This is Mono-Black Corrupt Control, in the Pauper Modern format! It's a very budget deck with the total cost of the deck being around $10-$15. With the release of Modern Horizons, this deck got several big cards:
Crypt Rats
,
Diabolic Edict
, and
Defile
.
Strategy
The strategy with this deck is to survive until you get enough
Swamp
in play to cast big mana damage spells.
Remove threats in the early game using edict effects (
Diabolic Edict
and
Geth's Verdict
) or targeted removal (
Defile
and
Tendrils of Corruption
). Draw through the deck when possible with
Sign in Blood
and
Read the Bones
. When you have enough
Swamp
in play, blow out your opponent with massive
Corrupt
,
Consume Spirit
, and
Crypt Rats
. Creatures like
Gurmag Angler
help protect you and/or get some damage in.
Crypt Rats
is a real MVP in this deck as well, being able to wipe the board with enough mana pumped into it, or just doing some chip damage while being a menacing presence.
There is a ton of creature removal, with 16 instant speed cards, 8 targeted and 8 edicts. Use targeted removal to pick off specific targets and isolate edict targets. Edicts are best used when the opponent only has one creature in play - "Always give your foes a choice when they have none."
Consume Spirit
and
Corrupt
can also be used as removal, but it is typically as a last-resort.
Crypt Rats
in particular is huge - without
Pestilence
, Pauper Modern Corrupt Control used to struggle with strategies like tokens, weenies, and wide boards. With the rats, they can finally wipe them out, as well as pesky Undying creatures that stop edicts from working as intended. For example, activate
Crypt Rats
for X=2 and activate it again for X=1 to take out
Young Wolf
, and X=3 and X=2 for
Stormbound Geist
.
The single
Pristine Talisman
helps ramp for colorless as well as tapping for 1 life every turn. It helps quite a bit, since you'll be damaging yourself with
Sign in Blood
,
Read the Bones
, and
Crypt Rats
. I used to run two of these.
Sideboarding
Against spell/counterspell heavy decks,
Duress
and
Wrench Mind
help ensure your big threats go through.
Shrivel
helps with low toughness creatures like faeries and tokens, in case
Crypt Rats
doesn't show up.
Sovereign's Bite
gives a bit of life gain against creatureless strategies like Burn.
Beckon Apparition
hits key cards in graveyard as well as give you a flier. You can play
Relic of Progenitus
instead.
Results
- Went 3-0 (1st) at a small local Pauper Modern tournament on 6/22/2019.
- Went 3-0 (1st) at a small local Pauper Modern tournament on 9/21/2019.
