[Deck] Imperial Painter

[StefN]

Hello guys. Yesterday I played at a small tournament and made 1’st place. I played the following list.

Main:
2x Ensnaring Bridge
3x Sensei’s Divining Top
4x Grindstone
4x Painter Servant
1x Spellskite
1x P. Revoker
1x Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
3x Goblin Welder
4x Imperial Recruiter
1x Magus oft he Moon
4x Blood Moon
2x Red Elemental Blast
4x Pyroblast
2x Enlightened Tutor
4x Lotus Petal

4x City of Traitors
4x Ancient Tomb
3x Great Furnace
2x Wooded Foothills
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Plateau
3x Mountain

Sideboard:
1x Shattering Spree
1x Manic Vandal
1x Martyr of Ashes
1x Magus oft he Moon
1x Spinal Villian
1x Peacekeeper
1x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Spellskite
1x Circle of Protection Red
3x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Tormod’s Crypt

I only write a very short report because did not take any notes.

1.Round: Enchantress 2-1
I lost the first round because I wasn’t fast enough. He had Solitary Confinement and Sterling Grove in play and killed me with Helm/RIP before I had enough blasts.
I won the last two games because I could slow him down with Moon and because I could assemble the combo early enough.

2. Round: Affinity 2-0
Won the first two games. Welder was amazing in this matchup ;). Had enough blasts + Painter for the dangerous permanents „Plating, Tezzeret“. Grindstone won both games.

3. Round: DelverBUG 2-0
Had Blood Moon in both games. Bridge won me the first game where he had an early Delver and Goyf.

4. Round: Death & Taxes 1-1-1
Extremely tough this matchup. So many Revokers ;), protected by mother and aditionally he plays flying dudes with equipments, he has swords as removal..........oh man that was not nice.
When the judge called turns he had 2 mother and 3 Revoker „grindstone, welder, top“ and a lethal army in play.
I had Spellskite, Bridge, Painter+Grindstone and with no cards in hand I played JayaBallard 2 turns before the turns. The problem was he had 22 life. Not enough turns to win with the bolt-ability and drew no blasts to get rid of the revoker.

5. Round: DelverBUG 2-1
Again Moon obviously was amazing in this matchup.
The game that I lost, my opponent had 4 counter for my 3 BloodMoon+blast ;).


The tournament was over, I had a lot of fun with the deck and made 1 place. Successful magic day ;).
The only thing that I changed before the tournament and really liked was to add the third welder and increase the support. I added the 3 Great Furnace and cutted the spirit guides to play the full playset of petals. The petals not only fix the manabase for the tutor you can also use them to get an early welder active. Welder with Top in the first rounds but no artifact in your graveyard sux and I had this scenario many times. Also artifacts in play to rescue something from the graveyard is obviously important.

[Kap'n Cook]

Had some great matchups but dealt with the severe stompy variance that Painter sometimes has. Some of the worst I've ever dealt with. Despite the terrible showing where I was misplaying hardcore in the end rounds I still got some solid results from some board cards. Sword single-handedly helped me race ubr delver round 1 game 2. In my draw vs blade had I found that or one of my remaining two blasts out of like 20 cards during three separate sensei top activations with two fetch shuffles in between I would have won (yea it went that long and I had a million lands in play). Pyrite came up once, but bought me two turns by preventing jitte counters at instant speed.

Vs bad miracles player: has top into balance plus force my blast. nice. yet he shuffles away his top to entreat on his turn with balance in play and taps out. doesn't know his top card so if i resolve the painter and stone in my hand i win. cast welder, no flip he forces whaaa???? cast painter, no flip. cast stone with three mana left, he blind flips brainstorm. okay. Game two I keep 2x tomb, 2x painter, stone, blood moon, blast. only draw the remaining two tombs as mana sources and die with a million red cards in hand. Kept fetching duals so any red source wins with moon. I'm salty after this and then just only draw mana and stones vs dnt. get some nice welder action vs pox and then just punt away lands.

Only redeeming quality of the day was jamming some solid edh with seth (neither of us have ever played in our lives, we didn't even know the rules but fuck it) and trading mindslaver activations back and forth. You haven't lived until you demonic tutor for an entomb so you can reanimate spirit of the night. Or grim tutor for an alpha frozen shade.

Phyrexian Gremlins GG

[ravenklath]

I also had a bad showing the scg open, But got to talk with Jack some. Also lost to a Keranos. Which perhaps was one of the worst things for me to play against. Never played against a Delver Player, Lost to Deathblade, Miracles, Tezzerator, and Omni-Tell. Regardless very good time to learn several new things about Painter and Sideboarding.

[Kap'n Cook]

Making one last small change to test because I got lost in doing 'cool things' instead of, in the words of WW, being the one who knocks. (presenting threats/asking questions instead of being a bad control deck)

Out: Pyrite. In: Koth again.

Sword is staying in as well. Board now covers all matchups pretty well. Pyrite has it's place and I'll certainly be leaving it in the pool of potential board cards should the right meta emerge along with old friends metamorph and martyr of ashes. Gotta run this through a lot of games but it should make a number of you happy.

[cab0747]

Happy to see you back on Koth.

I have loved it in the SB.

[Ish]

I agree Koth deserves a Main Deck slot.

I am teetering on removing the Jaya from the 75. She came out so often and I never wanted to invest in her cost. Always felt too high risk and too slow.

What are others assessment?


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[ravenklath]

I agree Koth deserves a Main Deck slot.

I am teetering on removing the Jaya from the 75. She came out so often and I never wanted to invest in her cost. Always felt too high risk and too slow.

What are others assessment?


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Personally I Love Jaya, some games i wish i had more then one copy in the 75. She can take over a game if the opponent doesnt have an answer right away or if you have a way to protect her. I do not take her out very often anymore. I use to when i first started playing but as i played with her more she became a vital piece to the way i play the deck.

[cab0747]

I agree Koth deserves a Main Deck slot.

I am teetering on removing the Jaya from the 75. She came out so often and I never wanted to invest in her cost. Always felt too high risk and too slow.

What are others assessment?


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I think he was talking about moving Koth back to the SB. On his stream, he had actually dropped Koth entirely from the 75 when he added SoLaS (Correct me if I am wrong here). Now, he is saying Koth was added back to the 75 taking Pyrite Spellbomb's place in the SB.

I have liked Koth main, but the Rw list is cramped already. I had only found space in a mono red list I ran for some time. Again, finding space in the main of Rw would be a challenge.

[Dice_Box]

Almost every time I side Jaya out, I want her back in. In the games where we play control, she is a god. Keeping our hands empty, repeatable damage without attacking, killing whatever we need killed. I would not run two, but I would not run less than one.

[phoenix4]

Almost every time I side Jaya out, I want her back in. In the games where we play control, she is a god. Keeping our hands empty, repeatable damage without attacking, killing whatever we need killed. I would not run two, but I would not run less than one.

I just stopped boarding her out :D

I had quite and interesting tournament yesterday, beating MU's, I normally have a great deal of trouble with :P

My list for references:
Lands
8x Mountain
4x City of Traitors
4x Ancient Tomb
2x Wooded Foothills

Creatures
4x Painter's Servant
4x Imperial Recruiter
4x Simian Spirit Guide
2x Phyrexian Revoker
2x Magus of the Moon
1x Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

Other
4x Blood Moon
1x Ensnaring Bridge
4x Gitaxian Probe
3x Red Elemental Blast
3x Pyroblast
3x Sensei's Divining Top
2x Lotus Petal
1x Chrome Mox
4x Grindstone

Sideboard
1x Viashino Heretic
1x Pyroblast
2x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Shattering Spree
4x Thorn of Amethyst
3x Surgical Extraction

The 1 MD Ensnaring Bridge is a lifesaver :D Plus, it frees up a SB slot, where I'm in desperate need of trimming :P

[cab0747]

I just stopped boarding her out :D
I had quite and interesting tournament yesterday, beating MU's, I normally have a great deal of trouble with :P

Would you mind expanding on that? Dumb luck or was there some sort of strategy involved?

[mcbain]

I find the lack of welders surprising.

[phoenix4]

Would you mind expanding on that? Dumb luck or was there some sort of strategy involved?

yeah, sorry, I guess I was a bit quick on the post trigger there :D

Uhm, normally I feel very much unfavoured against MUD, but when you win the dieroll, and keeps a hand, that says: Gitaxian Probe, City of Traitors, Phyrexian Revoker + more, you probe him, seeing: City of Traitors, Grim Monolith, Wasteland, Metalworker, Wurmcoil Engine, Trinisphere and one more card, it's easy to go fuck him up :D

I've been playing with Lightning Bolts for the last few weeks, since I was waiting for my foil G-Probes, and it just feels SO great to be playing Probes again.... I can only urge you guys to try it out :D

But dumb luck is always a factor in Magic :D

@mcbain: I've never played with Goblin Welder xD But I'm planning on it, when i get some Urza foil versions :D

[Lysandros]

I'm curious what other people's experiences have been with easy / problem matchup for the deck recently. Some of my experiences with the deck are somewhat different than Kap'n Cook's matchup analysis (as explained in the primer). I realize each matchup is somewhat dependent upon personal builds, play style, and sideboard options, but I wanted to see if my results are an aberration.

Very Favorable Matchup

Shardless BUG / BUG Midrange
Esper Deathblade
Bant
Lands / 4-Color Loam
Merfolk
Junk

Slightly Favorable Matchup

RUG Delver
U/W/R Delver
BUG Delver
Affinity
Miracles
Stoneblade
Maverick
Dredge
High Tide
Dragon Stompy
Zombardment
U/B Tezzeret (I pack answers for Chalice though...I imagine this one could be lower)

Toss-Up

Death & Taxes (in the hands of a skilled opponent)
Jund
ANT
MUD
Goblins
Jund
12 Post
Reanimator

Slightly Unfavorable Matchup

TES (faster enough than ANT to make a difference)
Elves
Sneak and Show
OmniTell
Infect

Very Unfavorable Matchup

Burn
U/R Delver
Belcher
Oops! All Spells

Thoughts?

[phoenix4]

Slightly Unfavorable Matchup

TES (faster enough than ANT to make a difference)
Elves
Sneak and Show
OmniTell
Infect

I do not agree with this one 100%

TES: yeah, probably not a good MU
Elves: I've NEVER lost to it... Stick an early moon, shut down their DRS with Revoker, and out of the SB comes "the cookie jar" aka Grafdigger's Cage.. I'd say fav-MU.
Sneak'n'Show: Slightly favorable Matchup. Although depending on build, you might not get game 1, but you def have - again, depending on SB - a very active shot at defeating them in the last 2 games.
Omnitell: I can't talk for the states, but no one plays this deck anymore in scandinavia :D

Infect... Never played the MU, but i would say it's slightly favorable for us? :)

[jandax]

I agree Koth deserves a Main Deck slot.

I am teetering on removing the Jaya from the 75. She came out so often and I never wanted to invest in her cost. Always felt too high risk and too slow.

What are others assessment?


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Maybe you should just jam the card and let her do some work. As a one of she's a house, rarely is it the case that she's in hand and you have no use. It's easy to think of a few simple interactions within a vacuum, and in any given game state she's easily one of the best creatures on your side once active. I'm curious, what are you looking to replace her with?

[vhirvela]

Hi thanks for advices on how to play 3-4 englightened tutors!:)
Have not still decided one way or another how to build my own. But found very odd decklist for ipainter

http://mtgpulse.com/event/16843#237769


I like the idea of making your tutorable combo helm of obidience + rest in peace in a deck where you are running 3 e. tutors.
also in allmost every other legacy deck that previously had run oblivion ring should run council's judgemet but there are 2 reasons this deck should run old tec oblivion ring. it only needs 1 white mana and also is e.tutorable.

can someone explain emrakul on the sideboard or karas in the main deck?:O

[cab0747]

Hi thanks for advices on how to play 3-4 englightened tutors!:)
Have not still decided one way or another how to build my own. But found very odd decklist for ipainter

http://mtgpulse.com/event/16843#237769


I like the idea of making your tutorable combo helm of obidience + rest in peace in a deck where you are running 3 e. tutors.
also in allmost every other legacy deck that previously had run oblivion ring should run council's judgemet but there are 2 reasons this deck should run old tec oblivion ring. it only needs 1 white mana and also is e.tutorable.

can someone explain emrakul on the sideboard or karas in the main deck?:O

This list has been discussed ad nauseum: It is a more Control-ish version with more white. It lacks recruiters so painter isnt easily tutored for. Additional E. Tutors help with this but create card disadvantage. We still aren't sure if this was done because of budget concerns or if it was just something this person wanted to try.

The Helm/Rip combo is cute tech (I personally love the combo) but keep in mind that Grindstone and Painter are both E. tutorable as well. You are just paying more for Helm/RiP. However, if you go against a graveyard based deck, you can tutor half of your combo and grave hate at the same time. Again, this is a more control-based build. You should have additional time to assemble a more expensive combo. Keep in mind, this combo is still susceptible to Abrupt Decay and with one RiP, Helm is a dead card if you lose it (it being RiP).

Oblivion Ring could be in there for Show and Tell. You can SnT in a Judgement. O-ring takes care of the permanent they chose to put into play.

Emrakul may be in there for the mirror. If you throw it in, you can be combo'd game 2. If they bring in RiP G3, you can side out your Emmy so they have a dead card. I don't see another reason for it.

Karakas in the main is for Show and Tell/Reanimator decks. It also doesn't CiPT and produces white (and this deck has more white than Shortcake). No reason not to include it as their wastelands will be aimed at your Sol Lands, most likely.

[oliverpool]

Hi thanks for advices on how to play 3-4 englightened tutors!:)
Have not still decided one way or another how to build my own. But found very odd decklist for ipainter

http://mtgpulse.com/event/16843#237769


I like the idea of making your tutorable combo helm of obidience + rest in peace in a deck where you are running 3 e. tutors.
also in allmost every other legacy deck that previously had run oblivion ring should run council's judgemet but there are 2 reasons this deck should run old tec oblivion ring. it only needs 1 white mana and also is e.tutorable.

can someone explain emrakul on the sideboard or karas in the main deck?:O

I played with this list and made some further changes that I feel suited my play strategy and what I was seeing in the meta a couple of pages back. I still prefer oblivion ring mainly coz it only needs 1 white mana. Double white is still a problem even with 4-5 plains in the deck. I have since moved on to a blue red version incorporating show and tell. Having silver bullets was fun. But decks like storm, reanimator and miracles decks are faster and can usually out counter you in some cases. U/R cutting down some REC and top and welder with show and tell can also be pretty fast. IT also makes it difficult for players to decide what to deal with in your deck. REvoker or needle the grindstone? I intuition show and tell. Post board, I may bring in blood moon depending on what I am facing. Something you could also consider. I really switched to the blue side as I seem to have many games where I lost in turn 1 or 2 to storm, chelbecher, reanimator. Having force of will lessens that possibility and makes my opponent think and slow down their game accordingly. Another reason is that I want to make my physical painter deck and REC is just too expensive for paper MTG at this time for me to consider.

If you do make a more control enchantment version of R/W, do update us on your play test.

[StefN]

I played with this list and made some further changes that I feel suited my play strategy and what I was seeing in the meta a couple of pages back. I still prefer oblivion ring mainly coz it only needs 1 white mana. Double white is still a problem even with 4-5 plains in the deck. I have since moved on to a blue red version incorporating show and tell. Having silver bullets was fun. But decks like storm, reanimator and miracles decks are faster and can usually out counter you in some cases. U/R cutting down some REC and top and welder with show and tell can also be pretty fast. IT also makes it difficult for players to decide what to deal with in your deck. REvoker or needle the grindstone? I intuition show and tell. Post board, I may bring in blood moon depending on what I am facing. Something you could also consider. I really switched to the blue side as I seem to have many games where I lost in turn 1 or 2 to storm, chelbecher, reanimator. Having force of will lessens that possibility and makes my opponent think and slow down their game accordingly. Another reason is that I want to make my physical painter deck and REC is just too expensive for paper MTG at this time for me to consider.

If you do make a more control enchantment version of R/W, do update us on your play test.

I'm not sure if I really understood you right. You play R/u Painter and added SnT and Forces?
Hmm not sure if this is the way to go. I doubt that 4 Forces makes the combo matchup so much better, and SnT to put what permanent into play?
I also tested blue a while ago and the only blue cards that where good enough was Trinket Mage and Llawan, and still this way didn't fell better than the white splash.