Pauper: Glitter Bogles - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

GW Auras (or Bogles) hardly disappears from Pauper, but, at the same time, it often struggles and loses to itself. Bogles basically works like a combo deck: you need to set up specific pieces to reach inevitability, but it also has Aggro elements. With your creatures, you'll also win through combat.

But why combo? This deck can be considered an aggro deck, but, if we analyze its list itself, we'll see there are a few cards that are essential for our strategy. Without them, we'll struggle a lot more to win. However, if you have these key cards at the right time, you'll certainly win most matches, in most situations!

I used the list above at Magic Online's Pauper League recently and performed really well - I even got a 5-0. The plan is simple: put many powerful auras on a creature with hexproof. It will eventually become a giant unit and deal lethal damage to your opponent.

To do this, we have a lot of redundancy, ways to draw our auras, and the creatures that will be the main pieces of our combo, which all have hexproof except for Spirited Companion. This card is more like an extra source of card advantage that will also interact with your other cards rather than an actual creature.

Once you understand that, when you pick Bogles as your deck, you'll pilot a combo deck, everything will be considerably easier. With this idea in mind, here are the main pieces of our strategy:

Ethereal Armor, All That Glitters, and Ancestral Mask basically all do the same. These will buff your creatures, and together they'll deal a lot of damage. Rancor and Armadillo Cloak are also really similar. Rancor has recursion, and Armadillo Cloak is practically a win condition against other Aggro decks, particularly red decks.

Considering this list has just a few lands, and you want to play more than three colors, fixing your mana is important, as well as creating enough mana to play your most expensive auras.

Utopia Sprawl fills this slot perfectly: it will ramp and fix our mana. Abundant growth and Commune with Spirits both fix mana and give us card advantage. Additionally, Commune with Spirits may find you the piece you're missing to win the game.

In a meta dominated by Mono-Red and Boros Synthesizer, Bogles is an excellent choice because it can face both of these decks on equal ground. Personally, I'd reckon Bogles has the advantage against them. Besides, this deck performs really well against most meta decks if you know how to pilot it. This is precisely what I'll show you in our sideboard guide.

The hand above has a lot of potential, as it has the pieces we need to finish the game. Our starting hand must have creatures - avoid hands without them because they might go terribly wrong. Land drops are important, as well as guaranteeing your splash to play your spells.

You must send back hands like the one above. Even though you can try to find a creature with it, you'll most likely put yourself in an irreversible situation before you can do that, and the risk isn't worth it. So, this hand might seem playable, but you must mulligan it until you find a hand that can develop your game plan.

Above, we have a hand you can keep, but it isn't too functional and is quite risky. Without an aura to buff your creatures, you'll expose yourself to board wipes, which are very common in the current meta. Besides, this hand can't dig through your deck, which means you'll have to rely on your luck when you draw cards.

Bogles loses gas considerably fast, but that is just a side effect of how the deck plays. In every match, you'll try to end the game as fast as possible. You'll only change the way you do this depending on your opponent.

Against aggressive opponents, you only need to survive until you can deal a lot of damage with one of your lifelink auras.

Against Midrange and Control decks, you have to worry about counters and/or removals that can hit your creatures (Edicts or global removals), and play around these cards as you develop your game plan.

As for combo decks, you'll be able to play everything you want without any fear, but keep in mind time is an important factor. Your opponent can end the game just as fast as you do.

Our sideboard will basically bring us support for our worst matchups and dominate the best ones.

Chainer’s Edict and similar cards aren't the end of the world, but don't be mistaken. Any deck that relies on these cards to win will be left behind. What makes these matchups better for these opponents, usually, are enchantment hates (for BW and BG), and counterspells (UB).

Under reasonable circumstances, you'll also be able to deal with boardwipes: you just need to know when to mulligan and how to pilot the deck.

You'll have Young Wolf precisely to help against this type of hate. Scattershot Archer is excellent against Faeries and other small, Flying creatures.

I really like Standard Bearer and Rofellos’s Gift because they help us in many situations, such as in the mirror and against Glitter decks. We have Freewind Falcon and Spirit Link to deal with Kuldotha and other red decks.

Flaring Pain is perfect against Fogs. Considering the meta is full of Turbo Fogs, many times not even four copies of it are enough.

Vs. Boros Synthesizer

I consider this matchup favorable for Bogles. Boros has a few hate pieces that may annoy you, and it can be quite aggressive, but I still think Bogles deals more damage. It also gets a lot out of All That Glitters. Dawnbringer Cleric, Destroy Evil, and Krark-Clan Shaman are the main cards Boros has against you, so be careful with them and try to end the game as fast as possible.

In

Out

Vs. Mono-Red Kuldotha

This matchup is defined by whether you have lifelink on the board or not. With lifelink, you'll practically win on the spot, as long as you survive two or three turns until you finally start attacking.

Without lifegain, it is way more complicated, and you'll have to rely on not only your draws but also your opponent's draws. The worst-case scenario is if they have saved up Kuldotha Rebirth or Goblin Bushwhacker.

In

Out

Vs. Golgari Gardens

This is a fascinating matchup. You will have to "run against time" and play around Edicts. If your opponent has an Edict and you don't have more than one creature in play, it's the end of the game, but if you know how to play around this situation, or play fast enough, it'll be different.

Young Wolf and Cartouche of Solidarity are incredible cards in this match.

In

Out

Vs. Jeskai Ephemerate

Jeskai is quite similar to Gardens. However, Jeskai can control the game much easier, considering it has counters, and also has access to red and white, which are well-equipped with board wipes and enchantment hate.

Ephemerate + Dawnbringer Cleric + Archaeomancer is simply devastating for Bogles, and Stonehorn Dignitary is even more impossible to beat. Jeskai's greatest weakness in this match is its slow early game, which might just give Bogles enough time to prepare as you pressure the board. Rofellos’s Gift is remarkable in this matchup.

In

Out

Vs. Turbo Fog

Turbo Fog has been quite popular in the meta, particularly in Magic Online (which is quite curious, as this deck isn't easy to pilot). This might be one of the worst matchups for Bogles, considering Fog stops us from doing what we want, which is to deal damage. Flaring Pain is our main weapon in this game, but with a little bit of luck you can play the game without relying on it. Just curve well, and take advantage of your windows of opportunity.

In

Out

Bogles is one of my favorite decks in Pauper. Any time the metagame is dominated by decks like Mono-Red and Boros, it is a good time to dust it off the shelf. This archetype struggles fairly regularly, but, if you pilot it well, it might be quite satisfying.

Leave your questions, suggestions, or feedback, in our comment section. See you next time!