Some people in my current playgroup think about trying out pauper, so I decided to make a deck for myself as well. For some reason, that I've already forgotten, I decided to build a u/b zombie deck. Not a run of the mill zombie rush aggro deck, but something a bit more midrangy. I'm still new in this format, so I'd appreciate some help from the community. I don't yet know the established decks and strategies, but these guys being some cutthroat competitive tournament players probably will adapt some of them. I heard them talk about Delver and Tron, so they likely bring something along those lines. I for myself will stick mostly to my own vast collection ranging back to Onslaught and containing most of the sets since then. I totally will get me cards that fit, but since I usually buy cards only with the release of a new set, it will be a while until my next purchase.
Stitched Drake has awesome stats for the mana cost and can give me some real aerial power early in the game. I think, I have enough creature cards to drop into the yard in the first two turns to get him out on turn 3 consistently.
Embalmed Brawler can be really big for just 3 mana. I consider 3 counters to be the sweet spot for it, so I try to have 3+ other zombie cards in my hand when I cast it. I'll also be fine with just 2 counters, but 3 is the goal. I expect this guy to hurt me quite a bit.
Sewn-Eye Drake is more of a filler at this point, since I'm not really happy when I draw it in my goldfishing games. But, flying zombies! EDIT1: I took this card out in favor of another cycling zombie, Viscera Dragger, since sometimes I still miss a creature card in the grave when I want to cast Stitched Drake. Also went with a whole playset, and cut the third Whispersilk Cloak for that last copy.
Architects of will is really just a 1-mana cantrip, but it enables me to cast my Stitched Drake on turn 3. And it's not the worst 4-drop one can have.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel is meant to offset the life loss my Brawler inflicts on me. While I probably could try to push devotion for a bigger life drain, for now that's not really nessessary.
Twisted Abomination was originally Jhessian Zombies since that one can grab Islands and Swamps, but I was never happy to draw it, and I never wanted to play it. The main purpose was to get a creature card into the yard for Stitched Drake and get the second blue mana needed as well. But after goldfishing a few times, that second part was pretty much unnessessary, so I switched to the bigger swampcycler and shifted the mana base slightly more towards blue. I'll play a 5/3 regenerator if I have the mana, but I won't mind stitching its corpse onto a drake.
Ghoulcaller's Chant is the second zombie tribal card in the deck. I'm pretty much only focussing on its second mode of returning two zombie cards. I expect it to recur Nameless Inversions quite often. But getting two cards for one mana in itself already feels like a good deal.
Nameless Inversion is a zombie card! Since I have a need for more zombies, one that is also good removal is a certain inclusion.
Murder is for the big dudes, that Nameless Inversion cannot kill. 8 spot removal spells should be enough of a removal suite to survive early onslaughts or clear the path for my own big guys. I'm a bit worried about hexproof, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Whispersilk Cloak is meant to get my Embalmed Brawler through and it also protects it. I expect it to be quite frustrating to have a 5/5 be chump blocked while it eats at my own life so I took the biggest gun I could find to address that issue. EDIT2: More goldfishing indicates, that this card is too slow and clumpsy. I cut one copy already for a fourth Viscera Dragger, now I'm switching the other two for Veil of Secrecy, which serves the same purpose mostly, but can also act as a counterspell, since what I would want most of those is protecting my creatures from removal. EDIT3: Two copies of a reactive card usually feels a bit off for me, since when you need the card most, you usually simply don't have it in hand, in my experience. so I wanted a third copy of Veil of Secrecy at least. I thought about reducing the number of cycling creatures for a moment, but considering the land flood (subjectively at least) I experience in goldfishing quite often, cutting a land seems reasonable, so I took out an Island to make room.
There are no counterspells in the deck, and frankly, I don't see a need to include them just because the deck happens to play Islands. For me, that's not a good enough reason on its own to play counterspells. I am considering adding a bunch, but for my first draft of the deck, they didn't make it.
I expect this deck to change a lot while I try to improve on it. For the next few days I'm more interested in suggestions as to what could fit, so that I can pull those cards together and take them with me to tinker when I'm not at home over the course of the next two weeks. Of course, suggestions to actually improve the deck are also welcome. As is infomation on what to look out and prepare for in the format. I'm not trying to be super competitive, but I do want the deck to be as powerful as I can make it so that I at least stand a chance against my tournament regular opponents.
I don't quite understand why you wanted to go with Blue as your secondary colour in a zombie deck. Are you particularly attached to your Stitched Drake?
Embalmed Brawler is just terrible, in my opinion. It needs a lot more than 20 zombies to be good, and it even hurts you when you do take advantage of Amplify. I would remove those.
Next would be Veil of Secrecy. This card will not do enough for you, as very few of your creatures are heavy-hitting and it's only until end of turn.
Murder is another card that sees absolutely no play in Pauper because it simply costs too much. You'll rarely see removal cost more than 2 in this format. I would consider Doom Blade, Tragic Slip and Oubliette. Oubliette is one of the only 3-cmc removal spells out there because it contributes to Devotion and Exiles.
Including a cantrip like Architects is generally not a good strategy, even if it enables other cards.
I think 4 Twisted Abominations are too many. 2, maybe 3 would be okay.
What would I include into your deck to make it better? Well, if you're going to run blue, use some of blue's strengths. Ponder, Preordain, and Brainstorm are huge steps in improving your deck, by giving you choices and finding you what you need. Ghoulraiser is an excellent midrange zombie that can even get a Nameless Inversion back from the grave for you. With a few Snow-covered Swamps (they don't necessarily need to all be), you can include Gangrenous Zombies, which offers you repeatable Board-Clears, which is extremely rare in Pauper. Gurmag Angler is an incredibly efficient finisher that you can get out surprisingly quickly with a few cantrips. I think these should be a staple in a deck such as yours. 1 or 2 Grim Harvests can put the nail in the coffin by giving you inevitability. Last, but not least, a few counters could really help slow down other decks and allow you to develop your own strategy.
I don't quite understand why you wanted to go with Blue as your secondary colour in a zombie deck. Are you particularly attached to your Stitched Drake?
Actually, yes. But it's also due to Innsitrad block and Alara block having several common blue zombies, some of those are in my preselected pool of cards, but didn't make it into this first build. Overall, blue zombies far outnumber green ones (only 5 overall) despite the B/G Golgari from both Ravnica blocks being about undeath.
Embalmed Brawler is just terrible, in my opinion. It needs a lot more than 20 zombies to be good, and it even hurts you when you do take advantage of Amplify. I would remove those.
That was my opinion for many years as well. But after looking at the card more closely, it seems actually pretty good to me. With 1 counter its a Takenuma Bleeder, with 2 counters its similar to Putrid Leech and Scourge of Numai. I can't think of a similar card at 3 counters, but a 5/5 for 3 mana, that only costs you life as a drawback? Life can be regained easily, especially in black you can have lifelink or drain it directly from your opponent or his creatures. Losing life is not that big of a deal. Also, 3 counters is the cap for me, more would hurt too much for not enough gain. That means, 3 other zombie cards in hand when you play the Brawler, which translates to about 20-22 zombie cards in the deck, since I don't play any creature before turn 3. I have 24. This is, of course pure theorycrafting on my part, but if you consider that card terrible, please give some arguments for that. No deck I looked at plays it, sure that is a big hint for it not being awesome. But terrible? You better explain to me why you think that.
Next would be Veil of Secrecy. This card will not do enough for you, as very few of your creatures are heavy-hitting and it's only until end of turn.
I consider a 5/5 for 3 mana very heavy hitting. I also consider a 3/4 flyer for 3 mana quite heavy hitting. The primary purpose of Veil is also not to make a creature unblockable, but to keep a creature alive. Consider the quite expectable scenario: you bring out a 5/5 Brawler, a huge threat but your opponent also gains a free Lava Spike if he waits to kill it until you attack with it on your next turn. I think, he'll likely wait to get that extra and uses whatever spot removal he has after you attack. You respond to it with Veil, countering his spot removal and also taking away his chances to even block. Even if he blocks before trying to remove the Brawler, you still get the "counterspell" and likely take down his blocker. If he doesn't wait, you lose a creature you would have lost anyway, without losing life.
Murder is another card that sees absolutely no play in Pauper because it simply costs too much. You'll rarely see removal cost more than 2 in this format. I would consider Doom Blade, Tragic Slip and Oubliette. Oubliette is one of the only 3-cmc removal spells out there because it contributes to Devotion and Exiles.
Several threads I looked through use Unmake, and I would as well if not for two reasons: 1) I only have a single copy available right now, all the others are tightly bound in other decks, and 2) BBB is not that easy to afford in a deck where only half your lands can produce black. So I went with the next best nonconditional removal I could think of, Murder. My preselection pile contains a huge number of alternatives, but with no experience as to what I'll have to deal with, nonconditional is crucial. The purpose for this spot removal slot is to take down big critters with 4+ toughness, and many decks I looked at use Gurmag Angler for example, a creature that cannot be killed with Victim of Night, nor Doom Blade.
Including a cantrip like Architects is generally not a good strategy, even if it enables other cards.
I think 4 Twisted Abominations are too many. 2, maybe 3 would be okay.
Enabling Stitched Drake is a huge part of my game plan (for now). If I can do so while furthering my game, why should that be bad? None of the cantrips you mentioned can do this. 4 Abominations allow me to drop a land from the list, 3 would not. So I either play another land or another Abomination. I may be wrong on this, but for now, I don't want to use less than 4 Abominations.
What would I include into your deck to make it better? Well, if you're going to run blue, use some of blue's strengths. Ponder, Preordain, and Brainstorm are huge steps in improving your deck, by giving you choices and finding you what you need. Ghoulraiser is an excellent midrange zombie that can even get a Nameless Inversion back from the grave for you. With a few Snow-covered Swamps (they don't necessarily need to all be), you can include Gangrenous Zombies, which offers you repeatable Board-Clears, which is extremely rare in Pauper. Gurmag Angler is an incredibly efficient finisher that you can get out surprisingly quickly with a few cantrips. I think these should be a staple in a deck such as yours. 1 or 2 Grim Harvests can put the nail in the coffin by giving you inevitability. Last, but not least, a few counters could really help slow down other decks and allow you to develop your own strategy.
I hope this helps!
Duly noted and I added the cads mentioned to my preselction pool, as far as I have them. Thanks for the reply.
Some people in my current playgroup think about trying out pauper, so I decided to make a deck for myself as well. For some reason, that I've already forgotten, I decided to build a u/b zombie deck. Not a run of the mill zombie rush aggro deck, but something a bit more midrangy. I'm still new in this format, so I'd appreciate some help from the community. I don't yet know the established decks and strategies, but these guys being some cutthroat competitive tournament players probably will adapt some of them. I heard them talk about Delver and Tron, so they likely bring something along those lines. I for myself will stick mostly to my own vast collection ranging back to Onslaught and containing most of the sets since then. I totally will get me cards that fit, but since I usually buy cards only with the release of a new set, it will be a while until my next purchase.
So, the (edited) deck:
7 Island
6 Swamp
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Dismal Backwater
4 Stitched Drake
4 Embalmed Brawler
4 Viscera Dragger
4 Architects of Will
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Twisted Abomination
4 Ghoulcaller's Chant
4 Nameless Inversion
3 Veil of Secrecy
4 Murder
Discussing the card choices:
Stitched Drake has awesome stats for the mana cost and can give me some real aerial power early in the game. I think, I have enough creature cards to drop into the yard in the first two turns to get him out on turn 3 consistently.
Embalmed Brawler can be really big for just 3 mana. I consider 3 counters to be the sweet spot for it, so I try to have 3+ other zombie cards in my hand when I cast it. I'll also be fine with just 2 counters, but 3 is the goal. I expect this guy to hurt me quite a bit.
Sewn-Eye Drake is more of a filler at this point, since I'm not really happy when I draw it in my goldfishing games. But, flying zombies! EDIT1: I took this card out in favor of another cycling zombie, Viscera Dragger, since sometimes I still miss a creature card in the grave when I want to cast Stitched Drake. Also went with a whole playset, and cut the third Whispersilk Cloak for that last copy.
Architects of will is really just a 1-mana cantrip, but it enables me to cast my Stitched Drake on turn 3. And it's not the worst 4-drop one can have.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel is meant to offset the life loss my Brawler inflicts on me. While I probably could try to push devotion for a bigger life drain, for now that's not really nessessary.
Twisted Abomination was originally Jhessian Zombies since that one can grab Islands and Swamps, but I was never happy to draw it, and I never wanted to play it. The main purpose was to get a creature card into the yard for Stitched Drake and get the second blue mana needed as well. But after goldfishing a few times, that second part was pretty much unnessessary, so I switched to the bigger swampcycler and shifted the mana base slightly more towards blue. I'll play a 5/3 regenerator if I have the mana, but I won't mind stitching its corpse onto a drake.
Ghoulcaller's Chant is the second zombie tribal card in the deck. I'm pretty much only focussing on its second mode of returning two zombie cards. I expect it to recur Nameless Inversions quite often. But getting two cards for one mana in itself already feels like a good deal.
Nameless Inversion is a zombie card! Since I have a need for more zombies, one that is also good removal is a certain inclusion.
Murder is for the big dudes, that Nameless Inversion cannot kill. 8 spot removal spells should be enough of a removal suite to survive early onslaughts or clear the path for my own big guys. I'm a bit worried about hexproof, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Whispersilk Cloak is meant to get my Embalmed Brawler through and it also protects it. I expect it to be quite frustrating to have a 5/5 be chump blocked while it eats at my own life so I took the biggest gun I could find to address that issue. EDIT2: More goldfishing indicates, that this card is too slow and clumpsy. I cut one copy already for a fourth Viscera Dragger, now I'm switching the other two for Veil of Secrecy, which serves the same purpose mostly, but can also act as a counterspell, since what I would want most of those is protecting my creatures from removal. EDIT3: Two copies of a reactive card usually feels a bit off for me, since when you need the card most, you usually simply don't have it in hand, in my experience. so I wanted a third copy of Veil of Secrecy at least. I thought about reducing the number of cycling creatures for a moment, but considering the land flood (subjectively at least) I experience in goldfishing quite often, cutting a land seems reasonable, so I took out an Island to make room.
There are no counterspells in the deck, and frankly, I don't see a need to include them just because the deck happens to play Islands. For me, that's not a good enough reason on its own to play counterspells. I am considering adding a bunch, but for my first draft of the deck, they didn't make it.
I expect this deck to change a lot while I try to improve on it. For the next few days I'm more interested in suggestions as to what could fit, so that I can pull those cards together and take them with me to tinker when I'm not at home over the course of the next two weeks. Of course, suggestions to actually improve the deck are also welcome. As is infomation on what to look out and prepare for in the format. I'm not trying to be super competitive, but I do want the deck to be as powerful as I can make it so that I at least stand a chance against my tournament regular opponents.
Thanks in advance
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
I don't quite understand why you wanted to go with Blue as your secondary colour in a zombie deck. Are you particularly attached to your Stitched Drake?
Embalmed Brawler is just terrible, in my opinion. It needs a lot more than 20 zombies to be good, and it even hurts you when you do take advantage of Amplify. I would remove those.
Next would be Veil of Secrecy. This card will not do enough for you, as very few of your creatures are heavy-hitting and it's only until end of turn.
Murder is another card that sees absolutely no play in Pauper because it simply costs too much. You'll rarely see removal cost more than 2 in this format. I would consider Doom Blade, Tragic Slip and Oubliette. Oubliette is one of the only 3-cmc removal spells out there because it contributes to Devotion and Exiles.
Including a cantrip like Architects is generally not a good strategy, even if it enables other cards.
I think 4 Twisted Abominations are too many. 2, maybe 3 would be okay.
What would I include into your deck to make it better? Well, if you're going to run blue, use some of blue's strengths. Ponder, Preordain, and Brainstorm are huge steps in improving your deck, by giving you choices and finding you what you need. Ghoulraiser is an excellent midrange zombie that can even get a Nameless Inversion back from the grave for you. With a few Snow-covered Swamps (they don't necessarily need to all be), you can include Gangrenous Zombies, which offers you repeatable Board-Clears, which is extremely rare in Pauper. Gurmag Angler is an incredibly efficient finisher that you can get out surprisingly quickly with a few cantrips. I think these should be a staple in a deck such as yours. 1 or 2 Grim Harvests can put the nail in the coffin by giving you inevitability. Last, but not least, a few counters could really help slow down other decks and allow you to develop your own strategy.
I hope this helps!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
Actually, yes. But it's also due to Innsitrad block and Alara block having several common blue zombies, some of those are in my preselected pool of cards, but didn't make it into this first build. Overall, blue zombies far outnumber green ones (only 5 overall) despite the B/G Golgari from both Ravnica blocks being about undeath.
That was my opinion for many years as well. But after looking at the card more closely, it seems actually pretty good to me. With 1 counter its a Takenuma Bleeder, with 2 counters its similar to Putrid Leech and Scourge of Numai. I can't think of a similar card at 3 counters, but a 5/5 for 3 mana, that only costs you life as a drawback? Life can be regained easily, especially in black you can have lifelink or drain it directly from your opponent or his creatures. Losing life is not that big of a deal. Also, 3 counters is the cap for me, more would hurt too much for not enough gain. That means, 3 other zombie cards in hand when you play the Brawler, which translates to about 20-22 zombie cards in the deck, since I don't play any creature before turn 3. I have 24. This is, of course pure theorycrafting on my part, but if you consider that card terrible, please give some arguments for that. No deck I looked at plays it, sure that is a big hint for it not being awesome. But terrible? You better explain to me why you think that.
I consider a 5/5 for 3 mana very heavy hitting. I also consider a 3/4 flyer for 3 mana quite heavy hitting. The primary purpose of Veil is also not to make a creature unblockable, but to keep a creature alive. Consider the quite expectable scenario: you bring out a 5/5 Brawler, a huge threat but your opponent also gains a free Lava Spike if he waits to kill it until you attack with it on your next turn. I think, he'll likely wait to get that extra and uses whatever spot removal he has after you attack. You respond to it with Veil, countering his spot removal and also taking away his chances to even block. Even if he blocks before trying to remove the Brawler, you still get the "counterspell" and likely take down his blocker. If he doesn't wait, you lose a creature you would have lost anyway, without losing life.
Several threads I looked through use Unmake, and I would as well if not for two reasons: 1) I only have a single copy available right now, all the others are tightly bound in other decks, and 2) BBB is not that easy to afford in a deck where only half your lands can produce black. So I went with the next best nonconditional removal I could think of, Murder. My preselection pile contains a huge number of alternatives, but with no experience as to what I'll have to deal with, nonconditional is crucial. The purpose for this spot removal slot is to take down big critters with 4+ toughness, and many decks I looked at use Gurmag Angler for example, a creature that cannot be killed with Victim of Night, nor Doom Blade.
Enabling Stitched Drake is a huge part of my game plan (for now). If I can do so while furthering my game, why should that be bad? None of the cantrips you mentioned can do this. 4 Abominations allow me to drop a land from the list, 3 would not. So I either play another land or another Abomination. I may be wrong on this, but for now, I don't want to use less than 4 Abominations.
Duly noted and I added the cads mentioned to my preselction pool, as far as I have them. Thanks for the reply.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)