Deck for Zandl's 2014 Standard Pauper challenge.
I thought of few creatures based concepts right away, but decided to go on another path all together. This deck is all about control, and defenders to keep your opponent's creatures at bay until you can
Doorkeeper
them to death.
Angelic Wall
: What's not to love here? 4 toughness makes it hard to get rid of, or swing through. Defender helps with
Doorkeeper
and flying makes sure they can't just go over your walls.
Cancel: Ah, the common hard counter. Any control deck needs it, although it hurts a little inside to pay 3 and not scry or at least exile whatever you countered.
Celestial Flare
: Eventually, they are going to think they can burst through with something. Or have a pesky flyer and you can't seem to find an Angelic Wall. Celestial Flare is for those times. Disperse: Disperse gets extra value from the enchantments in this standard. Return a pumped up creature to it's owner's hand and watch the enchantments all fall off. Hopefully most of them weren't bestowed creatures.
Divination: Have to fill your hand back up, so that your opponent can't just have free reign of the board. Your walls should give you time if you run out of steam, but card advantage is always good.
Doorkeeper
: Wincon, don't worry to much about finding them, if you can manage the board well, they'll come in time. But activating the doorkeeper at the end of your opponent's turn puts them on a clock, and removes some of their answers. Build an army of walls and destroy your opponent's library.
Essence Scatter: This is going to be a creature heavy challenge. That's just where the power is in pauper. Essence scatter eliminates the problem before it can even get its feet on the ground.
Mnemonic Wall; A defender that brings an instant or sorcery back from your graveyard, who doesn't love that? Pull back whatever you used early, later in the game. Keep the Cancel's flowing.
Murmuring Phantasm
: Another defender, well priced and able to stop most threats on the ground early and mid game.
Negate:Hard counter for anything non-creature. This stops Ethereal Armor, as well as any enchantment creatures cast for their bestow cost. Also work well in a mirror match, where you can run into counter wars.
Oppressive Rays
: One of my favorite control cards printed recently. Offers your opponent a way of bypassing it, but it only costs W. Use it early game to shut down threats until you have walls built up, or mid game to shut down that bomb. Or at least make sure they're not doing much other than letting it swing into your walls.
Sigiled Starfish: Only creature on the list without defender. But the Scryfish makes up for that by letting us control our draws. When you really need an answer, this fish will help you dig.
