In my usual spirit of trying to ruin every format I play, I've revamped my Axebane Guardian + Freed from the Real defender combo deck. The printing of Commune with the Gods is very helpful in making this deck very consistent and cohesive! I've posted about this deck numerous times, some in the MTGO forum (which I don't play and don't really understand why there are two forums for Pauper), so I'll post this Primer-esq thread here!
The deck wins with infinite mana through 1 defender creature + Axebane Guardian + Freed from the Real or with Axebane Guardian + Galvanic Alchemist + 3 other creatures with defender. There are three win conditions: Kaervek's Torch, Soul Burn, and Ulamog's Crusher. Ulamog's Crusher is sort of a back up plan since this deck can make exorbitant amounts of mana early on. The deck uses deep, 2 cmc digs for the combo pieces as well as Drift of Phantasms to find all needed combo pieces. Apart from being inherently good against attackers on the ground, the deck is highly susceptible to disruption. I've gone the route of consistency instead of trying to plan for Doom Blades or what have you. Kaervek's Torch doubles as lifesaving removal when needed and Freed from the Real can tap down your opponents' threats. Anyway, I'll post my list and then explain each card choice.
-Steel Wall: All around easy to cast colorless wall with decent booty. It's no Shield Sphere, but it'll do. -Tinder Wall: The wall that bites back! I rarely use either ability, but they are there to stop Kiln Fiend and friends as well as act as a general form of early game removal. -Gatecreeper Vine: While this deck is almost entirely mana producing creatures, thinning your deck of a land is extremely useful, especially for mana fixing to transmute Drift of Phantasms or fiddling with Overgrown Battlement+Freed from the Real in order to vomit out an early Ulamog's Crusher. 18 lands an 4 Gatecreeper Vines ensures that you will have 3 lands on t3, which is pinnacle to this deck's consistency. -Overgrown Battlement: It's no Axebane Guardian, but this card is extremely powerful alongside other defenders. Paired with Freed from the Real and a few islands, you can make a ton of mana, but I consistently squeeze 2-3 mana out of it the turn after I play it and that's all you really need in most cases. -Drift of Phantasms: This card is extremely important and is 100% on par with everything this deck stands for. It's a defender, it has flying, it has a big butt, and most importantly: it fishes up every combo piece you need to win. Axebane Guardian, Freed from the Real, Galvanic Alchemist, and Soul Burn are all 3 cmc and you will always need to find at least one of those cards to win. -Galvanic Alchemist: A strictly worse card than Freed from the Real, but since this deck doesn't have many other ways to win, Freed from the Real 5-8 is necessary. With Galvanic Alchemist, you need 4 defenders on board for infinite mana (Galvanic Alchemist paired with Axebane Guardian + 3 other defenders). It's not impossible for this to happen, but it's also not very conventional compared with Freed from the Real. Since the deck absolutely tanks to top deck mode, this card is in here purely for consistency. -Axebane Guardian: Big daddy combo-piece. This is the card that makes infinite mana possible in combination with Freed from the Real or Galvanic Alchemist because with enough defenders (2 on board for Freed from the Real or 4 on board with Galvanic Alchemist), you can untap and repeat the ability until you have enough mana to Kaervek's Torch or Soul Burn your opponent to death. -Ulamog's Crusher: Plan B. You can plop this big baddie down as soon as t3 for a fast clock and hard-to-beat threat. Overgrown Battlement or Axebane Guardian help accelerate this threat out. I run two because there's a good chance of topdecking into one, but not good enough that it'll constantly clog your hand.
-Freed from the Real: An essential card for the infinite mana combo when enchanting Axebane Guardian. Attached to Axebane Guardian, you can make infinite mana if you have another defender on board (tap for 2 mana [U and another color], use one U mana to untap Axebane Guardian, rinse/repeat). Attached to Overgrown Battlement, you can make a lot of mana with other defenders present and islands to tap to untap Overgrown Battlement which comes in handy when you've got an Ulamog's Crusher in hand. In the most extreme circumstances, you can attach Freed from the Real onto an opponent's creature to keep it tapped. I've attached a Freed from the Real to an opponent's Ulamog's Crusher (or other threatening beater) to survive and win on numerous occasions.
-Forest: A meh card. -Island: A broken card. -Thornwood Falls: Helps with mana-fixing and nets you a life. Not too shabby. -Mountain: I'm considering taking this out for another basic or perhaps a nonbasic singleton. You don't really need red mana for Kaervek's Torch when you have Axebane Guardian and Tinder Wall.
Why not use Stinging Barrier or Doorkeeper as win cons (with your untap effects) after going infinite? That way you can avoid any concern for a red splash all together. If you're OK with on-line rarities, Shield Sphere is a fantastic wall that you're not running. I would also suggest some Wall of Tanglecord against flyers and at least a sideboard Spidersilk Armor for tutoring purposes.
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Why not use Stinging Barrier or Doorkeeper as win cons (with your untap effects) after going infinite? That way you can avoid any concern for a red splash all together. If you're OK with on-line rarities, Shield Sphere is a fantastic wall that you're not running. I would also suggest some Wall of Tanglecord against flyers and at least a sideboard Spidersilk Armor for tutoring purposes.
Wall of Tanglecord is nice, but it costs too much to cast and too much to activate. I'd rather use Wall of Vines. The deck already runs Drift of Phantasms too. Defense is important, but with a deck that can win as soon as all combo pieces are assembled, your usual concern is just making it to t4. Luckily, in this format, t4 kills aren't extra common, so I risk it in exchange for a consistent, instantaneous combo kill (or an early Ulamog's Crusher at worst).
Wall of Roots? though maybe u dont want another mana producer, and his ability to make one mana in ur turn and one mana in ur oponents isn't really usefull as you dont play any instants.
Not a bad idea, but what to cut? The deck needs 1 cmc walls for curve and combo consistency. Maybe one Galvanic Alchemist can be dropped for a Wall of Roots?
I hope this doesn't ruin any plans of yours, but there is a primer about this in the primers section already. You should post your stuff there so we can have it all in the same place!
I hope this doesn't ruin any plans of yours, but there is a primer about this in the primers section already. You should post your stuff there so we can have it all in the same place!
Hi! Where? I've requested that my list be made into a primer. I did a search through the forums and didn't see anything o.O
In my usual spirit of trying to ruin every format I play, I've revamped my Axebane Guardian + Freed from the Real defender combo deck. The printing of Commune with the Gods is very helpful in making this deck very consistent and cohesive! I've posted about this deck numerous times, some in the MTGO forum (which I don't play and don't really understand why there are two forums for Pauper), so I'll post this Primer-esq thread here!
The deck wins with infinite mana through 1 defender creature + Axebane Guardian + Freed from the Real or with Axebane Guardian + Galvanic Alchemist + 3 other creatures with defender. There are three win conditions: Kaervek's Torch, Soul Burn, and Ulamog's Crusher. Ulamog's Crusher is sort of a back up plan since this deck can make exorbitant amounts of mana early on. The deck uses deep, 2 cmc digs for the combo pieces as well as Drift of Phantasms to find all needed combo pieces. Apart from being inherently good against attackers on the ground, the deck is highly susceptible to disruption. I've gone the route of consistency instead of trying to plan for Doom Blades or what have you. Kaervek's Torch doubles as lifesaving removal when needed and Freed from the Real can tap down your opponents' threats. Anyway, I'll post my list and then explain each card choice.
The Deck:
3 Tinder Wall
4 Gatecreeper Vine
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Drift of Phantasms
4 Galvanic Alchemist
4 Axebane Guardian
2 Ulamog's Crusher
3 Kaervek's Torch
4 Commune with the Gods
1 Soul Burn
4 Freed from the Real
6 Island
4 Thornwood Falls
1 Mountain
Card Choices:
-Steel Wall: All around easy to cast colorless wall with decent booty. It's no Shield Sphere, but it'll do.
-Tinder Wall: The wall that bites back! I rarely use either ability, but they are there to stop Kiln Fiend and friends as well as act as a general form of early game removal.
-Gatecreeper Vine: While this deck is almost entirely mana producing creatures, thinning your deck of a land is extremely useful, especially for mana fixing to transmute Drift of Phantasms or fiddling with Overgrown Battlement+Freed from the Real in order to vomit out an early Ulamog's Crusher. 18 lands an 4 Gatecreeper Vines ensures that you will have 3 lands on t3, which is pinnacle to this deck's consistency.
-Overgrown Battlement: It's no Axebane Guardian, but this card is extremely powerful alongside other defenders. Paired with Freed from the Real and a few islands, you can make a ton of mana, but I consistently squeeze 2-3 mana out of it the turn after I play it and that's all you really need in most cases.
-Drift of Phantasms: This card is extremely important and is 100% on par with everything this deck stands for. It's a defender, it has flying, it has a big butt, and most importantly: it fishes up every combo piece you need to win. Axebane Guardian, Freed from the Real, Galvanic Alchemist, and Soul Burn are all 3 cmc and you will always need to find at least one of those cards to win.
-Galvanic Alchemist: A strictly worse card than Freed from the Real, but since this deck doesn't have many other ways to win, Freed from the Real 5-8 is necessary. With Galvanic Alchemist, you need 4 defenders on board for infinite mana (Galvanic Alchemist paired with Axebane Guardian + 3 other defenders). It's not impossible for this to happen, but it's also not very conventional compared with Freed from the Real. Since the deck absolutely tanks to top deck mode, this card is in here purely for consistency.
-Axebane Guardian: Big daddy combo-piece. This is the card that makes infinite mana possible in combination with Freed from the Real or Galvanic Alchemist because with enough defenders (2 on board for Freed from the Real or 4 on board with Galvanic Alchemist), you can untap and repeat the ability until you have enough mana to Kaervek's Torch or Soul Burn your opponent to death.
-Ulamog's Crusher: Plan B. You can plop this big baddie down as soon as t3 for a fast clock and hard-to-beat threat. Overgrown Battlement or Axebane Guardian help accelerate this threat out. I run two because there's a good chance of topdecking into one, but not good enough that it'll constantly clog your hand.
-Kaervek's Torch: The usual way of winning the game. This card doubles as removal if needed, but it's pretty much just an annoying-to-counter, single target Fireball. When you've assembled Axebane Guardian and Freed from the Real (or Galvanic Alchemist), this is the card you dump all of your manas into.
-Commune with the Gods: Basically made for this deck, Commune with the Gods grabs everything you need except for Kaervek's Torch and Soul Burn. It's a tough trade off, but digging 5 cards really pays off. Commune with the Gods grabs any of your creatures (including Ulamog's Crusher) as well as Freed from the Real.
-Soul Burn: Why run this weird, off color, seemingly bad 3 cmc burn spell? Drift of Phantasms is why. If you ever have your combo online but don't have any Kaervek's Torches or Ulamog's Crushers, Drift of Phantasms can fish up a Soul Burn for the win. It's definitely a stretch, but with infinite mana online, transmuting and casting both cards ain't no thang. With 4 Drift of Phantasms in the MD, getting this card exactly when you need it is extremely possible and has won me the game a number of times.
-Impulse: A recent addition to this deck. I used to run Brainstorm/Ponder/Preordain over Impulse and Commune with the Gods before Commune with the Gods was printed, but the enormous amounts of mana this deck is capable of demands deeper digs. Impulse keeps your plans secret and is totally worth the 2 cmc.
-Freed from the Real: An essential card for the infinite mana combo when enchanting Axebane Guardian. Attached to Axebane Guardian, you can make infinite mana if you have another defender on board (tap for 2 mana [U and another color], use one U mana to untap Axebane Guardian, rinse/repeat). Attached to Overgrown Battlement, you can make a lot of mana with other defenders present and islands to tap to untap Overgrown Battlement which comes in handy when you've got an Ulamog's Crusher in hand. In the most extreme circumstances, you can attach Freed from the Real onto an opponent's creature to keep it tapped. I've attached a Freed from the Real to an opponent's Ulamog's Crusher (or other threatening beater) to survive and win on numerous occasions.
-Forest: A meh card.
-Island: A broken card.
-Thornwood Falls: Helps with mana-fixing and nets you a life. Not too shabby.
-Mountain: I'm considering taking this out for another basic or perhaps a nonbasic singleton. You don't really need red mana for Kaervek's Torch when you have Axebane Guardian and Tinder Wall.
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!]
Stinging Barrier and Doorkeeper don't make mana and you'd need Axebane Guardian + Freed from the Real/Galvanic Alchemist AND a second Freed from the Real/Galvanic Alchemist to make either of those cards work more than once per turn. It's a one way effect with both of those cards. Axebane Guardian and Overgrown Battlement are key because they make mana whereas Stinging Barrier/Doorkeeper only use mana. Plus, neither of those cards can be fished up with Drift of Phantasms, which takes away from consistency.
Shield Sphere is an uncommon.
Wall of Tanglecord is nice, but it costs too much to cast and too much to activate. I'd rather use Wall of Vines. The deck already runs Drift of Phantasms too. Defense is important, but with a deck that can win as soon as all combo pieces are assembled, your usual concern is just making it to t4. Luckily, in this format, t4 kills aren't extra common, so I risk it in exchange for a consistent, instantaneous combo kill (or an early Ulamog's Crusher at worst).
Not a bad idea, but what to cut? The deck needs 1 cmc walls for curve and combo consistency. Maybe one Galvanic Alchemist can be dropped for a Wall of Roots?
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
Hi! Where? I've requested that my list be made into a primer. I did a search through the forums and didn't see anything o.O
It was unfortunately written by a user who never posted again. But it's there nonetheless.
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
Hmmmmmmmm. I prefer my list and thread unless I can take over that primer...
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