Today I opened MTG Arena and to my surprise I discovered that the Midweek Magic event going on was Historic Pauper! I was totally unprepared but, since the format is awesome and you can play it only rarely in these special events, I couldn't miss this opportunity and, just like I did for Historic Artisan, I had to bring you some of my brews!
I played the format a lot in the past and it has turned out to be one of my favorites on MTG Arena, but now I had been stopped for a few months, since unfortunately there is no permanent queue on the platform and therefore I have not felt encouraged to continue it, giving priority to other formats. However, I recovered some of the downtime with a few hours of play in the event, trying out some new releases of recent times and perfecting some of my decklists still unpublished, so this time too we are there... Here's my 5 brews for Historic Pauper!
#1 Red Tokens
Starting with MonoRed, there are obviously already several versions: Kiln Fiend, Burn, with “pingers”, with artifacts, and aggressive with creatures.
My proposal is instead something that you surely haven't seen yet and is based on tokens, so as to resist single target removals, and in general on an aggressive mass of creatures that will then be powered up for a turn so as to alpha strike the opponent in a big one-shot attack!
The deck has some great 1-drops including: Foundry Street Denizen which will often attack as a 3/1; Ghitu Lavarunner which can become a 2/2 with haste thanks to spells that create or pump tokens; Reckless Lackey which has excellent stats for a common and is also an outlaw so it can activate the second part of Outlaws' Fury.
The second turn will instead be dedicated to one of the 15 sorcery spells that put two pieces, in addition to possibly convoking Halo Hopper and adding further presence on the board.
This is done until your hand is empty, generally reserving Gnawing Crescendo or Outlaws' Fury as the last spell to cast, in order to maximize damage and be able to do 12-15 damage to your opponent quite easily. In its simplicity, in fact, the deck is extremely aggressive and effective, also thanks to its redundancy, and can tear games apart starting from the fourth turn!
#2 Food Sacrifice
Even though Cauldron Familiar is nerfed in Historic , it's still playable in Pauper thanks to Jumpstart and I was determined to make it work!
It's not easy without Witch's Oven, because it allows you to both sacrifice it and create a Food token... So how do you do it? You can send it to the graveyard using the 12 sac outlets in Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, and Deadly Dispute, then return it to the battlefield with the Food from Sweettooth Witch and Savor, so you can sacrifice it again. This way you can gain continuous card advantage, draining 1 life in the process!
Ok, but we would need something more than just 1 life for all this... Something like Mayhem Devil! Here Gixian Infiltrator comes to fill that role, scaling quickly and becoming a serious threat for a low mana investment. Since the format is characterized mostly by damage-dealing removal spells, it's good to cast Gixian Infiltrator when you have the chance to grow it in response, but, even if it's killed, Unearth is there to save it as much as Sweettooth Witch.
Shambling Ghast and Greedy Freebooter are other 1-drops that can be sacrificed with the draw spells, releasing Treasure tokens onto the battlefield that allow you to bulk up Gixian Infiltrator, as well as ramp up Troll of Khazad-dûm, the deck's alternative win condition.
#3 Affinity
Modern Horizons 3 debuted with a pre-banned card in Pauper: Cranial Ram! It has to be strong, so why not try it in Historic Pauper where it's legal?
Its Rakdos mana cost doesn't go very well with the double blue Gearseeker Serpent but, contrary to what I've seen around, I still wanted to play them both, because you can't say no to a 5/6 for 2 mana... Which can also equip Cranial Ram and become unblockable!
Terrarion and Wizard's Rockets have the dual function of making affinity with artifacts and fixing mana, then just cycling when they are no longer needed. As does Gilded Pinions, but which can also give flying to creatures, in particular to Cranial Ram's Germ, transforming it from a fragile creature designed to die to anything in combat, to an incredible threat capable of winning on its own.
Gilded Pinions which, moreover, like Blood Fountain and Mind Stone, is there to discount the affinity by 2 and greatly speed up the entry into the of Myr Enforcer and Gearseeker Serpent.
Finally, with a powerful equipment like Cranial Ram you absolutely cannot miss the flyers: Refurbished Familiar for just one black mana is a 2/1 flying that makes your opponent discard a card and has immediately become a new staple for Affinity, while Vault Skirge thanks to lifelink is ideal to be equipped and is capable of completely overturning the race.
#4 Gruul Eldrazi
An archetype that is entirely possible thanks to the recent MH3 is Eldrazi, with: Nyxborn Hydra, Malevolent Rumble, Eldrazi Repurposer, but above all Writhing Chrysalis, the real reason why it is worth pushing in this direction and certainly one of the strongest creatures in Historic Pauper.
We remember it well from limited: it quickly becomes huge without any effort, it has reach and here it can be cast consistently on turn 3!
Llanowar Elves and Elvish Mystic serve this purpose, allowing you to put pressure on turn 2 with Eldrazi Repurposer and Jewel Thief, which, in addition to an excellent body, bring forward the mana.
In case you don't have an Elf or it's killed, Malevolent Rumble allows you to both ramp and dig for Writhing Chrysalis, while Mind Stone is the “mana dork” of early turns, but has the advantage of being able to be easily cycled when it's no longer needed... Maybe by taking advantage of the colorless mana of an Eldrazi Spawn that we would have sacrificed anyway to buff Writhing Chrysalis.
Mixing mana dorks, it's easy to cast Junkblade Bruiser on turn 3, which will almost always attack for 6 damage with trample, as does Oliphaunt who here even more effective than usual: taking land in the early game and favoring the splash; becoming a top end of curve and using the mana; and giving trample to a gigantic attacking Writhing Chrysalis!
The latter in fact can become huge, but needs trample to win in a few attacks and the most common solution will often be to enchant it with Nyxborn Hydra, exploiting all the mana available.
#5 Moggwarts
Today's last list isn't a new brew, because Moggwarts is probably the second Pauper deck I've ever built on MTG Arena (the first was MonoG), but I still want to talk about it, because my is quite different from the one played Classic Pauper on MTGO and because I've updated it with Demand Answers and Molten Gatekeeper as new cards.
For those who don't know, the combo is based on 3 cards plus the finisher and, with an empty board, it only takes 4 mana to pop off and win out of nowhere. With 3 mana you cast Skirk Prospector and Putrid Goblin; you sacrifice the latter for red mana and, with the Persist trigger on the stack, you use it together with the fourth mana to cast First Day of Class, taking Introduction to Prophecy from the sideboard and starting the combo. In fact, when Putrid Goblin returns to the battlefield, the -1/-1 counter will be eliminated as soon as it resolves the +1/+1 of First Day of Class and can therefore be sacrificed again as many times as you want to get infinite red mana.
At this point all that remains is to dig for the finisher, Molten Gatekeeper, and Demand Answers is perfect for this purpose, perhaps sacrificing an artifact that lets you draw an extra card, but using only red mana unlike Fanatical Offering.
During the combo, these artifacts can also be broken with Voltage Surge (in the absence of targets you can always hit Putrid Goblin under the effect of First Day of Class) which therefore has the dual function of removal and digger, but, if you were really unlucky enough not to be able to find the finisher, you can just hard cast a couple of Oliphaunt 7/5 and attack for at least 18 damage without counting the rest of the team!
That's all for today! Historic Pauper is a fresh format, full of possibilities and without oppressive cards that win the game on their own. I hope these builds of mine have made you a little curious about the format, so that it can grow in popularity and strengthen its community, despite the lack of WotC's support.