[Deck] Imperial Painter

[Anarky87]

I just went to Hobby Lobby and bought a wooden cube and painted each side a different color.

[Mapson]

Since I only ever name red, black, or blue, I use the infection vials from the game Pandemic. If you ever play the u/r version it doesn't work as well though because sometimes you name green.

[drude1]

So, back to the question about the black splash... I think I may cut the slaughter games, as it was really only for Omnitell. It was okay against miracles and storm but there are definitely better cards for those MUs. However, I've actually really liked e.plague and kolaghans command so will probably keep a little black splash. Chains of Meph has also actually been really good in some MUs so want to keep trying that for a little while. If sneak and show gets really popular again, I may consider going back to slaughter games. I have a feeling we are going to see more RUG and u/r delver and more discard heavy strategies such as jund. I might try leylines back in the SB for a while.


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[Uroborian]

I'm going to the PiQ in Indy Sunday should I hedge with Leylines in the board? Makes sense but I don't know how quickly DTT ban will shift meta.

[jandax]

I think the biggest shift will be that Omnitell players have had their deck neutered and would switch back to sneak and show because they have all the cards anyhoo.


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[drude1]

So the question would then be is slaughter games any good against sneak and show?
Maybe one copy?

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[Morcrux]

So the question would then be is slaughter games any good against sneak and show?
Maybe one copy?

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I'd say no. Sneak also run Griselbrand alongside Emrakul, and thus we can't really shut them out with one naming as we could against Omni. It's the same situation for Show and Tell as they can just slam Sneak Attack afterwards and win from there.
You could get lucky and snag their exact wincon, but sadly it's twofold and risky. Good thing is that the Sneak version doesn't run Cunning Wish package, and will therefore have harder time dealing with Ensnaring Bridge.

[mcbain]

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[GundamGuy]

I'd say no. Sneak also run Griselbrand alongside Emrakul, and thus we can't really shut them out with one naming as we could against Omni. It's the same situation for Show and Tell as they can just slam Sneak Attack afterwards and win from there.
You could get lucky and snag their exact wincon, but sadly it's twofold and risky. Good thing is that the Sneak version doesn't run Cunning Wish package, and will therefore have harder time dealing with Ensnaring Bridge.

Completely agreed.

The best cards against Sneak and Show are Ensnaring Bridge and Phyrexian Revoker.

Depending on how the meta evolves it might be possible to justify going back to Mono-Red.

I like the Slice and Dice tech. Pretty cool card that I forgot existed.

[Michael Keller]

Depending on how the banning affects Grixis - if it does at all - I'm going to shift the Slice and Dice back over to Ensnaring Bridge. I think the bannings give a huge boost to Bridge, and it's definitely a major player in the format that must be respected.

[GundamGuy]

I think the bannings give a huge boost to Bridge, and it's definitely a major player in the format that must be respected.

Agreed. Early results show Sneak and Show making a large comeback. These are early results so things might change, but Bridge might gain a lot of value.

We had a pretty good matchup and strategy against Sneak and Show about 1.5-2 years ago, has anything changed since then to either improve that matchup or make it worse?

[Nouille]

Hi, I'm trying to make something out of my budget RW Painter list. This means I run Imperial Painter without Imperial Recruiter. Yes, you heard well.

Indeed, I'm tying to only tutoring with Enlightened tutor which have a lot of benefits (1 mana, instant speed, can search for Painter, Grind, BM, Ensnaring bridge, Great furnace, Sensei top....), but some drawbacks too (card disavantage, hard to cast under BM, can't search for Jaya of Magus + eventual SB creatures).

I'm quite satisfied with the current list, but i still have some troubles against a lot of matchups (Miracles, Burn, Death and taxes, Sylvan Plug for the hardest ones)


4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Arid Mesa
3 Plateau
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Great Furnace
3 Mountain
1 Plains

4 Painter's Servant
3 Goblin Welder
2 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage -> two of this because I have no tutor for, and she rocks
4 Pyroblast
3 Red Elemental Blast
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Blood Moon
4 Grindstone
3 Lotus Petal
1 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Gamble -> I like this, especially with welder out, but it's often a bad draw...
3 Swords to Plowshares -> I've never seen RW lists running these, but I found'em awesome to tempo the combo
1 Simian Spirit Guide -> I've removed 2 simians already, can be awesome in starting hand, but superbad draw

SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Rest in Peace
SB: 2 Koth of the Hammer -> My best
SB: 3 Leyline of Sanctity -> Quite effective indeed since i can run them vs combo or discard matchups, matchups where I put out my blood moons
SB: 2 Ethersworn Canonist -> awesome, wondering if 1 MD can be good
SB: 2 Sudden Shock -> vs Infect, mentor miracles, aggro decks
SB: 1 Assemble the Legion -> Second win-con vs miracles & prison decks
SB: 2 Pyroclasm -> vs D&T and tribal decks
SB: 1 Ensnaring Bridge

Any ideas/advices to enhance this stuff ? What do you think of recruiterless Painter deck ?

+ subsidiary question : How do you play the miracles/prison matchup when you are on the draw ? Do you side out the grindstones and try to win with creatures/planeswalkers ?

[Kap'n Cook]

Haven't painted in a long ass time. Never a better time to jump back in. Minimal amounts of testing so far but here is where I'm at:

4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
2 Plateau
1 Great Furnace
2 wooded foothills
3 bloodstained mire
4 Mountain

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

4 Blood Moon

4 Grindstone
3 Lotus Petal
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 ensnaring bridge

4 Pyroblast
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 enlightened tutor

The board

4 Firebolt
1 enlightened tutor
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Rest in Peace
1 trinisphere
1 thorn of amethyst
1 engineered explosives
1 Ethersworn canonist
1 Duergar hedge-mage

3 open slots


The slots have been some combination of pyroclasm, pyrokinesis, koth, parents, sphere of law, and 8th red blast. So yeah not a lot of changes overall but I really don't think they are necessary. The banning of dig gives us all the tools we need again to plow through tournaments. I've been slanting towards 2 pyrokinesis and the 8th blast recently, as well as 2nd bridge main and siding the EE. I've been trying to see how well this can perform without any alternate wins in the board (koth/parents) because the reason to bring them in (miracles) is now running mentors which quickly overpower koth. What do people think?

[jandax]

Why not shave the third top for the third bridge? You increase your answer density as desired and you don't cut any business for it. I always liked three bridges main because I needed to play them, and think the format will shift to a combat zone oriented affair executed by diverse strategies, with the ban of dtt.

That said I'm really liking Hollywood's list and we'll run it in a couple weeks.

[Michael Keller]

Why not shave the third top for the third bridge? You increase your answer density as desired and you don't cut any business for it. I always liked three bridges main because I needed to play them, and think the format will shift to a combat zone oriented affair executed by diverse strategies, with the ban of dtt.

That said I'm really liking Hollywood's list and we'll run it in a couple weeks.

I think you could easily get away with a split in the board with Pyrokinesis and Slice and Dice, which I'm running now. I like Pyrokinesis's ability to hit toughness>2 creatures and interaction with Painter on "red." That said, Slice and Dice has been exceptional in testing. As far as the main goes, Ensnaring Bridge is just too good right now to pass up - hence the shift of SnD to the board.

[Kap'n Cook]

Why not shave the third top for the third bridge? You increase your answer density as desired and you don't cut any business for it. I always liked three bridges main because I needed to play them, and think the format will shift to a combat zone oriented affair executed by diverse strategies, with the ban of dtt.

That said I'm really liking Hollywood's list and we'll run it in a couple weeks.

I noticed that I flooded an insane amount, even at 19 land. Plus the welder advantage was severely lacking at that point. I've been happy back at three and shaving in fast matchups.

[drude1]

@ Nuouille: my advice without recruiters would be to not even bother with Jaya and play 4 welders and 2-3 gamble and concentrate more on artifacts. I would include at least two bridges and a tormods crypt main. Maybe even include a wurmcoil engine to gamble, discard and recur with welder.

@Kap'n: good to see you back!!! I haven't seen any posts, streams or anything for quite some time. Thought you gave up on us.
I definitely agree on 2 bridges in the main again. RUG delver is everywhere again now. BUG delver is also very popular so RiP is definitely worthwhile for Goyf and deathrite. As for the three open slots, I definitely think the fourth REB is in for the Miracles MU. I'm currently still splashing black slightly for 1 kolaghans command in the main and e.plague and Chains in the SB. Plague is so good against all the token decks and elves. MUD is really gaining in popularity as well so just consider SB against that. What do you think about slice and dice? I think if I weren't playing plague I would play those over pyrokinesis as it is card advantage vs disadvantage. As is I still play one pyrokinesis which did kill a Goyf for me last night. I never really got a chance to play with parents so can't even comment on it. The few games I did play it it seemed good. But if we are looking for an alt win con against Miracles we could do better.
Anyway, nice to see you back in action. Hope this means you will start streaming again as well. Always enjoyed playing along at home.


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[mcbain]

By the numbers: lists with 2 bridges main are significantly more likely to put up results. I haven't yet felt the need to go to 3 as jandax suggests.

For the board I am on 2 koth and one pyrokinesis. Kinesis is so good I want to cut a firebolt for another - death and taxes and elves roll over to this card.

I have not tested slice and dice yet - I'll get back to you.

Good to see some familiar faces again!

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[Nouille]

@ Nouille: my advice without recruiters would be to not even bother with Jaya and play 4 welders and 2-3 gamble and concentrate more on artifacts. I would include at least two bridges and a tormods crypt main. Maybe even include a wurmcoil engine to gamble, discard and recur with welder.

Thanks man, intersting point of view. Then, in addition to the gambles, I might play some faithless looting as well, to choose my discard. I'll test this :) (but these choices makes the deck closer to bomberman, and the LED aren't in my budget atm...)

[mcbain]

Although I have become a fan of firebolt over the years I think sudden shock is where we want to be right now.

My primary reason is mentor. Yes, we bridge and while firebolt does "kill it" I think it's simply not good enough. Especially for what will likely be the most common deck you will face.

In addition, the added benefit against cards like delver, pyromancer, or there shinanigas where someone reasonably expects to interact with you. With a moon out your shardless opponents only out might be to protect their DRS. To bad.

It's also hilarious against infect.

Moving forward I will be playing 3 sudden shock and 1 pyrokinesis in the side.

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