UB Terror Tips Tricks & Sideboard Guide By Mogged
About the deck
UB Serpent is a pauper deck that pairs disruption with 1 mana 5/5s it can always hold mana up threatening disruption/combat trick that defaults to setting up the next turn with instant speed cantrips.
What I like about this deck is how smooth it is, setting up traps with fangs and counterspell doesn’t take a big toll on your turns and there is usually a way to use all your mana. I always tried to play Gurmag Angler decks because Gurmag beats Pauper’s best removals : Galvanic Blast, Snuff Out, Lightning bolt.
My current version
Dimir Terror by Mogged
https://mtgdecks.net/Pauper/ub-serpent-decklist-by-mogged-1519183
Creature [12] | ||
---|---|---|
4 Gurmag Angler | $0.35 | |
4 Tolarian Terror | $0.79 | |
4 Fallaji Archaeologist | $0.39 |
Instant [26] | ||
---|---|---|
4 Brainstorm | $1.49 | |
3 Unexpected Fangs | $0.49 | |
2 Spell Pierce | $0.79 | |
4 Counterspell | $1.99 | |
1 Suffocating Fumes | $0.49 | |
4 Snuff Out | $8.99 | |
4 Mental Note | $7.49 | |
4 Thought Scour | $0.49 |
Sorcery [4] | ||
---|---|---|
4 Deep Analysis | $0.35 |
Land [18] | ||
---|---|---|
4 Ice Tunnel | $0.59 | |
4 Contaminated Aquifer | $0.69 | |
10 Island | $0.01 |
Sideboard [15] | ||
---|---|---|
2 Suffocating Fumes | $0.49 | |
4 Hydroblast | $3.49 | |
1 Nihil Spellbomb | $1.29 | |
1 Unexpected Fangs | $0.49 | |
1 Dispel | $0.49 | |
4 Chainer's Edict | $0.79 | |
2 Rotten Reunion | $0.79 |
Deck choices
Taplands over Fetchlands
While fetchlands fuel the graveyard for Gurmag Anglers and can help with Brainstorm, Swamps can't cast 18 of the deck's cards, and you will run into trouble if you have to fetch an Island first, making Snuff Out uncastable, and you run the risk of milling Swamps. For that reason, I prefer taplands.
Unexpected Fangs over Removals
Almost every creature in the format is smaller than your 5/5s, which means opponents need to double-block, opening them up to Snuff Out or Unexpected Fangs.
This dangerous situation usually leads to opponents deciding not to do that and race you instead, forcing you to use something like Cast Down on an insignificant creature that doesn't stop your general plan.
Unexpected Fangs is better overall, as it can be useful in both situations, preventing games from being stolen and filling up the hole our 8 spells leave (Deep Analysis and Snuff Out) with a total of 12+16 life cost. There is no real need for removal in most cases, with some rare exceptions.
Fallaji Archaeologist over Augur of bolas
Milling three cards is very useful in this deck, reducing your threats' cost and possibly hitting deep enough to refill. There is also a better downside compared to Bolas, in case of not finding a noncreature spell, leaving you with 3 cards in the graveyard and a ¼.
Tips and tricks
Brainstorm tricks
Brainstorm is great in this deck since it doesn’t only get rid of the 2 worst cards in your hand but also sets up your graveyard in combination with the 12 ways to mill your top cards and this is why I run 4 Deep Analysis.
Timing Your Removal
Unexpected Fangs and Snuff Out are ought to be used after blockers are declared most of the time because that gives you the maximum chance to inflict a blowout.
You can also target your opponent
Thought-scouring your opponent is very rare, but very useful when it comes to that. The mirror sometimes goes too deep, and there is enough graveyard fodder for both players to cast everything, so decking out becomes a real thing. The line is very thin, though, as you might enable flashback spells. This might also happen versus Fog Tron and Affinity.
Unload everything in one turn
Aim for a single, big turn to play out all your threats if you recognize your opponent is loaded with answers; these things are really hard to answer, so there is a chance something will stick, even if your opponent theoretically has enough answers.
Matchup & sideboard guide
Affinity
This is the worst matchup in the format. Affinity has a much better late-game than us, and their double blocks line up well; for example, Frogmite and Enforcer can stop our threats, and it is easy for them to replay those with Fountain. Another huge issue is Kenku Artificer not only providing a permanent blocker, but also making their Galvanic Blasts live. We have to be the aggressor and win fast, otherwise the board stalls and they bury us in card advantage.
On the play
On the draw
Kuldotha burn
This matchup is really easy; all you need to do is use unexpected Fangs in one of your 5/5s, and that will probably buy you enough time. Even if you lose Game 1, you can come back post-board with a nightmare plan for them. Gurmag is the better target for Fangs because Serpent can be hit with Pyroblast.
Rakdos burn
Again a really good matchup that can be solved with fangs and a 5/5 , there is a risk if they bring edicts which you could counter by adding Rotten Reunion instead of Deep analysis.
Dimir terror (Mirror)
There’s a lot of ways the mirror can go, it’s harder to answer or block on game 1 so being faster is important and you can’t use your card advantage as easily.
Postboard it’s all about edicts and edict protection and for that reason resolving Fallaji is the most important thing.
Caw-Gate
Again this is a matchup that you have to be the aggressor and put them to chump block mode before they can get enough gates to make their 1/1s relevant but they do have removal, suffocating fumes is your ace card.
Boggles
I think boggles is slightly favorable because you can block in various ways and easily set up your postboard edicts, they will eventually run out of steam.
Tron
I am still figuring out the tron matchup and I think it’s even. Having counterspells and a 0 mana way to stop their blinking justifies your clock being slowed down by fogs, if you are playing on MTGO clocking out your tron opponent is a real win condition since they have to go down to their last cards to beat you and you might even get a chance to through-scour them.
Walls
Boros Synth
UB Faeries/U Faeries
UR faeries
Deck performance
All in all this is how I view the matchups.
🟢 Good matchups
- Kuldotha Red
- Rakdos Burn
- Boros variants
- Boggles
- Walls (Generally aggro)
🟠 Even
- Caw Gate
- Tron
- Faeries
🔴 Bad
- Affinity
Final words
This is a very fun deck to play because casting 1-mana 5/5s is really satisfying, and the difficulty for running this is relatively low compared to blue decks that previously dominated the Pauper metagame . This is my recommendation if you hate losing to Swiftspear and love to win fast with a blue deck.
If you liked this article maybe you will also find interesting on of the following ones Pioneer Rakdos Racrifice-Midrange Guide
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Mogged is one of the MTGO grinders behind many of the top winning decks across formats. He has the most Challenge top8s and wins in 2021, and is currently leading in Challenge wins in 2022. His articles show a deep understanding of the MTG theory and are great for those looking to improve their gameplay, better understanding the game, and learning how the metagame evolves over time.