Pauper: Hangar Scrounger and the format's new combo!

The release of March of the Machine is approaching. As presented in my Pauper review, the set features several functional reprints, as well as some potentially relevant additions to the competitive environment.

Among the common cards, Hangar Scrounger gained prominence in the community for enabling a new infinite combo in the format, alongside Seeker of Skybreak. In today's article, we're going to understand how this combo works and explore some of the ways to build a viable deck with this new iteration.

This new combo involves putting two creatures together to establish infinite looting and, from there, carve out a hand capable of ending the game. We can divide them in two categories: Enablers and Finishers.

The Enablers

The creatures above are the ones that make the combo possible.

To perform it, you need an untapped Seeker of Skybreak without summoning sickness on the battlefield, then cast Hangar Scrounger.

Hangar Scrounger's ability will target Seeker of Skybreak, giving it a +1/+1 counter and the following ability: "When this creature becomes tapped, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card".

Seeker of Skybreak taps to untap a target creature. Since it doesn't specify in its text that it needs to be another target, the elf can untap itself, and when tapped, you'll have the option to discard a card to draw a card.

This process generates an infinite looting cycle. Unlike infinite draw, the number of cards in your hand does not change, as you will always be discarding a card to draw a new one. Therefore, you need a sufficient number of cards in your hand to find the pieces that will allow you to end the game.

The Finishers

In a format without Thassa's Oracle and the like, infinite looting doesn't win games by itself. Therefore, we need spells that can end the game, while interacting with the combo.

Below are the winconditions that I consider the most viable for this infinite combo today. Most of the ideas in the examples below were based on feedback from social media such as Twitter and Reddit.

Fists of Flame + Rite of Flame

The most obvious option is Fists of Flame. And, in this case, it is advisable to include at least one copy of Rite of Flame to pay its cost with only one red mana.

Modern Horizons' combat trick seems tailor-made to play the role of a finisher in this combo, given that, in addition to guaranteeing an increase in power proportional to the number of cards you've drawn, it also grants Trample to the target creature.

However, Fists of Flame has weaknesses: it is easier to interact with removals, and the opponent may expect you to go "All-in" to respond to the attacking creature, in addition to depending on the combat phase, which can be locked out by Stonehorn Dignitary, or Moment's Peace (in the absence of Flaring Pain).

Its controller also can't just draw the entire deck and attack for lethal damage, as Fists of Flame draws a card as part of its effect's resolution. Therefore, its controller needs at least one card in their library when casting this spell.

Songs of the Damned + Haunting Misery

The second option involves discarding enough creatures to cast Songs of the Damned and Haunting Misery in a single turn, dealing lethal damage to the opponent outside the combat phase.

In this version, we would discard all our creatures with the combo, then use one black mana to cast Songs of the Damned (or Dark Ritual, if you prefer a card that works better on its own), and then, play Haunting Misery, to deal X damage to your opponent, where X is the number of creatures exiled from your graveyard with this spell.

For this combo to work, its controller needs a high number of creatures on their list. An ideal number would be around 30 or 36, given that we need to consider a Weather the Storm in response to Haunting Misery.

On the plus side, increasing the number of creatures allows running cards that easily replenish your hand, such as Lead the Stampede.

Scrapyard Salvo + Artifacts

The third combo option, while similar to the version above, focuses on discarding artifacts to feed Scrapyard Salvo for lethal damage.

Like Haunting Misery, performing the combo with this spell means additional deckbuilding concessions, where you would need to play with 20+ artifacts to compensate for its use as a finisher.

On the other hand, interactions with artifacts are very popular in Pauper, and we can generate an absurd amount of card advantage with the classic combinations of the format today, such as Chromatic Star and Deadly Dispute.

Madness

Despite requiring more steps, this combo interacts well with Madness cards, and can create an unbeatable board position if we play four Basking Rootwalla and two Goblin Bushwhackers, for a total of 24 damage in a single turn.

The problem, however, is that this version requires more steps to function and more slots in the maindeck to perform your entire combo, leaving less room for other important elements like combo protection and card advantage.

This version can be supplemented with Fiery Temper to increase the clock and/or interact with the board.

Other Options

Effects that increase a creature's power based on the number of cards in a graveyard are just degraded versions of Fists of Flame and mostly outside the traditional combo colors. So, it's not worth the effort to try to splash to black for a condition that's easier to achieve with Haunting Misery.

Confessor is not a wincondition nor does it create a state where it is impossible to lose the game. Horror of the Broken Lands and Cunning Survivor do nothing on their own and requires protecting an additional piece during the combo.

Lastly, we can use Tidewater Minion instead of Seeker of Skybreak, in an Izzet shell. However, Tidewater Minion costs five mana, and while playing blue grants more filtering and broader protections, an "Izzet Control" plan works better with Serpentine Curve than with two cards who do nothing alone.

Keeping a Full Hand

As exemplified above, the Hangar Scrounger combo isn't just about putting A and B pieces together to perform an infinite loop - you'll be trying to carve out a hand with the pieces that will win the game.

Therefore, it is necessary to have not only the combo parts, but also a minimum amount of cards based on the combo you are trying to execute. For example:

The wincondition I see as the most viable, Fists of Flame, requires two red mana to work. Assuming you use all of your mana to loop, you'll need a way to generate at least two red mana to win the game.

In that case, you need at least three cards in your hand to sift through them until you find Simian Spirit Guide, which will allow you to cast Rite of Flame, which will generate enough mana to play Fists of Flame.

The same account occurs if you follow the Haunting Misery route. But in that case, if you don't have a black mana available in play, a fourth card in your hand is recommended, as you'll need to discard as many creatures as possible to deal lethal damage.

Four cards will also be needed for Scrapyard Salvo, with at least one Rite of Flame in your graveyard, for the copy in your hand to generate three mana and pay your wincondition's costs.

Therefore, we need ways to keep a minimum number of cards in hand and/or find a way to increase that number while performing the combo.

For most versions, I think Whiteout is a decent option. This spell turns each snow land you control into an "extra card", where you can discard Whiteout again, draw a card, sacrifice the land, and return it to your hand.

In creature-focused lists, cards like Lead the Stampede are a good option for finding multiple combo pieces, while increasing the number of cards in your hand by up to five.

Despite being the cheapest, I don't recommend Winding Way for this archetype, as it will put your non-creature spells in your graveyard, and to redeem them, we would need to play Ardent Elementalist, and four mana is a very high cost for the combo turn.

Another option is to take advantage of micro-interactions to generate card advantage, or cheap card selection effects to maintain resource parity.

Deadly Dispute is a classic in this regard, with artifacts that draw cards when destroyed. Bitter Reunion interacts with the proposed list and generates some value along with Faithless Looting, while spells like Commune with Nature and Adventurous Impulse serve as pseudo-cantrips when you're searching for specific creatures.

Among the mentioned cards, I believe that Whiteout is the most viable option in most lists, since the use of snow terrain changes little in most configurations, in addition to not requiring more than one or, at most, two copies in the maindeck.

The decklists below were created based on initial impressions of the new combo's potential, and should be evaluated as starting points for refining the strategy, rather than as written in stone.

All lists with Whiteout and a snow manabase run 61 cards in the maindeck. The main reason is that Whiteout doesn't directly interact with our strategy, and the difference from 60 to 61 creates few practical changes in a list that easily discards useless resources to draw cards, and intends to go through almost the entire deck to win the game.

Hangarback Scrounger + Seeker of Skybreak + Fists of Flame

The original idea for this version was presented by Pauper Format Panel member and three-time Brazilian national champion, Alexandre Weber.

Weber admits that there are some changes needed in this version, such as the addition of Whiteout to increase the amount of cards in your hand during the combo.

This list serves as an excellent starting point, and is built by a player dedicated to Pauper, and knows the nuances and needs of a combo in the format's Metagame, such as including one-off answers for specific matchups.

My version of this list follows the same pattern, only with some modifications based on the usefulness and demands I've noticed on this strategy as I've been testing it over the past few days.

The first change is that, given the amount of interaction and speed of the format, it's almost mandatory to try to play the combo on the same turn you cast Seeker of Skybreak. So, four copies of Bitter Reunion became almost mandatory.

The second change is that, most of the time, we try to hold the game for a few turns while looking for combo pieces. Therefore, Moment's Peace was essential to play against Aggro decks in a list looking to take advantage of its Flashback.

Lastly, I'm not a fan of Apostle's Blessing in the maindeck and consider other protection spells instead. Most of the time, we have to use it to provide protection from red to Seeker of Skybreak, which makes it an illegal target for Fists of Flame.

It has its advantages in games against strategies that crowd the board with blockers, but as a protection effect, it seems counterintuitive with the wincondition.

Hangar Scrounger + Seeker of Skybreak + Haunting Misery

Haunting Misery requires plenty of creatures in the graveyard to deal lethal damage, which means you need to build your deck around them. Consequently, this makes room for Lead the Stampede and You Meet in a Tavern.

I'll admit that 13 lands is a low number, but all creatures that aren't combo pieces are mana dorks that help speed up the combo and/or find Seeker of Skybreak and Hangar Scrounger with Lead the Stampede.

In this list, we tried a hybrid between Rite of Flame with Fists of Flame and Songs of the Damned with Haunting Misery. Thus, we can attack the opponent on two different fronts, allowing for more comprehensive decisions during the match and at the end of the game.

Despite the Mono Green manabase, we have an excellent package of mana dorks that not only speed up the combo, but also interact well with each other to speed up casting Lead the Stampede and You Meet in a Tavern.

Among them, Tinder Wall seems very underrated by other players: it blocks well in the first few turns, can be tapped with Jaspera Sentinel, and even helps filter your green mana into red mana, while speeding up Hangar Scrounger.

Quirion Ranger is another noteworthy piece, and having multiple copies of it in play isn't a bad thing on the combo turn, as it allows you to return Forests you control to your hand, increasing the number of cards available during the loop.

It's important to remember if one of the key pieces or Whiteout goes to the bottom of the deck with the resolution of these spells, it will help you decide which route you should take to win the game.

Hangar Scrounger + Seeker of Skybreak + Scrapyard Salvo

In the version with artifacts, we bet on the classic Deadly Dispute interaction package. Additionally, we've supplemented the number of artifacts needed for lethal damage with our lands, opening up slots for more interactions.

This list is still an all-in version of the combo, but in it, we capitalize on the already known mechanisms of the format to search for its pieces. We also have Krark-Clan Shaman as a powerful sweeper, which also increases the number of artifacts in your graveyard.

We've also adopted a well-known package from Moggwarts, with a set of Duress to protect your combo, and Unearth, to reuse any pieces that have been destroyed or discarded.

And to threaten the combo every turn, we have Bitter Reunion and Boots of Speed, which allow for more explosive plays with Seeker of Skybreak.

For example, we can discard Hangar Scrounger with Bitter Reunion, cast Seeker of Skybreak, use Unearth to bring Hangar Scrounger from the graveyard, and sacrifice the enchantment to perform the looping.

As in the version with Haunting Misery, here we try to close the game on two different fronts.

The difference from the previous combo is that we need a copy of Rite of Flame in the graveyard to generate three mana for Scrapyard Salvo, and if our combo comes on turns where we have enough lands and/or cards in the hand to add Lotus Petal to the sum, we can cast it by other means, or even play both winconditions on the same turn

This version is less explosive than the previous ones, and some slots are very flexible and can fit other cards for more interaction, protection, or even faster turns, with Lotus Petal.

Hangar Scrounger + Seeker of Skybreak + Madness

The last version that seems to have potential is Madness.

The plan on this list is to take advantage of the looping to put four Basking Rootwalla into play, have two or three copies of Rite of Flame in your graveyard and one in your hand, and use it to cast two Goblin Bushwhackers that will each give +1/+0 and Haste to your creatures.

That done, we just need to attack with all the creatures for a total of 24 damage. In case this plan fails, or if Seeker of Skybreak is protected with Snakeskin Veil, we still have Fists of Flame to close the traditional combo.

This version doesn't differ so much from the traditional one, created by Alexandre Weber, but it makes room for an alternative line for Gruul colors, while the other versions need a third color to resort to other winconditions.

Hangar Scrounger could become March of the Machine's most impactful card for Pauper, or it will just add another fun combo that doesn't have the potential for the competitive scene.

On their own, neither it nor Seeker of Skybreak stand out in any strategy in the format today, and because they don't close the game alone, their inclusion in other archetypes requires another one, or two important slots.

Perhaps, the duo is worth a test in other more established decks, such as Elves, where Seeker of Skybreak interacts with Timberwatch Elf and Priest of Titania, but I wouldn't bet big on that possibility.

Thanks for reading!