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pau·per (pô'pər)  
n.

1. One who is extremely poor.

 

What do you get when you cross a Jund deck with an Allies deck and sprinkle the rules of Pauper deck construction all over it? Well Pauper Jund Allies of course.

So before we get into the meat of the article, I wanted to share an update for all those who remember my articles from the past and those of you who have no idea who I am, this will be a first for you.

In the last 3 years since my last article I have gotten married to my wonderful wife. I have transferred locations within my company three times in hopes to keep my job due to downsizing. I have improved my competitive and deck building skills. All in all I can’t complain.

I have also upped my amount of playing Magic in both paper and online. One of the local shops offered to start running Pauper events and I was thrilled. Pauper is one of my favorite formats.

I entered the first of many Pauper events to come with a deck design by Kehm who is one of the regulars for PDCmagic.com. It’s a U/R control deck featuring Calcite Snapper backed by a lot of counter and burn cards. After playing the deck online quite a bit I thought the deck would be unbeatable. Going into the final rounds though, I would be proven wrong. My opponent was sporting a hybrid Jund deck that included Allies along with Putrid Leech and burn spells that beat me in an impressive 2-0 finish. After the tournament I started to ponder over my opponent’s deck. The deck was solid. Is it possible to play one of Standard’s King of the Hill decks in Pauper and make an impact on the format?

With the gears in my head turning I set out to build a deck that incorporate the card advantage and speed that Jund incorporates to quickly finish an opponent off in the early turns of the game.

Now before I get into the deck list there are two points I feel I need to make. One, I am not an authority on the pauper metagame. Two, although I am not a master a deck building, occasionally I do come up with a decent idea for a deck. The decks I am about to propose are by no means perfect, they simply worked out for me. Feel free to make suggestions and to try out your own ideas as you see fit.

Here is the first incarnation of Pauper Jund Allies I came up with.

Off to the Practice Room I went and after a few matches I felt the deck was subpar. I am not posting match highlights as I feel they aren’t to informative and it was obvious I was having a few issues. The first noticeable issue was that the deck didn’t have the speed I was anticipating. Although the fetch lands do thin the deck, they set you back in tempo leaving you in a situation where sometimes you are unable to cast anything until turn 3. It seems important to want to get a creature on the board in the second turn to start taking advantage of the Ally mechanics.

The original version of the deck I played against at the Pauper event in my local area just seemed to explode. In fact the only difference between my deck and that deck was the inclusion of Putrid Leech.

What was I missing? To solve this answer I would need to go back to my old opponent from the paper event and ask him for suggestions, and as it would seem, he was having issues too. Here is the new deck list he suggested to me.

With this deck I once again head out for testing to see what results I can come up with.

Game 1

 

My opening hand is:

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I start out putting the Swamp in play and pass. My opponent plains a Plains followed by a Sidewinder Sliver telling me he is playing Poison Slivers and I know I am in a load of trouble. Although I feel my quick demise on the horizon, I am also excited to play this match-up. This is like playing slivers 2.0 versus old school slivers. I play a forest and pass. My opponent follows the suit on a second turn forest and a Muscle Sliver. Turn three I drop a Mountain and throw Akoum Battlesinger to the in the mix, attacking for just four with Brigand. My opponent swings in with the Muscle Sliver and Sidewinder Sliver pumping the Sidewinder with Thrill of the Hunt, hitting me for six and leaving me at thirteen. On my turn I play Violent Outburst cascading into another Bojuka Brigand and attack with the first Brigand and the Battlesinger for nine, but my opponent responds with Temporal Isolation on the Brigand. My drops a land and attacks with the Sidewinder and Muscle Slivers bringing me to nine. I play a Highland Berserker and attack for six, and my opponent responds with Prismatic Strands naming black to prevent 4 of the damage bringing him to eleven. On his turn he attacks with the Muscle and Sidewinder, flashing back the Thrill of the hunt targeting the Muscle and hits me for five putting me at four. I draw up Demonic Dread and play it targeting the Muscle Sliver even though it is tapped, I am looking to just cascade into another ally to finish him and after he lets the abilities of the allies resolve off the stack, he drops connection.

1-0

 

 

 

Game 2

 

My opening hand looks like this:

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My opponent plays an Auriok Glaivemaster and I follow up with Oran-Rief Survivalist Next my opponent plays Leonin Scimitar, attaches it to the Glavemaster and attacks for 3. On my turn Bojuka Brigand gets in there and I attack with the Survivalist for 3. My opponent seems short on land and attacks for three then plays another Glavemaster attaching the Scimitar to it. I play a Highland Berserker giving my guys first strike and attacking for 7. I forgot that the Glavemasters get first strike when equipped and he trades a Galvemaster for my Brigand. Reattaching the scimitar to the first Glavemaster, my opponent attacks me for three leaving the score thirteen to eleven his favor then drops a Leonin Den-Guard. On my turn I play Akoum Battlesinger giving my guys and additional one point of power for the turn and attack for nine leaving him at four. On his turn he attaches the Scimitar to the Den-Guard and swings with a vigilant guard for three putting me at 8 and then plays (Myr-Adapter). I play a Demonic Dread on my turn targeting the Den-Guard cascading into a Brigand. With the Abilities on the stack my opponent offers up a Good Game seeing his impending doom in the future. I attack for twelve and he blocks ten of it putting him at two and only one creature. On his turn he plays Bone Saw, and concedes. 2-0

 

Game 3

 

 

My opening hand is:

I start off putting the Veinfire Borderpost into play and Pass. My opponent opens up with a Goblin Cohort and right away I know this could be a very close match. Goblins against this deck can be tricky, and I can already tell I should of mulliganed into a faster hand. I follow up on my turn with a Bojuka Brigand. My opponent plays another Cohort and attacks for two. I follow the double creature theme and play my second Brigand but my opponent Shocks the first one while his triggered ability is on the stack. On my opponents turn he plays a Mogg War Marshal and attacks for four putting me at fourteen. I play Brigand number three and attack with the second Brigand for three but he blocks with the War Marshall and it gets replaced by its leaves the battlefield ability with a 1/1 goblin token. My opponent plays a Goblin Bushwhacker kicked and attacks for twelve leaving me at 2. I play a Highland Berserker and then attacking for seven, my first chance at damage. With only one blocker on the field he plays a Mogg Fanatic and swings for the win.

 

2-1

 

 

 

Game 4

 

My hand:

 

I play first and open with the Veinfire Borderpost. My opponent plays a Mountain and a Viridian Longbow. I play Akoum Battlesinger and get click happy and click right past my combat stage. Will this mistake be critical enough to cost me the game? Turn three my opponent plays a Utopia Sprawl on his forest and passes. I attack for one with the Battlesinger. My opponent plays an Orochi Leafcaller, attempts to equip it with the Longbow but I respond with the Resounding Thunder. I play my fourth mana source and drop a Nimana Sell-Sword, then attacking for two. My opponent puts a fertile ground on a second forest and passes. He is ramping up for something big but I have no idea what it is. My turn is pretty uneventful. I play a forest and attack for four bringing my opponent to thirteen. On my opponents turn he taps his Mountain, and his Fertile Ground enchanted forest for blue and enchants my Sell-Sword with Sinking Feeling. At the end of his turn I activate the ability of my Sell-Sword granted by the Sinking Feeling to untap it. I play a swamp and attack for three. My opponent whiffs and does nothing and I again untap the Sell-Sword bringing its power and toughness to a 1/1. On my turn I draw another land and decide to play Demonic Dead knowing if it resolves I will be able to cascade into a two drop ally and pump the Sell-Sword up by one making it possible to untap it one more time. I cascade into Highland Berserker, triggering the Battlesinger. Again I get caught up into the moment. My opponent responds by casting a Mana Leak targeting the Demonic Dread. Now this really has no strategic outcome if it’s countered, but I automatically assume its targeting the Berserker and pay the three for the Mana Leak’s ability to counter it. It was a really sad thing watching the replay and seeing my opponent’s bad play followed by mine. If the Mana Leak had been played properly and I had been the only one making the mistake, it could have been a game changer. I attack for five bringing him to five. He plays a Terramorphic Expanse and searches up an Island. I untap the Sell-Sword once again at the end of his turn. My turn I attack for four bringing him to one. At the end of my turn, he concedes.

,

 

3-1

Conclusion

I like this deck. The borderposts provide what the Terramorphic Expanses could not, and that is the ability to have the desired colors in the first two turns to consistently cast your 2CC creatures. The Demonic Dread and the Violent Outburst provide the two-for-one card advantage that Jund gets, and guarantees an ally if it’s not countered. Demonic Dread specifically is great against Guardian of the Guildpact which seems to be running around a lot these days. Resound Thunder is in there as some removal and a way to push through that last bit of damage you need to finish the game. They also work great against the U/W control decks lurking around since the cycle ability can’t be countered. Graypelt Hunter is good for the creature stalemate when you’re stuck and can’t push through damage. Highland Berserker and Akoum Battlesinger provide some combat advantage. There is nothing like casting a Violent Outburst, cascading into an Akoum Battlesinger with Highland Berserker already on the field. The remaining allies are there to even out the mana curve and take advantage of the “enters the battlefield” abilities. It’s important to play test the deck a few times to get the feel for it. It doesn’t auto pilot itself like a typical Jund deck. There needs to be more conscious decisions and smart mulliganing. Trying to keep a hand with four lands and three four drops can be disastrous. It usually does not work out for me unless I am playing a slower control deck.

 

Sideboard Suggestions

Naturalize for Pestilence decks and decks running Raid Bombardment. There seems to be an insurgence of Pestilence combined with Wall of Hope decks, and Eldrazi Tokens.

Doom Blade for decks that take advantage of Hand of Emrakul and (Ulamog’s Crusher).

Seismic Shudder to combat the token decks, goblin decks, and decks running Calcite Snapper and Deft Duelist.

Stonework Puma is nice for combating Guardian of the Guildpact.

Well I hope you like my return article. I already have a few more articles swimming in my head, so leave feedback on what I can improve for the next one. If you have questions, please feel free to PM me in the forums.