Pauper Commander - Soulherder

The Best Pauper Commanders

On this series, I mostly try to build decks around commanders that are less played, even within the Pauper EDH format. But pEDH, like any format, has its own meta, with some very strong builds that I haven't highlighted at all. There are quite a few interesting decks at the head of Pauper, and  the format is filled with variety.

You've got spellslinger decks, land decks, combo decks, and even a pirate kindred deck. There's everything from an initiative deck to a single power creatures deck heading up common-only-commander.

Honestly, this format has one of the most diverse metas I've seen across Magic: The Gathering, and it means I don't need to dig as deep as I have been to highlight some really cool decks. 

So let's start with arguably the strongest commander of the format, Soulherder. Even in EDH, I fear this card when I see it hit the table. Providing a blink every turn is just incredible value, which increases every time a better target is played.

What are you supposed to do when you're opponent is drawing two extra cards every turn with a Mulldrifter? Then, in addition to the value it provides, it also grows incredibly fast. It may seem like it only gets one counter a turn, but in reality, blink decks can cause Soulherder to trigger three or four times every turn cycle. Soulherder is kill-on-sight, and thanks to the rules of pEDH, we get to run it in our command zone!

Blink and You'll Miss Me!

Soulherder does a pretty decent job of blinking cards on its own, but there can always be more, and its first ability incentivizes us to blink as many creatures as we can anyways, so we're gonna be running every blink spell we can in addition to our commander. There's nothing unusual here, just the best common flickers we can find. Displace and Ghostly Flicker are probably our top cards, letting us blink two creatures for one spell, but after that, the rate we're looking for is two mana per blink.

Plenty of cards fulfill that criteria, from Flicker of Fate, to Justiciar's Portal, to Turn to Mist. Even better than that, Cloudshift gives a blink for one mana, while Ephemerate gives us two! At no point are we going to have trouble blinking our creatures. 

We shouldn't have any trouble, but there are still a few more ways to maximize our blinkage. By running Archaeomancer, we can use Soulherder's blink to return our blink spells and use those over and over again. Plus, if we use an instant or sorcery that flickers twice, we essentially get to blink any creature as many times as we can pay for that spell.

There's a load of Archaeomancer-like creatures that we can run, like Mnemonic Wall, Salvager of Secrets, and Shipwreck Dowser. This engine has a ton of potential in the deck, and setting it up should definitely be a priority. 

There and Back Again

But what other things can we blink? Obviously, we're gonna have Mulldrifter, the #1 blink target of all time. Its little cousins, Sea Gate Oracle, Faerie Seer, and Augur of Bolas, are also necessary. Card advantage is critical in a deck like this that wants to constantly be running its engine. If we run out of things to do, it's game over, so even though blinking Faerie Seer for just a scry 2 seems inconsequential, it's so much better than nothing. 

Then, we have the iconic Peregrine Drake. Blinking this card is nuts, because it's a free five mana. The fact that this card was ever printed amazes me, but here it is, and, even more surprising, it's a common! For the most part, it's just going to be a ramp piece in this deck, but I wouldn't be surprised if it creates a few infinite combos. 

Then we have the big, juicy, blink targets. When building blink decks, I feel like people often forget that they only have to pay mana once. Why in the world would I run Thraben Inspector? Blinking it nets me almost no value, and often, the blink spells cost more than just playing it.

If I play a six-drop and then blink it for just two mana, I'm gaining significantly more value, especially if that six-drop has a strong ETB, so instead of a bunch of tiny value creatures, we're going to be running the biggest, coolest things we can find. 

How about an Ivory Giant? Tapping down our opponents' creatures whenever we feel like it? Yes, please. Ooh, what if we continuously steal the initiative with Goliath Paladin? Maybe we turn all our opponents' lands into Islands with Floodchaser. Or we can just blink Dwarven Lightsmith repeatedly and, y'know, win the game. There's no space for little value creatures in this deck. We're going big, or going home. 

Eagles of the North is another way to buff our team that we can also plainscycle when we can't cast it. Sensor Splicer can make an absolute army on its own and give it vigilance. Additionally, Aethersnipe is just an effective removal piece. With blink decks, I think bigger is better, even if it means the deck takes a little more time to get rolling. 

Bits and Pieces

Like any deck, we need removal and ramp to make our gameplan function. Nothing complicated, just the typical white and blue removal package, Unsummon, Journey to Nowhere, Stroke of Midnight, Ravenform, etc., along with some mana rocks. We're going to be running a few more mana rocks than usual to compensate for the rather high average mana value of this deck. Fellwar Stone, Decanter of Endless Water, and Mind Stone all find their way into the deck, alongside the automatic inclusions of Arcane and Azorius Signet. 

That's it! This is your tutorial for building a blink deck, both in Pauper, and in EDH. If you take one thing away from this article it should be to please, for the love of Heliod, stop running Thraben Inspector if you have to use a targeted blink spell on it. One Clue is not good enough!

Anyways, what part of the pEDH meta should I examine next? A combo deck? The deck that runs nothing but one-mana creatures with deathtouch? Let me know!