Important for "Swamps matter" themes (mana doubling-mono black decks) such as Geth. Mono blue can get away with holding extra mana up. Grixis colors may use it to fix. 2x colors have better options.
Presenting 1v1 Pauper Cavern Harpy U/B control. The general is a built-in recursion engine in disruption heavy CIP effect creature colors so I won't go into the various synergies. Surprisingly enough, there're many ways to lock your opponents out in pauper U/B with near infinite bounce at your disposal but the general gameplan is to maintain tempo/control with cheap bounce/discard/counter effects and win via general damage. Recursion is a big theme here and by ms.harpy's nature allows us to "efficiently" operate in the battlefield while evading removal. Almost all the creatures on the list have CIP effects that work with her. Cheap bounce / hand disruption /counters allows the deck to control the tempo while grave recursion effects lets us maintain the hold as the deck curves out better than others.
5 mana is too much for a tutor. 8 mana kicker for 2 cards is also too much. (both costs a full turn when you need them the most). I'd rather use stuff like T&N to just cheat stuff into play for a wallop effect than burn a turn to setup a drop.
progenitus indeed. 5 color access gives you this always accessible saucy beater, conflux, all sun's dawn, makes stuff like Praetor's Counsel very potent, abuse stuff like Cruel Ultimatum + sorcery recurring creatures like archivest/izzet chronarch.
I have a horde of notion dream halls deck somewhere in my graveyard sig if you need references.
From Innistrad, I like Traitorous Blood. Especially copied with Riku it allows for an alpha strike with an opponent's own creature(s).
Its not bad but I can only wish it doubles as removal like Grab the Reins or had instant speed. Lifting someone else's titan or killing the Omnath player with his own General is pretty good tho.
Gotcha, makes good sense. Have you made any changes in the last few weeks? Perhaps something else from Innistrad has wow'd you? In your experience how many times do you need to recast Riku to get the game state to the point where you start X'ing people out of the game? Also, have you played against other pauper or non-pauper commander decks and how did it compare against whichever?
From playing Riku against normal multi-player decks, I never bother resolving riku until late game when I'm prepping to copy xpells or can chain a spell (usually more ramp) on the same turn directly after casting him. A common occurrence is copying ulamog's crusher at 10 mana or the return sorcery creatures for massive CA. In the mean time, I'm doing whatever possible to slowing down the leading player (via ramp/ld, bounce effects) while staying under the radar (as pauper riku rarely draws attention if you politick correctly)
vs. weaker / pre-con decks where removal is scarce, riku dominates and stuff like combat damage via multiple windrider eels + landfall wins out. Otherwise, its attempting to ramp to 16+ mana for giant fireballs.
Presenting Sedris, traitor king's group draw. The basic goal is to accelerate games by letting everyone draw/discard a lot of cards and win via our opponent's hard work. Play this if you like chaotic fast games and lots of fixing for everyone.
Powerade effects:
Group draw effects: Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, temple bell, jace beleren, minds aglow lets everyone join in on the fun while accelerating games
Wheel effects: wheel of fortune, fate, chandra ablaze, windfall, memory jar, Syphon Mind forces everyone to re-sculpt hands and gives me access to goodies in their graveyards
Kiki-jiki Mirror Breaker / Mimic Vat: Start copying grave titans/wurmcoil engines, cliques, chancellors, glen eldndra, all the evoke/echo costed guys, the list can go on...
Necrotic Ooze: Interacts with parts of the combo, avatar of woe, Viashino Heretic, Geth, Nightscape Familiar, and all your opponent's lost treasures from those wheel effects
or test of endurance or Felidar Sovereign will do the trick.
Good stuff. Ghostly flicker is pretty sweet. Also considering sedraxis alchemist and Okiba-Gang Shinobi
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=9298736#post9298736
Happy disrupting
1 Cavern Harpy
Lands
14 Swamp
14 Island
1 Command Tower
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Esper Panorama
1 Halimar Depths
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Vault of Whispers
Ramp/Fixing
1 Expedition Map
1 Mind Stone
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Nightscape Familar
1 Dreamscape Artist
1 Dread Drone
Utility
1 Adventuring Gear
Gravehate
1 Shred Memory
1 Nihil Spellbomb
Tutors
1 Trinket Mage
1 Dimir Houseguard
1 Mystic Remora
1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Mulldrifter
1 Rhystic Study
1 Foresee
Hand Disruption
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Ravenous Rats
1 Augur of Skulls
1 Chittering Rats
1 Liliana's Specter
1 Consult the Necrosages
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Helm of the Ghastlord
Counterspells
1 Counterspell
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Arcane Denial
1 Brine Shaman
1 Exclude
1 Perplex
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Spiketail Drakeling
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Snuff Out
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Agony Warp
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Brainspoil
1 Crypt Rats
1 Faceless Butcher
1 Pestilence
Recursion
1 Unearth
1 Grim Harvest
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Grim Discovery
1 Cadaver imp
1 Archaeomancer
1 Gravedigger
1 Mnemonic Wall
Bounce
1 Echoing Truth
1 Sedraxis alchemist
1 Into the Roil
1 Capsize
1 Aether Adept
1 Aethersnipe
1 Man-o'-War
1 Recoil
1 Mist Raven
Considerations:
Mesmeric Fiend, Duress, Ostracise (Hesitant against 1 for 1 / tmp effects)
I have a horde of notion dream halls deck somewhere in my graveyard sig if you need references.
Cut out the crawler and insurrection and spell copy effects in favor of more tokens and creature combinations with sedris.
Its not bad but I can only wish it doubles as removal like Grab the Reins or had instant speed. Lifting someone else's titan or killing the Omnath player with his own General is pretty good tho.
-Redid the color lands to favor green/white the most
From playing Riku against normal multi-player decks, I never bother resolving riku until late game when I'm prepping to copy xpells or can chain a spell (usually more ramp) on the same turn directly after casting him. A common occurrence is copying ulamog's crusher at 10 mana or the return sorcery creatures for massive CA. In the mean time, I'm doing whatever possible to slowing down the leading player (via ramp/ld, bounce effects) while staying under the radar (as pauper riku rarely draws attention if you politick correctly)
vs. weaker / pre-con decks where removal is scarce, riku dominates and stuff like combat damage via multiple windrider eels + landfall wins out. Otherwise, its attempting to ramp to 16+ mana for giant fireballs.
Nothing from Innistrad wowed me.
see sig for a sample deck list that I run
Powerade effects:
Wincons?
Other fun interactions
4 Swamp
4 Mountain
4 Island
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Command Tower
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Graven Cairns
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Drowned Catacombs
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Temple of the False Gods
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Kher Keep
1 Creeping Tar pit
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Strip Mine
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Mystifying Maze
King of the Hill
1 Sedris, the Traitor King
1 Skull Clamp
1 Minds Aglow
1 Wheel of Fate
1 Mulldrifter
1 Jace Beleren
1 Temple Bell
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
1 Syphon Mind
1 River Kelpie
1 Memory Jar
1 Chandra Ablaze
Ramp/Fixing
1 Sol Ring
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Expedition Map
1 Mind Stone
1 Nightscape Familiar
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Coalition Relic
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Dreamstone Hedron
Tutors
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Buried Alive
1 Trinket Mage
1 Intuition
Opponent's Stuff
1 Mimic Vat
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Necromancy
1 Scion of Darkness
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Rite of Replication
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Body Double
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Geth, Lord of the Vault
1 Chancellor of the Spires
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Shriekmaw
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Crosis's Charm
1 Grixis Charm
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Damnation
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Decree of Pain
1 Inferno Titan
1 Steel Hellkite
Utility
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Bloodghast
1 Dread Return
1 Izzet Chronarch
1 Grimgrin, Corpse Born
Fat
1 Wurmocoil Engine
1 Grave Titan
1 Army of the Damned
Tips, comments, suggestions are always welcome!