MPDC 35.01

Welcome to the first PDC event I'll be documenting! PDC stands for Pauper Deck Challenge and it's an all common format. MPDC (I believe the "M" stands for Monday, which is the day it's held) is Standard PDC format. The tournament is 3 rounds of Swiss followed by a cut to top 4 or top 8 depending on the number of players

This is what I ran this week:

4 Borrowed Grace
4 Lunarch Mantle
3 Ironclad Slayer
4 Steadfast Cathar
4 Angelic Purge
3 Unruly Mob
4 Dauntless Cathar
4 True-Faith Censer
4 Fiend Binder
23 Plains
1 Strength of Arms
2 Spectral Reserves

2 Inspiring Captain
3 Desperate Sentry
1 Ironclad Slayer
3 Expose Evil
2 Spectral Reserves
4 Ironwright's Cleansing

The decklist is essentially block format. I haven't drafted enough Kaladesh to have playsets for constructed. I use to run Pacifism but they rotated out.  I didn't have time to adjust the deck so the Slayers aren't really that good. I put the Ironwright Cleansing into the deck because of Kaladesh. Ideally I'm updgrading to Fragmentize when I get a playset. I also only had 1 Strength of Arms and I felt that the curve was low enough that I could get away with 23 lands.


Round 1 I was paired against monogreen and he starts off fast with an Ulvenwald Captive, Thriving Rhino, Kujar Seedsculptor (which put its counter on the Rhino) and Sage of Shaila's Claim while I had an Unruly Mob, Fiend Bender and True-Faith Censer. The Rhino comes through and it's now a 4/5. I put the Censer on the Bender and attack, tapping down the Seedsculptor. My opponent trades his Sage for the Mob and I follow up with a Steadfast Cathar. I have Angelic Purge in my hand but I'm willing to take another hit from the Rhino in hopes that he spends another two energy counters. Instead, my opponent plays Hunt the Weak to kill the Bender. I Purge the Rhino at this point and come through for 2 leaving the life totals at 15-13 in my favour. Riparian Tiger hits the board for his side and I put the Censer on the Cathar and hit for 4. The Tiger comes through for 6 damage and he sacrifices the Seedsculptor for It of the Horrid Swarm, mucking up the ground. My Cathar trades for It and I replace it with a second one, immediately equipping the Censer. The Tiger comes through again, leaving me at 2 life and I scoop them up with 2 Borrowed Grace and an Ironclad Slayer in hand.

I board out 1 Borrowed Grace, and 2 Slayers for Desperate Sentry which can hopefully buy me time to get more creatures on the board for Borrowed Grace. Game 2 I manage to get two Censers on a Steadfast Cathar while my opponent has 2 Ulvenwald Captives, 2 Seedsculptors and a Sage. My Cathar is huge though and he's unwilling to block so I bring him down to 8 life while I'm sitting at 16. He plays a Renegade Freight and a Quilled Wolf and double blocks the Cathar with the Vehicle and a Seedsculptor. Strength of Arms allows my Cathar to kill them off and I get a soldier token in the process. I follow up with a second Steadfast Cathar. It of the Horrid Swarm comes down on his side of the table and brings some blockers with it. I swing in with the team and Escalate a Borrowed Grace taking out an insect token, It and the Wolf and knocking him down to 4. He draws and then concedes.

Game 3 I mulligan to 5 while my opponent keeps 6. He starts with a Seedsculptor and a Renegade Freight while I can only muster up a Steadfast Cathar. I Purge the Freight but set myself back a turn and play a Fiend Bender a turn late. Thriving Rhino shows up and the first Seedsculptor gets a second counter from another Seedsculptor. Another Rhino results in huge creatures heading into the red zone and my team is simply outclassed so I scoop them up.

For Round 2 I'm up against RG beats. My opponent may have accidentally passed his turn 3 and missed his land drop. Even with the misclick I'm only able to play a Dauntless Cathar and have no pressure on the board. He plays a pair of Seedsculptors and puts both counters on one of the elves.  Rabid Bite takes out my brand new Bender and he follows up with Snapping Gnarlid. I play a second and third Bender and a Steadfast Cathar while he adds a Brazen Wolves to his team. He alpha strikes and Lead by Example decimates my board, leaving me with a lone Bender. I can't recover and lose the next turn.

I sideboard similar to Match 1 as I feel that the Sentry would be better as I can chump and then get a bigger creature in the deal. I take out more Slayers and Mantles to put in Expose Evil as well. I get stuck on the 2 lands in my opening hand and trade hits with his Seedsculptor and my Steadfast Cathar. I cycle through an Expose Evil to try and find a land and chump a Brazen Wolves with my Sentry and he follows with a second one. I trade the horror for one of his Wolves but he plays a Riparian Tiger and again he has huge creatures that can easily take my guys in a fight. He plays another Seedsculptor and attacks with his team. I double block the Wolves but he shows me Galvanic Bombardment and I wave the white flag.

Since I went 0-2 there wasn't I chance to advance to the elimination rounds so I dropped from the tournament. The Grace wasn't that impressive since I never had a large number of creatures on the board. I also feel like I need to up the land count to 24, especially since I'm playing Angelic Purge and sacrificing a land most of the time. The deck didn't play out the way I thought it would. I don't think there are enough creatures especially at the 2 slot. Maybe I'll try something completely different next time. Perhaps I'll build around Thermo-Alchemist or if I drafted Kaladesh enough, something from the new set!

-ThePaperboy