If you're not familiar with my former articles on hexproof I have one here and the other here. Now is a great time in the current meta game to be playing hexproof. The top decks being played right now are Blue Delver, Blue Red Delver, Affinity and Tron. All of which are great matchups for hexproof because once we resolve a threat, there is very little these decks can do to interact with us. If MBC, UB Control or Turbo Fog become the most popular decks in the format it may be time to switch, but right now that is not the case. Here is my current list:

As you can see I'm running the same list as before but with just two changes in the sideboard.

Out:

1X

1x

In:

1x

1x

Now instead of running Oblivion Ring in the board I'm running Hunger of the Howlpack. I found I wasn't siding in Oblivion Ring so I wanted to make use of that slot and since so many decks try and use Electrickery as a sideboard card against us when we try and enchant our creatures, an instant speed +1/+1 counter would be decent. Other options could have been Gather Courage or Mutagenic Growth but I think the ability to also use it with a morbid and have a 4/4 hexproof creature can be another win condition. If you're not into the idea of having the counters, Gather Courage or Mutagenic Growth can accomplish the same effect of saving your creature from Electrickery but for no mana. I my make the switch to either some time, but for now I want to try out Hunger of the Howlpack.

The second change I made was taking out one Relic of Progenitus for one Lifelink. I think that Relic of Progenitus is a great sideboard card but I have played against burn decks that can often beat you before you either get to three mana to cast Armadillo Cloak or draw it, so Lifelink is the fifth copy of Armadillo Cloak for one mana against burn.

Pauper Daily From 1/31/15:

Round 1

Game one the Spell Pierce really threw me off guard but it makes sense that UR Delver Fiend would run it counter spells that kill their creatures. We were able to get my opponent down to two life and then he kills himself by casting Gitaxian Probe for life which I think was likely a mistake as opposed to an alternative concession. Game two he is able to use the Spell Pierce we knew about via Delver to counter our Ancestral Mask but we had to try and pressure him before he would be able to go off. It turns out it didn't make a difference because he was still able to go off with his Kiln Fiend and kill us the next turn. We were able to use Hunger of the Howlpack in response to an overloaded Electrickery but since he had Apostle's Blessing it didn't matter. Game three my opponents only threats were two Delvers which was not match for a Silhana Ledgewalker with two Armadillo Cloaks and Ethereal Armor.

Round 2

Game one against Delver we are able to get a turn two Aura Gnarlid that ends up doing all twenty damage. He is able to find a Snap to bounce it back to our hand but by that time he is hellbent and we can just recast it and win next turn. Game two I mulligan to avoid being blown out by Spellstutter Sprite counter our only creature. We end up with another hand with one creature but our opponent doesn't make his second land drop until turn three so we are able to resolve another Aura Gnarlid and our opponent is unable to find an answer and it wins us the game and thus match.

Round 3

Another round against Delver Fiend. In game one my only creature draw is Aura Gnarlid and I'm able to draw out a Flame Slash with a plant token paving the way for our Aura Gnarlid to do some work and by playing around burn, close out game one. Game two we are stuck on one land and two mana thanks to Utopia Sprawl but it isn't enough and our opponents Cyclopse and firebolt finish us off. Game three we keep another one land hand but are fortunate enough to draw land off the top and begin suiting up a Gladecover Scout. We never make it to three mana but our scout with two Rancors and an Ethereal Armor is enough to get us there with two cloaks and a mask stuck in our hand.

Round 4

Round 4 against MBC, one of our worst matchups as their edict effects are very effective at killing our "bullet proof" creatures. Game one we are able to get a Silhana Ledgewalker and suit it up with aura and our opponent is unable to find any of his edicts and we win. Game two our opponent is stuck on two lands but get to edict away two of our creatures. We end up playing one of our Khalni Gardens and suit up our plant token with auras hoping any targeted removal our opponents runs has been sided out and our plant token is able to get over seventeen damage in and win us the match.

Pauper Daily From 2/1/15:

Round 1

Round 1 we are up against Affinity but that is one of our best matchups. Game one our opponents gets stuck on one land but has two Springleaf Drums to help him out on mana but it isn't enough and our Ledgewalker is able to walk all over him. Game two we send most of the game on one land but thanks to two Utopia Sprawl we are able to cast our spells and our opponent isn't able to draw his sideboard cards against us and we have another Ledgewalker win.

Round 2

Against mono blue control our opponent gets two Delvers in play, flips them and counters all of our relevant auras and we lose to Delver beat down. Game two our opponents gets another two Delvers but it isn't able to counter all of our auras this time around or draw his sideboard Curfew which would have wrecked us and we end up gaining tons of life and winning. Game three we draw pretty well, we get two Scattershot Archers in play which nerfs his Delvers and we suit up a Gladecover Scout which forces our opponent to scoop.

Round 3

We play against Kimul again playing Delver Fiend again. Game one even though we take twenty damage in one attack from a Kiln Fiend and two damage from Firebolt the life we gained off of Armadillo Cloak saves us as we drop down to one. Our opponents is unable to finish the job and our Silhana Ledgewalker suits up and wins us game one. Game two we mulligan down to three and still don't even see one land. We end up drawing land and are able to keep it as competitive as possible for a mulligan to three but in the end we are unable to pull off a major upset. Game three our deck does just what it is designed to do as we draw a great mix of creatures, mana, and auras so we put a lot of auras on a hexproof creature and smash.

Round 4

So for round 4 we are up against the infamous Esper Familiar Combo deck. Game one we draw very well and our opponent can't combo off quickly so our Ledgewalker, Gnarlid and plenty of auras are able to win us the game on turn five. Game two we are not able to get out a large threat and our opponent cast foresee and tops four cards, he is then able to go off and starts Capsizeing with buyback and beats us down with damage. Game three we are able to put a large threat on the board and get out a Relic of Progenitus which keeps him from being able to recur Ghostly Flicker. We eventually pop the relic to exile our opponents Prismatic Strands add more auras to our elf and swing for the win.

Ending Thoughts

In these videos from Saturday and Sunday I went 4-0 in both. Now if every match you had a random 50% chance of winning the likelihood of going 8-0 is 0.5^8 or 0.4% chance so if that tells us one thing it is that the pilot (myself) is clearly great, but if it tells us two things the second would be that the deck is very well positioned in the current meta game. As long as MBC and UB control are making up a huge part of the meta game I see this deck as being a great choice. As you see even against our hardest matchup, MBC we were able to win and we're still about 50/50 against Delver Fiend. The deck only cost $30 and for a tier one magic deck that is pretty fantastic. On the same days as the pauper events they have vintage events with the same payout except your deck will cost you around twenty times as much. Since these events the one change I have made has been swapping out tangle for Moment's Peace as they have dropped significantly in price and the only other change I could see would be doing what Dain5 does and swap out one Ancestral Mask for another Aura Gnarlid. This would open the deck up to more spot removal like victim of night and flame slash but give us an extra body and turn one Utopia Sprawl, turn two Aura Gnarlid has shown to be very strong. If you're looking for a deck to play this weekend, I'd suggest give this a shot.