For pump spells, Seal of Strength is nice because you can play it turn 1, or generally before your all-in turn. Predator's Strike is another way to gain trample. The deck is low on creatures, but I don't think the inconsistency of splashing is worth it. The splash for assault strobe is very questionable, since it should be hardly ever better than Titanic Growth in this deck.
Thanks for pointing out Blight Mamba. I didn't realize that Necropede is an uncommon (I really need to get better at reading cards.). I will try Seal of Strength, but I am currently running Llanowar Augur to do the same thing. Predator's Strike costs a lot at 2 mana, it doesn't seem worth it. You are probably right about splashing, but Assault Strobe isn't a worse Titanic Growth. It costs 1 mana, and it is easy to win on turn 3 with it and other pumps.
How do we beat targeted sacrifice spells, like Geth's Verdict or Innocent Blood? Normally we beat creature removal by giving the creature protection or hexproof (e.g. Apostle's Blessing or Vines of Vastwood) or even just regenerating it if it's Blight Mamba, but sacrifice isn't stopped by any of that. Are there any good cards to use against those effects?
There are two routes to defending against sac effects. You can use vitality charm to make tokens, or you can use khalni garden and crop rotation as a tool box.
I think Infect could be good now that MBC is off the radar and Edict effects are nowhere to be seen thanks to Izzet Drake. It also makes racing the most enticing option, so a suite with 4 Vines of Vastwood, 2 Dispel and 2 Ranger's Guile mainboard should be good enough to combat the spot removal people are playing.
However, in order to be competitive, we need the best pump spells. Groundswell and Mutagenic Growth are a given, as they're the ones that give the most bang for your buck, but Giant Growth is the next best thing. In order to be able to compete, we need a pump spell as efficient as the previous two, which is Mirran Mettle. That makes a super robust pump suite with Groundswell and Growth. In order to successfully run Mettle though, we'll have to run ~16 Artifacts, which makes Ichorclaw Myr and Artifact lands a given. The other artifacts could be 2 Darksteel Citadel and 2 Bonesplitter as a 2/2 split with Rancor.
So I've been testing for a few hours at Cockatrice and it's amazing the amount of free wins I'm getting because everyone and their mother run instant speed removal for Drake. People playing absolutely no Edict effects and MBC nowhere to be seen is an absolute boon for this deck. Here's the decklist configuration I'm running:
Mirran Mettle is rock solid in the deck. With 16 Artifacts, it's turned on more often than not when it matters (turn 3-4). Artifact lands also play fantastic with both pump spells, providing an Artifact for Mettle's Metalcraft and a Land for Groundswell's Landfall. The deck is able to get plenty of turn 2 and 3 kills if the opponent doesn't interact as soon as a threat is dropped and even then we have 7 protection spells which make us pretty resilient to early interaction.
Just a few minutes ago I got a turn 2 win that went:
I was on the draw and I still had another Mutagenic and an Apostle's Blessing in hand for removal or blockers, and still there was nothing the opponent could have done that would've saved him (he was on Tron). I know this is kind of the Christmas scenario, but turn 3 kills are more frequent, with 4 being usually the critical turn.
I'd like to run 1 Dispel and 1-2 Bonesplitter mainboard but not sure about what to take. I'm also going back and forth between Apostle's Blessing and Ranger's Guile. The former can be cast for colorless mana and also provides unblockability if needed be, while the latter is another (albeit small) pump, which can matter in critical cases such as having active Mettle and Groundswell but no other pumps, in which case Blessing wouldn't help push the final point of damage.
4 Ichorclaw Myr
4 Llanowar Augur
4 Necropede
4 Rancor
4 Apostle's Blessing
4 Groundswell
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Ranger's Guile
4 Vines of Vastwood
20 Forets
I don't have a sideboard yet, and I am considering splashing blue (for Blighted Agent, Distortion Strike, and Mizzium Skin), black (for Plague Stinger and Rouse), or red (for Assault Strobe). Thoughts?
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Thanks for pointing out Blight Mamba. I didn't realize that Necropede is an uncommon (I really need to get better at reading cards.). I will try Seal of Strength, but I am currently running Llanowar Augur to do the same thing. Predator's Strike costs a lot at 2 mana, it doesn't seem worth it. You are probably right about splashing, but Assault Strobe isn't a worse Titanic Growth. It costs 1 mana, and it is easy to win on turn 3 with it and other pumps.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Got smashed by goblins (hence the pestilence), smashed slivers even without drawing a swamp both games.
2 Plague Stinger
1 Toxic Nim
4 Hunger of the Howlpack
1 Blight Mamba
4 Predator's Strike
4 Cystbearer
4 Rot Wolf
1 Tel-Jilad Fallen
3 Untamed Might
4 Consume Strength
1 Bonesplitter
4 Ichorclaw Myr
4 Corpse Cur
14 Forest
8 Swamp
2 Plague Stinger
4 Pestilence
1 Toxic Nim
3 Tel-Jilad Fallen
2 Bonesplitter
Do as no one does.
Don't put down.
Push up.
4x blight mamba
2x ichorclaw myr
4x giant growth
4x mutagenic growth
4x titanic growth
4x vines of the vastwood
4x rancor
2x apostle's blessing
4x ranger's guiles
4x predator's strike
20x forest
I feel like I'd like to add blue for blighted agent and ways to make my creatures unblockable
not sure where else to go from there
4 Blighted Agent
4 Glistener Elf
4 Ichorclaw Myr
Instants (18)
2 Apostle's Blessing
4 Giant Growth
4 Groundswell
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Vines of Vastwood
2 Distortion Strike
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Preordain
Lands (22)
4 Evolving Wilds
9 Forest
5 Island
4 Thornwood Falls
2 Daze
2 Dispel
2 Fog
2 Hydroblast
2 Nature's Claim
2 Spell Pierce
2 Vapor Snag
I am still working on the Sideboard but is going well. I really like this version of Pauper Infect.
However, in order to be competitive, we need the best pump spells. Groundswell and Mutagenic Growth are a given, as they're the ones that give the most bang for your buck, but Giant Growth is the next best thing. In order to be able to compete, we need a pump spell as efficient as the previous two, which is Mirran Mettle. That makes a super robust pump suite with Groundswell and Growth. In order to successfully run Mettle though, we'll have to run ~16 Artifacts, which makes Ichorclaw Myr and Artifact lands a given. The other artifacts could be 2 Darksteel Citadel and 2 Bonesplitter as a 2/2 split with Rancor.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
4 Ichorclaw Myr
Enchantment (2)
2 Rancor
Instant (19)
4 Groundswell
4 Mirran Mettle
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Vines of Vastwood
2 Apostle's Blessing
1 Dispel
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Distortion Strike
Artifact (4)
4 Lotus Petal
Land (17)
4 Thornwood Falls
4 Tree of Tales
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Forest
1 Island
4 Hornet Sting
3 Aerial Volley
3 Nature's Claim
2 Hydroblast
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Dispel
Mirran Mettle is rock solid in the deck. With 16 Artifacts, it's turned on more often than not when it matters (turn 3-4). Artifact lands also play fantastic with both pump spells, providing an Artifact for Mettle's Metalcraft and a Land for Groundswell's Landfall. The deck is able to get plenty of turn 2 and 3 kills if the opponent doesn't interact as soon as a threat is dropped and even then we have 7 protection spells which make us pretty resilient to early interaction.
Just a few minutes ago I got a turn 2 win that went:
T1 Tree of Tales, Lotus Petal, Ichorclaw Myr
T2 Tree of Tales, Groundswell, Mirran Mettle, Mutagenic Growth
I was on the draw and I still had another Mutagenic and an Apostle's Blessing in hand for removal or blockers, and still there was nothing the opponent could have done that would've saved him (he was on Tron). I know this is kind of the Christmas scenario, but turn 3 kills are more frequent, with 4 being usually the critical turn.
I'd like to run 1 Dispel and 1-2 Bonesplitter mainboard but not sure about what to take. I'm also going back and forth between Apostle's Blessing and Ranger's Guile. The former can be cast for colorless mana and also provides unblockability if needed be, while the latter is another (albeit small) pump, which can matter in critical cases such as having active Mettle and Groundswell but no other pumps, in which case Blessing wouldn't help push the final point of damage.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!