[PAUPER] Spring Tide

[GGoober]

So I'm prepping for pauper tournament this weekend. Any advice on the MD (the goal of the MD is to goldfish with the best result and ignore hate. SB deals with it).

Here's the decklist:
16 Islands
3 Chromatic Star

2 Grapeshot
4 High Tide
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Snap
4 Frantic Search

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Ideas Unbound
4 Impulse
4 Merchant Scroll
3 Deep Analysis

SB:
3 Echoing Truth
3 Disrupt
1 Capsize
4 Arcane Denial
4 BEB


The meta should be black discard, burn, Zoo, maybe Warrens combo (probably a weak unoptimized version).

Here're my concerns with the deck.

Without Meditate (rare), this deck has a higher chance of fizzling. Frantic Search is broken, but without the card advantage, the card disadvantage from Frantic Search accounts for possible fizzling.

I'm testing Deep Anaylsis but I'm not sure if it's better than Peer Through Depths (Impulse 5-7). I personally think that Deep Anal would be better since it would increase card advantage, and prevent fizzling with Frantic Searches. It sets up well with Frantic Search and even with Ideas Unbound before you high-tide if needed, and I think it's a card that's good. Other options in its slot is:

Accumulated Knowledge
Compulsive Research
Peer Through Depths
Serum Vision
Words of Wisdom
Delirium Skeins

But since I want more raw CA to account for the loss of Meditate, I think Deep Anal's the card. Let me know if I'm wrong.

Anyone with experience with Pauper Solidarity, please let me know what's a good list. This list has impressive turn 4 goldfishing but only runs into problems with Frantic Search getting too much card disadvantage. Raw draw power is needed. I would love to play 4 Deep Anal/suggested card, so I need to cut one more card in the MD (probably the 4th Snap/Cloud?)

One last question with the SB: I'm not sure if Arcane Denial is better than Counterspell. I'm siding on Denial simply because my meta is forgetful and sometimes they won't draw the cards, not to mention, I can always Denial my spell to draw an extra 2 cards next turn, and card advantage is critical, which is what Denial > counterspell. I think if my opponent isn't playing black discard/combo, Arcane Denial is better in everway.

BEB is against Warrens/Burn decks, and hopefully to slow their clock down by 1-2 turns. If I were to SB, which cards would I take out? I would think taking out Deep Anals (I've goldfished a list without Deep Anals and it was doable with 15% fizzling rate).

[Waikiki]

I myself use a draw package of 4 ideas unbound, 4 AK, 4 compulsive research. also I play an additional of 4 sleight of hand and 1 capsize for infinite storm.

I do not play any impulse effects.

Also if UNH is legal I suggest running 4x framed!

[GreenOne]

AK is probably your best bet, cause it's a nice card to discard to Frantic Search, Can be played like a cantrip in the early game, and it's tutorable with Scroll.

Is brainstorm good enough with only Ponder, Impulse and Merchant scroll as shuffle effect?
With the help of Frantic Search, you should be able to not have useless cards in hand that you want to shuffle away.

[LostButSeeking]

I'm not as familiar with pauper as I am with some other formats, although I have looked into it a little. How long do you generally have before an aggro deck--like slivers or cloak--runs you over? What turn does this deck generally fish bowl?

[GGoober]

I really like Impulse to dig for the 3rd land, high tide, draw effect to set up the game.

I probably won't cut Impulse but for the Deep Anal slot, which is better? AK or Deep Analysis? Compulsive Research looks tempting but forces you to go off with 4 lands or more (since its 3 mana) and if you don't chain into a land, it's going to be a little bad. I think I'll take AK instead of Deep Analysis since you can Scroll for it and it's good with Frantic Search as mentioned. I feel that overall 4 Deep Anal has more draw power than 4 AK. Still debatable and I want to side with Deep Anal since in a slower matchup i.e. discard, it can set up much better than AKs. In a meta of black discard, which would you play: AK or Deep Anal? I think I'd pick DA since you have more power to recover.

The deck Goldfishes with 3-4 lands in play, much safely with 4 lands. I think this is a good clock in Pauper. I doubt most Pauper decks kill on turn 4. Aggro decks kill on 5 or later I believe unless it's Sligh (which I have BEB and Disrupt in the board to play against them). Bad matchups that slow goldfishing are Discard and counterspell. Too bad remand is uncommon, otherwise you should win the control matchup easily.

@Waikiki: How many untap effects do you run? Is 4 Snap, 4 CoF, 4 Frantic Search necessary? I feel like cutting 1 Snap since it can be fizzled, and it's great to generate storm with CoF but otherwise it's the weakest untap. I think I need 1 Empty the Warrens in the board against life gain decks since Grapeshot might not be enough to push past >20 life.

[Shawn]

Gigadrowse (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=96864) is fantastic against blue decks, if you are expecting any. Have you tried Muddle the Mixture? When I've goldfished a deck similiar to this it's been decent; it can act as protection while going off, or can fetch Grapeshot or card draw.

[Koby]

You can probably play Empty the Warrens and Distance Melody, then take advantage of Goblin War Strike which is less intensive on storm and you draw more cards, but requires more red ritual cards.

Having played Pauper Storm, I can tell you that Compulsive Research is nuts, since you're inevitably end up with unplayable land in your hand. I might even go up to 4 Chromatic Spheres since they cycle for 1 mana midcombo.

I'm really surprised Frantic Search isn't banned for this tournament. That usually hits the ban list early on.


Muddle the Mixture
+1. You need a way to find Grapeshot (or untap effect). Play 2 if you can.

How is this better than Pauper Storm?

4 Irrigation Ditch
4 Sulferic Vent
4 Ancient Spring
2 Island

4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Rite of Flames
4 Manamorphese
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Lotus Petal

4 Grapeshot

4 Words of Wisdom
3 Compulsive Research
4 Ideas Unbound
2 Shred Memory
1 Flaring Pain (watch out for Prismatic Strands)

SB:
3 Early Frost
3 Deep Anal
2 Empty the Warren
4 Pyroblast (blue is a bigger concern than EtW)
3 Echoing Truth (trumps EtW)

[Willoe]

I play this list:

17 Island

4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Snap
4 Frantic Search

2 Grapeshot
1 Gigadrowse
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Words of Wisdom
4 Compulsive Research
4 Chromatic Star
4 Merchant Scroll
4 High Tide
4 Ideas Unbound

SB:
3 Gigadrowse
3 Deep Analysis
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Disrupt
2 Empty the Warrens

Words of Wisdom is really underrated in a format where one can't play FoW. It's nice card advantage, and if you're winning, who cares if the opponent draws a card or two if that card can't be FoW? Deep Analysis is often boarded in in favor of WoW being borded out, though. Against discard decks, flashback is, as we all know, very good.

Some builds play a maindecked Sage's Knowledge to retrieve some winny shit. I don't like that though, as I almost always tutor for Gigadrowse. It's really, really good. I even consider to mainboard 4 just because of it's awesomeness. But because the deck's rather fragile, it's pretty dangerous to do so.

No cantrips? Yes, really. It works. Chromatic Star and Accumulated Knowledge will do. Merchant Scroll is also in some ways a cantrip. However, 4 Ponder would be nice, but I can't find room for it. I fizzle often with cantrips in deck, because they do not generate card advantage.

When talking of removing one Snap:
It would depend a lot on the matchup, but you're right, since a shitload of decks play removal mainboarded and CoF is fragile as crap, cutting 1 and putting in 1 Gigadrowse would probably do.

ruckus: Are you seriously depending on storm count twenty with that deck? I have not tested it, but really, does it work? I mean, you create a crapload of card disadvantage creating cards and only a few cards to regain CA. Is that really any good? I'd at least play some EtW mainboarded to play it "nonlethal" and still win.

EDIT: Ruckus, nevermind about that. I overlooked a couple of cards, and after some testing, I found that it was rather good. I'm just sad it can't play Gigadrowse.

[Koby]

Absolutely it works. It can generate a lot more than 20 storm, but under optimal conditions. I usually just go for the double Grapeshot method, which only requires 10 storm. That's why I run the Shred Memory "tutor" - since black mana is nearly unlimited thanks to Cabal Ritual.

It does tend to fizzle out sometimes too, so it's not perfect.

[GGoober]

So this is my preferred list after some goldfishing.

4 Ponder
4 Impulse
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Ideas Unbound
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Deep Analysis (maybe 3 Deep Anal and 1 Empty the Warrens)
4 Frantic Search
3 Snap
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 High Tide
2 Grapeshot
3 Chromatic Star
16 Islands

I took our Brainstorm as blasphemous as it sounds but this isn't legacy so with only Scroll as a shuffling effect. I agree with Willoe on this. I think Brainstorm is even weaker than Serum Vision since it does not give card digging power but merely card knowledge which is not what this deck needs. Ponder on the other hand is a mini-impulse for 1 mana if you think of it. It digs 3 cards and puts one in your hand, or digs for the 4th card when shuffled in desperation. The shuffling is good if you want to chain into draws and not draw useless lands.

I replaced Brainstorm with Accumulated Knowledge. I like Words of Wisdom but in the end, 3 Words draws the same as 3 Accumulated Knowledge and AK does not give your opponenets an advantage. AK can also be set up with Ideas Unbound/Frantic Search before a combo if needed.

I didn't like Compulsive Research in testing but liked a 2cc card draw since you need that sometimes to dig for a land to set yourself up. I'm still not sold on Deep Anal but I know it's good against black, and there's good synergy with Ideas Unbound pre-combo and Frantic Search.

I found that 3 Star is all I need. I hate drawing one early in the game. Snap is a strong card but weak without Cloud of Faeries, and it can be easily fizzled against a good opponent. So I dropped it to 3. All you need is Frantic Search really. Snap is mainly used to generate storm.

[TheRock]

I've been trying my hand at this for a bit today (first time I've ever played Pauper magic too), so I hope that this is useful.

I have been using a draw suite of 4 Ideas, 3 Research, and 3 Analysis and I've been drawing more cards than I need to draw. I really dislike AK and dismissed it almost immediately - it took up 1-2 slots in the deck that I wanted other things to do. Most importantly, I had the same experience with AK in this deck that I had with the original Spring Tide and Solidarity builds in that it didn't do enough to start and it was overkill by the time it mattered the most.

I run a single copy of Vision Charm in my deck because I can search for it with Scroll, and I still compliment it with a Star and pitch the Star away if I don't need it. Vision Charm also conveniently stops Plating for a turn.

I think that Ponder and Scroll are plenty enough shuffle effects to run Brainstorm, but the big problem is that I don't really want to cut Visions to put them in and I'm a little short on space for it. I'm leaning on keeping it out of the deck since it really stinks without the help of other cards before going off.

This is what I currently have (minus what I haven't decided on for a rough list anyway):

16 Islands

4 High Tide
4 Cloud of Faeries
3 Snap
4 Frantic Search

4 Ideas Unbound
3 Deep Analysis
3 Compulsive Research

4 Ponder
4 Serum Visions
4 Merchant Scroll

1 Vision Charm
1 Chromatic Star
2 Grapeshot
1 Gigadrowse
2 ???????????

[GGoober]

I finished a disappointing 1-2.

My meta was filled with black discard (Duress/Hymn MD) and countermagic, which made Spring Tide a horrible Pauper deck.

Things that I noted: AK felt bad at the start, but great when going off (drawing 2+). Use the first AK to cycle/set yourself up. I think after this I want to test Compulsive Research. Deep Analysis is good against decks that have a slower clock.

Gigadrowse is a bomb post board against control. You can EOT tap them out to go off without fear of countermagic. It also buys you a turn to set yourself up.

Don't go off with 3 lands in play (turn 3). You almost fizzle since you don't have draw power AND double tide to play off like Legacy. The deck goes off fine with 4 lands. 3 Snap is needed. The 4th Snap is fragile and I run an Echoing Truth MD as the 4th Snap which also bounces hate or buys you turns against multiple opponent creatures.

Don't play this deck in a meta of black and countermagic. Those are Spring Tide/Solidarity's weak matchups anyway (except when you use remands).

[TheRock]

I hope this isn't considering reviving - I'm sorry in advance if it is.

The thing about control in this format is that they don't have the cards that really stop you from winning - Extirpate, Force of Will, good clocks backed up by tons of great card draw...

With 4 Gigadrowses, you pretty much can't lose to them unless they run Duress and REBs behind it. All you have to do is make land drops - that's about it.

As for discard decks, I've been testing against lists that contain Mindstab Thrulls, plenty of discard and 14 other good efficient beaters (3+ power) and I'm still winning 25% ON THE DRAW because of Disrupt. I don't expect many mono-black lists or BG or BR lists to put you in such bad shape, so it's not like this deck can't beat them. That doesn't mean I like the matchup though.

Outside of discard decks, burn decks, mirrors, and other storm decks, I'm still beating the snot out of everything else.

EDIT: poor excuses for deck testing shouldn't be posted - sorry.