You know that smug feeling you get when your opponent realizes they’ll never resolve another creature spell again? That’s the heart of Pactdoll Control — a Pauper deck that turns every little trinket into a weapon, every draw into a dagger, and every death into pure, distilled value. It’s a hybrid of artifact grind and Dimir control, built to squeeze the life (and patience) out of your opponents one trigger at a time.
Creatures (10)
- 2x Pactdoll Terror — The big closer. Once the board is clear, this drains life until your opponent concedes out of emotional fatigue.
- 4x Refurbished Familiar — The deck’s engine. It draws cards, loops itself with sacrifice outlets, and basically refuses to die quietly.
- 4x Tandem Lookout — Bonds with Familiar for a personal draw factory. If this sticks, you’re not running out of cards ever again.
Sorceries (5)
- 1x Raven’s Crime — Turns useless land draws into targeted discard. Opponents hate this, which makes it perfect.
- 4x Thoughtcast — The reason to go artifact-heavy. Two mana, draw two cards. Sometimes one mana. Sometimes free. It’s almost unfair.
Instants (11)
- 3x Cast Down — Efficient creature removal that clears the way for your engine to breathe.
- 4x Fanatical Offering — The glue that holds the deck together. Sac an artifact or creature, draw two, make a Treasure. Chef’s kiss.
- 3x Metallic Rebuke — Counterspell with style. Taps your artifacts to make opponents pay three more. Tempo and flex in one card.
- 1x Reckoner’s Bargain — Instant-speed insurance policy. Draw cards, gain life, and reset the board advantage back to you.
Artifacts (14)
- 4x Black Mage’s Rod — Your win condition. Turns extra mana into pain and gives the deck inevitability.
- 3x Blood Fountain — Early setup, late recursion. Digs your graveyard for key pieces when the game drags on.
- 2x Cryogen Relic — Graveyard hate that replaces itself. Great in mirrors and against Reanimator decks.
- 4x Ichor Wellspring — The beating heart of your draw engine. Enters and dies with value, loops beautifully with Offering.
- 1x Nihil Spellbomb — Efficient graveyard hate that cantrips. Flexible, cheap, and totally unassuming.
Lands (20)
- 1x Dimir Aqueduct — Bounceland for mana fixing and an extra trigger for Raven’s Crime recursion.
- 1x Dismal Backwater — Small life gain, big impact when racing Burn decks.
- 2x Island — Your basic blue foundation for Thoughtcast and Rebuke.
- 4x Mistvault Bridge — Indestructible duals that feed your artifact count and enable everything.
- 4x Seat of the Synod — Blue artifact land. Every copy makes Thoughtcast cheaper and Rebuke scarier.
- 4x Swamp — Reliable black source for Cast Down and Offering. No surprises here.
- 4x Vault of Whispers — Black artifact land that completes your Metalcraft trifecta.
Sideboard (15)
- 2x Drown in Sorrow — Sweeps small boards and scrys. It’s the anti-token tech you’ll always want post-board.
- 2x Grim Bauble — Spot removal that draws a card. Keeps the artifact count high and tempo solid.
- 4x Hydroblast — For when red decks think they can have nice things. They can’t.
- 3x Snuff Out — Free creature removal that says, “Life is just another resource.”
- 2x Spell Pierce — Stops greedy sorceries and random haymakers before they resolve.
- 2x Tithing Blade — Early removal that flips into steady life drain. Great in grindy mirrors.
Game Plan
Pactdoll Control doesn’t race — it waits. You start small with cards like Blood Fountain and Ichor Wellspring, developing your board while quietly building card advantage. Refurbished Familiar plus Tandem Lookout forms the engine, drawing cards on repeat until you’re buried in options. Fanatical Offering and Reckoner’s Bargain turn every expendable trinket into value, keeping you stocked while bleeding your opponent out through Black Mage’s Rod and Pactdoll Terror.
The early turns are about survival. Counter key threats with Metallic Rebuke and snipe the rest with Cast Down. Once you’ve stabilized, Thoughtcast takes over — it’s your reward for running a deck full of rusted machinery. Your win condition isn’t explosive; it’s inevitable.
Strengths
- Resilient Card Draw: Between Ichor Wellspring, Refurbished Familiar, and Fanatical Offering, you will never be empty-handed.
- Flexible Removal: Cast Down and Snuff Out mean you can answer just about anything on the stack or field.
- Artifact Synergy: Thoughtcast, Rebuke, and your win pieces all thrive on the same ecosystem — the more artifacts, the stronger you get.
- Late-Game Power: Pactdoll Terror and Black Mage’s Rod make sure the match ends on your terms — slowly and painfully (for them).
Weaknesses
- Graveyard Hate: You rely heavily on recursion. Nihil Spellbomb and Cryogen Relic are fine in your hands, but a nightmare across the table.
- Fast Aggro: Early pressure can crack your setup. Lean on sideboard sweepers to stay alive.
- Artifact Destruction: Gorilla Shaman or Ancient Grudge can ruin your day — always pack counters or bounce spells.
Upgrades and Tweaks
- Experiment: Try Deadly Dispute for more sac-draw power if your local meta is slower.
- Alternative Finishers: Falkenrath Noble can replace Pactdoll Terror for an airborne drain plan.
- Mana Base Buff: If you step out of Pauper, Darkwater Catacombs smooths mana perfectly.
Final Thoughts
Pactdoll Control is Dimir at its purest: methodical, cruel, and quietly smug. It’s not here to race; it’s here to dismantle. Every artifact you sacrifice, every draw you replace, every drain trigger that ticks down life totals — it’s all part of the same slow, satisfying grind.
If you like inevitability, precision, and watching opponents realize too late that you’ve already won, this is your deck. Bring snacks — the games might take a while, but victory tastes better when it’s cold.
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