Does it matter? If you be winning games on the ladder with a Pauper deck, your competition is in trouble anyway.

I just tossed together a Borrow 'n Break deck (AER gave us a couple of good commons for that type). I'll prolly try a few other ideas, but I'm liking it so far (vs AI).



Edit: Took it for a spin on the ladder R40 Steam. Hehehehehe! I'm like Scrooge after the 3rd Spirit's visit - just throwing coins at everyone! These are gonna be hilarious to test...
Edit2: W00t! It one one! I was down to R36 and vs a R34 White Weenie deck that mulled to 6, but still... All commons, baybee!

Not against each other, testing should be difficult this way. For the other rounds people tested about 5 games in ladder, and maybe 1 or 2 vs ai. Idk if testing in ladder could be relevant or we will see a lot of 0-5s. A possibility is to play more games vs ai (it shouldn't be difficult whatever cards ai has) and maybe 1 or 2 in ladder, but as i said it depends on how they behave in ladder. Then it's up to you.

If I pull one of these puppies to a 5-0 victory against r40 ladder, are people going to believe me or will they think I'm pulling a Steveo? Remember these aren't my decks! I have no reason to lie.

Anyway, if I pull it off, I'm not looking forward to everyone railing on how bad the xbox players must be

one thing is for sure. These are going to be the MOST consistent decks ever made yet on Duels

I was soooo rooting for the mono colored deck theme.


I'll have a look like I did for the last two contests but this is probably another contest I won't put my hat in.





elk

The idea of the contest is to build something not yet explored, to challenge ourselves with new builds from scratch. Monocolored is a possibility for next rounds, and it should get better with Amonkhet or more sets, since i see monocolored decks well defined (at least white, green, red) and not easy to compare. Pauper decks are not easy to compare too, as it was with flicker and themes without restrictions, but it's not well defined.

I at least have a concept...

We're also trying to build decks that do well on the ladder.

Don't understimate Vert's concept, it could do well in ladder vs rank 1 players
Being serious, the meta is stale now, i think most of us is waiting for Amonkhet, the month before the release is the good period of time to explore the jank.

i don't think there's any usable 4+cmc common card against the ladder to be honest, if we don't account in cost reduction like emerge or improvise.

If it was against pauper decks each other, I got some ideas. Now we are testing our decks against the meta, our options are much less... Most decks won't even have answer to a simple scrapheap scrounger (other than racing it, of course...) If we talk about testing pauper builds against the meta, RNG will probably dominate the testing results. The contest would be more like who can produce a more reliable linear aggro deck with common cards, and try some luck against ladder.

One of the reasons I looked at was Complete Disregard. It hits a fair number of relevant cards like Smug and Harvester (when crewed), Scrounger, and some of the common pilots. I just wish it cost less. 3-drop on the draw vs aggro is rough.

That said, I agree that these are going to get destroyed on the ladder. At least until we get down to the 20s. I don't know if I can bring myself to go on that type of losing spree to test these things. I might just club the AI a few times per deck.

Yeah i see it. But vs ai it should be ok right? Idk which kind of deck ai could use.
If we consider decks against each other the options are a mini tournament, but then only deckbuilders do it and other people cannot join the poll, or every people need to test with another one joining the poll, not easy. If ladder is problematic i think testing vs ai should be fine.

Yeah, but that card doesn't scale at all. Your deck has to run low to the ground to include removal like that. Basically I'm saying the options are much less against the ladder. We have to act quick. When the game goes beyond 4 drops we are almost screwed

I feel like the pauper theme should allow D cards - can't get any more pauper than free.

Yay!

Bwhahaha...I have been all the afternoon brewing precisely that theme, inspired by the other thread...I have already 5 semi-working brews (Golgari Elves, 4c Allies, Dimir Eldrazi Flyers, Simic Beatdown *hint hint ) and I already know which one is the best of them, corrupted Radkos...I can post it now, why not?

Vampìres in a train

4 x Insolent Neonate
2 x Bold Impaler

4 x Olivia's Dragoon
4 x Infectious Bloodlust

4 x Bloodmad Vampire
4 x Kozilek's Shrieker
4 x Renegade Freighter
4 x Fiery Temper

4 x Stromkirk Mentor

2 x Aradara Express

5 x Swamp
7 x Mountain
1 x Wastes

2 x Smoldering Marsh
2 x Dragonskull Summit
4 x Evolving Wilds

1 x Westvale Abbey
1 x Hanweir Battlements
1 x Geier Reach Sanitarium


Well, the title says it all...Vamps and Trains

Delirium subtheme, with 4 Fiery Tempers (maybe the 2º best common?) and 4 Bloodmads...as outlets, we have the 4 Dragoons, the 4 Neonates and the Sanitarium...a bit low, but Delirium isn't really key

Bloodlust makes Neonates something that hurts (making IBs inmune to exile, btw)

They also go well with Dragons, turning them a big 4 power flier... or can make Bloodmads/Shriekers/Mentors into better Ball Lightings. The recursion is good as the critters are fragile.

Freighter is, by far, the best common we have, so maxed...and Adara Experss isn't that bad if it wasn't for the high crew cost...now, the good news are that we have 12 creatures than can crew it right by themselves...and even more with the help of the Bloodlusts or pumping...and an 8/6 menacer is something when you can crew it out of nowhere every turn.

Impalers work as late mana sinks...in fact, they can even crew the Express by themselves too if you have 6 spare mana late game...Mentors have that nice little synergy with all the vamps (18 of them), the +1/+1 counter is nice for menacers, fliers or pilots. Shriekers are a really good common too, among the best...again, a 4 or 5 power menacer is scary by itsef

Enough creatures to put an Abbey there, and with enough punch most of them as to deserve a Battlements too. No card has double mana cost, mana is easy, so I can play few taplands...a bit low on colorless sources, but I don't want to wreck the mana just for the Shriekers. 24 lands, I really need to unsure the landrops to curve out

Nice cost distribution, counting the Tempers as 1 CC, of course: 10-8-12-4-2. Very little removal, but it wants to go for the throat, so...

And that's it...I don't think I can do better than that...maybe retouch the mana, if anything

Inspired by binderato's showdown deck (no I didn't go mono-blue), I put together a draft for my deck. Went with burn removal and evasive creatures:

Izzet commons

Creature(24)
4 x Faerie Miscreant
3 x Insolent Neonate
4 x Welkin Tern
4 x Tattered Haunter
4 x Eldrazi Skyspawner
3 x Jwar Isle Avenger
2 x Wretched Gryff

Instant(10)
3 x Shock
3 x Twin Bolt
4 x Fiery Temper

Enchantment(4)
4 x Infectious Bloodlust

Land(22)
7 x Island
2 x Wandering Fumarole
7 x Mountain
2 x Highland Lake
2 x Sulfur Falls
2 x Westvale Abbey

To view this deck go to: https://www.magicduelshelper.com/deckli ... 4f20fbb8e4

Created using Magic Duels Helper: http://www.magicduelshelper.com

A quick reminder. Send me the decklists by PM, so i don't have to look for them reading all the posts. You can send me multiple decklists or updates until the deadline, i will consider only the last one.

If decklists were anonymous, I might have submitted this just to troll the poor, generous people who test the decks:

Dimir Commons

Creature(15)
3 x Aether Poisoner
2 x Foundry Assembler
4 x Bastion Inventor
4 x Gearseeker Serpent
2 x Fen Hauler

Instant(6)
3 x Metallic Rebuke
3 x Complete Disregard

Sorcery(2)
2 x Resourceful Return

Artifact(15)
4 x Bone Saw
4 x Inventor's Goggles
3 x Renegade Map
4 x Alchemist's Vial

Land(22)
2 x Sunken Hollow
7 x Island
7 x Swamp
2 x Submerged Boneyard
2 x Drowned Catacomb
2 x Inventors' Fair

To view this deck go to: https://www.magicduelshelper.com/deckli ... 7d98655a01

Created using Magic Duels Helper: http://www.magicduelshelper.com


Loosing half your rank is bad enough without having to play Dimir artifacts again... Right?

Oh my, it's horrible...I just faced 4 good decks aroun rank 38 on the ladder...and had my perky butt handed to me well and through, lol...I have to rethink all this just to have the slighless opportunity, my lord...I don't know if it's even possible, at least that high on Steam

@Haven:

@Maggit: I don't think any amount of deckbuilding prowess will make up for the massive strength disparity between commons only and top-of-the-ladder goodstuffs. Think about all the good cards you have to put in your janky builds just to give them a fighting chance. Basically, for a Pauper build to win vs rank 30+ will take some combination of luck and very poor play on the opponent's side.

I just won a game, in a somewhat fair match where opponent played reasonabily good cards, being him rank 32? or so...

...after trying 3 builds, and 8-9 games dropping to rank 31 in the process, ejem



Wow, this one is though haha, I love it...now, I doubt anybody is willing to test all the decks in the ladder, that certainly would mean falling like...well, every rank

It seems that the only one of my builds that stands a chance is Eldrazi DIMIR flyers lol

I have been thinking about losening a bit the requisites...maybe allowing 5-6 non-common cards? or something like that...problem is, I can se most brewings turning then to the 2 most obvious choices...