Welcome back, everyone, and thanks for making the Brewer’s Cup such a fun event so far. I’ve loved reading your submissions and watching conversations happen in the comments. How are you guys liking the event so far? Anything I should change?

By now you know the score. If you’re new here, don’t worry, I’ll go over it each week. This week’s article has two sections. First you get to vote on your favorite list from our top contenders last week. Second, you get to submit new lists around a new theme, which will be voted on next week. Here is a reminder of how this whole thing works.

The Pauper Brewer’s Cup

Here are some rules and stuff.

Every week, I will offer some kind of constraint or challenge to our readers. Submit a fun, innovative, or powerful brew built around those constraints. Your submission must be legal for Pauper in Magic Online. Guidelines are here. I will select three lists out of your submissions, and you will get to vote for that week’s winner. After 8 weeks we will have 8 innovative brews, and they will enter the gauntlet portion of the Brewer’s Cup. Whoever owns (submitted) the deck that wins this gauntlet will be endowed with fabulous riches (to be determined) and great esteem.

If any of that doesn’t make sense, ask for clarifications in the comments. The idea is that we should have fun sharing ideas and brewing, maybe discover some new, powerful decks, and in general support and promote the format we love the most, Pauper.

If at any point you have a suggestion for a theme or challenge, send those along too. I will do my best, but I am relying upon the ingenuity of you guys to make this thing really successful. I know you won’t let me down!

So, rules and stuff aside, let’s get down to business.

Week One Winner

Wow! We tallied 65 votes over the week for your favorite [c]Cavern Harpy[/c] lists.

The sure winner with 36 votes was Tomscud with his Eidolon and On list. Congratulations! Eidolon and On is now officially the first list that will go into the gauntlet portion of the Brewer’s Cup where it will have the opportunity to fight for glory and riches.

Rremedio grabbed second place with 19 votes for his Harpy Control list while Gerge brought in a solid 10 votes for his Dimir Shinobi list.

Voting for Week Two

Our constraint in week two was to include 4x of one of the following: [c]Bant Sureblade[/c] | [c]Esper Stormblade[/c] | [c]Grixis Grimblade[/c] | [c]Jund Hackblade[/c] | [c]Naya Hushblade[/c] and to only use the colors of the shard you had chosen. This challenge is quite hard because, as someone noted, the Blades all want to be in an aggro deck, but multi-colored aggro decks are an issue in Pauper due to our clunky mana bases. That said, there were some excellent submissions, and here are my three picks for you to vote on.

[d title=”Esper Blink-ifacts by brick (Pauper)”]

Creatures

4 Esper Stormblade

4 Ethercaste Knight

4 Ethersworn Shieldmage

4 Court Homunculus

4 Glassdust Hulk

2 Sanctum Gargoyle

3 Mulldrifter

Spells

4 Brainstorm

3 Mystical Teachings

3 Momentary Blink

3 Mana Leak

2 Doom Blade

Mana Makers

2 Azorius Signet

4 Evolving Wilds

4 Terramorphic Expanse

4 Plains

5 Island

1 Swamp

Sideboard

2 Vedalken Outlander

2 Diabolic Edict

2 Prismatic Strands

1 Echoing Decay

2 Holy Light

1 Grim Harvest

1 Doom Blade

1 Crypt Incursion

2 Dismantling Blow

1 Swamp [/d]

Brick took feedback from his first submission and tuned it into this list, highlighting a [c]Mystical Teachings[/c] package that can grab anything from the spell toolbox or [c]Ethersworn Shieldmage[/c]. I like the idea of grabbing Flash creatures with Teachings, and the deck looks solid overall. It also fit the shard requirement, which many lists did not. I’m willing to be flexible, but lists that follow the rules get bonus points.

[d title=”Bant Sword and Shield by heltoupee (Pauper)”]

Enchantment

2 Armadillo Cloak

2 Cho-Manno’s Blessing

1 Crystallization

2 Curse of Chains

1 Favor of the Overbeing

3 Shield of the Oversoul

1 Steel of the Godhead

Artifact

2 Fieldmist Borderpost

2 Wildfield Borderpost

Creature

4 Bant Sureblade

4 Heliod’s Pilgrim

3 Mulldrifter

4 Qasali Pridemage

2 Safehold Elite

4 Slippery Bogle

4 Steward of Valeron

Land

4 Evolving Wilds

7 Forest

1 Island

7 Plains

Sideboard

3 Dispel

2 Gleeful Sabotage

3 Prismatic Strands

1 Relic of Progenitus

3 Scattershot Archer

3 Standard Bearer [/d]

Another list that follows this rules, this time in Bant colors. Heltoupee resubmitted his list to make sure it fit the guidelines, and the result is a great looking Bant list with a solid [c]Heliod’s Pilgrim[/c] aura package. With the 4x pilgrims I feel like the SB could benefit from some situational auras, though otherwise it looks pretty balanced.

[d title=”Jund Hack and Slash by zturchan (Pauper)”]

Creatures

4 Jund Hackblade

4 Putrid Leech

4 Horned Kavu

4 Manaforge Cinder

2 Desecrator Hag

4 Blood Ogre

Spells

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Terminate

3 Riot Spikes

4 Searing Blaze

4 Chain Lightning

Mana Sources/Lands

3 Firewild Borderpost

2 Veinfire Borderpost

4 Forest

4 Swamp

7 Mountain

Sideboard

3 Ancient Grudge

3 Electrickery

3 Molten Rain

3 Duress

3 Pyroblast [/d]

There is plenty to love in this Jund list. Stick a fat, undercosted creature like Leech or Kavu, protect it with tons of removal, and swing for the fences. I can see this list doing well against creature decks, but imagine it has issues with more controlling lists.

Vote Here!

Alright, which of these three lists do you like the most? Submit your votes by the end of the week. One vote per reader, please.

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Week Three: The Chosen One

I had some good suggestions for themes in last week’s comments, and I will probably use them in the future. For now, I want to mix things up and, with an eye to not always creating clunky, multi-colored midrange lists, this week’s challenge will be sleek and streamlined.

Here are your constraints this week:

All but 4 cards in your list have to be castable with only one mana. Your 4 exceptions can have any mana cost you like.

Yep, it’s a one-drop challenge. Note that the way I have worded the rules does allow for cards like [c]Vault Skirge[/c] and [c]Rift Bolt[/c]. I am also willing to consider Convoke and Delve in your list but I have to believe that those cards are realistically only going to cost one mana when you cast them.

Submissions will be judged on power, innovation, and how well you work within the constraints.

Submit your brews and ideas

That’s it! Submit your lists in the comments below. Yes, that means other people can see your stuff and copy it or adapt it, but I do really want this to be an opportunity for us to discuss and brew together for Pauper.

Lists need to be submitted before next Tuesday, July 7, to be considered.

I will pick three submissions to highlight in next week’s article, and you guys will get to vote to decide the winner.

Our Forum Guidelines and Style Guide are available here, so you can make your decklist look like a list. Please use it.

Other thoughts, comments, or concerns? Suggestions for a weekly challenge? Leave those in the comments too!

Last but not least, if you like this challenge or any of our other content, please consider supporting us via our Patreon.

Happy brewing!

/bava