Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living

Standard Pauper enthusiast rremedio1, who also serves as co-host of SPDC, has consistently placed in the top ranks of the last two Standard Pauper Player Run Events with an innovative decklist he calls Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living (full props if you get the reference; if not, click the link). While at its core it remains fundamentally a Mono-Black Control build, rremedio1's tweaks to include both White and Blue have resulted in a very interesting and rewarding variant. Let's take a look:

Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living

MPDC 28.01 2nd / SPDC 28.02 Top 4

Creatures 4 Pharika's Chosen 4 Black Cat 4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel 2 Disciple of Phenax 1 Scholar of Athreos 2 Typhoid Rats 1 Servant of Tymaret 18 cards Other Spells 4 Treasure Cruise 2 Voyage's End 3 Sign in Blood 3 Pharika's Cure 1 Peel from Reality 2 Raise the Alarm 3 Read the Bones 1 Harsh Sustenance 19 cards

Lands 4 Dismal Backwater 4 Evolving Wilds 1 Island 8 Swamp 4 Scoured Barrens 1 Tranquil Cove 1 Plains 23 cards Sideboard 1 Negate 3 Festergloom 1 Disdainful Stroke 1 Disciple of Phenax 1 Nimbus Naiad 1 Last Breath 2 Arashin Cleric 2 Voyage's End 1 Harsh Sustenance 1 Sandblast 1 Unmake the Graves 15 cards

As I mentioned last time, it's arguable that the two best cards in the format right now are Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Treasure Cruise, and this deck is well suited to take full advantage of both. Similar to the popular Izzet Control deck, this list plays a variety of cheap spells designed to quickly fill up the Graveyard to enable Delve on Treasure Cruise. Unlike the more popular Dimir variants, this deck packs 6 additional card draw spells, enabling it to reliably find a few 'silver-bullets' that are included as one-ofs: Scholar of Atheros, Servant of Tyramet, Peel from Reality, and Harsh Sustenance. Backing up this selection of spells are 6 copies of Pharika's Chosen (2 of which are of course actually Typhoid Rats), hand disruption in the form of Black Cat and Disciple of Phenax, and the more typical removal of Pharika's Cure and Voyage's End.

The innovation of 'lightly' splashing for both White and Blue is what makes this deck so strong. Scholar of Atheros is particularly good in the late game, giving you a repeatable mana sink that can add up to a ton of damage and lifegain. Peel from Reality is also amazing value with Gray Merchant or Disciple of Phenax. All in all this looks like a very fun deck, and one that I will definitely have to experiment with going forward.