Hey guys, what up?

This is my first pauper brew and I'm going to preface this by saying; I do not have any tournament results with this list yet, I have yet to use it in a competitive environment yet. I plan on playing at a local soon and updating this page with my results and findings on how match ups felt. But in the mean time I will give a quick explanation for everything!

     First off, the creature count. I have seen a lot of lists in general (primarily BUG lists bc those are the only ones I can find) using 16 creatures. I know that 16 creatures makes it a bit more consistent, BUT using some math I found that in an opening hand of seven, we have an expected value of 1.4 creatures drawn per opening hand. And an expected value of 2 creatures drawn within the first 3 turns of the game. So those are some pretty good odds to draw one of your win conditions especially since 2/3 of the creatures are 2 drops and if you waited to cast until your second turn you would have at least an 85.252% chance of drawing 1 or more creatures, assuming you went first (odds go up if you went second).

     Now I know this sounds like I'm trying to rely on math to sell the idea of running so few threats in a deck that wins by attacking, but hear me out. The mainboard has 10 raw protection spells to protect the one or two threats that you manage to play early on, even more if you include protection from cards like Lightning Bolt or Galvanic Blast. With this many protection spells, it's unlikely your opponent will be able to stop you through them (unless you know they are playing Diabolic Edict or Chainer's Edict but that's what the Spell Pierce's are for).

     The mana base is one thing I can confidently say is solid. The new gates brought to us with Baldur's Gate are insane, especially for infect. The fact that we have a land that is also a mid-late game mana sink and potential kill condition is insane. Basilisk Gate is definitely the reason this has the capability to not only fight a burst game, but a game of attrition if your hand is dead and you need an amazing reusable pump spell.

Now for the sideboard:

• Scattershot Archer is primarily for the Mono U Faeries matchup. It can wipe the board clean of blockers and threats if the oponnent doesn't manage to counter it.
• Blue Elemental Blast you know.
• Counterspell this is primarily brought in for any game that you feel might have either too much removal, or a too many edict effects. It is best brought it against Pestilence decks, or any black deck to be honest. It can save you from Crypt Rats and the aforementioned spells and effects.
• Dispel. Need I say more? But in truth it should be brought in against any blue deck, and it's pretty good against most red decks too.
• Gut Shot can be brought in against a ton of different match ups, whether it be faeries, elves, anything really with a lot of x/1's.
• Ram Through is a great spell that fills in one of our key weaknesses, lack of removal. Ram Through gives us access to a cheap and efficient kill spell that when combined with Rancor can also be a pseudo (slightly worse) double strike.
• Weather the Storm for the downshifting of Monastery Swiftspear.

Please leave my comments on ideas on how to improve the list, or if you like it, or if you think I should scrap it all together. I would love feedback from you all, and if it pops off then maybe I will do a meta sideboard guide or make a video or something. Also if you just want me explanation on card counts or choices then please feel free to ask.