Achievement Unlocked - Building a PDH "Commons Only" Deck
June 19, 2023 by
Benjamin Nicol 
(Impulsive Pilferer | Art by Jakub Kasper)
“Common” Sense Deckbuilding
Have you ever made a Commander bucket list? Welcome to Achievement Unlocked, where we take a look at the cool and unique things you can do in this format other than just winning.
Have you ever built a PDH or Pauper EDH deck? PDH is a thriving community of players who live to build decks with the cards that so often get lost in our trade binders. Pauper is a Magic: The Gathering format made up of only common rarity cards. The same is true of PDH, but with the singleton rule and an exception for our commander which will be uncommon.
If you've never built a deck with this restriction, I highly encourage you to. The exercise will undoubtedly make you a stronger Magic player as well as a deck brewer. Today, I will make my case for why every Commander player should build a PDH deck. I'll try my hand at building around a Partner duo I have long wanted to try out, Keskit and Dargo.
Why Should You Build a Pauper Commander Deck?
Budget
Common Magic cards are incredibly cheap and accessible. This is a huge draw of the Pauper format as well as Pauper EDH. Many of your Commander staples can slot right into a Pauper deck. For example, every deck can still utilize ramp staples with green decks turning to Rampant Growth and Cultivate, while every other color still has access to the Guild Signets and Arcane Signet.
The Challenge
Building a Pauper deck is an interesting exercise, especially if you have never done it before. You'll be able to use cards that your playgroup has likely never seen before barring a game of Limited. It'll increase your knowledge of the game and potentially even help you find some cards to put into your other decks.
There are also some deckbuilding challenges unique to the format that you will face as well. Card advantage (outside of blue) can be harder to come by. Consequently, you have to lean on cards that generate inherent card advantage. Encore, Flashback, Jump-Start, and Unearth all give us access to cards a second time. We can also discard these cards with Faithless Looting or Cathartic Reunion and still get use out of them, mitigating the downside of discarding. This challenge forces you to think outside of the box and expand your conception of card advantage. All of these deckbuilding skills and considerations translate directly back to your average Commander deckbuilding.
The Power Level
You may think you're giving up a lot of power by only using commons, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of powerful ways to win a game. Win conditions such as Gray Merchant of Asphodel are powerhouses in the format that replace traditional win conditions, such as Craterhoof Behemoth.
Treasure Cruise was good enough to see it banned in various formats, but it's a staple here along with Syphon Mind and Keep Watch to fill out card draw slots. Storm is one of the most broken mechanics of all time and we have access to plenty of options here. Grapeshot, Chatterstorm, Empty the Warrens, and Galvanic Relay are all all-stars and can even be win conditions in the right deck.
We don't have Force of Will, but that doesn't mean we don't have access to plenty of free spells, like Gush, Snuff Out, and Downhill Charge to name a few. Free spells are obviously incredibly powerful and game-swinging. We don't have to give them up to play this format.
Perhaps the easiest way to win games is through combos, and there is no shortage of combos in Pauper EDH. Peregrine Drake, Presence of Gond, and Putrid Goblin each have powerful combos that can close out a game.
Compatibility
The rules of PDH dictate that players choose any uncommon creature as the commander of their deck. This includes legends and non-legends. If you're just dipping your toes into the format, I encourage you to choose a legendary commander. Many of the format's most powerful legends are Partner pairings or creatures with a Background. Other popular commanders, such as Tatyova, Benthic Druid, are legendary already.
If you choose a legend then your deck is cross-compatible with the regular EDH format. Your playgroup might let you Rule-0 an uncommon commander, but if you want to ensure that you can play, choose one of the many powerful and interesting uncommon legends.
The Deck
Keskit and Dargo are a strange pair. They both focus on sacrificing creatures, but are very different cards. We are going to play to the strengths of both of these cards and how they play differently.
This deck is built around Keskit, the Flesh Sculptor. Dargo, the Shipwrecker is the finisher in this deck. Let's start with building around Keskit: Keskit has a huge payoff for a pretty steep cost. To maximize this ability, we want cards that make tokens or otherwise recur themselves. We need cards that provide more than a card's worth of value. We can't afford to sacrifice three legitimate cards and expect to get anywhere. The cheaper these cards, the better! Impulsive Pilferer is an all-star and a card that should see more play in regular Commander. This card creates so much material that we can sacrifice. Patron of the Arts and Mogg War Marshal also give us a lot of cardboard for a small cost.
There are plenty of spells that create multiple creatures, from the new Rally at the Hornburg to Ral's Reinforcements and Dragon Fodder. All these cards give us more creatures than we can even sacrifice with our commander. In that case, we can turn to Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, and Reckoner's Bargain to draw even more cards.
There are a variety of artifacts that create a token upon entering and leaving. Prized Statue and Nimblewright Schematic each account for three sacrificial permanents, and we can recur them with Myr Retriever or Workshop Assistant for even more value.
Winning the Game
Dargo, the Shipwrecker, is a huge Pirate. Beating face is definitely a legitimate way to close out the game, and Dargo is not hard to recast if killed. On top of that, we can combine it with Assault Strobe, Buccaneer's Bravado, or Raking Claws to kill a player out of nowhere.
Dargo is also a combo engine in this deck and we can instantly cast and sacrifice it when combined with Thermopod. All we have to do then is throw in a payoff, such as Impact Tremors or Witty Roastmaster, to finish all our opponents at once with this easy-to-assemble combo.
In a pinch, if neither of the above strategies work, there are ways to attrition out the table. This deck is full of creatures that slowly drain our opponents. The aforementioned Witty Roastmaster is joined by Reckless Fireweaver and Disciple of the Vault to kill our opponents over time or ensure they die to one last hit from Dargo.
Conclusion
PDH offers a challenging and cheap deckbuilding exercise that I think everyone should try at some point whether or not they have a full playgroup for it. You can easily build a deck on a budget that will hold its own against a non-rarity-restricted pod.
Have you ever built a PDH deck before? Let me know in the comments below which commander you built around and any standout cards!
PDH Keskit/Dargo
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Benjamin Nicol
Ben is a Michigan native who fell in love with Magic just a few years ago in 2019. He loves making big splashy plays in Commander as well as crunching the number to optimize his decks. Outside of Magic, he works in marketing and loves a great cup of coffee to start each morning… maybe with a splash of hot chocolate for his sweet tooth.
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