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Main » Articles » A Thorny Issue

A Thorny Issue

Alex Ullman
Posted on February 28, 2017
 Reddit

Modern Masters 2017 is slowly taking shape. By the end of this week we should have perfect information about a new crop of potential Pauper playables. Masters sets are of special interest to Pauper since the format is defined by rarity more so than release. The format, online, is shaped by cards made common in other reprint sets. Atog, Oubliette, and Cuombajj Witches hit the digital battlefield with the online only Masters Editions while Battle Screech and Chainer's Edict hit the scene with Vintage Masters. Eternal Masters introduced the most recently banned card in Peregrine Drake while previous Modern Masters sets have provided staples like Gut Shot and Perilous Research. So with the anticipation building for the 2017 release I want to take some time to discuss a card released last year that has a zero percent chance of appearing in the set.

Thorn of the Black Rose.

Alli Medwin announced last week that certain Conspiracy: Take the Crown cards would be coming to Magic Online through Treasure Chests prize packs. The goal of introducing cards with the Monarch mechanic is to bring online Legacy in line with its paper counterpart. Palace Jailer has become a key card in the format and currently the ability to become to Monarch is unavailable online. With this update, that is going to change.

While there are five cards at common that can make you the Monarch, the only one that has been confirmed is Thorn of the Black Rose. I’m excited at this potential addition of these cards less for their power level and more because they signal that the Paper cardpool and the Online cardpool are converging. While there are still certain cards that exist physically at common that, in my opinion, should remain outside the bounds of the format, the addition of these cards from Conspiracy: Take the Crown should be embraced. That being said they will not be without controversy.

A brief explainer of Monarch. When the game begins no one is the Monarch but various cards can make you the Monarch. When you have the title you get to draw an extra card at the beginning of your end step. You are no longer the Monarch if another player casts a card that makes them the Monarch or deals combat damage to the Monarch. Importantly once the Monarch is introduced to a game it persists until the end. Like Planeswalker Emblems there is currently no way to remove the marker from the game.

Turbo Fog ? Pauper | basking_devil, 5-0 Pauper League

There are five cards that make you the Monarch at common. Two cost 4 mana, two at five, and one at six. Canal Courier is far too slow to see play. At five, the Red entry, Crown-Hunter Hireling, is largely useless as the entire point of introducing the Monarch is to retain the title. Entourage of Trest also costs five and is interesting as an option for Turbo-Fog prison decks that need to keep the cards flowing for Jace's Erasure while also shutting down combat damage. Palace Sentinels and Thorn of the Black Rose both cost four but the Sentinels, despite having an entire Holy Strength of additional stats, is less attractive than the Thorn with its deathtouch. Thorn is far more of a deterrent as it can tussle with anything and at the very worst trade. This is all predicated on whether or not being the Monarch is worth the effort.

Cards are valuable in Pauper. A few months ago I wrote about the struggle of non-Blue midrange decks in their quest to draw cards. Unlike other formats Pauper lacks a card in the vein of Phyrexian Arena or Planeswalkers which can provide around a card’s worth of value per turn. Monarch fills this gap in an interesting way. While the extra card every turn is nice there is a decent amount of risk associated with taking on the mantle. If you are behind becoming the Monarch is terrible as taking any point of combat damage means that your hard earned cards are now fueling your opponent. Unlike multiplayer there is only one enemy so where becoming the Monarch in a four player game may not make you the primary threat that all goes out the window in a regular duel. Because of this the best time to become the Monarch is either while you are at parity or while you are starting to pull ahead.

Mono-Black Control ? Pauper | andresfelipehiguera, 5-0 Pauper Leage

This makes sense for midrange decks. Historically these decks have been good at establishing parity but turning the corner has been a struggle. Taking Mono-Black Control as an example, it has the ability to keep the board clear and commit threats to the board but once every Chainer's Edict is spent it often has to live off the top. In the past this meant either investing cards in drawing or trying to go about things naturally. If Thorn of the Black Rose can see play now that slow build of card advantage doubles its pace. Mono-Black would be able to draw additional removal to help maintain an empty board and build towards an endgame without relying on chaining together copies of Gray Merchant of Asphodel.

4 mana, however, is a lot. In a burst these cards are significantly worse than Mulldrifter although given enough turns they start holding a candle to the flying fish. Phyrexian Rager sees a new card for 3 mana and has long been a staple of Pauper. Three also tends to be a choke point on Mono-Black Control so it is possible that Thorn of the Black Rose is better in context.

Monarch is an interesting mechanic that has the potential to see play in Pauper. Not only does it add a new wrinkle to the format but it provides a much needed boost to certain decks. Yet should it be legal? There is a fear from some fans of the format that it cannot sustain the Monarch. All the things that make it different — the hot potato nature and the inability to remove it - dovetail with the fear of the unknown to make this potential change seem radical. The trepidation is that control decks would use this tool to dominate the format.

Dimir Teachings ? Pauper | mikeyr00r00, 5-0 Pauper League

Teachings is often cited as a deck that could benefit from an impossible to remove extra card per turn. This is true — Dimir Teachings would benefit immensely from an extra card per turn. However Thorn of the Black Rose also represents one of the best cards to bring in against Dimir Teachings. These decks are often light on threats and are often unable to deal combat damage. In certain decks becoming the Monarch could be the key to winning an otherwise miserable Teachings matchup. Sounds an awful lot like why people started to bring in Palace Jailer in Legacy.

Magic is an evolving game. New game space is going to be constantly explored — just look at Kaladesh and the addition of Energy. While the Monarch may prove untenable in the long term I am looking forward to the new element of play. I do not loathe the subgame it creates yet. That day may very well come but when it does the answer exists in the Banned list. Magic, especially in non-rotating formats, has a tool to remove offending cards and should use it. Better to add cards because of risks taken than to let the game grow stale.

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TAGS articles, metagame, constructed, analysis, decklist, pauper, alex ullman, thorn of the black rose

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