Food Tribal Pauper Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide
Table of Contents
Pauper Food Tribal Deck List How to Play Food TribalFood Tribal is a sketchy name I came up with for this deck as it doesn’t run a single win condition other than recurring Cauldron Familiar, a 1/1 black creature that drains for one life your opponents when it enters the battlefield AND that can be brought back at instant speed from the graveyard by sacrificing a food. As it happens, this deck runs tons of them that allow you to draw a card in different portions of the game. To explain this further, let’s dive into each card of the deck to understand better its function. The CreaturesWell, this topic will be quick, as the only creature the deck runs is Cauldron Familiar, one of my favorite cards of the entire Magic: The Gathering universe, and, of course, Pauper. The thing with the cat is that it can constantly drain your opponents when it enters the battlefield, while It can block very large creatures with no trample, such as Boarding Party or Maelstrom Colossus. On top of that, It can enter the battlefield at ANY time from the graveyard, and even if you play with dedicated hate for it, it is pretty challenging to get rid of when paired with multiple foods on your side of the field, as its activated ability can be used at instant speed. To summarize, we have in our hands:
While all of this is good, you must consider that building your board may take a lot of time, so I decided to run dedicated removal to compensate. The RemovalCast Down will be our main way to remove creatures from the side of the field, as over the years, it has proven to be the two-mana instant speed, black unconditional removal of choice, as there are very few cards that it is unable to kill with it. For those special unicorns, we also run some other removal spells such as Tithing Blade against Hexproof or Indestructible creatures, Tragic Slip as an excellent way to deal with big threats for one mana, and last but not least, Savor is an exciting addition from Bloomburrow as it does not only serves as removal, but it also gives you a food token in the process, which is big for only two mana investment. Lastly, Makeshift Munitions is a card I like to run with the crazy amount of artifacts this deck runs, and it makes our cat shenanigans even better as now it does not only the Familiar can block, but it can be used as fodder to kill another small creature or deal cheap damage to an opponent. With these covered, let's now talk about the other key components of the deck: The Foods. The Food ArtifactsOver the last few years, many good food cards have been printed, as previously, we relied only on Bartered Cow and Golden Egg as ways to abuse our cat friend. Now, we have many other options, such as Lembas, an artifact that shuffles itself in your library every time it gets sacrificed, meaning that you can use it to draw a card and hope to draw it later on. That said, the big addition, and what makes this deck work, is the newly introduced Carrot Cake. This card is INSANE with sacrifice outlets, as you can very quickly fill the board and add threats or chump blockers onto the field, depending on the situation you are running into. Think about it: for just two mana and a cat in the yard, you get to scry twice in your library AND put three creatures on play. This is very useful for mitigating damage against decks like Kuldotha and putting pressure from one turn to another against decks that rely mostly on spot removals, such as Golgari Gardens or Mono-Black Devotion. That said, there are many ways to sacrifice artifacts and creatures while amassing card advantage, and similar to Food Artifacts, WotC has printed very strong two-mana commons with this effect. The Sacrifice OutletsI’ve already talked about Makeshift Munitions, the premium sacrifice outlet of the deck, for obvious reasons. Still, if we are talking about getting raw card advantage, Deadly Dispute, Fanatical Offering, and Reckoner's Bargain are the main cards for the job. The first two put an artifact once they resolve, which can lead to many chains to cast them back to back without relying on additional resources, while the latter is merely just there to get back some life and a card that can be replaced in some numbers with Eviscerator's Insight, which we will talk later on the Other Cards to Try section. With these 12 cards at your disposal, you will rarely have any playab le, and they will serve to put you ahead on the game by drawing the necessary removal you need to survive and not fall behind, but more importantly, find one copy of Cauldron Familiar (The foods will come at long later). How do we turn our little bunnies and cats into deadly assassins? Well, it's all about the gates… The LandsBasilisk Gate is undoubtedly a very powerful card, especially when paired with evasive creatures or creatures that can be played multiple times during a match. While this deck may not have any evasive creatures, IT DOES have a very resilient threat in the form of our only creature on the deck: Cauldron Familiar. Now we get a curious interaction where the cat can chump block on blockers, get back on the field by the end of the turn, and serve as a potent attacker immediately. You can think about this as the bread and butter of the deck, and you will win many games by doing just this. The rest of the lands are just supplementary ones, but, the other big one from the deck is Khalni Garden, as it can be played on turn one and enable a Deadly Dispute on turn two for example. How To Mulligan with Food TribalSome hands are no-brainers, like one with no lands or where you have one land and no way to search for a second way other than praying. Here are some examples of them and my thoughts on them.
This one is your standard hand, and as long as you have food and two lands, the rest of history. Even if all your lands are tapped, this one is still great if you are on the play, and decent on the draw against slower decks.
On the other hand, this one is trickier to keep as you don't have any sacrifice payoff to use both of your card draws, and I would consider taking a mulligan if you are looking for something more specific.
On the draw, I would argue to keep this hand, and I would also keep it after taking my first mulligan on the play. It is not great, but you realistically only have one more land to be a good one.
This is one of your better hands as you can start with a Fanatical Offering on turn two thanks to Khalni Garden while keeping a removal as a backup for any earlier threats.
All this hand needs is land, but do keep in mind that most of them will come into play tapped, so you will have to rely on chump blocks and use a Tragic Slip to kill a larger creature. That said, I would probably keep this hand most of the time. How To Sideboard with Food TribalThis sideboard is straightforward, as the cards in it come vs. very specific matches. In a nutshell, this is what I use them against.
If you are looking for a more in-depth sideboard guide, take a look at my free sideboard guides on Ko-Fi. If you are looking for a personalized guide,let's work together! GameplayAlso, here is a video of me playing the deck that can help you understand its basics and feel. Other Cards To TryThis deck has room for some flexible cards depending on the meta you may be facing. GingerbruteI completely forgot this card existed. It is good alongside Gates and can be used as fodder for cats. I would replace Golden Egg for it in later leagues. Candy TrailI gave some thought to adding Candy Trail. Still, I decided not to add it in as I valued a bit more the Golden Egg Card draw effect and mana fixing that can come in handy from time to time, especially with hands that look like a swamp and a Basilisk Gate, and you need the white mana to cast your Carrot Cake. Heaped HarvestThis is another good card, but just not for the Gates Package. Rowan's Grim SearchIf you want to replace some of your card's draw effects, this one is a good option to have, as you also get to draw the same amount of cards, but for just one mana, you get to look at more cards from your library, and incidentally, you can also mill a cat to the graveyard. Sacred CatSacred Cat has been a must-have in Gates decks and would undoubtedly be a solid addition to this deck, but I wanted to see if I could win with only Cauldron Familiar in the deck, and I was not wrong! Still, if you want to slam a few copies of the deck, you are more than welcome. Wrap-UpThis is not the first time I’ve played like this, but I genuinely think this las version is miles ahead of other previous ones I’ve built, and I invite everyone to try it and apply the corrections from it as needed. Take care, and we will meet again in my next article! Where to Play Pauper?I have compiled a list of places to play Pauper, mostly IRL. The address may vary, but it's a helpful place to start and check if some of them are near you. They may not play Pauper every day, so it's always a good idea to ask before traveling. My Latest Pauper BrewsMerchIf you would like to support me differently, I have compiled a list of designs that can be customized in different products such as T-shirts, Hoodies, and even Mugs! Ko-FIAnother way to support me is via Ko-FI, where you can also find FREE sideboard guides for my pauper brews and exclusive content for members. Schedule your First Free Coach SessionIf you are looking to improve your limited or Pauper gameplay, a second opinion is often valuable. Let me help you achieve your goals and level up your gameplay. Socials |
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