We don't often see actual, traditional control decks very often in Pauper. As the format has evolved, things have become increasingly polarized, with linear aggro and combo decks being the fastest pole and Urzatron and Monarch decks fighting for the inevitable endgame pole. Trapped in the middle are control decks that can't necessarily keep up with the card advantage of monarch engines or the mana advantage of Urzatron decks. That said, if you can predict the metagame, there are lots of mana-efficient answers that put you ahead on cards too:
Blue-White Control - Pauper | mlovbo, 5-0 Pauper League
- Creatures (16)
- 2 Stormbound Geist
- 3 Coalition Honor Guard
- 3 Custodi Squire
- 4 Lone Missionary
- 4 Mulldrifter
- Sorceries (8)
- 2 Compulsive Research
- 2 Deep Analysis
- 4 Preordain
- Enchantments (2)
- 2 Angelic Renewal
- Lands (22)
- 5 Plains
- 7 Island
- 1 Lonely Sandbar
- 1 Secluded Steppe
- 4 Azorius Chancery
- 4 Tranquil Cove
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Circle of Protection: Blue
- 3 Faerie Macabre
- 2 Holy Light
- 2 Journey to Nowhere
- 2 Leave No Trace
- 1 Oblivion Ring
- 2 Seal of Removal
This deck is really interesting because it's trying to do a very specific set of things. The format has become really narrow in what decks are trying to do, which means that a deck like this can try to prey on these tendencies.
Take the cards Disrupt and Confound. Disrupt is a great way to turn off burn spells and countermagic, while Confound counters everything from Ghostly Flicker to Inside Out to Ethereal Armor. On top of that, you have access to Coalition Honor Guard at the top of your curve to continue hard-countering cards like Hunger of the Howlpack and Elephant Guide.
Backing this engine up is a suite of all the best card advantage creatures. Lone Missionary keeps your life total high and Mulldrifter and Stormbound Geist are the best ways to stabilize against Delver of Secrets variants. Custodi Squire gives you a great way of really grinding things out in the late game, particularly in conjunction with Angelic Renewal so that you can loop the two.
If you're expecting a wide open Pauper metagame, then playing a pile of cards that includes Confound and Disrupt is probably not what you want to be doing. But if you're expecting a ton of decks trying to do hyper-efficient, unfair things, then these cards seem like exactly the kind of thing you want to be doing.
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