[Pauper]Song Cycling (Pauper) [Revision 21]

Deck Reference:

• https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/aztec-death-whistle-songs-of-the-damned-combo/
• https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/instant-deck-tech-songs-of-the-damned-pauper

Description: My go to pauper fun deck. A graveyard based deck powered by cycling strategy that aims to win with

• Plan A: Big Songs of the Damned + Consume Spirit / Crypt Rats activation or
• Plan B: Boardwipe then hardcast Big Cycle creatures.
• Plan C: Ping with Drannith Stinger.

I know tier storm cycling deck exist but I prefer to play this version. (cough cough, lotus petal is so expensive in paper)

Gameplay

Early game is about building graveyard resources thru cycling and self-mill while presenting cheap board presence as blockers.

Cyclers

• Deadshot Minotaur: Utility against flying creatures like Faeries and Kor Skyfisher.
• Horror of the Broken Lands / Street Wraith: Good beaters for Plan B.
• Twisted Abomination: Swamp tutor which can also get Woodland Chasm. It has regenerate to support Plan B which is relevant since most of opponents removal are stack on their hands waiting for target.
• Drannith Stinger: Plan C, provides early board presence against aggro decks and attracts removal to clear Plan B.
• Ash Barrens: Synergy with Horror of the Broken Lands and Drannith Stinger

Self-Mill
This set of cards are used to fill the graveyard and also to get Gnaw to the Bone asap.

• Satyr Wayfinder: Early board presence and ensures land drop.
• Grapple with the Past: Acts as extra 4 copies of any creature card in the deck. (Gets the nod over Corpse Churn due to ability to recur lands.)

Other Card

• Shambling Ghast: Early board presence plus ramp for emergency Crypt Rats activation.

Midgame is about stabilizing our board thru small Crypt Rats activation for boardwipe and Gnaw to the Bone for life gain.

• Death Denied: Recursion, the only form of card advantage in this deck.
• Reclaim: Recursion for any card.

Endgame

• Plan A: Big Songs of the Damned + Consume Spirit / Crypt Rats activation or
• Plan B: Boardwipe then hardcast Big Cycle creatures.
• Plan C: Ping with Drannith Stinger, cast a big Death Denied and return cycling cards to hand.

Sideboard

• Faerie Macabre: Against graveyard shenanigans
• Wilt: Always board-in anticipation for Relic of Progenitus.
• Distress: For combo, cascade and control decks. (Under evaluation over Duress)
• Weather the Storm: Extra life gain for Burn. Always give respect to this archetype.
• Cast Down: Removal for big beaters like Ulamog's Crusher, a creature this big requires huge mana investment that may not come on time.
• Arms of Hadar: For aggro matchups like Boros and Stompy that has a lot of X/2 creatures.

What and When to Board Out

• Satyr Wayfinder (1~2): Don't want to self-mill the sideboarded cards.
• Deadshot Minotaur: If utility is not needed.
• Songs of the Damned (-1~2): against go wide small decks and (-4) against faeries.
• Street Wraith (-2): against burn, need to preserve life.
• Shambling Ghast (-1): if early board presence is not needed.
• Grapple with the Past (-1): if more slot is needed.

Maybeboard

One of the downside of the deck is the lack of card advantage thus this card being able to be recast from graveyard thru escape is a plus. This are finisher cards after executing Plan A.

• Fruit of Tizerus: Drains 2 life and doesn’t need for an attack like Plan B.
• Underworld Charger: Repeatable 5/5 threat to support Plan B.

Note: Both cards work from the graveyard, this is a downside as it gets the same hate from main strategy but can also be an upside because it forces opponent to pop those artifact based grave hate.

Card Consideration

Shambling Ghast vs Fume Spitter

• Former: Flexibility of having treasure that can be relevant for an early boardwipe also can kill X/2 creatures thru block.
• Latter: Able to kill X/1 creatures at will. (Spellstutter Sprite and Ardent Elementalist)

Grapple with the Past vs Corpse Churn

• Former: Able to get lands.
• Latter: Color simplicity, grapple being green requires 2 green mana source for both grapple and gnaw to the bone.

Notes

• Always have 4 Crypt Rats main when tweaking the mainboard.
• Respond / Hold priority with Crypt Rats activation with another activation to kill Undying creatures.
• Deck is unplayable if Crypt Incursion is present in the meta.
• Typical grave hate pieces:
  • Faerie Macabre (2~3)
  • Nihil Spellbomb (2)
  • Relic of Progenitus (2)
  • Bojuka Bog (1)
• Other hate piece: Prismatic Strands (4), Dawnbringer Cleric (1~2)
• Deck is also weak against discard due to lack of card advantage in the deck.