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The Eye of a Needle: Pauper EDH in Practice
Christopher Morris-Lent
8/3/2012 11:08:00 AM Literature Review Two Fridays ago, I wrote about the flaws of the currently popular casual formats, and how Pauper EDH addresses these flaws. Here's a précis: -The intrinsic problem with "casual" Magic is that "fun" is a nebulous end (by contrast, in competitive Magic, "winning" is as cut-and-dry as it gets.) Though "fun" is a worthy objective - the only objective - everyone has different definitions of what "fun" is. Nobody has different definitions of “winning.” -The pervasive problems with casual Magic are the massive differences between players in play-skill, familiarity with cards, and income with which to purchase "good" cards. -These problems are not intrinsic to casual Magic; they just happen to be widespread. -Sixty-card casual addresses none of these problems. -EDH addresses some of the problems, but is typically expensive and requires a play-group of people whose definitions of "fun" are very similar. -Cube addresses all of casual's problems, but requires a large initial investment; additionally, it can be hard to play regularly, requiring a quorum of four to eight nerds. (I love Cube.) -Pauper EDH, being cheap, inclusive of a broad range of "fun," suitable for one-on-one and multi-player play, instructive for greenhorns who want to learn the game's nuances, and interesting for those with an affinity for old and obscure cards, is therefore the best casual format. -The rules are identical to normal EDH, except your deck must be composed of exclusively commons. The general can be any uncommon creature. The Business of Magic is Business Before I go on to describe the concrete details of pauper EDH - decklists, deck-building techniques, top cards, under-explored generals - I want to elaborate on a point I glossed over a couple of weeks ago. I said that cost is one impediment to playing any form of Magic. What I meant to say was that cost is far and away the most important impediment to playing any form of Magic. In a specific sense, it's what keeps Legacy and Modern still kind of a "fringe" thing. In a broader sense, it's what keeps competitive-constructed tournaments the domain of only a small sub-set of Magic players. In the broadest sense, it's what keeps the game from exploding into mainstream popularity. To see that all these things are true, consider the old Mothership column, "Building on a Budget." The existence of such a column is extraordinary, rather like an investment bank urging its customers to liquidate their holdings and subsist on cash. Wizards has a direct economic incentive to try and get its player-base to build as expensive of decks as possible: and yet, they must have consciously decided that running "Building on a Budget" was still profitable in some way. I'm guessing that new players were ensnared by the idea of "budget" play - and it was only a matter of time before they saw how unviable were Jacob van Lunen's ideas, and "invested" in more expensive cards so they could actually compete. My own belief is that, for competitive constructed, "budget" play is incompatible and directly at odds with "optimal" play. In his last column, Gavin Verhey wrote, "Budget doesn't equal bad" – an essential myth, but a myth nonetheless. In the absence of considerable wealth (or complete disregard for money), competitive-constructed players will never be free of the cost constraint. Pauper EDH uniquely frees players from that constraint. Many EDH players like to "pimp out" their decks with foils, Japanese cards, Beta-era incunabula, etc. Though I've never been a collector - just a player - this seems, to me, like a bad case of conspicuous consumption. When playing Pauper, then, I take great pains to "ghetto out" my deck. I deliberately pursue the ugliest version of every card: Fourth Edition basics, that fugly Plains from Ice Age, core-set reprints of old staples, and so on. They see me rollin'? They hate it. “Experience Is Simply the Name People Give to Their Mistakes” Another point I made two weeks ago was that EDH games are never as “different” as they ought to be: in spite of the Highlander constraints, tutors and generals that tutor make games often much more predictable, much more deterministic, than competitive constructed. When you play sixty-card constructed, after all, you usually won't have a specific 4-of in your opening hand; with EDH, you always have the Commander. I think what the creators of EDH were going for is a deck with a “theme” and a “plan,” but multiple ways of realizing this theme or achieving this plan, rather than having the same sequence occur without fail. This is the same distinction that exists between “combo” decks (Doomsday and friends) and “synergy” decks (e.g., Standard Pod). Without a doubt most normal EDH decks are closer to “combo,” while most pauper EDH decks are closer to “synergy.” Regardless of if the architects of EDH were going for “synergy,” I think it's a far more interesting, far more variable way of playing the game. A linear game-plan is dull and is typically associated with “winning” more so than “having fun” – and the EDH ban-list, to which Griselbrand was recently added, shows that most of that community feels that way as well.
By contrast, a dense web of interactions between cards is a joy: it delights the artist that revels in harmony and internal consistency, and teases the coach to the point where he will make myriad misplays. Misplays are not just awesome, they're profoundly awesome. Here's why. I don't agree with MaRo that “nobody has ever played a perfect game of Magic”: of course hundreds of people do, on a daily basis – sometimes, nothing could be easier than curving out with beaters in Limited, or slinging more Lava Spikes at a Seattle PTQ than Mt. St. Helens. Like many MaRo statements, this one is divorced from the reality of the game, which annoys those of us who must toil in the empirical world of Magic as it is to earn our keep. Like all MaRo statements, though, it shows a heart of gold, and a mind of adamantine: the guy may not know what Magic is, but he knows what Magic should be. He has nobly devoted his life to this Platonic ideal, one facet of which is that players should make misplays. So, though “nobody has ever played a perfect game of Magic” is false, “nobody should ever play a perfect game of Magic” is very true. The potential to make misplays is what differentiates us from Yahtzee or (less facetiously) Civ 5 or, with the inexorable progression of engines, Chess. Magic is in the same rarefied air as Poker or Starcraft or competitive sports precisely because the scope for making errors is so grand. Though we may, at times, achieve a perfect result, it is always through an imperfect performance. This beautiful truth is most evident in Pauper EDH, or perhaps Legacy. Cultivating Your Garden We will start at the general: where else? (Most) strong EDH generals are all about having a “repeatable effect” – some sort of activated or triggered ability that will generate value throughout the game. And if this ability Recycles the general, all the better: casting the same card over and over again is good value. Pauper EDH is more or less the same. Although there are more cards to choose from – 2,096 uncommon creatures, from ____ to Zombie Trailblazer; versus 487 legendary creatures, from Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor to Zur the Enchanter – a lot fewer of these uncommons are suitable generals, and, between the suitable generals, there are fewer “flashy” effects from which to choose. I want to emphasize that, although Pauper EDH is to “synergy” as regular EDH is to “combo,” this is more a metaphor than anything else. You can still go infinite in Pauper EDH – with, say, Gilder Bairn and Pentad Prism; or Midnight Guard and Presence of Gond – but you will do so less reliably due to the paucity of tutors. Specialized abilities that are oppressively powerful in regular EDH – think Arcum Dagsson – are much less so in Pauper. Because the card pool is much smaller, and the playable card pool smaller still, you'll typically want a multi-colored general. I have some lists and sample decks below, but if you want to “start from scratch,” just search on Gatherer and/or magiccards.info for uncommon creatures with multi-colored identities: there are 285. Once you have your color identity, run a search for commons that share that identity. There are only 409 commons (of all card types) that are multi-colored, and many of them are good. Let's say your general is Simic Guildmage. There are 19 “Simic” commons: Assault Zeppelid Coiling Oracle Favor of the Overbeing Gaea's Skyfolk Grazing Kelpie Living Airship Mtenda Lion Shielding Plax Shorecrasher Mimic Silkwing Scout Simic Growth Chamber Simic Ragworm Simic Signet Slippery Bogle Snakeform Temporal Spring Trapjaw Kelpie Vigean Hydropon Winged Coatl Of these cards, only Trapjaw Kelpie is bad. You could possibly eliminate Grazing Kelpie, Mtenda Lion, and Winged Coatl, but it's best to start with a large pool, then work your way down: this way, you get a more Heliconian view of what is possible. The next step is to consider what sort of “plan” you want your deck to have. Examine your general: the Elf Wizard is deft and versatile, but he needs a lot of mana to operate at full speed. Your deck will probably be (to jam as many arbitrary classifications as possible) “mid-range aggro-control beatdown.” Conduct Gatherer searches with very specific parameters to find the types of cards you're looking for. Feel free to dismiss the inefficient ones out of hand: this format isn't that slow – but write down the rest. In the case of Simic Guildmage: -You'll want lots of acceleration: not just Llanowar Elves, but also Fyndhorn Elves – and Priest of Titania! -You'll want some counterspells: not just the classic Counterspell, but also Exclude and Memory Lapse. -You'll want some card draw: not just Deep Analysis, but also Preordain. -You'll want some auras: not just Fists of Ironwood, but also Alexi's Cloak – and Bramble Elemental! -You'll want some +1/+1 counters: not just Phantom Tiger, but also Faerie Squadron. -You'll want some fat: not just Ulamog's Crusher, but also Cytospawn Shambler (which gets a bonus for being in two different categories). I saved “fat” for the last category as it is something most decks want: it is important. But there's a dearth of high-quality beef among commons – only 21 creatures with power six or greater, most of which are of the Craw Wurm variety, and one of which is one of the best cards in the format. I will get to that in a bit. The most important point is that, when you do your searches, you should make sure that you're tailoring the categories of cards for your deck's plan: for example, Paragon of the Amesha control will want primarily removal and draw, Sigil Captain will want token generators and accelerants, and so on. For more generic decks that seek to win through power alone, the old limited mnemonic “BREAD” (bombs, removal, evasion, advantage, dudes) is a good place to start. If you're stuck, don't feel bad: call a friend, have a beer, do something else. This isn't the Pro Tour; this is Pauper EDH. The sum of your searches should have turned up somewhere from 80 to 200 cards. If your pool of playables was on the thin end, consider scrapping the idea unless these playables offer exceptional average synergy with your general. Really, though, do whatever you want. This isn't the Pro Tour; this is Pauper EDH. I'll share a few heuristics I've learned from the pseudo-competitive games I played with my friend Sam Levine, who is, as of the publication of this article, exiling himself to law school. The first is that cantrips are not that awesome. Brainstorm is the obvious offender, because who gets to shuffle a hundred-card deck composed of exclusively commons (I'm looking at you, Sperling). Preordain is also not the greatest. This isn't competitive constructed: we only get so many slots, and we typically want those slots to advance our plan or produce some overwhelming advantage. The second is that discard is pretty lame; aficionados of sextuple Fallen Empires, in which Hymn to Tourach was underwhelming, will understand why: not only are you going to be hitting “meh” cards rather frequently, but your opponent will always have some amount of resources, by dint of the command zone. The third is that conditional removal also sucks. In sixty-card Magic, Lightning Bolt is brutally efficient and flexible. In Pauper EDH, it's a card that might not do anything, and probably should be something else. On the opposite end, some cards that you should value very highly are: ones with repeatable effects, ones that fix your mana, and tutors. Alright! So you ordered a bulk shipment of commons. You're very slightly poorer in dollars, but much richer in spirit. Now leave the sleeves in their stodgy boxes, spread the cards out over the floor, and pick sixty or so of your favorites. Add some lands. Place your “heavily played” general on top. And you've got a deck. Then find a friend who's done the same, order a pizza, neglect to shower, and test. Did I say “test”? I meant “play.” Testing is for pedants. The Melting Pot Here are some favorite decks of mine, with brief comments on each. If they're not optimized, I don't care, but please tell me anyway. Simic Guildmage by CML
Simic is my favorite guild (though I've been told Orzhov fits me better). I love the discordant synergy, the cacophonous harmony, of beaters and acceleration and draw and counters and fatties. However talented was the Dissension world-building team, it doesn't make any sense – and this just makes me like it more. Note that you can't move around Diplomatic Immunity with the Guildmage. I learned this while playing a game, so, on a friend's suggestion I grabbed a Sharpie and wrote “Alexi's Cloak” over the illustration. Then we resumed. Paragon of the Amesha by CML
Five-color control is a simple place to start – you get to play all the best cards, and the mana is actually far better than the average SOM-ISD Standard deck. Resounding Silence is a funny Mystical Teachings target. Dragonsoul Knight by Sam Levine
Just another take on 5cc. Gilder Bairn by Sam Levine
A more “synergistic” Simic Guildmage deck, this one seeks to win by making infinite mana with a Pentad Prism. If that fails, I guess twenty-two Saprolings is an OK backup plan. Inkfathom Witch by Sam Levine
Witch is the most “competitive” of these decks, being a tempo-based build in a 40-life format. Cantrips and targeted discard are way better here than in something like 5cc, due to the mana and the speed at which Witch wants to deploy its threats. Sludge Strider by Sam Levine
Sam's first deck, more like a child's first finger-paint Rothko than a true artist's first novel. Sludge Strider is fairly bad, but sometimes you draw Cranial Plating! Garruk's Packleader by Sam Levine
A rare monochrome breed. Sam and I tried playing mono-Green with Yavimaya Elder as the general, but all the absurd card advantage could power out was turn-seven Titanic Bulvoxes. That wasn't such a power play. I know that Santa Claus is a common and I am indifferent. Sigil Captain by Sam Levine
Captain is as linear as they get, and his casting cost is annoyingly restrictive, but sometimes you just want to bash them over the head with tokens. It can't be much worse than it is in Modern. And that deck won a GP! Gelectrode by Sam Levine
Something for the Izzet lovers (I know you are numerous, don't deny it.) Durdle dot Dec by Matt J. Keenan
Matt, one of the best limited players at our LGS, wants nothing more from this format than to durdle. He originally sought to make a Wizard Mentor deck, but, Horror of Horrors, its color identity is Blue and Only Blue. So we found the worst five-color commander (without a doubt, Transguild Courier) and jammed in a lot of cards that pretend to be active while actually doing nothing. Who says you can't go back to college? Isn't it better to summon blackboards than Bulvoxes? Top Ten Card (Categories) Mulldrifter / Deep Analysis / Compulsive Research / Rush of Knowledge – It's not the slowest format, but nor is it so fast that fairly priced draw is anything but amazing. Capsize / Disturbed Burial / Evincar's Justice / anything with buyback (also Grim Harvest) – Capsize is said to be the best card in the format, but isn't Evincar's Justice far more ridiculous? It's a sweeper at common with buyback … yeah. Mystical Teachings / transmute cards – Tutoring is nice. Ulamog's Crusher – The aforementioned best fatty in the format. Goes in more or less everything. It's a little disconcerting that he's an auto-include in most decks, but there are less of those in this format than there are in normal EDH – and it's not even close. Looters (Cephalid Looter, Merfolk Looter, etc.) and Spellshapers (Waterfront Bouncer, etc.) – Stalls aren't common, but you often will have time to durdle a little. Rhystic Study / Rhystic Deluge / Flood – Duh. Rolling Thunder / Fireball / Kaervek's Torch (and all X spells) – Duh. (If I could go back in time, I'd have my seven year-old self say, “Great design on Tempest commons, R&D.” Magic columns in my mid-twenties: where esprit d'escalier comes to die.) Arcane Spyglass – Particularly good with Gilder Bairn, but also the nuts in 5cc. It turns out that sometimes you want to invest a ton of mana and sacrifice a bunch of lands to draw a few cards. Prodigal Sorcerer / pingers – There are a ton of small creatures in this format, and it's not like they're going to kill you before you ping them to death. Hermetic Study and friends are also very good. Faith's Fetters / Encrust / other aura-based removal – For when you want to incapacitate that pesky general. Ten Weaker Commons That Are Sweet in Comp-Con Lightning Bolt, Brainstorm, Empty the Warrens, Arcane Denial, Echoing Truth, Duress, Quirion Ranger, Diabolic Edict, Dark Ritual, Moment's Peace. Ten Sweet Generals Dimir Guildmage, Mistmeadow Witch, Skyward Eye Prophets, Psychatog, Yavimaya Elder, Lorescale Coatl, Imperious Perfect, Izzet Guildmage, Scarland Thrinax, Auriok Salvagers, Quillspike. A Call to Action Send me your Pauper EDH decks and I will start a column called “Dear Ramirez DePietro,” where I offer constructive advice to people that want to make their twenty-dollar slagheaps even less playable. Be careful not to believe my tall tales, especially when you ask my age. Post-Script So I played in a PTQ on Saturday and dropped at 2-1-1, because a) I had a party to set up and Emcee and b) I punted the second match, because I am an imbecile. For more details, check out Travis Woo's article on ChannelFireball. I learned one thing: the only advantage Standard has over Modern is the legality of Green Sun's Zenith. We'll be back this Sunday if anyone wants a signed Monstrous Carabid or Simic Guildmage or Tinder Wall. Barring that, there's always Pauper EDH Win-a-Box – but you have to give any money cards you open to little kids. Especially if they knocked you out of the PTQ. Thanks for reading! CML @CMLisAwesome on Twitter |
  
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