Furnace into Tomb Raider on turn 1, the deck does this
Hi guys! I’m Dario from Lega Pauper Reggio Emilia and Team Bidoni. I’m the hand behind our playmat and token arts. I finished top 4 at Paupergeddon Summer 2026 with Mono Red Rally (with Axes).
So where to start?! I chose this deck after seeing Lillo Aldegheri aka seasonofmists doing great in Bologna. Easy playpattern, fast games, linear strategy, all things that my smooth brain can handle for a long tournament like Paupergeddon. I missed Paupergeddon Spring and Eternal Weekend so I was very rusty going to such a big event so I valued the shortage of games and linear strategy the most. I needed a deck that could let me rest, drink, eat, and chat in between games so it was an easy choice, kinda. So the list I submitted, as I said, was the exact 60 as Aldegheri’s in our League’s top8, I just tweaked the sideboard for my taste. Joking with my teammate I said if I go to turn even a single time that will be a moral and personal defeat, but in the longest game of the swiss round I think I finished with 15 minutes still on the clock, so mission completed. Also, and that was the most important part of my decision making during the deck choice, I didn’t have much time to test or to prepare so I went with the most basic and streamlined deck I could think of.
è uno gnomo armato di ascia! (cit.)
Dario Boniburini
So, I’ve made one unusual choice in the decklist. I preferred 4 Inventor’s Axe over 3 Experimental Synthesizers and 1 End the festivities maindeck because I valued aggression over grindyness in the long run. If the game goes long you are already in a bad spot. The deck perfectly encapsulates the philosophy “Live fast, die young”, you have to maximise damage in every combat step in the early game so when the opponent is low on life you can close the game with some burn spells. The deck is not built to sustain a grindy game, is built for speed and the axes are very good at killing your opponent fast.
On Thursday evening I almost changed the list going back to the synthesizer’s one but in the end I really didn’t miss synth. The split Wrenn’s Resolve/Reckless Impulse is only because I own only 3 Reckless and 1 Wrenn, as we said in Italy “è quello che passa il convento”. I, also, considered playing Gingerbrute over Chain Lightning but I did not have time to test it so I preferred to stay with a quite consolidated list. I think brute can really help the axe’s strategy but it's more an all in gameplan, one breath weapon and you could fall short of closing games without 10 burn spells.
In the sideboard Flaring Pain is there because I was scared of the hype for Naya cazzate, Prismatic Strands is a pain in the ass for this deck, actually more than Mono Red Madness because you rely heavily on one combat step to close the game. For the Artifacts matchup I played 4 Cast into the Fire to exile the opponent's lands, Affinity and Jund are quite clunky if you keep them out of one color and usually keep 2 lander hands. I preferred Cast over Smash to smithereens because they are more flexible and I can side-in also in creature heavy matchup like elves or mirror match. I expected quite a lot of Affinity and Jund so maybe I should’ve played more artifact hate but at the cost of graveyard hate. Last summer I chose not to play graveyard hate and I lost 2 win&in for day2 against Spy combo and Rakdos Madness (damned undying faeries); so I wanted at least 3 Relic of Progenitus that I can use also against Terror strategy. For the last 3 cards I played 3 Tectonic Hazard, the End the Festivities for poor people, These are great to remove blockers in the early game and against go-wide strategy.
I don’t remember the games quite well but I’ll try my best. Without further ado, let’s put the skies on and begin the slalom.
Game1: I won the die roll, first success of the tournament. I started fast with turn 1 mountain clockwork and turn 2 Tomb Raider followed by another Tomb Raider. Before he could do anything relevant he was dead.
Game 2: I started really aggressive with Great Furnace Tomb Raider (you’ll read this phrase many more times during this report, I’ll put the stats at the end), followed by another 5 damage on turn 2. He cleaned up the board with Krark-Clan Shaman so I had to restart building board presence. We passed a couple of interlocutory turns where I had only a 1/1 attacking while he played a Utrom Monitor and started attacking back, forcing a race. He had 4 lands and only a black source so when I drew Cast into the Fire I decided to attack the manabase. He responded by playing Reckoner’s Bargain, sacrificing the Utrom to gain some life. The next turn I restarted by flooding the board with creatures and closing the game in a couple of turns.
Axed.
Match 2-0 Score 1-0
Game1: Second match, second die roll won and the matchup was really good; lucky. I keep a one lander with Great Furnace, Tomb Raider and Burning-Tree Emissary. So I started with Furnace and Tomb Raider. I drew my second land on turn 2 and played BTE into another 1 drop. Then I attacked for 5 until my opponent was at 0.
Game 2: I took out Chain because he could copy it if he had open mana and axes because they are quite bad into his removal. I sided in hate for Sneakers but after I spoke with my opponent he told me he sided them out because they are slow and clunky against the relentless aggression of Rally. Going back, the correct sideboarding was only 2 or 3 Tectonic to remove blockers for Chain Lightning. G2 I keep another one lander with an Epicure T1 followed by a Tomb Raider turn 2. I found my second land quite fast so I started putting more pressure on the board. He tried to slow me down making blockers and removing my bigger creature but I had removal for each of his creatures and I played more creatures the more he destroyed. In the end he put me to 5 but I was able to close the game next turn. After the game my opponent told me he sided out sneakers so my side boarding was not 100% correct.
Axed.
Match 2-0 Score 2-0
Game 1: Guess what? Another die roll won into another T1 Furnace Tomb Raider and began attacking his life points. In a couple of turns I put him on 8 but with a Union of the Third Path he climbed back to 13. He did not find a sweeper so I was able to close the game quite fast.
Game 2: I started kinda slow so he had time to stabilize with some Skred and Hydroblast then he started attacking back with a Mulldrifter. In the end a Breath Weapon followed by a Murmuring Mystic sealed the deal but I was able to put him to 6 so he was in range of double bolt.
Game 3: I opened another one lander with T1 Furnace Tomb Raider, 3 Pyroblasts so I kept 7. I started attacking very early, pressuring his life points, he tried to stabilize removing my creatures but I drew like a dragon so there was almost no game. I had a window to try to win a turn early but I didn’t even try to bolt him into his open blue mana. He was also kinda short on land so when he tapped out to play a mystic so I closed the match. In this spot I almost had a brain fart, I drew a Tomb Raider which was lethal but somehow I nearly messed up, after I thought for almost 30 seconds I found the obvious line: remove the blocker with Pyroblast, attack and bolt him to death.
Axed.
Match 2-1 Score 3-0
Game 1: I won the die roll, he mulligan to 5. I kept a really strong hand and by his turn 3 he conceded. I think he played the moxite version of madness but I’m not really sure.
Game 2: He started but he could not establish a board presence because I had a burn heavy hand. I attacked for 3 damage for a couple of turns until he went to 0. In 2 games I lost only 2 life points, so it was not that close.
Axed.
Match 2-0 Score 4-0
Game 1: Another one, another die roll won. At this point I realized the holy card of San Watcher, protector of the Mulligan, was working quite well, my luck was flawless. I started using it as a meme at the beginning of the tournament and by now it became a relevant part of my pregame routine. This game wasn’t particularly close. I only saw 2 tron land, 1 Candy trail and 2 maps so I thought it was some kind of monster tron, which is a bad matchup but kinda winnable if I close the game sufficiently fast.
Game 2: I kept a hand with 2 lands and no 1 drop, I played turn 2 BTE plus Rally and started applying pressure. I immediately noticed my sideboard was kinda wrong when he started playing Island into Conduit Pylons. He stabilized with Breath Weapon then played Moment’s Peace protected with Blue Elemental Blast. I conceded an already lost game, he was at a healthy life total and I had 0 board presence and 0 cards in hand.
vs Moment's Peace
Game 3: Going into game 3 I was not scared of Hydroblasts the only thing I had to do was applying pressure with creatures and trying to keep him out of turn 3 tron. I, again, started with Great Furnace into Goblin Tomb Raider followed by Rally on turn 2. The next turn I attacked for 9 with a kicked Bushwhacker, putting him to 5. He went tap out to clean the board but I had a Voldaren Epicure and a Galvanic Blast with metalcraft online.
Axed.
Match 2-0 Score 5-0
Game1: I was kinda nervous entering this game, the first to secure day 2. Last year I threw away 2 matches so this time I was determined to not let it happen again. Then, I lost the first die roll of the day. I kept a one lander hand that made turn one Epicure into turn two Tomb Raider. He killed the Tomb Raider with Skred but I sneak into play an Inventor’s Axe that same turn. The vampire went unchecked until he tapped out so I decided to press on the accelerator. In 2 turns I put him to 0 with a double Galvanic Blast and went to Game 2.
Game 2: This was the longest game of the weekend. We started with 40 minutes on the clock and finished with 15. I kept another one lander that could make an artifact on turn one and Tomb Raider on two that developed quite well. The game was grindy and slow, he had removal for all of my creatures and blocked the ground with Augur of Bolas then with a protected Murmuring Mystic. He drew a lot of cards with Mulldrifter and Ephemerate then he started attacking in the air with the board stalled. In all of this I could put him to 2 with an unchecked Epicure with an Axe equipped, even after a Union of the Third Path for 4 life. At this point I had 2 Galvanic Blast for 4 and a Lightning Bolt in hand, and knew he had 2 Ephemerate, a Counterspell and 4 unknown in hand, two turns before he cycled a Lorién in my end step then he directly played the Island he drew for the turn so I could tell that one of the unknown cards was an Island. I started with Epicure, he responded with counterspell. With counterspell still on the stack I responded with Galvanic Blast which he tried to counter with Hydroblast, then I responded with another Galvanic Blast. At this point he Ephemerated an Augur of Bolas then, with the first Ephemerate on the stack, I responded with my last Lightning Bolt. He played his last Ephemerate, blinking the Augur, finding the second Union. He played it, gaining 4 life and drawing a card, then we resolved the stack. He went to 6 then to 3, the first Ephemerate lost the target then Galvanic Blast killed him. He had 3 Counterspells on top of the deck. Unlucky.
Axed.
At this point I secured day 2 which was my goal for the tournament. I felt really good, I had a good preparation, I knew the format quite well but I had almost 0 real testing so I was really happy with this result. But why stop here?!
Match 2-0 Score 6-0
Game 1: I lost the second die roll in a row so I appealed to San Watcher and he delivered. At this point we were at table 1, but the pressure was relieved so I played kinda carefree. I kept on 7 with Furnace Tomb Raider turn 1, thank you San Watcher. I started aggressively and he could not keep up with the pressure, a Lembas could only prolong the game for one turn.
Game 2: I started, again, with Furnace Tomb Raider followed by 4 damage on turn 2. He found answers to my board and a Weather the Storm for 15 sealed the deal for him.
Game 3: I opened a really good hand, again, with Turn 1 Furnace Tomb Raider followed by an axe and a lot of pressure. He kinda stabilized with Crypt Rats but his life total was too low so I was able to win the match.
Axed.
Match 2-1 Score 7-0
Game 1: At this moment of the tournament I felt confident, I was at table one so I felt unbeatable. In this turn I ate a slice of humble pie and this kept me to the ground. So, I opened a really really strong hand with BTE, Rally on Turn 2. I put him on 12 on turn 3 but he played Krark-Clan Shaman and stabilized. I saw that he had at least one Toxin Analysis maindeck, I was a bit surprised but I recognized it was a really difficult matchup even more than I was expecting.
Game 2: I kept a really strong hand on the play, that could only lose against a turn 3 Shaman. He untapped at turn 3 at 7 life, played a Shaman and wiped the board with toxin analysis. From there I kept playing but he was in control and I drew nothing relevant. At the end of Game 2 my opponent gifted me with my new go to food token, a Pasticciotto token, if you are reading thank you very much man, I loved it!
Match 0-2 Score 7-1
This loss was the reality check I needed to stay focused for day 2. In the evening I made some sideboard adjustments with my teammates but we focused more on the sideboarding of Selesnya Elmetto, the deck one of my teammates played that made him day 2. Changing perspective on to another deck helped me not to overthink.
Game 1: I kept a quite burn heavy hand on 7 cards on the play while he mulligan to 6. I started attacking and removing his creatures, I wanted to keep his side of the board as empty as I could. That worked quite well and I was able to win game one.
Game 2: I kept a hand with early aggression and 2 Tectonic Hazard. He tried to play Timberwatch to stop me but I swept the board and closed the game quite fast.
Axed.
Match 2-0 Score 8-1
Game 1: I kept on 6 he mull to 5. I realized now this was the first mulligan of the tournament. I was on the draw but tapland into tapland into tapland from my opponent was too slow to stop my race. He never saw a Basilisk gate nor Prismatic Strands so I was able to take game one with the power of the axes.
Game 2: Going into game 2 I felt confident nonetheless this was one of the scariest matchup for my deck. Again I made a slow turn 1 into 3 damage turn 2 into 5+ damage a turn for the rest of the game. I applied so much pressure that one turn he had to cast 2 Prismatic Strands, one on red and one on white, just to stay alive. For the sideboard plan I thought of trimming some playset for the go-wide strategy to fit some Relic of Progenitus, I still don’t know if this is correct but I fear to slow down too much.
Axed.
Match 2-0 Score 9-1
Game 1: I knew Pietro was playing madness because he played against a friend of mine on day 1 but he is a much better player than me so I had to stay focused and play at my best to win the match. I lost the die roll but I started Furnace Tomb Raider making him sigh at my play. Both of us knew that was a favorable matchup for my deck. This first game was really fast, I had lethal on turn five but he killed me on his turn five with Guttersnipe, Fireblast and Lava Dart from the graveyard in response to a removal, all of this with Grab the Price on the stack.
After this game we had a deckcheck so we chatted a little bit. Pietro was a great guy and I’m not saying it because he is the guy who publish thereport, *wink wink. Jokes aside he was really chill and we talked about the upcoming events, like PauperFog on 26 of July in Reggio Emilia. After this blatant self promotion let’s go to the sideboard.
Game 2: After speaking to my Madness opponents on Day 1 I changed how I sideboarded against Madness. So, if the sneakers leave there less need of graveyard hate and less board wipe but I sided in anyway because Chains are really bad. I had a hell of a hand, with BTE plus Rally on turn two, if I remember correctly he untapped on his turn 2 at 13. This game was very fast so we went on to Game 3. Again he still put me to 11 so it was kinda close, I had to stay focused.
Game 3: I kept one lander but was very promising with almost only 1 mana cards, thinking about if I drew a land I was as safe as houses. I don’t have to say that I drew my second land on turn 2 and Rally on turn three flooding the board with creatures. I was able to close the game helped by Pietro missing a land drop. A friend of mine told me after the game that he had Searing Blaze but no land to enable landfall to deal with my Burning-threes .
Axed.
Match 2-1 Score 10-1
Game 1: At this point this was a win&in for the top 8. He was 12-0 and until then he’d lost only three games in the tournament. I don’t have to say this is a terrible matchup for Rally, his creatures are cheap and can survive blocking ours, but I still felt really confident. This game was insane, he was on the play but never drew any Prismatic Strands. Instead I drew like a dragon. I don’t remember the game too well, I was too focused. We had almost ten people watching us, so maybe someone else remembers the exact plays. I only remember I kept a hand with Furnace, Tomb Raider and 2 Bushwacker. During the game I flooded the board removing his 3 toughness creatures. I closed the game playing Bushwhacker 4 turns in a row topdecking the other two that I hadn’t in hand. Crazy game.
Game 2: So going into game 2 my opponent admitted he was a bit tilted because of my luck, I can understand that feeling I sequenced well but the deck helped me out quite a lot. Into game 2 I started fast with 4 damage on turn two but he started filling the board with creatures bigger than mine. He started outracing me, protected with strands. I had no chance so we went to game 3.
Game 3: I started really aggressively putting him on 9 by turn three with BTE, Rally and Bushwhacker. I dealt a couple of damage but he started gaining life with a Lunarch Veteran. I tried to stay into the game but he gained too much life. He also had a Prismatic Strands into the graveyard to fog any relevant attack. Maybe I could have played better but he always had the right response, like Ramosian Rally in response to a Tectonic Hazard.
Match 1-2 Score 10-2
Game 1: Basically I was back to the wall. Another loss and I can say goodbye to my chances to reach top 8. So I was kinda nervous going into this match. I won the die roll and started with Furnace Tomb Raider. When he started Island pass I made a sigh of relief, almost every blue matchup is favorable or even. My hand was really strong, I dealt him 8 damage on turn 2 so this first game ended quickly.
Game 2: I kept a strange hand but I had one Epicure and a Relic. This vampire dealt him 7 damage all alone while the Relic kept his graveyard in check. I drew 3 Relics in this game so he had to pay 7 mana for his first Terror. I was patient after the first Terror, keeping burn spells in hand and waited for the right spot to close the game. When I was at five I decided to pull the trigger. He had few mana open and only 2 cards. I was lucky he had only one Dispel and an Envelop, so I was able to win by casting 3 burn spells. I’m still one game from top 8.
Axed.
Match 2-0 Score 11-2
Game 1: Before the game we did some math, and no one of us was safe: if we intentionally draw almost certainly one of us was out of the top 8. So we had to play. I won the die roll and started with a really aggressive Furnace into Tomb Raider on turn one. He mulligan to 6 or 5 I don’t remember but the turning point was when he milled his only Swamp with a Winding Way. From that moment I tried to keep him out of his black mana while keeping pressure on the board. I’m one game away from the top 8 but Spy is a bad matchup.
Game 2: I kept a functional hand and started executing my gameplan but he managed to fill the board and gain life with Nylea’s Disciple. That gained him quite some time but my board state was concerning to him so he decided to pull the trigger and tried to combo with one land in the deck. That worked, he milled 2 Dread Return and 2 Giants with 8 creatures on the board, so I conceded.
Side in: Side out: 3 Reckless Impulse
Game 3: In game two I noticed he played quite some 1/1 on his deck so I decided to board in some wrath. I started fast with a Burning-Tree into Relic of Progenitus on turn 3. My draws were fire, I found the right card at the right moment like an Axe out of cracking a Relic. I managed his board with my burn spells while a Bushwhacker sealed the deal. Top 8 achieved. Nicola was a really great guy and it was a pleasure playing with him. I’m no surprise he’s a legend of the Italian pauper community. Due to this win I was second place in swiss round so I was on the play at least for the next two games, lucky.
Axed.
Match 2-1 Score 12-2
Ua, ui, ue, la fortuna viene a me. Ui, ue, ua la fortuna viene qua. Ua, ue, ui la fortuna non va lì
This was the first match I played in streaming since last year but I wasn’t too nervous. This run was fantastic and I didn’t want to stop here. My teammates helped me with a propitiatory rite for luck by Fantozzi, so I was very chill at the moment.
Game 1: I started keeping seven while he went to 6. Good start already. I had a really strong hand, I had Furnace Tomb Raider on turn one followed by the topdeck of BTE into Rally on turn 2, so he had to try comboing me on his turn two. He dug deep in his deck but he fizzled. For a moment I really thought I was dead on turn 2. Re-watching the match I was really close to dying but I thought I had to put him in a situation where he had to gamble and start the combo with limited resources, little to no mana and few life point.
Game 2: I kept on 6 with Furnace, Tomb Raider, double BTE, Relic and one between Bolt and Axe. I drew Mountain on turn one and played Furnace Tomb Raider followed by double BTE into Axe and Relic on turn two putting my opponent on 14. I activated Relic in his Upkeep to make him use some mana in an uncomfortable spot before drawing for turn. He tried to combo on his turn three but he fizzled again. Unlucky. Francesco is a great Cycling Storm player. I was really scared when he tried to combo out, great execution and flawless speed but nonetheless he was Axed.
Match 2-0 Score 13-2
Game 1: I saw his decklist and instantly knew I was in trouble. He played 2 Toxins and Pulse maindeck so for me it was a matter of speed. If he sees some of these cards I probably lose because he can go out of reach. I tried to close the game fast, I put him to 5 even after his first Krark-Clan Shaman, but he played Pulse to come back to 11, took shaman back from the graveyard and wrath the board. This game ended on this play, nothing that happened after really mattered.
Game 2: I kept a really good hand with T1 creature, turn 2 BET plus Cast into the Fire who exiled his Drossforge Bridge. Unfortunately this was not enough to win the game, he drew the land he needed then only answers to my board while I wasn’t able to close the game. It’s kinda muddy in my head now but my only out was he attacked with most of his creatures giving me the chance to play BTE plus Tomb Raider plus Bushwhacker. But he was really careful in his combat steps so I never really had a window to try anything. Unlucky. Match 0-2 Score 13-3
Chatting with my opponent he said during the weekend the Rally matchup felt really easy, especially game 1. I lost to 2 Junds so I agree with him but we, as Rally players, can sneak some wins exiling their bridges or with some extremely fast hands. He also said he never drew like those games, he always drew the perfect card for the situation while I was always hoping for something else, more burn, more haste creatures, exc... He drew and played better than me so it was a deserved win.
After all, I’m very happy with this result. My goal was to make day 2 and I went all down to the semifinal. It was a great run, or as someone would say, a great rally. I was lucky during all tournaments I took very few mullingan and started the game with Great Furnace Goblin Tomb Raider 13 times out of 38 games I played, so quite a bit more than 14%. I think Inventor’s Axe is a good card in this deck. I won at least 3 games thanks to Inventor’s Axe, the most important was game 3 of the win&in for the top8.
I want to thank all of my opponents, everyone was super kind and chill. Special thanks to il Fritto, a legend, who I played the win&in for the top8, sorry for the last topdeck but I drew like that all weekend. Joking with my friends they said I was blessed by gods of magic.
Last but not least I have to say thank you to Lillo Aldegheri aka Seasonofmist, I ran this list after I saw him playing it at Bologna’s Pauper Ragù and in our League Top8. I was joking, the biggest thanks goes to Team Bidoni and fellow LPRE players who supported me all the weekend, and before during testing, so thanks to Fiakka (who could not attend the event), Gabri, Gando, Lollo, Pietro, Tazzo and to all Lega Pauper Reggio Emilia.
See ya all at PauperFog!
Riguardo l'autore
Scribacchino di liste e report vari, saltuariamente scrivo qualche articolo interessante. Due volte l'anno provo la conquista dei Paupergeddon di Milano/Lecco e Firenze/Pisa, finora con discreti risultati.
Pietro Bragioto
Scribacchino di liste
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Ciao a tutti! Sono Matteo Rullo, conosciuto su MTGO come Mugent e membro della Lega Pauper Padova. Al Paupergeddon Summer Edition 2026 ho concluso il torneo all'11° posto giocando Mono Red Madness, che per semplicità chiamerò Redness nel resto dell'articolo.
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