Introduction
This deck is part of the Pauper Decks, which are made from only common cards. The great thing about Pauper is the majority of the cards are cheap to buy, and are still strong as there are quite a lot of good common cards over Magic's history.
Key Strategy
The Flicker deck is a value-driven, control strategy that revolves around abusing “enter the battlefield” effects (ETB) through flicker mechanics. The deck is designed to generate incremental advantage over time, using flicker spells to repeatedly trigger powerful ETB abilities while maintaining a resilient defense. Your key to victory lies in outlasting your opponent by drawing more cards, gaining life, and eventually overwhelming them with card advantage and resilient threats.
Archaeomancer + Ephemerate/Ghostly Flicker: Archaeomancer is the cornerstone of the deck’s recursion engine. When Archaeomancer enters the battlefield, it allows you to return an instant or sorcery from your graveyard to your hand. This ability pairs perfectly with flicker spells like Ephemerate and Ghostly Flicker, allowing you to create loops where you can repeatedly flicker Archaeomancer and return the flicker spell itself to your hand. This loop lets you continuously reuse other powerful ETB creatures like Mulldrifter or Dawnbringer Cleric, generating massive card advantage or controlling the board.
Mulldrifter + Snap/Flicker: Mulldrifter is one of the deck’s primary sources of card draw. When it enters the battlefield, you draw two cards, providing immediate value. By flickering Mulldrifter with spells like Ephemerate or Ghostly Flicker, you can draw additional cards without having to spend mana to recast it. The deck also includes Snap, a spell that not only returns a creature to its owner’s hand but also untaps two lands, effectively allowing you to replay or protect Mulldrifter while keeping your mana available for other spells.
Sunscape Familiar + Meeting of Minds: Sunscape Familiar is a key piece in the deck’s mana acceleration strategy, reducing the cost of your blue spells by one. This makes cards like Meeting of Minds (which already draws you two cards) even more efficient, often allowing you to cast it for just one blue mana. With multiple Sunscape Familiars in play, you can chain together spells and draw through your deck at an alarming rate, setting up your flicker combos or finding the right answers to your opponent’s threats.
God-Pharaoh's Faithful + Flicker Spells: God-Pharaoh's Faithful is your go-to card for stabilizing against aggressive decks. Whenever you cast a blue, black, or red spell, God-Pharaoh's Faithful gains you 1 life, which quickly adds up given the number of cheap blue spells in your deck. This life gain, combined with Ephemerate or Ghostly Flicker, ensures that you stay out of reach of burn spells or aggressive creatures, giving you the time needed to set up your late-game plan.
The Modern Age: The Modern Age provides a steady flow of card selection and eventually transforms into Vector Glider, a 2/3 flying creature. This card is a reliable source of value, offering card filtering in the early turns and a flying threat in the later stages of the game. It fits well within the deck's strategy of maintaining a constant flow of resources.
Deep Analysis: This card is a perfect fit for a deck that thrives on drawing cards and filling its graveyard. Deep Analysis provides immediate draw power, and with its flashback ability, it ensures that you can continue to draw cards even after the initial casting. This keeps your hand full and your graveyard stocked with spells for Archaeomancer to retrieve.
Dawnbringer Cleric: Dawnbringer Cleric is a versatile tool that can deal with a variety of threats. It offers you the option to destroy an enchantment, exile a card from a graveyard, or gain 2 life when it enters the battlefield. Paired with your flicker spells, Dawnbringer Cleric becomes a flexible answer to many different types of threats, whether it’s an opponent’s graveyard strategy, an annoying enchantment, or just the need for some extra life.
Preordain + Prohibit + Lose Focus: Preordain is your primary tool for early game card selection, helping you dig for lands or key combo pieces. Prohibit and Lose Focus serve as your counterspells, ensuring that you can protect your board state and prevent your opponent from resolving their most dangerous spells. These spells help you maintain control over the game while setting up your flicker engines.
The Flicker deck wins by generating overwhelming card advantage and board control. By repeatedly flickering creatures like Archaeomancer and Mulldrifter, you’ll draw more cards and keep your hand stocked with answers to your opponent’s threats. Over time, your opponent will run out of resources while you continue to build up your board state. The Modern Age and Vector Glider offer additional threats in the air, while Sunscape Familiar ensures you have the mana to cast multiple spells in a turn.
Against slower decks, you can grind out the game by looping Archaeomancer and Ephemerate or Ghostly Flicker to ensure a constant stream of removal, card draw, and protection. Against faster decks, God-Pharaoh's Faithful and Dawnbringer Cleric provide the life gain and stabilization needed to survive until you can take over the game.
The Flicker deck is a masterclass in resource management and value generation. By leveraging the power of flicker effects with powerful ETB creatures, the deck can outlast and outvalue nearly any opponent. With the ability to stabilize against aggressive decks, control the board against midrange strategies, and outdraw other control decks, Flicker is a versatile and resilient choice for players who enjoy intricate, synergy-driven gameplay. Whether you’re looping Archaeomancer for infinite value or drawing your deck with Mulldrifter and Meeting of Minds, this deck offers a rewarding and engaging experience that can adapt to a wide variety of matchups.
Key Cards
Cards to look for in the opening hand