I didn't know that Pauper EDH was a thing until a few days ago and now I've caught the bug. It looks like a ton of fun to play and even more challenging from a deck design and deckspace perspective. I chose Dimir since it definitely represents the colors that I play most frequently in Magic
This is the list that I think I'll try and build some time, especially if I can convince my brother to try out Pauper EDH.
It is a nice decklist. Still, I had a few suggestions: Mnemonic Wall is fairly good (the wizards aint going to get through anyway and 0/4 is fine on defense).
Cadaver Imp - one mana cheaper gravedigger with evasion (you might want to run both though).
Reaping the Graves is in practice better than death denied, because it is cheaper and both generally returns a lot of creatures anyway (this is not me suggesting removing death denied - a card can be worse than another without you needing to cut it). It is likely the best common recursion card (if you are playing sufficiently many creatures and have a curve anyway) - death denied would be second.
Man-o'-war is better than Aether Adept (I think strictly in your deck against other pauper decks)
There are many very good tutors (especially the creature ones you can get back), but I imagine you know that.
Highway Robber is not good enough and not important for the combo (the combo is really just recursion wizard + ghostly flicker/displace with some other etb card tagged on - yes, peregrine drake makes that infinite but if wizard hadnt made that common the rest are still worth running)
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"Hail to the speaker, hail to the knower; joy to he who has understood, delight to they who have listened." - Odin
Still new to the format and learning what I can. It's refreshing to make a powerful deck that's under $25.
I actually don't know all the good tutors for Dimir colors. Maybe the Dimir House Guard and Drift of Phantasms? The blatant one I'm missing is Mystical Teachings (totally forgot about it), which I'll be adding in shortly.
Good to know the feedback about Highway Robber. It's an easy cut for sure. I was just worried about whether or not I would have a high enough density of win conditions once the combo is executed.
Also, what's a decent land count for Pauper EDH? Is it around 36 lands? 38? I don't really know a whole lot about the dynamics of the format and how sequencing goes. I've seen a bunch of lists with no ramp and 36 lands.
Something to consider is, do you want to focus on 1v1 or multiplayer, as this will make
a difference in your overall card selections over time.
Just get in some games and see what works for you and what doesn't...
*** With your present mana curve and the amount of draw your running, 36 lands is fine. Opal palace and Bojuka Bog would be good additions to your mana base.
I think I'd like to have the deck be able to do well in either format (multi-player or 1v1), with probably more of a focus on 1v1 since that will probably be the most common type of game I'd play with a Pauper EDH deck.
Bojuka Bog is a great land I forgot about. Good look.
I took a lot of inspiration from your Dinrova Horror list, TEMUJIN. It looks pretty fun to play and I like the ETB sub-theme you have in the deck. I tried to mirror it somewhat while also including a super strong commander that can tango with the other premier 4 drop fliers (Crackling Drake, Ascended Lawmage, Enigma Drake in the air if needed while also having access to a deadly machine gun effect via Viridian Longbow.
Jousting Lance would make your commander pretty much unkillable in combat. 5/3 with first strike and deathtouch is really hard to beat. It would also speed up your clock significantly. I would play that over Darksteel Axe.
Darksteel Axe is fetchable via Trinket Mage, which is why I included it. I wanted to have a certain density of 1 drop artifacts so that the Mage is always useful if used more than once. The best target obviously being the Longbow.
I saw the Cartouche in a Pauper list somewhere and really liked it, but Cruise is probably better. I'll make that switch. I'm playing Pilfered Plans so that I can maximize the number of Dimir watermarks in the deck, if I'm being totally honest. I would probably mill a separate player, unless I have Cruise in hand.
Merchant Scroll is a great inclusion! I forgot that it was printed at Common when it was initially created. Good look.
Sadly, no one in my playgroup wants to give Pauper EDH a try. Either way, I'll have this decklist in my back pocket along with a secondary deck because it's a nice way to introduce EDH as a format to newer players. It'll be either a Gruul or Selesnya deck so that it plays a totally different strategy from this one.
As a connoisseur of countermagic I cannot stand by and support the usage of Psychic Strike or Perplex.
while I agree that he can do better than Psychic Strike (dream fracture would likely be better, ecspecially in multiplayer), Perplex is a fairly good tutor in pauper.
As a connoisseur of countermagic I cannot stand by and support the usage of Psychic Strike or Perplex.
while I agree that he can do better than Psychic Strike (dream fracture would likely be better, ecspecially in multiplayer), Perplex is a fairly good tutor in pauper.
Sadly, no one in my playgroup wants to give Pauper EDH a try. Either way, I'll have this decklist in my back pocket along with a secondary deck because it's a nice way to introduce EDH as a format to newer players. It'll be either a Gruul or Selesnya deck so that it plays a totally different strategy from this one.
You can always build PDH with legendary commanders (even non-uncommon ones if you stretch a little) - see my Child of Alara in my sig or the Rona deck in this link. I am finishing assembling one of these as well.
This is the list that I think I'll try and build some time, especially if I can convince my brother to try out Pauper EDH.
1x Nightveil Predator
Removal (19)
1x Innocent Blood
2x Grasp of Darkness
2x Victim of Night
2x Agony Warp
2x Diabolic Edict
2x Geth's Verdict
2x Blink of an Eye
3x Cartouche of Ambition
3x Capsize
3x Deep Freeze
3x Crypt Rats
3x Aether Adept
3x Ashes to Ashes
4x Pestilence
4x Evincar's Justice
4x Slum Reaper
4x Faceless Butcher
5x Brainspoil
6x Dinrova Horror
Counterspells (10)
1x Syncopate
2x Counterspell
2x Essence Scatter
2x Negate
2x Muddle the Mixture
2x Deprive
3x Perplex
3x Soul Manipulation
3x Dissolve
3x Psychic Strike
1x Preordain
1x Brainstorm
2x Dimir Guildmage
2x Impulse
2x Night's Whisper
2x Dusk Legion Zealot
3x Pilfered Plans
3x Notion Rain
3x Rhystic Study
3x Sea Gate Oracle
4x Helm of the Ghastlord
4x Deep Analysis
4x Mystical Teachings
5x Mulldrifter
8x Treasure Cruise
Combo Pieces (6)
3x Ghostly Flicker
3x Displace
4x Archaeomancer
5x Salvager of Secrets
5x Peregrine Drake
5x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Recursion (5)
2x Death Denied
3x Reaping the Graves
3x Cadaver Imp
4x Gravedigger
5x Urborg Uprising
Utility (9)
1x Viridian Longbow
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Darksteel Axe
2x Dimir Signet
2x Burglar Rat
2x Cavern Harpy
3x Drift of Phantasms
3x Liliana's Specter
3x Trinket Mage
1x Dimir Guildgate
1x Dimir Aqueduct
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Submerged Boneyard
1x Dismal Backwater
1x Command Tower
1x Halimar Depths
1x Haunted Fengraf
1x Mortuary Mire
1x Piranha Marsh
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Ash Barrens
1x Path of Ancestry
1x Lonely Sandbar
1x Barren Moor
1x Vault of Whispers
1x Seat of the Synod
11x Island
7x Swamp
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Mnemonic Wall is fairly good (the wizards aint going to get through anyway and 0/4 is fine on defense).
Cadaver Imp - one mana cheaper gravedigger with evasion (you might want to run both though).
Reaping the Graves is in practice better than death denied, because it is cheaper and both generally returns a lot of creatures anyway (this is not me suggesting removing death denied - a card can be worse than another without you needing to cut it). It is likely the best common recursion card (if you are playing sufficiently many creatures and have a curve anyway) - death denied would be second.
Man-o'-war is better than Aether Adept (I think strictly in your deck against other pauper decks)
Expedition Map into Dimir Aqueduct is fairly nice and works as another target for the mage.
There are many very good tutors (especially the creature ones you can get back), but I imagine you know that.
Highway Robber is not good enough and not important for the combo (the combo is really just recursion wizard + ghostly flicker/displace with some other etb card tagged on - yes, peregrine drake makes that infinite but if wizard hadnt made that common the rest are still worth running)
I actually don't know all the good tutors for Dimir colors. Maybe the Dimir House Guard and Drift of Phantasms? The blatant one I'm missing is Mystical Teachings (totally forgot about it), which I'll be adding in shortly.
Good to know the feedback about Highway Robber. It's an easy cut for sure. I was just worried about whether or not I would have a high enough density of win conditions once the combo is executed.
Also, what's a decent land count for Pauper EDH? Is it around 36 lands? 38? I don't really know a whole lot about the dynamics of the format and how sequencing goes. I've seen a bunch of lists with no ramp and 36 lands.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Nightveil Predator is Ascended Lawmage's evil brother.
Something to consider is, do you want to focus on 1v1 or multiplayer, as this will make
a difference in your overall card selections over time.
Just get in some games and see what works for you and what doesn't...
*** With your present mana curve and the amount of draw your running, 36 lands is fine.
Opal palace and Bojuka Bog would be good additions to your mana base.
Good Luck!
Pauper EDH: ~ Rhox War Monk ~ Scornful Aether-Lich ~ Ashenmoor Gouger ~ Ascended Lawmage ~ Nightscape Battlemage ~ Warden of the Eye ~ Hedge Troll ~ Dinrova Horror ~ Renata
Pauper 60: ~ Caw Blade ~ MonoU Delver ~ MonoW Monk Fish ~
Standard: ~ Boros Knights ~ RDW ~
Pioneer: ~ U BControl ~
Modern: ~ UB Control ~
Legacy/Vintage: ~ MonoU Delver ~
93/94: ~ Erhnamgeddon ~
Bojuka Bog is a great land I forgot about. Good look.
I took a lot of inspiration from your Dinrova Horror list, TEMUJIN. It looks pretty fun to play and I like the ETB sub-theme you have in the deck. I tried to mirror it somewhat while also including a super strong commander that can tango with the other premier 4 drop fliers (Crackling Drake, Ascended Lawmage, Enigma Drake in the air if needed while also having access to a deadly machine gun effect via Viridian Longbow.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Jousting Lance would make your commander pretty much unkillable in combat. 5/3 with first strike and deathtouch is really hard to beat. It would also speed up your clock significantly. I would play that over Darksteel Axe.
You definitely need Treasure Cruise in your list. I would play it over Cartouche of Knowledge. I think I would play Secrets of the Golden City over Pilfered Plans as well. Would you mill yourself?
Merchant Scroll is also a great option for you.
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
Darksteel Axe is fetchable via Trinket Mage, which is why I included it. I wanted to have a certain density of 1 drop artifacts so that the Mage is always useful if used more than once. The best target obviously being the Longbow.
I saw the Cartouche in a Pauper list somewhere and really liked it, but Cruise is probably better. I'll make that switch. I'm playing Pilfered Plans so that I can maximize the number of Dimir watermarks in the deck, if I'm being totally honest. I would probably mill a separate player, unless I have Cruise in hand.
Merchant Scroll is a great inclusion! I forgot that it was printed at Common when it was initially created. Good look.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Oh, Drream Fracture was printed at common? Nice.
Reaper's right. Perplex is almost always going to be a tutor for Ghostly Flicker but it can be an effective Counterspell when it needs to be.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
You can always build PDH with legendary commanders (even non-uncommon ones if you stretch a little) - see my Child of Alara in my sig or the Rona deck in this link. I am finishing assembling one of these as well.
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