Pauper: 5 Decks with Secrets of Strixhaven

Secrets of Strixhaven is arriving, and the return to Arcavios brings some exciting new cards for Pauper that could boost existing strategies or even establish new decks around one or two additions from the set — Pest Mascot, for example, synergizes with the Eldrazi package if we have Essence Warden effects on the board, which got "doubled" with the new Bogwater Lumaret. Meanwhile, White Weenie received another efficient one-drop support with Kor Skyfisher, and Serpentine Curve and Dimir Familiars can now play with more consistent win conditions.

In this article, we present five Pauper decks with Secrets of Strixhaven, with lists based on the main inclusions from the set for the common-only format!

Dimir Familiars

Melancholic Poet triggers a life-drain effect whenever we target a creature with a spell. With its lower cost and relatively decent body, it's a great payoff for trying new variants of Dimir Familiars, taking advantage of the interaction between Ghostly Flicker and Archaeomancer to create loops that, together with Poet, result in infinite damage.

The game plan isn't that different from the Azorius version. Nightscape Familiar reduces the cost of Ghostly Flicker, and once we have Archaeomancer and two Familiars on the board, we can use Flicker on it and an Island to have infinite blink. Even with only one Familiar, we can repeat the life drain for each blue mana available, which adds up as "extra breathing room" for the following turn, where we repeat the process.

Boros Mascot

Boros Bully and/or graveyard-focused decks got a great upgrade with Pursue the Past, a direct replacement for Thrilling Discovery that also holds off the clock from Aggro decks and interacts much better with Faithless Looting to generate card advantage. Alongside it, Spirit Mascot also came out and grows as cards leave the graveyard—Flashback, Embalm, Disturb, and other costs count toward this ability.

The list above tries a bit of everything: it's a go-wide Aggro in the style of Boros Bully, using Battle Screech and cheap white creatures, combined with Sneaky Snacker—whose individual triggers increase Spirit Mascot's power—and Rally the Peasants to finish the game. Additionally, we also included the Gates package and Leonardo, Big Brother for a more "go big" line.

Jund Lifegain

Pest Mascot and Bogwater Lumaret encourage looking for Lifegain alternatives that don't go through white, and there's nothing better than multiple Eldrazi entering the battlefield and gaining life with Essence Warden to turn the new mascot into a bomb.

Eldrazi are our best route to having another alternative win condition in Writhing Chrysalis, which easily grows to five or more power in this list and becomes capable of dealing lethal damage quickly if we untap with it and cast Temur Battle Rage for ten or more damage.

Izzet Serpentine

Serpentine Curve puts up occasional results, but it has always lagged behind archetypes like Tolarian Terror variants because it lacks effective win conditions outside the "combo-kill" of its key card with Fling.

Secrets of Strixhaven brings Visionary's Dance, which, despite costing a lot to cast, has a Sleight of Hand ability on the discard, ensuring both more top-of-library filtering and fuel for Serpentine Curve in a card that works as a complementary threat. On top of that, unlike Tolarian Terror, it's found by Pieces of the Puzzle and Augur of Bolas.

White Weenie v3.0

White Weenie gained another support piece with Elite Interceptor. It may seem like a small addition, but turning a blocker and drawing a card in the same one-drop slot makes it as efficient as, or even better than, Thraben Inspector / Novice Inspector.

The "upgrade" doesn't come for free: Inspectors have the advantage of keeping a permanent on the board even if they stay in play, enabling more effective value turns alongside Kor Skyfisher or Spider-Man, Web-Slinger. On the other hand, removing blockers with a reusable one-drop makes it a much more efficient tool with the same Kor Skyfisher in the mid-game and can complicate the opponent's attack and block math.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!