Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim has Avatar of Woe right now as the only card above CMC 6, and that doesn't even count since I try to drop it for the reduced cost whenever possible. My group tends to be good at reading when threats are gonna be dropped (and thus when to have a counterspell), and my deck likes having mana open.
I do plan on building Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, though, and her haymaker will definitely be Mind's Dilation. One of my favorite "bulk mythics" to come out in recent memory, so I had to give it an appropriate home. Probably will throw in Expropriate and Selvala's Stampede, as well.
A repost of a challenge I started about a year ago, in which I attempted to rework the RTR-era guild leaders if they were assigned to different guilds. Some are direct reposts, but most are new. Anyhow, critiques?
Azor's Judiciary1WU
Legendary Creature - Spirit Advisor
Flash
When Azor's Judiciary enters the battlefield, counter target spell unless its controller pays 1. WU: Exile Azor's Judiciary, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control. Some say that Azor’s first jurors were so inspired as to extol his verdicts even beyond death.
2/2
Rakdos the Mindripper3UB
Legendary Creature - Demon Horror
Flying
When Rakdos the Mindripper attacks, exile the top half of your library and the top half of the defending player's library, each rounded down. Rakdos awoke from the depths of nightmare, yet sought only to pull the world back with him.
5/4
Aurelia, Fallen Angel4BR
Legendary Creature - Angel
At the beginning of combat on your turn, draw a card and reveal it. If it's a black card, creatures you control get +0/+2 and gain deathtouch until end of combat. If it's a red card, creatures you control get +2/+0 and gain first strike until end of combat. In place of her wings, she gained untold cruelty.
3/4
Trostani of the SwarmBBGG
Legendary Creature - Zombie Dryad
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have deathtouch. 2BG, t, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Distribute X +1/+1 counters among any number of target creatures you control, where X is the exiled creature’s power. Activate this ability only as a sorcery.
3/3
Lazav, Scion of Progress1GU
Legendary Creature - Ooze Shapeshifter
Evolve
Whenever Lazav evolves, you may have it become a copy of the creature that induced its evolution, except its name is still Lazav, Scion of Progress, it’s legendary in addition to its other types, and it gains evolve and this ability.
1/3
Isperia the Inspired3UR
Legendary Creature - Sphinx
Flying
Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, exile the top card of your library and add U or R to your mana pool. You may cast that card until end of turn, and that mana doesn't empty from your mana pool until end of turn.
4/4
I'd definitely reconsider Crop Sigil and Vessel of Nascency. Extra card selection is always nice, and both cards have really low initial mana costs. It's easy to drop one when you have spare mana open, and then crack it to help get the one card you need.
Assault Formation is useful when you can't always rely on Ishkanah. At least give it a second thought as well.
Finally, one card I noticed was missing was Altar of Dementia. If the game goes late and you have Sewer Nemesis/Lord of Extinction out, you can sac it to mill your opponent down to nothing.
Although I'm pretty much brand new to pauper, from what I've been studying in the metagame I've had similar thoughts. Inspector gives the deck a nice T1 play that seems to really be what the deck's looking for.
That said, with the advent of EMA, I'm fiddling with a paper build for a league my friends and I hope to set up; and two cards I found that may have potential are Alchemist's Vial and Expose Evil. EE is one I completely have no idea how it'll work, but Vial could take the place of Prism in a RW build that doesn't need as much fixing. Thoughts? My list is below: SB is adapted from the MTGGoldfish article and will change once I get a few in-person matches going.
Well, finally hit upon a list that I'm willing to test (planning on setting up a paper league at school). Any suggestions for an all-purpose sideboard going into an unknown meta?
So how do people feel about Thought Scour and/or Mental Note? Was goldfishing a few times last night and they did seem a bit superfluous: most of the time I felt like I'd rather have a Ponder or Preordain or any other cantrip. Thoughts?
Bit new to Pauper here. I mainly got inspired to start playing because of EMA, more specifically its inclusion of Nimble Mongoose. And thus I ended up here.
I have a list going, but before I post it, have people thought at all of including Memory Lapse or Pulse of Murasa? The former seems like it could do better than Counterspell, while the latter could work as a 1-of for late-game recovery.
Oh, are we doing top 5 lists? Here's my take, using general playability across all strength levels and in both mono- and multicolored lists. I really had to stretch to get red cards on the list, as evidenced by the fact that a: one of the red choices is a reprint and b: Dissension in the Ranks is only playable if you look at it from the right angle.
Alms of the Vein - Is it just me, or does this seem really good? Blood Tithe was 4 mana for basically the same effect, and this is cheaper in both modes.
Autumnal Gloom // Ancient of the Equinox - Okay, so maybe this isn't constructed playable, but damn. The name and the art are just top notch. Gonna try to shove this into an EDH deck, even if it is terrible.
Cryptolith Rite - Turning all of your guys into dorks is pretty damn good. I can think of a lot of utility guys who aren't going to be going on the offense in my EDH decks. Might as well put them to work some other way.
Erdwal Illuminator - Wizards is really pushing the investigations deck for limited. With 22 cards related to clues, I think they're trying to put them all into SOI so they can replace investigate with a new mechanic in EMN. After all, once we've figured out the source of all these shenanigans, we won't need to investigate anymore.
Geier Reach Bandit // Vildin-Pack Alpha - Damn, why didn't they spoil this lady before? She'll definitely be the backbone to werewolves in Standard. Wishing they had made her Gruul and legendary, but one can dream.
Grotesque Mutation - Nothing remarkable about the card, but that art goes a long way to support the Emrakul theory.
Moonlight Hunt - A very solid piece of removal for whatever werewolf deck we get.
Open the Armory - Gonna try to grab a copy of this to hold onto for EDH. I may rebuild Daxos or Heliod in the future, and this would definitely find a home if I do.
Skin Invasion // Skin Shedder - Drop this on an opponent's creature, force them to attack unfavorably and get a free 3/4 out of it? Sounds at least testable.
I do plan on building Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, though, and her haymaker will definitely be Mind's Dilation. One of my favorite "bulk mythics" to come out in recent memory, so I had to give it an appropriate home. Probably will throw in Expropriate and Selvala's Stampede, as well.
Azor's Judiciary 1WU
Legendary Creature - Spirit Advisor
Flash
When Azor's Judiciary enters the battlefield, counter target spell unless its controller pays 1.
WU: Exile Azor's Judiciary, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Some say that Azor’s first jurors were so inspired as to extol his verdicts even beyond death.
2/2
Rakdos the Mindripper 3UB
Legendary Creature - Demon Horror
Flying
When Rakdos the Mindripper attacks, exile the top half of your library and the top half of the defending player's library, each rounded down.
Rakdos awoke from the depths of nightmare, yet sought only to pull the world back with him.
5/4
Aurelia, Fallen Angel 4BR
Legendary Creature - Angel
At the beginning of combat on your turn, draw a card and reveal it. If it's a black card, creatures you control get +0/+2 and gain deathtouch until end of combat. If it's a red card, creatures you control get +2/+0 and gain first strike until end of combat.
In place of her wings, she gained untold cruelty.
3/4
Trostani of the Swarm BBGG
Legendary Creature - Zombie Dryad
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have deathtouch.
2BG, t, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Distribute X +1/+1 counters among any number of target creatures you control, where X is the exiled creature’s power. Activate this ability only as a sorcery.
3/3
Lazav, Scion of Progress 1GU
Legendary Creature - Ooze Shapeshifter
Evolve
Whenever Lazav evolves, you may have it become a copy of the creature that induced its evolution, except its name is still Lazav, Scion of Progress, it’s legendary in addition to its other types, and it gains evolve and this ability.
1/3
Isperia the Inspired 3UR
Legendary Creature - Sphinx
Flying
Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, exile the top card of your library and add U or R to your mana pool. You may cast that card until end of turn, and that mana doesn't empty from your mana pool until end of turn.
4/4
018 - Palace Jailer (U)
024 - Spectral Grasp (U)
028 - Canal Courier (C)
035 - Messenger Jays (C)
036 - Skittering Crustacean (C)
042 - Deadly Designs (U)
043 - Garrulous Sycophant (C)
045 - Regicide (C)
046 - Sinuous Vermin (C)
047 - Smuggler Captain (U)
053 - Goblin Racketeer (C)
061 - Borderland Explorer (C)
066 - Leovold's Operative (C)
067 - Menagerie Liberator (C)
068 - Orchard Elemental (C)
072 - Splitting Slime (R)
082 - Disenchant (C)
086 - Ghostly Prison (U)
097 - Reviving Dose (C)
098 - Spirit of the Hearth (R)
104 - Cloaked Siren (C)
105 - Covenant of Minds (R)
106 - Deceiver Exarch (U)
110 - Fleeting Distraction (C)
111 - Followed Footsteps (R)
114 - Merfolk Looter (U)
121 - Show and Tell (MR)
134 - Farbog Boneflinger (U)
137 - Guul Draz Specter (R)
138 - Harvester of Souls (R)
150 - Unnerve (C)
161 - Gratuitous Violence (R)
174 - Beast Within (U)
177 - Brushstrider (U)
180 - Explosive Vegetation (U)
182 - Forgotten Ancient (R)
186 - Manaplasm (U)
220 - Rogue's Passage (U)
Assault Formation is useful when you can't always rely on Ishkanah. At least give it a second thought as well.
Finally, one card I noticed was missing was Altar of Dementia. If the game goes late and you have Sewer Nemesis/Lord of Extinction out, you can sac it to mill your opponent down to nothing.
Conspiracies
002 - Assemble the Rank and Vile (common)
006 - Hold the Perimeter (rare)
009 - Natural Unity (common)
010 - Sovereign's Realm (mythic rare)
011 - Summoner's Bond (rare)
White
016 - Lieutenants of the Guard (common)
020 - Paliano Vanguard (rare)
Blue
027 - Arcane Savant (rare)
031 - Illusion of Choice (uncommon)
033 - Jeering Homunculus (common)
Black
039 - Archdemon of Paliano (rare)
040 - Capital Punishment (rare)
Red
049 - Besmirch (uncommon)
050 - Crown-Hunter Hireling (common)
051 - Deputized Protestor (common)
Green
060 - Animus of Predation (uncommon)
063 - Domesticated Hydra (uncommon)
Multicolored
075 - Kaya, Ghost Assassin (mythic rare)
076 - Knights of the Black Rose (uncommon)
078 - Queen Marchesa (mythic rare)
Reprints
140 - Inquisition of Kozilek (rare)
So three mythics, six rares (one of which is reprinted), five uncommons, and the rest commons.
That said, with the advent of EMA, I'm fiddling with a paper build for a league my friends and I hope to set up; and two cards I found that may have potential are Alchemist's Vial and Expose Evil. EE is one I completely have no idea how it'll work, but Vial could take the place of Prism in a RW build that doesn't need as much fixing. Thoughts? My list is below: SB is adapted from the MTGGoldfish article and will change once I get a few in-person matches going.
4 Glint Hawk
4 Kor Skyfisher
4 Thraben Inspector
Spells (28)
4 Alchemist's Vial
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Kuldotha Rebirth
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Journey to Nowhere
2 Bonesplitter
2 Expose Evil
1 Angelic Purge
4 Ancient Den
4 Great Furnace
4 Plains
4 Wind-Scarred Crag
2 Mountain
2 Radiant Fountain
3 Pyroblast
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Lone Missionary
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Electrickery
1 Angelic Purge
1 Circle of Protection: Green
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Flame Slash
Mainboard card considerations: Firebolt, Kor Sanctifiers, Lone Missionary
EDIT: May I humbly suggest the name "Inspector Gadget" for this variant? x)
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Werebear
2 Hooting Mandrills
Instants (25)
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Vapor Snag
3 Gush
3 Memory Lapse
3 Mental Note
3 Spell Pierce
1 Pulse of Murasa
4 Land Grant
4 Ponder
Lands (13)
6 Island
3 Forest
4 Evolving Wilds
Bit new to Pauper here. I mainly got inspired to start playing because of EMA, more specifically its inclusion of Nimble Mongoose. And thus I ended up here.
I have a list going, but before I post it, have people thought at all of including Memory Lapse or Pulse of Murasa? The former seems like it could do better than Counterspell, while the latter could work as a 1-of for late-game recovery.
Personally, I would be happy to see things like:
Bit difficult for any of them to get Ongoing Investigation, seeing as none of them have green in their color identities.
Anyways, been testing a bit more, and Forgotten Creation is really good. Slotting it into my Sidisi zombie tribal build.
- Autumnal Gloom
- Drownyard Temple
- Seasons Past
- The Gitrog Monster
- Traverse the Ulvenwald
If I convert to Karador, I’ll probably also include:- Angel of Deliverance
- Anguished Unmaking
- Corrupted Grafstone
- Fortified Village
And if I go back to my lingering idea to build out Sidisi zombie tribal, I'll also throw in:White:
- Bygone Bishop
- Descend upon the Sinful
- Not Forgotten
- Odric, Lunarch Marshal
- Open the Armory
Blue:- Engulf the Shore
- Epiphany at the Drownyard
- Pieces of the Puzzle
- Rise from the Tides
- Thing in the Ice
Black:- Asylum Visitor
- Diregraf Colossus
- Ever After
- Relentless Dead
- Westvale Abbey
Red:- Burn from Within
- Dissension in the Ranks
- Sin Prodder
- Tormenting Voice
- Vessel of Volatility
Green:- Cryptolith Rite
- Crawling Sensation
- Seasons Past
- Second Harvest
- Traverse the Ulvenwald
Gold:- Altered Ego
- Anguished Unmaking
- Geistblast
- Nahiri, the Harbinger
- The Gitrog Monster
Colorless: