Pauper Commander - Tori D'Avenant, Fury Rider

Common Occurrences

Pauper decks are constructed a bit differently than regular EDH decks. Because of the commons-only restriction, there's a lot of card archetypes that we don't get access to. For instance, in pauper, we don't really have anything big. Like, at all.

The strongest battlecruiser creature we can play is Ulamog's Crusher, and even with annihilator 2, it's not enough to really make an impact. We also don't have access to Anthem or Overrun effects, meaning that tiny creatures often remain that way.

In general, we just don't have many win conditions in our common slots, meaning that if we want our commons to take over the board, we have to give them that power through the command zone. We have one uncommon slot to get those effects we can't find elsewhere, so we better take advantage of it. 

Commanding Presence

That's why I was extremely excited when I saw the text box of Tori D'Avenant, Fury Rider. One of the things I frequently find myself looking for when building pauper decks are anthems. All I want are enchantments that give the entire team +1/+1, but the best we have to work with is Orcish Oriflamme.

Not great. So the fact that Tori gives the entire team a boost, along with trample and psuedo-vigilance, is spectacular. I think this commander is going to create quite the strong board state. 

Red Light in my Eyes

Of course, there's a bit more to it than just a general boost for the team. Tori gives the whole team +1/+1, but divides the trample and vigilance among red and white creatures. Because our red creatures are getting trample, we need to find some big red monsters to take advantage of it.

As I mentioned before, pauper doesn't have much in the way of big creatures, but since they're getting trample and +1/+1, we can afford to take some slightly worse creatures and rely on the boost. Boarding Party is a big creature that we get a cascade bonus from, while Earth-Cult Elemental has the can be extremely strong if we get a bit lucky.

Arc Runner is a creature that felt like it was robbed of its potential due to its lack of trample. Every other "sacrifice on the end step" creature has trample, so why not that one? At least we can right that wrong here. 

But it's not simply good stats we're looking for. We have to acknowledge that we won't be able to play these big creatures early in the game, and we don't want them to be dead cards in our hand. One way we're coping with that is by playing creatures with multiple uses. Oliphaunt is the primary example, a card we can always cycle away to make sure we hit our land drop.

Spitebellows can be evoked to remove a troublesome creature if we can only pay half its cost, and Fang Dragon can go on Adventure to sweep away our opponents' smallest creatures. Still, if the big creatures can't be cycled away with their own abilities, we can always discard them to Demand Answers and other cards like that. 

White Out

Then we have the white side of Tori's ability. Essentially, she gives them vigilance, but because she triggers after the declaration of attackers, they were forced to phrase it as "Untap each white creature you control."

The one card that could theoretically take advantage of this is Oreskos Sun Guide, but that card isn't quite good enough to play, so we'll have to settle with abusing the ability as intended. The first thing I looked for was white cards with a tapping ability, and surprisingly, there's an abundance of them.

For whatever reason, Master Decoy has received close to twenty functional reprints. Is paying one mana to tap down our opponents' creatures good? No, but I think we can still take advantage of it.

Thanks to Tori, all these decoys can also attack, allowing us to both remove attackers and swarm in with the little guys. If we run enough of them, our opponents will never be able to block. 

Alternatively, we can use them to tap down attackers, saving us from big threats, and giving us the opportunity to politic heavily. I love that we can use these creatures offensively and defensively, and I'm so glad that we have a ton of them to take advantage of. One of the best ways to build pauper decks is by filling them with effective reprints. As Jesse Plotkin from EDHREC says, singleton shmingleton. 

There's a few other white cards with tap abilities worth highlighting as well. Ranger's Hawk lets us venture into the dungeon repeatedly, something that's been proven to be a powerful ability, given the bans that turbo initiative received in 60-card pauper.

Infantry Veteran's ability seems minor, but in games when victory is decided by single points of damage, being able to give an unblocked creature a +1/+1 boost will mean a lot. Esquire of the King is one of the few playable anthems in pauper, and since we're doing our best to have Tori out at all times, it should only cost three to activate that ability.

Shieldmage Advocate is an extremely interesting card, especially in multiplayer, where we can politic. We promise one opponent a removal spell back to their hand in exchange for a favor, and we get a fog on a creature? That's a good deal.

Tying it Together

That's the meat of the deck, a horde of creatures with abilities selected to take advantage of Tori's boost. It's a weird blend of odd effects, but the work together well. The last few things to add to the deck are cards to make sure these engines run smoothly. Mostly, we want to make sure that Tori stays on the board.

Whispersilk Cloak will help with that a lot, along with a few other evasion Equipment, like Cobbled Wings and Wings of Hubris, and for some emergency protection, we're running Apostle's Blessing and Gods Willing. Our deck is dependent on our commander, so we have to guarantee her safety. 

Then, we need our typical staples. Some card draw and ramp, with Unexpected Windfall, Big Score, Arcane Signet, and Commander's Sphere, will do nicely. Nothing special. Let's grab some removal too, with Abrade, Pyroblast, and Generous Gift.

Additionally, I've recently really been appreciating the utility of charms, like Thraben Charm and Hearth Charm. Having a multitool in hand is just as useful as having a multitool in your pocket when out and about. They come in handy so often. In general, having modal cards in hand is great. Your Temple Is Under Attack should go in every white deck. 

Control and Conquer

That's the whole deck, and it works better than I expected. I'll admit, I thought Tori had potential, but I didn't really expect her to make a strong deck, especially not when I was filling it with a bunch of cards that ask you to pay a mana to tap down a creature. But those creatures have an unexpected strength in politics.

The ability to hold them up to tap down attackers and blockers alike makes theme extremely strong, especially when you can use that to direct your opponents' attacker's elsewhere. Weirdly, this Boros deck initially designed to get in the red zone has become a control deck.

With a few of those creatures out, we have a ton of say in what goes where in the battlefield. Then. when our opponents have exhausted each other, we have the power on board to swing in for victory. A success I didn't see coming, but one I'm glad of!