Oh... I read this thread after more than a year and I realize that it was soooo bad. The deck deserved something better.
The list was horrific, I apologize.
After 18 months playing only this deck I ended up playing Abzan. I know that rakdos is placing some good results on MTGO lately but I cannot play without spore frog and Sakura. White is mostly for the sideboard, the one thing that white shines in. The list I am going to register at an event on sunday is going to be the following:
There are some cards that are imposed by the metagame I usually play in, which is dominated by Delver and Burn. Deadly recluse and Scattershot archer are cards that I started to sleeve up recently since UR Delver is the dominant deck pretty much everywhere, I think.
The manabase is very weird but ultimately very functional as long as it is in the majority composed of basic lands assisted by abundant growth. It is easy to have white mana thanks to 5 fetches and sakura (and growth of course).
Speaking of abundant growth, I enjoyed it very much with kor skyfisher. This two cards allows the deck to play a midrangish game plane while waiting for tortured to lock the game.
The match-ups that I think are favorable are Boros, UB, mono Black and generally the deck full of removals. MonoG, Auras, Elves, Burn and Affinity are generally very close and can be improved drastically by changing some slots (for example playing the third frog if we expect monoG to be the major deck in the room or the third rats if Elves is heavily represented). The worst match up is tron, which is pretty much impossible. SLightly better but still hard are Nivix and Tireless Combo.
Quote from Aceofkings »
I’m working on a Mardu list. The deck has potential
I like your list a lot. Ghitu SLinger is the card I have been searching for in the last year. I suggest to play a Jund list rather than Mardu list, but I am defintely going to try something sililar to what you have posted!
Quote from EpicLevelCommoner »
First: Street Wraith is a common out of Modern Masters, and, with Tortured Existence and Golgari Brownscale, provides an engine to accelerate self-mill.
Second: Crypt Rats has always been highly regarded as a win-con for this deck. However, having to spend 2BB each turn to bring it back and cast it slows the clock down quite a bit. Enter Obsidian Acolyte; for W the acolyte saves the rats from suicide for the turn, allowing all that excess black mana to sweep the field and burn the face.
I don't like cards that are utterly useless by their own and this deck is already full of them (Brownscale, gravescrabbler and spore frog are played in every BGx list). The interaction between Rats and acolyte is cool though!
Agreed with Jitte. Wizards wants formats to be creature based. Why would they introduce a card that single handedly wins those types of battles?
Jitte does require to be creature based, so it would be great in creature based mirror but no so great in non-interactive games. Of course SFM and Jitte cannot be unbanned together!
I remember when Jitte was legal in extended (which was extremley more creature based than actual modern) and it wasn't so oppressive.
I'm not trying to speculate on absurd unbanning, just trying to understand how things would work out in such a scenario
Hey guys. I'm not a modern player but I follow entusiastically the format. I'd like to ask what do you think about unbanning cards that belong to non-played (or lightly played deck) in order to make a shake-up of the format.
I'm referring to powerful cards such as Stoneforge, Bloodbraid elf, Deathrite and punishing fire (maybe even Jitte). These are fair cards for midrange/tempo strategies, which aren't oppressive actually. Would they destroy the format?
Dredge, storm, and affinity are some of the most degenerate deck archetypes ever. Therefore, those three stand to benefit the most from getting their most degenerate combo pieces back. I could see infect being nuts as well, though.
In my opinion affinity would have the same problem that it has today: stony silence. Artifact lands don't seem to be useful!!
I voted for storm over dredge because grave hate is more effective than hate vs storm.
Another question: would Stoneforge mystic be that crazy in the actual metagame? Don't you think it is a rather slow and removal attractive card? Moreover the other "tarmogoyfs" are in he format (Tarmo, confi, pyromancer and snapcaster), is it more powerful than those?
My English is rather poor, I hope you'll forgive me
I don't know whether this is the right place for this thread or not. Maybe "Modern Community" would have been better, but I think that what I'm going to say is speculative enough to be posted here.
I want to highlight the fact that I'm not a Modern player but I'm interested in the format, follow its change and sometimes enjoy it online. Therefore I'm not an expert and so I'm asking for explanation to who are more expert than me.
1. Fair cards Banned
Stuff like Stoneforge Mystic, Bloodbraid elf, Punishing Fire, Birthing Pod and Green's Sun Zenit are banned . These are very powerful cards that broke the format over the years (extended at least). Nonetheless if they are unbanned simultaneously, many decks will benefit (Junk, Melira, Jund for sure) and probably there won't be a deck which overwhelm brutally the others. Moreover if cards like Preordain and Treasure Cruise (others could be considered as well) are unbanned at the same time Combo decks will thrive too (e.g. Ascendancy and Storm).
So my question is: Wouldn't such a format be as balanced as the actual Modern? Why do wizard ban cards to balance the format instead of unbanning some?
2. Everything Unbanned
Now something more speculative. Which deck do you think will be the most powerful if every cards is unbanned? Let's answer the survey!
I'm not sold on the idea of splashing a 3rd color into a two color agro deck. I'd recommend Gleeful Sabotage and Feed the Clan.
you likely have enough green creatures to make sure you hit two artifacts with GS
FTC is a good card vs burn and should likely be in the board anyways. life gain is good insurance against the atog/fling combo when they go for the kill and then end up coming up short after wiping their whole board.
these should work without stretching your manabase any further.
What if I say that in my list splash is for 2 colors??
I think that sabotage will seldom hit 2 artifacts inasmuch in my current list green creature usually don't stay long on the board.
Gnaw to The bone IMO is more effective in this deck then FTC since I run no creture with power greate then 4.
Since now I've tested continually only my aggro version with TE. In the next days I'm going to test the version with Guard+Gond and then I'll write some impression.
I think that firstly, in order to build something that is competitive, we should consider the most common deck in the format and think to weakness we have against them.
IMHO Actually Tier1 are Affinity, Kuldotha.dec, Urzatron and Stompy monoG. A small step below are MBC, MUC, delver.dec and KilnFiend.dec. MonoR Aggros and UB controll should be considered as well.
-Affinity: I'm running red just for Gorilla Shaman in SB, otherwise is a very though match up (as it is for every aggro deck). Having a combo plan in the deck could be a huge improvement compared to my list hence it has not a lot of removals. Another things to be considered is the presence of Atog + Fling which can reverse the situation in each moment.
-MonoG: this match up is strictly related with the configuration we're running. For example if we run spore frog MD and lot of cheap removals is not very hard, if we run a lot of cards with CC3 (in your first for example there are treefolk, auramancer, guard, ecc) probably we'll never win. Having a combo plan pobably would be uneffective against this kind of deck, but if we succeed in stabilize the board in the first turns it may be helpful.
-Urzatron: they fear aggro because in the format there aren't mass removal so it's quite hard for it to reverse the situation. On the other hand it has no problem against midrange. Hand distruption is not very effective against it as I initially thought.
-Kuldotha: with my actual configuration I think it is a good match up. Combo aren't effective against this kind of deck because they usually run 10-12 removals MD.
There are some cards I really don't like in your list:
-Bloodflow connoiseur is very slow, I think sac outlet should cost 1, hence I think Viscera seer is the right one.
-Read the bones I think should be replaced with Altar's reap or with 4x Nihgt's whisper. The format is too fast for a draw engine cc3
-Nameless inversion is not a reliable removal. The fact that it can be tutored with the elf is not important since you have eyeblight's ending
-24 lands are a huge amount in Pauper. Maybe you should include sakura or elves of the deep shadow and cut off some lands.
I still think that in a deck like this Tortured Existence should be included, even though it requests a little rearrangement.
For what concern Thoughtpicker controll I think it is an easy picking for every aggro deck. The idea is awsome but Pauper lacks of mass removal to support it in the first turns (still waiting for common pyroclasm).
GW list is very interesting, I think you should find some slot for Commune with the god.
Since I am very interested in this kind of deck and I'd like to develop an established Aggro-Combo, shouldn't we focus on a particular decklist and work on it? The post is messing up!!
(I'm sorry for my English, I'm trying to improve it )
This is the deck I'm actually playing. As you can see I'm not running the Presence+Guard version, even though I've already considered this configuration.
I notice in your configuration that you entrust pretty much on tortured existence, that in my experience is a very "hated" card! I prefer to be a little more aggressive and consistent, giving up some graveyard trick (treefolk, scrabbler, skeleton, scrounger and so on aren't that good with Relic on the board).
If I'd play Gond Version then I'll have something like this:
Firstly I have to say that even if i never played on MTGO (and don't mean to do in the future) I decided to post here because I use the MTGO rules for Pauper, moreover I think that none will care if I have not an MTGO account since I want to talk about a deck for this format.
Secondly I apologize for my poor English, I'm an Italian user (probably some already knows that Italians aren't famous for their fluent English) trying to learn something about this format and this language. I Hope you'll justify me
After 7 years out from this cards game I came back and decided to join this format because all the stuff I had for the "real" formats had been sold years ago, I think Pauper actually is very enjoyable and allows players (specially after Drake ban) to try new solutions and deckbuilding; this matter brings me to the Deck: I choose Tortured Existence because I love Graveyard Intercation and "liquid" decks (decks without a solid structure of 4x irrepleacable cards) who permit to choose a wide range of tools for every metagames and game circumstances.
As everyone know Tortured Existence.dec are based on the namesake card, which I consider one of the most "wrong" Common card (I think it would be reprinted mythic rare at least ).
Even though is not my aim to write a primer (I'm not prepared to do something like that) I'll spend few words on the main strategy: play Tortured Existence as soon as possible through cards like Commune with the gods or Vessel of Nascency, in order to start a Grave recursion thanks to the dredge buddies, Stinkweed Imp and Golgari Brownscale; it brings a huge advantage on the opponent because creates board advantage, exploiting even madness guy. Usually we'll close the match with Crypt Rats or Perilous Myr recursion, otherwise just beating down the opponent with creatures.
The deck in my opinion has 8 compulsory slots: 4 Tortured existence and 4 Commune with the gods, then there are a very huge amounts of cards to made a choice within (maybe this sentence make no sense in English, I don't know).
CREATURES
-Stinkweed Imp: to be honest this is compulsory too, but the amount is a free choice. It does a lot of things that I don't have to explain, but it is quite slow, I mean against some aggro deck it could be useless, moreover in grind match-up it can mill our own deck if we're not careful enough.
-Golgari Brwonscale: talking with people I noticed that someone doesn't like this because it is only a TE fodder and without existence it does nothing, I think this is not true. Firstly has a decent body, secondly it is a God sent manna against Aggro (with two of this within hand or grave every black mana is +2 Life) and thirdly it is also a Carrion Feeder fodder
-Fume Spitter: I really like this little fellow, it makes creatures tamer or even kill them. Helps against Goblin, Elves, kills unflipped Delver and it is synergic with TE
-Perilous myr: it is good in a bunch of situations but to be very good it needs carrion feeder so I usually run only 1-2 of this guys
-Carrion Feeder: it is VERY synergic with Existence, Perilous Myr and allows to have a ton of trick. Initially I didn't run them, then I passed to 1, then to 2 and now I'm quite sure that I'll run 3 in the future
-Basking Rootwalla: ok, she doesn't need explanation at all
-Crypt Rats: these are a very important card for the deck but I still have problems to choice how much of them are needed, however I believe 3 among main and side.
-Nimble Mongoose: it's very easy to reach treshold evenin the first turns of the game, but actually it does almost nothing other than beat. Intially I run 3, I think they'll be cut off.
-Werebear: he has the same issue of mongoose, overmore Green mana is not what the deck really need.
-Arrogant Wurm: it is a silver bullet, 1x I think is very good, no more no less.
-Grave Scrabbler: this is incredible with TE as well as it is useless without. 3 mana for +2 card advantage however is enough to run 2x I think.
-Sakura-Tribe Elder: this kind old guy is an important engine in the early game, a quality blocker and provide us the mana we need to use Existence with profit
-Satyr Wayfinder: some think it is a bomb for the deck, I really don't understand why, anyway he deserves a mention. I think it is not so important because if I'm searching for TE in the early game it is a dead card whereas I won't risk to put the enchantment in the Grave, it is not more important in the mid/late game because only supply lands.
-Vampire Hounds: it is a strong cards even without existence since we have a dredger in the grave. Even tough he can beat hard opponent he has no evasive ability so usully won't do what we need from him.
-Wild Mongrel: same issue with of the one above
-Caustic Caterpillar: even though it usually is a side choice I think that in some particulat metagame it could be a nice choice for the main too as long as almost each deck run some artifact or enchantment, both controll and aggro (artifact lands, Bonesplitter, Journey to Nowhere, ècard]Oblivion Ring[/card], Prismatic Prism, mirror match, Angelic Renewal, each affinity cards, Sylvok Lifestaff, Pestilence and so on)
-Scavenger Folk: just another artifact hate card
-Augur of skulls: as caterpillar I think this can be a good choice either for main and side, it is obvious what he does against controll and combo
-Mindlash Sliver: this one is a bit less effective then the one above but permit a nice lock, if we achieve to bring opponent hand to 0 cards it's just necessery to sac it on draw step to lockout the opponent. I think the best effect is obtained with a combined effect of these two
-Mesmeric Fiend: with carrion feeder and TE it is devastating against conroll and combo, though if we don't have one of the two mentioned cards it's mediocre
-Sanitarium Skeleton: theoretically it is bomb in this deck but i noticed that is too much mana intensive, seldom we would have 3 mana just to get back a card from the grave to hand. Certainly it is a good chumpblocker and with ton of available mana it can provide huge cards advantage.
-Tilling Treefolk: there aren't particular reasons to run this but it permits some interesting trick. I think it's a bit slow and occasional
-Spore Frog: I don't think it deserves slots in the main deck but 2x in the side could be a VERY good choice
-Brindle board
-Krosan Tusker
REMOVALS
The deck to stand against aggro needs some removals. I prefer instant, puntual and no mana intensive removals thus i'm running 2 Last gasp, 2 Disfigure and 1 Ghastly Demise. There're lot of available removals and everyone has his particular prefernces. I believe 5-6 is the right number, maybe in some field it could be a little bit excesive but actually I like it.
TOOLS
Personally I believe that 4 Commune with the gods are compulsory as I've already said.
-Vessel of Nascency: I had a long talk about it last night on Cockatrice and at the end I was persuaded that it is necessary. It's never a dead card, helps in order to be more consistent and with TE, as well as Commune, allows us to enjoys 4 new cards.
-Rofellos's Gift: the guy who suggest me to run Vessel (maybe he is a user of this forum, I'd like to talk with him) also support this card. I think it is occasional and doesn't provide what we need but it's undubitable that with one of this in the opening hand we can just dredge the deck to find TE, it has a nice interaction with vessel and eventually with Dead weight
-Unearth: it's a powerful tool but i prefer not to exceed with non-creatures cards
-Gnaw to th bone: after sideboard aggro decks should fear this card!!
I'm not an expert so I mentioned the cards I've considered until now and I'm eager of suggestion. This is the list I run:
On Friday I had a long talk with a dear friend of mine who's playing the deck with some good results (he's second in the local Pauper league on 30 players), he's running such a kind of list:
I don't remember the last 2 slots but I think they're life gain tools (drain life effect) or 2 Unearth or maybe some equipment (Bonesplitter).
The list firstly didn't persuade me, thus I asked why it lacks of Rituals, whispers, cuombajj, 4th pestilence and moreover why there're so many asynergyc cards with Pestilence. He answered point to point:
1-Ritual is a bad draw in the late game and we can't afford it in this kind of build, furthermore with only 2 Merchant and 3 Pestilence, it is not so fundamental
2-We don't need whispers because Skyfisher and Rager together assure some Card advantage and besides Pestilence is a Huge Card Advantage instrument. He said that sometimes he had played 2x/3x of Read the bones.
3-Cuombajj is not needed because he's already running several creatures and removals, He would play it in a different metagame of course (Delver and Mono U metagame for example)
4-He doesn't like the fourth pestilence because it is not necessary to win in this configuration and it is quite heavy without rituals, furthermore he uphold that open a game with 2 Pestilence in hand often means to lose that game
5-He think that even though x/2 cretures are not synergyc with Pestilence thay're fundamental to the Game plan: gain a little card advantage with chittering rats, rager and skyfisher in the early game in order to force opponent to use his resources and then strike hard with Pestilence (plus eventually guildpact), combined with Merchant in the mid/late game. He believe that little smart creatures are very useful in match-up where Pestilence and big toughness creatures are purely useless such as Vinestorm and Urzatron.
I viewed only few games played with the deck but I can assure the Strategy works, it is pretty similiar to MBC but is boosted by the Most powerful card in the format, in fact Pestilence is the only Sweeper (this is how in Italy we call the Damnation effect) available in Pauper, and by the Guildpact which is very similar to True-name Nemesis.
The list was horrific, I apologize.
After 18 months playing only this deck I ended up playing Abzan. I know that rakdos is placing some good results on MTGO lately but I cannot play without spore frog and Sakura. White is mostly for the sideboard, the one thing that white shines in. The list I am going to register at an event on sunday is going to be the following:
3 Jungle Hollow
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic expanse
1 Plains
7 Forests
7 Swamps
Enchantment 10
4 Tortured Existence
4 Abundant Growth
2 Dead Weight
Creatures 23
3 Golgari Brownscale
2 Stinkweed Imp
1 Auramancer
2 Spore Frog
2 Gravescrabbler
3 Elvish Visionary
3 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Deadly Recluse
2 Crypt Rats
3 Kor Skyfisher
1 Gurmag Angler
4 Commune with the Gods
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Children of Korlis
2 CoP: red
2 Faerie Macabre
1 Crypt Rats
1 Auramancer
1 Dead Weight
2 Scattershot Archer
1 Thorn of the Balck Rose
2 Standard Bearer
There are some cards that are imposed by the metagame I usually play in, which is dominated by Delver and Burn. Deadly recluse and Scattershot archer are cards that I started to sleeve up recently since UR Delver is the dominant deck pretty much everywhere, I think.
The manabase is very weird but ultimately very functional as long as it is in the majority composed of basic lands assisted by abundant growth. It is easy to have white mana thanks to 5 fetches and sakura (and growth of course).
Speaking of abundant growth, I enjoyed it very much with kor skyfisher. This two cards allows the deck to play a midrangish game plane while waiting for tortured to lock the game.
The match-ups that I think are favorable are Boros, UB, mono Black and generally the deck full of removals. MonoG, Auras, Elves, Burn and Affinity are generally very close and can be improved drastically by changing some slots (for example playing the third frog if we expect monoG to be the major deck in the room or the third rats if Elves is heavily represented). The worst match up is tron, which is pretty much impossible. SLightly better but still hard are Nivix and Tireless Combo.
I like your list a lot. Ghitu SLinger is the card I have been searching for in the last year. I suggest to play a Jund list rather than Mardu list, but I am defintely going to try something sililar to what you have posted!
It is cool but I would rather play horror of the broken lands which is also a good threat.
I don't like cards that are utterly useless by their own and this deck is already full of them (Brownscale, gravescrabbler and spore frog are played in every BGx list). The interaction between Rats and acolyte is cool though!
Jitte does require to be creature based, so it would be great in creature based mirror but no so great in non-interactive games. Of course SFM and Jitte cannot be unbanned together!
I remember when Jitte was legal in extended (which was extremley more creature based than actual modern) and it wasn't so oppressive.
I'm not trying to speculate on absurd unbanning, just trying to understand how things would work out in such a scenario
I'm referring to powerful cards such as Stoneforge, Bloodbraid elf, Deathrite and punishing fire (maybe even Jitte). These are fair cards for midrange/tempo strategies, which aren't oppressive actually. Would they destroy the format?
In my opinion affinity would have the same problem that it has today: stony silence. Artifact lands don't seem to be useful!!
I voted for storm over dredge because grave hate is more effective than hate vs storm.
Another question: would Stoneforge mystic be that crazy in the actual metagame? Don't you think it is a rather slow and removal attractive card? Moreover the other "tarmogoyfs" are in he format (Tarmo, confi, pyromancer and snapcaster), is it more powerful than those?
Yeah. Didn't understand the reason they did so!!
I don't know whether this is the right place for this thread or not. Maybe "Modern Community" would have been better, but I think that what I'm going to say is speculative enough to be posted here.
I want to highlight the fact that I'm not a Modern player but I'm interested in the format, follow its change and sometimes enjoy it online. Therefore I'm not an expert and so I'm asking for explanation to who are more expert than me.
1. Fair cards Banned
Stuff like Stoneforge Mystic, Bloodbraid elf, Punishing Fire, Birthing Pod and Green's Sun Zenit are banned . These are very powerful cards that broke the format over the years (extended at least). Nonetheless if they are unbanned simultaneously, many decks will benefit (Junk, Melira, Jund for sure) and probably there won't be a deck which overwhelm brutally the others. Moreover if cards like Preordain and Treasure Cruise (others could be considered as well) are unbanned at the same time Combo decks will thrive too (e.g. Ascendancy and Storm).
So my question is: Wouldn't such a format be as balanced as the actual Modern? Why do wizard ban cards to balance the format instead of unbanning some?
2. Everything Unbanned
Now something more speculative. Which deck do you think will be the most powerful if every cards is unbanned? Let's answer the survey!
What if I say that in my list splash is for 2 colors??
I think that sabotage will seldom hit 2 artifacts inasmuch in my current list green creature usually don't stay long on the board.
Gnaw to The bone IMO is more effective in this deck then FTC since I run no creture with power greate then 4.
I think that firstly, in order to build something that is competitive, we should consider the most common deck in the format and think to weakness we have against them.
IMHO Actually Tier1 are Affinity, Kuldotha.dec, Urzatron and Stompy monoG. A small step below are MBC, MUC, delver.dec and KilnFiend.dec. MonoR Aggros and UB controll should be considered as well.
-Affinity: I'm running red just for Gorilla Shaman in SB, otherwise is a very though match up (as it is for every aggro deck). Having a combo plan in the deck could be a huge improvement compared to my list hence it has not a lot of removals. Another things to be considered is the presence of Atog + Fling which can reverse the situation in each moment.
-MonoG: this match up is strictly related with the configuration we're running. For example if we run spore frog MD and lot of cheap removals is not very hard, if we run a lot of cards with CC3 (in your first for example there are treefolk, auramancer, guard, ecc) probably we'll never win. Having a combo plan pobably would be uneffective against this kind of deck, but if we succeed in stabilize the board in the first turns it may be helpful.
-Urzatron: they fear aggro because in the format there aren't mass removal so it's quite hard for it to reverse the situation. On the other hand it has no problem against midrange. Hand distruption is not very effective against it as I initially thought.
-Kuldotha: with my actual configuration I think it is a good match up. Combo aren't effective against this kind of deck because they usually run 10-12 removals MD.
Keep on testing.
-Bloodflow connoiseur is very slow, I think sac outlet should cost 1, hence I think Viscera seer is the right one.
-Read the bones I think should be replaced with Altar's reap or with 4x Nihgt's whisper. The format is too fast for a draw engine cc3
-Nameless inversion is not a reliable removal. The fact that it can be tutored with the elf is not important since you have eyeblight's ending
-24 lands are a huge amount in Pauper. Maybe you should include sakura or elves of the deep shadow and cut off some lands.
I still think that in a deck like this Tortured Existence should be included, even though it requests a little rearrangement.
GW list is very interesting, I think you should find some slot for Commune with the god.
Since I am very interested in this kind of deck and I'd like to develop an established Aggro-Combo, shouldn't we focus on a particular decklist and work on it? The post is messing up!!
(I'm sorry for my English, I'm trying to improve it
2 basking Rootwalla
3 Crypt Rats
3 Stinkweed Imp
2 Invasive Species
2 Elvish Visionary
4 Kor Skyfisher
1 Grave Scrabbler
3 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Fume Spitter
3 Golgari Brownscale
1 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tortured Existence
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Moldervine Cloak
4 Abundant Growth
LAND
4 Jungle Hollow
4 Evolving Wilds
6 Swamp
5 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Gorilla Shaman
2 Spore Frog
3 Thornweald Archer
1 Mournwhelk
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Moldervine Cloak
3 Disfigure
This is the deck I'm actually playing. As you can see I'm not running the Presence+Guard version, even though I've already considered this configuration.
I notice in your configuration that you entrust pretty much on tortured existence, that in my experience is a very "hated" card! I prefer to be a little more aggressive and consistent, giving up some graveyard trick (treefolk, scrabbler, skeleton, scrounger and so on aren't that good with Relic on the board).
If I'd play Gond Version then I'll have something like this:
2 basking Rootwalla
2 Crypt Rats
2 Stinkweed Imp
4 Kor Skyfisher
1 Grave Scrabbler
3 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Fume Spitter
3 Golgari Brownscale
2 Midnight Guard
2 Auramancer
4 Tortured Existence
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Journey to Nowhere
2 Presence of Gond
4 Abundant Growth
2 Commune with the god
LAND
4 Jungle Hollow
4 Evolving Wilds
6 Swamp
5 Forest
2 Plains
Secondly I apologize for my poor English, I'm an Italian user (probably some already knows that Italians aren't famous for their fluent English) trying to learn something about this format and this language. I Hope you'll justify me
After 7 years out from this cards game I came back and decided to join this format because all the stuff I had for the "real" formats had been sold years ago, I think Pauper actually is very enjoyable and allows players (specially after Drake ban) to try new solutions and deckbuilding; this matter brings me to the Deck: I choose Tortured Existence because I love Graveyard Intercation and "liquid" decks (decks without a solid structure of 4x irrepleacable cards) who permit to choose a wide range of tools for every metagames and game circumstances.
As everyone know Tortured Existence.dec are based on the namesake card, which I consider one of the most "wrong" Common card (I think it would be reprinted mythic rare at least
Even though is not my aim to write a primer (I'm not prepared to do something like that) I'll spend few words on the main strategy: play Tortured Existence as soon as possible through cards like Commune with the gods or Vessel of Nascency, in order to start a Grave recursion thanks to the dredge buddies, Stinkweed Imp and Golgari Brownscale; it brings a huge advantage on the opponent because creates board advantage, exploiting even madness guy. Usually we'll close the match with Crypt Rats or Perilous Myr recursion, otherwise just beating down the opponent with creatures.
The deck in my opinion has 8 compulsory slots: 4 Tortured existence and 4 Commune with the gods, then there are a very huge amounts of cards to made a choice within (maybe this sentence make no sense in English, I don't know).
CREATURES
-Stinkweed Imp: to be honest this is compulsory too, but the amount is a free choice. It does a lot of things that I don't have to explain, but it is quite slow, I mean against some aggro deck it could be useless, moreover in grind match-up it can mill our own deck if we're not careful enough.
-Golgari Brwonscale: talking with people I noticed that someone doesn't like this because it is only a TE fodder and without existence it does nothing, I think this is not true. Firstly has a decent body, secondly it is a God sent manna against Aggro (with two of this within hand or grave every black mana is +2 Life) and thirdly it is also a Carrion Feeder fodder
-Fume Spitter: I really like this little fellow, it makes creatures tamer or even kill them. Helps against Goblin, Elves, kills unflipped Delver and it is synergic with TE
-Perilous myr: it is good in a bunch of situations but to be very good it needs carrion feeder so I usually run only 1-2 of this guys
-Carrion Feeder: it is VERY synergic with Existence, Perilous Myr and allows to have a ton of trick. Initially I didn't run them, then I passed to 1, then to 2 and now I'm quite sure that I'll run 3 in the future
-Basking Rootwalla: ok, she doesn't need explanation at all
-Crypt Rats: these are a very important card for the deck but I still have problems to choice how much of them are needed, however I believe 3 among main and side.
-Nimble Mongoose: it's very easy to reach treshold evenin the first turns of the game, but actually it does almost nothing other than beat. Intially I run 3, I think they'll be cut off.
-Werebear: he has the same issue of mongoose, overmore Green mana is not what the deck really need.
-Arrogant Wurm: it is a silver bullet, 1x I think is very good, no more no less.
-Grave Scrabbler: this is incredible with TE as well as it is useless without. 3 mana for +2 card advantage however is enough to run 2x I think.
-Sakura-Tribe Elder: this kind old guy is an important engine in the early game, a quality blocker and provide us the mana we need to use Existence with profit
-Satyr Wayfinder: some think it is a bomb for the deck, I really don't understand why, anyway he deserves a mention. I think it is not so important because if I'm searching for TE in the early game it is a dead card whereas I won't risk to put the enchantment in the Grave, it is not more important in the mid/late game because only supply lands.
-Vampire Hounds: it is a strong cards even without existence since we have a dredger in the grave. Even tough he can beat hard opponent he has no evasive ability so usully won't do what we need from him.
-Wild Mongrel: same issue with of the one above
-Caustic Caterpillar: even though it usually is a side choice I think that in some particulat metagame it could be a nice choice for the main too as long as almost each deck run some artifact or enchantment, both controll and aggro (artifact lands, Bonesplitter, Journey to Nowhere, ècard]Oblivion Ring[/card], Prismatic Prism, mirror match, Angelic Renewal, each affinity cards, Sylvok Lifestaff, Pestilence and so on)
-Scavenger Folk: just another artifact hate card
-Augur of skulls: as caterpillar I think this can be a good choice either for main and side, it is obvious what he does against controll and combo
-Mindlash Sliver: this one is a bit less effective then the one above but permit a nice lock, if we achieve to bring opponent hand to 0 cards it's just necessery to sac it on draw step to lockout the opponent. I think the best effect is obtained with a combined effect of these two
-Mesmeric Fiend: with carrion feeder and TE it is devastating against conroll and combo, though if we don't have one of the two mentioned cards it's mediocre
-Sanitarium Skeleton: theoretically it is bomb in this deck but i noticed that is too much mana intensive, seldom we would have 3 mana just to get back a card from the grave to hand. Certainly it is a good chumpblocker and with ton of available mana it can provide huge cards advantage.
-Tilling Treefolk: there aren't particular reasons to run this but it permits some interesting trick. I think it's a bit slow and occasional
-Spore Frog: I don't think it deserves slots in the main deck but 2x in the side could be a VERY good choice
-Brindle board
-Krosan Tusker
REMOVALS
The deck to stand against aggro needs some removals. I prefer instant, puntual and no mana intensive removals thus i'm running 2 Last gasp, 2 Disfigure and 1 Ghastly Demise. There're lot of available removals and everyone has his particular prefernces. I believe 5-6 is the right number, maybe in some field it could be a little bit excesive but actually I like it.
TOOLS
Personally I believe that 4 Commune with the gods are compulsory as I've already said.
-Vessel of Nascency: I had a long talk about it last night on Cockatrice and at the end I was persuaded that it is necessary. It's never a dead card, helps in order to be more consistent and with TE, as well as Commune, allows us to enjoys 4 new cards.
-Rofellos's Gift: the guy who suggest me to run Vessel (maybe he is a user of this forum, I'd like to talk with him) also support this card. I think it is occasional and doesn't provide what we need but it's undubitable that with one of this in the opening hand we can just dredge the deck to find TE, it has a nice interaction with vessel and eventually with Dead weight
-Unearth: it's a powerful tool but i prefer not to exceed with non-creatures cards
-Gnaw to th bone: after sideboard aggro decks should fear this card!!
I'm not an expert so I mentioned the cards I've considered until now and I'm eager of suggestion. This is the list I run:
4 Jungle Hollow
2 Golgari Rot Farm
4 Evolving Wilds
5 Forest
7 Swamp
Creatures 25
3 Nimble Mongoose
2 Carrion Feeder
2 Basking Rootwalla
1 Arrogant Wurm
2 Fume Spitter
2 Perilous Myr
3 Golgari Brownscale
3 Stinkweed Imp
2 Crypt Rats
2 Grave Scrabbler
3 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Tortured Existence
4 Commune with the Gods
Removals 5
2 Last Gasp
1 Ghastly Demise
2 Disfigure
2 Augur of Skulls
2 Mindlash Sliver
2 Spore Frog
3 Caustic Caterpillar
1 Crypt Rats
2 Disfigure
1 Ghastly Demise
Probably I'll do
-3 Mongoose
+2 Vessel
+1 Carrion Feeder
Actually The main reason to Play the deck is that it has a good match-up against Skyfisher.dec and it's very funny
3 Guardian of the guildpact
2 Gray merchant of asphodel
4 Phyrexian Rager
4 Kor Skyfisher
4 Chittering rats
4 Aven Riftwatcher
4 Chainer's Edict
2 Unmake
1 Oblivion ring
Lands Include 2 Kabira crossroad, 2 Bojuka Bog, 2 Barren Moor and the whole deck he is playing is Foil
I don't remember the last 2 slots but I think they're life gain tools (drain life effect) or 2 Unearth or maybe some equipment (Bonesplitter).
The list firstly didn't persuade me, thus I asked why it lacks of Rituals, whispers, cuombajj, 4th pestilence and moreover why there're so many asynergyc cards with Pestilence. He answered point to point:
1-Ritual is a bad draw in the late game and we can't afford it in this kind of build, furthermore with only 2 Merchant and 3 Pestilence, it is not so fundamental
2-We don't need whispers because Skyfisher and Rager together assure some Card advantage and besides Pestilence is a Huge Card Advantage instrument. He said that sometimes he had played 2x/3x of Read the bones.
3-Cuombajj is not needed because he's already running several creatures and removals, He would play it in a different metagame of course (Delver and Mono U metagame for example)
4-He doesn't like the fourth pestilence because it is not necessary to win in this configuration and it is quite heavy without rituals, furthermore he uphold that open a game with 2 Pestilence in hand often means to lose that game
5-He think that even though x/2 cretures are not synergyc with Pestilence thay're fundamental to the Game plan: gain a little card advantage with chittering rats, rager and skyfisher in the early game in order to force opponent to use his resources and then strike hard with Pestilence (plus eventually guildpact), combined with Merchant in the mid/late game. He believe that little smart creatures are very useful in match-up where Pestilence and big toughness creatures are purely useless such as Vinestorm and Urzatron.
I viewed only few games played with the deck but I can assure the Strategy works, it is pretty similiar to MBC but is boosted by the Most powerful card in the format, in fact Pestilence is the only Sweeper (this is how in Italy we call the Damnation effect) available in Pauper, and by the Guildpact which is very similar to True-name Nemesis.
I think that this list deserves some test