MTG Salvation

I've been trying to make golgari graveyard work in pauper. Here's my list: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/28203
I decided that I wanted to go hard in that direction but I haven't playtest much with it. The big problem is that it isn't crazy powerful because the payoffs aren't like peasant or regular cube.

So we have this joke going on in my playgroup that if I ever see a centaur in a draft, I must take it. In line with this little inside joke, I decided to run with it and make a Centaurs only standard deck for gameday this Saturday. The rules are the creatures all have to be centaurs or make centaurs or have some strong flavour connection. I was wondering what everyone thought. Within the restrictions, what could I do to make this run better? Note: I am going to try to pick up 2 more Courser of Kruphix and 2 more Temple of Plenty.

Lands: 24
2x Mana Confluence
2x Temple of Plenty
4x Temple Garden
9x Forest
7x Plains

Creatures: 24
4x Swordwise Centaur
4x Call of the Conclave
2x Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage
4x Centaur Healer
2x Courser of Kruphix
2x Nessian Courser
4x Pheres-Band Warchief
2x Nylea's Disciple

Non-creature spells: 12

1x Setessan Tactics
4x Selesnya Charm
4x Banishing Light
2x Alive//Well
1x Fated intervention

Maybe Sideboard: 15

1x Blind Obedience
2x Deicide
1x Rootborn Defenses
1x Ajani's presence
1x Elixir of Immortality
2x Sundering Growth
1x Renounce the guilds
1x Rest in Peace
1x Reprisal
2x Nylea's Disciple
1x Alive//Well
1x Hunter's Prowess

My sideboard is super shaky but I'm not 100% sure how to sideboard in Standard. I know at my game shop someone always plays mill (Elixir of Immortality).

Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Ya I have two pauper cubes, the Styborski cube, which is awesome I must add, and I also made a pauper cube based on the two ravnica blocks called "ravnica united" they are both super fun, and you never worry about someone stealing your cards. Sitting down and drafting with strangers was never so care-free lol!
Always sleeve your cubes!!

Quote from magicmerl

I think that T2 Rancor'd Geist is pretty unlikely with only 2 Arbor Elves in the deck. I agree that the geist is excellet. He and thragtusk have built in wrath protection, which gives the deck a lot of resilience. I like 4 geist in the deck.

Why do you feel that you need removal (other than Selesnya Charm)?

I don't think that there's anything wrong with making your deck the best right hook it can be, and gambling that your opponent won't be able to withstand your punches.

Wow, you're right. I didn't even see that one of the dorks do nothing for that turn 2 geist + rancor run.
..darn. The biggest problem I have with the dorks is that sometimes arbor elf is basically a blank in an opening hand if I have sunpetals + plains and gavony...and pilgrim works as mana fixing as much as its there for ramping.

Maybe O-rings in the sideboard? I dunno, I usually rather more than less removal. plus only 4 removal cards is a very tight game plan. I'll have to test it out.

Quote from magicmerl

Yeah, I meant to drop the list to 22 land (I went up to 38 spells). So another 2 plains get cut.

And I like the direction that you are suggesting. I think that that's the right path for this deck to go down. I already suggested it in fact But the OP wants to keep their deck as an aggro deck, not a midrange one.

Ya Wolfir and Sigarda make it really midrange. The mana dorks are a bit extreme and I already tried a similar build and I got dork Flooded (though the gavonies really do help). Plus I think a little bit of removal is important. Maybe 2 o-rings? If we're just bashing and turning guys sideways, we're going to sometimes need to clear a path.

So maybe:



What do yous think?

I feel like Strangelroot Geist is a must in aggro, am I totally wrong? turn 2 geist with rancor is vicious no?

Rakdos is very fragile late game and usually when people sideboard against you with their x/4 s you're pretty screwed. I splashed Golgari twice and it was pretty much a lifesaver. The Golgari guildmage is insane. Won a couple of games with the intimidate ability alone.
IMO all the guilds are good, it just depends whos drafting them. If you know the set, you can build an effective deck that can contend with the archetypes.

Quote from card_wizard

Have you tried Deadly Allure? That could work better for you than Sever the Bloodline

Wow,Deadly Allure is pretty sexy in this deck. for 1 mana its a steal and the flashback makes it the nuts.

Quote from magicmerl

I don't think that you can call this an aggro deck with Collective Blessing and Armada Wurm in it.

Have you seen this thread? It's for discussion of GW midrange decks.

Ditto, what do you suggest for G/W aggro then? More human/spirit tokens? I still want to go aggro if possible. Plus like I said, the budget is a big thing.

Quote from Stormkraake

I played against a similar deck. It was easy to beat, but did much damage in the start. Just had to block smart and play removal, then take over the game.

Guess it can randomly blow out somebody with no lifegain and no early removal because of the strangleroot geists and smiters + rancor.

Thanks for nothing...

Quote from Ulquiorra9000

Nice angel, but with so few humans in your deck it can be killed kinda easily because of its 3 toughness. Lightning Bolt, Augur Spree, and Lyev Skyknight can all take it down. Might I also suggest Selesnya Charm? It can give a p/t boost and trample along with your Rancor, and it can exile big creature threats permanently (O-ring is more versatile, but it can be destroyed!) Other than that, though, I think this deck looks great!

Cool! Thanks for the positive. You may be right about the angel. Honestly I just shoved her in there because I really liked the card. Will switch her out.

What do you guys think? Anyone played with this kind of build or up against it? Any suggestions?

Note I did not include Thragtusks and Restoration Angels because the combo is out of my budget range. I have most of these cards already in my collection besides the Loxodon Smiters.

1 cmc (10)
Arbor Elf
Rancor
Avacyn's Pilgrim

2 cmc (10)
Call of the Conclave
Strangleroot Geist
Selesnya Charm

3 cmc (12)
Centaur Healer
Loxodon Smiter
Oblivion Ring

4 cmc (0)

5 cmc (0)

6 cmc (4)
Armada Wurm
Collective Blessing

The Collective blessing is very fun to play with but I know that a lot of people are weary about the 6 cost. Angelic Overseer is in there because I wanted a 5 cmc beater in the air (she is even sometimes indestructible with a Pilgrim in play). Armada Wurm = gg
There is a hole in cmc 4 but usually that turn gets sucked up by a rancor plus a 3 drop anyways.

I feel like 1 or 2 banishing strokes should be main board. And you need to find a way to get more card advantage. 1 for 1 doesn't get you far in control. I suggest Azorius Justiciar because it two for one locks down a creature. The Azorious Arrester is good but it works once and nothing interesting after that whereas the Justiciar can be dropped late game to open up room to swing with your guys. Since you are running so many enchantments you should really consider Sphere of Safety in your deck. If you even pacified 2 of their guys they have to start paying 3 for each creature to be able to attack! Think Twice is a good option for card advantage as well (and can help you miracle banishing stroke on their turn!!
If you're willing to spend money on Dungeon Geists you might as well go for Cyclonic rift instead. So with Cyclonic Rifts, Justiciar, and Think Twice this deck gets a whole lot better for maybe 2$ more investment. As well Hover Barrier locks the game down real nice. It forces them to use their removal or the game gets slowed down (with just enough time for you to lock down completely with the Sphere and then you can rock a Cyclonic rift to blow up their side of the board! Also add some Cloudshift to bounce your Justiciar and get a full board open!!
Archon of the Triumvirate is like 1.50$ and can beat the generations out of your opponent so I think its an auto-include on this one.

So a quick look:




Something like this but 5 minutes of working it probably itsn't enough. But I think this could work nicely. I would even up the cyclonic rifts to more.

Hope this helps. I think I might build a budget one myself.

Quote from jethrologan

what ive found is decks like this lose to fast flyers. but thats also a good strategy for you

intangible virtue + lingering souls x flashback = turn 5 win (sometimes)

Honestly I haven't played up against flyers yet, you may be right. At the moment however Splashing another color screws up my consistency especially when I'm running charms, call of the conclaves and Champion of lambholts. Also consider that the 5 turn win is really rare. Plus I will have to invest in at least two Overgrown tomb or be really lucky on mana. Also playing against fast flyers is U/W right? They may be packing either Terminus or Supreme verdict or more likely Detention Sphere (which schools all my spirit tokens in one swipe)!

Ok so I went to an FNM and I went 2-2 with some changes, here is the decklist I used.




So there it is. Obviously I was hoping for a bit better than a 2-2 at the FNM.
I felt like I was always drawing blank hands. I think my Mulligan rate was 80%!! So I don't know what to do here.

I was able to trade for a couple of cards and beef up the line-up but it still seems weak.

So from original posting:
-1 Arbor Elf
-2 Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage
-1 Grove of the Guardian
-1 Selesnya Guildgate

+1 Armada Wurm
+1 Intangible Virtue
+1 Temple Garden
+1 Sunpetal Grove
+1 Gavony Township

Anyone have any more insight on additional changes? Keep in mind that I don't have a bunch of cash to lay out on this deck, so maybe budget changes?

This deck looks like fun, How does it hold up against the meta? I guess zombies, humans, control?


Thanks for posting this Hope you do well in the challenge! Good luck.

The dualcast thing is not super reliable, i have a deck built around it as well. A good addition might be increasing vengeance. Also, i think invisible stalker is great because they can't easily 2 for 1 you when you enchant it with dualcast. The weird is awesome and it took me a while to realise that it is 2 counters for each spell. Great in a control matchup...maybe

Ok so, so far it looks like i'm taking out the grove of the guardian for gavony township, taking out the guildmages for either a lingering souls splash, or strangleroot geist. Also, if armada wurm works out I will like to put 2 in there. The deck doesn't seem to be getting any major rehauls which is good. I'm still open to options from more knowledgable players!