Have been testing this a little bit and trying some different card choices. Just looking to get a second opinion and maybe hear some cards I may have missed.
London Mulligan really helped this deck, TE is not much of a challenge to find nowadays and lots of people just aren't packing ways to deal with it maindeck.
So, this is a Tortured Existence brew that aims to close the game by locking your opponents out of the game using Thoughtpicker Witch. It uses a variety of creatures as sac fodder, primarily Myr Servitor, Mulldrifter, and Trinket Mage. All of them mitigate or negate card disadvantage normally associated with repeated sacrificing. Mesmeric Fiend is another common sacrifice target that can be looped to both control the library and permanently deal with cards that are already in hand. A pair of Grave Scrabblers can really run away with the game with a sac outlet on board, and provide more natural card advantage and free blockers. Myr Servitor itself can wall out some decks with blocks that arent able to clear away enough copies, buying you time while you assemble a lock. Golgari Brownscale is also included to give us a way to simply loop Thoughtpicker Witch with itself every turn in tight situations, and can allow us to gain a lot of life to delay further. Forbidden Alchemy, Mulldrifter and Careful Study help us find cards we need while filling the yard with tutor targets. The shell has a lot of resilience, and dodges edict effects. It feels unique, and perhaps strong enough to take some games off of established archetypes. Trinket Mage itself brings a lot to the table, and being able to loop its effect to find more lands, removal, or hate is quite strong in a shell where one can cast almost as many copies as you can afford.
Here's my current, albeit minimally refined, list;
Probably going to be brewing this for a bit, would love suggestions, will update it as I go.
I'd compare this deck to Lantern Control, but it's really a Tortured Existence deck at heart. You do close games with library manipulation, but the execution and tutoring are lacking compared to Modern's streamlined Ensnaring Bridge centric lists. Creature combat is important, and often a Thoughtpicker Lock is icing on the cake. This configuration does not play hellbent magic, and generally has a lot more access to potential utility cards, but lacks the speed and card selection of Modern Lantern. It's probably not something that could exist outside of the pauper environment, and personally I think that's really cool.
London Mulligan really helped this deck, TE is not much of a challenge to find nowadays and lots of people just aren't packing ways to deal with it maindeck.
So, this is a Tortured Existence brew that aims to close the game by locking your opponents out of the game using Thoughtpicker Witch. It uses a variety of creatures as sac fodder, primarily Myr Servitor, Mulldrifter, and Trinket Mage. All of them mitigate or negate card disadvantage normally associated with repeated sacrificing. Mesmeric Fiend is another common sacrifice target that can be looped to both control the library and permanently deal with cards that are already in hand. A pair of Grave Scrabblers can really run away with the game with a sac outlet on board, and provide more natural card advantage and free blockers. Myr Servitor itself can wall out some decks with blocks that arent able to clear away enough copies, buying you time while you assemble a lock. Golgari Brownscale is also included to give us a way to simply loop Thoughtpicker Witch with itself every turn in tight situations, and can allow us to gain a lot of life to delay further. Forbidden Alchemy, Mulldrifter and Careful Study help us find cards we need while filling the yard with tutor targets. The shell has a lot of resilience, and dodges edict effects. It feels unique, and perhaps strong enough to take some games off of established archetypes. Trinket Mage itself brings a lot to the table, and being able to loop its effect to find more lands, removal, or hate is quite strong in a shell where one can cast almost as many copies as you can afford.
Here's my current, albeit minimally refined, list;
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
2 Executioner's Capsule
- TE Package -
4 Tortured Existence
3 Thoughtpicker Witch
3 Golgari Brownscale
1 Stinkweed Imp
- Sac Fodder -
4 Myr Servitor
4 Grave Scrabbler
4 Mulldrifter
3 Trinket Mage
2 Mesmeric Fiend
4 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Careful Study
1 Horror of the Broken Lands
- Other Land -
4 Dimir Aqueduct
4 Dismal Backwater
4 Swamp
1 Dimir Guildgate
- Board -
4 Crypt Rats
2 Augur of Skulls
2 Mesmeric Fiend
2 Waterfront Bouncer
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Faerie Macabre
1 Executioner's Capsule
Probably going to be brewing this for a bit, would love suggestions, will update it as I go.
I'd compare this deck to Lantern Control, but it's really a Tortured Existence deck at heart. You do close games with library manipulation, but the execution and tutoring are lacking compared to Modern's streamlined Ensnaring Bridge centric lists. Creature combat is important, and often a Thoughtpicker Lock is icing on the cake. This configuration does not play hellbent magic, and generally has a lot more access to potential utility cards, but lacks the speed and card selection of Modern Lantern. It's probably not something that could exist outside of the pauper environment, and personally I think that's really cool.