It’s the final week of brewing. Submit your lists this week and let’s go out with a bang! Next week will wrap up the brewing portion, declaring the final winners and outlining the gauntlet portion of the event. Our good friends at Cardhoarder are sponsoring the event with 50 store credits, so there will definitely be some prizes on the line.

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 Six Winner

Light votes this week, but we had a close race.

Artificial Sweetener by Icepick23 takes the win and will move into the gauntlet portion of the challenge. Shnuffles came in a close second (Rebel Tron) with Marvin just behind (GR Tron).

Voting for Week Seven

Things are getting quiet around here. Are you guys burnt out? Are the challenges no good? I am afraid that my own innovation in defining the challenges has been lacking, but hopefully we can jump back in and get a lot of submissions this week. In the meantime, here are my top three “combo lists” for your voting pleasure.

[d title=”Elusive Helix Combo by han.s0lo”]

Engine

1 Battered Golem

4 Mirran Spy

4 Zephyr Scribe

4 Retraction Helix

4 Banishing Knack

Zero-Cost Artifacts

4 Lotus Petal

4 Spidersilk Net

Wincons

4 Elusive Spellfist

1 Golem Foundry

1 Tooth of Chiss-Goria

Utility

4 Ponder

3 Preordain

2 Trinket Mage

Land

4 Darksteel Citadel

4 Lonely Sandbar

4 Seat of the Synod

8 Island

Sideboard

4 Dispel

4 Hydroblast

3 Vapor Snag

4 Apostle’s Blessing [/d]

We got [c]Banishing Knack[/c] in Eventide, and this combo has existed since. It got a little attention when Knack was functionally reprinted as [c]Retraction Helix[/c] (I tried some lists out myself, notably with Elves), but it didn’t stick around. Han made it into the spotlight here, mainly, for his excellent use of new cards which are worth exploring in this combo, namely [c]Zephyr Scribe[/c] and [c]Elusive Spellfist[/c].

As we all know, the key to combo in Pauper is redundancy (or consistency, really, which redundancy provides) – we have redundancy here for sure. I see 9 untapper creatures, 8 “knacks”, and 6 wincons, along with some extra reach with Trinket Mage and cantrips. If anything I would be worried about missing a wincon, but then, you only need one of those.

[d title=”That Sinking Feeling by marvin02″]

Combo

4 Morselhoarder

4 Sinking Feeling

4 Hermetic Study

Ramp and Fixing

4 Wild Cantor

4 Tinder Wall

4 Manamorphose

4 Search for Tomorrow

Other Spells

4 Commune with the Gods

3 Vines of Vastwood

1 Karametra’s Favor

2 Serrated Arrows

Lands

21 Forest

1 Island

Sideboard

2 Apostle’s Blessing

2 Circle of Protection: Green

2 Circle of Protection: Red

1 Moment’s Peace

1 Pyroblast

3 Scattershot Archer

1 Vines of Vastwood

3 Wickerbough Elder [/d]

We don’t get to see [c]Morselhoarder[/c] very often, probably because he costs a whopping 6 mana. That said, this list seems fun and I love the idea of screwing over Affinity and Hexproof with infinite [c]Wickerbough Elder[/c] activations.

[d title=”UW Manifest by honkbonkington”]

Land

2 Terramorphic Expanse

2 Evolving Wilds

4 Tranquil Cove

7 Island

3 Plains

Creature

4 Ulamog’s Crusher

2 Hand of Emrakul

Instant

4 Cloudshift

4 Momentary Blink

4 Brainstorm

4 Spell Pierce

3 Daze

2 Disrupt

Sorcery

4 Soul Summons

4 Write into Being

4 Ponder

3 Preordain

Sideboard

4 Lone Missionary

3 Oblivion Ring

3 Holy Light

3 Mana Leak

2 Ivory Giant [/d]

I have enjoyed cheating in big dudes via flicker effects in the past, and this list is all in on that plan. Manifest is a new and interesting way to do this; I don’t know if it is better or worse than the morph / evoke tricks used in the past, but certainly worth exploring.

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 Eight: A Tinker’s Toolbox

Toolbox lists are always a treat, allowing you to find the right tool at the right time to get the job done. While [c]Trinket Mage[/c] and [c]Heliod’s Pilgrim[/c] are kind of the go-to toolbox enablers in Pauper, we have other options in terms of Transmute and even, to some extent, Tortured Existence (the latter being sort of a GY toolbox strategy.) I’m sure there are even other toolbox tools I’m not aware of; so you can use whatever toolbox enabler you like, but there should be at least four of them, and a sufficient number of “tools” to make the whole thing feel worthwhile.

Brew up a fun, interesting, powerful, janky, or otherwise underexplored “toolbox” list for Pauper.

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

This is a brewing contest, so creativity is paramount.

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, August 4, 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