So I'm new to pauper, and although I usually play Burn in any format I can I figured I would try something a little more like my first competitive deck, Gruul Zoo back in Kamigawa-Ravnica Standard. This is what I've come up with.
Since I'm new to Pauper I'm not all that familiar with the meta so I'm sort of flying blind, especially with the sideboard. Cards I'm not all that sure of are Horned Kavu which is great when it lands but is vulnerable on cast, Mogg Fanatic which might be better as Young Wolf, Blazing Volley which I think is better for my purposes than Electrickery and Tranquility which I went with although I don't know if there are many enchantment based decks in Pauper. Feed the Clan is also a bit shaky, but will be replaced by Life Goes On which I like a lot more as anti-Burn tech. Any thoughts?
Horned Kavu, is a trap card for this deck, IMO. It seems so right because of the body being good for two mana and the colors are rg, but, taking a creature off the board can wreck your early tempo. Also you don't have a any great ETB effects on your creatures and anytime you are bouncing your own stuff, you want to get something out of it. come into play tapped lands are going to slow up your aggro options and I don't know if the creatures are strong enough to take over the mid to late game.
Green and Red aggro can leverage Burning Tree Emissary into some explosive openings but tying up your mana with a lot of creatures that require specific color mana costs can cause you problems. I would try to limit the number of cards that require both red and green mana and try to think of it as a base red deck with a green splash, or a base green deck with a red splash. Unless you're going to be running some sort of non-land mana fixing, which could slow you down and move the deck from aggro to mid-range. not sure if that is where you want to be.
personally I think g/x midrange beatdown decks are really close to being a thing. the last two sets gave us a lot of cycling cards that can work well in that type of deck. I think if you're running aggro, you are better sticking with a mono-color deck.
I get what you're saying with Horned Kavu. Valley Dasher or Goblin Heelcutter might be better in that slot now that you mention it. But I haven't really come across the mana problems you're talking about in testing. Part of that is that BTE is actually non-land mana fixing for the RG creatures and that any speed I lose with having a land tapped turn 1 or 2 is usually made up for by the quality of my creatures. Definitely changing Horned Kavu but losing 2/x's for 1 or other above curve creatures just seems to good to scrap the deck.
Fair enough. I just caution the inclusion of too many spells that take both green and red in their casting cost as that essentially forces you to have both green and red mana by turn two, or a BTE. I'm pretty sure the math on that is not terrific, at least in terms of an aggressive deck that wants to attack early. I wish there was a red equivalent of Avacyn's Pilgrim.
And just to contradict myself in my own post, lol, if you ever consider moving to a more mid range strategy, consider Branching Bolt and Deadshot Minotaur. These can give you some amazing value vs certain decks. A 3/4 beater that kills most of the fliers in the environment is solid and can be cycled away if you don't need it. Branching Bolt is more limited in scope but a card that can kill two creatures should never be ignored. most decks don't go all fliers so you're likely to catch a delver and a ninja with this and that's a huge swing if you stick it
These were two of my favorite cards way back when I played standard pauper during alera block
Cool, I might look into those if I do go more midrange, which would reduce the mana intensity. I guess I could also run Manamorphose if I need to though and I have slightly reduced my reliance on green.
How often are you able to have Kird Ape and Wild Nacatl at their optimal power and toughness? I would think the limitations of the pauper format mana base would cause you not to have the land types needed at all times.
Aljasar, this might change, we now have [[highland forest]], it is very possible that the mana-base for this deck could be quite solid, especially with [[burning-tree emissary]]. Maybe a singleton [[manamorphose]] is called for.
4 Evolving Wilds
8 Forest
8 Mountain
Creatures (28)
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Horned Kavu
2 Jund Hackblade
4 Kird Ape
2 Mogg Fanatic
4 Rip-Clan Crasher
4 Scab-Clan Mauler
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Colossal Might
4 Lightning Bolt
Enchantment (4)
4 Rancor
2 Blazing Volley
2 Cartouche of Zeal
2 Feed the Clan
2 Flame Slash
2 Molten Rain
3 Tin Street Hooligan
2 Tranquility
Since I'm new to Pauper I'm not all that familiar with the meta so I'm sort of flying blind, especially with the sideboard. Cards I'm not all that sure of are Horned Kavu which is great when it lands but is vulnerable on cast, Mogg Fanatic which might be better as Young Wolf, Blazing Volley which I think is better for my purposes than Electrickery and Tranquility which I went with although I don't know if there are many enchantment based decks in Pauper. Feed the Clan is also a bit shaky, but will be replaced by Life Goes On which I like a lot more as anti-Burn tech. Any thoughts?
Green and Red aggro can leverage Burning Tree Emissary into some explosive openings but tying up your mana with a lot of creatures that require specific color mana costs can cause you problems. I would try to limit the number of cards that require both red and green mana and try to think of it as a base red deck with a green splash, or a base green deck with a red splash. Unless you're going to be running some sort of non-land mana fixing, which could slow you down and move the deck from aggro to mid-range. not sure if that is where you want to be.
personally I think g/x midrange beatdown decks are really close to being a thing. the last two sets gave us a lot of cycling cards that can work well in that type of deck. I think if you're running aggro, you are better sticking with a mono-color deck.
And just to contradict myself in my own post, lol, if you ever consider moving to a more mid range strategy, consider Branching Bolt and Deadshot Minotaur. These can give you some amazing value vs certain decks. A 3/4 beater that kills most of the fliers in the environment is solid and can be cycled away if you don't need it. Branching Bolt is more limited in scope but a card that can kill two creatures should never be ignored. most decks don't go all fliers so you're likely to catch a delver and a ninja with this and that's a huge swing if you stick it
These were two of my favorite cards way back when I played standard pauper during alera block