TheSwarmer

As the deck runs no mana sources [[Darkblast]] and [[Shambling Shell]] are essentially there just to Dredge 3, shell is objectively better as it is a creature for [[ichorid]]. I think that's the only reason it's run, though I've never played the format and I've seen the deck played only once for maybe 5 or 6 games.

I think this is the first list in which I like [[Shred Memory]] on account of running [[Dark Ritual]]s and a relatively high count of [[Duress]]s. Though 4x? I've only played the new Mardu versions with [[Late to Dinner]] but in general, I'd want more [[Duress]] or an angler or a [[Stinkweed Imp]] to find threats easier rather than 5 mana, 2-turn-slow [[Exhume]]s.

[[Nether Spirit]] is orders of magnitude more valuable than [[shambling shell]]. Though I frankly wish that Modern dredge lists ran the card, but that would require some serious bans or miracles to happen.

Oops, I only just now realized that [[Retrofitter Foundry]] did not in fact come out in Kaladesh block and is only legal in Legacy and Vintage xDD

I have no clue whether the land count is what it should be. How long / how many iterations does this usually take before you arrive at something resembling a satisfactory result?

That's actually true, as is the fact that the deck does have a good amount of cantrip-type effects (8 lands that draw/fetch a card). But don't you think that's assuming too much? You're assuming I will find a life from the loam (or darkblast), that I'll want to play / discard it, and that I will want to get it back, turn after turn *before I have found a crime to use alongside it*?

What do you think about cutting the racks for some other artifact and slotting a [[Witherbloom Command]] that way?

Yeah, but usually no Racks are run, fewer than 28 lands are run, and more [[Inquisition of Kozilek]] and more [[Thoughtseize]]s are run. I don't think that really works in this case.

Love the description xDD

Oh, I haven't tested this one unfortunately. Covid kinda killed most non-standard play in my city, and the social aspect of the game is important enough to me to where I am not keen on looking at my opponent through a thick pane of glass with a mask on for 2 hours.

My issue here is that you want fetches, really, but you can't really include them without sacrificing either the consistency with which you can sac [[Flagstones of Trokair]] to a [[Smallpox]] or getting rid of the cycle lands.

Honestly, with decks like this I would likely just be best off having a friend of mine with a masters in math turn this into an equation and solve for the ideal manabase given the deck's mana symbol distribution xDD

What other approaches have you used for iterating/testing things like this?

Uhm, 20 lands? And why not lean into [[Utopia Sprawl]] as well as, or instead of [[Abundant Growth]]?

[[Relic of Progenitus]] exiles my own yard as well, saving a single [[Life from the Loam]] doesn't seem worth it, especially when [[Elixir of Immortality]] is an option. [[scrabbling claws]] could work, in fact, I considered simply cutting both copies of [[The Rack]] for a [[retrofitter foundry]] and [[scrabbling claws]]. I'd have to do some serious testing to figure out what's better though.

I've had [[Witherbloom command]] in here as both a 1x and a 2x at various points during development but I always wound up cutting it. Having Raven's Crime every game seems more important to me, as does having 1x of [[Buried Ruin]], [[Darkmoss Bridge]] and both basic lands.

What would you guys cut for it?

Oh God this is fun xD Nothing to bind a community together like an enemy. Even brought me back from the dead. Then again, when someone spends a year sounding more and more like they have paranoid schizophrenia, that tends to make them quite entertaining to listen to.

I've had a good run on here, but life has sped up too much in the past two years for me to continue to be involved in this site to any real degree. So long and thanks for all the fish.

Hahaha, I still think there's value in what you're doing, 99 out of any 100 creative ideas fall somewhere between useless and stupid, but there is still immense use in creativity of the sort you are displaying here because of that 1 in a 100. Keep it up!

See, why build this when both Acid Trip and Dimir Hand-lock are both existing, relatively refined, mostly viable decks? This is a criticism that could be applied to a lot of your decks, though I have refrained from doing so due to just how much out of the box innovation you often engage in.

Like with [[Blood Researcher]] I think you're onto something. A deck running those and [[Putrid Leech]]s could be a viable, aggressively slanted midrange contender in most metagames I'd say, especially if they're slow.

Damn, I can see some, relatively control/removal - light metagames being utterly brutalized by that. Seems a bit niche to be honest, but it definitely is something to try. Thank you for the suggestion!

I do computer networking and I extend the troubleshooting mindset that the field often demands of you onto everything amendable to it. I started in I think February 2018 when I played in my first sanctioned pauper event, but I could be wrong on that detail.

In the end I just think that stats matter, they're what those parts of the world that run well run on, no reason to not include that in Mtg.

The issue with further optimizing this stat-keeping approach is that at some point my time is better spent elsewhere, especially these days.

Whoa, no way I'm responding to all that xD

I guess the way to answer all the relevant raised points is by saying that I always have a notepad on me that I use for testing notes. What I tend to do is identify the flex spots (Dimir Aqueduct, Libation, Echoing Decay, Alchemy, etc.) and the cards that might better fill those flex spots (Feed the Swarm, Bojuka Bog, etc.). Then, each time a situation comes up where I use one of the flex spot cards (or even if I just draw one) I make a note as to whether I would or would not prefer to have drawn/played the other card (e.g, Feed the Swarm instead of Libation).

I'll be sure to do this once playing pauper is an option again.

Yeah, though many of the decks seem like themed brews that have no hope of ever being optimized into anything competitive. In pauper this is a huge problem as A tier 4 deck costs 5-15$ less than a tier 1 deck.