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Pauper
Jason Moore
About Jason Moore
Jason Moore is 25 years old, and a resident of Los Angeles
California. He began playing Magic seriously in 2010, and has developed a
strong interest in MTGO and the Pauper format. He is one of the hosts of the
podcast Pauper's Cage, and has covered Pauper on other
websites and his YouTube page. His other interests include acting,
writing and playing guitar.
Spooky Deck Ideas
Hello boys and girls!
I want to wish all of you lovely readers a very happy Halloween! May it be filled with tricks, treats, frights...and even more treats.
With brewing on the brain, I simply could not pass up the opportunity to imbue today’s article with a bit of Halloween spirit. Essentially, this means we are going to be looking over some Pauper deck ideas with very frightening themes behind them. Some will be more casual than others, but at the end of the day who cares?! The idea with these is to join in on the weekend fun. Our first order of business is to identify some of the most horrifying aspects of the game. From there we will be examining three of my bedeviling brews.
So let’s do it, a horror-filled trio of Pauper decks await!
Set the Stage
To find Magic cards with Halloween-level spookiness, one must look no further than the flavorful and innovative Innistrad block. Not only did the set focus on Vampires, Werewolves and Zombies (oh my!), but it also gave every single color a reason to be scary. Yes, that even includes white and blue (just look at the art on Curse of the Bloody Tome and Ghostly Possession if you don’t believe me).
Now, despite the capacity for each of the five colors to be Halloween-appropriate, it’s clear to most that black is going to be our best bet overall. I mean come on, black’s very logo is a skull for crying out loud. The color specializes in ghouls, skeletons, and all things that go Bump in the Night. With clearly horrific artwork, flavor and functionality, the commons found in black will serve as my primary inspiration for the upcoming lists.
Speaking of those lists, let’s take a look at the first!
The Walking Dead
Zombies! You know them, you love them, you know you love them. Here we have a tribe that is not only putrid, but also Pauper-playable! The most important recent addition to the undead horde has got to be Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Check out my latest take on the zombie strategy, Golgari Zombies!
Jason Moore Golgari Zombies (10/31/2014)
Deck by Jason Moore on Fri, 10/31/2014 - 01:00
Main Deck
(60 cards)
Sideboard
(15 cards)
1
Evolving Wilds
3
Brindle Boar
1
Forest
4
Choking Sands
4
Golgari Guildgate
2
Nihil Spellbomb
4
Jungle Hollow
3
Scattershot Archer
14
Swamp
2
Serene Heart
4
Carnophage
1
Serrated Arrows
4
Ghoulraiser
4
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4
Highborn Ghoul
4
Putrid Leech
3
Shepherd of Rot
4
Geth's Verdict
1
Ghoulcaller's Chant
4
Nameless Inversion
2
Pharika's Cure
2
Sorin's Thirst
Colors
Black
32
Gold
4
Land
24
Converted Mana Cost
1
5
2
23
3
4
5
4
Type
Basic Land
15
Creature
23
Instant
12
Land
9
Sorcery
1
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Versions:
Alara Reborn (Foil)
Duel Decks: Izzet Vs. Golgari
Duel Decks: Jace Vs. Vraska
So why Golgari Zombies (as opposed to mono black or some other color combination)? The answer is a simple one: Putrid Leech! Here we have a card that many of us have attempted to popularize for quite some time now. Initially a staple in the Standard-dominating Jund midrange decks, Leech is a card that can bully opponents and their creatures with its activated ability.
Being large enough to bust a defending Spire Golem or Gray Merchant is quite nice. Alternatively, Leech can play around removal spells such as Firebolt and Lightning Bolt for a marginal cost. On top of all that, the Alara Reborn slime ball is a zombie, and adds to our devotion to black. With much easier fixing available to us these days, splashing green for Leeches is certainly a reasonable option.
Green also helps out with our sideboard diversity. Brindle Boar, while typically unexciting, is a splashable insurance policy we can opt to take out against Pauper Burn. Scattershot Archer is capable of annihilating Cloud of Faeries and Spellstutter Sprite en masse, and similarly fights off the white decks playing Battle Screech and Triplicate Spirits. Last but not least, Serene Heart is one of green’s ultimate hate cards against Ethereal Armor Hexproof strategies.
Aside from the admitted flavor motivation, zombies do offer some appealing synergies to build around. The first is the capacity to fuel Sheperd of Rot’s activated ability. When coupled with the life loss produced by Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Geth's Verdict, Shepherd equates to quite a bit of reach (even in the event of a frustrating board stall). Another plus lies within the deck’s recursion synergies. Ghoulcaller's Chant can easily pick up two cards from the bin, including the Lorwyn removal (and maybe pump?) spell Nameless Inversion. Because Inversion has changeling, it’s technically also a zombie! Neat huh? Ghoulraiser is the other recursive piece, and also adds two devotion pips while fitting our curve nicely.
The overall game plan should be pretty clear. Establish a board presence, remove blockers with removal spells and burn the opponents out with Merchants and Shepherds. One interesting component of the deck is the tension between losing life and gaining it back. Carnophage, Putrid Leech and Shepherd of Rot can all punish us in the event of close races. For that reason I’ve incorporated a split between Pharika's Cure and Sorin's Thirst (functionally the same card) on top of the Merchants and Jungle Hollows to help us out a bit.
Do you think this deck has potential, or should it stay removed from the world of the living?
Torture Chamber
Man I wish this deck were faster! It’s still rather fun to build and play with though.
Jason Moore Dimir Tortured Existence (10/31/2014)
Deck by Jason Moore on Fri, 10/31/2014 - 01:04
Main Deck
(60 cards)
Sideboard
(15 cards)
3
Dismal Backwater
4
Choking Sands
4
Evolving Wilds
1
Crypt Rats
1
Island
2
Faerie Macabre
12
Swamp
3
Hydroblast
4
Terramorphic Expanse
2
Okiba-Gang Shinobi
4
Carrion Feeder
2
Oona's Gatewarden
3
Crypt Rats
1
Raven's Crime
2
Fume Spitter
2
Golgari Brownscale
3
Grave Scrabbler
4
Mulldrifter
4
Perilous Myr
4
Stinkweed Imp
2
Undertaker
2
Careful Study
4
Tortured Existence
2
Treasure Cruise
Colors
Artifact
4
Black
22
Blue
8
Green
2
Land
24
Converted Mana Cost
1
12
2
6
3
9
4
3
5
4
8
2
Type
Artifact Creature
4
Basic Land
13
Creature
24
Enchantment
4
Land
11
Sorcery
4
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At first glance it might seem like there is a lot of tension between Tortured Existence and Treasure Cruise (since one wants cards to be in the graveyard, and the other wants to take cards out of the graveyard). In reality, however, this tension is not all that relevant. A lot of removable elements are going to end up in the bin, including fetchlands, other lands, spells and redundant creature pieces. I don’t see any problem with playing Cruise in this deck, in fact I’ve been trying to cram the Khans sorcery into just about every archetype I can think of (that’s a story for another time I suppose).
Our win conditions are revivable Crypt Rats and Perilous Myr. While Carrion Feeder and Tortured Existence are on the table we can shock the opponent multiple times each turn in order to simply burn them out. I’m trying out Careful Study, which in Rakdos variants of this deck would clearly be substituted with Faithless Looting. Undertaker serves as a redundant “copy” of Tortured Existence, with only one possible activation per turn. Nevertheless, she can pitch any card as part of the activation, not just creatures.
The sideboard features a potential nine card disruption suite against Esper Familiars and combo decks of a similar nature. I’m actually not very convinced that this is even worthwhile, as our deck is far too slow to beat them with any regularity. What this suite does offer is some semblance of a plan: blow up their Karoo lands and start connecting with Okiba-Gang Shinobi before they can recover. Strip their hand further with Raven's Crime if possible. Yeah. Not a great plan.
I’ve played this list very little, but I can say that in my hands it’s incredibly slow. If you’re going to try this deck out, keep in mind that it will take a bit of practice in order to get the decisions and sequences down. Good luck!
Evil Spirits
And now we come to this enchanted article’s final deck. I wanted to do something with spirits, and ended up going pretty deep in that regard. See for yourself.
Jason Moore Orzhov Evil Spirits (10/31/2014)
Deck by Jason Moore on Fri, 10/31/2014 - 01:08
Main Deck
(60 cards)
Sideboard
(15 cards)
2
Orzhov Basilica
4
Order Of Leitbur
4
Orzhov Guildgate
3
Prismatic Strands
14
Plains
4
Suture Priest
4
Scoured Barrens
4
Veteran Armorer
4
Doomed Traveler
4
Guardian of the Guildpact
2
Kami Of Ancient Law
2
Keening Apparition
4
Waxmane Baku
2
Devouring Greed
4
Guardians' Pledge
4
Journey to Nowhere
2
Read the Bones
4
Spiritual Visit
4
Triplicate Spirits
Colors
Black
4
Land
24
White
32
Converted Mana Cost
1
8
2
8
3
10
4
6
6
4
Type
Basic Land
14
Creature
16
Enchantment
4
Instant
8
Land
10
Sorcery
8
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Versions:
Champions of Kamigawa (Foil)
Are there enough black sources to resolve Devouring Greed regularly? My answer is…maybe. The deck could probably use some more fliers (Battle Screech and Squadron Hawk come to mind), but that would take away from our spirited theme! As a White Weenie veteran I can say that there are cards in this list that even I have not yet played with, but I imagine this could be quite fun to play.
The sideboard is very rough, with Order of Leitbur for the MBC matchup, Prismatic Strands for decks that attack and/or burn to death, Suture Priest for creature mirrors and Veteran Armorer to fight sweepers like Cuombajj Witches, Electrickery and Shrivel.
While this is probably the weakest of the three decks, I can still see it taking games off of a number of opponents. It’s not the first thing I would pilot in a Daily Event, but it certainly makes for some hefty Halloween hooliganism.
Hallowed Ground
After a bit of a hiatus, I’ve been able to rejuvenate the video portion of Common Ground! Today I’m piloting Mono Black Control, which I hope you guys will enjoy watching. A deck tech video will be available to fill you in on all the juicy details.
While I’m not sure of this deck’s current position amongst the field (zero copies of Treasure Cruise? Seriously?), I do think it fits well with the spookiness-factor of today’s topic. Between the artwork of Duress, Liliana's Specter, Sign in Blood and Victim of Night, I for one am thoroughly creeped out.
Please let me know if you think I missed any obvious creepy cards or decks. If you have any thoughts on how the above lists can be improved, don’t be afraid to send your suggestions as well.
As always, thanks for reading, and enjoy the videos!
(Common Ground #46) R1 Mono Black Control vs... von jasonmoore228
(Common Ground #46) R2 Mono Black Control vs... von jasonmoore228
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