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

I made it a goal for myself to try and play in one Pauper Daily Event per week. I’ve missed one here or there (last week because I played Khans instead), but for the most part I’ve been able to get an event in every week, and I’ve been doing horribly! Want to know why? It’s not the decks I’m playing; even though I’m avoiding MBC and Delver, every deck I’ve played has the potential to win a DE. It’s consistency that is the problem. My consistency. To this point I have refused to become an “expert” on any given deck, especially in Pauper where I find brewing and experimenting so rewarding (and financially possible), and hate to think of being tied down to a single list. Really I just need to find a deck I like and practice, practice, practice.

I’ll probably play Khans this coming weekend instead of Pauper, so I’ve got two weeks to pick a list and practice. If you have suggestions on what list I should play, please feel free to send them my way.

I’m a pretty good Magic player, but I make a lot of mistakes because of unfamiliarity with lists and with match-ups. This last week I lost to MBC when I (maybe) could have won by playing around [c]Tendrils of Corruption[/c]. The worst part? I had just been talking about playing around Tendrils, but decided to push the extra one point of damage instead! If I have a point, it’s this: if you want to play Magic competitively, even in Pauper, you need to pick a good list, and then you need to practice, practice, practice. Despite losing, I did have a fun time playing Goblins, and I still think it could be a good deck to “go under” some of the big lists in the format right now, with a more consistent pilot.

Feel free to check out the videos:

Now let’s get on to awarding some prizes.

Faithless Contest #8: Winner!

The contest last week was to build around a wedge (or shard) in honor of Khans. I got four good entries. Archivold sent me Bant Midrange which felt somewhat underpowered in play; I really like the cycle of dudes including [c]Bant Sureblade[/c] and [c]Esper Stormblade[/c] but I’ve tried to use them before and, in the end, I don’t think they’re playable. I’d be happy for someone to prove me wrong, though. Sam sent me NecraKitty, which was, essentially, a Kitty deck crossbred with a Tortured Existence deck. It could very well be a thing, but I have to admit I don’t love playing TE decks.

So, the two decks that I really enjoyed this week were Brennon’s Cogs deck and Aught3’s Dervish list. Both lists lost in my play testing, but to some extent that was my poor play (see my notes above about practice!) and, in any case, they were fun matches and the lists felt powerful. Dervish felt so strong I got cocky, which contributed to my doom. In the end, between the two of them, I love Cogs just a little bit more. It’s an archetype I’ve played with in the past, and as one of Brennon’s ongoing pet projects, it was a really well-tuned list.

The winner this week, for his Jeskai Cogs list, is Brennon!

Congratulations, sir. You will receive two items, randomly selected, from my current Loot Crate stash.

Aught3 gets a clear runner-up spot here and is, overall, submitting awesome lists every week. I invite everyone to check them out and beat them, namely because I don’t want to keep shipping stuff to New Zealand. ;)

Here is Brennon’s winning Jeskai Cogs list:

[d title=”Jeskai Cogs (Pauper)”]

Creatures

3 Ninja of the Deep Hours

3 Aven Riftwatcher

4 Leonin Squire

3 Steamcore Weird

2 Sanctum Gargoyle

3 Mulldrifter

4 Trinket Mage

Spells

1 Bonesplitter

1 Sunbeam Spellbomb

1 Sylvok Lifestaff

1 Viridian Longbow

4 Skred

4 Momentary Blink

1 Aether Spellbomb

2 Pyrite Spellbomb

Land

9 Snow-Covered Island

1 Ancient Den

6 Snow-Covered Plains

6 Snow-Covered Mountain

1 Great Furnace

Sideboard

2 Sylvok Lifestaff

3 Porcelain Legionnaire

2 Nihil Spellbomb

4 Gitaxian Probe

1 Aven Riftwatcher

3 Apostle’s Blessing [/d]

And the video where I played against a previous FL winner, 0C-BuC!

Thanks again to everyone who submitted decks! Here are the rules for next week, contest #9. FYI coming up with contest rules is the hardest part about these articles, so if you have suggestions, pass them along.

Faithless Contest #9: Rules

1. Send me your fastest “kill” lists; any format so long as they are budget.

2. Submit it in the comments below. Don’t forget to tell me which format the list is for.

3. Submissions due before Monday, October 6.

Clarifications

Decks should be “budget”, but otherwise may be for any format.

Pauper can win on turn one, I expect the same is true in any other format. Decks will be judged on innovation, fun, power, and consistency. There are a lot of routes to go between abusive aggro and finicky combo, so I hope to see some fun and interesting lists. Most lists should probably be “able” to win before turn four.

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.

Faithless Decks #9: Brews Cruise

Last week I highlighted some of the great lists that Peyton has been sharing on this site for Legacy. This week I’d like to highlight another of our great authors, Troy Drinkard.

Drinkard has been examining deck archetypes across formats and, lately, looking at how Khans might impact the game. Here are some of my favorite lists that he’s shared in his articles.

Last week Drinkard gave us two Pauper lists utilizing recent card additions, [c]Tyrant’s Choice[/c] for Rakdos Burn, and some of the new Morph creatures from Khans for a “Morph and Shift” style fatty list. I like them both.

[d title=”Rakdos Burn, by Drinkard (Pauper)”]

Land

4 Bloodfell Caves

12 Mountain

4 Rakdos Guildgate

Creatures

3 Goblin Fireslinger

4 Spark Elemental

Other Spells

4 Bump in the Night

4 Chain Lightning

4 Curse of the Pierced Heart

3 Fireblast

4 Lava Spike

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Rift Bolt

2 Shard Volley

4 Tyrant’s Choice [/d]

[d title=”Pac Man Red Ghost by Drinkard (Pauper)”]

Land

14 Forest

6 Plains

Creatures

4 Avacyn Pilgrim

4 Aven Riftwatcher

4 Abzan Guide

4 Elvish Mystic

4 Llanowar Elves

1 Snowhorn Rider

3 Titanic Bulvox

4 Woolly Loxodon

Other Spells

4 Cloudshift

4 Otherworldly Journey

4 Turn to Mist [/d]

As for Rakdos Burn, how about a list in Modern that uses [c]Bloodchief Ascension[/c]? It seems like a surprisingly good Burn card.

[d title=”Rakdos Burn by Drinkard (Modern)”]

Land

4 Blackcleave Cliffs

4 Blood Crypt

2 Dragonskull Summit

8 Mountain

2 Sulfurous Springs

Creatures

4 Eidolon of the Great Revel

4 Goblin Guide

4 Hellspark Elemental

Other Spells

4 Bump in the Night

4 Lava Spike

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Rift Bolt

4 Searing Blaze

1 Searing Blood

3 Shard Volley

4 Skullcrack

Sideboard

4 Bloodchief Ascension

1 Dark Tutelage

3 Molten Rain

3 Rakdos Charm

2 Searing Blood

2 Shattering Spree [/d]

Moving into Legacy, we have an interesting Bargain Tendrils list that weighs in under 100tix.

[d title=”Bargain Tendrils by Drinkard (Legacy)”]

Lands

1 Phyrexian Tower

11 Swamp

Creatures

2 Ornithopter

4 Phyrexian Walker

4 Shield Sphere

Other Spells

4 Cabal Ritual

4 Cabal Therapy

4 Cruel Bargain

4 Culling the Weak

4 Dark Ritual

3 Diabolic Intent

2 Gitaxian Probe

3 Ill-Gotten Gains

3 Infernal Contract

4 Lotus Petal

3 Tendrils of Agony [/d]

In the same article he gives us a Vintage version of the list as well, so go check it out.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point you over to my new Pauper DE Breakdown series and share the only Rogue list that placed in the September 20-21 Pauper Daily Events.

[d title=”Trinket Affinity by herosaine2006 (Pauper)”]

Land

1 Dimir Guildgate

4 Evolving Wilds

4 Great Furnace

2 Island

1 Izzet Guildgate

1 Mountain

4 Seat of the Synod

1 Swamp

4 Vault of Whispers

Creatures

4 Faerie Mechanist

4 Frogmite

4 Mulldrifter

4 Myr Enforcer

3 Trinket Mage

Spells

4 Galvanic Blast

4 Thoughtcast

Artifacts

2 Bonesplitter

2 Executioner’s Capsule

4 Flayer Husk

2 Prophetic Prism

1 Sylvok Lifestaff

Sideboard

2 Executioner’s Capsule

1 Sylvok Lifestaff

4 Chainer’s Edict

1 Pyroblast

3 Smelt

4 Vault Skirge [/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.

Until next time, keep the faith!

/bava

Loot Crates: