by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist
Pauper Commander, also known as PDH, is a variant of the extremely popular Commander (EDH) format. Like Commander, you choose a creature to be your Commander, then play 99 cards that share a color with that creature (including the colors of casting costs required to use its abilities.) Except instead of using a Legendary Creature, you instead use an uncommon (or even common) creature as your Commander. The rest of your deck must be commons, or have been printed at common at one time or another. (For example, Doom Blade was printed at uncommon in one expansion, but has been printed at common before, so it is legal.)
Today, we look at one of the most powerful Pauper Commanders, a powerful Legacy-playable card called Baleful Strix.
Baleful Strix is a very strong creature first printed in the Planechase 2012 deck: Night of the Ninja. It was most recently re-printed in the Commander 2013 deck, Mind Seize. It’s a 1/1 flyer with deathtouch for one Black and one Blue (BU) and draws you a card when it enters. It also happens to be an artifact, which is quite relevant in the two formats that it’s mostly played in, Legacy and Commander.
As a Pauper Commander, Baleful Strix is repeatable card advantage on a stick. The deck that is typically built around it usually cares about tempo, playing many of permission spells, counterspells that still allow players to cast their spells for a cost. There is also a suite of black removal and discard cards. Here’s a fantastic list from Vitriol on Tappedout.net.
Creature (22)
1x Archaeomancer
1x Basilica Screecher
1x Cavern Harpy
1x Chittering Rats
1x Crypt Rats
1x Dimir House Guard
1x Drift of Phantasms
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1x Man-o'-War
1x Mnemonic Wall
1x Mulldrifter
1x Nightscape Familiar
1x Ninja of the Deep Hours
1x Ravenous Rats
1x Scrivener
1x Sea Gate Oracle
1x Spire Golem
1x Stinkweed Imp
1x Stormscape Familiar
1x Trinket Mage
1x Twisted Abomination
1x Ulamog's Crusher
Artifact (7)
1x Aether Spellbomb
1x Bonesplitter
1x Dimir Signet
1x Executioner's Capsule
1x Flayer Husk
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Viridian Longbow
Enchantment (2)
1x Pestilence
1x Tortured Existence
Instant (22)
1x Agony Warp
1x Capsize
1x Condescend
1x Counterspell
1x Deprive
1x Diabolic Edict
1x Echoing Truth
1x Exclude
1x Ghostly Flicker
1x Grim Harvest
1x Gush
1x Impulse
1x Last Gasp
1x Memory Lapse
1x Miscalculation
1x Muddle the Mixture
1x Mystical Teachings
1x Peel from Reality
1x Recoil
1x Repeal
1x Soul Manipulation
1x Think Twice
Sorcery (9)
1x Compulsive Research
1x Deep Analysis
1x Disturbed Burial
1x Evincar's Justice
1x Hymn to Tourach
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Ponder
1x Preordain
1x Treasure Cruise
Land (37)
1x Barren Moor
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Command Tower
1x Dimir Aqueduct
1x Dimir Guildgate
1x Dismal Backwater
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Halimar Depths
1x Haunted Fengraf
13x Island
1x Lonely Sandbar
1x Polluted Mire
1x Remote Isle
1x Seat of the Synod
9x Swamp
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Vault of Whispers
This particular list plays many “value” creatures that provide some sort of card advantage, either by netting you a card, retrieving a card from your graveyard, or forcing your opponent to discard. You could choose to play more instants and sorceries over creatures, but this list is quite balanced and allows for a wide range of plays.
Blue and Black are powerhouse colors in regular Pauper (which is a Legacy format) because of the power level of many of their commons. So it’s not really a surprise to see a Blue/Black deck that has a Commander which provides a free card along with it be potentially one of the top decks in the Pauper Commander format. Also, with each passing set, there are more cards that become eligible to be played in this deck, meaning more options to tweak your list.
How would you build a Pauper Commander deck led by Baleful Strix?
Today, we look at one of the most powerful Pauper Commanders, a powerful Legacy-playable card called Baleful Strix.
Baleful Strix is a very strong creature first printed in the Planechase 2012 deck: Night of the Ninja. It was most recently re-printed in the Commander 2013 deck, Mind Seize. It’s a 1/1 flyer with deathtouch for one Black and one Blue (BU) and draws you a card when it enters. It also happens to be an artifact, which is quite relevant in the two formats that it’s mostly played in, Legacy and Commander.
As a Pauper Commander, Baleful Strix is repeatable card advantage on a stick. The deck that is typically built around it usually cares about tempo, playing many of permission spells, counterspells that still allow players to cast their spells for a cost. There is also a suite of black removal and discard cards. Here’s a fantastic list from Vitriol on Tappedout.net.
Creature (22)
1x Archaeomancer
1x Basilica Screecher
1x Cavern Harpy
1x Chittering Rats
1x Crypt Rats
1x Dimir House Guard
1x Drift of Phantasms
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1x Man-o'-War
1x Mnemonic Wall
1x Mulldrifter
1x Nightscape Familiar
1x Ninja of the Deep Hours
1x Ravenous Rats
1x Scrivener
1x Sea Gate Oracle
1x Spire Golem
1x Stinkweed Imp
1x Stormscape Familiar
1x Trinket Mage
1x Twisted Abomination
1x Ulamog's Crusher
Artifact (7)
1x Aether Spellbomb
1x Bonesplitter
1x Dimir Signet
1x Executioner's Capsule
1x Flayer Husk
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Viridian Longbow
Enchantment (2)
1x Pestilence
1x Tortured Existence
Instant (22)
1x Agony Warp
1x Capsize
1x Condescend
1x Counterspell
1x Deprive
1x Diabolic Edict
1x Echoing Truth
1x Exclude
1x Ghostly Flicker
1x Grim Harvest
1x Gush
1x Impulse
1x Last Gasp
1x Memory Lapse
1x Miscalculation
1x Muddle the Mixture
1x Mystical Teachings
1x Peel from Reality
1x Recoil
1x Repeal
1x Soul Manipulation
1x Think Twice
Sorcery (9)
1x Compulsive Research
1x Deep Analysis
1x Disturbed Burial
1x Evincar's Justice
1x Hymn to Tourach
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Ponder
1x Preordain
1x Treasure Cruise
Land (37)
1x Barren Moor
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Command Tower
1x Dimir Aqueduct
1x Dimir Guildgate
1x Dismal Backwater
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Halimar Depths
1x Haunted Fengraf
13x Island
1x Lonely Sandbar
1x Polluted Mire
1x Remote Isle
1x Seat of the Synod
9x Swamp
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Vault of Whispers
This particular list plays many “value” creatures that provide some sort of card advantage, either by netting you a card, retrieving a card from your graveyard, or forcing your opponent to discard. You could choose to play more instants and sorceries over creatures, but this list is quite balanced and allows for a wide range of plays.
Blue and Black are powerhouse colors in regular Pauper (which is a Legacy format) because of the power level of many of their commons. So it’s not really a surprise to see a Blue/Black deck that has a Commander which provides a free card along with it be potentially one of the top decks in the Pauper Commander format. Also, with each passing set, there are more cards that become eligible to be played in this deck, meaning more options to tweak your list.
How would you build a Pauper Commander deck led by Baleful Strix?
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