Despite being a format made up of only commons, Pauper is chock full of combo decks. From Golgari Balustrade Spy to Mono-Blue High Tide, there are a variety of competitive options to choose from, each with its own unique playstyle. There’s also tons of room for players to innovate and find success with combos that haven’t made a big splash thus far.
This is exactly what Magic Online user AguaTonificada did, putting together a Pauper League 5-0 with an underexplored two-card combo. With the right draw unimpeded, this archetype is capable of winning as early as turn two, a rare feat that most Pauper decks can’t accomplish.
The Combo
This deck’s combo revolves around Seeker of Skybreak and Hangar Scrounger. Neither common is all that powerful on its own, hence why they don’t see much play elsewhere. When paired together, however, rummaging through your deck becomes trivial. You just need to execute the following steps:
- Cast Seeker of Skybreak.
- Once Seeker isn’t Summoning Sick, cast Hangar Scrounger and target Seeker with its Backup 1 ability.
- Activate Seeker’s tap ability, targeting itself. This will trigger its newly granted rummaging ability.
- Discard a card and draw a new card. You will need at least one card in hand to get things started.
- Repeat this process over and over to fuel your graveyard.
This process isn’t infinite, since you’d eventually lose by drawing from an empty library. Nonetheless, it should be enough to win you the game thanks to the presence of Dread Return and Lotleth Giant. As you continue rummaging through your deck, you’ll eventually discard copies of Basking Rootwalla that you can cast via Madness for free. Alongside Seeker and Scrounger, you’ll then have enough creatures in play to pay Dread Return’s additional Flashback cost, resurrect Giant, and win the game.
While this kill condition is definitely the simplest, the deck isn’t just cold to graveyard hate. After drawing so many cards, targeting Seeker with Fists of Flame should set up a lethal attack. The only downside is that you do need mana to cast Fists. Even without any mana to spare, if you start your rummaging process with at least three cards in hand, you can always churn through your library until you find Fists and two copies of Simian Spirit Guide to pay for it.
In this sense, the combo is quite a reliable win condition once you start going off. It’s even possible (albeit unlikely) to win the game on turn two if you have multiple copies of Guide in your opening hand. The hard part is finding both pieces and keeping Seeker alive long enough to go off. Luckily, the rest of the deck is built to make your combo as consistent and resilient as possible.
Digging and Protecting
When it comes to digging for your combo pieces, Malevolent Rumble and Commune with Nature are your best options. With 27 creatures in the maindeck, it’s rare to whiff off of Commune. Meanwhile, the Eldrazi Spawn generated by Rumble helps protect you against “Edict” effects.
Additionally, Bitter Reunion and Stormshriek Feral help you churn through your library in no time. Reunion’s cheap Haste-granting ability plays an important role in grindy games, since it allows you to combo off without having to wait a turn cycle for Seeker to not be Summoning Sick.
As for protection spells, your go-to option in game one is Tamiyo’s Safekeeping. It’s often in your best interest to wait to cast Seeker until you have Safekeeping backup, so you don’t just lose your threat to opposing removal. In the sideboard, Apostle’s Blessing provides some extra reinforcements against kill spells, while Red Elemental Blast gives you a better shot at fighting through counter magic.
A Difficult Position
Overall, as fun and unique as this combo archetype is, it has some major weaknesses in the current metagame that prevent it from being a breakout contender. Burn, for example, has a healthy mix of efficient removal spells and ways to apply early pressure. Plus, this deck’s lack of removal makes Kessig Flamebreather and Guttersnipe very problematic. On top of that, as a one-toughness creature, Seeker is vulnerable to Lava Dart. The fact that Lava Dart functions as two removal spells in one makes it harder to end games, even with Safekeeping rolled up.
Beyond the Burn matchup, decks like Jund Wildfire that are filled with interaction aren’t easy to beat, either. Krark-Clan Shaman is a nuisance that can just sit on board, threatening to blow up your combo creatures on a whim. Even if you cast Safekeeping in response to the activation, the opponent can just sacrifice another permanent in response.
This doesn’t mean there aren’t some strong matchups out there. Decks like Elves that don’t have much interaction will struggle to race the combo. Your faster draws are also difficult for other combo shells like Mono-Blue High Tide to race.
In this sense, Gruul Seeker Combo still has hope of putting up a strong performance here and there, even if it isn’t ready to make a huge competitive splash. There are lots of underexplored combo options in Pauper, and it’s always a welcome sight when an archetype this cool pops up.
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