Imoti, Celebrant of BountyImoti, Celebrant of Bounty | Art by Ekaterina Burmak

A pauper EDH deck built around a commander who cares about high mana values? There's no way that would ever work, right? I've been assuming that's the case for months now, and I've stubbornly avoided this commander. I've built decks that desperately want high mana value cards before, and they've never worked out. Not once. Pauper just doesn't have enough strong, big spells. It doesn't matter if your Pauper deck makes a million mana; if the best thing to spend that mana on is an Ulamog's CrusherUlamog's Crusher, you're not winning. But that's what happens when the big spells are your payoff. What if instead of them being the payoff, they were the strategy? You wouldn't need those spells to win the game, you'd just need them to carry you through it.

That's exactly what Imoti, Celebrant of BountyImoti, Celebrant of Bounty does. She gives every spell you cast with mana value six or greater cascade, so all you have to do is play big dudes, and you get rewarded. She offers the payoff of card advantage, and merely requires those large spells to create it. And while Pauper may not have game winning monsters, the format certainly has enough big stuff to fuel Imoti's game plan. So this might work out!

Big Spells to Play With Imoti

We might as well start with the bulk of the deck. Which plus-size cards to use? Imoti requires us to play cards with mana value six, minimum, and since it's always best to keep our mana curve low, you'd think we'd want to play exclusively six-mana cards, and nothing larger. But if we did that, then the maximum mana value of a card we could hit with cascade would be five. And we don't want to play five-mana cards, because they don't trigger Imoti. So instead, our spells are going to cost anywhere from six to nine mana. That way, when we cast a seven-, eight-, or nine-mana spell, the chances of it cascading into another fairly sizeable spell go up significantly. Yeah, this strategy increases our average mana value, but it was gonna be huge anyways, so who cares? Don't worry, we'll have plenty of ramp to make up for it.

But what are the actual cards? How about Maelstrom ColossusMaelstrom Colossus and Annoyed AltisaurAnnoyed Altisaur? The more cascade, the better, right? Maybe we'll take the immense Ulamog's CrusherUlamog's Crusher for that satisfying annihilator trigger. Perhaps we'll grab a copy of It of the Horrid SwarmIt of the Horrid Swarm, because Eldrazi are just kind of menacing in general. There are at least a few big Pauper cards that do cool things, and these are all among them.

But they won't make up the bulk of our horde. Instead, most of our cards are going to be spells that can be cast for six or more mana, but can also be used for much less. Think Mirrorshell CrabMirrorshell Crab. Yes, the card itself is a fearsome crab that would trigger Imoti, but earlier in the game, it can be used as a very effective counterspell.

Luckily for us, Wizards of the Coast has been printing cards like this left and right. Ever since March of the Machine, there's been a cycle of cards in every set that costs six or seven mana, but can be land-cycled for two. Timberland AncientTimberland Ancient, Generous EntGenerous Ent, Topiary PantherTopiary Panther, and Tidal TerrorTidal Terror are all examples of this. And there's more, like Sword Coast SerpentSword Coast Serpent, that can go on an adventure, or Krosan TuskerKrosan Tusker, which can find a basic land and draw a card when cycled.

Then there are cards that will trigger Imoti, but won't actually cost us anything close to six mana. For example, there are the Eldrazi with emerge costs, like Wretched GryffWretched Gryff. Wretched GryffWretched Gryff can be cast for it's emerge cost, minus the cost of a creature that you sacrifice. Essentially, what this means is that you can trigger Imoti, and cascade for a mana value of six, while only paying a single mana.

There are plenty more cards that have the same effect, like Treasure CruiseTreasure Cruise, which has delve, or Siege WurmSiege Wurm, which has convoke. Honestly, it's fairly easy to play cards for less than their advertised cost. Delve, convoke, affinity, emerge, and evoke are all ways that Wizards has made it possible to trigger Imoti for less than six mana.

Top Deck Manipulation

So that's pretty much a summary of the big cards we're playing. But there's another aspect of this deck that I think is underexplored: top deck manipulation. Of course, right? Cascade flips cards off the top of your library, so if you can stack the deck, you'll have much more success. So why is Sigiled StarfishSigiled Starfish not a staple of this deck? The ability to check what's on top before you cast a big spell is so incredibly handy, because you're optimizing your cascades by a significant percentage when you send an Elvish MysticElvish Mystic to the bottom of your deck in hopes of an Eldrazi. Sigiled StarfishSigiled Starfish does that for free, but I'm willing to pay one or two mana to do that that every turn with Darksteel PendantDarksteel Pendant or Seer's LanternSeer's Lantern.

And of course, we can run the classic cantrips, OptOpt, PreordainPreordain, and Serum VisionsSerum Visions. The top of our deck will never be left to fate.

Other Spells for Imoti

The rest of the deck is some removal in the form of bounce spells and counters, and a heck of a lot of ramp, Kodama's ReachKodama's Reach, CultivateCultivate, Rampant GrowthRampant Growth, and all the mana rocks we can run. We're even playing Elvish AberrationElvish Aberration, which is overkill in almost every situation, but is fairly fitting here. We certainly don't want to be running out of mana when our average mana value is... 4.12?! Damn, that's pretty high. But whatever, this deck can handle it.

What do you think of this Imoti, Celebrant of BountyImoti, Celebrant of Bounty list? Is this finally a Pauper deck that thrives with high mana values? Or does it fall victim to all the typical problems that an average mana value of four would face? It's a pretty ridiculous deck when you think about it, given that it waits till turn five to do anything really significant. But there's certainly a lot of power in there. What's your opinion?