The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
v1.4
Pauper EDH deck (all cards in the 99 are (or were at some point printed as) commons, commander is uncommon). Grasped the format of EDH a little quicker than my friends did, so I had to dial it back a bit to accommodate the playgroup. Built this, still edged out wins with it here and there, on account of
Capsize
and
Tainted Strike
being ridiculous. It's taken a while, but I can now say with pride that my friends can consistently beat a pile of commons, so yay for personal growth. This deck is now retired since nobody else in my playgroup bothered building a Pauper EDH deck, and it stopped being able to keep up with bomb rares a while ago. Posted here for posterity.
The flavor of the deck is based on a short story I wrote about an old man who escapes the care home and succumbs to his dementia in the dead of winter, believing he is being watched and followed, hearing whispers from beyond the veil, ending his story at the sea that's calling him. All the cards chosen for this deck are therefore linked to the sea, eldritch horrors, cults and declining mental health.
Some bigger finishers in the form of
Toxic Nim
and
Ulamog's Crusher
. Alternatively, slap
Phyresis
on something evasive or
Tainted Strike
whatever 9+ power creature isn't blocked or tramples over.
Toxic Nim
, you scoff. Well, considering that we're not in B/G and that trying to race with Infect against 3 other players is akin to a giant death wish, this is exactly the kind of Infect card we want to see. It drops late, it's hard to remove, it hits hard. We can make it unblockable, protect it, pump it. A turn one
Glistener Elf
gets you dead. A turn 12
Toxic Nim
catches you up. (On that note, please don't drop that
Blighted Agent
too early.)
Brine Shaman
is the cute little card that could. The ability to sac at instant speed is always welcome, but it also pumps in a pinch and counters creature spells? Get there.
Cavern Harpy
combos with everything. It flies, it blocks like a champ, it loops ETB triggers like nobody's business. In tandem with
Grave Scrabbler
,
Tortured Existence
almost looks like a
Phyrexian Reclamation
, sorta.
Capsize
/
Deprive
your
Bojuka Bog
.
You can sacrifice your
Faceless Butcher
with, say,
Viscera Seer
in reponse to them entering the battlefield. Given that their abilities go on the stack once their boots hit the ground, you'll still exile the card but after their trigger for leaving the battlefield resolves, exiling the card forever. (The stack would resolve 'last in first out': 'When Faceless Butcher leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to the battlefield under its owner's control.' > 'Scry 1' > 'When Faceless Butcher enters the battlefield, exile target creature other than Faceless Butcher.')
Howl from Beyond
and Infect go hand in hand, but keep in mind you can also cast
Howl from Beyond
and
Tainted Strike
on your opponents' creatures. Turn that battery into a murder.
Use
Cavern Harpy
on your
Archaeomancer
and
Mnemonic Wall
to recur your instants and sorceries.
I'm still looking for a way to recur enchantments and artifacts, but
Monastery Loremaster
looks like a ton of mana to sink when you want to be reactive.
As for tutors, we don't get any at Common so we make do with Transmute. I greatly enjoyed
Dimir House Guard
in FAUST, it just does everything I want it to do (looks for answers, difficult to block, sacs stuff at instant speed, hard to kill). You lose the element of suprise since you have to reveal whatever it is you transmute for, but card selection, draw and search are too important in a 100-card singleton format so whatever.
Whispersilk Cloak
can really help your bomb or your utility creatures out, adding some evasion as well as protection. The real 'got there' card is
Neurok Stealthsuit
however - it protects your whole board as long as you have the blue mana open and people aren't dim enough to target your creatures with their stuff.
You can get infinite mana using
Tidewater Minion
,
Freed from the Real
and
Dimir Aqueduct
/
High Tide
. You can find the Aqueduct with
Expedition Map
, which is tutorable with your
Dizzy Spell
. Use that mana to whip that
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
back and forth (infinitely with
Tortured Existence
,
Grave Scrabbler
and another random creature in your hand), or by blowing everything up with
Crypt Rats
,
Pestilence
or
Capsize
. Alternatively, make an army of kelp with
Wall of Kelp
and sac all of it to
Viscera Seer
with
Falkenrath Noble
on board.
So yeah. Don't rush out of the gate with your Infect, you'll just get dogpiled. Play the slow game, build up your land base, divert attention and make yourself an unattractive target with constant open mana and the open knowledge that you can counter and bounce and kill if they come at you. Drop that
Falkenrath Noble
early, save up some life for a rainy day. If you do build out your board, know when to cash out with
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
. Keep all that in mind, and just have fun being in the best slice of the colour pie.
