4 Card Blind

[Reeplcheep]

I totally missed the cutting you off red line max. OTD you can play it out but I can always encroach it before you have the chance to play it again. Will update my scores.

[maxx!]

I missed that you can't loop Marsh and leave Factory up as a blocker at the same time. Will update my results.

Yeah, my lands are terrible. For some insane reason last night I thought Crumbling Vestige was tech because it makes mana the turn I play it (to activate Factory), and then I can activate Factory again by tapping it on the next turn, then play Marsh. Turns out I can do that with any land that comes into play untapped, like Mountain, and then actually be able to block sometimes and not get owned by Encroach.

Sunscorched Desert (strictly better than Piranha Marsh!) and Mountain would've been so much better. I need to stop sending in decks around midnight my time. I end up making silly mistakes.

[alphastryk]

Yeah, my lands are terrible. For some insane reason last night I thought Crumbling Vestige was tech because it makes mana the turn I play it (to activate Factory), and then I can activate Factory again by tapping it on the next turn, then play Marsh. Turns out I can do that with any land that comes into play untapped, like Mountain, and then actually be able to block sometimes and not get owned by Encroach.

Sunscorched Desert (strictly better than Piranha Marsh!) and Mountain would've been so much better. I need to stop sending in decks around midnight my time. I end up making silly mistakes.

Ouch! yeah Mountain would do the job.

[maxx!]

I'm just gonna pretend that Piranha Marsh was intentional tech against Energy Field, and that Crumbling Vestige was so I could Raze on turn 1 against Root Maze.

[dte]

5. dte: City of traitors, Hangarback walker, force of despair, unmask

That's me, sporting what I thought was broken.


1. Asthereal (TO): Bottomless Vault, Murderous Rider, Gatekeeper of Malakir, Gut Shot
6-0. Unmask gut shot, Walker is 4/4 OTD before you can kill it with Malakir. The tokens race you in 6 turns accounting for the lifelink. OTP, walker is 5/5.
6

2. GoblinSmashmaster: City of Traitors, Torpor Orb, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Phyrexian Dreadnought
3-3. Unmask or orb.
9

3. jhhdk: Peat Bog, Putrid Imp, Smallpox, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
6-0. Disagreement here. OTP I play T1 unmak, take pox, walker. you play bog. W2/2. Imp, discard kozilek, shufle kozilek on top. W3/3. draw kozilek. W4/4. draw and play small pox, we are both at 19, your library is your 4 cards with bog on the bottom, I have 4 tokens. I attack (15), draw 1, 11, draw second, 7, draw third card, 3, draw and play tapped bog, die. OTD it's the same but I do have only three copters: 16, draw1, 13 draw 2, 10, draw 3, 7, draw and play Bog, 4. If you play pox now, you die (3 vs 2 tokens). So you play imp. I attack, you discard Kozilek (shuffle), chump, 2 tokens get through: you're on 2 with imp in the grave, kozi in the lib. In your turn you can small pox, leaving me with only 1 token, but you go to 1, and the thopter kills you.
15

4. Reeplcheep: Encroach , Sarcomancy, Sarcomancy , Swamp
3-3. Unmask vs Encroach.
18

6. PJim: City of Traitors, Sphere of Resistance, Ratchet Bomb, Chronomaton
4-1. Sphere draws, walker wins.
22

7. Wrath of Pie: City of Traitors, Sphere of Resistance, Chronomaton, Chronomaton
3-3. Sphere + 2 chrono win OTP.
25

8. alphastryk: Mountain, Foundry Street Denizen, Crimson Kobolds, Crookshank Kobolds
6-0. Force of despair or Unmask.
31

9. H: Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, Thorn of Amethyst, Lodestone Golem
6-0. I can pay my black cards through double tax, and walker doesn't care :)
37

10. Tylert: City of traitors, Sphere of resistance, Chronomaton, Dismember
4-1. Sphere draws, walker wins.
41

11. silkster: Chancellor of the Tangle, Vine Dryad, Metamorphosis, Voidstone Gargoyle
3-3. OTP unmask dryad, OTD you have to name force. I play walker. Then it's a race, you attack first and win it.
44

12. FTW: Karakas, Cenn's Tactician, Path to Exile, Fragmentize
2-2. Single threath + answers decks draw.
46

13. maxx!: Crumbling Vestige, Mishra’s Factory, Piranha Marsh, Raze
6-0. Unmask Raze, win.
52

14. Serguei: Leyline of Sanctity, City of Traitors, Remote Farm, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
0-6. Gideon beats me. I'm curious, were you playing specifically against unmask, having thought like me that unmask force was the best deck? As Gideon does not work vs gutshot.deck, and it is still LL?
52


For me Force/Unmask was way above the other T0 answers. I was expecting a bit more T1 decks.
My deck using the curio as token was SSG, kuldotha's rebirth, cradle, trini. My bouncing curio deck was reality acid and roost of drakes (bouncing city/sapprazan skerry). The later would have done 48, not that bad, but I was expecting many players to play the same as me, force/unmask, so I didn't play it. Turns out I was the only one on it, so Asthereal was right not to be worried about it. I disliked the fact that Force had even the built-in ability to not care about curio as a way to bet removal with flash creatures (which no one did).

[Asthereal]

Asthereal's scores for round y u no play Kobold?

1. Asthereal (TO): Bottomless Vault, Murderous Rider, Gatekeeper of Malakir, Gut Shot
That's me, trying to beat Kobolds, as well as slower anti-meta decks.
2. GoblinSmashmaster: City of Traitors, Torpor Orb, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Phyrexian Dreadnought
I die before I get to do a thing. 0-6
3. jhhdk: Peat Bog, Putrid Imp, Smallpox, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Kozi shuffles everything back. 0-6
4. Reeplcheep: Encroach , Sarcomancy, Sarcomancy , Swamp
Playing and bouncing Sarcos. Nice. 0-6
5. dte: City of traitors, Hangarback walker, force of despair, unmask
You Unmask Gut Shot. After that the Walker becomes quite big before I kill it and so will make many flyers. 0-6
6. PJim: City of Traitors, Sphere of Resistance, Ratchet Bomb, Chronomaton
I have two guys that can kill Chrono, and only one you can answer. 6-0
7. Wrath of Pie: City of Traitors, Sphere of Resistance, Chronomaton, Chronomaton
My guys kill your guys. 6-0
8. alphastryk: Mountain, Foundry Street Denizen, Crimson Kobolds, Crookshank Kobolds
Gut Shot kills the Kobold in response to you trying to bounce it with Curio. 6-0
9. H: Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, Thorn of Amethyst, Lodestone Golem
OTP I can kill your Golem just before it kills me. OTD I'm too slow because my removal boys cost a mana more. 3-3
10. Tylert: City of traitors, Sphere of resistance, Chronomaton, Dismember
One of my removal boys kills Chrono. You have removal for just one of my guys. 6-0
11. silkster: Chancellor of the Tangle, Vine Dryad, Metamorphosis, Voidstone Gargoyle
Reading all the cards... so you make Gargoyle and name either Gatekeeper or my Murder Knight. I use the other to kill Gargoyle and win? 6-0
12. FTW: Karakas, Cenn's Tactician, Path to Exile, Fragmentize
My removal guys are really good. 6-0
13. maxx!: Crumbling Vestige, Mishra’s Factory, Piranha Marsh, Raze
LOL here my removal guys are really bad because Raze kills my land before I get anywhere. 0-6
14. Serguei: Leyline of Sanctity, City of Traitors, Remote Farm, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
I love how my Murder Knight can kill Gideon, but it;s super irrelevant because your 2/2s will overwhelm me anyway. 0-6

Total: 39 points

[Serguei]

5. dte: City of traitors, Hangarback walker, force of despair, unmask

14. Serguei: Leyline of Sanctity, City of Traitors, Remote Farm, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
0-6. Gideon beats me. I'm curious, were you playing specifically against unmask, having thought like me that unmask force was the best deck? As Gideon does not work vs gutshot.deck, and it is still LL?

I am just here to beat #1 and # 2 :)

No I wanted to play force of vigor at the beginning to be sure to remove curiosity. But I did not find a suitable proposition for the 2 last cards.
I hoped than more would have played with the rules and try to do some crazies combo like I thouht in first place.

So when you think about curiosity you think infinite loop and storm. So storm card has to target to kill. I did not considered that Empty would have been played. SO Leyline is just what I need to been proteccted from grapeshot.

Because the fisrt deck I thoght was Burning tree * 2 + Grapeshot

[alphastryk]

...
My deck using the curio as token was SSG, kuldotha's rebirth, cradle, trini. My bouncing curio deck was reality acid and roost of drakes (bouncing city/sapprazan skerry)...

I don't know that I would ever have found either of those decks, really creative

[Wrath of Pie]

11. silkster: Chancellor of the Tangle, Vine Dryad, Metamorphosis, Voidstone Gargoyle
Reading all the cards... so you make Gargoyle and name either Gatekeeper or my Murder Knight. I use the other to kill Gargoyle and win? 6-0

Even funnier, he lets you cast both of your removal dudes (has to, otherwise Gargoyle dies), and you win thanks to Gut Shot (yes, really) because he can't block and lose Gargoyle to damage, so you easily outrace it.

You also win the race with just Murderous Rider thanks to lifelink and Gut Shot making blocking bad.

[dte]

So when you think about curiosity you think infinite loop and storm. So storm card has to target to kill. I did not considered that Empty would have been played. SO Leyline is just what I need to been proteccted from grapeshot.

Because the fisrt deck I thoght was Burning tree * 2 + Grapeshot

Maybe relevant for future rounds, I don't think that Leyline works as you thought, and burning tree / grapeshot would still beat your deck 6-0.

[Tylert]

Maybe relevant for future rounds, I don't think that Leyline works as you thought, and burning tree / grapeshot would still beat your deck 6-0.

grapeshot = 1 damage to any target
Leyline = you can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control

Draw perhaps, but 6-0? can you explain?

[FTW]

Maybe relevant for future rounds, I don't think that Leyline works as you thought, and burning tree / grapeshot would still beat your deck 6-0.

How does Grapeshot target him with Leyline of Sanctity stopping targetting? It does let Grapeshot kill Gideon and any number of 2/2s though, so his wincon is not ideal.

Kobolds + Impact Tremors gets around that, though it loses hard to Force of Negation while Grapeshot dodges it.

Edit: Something like City of Traitors, Lotus Petal, Energy Field, Scalding Tongs would have been really strong against T2 combo (including T1 infinite tokens) and vs this meta. Which is why I thought Disenchants would be higher value this round.

[dte]

grapeshot = 1 damage to any target
Leyline = you can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control

Draw perhaps, but 6-0? can you explain?

T2 cast emissary, keep the second one in hand. For ten turns, beat face with it. If you see a Gideon, cast second emissary, bounce the first, rinse and repeat, grapeshot Gideon and his squires. Then beat face with 2 emissaries.

Edit1, Since the rule change, grapeshot can target Gideon and Leyline does not protect it anymore, hence my first message ;)

Edit2, FTW was faster than my Edit1.

[FTW]

T2 cast emissary, keep the second one in hand. For ten turns, beat face with it. If you see a Gideon, cast second emissary, bounce the first, rinse and repeat, grapeshot Gideon and his squires. Then beat face with 2 emissaries.

Granted, the rules changed on this recently. Before you had to target players with burn and then choose to redirect the damage to a planeswalker. Now you can burn a walker directly. Leyline would have prevented it under the old rules.

[Serguei]

Maybe relevant for future rounds, I don't think that Leyline works as you thought, and burning tree / grapeshot would still beat your deck 6-0.

Another proof I clearly have not enough time to think about my deck 🙃

[Asthereal]

Edit1, Since the rule change, grapeshot can target Gideon and Leyline does not protect it anymore, hence my first message ;)

I am sad about this particular rule change, even though it was absolutely necessary.

I once made the awesomest play ever:
My opponent had an Ajani Vengeant on 4 loyalty. I cast Vexing Devil. He took the damage. I redirected the damage to his Ajani.
Still lost that game though, but the look on his face was priceless.

[dte]

3. jhhdk: Peat Bog, Putrid Imp, Smallpox, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth <--- ME

...

14. Serguei: Leyline of Sanctity, City of Traitors, Remote Farm, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar seems like LL, but not entirely sure, maybe imp can actually threaten to kill gideon and force a draw.

OTD, you lose to T2 Gideon.
OTP, you win: if Serguei plays farm T1, smallpox T2 wins. If Serguei didn't, Imp T2 wins it.
3-3

[silkster]

Me: silkster: Chancellor of the Tangle, Vine Dryad, Metamorphosis, Voidstone Gargoyle

1. Asthereal (TO): Bottomless Vault, Murderous Rider, Gatekeeper of Malakir, Gut Shot
Two removal spells! Ouch.
LL

2. GoblinSmashmaster: City of Traitors, Torpor Orb, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Phyrexian Dreadnought
Voidstone has no triggered ability. Cool deck. I missed Dreadnaughts in the Berserker round too.
WW

3. jhhdk: Peat Bog, Putrid Imp, Smallpox, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
WW. Only after starting to read other writeups did I realize how cool it is that you can use the Imp to rebuy the Smallpox if it gets Duressed or Unmasked. Cool.

4. Reeplcheep: Encroach , Sarcomancy, Sarcomancy , Swamp
Just after I submitted my deck, I remembered Encroach and almost submitted an Encroach deck, but I couldn't decide what else to play with it.
WW

5. dte: City of traitors, Hangarback walker, force of despair, unmask
On the play, I win with 1 turn to spare. On the draw, Unmask gets me.
WL

6. PJim: City of Traitors, Sphere of Resistance, Ratchet Bomb, Chronomaton
On the play, I stop Bomb and I'm fast enough. On the draw, I get locked out.
WL

7. Wrath of Pie: City of Traitors, Sphere of Resistance, Chronomaton, Chronomaton
WL lockout mirror

8. alphastryk: Mountain, Foundry Street Denizen, Crimson Kobolds, Crookshank Kobolds
I can lock out one of the kobolds and win the race.
WW

9. H: Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, Thorn of Amethyst, Lodestone Golem
WL lockout mirror

10. Tylert: City of traitors, Sphere of resistance, Chronomaton, Dismember
WL lockout mirror

12. FTW: Karakas, Cenn's Tactician, Path to Exile, Fragmentize
My 8 turn clock races your 9 turn clock even on the draw. Main phase Dryad gives you no priority to exile it.
WW

13. maxx!: Crumbling Vestige, Mishra’s Factory, Piranha Marsh, Raze
WW

14. Serguei: Leyline of Sanctity, City of Traitors, Remote Farm, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
WW

19W, 7L by my count. Much better than I was expecting. It turned out that my 8 turn clock was actually very important against the 9 turn clock of vertical growth creatures.

I found Foundry Street Denizen, but it didn't excite me. I did not find BTE with Grapeshot, only Kobolds with Impact Tremors.

Props to GOblinsmashmaster for a good find that wrecks the combo plan and also puts a 12/12 into play and to Silkster for finding a nice way to put a 5 drop into play T1 (There was no better 5 drops?)

Thanks. I've been trying to play this deck since Round 1 of Pauper, but someone had to go and get Skyshroud Cutter banned before this deck was good enough. I looked for a while, and I didn't see anything better than this. It's a little restricted by the fact that you only get one colour of mana. My default plan was to look for something that discards since I don't mind it being symmetric, but there really wasn't much.

11. silkster: Chancellor of the Tangle, Vine Dryad, Metamorphosis, Voidstone Gargoyle
I don’t understand if you have anything else going on, but t1 voidstone beats me.

Nope. It's a Rube Goldberg machine just to pump out a fancy Phantom Monster and hope it gets there. Well, it also beats decks like Swamp, Dark Ritual, Dark Deal, Basking Rootwalla, though I'm not sure any of those exist anymore.

I think this round was a success; the meta was very different so people thought it was powerful. Just most people decided to play the anti-meta sphere decks rather than the t2 grapeshot kill.

I think the diverse meta this round owes a lot to the many bans we recently made. The other rounds since then were complete overhauls of the rules.

Sometimes I wonder how much better our little 4CB competition would be if you ran it.

My jaw dropped at how aggressive this was until I realized who said it. FTW is definitely on top of knowing relevant cards, though I'm not sure how important that actually is to running it. The bannathon rounds ran themselves, and the general rock-paper-scissors tendency* means that even if one thing is broken in theory, it doesn't always work that way.

*Speaking of which, I thought I had the best possible deck for next round, but then I found one that beat it and one that beat that and now I'm at rock-paper-scissors of what feels like 3 really broken decks, but they all clearly have their vulnerabilities and I have no idea what anyone else wants to play, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm just gonna pretend that Piranha Marsh was intentional tech against Energy Field, and that Crumbling Vestige was so I could Raze on turn 1 against Root Maze.

I definitely thought that Energy Field would be a player this round. If I had been planning to play approximately this deck, I definitely would have played the Piranha Marsh.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

I've been watching this thread off and on for what feels like years. I don't have time to play it, but it truly is a sick concept - thanks for keeping it going. I have fun just watching!

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[jhhdk]

3. jhhdk: Peat Bog, Putrid Imp, Smallpox, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
6-0. Disagreement here. OTP I play T1 unmak, take pox, walker. you play bog. W2/2. Imp, discard kozilek, shufle kozilek on top. W3/3. draw kozilek. W4/4. draw and play small pox, we are both at 19, your library is your 4 cards with bog on the bottom, I have 4 tokens. I attack (15), draw 1, 11, draw second, 7, draw third card, 3, draw and play tapped bog, die. OTD it's the same but I do have only three copters: 16, draw1, 13 draw 2, 10, draw 3, 7, draw and play Bog, 4. If you play pox now, you die (3 vs 2 tokens). So you play imp. I attack, you discard Kozilek (shuffle), chump, 2 tokens get through: you're on 2 with imp in the grave, kozi in the lib. In your turn you can small pox, leaving me with only 1 token, but you go to 1, and the thopter kills you.

I agree. Will update my post (sorry for replying this late, I've been away for easter). Reading cards help. I am not saying I forgot Walker turns into a Thopter swarm when it dies.