I would recommend you check out the recent article by Alex Ullman at gatheringmagic.com It has some great analysis of the current format and a breakdown of the top 25 top performing decks.
I think it's about time there was a separation of the cycling archetype
there is the Songs of the Damned combo version and I believe we are finally at the point where a midrangy deck with big mana cycling creatures and Mortuary Mire/Erratic Explosion can work
Firebrand Archer is certainly enticing, but, that 1 toughness makes it vulnerable to all kinds of removal. I'm more hopefully that the recent addition of several decent cards with cycling will open things up for more mid range beatdown decks.
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
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.
The Monarch cards were always common, there were just printed in the Conspiracy set which was not made for MTGO. Now they appear to be including cards from those sets online in the treasure chests. Once they get printed at common they are always playable in pauper unless specifically banned. For those of us playing paper pauper, we've had access to these cards, and others, for some time.
Exalted Vehicles was one of the first ideas I had after they were spoiled, but, I never had the time to really explore it. Glad to see someone else running with the torch on this one.
My quick thoughts on the subject would be to play u/w as it allows you to include Ethercaste Knight and War Falcon as an upgrade to Loyal Pegasus.
Not really confident that Exalted can crack tier 1.5 or even tier 2, but, it is something I think looks like a lot of fun and hope to try at some point.
Might be a neat trick to bounce while in combat so you get a block, more energy and potentially a reset of your turret to go to their face an extra time.
A red/green token deck without Impact Tremors and Vessel of Nascency/Commune with the Gods is like a sandwich without bread. I like the token combo chains but I worry it will suffer from inconsistency. Without a way to search for Alchemist you can be stuck just making dudes that are easily outclassed when forced into combat. Outside of Boros tokens, you really don't want to go to combat when playing a token deck. Boros can get away with it because the can create fliers that can bypass a lot of creature and put them in position for an alpha strike. Value creatures that create two bodies to block with while dealing damage when cast/enters play is generally the more successful approach when piloting a tokens deck. That way you can just stall the board and not have to worry about sweepers so much because you never need to go to combat to win
I'd start with makeshift mauler. A 4/5 dies to the same stuff as angler but can't go toe to toe with a angler. It also rips cards out of your yard and can put you in awkward positions.
I've been playing with slightly different version of MonoG for a couple years. I run a specific core of cards and then fill in slots from time to time with new stuff or adjust to a specific metagame. From here on out, my core looks like this
The 4 cycling spells give me at least a small shot at some game one meta against a diverse field. If I really know what to expect, I might tweek these, but, generally I don't. From here, I feel the rest of the deck is optional. I wouldn't give up the convoke package for anything. I have been testing this for years without BTE and have had some mixed results, but, when you run out some turn two convoked creatures, it just creates a board state that many people aren't prepared to handle. Turn 1 Nettle Sentinel into turn 2 BTE -> Nest Invader -> Convoke creature puts you're opponent on a turn 4 clock without any pump spells. and this is with bodies that can get past the 1/3 chaff that a lot of non-agro decks will run. they don't quite get out of range of bolt but there are plenty of options you can include if you need to get there. Land count fluctuates between 17 and 19 depending on if I anticipate I'll face a lot of other agro decks and I want the option to go more midrange.
Once MM3 is legal, I strongly recommend starting with this core and tweeking it to your liking
Although Gryff is not a zombie it works well with Ghoulrasier since it Gryff doesn't get in the way of the other zombies you are tying to return. There is so much value from Dragger/Gryff. And now there is that other zombie with unearth that leaves a zombie behind when it dies......... seems like fun to me.
I don't know that I would try to get too cute with BTE, but, right now I'm going to say it's the frontrunner so far in terms of biggest impact potential to the format. I've been waiting a long time for a card like BTE to fill out the rogue monogreen list I've been using for a couple years. It might just be ready for prime time now.
I can only really offer suggestions. Pauper Frontier hasn't really caught on where I am. I've played a couple games with a pauper frontier deck vs normal frontier decks, but, that's not really a good example since pauper metagames tend to be much different. I tend not to provide a full list of most decks I play. not for secrecy or anything like that. Just because metagames can be vastly different from store to store. Also I don't want to stifle the creative process. Exploring new things is one of the things that I find the most fun. personally I hate when I get a full list and someone touts it as the end all be all without taking into consideration that not everyone is going to be competing against the same style of decks.
I'd start with something like this:
2x Metallic Rebuke
3x Treasure Cruise
4x Bone Saw
4x Inventor's Goggles
4x Cathar's Shield
3x Prophetic Prism
3x Bastion Inventor
4x Bonded Construct
2x Gearseeker Serpent
2x Foundery Assembler
3x Ornithopter
4x Sweatworks Brawler
Land (22)
3x Renegade Map (yes I count RM as a land, but it can enable improvise too so win/win)
8x Island
7x Mountain
4x Swiftwater Cliffs
This gives you 22 artifacts that cost 1 or less to enable a quick Brawler or Bastin, and that's really what this deck wants to happen. Depending on your metagame you can slot more removal or countermagic. you can try experimenting with pump spells like Built to Smash or Temur Battle Rage, etc. Surge and Emerge have also show some positive results in my standard pauper testing. Will 11 free spells surge is pretty easy to turn on and the red and blue pauper surge creatures are pretty solid. Emerge is also good since you have access to Wretched Gryff and sometimes you want a beefy flier and a card. with the improvise and surge creatures having inflated mana costs, this is a nice option to have if you need to switch gears. ymmv, hope it works out for you.
here's the link
http://www.gatheringmagic.com/pauper-and-the-metagame/
there is the Songs of the Damned combo version and I believe we are finally at the point where a midrangy deck with big mana cycling creatures and Mortuary Mire/Erratic Explosion can work
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
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.
My quick thoughts on the subject would be to play u/w as it allows you to include Ethercaste Knight and War Falcon as an upgrade to Loyal Pegasus.
Not really confident that Exalted can crack tier 1.5 or even tier 2, but, it is something I think looks like a lot of fun and hope to try at some point.
Might be a neat trick to bounce while in combat so you get a block, more energy and potentially a reset of your turret to go to their face an extra time.
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Nest Invader
3 Living Totem
2 Kavu Primarch
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
1 Claws of Wirewood
1 Hush
1 Repopulate
1 Lull
The 4 cycling spells give me at least a small shot at some game one meta against a diverse field. If I really know what to expect, I might tweek these, but, generally I don't. From here, I feel the rest of the deck is optional. I wouldn't give up the convoke package for anything. I have been testing this for years without BTE and have had some mixed results, but, when you run out some turn two convoked creatures, it just creates a board state that many people aren't prepared to handle. Turn 1 Nettle Sentinel into turn 2 BTE -> Nest Invader -> Convoke creature puts you're opponent on a turn 4 clock without any pump spells. and this is with bodies that can get past the 1/3 chaff that a lot of non-agro decks will run. they don't quite get out of range of bolt but there are plenty of options you can include if you need to get there. Land count fluctuates between 17 and 19 depending on if I anticipate I'll face a lot of other agro decks and I want the option to go more midrange.
Once MM3 is legal, I strongly recommend starting with this core and tweeking it to your liking
Although Gryff is not a zombie it works well with Ghoulrasier since it Gryff doesn't get in the way of the other zombies you are tying to return. There is so much value from Dragger/Gryff. And now there is that other zombie with unearth that leaves a zombie behind when it dies......... seems like fun to me.
this seems correct to me
I'd start with something like this:
2x Metallic Rebuke
3x Treasure Cruise
4x Bone Saw
4x Inventor's Goggles
4x Cathar's Shield
3x Prophetic Prism
3x Bastion Inventor
4x Bonded Construct
2x Gearseeker Serpent
2x Foundery Assembler
3x Ornithopter
4x Sweatworks Brawler
Land (22)
3x Renegade Map (yes I count RM as a land, but it can enable improvise too so win/win)
8x Island
7x Mountain
4x Swiftwater Cliffs
This gives you 22 artifacts that cost 1 or less to enable a quick Brawler or Bastin, and that's really what this deck wants to happen. Depending on your metagame you can slot more removal or countermagic. you can try experimenting with pump spells like Built to Smash or Temur Battle Rage, etc. Surge and Emerge have also show some positive results in my standard pauper testing. Will 11 free spells surge is pretty easy to turn on and the red and blue pauper surge creatures are pretty solid. Emerge is also good since you have access to Wretched Gryff and sometimes you want a beefy flier and a card. with the improvise and surge creatures having inflated mana costs, this is a nice option to have if you need to switch gears. ymmv, hope it works out for you.