This is not my design, and not my discovery. I do not take the credit for this build, but I do take credit for the name I have given it. It was originally called "Love Train", I found it from a link I saw on Reddit, and it may very well known by many players as that name. Yet it makes no sense, at least not to me. Therefore, I have called this deck "Real Thought", or the Freed from the Real combo. I have made minor tweaks to it though, so this is my version that I am sharing.
Combo Pieces:
Axebane Guardian
in play, along with other defenders to tap for more than just 2 mana of any color, attaching Freed from the Real to be able to tap and untap at will, therefore infinite mana, but to what end? The Viridian Longbow is still necessary to deliver the damage once attached to the same Axebane Guardian. Don't have the Longbow in hand? Train of Thought will act as infinite card draw once the Axebane is online, allowing you to draw into the Longbow, and the rest is history!
Defenders: 4x
Overgrown Battlement
, 2x Gatecreeper Vine, 4x Wall of Roots; all double as a early game blocker, as well as mana ramps.
Piece Finders: 2x Drift of Phantasms offer the 'Transmute' ability to find either the Axebane Guardian, or Freed from the Real, as well as act as a blocker against flyers. 4x Trinket Mage to help find the Longbow, or one of the two artifact lands in case mana fixing is needed. 4x Coiling Oracle for extra card draw, or potentially putting more mana on the battlefield.
Removal Answers: Obviously, Pauper is a removal heavy format, so protecting our fragile combo pieces are necessary. 3x Vines of Vastwood and 3x Counterspell is what I have for now, but more could be added if needed.
Sideboard: Mostly made up of ways to protect the combo more in case of a removal heavy opponent, like Teachings or MBC: Alexi's Cloak, Dispel, Negate,
Hydroblast
can be used.
Wall of Tanglecord
and Scattershot Archer are answers to Delver Blue or Battle Screech decks, Fog against heavy aggro. Finally,
Kaervek's Torch
is a alternative win-con that could catch the opponent off guard in case they wish to blow up the Longbow.
Thank you for reading! What do you think about this deck? It's a fun deck to play, and definitely worth considering, esp. over Midnight Gond builds if you wish to go with a different infinite combo deck in Pauper! :D
