Now Updating with description
Overview: This is a pauper deck that works off the interactions between zombies and tortured existence. It's very versatile, it can switch face between an aggro deck, a control deck and a combo deck as the situation demands.
The maybe board are cards ( mostly sideboard) that get better with the inclusion of merchants and will be tested.
Would love any comments or suggestions! Theros updates at bottom of description.
Breakdown of Strategies:
Aggro side - Putrid leeches and brain gorgers head up the aggro front supported by a bunch of 2 power guys and a 5/3 regenerator. Tortured existence allows us to buy back guys that met removal or got countered. Any creature in our hand becomes the best card in our graveyard.
Control: Crypt rats, stinkweed imps, discard and removal all play vital roles in this mode. Crypt Rats and imps make it hard for decks that aim to attack for the win to do so, acting like a repeatable sweeper and spot removal respectively. Putrid leech also does a passable job on defense as it trades with almost every land bound creature that sees play in the format for the low cost of two life. Combo gets hit with the discard package (note unfortunately on MTGO Hymn to Tourach is not a common, which is in the sideboard in the paper version) but disrupting them with duress buys time for other measures to be effective-but more on this below. This mode gets much stronger out of the board.
Combo: The interaction between Tortured Existence, Gempalm Polluter, dredgers and the high count of zombies. How it works, have a few zombies and tortured existence in play and a dredger (preferably golgari brownscale) in the 'yard and Gempalm Polluter in hand --> cycle gemplam to damage the opponent, replace the cycle draw with dredging and repeat so every BBB mana available does damage equal to the number of zombies in play and resets the combo. Brownscale allows you to gain 2 life every iteration as a bonus. The whole thing being uncounterable is another bonus.
Card by Card:
Main deck (Alphabetically):Barren Moor: coming into play tapped occasionally hurts but the upside of enabling dredge and cantripping away if unneeded is worth it. Was at three but brought it down to two.
Brain Gorgers: Most often a 4/2 for 1B, or a removal spell that can be rebought. It has browbeat syndrome in that the opponent can choose the least painful option but the deck can work around it. Wanted the opponent to sac a creature? Block with gorgers and/or return an imp or rats...Needed the 4/2, well rebuy it and play it on a field with one less blocker.
Crypt Rats
- The closest thing pauper has to a wrath effect. It can be returned with tortured existence.
Diabolic Edicts and Doom Blade - Best for taking out utility guys or threats that can't profitably be handled with our creatures. Taking out 8-posts mnemonic walls and crushers usually leaves them dead in the water with no way to actually win. Affinity sees their atogs handled and so on and so forth.
Duress - Usually buys us time and protects against counters. Not always correct to play on turn one in this deck.
Evolving Wilds - Does what it does, not that exciting but necessary.
Fume Spitter
- Chops down creatures and importantly can put itself in the graveyard to get tortured existence online. Remember to assign as a blocker then sac afterwords as unless the creature its blocking has trample it will often prevent a lot of damage over the course of the game while still getting use from it. Kill unflipped delvers ASAP.
Gempalm Polluter - Combo piece. Uncounterable way to get those last few damage dealt.
Ghoulraiser
- Card advantage. This deck likes zombies in play and returning creatures from the graveyard. This does both and can recur the Nameless Inversions from the sideboard. The random part can be annoying sometimes but you can always swap the unwanted creature for the desired one with existence.
Golgari Brownscale
- Combo Piece. Great against other aggro decks and burn. Exchanging two Brownscales through a tortured existence turns every single black mana into 2 life, burn just can't keep up and i've caught the storm player going for the grapeshot kill off guard and ruining their math by gaining 2-28 life in response to the grapeshot.
Golgari Guildgate
- Yea....
Grave Scrabbler
- Card advantage when played with madness, which is 99% of the time.
Llanowar Dead - A zombie that gives us more tortured existence activations. Might reduce the number for another Brain Gorgers though.
Putrid Leech
- Awesome on offence and decent as a defender if really needed and a zombie to boot.
Slippery Karst
- See barren moor.
Stinkweed Imp - Awesome blocker that has an ability that basically reads draw 5 cards: return ~this~ to your hand when you have an active tortured existence.
Tortured Existence - the card that makes the deck work. Makes me wish there was a tutor in pauper, even something ridiculously over-costed would be worth it to find this enchantment.
Last but not least -Twisted Abomination - uncounterable ramp and a late game beater. This deck loves having extra swamps in play and creatures in the yard, this does both. Sadly landcycling doesn't interact with dredge. Krosan tusker might be okay in this slot but the extra colored mana in it's cost has proven to steep. I'll test and keep updating.
Sideboard:
Crypt Rats
- Some creature decks can't handle getting wiped mutiple times, this comes in
Diabolic Edict A concession to that hexproof aura deck that picked up popularity, usful against pro-black creatures as well
Duress For combo and decks soft to discard
Echoing Decay
For stompy and empty the warrrens storm and other similar decks
Fume Spitter
Kill that unflipped delver
Golgari Brownscale
for burn or super fast aggro whenever the life gain is relevant
Nameless Inversion Removal that can be recurred due to it's being a zombie
Nihil Spellbomb any deck looking to abuse the graveyard
Stinkweed Imp against creature decks, especially if the opponent in game one was swinging into the others
Sylvok Replica
against affinity and hexproof auras. When playing against aura save it for ones that grant trample or some form of evasion you can't otherwise handle. That 50/50 ledgewalker isn't going to do much if you have a imp in play and actively keep it from trampling.
UPDATES!
Trying some changes since Theros came out on Mtgo.Grey Merchant of Asphodel seems tailored made for this deck! It has a huge ability that can be reused if it ever finds itself in the graveyard. Not uncounterable like gempalm but it can be replayed with tortured existence. It also doesn't draw a card but the life gain could prove useful in a race.
Might tweak the sideboard ( or main possibly) to screw toward black devotion
