Let's start exploring The Lost Caverns of Ixalan! Pauper's premier midrange deck gets three new cards. Two are functional reprints to add redundancy, but one is a spicy removal that enables more robust lines in the early game. A stroll through these Gardens is getting more beautiful every day!
Black Gardens is a deck that aims to control the board through removal and finish the game with something like , , or . I went into greater detail in a past article. This time l want to focus on the new cards, and there are many.
Three additions can find their homes in the Black Gardens. Two of them are artifacts that pair nicely with the also new or the already established . is basically an in black that drains your for 1, which the deck's many sacrifice effects easily convert into a two-for-one just like the original. is an effect on a permanent that can be offered as tribute to Dispute too, but you might as well see yourself using the new craft mechanic to transform it.
It is true that the Sepulcher effect looks fairly slow for the format and its activation is costly. In a remote past , similar cost and effect, saw some play in white-black midrange builds but remained lackluster. The Blade may prove better in some deck running like Mardu, but there are plenty of reasons to play it in Gardens as well. It enables plays like a turn two removal by the Blade with a Dispute or Offering on turn three, which can greatly speed up the deck and seems too good to pass on.
is a new flavor of Deadly Dispute. It is a downgrade because the Treasure lets you ramp into things like , but there are reasons to run both cards and to pick Offering over . Between all its removal and the chump blocker off , Black Gardens isn't pressed for life gain. While some decks won't make the swap, Black Gardens definitely should. Not only can you look at a four-for-one trade if you get a land from the Map and sacrifice something like , you can do a three-for-one and pump some creature. Imagine a 1/2 Plant token that can fight for the or the . Even better, imagine a 2/2 that can wrath a board made of or tokens while remaining alive!
Midrange decks tend to have flexibility in the way they are built as there are plenty of reactive spells, and finetuning is needed to correctly place the game plan into the environment. The suggested list does not run , but this can easily change if the need arises. Be open to experimentation and respect the meta you are facing, and you should have success with the deck.
| Black Gardens (based on the latest lists by Heisen01 and Hampuse1)
|
|---|
| Main Deck | Sideboard |
|---|
| | |
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, not of Cardmarket.
