INTRODUCTION
Child of Alara is a well-known 5C commander to the EDH scene, but also one that lends itself very well to budget builds since a lot of the deck's power comes from the commander itself. One such build variant that was first suggested by d0su in 2011 is an all-commons pauper variant. Such a build is not meant to be played with other "PDH" decks that use uncommon commanders and common rarity main deck cards, but rather to hold its own at most reasonably competitive multiplayer EDH tables.
The pauper CoA deck has a certain fan base, and together we have developed and streamlined it over the years. In the spoiler below, you will find a much more in-depth discussion if you're interested in how the deck developed and thoughts on non-common rarity builds that are still budget friendly. The updated primer will focus exclusively on advice for building the best all-commons deck - a task that has become easier with the printing of certain key cards at common rarity these last years. Thanks to long term interest from many players in this archetype, we also have good data on the true staples of the deck as well as a good variety of solid picks that come down to personal preference.
Before we go into the details of the deck, it may be good to know that the definition of what is "common" rarity is somewhat obscure. For the purposes of this primer, the lowest rarity (on-line or paper cards) listed on Gatherer is what applies. This means that Merchant Scroll is legal, but Strip Mine is not. Having said that, this deck doesn't abide by any other format than regular EDH, so it's really up to you what you want to include in your "all commons" build and what logic for determining rarities that you wish to use. Similarly, this deck is mostly intended for multiplayer even though you can certainly have a go with it 1v1 against EDH decks of a typical power level, speed and consistency. Hence, it only respects the multiplayer banlist (which includes no commons at this time).
HOW THE DECK WORKS
The main mechanic of the deck consists of killing and recurring Child of Alara, so as to deny your opponents any form of winning board position. Unlike other commanders, CoA can't go to the command zone for its effect to trigger; it has to actually die and go to the graveyard. This means that a large part of the deck will consist of spells that kill off CoA and bring it back to your hand or to play from the graveyard.
Another large part of the deck is tutors and draw spells, as is true of many EDH decks. This ensures an ample supply of sacrifice outlets and recursion, as well as letting you find key silver bullets that complement your main sweeper strategy. A lot of space is also devoted to the mana base, as the deck needs a lot of mana to cycle CoA through the various game zones, while also having to contend with the limited common card pool for 5C color needs. This mandates the use of green ramp and fixing.
The rest of the deck is additional control cards/silver bullets, a few counters and a few slots devoted to alternative win cons apart from beating with CoA on a largely destroyed board (such as direct damage and infinite combo). Depending on how you spend the flex slots of the deck, you can take the deck into a more combo-ish or more control-ish direction. Or you could run more core cards, such as more sac outlets and recursion.
BUILDING THE DECK
This section of the primer will guide you on how to build your own CoA deck, explaining alternatives and card choices on the way. It follows these steps:
1) Explanation of the core of cards that are common to all pauper CoA builds. This constitutes roughly 75% of the deck, including most lands.
2) Your selection of one of three mana base specializations. One is based on exploiting Far Wanderings and uses more basics, one focuses on Trinket Mage and artifact lands, and one uses Tilling Treefolk with panoramas and cycle lands.
3) Your selection of a combo or control focus for the deck. While there is significant card difference between these two subtypes, both are perfectly able to play the control game or combo out – they just have different areas of focus, leading to certain synergies in card choices.
4) Rounding out the remaining slots of the deck with your unique choices. Chose from a large list of options, where some choices will be better or worse depending on what you picked in steps 2-3.
Let's begin with step 1 and the core of the deck below!
Core Card Explanations Sacrifice Outlets Sidisi's Faithful: A reusable sac outlet for U and very important addition to the deck. It kills CoA while bouncing itself. Tutors with Dizzy Spell and Vedalken Aethermage. Perilous Research: A flexible sac outlet that draws you cards. This gets the nod over Costly Plunder mostly for being a target for Merchant Scroll, but you can run both if you want to. Devour Flesh: Kill CoA at instant speed and gain some life. Also useful against indestructible creatures that survive a CoA wipe. Mind Extraction: One of the most powerful cards in the deck. It can alone destroy an opponent of your choice, while wiping the board. A primary target for 3 CMC transmute tutors and recursion wizards. Red Elemental Blast: Solid multi-purpose sac outlets that cover your key plays against counters or kill CoA at instant speed for R in a pinch. You can of course also use Pyroblast, though REB is ever so slightly better for being harder to redirect. In a blue-heavy meta, you can run both (see the flex slots below). Terminate: 2 CMC spot removal at instant speed is always good for a control deck, and this can kill CoA to boot.
CoA Recursion Grim Harvest: This is the second part of the CoA engine - a reusable recursion spell that works alongside the reusable sac outlet Sidisi's Faithful. A few players prefer the sorcery speed Disturbed Burial instead, as it somewhat more straight-forward to use. You can also run both (see flex slots below). Soul Manipulation: Very good value and the only recursion spell Merchant Scroll can get. Undying Evil: Cheapest way to get CoA back to play instantly and with a boost, but you have to time it right. Breath of Life: Recursion target for Dimir House Guard. Puts CoA directly to play for cheap and recurs easily with your wizards.
Tutors Mystical Teachings: The best tutor in the deck. Finds pretty much everything, twice. Merchant Scroll: Second best tutor. Careful card selection gives this almost the functionality of Demonic Tutor in this deck. Dimir Infiltrator, Drift of Phantasms, Dimir House Guard: These are all tutors of the creature type that go to the grave when used, and they all have many good targets. This can be abused a lot with our recursion spells. Muddle the Mixture and Shred Memory: These transmute tutors have relevant secondary effects and are also stellar in the deck. Dizzy Spell and Perplex: These have sucky effects, but it doesn't matter because you just want them for the tutoring power anyway.
Card Draw Brainstorm and Preordain: Important cards that smooth out your land drops early on and give you better top decks later. These cards do not "replace" bigger draw spells by any means, they are simply additional power in your deck. Note that you have many, many sources of library mixing for powerful Brainstorms at any point in the game as well. Treasure Cruise: It is a shame you can't tutor for this card in pauper, because it is awesome. Delve can move CoA from your grave to the command zone, making it work like pseudo-recursion. Perhaps the most powerful draw spell in the deck, as you can often cast if for 4 mana or less without sacrificing anything you really need. Mulldrifter and Sea Gate Oracle: Quality creature based card draw that fit right into your engines! Deep Analysis, Night's Whisper, Secrets of the Golden City, Read the Bones: The best quality draw spells in Pauper for their respective mana costs.
Counters and Silver Bullets Capsize: Probably one of the top 3 cards in the deck. It bounces anything, even land, recurs itself, is an engine card with ETB effects, it's a win condition when you combo off - the list goes on. It's hard to define staple silver bullets since player environments and needs are so different, but absolutely everybody should run this card. Counterspell and Faerie Trickery: The best counters in pauper EDH.
Combo and Finisher Archaeomancer and Izzet Chronarch: Commonly called "recursion wizards", these recur your most valuable instants and sorceries, and form an abusive CA engine together with Ghostly Flicker where you can keep playing the same powerful spell over and over again. The combo build runs more functional equivalents of these cards for redundancy, while the control build plays Vedalken Aethermage instead. Ghostly Flicker: Another very powerful card in the deck, especially when combined with a recursion wizard (that recurs flicker) and something else with a ETB effect (even lands like Mortuary Mire are useful targets). Cloud of Faeries: A combo piece that even cycles when you don't need it (though you can recur it later, this is somewhat risky if you get hit by GY hate). Works with Ghostly Flicker, a recursion wizard and 2 bounce lands to produce infinite mana! Rolling Thunder: Having a direct damage spell means that you can kill a player on the spot as long as you have more mana than they have life. Works really well with all your ramp. Some players prefer Kaervek's Torch here instead, though it is less versatile and harder to tutor for.
Ramp Darksteel Ingot: The one mana rock that was made for this deck. Cultivate and Kodama's Reach: Extremely solid ramp that are staples even in full power CoA builds. Sakura-Tribe Elder: The best creature-based ramp that fits right into our recursion engines.
Lands 5-C lands: The first lands in the list can fix or tap for any color. The deck runs most of what's available here at common, but eschews the worse Opal Palace clones and a few others that don't work well in EDH. Ravnica karoos: Also known as bounce lands or double lands. These are important for Cloud of Faeries combo, for reusing your spell lands, and generally for creating card advantage and ensuring land drops. Since you need one of these lands to be blue to combo out, the deck runs all the 4 blue ones as well as the BG land since those colors also frequently come in handy. Green life duals: As you may have noticed, this deck is actually a blue/black deck that uses green mostly for ramp and fixing so it can cast its commander (and a few utility off-color spells). This creates the desire to run many green sources so that you can actually cast your ramp in the early turns, without stocking up on too many dedicated off-color sources that limit your mid game. These green life duals help solve that equation while also giving you a life gain option with the Ghostly Flicker engine. Spell lands: Mire, Bog and Depths do yeoman's work in the deck together with land tutors, bounce lands and Ghostly Flicker.
Basics: The core only runs 13 basics, but more can be added depending on which mana base type you pick in the next step. The number of Swamps to Islands may look odd, but reflects the desire for equal number of dedicated blue and black sources (since we run all those blue karoos). Redundant blue sources in your opener or first turns often mean that you have to delay playing CoA a turn or two. The substantial amount of fixing and ramp however lets you skew your actual lands in play towards blue as needed while the game progresses.
Mana Base Specializations
The second step is to select one of three mana base specializations. Far Wanderings package: This choice gives you the most powerful mid-to-end game ramp to really pull ahead, but is somewhat bland until it gets going. Trinket Mage package: With colorless fixing and lands that enter untapped, this variant offers the fastest and smoothest early game. Tilling Treefolk package: This package is best at regulating the ebb and flow of mana by using cyclers and panoramas, and recurring them later as needed.
Land Packages Explanations Land Engines: Each pack has a land engine. Krosan Tusker provides a card and a basic land for 3 mana at instant speed. It can be abused with the many sources of creature recursion later, but can't be tutored for. Trinket Mage can not only find artifact lands but also ramp, land tutors and other utility. Tilling Treefolk works best mid-to-late game, but can certainly recover one land even when dropped at turn 3 while providing a defensive body in your set-up phase. Both Mage and Treefolk can be blinked with flicker effects, or recurred traditionally after a CoA explosion.
Ramp: Far Wanderings is the namesake card of its package, and the reason to dip into more basic lands so you can abuse it late game by replaying it several times. Wayfarer's Bauble isn't very fanciful, but unlike most other ramp cards it doesn't require a green source and can be found by Trinket Mage, making it better in that package. Harrow fixes two colors at instant speed for a net cost of only one mana, while feeding the yard with land for Treefolk and Grim Discovery.
Land Tutors: Of the three any-land tutors available in the pauper pool, Trinkets and Wanderings play Expedition Map and Treefolk plays Crop Rotation (you'll find Reap and Sow in the control package below). Crop Rotation has obvious synergy with the Treefolk concept, whereas Map is tutorable in Trinkets and helps with the lack of fixing and green sources in the Wanderings package. If you want to play both, you can – just add the other in your flex slots below.
Recursion: There are many 2 CMC recursion spells you can play as back-up tutor targets to Grim Harvest, but some synergize more with certain builds. Grim Discovery and Resourceful Return should need no further motivation in their respective packages. Evolution Charm is good for added fixing with many basics in Far Wanderings, but Grapple with the Past is also an option since it helps to build threshold – either is a fine choice for the Wanderings package.
Lands: The artifact lands should come as no surprise in Trinkets. In Treefolk, the two chosen panoramas are both green sources while being able to fetch either blue or black when you don't need green, while the cyclers work in colors that are rarely used for other spells. Wanderings plays two Forests rather than an extra Swamp, due to the need for more green sources and already high number of basic swamps.
Combo or Control Focus
Now that you've decided on a mana base, the next step is to pick your focus: combo or control? Like the mana base packages, these two packages are built in equivalent ways, even though they focus on different aspects.
Combo/Control Explanations Tutor: The combo package builds around Brainspoil, which is currently the only tutor that can find the key combo piece Peregrine Drake. Brainspoil has only 2 targets in the 40 core slots, which is why we need to add more 5 CMC targets in the combo package to make it good. Aethermage solves the problem of assembling recursion wizards in a more space saving way, creating more room for higher quality removal in the control package.
Recursion: Salvager of Secrets, Mnemonic Wall and Urborg Uprising all have synergy with Brainspoil and provide the needed redundancy for a flicker/blink combo focus. The land package already includes an extra recursion spell at the 2 CMC slot (in addition to Grim Harvest), whereas these packages introduce back-ups at the 3 CMC slot (in addition to Soul Manipulation). Cadaver Imp is a no-brainer in a blink-focused build with many recursion wizards, whereas the best option for control is Pulse of Murasa. Control also opts for Reclaim, since it doesn't need to run Uprising and has fewer ways to recur non-creatures than the combo build.
Ramp: It stands to reason that Farhaven Elf is much better in a build with heavier focus on the flicker engine. The control build plays the excellent Primal Growth instead, to provide an additional sac outlet at the 3 CMC slot (the combo build gets this via Angelic Purge).
Combo and control: The combo build relies exclusively on Angelic Purge and what's already in the core for its control needs. Control has Forsake the Worldly and Unmake at instant speed instead of Purge, as well as Qasali Pridemage as an additional excellent target for Aethermage. Control also plays Overrule as an additional counter with life gain, and multi-purpose land removal in Reap and Sow. In combo, the last slots go to combo redundancy instead – Peregrine Drake (really the reason to play the combo package) and Displace as a back-up to Ghostly Flicker.
Final Slots
Your deck should now contain 91 cards, leaving you with 8 more slots to chose from. Apart from the recommendations here, you can also pick from cards suggested for other “packs” above. Consider these guidelines on how to spend your last slots:
1-2 sacrifice outlets: Most people prefer Wretched Gryff (costs a mere U when emerged from CoA and draws a card + gives you a bird to guard the skies) or Pyroblast (as an extra copy of REB in the core). Other one mana options include Blue Elemental Blast, Tragic Slip or Innocent Blood. The Trinket Mage build has an interesting option in Costly Plunder, though the core package already has plenty at the 2 CMC slot. If you're in a control build, you might also consider Rend Flesh or Murder as extra removal/sac outlet in the 3 CMC slot.
1-2 recursion spells: Cards that recur multiple creatures such as Reaping the Graves and Death Denied can work as additional “pseudo-engines” together with a recursion wizard, and hence tend to work best in the combo build. Control should opt for Disturbed Burial instead, which is better when you have fewer creatures to recur. Other options for control include Shade's Form and Mistmoon Griffin, since they don't leave you open if you blow up CoA at instant speed. Combo has False Defeat instead (an expensive functional equivalent of the core Breath of Life, that is easier to abuse with many recursion wizards).
1-3 draw spells: Some work better with certain builds and cards, namely Forbidden Alchemy (Far Wanderings, Tilling Treefolk), Compulsive Research (Tilling Treefolk), Darksteel Pendant (Resourceful Return) and Rush of Knowledge (Brainspoil + many high CMC recursion wizards). If you want more digging power, consider Ponder, Impulse and Foresee as well. They are not quite as good as what the core package already has at their respective mana costs, but they are excellent nevertheless. Finally, you might also consider Rhystic Study or Mystic Remora.
0-2 counters: Mainly an option for the control build. However, combo (and control) should at least consider Rewind, for its synergy with the flicker engine. With 3 bounce lands in play and the flicker engine, you can counter endlessly at 0 net mana cost with Rewind. Dream Fracture is probably the next best general counter (Arcane Denial is also a choice, but generally less appealing and strictly for multiplayer). Negate and Disdainful Stroke are more narrow options that still handle most things. Condescend and Psychic Strike also see niche use.
0-2 control cards: Additional “silver bullets” to consider for control builds, depending on meta game and in general order of importance/playability. Nihil Spellbomb: Eminently playable, especially in the Trinket Mage package, but not exactly needed as you can already Expedition Map into Bojuka Bog. Still, if you fancy more GY hate, this is a very good card. Wrecking ball: If you need more land removal apart from Reap and Sow, this is probably your best bet. Also doubles as creature removal, including a sac outlet for CoA. Spore Frog: Forms a lock with Grim Harvest or Disturbed Burial that can sometimes be more advantageous, not to mention cheaper, than blowing up CoA continuously. Snakeform: An extra Unmake – requires a CoA explosion or use as a combat trick to actually get rid of the creature though. Upside is tutorability with Merchant Scroll and ability to stop leaves play abilities. Reality Acid: Kills anything (lands, indestructibles) eventually or immediately off a CoA explosion. Even forms a spot removal engine with Capsize. Probably worse than Angelic Purge, unless you really want the land destruction. Apart from sorcery speed, it is also difficult to recur. Scour from Existence: The instant that does it all, albeit at a 7 mana cost – roughly twice the normal fare you pay for instant speed exiling removal. Not too useful. Universal Solvent: One mana more than Scour and doesn't even exile. Yes, it tutors with Trinket Mage, but it's terribly costed for its effect and hard to reuse.
For more information on actual builds by players that frequent this thread, consider this spreadsheet.
HOW TO PLAY THE DECK - coming soon (summer 2018)
INTRODUCTION History
The concept of 5-Color Control for the common man was first popularized on MTGS by d0su in his legendary Dreamcrusher thread in early 2011. The idea was that using Child of Alara as a Commander compensated for the complete lack of solid sweepers in the common card pool, while using only commons provided for a very cheap deck that still had the power to go up against full power EDH decks, especially in multiplayer.
As the concept of Pauper EDH has consolidated more towards using uncommon creatures as Commanders, and the "Dreamcrusher" build has proven more adapted for regular EDH tables than Pauper settings anyway, the need for adhering strictly to commons has been called into question. While using only commons remains the cheapest way to build CoA, adding even just a few uncommons greatly helps the deck overcome some inherent design challenges and also makes for shorter games (while all commons list can eventually establish control just as well, games go on and tend to be very grindy and durdly).
While there is already a multiplayer primer on using Child of Alara to create a lands-type deck focusing on Life from the Loam and utility lands, this primer will focus more on using Child of Alara itself (even though the non-Pauper builds included here also make use of LftL and utility lands, simply because it would be silly not to). Thus, the primary focus of these builds will be on how to sacrifice and recur CoA as efficiently as possible, and other strategies that are supportive of this concept. While the primer assumes a multiplayer environment, there is nothing stopping you from trying these builds out 1v1 either, especially the "full power" budget version.
Pauper, Peasant and Budget - a Word on Terminology
Since around 2010, there's been an increasing interest for "PDH" or Pauper EDH - a process that this very archetype has helped fuel. At the time however, there was little consensus on what exactly constituted a PDH deck. Can CoA with all commons be considered "Pauper", when the general is mythic rare and the deck is constructed to abuse it as much as possible?
These days, there is a pretty strong consensus that Pauper EDH means using an uncommon (or possibly even common), most likely non-legendary, creature as your Commander, and only commons in your 99. For purposes of this primer however, the "Pauper" build refers to using only commons in the deck, despite CoA being mythic rare. The term is not an endorsement suggesting that a CoA build using only commons has a place at tables where others are running Zameck Guildmage or Ascended Lawmage as Commanders.
There is even less consensus on what constitutes a "Peasant" EDH deck - another format descriptor borrowed from the world of 60 card Magic. Most agree that standard EDH rules apply, but that you're excluding rares from your 99. Some groups or shops go further and limit the amount of uncommons you can run (the equivalent of 5 uncommons in a 60 card deck would be 8 in a 99 card deck, but numbers vary).
Regardless of whether you're using rarity restrictions or just want a competitive but affordable 5C control deck, this is the definitive CoA primer for you! It discusses inexpensive card choices of all rarities, Pauper and budget decklists, and strategy both on a general level and individual card level.
Why Play Child of Alara? The Pauper version of this deck might be for you if:
*You like having Planar Cleansing as your Commander
*You want to play a workable 5C control deck in EDH that costs less than its sleeves
*You like it when people playing $1000+ decks say your deck is unfair and boring
The Pauper version might not be for you if:
*You intend to play against decks using uncommon Commanders
*You want a good game against fast decks 1v1
*You want something simple to pilot that wins quickly
The budget version might be for you if:
*You like having Planar Cleansing as your Commander, except it costs 0 to reuse, draws you cards and gains you life
*You want to play a competitive 5C control deck in EDH for less than $100
*You dislike a battlefield cluttered with non-land permanents
The budget version might not be for you if:
*You consider aggro or combo as a goal unto itself rather than just a win condition
*You like fair decks that don't steal or reanimate opposing creatures, or force mass discard in the early turns
*You're more interested in playing against other PDH decks with uncommon Commanders
Quick Deck Statistics Preferred Environment: Multiplayer (any build) or 1v1 (non-pauper builds) Casual/Competitive: Competitive Average CMC: About 2.5-2.8 depending on build (though mana demands depend much more on the effectiveness of your recursion engines, than on average CMCs) Deck Cost: Roughly $100 for the basic budget build. Pauper is of course dirt cheap. Deck MVP: Depends on build and budget, but Capsize and Mind Extraction are always all-stars.
Strengths: Board control, hand disruption, counters Weaknesses: Graveyard hate, mana denial
Flexibility - How well does the deck combat threats and come back from resource denial/negation?
(8/10) The deck is built around coming back advantageously from mass resource denial. Counters are largely ineffective. Big draw can recover from hand disruption. The biggest problems are graveyard removal and mass LD, especially for the Pauper version. Efficiency - How well does the deck use its mana base? Does it focus on big bombs or a slow power creep?
(7/10) The Pauper deck can easily use up more than 20 mana/turn. The non-pauper deck can use more than 10 mana/turn but rarely has the need to, since most of the primary deck engines run on little mana. Consistency - Out of 10 games, how many will be played in similiar or nearly identical ways?
(6-9/10) Very much pilot dependent. You can make every game almost exactly the same, but this will suck the fun out of most games. Consult the strategy section for tips on mixing it up. Speed - How quickly can this deck take over a table?
(5-9/10) The Pauper deck is the undisputed king of durdling, tutoring for tutors that tutor for recursion that recur tutors etc. - that sort of thing. However, it can also consistently board wipe on turn 5. The non-pauper deck can do that or force everyone to discard their hands by turn 5 without breaking a sweat. It also recovers much faster from the first board wipe. Style - Does the deck kill you the same way every game, or does it have a million and one ways to finish you off?
(7/10) Multiple win conditions can be included when needed. Typically, the deck closes games with general damage or insurmountable resource denial, but infinite combos and even direct damage are possibilities. Perceived Threat - How politically threatening is this deck when you show everyone your commander?
(6-9/10) Depends a lot on how you pilot it (see the Strategy section), but once the table knows what you can do, don't expect any silk mittens even if your deck is all commons.
CARD SELECTION
Child of Alara (and most EDH decks) can be divided into a core and a shell. The core is the General and all the spells that go with it to create a synergistic whole. The shell is the lands, the ramp, the small dig and land fetch - all the cards that enable you to play your business spells and execute your game plan. This sections examines card selection for the core, and how to construct a realistic shell to support it.
Each subsection is divided into common, uncommon and rare, so it's easy to select cards if you are restricted to only commons, or a Peasant mix of commons and uncommons. The uncommons and rares discussed in this section are all pretty budget friendly. After the Decklists section, there is a discussion of worthwhile upgrades that you can invest in gradually if you wish to improve the budget build. Please note that utility lands and small dig spells (like Brainstorm) that can be used early to dig for lands are discussed in the Shell subsection, not in the Core.
The Core - Sacrifice Outlets, Recursion and Engine Pieces
Unlike most Commanders, CoA makes little use of the Command Zone, since it has to go to the grave to activate its ability. This immediately demands two types of functions from the rest of the deck: sacrifice outlets (which become your de facto sweepers) and recursion (so you can get CoA back, since you can't use the Command Zone like everyone else). Ideally, these card types are reusable, so that going through a CoA activation nets no card loss. The building blocks that make this happen are called engine pieces.
The problem with Pauper builds is that the only available reusable sac outlet is Slow Motion (pretty iffy to use), which means that each activation of CoA typically costs you a card. The reusable recursion available is limited to Disturbed Burial and Grim Harvest. This combined with the relative scarcity of tutors in the Pauper card pool requires you to diversify your strategy.
The common builds solve this by playing instant recursion bears (Archaeomancer, Izzet Chronarch, Mnemonic Wall and Scrivener) and a clever selection of multi-purpose instants that permit the timely demise of CoA while also having other uses (such as Terminate). The recursion bears also permit reuse of multiple-creature recursion instants (such as Reaping the Graves), creating loops that protect themselves (for instance: Scrivener returns Reaping the Graves so that, when the world blows up the next time, you can reap both Scrivener and CoA back again). This typically develops further into many ETB effects where Ghostly Flicker and Capsize also play a part as engine pieces.
This approach is effective but immensly clunky. If you're using Burial/Harvest, replaying CoA costs 5 mana for the recursion spell and another 5 for the baby. That's before considering the cost for the sac outlet and the process of getting it back or drawing into another. To compensate for this, the Pauper builds make great use of alternate win cons and support cards (see below).
As soon as we look at uncommons, it's a very different story. Assembling the CoA engine is as easy as combining two cards (with several options available), with the total cost for the cycle being typically around 8-9 mana, often netting additional benefits such as life gain. If you're going into rares, free recursion becomes the new norm - in fact, killing CoA can even provide a net gain of mana each cycle if you have a few more dollars to spend. This allows you to rely on CoA and reanimation in general as a win con to a much higher degree.
Let's take a look at the cards in these categories by rarity:
Abjure: Get more value out of your sac outlet by countering a spell at the same time. Cute for Pauper builds if REB/Pyro is dead in your meta, but otherwise it's typically better to keep your sac outlets and counters seperate. Altar's Reap: A good option with all commons, since it compensates for the card loss. Unlike just using removal to off CoA, this uses the sac as part of the cost, meaning the sac will happen even if the spell is countered. The downside is that it's a dead card if you have no creatures you want to kill. Be careful not to run too many cards that only work if you have a creature in play. Devour Flesh: Better than Diabolic Edict if used on CoA, and against opponents the life gain matters little (you win by general damage or going infinite, mostly) and can even be politically beneficial. Also very good at mopping up indestructibles after CoA explodes. Mandatory with all commons, but always a consideration. Eyeblight's Ending: Worse than Terminate, but useful at 3 CMC for transmute purposes. Not recommended outside Pauper builds. Mind Extraction: One of the most powerful cards in the deck. A must run in any build. Hand wipe + board wipe is usually GG for whoever gets hit with it. As with Altar's Reap, CoA dies even if it gets countered since it's part of the cost. Murder: See Eyeblights Ending and Rend Flesh. Typically, double black is a greater restriction than the small creature type limitations of the other two options, making this rather bland. Perilous Research: A better option than Altar's Reap since you don't HAVE to have a creature to use it. Also good with non-creatures that like to die, such as Reality Acid, Spine of Ish Sah and Flagstones of Trokair. Also a target for Merchant Scroll and should definetely be run as long as you include this tutor. Primal Growth: Ramp that also doubles as an uncounterable sac outlet when needed? Fantastic! Recommended for all builds. Pyroblast: One of the cheapest ways to kill CoA, while also protecting your key plays against counters. This or REB is a must for an all commons Dizzy Spell toolbox, but both are always meta considerations even when you're running rares. Red Elemental Blast: See Pyroblast. Rend Flesh: See Eyeblights Ending. Typically choose this or EE, depending on meta. Skred: Requires a more expensive snow-covered mana base, and it will take a while until it can kill CoA or other threats. If using Dizzy Spell in all commons it merits consideration as a toolbox target together with Tragic Slip. Slow Motion: With access only to commons, you must use what's available. Under such circumstances, this is a good way to facilate continuous CoA use late game when combined with Disturbed Burial/Grim Harvest. Definetely not a consideration otherwise. Terminate: Good both when you want to blow up the world and when you don't. Always a consideration, though uncommon options tend to overshadow it. Tragic Slip: A cheap way to kill CoA, but the trigger can be a problem. Also a good way to mop up indestructibles after CoA explodes. A meta consideration for a Dizzy Spell toolbox. Wrecking Ball: More of a silver bullet against problematic lands than a sac outlet, I include it here since it's an instant that can also kill CoA. A very strong choice in all commons, but overshadowed when uncommons are available.
Beast Within: An upgrade to Murder/Eyeblight's Ending/Rend Flesh, Terminate and Wrecking Ball. At this point however, you can have dedicated and reusable sac outlets, and the competition for your removal slots is very cutthroat. Fallen Ideal: A significant upgrade to Slow Motion. It doesn't come with life gain like Worthy Cause, but is less prone to counters and discard, and lets you tap out. If you have Reveillark combo, you can also grow an infinitely large CoA (see Reveillark), making this a win condition as well. Being a 3 CMC aura also puts it in an interesting tutoring category. Highly recommended if you have access to the rare tutors like Three Dreams. Worthy Cause: One of the best outlets available in Peasant builds (especially with Dizzy Spell!), but it's eclipsed by rare one-shot effects like Momentous Fall. With rares, you also have access to reusable land-based outlets and Fallen Ideal becomes more useful with aura tutors, making this obsolete too often.
Altar of Bone: The budget version of Diabolic Intent. Sorcery speed outlets that require a creature to be sacced have to have a power level on the scale of Mind Extraction to be considered. Skip. Bound//Determined: A fantastic one-shot deal, and very cheap to aquire. The determined part also cantrips and provides a way to cover key plays, making the card always useful. Greater Gargadon: Dirt cheap and opens up the use of creature tutors for getting sac outlets! It's uncounterable and only costs a single mana to start using. Unfortunately it doesn't last forever, but it's pretty untouchable while it does and has the added benefit of netting you a 9/7 when used up! Also deters mass LD, which is a great boon, and has synergy with Spine of Ish Sah. A must run if you decide to use rares. Momentous Fall: Altar's Reap on steroids. The power level is comparable to Mind Extraction and Bound//Determined. Run it!
Archaeomancer: The best of the common instant recursion bears. Mandatory in all commons, but easily eclipsed by Eternal Witness when uncommons are available. Cadaver Imp: Cost effective in builds using Ghostly Flicker and Capsize, but also easily replaced by Eternal Witness. Capsize: One of the most powerful cards in the deck - stand alone or as an engine piece, allowing you to reuse ETB-effects. A must include in all builds. Death Denied: An option in all commons builds with the instant recursion bears, where there is a significant amount of creatures to recur. More susceptible to counters than Reaping the Graves, and in a less interesting transmute category (already crowded with Disturbed Burial and Grim Harvest). Disturbed Burial: A must include in all commons - a must not include if uncommons are available. Elven Cache: A bad Regrowth. Hardly a consideration even for all commons - a single Reclaim is typically sufficient when you already have creatures, instants and sorceries covered so well. Evolution Charm: A multi-purpose card and a strong consideration at instant speed. Even has application as an early mana fixer in more advanced builds that can play it on t2 routinely. False Demise: See Shade's Form. Ghostly Flicker: A very powerful engine card in Pauper if you set it up with a recursion bear (which returns the Flicker to your hand) and another ETB target (such as another recursion bear, returning something else!) In the budget build, there are better engines that aren't destroyed by CoA explosions. Gravedigger: A rather ineffective recursion option. For only one mana more, you could be paying for buyback or recover on Disturbed Burial/Grim Harvest, or getting a really good deal on Urborg Uprising. Grim Harvest: The strongest common creature recursion. Must include in Pauper builds! Can be considered even in budget builds, to recur small creatures. Izzet Chronarch: Almost as good as Archaeomancer, better color requirements and a slightly larger body for one mana more. A must include in Pauper. Mnemonic Wall: See Izzet Chronarch. Reaping the Graves: Probably the best option after Burial/Harvest - a very strong consideration if you're only using commons. Reclaim: Tutors well and costs little to use - almost a must include if you're in all commons. The slightly better Noxious Revival eclipses it if you're not. Scrivener: Worse than the other recursion bears, but you run so many instants that not doing sorceries is not so big of a deal. A strong consideration for all commons. Soul Manipulation: A very interesting card - a better Exclude, which is saying something. To me, tutoring with Merchant's Scroll is the most interesting thing with this card, so as long as you're using it, you should keep this card in the deck IMO. Shade's Form: Puts CoA immediately back into play, making it much more effective mana wise than most other options in Pauper. Also allows for pumping and stealing opposing threats (a very interesting option if your opponents are packing more expensive and bigger threats than you are). Decks not running much in the way of other win cons should consider this card and its friends (Unhallowed Pact and False Demise). However, builds using rares typically don't have room for these cards (eclipsed by Fool's Demise) and Pauper builds must prioritize card advantage over mana advantage. Undying Evil: An absolute bomb in recursion efficiency. Also brutal with Mulldrifter and many other utility creatures. A target for Dizzy Spell.
Unhallowed Pact: See Shade's Form. Urborg Uprising: As cost effective as Death Denied, but tutors in the 5 CMC category instead and requires fewer creatures in the yard to be a worthwhile engine piece.
Animate Dead/Dance of the Dead: In a vacuum, Necromancy is better, but with Three Dreams and ample recursion in 3 CMC already, these auras get better. Which one you pick is mostly up to preference, as 2 less power and 1 less toughness isn't a dealbreaker, but nor is paying 2 mana for untapping if you want to actually swing with the reanimation target. I think Dance has cooler art - and black borders! See Necromancy for interaction with Capsize. Artisan of Kozilek: Uncounterable and colorless recursion for CoA with a decent annihilator body to boot. Unfortunately, big dudes are not needed in the deck, making this an overcosted reanimation effect most of the time. Cauldron Dance: Forms a loop with Eternal Witness (or Archaeomancer and friends) and Child of Alara (or some ETB dude), much like Ghostly Flicker. More "fun" than effective, and quite easy to disrupt. Diabolic Servitude: With correct use of the stack and replacement abilities, this will net you reanimation on the cheap (4 mana) half the time, while you have to rely on playing CoA for an increasing cost from the Command Zone the other half. It still averages out to be a better deal than the common engines for the first handful of sweeps at least. However, there are much better options. Eternal Witness: Always a must include, as it turns all that creature recursion into everything recursion while being awesome on its own. Fool's Demise: The self-recurring version of False Demise and friends. Probably the best engine you can find in uncommons, completing the cycle for only 8 mana when paired with Worthy Cause/Fallen Ideal. Since it also keeps stealing dudes through CoA activations, it's good enough for any build IMO. Golgari Thug: Not the best of reusable recursion effects, but strong with Buried Alive. Truly a placeholder for Genesis until you can afford it - it is much better. Necromancy: The best of the Animate Dead type effects as it comes with no drawback and optionally at instant speed. Forms an engine with Capsize, completing a sac-and-reanimate cycle for the very acceptable price of 9 mana - at instant speed! Without Capsize at the ready however, this type of effect has poor synergy with CoA itself (unlike Fool's Demise), but is still an undercosted creature with optional flash. If you're running Three Dreams however, Animate Dead or Dance of the Dead are better, since they count as auras. Noxious Revival: As a 1 CMC instant, it tutors in other categories than Regrowth and Eternal Witness, which makes it very useful. The card disadvantage is sad however. Pull from the Deep: The new instant/sorcery recursion from Journey into Nyx. Arguably better than Regrowth in this deck, since you already recur creatures and lands so well and getting two cards of your choice for 4 mana is a good deal late game. Regrowth: The original recursion spell and still one of the best. A strong consideration for any build, if not a must-include.
Body Double: Solid "recursion" on its own (similar to Necromancy), but has a stupid combo with Lark. Bound//Determined: Already covered under sac outlets, it only takes half of this card to cover the two most important roles in the deck! It's also the most powerful recursion option, returning five cards to your hand (CoA can be one of them) as you explode the world at instant speed. Corpse Dance: Sort of OK, but iffy to use (best in decks with few creatures, or when paired with other recursion) and only works on your yard. Eclipsed by Gift and other options for free recursion, but becomes stronger if you run Boseiju, Who Shelters All. Genesis: The most expensive card in the budget build at roughly $9-10, but well worth the investment. Strong on its own, but makes all your tutors that put creatures in the grave (and also your discard outlets) that much stronger. Gift of Immortality: This card was pretty much designed for this deck. Less than a dollar will net you a free recursion engine in one card. Stupid good. Karmic Guide: Another option for the Lark combo, but worse color requirements than Body Double and can only target your graveyard. Consider skipping it. Life from the Loam: Doesn't recur CoA as such, but is one of the most powerful engines available to the deck. See the Shell section and the section on adding money to the deck. Reveillark: Another means of free recursion comes from combining Lark, Saffi and Body Double with CoA. Body Double impersonates CoA but qualifies for Lark recursion once it hits the grave. As you blow it up, Saffi will return Lark and Lark will return Saffi and BD, conserving this board state indefinetely for no mana investment. The pieces for this formidable engine are affordable enough to be staples in any rare build. Lark combined with either Saffi or BD will also recur any utility creature with power 2 or less indefinetely, which is awesome with all your instant speed sac outlets. If constant sweeping feels like an outmoded concept, how about constant countering with Mystic Snake instead? Saffi Eriksdotter: Kind of like the False Demise auras, but this also has a nasty combo with Reveillark.
The Core - Tutors
Now that we've defined the best sac outlets and recursion pieces, the next question becomes what tutors are best to find these two categories of cards. The benchmark Pauper tutor costs 3 mana, achieves card parity, and has a suffienct range to find either card category. Transmuters are good examples that achieve this benchmark, while being dirt cheap (mostly commons), uncounterable and having situational secondary uses. It would of course be foolish to pay for uncommon or rare "upgrades" if they can't beat this benchmark.
Brainspoil: The only common that can dig for CoA if it gets tucked, and even a bad sac outlet/removal in itself. The 5 CMC slot only becomes more important in non-pauper, so this is actually one of the best transmuters in a budget build. Eventually eclipsed by more powerful options as you add money to the deck. Crop Rotation: Mostly a consideration if you're running strong utility lands, since it has card disadvantage. However, this can be circumvented by getting a karoo-type land. Dimir House Guard: Interestingly, few important cards in this deck cost 4 mana, but it is at least a sac outlet in itself. Should be run in all commons, but otherwise there are better options. Dimir Infiltratior: 2 CMC transmutes are very useful in commons/uncommons, but lose power when you rely more on rares. This card is pretty useless on its own, but the creature type is interesting for recursion and tutoring purposes. Dizzy Spell: Useless on its own but can get you some rather nice things. Again, not too useful if you have access to rares and uncommons. Drift of Phantasms: The 3 CMC slot is packed with bombs throughout the rarity spectrum, always a strong include. Expedition Map: See Reap and Sow. Merchant Scroll: Easily built around (just be sure to include Soul Manipulation and Perilous Research in your counters/draw suite) and should always be run as long as you're on a budget. In fact, it gets so many strong cards (Capsize, Bant Charm, Trickbind, Fact or Fiction) that it merits consideration regardless. Muddle the Mixture: Decent on its own, fantastic with the transmute option. Always a must include. Mystical Teachings: Possibly the best tutor in commons - pretty expensive to cast and recur, but worth it. Perplex: Worse than Drift of Phantasms - the primary ability is useless as a counter and it's not a creature, so it can't fit into creature tutors in non-pauper. Eclipsed by Dimir Machinations. Reap and Sow: Decent even when running only commons, but much more powerful with more potent lands available. Always a consideration. Shred Memory: A must include in commons/uncommons, otherwise not so much. Vedalken Aethermage: A very interesting tutor in Pauper. Since the Aethermage tutors with Mystical Teachings, a single Teachings will assemble the Ghostly Flicker engine with the mage in the deck (the recursion bears recurring teachings as they ETB, and teachings grabbing more recursion for the Aethermage's encore appearance) - quite useful. Also finds Sea Gate Oracle, Qasali Pridemage and Trinket Mage.
Beseech the Queen: Typically worse (and more expensive to buy) than 3 CMC transmutes. Skip. Buried Alive: Three creatures into the yard for only three mana. Usually, one of them will be Golgari Thug or Genesis, to get one of the other three back. See Jarad's Orders for shenanigans. Congregation at Dawn: Very good at setting up your engine. Instant speed and leading with Mulldrifter compensates for the card disadvantage. Diabolic Tutor: Pretty bad at sorcery speed and 4 mana, but it is cheap to buy and it can fetch anything. Can be a consideration if you really need more tutors. Dimir Machinations: Another 3 CMC transmute! Also strong disruption against top of the library tutors. It's also jet black, meaning it can transmute for Darksteel Ingot under Contamination locks. One of the better options IMO. Lim-Dûl's Vault: Kind of like a budget Vampiric Tutor for roughly a dollar. The upside of being blue is that it qualifies as a target for Merchant Scroll. You could run this over a 3 CMC transmuter, but I'm not terribly fond of the card disadvantage. Mystical Tutor: Excellent selection in this deck and a reasonable purchase price for the effect - though not at all mandatory for any build. See the adding money section. Sylvan Scrying: An OK effect for an OK price, but not needed. A good replacement for Myconsynth Wellspring when you're getting thin on basics. Tolaria West: Perhaps the best of the land tutors, but also the most expensive. A good upgrade for Expedition Map if you're adding money. Worldly Tutor: Worse and higher price than Congregation at Dawn. Get Mystical Tutor instead if you have cash to spend.
Altar of Bone: Already discussed under sac outlets. Demonic Collusion: Very strong reusable tutor that works best if you discard lands and grab Life from the Loam first. An engine that fits into your hand, unlike the Ghostly Flicker combo! Eladamri's Call: More narrow than Demonic Tutor, but instant speed is good. A consideration when adding money to the deck. Jarad's Orders: Probably the only card that, if it's in you opener, merits a change of strategy from the t4 CoA plan. Being ready to always blow up the world by turn 5 while attacking with a trampling commander is nice and all, but not quite as broken as forcing all opponents to discard their hands, as early as turn 4 with the right ramp. Grab Myojin of Night's Reach and Body Double. Since Body Double is cast from your hand, it gets a divinity counter. So there's that. But it's hardly a one-trick pony. It also gets Anger (or Genesis) into the yard while replacing itself with something useful - all for 4 mana. A must include! Plea for Guidance: Worse than Three Dreams, but it can also get Necromancy. Pass. Sovereigns of Lost Alara: A very interesting tutor to drop after CoA, before its first attack. Since you don't have to pay the mana cost for the auras, it's actually very mana efficient and keeps on tutoring as long as it stays on the board. The only problem is CoA eating removal in response to the trigger, but you can simply put it in the CZ then and replay it next turn. Highly recommended! Three Dreams: 3 cards for 5 mana is good alone, but this card single-handedly assembles your engine with cards to spare. Gift of Immortality and Fallen Ideal are usually the ones to go for, plus whatever else seems useful. A must include! Wargate: Puts the card directly into play with a 3 mana tax - very acceptable and cheap to buy. Even works as ramp. Always a must include!
The Core - Counters and Silver Bullets
Child of Alara is much like a broad spectrum antibiotic that kills most things. However, just like some bacteria are resistent, a few strategies require additional measures. Counters and a few silver bullets that fit well into your tutor package should cover these holes. To avoid redundancy, it's best to add cards in this section that do something that just blowing up CoA won't already accomplish. You're specifically looking for these qualities in silver bullets:
*Exiling/tuck/theft/sacrifice: CoA simply destroys. Exiling/tuck/theft effects prevent recursion and bypass indestructibility. Forced sacrifice also bypasses indestructibility and can often be used for CoA as well.
*Land removal: CoA avoids lands, so you need something to destroy problematic lands. Ideally, the silver bullet has a broader scope that just LD though.
*Colorless/free: Mana denial like Contamination or Winter Orb can lock you out if you don't have a good board position or counter in hand when it hits. Colorless or free spells help break the lock and restart your engines.
*Uncounterable: If you need to use a silver bullet, it had better resolve. Maybe the reason you need it is because you can't get CoA or reanimation to stick? Split second and similar mechanics help achieve this. Hitting first with brutal discard is another strategy.
*Non-creature: If Humility effects are big in your meta, consider that CoA won't work and that other creature based removal is not something you can rely on either.
Capsize and counters go a long way to handle these problems, but unfortunately, there's no one single answer to handle all of the above. There's usually only room for 2-3 silver bullets beyond the counter package and what utility you may be able to fit in lands and other card functions (for instance, many can double as sac outlets), so chose wisely. Your choices here are obviously more meta dependent than in the other sections.
Arcane Denial: Perhaps the best 2 CMC counter in multiplayer, and can even function as a good draw spell if you counter a 1 CMC spell that you have no need for (3 mana for instant speed draw 3, discard 1 is quite acceptable). Bojuka Bog: Graveyard removal in a relevant mana source color that doesn't take up a slot. Always a must include. Capsize: Wins games on its own. Always a must include. Counterspell: One of the best counters available, but not as versatile as Arcane Denial and Muddle the Mixture. Dismantling Blow: One of the best disenchant effects in commons, but not at all mandatory. Faerie Trickery: One of the best common counters, and can always be considered in a graveyard centric meta. Mind Extraction: One of the strongest cards in the deck as previously discussed. Must run. Muddle the Mixture: Decent cost and countering range combined with tutoring capabilities might make this the best counter in the pauper card pool. Negate: Pretty much a Counterspell that is easier to cast, since you mostly care about non-creatures anyway. Nihil Spellbomb: Perhaps the best GY hate in commons and always a strong choice for the Dizzy Spell toolbox. However, Expedition Map for Bojuka Bog (or a ravnica bounce to reuse it, if already in play) is often just as effective, and saves a slot on dedicated GY hate. Oblivion Ring: A good catch-all answer if you're running only commons and not blowing up CoA all the time. Otherwise, Reality Acid is probably better. You can respond to the trigger with Capsize, which nets you an engine that exiles a non-land permanent for 9 mana a piece - not too bad for Pauper. Overrule: Built in lifegain can be useful, but if you have Worthy Cause already, there are better counters. Pyroblast: Kill CoA on the cheap or protect against counters - always at least a meta consideration. A target for Dizzy Spell. Reality Acid: See Oblivion Ring - same functionality with Capsize as well. Beyond Pauper, there are stronger options than either. Reap and Sow: Competes with Wrecking Ball for the land removal slot and gets better the more powerful lands you run. Red Elemental Blast: See Pyroblast. Reverent Silence: A free enchantment sweeper that works under Contamination type locks. Mostly a consideration for common builds that don't rely heavily on auras. Revoke Existance: Another source of exiling removal. A strong answer to Darksteel Plate etc. Rewind: A very strong counter if you run the Ghostly Flicker engine - otherwise, 4 mana is a lot to keep open. Qasali Pridemage: Another consideration for a disenchant effect. Easy to recur and helps boost CoA or utility creatures if they want to take a swing. Shred Memory: A must include until you get access to rares and more appropriate tutors. Snakeform: Indestructible killer that also stops leave play abilities - and it cantrips! Requires a board position to work though, but is always a consideration if you see lots of indestructibles. Being found by Merchant Scroll and the 3 CMC transmutes makes this a favorite of mine. It is later eclipsed by Bant Charm however. Soul Manipulation: Mostly a way to get recursion from Merchant Scroll - can be safely skipped once you swap it for Demonic Tutor (not the highest of priorities, considering the price). Unmake: Good creature removal, if somewhat difficult to cast. Competes with Snakeform. Wrecking Ball: Good land removal in all commons builds that also kills CoA in a pinch.
Acidic Slime: Adds too little functionality to what CoA with its engines can already accomplish. Not recommended if you're pressed for space at all. The same can be said for all the other green creature-based removals that only add land destruction to your removal portfolio. Bant Charm: Tucking removal that's also a counter and artifact hate. A must run! Beast Within: Mostly useful for the LD option, but it also kills CoA when you have nothing else available and is generally useful - and more political than most other removals. Countersquall: A slightly better Negate with slightly worse mana requirements. Not too useful. Dream Fracture: Half way between Arcane Denial and Dismiss. A strong consideration, especially if you're not running the pricier counters. Forbid: A very strong counter with Life from the Loam. Encroaching Wastes/Ghost Quarter: The cheapest of the land-based land removals. A must for budget builds. Dissipate: The slightly better Faerie Trickery. IMO, Hinder is a better replacement though. Dissmiss: A peasant's Cryptic Command. Cantrips, but costs 4. A consideration. Hinder: Slightly pricey, but still affordable. Access to tuck effects can mean the game against some opponents, so I find it a worthwhile investment if you have access to uncommons. Krosan Grip: Uncounterable artifact/enchantment removal that tutors with the 3 CMC transmuters. Split second also means the ability to stop Crypt effects before they pop and nuke your yard. Arguably more important than Beast Within if you have land removal covered in other cards. Usually, you will have to choose between this and exiling removal. Return to Dust: Competes with Krosan Grip for being the best disenchant effect in EDH. The exiling and possible card advantage is nice, but this deck is much more set up to take advantage of Archon of Justice rather than this card. Always a consideration however. Stonecloaker: The best GY hate available, tutors with creature tutors, Mystical Teachings and the 3 CMC transmuters, and doubles as protection for creatures in case they are targeted with bad things. Dirt cheap too. Problem is, you probably can't spare the slot on dedicated GY hate. Most make do with Bojuka Bog and a couple of exile/tuck effects, but it's a strong consideration for the most GY centric metas. Swords to Plowshares: Kind of narrow for your needs, but very cheap to cast (not so cheap to buy though, but less expensive than Path to Exile). Unless you play a lot 1v1 against fast aggro decks, Bant Charm is much better. If you want to be able to cast this routinely on t2, the improved mana base with shock duals is almost mandatory (see the adding money section). Voidmage Husher: A reusable Stifle and cheap to buy. Can be useful in the right meta, but usually you have better uses for your mana.
Archon of Justice: Dirt cheap and a strong upgrade for Oblivion Ring/Reality Acid type effects. It also fits into creature tutors, which gives you more options than having all your removal in instant/sorceries. Deals with any type of permanent, permanently! I prefer it over Return to Dust in this deck. Blatant Thievery: Most Control Magic effects are too weak to handle indestructibles because the aura blows up with CoA, returning the creature to the opponent. This one is different! Not only can it handle Ulamog, Avacyn or even Darksteel Forge - you will get to play with them yourself! Meanwhile, it also grabs problematic lands while ramping you (like Reap and Sow on steroids) or stuff you don't really want to blow up, such as Karmic Justice. A real problem solver in your toolbox that even comes with card advantage! Glen Elendra Archmage: Pricey, but boy does she do yeoman's work in the deck. Fits right into the Lark engine too. One of the first upgrades to consider when adding money to the deck. Mystic Snake: Costs more than Counterspell, but being a creature makes it more available for tutoring and recursion. Kind of competes with Glen Elendra (and this is the cheaper option to buy), but both could be run. One of them is mandatory if you run rares, to make the most of your tutors/recursion. Spine of Ish Sah: It's colorless, it's non-creature and it deals with lands. Unfortunately, it's also 7 mana, a bit difficult to tutor for, and doesn't exile, but at least it has built in recursion and works as a bad reusable sac outlet for CoA. I like it in my meta where I often see Contamination locks. Trickbind: Pricey, but also priceless. Like Hinder, it adds an important tool to the toolbox. I'd rather be without $3 than this in my budget deck.
The Core - Support
Now that the deck is rounded out with answers, it's time to sprinkle a few cards in there that will help you close the game or support the other cards you have picked. The all commons builds must rely more on separate dedicated win conditions, whereas the more general-centric builds can simply add a little synergy to help move things along more quickly. Note that while some draw spells are discussed here, small dig spells like Brainstorm and land fetch that can be played as part of your t4 CoA plan go into the Shell section below instead.
Bequeathal: Not only is there card draw in green, it's the most efficient card draw you'll find - and in CoA it will trigger easily (but it's better to put it on an opponent's creature than CoA!) Mostly useful with Three Dreams to ensure you always have three targets in your library to make the most of it. Compulsive Research: One of the best draw spells available in Pauper. The discard can even be beneficial to you (putting lands for Tilling Treefolk in the yard, for instance). Deep Analysis: A strong draw spell both from the hand and from the grave. Synergy with Forbidden Alchemy. Divination: The benchmark draw effect. Not recommended as such since Mulldrifter, Compulsive Research and Read the Bones are all better (and there is even heavier - and lighter - draw to consider too). But it's useful as a comparison. If a card isn't better than "draw 2 for 3 at sorcery speed", it's probably useless even for Pauper. Forbidden Alchemy: Heavy mana investment, but adding things to both your hand and yard is very advantageous. A must for Pauper builds, but easily eclipsed by Fact or Fiction. Foresee: Very strong draw for a common that looks six cards deep! Highly recommended in Pauper builds if you have room to spare. Krosan Restorer: Provides for infinite mana with Freed from the Real. This overcomes the clunkiness of the all commons engines and can let you win quickly with Capsize or a Fireball-type spell (easy to tutor for with infinite mana, many tutors and recursion to get them back). Freed from the Real: See Krosan Restorer. Also a bad removal/lock piece. Kaervek's Torch: An option for killing your opponents when you combo out or your lands in play outnumber their life total. Easy to recur with the Ghostly Flicker engine. Krosan Tusker: Doesn't accelerate CoA or help mana fix before t4 CoA drop, but provides card advantage and is a decent beat stick. I never have room for land fetch that doesn't work with the t4 CoA plan, but YMMW. Mulldrifter: The most versatile card draw in EDH. Awesome with the Ghostly Flicker engine in Pauper, or with the Reveillark engine in rares. Also very good with Congregation at Dawn. Rolling Thunder: A more versatile but generally worse option than the torch. Mostly comes down to what transmuters you run. Read the Bones: The black divination from Theros is awesome and digs 4 cards deep. That's almost a guarantee that one of them will be what you need, or something that tutors for it. Not a bad deal for 3 mana and 2 life! Rush of Knowledge: Massive draw spell with CoA or the Pauper recursion bears. On par with Foresee and Deep Analysis. Sea Gate Oracle: Another fine Ghostly Flicker target and general utility dude in Pauper. Tilling Treefolk: The Pauper version of Life from the Loam. A good piece for the Ghostly Flicker engine if you build around it. Yavimaya Elder: It doesn't help ramp into CoA or fix mana before a t4 drop, but it's a pretty decent card advantage machine. Typically competes for that slot with Krosan Tusker, but both could arguably be run.
Anger: Greatly increases the kill speed of CoA, creatures stolen with auras, or other fatties you might run. Highly recommended. Blasting Station: Forms a game winning combo with Reveillark and either Body Double or Saffi Eriksdotter, while also being a bad sac outlet. There are other options for this slot (such as Altar of Dementia), but this one is probably the best and cheapest. I find it superfluous with Fallen Ideal already doing almost the same thing while being better on its own. Fact or Fiction: THE draw spell for the deck. See Forbidden Alchemy above. This should probably always replace your worst tutor, at least as long as you're running any 3 CMC transmuters. Much, much better than something like Diabolic Tutor. Pulse of the Grid: Kind of interesting, but the draw power is rather bland for the mana and you already have Forbid and Demonic Collusion as superb discard outlets. It shines the most when you have mana open for Worthy Cause or a counter anyway, and need a way to spend it at the end of an unthreatening turn - which kinda makes it win more. Optional, but hardly an alternative to FoF.
Darksteel Plate: Can make stolen/reanimated dudes indestructible so they survive CoA blasts. Much harder to handle for opponents than just throwing in indestructible creatures, as most decks don't run exiling artifact removal and you can protect it with counters. Too little added value for too high a price (about $4) to be considered for the budget build, but you could always consider this over your worst reanimation effect if you add money to the deck. Colossus of Akros: Hilarious and cheap! However, a single StP will kill your 18 mana investment. Completely unnecessary - skip if you value your 99 slots.
Magister Sphinx: A nice and cheap win condition, but only targets one player. For this deck, Myojin is typically better.
Myojin of Night's Reach: If you resolve this, you will typically win the game. Mass removal + mass discard leaves very little for your opponents to do. Being indestrutible is also synergistic with CoA, without being a problematic Bribery target. Will only cost you about $2. Completely broken with Body Double and Jarad's Orders. Must include! Spearbreaker Behemoth: The better option to Colossos, can make stolen/reanimated dudes indestructible so they survive CoA blasts. Cute, but still pretty easy to handle. Spitting Image: Rather than including more win conditions of your own, you can copy others that seem worthwhile, perhaps indestructibles, titans or other big ETB effects? I prefer this over Rite of Replication since it's more resilient to counters and has more synergy with Life from the Loam - plus it scales as the game progresses. At any rate, a clone effect is highly recommended for the deck and this one has the most synergy with the general IMO.
The Shell - Basic Theory
The "shell" of the deck comprises lands, acceleration and early dig and land fetch. The shell serves to enable the game plan of your core, and as long as it can accomplish that, it is fine. The goal of this shell is to enable you to have WUBRG on turn 4 as often as possible - a rather challenging task, especially in Pauper. While you won't always need to blow up the world by turn 5, being prepared to do so can be quite advantageous against faster decks.
Of course, with Pauper or budget constraints, your selection for mana fixing is limited. However, this is actually not as bad as you might think. The importance of a "perfect" shell is often overstated for no good reason. So what if your lands enter tapped on turns 1-2 and you have to spend turn 3 on acceleration - you probably have rather few other spells that you want to play here anyway. Beyond that, ETBT lands do slow you down, but the speed bump of every other or every third land entering tapped is negligable compared to the speed gain that you can achieve by improving your engines and card selection - and the price is orders of magnitude lower.
The calculations below (based on hypergeometric distributions) aim for an 80% theoretical chance of WUBRG by t4, with mulligans covering the remaining 20% as far as is practical. For an 80% chance of t4 CoA, you need 53 mana sources, 13-14 of which should accelerate your development. However, it can be shown that as few as 10 accelerants will suffice if you include 4 dig effects that can be played on t2. These also help dig for lands etc. when you do have acceleration, reducing the risk for doubles or even triple acceleration. You may also wish to run land fetch, provided it can be played on t2 reliably, over a land slot.
The next issue to address is mana distribution. Besides the mana requirements of your spells, there are three parameters of interest: 1) enough t2 blue sources to play dig reliably (since it fixes ramp and other stuff), 2) enough t3 green sources to play ramp reliably (since it fixes your other colors), and 3) enough lands that do not ETBT so you'll actually have 3 mana on turn 3 and WUBRG on turn 4. In Pauper, item 1) and 3) are further complicated by the fact that you cannot run too many mono-colored sources (such as Islands) because you risk getting multiples instead of the WUBRG distribution that you need from those 53 sources. The maximum is 7 mono sources of any one color, if you want to be at least 80% likely to not get multiples by turn 4.
So how many sources are enough to reliably play spells? In 60 card games, 12-13 is the generally accepted number to not go below if you want a source of a certain color by turn 1 without undue mulligans. Here we don't need the source until t2 or t3 and most EDH groups use more favorable mulligan rules, so my rule of thumb is 18 sources (the equivalent of 11 in a 60 card deck).
Playing 4 lands from your hand and accelerating the final source, it stands to reason that you would need about half your lands not entering tapped (playing the two tappies on turn 1 and 2). However, you're also planning to use those early turns for dig and land fetch on occasion! While it's difficult to find an exact number here, I simply up the required number of non-ETBT lands by one for every spell I add that I intend to play on turn 1-2. In Pauper, this inevitably means playing more basics, so you should think hard before adding land fetch to a Pauper deck, if it's really worth it.
The Shell - Pauper
The Pauper deck is heavily weighted towards blue and black. You already want to max out on blue sources for t2 dig, and should max out on black too if possible. The remaining slots should be as even as possible, to increase the chances of a t4 CoA.
We now have sufficient information to construct the shell of the Pauper deck. Understanding its construction will be crucial even when you're adding other rarities to the deck, because the basic principles detailed above still apply, and you need to consider them when swapping stuff around.
T2 Blue Sources: With only 7 dedicated sources allowed, it will be difficult to reach 18 sources by t2. There are 4 guildgates that produce blue, as well as the two common fetches and Command Tower. That's 14 and as far as is reasonable to go in Pauper. The upside is that playing t2 dig spells is only needed when you lack acceleration, so you can hope for the stars to align (or simply mulligan more). Halimar Depths is very good here, because it is a blue source and a source of dig for ramp or more lands, setting one of your four dig slots as well. T3 Green Sources: Beyond the mana ramp, the Pauper deck really has little need for green, so there's no point in stocking up on Forests to meet requirements. We also have access to a world of 2-drop lands that come on-line on t3. The best are Rupture Spire and Transguild Promenade. Next best in Pauper are the three green competent Panoramas. Then there are the Ravnica Karoos. However, you should be careful adding these for two reasons: 1) They will set you back heavily if bounced/destroyed, and 2) magical number 7 to avoid multiples applies to 2-drop lands as well, and you're already running 5 with the Panoramas. Hence, 2 is maximum (I recommend the UG and BG for color purposes). If we add the remaining green guildgates (3 total, the blue one is already in), I count 14 sources, requiring 4 dedicated green sources which is perfectly acceptable. Other ETBT Lands: So far we have 17 lands that ETBT (assuming we activate Panoramas, which we must if we are to produce WUBRG by turn 4). With 40 lands total, that's maximum 23 untapped ones, which is also the bare minimum to finance 3 more blue dig spells. Hence, if you want to add something else that ETBT, you have to take it out of the slots already allocated! I recommend the following tweaks:
*Swap the GR and GW guildgates for Tranquil Thicket and Bojuka Bog. This ups it to 6 dedicated green sources (Thicket being one), which is still within margins for duplicates, plus Thicket cycles.
*Swap the BG Karoo for Myconsynth Wellspring. It's a fantastic card in the deck and the best 2-drop fixer with CoA blowing up readily and also Ghostly Flicker late game. One Karoo is an excellent tutor target for reusing Bojuka Bog etc. but beyond that the returns diminish rapidly. Non-ETBT Lands: In a Pauper build, I think there's little reason not to run the colored artifact lands and Trinket Mage. The Mage might not help you get a t4 CoA, but there's little opportunity cost to include the artifact lands and it makes Mage an excellent engine piece late game. Darksteel Citadel would help too, but alas it doesn't produce WUBRG so it can't count towards our 53 sources. With the Wellspring cutting a land however, I think Citadel is important enough to merit going up to 54 sources - the extra land will hardly hurt in the long game and Darksteel stuff is about the only answer you have to mass LD in Pauper, beyond counters. The only other non-basic in this category is Command Tower. The other pseudo-gold lands don't help in the t4 CoA plan, but you may prefer running Opal Palace over Darksteel Citadel if you don't like the Trinket Mage package for some reason. There are 22 more dedicated sources to distribute (in addition to one dedicated U, B and G source respectively in utility lands) and we already presume 6 will be blue and 5 will be green. We want to max out on black, however a more even distribution would increase the likelyhood of WUBRG on t4 more. Thus I suggest a 3/6/5/3/5 distribution - the best compromise in the overall interest of a t4 CoA. It also makes it easy to have one of each kind be an artifact land without ever running into having too few basics of a certain kind in your library for fetching purposes.
Now that the lands are decided, the remaining part of the Pauper shell is dig and ramp. Dig: Brainstorm, Ponder and Preordain are undisputably the best three. A simple addition. Ramp:
*Cultivate and Kodama's Reach: The bee's knees. Ramp and card advantage, fixing two colors.
*Harrow: Instant and also fixes two colors, which are put into play untapped for a net cost of one mana and giving the option for other spells on t3. No CA though, but almost as good.
*Primal Growth: Versatile - does it's job t3 and is also a sac outlet and ramps formidably late game.
*Far Wanderings: Also acceptable t3, but amazing late game with all your basics and a strong recursion target with your bears. A truly powerful card in Pauper builds!
*Sakura-tribe Elder + Farhaven Elf: The best ramp dudes available and even easier to recur.
*Darksteel Ingot + Wayfarer's Bauble: Colorless acceleration has an interesting effect on the mana base - it waivers the requirement for a green source. In fact, it COUNTS as a green source. This means you can run fewer Forests in favor of Islands/Swamps instead. This lets you max out on U and B sources and still keep the distribution very even at 3/6/6/3/4 and even better margins for a t3 green source.
*Search for Tomorrow: As it can cost as little as one mana to use, and it puts the land into play untapped, it can essentially be a free ramp spell - or just a rather mediocre t3 ramp. Still the best option to make it 10 ramp effects in Pauper.
The Shell - Budget
The color distribution of the non-pauper deck is much different from the Pauper version. Blue is still the most important color, but green becomes useful for much more than ramp and white now rivals black in importance. Red is even less useful in the budget build, however. With non-commons available, you also get access to a lot of interesting utility lands, but adding them to the mana base becomes a challenge as you can't cut colored sources! If anything, you're striving to add more blue duals. Lets look at some very cost-effective options that address these new constraints.
The Odyssey Filters: For roughly $2 a piece (that's $10 for the whole set) you get duals that work better than the original premium duals in this deck. You see, these launder colorless mana into colored mana, which means that dropping this and a colorless land can suddenly count as your two non-ETBT land drops in the t4 CoA plan - something your average Taiga could never accomplish. Since 5 of these will give the same amount of sources as 10 basics/artifact lands, they allow you to cut 10 dedicated sources (2 of each color, including the colored artifact lands since Trinket Mage no longer makes the cut) and create space for 5 non-ETBT colorless utility lands (see below), which is pretty darn impressive for the price. They also make your panoramas better since they can be that colorless source and you don't have to crack it on turn 2 just to meet the plan. Yes, sometimes the mana in your opener will include a colorless utility land and no filter or other outs to t4 WUBRG, but that's what mulligans are for. Trust me, these are great in the deck and well worth the investment.
Utility Lands: You now have five slots to spend on colorless utility lands (in addition to the Darksteel Citadel you're already running to guard against mass LD). Many CoA decks will use these slots similarly:
*Sac Outlet: A defining slot in Child of Alara. Grim Backwoods is the cheapest option and will cost you a quarter! It's arguably better than Miren, the Moaning Well at about $7 (I'd rather pay four to draw a card and blow up the world, than pay three and gain 6 life and blow up the world - plus the effect is redundant with Worthy Cause). High Market is probably better, but will cost you a few dollars, so I'd make do with Backwoods for now (see the section on adding money to the deck).
*Recursion: A budget option exists here too - Moorland Haunt for less than a quarter. It's no Volrath's Stronghold, but you can use it to put CoA in the CZ from your grave to be cast again, and it doesn't kill your draw like VS does. Neither this nor VS is a particularly effective recursion engine though, so why not save $25 on your back-up solution?
*Land Removal: Nasty with LftL - several options exist. Strip Mine gives you the most bang for your buck if you can use it (I go by the Duel Commander banlist, where it is banned). Tectonic Edge is roughly the same price point ($4) and almost as good for the job. Ghost Quarter and Encroaching Wastes are decidedly budget options, but I'm sort of partial to Ghost Quarter because it has synergy with Darksteel Citadel.
*Reliquary Tower: With all the things returning to your hand, this is perhaps the primary utility land to consider beyond these three slots. An argument could be made for the use of the discard step in reanimation, but in practice it is mostly academic and you will almost always benefit from this card in a long game. Can be had for $1.
*Open Slot: Some choose to play another sac outlet or recursion source here, or perhaps Petrified Field ($2) in case either gets destroyed. I trust in Life from the Loam instead and opt for more varied utility. Alchemist's Refuge is a very nice budget option (half a dollar) that permits combat tricks, playing around counters, instant speed Mind Extraction and other nasty things.
Redestributing Basics: With 5 artifact lands and 1 of each basic gone, we now have a WUBRG distribution of 1/4/4/1/2. One Mountain is sufficient for fetching purposes, and while green is still important, you will rarely fetch basic Forests with green basic land search, so two is the correct number. We can't cut Islands as we're already short on early blue sources, but white is now as important as black. Two each of Swamps and Plains leaves an open slot for a non-ETBT land and Exotic Orchard is a very good budget option (roughly $1). At worst, it's a second red source - at best it produces U and/or G in the early turns. Most of all however, it adresses the need for more varied sources in the non-pauper build.
Improving the 5 Guildgates: The lone Simic karoo is still as good as ever as a tutor target, but much has improved since we only had guildgates to choose from. It seems obvious to simply swap them for the 5 shard lands, but this would actually not be an advantage to the t4 CoA plan, as you would lose one green and one blue source in favor of less important colors. So some shard lands are better than others, and there are even better upgrades to be made: Simic Guildgate -> Seaside Citadel: The best shard land for the deck, a straight upgrade that is good with the increased demand for white in the early turns. Less than $2. Golgari Guildgate -> Murmoring Bosk: Another almost-straight upgrade and an extremely interesting card. It's not part of any cycle, but a stand-alone gem. It counts as a Forest, meaning cards that look for Forests will find it - so such cards will at least offer powerful three color fixing too. Awesome for less than $3. 3 Other Guildgates: We now have better ETBT blue sources that also provide green and more:
*Grand Coliseum: The budget City of Brass is actually very good with the filter lands. A bit more than $1.
*Vivid Creek: The best Vivid for the deck. It can help fix green on t3 and red on t4 and still be very useful throughout the game. Half a dollar.
*Mirrodin's Core: Not strictly an ETBT land, but in practice it works like a cross between Coliseum and Vivid Creek. There's almost always some room in the mana budget, and that's when you put counters on the core. Can fix U/G early or R on t4, and is strong with the Odyssey filters. Half a dollar.
Improving the T3 Green Sources: Panoramas are still awesome as they help power filter lands, have synergy with LftL, provide shuffling on demand - or of course, needed green mana which was their original purpose. Transguild Promenade and Rupture Spire are very slow however, and with the addition of faster fixing and more green sources, they are simply better to replace with 1-drop lands. To round out the utility land selection, I highly recommend Mistveil Plains ($2) alongside your U, G, and B utility lands. With most recursion mechanics (and of course CoA) being white, meeting the requirement isn't hard and it gives you a nice way to recur tutor targets to be searched out again. It also counts as a Plains, which makes Grasslands (less than a quarter) the perfect budget fetch to search it or the powerful Murmuring Bosk out, or just simply provide an early green or white basic source.
Improving Ramp: With the new land base, heavy basics fetching becomes a less viable strategy. You now have earlier green sources as well, meaning that 2-drop ramp can give you the option of a more productive turn 3 before CoA even hits the table.
*Cultivate and Kodama's Reach: Still awesome, you run more than enough basics to support them.
*Primal Growth: Still one of the best ramps for the deck.
*Harrow: Not so good anymore as you typically don't want to substitute your stronger lands for basics. Wargate is a pretty awesome replacement with all the new early white sources. Ramp that also tutors for practically anything - and costs about $1!
*Darksteel Ingot + Wayfarer's Bauble: You now have a rather interesting alternative to Bauble - Krosan Verge (half a dollar). Thanks to Murmoring Bosk, this provides acceptable fixing and puts less strain on the basics - and it also fetches Mistveil Plains. More importantly, it gives you acceleration in your land tutors while improving the ramp-to-land ratio for the late game (ramp is worse than lands when you start missing drops anyway).
*Far Wanderings: With fewer basics, triple ramp risks not getting you the colors you want, making it less useful. However, now that you can consistently play green spells on turn 2, you can swap it for Crop Rotation (common) which can find Krosan Verge and do many more interesting things with your diversified manabase.
*Sakura-tribe Elder + Farhaven Elf: There's merit in having a ramp creature for tutoring purposes, but two are not needed and you can do better than Farhaven Elf now. Farseek (also a common) can be played t2 and also finds Mistveils Plains!
*Search for Tomorrow: Even better now that you can consistently drop it turn 2, and leave t3 open to play business. Lets you fix at the last minute in case your top deck changes things!
Improving Land Search/Cantrips: Now that you can cast green spells on turn 2, it's possible to further reduce the strain on finding basic land targets by swapping Mycosynth Wellspring for Evolution Charm. It will fix with basics on turn 2 just like the Wellspring, while giving you a recursion option (or combat trick) instead if you start running out in the late game. The blue cantrips remain as useful as always and cannot really be improved at this point in the budget.
So, for about $25 total compared to the Pauper version, you will gain:
*A more useful shell with more utility functionality.
*A faster mana base, permitting the occasional business spell (such as disruption or a tutor) to be played on turns 2-3 while still being able to drop CoA on t4.
*Slightly improved fixing and overall number of mana sources of each color.
The finished budget shell is presented with the rest of the deck in the next section.
DECKLISTS
Now it's time to put the core and the shell together. We'll start by taking a closer look at a classic Pauper list that has a somewhat different approach than what's suggested in the primer. A basic budget non-pauper list the follows, which also forms the basis for the "adding money" discussion in the section below.
Decklists - Pauper
Consider the following decklist by d0su, originator of the Pauper Dreamcrusher. This list is current as of January 2014 - I have gently restructured it to fit the terms and categories used in the primer.
This is a very interesting list. By ignoring the intense focus on dropping CoA turn 4, d0su gets away with much more card advantage and an essentially UBG mana base. It may look slow, but it has been proven and refined over three years time - and at rather cutthroat tables, I might add.
Let's look at the shell first. The most striking thing is the utter lack of guildgates. This creates space for other ETBT lands, namely a whole bunch of cycling lands. These can then be recurred by green's "Mulldrifter", Tilling Treefolk. In the Ghostly Flicker engine (or with Capsize), it becomes the Pauper version of Life from the Loam with those cycling lands. Hence, more panoramas make sense too, to draw out all the basics. With little concern for turn 4 specifically, d0su can compensate the lack of guildgates with more but slower multi-fixing.
With raw card advantage being the main plan, it also makes sense to run heavier stuff like Forbidden Alchemy and Yavimaya Elder. Running these and cards like Horizon Spellbomb over Mycosynth Wellspring can be advantageous in a heavy blue meta - it's slower, but it can help you outdraw them in a counter war.
The core seems very solid and uncontroversial to me, and gives new players a useful sense of proportions in the Pauper deck. I think the sacrifice outlets are a little light however - I'd probably play Perilous Research (makes better use of Merchant Scroll) and Primal Growth (say, over Rhystic Study and Prophetic Prism). This would also allow the "sac outlets" to be used more for their other purposes (like spot removal). Quasali Pridemage is a superb choice of multi-purpose 2 CMC removal alongside Oblivion Ring. However, I miss Vedalken Aethermage with all these multi-purpose wizards. Scrivener could probably be cut for it.
All in all, this deck shows that there's more than one way to destroy the world and dominate with a cheapskate deck. In fact, a plan focusing more on card advantage and less on an early CoA could be the better way to go for a pure Pauper build - it will allow you to skimp on Plains and Mountains without shame at least. It's also an interesting comparison to the budget non-pauper build that I'm about to present.
Decklists - The Basic Budget Deck
The basic budget deck will cost you about $100, with only a handful of cards costing more than $3 (Genesis is the most expensive, but indispensible for a competitive build). Upgrades for the more pronounced budget options are discussed in the adding money section.
OVERALL STRATEGY
Much of the tactics for playing the deck is discussed in the description of the card(s) in question, and the early game plan is outlined in detail in the Shell section. This section will briefly discuss broader political and strategic considerations.
You Are Control
While accelerating your early mana development is probably always a good thing to do, dropping CoA on turn 4 isn't actually necessary unless the board state demands it. It might not even be the best thing to do even if you can - if you draw attention to yourself and your opponents are packing counters or exiling removal. You might want to spend turn 4 on tutoring for a sac outlet or recursion piece, and perhaps even more ramp, and then drop CoA on turn 5-6 instead with counter back-up or a sac outlet ready. If you can grab control over the game quickly, go for it - but never risk losing control of the game because you want to actually win quickly. Killing is simply a formality. It's rendering your opponents helpless and making their efforts futile that wins the game.
You Are God
While you do demand the sacrifice of a child for the permanent sins of your opponents, you should try not to make your existence too obvious. Let the humans play! It's always best if you know that you have the world in your murderous killing vise, while at the same time letting your opponents think that they have a real shot at eternal life. Don't look like the bad guy. Be the good guy, that saves the table from the brink of disaster! Every time. Of course, there was never any real threat of disaster, but as long as your opponents think it was a close call and that someone else almost had you - had them all in fact - you will get to keep playing your favorite deck and not get hated out. Make your friends into your prophets! They shall prepare the second coming of the Child of Judgment! The security of the table rests in your fatherly hands.
God is an Entertainer
Yes, you can blow up the world whenever you feel like it, but if that is ALL your deck is doing, simply because it magically happens to hose every strategy at the table, your opponents won't have any fun, and pretty soon, you won't either. So mix it up. Maybe one game you can rely on the Oblivion Ring/Capsize engine instead, or the Ghostly Flicker engine with infinite counters and removal. Or their equivalent rare counterparts, Archon of Justice and Mystic Snake. Or maybe you just reset the board once when it really matters, and then reanimate one of your opponent's juicy creatures and attempt to ride it to the win, protecting it with counters. Once in a while, try to win as quickly as possible, perhaps with the Jarad's Orders -> Myojin/Double combo, as this creates a useful distraction to your otherwise inescapable domination of the board. If people lose spectacularly once in a while, they are more OK with losing inevitably the rest of the time. Even if a drastic move will cost you the game, losing once in a while is only a benefit for your deck's reputation. Rather than always playing your deck so it is unbeatable, you can try to make it entertaining whenever you can afford to do so, since that will make it even more unbeatable (socially) in the long run.
ADDING MONEY TO THE DECK
The basic budget build is rather adequate on its own, but you can of course improve it further by increasing the budget. Before you go ahead and invest in premium duals and fetches though, there are other more pressing concerns that will add much more bang for your buck. This section sorts them roughly by "cost-benefit", starting small and going up.
These changes are recommended to do first, as they improve your shell and solidify your game plan.
Grim Backwoods -> Phyrexian Tower. It will cost you $12, but it is the best sac outlet in the game (a mana ability that cannot be responded to). Drawing cards is nice and all, but it's simply no compensation for a net difference of 6 mana.
Halimar Depths -> Mystical Tutor. Make your game plan even more solid for only $5. Gets so much powerful stuff in the deck.
Expedition Map -> Tolaria West. A better land tutor since it's also a t2 blue source (replaces Halimar Depths in that department) and works with LftL. Another $5.
I'd also recommend replacing your three worst lands with Sylvan Scrying ($3, can be played t2 and thus replace a land), City of Brass and Forbidden Orchard ($5 each). If you're using the budget shell as suggested, I'd cut Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse and Vivid Creek (fewer ETBT lands means a quicker clock, plus you reduce strain on your basic lands. Panoramas don't ETBT and can produce mana on their own, so cutting the basic fetches is a greater priority).
This package adds the 4 shock dual Plains to the mana base to enable Emeria, the Sky Ruin as a significantly stronger land-based recursion option than Moorland Haunt. This also solidifies the mana base much more, and enables your Plains fetchers to fix any color. Emeria + shock duals costs a few more dollars than a Volrath's Stronghold, but is a MUCH more effective recursion engine, while also greatly improving your mana fixing. Improved land tutors that help assemble Emeria and your other utility lands is also part of the package.
3 basics + 1 Panorama -> 4 shock dual Plains: You can't drop your single basic Mountain, but you can go down to 3 Island, 1 Forest and 1 Swamp. The other 2 panoramas also get replaced in this overhaul. Sacred Foundry, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain and Temple Garden will cost you about $25-30.
Seaside Citadel -> Flood Plain: Like Grasslands and Krosan Verge, this now fixes all colors, and has synergy with LftL. It also finds Mistveil Plains and helps you assemble Emeria.
Moorland Haunt -> Emeria, the Sky Ruin: Another free recursion engine is nothing to scoff at. The Odyssey filter lands that previously launder colorless mana will now help you launder any excess white mana that may arise instead. $4.
2 Panoramas -> Tithe ($4) and Flagstones of Trokair ($10): Both of these get Plains, which mean they now fix every color and help you assemble Emeria. Flagstones further improves your resilience to mass LD, and has synergy with Ghost Quarter (and Perilous Research) if you're still running it (the two form a rather cute engine with Life from the Loam!).
Reap and Sow -> Scapeshift/Primeval Titan: Both of these help assemble Emeria and are more powerful (but more expensive) land tutors than Reap and Sow. IMO, the Titan is the more powerful option, but it may be banned depending on which list your group goes by. Both are roughly at the same price point (around $15).
Demonic Tutor: The most popular tutor in EDH will cost you about $15-20. You now have so strong fixing that getting black on t2 isn't very challenging, so you can probably swap a land for this. Intuition: Arguably the best triple tutor available, perfect for setting up Life from the Loam with your key lands, or getting whatever you desire with Genesis and Eternal Witness. About $30. Could replace a transmuter or something else if you prefer.
This package changes the feel of the deck by changing win conditions somewhat. Particularly recommended if you have played the deck for a while and want to change things up a little.
Fallen Ideal -> Dark Depths: As you become more land focused, Fallen Ideal plays out its role as a sac outlet and with money to spend, also as a win condition. Dark Depths/Thespian's Stage is a pretty awesome combo in Child of Alara, as the token doesn't care about your general sweeper and you can churn out one 20/20 indestructible flyer per turn with Life from the Loam, which should quickly overwhelm exiling effects. Tutors like Intuition and Scapeshift make this happen frighteningly fast. Marit Lage production will presently set you back $55 due to the popularity of the combo.
Three Dreams -> Thespian's Stage: Three Dreams loses value without Fallen Ideal, as you now have fewer targets for it and lose its ability to assemble sac outlet + recursion in a single tutor. Drop it to make room for the other part of the combo. Stage also works as a gold land or extra utility land, but it's hard to find mana to activate it before a t4 CoA, so it probably shouldn't be considered until this point. Only $2.
Bequeathal -> Diabolic Intent: Bequeathal isn't necessary when you drop Three Dreams. Replace the sac outlet you lost from Fallen Ideal by swapping it for an extra Demonic Tutor for a mere $6. Intent is probably not stronger than the other sac outlets you run in the basic build however, so you have to wait for a vacancy to fit it.
Sovereigns of Lost Alara -> Reap and Sow: Time to put it back in again as you're now decidedly more land focused than aura focused. You could also swap the sovereigns for Expedition Map if you prefer it.
Alchemist's Refuge -> Boseiju, Who Shelters All: A more powerful counter-measure to counterspells, that works well with your buyback spells and new tutors. Most of your stuff is instant speed now anyway, so Refuge is less needed. About $8 - well worth the investment.
Dance of the Dead -> Corpse Dance: Now more easy to tutor for, plus it works better with the Refuge/Boseiju swap. Only $3.
These upgrades cost much and offers comparatively little improvement. You're probably better off improving on other decks. Reflecting Pool: The next-in-line land improvement. $12 - cheap at this point. Having replaced your ETBT fixers (except your awesome fetch lands that are more important than this) already however, the incremental advantage is small. This could arguably replace the third Island, but I think I'd rather have the basic land. It could easily replace your worst rainbow land, but is probably worse than your filter lands. You probably want to keep Murmoring Bosk for Krosan Verge until you add more Forest duals. Sensei's Divining Top: As it can dig, it could easily replace your worst land, much like Reflecting Pool. Your 2-drop tutors and digs are adding up now however, but it's a good card. $20 if you're lucky. True Fetch Lands: These could easily replace your 2 budget Mirage fetches and even your worst rainbow lands since they are better with LftL. The 4-5 cheapest of the lot are about $50 a pop (Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath etc), so they will give you the most bang for your buck and you don't have room for many more anyways. True Duals: Plateau, Tundra and Scrubland are each at roughly the same price point as the cheaper fetches ($50), so they could replace a basic Plains, Murmoring Bosk and Sacred Foundry. Not sure I'd recommend investing in ABUR duals beyond that, unless you completely rework the shell somehow. Volrath's Stronghold: Will cost you about $25. Could replace some other source of recursion, but I can't imagine that I'd want to cut anything for it, let alone invest in it for this deck. Diamond Valley: A moderately played one can be yours for less than $100! Completely unnecessary and much worse than Phyrexian Tower IMO. Spend your dollars on other decks, or something more important than Magic.
"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." - Bhagavad Gita
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After taking a look at d0su's most recent list and taking it for a spin, I wanted to ask around and see if anyone else had toyed around more with cycling lands. I remember I played them in some of the earlier versions of the deck, but dismissed them once gates were printed. I am interested in looking into a Loam-like version of this deck. I realize it isn't nearly as powerful with out uncommon and rare help, but it seems like it is worth exploring. I often find myself in predicaments where I run out of cards, and having lands as cantrips is something that might help this. I'm going to look into making a version of this list more suited to this style. I would love to hear other ideas on possibilities and even experience from others who have looked into it. For reference, here is my current list:
Ok, the formatting is finally done and I'm bringing this to the attention of the primer committee!
@bfine70: I think the cyclers can be a strong alternative to the guildgates - just look at d0su's build. It basically depends on whether you want the ability to drop CoA quickly (making color fixing more important), or some more flexibility in your land-to-spell ratio.
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Awesome writeup, 10/10, would read again. This is above and beyond anything I had envisioned, and I appreciate the shout-outs.
I don't get to play Magic or frequent the forums very much these days, but this remains my favorite deck and I will undoubtedly take a few ideas from your build and analysis. Keep up the good work!
Your list of d0su's deck as of January is missing a card. Not sure what you left out but its only 99 with the commander. Please update for us still working on it. I am trying to update my pauper list since I have not played magic since rtr pre release.
Edit: Did you leave out gravedigger? Was it a card you replaced later in the primer?
You're absolutely right! Actually, I simply used d0su's original in his thread and upon reviewing it now, it seems it's one card short! I never bothered counting the cards in his list, sorry. So you'd have to ask d0su, but I know he has run Gravedigger in the past though. Wouldn't recommend it personally though. I'd rather include Vedalken Aethermage if there's a slot open.
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My IRL list is currently (and erroneously) running 42 lands. I know I have 2 mountains, 2 plains, and another Shimmering Grotto reprint. I get to cut something for something for more fun stuff. Sweet!
Anyone here add Dream Fracture to the deck yet? I've been meaning to include it in the deck, but I'm not sure what counterspell I'd really want to cut first to make room (if I even cut a counterspell for it).
Love the primer so far. Just a small note though in the "d0su's Dreamcrusher" decklist there is a sac. outlet missing. At the moment the list is only 99 cards.
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Sorry for the late reply. Been bogged down but hope to update a bit later this summer.
@Shokatshin: It depends a lot on what your playing against. Some decks just can't handle consistent sweeping, and in that case they might try to win quickly so then you really need to prioritize hands that can give you a t4 CoA. 3 lands including a green source and an acceleration piece is usually what your looking for, ideally with a sac outlet or a tutor as well. Partial paris mulligans help a lot in achieveing this. Don't worry too much about recursion, as you'll have time to see about that while such an opponent tries to recover from the first blow out. Also, if opp doesn't have time to develop before CoA drops, just smacking it down with mana open will often force another strategy since a quick win is no longer possible.
Against control, inevitability is more important. Try to cast CoA the first time with protection and tutor for an uncounterable sac outlet. If you're facing mana locks like Winter Orb or Hokori you probably still want a fairly early CoA as insurance though.
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Any chance you might be willing to post an all-out, balls-to-the-wall, non-budget version? I have so many annoying enchantress/artifact decks popping up in my meta, it would be good to get a nice Child list going to nuke some boards.
I have even been thinking of just making a deck with all removal, no wincons, and Child, just because its getting out of hand.
Thanks for the reply, urdjur! I think my problem mainly lies with the fact that I'm playing MTGO, where everything's just so much faster with the US banlist, so it almost feels like it's either T4 CoA or bust for me.
Hey urdjur, i've been reading through different primers and i've decided on making this my deck. So i've got a question, lets say my budget was $80, which cards would you swap out of the pauper deck to make it better? Thanks!
You can have the basic budget deck for about $100 if you'd care to increase the budget just a little bit. If not, I'd cut Genesis (most expensive) and Buried Alive (best with Genesis) as well as find common rarity replacements for Hinder and Trickbind (some of the more expensive business spells). That should cut you down a good $15 at least. Then I'd look at whatever remaining rares and uncommons that you can't have for under 2 bucks and find replacements for them.
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So, it appears Khans of Tharkir will impact the deck's shell quite a bit. For the first time, the pauper shell has a real shot of an optimum distribution of blue sources, with fully 8 Ux duals available, meaning t2 digging cantrips are now quite reliable. The budget shell should also benefit from the new RUG and BUG lands, giving us UG trilands in all color combinations together with the bant one. Excellent! Also, true fetchlands might be getting cheaper, so there's that. Haven't really found any business cards that trump anything already available though.
I'll go tinkering on an updated pauper shell
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Khans brings us more than that. I am really liking the look of Disdainful Stroke (1U, counter target spell with CMC 4 or greater). Most of the spells that make us burn a counter fall into this category: Armageddon, Tooth and Nail, Time Spiral, and so on. The big downside is that it likely will not work against opposing countermagic to force through one of your own spells. I might replace Dream Fracture and see how it goes since the 3CMC slot is really full thanks to the Transmute tutors.
Treasure Cruise is interesting but my guess is that we simply interact with our graveyard too much for it to be useful. I can see it mimicking Concentrate, though. Do you think Concentrate is good enough?
Treasure Cruise is interesting but my guess is that we simply interact with our graveyard too much for it to be useful. I can see it mimicking Concentrate, though. Do you think Concentrate is good enough?
My initial impression when I saw it was that cards like Rush of Knowledge and Petals of Insight were better in most cases. It's good to have additional options though. I could see it being decent in a dredge deck.
Disdainful Stroke is probably worse than Negate IMO, and not many are running that. Definetely wouldn't run it over Dream Fracture. Treasure Cruise is probably a contender for the big draw slots, but at that point in the game, isn't paying one mana more less of an issue than exiling one card more? I think it will be a worse Petals of Insight, and while petals is a solid card, it's far from a staple in the pauper builds.
I'm all ears for khans, but these two cards don't much affect my initial assessment that we already have better options for business spells.
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Treasure Cruise is scary to me in this deck. We eat into our future for a benefit now. I do not think it is worth it. I usually have a use for almost all of the cards in my graveyard.
Well, it was pretty tight, but with the new improved "guildgates" from Khans, it is possible to make a "perfect" mana base. By that, I mean a mana base that has 18 t2 blue sources (so you can play cantrips on t2), a combination of 18 t3 green sources and/or colorless ramp (to fix green and ramp simultaneously), enough non-ETBT lands to enable 3 mana on t3 and 5 mana on t4, as well as max 7 dedicated sources/color (to minimize redundancy) and sufficient R and W sources to make WUBRG by t4 80% of the time before mulligans.
The full 8 Ux duals as well as the two BG ones makes it possible. Goldfishing so far, it seems really smooth. If you really want Bojuka Bog, you could go -1 Swamp, -1 Golgari Guildgate, +1 Forest, +1 Bojuka Bog, but I prefer one less dedicated green source and not having the hassle of land tutors to find my graveyard removal (rolling with Nihil Spellbomb instead).
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Child of Alara Primer
INTRODUCTION
Child of Alara is a well-known 5C commander to the EDH scene, but also one that lends itself very well to budget builds since a lot of the deck's power comes from the commander itself. One such build variant that was first suggested by d0su in 2011 is an all-commons pauper variant. Such a build is not meant to be played with other "PDH" decks that use uncommon commanders and common rarity main deck cards, but rather to hold its own at most reasonably competitive multiplayer EDH tables.
The pauper CoA deck has a certain fan base, and together we have developed and streamlined it over the years. In the spoiler below, you will find a much more in-depth discussion if you're interested in how the deck developed and thoughts on non-common rarity builds that are still budget friendly. The updated primer will focus exclusively on advice for building the best all-commons deck - a task that has become easier with the printing of certain key cards at common rarity these last years. Thanks to long term interest from many players in this archetype, we also have good data on the true staples of the deck as well as a good variety of solid picks that come down to personal preference.
Before we go into the details of the deck, it may be good to know that the definition of what is "common" rarity is somewhat obscure. For the purposes of this primer, the lowest rarity (on-line or paper cards) listed on Gatherer is what applies. This means that Merchant Scroll is legal, but Strip Mine is not. Having said that, this deck doesn't abide by any other format than regular EDH, so it's really up to you what you want to include in your "all commons" build and what logic for determining rarities that you wish to use. Similarly, this deck is mostly intended for multiplayer even though you can certainly have a go with it 1v1 against EDH decks of a typical power level, speed and consistency. Hence, it only respects the multiplayer banlist (which includes no commons at this time).
HOW THE DECK WORKS
The main mechanic of the deck consists of killing and recurring Child of Alara, so as to deny your opponents any form of winning board position. Unlike other commanders, CoA can't go to the command zone for its effect to trigger; it has to actually die and go to the graveyard. This means that a large part of the deck will consist of spells that kill off CoA and bring it back to your hand or to play from the graveyard.
Another large part of the deck is tutors and draw spells, as is true of many EDH decks. This ensures an ample supply of sacrifice outlets and recursion, as well as letting you find key silver bullets that complement your main sweeper strategy. A lot of space is also devoted to the mana base, as the deck needs a lot of mana to cycle CoA through the various game zones, while also having to contend with the limited common card pool for 5C color needs. This mandates the use of green ramp and fixing.
The rest of the deck is additional control cards/silver bullets, a few counters and a few slots devoted to alternative win cons apart from beating with CoA on a largely destroyed board (such as direct damage and infinite combo). Depending on how you spend the flex slots of the deck, you can take the deck into a more combo-ish or more control-ish direction. Or you could run more core cards, such as more sac outlets and recursion.
BUILDING THE DECK
This section of the primer will guide you on how to build your own CoA deck, explaining alternatives and card choices on the way. It follows these steps:
1) Explanation of the core of cards that are common to all pauper CoA builds. This constitutes roughly 75% of the deck, including most lands.
2) Your selection of one of three mana base specializations. One is based on exploiting Far Wanderings and uses more basics, one focuses on Trinket Mage and artifact lands, and one uses Tilling Treefolk with panoramas and cycle lands.
3) Your selection of a combo or control focus for the deck. While there is significant card difference between these two subtypes, both are perfectly able to play the control game or combo out – they just have different areas of focus, leading to certain synergies in card choices.
4) Rounding out the remaining slots of the deck with your unique choices. Chose from a large list of options, where some choices will be better or worse depending on what you picked in steps 2-3.
Let's begin with step 1 and the core of the deck below!
1 Sidisi's Faithful
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Devour Flesh
2 Perilous Research
2 Terminate
3 Mind Extraction
CoA Recursion (4)
1 Undying Evil
2 Grim Harvest
3 Soul Manipulation
4 Breath of Life
Tutors (9)
4 Mystical Teachings
2 Merchant Scroll
1 Dizzy Spell
2 Dimir Infiltrator
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Shred Memory
3 Drift of Phantasms
3 Perplex
4 Dimir House Guard
Card Draw (9)
1 Brainstorm
1 Preordain
2 Night's Whisper
3 Read the Bones
3 Secrets of the Golden City
3 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Deep Analysis
5 Mulldrifter
8 Treasure Cruise
3 Capsize
2 Counterspell
3 Faerie Trickery
Combo and Finisher (5)
2 Rolling Thunder
2 Cloud of Faeries
3 Ghostly Flicker
4 Archeomancer
5 Izzet Chronarch
Ramp (4)
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama's Reach
Lands (33)
1 Command Tower
1 Opal Palace
1 Path of Ancestry
1 Ash Barrens
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Rupture Spire
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Jungle Hollow
1 Rugged Highlands
1 Thornwood Falls
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Halimar Depths
1 Mortuari Mire
4 Island
5 Swamp
2 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
Core Card Explanations
Sacrifice Outlets
Sidisi's Faithful: A reusable sac outlet for U and very important addition to the deck. It kills CoA while bouncing itself. Tutors with Dizzy Spell and Vedalken Aethermage.
Perilous Research: A flexible sac outlet that draws you cards. This gets the nod over Costly Plunder mostly for being a target for Merchant Scroll, but you can run both if you want to.
Devour Flesh: Kill CoA at instant speed and gain some life. Also useful against indestructible creatures that survive a CoA wipe.
Mind Extraction: One of the most powerful cards in the deck. It can alone destroy an opponent of your choice, while wiping the board. A primary target for 3 CMC transmute tutors and recursion wizards.
Red Elemental Blast: Solid multi-purpose sac outlets that cover your key plays against counters or kill CoA at instant speed for R in a pinch. You can of course also use Pyroblast, though REB is ever so slightly better for being harder to redirect. In a blue-heavy meta, you can run both (see the flex slots below).
Terminate: 2 CMC spot removal at instant speed is always good for a control deck, and this can kill CoA to boot.
CoA Recursion
Grim Harvest: This is the second part of the CoA engine - a reusable recursion spell that works alongside the reusable sac outlet Sidisi's Faithful. A few players prefer the sorcery speed Disturbed Burial instead, as it somewhat more straight-forward to use. You can also run both (see flex slots below).
Soul Manipulation: Very good value and the only recursion spell Merchant Scroll can get.
Undying Evil: Cheapest way to get CoA back to play instantly and with a boost, but you have to time it right.
Breath of Life: Recursion target for Dimir House Guard. Puts CoA directly to play for cheap and recurs easily with your wizards.
Tutors
Mystical Teachings: The best tutor in the deck. Finds pretty much everything, twice.
Merchant Scroll: Second best tutor. Careful card selection gives this almost the functionality of Demonic Tutor in this deck.
Dimir Infiltrator, Drift of Phantasms, Dimir House Guard: These are all tutors of the creature type that go to the grave when used, and they all have many good targets. This can be abused a lot with our recursion spells.
Muddle the Mixture and Shred Memory: These transmute tutors have relevant secondary effects and are also stellar in the deck.
Dizzy Spell and Perplex: These have sucky effects, but it doesn't matter because you just want them for the tutoring power anyway.
Card Draw
Brainstorm and Preordain: Important cards that smooth out your land drops early on and give you better top decks later. These cards do not "replace" bigger draw spells by any means, they are simply additional power in your deck. Note that you have many, many sources of library mixing for powerful Brainstorms at any point in the game as well.
Treasure Cruise: It is a shame you can't tutor for this card in pauper, because it is awesome. Delve can move CoA from your grave to the command zone, making it work like pseudo-recursion. Perhaps the most powerful draw spell in the deck, as you can often cast if for 4 mana or less without sacrificing anything you really need.
Mulldrifter and Sea Gate Oracle: Quality creature based card draw that fit right into your engines!
Deep Analysis, Night's Whisper, Secrets of the Golden City, Read the Bones: The best quality draw spells in Pauper for their respective mana costs.
Counters and Silver Bullets
Capsize: Probably one of the top 3 cards in the deck. It bounces anything, even land, recurs itself, is an engine card with ETB effects, it's a win condition when you combo off - the list goes on. It's hard to define staple silver bullets since player environments and needs are so different, but absolutely everybody should run this card.
Counterspell and Faerie Trickery: The best counters in pauper EDH.
Combo and Finisher
Archaeomancer and Izzet Chronarch: Commonly called "recursion wizards", these recur your most valuable instants and sorceries, and form an abusive CA engine together with Ghostly Flicker where you can keep playing the same powerful spell over and over again. The combo build runs more functional equivalents of these cards for redundancy, while the control build plays Vedalken Aethermage instead.
Ghostly Flicker: Another very powerful card in the deck, especially when combined with a recursion wizard (that recurs flicker) and something else with a ETB effect (even lands like Mortuary Mire are useful targets).
Cloud of Faeries: A combo piece that even cycles when you don't need it (though you can recur it later, this is somewhat risky if you get hit by GY hate). Works with Ghostly Flicker, a recursion wizard and 2 bounce lands to produce infinite mana!
Rolling Thunder: Having a direct damage spell means that you can kill a player on the spot as long as you have more mana than they have life. Works really well with all your ramp. Some players prefer Kaervek's Torch here instead, though it is less versatile and harder to tutor for.
Ramp
Darksteel Ingot: The one mana rock that was made for this deck.
Cultivate and Kodama's Reach: Extremely solid ramp that are staples even in full power CoA builds.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: The best creature-based ramp that fits right into our recursion engines.
Lands
5-C lands: The first lands in the list can fix or tap for any color. The deck runs most of what's available here at common, but eschews the worse Opal Palace clones and a few others that don't work well in EDH.
Ravnica karoos: Also known as bounce lands or double lands. These are important for Cloud of Faeries combo, for reusing your spell lands, and generally for creating card advantage and ensuring land drops. Since you need one of these lands to be blue to combo out, the deck runs all the 4 blue ones as well as the BG land since those colors also frequently come in handy.
Green life duals: As you may have noticed, this deck is actually a blue/black deck that uses green mostly for ramp and fixing so it can cast its commander (and a few utility off-color spells). This creates the desire to run many green sources so that you can actually cast your ramp in the early turns, without stocking up on too many dedicated off-color sources that limit your mid game. These green life duals help solve that equation while also giving you a life gain option with the Ghostly Flicker engine.
Spell lands: Mire, Bog and Depths do yeoman's work in the deck together with land tutors, bounce lands and Ghostly Flicker.
Basics: The core only runs 13 basics, but more can be added depending on which mana base type you pick in the next step. The number of Swamps to Islands may look odd, but reflects the desire for equal number of dedicated blue and black sources (since we run all those blue karoos). Redundant blue sources in your opener or first turns often mean that you have to delay playing CoA a turn or two. The substantial amount of fixing and ramp however lets you skew your actual lands in play towards blue as needed while the game progresses.
Mana Base Specializations
The second step is to select one of three mana base specializations.
Far Wanderings package: This choice gives you the most powerful mid-to-end game ramp to really pull ahead, but is somewhat bland until it gets going.
Trinket Mage package: With colorless fixing and lands that enter untapped, this variant offers the fastest and smoothest early game.
Tilling Treefolk package: This package is best at regulating the ebb and flow of mana by using cyclers and panoramas, and recurring them later as needed.
7 Krosan Tusker
3 Far Wanderings
1 Expedition Map
2 Evolution Charm
1 Island
2 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Trinket Mage
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Expedition Map
2 Resourceful Return
1 Ancient Den
1 Great Furnace
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Tree of Tales
1 Vault of Whispers
3 Tilling Treefolk
3 Harrow
1 Crop Rotation
2 Grim Discovery
1 Bant Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Tranquil Thicket
Land Packages Explanations
Land Engines: Each pack has a land engine. Krosan Tusker provides a card and a basic land for 3 mana at instant speed. It can be abused with the many sources of creature recursion later, but can't be tutored for. Trinket Mage can not only find artifact lands but also ramp, land tutors and other utility. Tilling Treefolk works best mid-to-late game, but can certainly recover one land even when dropped at turn 3 while providing a defensive body in your set-up phase. Both Mage and Treefolk can be blinked with flicker effects, or recurred traditionally after a CoA explosion.
Ramp: Far Wanderings is the namesake card of its package, and the reason to dip into more basic lands so you can abuse it late game by replaying it several times. Wayfarer's Bauble isn't very fanciful, but unlike most other ramp cards it doesn't require a green source and can be found by Trinket Mage, making it better in that package. Harrow fixes two colors at instant speed for a net cost of only one mana, while feeding the yard with land for Treefolk and Grim Discovery.
Land Tutors: Of the three any-land tutors available in the pauper pool, Trinkets and Wanderings play Expedition Map and Treefolk plays Crop Rotation (you'll find Reap and Sow in the control package below). Crop Rotation has obvious synergy with the Treefolk concept, whereas Map is tutorable in Trinkets and helps with the lack of fixing and green sources in the Wanderings package. If you want to play both, you can – just add the other in your flex slots below.
Recursion: There are many 2 CMC recursion spells you can play as back-up tutor targets to Grim Harvest, but some synergize more with certain builds. Grim Discovery and Resourceful Return should need no further motivation in their respective packages. Evolution Charm is good for added fixing with many basics in Far Wanderings, but Grapple with the Past is also an option since it helps to build threshold – either is a fine choice for the Wanderings package.
Lands: The artifact lands should come as no surprise in Trinkets. In Treefolk, the two chosen panoramas are both green sources while being able to fetch either blue or black when you don't need green, while the cyclers work in colors that are rarely used for other spells. Wanderings plays two Forests rather than an extra Swamp, due to the need for more green sources and already high number of basic swamps.
Combo or Control Focus
Now that you've decided on a mana base, the next step is to pick your focus: combo or control? Like the mana base packages, these two packages are built in equivalent ways, even though they focus on different aspects.
5 Brainspoil
5 Salvager of Secrets
5 Mnemonic Wall
3 Cadaver Imp
5 Urborg Uprising
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Angelic Purge
5 Peregrine Drake
3 Displace
3 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Reclaim
3 Pulse of Murasa
3 Primal Growth
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Forsake the Worldly
3 Unmake
2 Overrule
4 Reap and Sow
Combo/Control Explanations
Tutor: The combo package builds around Brainspoil, which is currently the only tutor that can find the key combo piece Peregrine Drake. Brainspoil has only 2 targets in the 40 core slots, which is why we need to add more 5 CMC targets in the combo package to make it good. Aethermage solves the problem of assembling recursion wizards in a more space saving way, creating more room for higher quality removal in the control package.
Recursion: Salvager of Secrets, Mnemonic Wall and Urborg Uprising all have synergy with Brainspoil and provide the needed redundancy for a flicker/blink combo focus. The land package already includes an extra recursion spell at the 2 CMC slot (in addition to Grim Harvest), whereas these packages introduce back-ups at the 3 CMC slot (in addition to Soul Manipulation). Cadaver Imp is a no-brainer in a blink-focused build with many recursion wizards, whereas the best option for control is Pulse of Murasa. Control also opts for Reclaim, since it doesn't need to run Uprising and has fewer ways to recur non-creatures than the combo build.
Ramp: It stands to reason that Farhaven Elf is much better in a build with heavier focus on the flicker engine. The control build plays the excellent Primal Growth instead, to provide an additional sac outlet at the 3 CMC slot (the combo build gets this via Angelic Purge).
Combo and control: The combo build relies exclusively on Angelic Purge and what's already in the core for its control needs. Control has Forsake the Worldly and Unmake at instant speed instead of Purge, as well as Qasali Pridemage as an additional excellent target for Aethermage. Control also plays Overrule as an additional counter with life gain, and multi-purpose land removal in Reap and Sow. In combo, the last slots go to combo redundancy instead – Peregrine Drake (really the reason to play the combo package) and Displace as a back-up to Ghostly Flicker.
Final Slots
Your deck should now contain 91 cards, leaving you with 8 more slots to chose from. Apart from the recommendations here, you can also pick from cards suggested for other “packs” above. Consider these guidelines on how to spend your last slots:
1-2 sacrifice outlets: Most people prefer Wretched Gryff (costs a mere U when emerged from CoA and draws a card + gives you a bird to guard the skies) or Pyroblast (as an extra copy of REB in the core). Other one mana options include Blue Elemental Blast, Tragic Slip or Innocent Blood. The Trinket Mage build has an interesting option in Costly Plunder, though the core package already has plenty at the 2 CMC slot. If you're in a control build, you might also consider Rend Flesh or Murder as extra removal/sac outlet in the 3 CMC slot.
1-2 recursion spells: Cards that recur multiple creatures such as Reaping the Graves and Death Denied can work as additional “pseudo-engines” together with a recursion wizard, and hence tend to work best in the combo build. Control should opt for Disturbed Burial instead, which is better when you have fewer creatures to recur. Other options for control include Shade's Form and Mistmoon Griffin, since they don't leave you open if you blow up CoA at instant speed. Combo has False Defeat instead (an expensive functional equivalent of the core Breath of Life, that is easier to abuse with many recursion wizards).
1-3 draw spells: Some work better with certain builds and cards, namely Forbidden Alchemy (Far Wanderings, Tilling Treefolk), Compulsive Research (Tilling Treefolk), Darksteel Pendant (Resourceful Return) and Rush of Knowledge (Brainspoil + many high CMC recursion wizards). If you want more digging power, consider Ponder, Impulse and Foresee as well. They are not quite as good as what the core package already has at their respective mana costs, but they are excellent nevertheless. Finally, you might also consider Rhystic Study or Mystic Remora.
1-2 land/fetch/ramp: Some people play more land, others play more fixing or ramp. Options not already mentioned above in the mana specializations include Mycosynth Wellspring, Commander's Sphere, Search for Tomorrow, Traumatic Visions (tutors with Merchant Scroll and Brainspoil!) and Yavimaya Elder.
0-2 counters: Mainly an option for the control build. However, combo (and control) should at least consider Rewind, for its synergy with the flicker engine. With 3 bounce lands in play and the flicker engine, you can counter endlessly at 0 net mana cost with Rewind. Dream Fracture is probably the next best general counter (Arcane Denial is also a choice, but generally less appealing and strictly for multiplayer). Negate and Disdainful Stroke are more narrow options that still handle most things. Condescend and Psychic Strike also see niche use.
0-2 control cards: Additional “silver bullets” to consider for control builds, depending on meta game and in general order of importance/playability.
Nihil Spellbomb: Eminently playable, especially in the Trinket Mage package, but not exactly needed as you can already Expedition Map into Bojuka Bog. Still, if you fancy more GY hate, this is a very good card.
Wrecking ball: If you need more land removal apart from Reap and Sow, this is probably your best bet. Also doubles as creature removal, including a sac outlet for CoA.
Spore Frog: Forms a lock with Grim Harvest or Disturbed Burial that can sometimes be more advantageous, not to mention cheaper, than blowing up CoA continuously.
Snakeform: An extra Unmake – requires a CoA explosion or use as a combat trick to actually get rid of the creature though. Upside is tutorability with Merchant Scroll and ability to stop leaves play abilities.
Reality Acid: Kills anything (lands, indestructibles) eventually or immediately off a CoA explosion. Even forms a spot removal engine with Capsize. Probably worse than Angelic Purge, unless you really want the land destruction. Apart from sorcery speed, it is also difficult to recur.
Scour from Existence: The instant that does it all, albeit at a 7 mana cost – roughly twice the normal fare you pay for instant speed exiling removal. Not too useful.
Universal Solvent: One mana more than Scour and doesn't even exile. Yes, it tutors with Trinket Mage, but it's terribly costed for its effect and hard to reuse.
For more information on actual builds by players that frequent this thread, consider this spreadsheet.
HOW TO PLAY THE DECK - coming soon (summer 2018)
History
The concept of 5-Color Control for the common man was first popularized on MTGS by d0su in his legendary Dreamcrusher thread in early 2011. The idea was that using Child of Alara as a Commander compensated for the complete lack of solid sweepers in the common card pool, while using only commons provided for a very cheap deck that still had the power to go up against full power EDH decks, especially in multiplayer.
As the concept of Pauper EDH has consolidated more towards using uncommon creatures as Commanders, and the "Dreamcrusher" build has proven more adapted for regular EDH tables than Pauper settings anyway, the need for adhering strictly to commons has been called into question. While using only commons remains the cheapest way to build CoA, adding even just a few uncommons greatly helps the deck overcome some inherent design challenges and also makes for shorter games (while all commons list can eventually establish control just as well, games go on and tend to be very grindy and durdly).
While there is already a multiplayer primer on using Child of Alara to create a lands-type deck focusing on Life from the Loam and utility lands, this primer will focus more on using Child of Alara itself (even though the non-Pauper builds included here also make use of LftL and utility lands, simply because it would be silly not to). Thus, the primary focus of these builds will be on how to sacrifice and recur CoA as efficiently as possible, and other strategies that are supportive of this concept. While the primer assumes a multiplayer environment, there is nothing stopping you from trying these builds out 1v1 either, especially the "full power" budget version.
Pauper, Peasant and Budget - a Word on Terminology
Since around 2010, there's been an increasing interest for "PDH" or Pauper EDH - a process that this very archetype has helped fuel. At the time however, there was little consensus on what exactly constituted a PDH deck. Can CoA with all commons be considered "Pauper", when the general is mythic rare and the deck is constructed to abuse it as much as possible?
These days, there is a pretty strong consensus that Pauper EDH means using an uncommon (or possibly even common), most likely non-legendary, creature as your Commander, and only commons in your 99. For purposes of this primer however, the "Pauper" build refers to using only commons in the deck, despite CoA being mythic rare. The term is not an endorsement suggesting that a CoA build using only commons has a place at tables where others are running Zameck Guildmage or Ascended Lawmage as Commanders.
There is even less consensus on what constitutes a "Peasant" EDH deck - another format descriptor borrowed from the world of 60 card Magic. Most agree that standard EDH rules apply, but that you're excluding rares from your 99. Some groups or shops go further and limit the amount of uncommons you can run (the equivalent of 5 uncommons in a 60 card deck would be 8 in a 99 card deck, but numbers vary).
Regardless of whether you're using rarity restrictions or just want a competitive but affordable 5C control deck, this is the definitive CoA primer for you! It discusses inexpensive card choices of all rarities, Pauper and budget decklists, and strategy both on a general level and individual card level.
Why Play Child of Alara?
The Pauper version of this deck might be for you if:
*You like having Planar Cleansing as your Commander
*You want to play a workable 5C control deck in EDH that costs less than its sleeves
*You like it when people playing $1000+ decks say your deck is unfair and boring
The Pauper version might not be for you if:
*You intend to play against decks using uncommon Commanders
*You want a good game against fast decks 1v1
*You want something simple to pilot that wins quickly
The budget version might be for you if:
*You like having Planar Cleansing as your Commander, except it costs 0 to reuse, draws you cards and gains you life
*You want to play a competitive 5C control deck in EDH for less than $100
*You dislike a battlefield cluttered with non-land permanents
The budget version might not be for you if:
*You consider aggro or combo as a goal unto itself rather than just a win condition
*You like fair decks that don't steal or reanimate opposing creatures, or force mass discard in the early turns
*You're more interested in playing against other PDH decks with uncommon Commanders
Quick Deck Statistics
Preferred Environment: Multiplayer (any build) or 1v1 (non-pauper builds)
Casual/Competitive: Competitive
Average CMC: About 2.5-2.8 depending on build (though mana demands depend much more on the effectiveness of your recursion engines, than on average CMCs)
Deck Cost: Roughly $100 for the basic budget build. Pauper is of course dirt cheap.
Deck MVP: Depends on build and budget, but Capsize and Mind Extraction are always all-stars.
Strengths: Board control, hand disruption, counters
Weaknesses: Graveyard hate, mana denial
Flexibility - How well does the deck combat threats and come back from resource denial/negation?
(8/10) The deck is built around coming back advantageously from mass resource denial. Counters are largely ineffective. Big draw can recover from hand disruption. The biggest problems are graveyard removal and mass LD, especially for the Pauper version.
Efficiency - How well does the deck use its mana base? Does it focus on big bombs or a slow power creep?
(7/10) The Pauper deck can easily use up more than 20 mana/turn. The non-pauper deck can use more than 10 mana/turn but rarely has the need to, since most of the primary deck engines run on little mana.
Consistency - Out of 10 games, how many will be played in similiar or nearly identical ways?
(6-9/10) Very much pilot dependent. You can make every game almost exactly the same, but this will suck the fun out of most games. Consult the strategy section for tips on mixing it up.
Speed - How quickly can this deck take over a table?
(5-9/10) The Pauper deck is the undisputed king of durdling, tutoring for tutors that tutor for recursion that recur tutors etc. - that sort of thing. However, it can also consistently board wipe on turn 5. The non-pauper deck can do that or force everyone to discard their hands by turn 5 without breaking a sweat. It also recovers much faster from the first board wipe.
Style - Does the deck kill you the same way every game, or does it have a million and one ways to finish you off?
(7/10) Multiple win conditions can be included when needed. Typically, the deck closes games with general damage or insurmountable resource denial, but infinite combos and even direct damage are possibilities.
Perceived Threat - How politically threatening is this deck when you show everyone your commander?
(6-9/10) Depends a lot on how you pilot it (see the Strategy section), but once the table knows what you can do, don't expect any silk mittens even if your deck is all commons.
CARD SELECTION
Child of Alara (and most EDH decks) can be divided into a core and a shell. The core is the General and all the spells that go with it to create a synergistic whole. The shell is the lands, the ramp, the small dig and land fetch - all the cards that enable you to play your business spells and execute your game plan. This sections examines card selection for the core, and how to construct a realistic shell to support it.
Each subsection is divided into common, uncommon and rare, so it's easy to select cards if you are restricted to only commons, or a Peasant mix of commons and uncommons. The uncommons and rares discussed in this section are all pretty budget friendly. After the Decklists section, there is a discussion of worthwhile upgrades that you can invest in gradually if you wish to improve the budget build. Please note that utility lands and small dig spells (like Brainstorm) that can be used early to dig for lands are discussed in the Shell subsection, not in the Core.
The Core - Sacrifice Outlets, Recursion and Engine Pieces
Unlike most Commanders, CoA makes little use of the Command Zone, since it has to go to the grave to activate its ability. This immediately demands two types of functions from the rest of the deck: sacrifice outlets (which become your de facto sweepers) and recursion (so you can get CoA back, since you can't use the Command Zone like everyone else). Ideally, these card types are reusable, so that going through a CoA activation nets no card loss. The building blocks that make this happen are called engine pieces.
The problem with Pauper builds is that the only available reusable sac outlet is Slow Motion (pretty iffy to use), which means that each activation of CoA typically costs you a card. The reusable recursion available is limited to Disturbed Burial and Grim Harvest. This combined with the relative scarcity of tutors in the Pauper card pool requires you to diversify your strategy.
The common builds solve this by playing instant recursion bears (Archaeomancer, Izzet Chronarch, Mnemonic Wall and Scrivener) and a clever selection of multi-purpose instants that permit the timely demise of CoA while also having other uses (such as Terminate). The recursion bears also permit reuse of multiple-creature recursion instants (such as Reaping the Graves), creating loops that protect themselves (for instance: Scrivener returns Reaping the Graves so that, when the world blows up the next time, you can reap both Scrivener and CoA back again). This typically develops further into many ETB effects where Ghostly Flicker and Capsize also play a part as engine pieces.
This approach is effective but immensly clunky. If you're using Burial/Harvest, replaying CoA costs 5 mana for the recursion spell and another 5 for the baby. That's before considering the cost for the sac outlet and the process of getting it back or drawing into another. To compensate for this, the Pauper builds make great use of alternate win cons and support cards (see below).
As soon as we look at uncommons, it's a very different story. Assembling the CoA engine is as easy as combining two cards (with several options available), with the total cost for the cycle being typically around 8-9 mana, often netting additional benefits such as life gain. If you're going into rares, free recursion becomes the new norm - in fact, killing CoA can even provide a net gain of mana each cycle if you have a few more dollars to spend. This allows you to rely on CoA and reanimation in general as a win con to a much higher degree.
Let's take a look at the cards in these categories by rarity:
Abjure: Get more value out of your sac outlet by countering a spell at the same time. Cute for Pauper builds if REB/Pyro is dead in your meta, but otherwise it's typically better to keep your sac outlets and counters seperate.
Altar's Reap: A good option with all commons, since it compensates for the card loss. Unlike just using removal to off CoA, this uses the sac as part of the cost, meaning the sac will happen even if the spell is countered. The downside is that it's a dead card if you have no creatures you want to kill. Be careful not to run too many cards that only work if you have a creature in play.
Devour Flesh: Better than Diabolic Edict if used on CoA, and against opponents the life gain matters little (you win by general damage or going infinite, mostly) and can even be politically beneficial. Also very good at mopping up indestructibles after CoA explodes. Mandatory with all commons, but always a consideration.
Eyeblight's Ending: Worse than Terminate, but useful at 3 CMC for transmute purposes. Not recommended outside Pauper builds.
Mind Extraction: One of the most powerful cards in the deck. A must run in any build. Hand wipe + board wipe is usually GG for whoever gets hit with it. As with Altar's Reap, CoA dies even if it gets countered since it's part of the cost.
Murder: See Eyeblights Ending and Rend Flesh. Typically, double black is a greater restriction than the small creature type limitations of the other two options, making this rather bland.
Perilous Research: A better option than Altar's Reap since you don't HAVE to have a creature to use it. Also good with non-creatures that like to die, such as Reality Acid, Spine of Ish Sah and Flagstones of Trokair. Also a target for Merchant Scroll and should definetely be run as long as you include this tutor.
Primal Growth: Ramp that also doubles as an uncounterable sac outlet when needed? Fantastic! Recommended for all builds.
Pyroblast: One of the cheapest ways to kill CoA, while also protecting your key plays against counters. This or REB is a must for an all commons Dizzy Spell toolbox, but both are always meta considerations even when you're running rares.
Red Elemental Blast: See Pyroblast.
Rend Flesh: See Eyeblights Ending. Typically choose this or EE, depending on meta.
Skred: Requires a more expensive snow-covered mana base, and it will take a while until it can kill CoA or other threats. If using Dizzy Spell in all commons it merits consideration as a toolbox target together with Tragic Slip.
Slow Motion: With access only to commons, you must use what's available. Under such circumstances, this is a good way to facilate continuous CoA use late game when combined with Disturbed Burial/Grim Harvest. Definetely not a consideration otherwise.
Terminate: Good both when you want to blow up the world and when you don't. Always a consideration, though uncommon options tend to overshadow it.
Tragic Slip: A cheap way to kill CoA, but the trigger can be a problem. Also a good way to mop up indestructibles after CoA explodes. A meta consideration for a Dizzy Spell toolbox.
Wrecking Ball: More of a silver bullet against problematic lands than a sac outlet, I include it here since it's an instant that can also kill CoA. A very strong choice in all commons, but overshadowed when uncommons are available.
Beast Within: An upgrade to Murder/Eyeblight's Ending/Rend Flesh, Terminate and Wrecking Ball. At this point however, you can have dedicated and reusable sac outlets, and the competition for your removal slots is very cutthroat.
Fallen Ideal: A significant upgrade to Slow Motion. It doesn't come with life gain like Worthy Cause, but is less prone to counters and discard, and lets you tap out. If you have Reveillark combo, you can also grow an infinitely large CoA (see Reveillark), making this a win condition as well. Being a 3 CMC aura also puts it in an interesting tutoring category. Highly recommended if you have access to the rare tutors like Three Dreams.
Worthy Cause: One of the best outlets available in Peasant builds (especially with Dizzy Spell!), but it's eclipsed by rare one-shot effects like Momentous Fall. With rares, you also have access to reusable land-based outlets and Fallen Ideal becomes more useful with aura tutors, making this obsolete too often.
Altar of Bone: The budget version of Diabolic Intent. Sorcery speed outlets that require a creature to be sacced have to have a power level on the scale of Mind Extraction to be considered. Skip.
Bound//Determined: A fantastic one-shot deal, and very cheap to aquire. The determined part also cantrips and provides a way to cover key plays, making the card always useful.
Greater Gargadon: Dirt cheap and opens up the use of creature tutors for getting sac outlets! It's uncounterable and only costs a single mana to start using. Unfortunately it doesn't last forever, but it's pretty untouchable while it does and has the added benefit of netting you a 9/7 when used up! Also deters mass LD, which is a great boon, and has synergy with Spine of Ish Sah. A must run if you decide to use rares.
Momentous Fall: Altar's Reap on steroids. The power level is comparable to Mind Extraction and Bound//Determined. Run it!
Archaeomancer: The best of the common instant recursion bears. Mandatory in all commons, but easily eclipsed by Eternal Witness when uncommons are available.
Cadaver Imp: Cost effective in builds using Ghostly Flicker and Capsize, but also easily replaced by Eternal Witness.
Capsize: One of the most powerful cards in the deck - stand alone or as an engine piece, allowing you to reuse ETB-effects. A must include in all builds.
Death Denied: An option in all commons builds with the instant recursion bears, where there is a significant amount of creatures to recur. More susceptible to counters than Reaping the Graves, and in a less interesting transmute category (already crowded with Disturbed Burial and Grim Harvest).
Disturbed Burial: A must include in all commons - a must not include if uncommons are available.
Elven Cache: A bad Regrowth. Hardly a consideration even for all commons - a single Reclaim is typically sufficient when you already have creatures, instants and sorceries covered so well.
Evolution Charm: A multi-purpose card and a strong consideration at instant speed. Even has application as an early mana fixer in more advanced builds that can play it on t2 routinely.
False Demise: See Shade's Form.
Ghostly Flicker: A very powerful engine card in Pauper if you set it up with a recursion bear (which returns the Flicker to your hand) and another ETB target (such as another recursion bear, returning something else!) In the budget build, there are better engines that aren't destroyed by CoA explosions.
Gravedigger: A rather ineffective recursion option. For only one mana more, you could be paying for buyback or recover on Disturbed Burial/Grim Harvest, or getting a really good deal on Urborg Uprising.
Grim Harvest: The strongest common creature recursion. Must include in Pauper builds! Can be considered even in budget builds, to recur small creatures.
Izzet Chronarch: Almost as good as Archaeomancer, better color requirements and a slightly larger body for one mana more. A must include in Pauper.
Mnemonic Wall: See Izzet Chronarch.
Reaping the Graves: Probably the best option after Burial/Harvest - a very strong consideration if you're only using commons.
Reclaim: Tutors well and costs little to use - almost a must include if you're in all commons. The slightly better Noxious Revival eclipses it if you're not.
Scrivener: Worse than the other recursion bears, but you run so many instants that not doing sorceries is not so big of a deal. A strong consideration for all commons.
Soul Manipulation: A very interesting card - a better Exclude, which is saying something. To me, tutoring with Merchant's Scroll is the most interesting thing with this card, so as long as you're using it, you should keep this card in the deck IMO.
Shade's Form: Puts CoA immediately back into play, making it much more effective mana wise than most other options in Pauper. Also allows for pumping and stealing opposing threats (a very interesting option if your opponents are packing more expensive and bigger threats than you are). Decks not running much in the way of other win cons should consider this card and its friends (Unhallowed Pact and False Demise). However, builds using rares typically don't have room for these cards (eclipsed by Fool's Demise) and Pauper builds must prioritize card advantage over mana advantage.
Undying Evil: An absolute bomb in recursion efficiency. Also brutal with Mulldrifter and many other utility creatures. A target for Dizzy Spell.
Unhallowed Pact: See Shade's Form.
Urborg Uprising: As cost effective as Death Denied, but tutors in the 5 CMC category instead and requires fewer creatures in the yard to be a worthwhile engine piece.
Animate Dead/Dance of the Dead: In a vacuum, Necromancy is better, but with Three Dreams and ample recursion in 3 CMC already, these auras get better. Which one you pick is mostly up to preference, as 2 less power and 1 less toughness isn't a dealbreaker, but nor is paying 2 mana for untapping if you want to actually swing with the reanimation target. I think Dance has cooler art - and black borders! See Necromancy for interaction with Capsize.
Artisan of Kozilek: Uncounterable and colorless recursion for CoA with a decent annihilator body to boot. Unfortunately, big dudes are not needed in the deck, making this an overcosted reanimation effect most of the time.
Cauldron Dance: Forms a loop with Eternal Witness (or Archaeomancer and friends) and Child of Alara (or some ETB dude), much like Ghostly Flicker. More "fun" than effective, and quite easy to disrupt.
Diabolic Servitude: With correct use of the stack and replacement abilities, this will net you reanimation on the cheap (4 mana) half the time, while you have to rely on playing CoA for an increasing cost from the Command Zone the other half. It still averages out to be a better deal than the common engines for the first handful of sweeps at least. However, there are much better options.
Eternal Witness: Always a must include, as it turns all that creature recursion into everything recursion while being awesome on its own.
Fool's Demise: The self-recurring version of False Demise and friends. Probably the best engine you can find in uncommons, completing the cycle for only 8 mana when paired with Worthy Cause/Fallen Ideal. Since it also keeps stealing dudes through CoA activations, it's good enough for any build IMO.
Golgari Thug: Not the best of reusable recursion effects, but strong with Buried Alive. Truly a placeholder for Genesis until you can afford it - it is much better.
Necromancy: The best of the Animate Dead type effects as it comes with no drawback and optionally at instant speed. Forms an engine with Capsize, completing a sac-and-reanimate cycle for the very acceptable price of 9 mana - at instant speed! Without Capsize at the ready however, this type of effect has poor synergy with CoA itself (unlike Fool's Demise), but is still an undercosted creature with optional flash. If you're running Three Dreams however, Animate Dead or Dance of the Dead are better, since they count as auras.
Noxious Revival: As a 1 CMC instant, it tutors in other categories than Regrowth and Eternal Witness, which makes it very useful. The card disadvantage is sad however.
Pull from the Deep: The new instant/sorcery recursion from Journey into Nyx. Arguably better than Regrowth in this deck, since you already recur creatures and lands so well and getting two cards of your choice for 4 mana is a good deal late game.
Regrowth: The original recursion spell and still one of the best. A strong consideration for any build, if not a must-include.
Body Double: Solid "recursion" on its own (similar to Necromancy), but has a stupid combo with Lark.
Bound//Determined: Already covered under sac outlets, it only takes half of this card to cover the two most important roles in the deck! It's also the most powerful recursion option, returning five cards to your hand (CoA can be one of them) as you explode the world at instant speed.
Corpse Dance: Sort of OK, but iffy to use (best in decks with few creatures, or when paired with other recursion) and only works on your yard. Eclipsed by Gift and other options for free recursion, but becomes stronger if you run Boseiju, Who Shelters All.
Genesis: The most expensive card in the budget build at roughly $9-10, but well worth the investment. Strong on its own, but makes all your tutors that put creatures in the grave (and also your discard outlets) that much stronger.
Gift of Immortality: This card was pretty much designed for this deck. Less than a dollar will net you a free recursion engine in one card. Stupid good.
Karmic Guide: Another option for the Lark combo, but worse color requirements than Body Double and can only target your graveyard. Consider skipping it.
Life from the Loam: Doesn't recur CoA as such, but is one of the most powerful engines available to the deck. See the Shell section and the section on adding money to the deck.
Reveillark: Another means of free recursion comes from combining Lark, Saffi and Body Double with CoA. Body Double impersonates CoA but qualifies for Lark recursion once it hits the grave. As you blow it up, Saffi will return Lark and Lark will return Saffi and BD, conserving this board state indefinetely for no mana investment. The pieces for this formidable engine are affordable enough to be staples in any rare build. Lark combined with either Saffi or BD will also recur any utility creature with power 2 or less indefinetely, which is awesome with all your instant speed sac outlets. If constant sweeping feels like an outmoded concept, how about constant countering with Mystic Snake instead?
Saffi Eriksdotter: Kind of like the False Demise auras, but this also has a nasty combo with Reveillark.
The Core - Tutors
Now that we've defined the best sac outlets and recursion pieces, the next question becomes what tutors are best to find these two categories of cards. The benchmark Pauper tutor costs 3 mana, achieves card parity, and has a suffienct range to find either card category. Transmuters are good examples that achieve this benchmark, while being dirt cheap (mostly commons), uncounterable and having situational secondary uses. It would of course be foolish to pay for uncommon or rare "upgrades" if they can't beat this benchmark.
Brainspoil: The only common that can dig for CoA if it gets tucked, and even a bad sac outlet/removal in itself. The 5 CMC slot only becomes more important in non-pauper, so this is actually one of the best transmuters in a budget build. Eventually eclipsed by more powerful options as you add money to the deck.
Crop Rotation: Mostly a consideration if you're running strong utility lands, since it has card disadvantage. However, this can be circumvented by getting a karoo-type land.
Dimir House Guard: Interestingly, few important cards in this deck cost 4 mana, but it is at least a sac outlet in itself. Should be run in all commons, but otherwise there are better options.
Dimir Infiltratior: 2 CMC transmutes are very useful in commons/uncommons, but lose power when you rely more on rares. This card is pretty useless on its own, but the creature type is interesting for recursion and tutoring purposes.
Dizzy Spell: Useless on its own but can get you some rather nice things. Again, not too useful if you have access to rares and uncommons.
Drift of Phantasms: The 3 CMC slot is packed with bombs throughout the rarity spectrum, always a strong include.
Expedition Map: See Reap and Sow.
Merchant Scroll: Easily built around (just be sure to include Soul Manipulation and Perilous Research in your counters/draw suite) and should always be run as long as you're on a budget. In fact, it gets so many strong cards (Capsize, Bant Charm, Trickbind, Fact or Fiction) that it merits consideration regardless.
Muddle the Mixture: Decent on its own, fantastic with the transmute option. Always a must include.
Mystical Teachings: Possibly the best tutor in commons - pretty expensive to cast and recur, but worth it.
Perplex: Worse than Drift of Phantasms - the primary ability is useless as a counter and it's not a creature, so it can't fit into creature tutors in non-pauper. Eclipsed by Dimir Machinations.
Reap and Sow: Decent even when running only commons, but much more powerful with more potent lands available. Always a consideration.
Shred Memory: A must include in commons/uncommons, otherwise not so much.
Vedalken Aethermage: A very interesting tutor in Pauper. Since the Aethermage tutors with Mystical Teachings, a single Teachings will assemble the Ghostly Flicker engine with the mage in the deck (the recursion bears recurring teachings as they ETB, and teachings grabbing more recursion for the Aethermage's encore appearance) - quite useful. Also finds Sea Gate Oracle, Qasali Pridemage and Trinket Mage.
Beseech the Queen: Typically worse (and more expensive to buy) than 3 CMC transmutes. Skip.
Buried Alive: Three creatures into the yard for only three mana. Usually, one of them will be Golgari Thug or Genesis, to get one of the other three back. See Jarad's Orders for shenanigans.
Congregation at Dawn: Very good at setting up your engine. Instant speed and leading with Mulldrifter compensates for the card disadvantage.
Diabolic Tutor: Pretty bad at sorcery speed and 4 mana, but it is cheap to buy and it can fetch anything. Can be a consideration if you really need more tutors.
Dimir Machinations: Another 3 CMC transmute! Also strong disruption against top of the library tutors. It's also jet black, meaning it can transmute for Darksteel Ingot under Contamination locks. One of the better options IMO.
Lim-Dûl's Vault: Kind of like a budget Vampiric Tutor for roughly a dollar. The upside of being blue is that it qualifies as a target for Merchant Scroll. You could run this over a 3 CMC transmuter, but I'm not terribly fond of the card disadvantage.
Mystical Tutor: Excellent selection in this deck and a reasonable purchase price for the effect - though not at all mandatory for any build. See the adding money section.
Sylvan Scrying: An OK effect for an OK price, but not needed. A good replacement for Myconsynth Wellspring when you're getting thin on basics.
Tolaria West: Perhaps the best of the land tutors, but also the most expensive. A good upgrade for Expedition Map if you're adding money.
Worldly Tutor: Worse and higher price than Congregation at Dawn. Get Mystical Tutor instead if you have cash to spend.
Altar of Bone: Already discussed under sac outlets.
Demonic Collusion: Very strong reusable tutor that works best if you discard lands and grab Life from the Loam first. An engine that fits into your hand, unlike the Ghostly Flicker combo!
Eladamri's Call: More narrow than Demonic Tutor, but instant speed is good. A consideration when adding money to the deck.
Jarad's Orders: Probably the only card that, if it's in you opener, merits a change of strategy from the t4 CoA plan. Being ready to always blow up the world by turn 5 while attacking with a trampling commander is nice and all, but not quite as broken as forcing all opponents to discard their hands, as early as turn 4 with the right ramp. Grab Myojin of Night's Reach and Body Double. Since Body Double is cast from your hand, it gets a divinity counter. So there's that. But it's hardly a one-trick pony. It also gets Anger (or Genesis) into the yard while replacing itself with something useful - all for 4 mana. A must include!
Plea for Guidance: Worse than Three Dreams, but it can also get Necromancy. Pass.
Sovereigns of Lost Alara: A very interesting tutor to drop after CoA, before its first attack. Since you don't have to pay the mana cost for the auras, it's actually very mana efficient and keeps on tutoring as long as it stays on the board. The only problem is CoA eating removal in response to the trigger, but you can simply put it in the CZ then and replay it next turn. Highly recommended!
Three Dreams: 3 cards for 5 mana is good alone, but this card single-handedly assembles your engine with cards to spare. Gift of Immortality and Fallen Ideal are usually the ones to go for, plus whatever else seems useful. A must include!
Wargate: Puts the card directly into play with a 3 mana tax - very acceptable and cheap to buy. Even works as ramp. Always a must include!
The Core - Counters and Silver Bullets
Child of Alara is much like a broad spectrum antibiotic that kills most things. However, just like some bacteria are resistent, a few strategies require additional measures. Counters and a few silver bullets that fit well into your tutor package should cover these holes. To avoid redundancy, it's best to add cards in this section that do something that just blowing up CoA won't already accomplish. You're specifically looking for these qualities in silver bullets:
*Exiling/tuck/theft/sacrifice: CoA simply destroys. Exiling/tuck/theft effects prevent recursion and bypass indestructibility. Forced sacrifice also bypasses indestructibility and can often be used for CoA as well.
*Land removal: CoA avoids lands, so you need something to destroy problematic lands. Ideally, the silver bullet has a broader scope that just LD though.
*Colorless/free: Mana denial like Contamination or Winter Orb can lock you out if you don't have a good board position or counter in hand when it hits. Colorless or free spells help break the lock and restart your engines.
*Uncounterable: If you need to use a silver bullet, it had better resolve. Maybe the reason you need it is because you can't get CoA or reanimation to stick? Split second and similar mechanics help achieve this. Hitting first with brutal discard is another strategy.
*Non-creature: If Humility effects are big in your meta, consider that CoA won't work and that other creature based removal is not something you can rely on either.
Capsize and counters go a long way to handle these problems, but unfortunately, there's no one single answer to handle all of the above. There's usually only room for 2-3 silver bullets beyond the counter package and what utility you may be able to fit in lands and other card functions (for instance, many can double as sac outlets), so chose wisely. Your choices here are obviously more meta dependent than in the other sections.
Arcane Denial: Perhaps the best 2 CMC counter in multiplayer, and can even function as a good draw spell if you counter a 1 CMC spell that you have no need for (3 mana for instant speed draw 3, discard 1 is quite acceptable).
Bojuka Bog: Graveyard removal in a relevant mana source color that doesn't take up a slot. Always a must include.
Capsize: Wins games on its own. Always a must include.
Counterspell: One of the best counters available, but not as versatile as Arcane Denial and Muddle the Mixture.
Dismantling Blow: One of the best disenchant effects in commons, but not at all mandatory.
Faerie Trickery: One of the best common counters, and can always be considered in a graveyard centric meta.
Mind Extraction: One of the strongest cards in the deck as previously discussed. Must run.
Muddle the Mixture: Decent cost and countering range combined with tutoring capabilities might make this the best counter in the pauper card pool.
Negate: Pretty much a Counterspell that is easier to cast, since you mostly care about non-creatures anyway.
Nihil Spellbomb: Perhaps the best GY hate in commons and always a strong choice for the Dizzy Spell toolbox. However, Expedition Map for Bojuka Bog (or a ravnica bounce to reuse it, if already in play) is often just as effective, and saves a slot on dedicated GY hate.
Oblivion Ring: A good catch-all answer if you're running only commons and not blowing up CoA all the time. Otherwise, Reality Acid is probably better. You can respond to the trigger with Capsize, which nets you an engine that exiles a non-land permanent for 9 mana a piece - not too bad for Pauper.
Overrule: Built in lifegain can be useful, but if you have Worthy Cause already, there are better counters.
Pyroblast: Kill CoA on the cheap or protect against counters - always at least a meta consideration. A target for Dizzy Spell.
Reality Acid: See Oblivion Ring - same functionality with Capsize as well. Beyond Pauper, there are stronger options than either.
Reap and Sow: Competes with Wrecking Ball for the land removal slot and gets better the more powerful lands you run.
Red Elemental Blast: See Pyroblast.
Reverent Silence: A free enchantment sweeper that works under Contamination type locks. Mostly a consideration for common builds that don't rely heavily on auras.
Revoke Existance: Another source of exiling removal. A strong answer to Darksteel Plate etc.
Rewind: A very strong counter if you run the Ghostly Flicker engine - otherwise, 4 mana is a lot to keep open.
Qasali Pridemage: Another consideration for a disenchant effect. Easy to recur and helps boost CoA or utility creatures if they want to take a swing.
Shred Memory: A must include until you get access to rares and more appropriate tutors.
Snakeform: Indestructible killer that also stops leave play abilities - and it cantrips! Requires a board position to work though, but is always a consideration if you see lots of indestructibles. Being found by Merchant Scroll and the 3 CMC transmutes makes this a favorite of mine. It is later eclipsed by Bant Charm however.
Soul Manipulation: Mostly a way to get recursion from Merchant Scroll - can be safely skipped once you swap it for Demonic Tutor (not the highest of priorities, considering the price).
Unmake: Good creature removal, if somewhat difficult to cast. Competes with Snakeform.
Wrecking Ball: Good land removal in all commons builds that also kills CoA in a pinch.
Acidic Slime: Adds too little functionality to what CoA with its engines can already accomplish. Not recommended if you're pressed for space at all. The same can be said for all the other green creature-based removals that only add land destruction to your removal portfolio.
Bant Charm: Tucking removal that's also a counter and artifact hate. A must run!
Beast Within: Mostly useful for the LD option, but it also kills CoA when you have nothing else available and is generally useful - and more political than most other removals.
Countersquall: A slightly better Negate with slightly worse mana requirements. Not too useful.
Dream Fracture: Half way between Arcane Denial and Dismiss. A strong consideration, especially if you're not running the pricier counters.
Forbid: A very strong counter with Life from the Loam.
Encroaching Wastes/Ghost Quarter: The cheapest of the land-based land removals. A must for budget builds.
Dissipate: The slightly better Faerie Trickery. IMO, Hinder is a better replacement though.
Dissmiss: A peasant's Cryptic Command. Cantrips, but costs 4. A consideration.
Hinder: Slightly pricey, but still affordable. Access to tuck effects can mean the game against some opponents, so I find it a worthwhile investment if you have access to uncommons.
Krosan Grip: Uncounterable artifact/enchantment removal that tutors with the 3 CMC transmuters. Split second also means the ability to stop Crypt effects before they pop and nuke your yard. Arguably more important than Beast Within if you have land removal covered in other cards. Usually, you will have to choose between this and exiling removal.
Return to Dust: Competes with Krosan Grip for being the best disenchant effect in EDH. The exiling and possible card advantage is nice, but this deck is much more set up to take advantage of Archon of Justice rather than this card. Always a consideration however.
Stonecloaker: The best GY hate available, tutors with creature tutors, Mystical Teachings and the 3 CMC transmuters, and doubles as protection for creatures in case they are targeted with bad things. Dirt cheap too. Problem is, you probably can't spare the slot on dedicated GY hate. Most make do with Bojuka Bog and a couple of exile/tuck effects, but it's a strong consideration for the most GY centric metas.
Swords to Plowshares: Kind of narrow for your needs, but very cheap to cast (not so cheap to buy though, but less expensive than Path to Exile). Unless you play a lot 1v1 against fast aggro decks, Bant Charm is much better. If you want to be able to cast this routinely on t2, the improved mana base with shock duals is almost mandatory (see the adding money section).
Voidmage Husher: A reusable Stifle and cheap to buy. Can be useful in the right meta, but usually you have better uses for your mana.
Archon of Justice: Dirt cheap and a strong upgrade for Oblivion Ring/Reality Acid type effects. It also fits into creature tutors, which gives you more options than having all your removal in instant/sorceries. Deals with any type of permanent, permanently! I prefer it over Return to Dust in this deck.
Blatant Thievery: Most Control Magic effects are too weak to handle indestructibles because the aura blows up with CoA, returning the creature to the opponent. This one is different! Not only can it handle Ulamog, Avacyn or even Darksteel Forge - you will get to play with them yourself! Meanwhile, it also grabs problematic lands while ramping you (like Reap and Sow on steroids) or stuff you don't really want to blow up, such as Karmic Justice. A real problem solver in your toolbox that even comes with card advantage!
Glen Elendra Archmage: Pricey, but boy does she do yeoman's work in the deck. Fits right into the Lark engine too. One of the first upgrades to consider when adding money to the deck.
Mystic Snake: Costs more than Counterspell, but being a creature makes it more available for tutoring and recursion. Kind of competes with Glen Elendra (and this is the cheaper option to buy), but both could be run. One of them is mandatory if you run rares, to make the most of your tutors/recursion.
Spine of Ish Sah: It's colorless, it's non-creature and it deals with lands. Unfortunately, it's also 7 mana, a bit difficult to tutor for, and doesn't exile, but at least it has built in recursion and works as a bad reusable sac outlet for CoA. I like it in my meta where I often see Contamination locks.
Trickbind: Pricey, but also priceless. Like Hinder, it adds an important tool to the toolbox. I'd rather be without $3 than this in my budget deck.
The Core - Support
Now that the deck is rounded out with answers, it's time to sprinkle a few cards in there that will help you close the game or support the other cards you have picked. The all commons builds must rely more on separate dedicated win conditions, whereas the more general-centric builds can simply add a little synergy to help move things along more quickly. Note that while some draw spells are discussed here, small dig spells like Brainstorm and land fetch that can be played as part of your t4 CoA plan go into the Shell section below instead.
Bequeathal: Not only is there card draw in green, it's the most efficient card draw you'll find - and in CoA it will trigger easily (but it's better to put it on an opponent's creature than CoA!) Mostly useful with Three Dreams to ensure you always have three targets in your library to make the most of it.
Compulsive Research: One of the best draw spells available in Pauper. The discard can even be beneficial to you (putting lands for Tilling Treefolk in the yard, for instance).
Deep Analysis: A strong draw spell both from the hand and from the grave. Synergy with Forbidden Alchemy.
Divination: The benchmark draw effect. Not recommended as such since Mulldrifter, Compulsive Research and Read the Bones are all better (and there is even heavier - and lighter - draw to consider too). But it's useful as a comparison. If a card isn't better than "draw 2 for 3 at sorcery speed", it's probably useless even for Pauper.
Forbidden Alchemy: Heavy mana investment, but adding things to both your hand and yard is very advantageous. A must for Pauper builds, but easily eclipsed by Fact or Fiction.
Foresee: Very strong draw for a common that looks six cards deep! Highly recommended in Pauper builds if you have room to spare.
Krosan Restorer: Provides for infinite mana with Freed from the Real. This overcomes the clunkiness of the all commons engines and can let you win quickly with Capsize or a Fireball-type spell (easy to tutor for with infinite mana, many tutors and recursion to get them back).
Freed from the Real: See Krosan Restorer. Also a bad removal/lock piece.
Kaervek's Torch: An option for killing your opponents when you combo out or your lands in play outnumber their life total. Easy to recur with the Ghostly Flicker engine.
Krosan Tusker: Doesn't accelerate CoA or help mana fix before t4 CoA drop, but provides card advantage and is a decent beat stick. I never have room for land fetch that doesn't work with the t4 CoA plan, but YMMW.
Mulldrifter: The most versatile card draw in EDH. Awesome with the Ghostly Flicker engine in Pauper, or with the Reveillark engine in rares. Also very good with Congregation at Dawn.
Rolling Thunder: A more versatile but generally worse option than the torch. Mostly comes down to what transmuters you run.
Read the Bones: The black divination from Theros is awesome and digs 4 cards deep. That's almost a guarantee that one of them will be what you need, or something that tutors for it. Not a bad deal for 3 mana and 2 life!
Rush of Knowledge: Massive draw spell with CoA or the Pauper recursion bears. On par with Foresee and Deep Analysis.
Sea Gate Oracle: Another fine Ghostly Flicker target and general utility dude in Pauper.
Tilling Treefolk: The Pauper version of Life from the Loam. A good piece for the Ghostly Flicker engine if you build around it.
Yavimaya Elder: It doesn't help ramp into CoA or fix mana before a t4 drop, but it's a pretty decent card advantage machine. Typically competes for that slot with Krosan Tusker, but both could arguably be run.
Anger: Greatly increases the kill speed of CoA, creatures stolen with auras, or other fatties you might run. Highly recommended.
Blasting Station: Forms a game winning combo with Reveillark and either Body Double or Saffi Eriksdotter, while also being a bad sac outlet. There are other options for this slot (such as Altar of Dementia), but this one is probably the best and cheapest. I find it superfluous with Fallen Ideal already doing almost the same thing while being better on its own.
Fact or Fiction: THE draw spell for the deck. See Forbidden Alchemy above. This should probably always replace your worst tutor, at least as long as you're running any 3 CMC transmuters. Much, much better than something like Diabolic Tutor.
Pulse of the Grid: Kind of interesting, but the draw power is rather bland for the mana and you already have Forbid and Demonic Collusion as superb discard outlets. It shines the most when you have mana open for Worthy Cause or a counter anyway, and need a way to spend it at the end of an unthreatening turn - which kinda makes it win more. Optional, but hardly an alternative to FoF.
Darksteel Plate: Can make stolen/reanimated dudes indestructible so they survive CoA blasts. Much harder to handle for opponents than just throwing in indestructible creatures, as most decks don't run exiling artifact removal and you can protect it with counters. Too little added value for too high a price (about $4) to be considered for the budget build, but you could always consider this over your worst reanimation effect if you add money to the deck.
Colossus of Akros: Hilarious and cheap! However, a single StP will kill your 18 mana investment. Completely unnecessary - skip if you value your 99 slots.
Magister Sphinx: A nice and cheap win condition, but only targets one player. For this deck, Myojin is typically better.
Myojin of Night's Reach: If you resolve this, you will typically win the game. Mass removal + mass discard leaves very little for your opponents to do. Being indestrutible is also synergistic with CoA, without being a problematic Bribery target. Will only cost you about $2. Completely broken with Body Double and Jarad's Orders. Must include!
Spearbreaker Behemoth: The better option to Colossos, can make stolen/reanimated dudes indestructible so they survive CoA blasts. Cute, but still pretty easy to handle.
Spitting Image: Rather than including more win conditions of your own, you can copy others that seem worthwhile, perhaps indestructibles, titans or other big ETB effects? I prefer this over Rite of Replication since it's more resilient to counters and has more synergy with Life from the Loam - plus it scales as the game progresses. At any rate, a clone effect is highly recommended for the deck and this one has the most synergy with the general IMO.
The Shell - Basic Theory
The "shell" of the deck comprises lands, acceleration and early dig and land fetch. The shell serves to enable the game plan of your core, and as long as it can accomplish that, it is fine. The goal of this shell is to enable you to have WUBRG on turn 4 as often as possible - a rather challenging task, especially in Pauper. While you won't always need to blow up the world by turn 5, being prepared to do so can be quite advantageous against faster decks.
Of course, with Pauper or budget constraints, your selection for mana fixing is limited. However, this is actually not as bad as you might think. The importance of a "perfect" shell is often overstated for no good reason. So what if your lands enter tapped on turns 1-2 and you have to spend turn 3 on acceleration - you probably have rather few other spells that you want to play here anyway. Beyond that, ETBT lands do slow you down, but the speed bump of every other or every third land entering tapped is negligable compared to the speed gain that you can achieve by improving your engines and card selection - and the price is orders of magnitude lower.
The calculations below (based on hypergeometric distributions) aim for an 80% theoretical chance of WUBRG by t4, with mulligans covering the remaining 20% as far as is practical. For an 80% chance of t4 CoA, you need 53 mana sources, 13-14 of which should accelerate your development. However, it can be shown that as few as 10 accelerants will suffice if you include 4 dig effects that can be played on t2. These also help dig for lands etc. when you do have acceleration, reducing the risk for doubles or even triple acceleration. You may also wish to run land fetch, provided it can be played on t2 reliably, over a land slot.
The next issue to address is mana distribution. Besides the mana requirements of your spells, there are three parameters of interest: 1) enough t2 blue sources to play dig reliably (since it fixes ramp and other stuff), 2) enough t3 green sources to play ramp reliably (since it fixes your other colors), and 3) enough lands that do not ETBT so you'll actually have 3 mana on turn 3 and WUBRG on turn 4. In Pauper, item 1) and 3) are further complicated by the fact that you cannot run too many mono-colored sources (such as Islands) because you risk getting multiples instead of the WUBRG distribution that you need from those 53 sources. The maximum is 7 mono sources of any one color, if you want to be at least 80% likely to not get multiples by turn 4.
So how many sources are enough to reliably play spells? In 60 card games, 12-13 is the generally accepted number to not go below if you want a source of a certain color by turn 1 without undue mulligans. Here we don't need the source until t2 or t3 and most EDH groups use more favorable mulligan rules, so my rule of thumb is 18 sources (the equivalent of 11 in a 60 card deck).
Playing 4 lands from your hand and accelerating the final source, it stands to reason that you would need about half your lands not entering tapped (playing the two tappies on turn 1 and 2). However, you're also planning to use those early turns for dig and land fetch on occasion! While it's difficult to find an exact number here, I simply up the required number of non-ETBT lands by one for every spell I add that I intend to play on turn 1-2. In Pauper, this inevitably means playing more basics, so you should think hard before adding land fetch to a Pauper deck, if it's really worth it.
The Shell - Pauper
The Pauper deck is heavily weighted towards blue and black. You already want to max out on blue sources for t2 dig, and should max out on black too if possible. The remaining slots should be as even as possible, to increase the chances of a t4 CoA.
We now have sufficient information to construct the shell of the Pauper deck. Understanding its construction will be crucial even when you're adding other rarities to the deck, because the basic principles detailed above still apply, and you need to consider them when swapping stuff around.
T2 Blue Sources: With only 7 dedicated sources allowed, it will be difficult to reach 18 sources by t2. There are 4 guildgates that produce blue, as well as the two common fetches and Command Tower. That's 14 and as far as is reasonable to go in Pauper. The upside is that playing t2 dig spells is only needed when you lack acceleration, so you can hope for the stars to align (or simply mulligan more). Halimar Depths is very good here, because it is a blue source and a source of dig for ramp or more lands, setting one of your four dig slots as well.
T3 Green Sources: Beyond the mana ramp, the Pauper deck really has little need for green, so there's no point in stocking up on Forests to meet requirements. We also have access to a world of 2-drop lands that come on-line on t3. The best are Rupture Spire and Transguild Promenade. Next best in Pauper are the three green competent Panoramas. Then there are the Ravnica Karoos. However, you should be careful adding these for two reasons: 1) They will set you back heavily if bounced/destroyed, and 2) magical number 7 to avoid multiples applies to 2-drop lands as well, and you're already running 5 with the Panoramas. Hence, 2 is maximum (I recommend the UG and BG for color purposes). If we add the remaining green guildgates (3 total, the blue one is already in), I count 14 sources, requiring 4 dedicated green sources which is perfectly acceptable.
Other ETBT Lands: So far we have 17 lands that ETBT (assuming we activate Panoramas, which we must if we are to produce WUBRG by turn 4). With 40 lands total, that's maximum 23 untapped ones, which is also the bare minimum to finance 3 more blue dig spells. Hence, if you want to add something else that ETBT, you have to take it out of the slots already allocated! I recommend the following tweaks:
*Swap the GR and GW guildgates for Tranquil Thicket and Bojuka Bog. This ups it to 6 dedicated green sources (Thicket being one), which is still within margins for duplicates, plus Thicket cycles.
*Swap the BG Karoo for Myconsynth Wellspring. It's a fantastic card in the deck and the best 2-drop fixer with CoA blowing up readily and also Ghostly Flicker late game. One Karoo is an excellent tutor target for reusing Bojuka Bog etc. but beyond that the returns diminish rapidly.
Non-ETBT Lands: In a Pauper build, I think there's little reason not to run the colored artifact lands and Trinket Mage. The Mage might not help you get a t4 CoA, but there's little opportunity cost to include the artifact lands and it makes Mage an excellent engine piece late game. Darksteel Citadel would help too, but alas it doesn't produce WUBRG so it can't count towards our 53 sources. With the Wellspring cutting a land however, I think Citadel is important enough to merit going up to 54 sources - the extra land will hardly hurt in the long game and Darksteel stuff is about the only answer you have to mass LD in Pauper, beyond counters. The only other non-basic in this category is Command Tower. The other pseudo-gold lands don't help in the t4 CoA plan, but you may prefer running Opal Palace over Darksteel Citadel if you don't like the Trinket Mage package for some reason. There are 22 more dedicated sources to distribute (in addition to one dedicated U, B and G source respectively in utility lands) and we already presume 6 will be blue and 5 will be green. We want to max out on black, however a more even distribution would increase the likelyhood of WUBRG on t4 more. Thus I suggest a 3/6/5/3/5 distribution - the best compromise in the overall interest of a t4 CoA. It also makes it easy to have one of each kind be an artifact land without ever running into having too few basics of a certain kind in your library for fetching purposes.
Now that the lands are decided, the remaining part of the Pauper shell is dig and ramp.
Dig: Brainstorm, Ponder and Preordain are undisputably the best three. A simple addition.
Ramp:
*Cultivate and Kodama's Reach: The bee's knees. Ramp and card advantage, fixing two colors.
*Harrow: Instant and also fixes two colors, which are put into play untapped for a net cost of one mana and giving the option for other spells on t3. No CA though, but almost as good.
*Primal Growth: Versatile - does it's job t3 and is also a sac outlet and ramps formidably late game.
*Far Wanderings: Also acceptable t3, but amazing late game with all your basics and a strong recursion target with your bears. A truly powerful card in Pauper builds!
*Sakura-tribe Elder + Farhaven Elf: The best ramp dudes available and even easier to recur.
*Darksteel Ingot + Wayfarer's Bauble: Colorless acceleration has an interesting effect on the mana base - it waivers the requirement for a green source. In fact, it COUNTS as a green source. This means you can run fewer Forests in favor of Islands/Swamps instead. This lets you max out on U and B sources and still keep the distribution very even at 3/6/6/3/4 and even better margins for a t3 green source.
*Search for Tomorrow: As it can cost as little as one mana to use, and it puts the land into play untapped, it can essentially be a free ramp spell - or just a rather mediocre t3 ramp. Still the best option to make it 10 ramp effects in Pauper.
Thus the Pauper shell is finished, behold:
1 Command Tower
1 Rupture Spire
1 Transguid Promenade
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
tri-fixing (3)
1 Bant Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
1 Naya Panorama
dual-fixing (6)
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Golgari Guildgate
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Halimar Depths
1 Tranquil Thicket
artifact lands (6)
1 Ancient Den
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Great Furnace
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Vault of Whispers
basic lands (17)
3 Forest
5 Island
2 Mountain
2 Plains
5 Swamp
3 Cultivate
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Harrow
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Far Wanderings
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Primal Growth
2 Sakura-tribe Elder
3 Search for Tommorow
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
SMALL DIG/LAND SEARCH (4)
1 Brainstorm
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
The Shell - Budget
The color distribution of the non-pauper deck is much different from the Pauper version. Blue is still the most important color, but green becomes useful for much more than ramp and white now rivals black in importance. Red is even less useful in the budget build, however. With non-commons available, you also get access to a lot of interesting utility lands, but adding them to the mana base becomes a challenge as you can't cut colored sources! If anything, you're striving to add more blue duals. Lets look at some very cost-effective options that address these new constraints.
The Odyssey Filters: For roughly $2 a piece (that's $10 for the whole set) you get duals that work better than the original premium duals in this deck. You see, these launder colorless mana into colored mana, which means that dropping this and a colorless land can suddenly count as your two non-ETBT land drops in the t4 CoA plan - something your average Taiga could never accomplish. Since 5 of these will give the same amount of sources as 10 basics/artifact lands, they allow you to cut 10 dedicated sources (2 of each color, including the colored artifact lands since Trinket Mage no longer makes the cut) and create space for 5 non-ETBT colorless utility lands (see below), which is pretty darn impressive for the price. They also make your panoramas better since they can be that colorless source and you don't have to crack it on turn 2 just to meet the plan. Yes, sometimes the mana in your opener will include a colorless utility land and no filter or other outs to t4 WUBRG, but that's what mulligans are for. Trust me, these are great in the deck and well worth the investment.
Utility Lands: You now have five slots to spend on colorless utility lands (in addition to the Darksteel Citadel you're already running to guard against mass LD). Many CoA decks will use these slots similarly:
*Sac Outlet: A defining slot in Child of Alara. Grim Backwoods is the cheapest option and will cost you a quarter! It's arguably better than Miren, the Moaning Well at about $7 (I'd rather pay four to draw a card and blow up the world, than pay three and gain 6 life and blow up the world - plus the effect is redundant with Worthy Cause). High Market is probably better, but will cost you a few dollars, so I'd make do with Backwoods for now (see the section on adding money to the deck).
*Recursion: A budget option exists here too - Moorland Haunt for less than a quarter. It's no Volrath's Stronghold, but you can use it to put CoA in the CZ from your grave to be cast again, and it doesn't kill your draw like VS does. Neither this nor VS is a particularly effective recursion engine though, so why not save $25 on your back-up solution?
*Land Removal: Nasty with LftL - several options exist. Strip Mine gives you the most bang for your buck if you can use it (I go by the Duel Commander banlist, where it is banned). Tectonic Edge is roughly the same price point ($4) and almost as good for the job. Ghost Quarter and Encroaching Wastes are decidedly budget options, but I'm sort of partial to Ghost Quarter because it has synergy with Darksteel Citadel.
*Reliquary Tower: With all the things returning to your hand, this is perhaps the primary utility land to consider beyond these three slots. An argument could be made for the use of the discard step in reanimation, but in practice it is mostly academic and you will almost always benefit from this card in a long game. Can be had for $1.
*Open Slot: Some choose to play another sac outlet or recursion source here, or perhaps Petrified Field ($2) in case either gets destroyed. I trust in Life from the Loam instead and opt for more varied utility. Alchemist's Refuge is a very nice budget option (half a dollar) that permits combat tricks, playing around counters, instant speed Mind Extraction and other nasty things.
Redestributing Basics: With 5 artifact lands and 1 of each basic gone, we now have a WUBRG distribution of 1/4/4/1/2. One Mountain is sufficient for fetching purposes, and while green is still important, you will rarely fetch basic Forests with green basic land search, so two is the correct number. We can't cut Islands as we're already short on early blue sources, but white is now as important as black. Two each of Swamps and Plains leaves an open slot for a non-ETBT land and Exotic Orchard is a very good budget option (roughly $1). At worst, it's a second red source - at best it produces U and/or G in the early turns. Most of all however, it adresses the need for more varied sources in the non-pauper build.
Improving the 5 Guildgates: The lone Simic karoo is still as good as ever as a tutor target, but much has improved since we only had guildgates to choose from. It seems obvious to simply swap them for the 5 shard lands, but this would actually not be an advantage to the t4 CoA plan, as you would lose one green and one blue source in favor of less important colors. So some shard lands are better than others, and there are even better upgrades to be made:
Simic Guildgate -> Seaside Citadel: The best shard land for the deck, a straight upgrade that is good with the increased demand for white in the early turns. Less than $2.
Golgari Guildgate -> Murmoring Bosk: Another almost-straight upgrade and an extremely interesting card. It's not part of any cycle, but a stand-alone gem. It counts as a Forest, meaning cards that look for Forests will find it - so such cards will at least offer powerful three color fixing too. Awesome for less than $3.
3 Other Guildgates: We now have better ETBT blue sources that also provide green and more:
*Grand Coliseum: The budget City of Brass is actually very good with the filter lands. A bit more than $1.
*Vivid Creek: The best Vivid for the deck. It can help fix green on t3 and red on t4 and still be very useful throughout the game. Half a dollar.
*Mirrodin's Core: Not strictly an ETBT land, but in practice it works like a cross between Coliseum and Vivid Creek. There's almost always some room in the mana budget, and that's when you put counters on the core. Can fix U/G early or R on t4, and is strong with the Odyssey filters. Half a dollar.
Improving the T3 Green Sources: Panoramas are still awesome as they help power filter lands, have synergy with LftL, provide shuffling on demand - or of course, needed green mana which was their original purpose. Transguild Promenade and Rupture Spire are very slow however, and with the addition of faster fixing and more green sources, they are simply better to replace with 1-drop lands. To round out the utility land selection, I highly recommend Mistveil Plains ($2) alongside your U, G, and B utility lands. With most recursion mechanics (and of course CoA) being white, meeting the requirement isn't hard and it gives you a nice way to recur tutor targets to be searched out again. It also counts as a Plains, which makes Grasslands (less than a quarter) the perfect budget fetch to search it or the powerful Murmuring Bosk out, or just simply provide an early green or white basic source.
Improving Ramp: With the new land base, heavy basics fetching becomes a less viable strategy. You now have earlier green sources as well, meaning that 2-drop ramp can give you the option of a more productive turn 3 before CoA even hits the table.
*Cultivate and Kodama's Reach: Still awesome, you run more than enough basics to support them.
*Primal Growth: Still one of the best ramps for the deck.
*Harrow: Not so good anymore as you typically don't want to substitute your stronger lands for basics. Wargate is a pretty awesome replacement with all the new early white sources. Ramp that also tutors for practically anything - and costs about $1!
*Darksteel Ingot + Wayfarer's Bauble: You now have a rather interesting alternative to Bauble - Krosan Verge (half a dollar). Thanks to Murmoring Bosk, this provides acceptable fixing and puts less strain on the basics - and it also fetches Mistveil Plains. More importantly, it gives you acceleration in your land tutors while improving the ramp-to-land ratio for the late game (ramp is worse than lands when you start missing drops anyway).
*Far Wanderings: With fewer basics, triple ramp risks not getting you the colors you want, making it less useful. However, now that you can consistently play green spells on turn 2, you can swap it for Crop Rotation (common) which can find Krosan Verge and do many more interesting things with your diversified manabase.
*Sakura-tribe Elder + Farhaven Elf: There's merit in having a ramp creature for tutoring purposes, but two are not needed and you can do better than Farhaven Elf now. Farseek (also a common) can be played t2 and also finds Mistveils Plains!
*Search for Tomorrow: Even better now that you can consistently drop it turn 2, and leave t3 open to play business. Lets you fix at the last minute in case your top deck changes things!
Improving Land Search/Cantrips: Now that you can cast green spells on turn 2, it's possible to further reduce the strain on finding basic land targets by swapping Mycosynth Wellspring for Evolution Charm. It will fix with basics on turn 2 just like the Wellspring, while giving you a recursion option (or combat trick) instead if you start running out in the late game. The blue cantrips remain as useful as always and cannot really be improved at this point in the budget.
So, for about $25 total compared to the Pauper version, you will gain:
*A more useful shell with more utility functionality.
*A faster mana base, permitting the occasional business spell (such as disruption or a tutor) to be played on turns 2-3 while still being able to drop CoA on t4.
*Slightly improved fixing and overall number of mana sources of each color.
The finished budget shell is presented with the rest of the deck in the next section.
DECKLISTS
Now it's time to put the core and the shell together. We'll start by taking a closer look at a classic Pauper list that has a somewhat different approach than what's suggested in the primer. A basic budget non-pauper list the follows, which also forms the basis for the "adding money" discussion in the section below.
Decklists - Pauper
Consider the following decklist by d0su, originator of the Pauper Dreamcrusher. This list is current as of January 2014 - I have gently restructured it to fit the terms and categories used in the primer.
5 Child of Alara
CORE (41)
Sacrifice Outlets (7)
2 Devour Flesh
3 Mind Extraction
1 Red Elemental Blast
3 Rend Flesh
2 Terminate
4 Wrecking Ball
Recursion and Engines (13)
4 Archaeomancer
3 Cadaver Imp
3 Capsize
2 Disturbed Burial
3 Ghostly Flicker
2 Grim Harvest
5 Izzet Chronarch
5 Mnemonic Wall
3 Reaping the Graves
1 Reclaim
5 Scrivener
3 Soul Manipulation
3 Tilling Treefolk
Tutors(9)
4 Dimir House Guard
2 Dimir Infiltrator
4 Drift of Phantasms
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Muddle the Mixture
4 Mystical Teachings
3 Perplex
2 Shred Memory
3 Trinket Mage
1 Aether Spellbomb
2 Arcane Denial
1 Condescend
2 Counterspell
3 Faerie Trickery
1 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Overrule
2 Qasali Pridemage
Support (9)
3 Freed from the Real
1 Horizon Spellbomb
3 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Krosan Restorer
5 Mulldrifter
3 Rhystic Study
2 Rolling Thunder
3 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Yavimaya Elder
SHELL (52)
Dig and Fix (4)
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
2 Prophetic Prism
Ramp (7)
3 Cultivate
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Far Wanderings
3 Kodama's Reach
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
Multi-fixing (7)
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Opal Palace
1 Rupture Spire
1 Shimmering Grotto
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Transguild Promenade
Tri-fixing (4)
1 Bant Panorama
1 Esper Panorama
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
Utility (10)
1 Barren Moor
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Halimar Depths
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Polluted Mire
1 Remote Isle
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Slippery Karst
1 Tranquil Thicket
Basics (20)
7 Island
6 Forest
5 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Plains
This is a very interesting list. By ignoring the intense focus on dropping CoA turn 4, d0su gets away with much more card advantage and an essentially UBG mana base. It may look slow, but it has been proven and refined over three years time - and at rather cutthroat tables, I might add.
Let's look at the shell first. The most striking thing is the utter lack of guildgates. This creates space for other ETBT lands, namely a whole bunch of cycling lands. These can then be recurred by green's "Mulldrifter", Tilling Treefolk. In the Ghostly Flicker engine (or with Capsize), it becomes the Pauper version of Life from the Loam with those cycling lands. Hence, more panoramas make sense too, to draw out all the basics. With little concern for turn 4 specifically, d0su can compensate the lack of guildgates with more but slower multi-fixing.
With raw card advantage being the main plan, it also makes sense to run heavier stuff like Forbidden Alchemy and Yavimaya Elder. Running these and cards like Horizon Spellbomb over Mycosynth Wellspring can be advantageous in a heavy blue meta - it's slower, but it can help you outdraw them in a counter war.
The core seems very solid and uncontroversial to me, and gives new players a useful sense of proportions in the Pauper deck. I think the sacrifice outlets are a little light however - I'd probably play Perilous Research (makes better use of Merchant Scroll) and Primal Growth (say, over Rhystic Study and Prophetic Prism). This would also allow the "sac outlets" to be used more for their other purposes (like spot removal). Quasali Pridemage is a superb choice of multi-purpose 2 CMC removal alongside Oblivion Ring. However, I miss Vedalken Aethermage with all these multi-purpose wizards. Scrivener could probably be cut for it.
All in all, this deck shows that there's more than one way to destroy the world and dominate with a cheapskate deck. In fact, a plan focusing more on card advantage and less on an early CoA could be the better way to go for a pure Pauper build - it will allow you to skimp on Plains and Mountains without shame at least. It's also an interesting comparison to the budget non-pauper build that I'm about to present.
Decklists - The Basic Budget Deck
The basic budget deck will cost you about $100, with only a handful of cards costing more than $3 (Genesis is the most expensive, but indispensible for a competitive build). Upgrades for the more pronounced budget options are discussed in the adding money section.
5 Child of Alara
CORE (45)
Sacrifice Outlets (6)
5 Bound//Determined
3 Fallen Ideal
10 Greater Gargadon
3 Mind Extraction
4 Momentous Fall
2 Perilous Research
Recursion and Engines (10)
5 Body Double
2 Dance of the Dead
3 Eternal Witness
5 Fool's Demise
5 Genesis
3 Gift of Immortality
2 Life from the Loam
5 Reveillark
2 Saffi Eriksdotter
3 Soul Manipulation
Tutors (14)
5 Brainspoil
3 Buried Alive
3 Congregation at Dawn
5 Demonic Collusion
3 Dimir Machinations
3 Drift of Phantasms
4 Jarad's Orders
1 Expedition Map
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Muddle the Mixture
4 Mystical Teachings
4 Reap and Sow
6 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
5 Three Dreams
2 Arcane Denial
5 Archon of Justice
3 Bant Charm
7 Blatant Thievery
3 Capsize
3 Forbid
3 Hinder
4 Mystic Snake
7 Spine of Ish Sah
2 Trickbind
Support (5)
4 Anger
1 Bequeathal
5 Mulldrifter
8 Myojin of Night's Reach
6 Spitting Image
SHELL (54)
Non-land ramp (9)
1 Crop Rotation
3 Cultivate
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Farseek
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Primal Growth
2 Sakura-tribe Elder
3 Search for Tommorow
3 Wargate
Dig and Fixing (4)
1 Brainstorm
2 Evolution Charm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
Lands (41)
Multi-fixing (7)
1 Command Tower
1 Grand Coliseum
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Mirrodin's Core
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Vivid Creek
1 Bant Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
1 Naya Panorama
1 Murmoring Bosk
1 Seaside Citadel
Dual-fixing (8)
1 Darkwater Catacombs
1 Grasslands
1 Krosan Verge
1 Mossfire Valley
1 Shadowblood Ridge
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Skycloud Expanse
1 Sungrass Prarie
Utility (10)
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Grim Backwoods
1 Halimar Depths
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Tranquil Thicket
Basic lands (11)
4 Island
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
OVERALL STRATEGY
Much of the tactics for playing the deck is discussed in the description of the card(s) in question, and the early game plan is outlined in detail in the Shell section. This section will briefly discuss broader political and strategic considerations.
You Are Control
While accelerating your early mana development is probably always a good thing to do, dropping CoA on turn 4 isn't actually necessary unless the board state demands it. It might not even be the best thing to do even if you can - if you draw attention to yourself and your opponents are packing counters or exiling removal. You might want to spend turn 4 on tutoring for a sac outlet or recursion piece, and perhaps even more ramp, and then drop CoA on turn 5-6 instead with counter back-up or a sac outlet ready. If you can grab control over the game quickly, go for it - but never risk losing control of the game because you want to actually win quickly. Killing is simply a formality. It's rendering your opponents helpless and making their efforts futile that wins the game.
You Are God
While you do demand the sacrifice of a child for the permanent sins of your opponents, you should try not to make your existence too obvious. Let the humans play! It's always best if you know that you have the world in your murderous killing vise, while at the same time letting your opponents think that they have a real shot at eternal life. Don't look like the bad guy. Be the good guy, that saves the table from the brink of disaster! Every time. Of course, there was never any real threat of disaster, but as long as your opponents think it was a close call and that someone else almost had you - had them all in fact - you will get to keep playing your favorite deck and not get hated out. Make your friends into your prophets! They shall prepare the second coming of the Child of Judgment! The security of the table rests in your fatherly hands.
God is an Entertainer
Yes, you can blow up the world whenever you feel like it, but if that is ALL your deck is doing, simply because it magically happens to hose every strategy at the table, your opponents won't have any fun, and pretty soon, you won't either. So mix it up. Maybe one game you can rely on the Oblivion Ring/Capsize engine instead, or the Ghostly Flicker engine with infinite counters and removal. Or their equivalent rare counterparts, Archon of Justice and Mystic Snake. Or maybe you just reset the board once when it really matters, and then reanimate one of your opponent's juicy creatures and attempt to ride it to the win, protecting it with counters. Once in a while, try to win as quickly as possible, perhaps with the Jarad's Orders -> Myojin/Double combo, as this creates a useful distraction to your otherwise inescapable domination of the board. If people lose spectacularly once in a while, they are more OK with losing inevitably the rest of the time. Even if a drastic move will cost you the game, losing once in a while is only a benefit for your deck's reputation. Rather than always playing your deck so it is unbeatable, you can try to make it entertaining whenever you can afford to do so, since that will make it even more unbeatable (socially) in the long run.
ADDING MONEY TO THE DECK
The basic budget build is rather adequate on its own, but you can of course improve it further by increasing the budget. Before you go ahead and invest in premium duals and fetches though, there are other more pressing concerns that will add much more bang for your buck. This section sorts them roughly by "cost-benefit", starting small and going up.
These changes are recommended to do first, as they improve your shell and solidify your game plan.
Grim Backwoods -> Phyrexian Tower. It will cost you $12, but it is the best sac outlet in the game (a mana ability that cannot be responded to). Drawing cards is nice and all, but it's simply no compensation for a net difference of 6 mana.
Halimar Depths -> Mystical Tutor. Make your game plan even more solid for only $5. Gets so much powerful stuff in the deck.
Expedition Map -> Tolaria West. A better land tutor since it's also a t2 blue source (replaces Halimar Depths in that department) and works with LftL. Another $5.
I'd also recommend replacing your three worst lands with Sylvan Scrying ($3, can be played t2 and thus replace a land), City of Brass and Forbidden Orchard ($5 each). If you're using the budget shell as suggested, I'd cut Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse and Vivid Creek (fewer ETBT lands means a quicker clock, plus you reduce strain on your basic lands. Panoramas don't ETBT and can produce mana on their own, so cutting the basic fetches is a greater priority).
This package adds the 4 shock dual Plains to the mana base to enable Emeria, the Sky Ruin as a significantly stronger land-based recursion option than Moorland Haunt. This also solidifies the mana base much more, and enables your Plains fetchers to fix any color. Emeria + shock duals costs a few more dollars than a Volrath's Stronghold, but is a MUCH more effective recursion engine, while also greatly improving your mana fixing. Improved land tutors that help assemble Emeria and your other utility lands is also part of the package.
3 basics + 1 Panorama -> 4 shock dual Plains: You can't drop your single basic Mountain, but you can go down to 3 Island, 1 Forest and 1 Swamp. The other 2 panoramas also get replaced in this overhaul. Sacred Foundry, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain and Temple Garden will cost you about $25-30.
Seaside Citadel -> Flood Plain: Like Grasslands and Krosan Verge, this now fixes all colors, and has synergy with LftL. It also finds Mistveil Plains and helps you assemble Emeria.
Moorland Haunt -> Emeria, the Sky Ruin: Another free recursion engine is nothing to scoff at. The Odyssey filter lands that previously launder colorless mana will now help you launder any excess white mana that may arise instead. $4.
2 Panoramas -> Tithe ($4) and Flagstones of Trokair ($10): Both of these get Plains, which mean they now fix every color and help you assemble Emeria. Flagstones further improves your resilience to mass LD, and has synergy with Ghost Quarter (and Perilous Research) if you're still running it (the two form a rather cute engine with Life from the Loam!).
Reap and Sow -> Scapeshift/Primeval Titan: Both of these help assemble Emeria and are more powerful (but more expensive) land tutors than Reap and Sow. IMO, the Titan is the more powerful option, but it may be banned depending on which list your group goes by. Both are roughly at the same price point (around $15).
Demonic Tutor: The most popular tutor in EDH will cost you about $15-20. You now have so strong fixing that getting black on t2 isn't very challenging, so you can probably swap a land for this.
Intuition: Arguably the best triple tutor available, perfect for setting up Life from the Loam with your key lands, or getting whatever you desire with Genesis and Eternal Witness. About $30. Could replace a transmuter or something else if you prefer.
This package changes the feel of the deck by changing win conditions somewhat. Particularly recommended if you have played the deck for a while and want to change things up a little.
Fallen Ideal -> Dark Depths: As you become more land focused, Fallen Ideal plays out its role as a sac outlet and with money to spend, also as a win condition. Dark Depths/Thespian's Stage is a pretty awesome combo in Child of Alara, as the token doesn't care about your general sweeper and you can churn out one 20/20 indestructible flyer per turn with Life from the Loam, which should quickly overwhelm exiling effects. Tutors like Intuition and Scapeshift make this happen frighteningly fast. Marit Lage production will presently set you back $55 due to the popularity of the combo.
Three Dreams -> Thespian's Stage: Three Dreams loses value without Fallen Ideal, as you now have fewer targets for it and lose its ability to assemble sac outlet + recursion in a single tutor. Drop it to make room for the other part of the combo. Stage also works as a gold land or extra utility land, but it's hard to find mana to activate it before a t4 CoA, so it probably shouldn't be considered until this point. Only $2.
Bequeathal -> Diabolic Intent: Bequeathal isn't necessary when you drop Three Dreams. Replace the sac outlet you lost from Fallen Ideal by swapping it for an extra Demonic Tutor for a mere $6. Intent is probably not stronger than the other sac outlets you run in the basic build however, so you have to wait for a vacancy to fit it.
Sovereigns of Lost Alara -> Reap and Sow: Time to put it back in again as you're now decidedly more land focused than aura focused. You could also swap the sovereigns for Expedition Map if you prefer it.
Alchemist's Refuge -> Boseiju, Who Shelters All: A more powerful counter-measure to counterspells, that works well with your buyback spells and new tutors. Most of your stuff is instant speed now anyway, so Refuge is less needed. About $8 - well worth the investment.
Dance of the Dead -> Corpse Dance: Now more easy to tutor for, plus it works better with the Refuge/Boseiju swap. Only $3.
These upgrades cost much and offers comparatively little improvement. You're probably better off improving on other decks.
Reflecting Pool: The next-in-line land improvement. $12 - cheap at this point. Having replaced your ETBT fixers (except your awesome fetch lands that are more important than this) already however, the incremental advantage is small. This could arguably replace the third Island, but I think I'd rather have the basic land. It could easily replace your worst rainbow land, but is probably worse than your filter lands. You probably want to keep Murmoring Bosk for Krosan Verge until you add more Forest duals.
Sensei's Divining Top: As it can dig, it could easily replace your worst land, much like Reflecting Pool. Your 2-drop tutors and digs are adding up now however, but it's a good card. $20 if you're lucky.
True Fetch Lands: These could easily replace your 2 budget Mirage fetches and even your worst rainbow lands since they are better with LftL. The 4-5 cheapest of the lot are about $50 a pop (Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath etc), so they will give you the most bang for your buck and you don't have room for many more anyways.
True Duals: Plateau, Tundra and Scrubland are each at roughly the same price point as the cheaper fetches ($50), so they could replace a basic Plains, Murmoring Bosk and Sacred Foundry. Not sure I'd recommend investing in ABUR duals beyond that, unless you completely rework the shell somehow.
Volrath's Stronghold: Will cost you about $25. Could replace some other source of recursion, but I can't imagine that I'd want to cut anything for it, let alone invest in it for this deck.
Diamond Valley: A moderately played one can be yours for less than $100! Completely unnecessary and much worse than Phyrexian Tower IMO. Spend your dollars on other decks, or something more important than Magic.
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1 Child of Alara
CREATURES (13)
1 Archaeomancer
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Dimir Infiltrator
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Gravedigger
1 Izzet Chronarch
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Mulldrifter
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Vedalken Aethermage
INSTANTS (32)
1 Altar's Reap
1 Arcane Denial
1 Brainstorm
1 Capsize
1 Condescend
1 Counterspell
1 Death Denied
1 Deglamer
1 Devour Flesh
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Evolution Charm
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Grim Harvest
1 Harrow
1 Impulse
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Perilous Research
1 Perplex
1 Pyroblast
1 Reaping the Graves
1 Reclaim
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Shred Memory
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Terminate
1 Tragic Slip
1 Traumatic Visions
1 Undying Evil
1 Wrecking Ball
1 Cultivate
1 Deep Analysis
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Far Wanderings
1 Foresee
1 Kaervek's Torch
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mind Extraction
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Primal Growth
1 Search for Tomorrow
ARTIFACTS (4)
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
ENCHANTMENTS (1)
1 Reality Acid
LANDS (36)
1 Command Tower
1 Rupture Spire
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Golgari Guildgate
1 Gruul Guildgate
1 Selesnya Guildgate
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Bant Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Plains
7 Island
6 Swamp
3 Mountain
5 Forest
CURRENT DECKS
WUBRG Child of Alara, Pauper Dreamcrusher GRBUW | BGU Muldrotha, Dreamcrusher REDUX UGB | WUB Dreamcrusher Pt. III: Nevinyrral's Disco BUW
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
@bfine70: I think the cyclers can be a strong alternative to the guildgates - just look at d0su's build. It basically depends on whether you want the ability to drop CoA quickly (making color fixing more important), or some more flexibility in your land-to-spell ratio.
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Turn 2 Two Goblin Guide
I don't get to play Magic or frequent the forums very much these days, but this remains my favorite deck and I will undoubtedly take a few ideas from your build and analysis. Keep up the good work!
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
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Edit: Did you leave out gravedigger? Was it a card you replaced later in the primer?
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Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
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CURRENT DECKS
WUBRG Child of Alara, Pauper Dreamcrusher GRBUW | BGU Muldrotha, Dreamcrusher REDUX UGB | WUB Dreamcrusher Pt. III: Nevinyrral's Disco BUW
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Rules Advisor
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
@Shokatshin: It depends a lot on what your playing against. Some decks just can't handle consistent sweeping, and in that case they might try to win quickly so then you really need to prioritize hands that can give you a t4 CoA. 3 lands including a green source and an acceleration piece is usually what your looking for, ideally with a sac outlet or a tutor as well. Partial paris mulligans help a lot in achieveing this. Don't worry too much about recursion, as you'll have time to see about that while such an opponent tries to recover from the first blow out. Also, if opp doesn't have time to develop before CoA drops, just smacking it down with mana open will often force another strategy since a quick win is no longer possible.
Against control, inevitability is more important. Try to cast CoA the first time with protection and tutor for an uncounterable sac outlet. If you're facing mana locks like Winter Orb or Hokori you probably still want a fairly early CoA as insurance though.
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I have even been thinking of just making a deck with all removal, no wincons, and Child, just because its getting out of hand.
..
Azusa - Derevi - Glissa - Mizzix - Sharuum - Wanderer - Wort
Hidetsugu - Combo Damage
Ezuri - Elfball
Theorycrafting:
Selvala - "A hunter must hunt."
Selvala - Budget
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Commander: Child of Alara BURGW, Adeliz, the Cinder Wind UR
Tiny Leaders: Gwafa, Hazid Profiteer UW
Regular Pauper: Stompy G, Mono-G Tron G, Infect G
I'll go tinkering on an updated pauper shell
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Treasure Cruise is interesting but my guess is that we simply interact with our graveyard too much for it to be useful. I can see it mimicking Concentrate, though. Do you think Concentrate is good enough?
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
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My initial impression when I saw it was that cards like Rush of Knowledge and Petals of Insight were better in most cases. It's good to have additional options though. I could see it being decent in a dredge deck.
I'm all ears for khans, but these two cards don't much affect my initial assessment that we already have better options for business spells.
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Turn 2 Two Goblin Guide
multi-fixing (5)
1 Command Tower
1 Rupture Spire
1 Transguid Promenade
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
dual-fixing (10)
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Golgari Guildgate
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Jungle Hollow
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
1 Thornwood Falls
1 Tranquil Cove
1 Halimar Depths
1 Darksteel Citadel
basic lands (23)
6 Forest
6 Island
2 Mountain
2 Plains
7 Swamp
RAMP (10)
3 Cultivate
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Harrow
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Far Wanderings
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Primal Growth
2 Sakura-tribe Elder
3 Search for Tommorow
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Brainstorm
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
The full 8 Ux duals as well as the two BG ones makes it possible. Goldfishing so far, it seems really smooth. If you really want Bojuka Bog, you could go -1 Swamp, -1 Golgari Guildgate, +1 Forest, +1 Bojuka Bog, but I prefer one less dedicated green source and not having the hassle of land tutors to find my graveyard removal (rolling with Nihil Spellbomb instead).
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