Pattern Recognition #253 - Brawl 2022

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

1 September 2022

376 views

Good day everyone! My name is berryjon, and I welcome you all to Pattern Recognition, TappedOut's longest running article series. I am something of an Old Fogey and a definite Smart Ass, and I have been around the block quite a few times. My experience is quite broad and deep, and so I use this series to try and bring some of that to you. Be it deck design, card construction, mechanics or in-universe characters and the history of the game. Or whatever happens to catch my attention each week. Which happens far more often than I care to admit. Please, feel free to talk about my subject matter in the comments at the bottom of the page, add suggestions or just plain correct me.

And welcome back after my generic intro! With the full Dominaria United Spoilers out last week, that means that Standard Rotation is coming right up and that means that it's time for my annual Deck Building pair of articles. For those of you who are intimidated by my colossal backlog, For the past few years, every time Standard rotates, I build a new Brawl deck for Arena one week, and then take that deck and build it up to a full Commander deck the week after.

Last year, I did this for Killian, Ink Duelist, making a Brawl deck and then the next week, I made the effort to upgrade to a full Commander deck. And before that, I did work with the Questing Beast, and before that was Gideon Blackblade for Brawl, but not for Commander.

This year, I've decided to do something different and try to break out of my mold, my comfort zone, and create a deck that isn't some variation on "Plan A: Punch Face. Plan B: Punch Harder", which is fairly typical of me.

And that means starting with and working from there. NO AGGRO. Which means that I want to avoid as much as possible, so let's just take those off the table entirely. This leaves me with for the most part. I mean, I could see what has for Spellslingers, but right now, Najal, the Storm Runner isn't giving me any ideas. Maybe Vadrik, Astral Archmage?

No, that's not working out for me. I don't think anything in is something I can do right now. I've done the Lier, Disciple of the Drowned deck, and I really didn't like it.

By the way, have I mentioned, how much I love Scryfall for having "Future Standard" as a format option? Stenn, Paranoid Partisan is a low cost option for Instants or Sorceries. But what about Queza, Augur of Agonies? This hits all my colour options this year, and the ability is very solid, something that works well with what I have and I can see it working.

The question now becomes, 2 colours or three?

If I go for Queza, I know I'll have plenty of mana fixing available to me, especially with the DMU reprints of the Pain Lands, but Stenn has a good focus to it. Honestly, I can keep beating around the bush, but the whole idea is to get out of the rut, so Queza, Augur of Agonies it is.

Now, Queza, Augur of Agonies works by drawing as many cards as possible, and throwing out life loss in the process. For Brawl, this means getting the most draws as fast as possible, wearing down my opponent's 25 life before they do the same to me. Thankfully, there are quite a few options in this format that let you draw cards in these colours, so that's not a problem. Support for my goals is good.

So, starting with a 60 card deck, I want to reserve 26 for my lands at this point. I expect to throw around a lot of spells, and having the mana to do that will be important. I'll sort out what those will be later, but knowing that I will have 33 cards for the deck, plus Queza herself. Of these 33, let me start by dividing them into three groups of 11. These groups are, tentatively "Control", "Straight Draw" and "Things to do with all those Cards" - or just "Things".

Control can be described both "Removal" and "Lockdown", something that these three colours are very good at handling. I'll want a mix of 's counterspells, 's creature removal, and 's lockdown effects. Now, with only 11 cards currently allocated, let's go with 4/4/3 in that order. Not to slight on White, but in these colours, I would rather permanently remove a problem, rather than just kick it down the line. Wash Away and Syphon Essence are both good choices, as the former is excellent anti-Commander, and the latter provides a Blood token to also fuel card draw. Spell Pierce is also very cheap, and while putting in Jin-Gitaxias would be funny, it wouls also mean that New Phyrexia has something that I want, and fuck that shit. In the same F-T-S Pile, Sheoldred can join it, despite being actually useful and viable in this deck build. On the other hand, Ertai's Scorn is from a good old-school Phyrexian, meaning I can tolerate it. And it can punish Spellslinger decks for going off when I let their first spell through!

Moving on to Control and Removal, and here I remember that is getting back into the targetted removal game. While Fateful Absence is a good card, I'm not sure I'm in a position to want it right now. In fact, let's put in Void Rend, and Obscura Charm, then Path of Peril and Foul Play. Yes, two of those are multi-coloured, but that's alright. But looking at things now, I think I'll need more. Depopulate, Destroy Evil, and Extinguish the Light. Because if Jaya is going to be killed, then by Urza, I'll will pay that back in kind.

This makes my Control section look something like this:

1. Wash Away
2. Syphon Essence
3. Spell Pierce
4. Ertai's Scorn
5. Void Rend
6. Obscura Charm
7. Path of Peril
8. Foul Play
9. Destroy Evil
10. Depopulate
11. Extinguish the Light

Now, moving on to Card Draw. This one is going to be mostly , but the other colours can contribute as well. Academy Loremaster is a good reactive card as I can gain the benefit of drawing an extra card on my turn, then pass the turn to save my mana for the opponent. I'm tempted to include Academy Wall, but the basic mana cost is too high for my taste at this point. I might come back to it later. Behold the Unspeakable  ^Flip works well with card draw, and can replenish my hand in a pinch. I suspect that Blood Pact is going to do work, as a replacement for the work Crushing Disappointment did for Killian, so it goes in. In the same vein, Demon's Due is just as good. Case the Joint isn't going in, as it's pretty expensive, and while peeking at the top card of a library is good, it's not an effect I want to spend on. Consider is an Opt as the latter is not in the format, and it's just that good, so in it goes.

In terms of pure draw though, Cut of the Profits and Even the Score are both spells, and the former synergizes nicely with the lifegain from my Commander. So in they both go. Faithful Mending is another amazingly good card here, so its inclusion is a no-brainer. Inspiring Overseer provides a body to block with, as well as card draw, so it's in. In addition, Love Song of Night and Day, while also providing my opponent with cards, does give me a creature to work with and a boost to a couple of them later on. And it's from the new set, so why not?

My Phyrexian Rager comes to me from Invasion Block, so it passes the "Actually Phyrexia, and not this sucky newbies" test, so in it goes. And finally, Sigarda's Splendor works well as that's lifegain, and when I draw a card, I drain someone, making my life total bigger for the next time! There's a lot of things I skipped over, so there is room for improvement or optimization here. Or space for expansion in the additional 40 to try and turn this into a proper Commander deck.

1. Academy Loremaster
2. Behold the Unspeakable  ^Flip
3. Blood Pact
4. Consider
5. Demon's Due
6. Cut of the Profits
7. Even the Score
8. Inspiring Overseer
9. Love Song of Night and Day
10. Phyrexian Rager
11. Sigarda's Splendor

Finally, the last 11 cards are pretty much "Anything Else", which means that in a triple coloured deck, Arcane Signet is vital. Next up, Triskaidekaphile is an alternate win condition, just in case, and can draw me cards as needed.

Let's also look at some protections for my Commander. Boon of Safety for example, as well as Fake Your Own Death, Shore Up, Slip Out the Back and Take Up the Shield. Five protective cards in all three colours should do me nicely.

As for some utility, I've been making notes as I go along. Haughty Djinn Will help reduce the cost of spells I cast, as well as be a nice beat-stick should the opportunity arise. Obscura Interceptor is a nice, all-round card that draws, is a creature and can bounce a spell, no problems at all. I suppose that means that Aether Channeler is a good choice as well. And you know what? I want to see how Consuming Tide works.

1. Arcane Signet
2. Triskaidekaphile
3. Boon of Safety
4. Fake Your Own Death
5. Shore Up
6. Slip Out the Back
7. Take Up the Shield
8. Haughty Djinn
9. Obscura Interceptor
10. Aether Channeler
11. Consuming Tide

So, that's my take on the non-lands in the deck. 33 there, plus the Commander, leaves me with room for 26 Lands. Punching the deck into the Deckbuilder, I see that I have 34 cards with a total casting cost of 84. With 23 , 16 and 12 mana pips in the deck, I should be looking at 6 Sources of , 8 sources for and 12 for .

Let's start with the Duals and Triple out of the way. Raffine's Tower is first, followed by Adarkar Wastes, Caves of Koilos and... huh, the Pain Land won't be printed until next set. Oh well. Let's add Command Tower, Plaza of Heroes and Obscura Storefront. That's 6 lands, which knocks two off each colour requirement. Deserted Beach, Shipwreck Marsh, and Shattered Sanctum do more mana fixing. Let's then add in Skybridge Towers, Waterfront District, but sadly, those are allied-colours only at this point.

And to fill everything out, that's 1 Plains, 4 Swamps and 8 Islands.

Actually let me write this all down, because I'm being told I only have 54 cards in the deck.

1. Raffine's Tower
2. Adarkar Wastes
3. Caves of Koilos
4. Command Tower
5. Deserted Beach
6. 8x Island
7. Obscura Storefront
8. 2x Plains
9. Plaza of Heroes
10. Shattered Sanctum
11. Shipwreck Marsh
12. Skybridge Towers
13. 5x Swamp
14. Waterfront District

Oh, I didn't imput the deck correctly. Let me fix that... Stupid basic lands not getting input correctly. And with that out of the way, here is the deck for your review!

My deck:

Queza, Brawling in the Library

Standard Brawl* berryjon

105 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

Now, I just have to wait for the Client to update, so I can upload the deck and give you all a taste of how it works! Which, sadly, won't happen until the same time this article goes live, so it will have to wait until next week. See you then!

Until then please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job, but more income is always better. I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!