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CUTTING LOTUS PETAL! Giant's Boulder in Cycle Storm — MTG Pauper Rakdos Combo | Magic: the Gathering

The EPIC Storm

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Bryant Cook plays Cycle Storm in a Pauper League on Magic: The Gathering Online! These matches were played on: 09/02/26

///// DECK DESCRIPTION /////
CUTTING LOTUS PETAL! Rakdos Pauper Cycle Storm is a graveyard combo deck built around cycling. You spend the early turns cycling creatures — Street Wraith for free, Monstrous Carabid and Horror of the Broken Lands for a Black mana each — stacking up creatures in the graveyard. When the count is big enough, Songs of the Damned converts every creature into Black mana, Reaping the Graves brings them all back, and you loop the engine until you have enough mana to dump through Drannith Stinger and ping for lethal. Rowan's Grim Search and Page, Loose Leaf dig for missing pieces mid-combo, and Drannith Healer cushions your life total when the cycling costs add up.

The change here is cutting Lotus Petal for Giant's Boulder. Lotus Petal provides an initial free mana — play it, take an action — but it's a stop. If you draw one mid-combo with nothing to cast, it sits there doing nothing. Giant's Boulder scrys when it enters, letting you look two cards deeper on the combo turn. It can also be sacrificed for the Bargain cost of Rowan's Grim Search. You lose some burst speed, but gain consistency — is it worth it?

This deck was submitted by Leon Bayer-Stoltenberg, a Combo Cabal tier patron. Thanks for the donation deck!

Thanks for watching! Like, comment, and subscribe if you enjoy Pauper combo gameplay — and as always... Keep Storming!

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///// VIDEO BREAKDOWN /////
► Decklist — https://links.theepicstorm.com/?c=Klt...
► Sideboard Guide — https://links.theepicstorm.com/?c=njJ...
00:00:00 — Intro
00:00:14 — Deck Tech
————————————————————
00:09:38 — Round 1 vs. pat0Opresidente with Mono-Red Madness Burn
00:27:27 — Round 2 vs. matuneo with White Weenie / Mono-White Aggro
00:35:57 — Round 3 vs. vault_dweller_15 with Gruul Ponza
00:47:07 — Round 4 vs. ZeNonato with Mono-Green Elves
00:56:12 — Round 5 vs. TheJunkDog with Jeskai Affinity
————————————————————
01:06:58 — Wrap-up

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20 Comments

@TheEPICStorm Creator 1 month ago Pinned

@iPhoneeditor 3 weeks ago

One of the few things that felt prohibitive to playing this in paper was getting a playset of lotus petals. The fact this deck can perform this well at a much lower cost makes me want to try it.

@FatesealMagic 3 weeks ago

I'm loving these in-depth deck techs with details on how the deck has changed over the past while.

@blittri13 1 month ago

Fantastic tech 🤩! Loved how you explained the process of getting to this list. Personally, I don’t know about boulder, but as you probably already know, I’m not a superenthusiast of the card. The filtering was amazing, but the lack of speed was noticeable. You also found yourself in the need of mana several times this league: boulder costs 1 where petal gives you 1. It felt like a big difference on combo turn

@garysmith472 3 weeks ago

Urza saga beat downs reminded me of your chitin stalker beatdowns in pauper. Very cool to see the decks transformation again.

@TheEPICStorm Creator 1 month ago

@evilded2 3 weeks ago

When I saw boulder I thought it was insane but it's keeps surpassing even my expectation.

@SalladLimeParsnip 2 weeks ago

Great commentary. Lovely vid. I THINK I used to watch you in the olden days... but have had a mtg break since the stupidities started in 2023

@janwellford 3 weeks ago

20:26 😂

@hudaphux 3 weeks ago

Finally, a budget friendly pauper deck.

@Majicme13 3 weeks ago

I always think to myself that someday we will be able to make a cycle storm deck that can win entirely at instant speed. Maybe it wouldn't be good but it would be fun

@nickjoseph77 10 days ago

Can't wait to see how the deck works with less mana than before but more fixing and card selection in boulder.

@JimWolfie 3 weeks ago

I love how this card is astrolabe but it doesn't ask you play very specific basics

@jeffreyfontecha5611 3 weeks ago

boulder is a great t1 playso happy to see it in my opening 7 rather than a petal. I know you got stuck on 1-landers this league, but I think Boulder allows for more keepable 1 land hands

@FlakManiak 3 weeks ago (edited)

"I know it seems crazy" Yeah, my first thought upon seeing the thumbnail was "that's daft!", but obviously, when I see a wacky idea like this, I think about it for a moment... That scry 2 better do a lot! (Could have been Candy Trail, even...? Unless there are very specific hate permanents that you clear with the Boulder with Songs of the Damned mana? Or if the filtration is what Boulder is doing, then damn, you're paying 1 for it instead of gaining 1 with Petal...!) Alright alright, enough speculation; I'll watch and see how you did with it!

@-indomitable 1 day ago

20:21 LMAO!

@danieledenicolo4115 3 weeks ago

There is Wilt in green that does naturalize and cycles for 2 generic, aint the best but it's something

@foreigncf796 3 weeks ago

It’s a shame things didn’t work out this time. Boulder over lotus Patel saves you I think over $120 and makes the deck seem more accessible

@kylemitchell2052 3 weeks ago (edited)

shoutout to Giant's boulder for being busted in every eternal format its legal in (except vintage). It's only a matter of time before this gets banned in pauper.

game 1 round 1 proved how good it was already. Even with the fizzle. it did so much more than petal.

@LakeLakeLake7 3 weeks ago

i honestly feel like going back to a one off skaab in the sideboard might make some sense in this current list. the filtering is much more consistent and skaab could add speed to your big combo turns, which giants boulder takes away a little bit. but i will definetly be adopting these changes, im convinced that consistency is exactly what cycle storm needs to keep up!