MTG Salvation

I didn't know that Pauper EDH was a thing until a few days ago and now I've caught the bug. It looks like a ton of fun to play and even more challenging from a deck design and deckspace perspective. I chose Dimir since it definitely represents the colors that I play most frequently in Magic

This is the list that I think I'll try and build some time, especially if I can convince my brother to try out Pauper EDH.

It is a nice decklist. Still, I had a few suggestions:
Mnemonic Wall is fairly good (the wizards aint going to get through anyway and 0/4 is fine on defense).

Cadaver Imp - one mana cheaper gravedigger with evasion (you might want to run both though).

Reaping the Graves is in practice better than death denied, because it is cheaper and both generally returns a lot of creatures anyway (this is not me suggesting removing death denied - a card can be worse than another without you needing to cut it). It is likely the best common recursion card (if you are playing sufficiently many creatures and have a curve anyway) - death denied would be second.

Man-o'-war is better than Aether Adept (I think strictly in your deck against other pauper decks)

Expedition Map into Dimir Aqueduct is fairly nice and works as another target for the mage.

There are many very good tutors (especially the creature ones you can get back), but I imagine you know that.

Highway Robber is not good enough and not important for the combo (the combo is really just recursion wizard + ghostly flicker/displace with some other etb card tagged on - yes, peregrine drake makes that infinite but if wizard hadnt made that common the rest are still worth running)

Still new to the format and learning what I can. It's refreshing to make a powerful deck that's under $25.

I actually don't know all the good tutors for Dimir colors. Maybe the Dimir House Guard and Drift of Phantasms? The blatant one I'm missing is Mystical Teachings (totally forgot about it), which I'll be adding in shortly.

Good to know the feedback about Highway Robber. It's an easy cut for sure. I was just worried about whether or not I would have a high enough density of win conditions once the combo is executed.

Also, what's a decent land count for Pauper EDH? Is it around 36 lands? 38? I don't really know a whole lot about the dynamics of the format and how sequencing goes. I've seen a bunch of lists with no ramp and 36 lands.

Benjameenbear, welcome aboard!

Nightveil Predator is Ascended Lawmage's evil brother.

Something to consider is, do you want to focus on 1v1 or multiplayer, as this will make
a difference in your overall card selections over time.

Just get in some games and see what works for you and what doesn't...

*** With your present mana curve and the amount of draw your running, 36 lands is fine.
Opal palace and Bojuka Bog would be good additions to your mana base.

Good Luck!

I think I'd like to have the deck be able to do well in either format (multi-player or 1v1), with probably more of a focus on 1v1 since that will probably be the most common type of game I'd play with a Pauper EDH deck.

Bojuka Bog is a great land I forgot about. Good look.

I took a lot of inspiration from your Dinrova Horror list, TEMUJIN. It looks pretty fun to play and I like the ETB sub-theme you have in the deck. I tried to mirror it somewhat while also including a super strong commander that can tango with the other premier 4 drop fliers (Crackling Drake, Ascended Lawmage, Enigma Drake in the air if needed while also having access to a deadly machine gun effect via Viridian Longbow.

Very cool list!

Jousting Lance would make your commander pretty much unkillable in combat. 5/3 with first strike and deathtouch is really hard to beat. It would also speed up your clock significantly. I would play that over Darksteel Axe.

You definitely need Treasure Cruise in your list. I would play it over Cartouche of Knowledge. I think I would play Secrets of the Golden City over Pilfered Plans as well. Would you mill yourself?

Merchant Scroll is also a great option for you.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Darksteel Axe is fetchable via Trinket Mage, which is why I included it. I wanted to have a certain density of 1 drop artifacts so that the Mage is always useful if used more than once. The best target obviously being the Longbow.

I saw the Cartouche in a Pauper list somewhere and really liked it, but Cruise is probably better. I'll make that switch. I'm playing Pilfered Plans so that I can maximize the number of Dimir watermarks in the deck, if I'm being totally honest. I would probably mill a separate player, unless I have Cruise in hand.

Merchant Scroll is a great inclusion! I forgot that it was printed at Common when it was initially created. Good look.

Sadly, no one in my playgroup wants to give Pauper EDH a try. Either way, I'll have this decklist in my back pocket along with a secondary deck because it's a nice way to introduce EDH as a format to newer players. It'll be either a Gruul or Selesnya deck so that it plays a totally different strategy from this one.

Quote from Jivanmukta »

As a connoisseur of countermagic I cannot stand by and support the usage of Psychic Strike or Perplex.

while I agree that he can do better than Psychic Strike (dream fracture would likely be better, ecspecially in multiplayer), Perplex is a fairly good tutor in pauper.

Quote from Jivanmukta »

As a connoisseur of countermagic I cannot stand by and support the usage of Psychic Strike or Perplex.

Quote from Reaper9889 »

Quote from Jivanmukta »

As a connoisseur of countermagic I cannot stand by and support the usage of Psychic Strike or Perplex.

while I agree that he can do better than Psychic Strike (dream fracture would likely be better, ecspecially in multiplayer), Perplex is a fairly good tutor in pauper.

Oh, Drream Fracture was printed at common? Nice.

Reaper's right. Perplex is almost always going to be a tutor for Ghostly Flicker but it can be an effective Counterspell when it needs to be.

Quote from benjameenbear »

Sadly, no one in my playgroup wants to give Pauper EDH a try. Either way, I'll have this decklist in my back pocket along with a secondary deck because it's a nice way to introduce EDH as a format to newer players. It'll be either a Gruul or Selesnya deck so that it plays a totally different strategy from this one.

You can always build PDH with legendary commanders (even non-uncommon ones if you stretch a little) - see my Child of Alara in my sig or the Rona deck in this link. I am finishing assembling one of these as well.