7 months ago ::
Nov 04, 2012 - 11:03PM
#10
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A lot of players should be willing to give someone trying to start out/get back into the game a lot of the uncommons for free. I mean, I wouldnt expect free cards but, Im sure people will try to help you out. Here is version 2 of selesnya budget aggro: 4 x avacyn's pilgrim 4 x dryad militant 4 x call of the conclave 4 x selesnya charm 1 x fencing ace 3 x nearheath pilgrim 4 x giant growth  1 x doomed traveler  4 x centaur healer 3 x rancor  2 x pacifism 4 x knight of glory  1 x midnight haunting  1 x wayfaring temple  sideboard: 2 x travel preparations 4 x rootborn defenses 1 x midnight haunting 2 x sundering growth 1 x ground seal 1 x intrepid hero 2 x pacifism 2 x oblivion ring  Card choices: I missed the dryad would exile your own travel preparations, so I moved a couple copies to the side and took them out of the main for this reason. They can really help you beat damage based sweepers like electrickery, bonfire for 1 (or maybe 2), and rolling temblor (if you have time to flash it back) This deck has an unusual weakness red based sweepers. I realized that G/W had another competitive token maker in midnight haunting, and that gives enough tokens to begin making cards like wayfaring temple worthwhile. Doomed traveler should be solid against some of the aggressive creatures you are facing, and you can populate the token as well. Another (cheaper) version of this deck probably replaces militants with doomed travelers, adds back in more midnight hauntings, and goes for a more proliferate angle. That probably not a bad idea, but seems like it would lead to the deck having a lot of 3 drops. Midnight haunting can come in when you add more propulate to the deck, and its likely better than centaur healer vs control. Sideboard: pacifism comes in if the opponent has many very problematic creatures. Oblivion ring can take out planeswalkers. Sundering growth can help us limp past cards like underworld connections  and curse of death's hold, as well as detention sphere, etc. Intrepid hero vs reanimator and G/W. Ground seal vs reanimator. Travel prep against agressive creature based aggro and red sweepers. rootborn defenses against red sweepers and verdict.
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