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Main » Articles » Eldritch Moon and Some Pauper

Eldritch Moon and Some Pauper

Kyle Boggemes
Posted on July 14, 2016
 Reddit

Hey everyone!

I have made the switch from a freelance writer to full time on GatheringMagic.com, so expect an article from me each Thursday. It feels good to have my own column again!

Eldritch Moon spoilers have completed, so Standard will be my primary focus. I also have been getting into Pauper as it’s all the rage in Ann Arbor. There was a competitive Pauper event at Stadium Cards and Comics in Ypsilanti where I finished in the Top 4. It’s a deceptively fun format now that the Storm cards have been banned and people are playing reasonably watered down decks. I have heard it described as diet Legacy which is pretty accurate. My favorite deck so far is the one that plays the most Islands if you can believe it.

Mono Blue Delver ? Pauper | Kyle Boggemes

This is a fairly stock list, but is extremely powerful. I began my journey into Pauper by gold-fishing this deck to get a feel for it. Since I hadn’t played a real game before there was a chance what I was doing wasn’t strong enough. This was not the case after playing against some of the other popular decks such as Affinity and Mystical Teachings Control.

The game plan involves playing an early Faerie Miscreant to turn on Spellstutter Sprite or Ninjitsu a Ninja of the Deep Hours. Delver of Secrets is the other option; play the early threat and back it up with counters.

Snap looks like a weird card to play, but casting a “free” spell feels very good. I’m able to save one of my creatures from a removal spell or return Spellstutter Sprite to counter another spell. I can cash it in for an additional card if I have two Faerie Miscreants in play. The same can be done with Ninja of the Deep Hour’s Ninjitsu; I get an additional come into play trigger from the faeries.

I was so happy with the bounce spells I added a Vapor Snag as well. This isn’t typical in Mono-Blue Delver, but being able to bounce a big boy like Gurmag Angler can be good against control and can also save my creatures from removal (at the cost of a life). The card I cut from the stock version to make room for the Vapor Snag is a Bonesplitter. It was a delver miss so I could do without it. It’s good against Black removal decks so my 1/1 flyers can win games on their own so it got moved to the sideboard.

Gush and Daze were all-stars of yesteryear and perform very well in this deck because I only need a few lands to operate. The only cards that care for plenty of Islands in play is Spire Golem, but you can get those into play with three lands. Speaking of which, a 2/4 flyer looks unimpressive, but it’s great in a world of common creatures. The common path to victory is to attack with a swarm of 1/1 flyers while a 2/4 holds back the opposing team.

I bring up this format because it’s steadily gaining traction in the paper world. Some of the cards can be tricky to acquire because most people lose their old commons. If there are more high stakes events for this format it can get expensive like any other constructed format. Every once in awhil,e I’ll pick up an Oubliette because it could skyrocket if people start needing physical copies.

Mardu Pact

I saw a decklist by Mark Nestico that was centered around Demonic Pact and Harmless Offering. This could be a strong deck assuming you have the tools to fight the oppressive Dromoka's Command strategies. Mardu shells seem better than Grixis or U/B because Nahiri slots so well into the deck.

Mardu Pact ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Kyle Boggemes

I have 8 ways to get rid of my Demonic Pact: 2 Dark Petition, 4 Nahiri, the Harbinger, 1 Anguished Unmaking, and 1 Harmless Offering. The only “bad” card in my deck is Harmless Offering; it doesn’t do anything by itself and the only purpose is to win the game when combined with Demonic Pact. Since I have two Dark Petitions I’m able to easily find the offering when it’s time to win. I won’t have to worry about Dromoka's Command when I give away the pact because they would have already had to discard two cards, lose a creature or Planeswalker and let me gain 4 life, and draw two extra cards. It would be very ambitious to let me do all of these things on the off chance that I can’t get rid of my pact. Once the pact has been given away the opponent will die on the next upkeep so there isn’t another chance to find a command.

Even if the Harmless Offering combo doesn’t work, I have plenty of other ways to win the game. There are a total of 7 Planeswalkers that can take over: 4 Nahiri, 1 Chandra, 1 Ob Nixilis, and 1 Sorin. I have so many different walkers to have multiples in play. I have to stick with 4 Nahiri since it plays so well with Demonic Pact. The final bomb is Linvala, the Preserver. I don’t really like to play giant monsters in decks like this, but I would like to have Nahiri’s ultimate do something. Other options in this space are Emrakul, the Promised End and Goblin Dark-Dwellers. There are too many permanents in the deck so Dark Dwellers aren’t very good here. I would only like to play Dark Dwellers in decks that can support Kolaghan's Command.

There are additional ways to win in the mana base. Since I’m playing two enemy-colored combinations I’m able to play 8 creature-lands. I like this alternate game plan of grinding down the opponent and having a bunch of lands to clean up the game. It’s always a risk when playing a control deck that dragging out the game doesn’t win, so this protects me from running out of resources. The G/W decks have so much card advantage built into their threats that I need extra help with my lands to keep up.

I chose to go with Duress and Collective Brutality as my discard suite because I want to get rid of Dromoka's Command. Transgress the Mind is nice, but it misses on Dromoka's Command so I can’t main-deck it. Duress is a better discard spell than Collective Brutality, but I want to make sure I don’t flood out on discard Game 1 against aggressive decks. I like this as a main deck hedge and then you can play more narrow sideboard cards.

Oath of Chandra is an unconventional removal spell, but being an enchantment has advantages. I like the oaths when I’m trying to protect Demonic Pact. There’s also 1 Oath of Liliana since I can cast it off of the bbb I get from casting a Dark Petition with spell mastery. The ideal play is to search for the oath and cast it the turn before I go for a Demonic Pact against G/W decks. This is a better plan than Duress because they can topdeck a command or return it with Den Protector. This also serves as a 2-for-1 because it stops the next Dromoka's Command and also kills a creature. The 2/2 zombies I get are also not irrelevant because the oath curves into Nahiri and then makes a blocker.

I chose to not play pain lands because I don’t want to take damage to cast Radiant Flames. Since I already have 4 Nahiri, 4 Demonic Pact, and 2 Languish as 4-drops, I wanted to play more sweepers that cost 3 mana. I have Read the Bones over Painful Truths because scrying is important when trying to find specific spells to interact with Demonic Pact. It’s possible to play a couple copies of Painful Truths and leave a single Read the Bones to search for with Dark Petition. I learned to not underestimate the power of searching and casting a Read the Bones. A drawback to consider with playing so many Oaths is that I have less instants and sorceries to add to the graveyard to get Spell Mastery.

Blue/Green Emerge (Update)

After pondering the U/G Emerge deck for a week, a conversation with Max McVety, and reading more about the set, I have arrived at a new list.

U/G Emerge ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Kyle Boggemes

This list takes Eldritch Evolution a step further which feels like the right move. Rather than ramp out eldrazi with Hedron Crawler I moved to Palace Familiar. This is because I can evolve or sacrifice it to emerge for Elder Deep-Fiend and Decimator of the Provinces. I only play two because we’re in the middle of a powerful Standard format and I can’t be drawing too many 1/1s that cycle even though they’re excellent.

Something I should have had in my original list was at least one Whirler Rogue so Elvish Visionary had something other than Thought-Knot Seer to search for with Eldritch Evolution. Since the powerful 4-drop has an “enters the battlefield” ability it’s the perfect creature to evolve into a 6-drop. I now have two different 6-drops, Drowner of Hope and Woodland Bellower. Both of these creatures are very strong in their own way; Woodland Bellower is basically Broodmate Dragon because it searches for Sylvan Advocate which will likely be a ?. If you have a Lumbering Falls this interaction will create an additional +2+2 on the following turn. Drowner of Hope operates similarly to Elder Deep-Fiend; I can stall the board and then tap my opponent’s creatures for the win.

Sanctum of Ugin is able to sacrifice to search for a colorless creature when you flash in an emerged Elder Deep-Fiend. Not only is the sanctum a way to get colorless mana to cast Eldrazi, but it’s also able to generate card advantage and search for the single Decimator of the Provinces in the late game. This plan works very well with Drowner of Hope and Whirler Rogue because of the tokens they produce. It’s scary to arrive at a clogged board against this version of the deck given the inevitability of Decimator of the Provinces.

An interesting sideboard option against humans is Gnarlwood Dryad. It doesn’t block every creature well because of Gryff's Boon and first strike, but it can stem some early bleeding from 2/1s and only costs 1 mana. It blocks about as well as Lambholt Pacifist because the 2-power first strikers will typically have +1+1 from Always Watching or Thalia's Lieutenant. It also blocks Thought-Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, and Elder Deep-Fiend against Eldrazi. I can’t get delirium in the main deck; it’s not a big deal because the 1/1 just needs to trade with any opposing creature.

Beware that Spell Queller is very powerful against Eldritch Evolution as sacrificing the creature is part of the cost. If you walk into the queller it’s a death sentence.

Collected Company (Update)

I tried a version of Collected Company with Eldrazi Displacer, but I didn’t like what it did to my mana base. There were too many games where I missed my 2-drop because all of my lands entered the battlefield tapped; not a good place to be. Going forward I want to be more tempo-oriented to take advantage of Spell Queller.

Bant Company ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Kyle Boggemes

I set out to build a CoCo deck that was actually happy to draw Duskwatch Recruiter before the late game. Many of the CoCo decks play a bunch of 3-drops that come down at sorcery-speed which means I’m left with a 2/2 that has an expensive ability I can’t use until the game halts to a stop. Traditional builds also have the awkward situation of hitting a 2-drop, but the third land enters the battlefield tapped. I can work around that by playing 8 flash creatures that can be cast off of Krallenhorde Howler and not need a third land. If I can get my third land in tapped I can likely have a fourth land enter the battlefield untapped which means Collected Company is more likely.

There are a total of 35 spells in the deck and 18 of them can be played at instant-speed; this leaves your opponent guessing when you pass each turn with 3-5 mana available. Spell Queller may be the most oppressive card in Eldritch Moon and is very likely a mistake to be printed. A ? flyer is able to pressure opposing Gideons and Nissas or just kill the opponent as the ground stalls. Dromoka's Command plays well with ? bodies and is even scarier when the +1/+1 counter goes on a creature with flying. It’s also possible to cast a Collected Company in response to a spell being cast in order to have Spell Queller counter it.

Bounding Krasis is the other flash creature that combos with Duskwatch Recruiter. I have played the Krasis in other versions of Company, but this version uses it more effectively. The 3/3 body can eat 2/3s for breakfast which is an important interaction in the current standard format. If your opponent puts you on having a Spell Queller they can bait you into flashing in a ? blocker to stop the attack and then you play a 3/3 instead for a blowout. Untapping your creature can eat a blocker, get an additional Jace activation, or counter Nahiri’s -2 ability.

The card I want to fit an additional copy of is Thalia, Heretic Cathar. In the limited amount of time I’ve had time to play Eldritch Moon, the 3/2 first striker has played very well. It stops opposing ambushes from Avacyn, Collected Company, and Elder Deep-Fiend. It can also untap a creature against an opposing Thalia. Your opponent can be lulled into a false sense of security with Thalia in play because your flashed creatures typically come into play tapped.

Archangel Avacyn is being overshadowed by cards like Gisela, the Broken Blade and Tamiyo, Field Researcher, but this might change given the presence of Spell Queller. It might be too embarrassing to cast Gisela if this version of Bant CoCo gets popular which I imagine it will. Queller gets much worse if you play too many sorcery-speed spells so I think Avacyn plays very well in this version. If your opponent has a Spell Queller in hand they might feel safe to attack because they can counter Collected Company and get blown out by Avacyn. I can also weaken opposing Spell Quellers by playing at instant-speed so they leave up mana for no reason on my turn.

There’s a lot of talk about U/W Spirit decks, but I would be very surprised if it’s better than Collected Company. I’m very afraid of the Humans matchup when I have a bunch of 1/1 and 2/1 flyers in my deck. It would operate like a tempo deck that plays very poorly from behind. I found that even when I mulligan a couple times or miss a land drop with Collected Company I’m able to come back which makes it an excellent choice.

I’m going to play SCG Columbus and Bant Company is currently my #1 choice. Elder Deep-Fiend is a great card that will be explored heavily in the coming weeks so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a unique twist on it for Pro Tour: Eldritch Moon.

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle

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TAGS articles, standard, constructed, deck lists, decks, pauper, brews, kyle boggemes, #mtgemn, eldritch moon

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