Ink & Drain

Strategy

Orzhov repartee tempo for Pauper. Land cheap resilient bodies, then chain one-mana spells that target creatures: each one triggers the whole board. Melancholic Poet drains a life, Inkling Mascot turns into a flier and surveils, Rehearsed Debater grows, and the spell itself still does its job — tapping a blocker, saving a creature, or adding a counter. You attack from turn three while Wander Off and Last Gasp keep the battlefield clear, and the constant 1-point drains close the game even through a stalled board.

Roles

• Threat: Melancholic Poet is the engine — with two Poets out, every targeted spell is a 2-point swing; Rehearsed Debater and Inkling Mascot attack through pump and evasion; Sneering Shadewriter adds a flying finisher with a 4-point ETB swing.
• Removal: 4x Wander Off exiles anything, 2x Last Gasp handles early threats, Rapier Wit taps down attackers and blockers at instant speed.
• Protection: 4x Masterful Flourish — one black mana for indestructible blanks removal and wins any combat, while triggering all your repartee bodies.
• Card draw: Rapier Wit cantrips, Cost of Brilliance draws two and triggers repartee, Imperious Inkmage and Inkling Mascot surveil away flooded draws.
• Lands: 22 lands with 4x Forum of Amity for fixing plus a late-game surveil sink.

Synergies & curve

Curve: 1 mana (10 spells), 2 mana (12 cards), 3 (8), 4 (4), 5 (2) — nearly everything costs 1-2, so double-spell turns start on turn 4. Dig Site Inventory is the best repartee card in the pool: one mana, a permanent counter, and its {W} flashback means a single card triggers the Poet twice. Surveil from eight creatures fills the graveyard with Dig Sites to rebuy. Wander Off targets THEIR creature, so even removal grows your Debaters and lifts your Mascots.

End-of-turn Rapier Wit tapping their blocker: you draw a card, each Poet drains, the Mascot gains flying, the Debater grows — then you untap and swing into an empty board.

Weak spots

No turn-one play — the deck starts on turn two, so very fast starts can steal early damage. Only two hard removal effects hit before turn four; a resolved huge threat must be raced or exiled at 4 mana. Nothing interacts with enchantments or artifacts, and the drain engine folds if the opponent kills every Poet on sight — lean on Masterful Flourish to protect them.