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By: SteveJeltz, Rev. David Wright
Oct 23 2017 12:00pm
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 You Don't See That Everyday

Presented for you: four new brews! These are blink and you'll miss 'em, single appearance decks gleaned from the Pauper Challenge and Pauper League standings. And they are some brews for sure! While I have seen variations of all four of them before now, sometimes its been years. And I haven't seen anyone have success with these exact lists ever before.

So enjoy these cool lists, tell me if any of them interest you, or the improvements you would make. And maybe we'll see you with a new ride cruising through the Pauper League. 

#1 Green / White Exalted by CosmicCharles

(5-0 in Pauper League 10/16/17)  


What it’s doing: Pushing through damage with large, resilient, singular attackers. Toss in a little bit of evasion from trample, protection and flying, some counter synergies, and persist creatures, and you've got a dynamic low-to-the-ground aggro deck that can either go wide or go tall.
 

What I like about it: There's some nice internal synergies beyond just the exalted creatures. The Skyfishers can reset the back half of the persist creatures or the singleton spider. And this may be the best Travel Preps deck I've ever seen.
 
New Technology: I had to look up Rendclaw Trow. Wow... that's going deep. 

#2 Esper Flicker by 420dragon

5th Place in Pauper Challenge 10/15/2017


What it’s doing: Flicker is an old archetype, but one that everyone wrote off for dead once CoF got the boot. After we survived the summer of Peregrine Drake, it seemed like straight up Flicker combo was a thing of the past, having evolved into decks like Dimir Flicker and Dinrova Tron. This deck goes deep by comboing cost reduction with recursive spells to go infinite.


What I like about it: Somehow, even with Snap as the only "free" spell in the deck, this brew has all the ingredients to draw the whole deck in a turn, gain infinite life, make infinite mana, and kill every permanent the opponent has. The combo win condition is bouncing a singleton Dinrova Horror, but the deck can also win as purely a value / attrition deck if it needs to. 

New Technology: Prosperous Pirates! These are the guys that replace Cloud of Faeries as the primary infinite mana engine unless you're Snapping to untap your lands. I wonder if a singleton Skymarch Bloodletter or Bloodhunter Bat would do the trick since that adds a drain life win condition.

 
#3 Mono Blue Control by dd_fan

10th Place in Pauper Challenge 10/15/2017

 

Mono Blue Control
- 75 Cards Total
Creature
1 Fathom Seer
1 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Spire Golem
6 cards

Instant
4 Counterspell
2 Deprive
2 Dispel
2 Exclude
4 Miscalculation
2 Oona's Grace
4 Piracy Charm
2 Prohibit
2 Repeal
4 Think Twice
28 cards
Planeswalker
4 Delver of Secrets
4 cards
Land
18 Island
4 Quicksand
22 cards


Sideboard
3 Coast Watcher
3 Curse of the Bloody Tome
2 Dispel
2 Frostburn Weird
2 Hydroblast
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Steel Sabotage
15 cards


What it’s doing: Grinding! That's for sure. With only ten creatures, your wins may come slow and deliberately with this deck. It's not a tempo deck; its trying to counter every relevant spell to clear the way for its lone attacker while outdrawing the opponent at instant speed on turns that it doesn't need to counter.

 

What I like about it: This is probably the closest imitation of Draw-Go that Pauper make. There is scant hard removal: just the Piracy Charms and Quicksands, both of which have dual roles. Resolved permanents spell trouble in blue, but Repeal helps. Plus, Exclude is just an utterly demoralizing play.
 

New Technology: I love those three sideboard Coast Watchers! It's like Vodalian Zombie for mono-blue. Fathom Seer is another old card that has so much potential and yet so rarely finds a home.

 

#4 Freed From the Real by Darkfyre7

6th Place in Pauper Challenge 10/1/2017

Freed Combo
by Darkfyre7 - 75 Cards Total
Creature
4 Drift of Phantasms
1 Valakut Invoker
5 cards

Instant
4 Gigadrowse
4 Impulse
8 cards
Sorcery
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
8 cards

Artifact
4 Lifespark Spellbomb
4 cards
Enchantment
4 Fertile Ground
4 Freed from the Real
4 Gift of Paradise
4 Wind Zendikon
16 cards

Land
2 Forest
11 Island
2 Simic Guildgate
4 Thornwood Falls
19 cards
 

Sideboard
3 Dispel
2 Dizzy Spell
1 Fade Away
3 Nature's Claim
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Spore Frog
15 cards


What it’s doing: Generating infinite mana. If you see it coming, often you can disrupt the combo; it is a bit of a glass cannon. Once you have infinite mana, you can Channel it into a Fireball, or in this case, let Valakut Invoker start shooting Lightning Bolts at anything that moves, namely the opponent's bewildered jaw.

 

What I like about it: It's the namesake deck of our site! 
 

New Technology: Aside from Gift of Paradise, not much. I wonder if there is a way to use the Awaken mechanic as an easier way to animate a creature. Or maybe Oasis Ritualist since it taps for two mana. Also, I'd like a way to draw more cards so that I can be guaranteed to wind my win condition. Maybe a Whispers of the Muse?
 

Keep having fun out there.

- SteveJeltz