How I ended up building this deck
Curses have been a card type that I've always wanted to use. Also, having 12 removals makes this decks INVINCIBLE.
(Basically it is my take of a deck in reference to an opponent LRR member Graham Stark faced. I was going to include a link to the entire reddit post explaining it, but, it seems Tappedout does not let me show the URL, :sadface: )
Strategy:
Three simple steps:
Stack damage sources
Remove all the creatures your opponent casts via noncreature spells
End the game with direct damage after some turns have passed
DamageOutput
We have 3 kinds of damage sources:
The creatures that trigger when you cast a noncreature spell (sorta), those being Firebrand Archer and Thermo-Alchemist.
Curse auras, Trespasser's Curse or Curse of the Pierced Heart depending on the metagame you are facing, that trigger on each of the opponent's upkeeps or creature castings.
Good ol' burn spells with a touch of enchantment. Lightning Bolt to deal 3 damage, Flame Jab to ensure we have damage every turn we topdeck an unwanted land and Pestilence to end the game.
Removals
Our removals ensure that we are able to kill anything.
As long as we draw it we will have the answer to any creature.
WinCons
Gurmag Angler will be casted for sooner or later, and, if it gets in you all know what happens.
Pestilence, on the other hand, is a less expected wincon than Gurmag Angler. It catches many opponents by surprise in game 1. Do you know anyone that mainboards enchantment removal? Neither do I. So, it will almost surely deal the damage you'll need to end the game. Also, it is a way to incorporate hate against zoo based strategies in the mainboard.
About the card picks:
I'm just going to talk about the lands, draw spells and sideboard picks this time because I've already talked about all the other cards in the mainboard.
Lands
This decks overall mana cost should be around 2.2 so once you hit two to three lands you should be good. This is why I'm playing Barren Moor. If everything goes as planned, you won't need more lands after turn 4-5. If you topdeck it in late game you can cycle it or toss it to Flame Jab. Why I'm using snow-covered lands is explained in the "Brewing theories" section.
Ash Barrens just add consistency to any 2 color manabase, best land in pauper imo. It can also be used to generate colorless mana if you really need it or be tossed in late game for retrace. If you have enough mana to do so you could also cycle it and then retrace Flame Jab with the land you searched.
Bloodfell Caves and any other Life-gain taplands are awesome in their mana combinations. Now, why am I not playing an entire playset? Well, I do want to run Cycle Lands and Rakdos Carnarium so, I just cut these instead of cutting basics (I'm still testing the landbase, just so that you know).
Rakdos Carnarium ensures you can hit three mana consistently and can also be used in late game to bounce a land back to your hand and discard it to Flame Jab. One really neat thing you can do is bounce an Ash Barrens you played on a pinch to cycle it or activate retrace. Same goes for the Bloodfell Caves, but, usually you end up playing the Life-gain taplands just for the 1-up.
DrawEngine
We do not have to draw too many cards in this deck as we will be playing the grindy game, just some draw spells so that we do not empty our hands for turn 5.
Night's Whisper is the best black draw card in pauper and that's why we are running it. Usually we play it on turn 4 or later.
Read the Bones is extra card draw that I think I could cut as card filtering is not very important for this deck an we draw enough cards with Night's Whisper and Thorn of the Black Rose.
Sideboard
Nihil Spellbomb is a pseudo cantrip and works well against graveyard based strategies.
Duress works well against , and control decks. Also can be brought in against artifact based decks.
Gorilla Shaman basically wins against affinity. Blowing up lands for 1 mana is hillarious.
Pyroblast. We are playing red, so, why not?
Electrickery is used if we need fast answers against aggro decks.
Magma Spray is in here to counter creatures with Persist and Undying.
Syphon Life puts a faster clock to your opponents. Pretty useful agains control decks. Also note, it does not only deal damage, it drains.
About the maybeboard:
(Still in construction)
Echoing Decay could enter the sideboard if a */2+ toughness token strategy arises in pauper. Something like a Call of the Conclave selesnya deck.
Raven's Crime is a one-off in many BR control decks I've seen, it could take a spot in the main deck lowering the land count. I'm still testing if this would not affect the consistency too much.
Evincar's Justice. It does not kill Thermo-Alchemist but it does kill Firebrand Archer so... Yeah, maybe I'll stick to Electrickery.
Skred. We are running snow-covered basics, so I might as well run it.
Possible new landbase also in maybeboard
Brewing Theories:
Due to the popularity of Red Delver (written on the 4th of July, 2017) people have started playing around Skred.
What does it mean to play around Skred? Playing the big threats as early as possible so that a single Skred won't be able to take them down. This behaviour is something I think I can exploit, thus, I am playing snow-covered lands but not a single Skred, at least not right now.
There is no real downside to playing snow-covered lands in pauper as of yet so, why would not I give it a try?
Once I playtest more I'll tell you if this strategy works or not.
As always,
Thanks for showing interest in my brews.
I'll be waiting for your comments.
