gb-post

	4 Cloudpost 4 Glimmerpost 8 Swamp 4 Forest 4 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Evolving Wilds 4 Expedition Map 4 Crop Rotation 4 Fierce Empath 4 Aurochs Herd 4 Ulamog's Crusher 4 Doom Blade 2 Duress 2 Echoing Decay 2 Evincar's Justice 3 Last Gasp 2 Phyrexian Rager

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A few weeks ago Cloudpost was banned from Modern. Here's what developer Erik Lauer had to say about it:

The threat of facing decks which could generate fifteen or more mana each turn starting on turn four kept a lot of different decks out of the tournament, greatly reducing the diversity. There are alternatives for people who wish to play mana-ramp decks, but they do not appear to be as crushing.

Now, that's Modern and this is Pauper. Of course there is a big difference. Mainly they have Vesuva. Combined with Cloudpost and Glimmerpost this makes "12post". Pauper just gets "8post". Another important difference is what you can cast with huge amounts of mana in each format. Despite the differences between formats Cloudpost enables a similar "crushing" in both.

Case in point: I put together a solid Pauper control deck with Twisted Abomination as my main finisher. After a few games I ran across a "g-post" deck. He got to eight mana two turns before I could get to six. This hit me all of the sudden and realized my deck couldn't compete with his. Why? Cloudpost. It is too powerful to ignore. I was especially impressed by the green version's consistency.

However, I didn't want to play g-post. Partly because it's an existing "Top Deck" and partly because it runs so much land destruction (not very casual room friendly). I decided to take what I felt was the core of the g-post deck and fill the rest with a new color. I went with black for removal and Duress.

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The manabase:

4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
8 Swamp
4 Forest
4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds

I almost decided not to build this deck because I thought the mana base was too fragile. After testing I can confirm it is fragile, but I think it's stable enough to play. Just know it's a weakness of this build. If you get a bad draw you may never see a forest. I weighted it heavier towards swamps because you need to cast the black spells early (or you die). The green spells just have to wait (I've looked at some Rotations in my hand for a while). You also need double black for Justice. The Map can be used to fetch basics in a pinch.

Find Cloudposts consistently:

4 Crop Rotation
4 Expedition Map

With four six drops and four eight drops I need to get to those Cloudposts ASAP. I like the maps because they don't require colored mana and can fetch up basic lands when I need them. Crop Rotation is brutal because it lets you bend the one land per turn rule. Two Cloudposts in a turn (at the cost of another land) can enable a Ulamog's Crusher out of nowhere.

Find "Crushers" consistently:

4 Fierce Empath
4 Aurochs Herd
4 Ulamog's Crusher

One of your eight Empaths or Aurochs starts the "Aurochs Stampede" which can begin as early as turn four causing major pain for your opponent. If your stampede doesn't kill him it will likely draw out all of his removal allowing your Crusher to clean up. The Empath also fetches up the Crusher of course.

Disrupt the opponent:

2 Duress
4 Doom Blade
2 Echoing Decay
3 Last Gasp
2 Evincar's Justice

This is where black comes in. That's a pretty serious removal package, and you'll need it since you won't be doing anything the first few turns besides fiddling with your lands. Most g-post builds run walls to provide early defense (and extra mana) but green doesn't have any good removal options. A well placed Doom Blade can eliminate a threat that a Overgrown Battlement just can't deal with. I also really like being able to play Duress.

Evincar's Justice is the one black card that benefits from the Cloudposts. Two damage sweepers are rare in Pauper and it's easy to imagine how casting one every turn can shutdown your opponent.

And this guy:

2 Phyrexian Rager

If I play black I like to include the Rager, but really his purpose is to help with aggro and provide some protection against Diabolic Edict and friends.

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I played a bunch of games in the casual room (which is becoming less and less "casual" these days). I'll spare you the full report but provide some highlights.

Game 1: Beat a g-post deck. Why? Doom Blade.

Game 3: Swing for 18 with three Aurochs.

Game 4: Lose to rg aggro. Land troubles vs aggro is likely a loss. It's worth mentioning I only had 24 lands at this point. I eventually bumped to 25.

Game 6: T5 crusher FTW.

Game 7: Lose vs Guardian of the Guildpact + Armadillo Cloak. Not much I can do about that. I could use Snakeform or Edict in the sideboard.

Game 10: I accidentally created a classic (not pauper) game. I realized this when he drops a Kargan Dragonlord. Ah well, we'll play it out. I get a clouldpost in play. Pass the turn and he Strip Mines my only forest but I sac it to Crop Rotation in response! Then I Doom Blade his leveled up Dragonlord, untap, cast a T5 crusher. He thinks a bit and concedes. Go Pauper!

Game 11: Auroch's chain starting T5. Buyback Justice 2 for 1s. Removal tears him up. He concedes after crusher.

Game 12: No lands vs aggro and lose.

Game 13: Lose vs ur-post. He's drawing a ton and burning up my Aurochs. Flame Slash cast then digged out of the graveyard and cast again... then repeated buyback Capsize. Even if I drew a crusher it would get bounced. Dying to Capsize has to be one of the most painful deaths in Magic.

Game 16: Mull a few times, keep a one land hand, and my deck refuses to yield another land. Lose.

Game 17: He mulls to 5 then quits. I hate that. As demonstrated by the previous game I play those out (I mean I could have drawn and land and potentially stabilized).

Game 19: Vs the same ur-post guy who beat me a few games ago. This time he Mystical Teachings for an early Capsize. I throw my hands in the air. How can I compete with that? Looks like another painful death to Capize... Then I topdeck Duress. Yoink. My posts come out faster than his because of the Crop Rotation and Maps. My Aurochs and Crushers beat. He concedes. I was happy to end on this one.

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I like this deck. It can win games that g-post can't, but I suspect that g-post's increased stability and consistency makes it a generally better deck. That's ok though. This is a fairly unique alternative, and there is no doubt it has some power. If you'd rather destroy creatures than lands give it a try!

Another interesting idea would be to replace all the black with white. Maybe Oblivion Ring, Journey to Nowhere, Standard Bearer, or whatever. Or even use blue instead of black and load it with counterspells.