Eating Big Mac, Gobblin Kit Kat!
Art:Hamza, Guardian of Arashin
by Wisnu Tan
Table of Contents
Todays Featured Commander is:
Hamza is a super sweet commander that plays super into a +1/+1 counter strategy and allows us to not only cast Hamza for a reduced cost, but are creatures as well. With this we can play large colorless and high colorless mana creatures very early and overwhelm our opponents! Our deck is full of ways to give our creatures counters and get payoffs from that! This deck is a ton of fun to play and a great deck within Pauper EDH! Without further adieu lets get into it!
The Deck:
Hamza, Guardian of Arashin Buffs!
Why Hamza, Guardian of Arashin?
Hamza is the perfect commander for this deck, not only do Selesyna decks and cards have a big focus on buffs. Hamza also allows us to reduce his costs and our costs. Hamza allows us to play big threats early as well as just make everything very cheap. Hamza is a great target for our buffs as well since he is perfect stat-wise since we will typically never be “hardcasting” him. Hamza is a very strong commander in Pauper EDH and can hang with the best!
Deck Overview:
We are a +1/+1 counter focused deck so of course we have some creatures that do just that, we are playing a couple arcbound creatures like Arcbound Worker
and Arcbound Bruiser
. Both of these creatures are not great on their own but when they die and can move the counters that is great, they also can be free with Hamzas ability. We are a green white deck so in the late game it is not uncommon for us to have a ton of mana so cards like Ivy Elemental
which can trigger Hamza and just be a big body, this card is also great in the early game since it can be a quick 2 mana trigger for hamza. Since we care about counters we have a bunch of creatures that simply ETB and place a counter like Dauntless Survivor
, Pollenbright Druid
and Pridemalkin
. These creatures are very helpful to our overall gameplan and can be quick and easy ways to trigger Hamza and get buffs on our creatures! Longshot Squad
is another intersting card in our deck since it gives all of our buffed creatures reach which not only basically gives all of our creatures reach but can be great against a ton of pdh decks. Wrecking Beast
is another great card that in testing I was very easily able to cast for only GG and since it has riot we can also give it a counter! Greater Sandwurm
is another one of our big creatures that I have been able to cast for just GG. Overall our creature package is full of ways to buff our creatures and make Hamza and our big creatures come out quickly.
Our spell package has some pretty awesome spells like Travel Preparations
which can for only 4 mana give us two counters on creatures which equates to two creatures for hamza! Courage in Crisis
is another great card since it allows us to proliferate and give a creature a counter! Light of Hope
is a great toolbox utility style spell that we can use in a ton of situations! Hunger of the Howlpack
is a great situational card that allows us to get the benefit of a creature dying since this doesn’t have to be one of our creatures this can be a great way for us to get some buffs! Map the Wastes
is an inefficient ramp spell compared to many others in the format but since it lets is get a counter thats why it gets the edge over Cultivate
or Kodama's Reach
in our deck.
Our artifact package is pretty simple, only consisting of only mana really, we are a two-color deck so of course have Arcane Signet
, Selesnya Signet
and Selesnya Locket
. Bonder's Ornament
is a great card in Pauper EDH since a lot of decks run it and can be a great way to draw cards.
Predatory Hunger
is a super sweet card that we typically target Hamza with since we can buff him super big! Forced Adaptation
is another hamza target that lets him get bigger every turn. Journey to Nowhere
and Pacifism
are both great piece of targeted removal. Armadillo Cloak
is a sweet enchantment that we typically throw on our big creatures to make combat wins much easier!
Our land base is pretty simple mostly consisting of basic Selesyna duals but we do have a bunch of cycling lands like Tranquil Thicket
and Secluded Steppe
which allows us to draw cards in a deck where there is not a ton of card draw!
Strengths of the Deck:
- Easy to win combats with our buffed creatures
- Many creatures that benefit from our creatures having counters
- Huge creatures can be played it really early
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Not the biggest interaction package
- Deck is considerably slower without Hamza
- Hard to recur creatures once they die they stay dead
Deck Stats:
Sample hands:
Main Win Conditions:
Our main win condition is combat, no combos here, we can make a ton of creatures buff them to the sky and turn them sideways! Some of our big finishers include Eldrazi Devastator
, Ulamog's Crusher
or Ruin Processor
. Due to Hamzas ability we can very easily cast these 3 or 4 turns early and it can be very hard for opponents to recover from such large threats so early!
Conclusion:
In conclusion, Hamza is a really fun and interesting Pauper EDH, this deck is really great for anyone who enjoys creature decks, creature buffs and winning the combat step. While spellslingers may not love this one it is a great deck for the right player. Hamza is a very strong commander for this deck and is one of the key parts in this deck!
Got a suggestion for a new pauper EDH you would like to see us build? DM us on twitter or put it in our discord. Deck requests typically get fulfilled within the week of requesting!
Thanks for Reading to the End!