MTG Salvation

Introduction
Hi, insertsarcastic name here, with the first decklist I have ever published online. I have been playing EDH or Commander for just over a year and Magic the Gathering for not much longer than that. About a month ago I was introduced to Pauper EDH at my local game shop and instantly fell in love. This is the format I had been searching for: Long grindy games that rewarded good play without having the infinite combos of normal EDH or the hyper competitiveness that tournament play brings.

I set out to build a deck that would allow me to play the way I wanted to play and eventually settled upon a three color general: Nightscape Battlemage. However, to my disappointment my initial deck themed around bounce effects just wasn't any good. I was undeterred and decided to stick withUBR and start from the ground up working towards a good control deck. Thus my Grixis Battlemage deck was born!

What is Pauper Commander? (Description shamelessly stolen from MiffedMoogle)
1. Same rules as Commander.
2. Commander is an uncommon. It can be any uncommon, not just a legend.
3. Rest of deck must be common in a non-Magic Online (Masters Editions come to mind) printing!

Inspirations for the deck
Many of the major ideas that drive the deck forward and suggestions for the cards were stolen or borrowed from posts by MiffedMoogle. All of his pauper decks (lists are in his sig) were invaluable in searching for ideas for this deck. His discussions of the Pillars of the format also proved quite useful and I attempted to include as many as possible in this deck.

Also thanks to all the people who have been putting up with me begging for Pauper EDH games so that I can test my deck out!

Without further ado, The LIST:



(*) Indicates where a card is included in multiple categories

Change Log:

Deck Goals and Game Plan
The aim of the deck is to control out other players in the game before using a lethal fireball effect to finish the game. It seeks to do this by building a large amount of mana in the early game with use of its 10 mana rocks whilst using cards such as Deep Analysis and Rhystic Study to maintain card advantage. The deck specializes in recurring instants, sorceries and creatures from the graveyard allowing it more options as it moves into the late game and giving it opportunities to squeeze every last bit of use out of its cards. This allows the deck to take on a toolbox approach with its versatile spread of board wipes (Fireball, Pestilence, Evincar's Justice), spot removal and bounce (Capsize, Murder, Recoil, etc), counter magic (Counterspell, Cancel, Soul Manipulation, etc). As the deck moves into the late game it aims to build up enough mana to burn the opponents out with fireball effects that are able to be recurred with the creatures. As a back up it is possible to simply beatdown with Ulamog's Crusher using the removal to keep the way clear.

An important theme that was attempted with the deck is versatility with card selection. Cards such as Mystical Teachings, which allows me access to each of my other 11 instant spells at instant speed, embody this choice. This allows the deck to constantly have the right answer to whatever situation is on hand. The three transmute cards (Dimir Infiltrator, Muddle the Mixture, Dimir House Guard) in the deck are chose specifically for this reason. Their prime tutor targets are as follows:

Dimir Infiltrator and Muddle the Mixture: Rolling Thunder (Win Condition), Sign in Blood (Card Draw), Cavern Harpy (ETB Enabler)
Dimir House Guard: Evincar's Justice (Board Wipe), Archaeomancer (Instant/Sorcery Recursion), Pestilence (Board Wipe)

The ability to essentially be playing multiple copies of the above tutor targets due to the tutoring ability of the transmute cards is invaluable for a control deck operating in a singleton format.

Cards that are up for Elimination
Given the fact that the deck is still a work in progress there are cards that I am still considering replacing. This usually comes about if I feel that the card has not been useful the me in the majority of times I have played it. Just because a card has been good to me once, does not allow it a permanent fixture in my roster.

Pestilence: Admittedly there are not many board wipes in Pauper, and Pestilence offers the ability to repeatedly wipe the board. The ability to tutor for it through transmuting Dimir House Guard is also nice. However once there are no more creatures on the board and this guy hits the yard there is no way to recur it in this deck. If someone has enchantment removal and destroys it, its gone for good. The reliance on black mana to use its ability is also slightly straining on a three colour manabase. Whenever given the opportunity I prefer to tutor for Evincar's Justice as it can be easily recurred in this deck. I would like to free up this card slot for some experimentation.

Trinket Mage and Bonesplitter: Bonesplitter is certainly a powerful piece of equipment through the amount of power it adds for 1. The fact that it is tutorable with Trinket Mage is also a nice bonus. However the fact that this deck is not aiming to win through beating down with creatures means that the slot that Bonesplitter currently occupies could be dedicated to another piece of spot removal (such as Doom Blade or Rend Flesh) or counter magic (such as Perplex which would add extra tutor ability to the deck). If Bonesplitter was to be cut then Trinket Mage would also get the axe as it would be left with only one tutor target (Expedition Map).

Prodigal Pyromancer: Whilst a colour shifted version of the original pinger, this is unfortunately swiftly becomeing a subpar card in the deck. This slot would definitely be up for consideration for new cards moving into the future.

The cards above in red have all been phased out of the deck. We are sad to let them go, but their removal from the deck; and by extension the elimination list, allows me to replace them with the new planned cuts! Without further ado:

Lava Zombie: A holdover from when the deck was originally all about abusing ETB effects. A gating creature for three mana, that comes down as a 4/3 with colorless fire-breathing? That's a deal I would take any day. However it doesn't allow me to bounce any of the blue creatures in my deck, therefore maybe its time to bid it farewell and look at adding a new critter to this slot.

Forbidden Alchemy: One of the more recent additions to the deck I'm sad to say that I'm probably going to have to cut it. Thus far its perfomance has been underwhelming, and as pointed out by MiffedMoogle below, the deck could benefit from some more straight card draw.

Cards that are up for Addition

Forbidden Alchemy: With the amount of recursion that is present in this deck; Forbidden Alchemy would allow me to filter through 4 cards, then flash it back later in the game. One of the things that this deck ends up doing is having a large surplus of mana in the late game; Forbidden Alchemy allows me to have a sink, of sorts for this.

The cards above in red have been added to the deck at some point. Thus clearing up space for more suggestions for the deck.

Foresee: There is currently not the hugest amount of card draw in this deck and Foresee would allow some element of smoothing to the deck whilst still drawing cards. Given that it was also suggested by MiffedMoogle below it is likely that it will be added to the deck in the near future.

Snuff Out: Kill spells are good. Free kill spells are obviously going to be better. The fact that this card is tutorable with both Mystical Teachings and Dimir House Guard is merely icing on the cake. It has become clear that this deck lacks any really kill spells beyond Murder.


Conclusion
Well that just about sums up my Pauper EDH list, I would definitely be interested to hear any feedback that anyone has and would love any suggestions of cards to add. Will be continuously updating this.

Cheers, insertsarcasticname

No comments yet? That's no good.

Manalith may be worth running in your artifact ramp over Obelisk of Grixis or even with it.

I'm not a fan of Forbidden Alchemy, but I do like Forsee in some situations and you do need more direct card draw.

Stealer of Secrets and Ninja of the Deep Hours seem ideal for your deck, perhaps even Mistblade Shinobu, you want on hit effects to take advantage of the red guildmage ability and ninjitsu lets you resuse ETB triggers.

For this reason some cipher cards may be worth considering. Also put in some shroud, such as Whispersilk Cloak and Diplomatic Immunity or Neurok Stealthsuit, you want the general to survive spot removal that can kill black targets.

Thanks for the reply Miffed,

Manalith seems largely irrelevant given the commander's color identity it would function as Obelisk of Grixis does with slightly less flavorful connotations. Given the current large number of mana rocks in the deck I do not currently feel like running anymore, however Manalith is certain to be at the head of the list of possible additions.

I have taken your comment about Foresee over Forbidden Alchemy into consideration, and edited my post to suggest its inclusion. This will most likely happen next time I take a trip into the store to pick up cards.

I honestly hadn't really considered using cards that take advantage of the Grixis Battlemage's second ability. If I were to add any of the suggested cards I would probably consider Ninja of the Deep Hours, because as you pointed out it not only allows for card draw but also the reuse of ETB triggers.

Of the three cards that you suggested for giving commander protection (Whispersilk Cloak, Diplomatic Immunity, Neurok Stealthsuit), which would be the one that you would recommend the most; given the limited card slots available in EDH, I probably would only have space for one of these cards. The one I am currently leaning towards is Neurok Stealthsuit. There are three primary reasons; firstly, as an equipment I have the option to move it on to other creatures as required; secondly, the ability to move it around at instant speed does not seem irrelevant; and finally being a two drop gives me the ability to tutor it with two different cards in the deck (Muddle the Mixture and Dimir Infiltrator).

Anyways, thanks for the feed back and I would welcome any more thoughts you have.

-insertsarcasticname

I just relooked at this, is there any reason not to run Exclude, Bone to Ash or Scatter Arc? They do get you a card. Ghostly Flicker may be better in your deck than most too.

Trinket mage can also fetch artifact lands and pyrite spellbomb as removal.

Mana fixing is always powerful. The artifact lands also power up your other cards.