Pauper's a wild format a lot of the time. Decks come and go in and out of the format for different periods of time, often seeing a resurgence due to the printing of a new card. We've seen this a lot over the last few years with decks like Delver and Stompy. Both of these decks either fell out of the meta due to being outclassed or otherwise because they faced bannings. Thanks to some format repositioning and new cards, though, they've been able to rise again.

While the period both of those archetypes stopped being played in the format was relatively low, one took a bit longer to come back: Familiars.

Familiars was around for quite some time in the format's early years and stuck around for a quite a while. Using cards like Sunscape Familiar and Nightscape Familiar, you could cast a myriad of Blue spells for a much lower rate than they're supposed to cost. Sea Gate Oracle or an evoked Mulldrifter for one Blue mana? You've got it! This became especially nasty when you brought both Cloud of Faeries and Ghostly Flicker or Snap into the mix, allowing you to either generate absurd amounts of mana or mill your opponent with Sage's Row Denizen.

This style of play was one of numerous reasons Cloud of Faeries was banned in Pauper, never again to see the light of day. After the ban, though, Familiars largely vanished from the format, only showing up once in a blue moon until the release of Ixalan and the printing of Prosperous Pirates. These Pirates allowed for infinite mana with Ghostly Flicker and any land, something that quickly got players brewing. This version of the deck came and went in a flash, disappearing as quickly as it came, but not before leaving its mark.

The deck continued to show up from time to time, but at a slightly more frequent rate than in the past, with plenty of variations along the way. The deck went from Esper to Azorius to Jeskai and beyond, each trying out different ways to mess with the combo.

Then, in March 2019, Familiars made one heck of a spectacle at the first ever Pauper Mythic Championship Qualifier at MagicFest Los Angeles when Joseph Hourani took it to the finals! If you want to see how it looks when it really goes off, you'll certainly want to check out his semifinal match. And if you can't watch that, well, have a look at this screenshot from the end of Game 3:

The deck continued to come and go from the format, but then at the end of last year, we got Throne of Eldraine and a real game changer to Pauper: Mystic Sanctuary.

As it turns out, you can basically use it with Ghostly Flicker and not even need a card like Mnemonic Wall or Archaeomancer to get back the Flicker. But as the deck evolved, it started to feel a little bit less like the full-on combo deck of yesteryear and more of a controlling lock deck.

Azorius Familiars | Pauper | NotGood, Pauper Challenge

• Creatures (20)
• 2 Stonehorn Dignitary
• 3 Archaeomancer
• 3 God-Pharaoh's Faithful
• 4 Mulldrifter
• 4 Sea Gate Oracle
• 4 Sunscape Familiar

• Instants (13)
• 1 Echoing Truth
• 1 Exclude
• 1 Ghostly Flicker
• 2 Counterspell
• 2 Prohibit
• 2 Snap
• 4 Ephemerate

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Deep Analysis
• 4 Preordain

• Lands (21)
• 2 Plains
• 8 Island
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 3 Ash Barrens
• 3 Azorius Chancery
• 4 Tranquil Cove

• Sideboard (12)
• 1 Echoing Truth
• 1 Exclude
• 1 Nature's Chant
• 1 Sage's Row Denizen
• 2 Stonehorn Dignitary
• 3 Blue Elemental Blast
• 3 Gut Shot

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This list eschews the instant takedown combos - with exception of the Sage's Row Denizen in the board - and rather favors locking out players the same way we've largely come to see in Tron. This works by creating a tremendous draw engine using the likes of both Mulldrifter and Sea Gate Oracle alongside Ghostly Flicker and Ephemerate to go through your deck. As you do, you use countermagic and bounce spells to keep your opponent from going through with their game plan. If you start to run out, no problem! Simply use Ghostly Flickers and Ephemerates on your Archaeomancers, Mnemonic Walls, and Mystic Sanctuaries to get them back and keep the loop alive.

Last but not least, to win the game you simply create a lock using these Flicker effects alongside Stonehorn Dignitary to make sure your opponent never gets another combat step for the rest of the game. From there, you can win in one of two ways. The first is to either continually re-draw the same Ghostly Flicker every turn with Mystic Sanctuary, thereby keeping the same number of cards in your deck as your opponent mills out. The other, somewhat more practical way of winning is to get in with some Mulldrifter attacks as you keep your opponent's board cleared and take them out in a nice clean way.

But it's important to remember that this is only one version of the deck and that there are many others. Some have won by the Sage's Row Denizen combo - which is where you just loop the same creature over and over to mill your opponent - and some have won with the likes of Kaervek's Torch. Whatever your preference, this should be a fun, interesting, and different way to take down your local Pauper tournament... once game stores open back up, that is.

Should you look to play online in the meantime, I can only recommend you get used to the client's interface, because you'll have an absurd amount of clicks and time management on your hands. But for those daring folks looking for a challenge, Familiars might just be the choice for you.

Kendra Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

Twitch: twitch.tv/themaverickgirl

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