[Free Article] Painters, Grindstones, and Blasts, Oh My!

[JACO]

http://mtgsalvation.com/834-painters-grindstones-and-blasts-oh-my.html

This is the first part in a short series about Painter's Servant. This article examines the early tournament results of our favorite new toy, and takes a look at the design shells we're starting to see emerge. The Workshop shell and Bomberman shell will be receiving special attention in articles in the very near future, so don't think I glossed over them in the article. ; )

I'll probably be writing regularly for MTG Salvation. Holla.

[Troy_Costisick]

Really good article, JACO.  You do a ncie job of examining the history of this new combo and the current archetypes for it.  Nice work!

Peace,

-Troy

[3eowulf]

Well, nice article (even if I haven't got the time to read all of it).

While I've found some debatable statements about my building choices, I feel this is not the place to discuss it, but I'd like just to point out a little mistake:

Elsewhere in Europe on May 4, 2008 in Roma (Italy), Roberto Maffei (aka PiCasso) won the 42-man TPC#9 tournament

Picasso is (and i thought it ovious ) the name of the deck, while the player's alias is +|3eowulf+.

Anyway, good job, I'll be waiting eagerly for the rest of the articles.

[PETER FLUGZEUG]

Good read indeed. The past few top8s all included some number of painterblast decks as soon as the card was legal. I think this card broke the metagame wide open. I'll quote a passage from your article and would like to elaborate on that:

With this trend comes a niche created to exploit the heavy Blue presence, and this exploitation has most recently come in the form of main deck Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast. As a cheap and efficient answer to cards like Gush, Force of Will, Mana Drain, Flash, Merchant Scroll, and Tidespout Tyrant, this is truly the heyday of 'Red Blasts.'

The common complaint (although I had never shared it) since the unrestriction of gush and flash enabled was that blue cards (everyone arguing for others) were too broken:

4x brainstorm
x ponder
4x merchant scroll
4x flash/gush
were (and are) in almost any deck, together with blue cheap or free disruption:
4x Force of will
some misdirections or pacts.

The only things rebs didn't hit were basically (in those decks)
acceleration
duress
most permanents (tyrant and tinker yes)

reb+painter is the nuts in that meta, and it ruled the last two weeks apparently.

Of course, there was ichorid and brown around, but those two strategies can be hated specificly with a sample sideboard of
4x leyline
3x extirpate/needle
3x ingot chewer
3x rack and ruin
2x explosives

With the heavy apperance of oath I saw creature strategies as subpar before.
The logical point now for me is that aforementioned strategies will be under heavy strain in the near future, causing the metagame to shift to nonblue strategies (not that hose would disappear, packing own rebs is broken.)

Another thing it will mean in upcoming tournaments is that you can expect the metagame to adjust slightly. As a knee-jerk reaction, you'll probably see fewer people playing Blue in general, and particularly less Tyrant Oath and less Flash. You'll probably see more Manaless Ichorid, more Workshop Aggro, more MUD, more Goblins, and far more decks packing both Duress and Thoughtseize.

(agreed.)

For me, the question is if players still stick to blue based shells, including own reb painter packages, together with the strong colorless finish, or if they go more into the vroman/ sphere/ control or combo/mud direction.

I could see emerging a fast combodeck using painter/grindstone/belcher as well or other strategies, such as RG beatdown rise up (especially if there is less oath)

This card brought us a new contender I think. How fast and how extreme will the metagame shift be?

[Moxlotus]

I think the casual reader may not have realized that with painter in play, you can merchant Scroll for any instant in your deck.  This is a reason why 4 Merchant Scrolls can be pretty crazy since they can get REBs or post board stuff like Rack and Ruin.

[ErkBek]

http://mtgsalvation.com/834-painters-grindstones-and-blasts-oh-my.html

This is the first part in a short series about Painter's Servant. This article examines the early tournament results of our favorite new toy, and takes a look at the design shells we're starting to see emerge. The Workshop shell and Bomberman shell will be receiving special attention in articles in the very near future, so don't think I glossed over them in the article. ; )

I'll probably be writing regularly for MTG Salvation. Holla.

Nice article. Didn't realize all the different builds out there.

I'd really like to hear your opinion how sideboards will adapt for both opposing decks and Painter in upcoming articles. For example, Gaea's Blessing will likely see more play as a sideboard card to combat this archetype, how will Painter deal? Should Painter be bringing in Tormod's Crypt or Extirpate in anticipation of Blessings? Or change it's strategy post board entirely?

[rkmancer]

^
About Blessing, I think that's why blue archetype of servant deck contain 2-3 stifle at average. .

I'm still looking what are you people think about mirror match up, (Servant + 8 Red Blast vs Servant + 8 Red Blast). .
What strategy can be run since one player will be happy when another successfully cast his / her servant. .

Good point to include this combo to some old deck like Bomberman. .
Splashable really is servant / grindstone big advantage to be solid. .
Still waiting to see non-blue and non-workshop based to build. .

[ErkBek]

^
About Blessing, I think that's why blue archetype of servant deck contain 2-3 stifle at average. .

I'm still looking what are you people think about mirror match up, (Servant + 8 Red Blast vs Servant + 8 Red Blast). .
What strategy can be run since one player will be happy when another successfully cast his / her servant. .

Good point to include this combo to some old deck like Bomberman. .
Splashable really is servant / grindstone big advantage to be solid. .
Still waiting to see non-blue and non-workshop based to build. .

I haven't seen a single stifle in a board or maindeck of Painter.

Check out Vroman's Painter list (it's in the open forum). There's your non-blue, non-shop build.

[JACO]

Nice article. Didn't realize all the different builds out there.

I'd really like to hear your opinion how sideboards will adapt for both opposing decks and Painter in upcoming articles. For example, Gaea's Blessing will likely see more play as a sideboard card to combat this archetype, how will Painter deal? Should Painter be bringing in Tormod's Crypt or Extirpate in anticipation of Blessings? Or change it's strategy post board entirely?

Eric, thanks for your kind words.

My next article (already finished, and going up either tomorrow or hopefully early next week) is titled 'Combating Painter's Servant Combo,' and will address some of these things, including some strategies to use in the forward shifting metagame I expect, but more from the side of playing against Painter's Servant. I'll be doing a couple more after that on the Painter theme over the next couple of weeks, so I will be sure to address that (and thanks for the tip!).

The common complaint (although I had never shared it) since the unrestriction of gush and flash enabled was that blue cards (everyone arguing for others) were too broken...

This is a sentiment I do not agree with either. I have always been of the opinion that less cards should be restricted, and the players should adapt their decks to play against what they expect. If there's tons of blue everywhere, Red Blasts and tons of Duress effects were probably a good idea even before the printing of Painter's Servant. It's a hedge on the expected metagame you go into a tournament expecting to face.

[rkmancer]

With the appearance of the new B/R list. .
We'll see how good Painter + Blast tech against the meta with no blue there. .

[Purple Hat]

to me the real question is whether blue is still the best thing to name with a painter.  It's possible that without the newly banned cards a G/W deck that names black for reap and compost as well as some of the white hate cards might be the best option.