Madness in Time Spiral Block |
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Starting on Sept 9th and running for at least four consecutive Sundays, UPDC will be switching from the tried-and-true Standard format to the smallest legal cardpool in PDC history -- Time Spiral block. Registration for these block UPDC events will begin at 2:00pm EST on Sundays. Play will begin at 2:30pm EST, and the tourney will consist of 3 rounds of Swiss pairings (best 2 of 3) with the top 8 players from Swiss advancing to a single-elimination playoff. For more information, please visit the UPDC event thread. I hope to see everyone out on Sept. 9 for the kickoff event!
In all of Classic Pauper, the task of coupling Madness cards with discard outlets is a bit more involved and complex. (Luckily for those interested in Classic, many before you have done the legwork.) In Time Spiral block, on the other hand, there is a much smaller pool of cards with Madness and discard outlets (mostly 'spellshapers') which makes the job easier. So let's get to work! I think it's a safe assumption that the best way to proceed when thinking about Madness is first to take a look at all the Madness cards available to us in the Time Spiral block format. So let's do:        Pretty gruesome crowd, eh? We've got 3 creatures, 2 removal spells, a discard spell, and a raise dead spell. Gorgon plays the double role of creature AND removal. Brain Gorgers can be one or the other, but not both. Grave Scrabbler is really only playable if cast with Madness, and Ichor Slick isn't incredible unless you have the full 6 mana around -- but then it's a cantripping removal spell, which is nice. I personally think Psychotic Episode is under-rated, but the format is young so we'll see what impact it has. (As a perk, it is discard that wouldn't trigger opposing Madness -- same with Lost Hours, if you're going the discard route.) Dark Withering and Gorgon Recluse are the two most obviously powerful spells on this list. Ichor Slick can also make a big difference, though it is costly. Brain Gorgers hasn't really lived up to anyone's expectations, but maybe it will be better in block. Grave Scrabbler suffers from being somewhat redundant with Pit Keeper and a whole lot less useful if he's not Mad, and Call to the Netherworld was somewhat overshadowed in Standard by Grim Harvest. Notice these are all black? Obviously, any truly Madness deck is going to have to be invested heavily in black. This makes Tendrils of Corruption an enticing option for our deck. (Gotta stay in the game vs. those Blink decks with Aven Riftwatcher, after all...)
       You'd have to be TRULY mad to aim an Augur or a Mindstab at yourself, but technically they count as viable discard outlets. Let's discuss the more rational options at length!
  Neither of these two has seen much play in Standard, but I'm not sure that tells us much. Icatian Crier might end up being a very powerful card in a format without Martyr of Ashes or Rain of Embers. Ghost Tactician is a bit costly, but works well in tandem with Icatian Crier, Ridged Kusite, Brain Gorgers, etc. etc... Still, perhaps white is not the best color to pair up with in a Madness deck.
     Piracy Charm is another one of those cards that would be somewhat silly to aim at yourself, but hey -- in a pinch, it works. Tolarian Sentinel seems a bit slow and costly for what he does. I've seen Dreamscape Artist in a couple decklists so far, and it seems like it may be helpful in ramping up mana for some of the splashier effects in the U/B color pair. Wistful Thinking seems like the kind of card that may have been specifically designed for Madness decks. Looter il-Kor, however, remains the premiere blue Madness-enabler, and forms the basis of the existing U/B 'Looter Madness' archetype in block (more on this later).
    Red's discard outlets seem to be pushing creature-based aggressive strategies, with one spellshaper granting red fear and the other giving a guy haste and a flowstone boost (+1/-1). Gathan Raiders can be a brutal creature, and even more so coupled with either spellshaper, provided your hand is empty. (With all these discard outlets, that shouldn't be a problem.) And Lightning Axe is our stand-in for Skred in block, able to fell every common creature save Havenwood Wurm.
  I lied. Green doesn't even have 2 spellshapers. But it DOES have Fa'adiyah Seer. Even though there is a poverty of Madness-enablers in green, both of these offerings are quite strong, making green one of the most appealing colors to pair with black for a Madness deck. Greenseeker is the best Llanowar Elf impersonation we get in TS block, but I think she does a fine job, considering she accelerates and thins all through the game, while dumping useless cards in the grave early and providing an easy Madness outlet later on. The Seer has a similar effect, though she gives you less control over what you're pitching.
//22 land //22 creatures //16 spells //Sideboard |
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Welcome to Time Spiral week! This week, our content will be focused on the upcoming Time Spiral block format for Sunday's UPDC tournament. To a large degree, Paupers will be delving into the unknown with this brand new format, discovering the 'decks to beat' and defining a whole new metagame. Time Spiral block is a very rich environment and is poised to lend itself to a very diverse and dynamic metagame. It benefits from the lack of snow lands even at it suffers from the lack of bounce lands, making it accessible to even the most impecunious of Paupers. And, to a degree that largely remains to be seen, today's Time Spiral block is tomorrow's Standard!