Summary of the Pauper Gauntlet S02 round one

WARNING! This blog post contains spoilers if you have not watched all of the videos of the first round of the Pauper Gauntlet S02.

The first round of the Pauper Gauntlet has finished! The first two rounds are double elimination so a deck needs to lose both round 1 and round 2 to get eliminated. After that, it gets more serious.

But some decks lost in the first round. Actually, I was very close to the 70% win percentage I estimated. Now I want to do that again at which point only nine decks will be eliminated. That is my goal for the second round.

Basic facts

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

The above link also contains information about how you can win free prizes (including an Elspeth, Sun's Champion and two foil Shocklands).


The weekly show about the Gauntlet
I have joined The Standard Pauper Show as a host for the duration of the Pauper Gauntlet. The second half of the show will be dedicated to the Pauper Gauntlet.

Here is the third episode. This was recorded before I played the last seven decks of the Gauntlet for the first round.


These decks face the threat of elimination
After losing in the first round, these decks now will get eliminated if they lose in the second round. Without further ado, here is the list.

1landspy (lost to Elves 0-2)
Allies (lost to Slivers 0-2)
Bant Presence (lost to MUC 1-2)
Bugs & Pigs (lost to MBC 0-2)
Croca Jund (lost to MBC 0-2)

Deathtouch (lost to DelverFiend 1-2)
Dumb Green Tron (lost to Teachings 0-2)
Green Grifters (lost to Rakdos Midrange 1-2)
GruulKitty (lost to UW Tireless Tribe 1-2) (video below)
Golgari Undead Dredge (lost to Mono Blue Mill 0-2)

Infect (lost to MUC 1-2)
Mana Burn (lost to Golem Foundry 1-2)
Midnight Presence (lost to Mono Black Madness 0-2)
Mono Red Elemental Ping (lost to DelverFiend 0-2)
People of the Sun (lost to Mono Red 1-2)
Pesky Clerics (lost to Affinity 1-2)

Pox (lost to BorosKitty 0-2)
Rot Wolf Control (lost to GB Tortured Existence 1-2)
Squawks to Plowshares (lost to Azorius Mill 0-2)
Tortured Toolbox (lost to Love Train 1-2)
Turbo Fog (lost to Delver 0-2)

UB Trinket Control (lost to Delver 1-2)
White Hot Hottie (lost to Simic Infect 1-2)
Winter Zoo (lost to Tron 1-2)

For deck lists for these decks check out this link: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2014/09/the-decks-of-pauper-gauntlet.html


Feature match
As mentioned, GruulKitty lost to UW Tireless Tribe. That deck was a joy to behold. Check out the match below.




What about the rest of the decks?
77 decks entered the Gauntlet. The rest of the decks not mentioned below won the first round. That means they are already qualified for round 3. I will still play them for practice. Some of them really needs that.

Yes, that means that I won 44 matches, going 44-23 for the first round of the Pauper Gauntlet S02.

I will jump straight into round two and estimate it will take another two weeks or so to finish.

Pauper Gauntlet competitor #3 Exhume Control

The Pauper Gauntlet is coming to mtgolibrary. You can submit your Pauper brews starting August 31st right here. Please do not submit any decks yet.

Some of the deck lists of the competing decks that are pre-qualified by different means will be presented here. This is deck #3.

Earlier blog posts:

Deck #1 Illusory Tricks: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2014/06/pauper-gauntlet-competitor-1-illusory.html
Deck #2: Love Train http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2014/06/pauper-gauntlet-competitor-2-love-train.html

Today's deck was created by David Shaffer. It is called Exhume Control and is something rare in Magic: A reanimator control deck! It requires some serious skill to play properly. One big question will be if I can manage that.

The basic strategy is to survive using counterspells and removal until you can exhume an Ulamog's Crusher and win the game.

Here is the original article on the deck by David: http://mtgostrat.com/2014/02/exhume-control/

David also wrote a later article on the deck that was written a while back but published recently here: http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2014/07/exhume-and-crush-a-primer/

Exhume Control by David Shaffer

2 Agony Warp
4 Mulldrifter
4 Prohibit
1 Doom Blade
4 Preordain
3 Bojuka Bog
4 Compulsive Research
2 Serrated Arrows
2 Innocent Blood
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Ulamog's Crusher
4 Dimir Aqueduct
2 Counterspell
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Swamp
1 Nihil Spellbomb
9 Island
4 Exhume
2 Probe
1 Tragic Slip

Sideboard
1 Walker of the Grove
2 Doom Blade
1 Wail of the Nim
3 Hydroblast
1 Ulamog's Crusher
2 Duress
2 Piracy Charm
2 Evincar's Justice
1 Probe

Bonus video: My buddy Bava plays Exhume Control vs MBC

Learn more about the Pauper Gauntlet here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2014/06/the-pauper-gauntlet-is-coming-to.html

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