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Dave's Pauper Cube

By RoamingGeek

Score: 7

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Description

Limited support for seven tribes with several cross color synergies. Heavy removal, resilient enchantments, evasion and tokens abound. Every card here has been printed as a common at least once in its lifetime.

MAJOR ARCHETYPES:

Elves (Primary: Green) (Support: Black or White)

Build your elf army using cards like Lys Alana Huntmaster, Presence of Gond and Gilt-Leaf Ambush, then boost them with Echoing Courage and Ivy Lane Denizen. Reap the benefits of solid elf cards like Elvish Visionary and Viridian Emissary to power up tribal commons like Winnower Patrol, Wellwisher and Lys Alana Bowmaster. Use Silhana Starfletcher to help you splash black for Moonglove Changeling, Eyeblight's Ending and Moonglove Winnower or go white for Llanowar Knight and Selesnya Evangel or go beasty with Wirewood Savage and Advocate of the Beast paired up with big nasties like Thresher Beast, Durkwood Baloth, and Primal Huntbeast

Hexproof Enchantments (Primary: Green/Blue) (Support: All)

Use hexproof goodies like Silhana Ledgwalker, Benthic Giant, Slippery Bogle and Conifer Strider paired with nasty evasion enchantments like Infiltrator's Magemark, Treetop Bracers and Aqueous Form to get behind enemy lines in a hurry. Once you're there, make life tough for them with Sigil of Sleep and Snake Umbra. Splash white if you like for Armadillo Cloak and Pentarch Ward, Grab Fencer's Magemark from red or enjoy black goodies like Molting Snakeskin

Zombie Lifegain (Primary: Black) (Support: White or Green)

Drop early zombies like Black Cat and Carrion Feeder to help fire up your Shepherd of Rot and Vengeful Dead then hide behind a wall of lifegain removal like Tendrils of Corruption and Sorin's Thirst. Bring their life total low with Stab Wound and Dash Hopes then seal the deal with Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Use recursion cards like Undying Evil and Cruel Revival to make sure your big baddies keep coming back. Splash green if you like for Strength of Night or go white for Harsh Sustenance,Pillory of the Sleepless and extort cards like Tithe Drinker

Instant / Sorcery (Primary: Red / Blue) (Support: Black)

Want a fast deck? How about a turn three kill in a pauper cube? Fire up your Kiln Fiend with a Seething Song and any number of good instants then finish it off with a Temur Battle Rage to swing for 20. Power your Wee Dragonauts and Nivix Cyclops with cheap instants and sorceries like Lightning Bolt and Ponder then get them back later with Izzet Chronarch and Mnemonic Wall. Splash black if you like for Dreamspoiler Witches and a variety of great kill spells including Doom Blade, Echoing Decay and Rend Flesh

Turbo Ping (Primary: Blue) (Support: Red / Green)

Use the untap abilities of Horseshoe Crab, Soliton and Simic Ragworm with equipment like Viridian Longbow and enchantments like Presence of Gond, Fire Whip and Quicksilver Dagger or just toss Freed from the Real onto a pinger like Prodigal Sorceror for repeated tap/untap glory. Throw in Evanescent Intellect if you like for a fast mill victory, or just use instants like Banishing Knack to make the enemy army disappear.

Metalcraft (Primary: Blue/White) (Support: Black)

Use Trinket Mage to fish out early artifacts like Aether Spellbomb and Executioner's Capsule. Hit fast with cheap metalcraft creatures like Ardent Recruit and Auriok Sunchaser and enjoy the benefits of Thoughtcast, Faerie Mechanist, and Stoic Rebuttal, all while building up to finish them off with Cranial Plating or Nim Shrieker. Use recursion from Leonin Squire and Sanctum Gargoyle to make sure you never run out of tasty tricks, or fish out cheap equipment to arm creatures like Sunspear Shikari. There is no lack of good artifacts in this set.

Soliders (Primary: White) (Support: Red)

Go classic tribal with white soldiers. Build a small army of tokens with spells like Cenn's Enlistment and Raise the Alarm, play solid white soldiers like Master Decoy, Porcelain Legionnaire, and Ballynock Cohort then reap the benefits of tribal support from Ballyrush Banneret, Daru Slinger, Frontline Strategest and Kithkin Zephyrnaut. Put a Runed Stalactite on the Zephynaut for maximum kinship triggers. Splash red if you like for Rally the Righteous, Thundersong Trumpeter, and Raid Bombardment.

Milling (Primary: Blue / Black)

Mill your enemy fast with cards like Mind Sculpt, Balustrade Spy and Grisly Spectacle, then set up the constant grind with Merfolk Mesmerist, Doorkeeper, Jace's Erasure and Paranoid Delusions. For increased shenanigans, grab Freed from the Real or Horseshoe Crab to pair with Evanescent Intellect for a quick kill.

Token Hordes (Primary: Green or Red) (Support: White)

Build hordes of goblins, plants, elves and saprolings with spells like Empty the Warrens, Dragon Fodder, Fists of Ironwood, Presence of Gond and Scatter the Seeds, then either do huge damage while attacking with Raid Bombardment in play or boost the tokens through the roof with Echoing Courage, Dynacharge or Path of Anger's Flame. Splash white if you like for Sigil of the Nayan Gods, War Flare or Selesnya Evangel or just use your hordes to do direct damage using Mob Justice and Goblin War Strike. For added fun and profit pair Bramble Elemental with Whip Silk or one of the other multi-play enchantments in the set for maximum tokens.

Faerie/Rogues (Primary: Black / Blue)

Make use of cool spells like Morsel Theft, Latchkey Faerie, Spellstutter Sprite, and Peppersmoke while keeping constant pressure on them from unblockable and flying creatures. Splash artifacts if you like to have fun with Faerie Mechanist or to give your evasive creatures like Dream Thief, Nightshade Stinger and Neurok Spy some Cranial Plating.

Flicker (Primary: Blue / White) (Support: All)

Like "enter the battlefield" effects? This cube is full of them. From cheap creatures like Sea Gate Oracle, Elvish Visionary, and Attended Knight to bigger game like Sanctum Gargoyle, Sensor Splicer and Gravedigger, the cube is full of things that like to hit hard. Pair them with effects like Cloudshift, Otherworldly Journey and Ghostly Flicker or just send them back to your hand using ninjitsu effects of Ninja of the Deep Hours or Mistblade Shinobi for extra shenanigans. Use Reality Acid with creatures like Dream Stalker and Kor Skyfisher for brutal repeat removal. If all else fails you can always return something to your hand using one of your handful of spells like Boomerang.

MINOR ARCHETYPES:

Defenders (Primary: Green / Red / Blue) (Support: White)

Being a defender isn't always a downside. Creatures like Doorkeeper, Vent Sentinel and Overgrown Battlement get more powerful the more defenders you have. Defenders like Mnemonic Wall, Drift of Phantasms, Archers' Parapet and Lobber Crew all hold down important parts in the deck while fending off attackers like Noggle Bandit or the Infiltrator's Magemark. Throw in cheap artifacts like Steel Wall, One-Eyed Scarecrow and Wall of Tanglecord and watch this minor archetype pay off huge for your deck. With over 20 defenders to choose from, you can probably find something that goes well with your engine.

Beasts (Primary: Green) (Support: All)

Wirewood Savage and Advocate of the Beast head up a fascinating sub archetype that plays well with elves. There are beasts in most colors, so use your Wirewood Savage to draw a card every time your opponent plays a beast or changeling. Green's beasts pack the most punch with Durkwood Baloth, Mold Shambler, Thresher Beast, Herd Gnarr, Krosan Vorine, and a large handful of their big furry friends.

Colorless (90)

Artifact (33)

Land (29)

Creature (28)

Gold (51)

Creature (29)

Instant (14)

Enchantment (5)

Sorcery (3)

White (78)

Creature (46)

Instant (18)

Enchantment (8)

Sorcery (5)

Artifact (1)

Blue (79)

Creature (43)

Enchantment (14)

Sorcery (7)

Instant (14)

Artifact (1)

Black (79)

Creature (46)

Instant (22)

Enchantment (6)

Sorcery (4)

Artifact (1)

Red (75)

Creature (36)

Instant (17)

Sorcery (14)

Enchantment (8)

Green (78)

Creature (52)

Instant (11)

Sorcery (5)

Enchantment (10)

RoamingGeek says... #1

Test drafts are looking good, though the black archetypes seemed a touch harder to force in draft than the others. Made some decent upgrades to compensate including switching two sorcery speed kill spells to instant speed and adding more power to the zombies with Vengeful Dead, Gravedigger, and Gurmag Angler.

June 27, 2015 2:27 p.m.

RoamingGeek says... #2

The arcane spells have landed!

I noticed that the cube had a few good arcane spells anyway like Death Denied and Rend Flesh so I figured I might as well exchange a few spells for their arcane counterparts and see if I could find a playable engine.

The Arcane Versions

Some of the spells were functional reprints or close. Replacing Trumpet Blast with the slightly better Path of Anger's Flame, Cultivate with Kodama's Reach, and Solemn Offering with Terashi's Grasp.

The Splicers

Of course to make the engine worthwhile we needed a few good splicers. By far the best of them is Horobi's Whisper. Honestly an early Horobi pick is probably all that would send me into drafting arcane as an archetype. Also added Glacial Ray instead of Lash Out, and tossed in Veil of Secrecy, Consuming Vortex, Soulless Revival and Wear Away to get more use out of the other arcane spells.

Solid Filler Spells

I was able to make room for a few other of the stronger ones including Otherworldly Journey and the decent but not phenomenal spells Unearthly Blizzard and Barrel Down Sokenzan

In the end, I was able to fit a total of 14 arcane spells across five colors. Not a huge number, but at least it splashes some more potentially silly interactions into the pauper landscape!

June 29, 2015 1:43 p.m.

RoamingGeek says... #3

Removed two cards of each color to make way for 10 more multicolor cards. The big stars here are probably Unmake, Tidehollow Strix and Putrid Leech but don't overlook Pestilent Kathari in a fight -- especially in a format with Power of Fire and Viridian Longbow I think this little deathtoucher is going to do some serious damage.

Other cards added: Sundering Growth, Horned Kavu, Jilt, Hobgoblin Dragoon, Winged Coatl, and the faerie rogues are happy with the addition of Silkbind Faerie

June 29, 2015 7:55 p.m.

TheGooseManWells says... #4

What's the overall cost to construct this cube? Would it be considered budget by your standards (I understand pauper is cheap anyway). I'm curious because I'm looking to start an MTG group at my university and I felt a cube is a great way to get new people who have no money involved. But I need to make a proposal that is relatively cost effective, but doesn't destroy the integrity of the cube experience itself. If you have any input, throw it my way.

August 31, 2017 11:46 a.m.

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Cards 530
Date added 9 years
Last updated 8 years

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