MTG Salvation

I've played Pauper, and I've played EDH, but this is my first venture into combining them. A friend and I decided to prove to our playgroup that it didn't take big money to win, so we opted to build pauper decks; we used actual legends so it was legal in a regular game and kept everything else at common.

I chose Talrand because it seemed like it could be built powerful and cheap. My goal was a $10 deck, and I spent significantly less than that (most were in the 5 cent and 10 cent common bins at two of my local stores), but to be fair, I already had several of the more powerful cards in my collection).

I love that Talrand turns control into aggro. The deck swarms out tokens like crazy and gets tons of value for very little mana. It also makes some opponents very hesitant to attack, as they can never tell how many blockers I will actually have or what may happen to their creatures.



Wishlist: Rewind, Sage's Knowledge

The deck was built in the hopes that it could compete with regular non-pauper EDH decks, and I have to say that the first game it played was EPIC! It was a three player game against Sydri, Galvanic Genius artifacts and Isperia, Supreme Judge with blink and untap schenanigans.

Sydri got off to a disgusting start, pooping out artifacts until an ability (i.e. uncounterable) put Blightsteel Colossus into play. He sacced it when I cast Ray of Command (potentially for the kill), and then I proceeded to annihilate him repeatedly with an unblockable Ulamog's Crusher.

Meanwhile, we had forgotten about Mr. Schenanigans off to the side until he gained tons of life and reset our boards with Kederekt Leviathan. At one point, Sydri and I were each at 9 life while Isperia had 56. One Scourglass, four Kederkt Leviathans, a counter war, and a Perilous Vault later, I was sick of having my board wiped. Each time, I still managed to crank out an army of 8-14 drakes and eventually beat Isperia down to 6 life. I could have actually made the kill with the drakes, but I ended it with lethal general damage off of Talrand, thanks to 9 swings with Whispersilk Cloak and a final swing (after losing cloak) pumped up and made evasive with Wings of Velis Vel.

The game was long and ludicrous, but it was awesome. I'm already brewing up another pauper EDH deck and look forward to playing this one again.

There are a few cards in here that don't look like they do much of anything:

• Wings of Velis Vel
  
• Spy Network
  
• Taigam's Scheming
  
• Reality Ripple
  
• Turn the Tide
  
• Crypsis
  
• Artful Dodge
  

On the other hand there are a lot of good/fair cantrips that you're not running:

• Opt
  
• Gitaxian Probe
  
• Sleight of Hand
  
• Serum Visions
  
• Brainstorm
  
• Sorcerous Sight
  
• Impulse
  

Quote from Hunding Gjornersen »

There are a few cards in here that don't look like they do much of anything:

• Wings of Velis Vel
  
• Spy Network
  
• Taigam's Scheming
  
• Reality Ripple
  
• Turn the Tide
  
• Crypsis
  
• Artful Dodge
  

Spy Network and Taigam's Scheming are on my cut list. I'm surprised by some of the others you listed, though. In addition to triggering Talrand and Chimera, they do things that affect the board rather than just drawing cards and playing solitare.
Reality Ripple - protects my general or any of the other creature cards from removal. I used it to keep Ulamog's Crusher alive for an extra couple swings in my last game.
Turn the Tide - protects my life total. I can't counter everything in multiplayer, and some creatures will inevitably be sent my way. Especially if I alpha-strike, leaving no blockers and a bit of open mana. Always fun to nerf an attack and throw up surprise blockers.
Crypsis - protects one of my creatures and gives either pseudo-vigilence or another surprise blocker. It can keep Talrand on the board, keep Ulamog's Crusher from suiciding, or just give me a creature that survives blocking to go on the offense.
Artful Dodge - in addition to guaranteeing damage gets through, this also has flashback, meaning it gives me double triggers for Talrand and Chimera

Quote from Hunding Gjornersen »

On the other hand there are a lot of good/fair cantrips that you're not running:

• Opt
  
• Gitaxian Probe
  
• Sleight of Hand
  
• Serum Visions
  
• Brainstorm
  
• Sorcerous Sight
  
• Impulse
  

I like cantrips, but I generally prefer they offer more than just a cantrip. I would like a Gitaxian Probe, as it can be cast without tapping down land and can give me a better idea of what I'm about to face or need to save a counter for. I have considered some of the others but I'm still testing out the deck before I make too many changes.

That being said, there are two things I really wish I could add. One is more blink (like Ghostly Flicker) for the "return target instant or sorcery" creatures - I may have to satisfy myself with Boomerang and friends. The other is ways to get my creatures back after they die. Unfortunately, Feldon's Cane and Put Away seem to be my only options. Anyone have any suggestions for these? I had both Scrivener and Mnemonic Wall in play at one point, and Ghostly Flicker would have allowed me to go infinite, but I didn't get it until after they were both dead.

I've had a few games where I wished I had Viridian Longbow for creature removal or to get in a couple extra points of damage.

Have you considered Drift of Phantasms (fetch ghostly flicker) and Disrupt?

I had considered Drift of Phantasms, but for some reason didn't add it. I suppose I could use it as a second (more expensive and more limited) Merchant Scroll. Disrupt can be amazing occasionally and just a cantrip other times. I'll have to think about both - I'm thinking Drift might be more likely, but I need to look at the other 3 drops first.