Click here for a breakdown of the deck in deckstats.
I wanted a more casual deck for games against people at the local LGS or just fun games at random events. Since I didn't want to purposefully build a deck that wasn't optimized I figured the best route to go was added deckbuilding restrictions so I decided that pauper would be a good route to take with the added bonus of the deck being very cheap to build. I ended up choosing Vorosh because he makes a great goodstuff general and it was a color combination I did not already play.
The idea is to play the typical pauper creature recursion engines, ramp a bunch and finish with Vorosh beats.
Since it seems like Vorosh is your wincon of choice in the deck, do you think that distortion strike is too narrow for an alpha strike? If that manages to resolve twice, it's probably lights out for at least one player.
If I was running a list like this, I'd like at least a few more evasive/trampling beaters in case Vorosh is getting too expensive to recast. Stuff like spire monitor and/or giant warthog come to mind.
If Vorosh can't get the job done I don't think Giant Warthog is going to be able to do it either. I'd like a backup win condition but the pauper creatures are just too small. Some type of Overrun effect would be better but I'm not sure what's available at common. Ashes to Ashes and Looter il-kor seem like good adds. I'll cut Horizon Spellbomb and Scrivener for those. I made room for Whispersilk Cloak as well.
I believe I'm playing every transmute card except Dizzy Spell. Brainspoil is an easy cut, I'll add in Eyeblight's Ending for it. I like Tilling Treefolk but I don't think there's quite enough support for him. This is just for casual games so I don't think LD will be an issue.
By the way, if someone casts Praetor's Councel, you can Perplex it, and after they discard their hand, you can Counterspell it for great justice.
I thought I had Perplex, good catch. Also some good card drawing suggestions, I don't think I need that many more but I'll make room for some of them. Forbidden Alchemy and Compulsive Research work well with what the deck is trying to do.
How come I didn't see this pauper deck yet to comment?
Lemme try some things here, most based on d0su's Child of Alara's deck (I kinda tuned mine for my taste):
Nice of you to drop by, and with good suggestions too!
Panorama's - These seem like a pretty painless inclusion so I'll throw them in.
Artifact Lands - I've never been a fan of the artifact lands. The interaction with Trinket Mage is nice but not enough to have lands that randomly get blown up by artifact sweepers (I'm going to take out the borderpost for this reason too). Merchant Scroll - A common you say? It's a little ambiguous as to what the actual rarity is but it looks uncommon to me. Is this officially common for pauper? I can't be running around with a peasant deck. Darksteel Pendant - I like it and I'll find room. I used to play it in some of my regular decks years ago and it always did good work for me. Man-O'-War - He looks pretty tiny but he could be worth a shot. I'll try him out and see how he does. Reclaim - I guess this is the pauper Regrowth? Seems like a good add. Scrivener - Could give me some redundancy but I'm starting to hurt for slots. I'll find room for him and try him out. Alexi's Cloak - Not really sold on this one. The nice thing about Neurok Stealthsuit is that they use their removal on my other opponent's guys when it's in play. Constant Mists - There's a lot of creature synergies with Spore Frog in the deck but this could give me some added redundancy. Halimar Depths - I must have missed this one, good find!
Beatsticks - I thought about Ulamog's Crusher but the other options just seem to small. This deck is a little more casual than my other ones so for now I'm just going to try to get there with Vorosh. Maybe if something is pulling it's weight I'll swap it out for the crusher.
So I went with:
-some lands and Mistvein Borderpost
-Harrow
-Journey of Discovery
-Grazing Kelpie
-Trinket Mage
-Pestilence
+Darksteel Pendant
+Man-O'-War
+Reclaim
+Scrivener
+Constant Mists
+Panorama's
+Halimar Depths
Fierce Empath you stated that you might be playing this against some normal decks. Since Vorosh is your primary wincon tucking him could be game over. The empath has 2 other targets as well as you commander too. The fact that he gives the creature into hand I have found that he works fairly well. I dont know if you have enough targets for him however he is one of the few ways you will be able to recover your commander.
Private Mod Note
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Given the 3 black spells that returns creatures from graveyard to hand, if he doesn't put Ulamog in the deck, I dunno - however, it has some nice sinergy with Man-o'-War.
OK, I'm running into space constraints here so what I'm going to do is just cut the whole Ponder/Preordain/Brainstorm/Impulse package to free up some room. These are very spike type cards anyways and this is intended as a casual deck so this way I get to play more cool stuff instead of boring cards that are there just to lower the variance. So that would give me room for Fierce Empath, Merchant Scroll, Ulamog's Crusher and for the last card I think I'm going to run Foresee. Thanks for the suggestions guys.
EDIT: On Rupture Spire I think it's too slow to put in since my mana is pretty stable already. Shimmering Grotto looks like it could cause more trouble than it's worth and I've really disliked it in both the limited formats it's been in.
1 Vorosh, the Hunter
Creatures - 26
1 Spore Frog
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Dawntreader Elk
1 Dimir Infiltrator
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Cadaver Imp
1 Crypt Rats
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Fierce Empath
1 Gutless Ghoul
1 Man-O'-War
1 Tilling Treefolk
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Gravedigger
1 Mold Shambler
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Wildheart Invoker
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Mulldrifter
1 Scrivener
1 Twisted Abomination
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Ulamog's Crusher
Artifacts - 10
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Darksteel Pendant
1 Dimir Signet
1 Golgari Signet
1 Neurok Stealthsuit
1 Simic Signet
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Rhystic Study
Sorceries - 8
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Compulsive Research
1 Cultivate
1 Far Wanderings
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Foresee
Instants - 16
1 Reclaim
1 Tragic Slip
1 Arcane Denial
1 Constant Mists
1 Counterspell
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Grim Harvest
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Shred Memory
1 Capsize
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Perplex
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Death Denied
Lands - 38
1 Bant Panorama
1 Barren Moor
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Command Tower
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Esper Panorama
1 Evolving Wilds
7 Forest
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Halimar Depths
1 Haunted Fengraf
7 Island
1 Jund Panorama
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Polluted Mire
1 Remote Isle
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Slippery Karst
5 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Tranquil Thicket
I wanted a more casual deck for games against people at the local LGS or just fun games at random events. Since I didn't want to purposefully build a deck that wasn't optimized I figured the best route to go was added deckbuilding restrictions so I decided that pauper would be a good route to take with the added bonus of the deck being very cheap to build. I ended up choosing Vorosh because he makes a great goodstuff general and it was a color combination I did not already play.
The idea is to play the typical pauper creature recursion engines, ramp a bunch and finish with Vorosh beats.
If I was running a list like this, I'd like at least a few more evasive/trampling beaters in case Vorosh is getting too expensive to recast. Stuff like spire monitor and/or giant warthog come to mind.
Some other thoughts (not necessarily vouching for quality):
protective bubble
Ashes to Ashes
whispersilk cloak
Rancor
looter il-kor
horned helm
endless scream
Nice list otherwise!
-Dolono
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
I would recommend pretty much every common transmute card, except for maybe Dizzy Spell or Brainspoil. Also, to be picky, Eyeblight's Ending is probably better than Rend Flesh because it hits Seedborn Muse.
Tilling Treefolk is good with cycling lands, fetchlands, and against LD.
Turn 2 Two Goblin Guide
I believe I'm playing every transmute card except Dizzy Spell. Brainspoil is an easy cut, I'll add in Eyeblight's Ending for it. I like Tilling Treefolk but I don't think there's quite enough support for him. This is just for casual games so I don't think LD will be an issue.
Forbidden Alchemy is a good card for finding what you need, if that is your problem. If your problem is running out of gas, then I would find room for Foresee, Compulsive Research, and Rush of Knowledge.
By the way, if someone casts Praetor's Councel, you can Perplex it, and after they discard their hand, you can Counterspell it for great justice.
Turn 2 Two Goblin Guide
I thought I had Perplex, good catch. Also some good card drawing suggestions, I don't think I need that many more but I'll make room for some of them. Forbidden Alchemy and Compulsive Research work well with what the deck is trying to do.
The only thing that jumps out at me omission-wise is Cavern Harpy.
Cavern Harpy is a good find! I added the Harpy and a deckstats link.
How come I didn't see this pauper deck yet to comment?
Lemme try some things here, most based on d0su's Child of Alara's deck (I kinda tuned mine for my taste):
Bant Panorama, Jund Panorama, and Grixis Panorama - replacing the double mana lands and cleaning the deck. Are sweet with Tilling Treefolk also.
Seat of the Synod, Tree of Tales, and Vault of Whispers to replace 3 basics to fetch with Trinket Mage if needed the ramp. Anyway, they have more sinergy.
Merchant Scroll - I always disliked Harrow and you have a bunch of ramp already, go tutor something else.
Darksteel Pendant - could replace Pestilence, I like it but you already have Crypt Rats. I found this card to be THE pauper Scroll Rack
Man-O'-War - Debatable, but I think I'd prefer it over Coiling Oracle. Works with Cavern Harpy.
Reclaim - replacing Feldon's Cane, to re-tutor something immediately relevant for you.
Scrivener - could replace Grazing Kelpie, more useful IMO. Works with Cavern Harpy.
Alexi's Cloak - replacing Neurok Stealthsuit, cheaper and as an instant can bluff as a counter.
Constant mists - better than Spore Frog because it might not be alive when you need it...
Halimar Depths - could replace Mistvein Borderpost which isn't a land
And, for a 2nd (or 3rd, etc. wincon), I can suggest Errant Ephemeron, Scrapdiver Serpent, and of course,
Ulamog Crusher (ouch).
I expect to build more Pauper EDH decks in the near future. Most of the fun in Magic is this for me.
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
Panorama's - These seem like a pretty painless inclusion so I'll throw them in.
Artifact Lands - I've never been a fan of the artifact lands. The interaction with Trinket Mage is nice but not enough to have lands that randomly get blown up by artifact sweepers (I'm going to take out the borderpost for this reason too).
Merchant Scroll - A common you say? It's a little ambiguous as to what the actual rarity is but it looks uncommon to me. Is this officially common for pauper? I can't be running around with a peasant deck.
Darksteel Pendant - I like it and I'll find room. I used to play it in some of my regular decks years ago and it always did good work for me.
Man-O'-War - He looks pretty tiny but he could be worth a shot. I'll try him out and see how he does.
Reclaim - I guess this is the pauper Regrowth? Seems like a good add.
Scrivener - Could give me some redundancy but I'm starting to hurt for slots. I'll find room for him and try him out.
Alexi's Cloak - Not really sold on this one. The nice thing about Neurok Stealthsuit is that they use their removal on my other opponent's guys when it's in play.
Constant Mists - There's a lot of creature synergies with Spore Frog in the deck but this could give me some added redundancy.
Halimar Depths - I must have missed this one, good find!
Beatsticks - I thought about Ulamog's Crusher but the other options just seem to small. This deck is a little more casual than my other ones so for now I'm just going to try to get there with Vorosh. Maybe if something is pulling it's weight I'll swap it out for the crusher.
So I went with:
-some lands and Mistvein Borderpost
-Harrow
-Journey of Discovery
-Grazing Kelpie
-Trinket Mage
-Pestilence
+Darksteel Pendant
+Man-O'-War
+Reclaim
+Scrivener
+Constant Mists
+Panorama's
+Halimar Depths
http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2951
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
What about Rupture Spire and Shimmering Grotto?
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
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
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
EDIT: On Rupture Spire I think it's too slow to put in since my mana is pretty stable already. Shimmering Grotto looks like it could cause more trouble than it's worth and I've really disliked it in both the limited formats it's been in.