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Main » Articles » Magic the Classroom – Pauper Introductions

Magic the Classroom – Pauper Introductions

Dan Eckstein
Posted on April 1, 2011
 Reddit

This week was my Spring Break. Finally, a week where I might be able to sit at the computer long enough to do more than single games! So I excitedly went to the MTGO schedule to see what events I could partake in. My eyes went first to Thursday "Night" Magic. TNMO is a less expensive way to jump into larger events. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, every Thursday, Magic Online does tournaments similar to Friday Night Magic at your local store. There are promo cards just like at FNMs, and the entry fee is less than the daily events. TNMO draft and sealed nights only have the packs as entry fees, and constructed nights are only 2 tix.

During a normal school week, TNMO is at poor times for me. Even though Wizards hosts four different tourneys that are spaced throughout the day so that it is always Thursday "night" somewhere, all four times don't work here in Central United States. Three of the time slots are during school hours or before I could get home. (Tried that once—missed it by four minutes). The fourth slot is doable, but would put me up way late for work on Friday. For those outside of the education biz, I'll share a little secret: Friday is the hardest day to teach teenagers. So I was very excited to play this last Thursday.

Thursday's Format

Then I saw the format. What horrendous timing. Pauper! Really? At that time, I had no Pauper decks. Some of you may find that surprising since I play mostly casual and really live on a pretty tight Magic budget. From my perspective at the time, I found Pauper unexciting. Commons were just that: common, and in my mind, boring.

Still, I had to take advantage of my rare opportunity to play in TNMO. So I looked at my current decks and tried to the find the commonest of the bunch. The deck I settled on was the "Black Blitz" that I featured in my last article. To be honest, I didn't put any real thought into it—it was the commonest of my decks that wouldn't fall apart without the rares and uncommons. After a little tinkering, this is the deck I listed and ran with.

"Pauper Black Blitz"

If you didn't read last week, this deck does three things. Play Infect dudes, remove blockers, pump unblocked Infects. That's it. Pretty simple. I really thought I would be good against a field of commons, but I was woefully wrong.

Egg on My Face

So with that list queued up, I jumped into the Pauper fray. What I found out is that the world of Pauper is quite vast and potentially powerful. I was able to win some games, but was unable to win any packs. Here is the game by game.

Versus Boros

Game 1 was all based on Plated Geopede. He went first and was able to put the pesky First Striker in my way for most of the game. On my turn three, I got 6 poison in with a Vampire-Bitten Vector Asp balancing on a Teetering Peaks since he had tapped to attack with his Geopede that was pumped by a Terramorphic Expanse and a Goblin Bushwhacker. In terms of poison versus life, I got the better. His 8-point hit was equivalent to just 4 poison. After that, he never tapped the Geopede. Whenever I found something to get past the First Strike issue, he found a Bolt, Burst, or Journey in response. Meanwhile, his Steppe Lynx and Skyfishers got the win.

Game 2 found me moving out some pump for extra removal from the sideboard. I figured I could keep his critters out of the way, and the card advantage from Corpse Cur or the surprise of Blackcleave would win out. This game took forever, but eventually I won out. A bit of luck went my way since he only saw one Bolt and two Journeys.

In the rubber match, I fell to an Adventuring Gear attached to multiple Squadron Hawks. I would remove one, and the next would swoop in to grab the equipment. The subtle part of his victory was the plus-three card advantage a Hawk gives being greater than the plus-one from Corpse Cur.

Versus Counterspell

Did you know Counterspell was common? What about Ninja of the Deep Hours? Just for fun, let's add Oona's Grace for some never-ending card draw at instant speed. Not enough muscle? Did I mention Spire Golem and Mulldrifter? Dispersal Shield is even pretty good with any of those critters out.

Game 1 was brutal. I had to mull to five to see any land at all. Thanks to being forced to play a Peaks on turn two just to be able to play a critter on turn three, I saw basically nothing but land on my side of the table. The one pump I almost got in went to a Spellstutter Sprite, which kept my Plague Stinger from attacking on any future turns.

Game 2 was quick, as I went first and saw a really good hand of Asp, Bite, Unholy, Cur, Swamp, Swamp, and Peaks. Turn-two hit for 3 with Unholy, and turn three got 8 more from the uncounterable Peaks and two Bites (first was countered). Turn-three wins are hard to get and hard to beat.

Game 3 went the same as the first except he used an Ornithopter to sneak in his Ninja. An early Dispel worked wonders on my feeble attempts to pump.

Versus Domain

Game 1, I thought I was playing against some weird kind of mana-ramp deck. I saw Rampant Growth and Cultivate followed by a Kodama's Reach. Stinger plus Bite and Ichorclaw plus Bite and Peaks made sure I didn't see anything else from his deck.

Game 2 found a Kird Ape and a Wild Nacatl holding off my ground forces. Then I started seeing the Domains that he was building with his ramp spells. A timely Exotic Curse let his Matca Rioters slip through, into which he pumped a Might of Alara and a Gaea's Might for 15! Next turn, Tribal Flames finishes me.

Game 3 found me winning my first match. Plague Stinger was the MVP with his wonderful wings. This was a close one, though, as I had to play and hold back blockers to avoid the Mights. Fortunately, I had boarded in removal and was able to keep his critters at bay the entire game even though he easily got to five basics.

What Now?

Well, even though I didn't win a pack, I do have a newfound respect for the Pauper format. It is rich and diverse, and my deck was nothing compared to what is out there. I've done some casual play since then and found other deck ideas as well. Currently, I am considering one of these two deck lists. I would love to hear which you think I should play.

"Boros Landfall"

This deck is what I imagine my first opponent's looked like. I have almost the same deck already, so the conversion was easy. Really wish I would have noticed it before the TNMO.

The next deck comes from my second opponent. During my whupping, I asked him how he lost the first round. He reply was simple: "Storm." So I did a search on Gatherer for commons with the term "Storm." It didn't take long for me to develop this list.

"Pauper Storm"

This deck is totally theoretical on my part. I'm sure that lists like it are out there, but as I said earlier, I've done no Pauper research. I really want to hear what you think. Post in the comments what you think I should play around with. I really debated about Grapeshot. I like the fact that this build can make my opponent reset his field with a Stormed-up Temporal Fissure. I envision a turn-three or turn-four Fissure plus Warrens, leaving my opponent with an empty board and me with twelve to sixteen Goblins.

Class Dismissed

That'll be the end of today's class. In the future, I might really expand into the realm of Pauper. I really feel that I've only dipped my toe in the water, and the water is deeper than I could imagine. There are just so many commons out there the possibilities are astonishing.

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