Curare is the name for the poison that native cultures in Central and South America will coat their arrows and darts with. I felt it fitting for a deck whose main goal is to give pinging abilities to cheap creatures with deathtouch.
The basic premise of this deck is simple: Use an Aura or (preferably) and Equipment to give one of the numerous, cheap creatures with deathtouch a pinging ability. From there, kill any creature on the board at instant-speed, then start pinging the opponent's dome and attacking with any stragglers.
This deck is actually a spiritual successor to a casual modern deck of mine, which I cannibalized to make this iteration. That deck was BG and used much more equipment. I considered going BR for this deck, but I felt Green would have better sideboarding options (Fog effects, enchantment and artifact removal, hexproof, etc.). I also considered Blue for the pinging-granting, but I felt that Red's access to burn outweighed the card advantage Blue could provide.
The sideboard desperately needs work, and any recommendations are welcome.
CREATURES
Sedge Scorpion: It's the cheapest green creature with deathtouch, so it's a clear 4-of.
Thornweald Archer: This should also be straightforward. Deathtouch and reach on a piker is excellent, and he's a better choice than Deadly Recluse.
Ambush Viper: Flash instead of reach is a mostly decent trade. I'd have preferred hexproof, but I'll take what I can get.
AURAS/EQUIPMENT
Viridian Longbow: The best of its kind. This will sometimes see play even without abuse with deathtouch, and putting it in here is just delicious. Plus, it sticks around if the equipped creature dies. Equipment really is fixed creature auras, and had I my druthers, I would use equipment exclusively.
Fire Whip: But alack, we can't always get what we want. And so I had to resort to using Red and Auras instead. Fire Whip does make up for some of the inherent failings of auras in that it can be sacrificed at instant speed for at least some spite value, but that does nothing when the aura itself is on the stack. Still, it's necessary to get the deck to function.
Power of Fire: And here we reach the bottom of the playable barrel. I considered Lavamancer's Skill, but Skill's inability to hit players really kills its functionality, so Power of Fire it is.
BURN
Lightning Bolt: This is here to hasten along any stalls once I have board control. This is usually headed towards a player's dome, but being able to hit creatures is never a downsize. There's a damn fine reason it's an auto-include in every Red deck ever.
Chain Lightning: Like Lightning Bolt, but slightly worse. Except not really. Again, an auto-include in any eternal Red deck.
Lava Spike: Hey, more eternal burn staples! Sorcery-speed and only targeting players is enough of a downside to warrant cutting a few copies, but it's still worth including.
PROTECTION
Vines of Vastwood: It doesn't say "hexproof", but it's hexproof. I considered Neurok Stealthsuit and Shielding Plax for their permanence, but at the end of the day Vines is just so much better. And being able to use it as a pump spell just makes it that much better should I ever simply swing for lethal.
LAND
Forgotten Cave/Tranquil Thicket: I love the cycling lands. And this deck will spend lot of turns not doing anything until either the declare blockers step or the end step of the opponent's turn. Cycling away excess land is a good use of that untapped mana.
Teetering Peaks: It's here for the same reason that the burn spells are: To hasten along the game once I have control.
Rugged Highlands: Best cycle of duals in pauper, so obvious auto-include. I did consider Gruul Turf to recur value off of Teetering Peaks, but I didn't want to deal with bouncing the etbt cycling lands. I may add them in if given sufficient outcry, though. The karoo lands are also a boon to pauper mana bases.
