I have three passions in my life, Rachel my wife, Magic the Gathering and Cats.
Rachel plays Magic too and I decided to add another Pauper deck to my collection.
Wild Nacatl
Wild Nacatl is one of my favourite cards, I wanted to find a way to play the card. With the requirement for basic land types it doesn’t synergise with Sacred Cat and the Basilisk Gate strategy.
The first thing I did was do a Scryfall search for Pauper legal cats. This gave me a great starting place to work from. It is really surprising what gems you can discover.
The deck started out just green and white, the mountains were integral for the Wild Nacatl to function. I added some sideboard cards in red when realised they could be cast reliably, this was followed by looking at red cats to see what they had to offer.
Main Deck (60)
Creatures(20)
- 4 Charmed Stray
- 4 Wild Nacatl
- 3 Qasali Pridemage
- 3 Jewel Thief
- 3 Skyhunter Prowler
- 3 Frenzied Arynx
Spells(20)
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 2 Rancor
- 2 Snakeskin Veil
- 3 Greatsword of Tyr
- 4 Into the North
- 2 Armadillo Cloak
- 3 You Meet in a Tavern
Lands(20)
- 3 Alpine Meadow
- 4 Arctic Treeline
- 2 Highland Forest
- 4 Sheltering Landscape
- 3 Snow-Covered Forest
- 1 Snow-Covered Mountain
- 3 Snow-Covered Plains
Sideboard (15)
- 2 Nacatl Outlander
- 3 Tormod’s Crypt
- 2 Pick Your Poison
- 3 Pyroblast
- 2 Skred
- 1 Destroy Evil
- 2 Thraben Charm
The Creatures
Charmed Stray is a lovely card, this scales nicely with multiple copies.
I’m not playing Sacred Cat as in this deck it is much weaker.
Qasali Pridemage is wonderful, it’s a solid body but the granting of Exalted can stack up quite well. A main deck answer to problematic enchantments and artefacts makes it very flexible.
Jewel Thief is a classic bridging card, with its solid stats and abilities, it already holds the deck together, but that treasure token can be immense.
Skyhunter Prowler took a while to find a place, a 1/3 vigilant flyer is awesome in a format packed with x/1 flyers. Ironically this wasn’t even my idea, chatting online swapping cat lists I found this little gem.
Frenzied Arynx goes under the radar but is key to the decks success. Riot allowing haste or a bigger creature from the +1/+1 counter is huge. It’s the card that has been the victim of a counter spell more than anything else.
I did try several other cards at four mana value but kept coming back to the Arynx.
Spells
Into the North is essential to the deck being snow to search out snow dual lands to ensure Wild Nacatl becomes a 3/3. The ramping is an added bonus.
Running the snow land mana base does mean we are vulnerable to Thermokarst but i feel the payoffs are worth it. We got Snow-Covered Wastes with Modern Horizons 3 and Dual Lands in Kaldheim so we should see further Snow payoffs in the future.
Snakeskin Veil is my protection of choice, the counter is great for pushing through extra damage. More recently Vibes of Vastwood has become a consideration as giving an opponents Basking Broodscale hexproof can thwart the combo.
Lightning Bolt is not only my removal of choice, sometimes the deck would just be short of the last points of damage.
Rancor and Armadillo Cloak are personal favourites, they are both flexible ways to buff the creatures in the deck.
Greatsword of Tyr is a very recent addition and I’ve increased the quantity too. Tapping down a creature can break stalemates, coupled with the incremental growth on counters is a key strategy.
You Meet in a Tavern is again a very flexible card, the deck goes wide for Start A Brawl and also Form a Party is a great way to restock.
Lands(20)
Alpine Meadow
Arctic Treeline
Highland Forest
Snow-Covered Forest
Snow-Covered Mountain
Snow-Covered Plains
Sheltering Landscape is the most recent addition replacing Ash Barrens. It’s an extra untapped land for casting Into the North turn two, fixes mana and late game can even be cycled for another card. A classic example of visiting a deck again after a new set is released.
Sideboard
This may be skewed for my LGS meta but are all solid choices.
Nacatl Outlander, I feel this card is currently very useful as locally we have a penchant for blue decks.
Skred, one if the main reasons for the snow mana base.
Tormod’s Crypt, Pick Your Poison, Pyroblast, Destroy Evil and Thraben Charm are all reliable cards with a low mana value to help them interact better.
Two cards to consider are Ancient Grudge and Ray of Revelation as the extra use coming from Flashback can be impressive.
Ideas for the future
I have considered Macta Rioters for a Domain synergy. This could add Tribal Flames and Into the North can search out dual lands but would to be really careful on which ones and the mana base.
I’m also checking the Magic Foundations spoilers as several cats have been spotted.
Conclusion
Cats are fun, also many people are cat lovers I’ve had non pauper players be like wait, you can play a cat deck in pauper! I’ve a cat Commander deck.
Playing off meta can be good as your opponent may be off balance, removal may be targeted at the wrong creature, what do they counter and hang on this deck isn’t in my sideboard notes.
I am not finished with cat strategies for Pauper, I’ve been playing a White Weenie aggro strategy, a Warehouse Tabby enchantment deck and a Cauldron Familiar food based strategy. If you’ve a cat deck I’d love to see your list.
On_Common_Ground 