"Pauper Kings:Silumgar's Exploiters!"

"Pauper Kings:Silumgar's Exploiters!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Ever since the PR for Dragons of Tarkir came rolling in I have been itching to make a Blue/Black Silumgar Exploit deck. And since I was able to hoard enough card pieces I can now say that this deck is a 100% reality.

I managed to miss the first FNM Standard Pauper that would have featured these as my new deck so here is hoping that there will be other FNM's that would have Standard Pauper again.

The Dragons of Tarkir introduced us to the Exploit Mechanic. Since Silumgar wiped the Sultai from the face of Tarkir and made them his own he has been as Ruthless as ever. The Sultai of old used every available resource now they are set to use even those in their clan to further their aims. Exploit is an ability that you could choose to trigger or not when a creature with Exploit comes into play. All you need to do is to sacrifice a creature and you could benefit from this exploit ability. Silumgars subjects also benefit from being sacrificed and going to the grave. Finally Exploit could also be used to fuel Delve as you can see in this deck later on.

So here it goes Silumgar's Exploiters:

4 x Dismal Backwater
8 x Island
8 x Swamp
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20 lands

The Willing:
4 x Shambling Goblin
4 x Palace Familiar
4 x Sultai Emissary
4 x Dutiful Attendant

Exploiters:
4 x Qarsi Sadist
4 x Sidisi's Faithful
2 x Silumgar Butcher
2 x Gurmag Drowner

Delving Around:
2 x Gurmag Angler

Deadly Biters:
4 x Typhoid Rats
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36 Creatures


4 x Force Away
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4 spells


Silumgar's Exploiters boasts of a massive creature army deck , divided into 4 categories.

"I am willing to die...ah...die again?"

The Willing: Creatures that are great when sacrificed. We have Festering Goblins cousin Shambling Goblin which also gives a -1/-1 when it dies.Perfect for pinging a mana dork or just getting another creature out of the battlefield. Palace Familiar that allows you to draw a card but always remember that you could attack with it first then exploit it. Sultai Emissary which allows you to manifest the top card of your card. No matter how it dies , in battle or if it gets exploited you have a 2/2 that will replace it. Another Exploit target or maybe a creature that you need at the moment. With 36 creatures in this deck chances are you would always get a creature. Last is Dutiful attendant that allows you to return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand so that you would have another creature to cast or exploit.



Exploiters:

Sidisi's Faithful bounces a big or pesky creature to an opponents hand.One of my personal favorites because it is Unsummon on a stick! Not only is it easy to cast it is also a great utility creature.I mean bouncing a big creature on your main phase and attacking with your army is pretty good right? Just a reminder Exploit creatures could sacrifice themselves to pay the cost so even if there are no other creatures around you could still use their effect.

Qarsi Sadist is just plain mean because it could be a finisher by itself. Exploit and you gain 2 life while your opponent loses 2 life. Make sure to aggressively attack and you should have no problem dealing this deadly 2 life loss for the midgame win.

"It hurts so good...."

Silumgar's Butcher is a bit expensive to cast at 5 mana so there are only 2 of him here. A creature gets a -3/-3 when you exploit with him. Don't worry if he dies. Dutiful attendants could bring him back.

Gurmag Drowner is another mana heavy creature at 4 mana but the ability to filter the top of your library is priceless in this pauper deck. 2 of them here should do the trick and they too could be brought back by Dutiful attendants when need.

"Zombie fishies...not good for snacks"

Delver:
Gurmag Angler also makes an appearance in this deck since this slimy fish could be used to great advantage when your graveyard is full of those exploited creatures dead bodies. The fish doesn't mind and neither should you. A 5/4 creature for 1 black mana is always a good trade off for exploited cards.

Deadly Biters:
Typhoid Rats is a late addition here but an effective one as it serves as a really great deterrent for people who are so eager to attack with their big creatures.

Force away is the only non-creature spell in this deck. It is quite painful for an opponent to lose a creature that they worked so hard to cast. This card gives you the benefit of returning an exploit creature so that you could use its triggered ability one more time.

So the deck plays out with early defense but plays like a weenie when it comes to damage dealing. Small incremental amounts of damage that could quickly get out of hand when your opponent is not careful on the defensive end.Big finisher Gurmag Angler is about to makes waves in Standard Pauper.(if it hasn't already) When it comes to armies this particular deck could easily provide you with one.

Always play your Exploit creatures on your main phase especially those cards that are able to neutralize other creatures.

I believe Dragonlord Silumgar will be pleased with this deck. I at least would escape the fate of being the next bling around his neck.

"Pauper Kings:Kolaghan Dash"

"Pauper Kings:Kolaghan Dash"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

One of my frequent readers Gabby asked me one night via facebook."Kuya nalalakasan ka ba sa Impact Tremors?(Do you find Impact tremors to be a strong card?)" And I said yes. I found the card so cool that I decided to make a Standard Pauper deck around it. Several actually but this one is the most basic. A Mono Red aggro deck.

Impact Tremors is a two to cast enchantment that lets you deal 1 damage to each opponent every time a creature enters the battlefield under your control. Yup this is a poor mans version of Purphoros and boy do I love it.

The first build that came to mind was a tokenator build where you would have a constant amount of tokens coming in and dealing 1 damage each without even attacking. Then again once you have cast your Dragon Fodder or Raise the Alarm you often find yourself with an empty hand and no way of triggering your Impact Tremors again. So what we need is a bunch of creatures that go back to your hand after you have cast them. If there was only a mechanic that fit the bill.

Oh wait there is a mechanic. Dash. And just look at the art of Impact Tremors why isn't that the Sprinting Warbrute himself? Not only does he deal 1 damage to each opponent the moment he comes in but he could smack someone with another 5 points of damage when he attacks.And then he goes back to your hand(assuming he is still alive at the end of your turn) and is ready for another Kolaghan Dash.

Kolaghan Dash:

20 x Mountains

4 x Impact Tremors

4 x Dragon Fodder

4 x Lightning Strike

4 x Collateral Damage

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16 spells

4 x Mardu Scout

4 x Kolaghan Aspirant

4 x Kolaghan Storm Singer

4 x Sprinting War Brute

4 x Hardened Berserker

4 x Screamreach Brawler

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24 Creatures

I wanted to create something really straightforward before I go off of all fancy with my other Standard Pauper decks so this one really just wants to you to cast Dash Creatures triggering Impact Tremors each turn and attack with said Dash Creatures.

Impact Tremors is great all by itself but when you are able to cast multiple copies on the battlefield well that is something really special. So if you are able to resolve 3 Impact Tremors you could really maximize on Dash cost per turn. For example Mardu Scout who has a Dash cost of 2 Red Mana would now be able to deal 3 damage and if in an ideal scenario where it is not blocked it deals an additional 3 damage , it being a 3/1 and all. It goes back to your hand and then you could the same cycle on your next turn. Screamreach Brawler and  Sprinting War Brute are the two other Dash creatures in this deck. 

So what happens when you don't get a single Impact Tremors in hand this whole Battle Round? Well don't you worry because this is after all a Red Sligh Deck. Kolaghan Storm Singer provides an early Haste threat followed by Kolaghan Aspirant who has a tendency to take out other small creatures when it becomes blocked. Hardened Berserker rewards you for constantly attacking by letting the next spell you cast cost less 1 colorless mana. This is hand because you never know when you need to Lightning Strike something out of Existence or when you need to have more blockers or attackers on the floor. 

Hardened Berserker is a personal favorite of mine since he could make things much easier to cast especially when you need a lot of permanents on the battlefield.

Lightning Strike and Collateral Damage are here to give you that Direct damage edge or just to sweep a weak blocker out of the way. I initially wanted a Bathe in Dragonfire in here but I ruled it out reasoning that when an opponent is able to cast a creature with 4/4 common creature on you then it is your end anyway. So I chose the two cheapest "Lightning" spells in the common slot to deal early damage so that I could secure an earlier win. 

I am looking forward to Dashing someone pretty soon. Mountains and a whole lot of Dashing. Seems like a great time to me.