By now, most Legacy players probably know a bit about Imperial Painter. But the deck requires a set of Imperial Recruiters and doesn’t run Brainstorm, so why would you even consider building it?
The reason to play iPainter is that its fundamental strategy attacks the Legacy meta in a powerful and unique way: while assembling combo pieces capable of either winning the game or generating instant-speed 1cc Vindicates/Counterspells, it directly hates all non-basic lands and the color blue, two relative constants in the format over time.
Brief History with Links
On May 2, 2008, Shadowmoor was released and Eternal magic received two new combos with the addition of Swans of Bryn Argoll and Painter’s Servant. Most of the initial hype involved Swans, but later that month, Okazawa Tatsu placed 5th at the 51-player Ancient Memory Convention 36 in Japan with “Mono-Red Painter”, and the Imperial Painter archetype was born.
Tatsu discovered the obscure Imperial Recruiter’s power in this deck. Not only does Recruiter find Servant, but it also finds Magus of the Moon and fits perfectly with a Stompy mana curve. On top of that, red lends itself to abusing Servant with a bunch of Red Elemental Blasts/Pyroblasts in the main deck, conveniently hating Legacy’s dominant color as a natural side effect.
Imperial Painter made several top-8’s in June 2008 including Michael “Hollywood” Keller placing second in a 49-person Hadley tournament around the same time he introduced the deck to the Source (first thread here).
I Top 4’d Star City Dallas/Ft Worth in 2010 and placed 12th at the same event early the following year before Kim Grymer piloted iPainter to its biggest showing to date, finishing 7th in Grand Prix Amsterdam in October, 2011.
Here are more notable iPainter performances since then:
Nov 2011 - Jonathan Suarez places 7th at SCG Charlotte
Jan 2012 – Jeremy Liger places 5th out of 240 at Legacy Cachan (with Punishing Fires!)
Feb 2012 – Lasse V Hansen places 7th out of 234 in Madrid
Not Top 8’s, but a couple of Texas guys Top 16 SCG in March 2012 – Michael Dye gets 11th (abusing Welder) and Bill Yowell gets 14th at SCG Dallas/Ft Worth:
Jan 2013 - I finished 7th at SCG Dallas/Ft Worth even though I played like shit several times.
Deck Construction and Basic Strategy
What is iPainter’s core strategy? Abuse Moon effects and Painter’s Servant interactions with Grindstone and blue-hating red cards using a Stompy manabase.
This is iPainter’s skeleton (cards common to nearly all decklists):
6-8 Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors
4-8 Simian Spirit Guide, Chrome Mox, and/or Lotus Petal
4-7 Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Painter’s Servant
5+ Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast
4 Grindstone*
*Except for Tatsu’s list. It’s funny, but the first iPainter ran 3 Grindstones. I don’t know if it was intentional or if Tatsu only had 3 when he threw the deck together. The other exception here would be in the case of splashing white for E Tutor or blue for Trinket Mage.
iPainter generally tries to:
- assemble the combo win as soon as possible and preferably go off with an advantage (with Blast backup, in response to removal, etc.);
- combine Servant with Blasts to answer most types of threats while gaining board advantage or finding Grindstone;
- play a Moon effect and then follow up (many times Recruit an appropriate creature);
- lock the opponent out with Moon effects.
The core decklist wins either with the Grindstone combo or with dork-beatdown.
Imperial Recruiter’s ability is the engine that allows the red Stompy manabase to complement the Servant plan so well, and it also makes iPainter one of the more resilient/consistent Stompy decks. Recruiter is card-advantage at its best.
The Recruiter Engine finds critical pieces while laying down a chump blocker/attacker. Another more subtle option with the Recruiter Engine is the ability to “chain” Recruiters and out-draw your opponent. If your opponent is in topdeck mode and/or other conditions are right, you can consider playing the long game by Recruiting Recruiters for a few turns. This works especially well if you play Sensei’s Tops.
Aside from the core cards, iPainter decklists have varied in several ways. Here are some historically used strategies and cards:
Add Burn
- Lightning Bolt
- Magma Jet
- Firebolt
- Others for consideration might be Forked Bolt, Arc Lightning
Abuse Servant and Blue-Hate More
- More Blasts
- Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
- Chaotic Backlash
Abuse Stompy Manabase and Moon more
- More Moon or Magus
- A full 8 Sol Lands
- 6-8 SSG + Mox/Petal
- Phyrexian Revoker* - should be considered a good Stompy component
- Others like Trinisphere (Hollywood succeeded with it MD in an early list)
Add Deck Manipulation for Consistency
- Sensei’s Divining Top (with Fetches)
- Faithless Looting (usually with Goblin Welder)
- Magma Jet
Add Aggro Mode
Toolbox for Recruiter
- Goblin Welder
- Phyrexian Revoker
- Phyrexian Metamorph
- Spellskite
- Vexing Shusher
- Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
- Grim Lavamancer
- Goblin Sharpshooter
- Others
Add Equipment
Abuse Welder
Add More/Resilient Win Conditions
Punishing Fires
- Punishing Fires
- Grove of the Burnwillows
- Chrome Mox - especially attractive with P Fires because you can pitch Moons if you want to keep Groves active
Splash Colors
- White – Enlightened Tutor, Stoneforge Mystic, Ethersworn Canonist, others
- Black – Perish, Nature’s Ruin, Dark Confidant, others
- Blue – Trinket Mage, Laboratory Maniac, others
- No record of Green splash
Sideboard construction - Depends on MD, so SB strategy should probably be discussed for specific builds. Inherent bad matchups for iPainter include:
- Any Eldrazi deck
- Zoo
- Maverick
- Jund
- Aggro Loam
- Burn
- Charbelcher and other fast combo not vulnerable to Moon effects
Other than cards in the maindeck options listed above, here are some common sideboard selections:
- Thorn of Amethyst
- Trinisphere
- Leyline of Sanctity
- Mindbreak Trap
- Pyrostatic Pillar
- Surgical Extraction
- Faerie Macabre
- Tormod’s Crypt
- Relic of Progenitus
- Leyline of the Void
- Nihil Spellbomb
- Shattering Spree
- Manic Vandal
- Viashino Heretic
- Gorilla Shaman
- Ratchet Bomb
- Engineered Explosives
- Ensnaring Bridge
- Pyroclasm
- Slagstorm
- Volcanic Fallout
- Rolling Earthquake
- Firespout
- Pyrokinesis
- Sulfur Elemental
- More Blasts
- More Moon effects
The above is just a start, and I’m sure there should be more cards listed. Even without splashing a color, the variety of cards available for iPainter is good and there are multiple ways to build the deck competitively.
From the last iPainter thread, Seth (sroncor) posted most about color splashes and I remember the black splash with SB Perish being really appealing when Zoo was dominating the meta. After throwing Mental Misstep into my mono-red list when they were legal, I finally added blue because it fit so naturally at the time, and included a single Trinket Mage. That was the only time I splashed and it was actually one of the better performing builds I’ve played. After MM was banned though, I felt like even the single Trinket mage was a dead card during play just enough that it wasn’t worth the splash.
Splashing a color in iPainter requires significant justification because of the obvious conflict with a Stompy+Moon plan and more importantly, because it increases your vulnerability to Wasteland and Stifle. Another inherent strength of the deck is its relatively solid manabase, and splashing needs to be worth sacrificing stability.
One card that is common to most lists historically but has been dropped by some recently is Jaya Ballard. Jaya was definitely made for this deck, working well with both Recruiter and Servant. However, she is slow (most of the time), fragile, and creates card disadvantage. On the other hand, she can solve a wide variety of problems. Jaya provides all-purpose burn which is decent removal on its own and offers a win condition with reach. The non-spell-based Vindicate effect kills Emrakul with Servant in play and destroying lands can turn Moon (and SB cards like Thorn of Amethyst and Trinisphere) into a hard lock. Even without Servant, Jaya will take out Jace and Counterbalance. Also, don’t underestimate her mass burn ability, which can finish a game if the life totals allow it.
Most iPainter lists have added burn, at least a few cards for consistency, and at least a few Recruiter toolbox options to the core decklist. Burn interacts with creatures, planeswalkers and supports the beatdown win. Although it was not the case in early lists, most iPainter builds now include at least a few Tops, Lootings, or Jets to avoid stalling out. The most popular Recruitable cards in the MD aside from Servant and Magus are probably Jaya, Welder, Revoker, Metamorph and the aggro option (Dragonlord or Figure). Spellskite might be in there too.
Some of the variation in iPainter lists/strategies seems to fall along these dimensions:
- All-in Early Game vs. Sustainability – more first turn moons, early Painter-activated Blasts, fast bombs/locks OR more deck manipluation, all-purpose removal, recursion, protection, etc?
- All-in on Core Plan vs. Variety/Options – maximize support for Moon locks, Servant-activated plays OR add aggro options for Recruiter, play more Welder with Welder-targets, maximize burn, etc?
The End
I’ll close this up with a mention of Imperial Recruiter’s scarcity. Up to this point, the lack of Recruiters in circulation has created another advantage for Imperial Painter: most players don’t prepare for it. Unless the availability of this mission-critical card increases significantly, iPainter will probably never make it into the DTB category and will continue to be a surprise matchup most of the time, especially at larger events.
Although the short supply of Recruiters will surely limit the number of iPainters out there, hopefully a few deck builders and players will be able to keep innovating with the deck.
Thanks to:
Kap’n Cook for sharing the primer he started writing and adding his own strategy explanation to the iPainter 2.0 discussion.
Okazama Tatsu for creating the deck and making me consider buying Recruiters instead of Tarmogoyfs.
Hollywood for starting the first thread which convinced me to buy my Recruiters (better investment that Goyfs would have been).
Kim Grymer for proving that this deck can place at an event of any size.
Last edited by DrewliusMaximus; 04-13-2013 at 11:15 PM. Reason: more cards added
Card rulings and interactions:
Painter's Servant
For starters, you choose a color when servant resolves, before it is on the battlefield. Choosing a color cannot be stifled. The color you choose makes every card that color, including the ones in each hand, graveyard, and library (and I guess sideboard too). Opponents who have never played against Painter sometimes get confused about that. Regarding humility, color effects are in a higher layer so they still apply. The end result is a 1/1 painter's servant with no text that makes everything the color you choose, so grindstone milling still works. Red blasting a non-blue spell or permanent will only counter/kill it if painter on blue is still in play upon blast resolution. Let's assume painter comes into play and you choose blue. Sword of Fire and Ice is now blue. It CAN be equipped to a creature, but it will then grant pro-blue and fall off that creature. Same holds true for each other sword. There are other corner cases. For example, goblin piledriver gains protection from everything with a painter on blue. A mirran crusader can't hold a jitte when you put painter on green or black. A painter on green allows your opponent to green sun for any creature in their deck. A painter in play nullifies eye of ugin searching for a colorless eldrazi. Celestial purge out of miracles sideboards can hit a painter on black or red if you are not careful and so on. Naming blue allows force of will to pitch any card to it.
Grindstone
The biggest thing that comes up in rulings is the resolving of grindstone. The ability does not care whether the cards hit the graveyard or not to continue. Because of this, you can combo through a rest in peace or leyline of the void (both solve the 2x progenitus issue). Progenitus is a replacement effect and never goes to the yard. If there is 1 in an opponents library, it becomes the top card with nothing else. 2x means an instant draw unless rip or leyline is in play. With eldrazi shuffle triggers, grindstone fully resolves first, putting every card in the graveyard. Then the shuffle triggers are resolved so you have time to tormod's crypt in response. The 'combo' does not need grindstone on the field upon resolution, only a painter.
Blood Moon
Turns each nonbasic land into a mountain. They are still non-basic for price of progress. Legendary lands are still legendary. ETB tapped lands still enter tapped. Dryad arbor becomes a 1/1 mountain dryad that taps for red mana (I believe it is still green though). Blood Moon/Magus override Urborg, tomb of yawgmoth. City of traitors does not need to be sacrificed upon playing another land. Ancient tomb and City of brass do not deal damage to the player. Lands that enter with counters on them keep their counters.
Magus of the Moon
Similar to Painter, the magus ability is applied above humility. Magus will be a 1/1 creature with no text that turns each nonbasic into a mountain.
Imperial Recruiter
Searches any creature with power 2 or less. Creatures with a * for power like tarmogoyf apply the check in all zones, so you could only recruiter for goyf with 2 types of cards in the yard. Creatures with 0 power that add counters upon etb are fair game.
Goblin Welder
Errata makes welder have much longer text. You choose an artifact either player controls and an artifact in that same players graveyard. The swap only occurs if both artifacts are still legal targets upon resolution, meaning if the artifact in play is destroyed or the artifact in the yard is removed, nothing happens and you just end up with a tapped welder. For old school metamorph plays, you can choose to copy the artifact you are welding out.
Simian Spirit Guide
Exiling ssg does not use the stack and cannot be stifled
Phyrexian Revoker
Just like Painter, you choose a card upon resolution. After it resolves, your opponent does not have time to activate whatever you are going to name.
Jaya
1st ability checks color upon resolution. 2nd and 3rd do not. All 3 can be stifled, but you still have to discard a card.
REB and Pyro
Each card is modal. This means if you choose the 'counter target spell' mode, your opponent cannot misdirect it to a permanent and vice versa. Let's say you do not have a painter out, and you try to REB an in-play jace. Your opponent cannot misdirect your REB to either misdirection or another non-blue permanent, but they can choose their in play snapcaster mage. If you Pyroblast in the same scenario, your opponent cannot misdirect your pyro to misdirection, but can choose any non-blue permanent in play, such as your land. You can target a non-blue spell or permanent with pyroblast, but not REB (helpful when trying to get under an ensnaring bridge).
If you open a hand that can do this turn 1 on the play, do it 100% of the time game 1 against an unknown opponent. I don’t care if your hand is 1 Blood Moon 5 sol lands and a Monkey, keep and play the moon. Yes, some games will be lost because they are playing burn or goblins or high tide or they opened with the force of will whatever, but other games will just be won without them even taking a turn. It is always worth doing. Magus of the moon I would be a little more hesitant. If you are on the draw it depends a lot more on what the rest of your hand contains.
Matchups
sideboarding guides will be general since everyone has different lists. I almost never take out blasts for example, but drew's sb-ing above does.
BUG Delver
Moon is obviously at its best in this matchup. Besides that, just play out a normal game. If they waste time and keep open black and green mana afraid of blood moon let them keep it open and play out something else instead. They do not have card advantage and time is on your side. You can chain recruiters or sculpt your hand and wait until moon does the most damage, ideally when you can play around possible answers like daze, force, or decay.
sb: moons are good, bridges are good, burn is good. jaya and top can be slow and revoker only hits deathrite. if you choose to bring in all moons and bridges, I might side out the other rec targets and try to play a full on moon/painter game.
Bigger BUG
Usually with Planeswalkers and usually without daze. Moon again is your trump card. Besides that it is the same matchup as Delver except slower and they have the better late game. Ideally your blasts should be used to counter Liliana and Jace.
sb: bridges are good, moons are good, burn not so much. revokers hit deathrite, deed, jace, liliana. slower game, so tops help against discard and fatesealing. all 4 bridges may not be needed
Canadian
Harder than BUG solely due to their burn spells. Because Mongoose has shroud, always use lightning bolt on delver over using a blast. If you can snipe a goyf at 1/2, even better. Same thing as BUG, if you can drop a blood moon playing around daze or force, it is usually better to wait a turn. If they drop a goyf in the turn you didn’t play moon, well now it’s a race to assemble your combo or kill it with a blast. Sideboard mainly watch out for Ancient Grudge and their own possible red blasts.
sb: bridges are the best, burn only hits delver, and revoker hits nothing. I would cut down to 1 magus since investing early could lead you to get blown out by a burn spell. jaya is way too slow. ratchet bomb hits mongoose and goyf. I would bring in rip, maybe bring in relic, and never bring in tormod crypt.
Sneak Attack
The best chance you have of beating this game 1 is to recognize what they are playing extremely early. Blasts should be used to counter Show and Tell 90% of the time, the other 10% when you have a moon out and can knock them off blue. Goblin Welder with Metamorph in the Graveyard shuts them completely down unless than can Sneak in 2 Emrakul (allow grisel to attack and then kill it). Protect Ensnaring Bridge the best you can and this matchup feels like a breeze if you get a few turns.
sb: blood moons are pretty bad. 1 island or petal and it is nullified. burn is bad. all blasts are good. bridges and extra control stuff comes in. if you do not have grave hate to remove eldrazi from the yard, take out all grindstones.
Omniscience/Dream Halls
More difficult than Sneak Attack based Show and Tell since Ensnaring Bridge doesn't completely shut them down. Blasts are the number one path to victory as Moon effects are largely dead and most lists run some copies of Emrakul. If they don't, then the matchup swings into your favor. Besides that, going aggro beatz is the gameplan game 1. Game 2 should take out moons and continue the aggro/blast-control plan and/or bring in gravehate to 3-card combo them.
similar to sneak. gotta go aggro with heavy disruption or 3 card combo.
Jund
A lot harder than one would think because all of their cards are good against you. They have heavy discard, big creatures, and good spot removal. The best case scenario is Blood Moon before they can establish themselves. Otherwise just using blasts to control long enough to combo. You can’t really out resource them in the long game, so it depends on what kind of draw they have and whether it can interact well enough with you.
similar to rug, except burn is good. bridges come in as well. as far as cutting cards, if they play punishing fire, definitely cut welder, jaya, and most magus (if you play spellskite, I would keep 1 magus in to recruit for and protect late game)
Stoneblade
What many consider the best matchup for Painter since they run a shit-ton of nonbasics, are slow, and play blue. This matchup gets a lot more interesting if they can deal with your early moon effect however. If they do deal with it, I personally think this is the most fun and interactive matchup. The number one priority is dealing with Jitte, if they choose to fetch it up. Once it gets 3+ counters, you almost always lose. Batterskull is just an artifact goyf that your metamorph completely runs train on. I have been having a lot of success blowing up their plains with blasts under a moon in response to swords/path (even if it means losing painter) just because most lists are only running one plains these days. Besides that, mainly counter snapcaster and jace every time.
sb: I personally don't like bridge here, because it is only effective when you have 0 cards in hand and can't stop jace. burn delays batterskull and moon is very good. Blasts should try to counter their jace and snapcaster to prevent card advantage. watch out for surgical postboard. artifact hate for jitte/skull
Deathblade
The newest iteration of blade decks this is basically just goodstuff.dec. Moons absolutely dominate them. They have barely any counterspells, barely any removal, and barely any basics. But it is still a pile of good cards so if they can get established they have a shot. It still shouldn't be too much of a problem since our entire deck trumps their entire deck.
sb: really depends on what they run. moons, bridges, burn, revokers, jaya its all great so some card shaving and tough cuts are in store.
Storm
TES and ANT . You are mainly looking for one of two opening hands: One that can combo fast, or one that has a Painter and blast effects you use to counter their business spells. Preboard when you don’t know what you’re playing against, you usually need to get lucky and have moon completely shut them down or have one of the hands mentioned above. Sideboard gets much more interesting since everyone should be packing some combo hate. I would recommend siding out Blood Moon against TES since they run Chrome Mox in addition to petal. Magus is usually okay to keep in so you can recruit for it should it be needed. Grave hate is much better against than it is TES but it is up to you how you want to attack them. Since these decks win many games with Ad Nauseum, you should be attacking whenever possible. Sideboard watch out for abrupt decay and bounce spells when you try to activate grindstone. Because of these cards, many times it is correct to activate on their upkeep to keep them off mana for their combo turn. Belcher your goal is to get lucky and play hate/painter protection turn 1. Doomsday is much different since they run 2 or less lotus petals and usually 3 basics, so moon is still good. Also, Grindstone by itself completely fucks up their doomsday pile. On top of that, they will side in Shelldock Isle and Emrakul, completely negating your combo by itself. I haven’t come up with ideal boarding plans yet, but I usually like going for the beatdown and playing control.
sb: I don't like relying on blood moon against either tes or ant since a lotus petal/chrome mox can just fix colors but some disagree. burn is bad. all combo hate is good. extra blasts can be used to buy time against cantrips. ratchet bomb may nab artifacts against bad players but can handle goblins
Miracles
The slowest clock that you will have to worry about. The biggest enemy is counterbalance and you want to counter it every time. It is possible to play around once it is in play and you will have the time to do so. Blood Moon can keep them off white mana for a long time as well as turn off their shuffle effects. Besides being a long control game the only other thing you need to watch out for is terminus as a removal spell for your painter. If they are floating one, you can catch them off guard by activating grindstone during their draw step. (If they want to miracle a spell they will need to be the first to announce it). Grindstone can mess up counterbalance for them or on yourself after a jace fateseal. Side boarding is mainly just based upon what version they are running(RIP-helm, something else etc)
sb: burn is terrible. if they play rip, welder comes out. they run a ton of basics, but moon prevents excessive shuffling and can lock them off UU or WW for a long time. ratchet bomb is good, bridge stops clique and entreat but I would only play 2 max and blasts are great too. the matchup is definitely one to practice with, as you can easily outplay your opponent. artifact hate for potential explosives or pithing needle
Elves
Elves has a pretty consistent turn 3 goldfish so your gameplan needs to take that into account. Usually all it takes is blasting Glimpse or Natural Order and that can buy you the few extra turns you need to find grindstone. Pre-board there isn't any removal you have to be worried about so if you can combo quicker then you should win. Luckily most elves decks are not playing Emrakul anymore and are splashing multiple colors so one of the absolute worst matchups before is now quite winnable. Regarding Moon effects they are usually only effective if played turn 1 on the play. Any later than turn 1 and the elves player is usually already established with deathrite/mana elf. It can stall their cradles/quirion rangers but that will only buy you a few turns.
sb: on the draw, all moons out. on the play, moon is only good turn 1. burn is great for buying time. bridge prevents their huge combo swing. top can be slow, so its a judgement call
Merfolk
Classic Blue aggro deck. Pretty straightforward game-plan. Use blasts to kill the fish long enough to resolve both Painter and Stone. Welder shines in this matchup since they have maximum 2 creature removal spells. Naming Blue with Painter is almost always the wrong play since the only things that aren't blue that you might even consider blasting are Vial, Mutavault, Dismember, or Jitte (if they are even running the last 2). Moons aren't too hot either since their manabase is half islands, but they do stop Wasteland and Mutavault. I think keeping Magus in postboard isn't the worst. A resolved Ensnaring bridge is usually enough to win.
sb: all bridges, blasts, and burn in. ratchet bomb too. I would keep all magus in, but take all blood moon out unless you don't have much to bring in. bring in artifact hate too for vial/jitte
Goblins
The last part of the classic tribal trifecta. Harder than merfolk but any fast combo hand will win easily since they don't have counters. Waste and Port can be annoying but played around easily. Newer players just remember that you can wait for them to target a land and then use that to activate top or you can just combo them with stone during your upkeep. Naming Blue with Painter allows you to control the board but it also gives Piledriver protection from everything so caution is advised. Other small tricks to watch out for are Goblin Welder counting towards Gempalm Incinerator and Pyrokinesis.
sb: artifact hate in for chalice/vial. moons out, but magus to block and stop port waste craziness. bridges are only good with 0 cards in hand. watch out for oppo rebs.
Dredge
Everyone's favorite graveyard deck. Game 1 isn't as one-sided as you'd expect. Moons are much worse now that Faithless looting exists but they still stop coliseum and if the dredge player kept a non-looting non-LED hand then you should be able to combo them out first. Post-board gets ridiculously good with all the grave hate and ensnaring bridges. Welder-Crypt is insane and nearly impossible for Dredge to get out of. Lastly, blasts should counter discard outlets if at all possible and control Bridge from Below. Barring any crazy sideboard stuff (like Memory's Journey, which I've lost to lol) or nut-draws, Painter should take it down.
sb: moons out, burn out. bridges, grave hate, ratchet bomb, blasts in. buy time as much as possible.
Burn
Since Imperial Painter is built specifically for the Legacy format with all the dual lands and Blue spells, it shouldn't be a surprise that Burn is one of Painter's worst matchups. If the burn player knows what they are doing, then it should be very hard to win. Staving off death as long as possible with Blasts, chump blockers, and forcing them to use burn on your creatures is the route to victory. Goblin Welder is very good in this matchup as it turns every extra artifact into a new Painter they must kill. Post-board take out all blood moons and bring in removal/bridges/creatures to stall their creatures. I personally have also boarded out 2 ancient tombs since that damage adds up fast, but you may be comfortable doing something else. If you run Leyline then it is a much better matchup but there is still a lot of untargeted burn. Be wary of playing excess non-basics for no reason since Price of Progess still works under a Magus/Blood Moon. Red Blasts may be boarded in against you and smash to smithereens is definitely coming in. A pretty annoying matchup to have to deal with but definitely winnable.
sb: all moons out, 2 tombs out, jaya out. in bridges and anything that isn't dead. stall until combo
High Tide
Game 1 really comes down to what kind of hand you keep and whether or not you know they are on High Tide. If you have a Moon/Dork hand then you're pretty much out of luck. Obviously the best hand is one with heavy blasts and fast combo and that is what to look for in sideboard games. Post board the two decks become pretty much identical (combo pieces, countermagic, and search) and it becomes a race to combo off faster. If you play surgical extraction/storm hate, bring that in. Revoker can shut down Candelabra to slow them down as well. Beatdown is unlikely, but just like storm matchups, if you have the chance to attack their life total then do it. One last thing, make your opponent go through the motions after Time Spiral's because you can always draw into SSG's and blasts to stop them.
sb: burn, moons, jaya out. combo hate, blasts, and maybe grave hate for time spiral stuff if you have a ton of dead stuff.
Last edited by Kap'n Cook; 04-06-2022 at 07:34 PM.
My approach to iPainter is pretty conservative I guess. Since I don’t have as much time for mtg as I’d like and I want to take familiar lists to large tournaments every so often, I tend to opt for cards in the maindeck that address a wide variety of problems instead of focusing the hate.
In the maindeck, I’m trying to execute iPainter’s core strategy consistently but minimize dead cards, use a streamlined Recruiter toolbox, and avoid losing to my own deck.
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
3 Scalding Tarn
11 Mountain
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Lotus Petal
4 Blood Moon
1 Magus of the Moon
4 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
4 Grindstone
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
3 Magma Jet
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Painter’s Servant
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Goblin Welder
I play what I consider to be an efficient Moon plan with a full set of Enchantments and a single Recruitable Magus. Although first-turn Moon-effect wins are still one of my favorite things, a few changes to Legacy over the last few years have made me stop going all-in on the Moon plan:
- 1cc mana creatures – first Noble Hierarch and now Deathrite Shaman
- More decks with burn makes Magus worse – Zoo days were bad, now RUG, Jund, Aggro Loam
- Control deck with a more stable manabase – UW Miracles
In place of a Magus or two, I like Phyrexian Revoker. He helps against the mana-producing creatures and artifact mana under a Moon, and sometimes he is a better first-turn play than Moon.
Because I’m not all-in on the Moon plan, I have found that Chrome Mox is not worth it and seven Sol Lands seems sufficient. As a result, I’m not as worried about how many artifacts I play anymore. The single Petal looks weird, but it’s like a fifth SSG.
My MD has had five to six Blasts for a while now, but I always put more in the SB. I’ve been happy with the ratio of “happy to have a Blast” moments to “Blast is a dead card” moments for the most part.
The lists I was playing just a few iterations ago were running two Welders minimum and trying to abuse them more, but since Deathrite Shaman and Rest in Piece arrived, I have consciously minimized my dependence on the graveyard. Nonetheless, Welder can do amazing things in this deck, so I’ll probably always have at least one.
Jaya is in there because I have regretted it everytime I’ve taken her out of the MD. She provides a potential answer to too many things.
Metamorph makes it because he enables a variety of plays and helps with some of the bad MD matchups. He is a good Recruiter target against big creatures, he kills a Jitte or any legendary creature/artifact, and he is Weldable. And I have always loved this move: Recruiter for Metamorph, play Metamorph and name Recruiter, find Welder and play him, now one Recruiter has turned into Welder + Metamorph.
I would love to include an aggro option for Recruiter but Metamorph is taking that slot for now. Also, I have decided to max out on Ensnaring Bridge in my SB.
SB
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Spellskite
Thorn has become the best anti-combo card in my opinion. It might not shut down a storm deck like Trinisphere, but it is more likely to come down on turn one. Additionally, it affects Show and Tell and Sneak Attack.
Bridge is amazing in this deck, and every time I have gone down to three I have regretted it. I want a full set and the ability to commit to it as a strategy out of the board against any Aggro deck and of course, against Eldrazi.
Bomb is an all-purpose answer to many problems.
REB’s out of the board let me go back to extreme blue-hate and are especially necessary against Show and Tell.
Macabre is the Recruitable graveyard hate and Crypt is the Weldable hate. Just one Crypt in the deck with Welder also allows you to Grindstone combo against Eldrazi.
I have found that cards like Thorn and Bridge are very useful against Reanimator and against Dredge, Bridge and Bomb help. And with Deathrite Shaman and Rest in Piece hating graveyard strategies anyway, I’m comfortable with the low number of anti-gy SB cards.
Spellskite is for Jund and Burn in particular, but can come in against others. This slot could also be a second Jaya. I like having a backup to ensure there is a decent win condition under a Bridge lock aside from Grindstone.
Here are some of the SB moves I would make currently:
UW Miracles: + 2 Bomb, +2 REB / -1 Magus, -1 Metamorph, -2 Jet (or -1 Jet, -1 Moon) *I have tried Thorns here but I’m not sure about them.
RUG: +4 Bridge, +1 Blast, +1 Spellskite / -1 Magus, -2 Revoker, -3 Jet
BUG Control: +1 Crypt / -1 Metamorph (and maybe +1 Blast / -1 Jet)
Jund: +4 Bridge, +2 Bomb, +1 Spellskite / -5 Blast, -1 Magus, -1 Revoker
Esper Stoneblade: +4 Bridge, +1 Blast / -3 Jet, -1 Revoker, -1 Metamorph
Sneak and Show: +4 thorn, +4 Bridge, +2 Blast, +1 Crypt / -4 Moon, -3 Grindstone, -3 Jet, -1 Servant
Charbelcher: +4 Thorn, +2 Bomb, +2 Blast / -4 Moon, -3 Jet, -1 Magus
Dredge: +4 Bridge, +2 Bomb, +1 Macabre, +1 Crypt / -4 Moon, -3 Jet, -1 Revoker
Storm-Tendrils: +4 Thorn, +1 Blast / -3 Jet, -1 Metamorph, -1 Moon
Team America: +4 Bridge, +1 Blast (or +Spellskite) / -3 Jet, -2 Revoker
Merfolk: +4 Bridge, +2 REB / -4 Moon, -1 Metamorph, -1 Revoker
UR Delver: +4 Thorn, +1 Spellskite, +1 REB, +1 Bomb / -4 Moon, -2 Revoker, -1 Metamoprh
Burn: +4 Thorn, +1 Spellskite, +1 Bomb / -4 Moon, -1 Revoker, -1 Metamorph
Goblins: +4 Bridge, +2 Bomb, +1 Spellskite / -5 Blast, -1 Moon, -1 Metamorph
More sideboarding to come…
High Tide
Nic Fit
Reanimator
Eva Green
Affinity
Welder MUD
Aggro Loam
Blue-based Painter/Grindstone
Mirror Match
Last edited by DrewliusMaximus; 04-02-2013 at 08:25 PM.
Strawberry Shortcake has become the premier build of Imperial painter with the most results and high tournament finishes in recent years. It builds upon the original mono red base by adding enlightened tutors and specialized bullets. Strawberry Shortcake has been in existence from the very early beginnings of Imperial Painter (although the name was coined Fall 2013) when many painters experimented with splash colors. White was found to be one of the most powerful as the enlightened tutor makes the entire combo searchable and allows you to run specialized artifact and enchantments recruiter couldn't normally fetch.
Seth Roncoroni is the godfather of the white splash and has written extensively on the theory behind why you should splash as well as personal thoughts on card choices. Here are two posts that all aspiring shortcake players should familiarize themselves with and take to heart:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post785907
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post836366
Shortcake really took off and started getting noticed on the national scene around January 2014. After more than a year of trying to convince me of white's benefits, Seth converted me from my mono-red faithless looting build to enlightened tutor. I immediately noticed how much faster and more consistent the white-splash was compared to mono-red. While it seems strange that such a small addition of only a few plateau's and tutors would drastically change the deck, it significantly reduced the amount of durdling and boosted the harder matchups for the decks such as elves and storm. The hardest part for any aspiring shortcaker is pre-emptive tutoring before dropping a blood moon, experimenting with tutoring for the combo compared to a specific hate piece, and when to fetch out a plateau so as not to get destroyed by wasteland.
After toiling away and learning every in and out of the deck, I was lucky enough to top 8 some major events and get shortcake the recognition it deserved. From there, the white splash has been able to put up serious results in some of the country's largest tournaments.
Reports and finishes:
SCG Baltimore January 26, 2014
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=62808
Jack aka Kapn Cook -- 5/402
Seth aka Sroncor -- 36/402
Glen Burnie MD February 9, 2014
Seth -- 8/114
Grand Prix Paris February 15-16, 2014
http://wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Ar...ppar14/welcome
Jean-Mary Accart aka Lejay -- 5/1587
Tales of Adventure BOM Trial February 22, 2014
Jack -- 1/173
SCG Seattle March 16, 2014
Brenden Mcbain -- 23/320
SCG D.C. August 24, 2014
Sean Park -- 13/285
SCG Somerset August 31, 2014
Jack Kitchen -- 4/443
SCG Minneapolis October 26, 2014
Daniel Rude -- 15/247
SCG Baltimore IQ, March 2, 2015
Jack -- 1/230
Mythic Games 2K, March 5, 2016
Hollywood-- 4/47
MTGO Legacy Challenge, May 14, 2016
Jack -- 1/60+
-------------------------------------------------------------
As a small history reminder for myself and to monitor the deck's evolution, I've tracked the major changes to my personal build since I started painting back in May 2012. My version of IP is Goblin Welder heavy to better abuse grindstone and the variety of artifacts we run. Welder is a lightning rod and allows you win through countermagic and chalice at 1. Running 3 welders allows me to naturally draw one and then recruit for one later when the first gets killed. Faithless looting was initially used to increase deck synergy with welder, but the versatility of e tutor and its subtle tricks outweighed looting's midgame. Chrome moxen were also dropped to decrease the decks variance over the years. Turn 1 Magus of the Moon is not as game-winning as it used to be, so a singleton is ideal.
While it still happens, this version of Painter relies much less on the pure beatdown aspect to win and more on Welder decision trees and subtlety to gain advantages before assembling the combo.
changes:
Pre 4/1/2013: To many changes to count. First tournament list: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post663989. No fetches or more cities because I hadn't bought them yet.
4/1/2013: MB: -2 Chrome Mox, +1 Lotus Petal, +1 Red Fetch
6/9/2013: MB: -1 Mountain, +1 Red Fetch
7/8/2013: MB: -3 Lightning Bolt, +2 Phyrexian Revoker, +1 REB. SB: -1 Revoker, +1 Koth
8/1/2013: MB: -1 Phyrexian Metamorph, +1 Magus. SB: -1 Magus, +1 Siege Gang Commander (legend rule change)
Switched to white:
9/21/2013: MB: -1 Magus, -1 REB, +2 E bridge, +2 enlightened tutor, -2 faithless looting. SB: - 1 SGC, -1 Martyr, -2 E bridge, +4 Firebolt, +1 Trinisphere, +1 ethersworn canonist, +1 ratchet bomb, +1 REB
2/1/2014: MB: Add 5th fetch, go to 4 basics. SB: -1 Tormod's Crypt, +1 Rest in Peace
8/10/2014-10/30/2014: MB: -1 revoker, -1 sensei top. +1 ee/ratchet, +1 daretti. SB: -1 ratchet, -1 sword, +1 daretti, +1 assemble the legion.
Post Khans of Tarkir aka Treasure Cruise: Still tweaking. Lots of variations current one listed below/
other cards that have seen play at some point: sword of light and shadow, pyrite spellbomb, koth of the hammer, ratchet bomb, martyr of ashes, leyline of sanctity, lightning bolt, siege gang commander, phyrexian metamorph, faithless looting, Helm of Obedience
Edit: As we all know Sensei's Divining Top was banned in April 2017. The loss of top was so huge to the deck. I tried out various new builds but honestly nothing really can replace it and after being able to play with the top and how the deck was built for super quick combo and consistency I just can't go back to the more stompy-variance style of mono-red or even small white splash. So basically the list below is how I had the deck at the time of the top ban, and I feel like the maindeck was perfect.
---------------------------------------------------
Strawberry Shortcake
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
2 Plateau
1 Great Furnace
2 wooded foothills
3 bloodstained mire
4 Mountain
2 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Lotus Petal
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Painter's Servant
3 Goblin Welder
4 Blood Moon
4 Grindstone
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Pyroblast
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Enlightened tutor
---------------------------------------------------
The board during the SDT meta
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Pyroclasm
1 Duergar Hedge-Mage
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 ensnaring bridge
2 Sulfur Elemental
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
A few notes:
A) I originally included 1 copy of Spellskite and while it is awesome to have in play, I don't like recruiting for it. 90% of the time, fetching out another Painter or a Welder serves the same purpose. If I could draw the singleton copy in my hand every single time I would play one.
B) Firebolts are in the side because I hate drawing burn against Show and Tell/Storm decks. You bring in the burn when you need it and firebolt is also card advantage compared to more efficient spells such as lightning bolt. Yes, five mana is a lot for flashback, but with IP's ability to stall it comes up a lot more than you would think. Plus you can grindstone yourself to put firebolts in the yard. It's really more of a preference thing, but having 3-4 burn spells somewhere in the 75 is optimal.
C) Assemble the legion and Koth are the primary alternate win-cons for the deck. Helm of Obedience appears every now and then when you want to run 3+ rest in peace. Legion is a tutorable way to eventually win the game under a bridge while providing a steady stream of chump blockers, while koth is harder to remove via spells, but ideally you'll need a bridge in play to stall. Alternate win-cons are still a flex spot and it really depends on what kind of meta and/or sideboard cards you expect out of your opponent.
Seth's Current Shortcake List
4 Imperial Recruiters
4 Painter’s servant
3 SSG
2 goblin Welder
1 Jaya Ballard
2 magus of the Moon
4 Blood Moon
4 Grindstone
6 blast effects
3 e tutor
2 SDT
2 lotus petal
1 ensnaring Bridge
2 Koth
1 EE
4 Mountains
5 fetch lands(onslaught of course)
2 plateau
4 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tombs
Side
4 Firebolt
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Cannonist
1 Trinisphere
4 RiP
1 helm of obedience
1 Viashino Heretic
1 blast effect
Overall I like this list. The Koth’s back maindecked are a new addition and I think that spot can be many things pending your meta. Adding a canonist, mass removal dude, additional welder, Magus of the moon, or even additional blast effects or ensnaring bridges may be correct in your meta. I think this basically has the core 52-53 cards and then you can modify as tolerated. For me those cards were the 2 koth, 1 additional etutor, 1 ensnaring bridge, 1 magus of the moon, 1 ee, and then an additional mana source to take my overall count to 24. EE continues to be randomly strong and never dead. I advise most to test it out. I would not say it should be part of that 52-53 card core, but it is as close as you can come to something that is a random answer to so much and the best catch all this side of Jaya.
It feels tight and I know it is basically very similar to Jack’s list , at least at the core. We have some different views on how to handle and approach problems which lead to some slight variations in the other 5 cards or so. I would say his results speak for themselves and I would advise most to follow his lead. The board remains largely unchanged these days. I could see the argument for another taxing effect and canonist continues to amaze me as the format has changed. A 2/2 split of canonist and trinisphere could work. I know in times past I was against tutoring for combo hate against tendrils list. But with them moving away from the epic storm and more towards slower past in flames list, I have found this to be a good strategy. I have really liked the canonist even against burn as they basically have to kill it as it just slows them down unlike a lot of our other non combo cards and 2 of them and the rip/helm combo sideboard in nicely when you remove moon effects and Jaya in that match up. I still love firebolt and wouldn’t cut it even as the meta changes. Graveyard strategies are a real thing as is dredge so some graveyard hate should be included. RiP is still the best hoser available and works nicely with the combo. Heretic is a favorite of mine, but he should probably be another blast effect or a mass removal of some sort.
Keep up the good work guys. Unfortunately the deck is red, and wizards hates red and the design space is limited so I imagine there will be few to no real changes to the deck. Just small changes to modify those last 6-7 spots in the list to adjust to the meta. Remember the deck only exist as a foil to the format in general with an oops I win two card combo.
Keep painting kids.
Seth
Last edited by Kap'n Cook; 10-04-2017 at 01:07 PM.
Mono-red Variants
1) Drew's list: See above
2) Jandax's list: Control
7 Mountain
1 Great Furnace
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Grindstone
4 Painter's Servant
1 Lotus Petal
4 Blood Moon
4 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Magus of the Moon
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
2 Goblin Welder
1 Koth of the Hammer
3 Ensnaring Bridge
Sideboard:
4 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Sudden Demise
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Martyr of Ashes
1 Manic Vandal
While on the surface the deck is nearly the same as all the other Imperial Painter lists, the big change comes in the sideboard. Gone from the main are simple 1 for 1s like lightning bolt and card disadvantage like Faithless Looting or the extra fast Chrome Moxen. The board It is geared toward stopping Elves, Graveyard and Combo strategies by playing lock pieces that shut down the entire strategies. Grafdigger's cage is arguably the best hate against Dredge and Reanimator and severely hampers Elves. It does detract from your own Welding of Painter's and Revokers, but the overall effect outweighs that downside. Maindeck ensnaring bridges have largely become the norm for their ability to just steal game 1s. The last parts of the sideboard are all large sweepers or utility creatures. Sudden demise wipes out tribal while synergizing with Painter if you need to kill off a bunch of different color creatures. Martyr of ashes plays the recruitable role.
3) The Starcity Net-Deck Special (aka lets try to sell some Chandras)
4 Painter's Servant
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Spellskite
1 Goblin Welder
4 Imperial Recruiter
2 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
9 Mountain
4 Ancient Tomb
3 Arid Mesa
4 City of Traitors
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Grindstone
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Blood Moon
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Pyroblast
3 Red Elemental Blast
Sideboard
4 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Ratchet Bomb
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Manic Vandal
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
This list was back from September 2013 but many here agree that the list is not optimal. Chandra is a source of card advantage, but all the bridges are in the side, which makes little sense. If Chandra is untouched, you win the game. Obviously this list did very well and Painter is one of the best decks when running hot, but it can be tweaked and made better. Only 3 fetchlands for Sensei Top raises some questions too.
Last edited by Kap'n Cook; 01-22-2014 at 11:20 AM.
I'm proud of you guys for making progress with the deck. I know holywood would be happy too. I'll try and not be a drag on the thread:) and yes that is the happiest I can be
Seth
…no matter how much you think you love somebody, you’ll step back when the pool of their blood edges up too close.
Thank you for starting this, I'm also currently trying to finish my Imperial Painter deck atm (1/4 Recuiters, should be done soon). Looking forward to discussion with you guys.
How do you guys feel about Gitaxian Probe? The knowledge it gives, while only costing 2 life and replacing itself all in one is amazing. Only problem I keep running into is their are already so many other choices that could be made for this deck, I'm not sure where I would start to think of replacing for this.
Team Blood, Beijing.
Currently play: Sneaky Show/ Lands
Awesome primer, thx for your job.
And I would make some different argument. I can be sure maverick is good mu for us, I played maverick and imperial painter both before. maverick lacks spells to kill the painter and it plays a lot of non basic land. Only thalia is annoying but is is not the decisive factor to prevent us from combo.
I strongly recommend add spellskite in the main, it is really crucial for jund match up.
I personally prefer relic to crypt. I know crypt is much more efficient against dredge and reanimator but on the one hand dredge and reanimator tend to be rare to see in my meta and on the other hand dredge is not an unfavorable mu for us. I side relic against RUG very often and maybe side one or two against jund for cycling and buying some time.
Against sneakshow, I add 3 bridge, 2 revoker, 1 blast (I have 7 in the main) and 3 relic cutting 4 burn spells, 4 blood moon and one magus. I donnot know how much relecant thorn is, but I donnot want to give up the combo. Maybe I am wrong here.
As for ballard, I side it out quite often against jund and Rug, it is too slow. I hesitate to cut it for blade and miracle is still dominating.
Any thoughts?
Team Blood, Beijing.
Currently play: Sneaky Show/ Lands
I've experimented a little with the G-Probe, and while it can be of service as to look OP's hand for counters, it makes Chrome Mox - if you're running them - a bit more bad, since you're probably cutting some red cards for the probes.
Now, I started reading the old thread, and I was just wondering... Why the new thread? Is it to simplify the iPainter thread and give it a new start, before the printing of the judge foil promo?![]()
Now, I'm kinda unfamiliar with the american meta, as well as the european meta, but I'm guessing we're seeing a lot of nonbasic manabases...
So with that in mind.. Do you feel that the count on moon effects should go to 7 or take the full 8 (Both Moons and magus') or do you prefer to lower the count in order to have more mana available?
The moons are great, but I think it's fine to have less actual moon effects in the deck. They are usually bad in multiples, and sometimes they're completely dead. With one magus and 4 blood moons, you actually have 9 moon sources when you add in the 4 recruiters. I feel like this is probably the ideal amount.
I brougt imperial painter to a small tournament today. Since I have not joined any tournament for a long time, the meta here is unknown to me. The result is 4-2, ended with top 4. here is a brief report
round one (2:0 vs merfolk)
On the play, I have grindstone, bloodmoon, reb and several lands in my hand, not good but I choose to keep. he played turn two lord of atlantis, I kill the gay with reb and resolve grindstone. It seems he did not have so many creatures, I fowed my bloodmoon for his wasteland and mutavault, I then drawed a painter just grinded him out.
-4 blood moon + 3 bridge +1 pyroblast
game two is very fast. he tapped out to cast Merrow Reejerey, I comboed next turn under protection of reb
round two (0:2 vs sneakshow)
both of us mulliganed to six, and my openning was still not good, I counter his show and tell, but he cast sneakattack next. I had
nothing to stop him
-4 burn spells -4 blood moon -1 magus +3 bridge +3 relic +2 revoker
Team Blood, Beijing.
Currently play: Sneaky Show/ Lands
I tryed to post my report, but there is something wrong with the system and I did not save what I just wrote...
2-0 vs merfolk 0-2 vs sneakshow 2-0 vs sneakshow 2-0 vs jund
top 8 2-1 vs miracle top 0-2 vs 4c blade control because I suffered mana screwed in both games
Team Blood, Beijing.
Currently play: Sneaky Show/ Lands
Nice GoblinZ. What's you list?
@Moomba - I have never felt compelled to try Gitaxian Probe because its effect doesn't seem mission-critical and I don't know what it would replace. On the other hand, if there were enough Phyrexian-blue-mana cards to support a weak blue splash and inclusion of FOW's, I might try that!
@GoblinZ - I would have no problem with Spellskite in the MD if I expected a meta heavy on Jund/Burn and light on combo decks. Spellskite must have helped you 2-0 Jund in yesterday's tournament. However, Spellskite can be a dead card in some matchups since it has no offense so I take him out of the SB for now.
Regarding Relic vs Crypt, I play Crypt over Relic in my list for one major reason: Crypt interacts well with Welder and Relic does not. Not only does Crypt leave my own GY intact, but I can recur Crypt with Welder.
@phoenix4 - I started the new thread to try and consolidate iPainter information, hopefully to encourage more experimentation with the deck.
Regarding Moon effects, Malchar pretty much summed it up. I'd also add that it's important to differentiate between Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon - they are not at all the same. Pitching an SSG to play a first turn Blood Moon is a good idea against MANY decks whether you're on the play or draw. Doing the same thing for a Magus of the Moon could easily be a wasteful play against Jund or RUG or on the draw against decks that can just float a mana to remove Magus.
I got to play in the local tourney yesterday and Top 4'd with my current list. I've missed the last three Saturdays at Asgard Games but during that time the turnout has apparently jumped to 20+ regularly...good to see in Texas!
[QUOTE=DrewliusMaximus;709090]Nice GoblinZ. What's you list?
@GoblinZ - I would have no problem with Spellskite in the MD if I expected a meta heavy on Jund/Burn and light on combo decks. Spellskite must have helped you 2-0 Jund in yesterday's tournament. However, Spellskite can be a dead card in some matchups since it has no offense so I take him out of the SB for now.
Regarding Relic vs Crypt, I play Crypt over Relic in my list for one major reason: Crypt interacts well with Welder and Relic does not. Not only does Crypt leave my own GY intact, but I can recur Crypt with Welder.
my decklist is like this, it is a kind of oldschool.
1 welder
1 spellskite
1 ballard
2 magus
4 recruiter
4 painter
4 ssg
1 metamorphe
2 bolt
2 magma jet
7 blasts
4 moon
3 top
4 grindstone
2 chrome mox
8 sol land
2 fetch
8 mountain
sb: 3 bridge 3 relic 4 thorn 2 revoker 1 blast 2 rachet bomb
spellskite really helped yesterday in game 2 against jund. I cast turn one spellskite and turn two painter. he thoughtseized my moon turn one and hymned me turn two, but I drawed a grandstone comboing for the win. My meta always lacks combo and is full of blue decks and others like jund and maverick, so spellskite is never a dead card for me. Even against combo, spellskite can change the target of their bounce post board, but it is indeed a dead card in most situations
I thought 4 city always hurts myself, so I want to cut one and I also considering to cut one magus and one blast for one looting and two mountain. I think looting would help in mid or late games. In fact, against miracle in game one yesterday, he killed and countered three painter but did not draw any threat, I just ground myself without top slowly for I believed the trash in the rest of my deck was far more than what I needed at that time.
As for the chrome mox, I know you have replaced with lotus petal, but I think some permanent mana source may be useful and I am not sure whether I should cut them for lotus petal and another basic land.
Team Blood, Beijing.
Currently play: Sneaky Show/ Lands
Actually is Sneak & Show and Jund a very tough up for Imperial Painter? Like in Sneak & Show, they will try to combo off as soon as possible, and the milling plan is not working to them due to the stupid 15/15. For Jund, our bad moon plan might not work well because they can bolt our magus away.
I am not too experienced with this deck, but would like to ask for all your opinion on these matchups (like whats the game plan and what kind of hand you would like to keep?). Thanks in advanced!![]()
I just finished 4th place at a GP Trial for Strasbourg yesterday, and while it may not be the biggest of tournaments, it shure gave me a revived hope of playing the deck at GP Strasbourg..
Decklist for my deck + the rest of top8: http://mtgpulse.com/event/12502#174814
Out of all the games I played, I only activated Grindstone once!! The rest of the time it was a turn 1 moon effect, and then pure beats with critters all the way... I'm actually considering boarding out all 4 grindstones in most matches now, since people doesn't seem to be prepared for a little beating in games 2 and 3 against this deck :D
But looking at the SB, how do you guys think it should look at Strasbourg? Personally, I think it lacks a little anti eldrazi hate, but what do you think? :)
@phoenix
Why would you take out grindstones in most matchups? I can understand taking them out against Emrakul decks.
You are running 7 moons with 7 acceleration pieces so the high number of turn 1's is certainly understandable. My only concern is post-board after you take out grindstones what happens if your moon gets countered or discarded or you play a deck that doesn't care about a moon in play?
@yonthan
I will eventually get around to posting matchup descriptions in the 2nd post of the primer after Drew's intro. Then we can debate whether or not my analysis is right haha.
@Drew
one question I have for you is regarding your Stoneblade board plans. I am curious as to why you want to bring in 4 ensnaring bridges. In my experience the only thing they reliable stop is batterskull. Lingering souls and stoneforge can attack the entire time unless you are playing every turn with 0 cards in hand (which if that is your strategy then bridges make more sense). Painter controls their pro-swords quite well. Jitte can pump the attacker after attacks so bridge doesn't do much there. I have liked keeping the burn in postboard to kill the stoneforge as it slows them down by a few turns or to just snipe a jace. I have liked keeping metamorph in as well. Once you copy their batterskull you basically win.
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