Snacker Affinity? Broodscale Combo? Three Pauper decks to watch out for post MH3!

[@TeaAddict1]

I made a spicy aggro version of broodscale. It uses young wolf, greedy freebooter, bayou Groff and bonepicker. It digs with deadly disputes, fanatical offering, the freebooter and wedding invitation. It also uses invitation to get the damage through as well as using escape tunnel.

[@jack0fspades-svg629]

So stompy with a combo in it lol

[@vladdogarel263]

Jack o lantern + molten gatekeeper has to be better than thoughtpicker witch simply due to synergy with gorehound. I’ve tested both and it feels so so so much more consistent

[@Duke_LukeM]

Our thesis is that if you are comboing with a gorehound in play then you have the win 99.99% of the time you just have to find an energy refractor so we want our win-con to be as simple as possible, and thoughtpicker witch also has utility if you draw it normally. Molten gatekeeper also randomly loses to prismatic strands which is unfortunate!

[@claudiomicheli3863]

Jack-o-lantern is pretty genious though, because it takes less slots (at minimum 2, up to 3) and lets the deck combo off with one less black mana. Also, it's maindeck graveyard hate with a cantrip attached for the same cost of an Energy refractor, which can be very relavant in quite a number of matchups (Moggwarts, Altar, Exiling Sneaky Snackers, Dredge, Mirrors etc). The only problem with Molten Gatekeeper seems to be the mana, but otherwise its quite a lot better than Nightblade or Witch (no lifegain from the nightblade is a loss, but i guess the efficiency of having the option of comboing off without the Gorehound would be significant)

[@claudiomicheli3863]

Been testing a similar version of Dredge, but with careful study in place of Brainstorm, and havent been impressed by the mana problems and deep analysis. Now I’m trying the same idea but without the blue, simply having faithless looting in place of careful study and adding 4 Street Wraiths to get to 3 cards drawn (comboes with Scrapwork Mutt), and the deck seems much stronger and fast. I’ve just tested one match with altar tron so far, and won 2-1 because post sideboard we can focus on the hate by siding out the combo thanks to the Snacker. Now that I’ve watched your video, I’m also wonderinf why not try the Malevolent rumble in place of some Blanchwood prowlers, it seems like despite not being a creature in the graveyard the card could just be vastly superior in providing card quality and ramp, making some combo matchups more manageable

[@claudiomicheli3863]

Btw wonderful ideas all around. I was wondering if in the BG combo instead of the Gorehounds maybe using Cloakwood swarmers might provide an alternative wincon that is good on his own while also still comboing off when one has the infinite loop (another infinite infinite attacker might just be enough to end the show directly without having to flip the deck in its entirety). Also, maybe Fanatical Offering might be worth considering given that the map can place +1+1 counters

[@NyxMTG]

super interesting ideas! i think rumble can work in sooo many shells!

[@claudiomicheli3863]

@@NyxMTG God, now i’m curious which ones 😂😂

[@JackieVargo]

Cool! I've been playing dredge since they downshifted dread return and giant! I was wondering what your list looks like if you don't mind sharing? It seems pretty sweet!

[@claudiomicheli3863]

@@JackieVargo Sure mate :) Maindeck: 4 Generous Ent 3 Lotleth Giant 4 Satyr Wayfinder 4 Stinkweed Imp 2 Troll of Khazad-dûm 4 Sneaky Snacker 4 Rubblebelt Maverick 4 Scrapwork Mutt 4 Street Wraith 2 Gnaw to the Bone 3 Forest 1 Haunted Mire 3 Swamp 3 Conduit Pylons 1 Wooded Ridgeline 1 Geothermal Bog 1 Twisted Landscape 1 Mountain 4 Dread Return 4 Exhume 4 Faithless Looting 3 Malevolent Rumble Sideboard: 1 Lotleth Giant 1 Dragon Breath 4 Ancient Grudge 4 Coffin Purge 4 Ray of Revelation 1 Gnaw to the Bone You might notice it counts 64 cards: that's because Street Wraith costing zero is a special case where one can break the rules and not impact on the overall land density of the deck. Compared to a more stock Dredge list the creature density is a little different: about 51% compared to the traditional 55%. I haven't found differences in Lothlet Giants being lethal, especially because Street Wraiths can be used to dredge deeper, making the actual creature count in the graveyard higher and the deck overall faster in conjunction with Sneaky Snacker. The sideboard is just a sketch and of course can be tailored to the meta. I would say 4 Ray of revelation is probably overkill, and the slots can be used for something else if you don't expect huge amounts of Bogles/don't care. An argument can be made for Flaring Pains and Bojuka Bogs (easy to find with Satyrs and Rumbles, probably useful in the incoming Snacker meta), but i'm not sure yet. The Twisted landscape is just to add a 4th source of red that also rounds up the color requests for black and green. I've been happy with it so far, it tapping for colorless can make a difference with hardcasted Dread Returns and double reanimation turns.

[@davidny212]

Great take on affinity!

[@NyxMTG]

We put our money where our mouth is! I’ve been spamming this to great success and Luke already 5-0’d!

[@davidny212]

@@NyxMTG Great! I am building it to try out!

[@mazunhoof]

thoughts about Kenku in the grixis list? any argument for/against it? love the concise video thanks

[@NyxMTG]

kenku is insane into the snacker meta, it just depends how safe it will be to animate bridges with so much dust 2 dust around

[@luizotavio2237]

Is snaring gorehound even necessary? Isn't it already lethal to draw thought picker? Like use TP as a 4 of instead

[@Duke_LukeM]

The difference is that Gorehound is useful when we are not comboing because it is card selection, wheras the witch is not. We only ever want one thoughtpicker witch, on the turn we are winning the game, wheras we want a gorehound in every game and it's a good turn 1 play. This means that 4 gorehound is much preferable to 4 TPW

[@CharlotteMimic]

Landscape vs. Bouncelands will be a very interesting dynamic going forward. I wouldn't be surprised if (non-affinity) decks never used *any* other dual lands after MH3.

[@weenblizzard9780]

Isnt there a deadly dispute type card that makes map tokens? Seems like a good fit for the broodscale deck

[@NyxMTG]

Fanatical Offering seems like another solid include yeah!

[@grahampage6353]

How about a Nadir's Nightblade for the Lizard Twin deck?

[@grahampage6353]

And Rite of Consumption as alternate wincons...

[@NyxMTG]

They do take a lot less clicks online so they could be worth trying

[@CharlotteMimic]

Oh shit I totally missed Sneaky Snacker, that's nuts!

[@NyxMTG]

Snacker is crazy!!

[@malte54]

I still do think broodscale, witness and gorehound are perfect cards for a tortex build. Witness gets back tortex, tortex gets back witness, gorehound will find any of those at some point.

[@lars_rosenberg]

Lizard Twin is a nice name, but I prefer Gleezard.

[@NyxMTG]

both seem great 😎

[@rang069]

Why mesmeric fiend and not skullcap snail? What am i missing?

[@Adrianovaz2007]

Fiend lets you look into the opp's hand and choose what's exiled

[@NyxMTG]

fiend is targeted so you get to choose what to take (counterspells or removal)

[@rang069]

@@NyxMTG ah thanks, sorry i somehow disnt catch that

[@dakkaboi1419]

Its January 2026 and broodscale has just been banned. 'Pauper is dead' the players cry; 'Why would NOTC do this?' Everyone is back next week playing gardens anyway.

[@Mattatamus]

Thought picker witch takes so many clicks to exile your opponents library. RiP your clock

[@NyxMTG]

Yeah, it really does 😅 luckily a lot of the time you can just loop extra glees and swing for lethaln

[@franksantana6859]

Ban the artifact lands in pauper for the love of god

[@astrograph7875]

No

[@NyxMTG]

😂😅