"Rise of the Auras: Aura All Stars Pauper 2013"

"Rise of the Auras: Aura All Stars Pauper 2013"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

As a magic player I seldom make 3 colored decks and for good reason....I just can't get the correct mix of mana. Now the whole point of this deck is to showcase the best of the Common Auras from the Theros Block. I have always been a big fan of Auras even if I get beaten down a lot because of them. The time has come for the Aura's to take center stage. Here is the Doran colored deck list that I came up with.

4 X Selesnyan Guildgate 

4 X Orzhov Guildgate 

2 X Golgari Guildgate 

4 X Plains

5 X Swamp

3 X Forest

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22 Lands

4 X Hopeful Eidolon  

4 X Leafcrown Dryad 

4 X Baleful Eidolon 

4 X Observant Alseid 

4 X Auramancer 

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20 Creatures

4 X Ethereal Armor 

4 X Scourge Mark

3 X Commune with the Gods 

4 X Devour Flesh 

3 X Pacifism

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18 Spells

Sideboard:
4 X Celestial Flare
3 X Gods Willing
4 X Dark Favor
1 X Pacifism
3 X Shrivel

Now right off the bat the mana seems like a problem because of the massive amount of tap lands in the deck. Imagine getting 4 guildgates in your opening hand. I hope it does not happen when I play test this deck.

Now that I got the negatives out of the way this deck is really an Aura assault deck. 20 Aura Creatures with Bestow are in full display.  And yes this is a tricolored Ethereal Armor deck.Everything in it was meant to boost the 1 mana costing enchantment. Can you imagine how quickly these creatures can grow? The word you are looking for here is fast. Really fast. 

And damage dealing? Let us just say huge. If all of the creatures attached to let us say the Auramancer it would be a 7/7 Lifelink , Deathtouch , Vigilant creature with Reach! A single Ethereal Armor added to the mix  would mean it becomes a 12/12  First Striking , Lifelink , Deathtouch  , Vigilant creature with Reach!

Normally though this kind of thing would not be possible since opponents die at an earlier stage of the game. A single 5/5 creature is hard enough to deal with. And at 20 life points it is a matter of just 4 unopposed swings!

I chose Scourge Mark over Dark favor in this deck because I needed more card drawing. Commune with the Gods is also needed here or as liked to call it the better version of Commune with nature , with all the creatures and enchantments here this spell will help you in gaining access to what you need. 

Auramancer rounds up the gang because it is enchantment or creature recursion. It can even be an attacker like I pictured in the previous paragraphs.

Ethereal is still the king of the hill in Standard Pauper would this version lenghten its undisputed popularity? Only time will tell.