Pauper, and Commander Constructed MTG Decks: 2015

There are 27 elves (including Ezuri [They aren’t all pure mana rampers]), 27 mana, and additional 9 on top of that totaling 63 (27+27+9) possible cards boosting cards that should reduce board wipes to be less of a problem. Maybe it is OCD, but I love to create symmetry in my decks. Hence, 99 the number of cards in a commander deck is divisible by nines, a sign of good design.

36 Elves, and/or Draw, and/or Mana Ramp and/or Manaboost:

Arbor Elf – elf + ramp Bear Umbra - boost

Bequeathal - draw Boreal Druid – elf + ramp

Copperhorn Scout – elf Elfhame Sanctuary - draw

Elvish Archdruid – elf + ramp Elvish Lyrist - elf

Elvish Mystic – elf + ramp Elvish Piper – elf

Elvish Scrapper – elf Ezuri, Renegade Leader

Fecundity - draw Fierce Empath - elf

Fyndhorn Elves –elf + ramp Gaea’s Herald – elf

Glissa Sunseeker - elf   Greenseeker – elf + draw

Heritage Druid – elf + ramp Imperious Perfect - elf

Joraga Treespeaker – elf + ramp Llanowar Elves – elf + ramp

Mana Reflection – boost Nissa’s Pilgrimmage - draw

Priest of Titania – elf + boost   Primordial Sage - draw

Seeker of Skybreak - elf   Skullclamp – draw

Sylvan Ranger – elf + draw Taunting Elf – elf

Thornweald Archer – elf Wellwisher – elf

Wren’s Run Packmaster – elf   Wren’s Run Vanquisher - elf

Wolf-Skull Shaman – elf Yavimaya Elder - draw

18 Big Creatures:

Argothian Wurm Bellowing Tanglewurm

Creeperhulk Engulfing Slagwurm

Essence of the Wild   Gaea’s Revenge

Giant Adephge Gigantomancer

Khalni Hydra   Mitotic Slime

Moldgraf Monstrosity Pelakka Wurm

Soul of the Harvest   Terastodon

Terra Stomper   Thorn Elemental

Thunderfoot Baloth Vigor

Artifacts and Enchantments: 9

Swiftfoot Boots Blanchwood Armor

Bower Passage Dense Foliage

Eldrazi Conscription Exoskeletal Armor

Gigantiform Ground Seal

Lurking Predators

Instant or Sorcery: 9

Dramatic Entrance Fog

Windstorm Unravel the AEther

Gleeful Sabotage Green Sun’s Zenith

Harmonize Overwhelming Stampede

Revive

Lands: 27

25 Forest

Oran-Rief, the Vastwood

Wirewood Lodge (has lots of fantastic combos in an elf deck.)

Monday, September 14, 2015

UltraAffordable Yeva Commander Deck

Commander Yeva, Nature’s Herald

Prices relativistic as of roughly 9/13/2015 at StarCityGames.com

I can’t guarantee that you will win many games with this deck. However, it is fun and inexpensive, and it will probably keep you in the game longer than most decks.

The main objective of this deck is to defend oneself, buying time until a late game kill. This means hiding oneself from immediate attack, and it is accomplish by the commander, Yeva, Nature’s Herald.

One reason that this deck is so casual is that deathtouch only sends creatures to the graveyard, which can be beneficial to the opponent in the case of more competitive decks.

Defenders and creatures with regenerate also provide defense. Mana abilities may also create a means to deploy the defense. Also, with respect to the walls, cards like Primal Bellow, Giant Growth, and Vines of Vastwood may make it seem like they have deathtouch.

There is also 3 kinds of ramping in this deck, including elves, defenders, and spells. Elf mana ramping works well with commander, Yeva, especially because she is an elf.

Thoughts to go with this deck include Ground Seal, Axebane Guardian, artifacts that give flying, and Vine Trellis.

Yeva,

Commander – Yeva, Nature’s Herald

Creatures:

$0.25 Acidic Slime $0.15 Ambush Viper

$0.50 Artisan of Kozilek $0.29 Bellowing Tanglewurm

$0.15 Daggerback Basilisk $0.15 Deadly Recluse

$1.00 Drove of Elves $1.50 Elvish Archdruid

$0.15 Ezuri’s Archers, BUT OUT OF STOCK

$1.00 Fierce Empath, BUT OUT OF STOCK

$0.15 Gatecreeper Vine

$0.50 Gigantomancer, BUT OUT OF STOCK

$0.25 Gravetiller Wurm $1.00 Ground Breaker

$2.00 Joraga Treespeaker $0.65 Kalonian Behemoth

$10.00 Khalni Hydra $1.75 LeatherbackBaloth

$0.15 Mire Boa

$0.50 Mitotic Slime, BUT OUT OF STOCK

$0.70 Myr Battlesphere $0.25 Mwonvuli Beast Tracker

$0.25 Overgrown Battlement $1.25 Priest of Titania

$0.15 River Boa $0.25 Ravaging Riftwurm

$0.25 Seeker of Skybreak $0.15 Sedge Scorpion

$0.50 Sheltering Ancient, BUT OUT OF STOCK

$1.00 Somberwald Sage $0.15 Steel Wall

$0.15 Sylvan Ranger $0.25 Pelakka Wurm

$0.15 Pygmy Troll

$0.15 Taunting Elf $1.00 Terra Stomper

$0.25 Thornweald Archer, BUT OUT OF STOCK

$0.15 Timbermaw Larva $1.00 Traproot Kami

$.025 Turntimber Basilisk $0.15 Ulamog’sCrusher

$0.15 Viridian Emissary $0.25 Wall of Brambles

$0.50 Wall of Roots $0.15 Wall of Tanglechord

$0.15 Wall of Vines $0.70 Wren’s Run Vanquisher

$0.15 Weatherseed Elf $0.50 Wolfbriar Elemental

Sorcery of Instant

$0.15 Commune with Nature $1.00 Cultivate

$0.15 Deglamer $0.15 Fog

$0.15 Giant Growth $0.15 Gleeful Sabotage

$0.15 Journey of Discovery, OUT OF STOCK

$0.90 Kodama’s Reach $0.25 Revive

$0.25 Overrun $0.25 Nissa’s Pilgrimage

$0.25 Seek the Horizon $1.00 Vines of Vastwood

$0.25 Windstorm $0.15 Wrap in Vigor

Artifact or Enchantment

$8.00 Basilisk Collar $0.30 Blanchwood Armor

$0.40 Fecundity $0.50 Gigantiform

$0.25 Gravity Well $0.30 Infiltration Lens

$0.15 Slagwurm Armor, BUT OUT OF STOCK

$0.15 Urban Burgeoning $0.50 Whispersilk Cloak

$0.15 Wild Growth

Planeswalker

$7.00 GarrukWildspeaker

Land:

all forests

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

MTG's Use of Kor

I had long wondered where MTG got the word kor from. Examples of this type of card are attached. These kor cards primarily dealing with the color white (plains); it's a long shot, but think farming plains.

I just finished listening to Mechirah - Chapter Twenty Eight of the Mishneh Torah http://www.chabad.org/dailystudy/rambam.asp… --
and found that in Hebrew this word is often used in agriculture - hence the possible combination of kor with agriculture and plains.

Kor - definition of kor by The Free Dictionary
www.thefreedictionary.com/kor
kor - an ancient Hebrew unit of capacity equal to 10 baths or 10 ephahs.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Master Yoda's Green Banana ~ Pauper

from Tapped out:

This deck is all about counters, especially counters that work with abilities, as is the case with Champion’s Drake, Halimar Wavewatch, and Skywatcher Adept. VeneratedTeacher, and Clockspinning provide the means to help level up creatures for better play. Elvish Mystic, LlanowarElves, and Wild Growth. In addition, Spectral Flight may provide some beef. Defense is via Narcolepsy, Cancel, and Unsummon. Unsummon also enables Venerated Teacher to be taken back to the hand in order to put even more counters on creatures.

from Wizards:

Creatures 22

4 Champion’sDrake 2 DreamStalker

ElvishMystic 4 HalimarWavewatch

3 LlanowarElves 3 SkywatcherAdept

IllusionaryServant 4 VeneratedTeacher

Enchantments 8

3 Narcolepsy 3 Spectral Flight

2 WildGrowth

Instants or Sorceries 11:

2 Cancel 4 Clockspinning

See Beyond 4 Unsummon

Land 20:

Evolving Wilds

7 Forest

7 Island

Quicksand

3 Simic Guildgate

TerramorphicExpanse

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Massive Beating ~ Green ~ Pauper

This deck is slow.

Axebane Guardian, and Overgrown Battlement provide this deck with some major mana-ramping power. In fact, I prefer this defender combo to similar Elf combos, such as those with the Priest of Titania, or Elvish Archdruid, because not only do the defender walls ramp for mana, but they also provide some of green’s best defense. In addition to using defenders, I also use instants Fog, Undergrowth, and Moment’s Peace, which I should add has some flashback power, especially with the help Urban Burgeoning provides. The idea is that the walls and the instants buy time for a late in game win.

Major weakness in this deck, few fatties, may hopefully be countered with Naturalize, and Gleeful Sabotage.

Evolution Charm and Salvage provide some graveyard searching action.

Creatures: 24

2 Axebane Guardian 4 Overgrown Battlement

1 Steel Wall 3 Tangle Golem

3 Ulamog’s Crusher 4 Timbermaw Larvae

4 Wall of Tanglecord 3 Wall of Vines

Enchantment:

Urban Burgeoning

Instant or Sorcery: 14

Evolution Charm 3 Fog

2 Gleeful Sabotage 2 Moment’s Peace

Naturalize Salvage

4 Undergrowth

Land

21 Forest

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Deck Name: Dastardly Legions. Deck colors: Green. Format: Legacy or Modern. Version: 5

This is a mana ramping deck. If played correctly, your lands should be flying everywhere. First, Sakura-Tribe Scout, Skyshroud Ranger, and Exploration are for setting up a fast land delivery system. The next phase is to maximize those cards mana abilities through searching your library for mana; these cards would be Harrow, Nissa's Pilgrimage (essentially Cultivate or Kodama's Reach, but on steroids), Seek the Horizon, and Shard Convergence. The last phase is to play fatty beatsticks.

Creatures: 18

3 Baloth Woodcrusher ElderscaleWurm

Giant Adephage 3 Rampaging Baloths

4 Sakura-Tribe Scout Silvos, Rogue Elemental

2 Skyshroud Ranger 3 Terra Stomper

Enchantment: 3

Dense Foliage 2 Exploration

Instant & Sorcery: 12

3 Harrow 2 Nissa’s Pilgrimage

3 Seek the Horizon 3 Shard Convergence

Tangle

Land: 27

18 Forest 2 Island

3 Mountain 2 Plains

2 Swamp

Sideboard: 14

Bower Passage 3 Deglamer

Fog 2 Gleeful Sabotage

PelakkaWurm Undergrowth

Unravelthe Aether 2 Walking Atlas

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Milk of Dread ~ Pauper

Milk of Dread’ strategy is moderate paced. The deck has a few ways to gain life, in particular Goldenglow Moth, Lone Missionary, and Sylvok Lifestaff, each buying time so that the others can fly over, or bust through an opponent’s defense. In addition, there are more traditional white enchantments that help lock up an opponent’s defense, slowing the progression of the game for a steady offense.

To review a specific card in this deck; Doomed Traveler is a great pauper creature. I often judge pauper creatures with respect to how powerful they are in comparison to infect cards, such that in this case Doomed Traveler. I compare it to Glistener Elf. Glistener Elf is a 1/1 but because it essentially deals double damage because 10 poison counters are lethal, so it is really like a 2/2. Similarly, Doomed Traveler is as 2 1/1 creatures, which add up to 2/2, effectively as powerful as a Glistener Elf.

Creatures: 21

3 Doomed Traveler 4 Goldenglow Moth

3 Guardian of the Guildpact 3 Kor Skyfisher

1 Lone Missionary

3 Razor Golem (Razor Golem is also an artifact)

4 Squadron Hawk

Artifacts and Enchantments: 16

4 Adventuring Gear 1 Arrest

2 Ghostly Possession 4 Journey to Nowhere

1 Recumbent Bliss 1 Sylvok Lifestaff

2 Temporal Isolation 1 Vulshok Morningstar

Sorceries:

2 Revoke Existence

Land:

1 Kabira Crossroads 20 Plains

Personal Info: Milk of Dread is a moderately paced white deck. Like many decks of mine it tells a story. In this case, it is with regard to my milk intolerance and allergy struggles. For example, the card “Doomed Traveler” makes me think of difficulties I had traveling, such as the several car accidents I was in due to the brain fog milk induced to me.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Deck Name: Michael Jackson, Deck Colors: Black and White, Format: Modern. Version: 2.6.

The strategy is simple. Crush your opponent's offense first. Make your opponent discard cards. Destroy, and enchant your opponent's offense. Once your opponent is at your mercy begin the attack!

Please note the change of format, legacy to modern, for version 2.6 of this deck named - Michael Jackson.

Artifact Creature

1 Molten-Tail Masticore

Creature: 6+1

Drainpipe Vermin Indomitable Archangel

Linvala, Keeper of Silence Mirran Crusader

2 Transcendent Master

Artifact Equipment

Gorgon Flail Infiltration Lens

Enchantment: 8

2 Journey to Nowhere 4 Pacifism

Painful Quandary Spirit Mantle

Instant: 8

Doom Blade Double Cleave

3 Go for the Throat Ultimate Price

2 Unmake

Planeswalker:

Elspeth, Knight-Errant Elspeth Tirel

Gideon Jura

Sorcery: 10

Day of Judgment 3 Mind Rot

3 Raven’s Crime 3 Revoke Existence

LAND: 23

3 Evolving Wilds 8 Plains

9 Swamp 3 Terramorphic Expanse

Monday, May 11, 2015

Deck Name: Long Slow Demise. Deck colors: Green and White. Format: Pauper. Version: 1

The object of this deck is to bring about a “Long Slow Demise” to your opponent or else a long slow demise will be brought to you. There are 23 enchantments. Each enchantment is designed to work especially with the focal creature; AuraGnarlid (shown here):

However, these creatures may work well with other aspects, for instance, with Nest Invader, you could combine either Nest Invader (probably a better choice) or its Eldrazi token with Forced Adaptation, and within a few turns it becomes a factor. Thus, this deck is not just banking on 4 Aura Gnarlids, but that is where the graveyard saver sideboard cards may come in, Salvage, Reclaim, Evolutionary Charm, and/or Wildwood Rebirth, but keep in mind that in some ways these slow the deck because they are not creatures or auras.

Creatures: 17

4 Aura Gnarlid 1 Centaur Courser

1 Copperhorn Scout 2 Doomed Traveler

2 Garruk’s Companion 1 Guardian of the Guildpact

3 Nest Invader 3 Wickerbough Elder

Enchantments: 23

2 Abundant Growth 4 Ethereal Armor

3 Forced Adaptation 4 Ghostly Possession

2 Hyena Umbra 4 Journey to Nowhere

3 Temporal Isolation 1 Utopia Vow

Land: 20

8 Forest 8 Plains

4 Selesnya Guildgate

Sideboard:

1 Evolution Charm 4 Lull

1 Reclaim 3 Salvage

1 Ulamog’s Crusher 2 Wildwood Rebirth

Saturday, April 18, 2015

CMDR Infect - Thrun, The Last Troll - Green - Final

https://mtg-craig-hamilton.blogspot.com/2019/07/complete-list-of-my-infectpoison-decks.html

The strategy for this infect EDH/Commander deck is very simple. It is to pump up creatures with the infect ability, primarily by boosting their power and/or through giving them trample, first strike, deathtouch, and/or making them unblockable. This is what several of the non-creature artifacts, enchantments, instants and sorceries do. The commander,"Thrun, the Last Troll" primarily serves as defense although it may also be given infect, or used to deal 21 Commander damage to the opponent for the win.

Commander/General: Thrun, the Last Troll

Non-Creature Artifacts: 8

Bladed Pinions Bow of Nylea Contagion Clasp

Grafted Exoskeleton Infiltration Lens Throne of Geth

Viridian Claw Whispersilk Cloak

Artifact Creatures: 7

Core Prowler Corpse Cur Ichorclaw Myr

Necropede Phyrexian Digester Phyrexian Juggernaut

Plague Myr

Non-Artifact Creatures: 14

Bellowing Tanglewurm Blight Mamba Blightwidow

Cystbearer Glistener Elf Phyrexian Hydra

Phyrexian Swarmlord Putrefax Rot Wolf

Spinebiter Tangle Angler Tel-Jilad Fallen

Viridian Betrayers Viridian Corrupter

Enchantment: 13

Aspect of Wolf Blanchwood Armor Boar Umbra

Epic Proportions Forced Adaptation Gigantiform

Oakenform Primal Frenzy Primal Rage

Savage Silhouette Spider Umbra Gaea’s Embrace

Wild Defiance

Instants and Sorceries: 21

Carrion Call Evolution Charm Giant Growth

Gleeful Sabotage Groundswell Might of Oaks

Might of Old Krosa Monstrous Growth Mutagenic Growth

Naturalize Nature’s Claim Predator’s Strike

Prey’s Vengeance Primal Bellow Sylvan Might

Tangle Titanic Growth Tread Upon

Triumph of the Hordes Vines of Vastwood Wildsize

Land: 36

34 Forest

Inkmoth Nexus

Tree of Tales