"The farther he roamed from Jund and its dragons, the more he felt their essence in himself."
Apparently, Pauper EDH has been growing in popularity at my local shop. My friends started playing, so I inevitably got sucked into giving it a shot, too. They play with the usual Pauper EDH rules as far as I know.
I was originally going to build Bartel Runeaxe Bloodrush Voltron, but then I remembered that Dragonsoul Knight and Paragon of the Amesha (...and Fleshformer, but I don't like that card at all) exist. These cards basically do what I wanted to do with Bartel but much better, without the aid of extra cards, and giving me access to the entire color pie. I got back into MTG during Alara Block, which is also when I started playing Standard semi-competitively. I always thought that these cards were really awesome but never actually played them. The lifelink from Paragon is nice, but I decided to go with Mr. Dragonsoul for the higher pump that turns him into that magic three-turn clock. I think someone in the local playgroup plays Paragon already, too. We've already got a Fusion Elemental player as well.
I've never played a five-colored deck, but Pauper EDH seemed like a great place to try since I don't have to worry about investing a fortune into building a decent land base. I was surprised at how many of these cards I already had just laying around. A quick trip to my local card shop and about $10-15 later, and the deck was finished and ready to go. If I'm missing some seemingly basic things, it's most likely because my shop didn't have them in stock.
I built the deck with a pretty straightforward game plan. Ramp and fix my colors; cast my general and get him to stick; body people with a 7/5 first strike, flying, trample general. In my latest version, I decided to run some of the Invokers. Decent early game creatures that become great mana sinks later in the game.
Flamewave Invoker + Bloodrite Invoker: Normally, I wouldn't play Lava Axe. But when it becomes repeatable and attached to a 2R, 2/2 body, why not? 5 damage seems pretty significant in a 30-life format with only a handful of decent life gain options and residual damage from Crypt Rats, Pestilence, and Evincar's Justice. Speaking of life gain, that's the main reason why I included Bloodrite Invoker. A repeatable 6 life swing in your favor on a 2B, 3/1 body is somewhat comparable to Flamewave Invoker.
Stonewood Invoker: Not as good as his brother Wildheart Invoker but still not shabby. He can only pump himself and doesn't provide trample, but a 7/7 vanilla body is still pretty threatening in this format.
Vanishing: After playing Bruna, Light of Alabaster for regular EDH, this is quite possibly one of my favorite Auras in the game. With no Krosan Grip to worry about, the enchanted creature is effectively immortal. Well unless your opponent responds to the activation with removal, and you don't have another UU open to activate it again
Amusingly enough, I've been thinking about a Dragonsoul Knight deck too - but as a Sliver deck with a touch of Voltron...
Mark of Fury is a great reusable haste effect too. Pentarch Ward does yeoman's work at all levels, as does Cho-Manno's Blessing - spot removal is the bane of any Voltron general without Hexproof.
Armillary Sphere will fetch two land AND it's colorless - seems like it'd make a good choice for pure CA. Horizon Spellbomb is another great colorless fixer, and you'll need those! Farhaven Elf is definitely better than Diligent Farmhand or Dawntreader Elk.
With access to B/U, you should load up on as many transmute effects as you find reasonable - Drift of Phantasms fetches your Elguad Shieldmate and/or Whispersilk Cloak, Dimir House Guard grabs Evincar's Justice or Archaeomancer, Brainspoil nabs your other two recycle sorcery/instant creatures.
Alexi's Cloak is strictly better than Diplomatic Immunity.
As far as cuts go?
Now, don't get me wrong, spot removal's important, but I'm not sure that you NEED all the spot removal. Terminate, Murder, Tragic Slip, Radiant's Judgment, wrecking ball, arrest... I mean, it's always hard to say what's good and what's not, and right now my brain has malfunctioned, so I'm gonna cut this short here.
In my 3+ color lists, especially those that are part green, I've become a bit obsessive about skewing the mana base overwhelmingly towards pure forests, and then relying on lots of dirt cheap fixing (search for tomorrow, lay of the land, rampant growth, utopia sprawl, abundant growth, nylea's presence) to either fetch the 1-2 copies of plains, mountains, swamps, etc, or just straight up do the work of five colors. I think the number of panoramas and guildgate's you're running will slow the deck down too much.
There's so little land destruction in this format, that I think you can get away with very low numbers of lynch pin basics, and just make green do all the heavy lifting.
I agree with Dolono's thoughts on the mana base, but would like to add: Most 5C lists "should" be UGBrw since only a few r/w cards are worth playing given the competition. Also, green is only really needed for mana fixing, so rather than playing a bunch of Forests as Dolono suggests, I'd skew the non-basics towards green. You want the green guildgates (4), forest competent panoramas (3), all the good colorless fixing you can find (DEFINETELY Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds!) and then MAYBE a few bounce duals with green, GB and GU most likely. 2 of each basic except Island and Swamp should then be plenty, as well as 5-8 green fixers (I favor CA over cheapness, so I'd rather have Krosan Tusker, Kodama/Cultivate etc. over something like Search for Tomorrow).
iamfanboy's suggestions are all good, except that WW in Cho-Manno's Blessing is hard on your manabase so I'd avoid that. Instead, I can really recommend Broken Fall which is perhaps THE best proactive Voltron protector in PDH.
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Finally got a chance to play the deck last week against my friend's Ana Battlemage Pauper EDH. For a first draft, it played alright. Made some major overhauls with the deck list updated.
Mark of Fury is a great reusable haste effect too. Pentarch Ward does yeoman's work at all levels, as does Cho-Manno's Blessing - spot removal is the bane of any Voltron general without Hexproof.
Armillary Sphere will fetch two land AND it's colorless - seems like it'd make a good choice for pure CA. Horizon Spellbomb is another great colorless fixer, and you'll need those! Farhaven Elf is definitely better than Diligent Farmhand or Dawntreader Elk.
With access to B/U, you should load up on as many transmute effects as you find reasonable - Drift of Phantasms fetches your Elguad Shieldmate and/or Whispersilk Cloak, Dimir House Guard grabs Evincar's Justice or Archaeomancer, Brainspoil nabs your other two recycle sorcery/instant creatures.
Alexi's Cloak is strictly better than Diplomatic Immunity.
As far as cuts go?
Now, don't get me wrong, spot removal's important, but I'm not sure that you NEED all the spot removal. Terminate, Murder, Tragic Slip, Radiant's Judgment, wrecking ball, arrest...
Mark of Fury was definitely in consideration, but I feel like haste isn't too necessary after playing the deck. Most of the time, I find myself needed to wait until my next untap step to swing and transform with Dragonsoul Knight anyway.
I have Shielding Plax on the side, which I'd probably run before Pentarch Ward and Cho-Manno's Blessing.
Armillary Sphere isn't bad by any means, but I feel like I have enough landcycling effects in the deck already. I'd also probably just run Yavimaya Elder instead despite requiring 1 more total to activate and GG to cast. If I decide to try and fit in a Trinket Mage, I'll keep Horizon Spellbomb in mind. I managed to get a Farhaven Elf from one of my friends. Diligent Farmhand will be cut for Sakura-Tribe Elder as soon as I can find one. 1G is harder to keep open than just the G required by Dawntreader Elk and Silkwing Scout.
I probably should run a transmute suite. It's ironic that I don't run any because transmute is one of my favorite abilities. I'll probably cut my countermagic and cantrips to fit them in.
Diplomatic Immunity vs. Alexi's Cloak has been a debate for me ever since I first built my Bruna EDH. I do like Diplomatic Immunity for protecting itself as well, so I wouldn't necessarily call Alexi's Cloak strictly better. But fizzling spot removal is really fun.
I loaded up on spot removal because...well that's all there seems to be in this format which also appears to be quite creature-heavy. Crypt Rats, Pestilence, and Evincar's Justice seem like the only real board wipes at the Pauper level. But I did end up cutting out all of that spot removal except Terminate.
In my 3+ color lists, especially those that are part green, I've become a bit obsessive about skewing the mana base overwhelmingly towards pure forests, and then relying on lots of dirt cheap fixing (search for tomorrow, lay of the land, rampant growth, utopia sprawl, abundant growth, nylea's presence) to either fetch the 1-2 copies of plains, mountains, swamps, etc, or just straight up do the work of five colors. I think the number of panoramas and guildgate's you're running will slow the deck down too much.
There's so little land destruction in this format, that I think you can get away with very low numbers of lynch pin basics, and just make green do all the heavy lifting.
I was honestly only running all the Guildgates just for flavor, but I'm willing to forgo that for playability. Abundant Growth and Nylea's Presence sound great, especially since they cantrip on the way in.
I agree with Dolono's thoughts on the mana base, but would like to add: Most 5C lists "should" be UGBrw since only a few r/w cards are worth playing given the competition. Also, green is only really needed for mana fixing, so rather than playing a bunch of Forests as Dolono suggests, I'd skew the non-basics towards green. You want the green guildgates (4), forest competent panoramas (3), all the good colorless fixing you can find (DEFINETELY Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds!) and then MAYBE a few bounce duals with green, GB and GU most likely. 2 of each basic except Island and Swamp should then be plenty, as well as 5-8 green fixers (I favor CA over cheapness, so I'd rather have Krosan Tusker, Kodama/Cultivate etc. over something like Search for Tomorrow).
iamfanboy's suggestions are all good, except that WW in Cho-Manno's Blessing is hard on your manabase so I'd avoid that. Instead, I can really recommend Broken Fall which is perhaps THE best proactive Voltron protector in PDH.
Figuring out the land base is kind of a pain. I was skewing it towards B for Crypt Rats and Evincar's Justice. A few bouncelands will be included just to help reuse Bojuka Bog. Broken Fall seems awesome, but a lot of the removal in my playgroup is bounce from what I've seen: Capsize, Into the Roil, Repulse, etc.. But I'll definitely grab a copy to have on hand if my shop has it.
Decklist updated. Haven't actually touched this in a long time. Drafted a box BTG with some friends this past weekend, but I don't think I saw any new commons that caught my attention.
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"The farther he roamed from Jund and its dragons, the more he felt their essence in himself."
Apparently, Pauper EDH has been growing in popularity at my local shop. My friends started playing, so I inevitably got sucked into giving it a shot, too. They play with the usual Pauper EDH rules as far as I know.
I was originally going to build Bartel Runeaxe Bloodrush Voltron, but then I remembered that Dragonsoul Knight and Paragon of the Amesha (...and Fleshformer, but I don't like that card at all) exist. These cards basically do what I wanted to do with Bartel but much better, without the aid of extra cards, and giving me access to the entire color pie. I got back into MTG during Alara Block, which is also when I started playing Standard semi-competitively. I always thought that these cards were really awesome but never actually played them. The lifelink from Paragon is nice, but I decided to go with Mr. Dragonsoul for the higher pump that turns him into that magic three-turn clock. I think someone in the local playgroup plays Paragon already, too. We've already got a Fusion Elemental player as well.
I've never played a five-colored deck, but Pauper EDH seemed like a great place to try since I don't have to worry about investing a fortune into building a decent land base. I was surprised at how many of these cards I already had just laying around. A quick trip to my local card shop and about $10-15 later, and the deck was finished and ready to go. If I'm missing some seemingly basic things, it's most likely because my shop didn't have them in stock.
I built the deck with a pretty straightforward game plan. Ramp and fix my colors; cast my general and get him to stick; body people with a 7/5 first strike, flying, trample general. In my latest version, I decided to run some of the Invokers. Decent early game creatures that become great mana sinks later in the game.
1 Dragonsoul Knight
Creatures (31)
1 Archaeomancer
1 Bloodrite Invoker
1 Chartooth Cougar
1 Coalition Honor Guard
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Crypt Rats
1 Dawnglare Invoker
1 Dawntreader Elk
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Dimir Infiltrator
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Elgaud Shieldmate
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Flamewave Invoker
1 Gatecreeper Vine
1 Izzet Chronarch
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Lavafume Invoker
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Mold Shambler
1 Ondu Giant
1 Pale Recluse
1 Silkwing Scout
1 Standard Bearer
1 Stonewood Invoker
1 Trinket Mage
1 Twisted Abomination
1 Valley Rannet
1 Wildheart Invoker
1 Wirewood Guardian
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Capsize
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Fiery Fall
1 Into the Roil
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Repulse
1 Resounding Silence
1 Resounding Thunder
1 Resounding Wave
1 Terminate
1 Traumatic Visions
Sorceries (8)
1 Brainspoil
1 Cultivate
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Elven Cache
1 Evincar's Justice
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Pyrotechnics
1 Rolling Thunder
Auras (1)
1 Vanishing
Equipment (4)
1 Neurok Stealthsuit
1 Strider Harness
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Whispersilk Cloak
Other Artifacts (5)
1 Expedition Map
1 Horizon Spellbomb
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Ancient Den
1 Bant Panorama
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Command Tower
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Esper Panorama
1 Golgari Guildgate
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Great Furnace
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Gruul Guildgate
1 Jund Panorama
1 Naya Panorama
1 Rupture Spire
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Selesnya Guildgate
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Tree of Tales
1 Vault of Whispers
Basic Lands (17)
2 Forest
7 Island
2 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Swamp
CARD CHOICES:
Coalition Honor Guard & Standard Bearer: Pauper versions of Spellskite basically. It's also for a bit of nostalgia because UW Flagbearer-esque control was my very first deck, using Glimmering Angel + Coalition Flag. Vanishing and Neurok Stealthsuit with these guys for maximum lolz.
Stonewood Invoker: Not as good as his brother Wildheart Invoker but still not shabby. He can only pump himself and doesn't provide trample, but a 7/7 vanilla body is still pretty threatening in this format.
Vanishing: After playing Bruna, Light of Alabaster for regular EDH, this is quite possibly one of my favorite Auras in the game. With no Krosan Grip to worry about, the enchanted creature is effectively immortal. Well unless your opponent responds to the activation with removal, and you don't have another UU open to activate it again
Mark of Fury is a great reusable haste effect too. Pentarch Ward does yeoman's work at all levels, as does Cho-Manno's Blessing - spot removal is the bane of any Voltron general without Hexproof.
Armillary Sphere will fetch two land AND it's colorless - seems like it'd make a good choice for pure CA. Horizon Spellbomb is another great colorless fixer, and you'll need those! Farhaven Elf is definitely better than Diligent Farmhand or Dawntreader Elk.
With access to B/U, you should load up on as many transmute effects as you find reasonable - Drift of Phantasms fetches your Elguad Shieldmate and/or Whispersilk Cloak, Dimir House Guard grabs Evincar's Justice or Archaeomancer, Brainspoil nabs your other two recycle sorcery/instant creatures.
Alexi's Cloak is strictly better than Diplomatic Immunity.
As far as cuts go?
Now, don't get me wrong, spot removal's important, but I'm not sure that you NEED all the spot removal. Terminate, Murder, Tragic Slip, Radiant's Judgment, wrecking ball, arrest... I mean, it's always hard to say what's good and what's not, and right now my brain has malfunctioned, so I'm gonna cut this short here.
There's so little land destruction in this format, that I think you can get away with very low numbers of lynch pin basics, and just make green do all the heavy lifting.
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
iamfanboy's suggestions are all good, except that WW in Cho-Manno's Blessing is hard on your manabase so I'd avoid that. Instead, I can really recommend Broken Fall which is perhaps THE best proactive Voltron protector in PDH.
A series of seven articles using Magic to explore the very stuff of the Universe!
"At least for those who can play cards, their present incarnation is not quite wasted."
[Click here for the articles!]
Mark of Fury was definitely in consideration, but I feel like haste isn't too necessary after playing the deck. Most of the time, I find myself needed to wait until my next untap step to swing and transform with Dragonsoul Knight anyway.
I have Shielding Plax on the side, which I'd probably run before Pentarch Ward and Cho-Manno's Blessing.
Armillary Sphere isn't bad by any means, but I feel like I have enough landcycling effects in the deck already. I'd also probably just run Yavimaya Elder instead despite requiring 1 more total to activate and GG to cast. If I decide to try and fit in a Trinket Mage, I'll keep Horizon Spellbomb in mind. I managed to get a Farhaven Elf from one of my friends. Diligent Farmhand will be cut for Sakura-Tribe Elder as soon as I can find one. 1G is harder to keep open than just the G required by Dawntreader Elk and Silkwing Scout.
I probably should run a transmute suite. It's ironic that I don't run any because transmute is one of my favorite abilities. I'll probably cut my countermagic and cantrips to fit them in.
Diplomatic Immunity vs. Alexi's Cloak has been a debate for me ever since I first built my Bruna EDH. I do like Diplomatic Immunity for protecting itself as well, so I wouldn't necessarily call Alexi's Cloak strictly better. But fizzling spot removal is really fun.
I loaded up on spot removal because...well that's all there seems to be in this format which also appears to be quite creature-heavy. Crypt Rats, Pestilence, and Evincar's Justice seem like the only real board wipes at the Pauper level. But I did end up cutting out all of that spot removal except Terminate.
I was honestly only running all the Guildgates just for flavor, but I'm willing to forgo that for playability. Abundant Growth and Nylea's Presence sound great, especially since they cantrip on the way in.
Figuring out the land base is kind of a pain. I was skewing it towards B for Crypt Rats and Evincar's Justice. A few bouncelands will be included just to help reuse Bojuka Bog. Broken Fall seems awesome, but a lot of the removal in my playgroup is bounce from what I've seen: Capsize, Into the Roil, Repulse, etc.. But I'll definitely grab a copy to have on hand if my shop has it.