Halo ForagerHalo Forager | Art by Kevin Sidharta

Halo There!

Halo ForagerHalo Forager has been one of my favorite cards for a while, because I used it as a means of casting Living EndLiving End or any of the Time Spiral suspend cards from the graveyard. Because they have no mana cost, they can't be cast normally, but Halo ForagerHalo Forager gets around that the same way cascade or suspend does, and lets us cast them from the graveyard for no mana, instantly!

But I'm surprised I never noticed that it was legal as a Pauper commander, because I think it could helm an awesome Pauper deck as well.

Unfortunately, there's nothing quite as cool as cheating out Living EndLiving End that we can do in Pauper, but that doesn't mean that Halo ForagerHalo Forager isn't still a good card. For three mana, we cast it and get what is essentially flashback on an instant or sorcery in our graveyard. Not incredible, but it provides us with a solid utility that we can improve on with the rest of the 99. We'll turn that into a control deck built around casting as many instants and sorceries as possible, winning through card advantage and responses.

The idea is to be consistently turning cogs and gaining minor advantages until the game is over, using our commander to guide it all.

Don't Blink!

As it seems to be with most things in Pauper, our commander gets a lot out of being blinked. We can pay one for an Essence FluxEssence Flux, retrigger the enters-the-battlefield ("ETB"), and get to cast another spell with flashback. We're in black and blue, so it's extremely easy to do, and we even get two spell cast triggers from it.

Plus, once we've stacked a ton of them in the graveyard, we can chain them off in sequence and have once explosive turn of casting flickers. Planar IncisionPlanar Incision, DisplaceDisplace, Ghostly FlickerGhostly Flicker, and Essence FluxEssence Flux are the best, but Not Dead After AllNot Dead After All can also do the trick if we pair it with a Corrupted ConvictionCorrupted Conviction.

Let's make sure those spells aren't useless if our commander is in the zone. We'll grab ArchaeomancerArchaeomancer, Mnemonic WallMnemonic Wall, Salvager of SecretsSalvager of Secrets, and Repository SkaabRepository Skaab, creatures who are sometimes even better than our Fairy commander. They're a great help when we need a backup, and they can be manipulated the same way Halo ForagerHalo Forager can with blink spells or recursion.

Return From the Grave

Running so many creatures like that gives me an idea. They're gonna die, so we might as well have a bit of actual recursion, besides Not Dead After AllNot Dead After All.

ExhumeExhume is notable as a busted spell in 60-card formats, and it can be strong here too, as long as our opponents don't have a stacked graveyard. If they do, we can just play cards like Revoke DemiseRevoke Demise. Is five mana to recur a creature a lot? Yeah, but I still kind of like these cards; they do exactly what I need, even if it's for a bit much. Plus, they're instants, meaning they can be returned with the very ArchaeomancerArchaeomancer they're recurring.

I'm gonna go ahead and toss in Stir the GraveStir the Grave and Dread ReturnDread Return for the same reasons. Effective, always useful, and on theme.

The best thing about recursion and flashback decks is that we don't need to wait for our graveyard to fill itself naturally. We can just mill ourselves! Milling is great because it's technically supposed to be a downside, so Wizards of the Coast makes it really easy do.

Chronic FloodingChronic Flooding cast on ourselves will fill our graveyard with ease, practically drawing two extra cards every turn. And by that metric, Jace's ErasureJace's Erasure doubles our draws.

Another fantastic addition would be Iceberg CancrixIceberg Cancrix, but keep in mind, that card costs $20. Not because the card itself is that pricey, but because snow-covered basics are still over 50 cents apiece! Yeah, it's probably not worth the money, especially in a format that's supposed to be budget.

Slingin' Spells

Now, with all that mill, recursion, flashback, and eventually, removal and responses, we're gonna be casting a ton of instants and sorceries. Lets not waste those triggers! The card that always comes to mind first is Murmuring MysticMurmuring Mystic. Even outside of Pauper, a Bird for every spell is extremely strong, and they pair nicely here with our flying commander.

Besides the bird guy, we have Windrider WizardWindrider Wizard and Academy WallAcademy Wall, drawing and discarding a card for every instant and sorcery. Finally, we've got Cruel WitnessCruel Witness, who lets us surveil for every trigger.

And since we're casting mostly blue instants and sorceries, we can reduce their cost with Mocking SpriteMocking Sprite or Nightscape FamiliarNightscape Familiar. Those cards are handy anywhere, but especially here where there are a lot of two-cost cards. By cutting the mana in half, we double the number of spells we can play a turn.

Control Panel

Now to talk about our control package. At the end of the day, we're in black and blue, casting instants and sorceries, and there's really only one way to play that: a ton of removal and counterspells. Both are extremely easy to come by, with Feed the SwarmFeed the Swarm, Snuff OutSnuff Out, and Go for the ThroatGo for the Throat as excellent kill spells, and CounterspellCounterspell, Arcane DenialArcane Denial, and NegateNegate as easy counters.

With the amount of card advantage in this deck, we'll be able to ensure our opponents never go unchecked.

Speaking of card advantage, we should play a bit of the basics. Yes, our deck is all about getting that advantage with mill and flashback, but on turn two, it's still great to cast a Night's WhisperNight's Whisper or Sign in BloodSign in Blood. Despite having blue in this deck, the majority of our card draw spells will be black, with cards like Corrupted ConvictionCorrupted Conviction, Deadly DisputeDeadly Dispute, and Village RitesVillage Rites taking the crown as most efficient.

Blue still has some decent picks though, with Winged WordsWinged Words as a notable highlight because our commander has flying.

Halo Forager Pauper Commander Deck List

And that's the deck. We draw cards, we mill cards, we cast instants and sorceries, and then we do all of that but with flashback or recursion. It's a strong enough engine, but I do wonder if it's really capable of closing out the game.

Stuff like Tolarian TerrorTolarian Terror and Cryptic SerpentCryptic Serpent are big creatures and potent reanimation targets, but are they good in a Commander format? Probably not. This deck's best game plan is just to wait it out, and hopefully swing in with a flyer at the very end. Control really isn't my favorite strategy for this reason, so maybe in the future we'll try and devise a clear means of winning for this kind of deck.