Penny Dreadful - A Spotlight
I both love and hate Penny Dreadful (PD). Which might seem weird, since I’ve written this. Putting aside my personal beef, PD is a rotating format that is home to versions of broken decks throughout Magic’s history. And today, I’d like to spotlight some of the decks and pilots from this current season - Season 33: OTJ.
The thing about such a cheap format is the format is incredibly varied. Oops All Lands works by cascading into Tibalt’s Trickery, then free-casting Primal Surge to put all 54 lands into play - along with 2-3 Field of the Dead. Oops All Spells - a deck that needs no introduction if you’re familiar with eternal Magic formats - is a touch slow this season, with no fast mana enablers but a strong core with Goblin Charbelcher backup. Glimpse of Tomorrow combo and Greasefang Turbo both takeover with a strong turn 3 to press the win. In contrast to these combo decks, U/x Control holds early counters to ensure the combos get snuffed out to make way for inevitability, while Orzhov Midrange and Golgari Rock decks hedge removal tools in Deep-Cavern Bat and Scavenging Ooze (among others) to slow opponents and win in the midgame.
Also RDW exists.
Of course, these are not the only cool decks, nor the only well performing ones. Many more exist. I find this balance of “turn 3 combo vs hard control vs midrange vs aggro” a refreshing one. It actually feels balanced, which is impressive since this format is not curated - beyond the price of the legal cards being limited to .02 tix max (~.02 cents USD). I’m usually big into the format when graveyard combo decks are busted - Hermit Druid, Oops, etc. This season has been incredibly fun, with the work put in behind the scenes to find the busted cards or busted decks and bring them to the forefront of the format. And I’d like to recognize a few people making moves.
First, _onecurlyboy slow down!! Easily one of the best honers on the season, taking the early season Glimpse lists and combining them with Shardless Agent because obviously for insane success. They’re boasting a 58% winrate over the last week as I write this, while snagging an undefeated tournament win. Insane.
Second, jenkin5630 showcases awesome and varied lists on their YouTube channel, while also just being a very good player - sitting at 51% winrate on the season. Showing off a pair of 5-0 league runs and a 2nd place tournament finish with a deck they had only 5 games of reps with prior?! Awesome stuff, please show love to the channel if you’ve never watched them.
Lastly, I’m terrified of seeing coupoutous against me in leagues. 14 - count ‘em, fourteen - Top 8 finishes with 1 win among them, accompanying a 65% winrate so far this season. They are a grinder through and through; Glimpse Combo, Boros Control, Izzet Spells, Hardened Scales - you name it, they’ve played it, and played it well.
Anyone not familiar with Penny Dreadful, I’d encourage you to look into it, because this season’s format is super sick. They encourage you to join their Discord, but, if that’s not you’re jam, it’s totally possible to go thru the website and MTGO alone to get games.
And it’s well worth it.
Because PD has always been special, and this season gives me renewed enthusiasm to play.