MTG – Local Pauper Tournament

by | Mar 26, 2014

Busy spring break for gaming events as I found out recently one of the local gaming stores is hosting an MTG Pauper tournament.  For those who don't know MTG Pauper is a format where only commons are allowed in your deck.  Lots of people online have come up with different types of Pauper formats like Modern Pauper or Standard Pauper but generally Pauper is a legacy format so commons from all sets are allowed.  As long as the card was common in one set it is allowed (so Rancor is allowed as it was common at one point)

I've played Pauper a lot on MTGO but never in a live event.  Most people here play either random legacy fun decks or standard.  Myself I've moved away from competitive MTG and mostly just cube with friends and the occasional pre-release tournament.  Seeing a Pauper tournament is kind of cool and I'm going to try and play in it.  The only problem is my live Pauper collection isn't nearly as big as my MTGO Pauper collection when it comes to having cards that will make an actual competitive deck.  I mean I have lots of commons (who doesn't, especially after having played for so long) but whether those commons can make a good deck is another matter.

There are two decks I want to try and bring.  One of them I have the cards for but isn't as fun to play in my opinion, while the other is super fun to play but I'm missing a fair amount of the key cards.
The first deck, the one where I have all the cards, is Pauper UG Infect.  Basically the deck will play some cheap infect creatures and then force 10 poison counters through in a short amount of time (either one or two turns)

The list I plan on bringing is as follows
Basic game plan is to overrun your opponent with small infect creatures in the first couple of turns.  Since Invigorate was banned the deck is not as explosive as before but can still be.  With Apostle's Blessing and Distortion Strike you can force one creature through and then just bump it up with Rancor or Mutagenic Growth and hope it's enough to finish them off.

The deck as I've built it is more mid-rangey and grindy than what it was with Invigorate.  I might think about replacing the Blight Mamba with another pump spell like Vines of Vastwood so the deck can be faster and more explosive and it gives me another protection spell for my own creatures.

The other deck I want to bring is an Izzet Blitz deck.  I have been playing this deck on MTGO whenever I play a Pauper match and it is super fun.  Very explosive and can win from out of nowhere.  The problem is I am missing a lot of the cards that make it work really well.
This deck is so explosive and can achieve turn 4 kills consistently and sometimes turn 3 if the cards are right.  Very fun to play online and something I really want to bring but if I can't get the set of Kiln Fiend or Wee Dragonauts the deck is kind of impossible.

Got a few days so gonna ask my friends if they have any of those cards I could borrow.