Tannuk, Memorial EnsignTannuk, Memorial Ensign | Art by David Auden Nash

Well, Edge of Eternities just came out, so I oughta build at least one Pauper deck with an EOE uncommon. I'd love to build a few, but honestly, I didn't really see that many options, and the choice has more or less been made for me. There just weren't many creatures that stood out as powerful, and the most unique thing I saw was the option to make Lander tokens, which are just glorified Wayfarer's BaubleWayfarer's Baubles.

However, there was one really strong uncommon, who happens to be the third most played commander from this set. Tannuk, Memorial EnsignTannuk, Memorial Ensign is just a commander who demands landfall, like many before him, but he draws cards and deals damage, so he's everything a Magic deck wants.

Theoretically, with him on the board, the only thing we have to do is play lands, and that just so happens to be something Pauper excels at. Because mana is such an essential part of Magic, there's plenty of land tech to be found at common.

I've done this before, and I expect absolutely no difficulty when it comes to making a powerful land deck for Tannuk. It's the same for artifacts and spellslinger as well. Those themes are so quintessential to Magic that Wizards has ensured they're printed into every corner of the game.

If you're strategy is fairly basic, you can usually count on being able to make a strong Pauper deck with it.

Ramping It Up

But back to Tannuk and lands. There's really not a whole lot to this deck for me to talk about. I mean, what do you expect? We're gonna run CultivateCultivate and Kodama's ReachKodama's Reach, obviously, along with all the other typical ramp pieces. Rampant GrowthRampant Growth, Three VisitsThree Visits, HarrowHarrow, ExploreExplore, blah blah blah. We want lands, and these cards are the best possible ways of getting them onto the battlefield.

Although... they're actually the best for decks that only care about ramping a little bit. We care about ramping a lot! If we run a bunch of cards that are made to work with each other, I bet we can get some pretty great engines going.

If you've ever played against a Pauper Tatyova, Benthic DruidTatyova, Benthic Druid deck, you can probably guess what cards I'm hinting at. It's Walking AtlasWalking Atlas, and all his buddies!

For whatever reason, there's just a ton of these guys. Two-mana creatures who tap to put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. Isn't that handy? It certainly is for us, and we'll be using all of these guys to ensure that we can get two lands onto the battlefield every single turn.

Skyshroud RangerSkyshroud Ranger, another land deployer, rivals ExplorationExploration. Sure, you can make a valid argument that ExplorationExploration is much better because it doesn't die to board wipes, and you can use it the turn you play it, but realistically, does it make that big of a difference?

ExplorationExploration is only ever useful for the beginning of the game, when you have lands in hand. Once someone finds a reason to cast DamnationDamnation, ExplorationExploration will likely be forgotten about. Skyshroud RangerSkyshroud Ranger is just the same card, but it costs $20 less! Awesome for us budget players. And of course, it's legal in Pauper.

That card, plus Sakura-Tribe ScoutSakura-Tribe Scout, ScaretillerScaretiller, Scaled HerbalistScaled Herbalist, and Llanowar ScoutLlanowar Scout are fantastic here, but only as long as we have lands in hand. Although our commander's card draw will help with that, we still have to put in some work.

Usually, I would just cram card draw spells in here, but I think there's a better solution in the form of Lay of the LandLay of the Land. Until now, when I've seen that card, I've immediately dismissed it as garbage that they have to print in every set to make limited playable, but now, I see the use.

Fiiiine, I guess one mana to get a land to hand isn't a bad deal, especially if we can immediately put it onto the board for free. Well, it's mostly the cost of a slot in hand that bothers me, but I suppose our commander makes up for that.

Actually Spending the Mana

With these cheap land fetchers, and our land deployers, we've got a pretty fine engine going that can consistently put two lands down every turn. Excellent! Unfortunately, that won't win us the game by itself.

Our commander does deal a lot of damage, but not a game winning amount. So how do we turn a ridiculous amount of mana into a victory?

I guess that question kind of answers itself. We spend the mana. Untamed MightUntamed Might and Nyxborn HydraNyxborn Hydra can make some pretty tall creatures, and eight-cost monsters like Ulamog's CrusherUlamog's Crusher and Maelstrom ColossusMaelstrom Colossus are quite effective at being big and scary.

We can also take advantage of the fact that we have lands at all. Dance of the TumbleweedsDance of the Tumbleweeds will make us a creature bigger than any we can cast, with power equal to the number of our lands. Then, in the spirit of our commander, we can use landfall triggers on SporemoundSporemound and Elfsworn GiantElfsworn Giant. Those two will summon a swarm, and then SabotenderSabotender just doubles our commander's ability.

A bit of removal, a bit of card draw and this deck's complete. Nothing complicated here, just lands and payoffs. It's a simple deck that serves itself, the kind that thrives in Pauper.

And to be totally honest, I hate it. When I was putting this thing together, it didn't occur to me that I was building shuffle simulator! I guess it should've been obvious, but 90% of playing this deck is searching your library for a basic land. And if you're gonna follow the rules, you've got to shuffle every single time you do.

Even when goldfishing this deck on a digital platform, it's still an annoying process. And it's all for what? Telling you're opponents to "Take one"? Is this what lands players go through every single day? It's torture! The deck plays fine, it could probably win a game or two, but I'll be damned before I actually play with it.

Tannuk, Memorial Ensign Pauper Commander Deck List

I Should Probably Learn to Overhand Shuffle

Well ok, moderate success, I guess. We've got a deck that showcases Edge of Eternities' finest, despite not having a single Lander token in it. It's a deck that's sort of good, if not fun to play. Sooo, same as every other lands deck. Got it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this review of how to make a tutor-shuffle deck in Pauper. Let's tackle something less tedious next time.

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