A few days ago I talked about vanilla creatures in Magic. To continue on this vein, I wanted to build a basic deck with no synergy at all, but still structured well enough to be able to win. No tribal, no instant or sorcery caring like Delver of secret, no interactions. Simply well built.
The first thing to take into account is the mana curve of permanents. Creatures are the most important, but also artifacts and world enchantment. A mana curve, for those who don’t know, is how your deck will chain their spells in the turns of the game. You want to have as few unused mana that you can so you can get the most quality out of your resources. Mana is one very important resource and it is maximised by watching the mana cost of spells. For example, if you have 12 3 mana cost creatures, but none with 1 or 2 mana cost, you will lose the mana of your first two turns by doing nothing, thus a loss of resources. A good mana curve for intermediate aggro deck should look like this:
8-10 one mana cost permanents
8-10 two mana cost permanents
8-10 three mana cost permanents
2-5 game wining 4 mana cost permanents
The rest in support spells to be played after your creatures (so with converted mana cost of 4 or 5)
The goal of this mana curve is to be able to use all of our mana. Play a creature on turn one, on turn two, on turn three and then win the game on turn 4 or 5 with a spell to control your opponent creatures. But usually, not all mana cost have the same quality. A support creature is one with power 1 or 0. The damage will often be delivered by creatures with power of 2 or 3 for 2 mana. At three mana, the creatures have the same power, but become harder to block or interact more with the battle field. Then, the spells with higher mana cost should create card advantage an clear the path for your creatures.
8-10 one mana supporters
8-10 two mana cost attackers
8-10 three mana cost evasion
2-5 game wining 4 mana cost permanents
The rest- card advantage.
For the one mana supporters, Gideon’s lawkeeper helps remove an annoying blocker or taps a threat. Sanctuary cat is surprisingly hard to deal with without losing mana advantage or card quality. Darksteel Axe is cheap and deadly on a flyer.
At two mana, we have the bears (1C 2/2). Safehold sentry is resilient and doubles up has a defensive option. It can even trade with Mirrian crusader while on the attack. Benalish Cavalry is quite hard to block. Spined thopter and Porcelain legionnaire, although costing 3, should be played on turn two for better value of flying and first strike respectively.
At three mana, we need to be able to make room for our guys to attack. Pestermite can do as much as Gideon’s lawkeeper, but on a 2/1 flying buddy. Pretty useful to prevent an attack, untap and turn the tables by attacking yourself. On the aggressive team and benefithing from Pestermite is Neurok commando. A few hits and the card advantage should allow you to win the game. Some Voiceless spirits round thins up and don’t trade with 1/1 spirits token like Pestermite.
The support cards are ones that deal with multiple treat at the same time. Feeling of dread is about the same as a Time walk. Use it during your opponent’s turn and watch him struggle as your creatures enter the red zone. Lost in the mist is the perfect mana cost to get the most value from it in this deck. It comes down after your creatures and deals with your opponent’s bomb and removes an attacker/blocker.
Basic WU pauper deck
- Lands (24)
- Creatures
- 3 Sanctuary cat
- 2 Gideon’s lawkeeper
- 1 Porcelain legionnaire
- 1 Spined thopter
- 3 Benalish Cavalry
- 4 Safehold Sentry
- 4 Pestermite
- 2 Neurok Commando
- 3 Voiceless Spirit
- 2 Glimmerpoint stag
- Spells
- 2 Darksteel axe
- 1 Tumble magnet
- 4 Feeling of dread
- 2 Prison term
- 2 Lost in the mist
On the creative side of things 