"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.