MtG Pauper General

I have Kuldotha, I really like it but it's real bad against Tron and people love playing Tron. Eats all the Delver bros though. Aristocrats is a list that hasn't figured out what it wants to be yet, and we don't have a blood artist that's not shit. Mortician Beetle is fucking monstrous though.

Basically if Midnight is good against Tron, I'd love it.

>tfw bad rares keep fluff deck out of pauper
maybe its my shit tastes

I'm blessed to only have one tron player in my meta. I detest tron of any variety, in any format.

Midnight Gond (or, at least, my "new" version that doesn't have the lifegain package) rocks. It's removal resilient for a combo deck, and the bodies typically block reasonably well while you're waiting for the combo pieces. I'd solitaire the list, change the flavor if you want, and test it against whatever tron decks are popular near you.

It looks pretty fun to play, though I'm saying this without truly knowing how it operates. As long as it's strong matchups aren't the same as Kuldotha, I'm good with building it. It's still pretty cheap and Green White are definitely in my colours.

It's super, super fun.

Core combos:

>Midnight Guard + Presence of Gond
Two card combo that makes infinite 1/1 elves

>Devoted Druid + Presence of Gond + Sigil of the Nayan Gods/Ivy Lane Denizen
Infinitely untap druid to make tokens

Heliod's Pilgrim and Commune with the Gods make it super consistent, they're great tutor/dig cards. And the mana dorks make you faster + fodder to edicts

Sigil can also be cycled, and Pilgrim can fetch the Sigil, so even if you have part of the combo in hand most of your draws aren't dead

I'm surprised the deck isn't more popular, although I'm concerned a piece will get banned once this build catches on

As long as pauper EDH is welcome here, do you think there is any way to abuse this? Colorless can hurt a lot, however.

>banned
I doubt it. We have the artifact and tron lands in the format with no bans in sight for them.

There's a few other pieces of equipment with equip 0. Even if Crackdown Construct is your only creature, you can requip it as many times as you like and then swing for a trillion.

I don't believe the artifact lands are busted in pauper. Affinity is a great deck, but with Gorilla Shaman and Gleeful Sabotage, most decks can combat it. Echoing Decay is good, too. I did just lose to it with my simic delver deck, but my sideboard was crap. Annul or Steel Sabotage help a lot.

I'm biased towards the tron lands so I shouldn't try to pretend to be objective. Ban those broken, unfun trash heaps ASAP

I agree too. Tron Lands are a mistake. They're not overwhelming, but if we're not gonna have Land Destruction that's backbreaking against it, I don't really enjoy them. I'm not super salty and jaded yet, but it'll happen in time, I'm betting.
Some dick said the words "Dinrova Horror Tron" last week.

If paper events make it a real format, sinkhole would be pretty sweet.

I had Spreading Seas in my Delver deck, but it felt inadequate. Didn't try Sea's Claim. If I had more local tron I'd probably play stax every week.

One hate piece that's great for red is Uncontrolled Infestation.

Wow, yeah that would do it. People are going to hate me for this one.

Actually this doesn't work, there are no pauper equipments with equip 0

The Apostles have several things going against them.

A 1/1 for B isn't bad, but just throwing out a tonne of them isn't that great compared to a tonne of any other great black one-drops. Sure it sets you up for Echoing Courage, but it also makes you a target for Echoing Decay and Truth, both of which are sideboard staples for token decks.

There's also the fact that, even when used as intended to grab thier own demon, they still sucked.

Still, pauper gives you more wiggle room than modern.

The only demon worth grabbing is Lady Orca for her 7 attack. And I think the key is stealing a page from Izzet Blitz and hitting her with Temur Battle Rage, which gives her double strike and trample. If you also hit her with Tainted strike, then unless they're blocking with something with more than 6 toughness, it's a one-shot kill. Getting her haste (not hard in Red) is good because the longer your only threat is on the battlefield the more likely she is to eat removal.

The key would be setting up the deck so you can spam enough apostles AND scour(with Whispers, Sign in Blood, Faithless looting, etc) for your key cards(Battle rage, tainted strike, something haste) to set up the fatal swing combo, ideally in the same turn.

And even then, even if you do get it just right, it's till jank as fuck and likely to be shut down by anything your opponent does. I just feel like there must be something I'm missing to make it all come together.

Don't you ever disgrace our beautiful lady with such talk.

Made a test list:

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/orcas-apostles/?cb=1518328919

It does just look like a worse version of reanimator. But, you kind of have inevitability, at least.

Also: Isn't there a black card that puts a creature from your graveyard on top of your library?

There's a couple. Both Bone Harvest and Grave Purge put any number of creature cards on top of your library and draw a card for 2B(Bone harvest slowtrips though), and Dead Reckoning puts a creature card on top of your library for 1BB and then zaps a creature for damage equal to the returned creature's power, which might not be bad for this deck.

Dead Reckoning sounds better.

But, honestly, UB reanimator just seems way, way more consistent, and better. Even our payoff is only a vanilla 7/4, and that's if we get SIX apostles out -- six mana, plus six cards.

It'd be hilarious to win with, but unless there's something else to make demons awesome, not too sure... is anything with Changeling usable here?

Thazo teppic is the best bad rare. Its unique in that it has protection from legends LOL

Using Midnight Gond has a sort of plan B, but it looks like it's just two different versions of the combo in this one, correct?

Three, actually! The link mentions them in the description. All of them have the same result, though. The older build uses soul sisters for lifegain, but it has fewer pieces to make the deck as consistent as it needs to be.

Nope. I think the best changling option is a 4/4 Trample.

There's just not a decent payoff demon for pauper yet. Maybe one day.

Also, I've coppied over my deck lists for the other two decks I'm primarily working on (goblins basically builds itself). They're both control heavy options that I was working on specifically because I didn't want to make an aggro focused deck.

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/pestilence-control-experiment-1/

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/11-02-18-JhQ-some-enchanted-evening/

How much do the power levels of pauper and peasant differ?
Which do you think are more fun to play in terms of gameplay? Which have more diverse meta games?
desu thinking of getting into pauper but peasant seems pretty attractive despite being dead

No idea what peasant's like, but it has force of will, so probably very different.

Regardless, peasant is played even less than frontier, whereas pauper is becoming more popular everyday. CFG is doing pauper side events at GPs, now

The pauper meta is healthy, never stays above 10% for a single deck, and changes literally weekly. It's wide open at this point, the win rates between tier 1 and tier 2 are like

Mono-white heroic just netted me $200 bucks at local pauper event. was fun

My delver deck got wrecked by it, but that deck seems SUPER weak to edicts. What decks did you play?

Built:

BW Skyfisher/Artifacts
RG Lumberjack ramp
UB Aristocrats
Mono-Red Glass Cannon
UR Banishing Knack combo
BW Midrange/Extort
WG Slivers
UR Tandem Triggers

Hoping to build BR pestilence with Sun-Crowned Hunters and Frilled Deathspitter when I get the chance. Still have yet to build Izzet Blitz despite having most of the pieces.

>UR Banishing Knack combo
>UR Tandem Triggers
Have lists?

>UB Aristocrats

Had great matchups, delver after delver -3 rounds- then had to beat tron, elves and then mono-black. Cartouche of Solidarity was absolutely clutch vs edict.

After played against burn and enchantment control and wrecked burn and got roflstomped by EC, was savage went 1/5 vs it

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ur-knick-knacks/

Banishing Knacks is a genuinely awful combo deck, but it does use some genuinely fun cards. Still working on the sideboard.

I do not currently have a list for tandem triggers, though I could put one together in about 10-15 minutes.

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/24-11-17-ub-aristocrats/

Here's the list, you can probably make some cuts for supernatural stamina if you want to abuse Stormbound Geist some more

Interesting.

Sylvok Lifestaff seems super underplayed in pauper, it's probably the best colorless lifegain. Bottle Gnomes is so slow

It's pretty sweet, even the small boost to power helps you swing in a touch faster. The low cost combined with the minimal equip cost helped ensure at least a one-of. Oh, and here's the Tandem Triggers list, as you requested.

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ur-tandem-triggers/?cb=1518335931

That's a sweet brew... and the only slightly spendy card for it that I don't have is gush...

I'll probably play it at some point, I've got a backlog of decks I want to work through, but that looks awesome. Seems consistent and safe.

Yeah, the Gushes are going up slowly but steadily, but really help in terms of consistency, so they'd be worth the pick up eventually if you're meaning to play paper. Thank you for the compliment however, I'm definitely fond of the deck, though there's always room for improvement, you can make a case for switching out the Daze with a more consistent counterspell either in the mainboard or adding better options in the sideboard.

Gush seems like a safe master set reprint, so hopefully that knocks it back down.

I'm too much of a sucker to sub out Daze, I love free spells.

Does Sigil of Sleep combo with anything else, or is it just some nice cheap faux-removal? Vs like, Curse of Chains, for example

Sigil of Sleep is a great tempo swing, because unless your opponent's creature has hexproof, you can just tap a thermo-alchemist or cast a noncreature spell to trigger Firebrand Archer and bounce it, then continue doing so while you psuedo-storm off. It's much harder to maintain any sort of board presence when you can't keep any pieces on board.

It's mostly a pet card however, so feel free to try curse of chains.

I totally misread the card -- that's actually really, really sweet. I thought it was "bounce when this creature deals damage."

I want to play this deck

It's a fun deck! I'm nowhere near the first person to try it out, but I definitely like my brew for it. Oh, and I forgot a deck that I just recently built. BG Woodlurker Mimic Midrange, which is still in its rocky stages, but is super fun when it (sometimes) goes off.

Another deck I wanted to try out was a BW Grim Guardian combo list starring a whole bunch of enchantments, which is janky, but could be fun.

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bw-guardian/

The problem with Aristocrats is that it often becomes a weaker version of Affinity because of its “go wide or go tall” plan, Affinity goes wide better because of 4/4s and goes tall better because Atog eats more types of permanents than the Aristocrat of choice does. I know BG, BR as well as BW variants on the brew, with BG being to most stable thanks to Brindle Shoat, Young Wolf and Nest Invader making it basically a worse Stompy, and BW on the rise.

I’m actually happy to call Ratlock the Pauper equivalent of Lantern, we navigate carefully to a state where they’re reliant on topdecking and then lock them out of the game by controlling their draws. Isn’t that essential how Lantern Control aims to play?

The first rule of Faeries is that you’re not actually playing a deck of >12 Faeries. No matter what format. It’s just Spellstutter Sprite doing most of the heavy lifting because she’s broken. With that in mind, if you want to play with Faeries you’re in luck because Mono U and UR Delver packs Spellstutter Sprite and Faerie Miscreant, fuelled by Ninja of the Deep Hours which gives you like 12 Faeries. UR sacrifices the consistency you get with Mono U to allow you to cast both Counterspell and Lightning Bolt in your deck.

Oh man, I’m so excited for BW Pestilence Control. Depending on your build, you’re doing both a Bob impression via Palace Sentinels, and a True Name Nemesis impression via Guardian of the Guildpact. Love the interaction with Wall of Hope too. The biggest issues I see with it are the mana base (Black hungry but most key creatures are White) and the curve (Sentinels, Guardian and Pestilence all cmc 4).

Have you done any testing with it?

Wait... did she just get BETTER a few months back?!

Yo.

Nice I totally didn't catch that.

I uh, I did a bit of reading up. She’s different from Galina or Sisay because she refers exclusively to Legends which were what Legendary creatures were known as back then. So she’s not a planeswalker killer. She’s not immune to Karakas or Planeswalkers either. She’d have to have legendary permanents or legendary cards in her text. :(

:^(

I got the Edgar deck so I have some nice vampire commons and staples. Also so many new BW vampires are released now - it would be a waste to not build a deck around pic related

So mono-red heroic seems like a real deck. A lot more cantrips than white, makes 1/1 red soldiers for edict fodder. Seems weak to electrickery depending on which engine you have going, though...

Are there any red or colorless cards that give your dudes +x/+1 until end of turn? Or indefinitely, I guess

How much room there is in pauper to brew something completely new? What is the boogeyman deck that a self brew has to be able to win to be a "real" deck?

>How much room there is in pauper to brew something completely new?
It's the single most open constructed format. That doesn't mean every brew will be competitive, but the difference between a fringe Modern deck and a Tier 1 Modern deck can be 30% win percentage. In pauper, it's usually

Looking at PEDH, anyone know of some good cards for her? Untap effects, defender synergy, effects that trigger when you make/lose artifacts/creatures, or sac outlets for them.

Easy, also good for

Glyph of Destruction
Consulate Skygate
Steel Wall
Vent Sentinel
Wall of Glare

That'd be a perfect fit, but unfortunately not MtGO legal.

Also Stalwart Shieldbearers

>brews
I've been thoroughly amused by how well this can empty both players' hands on turn 1 or 2, but it seems like the only good finishers I have access to are gurmag and the raiders. Any suggestions?

So, I'm a complete newfag to MTG. I have only my brother's old deck and it's probably shit since he never took it seriously. If I want to try it out it would be best to build a pauper deck and see if I enjoy it, right?
The colors that interested me the most so far were blue and white. Is a blue/white deck decent in this format? And how much would I have to spend on it?
Please and thanks.

Can someone come up with a high tide list for me?

Krosan restorer is a common

Doesn't glyph only work on specifically wall creatures, not a y creature with defender?

Yes, correct. Probably still worth it as a 1-of in EDH

Congrats

Orc ish luumberjack?

Pretty much

Acid trip is a viable UW deck. >mtggoldfish.com/archetype/pauper-acid-trip-23253#paper
You can cut battle screech from the sideboard, replace some lands with evolving wilds/terramorphic expanse, and replace preordain with ponder to cut down on the deck's price by like $30 is $60 is too much.

Isn't there a fairie land?

4 imperiousaur.
4 blastoderm.
4 emperor crocodile
4 arbor elf
4 satyr
Rancor
Leaf arrows
what else should I add

Thanks, I guess I'll cut some cards so it goes down to ~$30 and if I like it I might complete the deck later.

Not in Pauper.

Imperiosaur is below the curve, for pauper. Werebear, Nimble Mongoose, and Hooting Mandrills are all faster and typically more consistent.

If you're running Arbor Elf, definitely run Utopia Sprawl, especially with all the 4-drops you're looking at.

In that build, I'd look at Wickerbough Elder, maybe 2 in the mainboard. SB, Naturalize/Nature's Claim/Natural State. Also, Tranquility. Gut Shot would be smart, too.

Probably wants Elvish Visionary, Gitaxian Probe, or other card draw to stay consistent, too.

Just putting it up against AI in Forge.

I've updated the version on tapped out I linked at (Pest Control Experiment).

There's a version out that focuses on life gain in white, I opted to try a weird Counter-spell variant instead, just beause I can.

I really need to tune it, see what's working and what isn't going forward.

Name reasons to ever play pauper over legacy if you're not a poorfag

>no Force of Will
>no Griselbrand
>no Emrakul
>no Deathrite Shaman
>no Leovold
>no consistent 1cmc removal

Legacy's a great format, but a totally different feel. Pauper is slower, but has all the cantrips.

Yep! Orcish Lumberjack ramp, it abuses Lumberjack's ability to ramp you three mana with Tinder Wall's ritual effect to just play fatties

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rg-lumberjack-3/?cb=1518375752

>no planeswalkers
>no leovold, tnn, drs, sfm, thalia, eldrazi
>gush

Pauper lantern control. Just ordered. Gonna unmake some friends.

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/11-02-18-thoughtpicker-control/

in my case, there are lot of brews you can make in pauper and do it decently, you still have access to powerful cards, specially in red, black and blue.

Paupergeddon Milan Italy, 190 players got 4-4 with my fun elf deck

>190 players in Italy
Dude, that's awesome. Do you know what decks top 8'd?

Yeah last years there was over 200 players
here the top 8 but I known they splitted
metagame.it/liste-mazzi-pauper/3277-pauper-top-16-paupergeddon-viii-milano-2018.html

eh, pauper is just a fad.

Pauper has been around forever, sure it's extra popular right now, but I don't see it ever going away.

It has better buzz about it than frontier ever did. If Blizzard prints pauper starters (like they did edh) it will be viable for a long time.

Could be, but that's not an argument for or against it. People said the same about Modern.

>Blizzard

you ok bruh?

Gimme pauper alpha strike decks that are not Infect and Izzet Blitz

is infect good in pauper?

Alpha strike?

Yes. Git Probe, Apostle's Blessing, and tons of pump spells. Invigorate is banned, but there's Mono G and UG infect decks in the meta

>mfw I sold my promo glistener elf and gytaxian probe when modern infect was destroyed by GP banning.
Fuck my lfe

They're still not that expensive. Still a bummer, but not Earth-shattering. I'd guess the whole deck in UG is still

Thanks