Welcome back to Faithless Looting, my weekly look at budget lists and budget formats.

I love collective nouns. Last weekend, at the beach, I saw a murmuration of starlings, which, if you’ve never seen one, is quite breathtaking. Other favorites include a parliament of owls, a murder of crows, and escargatoire of snails. There are lots of them.

Leeches, sadly, don’t seem to travel in packs, and have therefore never been collectively nouned. And so I like to think that this Magic card, [c]Blessing of Leeches[/c], with beautiful art by Rebecca Guay, is not just because one has been blessed but because, just maybe, a group of leeches could be called “a blessing.”

But more on all that in a bit. We have loot to give away, first!

Faithless Contest #6: Winner!

The contest last week was to find a good home for Heliod’s Pilgrim. I don’t know if we “broke” her, but there were definitely some innovative lists. I played a lot of them – four to be exact – and liked the direction each one had. I was looking at power level, at fun factor, and at how strong the Pilgrim felt in the overall game plan. Two decks had [c]Midnight Guard[/c] and [c]Presence of Gond[/c]. I played one and it did quite well, but that wasn’t the direction I really wanted to go. To me, Pilgrim wants a toolbox strategy more than a combo.

Heliod’s Curse, a Legacy (?) deck from berniematt, was very interesting, but I got a pretty bad match-up and felt like I didn’t have any outs with it, in the end.

Aught3 gave me UW Hexproof; an idea that I loved, but when my opponent played a [c]Standard Bearer[/c], I was unbelievably stymied.

It was BrocoLee’s deck that felt powerful and consistent; it acted like an aggro deck at the beginning and it had reach in the end, and my match-up was against UB Teachings, of all things, a deck that has been haunting me of late. It is for this reason that I am happy to declare BrocoLee the winner of Faithless Contest #5. Congratulations! You will receive two items, randomly selected, from my current Loot Crate stash.

Here is the winning decklist:

[d title=”Galvanic, by BrocoLee (Pauper)”]

Lands

4 Boros Guildgate

8 Plains

9 Mountain

Creatures

4 Generator Servant

4 Keldon Marauders

4 Heliod’s Pilgrim

4 Squadron Hawk

4 Kor Skyfisher

3 Whitemane Lion

Auras

1 Bloodfire Infusion

1 Bravado

2 Dragon Mantle

1 Fire Whip

3 Galvanic Arc

1 Immolation

1 Ethereal Armor

Instants

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Apostle’s Blessing

Sideboard

1 Dizzying Gaze

2 Fire Whip

2 Boros Fury-Shield

1 Mask of Law and Grace

1 Shield of Duty and Reason

2 Latulla’s Orders

1 Guardian of the Guildpact

3 Obsidian Acolyte

2 Circle of Protection: Red [/d]

And videos of each deck I played:

Thanks to everyone who submitted decks! I loved playing four lists this week and will try and keep playing as many as I can (as time allows). Here are the rules for next week, contest #7.

Faithless Contest #7: Rules

1. Let’s call this week, Artist Wars. Pick an artist and play at least three of their cards in a budget list, any format.

2. Post it in the comments below. Tell me which artist you are highlighting and which format the deck is in.

3. Submissions due before Monday, September 22.

Clarifications

Decks should be “budget”, but otherwise may be for any format and as few or as many colors as you want.

The artist’s cards should be three different cards and should feature in the main-board of the deck. You can have as many copies as you want, but you get a bonus for multiples.

I will highlight the most interesting decks in next week’s article, and may play some on video for the YouTube channel. One lucky winner will get two items, randomly selected, from my current LootCrate stash. Check out the videos at the bottom of this post to see what’s available.

Your chances of winning greatly increase if you submit a deck.

Bonus Contest!

Deluxeicoff issued a challenge on Facebook. He says:

Challenge – design a Pauper deck that uses 4x [c]Blessing of Leeches[/c] as a centerpiece … if a list stands out as truly original/inspiring, I’ll give the winner a [c]Daze[/c].



I’ll add to his prize; if he picks a winner, I’ll also give them 2x [c]Firebolt[/c]. Daze is worth over $20 in MTGO, so that’s a hefty prize!

Faithless Decks #7: Throwing Down the Gauntlet

Dan launched into the second season of the Pauper Gauntlet this week, and ended up with 70-or-so decks he will be playing. Holy &^$%, I say! You can check ALL the lists out over in this post at MTGOLibrary, and while you’re there, pick one you think might win and “claim” it in the comments. You could win fabulous prizes!

Hey, we’re all about fabulous prizes around here.

I claimed UB Teachings because I think that deck is REALLY strong right now, but the funnest thing about the Gauntlet is really getting to see all the rogue decks in action. So today I’m going to highlight a couple lists I think look fun.

[d title=”Croca JUND by sammydeluxe”]

Land

2 Evolving Wilds

4 Forest

2 Golgari Guildgate

1 Gruul Guildgate

3 Mountain

3 Rakdos Guildgate

3 Swamp

Creatures

2 Blastoderm

2 Borderland Ranger

3 Crocanura

2 Keldon Marauders

1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi

3 Putrid Leech

4 Werebear

1 Zhur-Taa Swine

Sorcery

2 Blightning

4 Chainer’s Edict

3 Edge of Autumn

2 Faithless Looting

2 Flame Slash

1 Pillar of Flame

2 Unearth

Instant

2 Burst Lightning

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Terminate

Sideboard

2 Ancient Grudge

2 Devour Flesh

3 Duress

1 Evincar’s Justice

2 Nature’s Claim

3 Pyroblast

2 Raze [/d]

Word on the street is that [c]Crocanura[/c] is the ‘Goyf of Pauper. What do you guys think?

[d title=”Thunder Trees by samo1977″]

Land

2 Barren Moor

1 Bojuka Bog

3 Evolving Wilds

4 Forest

3 Forgotten Cave

2 Haunted Fengraf

3 Mountain

2 Quicksand

2 Swamp

3 Tranquil Thicket

Creature

2 Krosan Tusker

2 Nantuko Vigilante

4 Tilling Treefolk

2 Twisted Abomination

Instant

4 Crop Rotation

2 Grim Harvest

3 Harrow

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Resounding Thunder

Sorcery

4 Firebolt

1 Flame Jab

1 Raven’s Crime

2 Swirling Sandstorm

Sideboard

3 Ancient Grudge

1 Grim Harvest

4 Pyroblast

1 Raven’s Crime

2 Serene Heart

2 Swirling Sandstorm

2 Terminate [/d]

Get a lot of land and then cycle [c]Resounding Thunder[/c] until your opponent is lying among the roots. I can get behind that strategy!

[d title=”White Hot Hottie, by jphsnake”]

Land

6 Plains

5 Mountain

1 Island

1 Swamp

1 Forest

1 Evolving Wilds

2 Boros Garrison

2 Dimir Aqueduct

4 Terramorphic Expanse

Creatures

4 Mulldrifter

3 Mournwhelk

3 Kor Skyfisher

3 Auramancer

2 Walker of the Grove

Spells

4 Angelic Renewal

3 Seal of Fire

1 Rush of Knowledge

4 Journey to Nowhere

4 Flame Slash

3 Darksteel Ingot

3 Cloudshift

Sideboard

1 Rush of Knowledge

4 Ingot Chewer

1 Kor Sanctifiers

3 Lone Missionary

4 Pyroblast

2 Faultgrinder [/d]

This was the inspiration for my final Lady of the Mountain list, part of our 24 decks of Christmas video series. Here was my list, just for kicks:

[d title=”Icy Hot Rakdos, by bava”]

Land

4 Rakdos Carnarium

10 Snow-Covered Mountain

8 Snow-Covered Swamp

Creatures

4 Faultgrinder

4 Mournwhelk

4 Goretusk Firebeast

4 Cinderhaze Wretch

4 Smokebraider

Spells

4 Skred

4 Undying Evil

4 Grinning Ignus

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Befoul

Sideboard:

4 Ingot Chewer

4 Pyroblast

2 Nihil Spellbomb

4 Martyr of Ashes [/d]

Oh wait, that’s the wrong one. So I guess I made numerous lists based off of how much I like hotties. Here is the one I was thinking of, from this video:

[d title=”White Hot Hottie, Lady of the Mountain Edition, by bava”]

Land

8 Snow-Covered Plains

8 Snow-Covered Forest

1 Snow-Covered Island

1 Snow-Covered Mountain

2 Evolving Wilds

Creatures

4 Auramancer

4 Walker of the Grove

4 Mulldrifter

4 Aven Riftwatcher

Spells

4 Angelic Renewal

4 Journey to Nowhere

4 Abundant Growth

2 Prismatic Lens

4 Cloudshift

4 Seal of Fire

2 Darksteel Ingot

Sideboard

3 Ingot Chewer

3 Faultgrinder

4 Pyroblast

3 Mournwhelk

2 Lone Missionary [/d]

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading and here are the Loot Crate videos where you can find out what sort of awesome loot is up for grabs. Sorry I keep forgetting to include them!

Until next time, keep the faith!

/bava

Loot Crates: