You will usually have an answer you need to a threat in your hand, or from the next draw or draw spell. The sideboard allows you to replace some of your removal for slower control match ups that have less threatening creatures, in order to control what they have in hand to answer with. Pro tip, do not skip land drops and punt games.
Mulligan Tips - Hands with less than three Swamps that are alright to keep include hands that resemble the following.
Two Swamps, one Bubbling Muck, one draw spell, one land fetch artifact, one removal spell (or discard spell depending on the match up and sideboard choices) and one Consume Spirit.
The other hand with less than three lands to keep is if it has two Swamps at least one Wayfarer's Bauble or at least one Armillary Sphere and at least one Sign in Blood or at least one Read the Bones.
An opening hand with only two Swamps can turn around fast with a land fetch and a draw spell.
You can keep a hand with five Swamps if it has two deck thinning spells. I.E. two Sign in Blood or Wayfarer's Bauble and Read the Bones or Sign in Blood and Armillary Sphere.
Never mulligan more than twice, the deck is very combo heavy and hungry for cards. More than two mulligans will leave you too starved for cards and risk running out of gas too easily.
Pauper Gauntlet Sideboard
Affinity - Your best option is to remain reactive. Try to hold back a Doom Blade for Atog but use Tendrils of Corruption and Corrupt more aggressively on their other creatures so your health total remains out of fling range.
I would remove 1x Read the Bones, 1x Consume Spirit, 1x Wayfarer's Bauble and 1x Pestilence
Bring in 4x Distress
Hexproof Auras - Remove 4x Doom Blade, 4 x Tendrils of Corruption, 1x Corrupt
Bring in 4x Duress, 4x Distress and 1x Swamp
If you have a spell that lets you look at their hand, that is priority. You must control their hand before they are allowed to entrench a solid boardstate. Second priority is card draw, third is ramping up your Swamp count. Use life steal spells only to keep your life total from dropping dangerously low. Always save casting a Pestilence for times when you need to clear an out of control board.
With the high amount of LD in the gauntlet lists, I removed 3x Dead Weight and added 3x Swamp to the sideboard. Dead Weight was only there for when you wanted to keep a creature weak but in play so pestilence remains on the battlefield.
Angler Delver - With their balance of board threats and control this will likely be the bane of the deck.
I would remove 4x Doom Blade 1x Sign in Blood, 1x Consume Spirit and 1x Pestilence.
Bring in 4x Duress and 3x Distress.
Never use a Bubbling Muck unless you have either seen their hand or you are certain they have no cards in their hand and/or mana open to cast a spell. If they have any cards and you have not seen their hand only initiate a combo as a last resort when the match is likely going to be lost if you don't try it.
Mono Red Burn - Against this type of deck where your opponent also has very few if any creature cards in their deck, it becomes a spell/player control match. Forsake all your removal and board control for hand/life control. Remove 4x Doom Blade, 4x Tendrils of Corruption and 4x Pestilence. Board in 4x Distress, 4x Duress and 4x Drain Life.
Delver - Delver is just aggro, they have weak control. Just keep control of the boardstate and keep your health higher than your opponents health and it should be an easy match. Not many sideboard options here.
Mono Black Control - This will be a harder match. I would drop 4x Doom Blade, 1x Corrupt and 1x Consume Spirit. Then board in 3x Distress and 3x Duress.
This deck is pretty simple to pilot, there is no need for deck by deck
guides. If they have mostly noncreature spells, or if they run
a lot of interference or counterspells, then drop some removal (Doom Blade first) and bring in some control (Distress first).
here.
