Pioneer - Marvel (Paprykarz series#13 top8)

9 11 10
11 19 6 24
Combo

I choose Marvel for Paprykarz Series #13 simply because I love the deck and I have played it since it was in standard back in 2017.

Pioneer is the format I'm playing since it came out - I felt like it was designed exactly for people like me in mind - I've played standard since 2013 (regularly) so my collection as a whole became playable again. Today I have whole variety of decks which I can play and for main event I've chosen the one that I loved to play the most - If you ever wonder which deck to choose for play, always follow your heart (like seriously ;))

 

My road to top8:

Match #1: (vs Izzet Phoenix)

Game 1 was annoying - I couldn't combo of quick, I've gathered energy enough to activate marvel few times, but draws were so painful I ended up loosing to those pesky graveyard escaping fliers. My opponent didn't exactly knew what I was playing.

Game 2 was almost a dream-hand from my side, Two Attune with Aetherimage into Rogue Refinerimage, with Aetherworks Marvelimage and Aether Hubimage in T4 Secured whole game pulling Ulamog, the Ceaseless hunger from the deck.

Game 3 had also good draws, but since my opponent knew what I was playing I was expecting some counterspells. Luckily - none had been sided in, or sideboard was missing crucial parts, because I was never stopped wiith my energy pumping spells and activating Aetherworks Marvelimage which also entered battlefiled in round 5 or 6. I was kinda afraid that Arclight Phoeniximage will pop up suddenly, but I tried to play around most of it's threats (keeping Fry in hand etc.) - My friend from local LGS also plays Phoenix and he's a beast with it, so I was prepared for this kind of matchup.

Match #2 (vs Izzet Phoenix)

Game 1 Well - the first I saw who my opponent is I knew this is going to be tough. My opponent was a friend mentioned before. I played the race, but I missed few key components and couldn't go off. Not much to add here - He knew what I was doing, he knew how to hold me off - I've tried my best and lost.


Game 2 Mulligan into 5 (If I remember correctly) put me into danger zone straight away. We have fought with each other for few rounds, but in end-game Temporal Trespassimage - new addition to his deck which I was unawar of, put me into position where phoenixes bullied me out of the match.

 

Match #3 ( vs RB midrange)

 

Game 1 Sadly, my opponent was my own brother (That's what you get from playing 'small' tournaments) and even tho he's new in Pioneer (playing magic for a bit more than a year) he's a good one. A man of focus, commitment, and so on ;). We knew our decklists quite well, and game one for me was just going with OG plan = put Marvel and cast biggies. I managed to do so.


Game 2 I had no idea what will he side-in (I was unaware of his sideboards for the event). Necromentia turn3 put Marvel's out of the sight. Since Necromentia do not look into sideboard, Karn, the Great Creatorimage helped me pulling last Marvel from the sb and I managed to activate it (and hit something crappy like Rogue Refinerimage or Woodweaver's Puzzleknotimage). Game turned out to be long enough to activate it again, or put Golos and activate him. 
I can't recall exactly how it ended. Score was nice, but I hate being put into Brothers War.

 

Match #4 (vs Izzet Control)

 

Game 1, 2 and 3 Was amalgam of forcing Narset, Parter of Veilsimage into Collective Defianceimage. Generaly it may seem that Marvel is bad against any kind of control decks. I think it is quite opposite. Marvel from early turns secure it land drops with Attune with Aetherimage and cast Energy dorks, which can snowball opponent quite efficently. Turn 4/5 Marvel is a threat that needs to be countered or you're risking whole game. If I managed to drive the plays properly and don't count on Marvel exclusively, I put another big threat on board turn later = Golos, Tireless Pilgrimimage. Since Golos is coming on board as soon as turn 5, he can look up for World tree and in later turn he can use his ability to put yet another big threats into the game.

I can't remember which game I won first, but I remember that we both had great opportunites in termination. My win was countered by Mystical Disputeimage and his was countered by my life total. 1-2 additional rounds could resolve it propably, but we ended up in a draw. (Which to be honest = was a good thing)

 

Match #5 (vs Winota)

Game 1,2 and 3 As I mentioned, this Pioneer Tournament was not a big event (It had 37 players, which was nice, but I hope that in time we will get bigger numbers, especialy knowing that we have about 25 each week on our local FNMs). Since the playerbase was not wide enough I've been paired with my friend who played magic with me since 2013 (He is responsible for pulling me into magic after few years of slumber ;) ) Playing against Winota, Joiner of Forcesimage is tricky. We both played a decks that have this kind of 'combo machine' that is triggering as soon as turn 4, and I can't recall who started but if I remember I pulled combo first.

Next Game (I really don't recall, If we even played three games - I just knew it is a "to be or not to be" for both of us) He pulled of Winota, Joiner of Forcesimage and put so many guys on board, it looked really bad for me - he wen't all-in putting all his threats on board and tapping out, he left in hand cards which were no threats on later turns. On my own turn I've managed to put in Ugin and clear the boardstate securing the game and giving me a chance for top8. As much as I hate Winota I felt bad for being forced to fight with "my own" people. At least the fight was fair - I could get trampled by his human forces. This is one of the decks I am most worried about when playing against. You think of Winota on turn 3 or 4, so you side in your removal when he can steal the game with Chariot and his other value-humans/creatures. Generaly having more than 30 creatures is so disgusting, that even If you clear the board, he can rebuild his game state in 2 rounds. Never underestimate this deck.

 

Match #6 (vs mono red)

Game 1 was so ugly (he won dice roll, started with Kumano Faces Kakkazan // Etching of Kumano and hastily reduced my HP to less then 10 in 2-3 rounds). I didn't even had a Marvel in hand.

Game 2 I've changed my deck a little bit to be faster and to have more removals, Anger of the Godsimage, Chandra, Awakened Infernoimage. I managed to gather energy, HP and combo off quite fast - giving me a chance in game 3.

Game 3 If I recall I've mulliganned to 5. I had all I needed, but knowing that opponent can burn so quickly I was seriously afraid. Thankfully he missed 1 or 2 land drops, and I've managed to get missing pieces so I could build quite an impressive boardstate.

Karns, Marvel, later on Ugin, the Spirit Dragonimage and few creatures - To the last HP of my opponent I was backing up, being afraid that he will pull of some crazy mono red shenanigans, but from his perspective it was looking more like I was playing with those last rounds. At least we finish with some time left. He extended his arm and congratulated me on reaching top8 - it was then when it hit me = it was my first time reaching that high in 'big' tournament. And it felt good.

 

Top8 (vs RB Midrange)

I can't remember exactly which game was in which order, but we played 3 matches, we went pretty even for most of our games.

The one he won, I was snowballed by Fable of the mirrorbreaker and the last round of mine was having 6 lands, Marvel and Boseiju, Who Enduresimage on hand with 5 energy gathered. If I only could destroy my own permanents with Boseiju... mayube I would've won.

The one I won, I was in pretty nice position = gathered enough energy for multi roll of Marvel, then played Genesis Ultimatumimage putting Ugin in and few lands, cleared the board. Opponent casted Thoughtseize to see what are my other threats  - Two ulamogs on hand was not something he was expecting

On the third, I've managed to take out most of the threats he put on the table, Fable of the Kikki Jikki tokens, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghetimage and vampires (Bloodtithe Harvesterimage) . He on the other hand discarded my big plays and we played to the point where I pulled 4 lands from the top, and he was able to cast Fable of the Mirror Breaker, which gave him a winning spot. It was a MU I could win, I knew the deck, since my brother plays the same one, but I guess i just emptied my bottle of luck for the day. Those 4 land in a row - feels bad man.

Even so, It is good to know that my opponent managed to win the whole Tournament, that made me feel much better :)

In the end - Tournament was awesome. It was first time that tournament of national scale was organized in my city, and hopefully more will be organized in the future. If you ever consider to play one - It is always a great experience, meeting people you share hobby with, talk about decks and plays you wouldn't think about. Let's hope that there will be no great disease and we'll be all able to play in paper more often.

If you read the whole - thanks - I will put the Polish version of this in few days on my site, and I will post link here.

Regards to you all!

If you have questions regarding deck, I will answer. I've already made some changes, but the list above is the exact one I played.

 

 

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5 comments

Szmaglord
...[[Kolaghan's Command]]. I will definetely update my list soon, and maybe record some games on MTG Arena, since Explorer enables whole deck to be played (except of Emrakul, but I think we can manage). If you are interested, let me know - nothing better than some additional motivation :)
Regards!
Szmaglord
...Puzzleknot is not getting me anywhere to be honest. 2 energy is not that much, Scry is nice, but I'd rather feel safer with additional energy and HP rather than trying to dig for answers and letting my opp to know that I keep cards on top.
And one last thing about counters. Currently I am trying to add few [[Miscast]] to the sideboard so I'd be able to secure my position with just one mana. People tend to play [[Mystical Dispute]] but the thing is that it is worthless agains like of ...
Szmaglord
...lack player.
About Kozilek's return = I am SERIOUSLY considering playing more Eldrazis and put 2-3 Returns in (2-3 Ulamogs, 2 Emrakuls, 1 Kozilek for example) - but most of the times Ugin is the one making boardsweep and securing the board state.
Omni is a great one, but being empty handed does nothing. It's not like I am sitting with fatties on my hand.
Crane is a nice one "but" I wouldn't like to see my threats going to the bottom, and letting my opponent know what goes away.
Puzzleknot...
Szmaglord
@Witkul
Thanks man! Fast aggro and spirits (now in Bant mode) are still annoying. I was asked on the event about the best card in format, and given what are the worst decks to play against, my best-card pick was [[Fry]] It takes out so much in Pioneer = Winotas, most of the spirits, Narset, Teferis, and so on. In my updated decklist I will play 3-4 Fry's.
About discards = not so much I can do about them. Turn 1 Thoughtseize is something to be expected when you play after SB against a Bl...
Wiktul
Congrats for the result! I'm also a former Marvel lover, I've build and bought the whole deck right after spoilers of Kaladesh and played in in all possible version. Back in the day, I remember that the bane of my existence were:
- UW Spirits (especially Spell Queller)
- Fast aggro
How do you handle discard and hard counters? And what do you think about using Glint-Nest Crane and Glassblower's Puzzleknot for better digging? How about Omni for fatties in hand or Kozilek's Return vs aggro?
Szmaglord
Last Updated: 09 May 2022
Created: 09 May 2022
414 93 5

Mainboard - 60 cards (25 distinct)

Creature (11)
$25.48€27.883.34
$0.25€0.200.03
$0.27€0.170.03
$1.74€1.900.60
$44.95€37.162.33
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (19)
$0.20€0.100.03
$9.99€4.280.12
$0.15€0.030.03
$0.25€0.190.03
$1.50€0.830.02
$0.24€0.110.03
$6.900.06
Land (24)
$0.30€0.190.03
$0.250.02
$0.300.02
$4.621.34
$4.910.23
$0.820.02
$9.607.97
$5.32
$0.50€0.310.02
$8.61
Planeswalker (6)
$28.50
$6.99€7.267.02

Sideboard - 15 cards (10 distinct)

$0.40€0.28
$0.48€0.450.04
$2.95€2.81
$0.15€0.070.03
$0.39€0.390.11
$0.50€0.490.37
$9.99€4.280.12
$0.25€0.180.03
$21.87€5.140.02
$3.59€2.841.01

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