I enjoy building decks more than I do playing them, and so that often leads me to the pauper format because of the challenges involved in building the decks I want to make from only a small selection of cards from a set. Of course, in the last few years, Wizards has been pretty good about making sure that block themes always show up at common, so trying to build pauper decks from Zendikar block was pretty much frustration free.
Pauper Kor
4 x *Kitesail Apprentice
4 x *Lone Missionary
4 x *Kor Skyfisher
4 x *Kor Hookmaster
4 x *Kor Sanctifiers
4 x *Kor Cartographer
4 x *Explorer's Scope
4 x *Adventuring Gear
3 x *Narrow Escape
3 x *Journey to Nowhere
18 x *Plains
4 x *Sejiri Steppe
I tried to make this deck as flavorful as possible, while still synergistic. Nearly every creature has an "enters the battlefield" ability, which Kor Skyfisher and Narrow Escape
can enable again. Or, you could get back a land to trigger the Adventuring Gear
again, in case Explorer's Scope
and Kor Cartographer
aren't getting the job done. OR, you could get your Journey to Nowhere
back to cast on something bigger that has appeared.
Pauper Vampires
4 x *Vampire Lacerator
4 x *Pulse Tracker
4 x *Guul Draz Vampire
4 x *Ruthless Cullblade
4 x *Blood Seeker
4 x *Null Champion
4 x *Disfigure
4 x *Vendetta
4 x *Mire's Toll
2 x *Last Kiss
18 x *Swamp
4 x *Pirahna Marsh
I decided to use Null Champion over Bloodthrone Vampire
because its almost guaranteed power of 4 was better than the other card's temporary pump that costs you valuable creatures. And Nulls are owned by Vampires anyway, so it still counts. If your initial assault is able to get them to 10 or less, Guul Draz Vampire
is probably the best bet to finish them off. Or, who knows, the game might run long and you might get a Null Champion
to stage 3, where it becomes an even greater threat.
Pauper Goblins
4 x *Goblin Arsonist
4 x *Goblin Bushwhacker
4 x *Goblin Shortcutter
4 x *Grotag Siege Runner
4 x *Torch Slinger
4 x *Goblin Tunneler
4 x *Battle-Rattle Shaman
4 x *Slaughter Cry
4 x *Raid Bombardment
2 x *Goblin War Paint
4 x *Teetering Peaks
4 x *Smoldering Spires
14 x *Mountain
Hopefully the Goblin Tunneler s and Raid Bombardment
s will give the deck enough reach after the opponent has stabilized from the opening blitz. I realize that Goblin War Paint
and Battle-Rattle Shaman
don't work so well with Raid Bombardment
, but they're still useful cards in their own right. The deck would probably be more effective with Burst Lightning
s and Flame Slash
es, but that would lower the goblin quota.
Pauper Eldrazi
4 x *Nest Invader
4 x *Kozilek's Predator
4 x *Emrakul's Hatcher
4 x *Ulamog's Crusher
4 x *Hand of Emrakul
4 x *Ancient Stirrings
4 x *Spawning Breath
4 x *Brood Birthing
4 x *Growth Spasm
12 x *Forest
12 x *Mountain
It's a simple plan, really: Generate a bunch of spawn tokens in order to bring down an early Eldrazi, and ride it to victory. The "living the dream" opening is one of the three 2-cost spells on turn 2, followed by a turn 3 Brood Birthing into Hand of Emrakul
. I look forward to seeing how this deck performs against the aggro crowd up above.
