Welcome back folks! I’m back and I’m back on the brew train this week tackling something that I love to do (but rarely get a chance to play) and that’s Standard…PAUPER. With Standard costing about a Bajillion dollars with Jace, Fetchlands, and Hangarback Walkers in virtually every deck it is very difficult to get into a deck and have any sort of success with dumping your wallet on the counter of your LGS. Who can really afford a $700 deck for Standard? Not me. But I can still have tons of fun and do some pretty fun things with all those commons that I open in my drafts. So, today I’m going to dust off my boxes of commons and brew myself up a Standard Pauper deck or two.
There are lots of themes or deck ideas that I could use as the foundation for a deck, but one thing that struck me is the relative depth of Green in most of the previous sets. Yes, Battle for Zendikar has a bit of a bad wrap, but up until this set Green was quite deep at common and had lots of strong cards to use. On top of Green being a deep colour, White was also pretty deep with a number of very strong choices, particularly in Origins. So, while there are lots of viable options my starting point was to look at my Green and White cards first.
As I was flipping through the cards I made a point of ensuring that I had plenty of strong plays early on, much like I would in a draft. Many players make the mistake of assuming that pauper isn’t fast and aggressive because many commons are slow and clunky. However, when you remove those slow and clunky cards you are left with a very powerful and fast format and having an early answer to play is very important. Timberpack Wolf in multiples can be very powerful, and Cleric of the Forward Order can come down and really and change the landscape of the game by erasing early attacks with the very relevant life gain. I love Sandsteppe Outcast and getting a chance to jam that guy again is well worth the time. There are lots of early plays here and it can give me lots of options as I try to get into the game.
Next I made a point of selecting removal that I can use reliably very early or that can offer flexibility. Pacifism, Savage Punch, and Gideon’s Reproach fit the cheap requirement, but Sheer Drop can be good on turn three, but is very good when you can cast it for its Awaken cost.
My final consideration was a finisher or two and Elk Herd, Rhox Maulers, and the Beastmaster seem like strong options. They can all ensure that the deck has a way to bust up a board stall but punching through thanks to Trample, or pumping my team. There might be something to removing the Beastmasters and putting in another pump type spell like Inspired Charge, but I like the pump and a 5/5 body in a format where big bodies can really help settle things down.
This is a list I have put together and will be looking to jam the next time my friends and I get together next. That may not be for a while, but this list feels pretty powerful and a step in the right direction. I’ll report back to you guys when I get a chance to test this one a little.
The other list I’m playing a round with is a kind of like a G/R landfall deck but in Standard there is a bit of a lack of really scary Landfall creatures apart from Snapping Gnarlid, Makindi Sliderunner and Valakut Predator. That said, there are plenty of other good options. Let’s have a little look.
Atarka Beastbreaker is a very solid mana sink once you become Formidable…and with a Gnarlid and a Valakut Predator and one land trigger you are most of the way there. Invoker is the same sort of huge mana sink to let you really blow things up if you can’t seem to stick a bigger body to finish off your opponent. Gearcrafter is just good value. Heelcutter is a bit of sleeper, but repeatedly making it difficult for your opponent to block is a very powerful option.
The spells are pretty simple. Fiery Impulse is a way to clear the path for your dudes to get in, and the rest pump your team. I was honestly really relishing the idea of playing Gnarlid on turn 2, playing Predator on turn 3, and then playing my land on turn 4, attacking, and then Titanic Growth and Temur Battle Rage and crunching in for a huge pile of damage. However, that is probably somewhat optimistic but fun to imagine. Honestly, the deck is pretty self explanatory and feels like it could really lay down a wicked beating if unchecked.
Once again, this one will need a little testing to see if plays as well as it looks. It could be that I need to adjust some of the numbers but I’m very concerned about not hitting enough land drops to make the Landfall actually work out for me. I also considered more Temur Battle Rages, but the fact is that they could very often be dead cards and not really useful if I don’t have a strong target on board. I could also see taking out the Efreets and just running Hooting Mandrills, but I like the surprise of flipping up the Efreet and then getting your opponent for a bunch. The sideboard is also a work in progress and will need to be fleshed out as I go. Facing down decks with bounce effects is the biggest concern because having creatures get pumped and then bounced really sucks. Man I wish Pyroblast was legal in Standard! However, I will need to see what options are available and see what I can manage.
Well, there we have it for this week. Sure it is a little shorter this week than most, but we’ve got two new brews that you can take out for a spin if you are in to Pauper. I think the format is pretty sweet and even limiting ourselves to just Standard legal cards can still make for some very fun play experiences.
So, until next time have yourselves a great MTG day and be sure to stop by next time for another Casual Encounter.
By Bruce Gray – Casual Encounters
@bgray8791 on Twitter
You turn the key and lock up the shop for the day, ready to go home and get some grub before heading out to Friday Night Magic, ready to test out that shiny new Heroic deck you’ve been tweaking when your phone goes off. It’s your little cousin, and he is going on about how Grandma got him the Magic Holiday Gift box for Christmas, bragging about how he pulled a Fabled Hero, Prognostic Sphinx and Polis Crusher. He sounds so excited about his loot, when he asks you if he can come with you tonight. You think about it for a second and say why not?
You go and pick him up and bring him home, looking at his collection realizing quickly that what little has isn’t going to stand a chance at your local game shop. You walk over to your overloaded shelf of magic cards and pull a deck off of it. It’s one of those Pauper decks that you read about on Three Kings Loot’s website the other week. It’s the mono black one, which only seemed appropriate after you saw your cousins reaction to the dreaded Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Like a kid in a candy store.
So you both scarf down some pizza while playing a few matches before heading over to the shop, only to realize once you step through the door that it wasn’t Standard tonight, but Vintage. Your heart skips a beat thinking about how wrecked your cousins deck is going to get against that kind of competition. A Standard Pauper deck isn’t built to take on those types of decks. So you ask him how much money he has on him, thinking that maybe you could get a few cheap cards to give him a chance. He looks at you and says that all he has is the twenty dollars that aunt Gladys gave him. Twenty dollars isn’t going to go far in Vintage, not by a long shot. But then you have a brainstorm and hop on your smartphone and look up Classic Pauper decks. They are cheap enough and might just have a chance.
Given your cousins fascination with the Gray Merchant you settle on a Mono-Black deck and walk up to the counter giving the list to the owner, before realizing that Classic Pauper is an online format only and that there are cards printed from sets not released online that could be added. You make a few changes to the list and smile as your cousin begins gathering all the cards together to take on his first challenger.
The store owner calls out the pairings and you sit down beside your cousin and watch as he drops down a first turn swamp and Duress to draw out his opponents Force of Will, followed by a second swamp and a Hymn to Tourach. His opponent groans and your little cousins face lights up. Maybe, just maybe, he can pull this off.
The above is a Mono-Black Control deck in Classic Pauper, a format that is almost exclusively online. There are a few stores that hold tournaments and the format is growing in paper popularity, but it isn’t mainstream yet. Inside you can see a healthy mix of discard and removal and card draw, a board wipe to keep things under control, and your end game Gray Merchant and Corrupts. A deck like this costs under $20 at 3KL, and is a great way for a new player to have a deck that has a chance of being competitive if they ever come across some really old school players, and they don’t have to give up their college loan to afford it.
As a quick rehash, if you are not familiar with the Pauper format or did not read my previous article on it, Pauper is a format made up entirely of commons. All the standard rules to Magic apply with a 60 card (minimum) deck and a 15 card (maximum) sideboard. The major thing to note about Classic Pauper is that it allows for any card that has ever been printed at the common level to be used. Yes, even a card like Rancor. Speaking of…
So, like I did with my last Pauper article I am going to throw an extra bone at you, an alternative if you aren’t a control player is Green-White Hexproof. One of my personal favourites. The deck ‘runs on rails’ as it were, and is relatively easy for young or new players to pilot. It’s very simple in that you try and get your Hexproof creature down and then load it up with aura cards and beat your opponents face. “Cheap” and effective auras include Armadillo Cloak ($1.99 each), Rancor ($3.75), Ethereal Armor ($0.25 each), or it’s older and more effective brother Ancestral Mask ($0.49). Combined with aura’s like Abundant Growth ($0.25) that enchant your lands to mana fix, you can quickly make quite the untouchable beat stick of a creature.
So there you have two cheap and effective Pauper decks you can build for new players to help them get into Vintage.
Who says that Magic has to be expensive?
~ Gerald
