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Main » Articles » Noble Purpose

Noble Purpose

Alex Ullman
Posted on August 15, 2017
 Reddit

The story of today’s deck starts back in 2009. Pauper was recently sanctioned and I had a chance to play in the third ever Pauper Premier Event on Magic Online. The format was revolving around Mono-Black Control and specifically Tendrils of Corruption. I was dead set on playing a deck with both Carrion Feeder and Nantuko Husk as a way to fight the prominent removal spell. Goblins was not yet a competitive deck as Mogg Raider had not made it online and Zendikar (with Goblin Bushwhacker) had not yet made it to print. The Black duo made it so that even if my creature was going to die my opponent would not gain any life and I would have a slightly larger threat. The deck I piloted was a rather aggressive one featuring Mogg War Marshal and Keldon Marauders, backed up with the disruption of Blightning and Mesmeric Fiend. I had a lot of fun and ended up in 10th place. Here is the deck I played that day.

B/R Sac ? Pauper 2009| Alex Ullman, 10th Place Pauper Premier Event

I loved this deck, but it was not long for the world. One of the key elements of the deck was the ability to attack with a Keldon Marauders, put damage on the stack, and the sacrifice it to Carrion Feeder or Nantuko Husk to save either one in combat. Back then, there was a phase before damage resolved where combat damage was assigned to a creature and kinda just stayed there until a separate step. In the summer of 2009, Magic 2010 came out and with it the rules update that removed damage from the stack. The deck never packed the same punch and I hung it up.

Goblins, however, quickly replaced it as a strong counter to Mono-Black Control. The presence of Mogg Raider and Goblin Sledder, combined with the raw power of Lightning Bolt and Goblin Bushwhacker and the ability to grind out damage with Death Spark made the deck one of the top choices after Zendikar was released.

Goblins ? Pauper 2011 | Alex Ullman

Goblins was a tribal based Red deck and, at the time, was the clock of Pauper. It had access to two different creatures with two power for one mana backed up with Mogg Flunkies and again, Goblin Bushwhacker. Fireblast also teamed up with Lightning Bolt to close out games. Goblins was great but its day eventually passed.

It was not until Pro Tour Gatecrash in Montreal that I started to understand these decks in a different way. The winning deck, a Sam Black designed beauty known as the Aristocrats, was used by Tom Martell to win the event. The deck had multiple built in synergies but the one I latched on to was the ability to sacrifice creatures to either Falkenrath Aristocrat or Cartel Aristocrat with a Blood Artist on the table to deal the final points of damage. I was in love.

The Aristocrats ? Gatecrash Standard | Tom Martell, Winner Pro Tour Gatecrash

I wanted to make a similar strategy work in Pauper. The format, however, lacked a good Blood Artist effect. Hissing Iguanar was fine but at 1-toughness a stiff breeze would blow it right to the graveyard. Eventually some bg decks cropped up that leaned heavily on sacrificing creatures to generate an advantage but these were straight up aggro decks. The Pauper Aristocrats was focused on Young Wolf, Brindle Shoat, and Undying Evil to make a threat large enough that giving it a copy of Rancor would seal the deal. These decks have been somewhat successful but not to the same level as other Pauper contenders.

B/G Aristocrats ? Pauper| Kruppe1, 5-0 Pauper League

A key element of the Aristocrats that was missing from these decks was a token element. Lingering Souls is a hell of a Magic card; and, until Vintage Masters came into existence, Pauper made do without a replacement. Battle Screech changed that and pushed token based decks to another level. Now they could present a lethal amount of damage when backed up with Guardians' Pledge. For a while, these decks were incredibly popular as they were fast enough to race Familiar Combo thanks to maindeck copies of Suture Priest.

Tokens ? Pauper | sakkra, 5-0 Pauper League

Despite their strength, these decks suffered due to their vulnerability to almost every Pauper sweeper. Electrickery, Shrivel, and others all could stop these decks cold. Eternal Masters gave players another reason to attempt these decks in the form of Rally the Peasants. The downshift gave Battle Screech the opportunity to deal twenty damage on its own. Rally became the go-to force multiplier of choice and we see the card fueling a potent wr go wide strategy currently.

Kuldotha Tokens ? Pauper | swiftwarkite2, 5-0 Pauper League

Falkenrath Noble
We now enter the part where these narratives converge. Masters Edition 2017 changed Pauper by adding Augur of Bolas, Dinrova Horror, and Burning-Tree Emissary to the mix. It also added Falkenrath Noble — a Blood Artist that cost an additional two generic mana but comes blessed with Unholy Strength and flying. I was excited to try and get the Vampire to work in Pauper but never got around to doing so in any meaningful way. Things changed in such a way that a 4-drop that did not impact the board immediately seemed to be too large of a reach to matter. Burning-Tree Emissary draws meant that a typical sacrifice deck would be too slow to keep up. Similarly, when facing down Dinrova Tron, the turbocharged mana engine would often propel the Ghostly Flicker deck to an unassailable position before the Noble could do its work.

In the wake of my article last week I started to think about the nature of Pauper. My biggest complaint with the format is the lack of a solid sweeper. The absence makes it so that a player can overextend and not be punished for doing so. As I was ruminating on this idea I started to think about Falkenrath Noble again. I started to mull over the idea of playing into the ability to overextend — what would that look like?

It would look an awful lot like a Battle Screech deck. The problem, of course, is that those decks fall to Electrickery. But what would happen if you could make it so Electrickery was actively bad against you? What would happen if you could also recover from the board wipe?

Orzhov Aristocrats ? Pauper | Alex Ullman

Rally the Peasants
I ended up looking back at old Black based sacrifice decks and mashing them up with White token decks. After putting a first draft together I added Ash Barrens and a Mountain to help facilitate Rally the Peasants and Temur Battle Rage. While the Battle Rage never mattered, the deck provided the chance to play out as a typical token strategy and overwhelm with Raise the Alarm into Battle Screech. In testing, I knew I was on the right track where, in a sideboarded game, my Dimir Flicker opponent cast Shrivel twice in the same turn to take out my army (thanks to Lumithread Field) and the next main phase I had assembled an army of another eight creatures.

The deck operates on the idea that most decks are leaning on one-for-one removal right now. In a way, the format is defined by Skred (and to a lesser extent Lightning Bolt and Galvanic Blast). Being able to render these spells less effective goes a long way to surviving to a point in the game where the army can overwhelm. Carrion Feeder makes the most of these creatures dying by becoming a significant threat in its own right.

Orzhov Aristocrats wants to start the game with 1-drops. Ideally it will stick a White one first. Given the option of a hand with one Plains, one Swamp, a Carrion Feeder, and one White 1-drop, lean with the White creature — you’re more likely to draw another White 1-drop and be able to stick two creatures on turn two. From that point on, the goal is to add to the board so that either a Rally the Peasants will win the game outright. Failing that, you can attempt to attack in a burst with Nantuko Husk or whittle an opposing life total low enough so sticking a Falkenrath Noble is lethal. One of the strengths of the deck is its ability to attack from multiple angles.

As for the cards themselves, let’s look at the different inclusions.

4 Carrion Feeder, 2 Nantuko Husk

These cards help to turn off opposing removal while improving your own threats. These also have the benefit of turning on Falkenrath Noble. When possible, I like to play these cards after other creatures are on the table so that they are easier to protect via sacrifice.

If I am going for a combo kill with Noble, it is important to have them on the battlefield before casting Noble. Doing this makes it easier to keep the sac outlet alive and also protects your plan of pinging to death.

4 Thraben Inspector

The Inspector does replace itself with a fresh card, but not a new body. That is often more than enough. The 2 toughness makes it an effective speed bump and being White turns on the Flashback on Battle Screech. And, just like every other creature in the deck, it makes good food for our Zombie duo.

4 Doomed Traveler, 4 Sacred Cat

The other White 1-drops. These are largely interchangeable. Depending on the matchup one is better than the other, but in the end they are two White creatures with relevant abilities. Doomed Traveler is a known quantity and dying into a flying creature is a valuable option. Sacred Cat is a newer card and has not really punched through yet. That may change.

First off, games of Pauper often come down to a damage race. Having a 1-drop that can bolster your own life total on a regular basis can create a large enough buffer so that you can win the race. Additionally, it matches up well against Spellstutter Sprite since even if it is countered, Embalm can bring it back.

4 Raise the Alarm, 2 Safehold Elite

Raise the Alarm is a fantastic card due to how flexible it can be. Often I will cast it during the upkeep of my Blue opponent’s turn in order to use up their mana. When you force them to make the choice between developing their board in a meaningful way or stopping you from making two bodies, you are coming out ahead.

Safehold Elite is two more White bodies for Battle Screech. Costing two is important as it can come down on turn three with another 1-drop. The Elite used to be two copies of Wakedancer but as much as I love that card it was not right for the deck.

Noticeably absent from the deck is Squadron Hawk. Squadron Hawk would be a fine addition to the deck if I had four slots. The problem with Hawk is that it requires four slots to be at its best and each of those cards needs to be cast individually. Compare this to the other creatures, which create two bodies for the price of one.

4 Sultai Emissary

Another buy one, get one free, Sultai Emissary’s Manifest death trigger gives the deck tons of bluff ability. Manifesting a Nantuko Husk or a Falkenrath Noble makes every attack dangerous. Manifesting a Rally the Peasants or a Battle Screech turns your creature into more damage later. The Emissary can sometimes “draw” a card which makes it a better option than Butcher Ghoul of Doomed Dissenter.

2 Read the Bones

Not much to say here — sometimes you just want to draw cards. Read the Bones gets the nod over Night's Whisper since we do not have four slots for dedicated card advantage. Being able to Scry for two and sculpt your draw matters in the midgame.

3 Battle Screech, 3 Falkenrath Noble

These are the core top end of the deck. I would run more, but there is not enough space for a full suite of each. Three seems to be right as I want to see one of each early and then any additional copies are gravy. I tried two Noble in earlier builds but I wanted to see it more often. Similarly the third Battle Screech used to be a Cenn's Enlistment but that found a home in the sideboard.

2 Rally the Peasants, 1 Harsh Sustenance.

Rally is a fantastic card and wins us games. I had three copies and found that I was seeing it too early. Harsh Sustenance was in the sideboard and proved its worth — it can pick off a key creature or act as a fireball to end the game. I made the swap after my last league run, leaving a second copy in the sideboard.

Falkenrath Noble is a card I was initially very excited about. It took me finding some frustration with the format to finally find a place where I wanted to play the card. I do not think that Orzhov Aristocrats is going to tear the format wide open, but I do believe it is a strong option for the foreseeable future.

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TAGS articles, constructed, analysis, decklist, pauper, alex ullman, 08152017

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