Discussion: Fetches versus Duals

Pauper forum

Posted on Feb. 21, 2016, 12:45 p.m. by Dracoson

When assembling a Pauper deck, which do you tend to use and why? Do you lean towards cards like Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse or do you prefer things like Blossoming Sands or maybe Izzet Boilerworks?

goodair says... #2

Unless your relying on landfall triggers or lands in your graveyard, I'd do:
2 color = duals
3+ = fetch

February 21, 2016 12:59 p.m.

Museless says... #3

For me, it really depends on a few factors:

  • How many colors am I playing?
  • If I have a splash, how deep is my splash?
  • How fast is my deck/What style am I playing?

If my deck is slower, for example, I do like the ETB Lifegain duals to help stem some of the tide from early heat.

If I have a splash that's pretty important to hit, I like Evolving Wilds and the like, because hitting the color by cracking a Wilds is easier to find than a one-of in a slow dual land.

All in all, it feels pretty flexible, but it's a very open question. Everything enters tapped, as far as usable mana goes, but it depends on a ton of factors. I play a more aggressive style, personally, so I tend to move toward Wilds for the deck thinning, though often, I feel like I could just as easily go with straight Basics.

February 21, 2016 1:06 p.m.

kyuuri117 says... #4

It also depends on how your deck is built. If you're running 4 brainstorms, i'd think you'd want at least 4 fetch's even if you're only in two colors.

February 21, 2016 1:12 p.m.

HairyManBack says... #5

Mentioned previously it does depend. But by default I lean on Ravinca lands like Izzet Boilerworks. It's 2 cards for 1.

I'm also a fan of thinning out my deck with Evolving Wilds as much as can. But I find Pauper offers better lands in a lot of cases.

On the extreme side I have an Abzan deck that uses Ravinica, gain, cycle, and fetch lands. And it consistently performs well against many tier 1 and 2 decks. It took a long time to get where the mana base is today. Everyone tells me it looks clunky. But I'm one to look outside the box with the complete synergy of a deck.

Abzan Aggro in Pauper? Yesssir

February 21, 2016 2:24 p.m.

Dracoson says... #6

Personally, I lean towards the Khan's duals, adding in Evolving Wilds to keep ratios even (my Izzet Delver deck is exactly 50/50 /, and I've settled on 19 lands, so it's 4 Swiftwater Cliffs, 1 Evolving Wilds, and 7 each of Island and Mountain).

February 21, 2016 4:13 p.m.

This discussion has been closed