Erinis, Gloom StalkerErinis, Gloom Stalker | art by Ioannis Flore

Background Check

Every once in a while I check out the top commanders of Pauper on PDHREC, and pretty often, something catches me unaware. This time, it was the realization that the second most-played commander and Background is the pairing of Erinis, Gloom StalkerErinis, Gloom Stalker and Street UrchinStreet Urchin.

Huh? Street UrchinStreet Urchin wants you to sacrifice artifacts or creatures, and Erinis resurrects lands. What is this deck supposed to do? Sacrifice exclusively artifact lands? I mean, I've heard of worse strategies, but surely that's not strong enough to justify the high ranking.

It wasn't until I read that Erinis has deathtouch that I realized what was going on. Street UrchinStreet Urchin specifies that it's your commander who has the ability to deal direct damage, meaning that Erinis is able to one-shot any creature for just a single mana and a sacrifice. Ohhhh. Yeah, that's pretty strong, and I now I really want to build this deck!

But while the strongest part of the deck is the ridiculous removal ability, its main appeal to me is the wide variety of things we can do.

We want to be sacrificing lands, creatures, and artifacts, so we're leaning into some graveyard themes, but we also want to use Erinis to recur lands, so we have a bit of a ramp going as well. And of course, for Erinis to trigger, we've got to attack with him, so we'll have to commit a bit to a combat theme.

And yeah, this sounds like a lot to cram into one deck, but because these are all fairly popular themes, there's a significant amount of overlap between them all.

For instance, take Goldvein PickGoldvein Pick. It's perfect here, because we're going to ensure that Erinis is always gonna have a means of attacking and dealing damage, which will trigger the Pick and fuel Street UrchinStreet Urchin.

Or, there's Springbloom DruidSpringbloom Druid, which will ramp us, feed the graveyard for Erinis, and later be something to sacrifice. Most of our goals are actually pretty easy to accomplish, and that's going to make this a powerful deck.

Good Eye, Sniper

Let's start with the main theme, using deathtouch and Street Urchin to mow down the board. I mean, all we really need here is a bunch of creatures and artifacts to sacrifice. Treasures, Food, 1/1 tokens, anything will do here.

Stuff like Writhing ChrysalisWrithing Chrysalis and Emrakul's HatcherEmrakul's Hatcher are great, of course, making an absolute load of tokens, but to really find the best cards to use, we have to think about other aspects of this deck.

Take Rapacious OneRapacious One. It has the potential to make a ton of tokens, but it rarely gets through to deal combat damage because it's so obviously a threat.

But if we consider the fact that we're gonna be running a ton of evasion for Erinis anyways, we can make the assumption that we'll have a bit spare for Rapacious OneRapacious One, and it becomes an incredible card in this deck.

It's the same for SporemoundSporemound and Elfsworn GiantElfsworn Giant, who'll be churning out a ton of tokens because of Erinis recurring lands. Also, there are all the artifact lands, Tree of TalesTree of Tales, Great FurnaceGreat Furnace, and Slagwoods BridgeSlagwoods Bridge, that we can theoretically sacrifice over and over again.

Of course, most of our sacrifice fodder is going to be pretty typical, just cards like Patron of the ArtsPatron of the Arts, that'll make a few tokens on its own. Mogg War MarshalMogg War Marshal, Impulsive PilfererImpulsive Pilferer, Big ScoreBig Score, it's all the usual suspects.

Between those cards and Beamtown BeatstickBeamtown Beatstick, Goldvein PickGoldvein Pick, and Prying BladePrying Blade, which will all make a Treasure upon contact, we should be able to trigger Street Urchin plenty.

Turning the Earth

Then we have to worry about having lands in the graveyard for Erinis to bring back. For this bit, I decided to just accomplish the task with card advantage pieces. Demand AnswersDemand Answers is perfect, letting us discard a land or sacrifice an artifact we might have laying around.

And the payoff is drawing two cards! Big ScoreBig Score, Unexpected WindfallUnexpected Windfall, and Seize the SpoilsSeize the Spoils all lie in the same vein, filling out our card advantage section very nicely.

But there's still more! Grapple with the PastGrapple with the Past, Cache GrabCache Grab, and Malevolent RumbleMalevolent Rumble stock our graveyard directly, then get a card back. Malevolent RumbleMalevolent Rumble even makes a token for Street Urchin! See what I was saying about all our different themes feeding each other?

Unfortunately, this set of cards isn't living up to its full potential, as we only have recursion for lands, but that should be good enough, and I think they still have a spot in this deck.

Finally, there's Orcish LumberjackOrcish Lumberjack, a card that's been nuts since it was first printed in Ice Age. I mean, it adds three mana just for sacrificing a land that Erinis will get right back. That's about as perfect as it gets.

Swingin' Away

Finally, we'll turn our attention to letting Erinis attack. The fact that he has deathtouch should go a long way in letting him attack, but just to be safe, we'll toss in a number of wings, from the cobbled ones to the ones that show hubris. And of course, we can't forget Whispersilk CloakWhispersilk Cloak.

Since we're on the subject of Equipment to put on Erinis, we might as well talk about a few other garments. How about Snake UmbraSnake Umbra? Yup, that enchantment lets us draw a card every single time we activate street Urchin. Then we've got Viridian LongbowViridian Longbow, which is effectively a backup of Street UrchinStreet Urchin.

For one more layer of security, we'll make sure Erinis is well defended by tossing in Gaea's GiftGaea's Gift, Tamiyo's SafekeepingTamiyo's Safekeeping, Ranger's GuileRanger's Guile, and Snakeskin VeilSnakeskin Veil. Better safe than sorry, right? Those cards will win the game if you wait long enough to use them.

On paper, I would never have expected this deck to work... which is why I'm going to play with it in MTG Arena! Haha, just kidding.

But the point is, I'm glad I tried this deck out, because it's really cool. There's a lot of stuff to do, and it has a ton of variation in gameplay between games, in comparison to other decks.

One moment, you might be focused on getting Erinis to attack, the next you could be sniping creatures with Street Urchin. There's a lot of fun to be had here, and I'm gonna have all of it.