This week, I am taking a jab at a common legacy deck, Reanimator, mainly because Dredge is already an established deck in Pauper, and I wanted to do something with the graveyard.
Since a deck like this relies on spell engines, lets start with NONCREATURE SPELLS
First, lets make the record clear. Your win-con is Exhume. This will let you cheat your huge threats into play, which we'll get into later.
The second engine(s) is your draw and discard spells. Careful Study and Kaladesh's new Cathartic Reunion will draw you into gas, and fuel the graveyard. Whatever you do, never be afraid to pitch your creatures. Why?
Unearth
is why. While it only has 4 targets, those targets are very important to this deck's functionality. Plus extra draw is always good.
Brainstorm is filtering your hand exactly when you need it.
Of course, you don't want your opponents to stop you in you tracks, so Duress will stop any counterspells and removal your opponents may have. If those fail, Daze and Counterspell will be your backup plan.
CREATURES
Well, only a few creatures are in this deck, and most will end in your graveyard, but that's okay, because that's what you want.
Your main reanimator target is Ulamog's Crusher, which is one of the greatest high-cost creatures in the format. But if you need more guys, or if you are testing your opponent, you also got
Walker of the Grove
as a highly effective threat.
Unearth
target-wise, is the three
Fierce Empath
, which will tutor the thing you need to pitch. Don't worry about hard-casting it though. It is possible, but
Unearth
ing it is better if you want to conserve mana.
Three Dimir Infiltrator is recent tech I discovered, as tutoring for Exhume is a (wait for it) Godsend! I'm sorry.
Finally, we have a single copy of Merfolk Looter for good, consistant filtering.
LANDS
Basically, for "Basics," we need Blue and Black in any game, as well as potentially Red. So we have 1 Mountain, 4 Island, and 2 Swamp. Also 4 Evolving Wilds for fetching what you need when you need it.
Dual lands follow our Philosophy of "Blue an Black needed," and so we have Thornwood Falls, Swiftwater Cliffs, and Dismal Backwater.
Sideboard wise, we have removal for threats like Gurmag Angler. Murderous Compulsion will stop those threats in their path. With Exhume, our opponent could also be playing Dredge, and we would be helping. So Nihil Spellbomb is almost required. Preordain is for digging for answers to aggressive decks, and
Ostracize
is extra discard. Guess what Smash to Smithereens is for. Finally, the only deck that can outrace us is Tron. Raze will stop those Tron lands instantly, before they even get started.
Let me know what you think of this deck, and if you have and idea for a deck I should build around in the Pauper deck, leave it in the comments. I take cards to build around, pre-existing Modern or Legacy decks, or whatever.
