#thoughtpicker witch

[blogging-phelddagrif]

Updated Tortured Frog Deck - 2020/05/26

I made minor changes recently and I’m pretty happy with the deck right now. Still a few things on my watchlist; not 100% sure about Elvish Visionary, I’ll see how it plays out. Also not sure how good Gurmag Angler is in the mainboard, sure a recursive 5/5 is nice, but is it really needed? I wasn’t too keen on Thoughtpicker Witch, but after looking at the Tron match-up, being able to filter their draws seems pretty good, also a nice alternate win-con against life-gain decks, because otherwise I’d probably mill myself out. Still waiting for a couple pieces to come in the mail, then I’ll be able to playtest it more and have a better idea of how it plays out.

[pauperpedia]

Tuesday Brewsday 30: Rakdos Cult 101

It’s not often Pauper gets a card that screams BUILD AROUND ME. However, when I first saw the card First Day of Class and folks from discord and reddit pointed out that it works with persist creatures, I got hyped. No longer do you need to rely on green for Ivy Lane Denizen if you want to play a sacrifice deck with combo potential. SteelOsprei, MrMeatzombie, and myself from the same discord immediately began throwing some deck ideas around. We ultimately came to the untested realization that you could build a deck with three different ideas in mind based around Putrid Goblin & First Day of Class. You could channel your inner Caleb Gannon, famous combo deck and storm brewer, and build a glass “Gannon” version that could potentially win on turn 1 or 2. You could build a combination aggro-combo deck, but being 2 colors makes that difficult to pull off. The last option, which I like the best, is you could go more in on the potentially grindy value plan. There is even a Rakdos version of goblins being brewed out there being dubbed Moggwarts (be sure to keep your eyes open for that one). Although that deck looked tempting, I thought it was best to write about my original plan. Without further ado, here’s my carnarium!

MAINBOARD:

4 First Day of Class

4 Carrion Feeder

2 Skirk Prospector

1 Lampad of Death's Vigil

1 Thoughtpicker Witch

4 Putrid Goblin

2 Rendclaw Trow

4 Mogg War Marshal

2 Crypt Rats

1 Goblin Matron

1 Flamewave Invoker

4 Merchant of the Vale

2 Night’s Whisper

3 Unearth

2 Reaping the Graves

4 Chainer's Edict

4 Sulfurous Mire

10 Swamp

2 Witch's Cottage

2 Rakdos Carnarium

2 Mountain

SIDEBOARD:

3 Pest Summoning

2 Mesmeric Fiend

4 Red Elemental Blast

4 Trespasser's Curse

2 Flaring Pain

First Day of Class will become pauper legal once Strixhaven comes out. This card, which can be cast at Instant speed for one generic & one red source of mana, gives will creatures that enter the battlefield a +1/+1 counter and haste until the end of the turn. It also has the Learn mechanic which lets you grab a lesson from your sideboard and put it into your hand. Thanks to our persist creatures Putrid Goblin and Rendclaw Trow, we could take advantage of unlimited triggers. So what do we do with these unlimited triggers? Carrion Feeder can get unlimited +1/+1 counters, or Skirk Prospector can create unlimited amounts of red mana if we sac Putrid Goblin to it. With unlimited red mana you can use endless activations from Thoughtpicker Witch, Lampad of Death’s Vigil, Flamewave Invoker, or Merchant of the Vale to churn through your deck. I still don’t know if I prefer Thoughtpicker Witch or Lampad of Death’s Vigil, or maybe I just want more Flamewave Invokers. I would love to see and hear your thoughts about this one.

The one glaring pitfall with the deck is First Day of Class can only be used efficiently on your “combo” turn. I can see the problem where you have a hard time finding pieces for the combo in the face of removal and then get your FDoC countered when you finally have the creatures. This is why I went for more of a resilient grindy deck that can combo off out of nowhere if given enough time.

So the key for this deck to work is how often you can recur your creatures. The deck hinges on Unearth being able to bring a combo piece back to the battlefield so that it can go off, but sometimes just getting a huge Carrion Feeder early on can be enough. The deck is running 3 Unearth since it’s never a dead card thanks to its cycling ability, 1 Reaping the Graves to bring everything back and start over, and two Witch’s Cottage. Since I wanted to play Crypt Rats as an answer to go wide decks or as a finisher, I needed to play a lot of swamps which makes perfect sense to run Witch’s Cottage. It can be reused thanks to Rakdos Carnarium as well. Having this much creature recursion can help you win in the face of abundant creature removal. Sometime you just need to be patient and play the deck like a true combo deck, and sometimes you just need to apply as much pressure as you can.

Goblin Matron is a great value tutor and could possibly even deserve more spots in the deck. Most of the time it will grab a combo piece like Skirk Prospector, Putrid Goblin, or Flamewave Invoker and help you set up for a combo turn. It’s also Unearthable so don’t be afraid to discard it to Merchant of the Vale’s adventure mode in Haggle and gain value in a later turn.

Since I decided to run Merchant of the Vale over Faithless Looting purely for the upside of churning through the deck with unlimited mana to try and find a finisher, the deck needed some form of actual card draw. I could have gone with Village Rites, after all I’m running the appropriate creatures for it, but I wanted something I could always use in case I don’t have the right creature(s) out. Night’s Whisper will remain my card draw of choice, but if Village Rites is more your style, then I think that is perfectly acceptable as well.

One thing I hate losing to is Hexproof. That’s why you see the deck is running four copies of Chainer’s Edict. Alternatively you could run snow lands and play Skred since the deck is already utilizing Sulfurous Mire, or you could run Cast Down. However I don’t like leaving things up to being a race, which is what I foresee the Hexproof matchup being The combination having a playset of Chainer’s Edict & some Crypt Rats can help improve that matchup.

The sideboard is a work in progress for now, I’m still keeping an eye on what Strixhaven will grant us in the form of lessons. Till then I’m taking advantage of the Learn mechanic from First Day of Class. I’ve devoted 3 slots in the sideboard to grabbing a lesson, maybe even just 2 is the correct amount, but grabbing Pest Summoning from FDoC is perfectly acceptable. With Pest Summoning you put two 1/1 black and green pest tokens that gain you life when they die. Sounds like perfect sacrifice fodder to me.

Trespasser’s Curse is the deck’s tech against anything trying to do the same in the mirror, Elves, Flicker decks that are continually looping creatures, and go wide decks. The mirror will be an interesting matchup for sure and might just come down to who has the biggest Carrion Feeder or the most Curses on the battlefield. That sounds horrible actually, nonetheless it’s an important sideboard card to have in my opinion.

Mesmeric Fiend is this deck’s Castigate in creature form. I like Mesmeric Fiend in conjunction with sac outlets because it lets you permanently exile the card you ripped from your opponent’s hand, so long as you sacrificed Mesmeric Fiend with the ability trigger on the stack. Mesmeric Fiend can be brought back with all of our recursion made available to us which hopefully poses a constant pain for the opponent.

The more typical sideboard choices can be found here as well like Nihil Spellbomb and Red Elemental Blast. REB is there for anything running Counterspell or relying on blue cards resolving or staying around on the battlefield. Nihil Spellbomb can be brought in against a variety of decks like Cycling, TortEx, Exhume, Fog, Boros Bully, or the mirror.

It’s not often the Rakdos gather it’s cultist for lessons, but when they do you better believe it’s something about sacrificing the members for the greater good. So murder away and use those endless Putrid Goblin triggers to create some mayhem. I do hope you have enjoyed these blogs/articles. I’m always open to feedback and simply want to provide the best content I can. I’m always open to collaborate on a deck as well. Please visit and like/follow me at http://facebook.com/pauperpedia a fan page dedicated to bringing you links to daily articles, videos, and podcast from other content creators covering Pauper. You can also email me at Pauperpedia@gmail.com if you have deck submissions you want me to cover as well. Till next time folks, have a happy Brewsday!

[mtgbracket]

Round of 8192 - Batch 33

You can now vote in Batch 33!

Currently open batches:

Batch 33 Batch 32 Batch 31 Batch 30 Batch 29 Batch 28 Batch 27

Batch 26 results will be up shortly.

Feature match: An unlikely Soulbond mirror, as beatstick Druid’s Familiar takes on EDH all-star Deadeye Navigator.

Full list of matchups:

Primal Growth vs Crooked Scales Tilling Treefolk vs Tainted Peak Shifting Wall vs Managorger Hydra Kashi-Tribe Elite vs Basilica Guards Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder vs Juniper Order Ranger Desolation Twin vs Tempt with Immortality Broken Concentration vs Vexing Sphinx Uril, the Miststalker vs Spectral Lynx Ferrovore vs Murderous Cut Ill-Gotten Gains vs Ali Baba Dark Ritual vs Wall of Bone Druid's Familiar vs Deadeye Navigator Rootrunner vs Angel of Renewal Wastes vs Destructive Force Stony Silence vs Rust Tick Bloodshot Trainee vs Crippling Fatigue Cleanfall vs Loam Lion Worldly Tutor vs Eye Gouge Dualcaster Mage vs Electrostatic Pummeler Timmy, Power Gamer vs Gilder Bairn Thoughtpicker Witch vs Galvanic Blast Sea Gate Loremaster vs Blade of Selves Sneak Attack vs Soul Swallower Nest Invader vs Ashen-Skin Zubera Captain of the Mists vs Inventor's Apprentice Skirsdag Cultist vs Ass Whuppin' Courier Hawk vs Yet Another Aether Vortex Kor Haven vs Stolen Goods Glint Hawk vs Aetherstorm Roc Killer Instinct vs Krosan Drover Guided Passage vs Gisela, Blade of Goldnight Sorin, Grim Nemesis vs Gelatinous Genesis

[goblintinkering-blog]

Commander Report 4/19

In Which Atogatog Should Never Win and Athreos Curbstomped Look. My Atogatog deck... is a joke. It has like two other Atogs and they're just there to facilitate sneaky one-shots on occasion. However today my opponents decided to let me slap Batterskull onto a Serra Angel and Bestow a Chromanticore onto a freaking Giest of St. Traft. So they deserved to lose. The next game was more fun. Athreos vs Karametra vs Marchesa. So after a few turns, I had a Thoughtpicker Witch, a Wasteland Strangler, and an Eldrazi Displacer among other things. I used Witch to keep Karametra off white mana for the entire game and used Strangler to kill Marchesa both times she was cast. The game was won by my small army of creatures repeatedly swinging in for damage, killing Karametra first (the player was very mad) and then killing Marchesa rather easily since she cost a ridiculous amount at that point. My opponents let me resolve Recruiter of the Guard three times. I'm just saying... don't, uh, don't ever do that.

[alurenrecycle]

Untap League - Living Dead vs Villainous Wealth

It looked like the Living had game 1 in the bag when it exiled the lone Villainous Wealth with a Thoughtpicker Witch. Wealth took the gamble of decking Dead with two Blue Sun's Zenith. It paid off by forcing a draw of 17 and 23. Games 2 and 3, Wealth did not fair as well. 3 Bloodsoaked Champions and a Hero of Oxid Ridge was too much game 2. 3, an Order of Midnight teamed up with the Hero to take out Wealth.

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Thoughtpicker Witch

"Once the brew gets the brains nice and pickled, they're a lot easier to pick through."

Artist: Pete Venters TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[mtgbracket]

Round of 16384 - Batch 140

Batch 140 voting is now open. The following polls are currently open:

Batch 140 Batch 139 Batch 138 Batch 137 Batch 136 Batch 135 Batch 134

Batch 133 results will be up soon.

The full list of matchups for today is:

Ashmouth Hound vs Oreskos Sun Guide Seeker of the Way vs Hidden Horror Fraction Jackson vs Electrolyze Temple of Mystery vs Conclave's Blessing Unnatural Endurance vs Mana Reflection Voice of the Provinces vs Deadly Designs Insight vs Nightshade Assassin Phyrexian Debaser vs Fortress Cyclops Caustic Crawler vs Grizzled Leotau Forked Bolt vs Arctic Merfolk Stensia Banquet vs Cogworker's Puzzleknot Snuff Out vs Leonin Scimitar Coils of the Medusa vs Furious Assault Needlebug vs Haunted Guardian Look at Me, I'm the DCI vs Slash Panther Spurred Wolverine vs Llanowar Reborn Cruel Sadist vs Noxious Revival Thalakos Lowlands vs Weathered Wayfarer Rage Thrower vs City of Solitude Dread Cacodemon vs Ember Swallower Zodiac Ox vs Jack-in-the-Mox Thoughtpicker Witch vs Crippling Chill Aethersnatch vs Veteran of the Depths Boulderfall vs Testament of Faith Mind Harness vs Watchwing Scarecrow Slith Predator vs Flare Tephraderm vs Civic Wayfinder Palace Jailer vs Hanabi Blast Barrage of Expendables vs Ordruun Commando Dread Charge vs Flayer Husk Mercurial Geists vs Exorcist Vigilance vs Viscerid Drone

[pauperpedia]

Tuesday Brewsday 07: Milled Existence

So there I was playing in a Classic Pauper tournament hosted by Arctic_Ghost via Gatherling a month ago, when a discussion started by Galon345M revolved around a UB mill variant of Tortured Existence. Naturally we were all very interested, Arctic_Ghost and I especially, and I immediately got to brewing. Originally Arctic and I had brewed up a creature light variant utilizing Ghostly Flicker and Mnemonic Wall as a second engine alongside TortEx to eventually grind out a win. As playtesting commenced, I found that having two engines to have to figure out and prioritize proved to be too complicated with excessive clicking. My poor hands and wrists were exhausted after just a few games. After that realization I focused more on the TortEx engine where I trimmed, added, and swapped till I finally came up with a smooth 75.

4 Tortured Existence

4 Merfolk Secretkeeper

4 Iceberg Cancrix

4 Thoughtpicker Witch

4 Stinkweed Imp

2 Golgari Brownscale

2 Crypt Rats

3 Spore Frog

3 Grave Scrabbler

4 Careful Study

2 Deep Analysis

2 Stream of Thought

1 Snow-Covered Forest

6 Snow-Covered Island

5 Snow-Covered Swamp

3 Evolving Wilds

3 Ash Barrens

2 Bojuka Bog

2 Dimir Aqueduct

The namesake card of the deck, Tortured Existence is an obvious 4 of here. Out of all the TortEx decks, from Dead Dog to Rakdos Madness, only Abzan could afford to run less than 4 because they run Auramancer and Custodi Squire. The only way this deck is able to “return” copies of TE is with Stream of Thought, but that just puts it back somewhere in your newly shuffled library. Therefore it is absolutely essential to run 4 copies of TE because we want to see it early and have the option of a backup copy in case the one we tried to play gets destroyed or countered.

I’ve grouped the next cards into categories I like to call Mill, Dredge, Draw & Value, and Control. The deck’s “mill” package and the whole reason we’re playing this iteration are Merfolk Secretkeeper, Iceberg Cancrix, and Thoughtpicker Witch. The sly merfolk is a new addition from Throne of Eldraine and probably my favorite creature listed. On its own Merfolk Secretkeeper mills for 4 when you successfully cast if for its adventure, and is a tough blocker being a 0/4 when you play it as a creature. Recurring the merfolk after it dies in combat, from removal, or is sacrificed to our witch so we can continue the mill process is how the deck wins. Iceberg Cancrix is another creature that can mill our opponent if left unchecked, and just like the merfolk it can block for days keeping aggressive decks at bay. Cancrix is the whole reason we’re running snow-covered lands so we can squeeze out extra value and cards from our opponent. Thoughtpicker Witch fits our mill plan, recursion plan, and control plan. For just 1 generic mana you sacrifice a creature to look at the top 2 cards of your opponent, then exile one of them. You’ll want to get into the habit of setting up a stop on your opponent’s upkeep phase when you’re engine is set up so you can fully take advantage of this epic card and control what your opponent draws. The witch enables our deck to utilize TortEx every turn and continue returning our mill creatures back to our hand, slowly but surely ensuring our opponent’s doom.

The dredge creatures and backbone of the deck are no surprise here; Stinkweed Imp and Golgari Brownscale are the natural choices. Once we have about 5 lands (3 of which should be black sources) and TortEx out, you can safely Dredge back Stinky or the Brownscale every turn to further fill up your graveyard and/or recur your millers.

Grave Scrabbler is our only creature that I have listed in the Draw & Value category. This “mad value” zombie allows us to recur numerous creatures when using its madness cost in combination with TortEx, and can quicken our gameplan of milling out our opponent quicker. Moving on to the non-creatures we have careful study. The TortEx decks that run red do so because they want to play Faithless Looting. Well in blue we get to play it too, we just don’t have the ability to flashback Careful Study. However, we’re also running Deep Analysis which can be flashed back to fill up our hands or dig to look for TE. Stream of Thought is kind of like our reset button. It allows us to continue to mill our opponent while we put key cards back into our library to either help prevent us from milling ourselves, or grab copies or Tortured Existence which have been lost to us.

Last but definitely not least is our control aspect. We have Spore Frog and Crypt Rats. You see Spore Frog in traditional Golgari lists because it’s the one sure fire way to beat aggressive decks. Much like Fog Tron, we can continually loop Spore Frog to prevent our opponent from killing us through combat until we can stabilize and cast Crypt Rats to clear the board. In rare cases I could see Crypt Rats also being a win con as well.

The lands in the deck are selected to favor black sources early and make it possible to find our lone forest before we mill it ourselves. Since our win conditions are blue based, the deck is also hungry for blue mana. Ideally you’ll want to have 3 black sources for mana, 2 blue, and 1 green if you need Spore Frog before you begin dredging. As stated before, we’re also running Snow-Covered basics instead of the gain lands to get further value out of Iceberg Cancrix... whether or not this actually hurts the deck as a whole is up for discussion I leave to you to figure out.

3 Weather the Storm

2 Caustic Caterpillar

2 Faerie Macabre

3 Dead Weight

3 Mesmeric Fiend

2 Hydroblast

The deck theoretically and from experience has problems beating Burn, combo based decks, MBC, and Mono U Delver. I’ve decided to wholly focus on making those matchups better instead of gaining marginal improvements against decks that aren’t as difficult to beat. One interesting interaction you can use to your benefit is the dynamic between Mesmeric Fiend and Thoughtpicker Witch. When Mesmeric Fiend’s trigger is on the stack, you can sacrifice it to Thoughtpicker Witch and exile the card you choose for good. It’s kind of like a repeatable castigate and I’m honestly thinking about playing 1 mainboard.

Overall the deck is very grindy, as most TortEx decks are. Time management is crucial and can be your biggest enemy if you’re not careful. Funny thing about this deck is that I’ve never played with Tortured Existence before, yet the GB variant was one of the first decks I built after starting out on MTGO for pauper a few years ago. I can see after a week of playing it that it’s a very rewarding deck to a highly skilled player, of which I have test to become. Hopefully I can mill my opponent’s out of their tortured existence. I really like this deck and believe it can be improved even further, so please let me know if you have any additional ideas. Once again, special thanks to Arctic_Ghost and Galon345M for the idea and help in putting this together. If you have any brews you’d like me to write about, please email them to pauperpedia@gmail.com. As always, I play the decks in the free tournaments hosted by gatherling every Tuesday night, and do a quick report on how the deck fared the following day on my Pauperpedia Facebook page. Till next time folks, have a happy Brewsday!