You’ve Been Subpoenaed to Testify at Nuremberg

Pauper Budget Combo Competitive Control Counterspell Delve Pauper Turns UB (Dimir)

Balaam__

Instant (18)

• 4x Displace
• 2x Force Spike
• 4x Ghostly Flicker
• 4x Mana Leak
• 4x Memory Lapse

Sorcery (8)

• 4x Lost Hours
• 4x Painful Memories

Creature (14)

• 4x Archaeomancer
• 4x Chittering Rats
• 4x Delver of Secrets  ^Flip
• 2x Gurmag Angler

Land (20)

• 4x Ice Tunnel
• 10x Island
• 4x Swamp
• 2x Witch's Cottage

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Sideboard

Instant (15)

• 4x Apostle's Blessing
• 4x Counterspell
• 4x Spell Pierce
• 3x Sweep Away

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Maybeboard

Artifact (1)

• 1x Lotus Petal

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Of One Mind

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User GrimlockVIII left some brilliant suggestions on my first Pauper deck, Exham Priory, and was quite adamant it should be built around—so before I’m arraigned before a tribunal at The Hague, remember:

I was only following orders.

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YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED to appear in the Nuremberg District Court regarding war crimes committed at your LGS.

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Nürnberg von Bayern

Everyone knows the Nuremberg Trials were held inside the Geneva Convention Center, but what many people don’t realize is just how lush and varied the surrounding Bavarian countryside is.

There are lowland swamps, small islands dotted along the Rhine, and when the winter comes oh how the children love to go tobogganing through the ice tunnels!

Deep in the heart of the mysterious Schwartzwald(er kirschtorte) lies the scary Witch's Cottage (Please refer to Der Struwwelpeter for additional information).

Delegates from the European Court of Human Rights

These two individuals have been despatched to ensure that warfare is waged fairly.

•Delver of Secrets   makes an excellent Turn 1 play, and is all but guaranteed to flip the following turn. A 3/2 flyer in Pauper is nothing to scoff at and makes for an effective deterrent while we contemplate our next move. Like Delver, just sit back and rub your hands together, saying...

•Gurmag Angler makes a fine finisher. By the time we’re ready to close out the game, our graveyard will likely be inundated with Instants and stacked with spent Sorceries-perfect for our fiendish fish to gobble up to sate its delve cost. Set it loose and watch those jaws snap shut!

Grave Breaches of the Geneva Convention

Having your spells countered really stinks. But if they are, you resign yourself to the fact that there’s usually not much you can do about it, write it off as a loss, and then shift your focus to whatever your next play is going to be and move on.

It’s for precisely this reason I feel as though having one of your cards topdecked is far, far worse a fate. It’s that feeling of being powerless and impotent. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s the single most frustrating, irritating and exasperating thing that can happen to a person in a game of Magic.

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Let’s get ourselves put on Amnesty International’s watchlist, shall we?

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•Force Spike is one of two traditional counterspells we run, and it’s an ideal play on our opponent’s first turn. We run this spell instead of Spell Pierce since most Turn 1 or 2 plays will be creatures, rendering Spell Pierce not as helpful as it would seem.

•Mana Leak is Force Spike’s big brother and is just as effective. Our opening turns are all about establishing control and thwarting our opponent’s every play.

•Memory Lapse is the best of both worlds. Counter a troublesome spell, only to force the opposing player to return it to the top of their library, shattering their tempo and crushing their soul.

•Lost Hours is one of those vile, sickening spells that breaks about a dozen articles under the Geneva Convention. Take that combo piece, slip it 3 cards into their library, and take solace knowing it’ll more than likely never see the light of day again.

•Painful Memories is perhaps the most apropos name for a magic card I’ve ever encountered. It’s exactly what your opponent will carry away from the experience of playing against this deck. The card itself is another savage, sadistic and unconscionably cruel spell that just makes you proud to be playing black. Stumbling across it and realizing it’s Pauper legal was like

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Crimes Against Humanity

It’s time to take Geneva Convention IV’s article 5 and run it through the paper shredder. What we’re about to discuss is just about the most egregiously repugnant thing one can do to another human being in the context of this game. Have fun glancing across the table at your opponent, their face frozen in a rictus of disbelief...

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In an ideal scenario, cast Chittering Rats Turn 3, followed by Archaeomancer Turn 4. With these two particular cards in play, go ahead and cast Ghostly Flicker, targeting Chittering Rats+Archaeomancer.

Doing so will let us return the very same Ghostly Flicker we just cast back to our hand. It will also trigger Chittering Rats’ ETB, forcing the opponent to topdeck a card from their hand. This can be abused over and over again each turn (possibly more than once), grinding the opponent to a complete standstill.

Also included is a playset of Displace, functionally identical to Ghostly Flicker. More opportunities to draw one’s key combo pieces is always a good thing.

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Should your opponent protest these atrocities, just tell them

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Crimea River

TL;DR

•Control the board with counter magic and topdeck spells. Establish an early board presence with Delver of Secrets   to keep the pressure on.

•Cast Chittering Rats and Archaeomancer as mana becomes available.

•Cast Ghostly Flicker/Displace, targeting Chittering Rats+Archaeomancer. This will return Ghostly Flicker/Displace to your hand, while Chittering Rats’ ETB will return a card from the opponent’s hand to the top of their library.

•Repeatedly abuse the aforementioned combo until you draw and play Gurmag Angler, then attack for the win.

The Sideboard

The Sideboard boasts a full array of like-minded spells and complimentary effects to help protect the strategy.

•Spell Pierce may have its shortcomings when stacked against similar spells in the maindeck, but it’s still a viable play. We keep it on retainer just in case.

•Counterspell is a bit harder to justify in a two color build, so it’s relegated to the sideboard for now.

•Sweep Away is salt on an open wound. Just when the opponent thinks they’ve managed to stick a creature long enough to actually DO something, we let them know that we are indeed not out of answers. Heh hah No.

•Apostle's Blessing helps protect our rat or our wizard from an untimely death. Just pay the phyrexian mana equivalent as we don’t have access to mana.

”For whoever has, more will be given him, and he will be made to abound; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

Top Ranked	Achieved #2 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Pauper 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Pauper legal.
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.60
Folders	Pauper Decks, Pauper, This looks dope., Budget Brews, Budget, Standard, Pauper, Interesting, Pauper, pauper