Sorcery (18)
Creature (7)
Instant (15)
Sideboard
Maybeboard
Enchantment (1)
A budget deck, fun for the whole family :D
A super low mana curve and no double pips should have been an easy build, but the split was tricky. We have multiple ‘you must play this each game’ cards of each color, so after some playtesting I settled on this ratio of to .
•Bloodfell Caves provides both, but enters tapped. At least that’s slightly offset by the bonus life point.
•The rest is just basic lands, nothing fancy. I briefly dabbled with Blood Pet and Simian Spirit Guide but they weren’t worth the effort.
So yes, there is an acute lack of stuff to actually populate our side of the table with. No hardcast-able creatures, no enchantments, no artifacts, no tokens. None of them new fangled battles or sieges or whatever they’re called either.
So how do we expect to survive? Initially, pure speed. Our mission statement is to dump a powerhouse in the graveyard, bring it back for some combat damage, then dispose of it for profit. Fortunately, that’s all relatively cheap stuff—one and two mana spells. We’ll be dumping stuff to draw into better stuff, always moving through our library. The occasional life point from our dual land helps too.
Once we’re ready for war, we’re ready in a big way. A 10/10 (or larger) Trampler will cut a swathe of destruction through enemy lines, and the follow up spell(s) have a chance of ending the game on the spot around Turn 4. If it drags on, Rite of Consumption recoups a massive chunk of life to buy us time to repeat the process.
Countermagic and Graveyard hate are our worst enemies, but unfortunately doesn’t offer much in the way of defense in those areas. I contemplated running Dash Hopes, a personal favorite of mine, but it isn’t a good fit here. Any competent player will take the 5 point penalty, and if we do make it to the point of pushing damage through then we’re already delivering so much that an extra 5 is superfluous. It’s sideboard material.
Our best bet is to move fast and stay on the offensive, attempting to end the game quickly.
The creatures we do run are pure finishers, the cream of the crop in Pauper.
•Rust Goliath is a great new card, and that trample damage is most welcome. After plowing through enemy ranks, we can take advantage of him whether we’re eyeing his casting cost for Burnt Offering or his power for Rite of Consumption.
•Ulamog's Crusher is a bit weaker at 8/8, but that Annihilator characteristic is fantastic. After disposing of him like the aforementioned card, send a couple Lightning Bolts in your opponent’s direction to make up for the reduced damage output.
There are some prerequisites we need to meet before we can transition into doling out heavy damage, namely getting powerful creatures into the graveyard, then getting them out of it. We also want to try to keep a clear path for combat damage to go through, and that means picking off the occasional enemy creature. Here are the tools at our disposal:
•Use Lightning Bolt to pick off any creature that may throw a monkey wrench in our grand machinations. Also good for following up after the combat->sacrifice phase of our To-Do List and pushing through that little bit of extra damage.
•Bone Shards excels here, allowing us to zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen; we get to remove something problematic and dump a musclebound monster in the graveyard at the same time.
•I’m sure we’re all familiar with Faithless Looting and Thrill of Possibility by now. In my testing they were the most performant way in which to cycle specific things into the graveyard while acquiring pieces we may yet need.
•Finally, the value in Funeral Charm lies in choice. It may be that you’re looking for a cheap way to dump just one card, or perhaps you’re interested in buffing that attacker. This spell has you covered. It’s even weenie removal in a pinch!
The final third of the deck is devoted to reanimating a behemoth, unleashing it onto the battlefield, and then disposing of it for profit.
•Exhume is the go-to Pauper legal reanimation spell. Brush off that grave dust and get back out there kid, the team needs you! The downside is we’ll have to wait a turn before we’re able to attack, during which time our creature can get picked off with removal. Such is the way of things! But we can still block, and Rusty’s trample damage may have your opponent second guess an offensive strategy in favor of waiting to see what we do next turn.
•Following your attack phase, cast Rite of Consumption and turn that musclebound creature into health for us, damage for your adversary.
•Alternatively, cast Burnt Offering post combat. This will net you either 8 or 10 mana to redistribute into Kaervek's Torch for direct damage. The nice thing about this outdated and oft forgotten spell is that Spell Pierce suddenly jumps to , making it a bit less likely to show its face.
•Maintain a semblance of board control with Lightning Bolt and Bone Shards.
•Ensure high cost, high power creatures occupy the graveyard, abusing a plethora of discard effects.
•Reanimate them using Exhume.
•The following turn, attack for major damage. During your post combat main phase, weaponize them directly with Rite of Consumption, or revel in the grand spectacle of roasting them inside the Wicker Man and funneling that charnelized mana into Kaervek's Torch and redirecting it back at your opponent.
I don’t typically include a ‘god hand’ in my deck descriptions, but after watching that creepy scene in the movie (and after reading up on the even more disturbing reality of the hand of glory), I couldn’t let this thematic opportunity pass me by.
These potential (pagan) god hands are sure to immobilize your opponent and strike fear in their heart!
Turn 1: Play a Swamp.
Turn 2: Play a Mountain then cast Thrill of Possibility, discarding Rust Goliath and with any luck drawing into a Funeral Charm for a bonus +2 damage later.
Turn 3: Play a land, Exhume your patient Rust Goliath.
Turn 4: Buff Rust Goliath with Funeral Charm if able, then attack. After combat, cast Rite of Consumption and deal a further 10-12 damage, gaining 10-12 life yourself, potentially ending the game then and there.
Turn 1: Play a Mountain.
Turn 2: Play a Swamp and cast Thrill of Possibility, discarding Rust Goliath.
•Turn 3: Cast Exhume and return Rust Goliath to play.
•Turn 4: Attack with Rust Goliath. During the next main phase, cast Burnt Offering and turn Rust Goliath into x10, then funnel it directly into Kaervek's Torch to erase the other half of your opponent’s life bar.
These are certainly best case scenarios where nothing was countered or blocked, and you managed to draw that Funeral Charm or a couple of Lightning Bolts. Realistically? Expect a severely diminished board state across the table, after your opponent’s available blockers soak up that trample damage from Rust Goliath or post annihilation courtesy of Ulamog's Crusher. That, coupled with a direct smash from Kaervek's Torch or Rite of Consumption is enough to take the wind out of anyone’s sails.
The current sideboard reflects a desire to overcome specific weaknesses, rather than try to account for meta specific problems or random potentialities. As always, I’m open to any suggestions.
•Bojuka Bog will nuke an opponent’s graveyard, lessening the odds they reanimate something we’d ideally not want to come back when it’s time for us to cast Exhume. Also, taps for !
•Duress is pretty typical sideboard material, and earns a place here too. Get rid of things that may interfere with our graveyard, or those kill spells that can derail us.
•Dash Hopes was mentioned in the main deck, and while there are certainly better things to occupy this slot, it’s a personal favorite of mine. It stays. Feel free to replace it with whatever you prefer instead.
•Ingot Chewer devours all manner of artifact tokens we don’t want to have to deal with, like Treasure Tokens, Clues and so forth.
”Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.”
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Casual
93% Competitive
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 1 year |
| Last updated | 1 year |
| Legality | This deck is Pauper legal. |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.73 |
| Folders | Pauper, zIdeas, .Pauper, Pauper, Decks I Want, Decks interessantes, Pauper Decks |
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