I really, REALLY love my Modern Abzan Company/Melira Combo deck and was trying out different strategies in Pauper that worked out like it. Of course, the Ivy Lane Denizen Combo deck has been out for years now so I'm mostly here for comments, suggestions, and improvements.
For those unaware of the combo: these decks need the following cards: a sac outlet (Carrion Feeder or Viscera Seer), a creature with persist (Safehold Elite or
Grazing Kelpie
), and a creature that removes the -1/-1 counter off any persist creature like Melira or Anafenza (in this case, Ivy Lane Denizen.) The combo allows us to get a really big Carrion Feeder or scry for another denizen for an infinitely large team.
The deck runs a heavy removal package that works perfectly with our recurring creatures. The best being Innocent Blood, Tragic Slip, and
Chainer's Edict
.
I tried to make the deck analogous to my collected company deck. Chord of Calling and Collected Company don't exactly exist in Pauper but there are similar cards.
Wirewood Herald
, already a staple in some of these builds, function as Chord, allowing me to get a combo piece (Safehold Elite/Ivy Lane Denizen) or tutor out other pieces like removal (Nameless Inversion) or utility-lifegain (Essence Warden).
Our analogue for Collected Company would be Altar's Reap It puts two cards into your hand. Playtesting with it has been superb. Combine it with Wirewood Herald for three cards!
Blisterpod is the main innovation of this deck. I liken it to Voice of Resurgence in the Modern version. Blisterpod is colourless, which can be vital against protection effects, it fuels a lot of our removal, and the token it creates can sacrifice itself on command to fuel both removal and add mana into our pool for spells.
I'm still not sure what to run in the sideboard but a heavy discard and disrupt base is where I started with. Like MBC in Pauper, the deck runs Duress and Hymn to Tourach to deny our opponent of spells. Another Grazing Kelpie is in our sideboard to deal with graveyard decks (making it a recurring Scavenging Ooze of sorts) and Crypt Rats for aggressive decks.
