The COFFEE model for playing Familiars in Pauper

Familiars is perhaps the strongest and perhaps the most complicated deck in Pauper. I know I have struggled when playing it. I asked for help about how to think when playing the deck and got this fantastic guide from Riccardo Morigi. So enough about me - lets listen to Riccardo!

He did not build the deck. The original decklist is by "sparow". However, that is not the point. The interesting thing is the play advice that Riccardo has provided in this text.


The deck list by sparow

3 Azorius Chancery
3 Dimir Aqueduct
2 Evolving Wilds
7 Island
2 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Cloud of FAeries
2 Mnemonic Wall
4 Mulldrifter
3 Nightscape Familiar
2 Sage's Row Denizen
4 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Sunscape Familiar
4 Compulsive Research
2 Deep Analysis
1 Foresee
3 Ghostly Flicker
3 Preordain
3 Snap

Sideboard
1 Capsize
2 Dispel
3 Hydroblast
3 Lone Missionary
2 Prismatic Strands
1 Reaping the Graves
1 Serrated Arrows
2 Stonehorn Dignitary

The COFFEE model by Riccardo Morigi

So, I think famliars can be quite confusing to play right. I'll try to do my best
to unrevel it's secrets. Here are some tips for playing the deck!

- Let's start with coffee!!... What??! :|  Yes. Coffee. Listen, this is a very hard deck
  to play and every little trick that you can use to remember things better is welcome in
  my opinion. So, consider this: familiars, karoo lands and denizens have a role in 
  common in the deck, they count for 1 mana during the combo. Each of those cards which is 
  on the battlefield while you're comboing out, make you need 1 less mana (yes, also the 
  denizen! Because when you don't have it you need 1 more mana to get infinite mana instead
  of milling!!). Knowing this may help you quite a bit as you'll see soon. Because these cards, 
  even though they look quite different on the surface, do the same exact thing for the 
  combo, we may want to call them with the same name... Well, I came up with some ideas 
  like Mana Reducers... Mana Cheaters... Combo-Mana-Uber-Pizza-Blast Enablers.. I was not
  getting very far with it. ^^ So! Don't wanna bore you: you like coffee, 
  those cards wake the combo up = Let's name them COFFEE! Those will be the COFFEE cards
  and every time I'll refer to a COFFEE later you know i mean a familiar, a karoo land, or a 
  denizen. Easy, right? Ok. Let's move on. :) (You really thoght i was suggesting you to
  drink more coffee than you already do??!! :D :D)

- Things get a bit more complicated now, but not by much. ^^ These COFFEES have a quantity limit.
  More than 1 denizen is useless (quite obvious), more than 2 karoos is useless (you'll never untap more than
  2 at a time), and more than 4 familiars
  is, well, you'll not have more than 4 familiars that often (mnemonic wall has 4 colorlessin the cost,
  nothing has more).

  So this are the COFFEE limits:
  Familiars -> 4
  Karoos -> 2
  Denizen -> 1 
  This is JUST IN RELATION TO THE COMBOS, of course you can use more denizens or familiars to attack,
  block or whatever. Now, let's begin to use this COFFEE!

- First, always keep an eye out for the main combo of the deck: WALL + FAERIES + FLICKER.
  This can mill them with the denizen or give you infinite mana without it.
  This combo needs 2 COFFEES (remember the limits, no more than 1 denizen! of course.. ^^). What's 2 COFFEES?
  As I said before, it could be 2 familiars, or 1 familiars and 1 karoo land, or 1 karoo land and 1 denizen...
  Just 2 COFFEES! In any combination you can come up with, as long as you respect their limits.
  This is also the reason you should try to aim for two COFFEES soon: you need them for the main 
  combo. More can help you, but 2 is essential if you want to get this main combo going. 

- Other combo is WALL + SNAP, but for this you'll need not 2 but 5 COFFEES!! :O (Yea, that's quite
  the sleeper combo!..) This is more limited cause it cannot give you infinite blue mana, just W or B, so you use
  it mostly for milling. You just snap the wall and wall the snap.
  Big combo: 5 COFFEES. Less than 5 and you don't get anything, just waste your mana. (Again, remember the limits: it
  doesn't work with 5 familiars!).

- Last important combo is WALL + FLICKER + ISLAND. This works like the one before, but you flicker a wall + an island.
  Here you need 3 COFFEES. But as you may know, 3 is a magic number; this means... EXCEPTION! Yes, this combo does
  not work with every kind of COFFEE card but it's fixed: 
  you need WALL + FLICKER + ISLAND + 2 FAMILIARS + DENIZEN (3 COFFEES). So the 3 COFFEES combo is quite special but
  it won't come up as often as the others.

- What are you gonna do with that not-actually-infinite-because-magic-rules-don't-allow-you-to-name-infinite-
  as-a-number mana?? Well, looking at what you can work with should give you the answer.
  
  Here's a couple of things:

  * With a MULLDRIFTER or SEA GATE ORACLE you can draw your deck, flickering wall + that creature and
    win from there.
  * With double WALL you can abuse a draw spell in the yard flickering those walls and again draw your
    deck for the win.
  * Use all the draw spells in your hand. This is the reason you should check if you have an infinite combo
    before playing a spell. COFFEES are useful for checking this fast: if you have less than 5, no snap combo;
    if less than 2, no combo at all; etc.. no need to search further.
  * Bounce all their board with CAPSIZE post sideboard.
  * Regenerate black familiar infinite times against crypt rats, i guess...
  * Flicker WALL + LONE MISSIONARY post sideboard for infinite life.
  * Paper combo time!! See below.
  * Conquer the world
  * Other things??... :|


- Alright. To sum things up a bit:
  
  COFFEES -> Familiars, karoo lands, sage's row denizen.

  COMBOS:
  
  WALL + FAERIES + FLICKER <--> 2 COFFEES (mill or mana)
  WALL + SNAP <--> 5 COFFEES (mill or non blue mana)
  WALL + FLICKER + ISLAND <--> 3 COFFEES (magic number: 2 familiars, 1 denizen. mill)

  It goes both ways. You can see that you have 2 COFFEES and check if you have the combo pieces; or you can
  recognize that you have, let's say, the wall-snap combo, so you can count the COFFEES and see if you can get to 5.
  It's just that. Plain and simple.


General tips on playing the deck

- Check all the cards you have in hand/on board every turn (time permitting), cause you may 
  have the combo and not know it.

- Think with COFFEE!! That helps me at least ^^. COFFEE is the fuel for the combo. Separate COFEE from
  the other cards in your mind and the deck will become clear (stop thinking that denizen is a combo piece,
  it's a COFFEE!! You don't need it for the combo!). 
  Rite of Flame and Seething Song are the COFEE of Dragonstorm; lands and Tribe Elders
  are the COFFEE for Scapeshift; and... well, everything is COFFEE for Tendrils of Agony. -.- 
  That's what i mean with COFFEE, what you need in a certain quantity to get the combo online and is not actually part
  of the killing engine. 
  
- If you just look for the number of COFFEES instead of calculating the mana you need every time, 
  you may gain some precious seconds. :)

- COFFEE check may help you deciding if you wanna keep or mulligan a hand.

- Wall is the central piece of all the combos, but don't forget other nice interactions! FLICKER + MULLDRIFTER
  for value is good. Using flicker or snap outside of a combo is alright. FLICKER can be used on two lands with two
  non-denizen COFFEES out to gain 1 mana. Flicker their attackers/your blockers. SNAP + FAERIES = Big Mana!

- Think well about what to retrieve from graveyard or what to flicker. There may be better targets!

- Flickers and snaps protect your creatures. Flicker can also foil land destruction! (just take care when karoos
  are involved)

- Time is not your friend! Eheh.. you know it, right? :) As you are inside the combo, do it as fast as you can.
  Concede if you need to.

- Don't forget the beatdown plan!! :O  This deck draws like crazy and can create an army in no time!

- Black familiars regenerate. (seriously.. who need this tip??!.. sorry, I'm out of ideas! ^^)

- The deck is quite powerful so don't panic!

- First couple of turns are the deck's weakness.

- Familiars are not just COFFEES for the combo but they ramp you too. Cast them turn 2 if it'll make you develop faster.

- You can play a karoo COFEE the turn you combo out, no need to play that before if you have other COFFEES (but this
  COFEE can't be killed as easily as the others).

- Against blue control decks you may try to sneak a familiar early on and keep everything in your hand for the turn
  you want to combo, to force through those counterspells.

- REAPING THE GRAVES is amazing against control. When you see blue untapped remember to target the important
  creatures more than once or they may counter the only copy you wanted to resolve.

- You can sideboard out the denizens for the stonehorn dignitaries against decks without much removal and flying,
  this way you can flicker WALL + DIGNITARY each turn to keep them off the combat step and kill them with
  drifters and faeries.

- Forget the COFEE thing if it's confusing for you! I just thoght explaining it in a different way could make it 
  easier to understand, and that's how i use to think about it while playing. :)

- Here's a thing you may not care about, but who knows. Did you know you can combo-mill them without a denizen?! :O
  Yes. You see, i don't play online, just paper. In paper familiars you don't usually have the denizen in the deck!
  There's a problem though: this combo needs probably too much time online to be of any use, but in paper pauper you 
  can just say you have the combo and you win. What you have to do is get one of the infinite mana combos above, then you
  draw your deck to find the second wall and you use the flicker on 2 walls to retrieve COMPULSIVE RESEARCH or DEEP ALAYSIS
  to make them draw their deck. I don't know if you can do it online. But now you know it.

- I stopped drinking coffee when i begun with green tea, you may give it a shot.. :|

- Forgive my bad english.

- Enjoy the deck.

Sideboard Plan
Affinity:
- 2 mulldrifter, 1 deep analysis.
+ 3 hydroblast.

Azorius Kitty:
no sideboard

Boros Kitty:
- 3 snap, 3 preordain, 1 sage's row denizen.
+ 2 dispel, 3 hydroblast, 1 reaping the graves, 1 capsize.

Burn:
- 3 seagate oracle, 3 snap, 2 deep analysis.
+ 3 lone missionary, 2 prismatic strands, 3 hydroblast.

Delver:
- 3 preordain, 2 sea gate oracle, 1 snap, 1 nightscape familiar.
+ 1 serrated arrow, 3 lone missionary, 1 reaping the graves, 2 dispel.
snap or flicker flipped delvers may help getting to the late game.

Delver Fiend:
- 4 mulldrifter, 1 sea gate oracle, 1 nightscape familiar, 1 sage's row denizen.
+ 3 hydroblast, 2 prismatic strands, 2 stonehorn dignitary.

Elves:
- 1 mulldrifter, 1 nightscape familiar, 2 preordain.
+ 2 prismatic strands, 2 stonehorn dignitary.

Familiars:
- 1 sea gate oracle
+ 1 capsize
capsize his karoos and snap his familiars. combo as fast as you can (see evoke mulldrifters)

Goblins:
- 2 deep analysis, 3 preordain, 1 foresee, 2 snap.
+ 3 lone missionary, 2 prismatic strands, 3 hydroblast.

Infect:
- 2 mulldrifter, 2 preordain, 1 sage's row denizen.
+ 2 prismatic strands, 2 stonehorn dignitary, 1 serrated arrows.

Izzet Control:
- 3 snap, 3 preordain, 1 sea gate oracle.
+ 2 dispel, 3 hydroblast, 1 capsize, 1 reaping the graves.

Hexproof:
- 3 snap, 1 sage's row denizen.
+ 2 prismatic strands, 2 stonehorn dignitary.

MBC:
- 2 snap, 3 preordain.
+ 1 reaping the graves, 1 capsize, 3 lone missionary.

MUC:
- 2 snap, 2 preordain.
+ 1 capsize, 2 dispel, 1 reaping the graves.

Stompy:
- 2 deep analysis, 3 preordain, 2 sage's row denizen.
+ 3 lone missionary, 2 prismatic strands, 2 stonehorn dignitary.

Teachings:
- 2 snap, 2 preordain.
+ 1 capsize, 2 dispel, 1 reaping the graves.

Tron (with red):
- 3 sea gate oracle, 1 snap.
+ 3 hydroblast, 1 reaping the graves.

White tokens:
- 2 deep analysis, 1 snap, 1 sea gate oracle.
+ 2 prismatic strands, 2 stonehorn dignitary.

The Pauper Gauntlet

What is the Pauper Gauntlet? 
http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-pauper-gauntlet.html

Full list of the 77 Pauper Gauntlet decks for the second season: 

http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2014/09/the-decks-of-pauper-gauntlet.html