Today, we take another look at my favorite format, Pauper.
Due to its vast card pool and affordability Pauper is a great deck for brewers, and while that is a great thing for most people, others enjoy playing the top decks, or maybe they just need a place to get started and learn the format. So today we are looking at what is currently one of the most played decks in the format, Stompy.
Stompy decks are recognizable by their small, but efficient creatures like Nettle Sentinel and Burning-Tree Emissary, and cards that make their forces even stronger like Groundswell, and the classic enchantment Rancor.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at a deck list.
Pauper Stompy
| Creatures (28) 4 Nettle Sentinel 4 Quirion Ranger 4 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk 4 Young Wolf 4 Burning-Tree Emissary 2 Nest Invader 2 River Boa 2 Silhana Ledgewalker 2 Vault Skirge Instants (12) 4 Groundswell 3 Hunger of the Howlpack 1 Mutagenic Growth 4 Vines of the Vastwood Enchantments (4) 4 Rancor | Lands (16) 16 Forest |
Nettle Sentinel & Skarrgan Pit-Skulk: Both of these creatures are above average size for their mana cost, but come with downsides we will have to deal with.
Quirion Ranger: This card goes great with Nettle Sentinel as it let’s you untap easily, and you may be able to play the land you have to bounce, gaining you some extra mana.
Young Wolf & Silhana Ledgewalker: Both of these are durable creatures that we can feel safe using our buff spells on, as they are difficult to kill.
Skarrgan Pit-Skulk, River Boa, Vault Skirge: All of these creatures have some sort of evasion, and they are great options to put our buffs on.
Burning-Tree Emissary & Nest Invader: Both of these creatures produce extra mana, and they have a good body for their cost. Nest Invader’s tokens can even be used as chump blockers if you are desperate.
Groundswell, Hunger of the Howlpack, Mutagenic Growth, and Vines of the Vastwood: All of these cards let us pump up our creatures at instant speed. Vines of the Vastwood has the added bonus of giving the target creature essentially Hexproof. Mutagenic Growth has the unique ability of being almost free. This gives us a supreme buff that may catch our opponents of guard.
Rancor: This enchantment is an all around great card. Not only does it give +2 attack and Trample, but it also has a built in recursion effect, and it only costs us one mana.
As always, your sideboard will vary depending on your meta, but some good options to start with are.
Gut Shot: This Phyrexian instant is great for dealing with one toughness creatures that have a scary effect, such as the ever present Delver of Secrets.
Natural State: A great spell, capable of getting rid of most artifacts that you may worry about.
Relic of Progenitus: Great for messing with any graveyard strategies your opponent may be running.
Scattershot Archer: Great for getting rid of annoying small fliers, and if you have multiples they can even deal with some larger ones.
Epic Confrontation: One of the best pieces of removal that Green has access to. Although it may not be as good as what some of the other colors get, if you combine it with pump spells you should be able to get rid of most things.
Feed the Clan: Good against burn, or another aggro deck you cannot race. Since we will be playing many pump spells, we will often be healing for the full ten.
Gleeful Sabotage: Great for widespread artifact and/or enchantment destruction. It’s also gives us the ability to remove dangerous enchantments like Curse of the Bloody Tome.
But what do you think? Do you have any suggestions on how we could improve this deck list? What Pauper decks do you like playing? Do you enjoy the Pauper format and think we should keep talking about it? If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to say something in the comments section below.
Side Note: I’m sorry I cracked, I just had to talk about Burning-Tree Emissary again.
Shakunjin
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