Tuesday Night Takeover

Nim Shambler Artifacts Pauper EDH

“Death? No… nothing that simple.”

Art:Nim Shambler by Adam Rex

Nim Shambler is a very cool mono-black commander who doesn’t have a big presence in any online Pauper EDH resource. It’s like no one knows this card exists! In spite of that, Nim Shambler is a very cool card that is an absolute blast to pilot and the perfect commander for an artifact deck. Nim Shambler also comes with built-in regeneration and is perfect for a mono-black deck filled to the brim with equipment. This deck can easily become a Voltron strategy using the commander, but it certainly doesn’t have to, which is why I categorize it as an artifacts deck. Without further adieu, let’s get it!

The Deck:

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Nim Shambler Artifacts!

Commander (1)
Nim Shambler

Creatures (23)
Disciple of the Vault
Fang Skulkin
Leaden Myr
Mold Folk
Myr Retriever
Myr Sire
Salvage Slasher
Vault Skirge
Cathodion
Clockwork Fox
Nim Lasher
Undercity Scrounger
Workshop Assistant
Clockwork Gnomes
Dross Scorpion
Frogmite
Moriok Scavenger
Nim Shrieker
Dross Golem
Pewter Golem
Caustic Hound
Myr Enforcer
Sojourner’s Companion

Instants (10)
Cast Down
Darkness
Debt to the Kami
Feign Death
Footbottom Feast
Go for the Throat
Irradiate
Murder
Supernatural Stamina
Victim of Night

Sorceries (6)
Feed the Swarm
Grisly Ritual
Hunger of the Nim
Pointed Discussion
Read the Bones
Sign in Blood

Artifacts (22)
Welding Jar
Blood Fountain
Bonesplitter
Dross Skullbomb
Necrogen Spellbomb
Alchemist’s Vial
Charcoal Diamond
Cloak of the Bat
Cranial Plating
Giant’s Skewer
Gilded Pinions
Ichor Wellspring
Metalspinner’s Puzzleknot
Mycosynth Wellspring
Thieves’ Tools
Wedding Invitation
Bonder’s Ornament
Infernal Idol
Scale of Chiss-Goria
Tooth of Chiss-Goria
Whispersilk Cloak
Brass Knuckles

Enchantments (3)
Kaya’s Ghostform
Blessing of Leeches
Oubliette
Lands (35)
Barren Moor
Desert of the Glorified
Evolving Wilds
Mortuary Mire
Polluted Mire
25 Swamp
Terramorphic Expanse
The Dross Pits
Tocasia’s Dig Site
Vault of Whispers
Witch’s Cottage

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Why Nim Shambler?

Nim Shambler is a little expensive at four mana, but that’s alright! With the extra time we have, we can commit a ton of our cheaper artifacts and have a huge buff on Nim when they enter the battlefield; they are a horrible blocker but an extremely strong attacker. Nim Shambler also has built-in regeneration, which can be great since they tend to draw a decent amount of removal; this is almost entirely due to the fact that they are a very strong attacker. Nim Shambler is an awesome commander and a great card to have at the ready.

Deck Overview:

This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!

Creatures:

We have two of my favorite creatures in Nim Lasher and Nim Shrieker, which have the same abilities as our commander and are awesome, especially if we get one or both of them on the field as our commander. We also have a few affinity creatures which are free quite often in Myr Enforcer, Sojourner's Companion, and Dross Golem, and Frogmite which are very often free attackers/blockers for the deck. Undercity Scrounger is a card that can up our artifact count on almost every turn and is a great way to get ahead on mana as well. Myr Retriever and Workshop Assistant are great pieces of artifact recursion for the deck. While we aren’t the greatest blockers, we do have Fang Skulkin, which can certainly help and make a bunch of our creatures a little bit better at blocking.

Instants:

To start off, we have some instant speed removal like Victim of Night, Murder, and Cast Down, which are all strong pieces of removal and can target a variety of things. Footbottom Feast is the biggest piece of mass recursion we have in the deck and is great after a bad combat or a ton of removal. Darkness is a very cheap card that is great against any creature decks but especially aggressive strategies. Whether we want to save a commander or a card with a death trigger Feign Death and Supernatural Stamina are both great ways to get our creatures back.

Sorceries:

We have typical draw spells for mono-black like Sign in Blood and Read the Bones, but we have Pointed Discussion, which is in the deck because we get cards, and we up our artifact count which is perfect for our commander. The same is true for Grisly Ritual, which is a very expensive removal spell but ups our artifact count by two, which can be very helpful. Hunger of the Nim is another great card that essentially allows us to double our commander’s ability; whether we use this on our commander or another creature doesn’t matter since we are effectively doubling our damage for only two mana.

Artifacts:

We have a ton of awesome equipment that is great on any of the trio of nim’s or pretty much any creature, with some of my favorites being Whispersilk Cloak and Haunted Cloak, which make whatever creature we have equipped very evasive. We also have equipment that makes additional artifacts in Giant's Skewer, which is one of the best equipment in the deck since it allows us to keep upping our artifact count. We also have Scale of Chiss-Goria and Tooth of Chiss-Goria, which are almost always free and provide power and toughness to a creature that can give us stronger attackers and blockers. We also have some great supplemental card draw like Infernal Idol, Metalspinner's Puzzleknot.

Enchantments:

Our enchantment package mostly has ways to protect Nim Shambler or the other nim’s in the deck. Kaya's Ghostform and Blessing of Leeches are both cheap and great ways to protect from removal or if they die in combat. Oubliette is a premier removal spell for Pauper EDH and is a great way to take out pretty much any threat.

Land Base:

Vault of Whispers is arguably the most important land in our deck since it up’s the count for our Nim’s and lets us pump the damage and get some mana. We also have some strong recursion like Mortuary Mire and Witch's Cottage, which are great ways to get some of our best creatures back. We also have some supplemental card draw within our landbase like Polluted Mire and Desert of the Glorified, which are great ways to get a card if needed at any stage of the game.

Strengths of the Deck:

  • We have one of our best attackers always available in the command zone, in addition to that our commander has built-in recursion
  • We have a large number of supplemental card draws within the deck; whether it be from artifacts or straight-up draw spells, our hand is usually always full.
  • We have a lot of removal to take out opponent’s threats, while we are often the target removal, we can easily give it back and let opponents know not to mess with us

Weaknesses of the Deck:

  • Extremely weak to artifact hate, we do have some recursion, but if a deck is heavy on artifact hate we can be pretty weak to them.
  • Weak to aggressive strategies, we typically spend the early turns committing noncreature artifacts to the board. Creatures we do play, we typically want to keep out, so we do end up taking some additional damage early.
  • Many of our creatures are horrible blockers; while this isn’t a problem when we are being aggressive and pressuring opponents, if falling behind, we can rarely win combats.

Deck Stats:

Sample Hands:

Main Win Conditions:

There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We win the game through combat; we have the trio pair of nim’s and one of our nim’s is in the command zone, so once we get a few artifacts committed to the field, we usually have a decent amount of damage. We have a bunch of ways to buff up and make our creatures more evasive as well, like Whispersilk Cloak and Cloak of the Bat.

Conclusion:

Nim Shambler is a cool card that isn’t very popular on Moxfield, and I’m a little surprised; mono-black certainly doesn’t have the best payoffs for an artifact deck; there is honestly a surprising amount. I have had a blast with this deck, and most opponents, even some who are well-versed in Pauper EDH, have told me that they have never seen this card before! If you are looking for a unique deck that is a blast and will shock your opponents, this is probably the one for you. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!