You are a mad scientist, intent on pursuing your research in airborne disease. Dabbling in dark magic, you’ve found ways to siphon life from others to extend your own. Unfortunately, the village where you picked your experiment subjects from found you out. Soon, the villagers gathered at your laboratory and locked you into your own gas chamber to destroy you and your work. Having performed dark rituals and evil pacts, you rose once more from your ruined laboratory the following night, not as a human, but as a lich. With your newfound power and fresh taste for revenge, you begin anew. They will all taste your pestilence. First the village, then the world.
“The vapors infiltrate every crevice, poison every lung, and snuff out every life”
Pestilence is a Control deck based around its powerful namesake card, Pestilence. Being a common, it fits very well into Pauper, which is swarming with creature decks. Using creatures with either Protection or high toughness, you can both keep your Pestilence alive indefinitely and eat up smaller creatures in combat. The deck also packs removal to be able to destroy creatures that can’t die to Pestilence. It also includes many cards that gain you life to be able to stay ahead while using Pestilence.
This primer is built primarily for paper Pauper. Since the printing of the most popular Monarch cards online, Pestilence decks have been a consistent part of the metagame for a while.
Building the Deck
The core: Aside from our play set of Pestilence, there are five categories the deck can be divided into to fill the deck: Creatures, Removal, Finisher, Ramp/ Card Advantage/ Discard and Lands.
Creatures: Walls tend to be a good option when playing Pestilence, as they have high toughness to both block early and sustain heavy damage from Pestilence and still keeping it alive.
Thraben Inspector: I wasn't such a fan of this card at first. it seemed like it would just die to our own Pestilence more often than not. Turns out 2 tougness is sometimes enough to hold everything down and that its cheap cost of just W makes it easy to play just after wiping the board to keep Pestilence on the table. Not to mention it leaves behind a clue token for some much-needed card draw. I'm a believer!
Steel Wall: Blocks well and can survive most of your Pestilence board wipes. No colour restrictions makes it easy to cast. Not being able to attack is the biggest flaw, however.
Disowned Ancestor: This card is a perfect fit for the deck, as it is an early defense that upgrades itself, eventually turning into a finisher (it does not have defender!). It requires a large investment of time and mana to stay relevant throughout the game, however. One activation can usually make it big enough to block pretty much everything and 3-4 activations turn it into an effective finisher.
Wall of Tanglecord: This two drop is excellent at blocking practically anything and keeping Pestilence alive throughout the game. Could be worth revisiting in a Gurmag Angler age.
Cuombajj Witches: This early drop has a high toughness for a two-drop and also deals with early threats very efficiently. Not to mention it counts double towards devotion. Bonus points for being a Delver and Faerie sniper!
Kor Skyfisher: What might be thought of as a disadvantage for casting such a cheap and powerful flyer is actually a huge benefit in most cases. Being able to pick up permanents with enters the battlefield abilities is a huge bonus, making this a staple in most White decks. Extra clue tokens with Thraben Inspector, more life from Aven Riftwatcher, recurring more creatures from Mortuary Mire, regaining the monarchy with Thorn of the Black Rose. The possibilities are almost endless!
Aven Riftwatcher: Aven Riftwatcher has a big enough butt for Pestilence, and it also gains a nice chunk of life. Bonus points with Kor Skyfisher for more life and a reset vanishing ticker!
Crypt Rats: This card functions like Pestilence in a lot of ways, but has a few key differences. It dies to its own trigger, so it's often a one-time use. Because it's a creautre, it can be recurred with things like Grim Harvest or Mortuary Mire. This card is much more skill intensive in terms of its use on the stack. You can retain priority on the stack to activate Crypt Rats' ability multiple times, which can be used to deal with normally sticky creatures like Young Wolf (activate for 2, then for 1. triggers resolve separately, killing the Wolf twice). lastly, this card can be used to cause draws, unlike Pestilence. You can activate the rats for huge chunks of damage all at once, potentially killing both players simultaneously. It can pair with cards like Rush of Vitality for huge life swings.
Cemetery Gate: This creature can't take damage from Pestilence. Protection from black is also relevant against other decks, and it also has five toughness to block well against pretty much everything. 0 attack makes it easy to attack into, however.
Guardian of the Guildpact: Most of the Pauper metagame is mono-coloured, making Guardian largely untouchable and difficult to deal with. It also happens to have protection from Pestilence damage, making practically a hard-lock. It operates well as a finisher (can't be blocked by mono-coloured) and holds equipment well, by the way.
Palace Sentinels: The Monarch mechanic is quite perfect for control decks. Pestilence decks historically had difficulty with card advantage; other decks could eventually outlast it or find their answers while the Pestilence deck ran out of gas. Getting an extra card every turn is incredibly powerful for such a slow and grindy deck and since it's so packed with removal, it will be difficult for the opponent to fight for the monarchy. Palace Sentinels fits perfectly into the Pestilence archetype not only because of the Monarchy it provides, but because of it's high toughness.
Thorn of the Black Rose: Everything that applies to Sentinels applies to this card, except it's even on-colour! The only fault is that is has one less P/T. Deathtouch can be relevant, but in reality it rarely comes up because of how well this deck deals with creatures in the first place. Palace Sentinels will usually be preferred in Orzhov builds, but Mono-Black decks will certainly make use of Thorn.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel: it's high toughness and life gain makes it an ideal candidate for a Pestilence deck. Unfortunately, it comes after Pestilence on the curve, making certain plays somewhat awkward.
Custodi Squire: Pauper usually being a 2-player format, this card essentially lets you get back whatever you want, since the opponent will always vote for whatever you voted for (unless they want to give you two cards! ). Five mana is a lot to pay, but the body is big and flying certainly helps finish games.
Shield Sphere: BEWARE: only printed as a common online (mtgo). However, if the group you play with allows it, it's an excellent addition to the deck for its free cost and high toughness.
Removal: Black and White have excellent removal options. Pestilence can easily deal with cluttered boards and go-wide decks, so a few spot removal options go a long way to make sure nothing sticks on the opponent's board. Edicts are also more effect with Pestilence effects.
Tragic Slip: The morbid trigger is very easy to get with this deck. -1/-1 is often a fine mode as well.
Dead Weight: This card deals with almost every creature commonly played in Pauper. It can also help take down bigger creatures in conjunction with Pestilence. It is an auto-include when going for an auras sub-theme with Auramancer and/or Heliod's Pilgrim.
Doom Blade: You can't go wrong with a classic. Can be dead in some matchups, but they can always be sideboarded
out in later games.
Chainer's Edict: One of the classic removal spells of the Pauper format. Make sure your playgroup is okay with MTGO only commons, however. This card was never printed as a common in paper!
Geth's Verdict: Another powerful edict effect. This is a better version of Diabolic Edict in Mono Black, as the added life loss can make a bit of a difference in Pestilence activations.
Journey to Nowhere: White's cheapest and most effective removal at common. You can also pick it up later with Kor Skyfisher if you find a better target at another stage of the game.
Tendrils of Corruption: Great for a mono-Black build. Doing 4 damage to a creature and gaining life in the process can put you in a very good position to fight back. Drawn later in the game, they only get better with the swamps you played.
Snuff Out: A good removal spell that can be fetched by Dimir House Guard. It lets you get creatures out of the way with no mana investment so you can keep up your game plan. Great as a 1-of.
Finisher: These are generally the cards used to end the game.
Pestilence: This falls in both the removal and the finisher category, but I place it here because of its importance to the deck. It creates card advantage by killing your opponents’ creatures (without targeting them!), and then usually ends up killing them when used in conjunction with the other finisher.
Corrupt: Similar Tendrils, but it can hit opponents and creatures. A life swing of minimum twelve points is extremely powerful and is what allows the deck to invest so much in Pestilence.
Other: I clump Discard, Card Advantage, Ramp and other spells into the same category because they take up the free slots in the deck. Running some amount of discard in the maindeck is often a good idea, as it gives you information or card advantage for what’s to come (more is usually added in the sideboard).
Dark Ritual: This can be used to power out our many 4 drops or just invest into more damage with Pestilence.
Sign in Blood: This card is cheap and the two life can easily be recovered. You can also target your opponent for the kill from time to time.
Night's Whisper: If playing BW, this is a more flexible choice, in terms of colours. You can't ping your opponent for the occasional two life, however.
Read the Bones: You can dig up to four cards deep into your library with this card, which can go a long way in finding what you need. Three mana is keeping this card from gaining popularity, and most Orzhov lists prefer the cheaper Night's Whisper.
Hymn to Tourach: If we’re using Black, there’s isn’t much of a reason not to use this. It’s the most powerful two-for-one in Pauper. The random discard is what really makes it amazing.
Duress: This is just about the only other playable discard. At one mana, it will get anything but lands and creatures from your opponent, and since the deck is already fit to kill anything in sight...
Cry of Contrition: another potential 2-for-1 against the opponent. Unfortunately, you don't get to choose what they discard. Often not something you'll want to play early on.
Castigate: This card can either be the best discard spell or just an expensive Duress. Against decks like Murasa Tron, this card can be backbreaking since it exiles the spell. In a faster metagame, this card simply does not have enough impact. Being able to grab creatures certainly makes it main-deckable, though it's often seen as a sideboard card.
Prismatic Strands: Used on a key combat step, this card will turn the game around in your favour, at worst being a fog and at best a one-sided board wipe by blocking with your creatures. The cheap flashback cost makes this very appealing.
Lands: You’ll want to have a mana base with around 24 lands, as they are your main source of damage when it comes to Pestilence. Hitting your land drops is important because the mana curve is so high. Most of them will be Swamps, because of the cards that care about the number you control.
Scoured Barrens: Small nuggets of life can make the difference over the course of the game. This fixes your mana and puts you ahead a life for free.
Orzhov Guildgate: We've been very spoiled with better fixing in our mana bases. Guildgates just don't usually make the cut anymore.
Orzhov Basilica: Bounce lands can be sources of value if your mana base is built around them. Many lands have enters the battlefield abilities nowadays, making this a very solid choice for fixing.
Kabira Crossroads: Gaining two life from playing a land is actually quite a lot. Some players prefer Radiant Fountain because it comes into play untapped, at the cost of only making colourless mana.
Barren Moor/Secluded Steppe: This card will shore up the much needed card advantage, without taking up deck space.
Bojuka Bog: It will get rid of any graveyard interactions for you. Running one or two could be a good idea, if your metagame calls for it. Also playable in the sideboard.
Mortuary Mire: Recursion on a land is incredibly valuable. Kor Skyfisher can pick it up for more value, and can even loop with a second Skyfisher.
Piranha Marsh: Having the opponent losing any amount of life can be important, but having the land coming into play tapped and not counting as a swamp is a big drawback.
Sideboard Cards
The sideboard will generally include more discard (mentioned above) to hose combo and control decks that run fewer creatures. It can also include more specific destruction spells.
Echoing Decay: This can take care of token creatures or some odd copies. Or it’s just a decent kill spell.
Unmake: A bit expensive for narrow removal, but sometimes you need to exile something to permanently get rid of it.
Spinning Darkness: An easy, free way to deal some damage and gain some life.
Okiba-Gang Shinobi: An excellent card versus control decks. Bouncing a creature back is often a good thing, and landing just one hit to make them dicard will usually result in a 3-for-1 or more.
Talara's Bane: Instead of removal with life gain, it’s discard with life gain. Not all that useful, as I’ve yet to come across a green or white deck that uses high cmc spells.
Standard Bearer: Can be a decent option when facing decks that play Auras.
Coalition Honor Guard: An upgraded version of Standard Bearer, the guard has a much higher toughness that survives Lightning Bolt and does much better in combat. This deck is slow enough that four mana is worth the extra big body.
Pristine Talisman: A very welcome artifact when it comes to life gain in Pauper. This mana rock will win stalemates and allow you to play multiple spells a turn earlier.
Syphon Life: This card will turn all your surplus swamps into a life swing. There needs to be a good balance between these and Corrupt, which gets better with more swamps in play. This is a very good card to bring in against a mirror match or against other control decks. Gaining 2 life for every swamp played and getting it immediately is often better than waiting for the next Corrupt.
Tanglebloom: I never thought I’d play this, but sometimes gaining one life every turn can get you out of a stalemate. It’s particularly useful versus other control decks.
Choking Sands/Rancid Earth: This is a good card to bring in against 8Post or any deck running very few lands.
Nihil Spellbomb: When it comes to graveyard hate, this cantripping artifact is an excellent choice.
Relic of Progenitus: This is the most popular graveyard hate in Pauper for a reason; it's the best around.
Although these are the casual forums, I feel it’s necessary to include a matchup analysis for many of the most common archetypes in Pauper. This will give you a better idea of the decks’ strength and weaknesses and whether it’s worth playing in your playgroup/local game store.
Affinity:
Overall analysis: This is an even matchup. They apply a lot of pressure and have lots of cantripping and draw spells to keep themselves loaded. You destroy their creatures and try to land a Pestilence to control them. I evaluate this at 55-45 in favor of Pestilence.
Cards to board in/ out:Prismatic Strands is generally pretty weak against them. Thraben Inspector only chumps their creatures, so it's not really worth the 3 mana cantrip. Wall of Hope is also rather useless against 4/4s, but it will at least gain some life. Kor Sanctifiers are generally pretty good, killing an artifact and blocking Frogmites or gang-blocking 4/4s. Extra Crypt Rats should also come in. Circle of Protection: Red is interesting to stop the combo and burn spells. Raven's Crime can take the remaining cards in their hand and prevent them from holding Burn or combo pieces.
Cards to look out for:Atog/Fling combo and Galvanic Blast. Gearseeker Serpent can also be a surprisingly difficult card to answer when it comes down late in the game when we are low on resources from dealing with all their other threats.
Strategy discussion: Slowing them down with a few removal spells and following it up with Pestilence to wipe the board and lock them out is the main plan. Going down to low life totals is usually fine, as long as it is above 8 (double Galvanic Blast range). Therefore it's possible to take quite a bit of damage in order to stabilize and start gaining life in the mid-game. Try to save Journey to Nowhere and Dead Weights for Atogs, since they're otherwise almost impossible to kill. Frogmites and Flayer Husks tend to make Edicts bad, so try to take them in combat if you can. Once you've stabilized, start building up your board presence. Your high toughness creatures make for good gang-blocks against 4/4s.
Black Aggro:
Overall Analysis: our opponents creatures with evasion can make most of our blockers useless, but with the amount of removal and life gain we run, this deck shouldn't stand a chance, barring a really fast draw on their part. I evaluate this matchup at 80-20 in favour of Pestilence.
Cards to board in/out: Any mainboard discard can come out in favour of extra removal of any kind. Circle of Protection: Black is ideal in this matchup.
Cards to look out for: Any of the dauthicreatures can start coming out as soon as turn 1 and apply a lot of pressure early. be careful not to get too low on life and be killed by Sign in Blood or Bump in the Night.
Strategy Discussion: Not much to say about this matchup. Try to keep removal-heavy hands and have the 1-2 blockers you need to block creatures that don't have evasion. Lifegain can end up being very important. Pestilence is less interesting here, as single target removal is usually enough to deal with whatever they have. It can still be useful in the late game to really lock them out of being able to kill.
Black Control:
Overall analysis: This matchup is somewhat even. Both decks use many of the same destruction spells to similar effects, and also have discard. I have to give the slight edge to classic Mono-Black Control because it is slightly more proactive and carries much more discard and 2-for-1 effects. However the matchup is very draw-dependant for both players. I evaluate this matchup at 45-55 in favor of Mono-Black Control.
Cards to board in/ out: All discard should go in. Castigate, Duress and Raven's Crime are very effective at getting rid of whatever you need. A single Kor Sanctifiers can be good if you saw them playing Oubliette. Pestilence can usually come out, as single target removal will generally be more efficient and effective and it can be difficult to lock the opponent out with it anyways. Thraben Inspector is not at its best here since it doesn't block any of their creatures favourably, though it is good edict bait and replaces itself.
Strategy discussion: A big part of this matchup is having control of the board. Removing their threats is fine, but it needs to be followed up by playing a sticky threat of your own. A Guardian of the Guildpact will end the game by itself if you are able to protect it from Edicts by playing other creatures around it. Keeping your life total high is also a priority, as their main way of killing you is by getting a good amount of devotion in play and then playing one or two Gray Merchants to swing the game in their favour. The smaller you keep their board, the better your chances.
Burn:
Overall analysis: With all the incidental life gain Pestilence decks run, this matchup shouldn't be a problem, provided we can deal with their damage-multiplying creatures on time. I evaluate this matchup at 80-20 in favour of Pestilence.
Cards to board in/ out: Take out Pestilence and mainboard Crypt Rats; it deals us damage and they don't run enough creature for it to be useful. Put in cheap discard like Duress or Raven's Crime get get them to topdeck mode faster. Circle of Protection: Red is obviously a good inclusion.
Strategy discussion:Try to gain your life to stay out of range on your own turn or when they are tapped out, so that they don't respond with more Burn on the stack and kill you before you lifegain takes effect. Otherwise, a few key blockers will stop Ghitu Lavarunners, Firebrand Archers and Keldon Marauders from getting in for damage and start applying pressure for you. It's important to keep a hand with some removal to deal with Firebrand Archer and Thermo-Alchemist, since they will kill you very quickly if left on the battlefield. That or a lot of lifegain to eventually out-pace them in the mid-game. If the Burn player doesn't kill you in the first 5-6 turns of the game, their chances of winning are very slim.
Delver:
Overall analysis: This is a surprisingly even matchup. You are very well setup to beat them with tons of removal and fliers that either stonewall or trade with theirs. However, Delver being the deck that it is, it can have draws where it completely controls the game by sticking a threat and protecting it with seemingly infinite countermagic and card advantage. I evaluate this matchup at 50-50.
Cards to board in/ out: Small ground creatures like Wall of Hope and Thraben Inspector are less interesting here, since they don't block fliers and are only temporary solutions to cards like Ninja of the Deep Hours and Augur of Bolas. Discard is a great way to gain information about the opponents' hand and get rid of key pieces of their strategy, so Duress and Castigate are good choices. A single hit from Okiba-Gang Shinobi can mean lights out, and multiple hits are almost impossible to come back from. This matchup is problematic enough that many builds are also running Circle of Protection: Blue, which does a ton of work at stopping them from running away with the game with a single Delver of Secrets.
Cards to look out for:Counterspell is their most relevant counter. If not, Skred and Lightning Bolt in the Izzet version can knock out most of our creatures and let them get in for damage with their flier and activate ninjas.
Strategy discussion: Resolving a Pestilence is so important in this matchup, as it basically means they can't cast any more creatures and their Spellstutter Sprites are now dead counters. Otherwise, overloading them with removal is usually a good thing, since it forces them into the late game where Pestilence shines. Be sure to have multiple creatures in play when casting Pestilence in order to keep it alive. A timely bounce spell or burn spell can kill our precious Pestilence and get them back in the game. Hands with a lot of card advantage like Night's Whisper keep us in pace with their card draw, which is important. Get ready for a grindy game; these matches are never pretty.
8Post:
Overall analysis: Pestilence is very poorly equipped to deal with control decks like 8post. Most of its removal is near useless, including Pestilence itself, which usually serves to increase your likelihood of being killed by a Rolling Thunder. It improves quite a bit when boarding in Duress and more Hymn to Tourach. As for Fissure-Post, the result is relatively the same, but being able to instant speed kill a Cloud of Faeries with Sorin's Thirst can help, although they most likely have a Snap waiting for you. I evaluate this matchup at 20-80 in favor of 8Post.
Cards to look out for: Watch for Condescend, and make sure to count how much mana they have before casting anything you plan on keeping. You can surprise them with a Dark Ritual to pay for extra costs, making them waste a counter. Repeal and especially Capsize can ruin the game for you.
Strategy discussion: To get anywhere, you need to play Corrupt, because they’ll be gaining more life than you with Glimmerposts. Once you’re ahead on life, blast Pestilence as much as you can and hope they don’t cast a Rolling Thunder next turn. For Fissure-Post, try and disrupt their game as much as possible, because they will actually play a few permanents to get going. Having discard helps a ton versus both decks, pulling out bounce and counters that would make it impossible for you to win.
Elves:
Overall analysis: This should be an excellent matchup. Target removal deals with problematic elves and Pestilence sweeps the board of everything else and locks the game up. I evaluate this matchup at 85-15 in favour of Pestilence.
Cards to board in/ out: There shouldn't be too much boarding to do. Smaller creatures like Thraben Inspector or Wall of Hope can come out for specific hate like Circle of Protection: Green.
Cards to look out for: Card draw spells like Lead the Stampede and Distant Melody are ways the Elves player can come back on board and go over your removal. Timberwatch Elf is a must-kill threat, as it can allow them to save their best creature from damage or -X removal spells. Elvish Vanguard can get so big that we can't kill it with damage, which is why it's important to keep in Edict effects.
Strategy discussion: Don't bother killing mana dorks right away, unless it's Priest of Titania. Save your direct damage spells for important threats like the ones mentioned above. Pestilence will come down and wipe the rest away easily. It's not the end of the world to let them gain some life with Wellwisher if it means dealing with other threats first. It's still very manageable to kill them from 30-50 life when you have control of the board. Your creatures should discourage most attacks and keep your life total high while you deal with the board.
Eye-Candy:
Overall analysis: This can be a surprisingly even matchup. Eye-Candy runs very few threats, which means that if they are dealt with in time, they can't win. However, post-board games let them protect their creatures much better while not slowing down their combo at all, which can kill you before you fix your mana base. I evaluate this matchup at 60-40 in favour of Pestilence.
Cards to board in/ out: Not much boarding to do. If you have expensive removal, take it out for cheaper removal or more discard. Coalition Honor Guard can be difficult for them to answer and will likely stonewall them until they can find a Flame Slash.
Strategy discussion: Kill their creatures as soon as they hit the table. If they survive long enough to attack, it's probably game over. Try to have two different colours of removal to get by Apostle's Blessing, like Dead Weight + Journey to Nowhere. Discard like Duress can take out key pieces of their strategy or ways to protect their creatures. Keeping them low on cards means they can't combo off easily, but it's still possible for them to chain together multiple cantrips.
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Goblins:
Overall analysis: Just like most aggro matchups, this should be easy. Their early bursts of damage can be mitigated by blockers and lifegain, which is followed up by a sweeper to lock them out. I evaluate this matchup at 80-20 in favour of Pestilence.
Cards to board in/ out: Discard will not be very useful post-board, so fog effects like Prismatic Strands can come in instead. Any additional removal can also be boarded in. Thraben Inspector does not block well against their 2/2 creatures and Goblin Sledders, so they can also come out.
Cards to look out for: Goblin Sledder can allow some of their goblins to survive a board wipe to keep attacking. A big board can mean death if you're not ready to deal with a Goblin Bushwhacker. Reckless Abandon can also deal the last points of damage along with other burn spells.
Strategy discussion: Kill any goblins you see or at least be ready to take bad blocks to keep your life total high. You will eventually lock them out and run them out of gas. Your life gain will win eventually allow you to counter attack while keep Pestilence up comfortably.
Handlock Control:
Overall analysis: This is one of the few matchups where the opponent has a better late game than the Pestilence deck. Decent pressure and the ability to lock us out of drawing a card ever again means we have a limited window to kill them before it's too late. I evaluate this matchup at 40-60 in favour of Handlock control.
Cards to board in/ out:Thraben Inspector can come out since it doesn't block or attack well. Some of the slower creatures like Guardian of the Guildpact can also come out. Targeted discard like Duress can get rid of important lock pieces and give you valuable information on the strength of your opponent's hand. Any instant speed removal can come in to disrupt their combo. Graveyard hate that can interact at instant speed is also important, like Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb or Faerie Macabre.
Strategy discussion: Instant speed removal is at a premium here. Being able to respond to Ghostly Flicker with something like Doom Blade, Tragic Slip or multiple activations of Pestilence is key to disrupting their combo effectively and getting incremental card advantage. Exile removal is the next best thing, but try to bait them first with other spells to force them to use their cards. Remember that it's useless for them to try to save a creature from Pestilence using Ghostly Flicker, unless they can reset the creature's damage beyond what you can dish out. Try to pressure them as much as possible with your own creatures to force them to react to you. You will get better trades.
Heroic:
Overall analysis: This is an excellent matchup. Pestilence cleans up the smaller creatures they play while our targeted removal can handle the creatures they play their auras on. I evaluate this matchup at 80-20 in favour of Pestilence.
Cards to look out for:Emerge Unscathed can both save their creature and make it unblockable on their turn for the kill. Apostle's Blessing can also make an appearance to ruin your day.
Strategy discussion: You can bide your time and let them play 1-2 auras on a creature before removing it, if possible. Pestilence will easily clean the rest up. Guardian of the Guildpact is a strong blocker. A few discard spells can also really slow them down either by ensuring their creatures can't be protected or simply by taking out pumping auras from their hand.
Hexproof:
Overall analysis: This is a positive matchup mainly because we have edicts and Pestilence. These removal spells that don’t target allow the Pestilence player to kill the few creatures played and control the game from there. I evaluate this matchup at 70-30 in favor of Pestilence.
Cards to board in/ out: Board in any extra Edict effects. Some amount of target removal can stay in to fight Khalni Garden, Cartouche of Solidarity as well as Young Wolf. Fog effects like Prismatic Strands can be important cards to catch up in a losing game. Discard can come out, as we're mostly trying to kill their creatures, not strip them of their auras in hand. Landing a Coalition Honor Guard before they get any powerful auras into play is game over for them.
Cards to look out for:Silhana Ledgewalker is the most troublesome creature because it “climbs” over your blockers. Ancestral Mask and Ethereal Armor are the auras that allow the creature to grow beyond the damage you can do with Pestilence.
Strategy discussion: Kill their creatures on sight. If they manage to land a creature and protect it by playing a large aura on it, make sure to have an Edict ready. Otherwise, once Pestilence comes down and they don't have a creature in play, they essentially can't win.
Infect:
Overall analysis: This is a good matchup. Our removal is mostly good, and they don’t affect our life total so Pestilence can be used freely. The main disadvantage is that our removal is often damage based (as opposed to outright destroying), so pump spells can be used to make the creature survive. They also deal permanent damage to our walls, which makes it hard to keep Pestilence on the field. Infect can just pull a win out of nowhere. I evaluate this matchup at 60-40 in favor of Pestilence.
Cards to look out for:Apostle's Blessing can easily deal the finishing blow out of nowhere. Blight Mamba regenerates, which is somewhat relevant. Nature's Claim out of the sideboard is a reality that really makes things difficult (if you see it, board in more Dimir House Guard).
Strategy discussion: Throw all your removal at them and it should keep them at bay. Try to use your removal on your turn to force them to use pump spells to keep their creatures alive (which reduces the poison dealt to you later). Once you get a Pestilence to stick with a wall on the battlefield, it’s over for them. Dark Ritual into it early is a good plan.
Inside-Out Combo:
Overall analysis: Our huge amount of removal is hard to overcome for this creature-light deck. They are very dependant on their Tireless Tribe surviving, so multiple removal spells in a turn are very hard for them to deal with. I evaluate this matchup at 75-35 in favor of Pestilence.
Cards to board in/ out: Board out some of the more expensive creatures for more discard and removal. Prismatic Strands is good if you can get it in the graveyard and cast it for free. Pestilence can also come out, as it's only a very expensive removal spell that doesn't work so well against Tireless Tribes.
Cards to look out for:Gigadrowse can lock you out for a turn, which can be game. Otherwise, only Circular Logic is effective in pre-board games. Post-board, they might play Apostle's Blessing. Having multiple colours of removal is effective here, as well as edicts.
Strategy discussion: They can win extremely quickly (as soon as turn 3), so try to keep hands with early removal, like Dead Weight, Chainer's Edict or Journey to Nowhere. Dead Weight is particularly annoying for them to deal with. Deal with their few creatures and strip them of their Gushes through discard and they will have no way back into the game.
Izzet Control:
Overall analysis: This is a pretty close matchup. Resolving important, hard-to-kill threats is really important, but being able to finish off the game and possibly deny the opponent's win condition with Pestilence can swing the game in your favour. I evaluate this matchup at 50-50.
Cards to board in/ out: Board out a lot of your targeted removal for more discard. Any 2-for-1 effects are also useful.
Cards to look out for: It really depends on the type of control you're facing. Some will have a small faerie package for Spellstutter Sprite. Others will go with Ghostly Flicker value packages with Mulldrifters. Some will include Delver of Secrets while others will play Flurry of Horns. What they will have in common is burn and counters.
Strategy discussion: Bait out their counters as often as you can and try to resolve a Guardian of the Guildpact. This creature is pretty much impossibly for them to kill, but they can always try to race it. Life gain and blockers will hopefully stop that. You can finish the game out of nowhere with many Pestilence activations in the late game.
Kuldotha Kitty:
Overall analysis:
Cards to board in/ out:
Cards to look out for:
Strategy discussion:
Mystical Teachings:
Overall analysis:
Cards to board in/ out:
Cards to look out for:
Strategy discussion:
Slivers:
Overall analysis:
Cards to board in/ out:
Cards to look out for:
Strategy discussion:
Stompy:
Overall analysis: This is a great matchup. Your barrage of removal and the Pestilence board wipe take care of anything they can throw at you. I evaluate this matchup at 75-25 in favor of Pestilence.
Cards to board in/ out:
Cards to look out for:
Strategy discussion: Remove their creatures. Play Pestilence. Control the game. Win.
Storm:
Overall analysis: Almost all of your removal is useless in this matchup, and winning game one is difficult, unless you started with Hymn or Duress in hand or they played Empty the Warrens and you have Pestilence. Post-board is a much better game with all the extra discard. I evaluate this matchup at 50-50.
Cards to look out for: Their kill spells should be what you’re removing from their hand with discard.
Strategy discussion: The least bit of discard can buy you a lot of time. Since you have very few ways of interacting with them other than that, just try and get your Swamps ready for a big Corrupt as soon as possible. Don’t use Pestilence unless you are within killing range or they played Empty the Warrens. If you deal yourself too much damage, it makes it easier for them to kill you.
Just a quick correction: In the Matchup section for Goblins you put down Reckless Assault as a card to look out for and I think you might have meant Reckless Abandon.
Interesting... never thought walls would be constructed-playable. I'm curious why this deck hasn't shown up in the MTGO metagame at all. Any ideas as to why that is?
It is very rare that walls manage to make it into constructed. I see the walls as being only utility to keeping Pestilence around. Pestilence needs defensive creatures, and walls fit the bill. As you can see though, the MTGO legal version including White is more centered at Wiping for 2 damage at a time while attacking with creatures.
Honestly, I think it's just because of a lack of visibility. Pestilence decks would have done so well right after the new bannings, considering it's an aggro-killer and that they had just nerfed a bad matchup for it. People just don't seem to know it exists. I personally do quite well in Paper Pauper with it. It's also not a play style that will suit many players, as it's a really unique strategy in Pauper that requires practice to player well, since it doesn't really play like any other deck.
You're very welcome! And thanks so much for the compliment! If you or your wife have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know!
On another note, I just thought of an interesting inclusion and wanted some feedback: Stab Wound. Considering how many walls I'm running, this card could both invalidate a creature by making it not be able to get through my walls, all the while killing them slowly. It could also act as a piece of removal. The card is really good in Standard Pauper, and I remember it almost killing me in a draft.
On another note, I just thought of an interesting inclusion and wanted some feedback: Stab Wound. Considering how many walls I'm running, this card could both invalidate a creature by making it not be able to get through my walls, all the while killing them slowly. It could also act as a piece of removal. The card is really good in Standard Pauper, and I remember it almost killing me in a draft.
Wadya think?
It is an interesting card. I lost to it in a Ravnica pre-release Two-Headed Giant tourney.
As far as being used with Pestilence, I'm not sure if it's the best fit. You try to clear out your opponents creatures with this deck while having yours survive so enchanting a creature with an Aura that you want to keep around doesn't seems counterintuitive. Now if you enchanted a creature that had some sort of protection from Pestilence then that would work well.
If you want it as removal, then just use Dead Weight as it's cheaper.
Well, I was thinking of it as more of a pre-Pestilence thing, that would stop an attacker, reduce their life total, and weaken the creature so it can be killed more easily with Pestilence. In that respect, how do you see it?
Replace Hymn to Tourach with Wrench Mind and Cemetary Gate with Gray Merchant of Asphodel and you got a mono black version of this deck for MTGO. This deck is pretty much a more defensive approach to the classic Mono Black Control decks,which can work but especially if going with Gray Merchant of the Asphodel than you'd want defensive black creatures rather than colorless walls.
I suppose the deck could work with Gray Merchant of Asphodel, but what other decently costed defensive black creatures are there? Harvest Gwyllion? That's about it.
I think if someone wanted to port this into MTGO, you could replace Cemetery Gate with Guardians of Meletis. Not as good, but still solid. I would put Duress into the mainboard with perhaps Wrench Mind in the sideboard.
I find Sorin's Thirst has grittier artwork. I wanted my deck to be as gritty as possible. All my swamps are from Mirrodin, and have a green glow and dirty waste water.
That is scary! Putting a difference of 12 points between you and your opponent with a Pestilence deck is a huge deal! That also gives the Titan a pretty good home and makes him cost one mana! I'd probably scoop if that's how it played out against me.
How about adding Disciple of Phenax (multipurpose: 1-3 defensive creature, 2 devotion and discard all in 1), u should be reliably able to see at least 4 cards usually. Why not put in some death touch creatures? Like Giant Scorpion (1-3 and death touch, non wall). Also i would like to advocate for using Death Wind, can scale in usefulness as the game goes on. Maybe even use Necrobite as a useful combat trick.
That devotion combination is great, i was planning on getting a few copies of it for my MBD deck already. That is a 6-8 (maybe longer) turn clock since u will be running disruption, activating pestilence and playing your walls also (even with a dark ritual in the mix). Makes it pretty good deck to run under the radar in multiplayer.
Has anyone tried making a UB version of pestilence? They usually have the best defensive creatures and evasion, as well as not being too bad at control and tempo.
The four-drop slot is actually somewhat cluttered with Pestilence and Tendrils of Corruption, both very important cards. Having a 1/3 for 4 mana is also less than impressive, and the discard, while good, isn't worth clogging the deck with expensive spells for a card that might not be able to reveal more than two cards at a time in the worst of situations.
Devotion actually looks very viable for Pestilence decks. As long as there are enough early permanents with BB in their cost, it will work out. I'm not sure if it's worth focusing on making Gray Merchant good and restricting your card choices because of it.
Blue is the last colour I think of when using Pestilence. White is just so convenient because it hates black and is also defensive, it also plays the control part fairly well and allows for life gain, which Blue does not. What Blue creatures in Pauper would you run in the deck? What spells do you think would work?
I have a slightly different list that I thought might interest you - the basic concept is very similar. I play in a very mixed casual environment (sometimes pauper, sometimes just janky, sometimes legacy-ish) and this is my go-to multiplayer (mostly 2HG) deck that also works well 1v1 against many decks. It's built without sideboard as that's how we usually play it.
OK, so this is my reasoning for deviations compared to the OP:
1) I run fewer walls and more discard. I find I don't need more than 8 walls to support Pestilence in a pinch, while being able to Duress an Oblivion Ring or other removal spell (to protect the walls) is more important to me. I'd also rather have 1 wall and 1 Hymn to Tourach than 2 walls, even against an aggro deck.
2) I don't run Dark Ritual since I don't want to trade cards for tempo in this deck. Instead, I run cheaper walls and more expensive acceleration in Wayfarer's Bauble that gives me something of lasting value: Swamps. This further allows me to squeeze in a couple of Bogs - much needed in my meta.
3) I play Shield Sphere over both Wall of Tanglecord and Cemetary Gate. I find the pro:black on the gate is mostly a problem, since you can't hit it with your own Tendrils against a deck with few creatures. And you'll rarely plague for 5 or more anyway, making the protection mostly moot for you. Paying 3 mana for a wall is very overcosted IMO. The deck packs so much removal that Shield Sphere won't be getting many counters anyway. I know Shield Sphere is only common on MTGO, but as long as that's not a problem, I think it's superior to the more expensive walls. I wan't to use my 2-3 drops to kill dudes, sculpt my hand or wreck my opponent's hand - defenses should be up on turn 1.
4) I expand a little bit on the House Guard toolbox, adding Syphon Mind for those multiplayer games and Snuff Out as a "kill this now" option. Yes, it CAN cost you 4 life, but if it will save you a hit from a 4/4 or bigger, you're still better off. Being able to kill Ulamog's Crusher and friends before you hit 8 Swamps is also very useful, and in such situations you might even hard cast it so the life issue is moot.
Let me know what you think, and if you're interested - take it for a spin. It has a really nice flow to it!
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I have a slightly different list that I thought might interest you - the basic concept is very similar. I play in a very mixed casual environment (sometimes pauper, sometimes just janky, sometimes legacy-ish) and this is my go-to multiplayer (mostly 2HG) deck that also works well 1v1 against many decks. It's built without sideboard as that's how we usually play it.
OK, so this is my reasoning for deviations compared to the OP:
1) I run fewer walls and more discard. I find I don't need more than 8 walls to support Pestilence in a pinch, while being able to Duress an Oblivion Ring or other removal spell (to protect the walls) is more important to me. I'd also rather have 1 wall and 1 Hymn to Tourach than 2 walls, even against an aggro deck.
2) I don't run Dark Ritual since I don't want to trade cards for tempo in this deck. Instead, I run cheaper walls and more expensive acceleration in Wayfarer's Bauble that gives me something of lasting value: Swamps. This further allows me to squeeze in a couple of Bogs - much needed in my meta.
3) I play Shield Sphere over both Wall of Tanglecord and Cemetary Gate. I find the pro:black on the gate is mostly a problem, since you can't hit it with your own Tendrils against a deck with few creatures. And you'll rarely plague for 5 or more anyway, making the protection mostly moot for you. Paying 3 mana for a wall is very overcosted IMO. The deck packs so much removal that Shield Sphere won't be getting many counters anyway. I know Shield Sphere is only common on MTGO, but as long as that's not a problem, I think it's superior to the more expensive walls. I wan't to use my 2-3 drops to kill dudes, sculpt my hand or wreck my opponent's hand - defenses should be up on turn 1.
4) I expand a little bit on the House Guard toolbox, adding Syphon Mind for those multiplayer games and Snuff Out as a "kill this now" option. Yes, it CAN cost you 4 life, but if it will save you a hit from a 4/4 or bigger, you're still better off. Being able to kill Ulamog's Crusher and friends before you hit 8 Swamps is also very useful, and in such situations you might even hard cast it so the life issue is moot.
Let me know what you think, and if you're interested - take it for a spin. It has a really nice flow to it!
Unfortunatley this is paper pauper, and the rules state no online rarities => no Shield Sphere.
In your list I'd probably add a sideboard that gives you the option to up one removal spells at the cost of another.
Against Hexproof you really need the Geth's Verdicts, but against aggro you might be better of targeting their creatures with a Sorin's Thirst.
Also having backup plans (such as more discard) against near-to-no-creature decks might be an option. Dash Hopes might work there, too.
People are really uptight about rarity rules. It's his playgroup, and they decide what's okay and what isn't. As long as he states this in his post (which he did), there's no reason why anyone should impose anything else.
Back on topic. Thanks for sharing your list! What I like the most with your deck is Snuff Out that can be searched for with the House Guard. I don't personally agree with Shield Sphere as being a legal option, but hey, there's no reason not to use it if it's okay with your playgroup. It's definitely stronger than Cemetery Gate in most situations.
Wall of Tanglechord is a perfectly acceptable second turn play. It's such a good speedbump against aggro decks that it's worth including. Probably more so than the Steel Wall, imo.
6 Swamps is quite enough to kill any creature in Pauper. Any combination of removal spells and/or Pestilence can take out a crusher with that mana.
I like the added discard. It doesn't keep your Pestilence alive after a board wipe, though. Packing enough creatures makes sure you lock your opponent out of winning permanently, which in many cases is more important than an early discard spell. A good compromise between the two should be made, but the priority is walls. Without walls, the deck is defenseless and has no ways of keeping the key card in play. I can understand why you make many of the decisions you do because you have no sideboard. As you can see, I run quite a bit myself, if I feel the need is there. Another thing to think about when balancing the two components is at what mana cost you want to focus them. A good strategy could be to play more Duress, and then follow up with a wall, or vice versa with a 1cc wall followed by Hymn to tourach.
Where I can't help but disagree is using Wayfarer's Bauble instead of Dark Ritual. Ritual is SO important in so many matchups where speed is key. Being able to land a removal spell and a blocker in one turn can change the game. It helps trick opponents into wasting conditional counters, or simply ignoring it. It lets Pestilence get in for extra damage to deal a surprising blow to kill crusher or just outright win. Sometimes, you need to cast that Corrupt for 4 damage. It's just so versatile in this deck more than any other, and is almost never really a dead card, considering the high curve. Wayfarer's bauble is clunky, it takes up your first two turns, or costs you three mana to use and doesn't provide any tricks. The boost is permanent, but it either takes up your turn(s) to get there or impedes you temporarily. I like Ritual for the quick fix. It's what the deck needs.
There aren't many graveyard-oriented strategies worth worrying about in Pauper, so I don't feel the need to add in Bojuka Bog. I think it's just better to have more swamps. Again, given the circumstances where you play your deck and the absence of a sideboard, I understand your choices and agree with them.
Unfortunatley this is paper pauper, and the rules state no online rarities => no Shield Sphere.
In your list I'd probably add a sideboard that gives you the option to up one removal spells at the cost of another.
This after I specifically state that I am using Shield Sphere despite this and that my casual group doesn't use sideboards? OK then.
Against Hexproof you really need the Geth's Verdicts, but against aggro you might be better of targeting their creatures with a Sorin's Thirst.
Also having backup plans (such as more discard) against near-to-no-creature decks might be an option.
Walls are good against untargetables, as is Pestilence, reducing the need for forced sacrifice effects in this deck. Without a sideboard, I must also be careful not to overdo the creature removal against combo/control decks.
Dash Hopes might work there, too.
Conditional cards are terrible IMO. Opp will always take damage if resolving the spell is a winning move, or let it be countered if taking 5 is a losing move.
Back on topic. Thanks for sharing your list! What I like the most with your deck is Snuff Out that can be searched for with the House Guard.
Glad you found it interesting! The House Guard -> Snuff Out tech is something I developed building PDH decks, and it works well here too.
Wall of Tanglechord is a perfectly acceptable second turn play. It's such a good speedbump against aggro decks that it's worth including. Probably more so than the Steel Wall, imo.
I disagree due to mana curve reasons, and that seems to be the basis for our disagreements in general so I'll go into that a bit more. This deck runs at least 8 4-drops, some amount of 6-drops, and 24 lands, so not being idle on any of turns 1-3 requires precise deck building. Now, I run 9 1-drops (counting Bojuka Bog here too since it doesn't really matter against many decks, but is of course crucial when it does), 7 2-drops and 6 3-drops (counting both Bauble and transmuting House Guard as 3-drops here). As you can see, going from Steel Wall -> Tanglecord would make me miss my t1 drop, overcrowd my t2 drop and make it more difficult to efficiently use the turn 3 mana.
I like the added discard. It doesn't keep your Pestilence alive after a board wipe, though. Packing enough creatures makes sure you lock your opponent out of winning permanently, which in many cases is more important than an early discard spell. A good compromise between the two should be made, but the priority is walls. Without walls, the deck is defenseless and has no ways of keeping the key card in play. I can understand why you make many of the decisions you do because you have no sideboard. As you can see, I run quite a bit myself, if I feel the need is there. Another thing to think about when balancing the two components is at what mana cost you want to focus them. A good strategy could be to play more Duress, and then follow up with a wall, or vice versa with a 1cc wall followed by Hymn to tourach.
I feel you understand my thinking perfectly here, just wanted to point out that most decks will run at least some creature removal and if you grab that with Duress and play one wall, it's the same net result as having 2 walls and getting one destroyed when most convenient for your opponent (usually losing your pestilence with that 2nd wall in hand because there was no room to play it in the curve). However, Duress also has the power to remove actual enchantment removal. In short, I think discard is as important to protect your Pestilence as an overabundance of walls. With 8 walls, I won't ALWAYS have one in my opener, but Read the Bones goes a long way to compensate, digging up that missing Shield Sphere and dropping it for free on the same turn that Cemetary Gate would have dropped. Plus, with no walls dropped on turns 1-2, I will probably have spent my first turns on hand disruption and/or creature removal, making a t3 wall quite acceptable. In general though, the plan is exactly as you say - the first two turns will entail some combination of wall, discard and/or creature removal.
Where I can't help but disagree is using Wayfarer's Bauble instead of Dark Ritual. Ritual is SO important in so many matchups where speed is key. Being able to land a removal spell and a blocker in one turn can change the game. It helps trick opponents into wasting conditional counters, or simply ignoring it. It lets Pestilence get in for extra damage to deal a surprising blow to kill crusher or just outright win. Sometimes, you need to cast that Corrupt for 4 damage. It's just so versatile in this deck more than any other, and is almost never really a dead card, considering the high curve. Wayfarer's bauble is clunky, it takes up your first two turns, or costs you three mana to use and doesn't provide any tricks. The boost is permanent, but it either takes up your turn(s) to get there or impedes you temporarily. I like Ritual for the quick fix. It's what the deck needs.
I'm inclined to agree partially - Wayfarer's Bauble really is the weakest card in the deck, and it's quite shabby considering what's available in green (Cultivate/Kodama's Reach). However, I really don't think Dark Ritual is a good card in this deck either. I think cheaper walls/removal is a better solution to being able to land removal and blocker in the same turn, rather than planning for card disadvantage. Planning for 2-for-1-ing yourself with a t4 Dark Ritual -> Corrupt is also something any control deck should be ashamed about. The extra oomph to pests also seems like win more and a good way to destroy your own walls for no good reason. As for killing huge dudes, forced sacrifice combined with Pestilence and tutorable Snuff Out should really suffice (of course, a mid-late game Hymn can serve well here too). No other competitive MBC (on-line for instance) runs Dark Ritual and I don't think Pestilence is enough to warrant it (since most MBC runs Crypt Rats anyway) - it is card disadvantage, the bane of control, and IMO exclusively for suicide aggro builds.
Having said that, I'm not really happy about Bauble either. I think I'd rather have more card advantage and up the numbers of Read the Bones. This makes it more likely to get a timely wall defense, more swamps, t4 Pestilence or whatever else I need. So maybe:
-2 Wayfarer's Bauble
+2 Read the Bones
or
+1 Read the Bones
+1 Duress/+1 Geth's Verdict or maybe even a singleton Raven's Crime?
Any thoughts on this?
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I disagree due to mana curve reasons, and that seems to be the basis for our disagreements in general so I'll go into that a bit more. This deck runs at least 8 4-drops, some amount of 6-drops, and 24 lands, so not being idle on any of turns 1-3 requires precise deck building. Now, I run 9 1-drops (counting Bojuka Bog here too since it doesn't really matter against many decks, but is of course crucial when it does), 7 2-drops and 6 3-drops (counting both Bauble and transmuting House Guard as 3-drops here). As you can see, going from Steel Wall -> Tanglecord would make me miss my t1 drop, overcrowd my t2 drop and make it more difficult to efficiently use the turn 3 mana.
I think we agree perfectly well that balancing out the turns 1-3 is really important. What I was trying to say is that, because I prefer Wall if Tanglecord over Steel Wall, I would have more 1-drop discard spells to compensate. A full set of Duress + 1 Raven's Crime (I also toyed with Cry of Contrition for a while) could fill out the 1-drops quite well. I'm basically saying I'd rather see discard on first turn just to free up the 2-drop slot a bit more.
I feel you understand my thinking perfectly here, just wanted to point out that most decks will run at least some creature removal and if you grab that with Duress and play one wall, it's the same net result as having 2 walls and getting one destroyed when most convenient for your opponent (usually losing your pestilence with that 2nd wall in hand because there was no room to play it in the curve). However, Duress also has the power to remove actual enchantment removal. In short, I think discard is as important to protect your Pestilence as an overabundance of walls. With 8 walls, I won't ALWAYS have one in my opener, but Read the Bones goes a long way to compensate, digging up that missing Shield Sphere and dropping it for free on the same turn that Cemetary Gate would have dropped. Plus, with no walls dropped on turns 1-2, I will probably have spent my first turns on hand disruption and/or creature removal, making a t3 wall quite acceptable. In general though, the plan is exactly as you say - the first two turns will entail some combination of wall, discard and/or creature removal.
Most of the removal in Pauper is damage-based. The only decks running pure removal spells are WW and MBC. This is another reason why Tanglecord shines more than Steel Wall; it doesn't die to Flame Slash or Galvanic Blast instantly.
I would think that Pauper decks that come out of the gates fast are the ones where you want to get many walls up early. They're so busy casting creatures that it takes several turns before they can actually take care of the wall. Taking out a removal spell is all well, but when you could have saved yourself tons of damage beyond recovery, an early wall would have been much better. We rely a lot on our life total, unfortunately. Discard spells, unsurprisingly, are much better when facing slower opponents, who tend to run lots of removal themselves. Duress becomes very powerful here.
I'm now considering running a bit more discard maindeck, and here's why: I had a smart-ass board in artifact/enchantment hate against me, as it takes care of both my walls AND Pestilence. It was so frustrating. a Disenchant is actually really relevant against us. Good thing not too many people realize it.
I'm inclined to agree partially - Wayfarer's Bauble really is the weakest card in the deck, and it's quite shabby considering what's available in green (Cultivate/Kodama's Reach). However, I really don't think Dark Ritual is a good card in this deck either. I think cheaper walls/removal is a better solution to being able to land removal and blocker in the same turn, rather than planning for card disadvantage. Planning for 2-for-1-ing yourself with a t4 Dark Ritual -> Corrupt is also something any control deck should be ashamed about. The extra oomph to pests also seems like win more and a good way to destroy your own walls for no good reason. As for killing huge dudes, forced sacrifice combined with Pestilence and tutorable Snuff Out should really suffice (of course, a mid-late game Hymn can serve well here too). No other competitive MBC (on-line for instance) runs Dark Ritual and I don't think Pestilence is enough to warrant it (since most MBC runs Crypt Rats anyway) - it is card disadvantage, the bane of control, and IMO exclusively for suicide aggro builds.
Having said that, I'm not really happy about Bauble either. I think I'd rather have more card advantage and up the numbers of Read the Bones. This makes it more likely to get a timely wall defense, more swamps, t4 Pestilence or whatever else I need.
a 2-for-1 is absolutely horrendous. The situations I described to you are times where card disadvantage gets me out of the hole. They're not pretty situations, but no game of magic is perfect. Dark Rituals help me get away with things, even if they're taxing me in the process. Pestilence takes a lot of mana and turns to set up, and dark ritual helps with that, on top of being useful in disgusting situations. I see it as more than just card disadvantage; I see it as gaining an extra turn, or as a surprising trump card.
-2 Wayfarer's Bauble
+2 Read the Bones
or
+1 Read the Bones
+1 Duress/+1 Geth's Verdict or maybe even a singleton Raven's Crime?
Any thoughts on this?
I would go for +1 RtB, +1 Duress. You don't want to play too much retrace (or any if you can help it), as any swamp drawn is useful for Corrupt/ Tendrils and Pestilence Triggers. I think it would be good as 1cc discard #5, but would choose Duress over it in most situations.
So, two more walls and one more draw/dig spell should make the creature supply much more solid. Slight tweak in discard with +1 Duress, -1 Hymn to better fit the curve with the walls as discussed. I also cut Syphon Mind since it's not that great even in 2HG and I almost never tutor for it even in those games. To sum up our differences, I value CA/draw in Read the Bones while you value explosiveness in Dark Ritual more. My decision is made possible thanks to a cheaper creature and disruption suite, so that the mana advantage is already built-in (though this may require more liberal interpretation of the card pool than some groups are comfortable with). I will never be able to drop a t2 pestilence or do flashy stuff like that, but with my cheap spells I should still enjoy roughly the same board development by turn 4 without the card disadvantage - and as a bonus I make room for Duress. Take it for a spin if you're interested - would love to hear your impressions as to how it compares with the Cemetary Gate/Dark Ritual version.
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Take it for a spin if you're interested - would love to hear your impressions as to how it compares with the Cemetary Gate/Dark Ritual version.
Well, I played four games with it, and went 4-0. two versus a G/W deck that didn't stand a chance, and another versus Black Aggro, who was running Terror for some reason. Poor guy.
Shield Sphere is... incredible. SOOO good. I really, really wish that my playgroup would allow it. I blame you for creating this impossible desire.
I found myself often wishing I drew Corrupt more often. I really miss that third copy.
The lack of acceleration/ explosiveness from no Rituals was not an issue in these matches, as hacking at their hand and their creatures was enough to slow them down. Duly noted.
I didn't appreciate Read the Bones as much as I thought I would, although it's still a good card. I'm not convinced that 3 is the right number. Take this with a grain of salt; I've only played 4 games (but managed to play it every game).
I hated Bojuka Bog. It came into play tapped, it's ability was useless, and it didn't count as a swamp. I understand why it's there and I don't think you should take it out, but it's not useful enough in the maindeck for a Pauper-only environment.
I drew Snuff Out once, and it was against the black aggro player. Oops. I never felt the need to fetch it in the other match, as I had the game under control quickly enough.
I hard-casted Dimir House guard in half the games I played because I needed to have a creature in play, either to have more creatures than they had removal, or just to get Pestilence to stick. Also noted.
All in all, I really like it! It's nice to get a different take on the deck; it makes me reflect on my own creation. I'm liking the extra discard. I'm thinking of changing my own deck for -2 Dark Ritual, +2 Duress (switching them from the sideboard and putting the rituals there for tempo matches). What are your thoughts on this?
I ran this deck at a local pauper tournament last friday. Its probably not the best pauper deck ever, but its a blast to play. I came in like 3-4th with a 2-1.
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Rest in RIP My Signature, I guess. 2015-2016, we hardly knew ye.
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
My deck designing is quite concise at this point:
1. Come up with deck idea
2. Realize this idea is somehow fundamentally similar to another deck I have or that is commonly played in my group
3. Decide I don't want to disassemble one of my existing decks
4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
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You are a mad scientist, intent on pursuing your research in airborne disease. Dabbling in dark magic, you’ve found ways to siphon life from others to extend your own. Unfortunately, the village where you picked your experiment subjects from found you out. Soon, the villagers gathered at your laboratory and locked you into your own gas chamber to destroy you and your work. Having performed dark rituals and evil pacts, you rose once more from your ruined laboratory the following night, not as a human, but as a lich. With your newfound power and fresh taste for revenge, you begin anew. They will all taste your pestilence. First the village, then the world.
Pestilence is a Control deck based around its powerful namesake card, Pestilence. Being a common, it fits very well into Pauper, which is swarming with creature decks. Using creatures with either Protection or high toughness, you can both keep your Pestilence alive indefinitely and eat up smaller creatures in combat. The deck also packs removal to be able to destroy creatures that can’t die to Pestilence. It also includes many cards that gain you life to be able to stay ahead while using Pestilence.
This primer is built primarily for paper Pauper. Since the printing of the most popular Monarch cards online, Pestilence decks have been a consistent part of the metagame for a while.
The core: Aside from our play set of Pestilence, there are five categories the deck can be divided into to fill the deck: Creatures, Removal, Finisher, Ramp/ Card Advantage/ Discard and Lands.
Creatures: Walls tend to be a good option when playing Pestilence, as they have high toughness to both block early and sustain heavy damage from Pestilence and still keeping it alive.
Removal: Black and White have excellent removal options. Pestilence can easily deal with cluttered boards and go-wide decks, so a few spot removal options go a long way to make sure nothing sticks on the opponent's board. Edicts are also more effect with Pestilence effects.
Other: I clump Discard, Card Advantage, Ramp and other spells into the same category because they take up the free slots in the deck. Running some amount of discard in the maindeck is often a good idea, as it gives you information or card advantage for what’s to come (more is usually added in the sideboard).
4 Thraben Inspector
2 Dusk Legion Zealot
2 Lone Missionary
4 Kor Skyfisher
2 Aven Riftwatcher
2 Phyrexian Rager
1 Crypt Rats
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
2 Palace Sentinels
Removal/Discard (14)
2 Tragic Slip
2 Dead Weight
4 Castigate
2 Chainer's Edict
2 Doom Blade
2 Pestilence
2 Prismatic Strands
Lands (23)
2 Barren Moor
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Orzhov Basilica
5 Plains
2 Radiant Fountain
4 Scoured Barrens
2 Secluded Steppe
5 Swamp
2 Circle of Protection: Blue
2 Custodi Squire
2 Duress
2 Leave No Trace
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Standard Bearer
2 Unmake
4 Thraben Inspector
1 Wall of Hope
4 Kor Skyfisher
2 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Crypt Rats
2 Palace Sentinels
2 Guardian of the Guildpact
Removal (15)
3 Dead Weight
4 Journey to Nowhere
4 Chainer's Edict
4 Pestilence
4 Night's Whisper
2 Prismatic Strands
Lands (23)
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Orzhov Basilica
6 Swamp
2 Barren Moor
2 Secluded Steppe
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Mortuary Mire
2 Plains
1 Kabira Crossroads
2 Shred Memory
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Circle of Protection: Green
1 Circle of Protection: Blue
1 Castigate
2 Duress
1 Raven's Crime
2 Kor Sanctifiers
2 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
4 Disowned Ancestor
4 Wall of Tanglecord
4 Cemetery Gate
2 Dimir House Guard
Removal/ Discard (11)
3 Geth's Verdict
2 Sorin's Thirst
4 Tendrils of Corruption
2 Hymn to Tourach
4 Dark Ritual
Finisher (7)
4 Pestilence
3 Corrupt
Lands (24)
24 Swamp
2 Dimir House Guard
4 Duress
2 Hymn to Tourach
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Geth's Verdict
1 Corrupt
1 Syphon Life
1 Pristine Talisman
Affinity:
Black Aggro:
Black Control:
Burn:
Delver:
8Post:
Elves:
Eye-Candy:
Goblins:
Handlock Control:
Heroic:
Hexproof:
Infect:
Inside-Out Combo:
Izzet Control:
Kuldotha Kitty:
Mystical Teachings:
Slivers:
Stompy:
Storm:
Tokens:
Tortured Existence:
Tron (Temur):
Tron (Murasa):
White Weenie:
Zoo (Domain):
Orzhov Pestilence League by Mathonical
Orzhov Pestilence League by Anynewprovince
Orzhov Pestilence League by Pauperganda
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Just a quick correction: In the Matchup section for Goblins you put down Reckless Assault as a card to look out for and I think you might have meant Reckless Abandon.
haha thanks for catching that. A janky invasion rare is definitely not something to look out for. I didn't even know that card existed!
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I've been playing Pestilence casually for years, and it only just occured to me a few months ago how good it would be in Pauper!
The BW section has been completed!
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Honestly, I think it's just because of a lack of visibility. Pestilence decks would have done so well right after the new bannings, considering it's an aggro-killer and that they had just nerfed a bad matchup for it. People just don't seem to know it exists. I personally do quite well in Paper Pauper with it. It's also not a play style that will suit many players, as it's a really unique strategy in Pauper that requires practice to player well, since it doesn't really play like any other deck.
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On another note, I just thought of an interesting inclusion and wanted some feedback: Stab Wound. Considering how many walls I'm running, this card could both invalidate a creature by making it not be able to get through my walls, all the while killing them slowly. It could also act as a piece of removal. The card is really good in Standard Pauper, and I remember it almost killing me in a draft.
Wadya think?
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It is an interesting card. I lost to it in a Ravnica pre-release Two-Headed Giant tourney.
As far as being used with Pestilence, I'm not sure if it's the best fit. You try to clear out your opponents creatures with this deck while having yours survive so enchanting a creature with an Aura that you want to keep around doesn't seems counterintuitive. Now if you enchanted a creature that had some sort of protection from Pestilence then that would work well.
If you want it as removal, then just use Dead Weight as it's cheaper.
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I think if someone wanted to port this into MTGO, you could replace Cemetery Gate with Guardians of Meletis. Not as good, but still solid. I would put Duress into the mainboard with perhaps Wrench Mind in the sideboard.
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EDIT: Back to the Gray Merchant of Asphodel idea, I just realized how powerful the deck could be. Duress --> Cuombajj Witches --> Pestilence --> Gray Merchant of Asphodel --> Marshmist Titan is just scary.
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That is scary! Putting a difference of 12 points between you and your opponent with a Pestilence deck is a huge deal! That also gives the Titan a pretty good home and makes him cost one mana! I'd probably scoop if that's how it played out against me.
That devotion combination is great, i was planning on getting a few copies of it for my MBD deck already. That is a 6-8 (maybe longer) turn clock since u will be running disruption, activating pestilence and playing your walls also (even with a dark ritual in the mix). Makes it pretty good deck to run under the radar in multiplayer.
Has anyone tried making a UB version of pestilence? They usually have the best defensive creatures and evasion, as well as not being too bad at control and tempo.
My Decks:
All my Decks are budget
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Standard:BMono Black Control(devotion)B- retired
Casual:UWHeroicUW, UGWall tribalUG, BPhylactery LichB
Modern:UBAbyssal PersecutorUB, WKnight TribalW
Devotion actually looks very viable for Pestilence decks. As long as there are enough early permanents with BB in their cost, it will work out. I'm not sure if it's worth focusing on making Gray Merchant good and restricting your card choices because of it.
Blue is the last colour I think of when using Pestilence. White is just so convenient because it hates black and is also defensive, it also plays the control part fairly well and allows for life gain, which Blue does not. What Blue creatures in Pauper would you run in the deck? What spells do you think would work?
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22 Swamp
2 Bojuka Bog
2 Wayfarer's Bauble
CREATURES (10)
4 Shield Sphere
4 Steel Wall
2 Dimir House Guard
4 Pestilence
4 Tendrils of Corruption
3 Duress
3 Hymn to Tourach
2 Corrupt
2 Geth's Verdict
2 Sorin's Thirst
2 Read the Bones
1 Snuff Out
1 Syphon Mind
OK, so this is my reasoning for deviations compared to the OP:
1) I run fewer walls and more discard. I find I don't need more than 8 walls to support Pestilence in a pinch, while being able to Duress an Oblivion Ring or other removal spell (to protect the walls) is more important to me. I'd also rather have 1 wall and 1 Hymn to Tourach than 2 walls, even against an aggro deck.
2) I don't run Dark Ritual since I don't want to trade cards for tempo in this deck. Instead, I run cheaper walls and more expensive acceleration in Wayfarer's Bauble that gives me something of lasting value: Swamps. This further allows me to squeeze in a couple of Bogs - much needed in my meta.
3) I play Shield Sphere over both Wall of Tanglecord and Cemetary Gate. I find the pro:black on the gate is mostly a problem, since you can't hit it with your own Tendrils against a deck with few creatures. And you'll rarely plague for 5 or more anyway, making the protection mostly moot for you. Paying 3 mana for a wall is very overcosted IMO. The deck packs so much removal that Shield Sphere won't be getting many counters anyway. I know Shield Sphere is only common on MTGO, but as long as that's not a problem, I think it's superior to the more expensive walls. I wan't to use my 2-3 drops to kill dudes, sculpt my hand or wreck my opponent's hand - defenses should be up on turn 1.
4) I expand a little bit on the House Guard toolbox, adding Syphon Mind for those multiplayer games and Snuff Out as a "kill this now" option. Yes, it CAN cost you 4 life, but if it will save you a hit from a 4/4 or bigger, you're still better off. Being able to kill Ulamog's Crusher and friends before you hit 8 Swamps is also very useful, and in such situations you might even hard cast it so the life issue is moot.
Let me know what you think, and if you're interested - take it for a spin. It has a really nice flow to it!
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Unfortunatley this is paper pauper, and the rules state no online rarities => no Shield Sphere.
In your list I'd probably add a sideboard that gives you the option to up one removal spells at the cost of another.
Against Hexproof you really need the Geth's Verdicts, but against aggro you might be better of targeting their creatures with a Sorin's Thirst.
Also having backup plans (such as more discard) against near-to-no-creature decks might be an option.
Dash Hopes might work there, too.
Cockatrice is still going strong over at http://www.woogerworks.com[/B]
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Back on topic. Thanks for sharing your list! What I like the most with your deck is Snuff Out that can be searched for with the House Guard. I don't personally agree with Shield Sphere as being a legal option, but hey, there's no reason not to use it if it's okay with your playgroup. It's definitely stronger than Cemetery Gate in most situations.
Wall of Tanglechord is a perfectly acceptable second turn play. It's such a good speedbump against aggro decks that it's worth including. Probably more so than the Steel Wall, imo.
6 Swamps is quite enough to kill any creature in Pauper. Any combination of removal spells and/or Pestilence can take out a crusher with that mana.
I like the added discard. It doesn't keep your Pestilence alive after a board wipe, though. Packing enough creatures makes sure you lock your opponent out of winning permanently, which in many cases is more important than an early discard spell. A good compromise between the two should be made, but the priority is walls. Without walls, the deck is defenseless and has no ways of keeping the key card in play. I can understand why you make many of the decisions you do because you have no sideboard. As you can see, I run quite a bit myself, if I feel the need is there. Another thing to think about when balancing the two components is at what mana cost you want to focus them. A good strategy could be to play more Duress, and then follow up with a wall, or vice versa with a 1cc wall followed by Hymn to tourach.
Where I can't help but disagree is using Wayfarer's Bauble instead of Dark Ritual. Ritual is SO important in so many matchups where speed is key. Being able to land a removal spell and a blocker in one turn can change the game. It helps trick opponents into wasting conditional counters, or simply ignoring it. It lets Pestilence get in for extra damage to deal a surprising blow to kill crusher or just outright win. Sometimes, you need to cast that Corrupt for 4 damage. It's just so versatile in this deck more than any other, and is almost never really a dead card, considering the high curve. Wayfarer's bauble is clunky, it takes up your first two turns, or costs you three mana to use and doesn't provide any tricks. The boost is permanent, but it either takes up your turn(s) to get there or impedes you temporarily. I like Ritual for the quick fix. It's what the deck needs.
There aren't many graveyard-oriented strategies worth worrying about in Pauper, so I don't feel the need to add in Bojuka Bog. I think it's just better to have more swamps. Again, given the circumstances where you play your deck and the absence of a sideboard, I understand your choices and agree with them.
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This after I specifically state that I am using Shield Sphere despite this and that my casual group doesn't use sideboards? OK then.
Walls are good against untargetables, as is Pestilence, reducing the need for forced sacrifice effects in this deck. Without a sideboard, I must also be careful not to overdo the creature removal against combo/control decks.
Conditional cards are terrible IMO. Opp will always take damage if resolving the spell is a winning move, or let it be countered if taking 5 is a losing move.
Glad you found it interesting! The House Guard -> Snuff Out tech is something I developed building PDH decks, and it works well here too.
I disagree due to mana curve reasons, and that seems to be the basis for our disagreements in general so I'll go into that a bit more. This deck runs at least 8 4-drops, some amount of 6-drops, and 24 lands, so not being idle on any of turns 1-3 requires precise deck building. Now, I run 9 1-drops (counting Bojuka Bog here too since it doesn't really matter against many decks, but is of course crucial when it does), 7 2-drops and 6 3-drops (counting both Bauble and transmuting House Guard as 3-drops here). As you can see, going from Steel Wall -> Tanglecord would make me miss my t1 drop, overcrowd my t2 drop and make it more difficult to efficiently use the turn 3 mana.
I feel you understand my thinking perfectly here, just wanted to point out that most decks will run at least some creature removal and if you grab that with Duress and play one wall, it's the same net result as having 2 walls and getting one destroyed when most convenient for your opponent (usually losing your pestilence with that 2nd wall in hand because there was no room to play it in the curve). However, Duress also has the power to remove actual enchantment removal. In short, I think discard is as important to protect your Pestilence as an overabundance of walls. With 8 walls, I won't ALWAYS have one in my opener, but Read the Bones goes a long way to compensate, digging up that missing Shield Sphere and dropping it for free on the same turn that Cemetary Gate would have dropped. Plus, with no walls dropped on turns 1-2, I will probably have spent my first turns on hand disruption and/or creature removal, making a t3 wall quite acceptable. In general though, the plan is exactly as you say - the first two turns will entail some combination of wall, discard and/or creature removal.
I'm inclined to agree partially - Wayfarer's Bauble really is the weakest card in the deck, and it's quite shabby considering what's available in green (Cultivate/Kodama's Reach). However, I really don't think Dark Ritual is a good card in this deck either. I think cheaper walls/removal is a better solution to being able to land removal and blocker in the same turn, rather than planning for card disadvantage. Planning for 2-for-1-ing yourself with a t4 Dark Ritual -> Corrupt is also something any control deck should be ashamed about. The extra oomph to pests also seems like win more and a good way to destroy your own walls for no good reason. As for killing huge dudes, forced sacrifice combined with Pestilence and tutorable Snuff Out should really suffice (of course, a mid-late game Hymn can serve well here too). No other competitive MBC (on-line for instance) runs Dark Ritual and I don't think Pestilence is enough to warrant it (since most MBC runs Crypt Rats anyway) - it is card disadvantage, the bane of control, and IMO exclusively for suicide aggro builds.
Having said that, I'm not really happy about Bauble either. I think I'd rather have more card advantage and up the numbers of Read the Bones. This makes it more likely to get a timely wall defense, more swamps, t4 Pestilence or whatever else I need. So maybe:
-2 Wayfarer's Bauble
+2 Read the Bones
or
+1 Read the Bones
+1 Duress/+1 Geth's Verdict or maybe even a singleton Raven's Crime?
Any thoughts on this?
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I think we agree perfectly well that balancing out the turns 1-3 is really important. What I was trying to say is that, because I prefer Wall if Tanglecord over Steel Wall, I would have more 1-drop discard spells to compensate. A full set of Duress + 1 Raven's Crime (I also toyed with Cry of Contrition for a while) could fill out the 1-drops quite well. I'm basically saying I'd rather see discard on first turn just to free up the 2-drop slot a bit more.
Most of the removal in Pauper is damage-based. The only decks running pure removal spells are WW and MBC. This is another reason why Tanglecord shines more than Steel Wall; it doesn't die to Flame Slash or Galvanic Blast instantly.
I would think that Pauper decks that come out of the gates fast are the ones where you want to get many walls up early. They're so busy casting creatures that it takes several turns before they can actually take care of the wall. Taking out a removal spell is all well, but when you could have saved yourself tons of damage beyond recovery, an early wall would have been much better. We rely a lot on our life total, unfortunately. Discard spells, unsurprisingly, are much better when facing slower opponents, who tend to run lots of removal themselves. Duress becomes very powerful here.
I'm now considering running a bit more discard maindeck, and here's why: I had a smart-ass board in artifact/enchantment hate against me, as it takes care of both my walls AND Pestilence. It was so frustrating. a Disenchant is actually really relevant against us. Good thing not too many people realize it.
a 2-for-1 is absolutely horrendous. The situations I described to you are times where card disadvantage gets me out of the hole. They're not pretty situations, but no game of magic is perfect. Dark Rituals help me get away with things, even if they're taxing me in the process. Pestilence takes a lot of mana and turns to set up, and dark ritual helps with that, on top of being useful in disgusting situations. I see it as more than just card disadvantage; I see it as gaining an extra turn, or as a surprising trump card.
I would go for +1 RtB, +1 Duress. You don't want to play too much retrace (or any if you can help it), as any swamp drawn is useful for Corrupt/ Tendrils and Pestilence Triggers. I think it would be good as 1cc discard #5, but would choose Duress over it in most situations.
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22 Swamp
2 Bojuka Bog
CREATURES (12)
4 Shield Sphere
4 Steel Wall
2 Wall of Tanglecord
2 Dimir House Guard
4 Pestilence
4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Duress
3 Read the Bones
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Corrupt
2 Geth's Verdict
2 Sorin's Thirst
1 Snuff Out
So, two more walls and one more draw/dig spell should make the creature supply much more solid. Slight tweak in discard with +1 Duress, -1 Hymn to better fit the curve with the walls as discussed. I also cut Syphon Mind since it's not that great even in 2HG and I almost never tutor for it even in those games. To sum up our differences, I value CA/draw in Read the Bones while you value explosiveness in Dark Ritual more. My decision is made possible thanks to a cheaper creature and disruption suite, so that the mana advantage is already built-in (though this may require more liberal interpretation of the card pool than some groups are comfortable with). I will never be able to drop a t2 pestilence or do flashy stuff like that, but with my cheap spells I should still enjoy roughly the same board development by turn 4 without the card disadvantage - and as a bonus I make room for Duress. Take it for a spin if you're interested - would love to hear your impressions as to how it compares with the Cemetary Gate/Dark Ritual version.
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Well, I played four games with it, and went 4-0. two versus a G/W deck that didn't stand a chance, and another versus Black Aggro, who was running Terror for some reason. Poor guy.
Shield Sphere is... incredible. SOOO good. I really, really wish that my playgroup would allow it. I blame you for creating this impossible desire.
I found myself often wishing I drew Corrupt more often. I really miss that third copy.
The lack of acceleration/ explosiveness from no Rituals was not an issue in these matches, as hacking at their hand and their creatures was enough to slow them down. Duly noted.
I didn't appreciate Read the Bones as much as I thought I would, although it's still a good card. I'm not convinced that 3 is the right number. Take this with a grain of salt; I've only played 4 games (but managed to play it every game).
I hated Bojuka Bog. It came into play tapped, it's ability was useless, and it didn't count as a swamp. I understand why it's there and I don't think you should take it out, but it's not useful enough in the maindeck for a Pauper-only environment.
I drew Snuff Out once, and it was against the black aggro player. Oops. I never felt the need to fetch it in the other match, as I had the game under control quickly enough.
I hard-casted Dimir House guard in half the games I played because I needed to have a creature in play, either to have more creatures than they had removal, or just to get Pestilence to stick. Also noted.
All in all, I really like it! It's nice to get a different take on the deck; it makes me reflect on my own creation. I'm liking the extra discard. I'm thinking of changing my own deck for -2 Dark Ritual, +2 Duress (switching them from the sideboard and putting the rituals there for tempo matches). What are your thoughts on this?
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