This is a pestilence-inspired MBC deck that controls the game through discard and lifegain-removal until pestilence or Gurmag Angler takes over.

KEYS:

    * built around pestilence, which normally starts operating turn 5 or later
    * during pre-pestilence phase (first 5+ turns):
        + need higher life than opponent
        + must therefore avoid much creature damage (remove big threats)
        + must slow/control game, primarily with discard
        + also slow game with life gaining removal
        + need card advantage or I will run out of cards before opponent
    * after pestilence starts operating:
        + pestilence removes opposing creatures with low offense (previously ignored)
        + can wait until opponents turn
        + can combine with tendrils of corruption to remove something big


DEALING WITH OPPOSITION:

    * main deck must match up well against popular meta - meaning delver, mbc, and annihilator decks (popular at my LGS)
    * play of deck: must mulligan to get starting hand with 1 and 2 drops and matches right vs opponent's expected start
    * sideboard will make or break this deck

SIDEBOARD must deal with opponent that has:

    * flying or unblockability: must accelerate killing/discarding
    * a very creature light strategy: move some creatures to sideboard
    * a very creature heavy strategy: include all creatures in maindeck
    * numerous little creatures, possibly token deck - dark ritual to accelerate into pestilence
    * extreme aggro (very very fast deck): dark ritual, move expensive stuff to sideboard
    * killer combo: must strip key card(s) with quality (distress) or quantity (cry, hymn)  discard
    * voltron: kill card that goes beyond pestilence or tendrils of corruption

CARD FITS:

    * cry of contrition and hymn to T work because they take out 2 cards for my one, while slowing game
    * more of cry because it fits in the 1 mana slot
    * dealth cultist does 3 things: block once, net 2 life gain, and makes cry of contrition faster and/or more reliable
    * disowned ancestor good defender but potentially offense, especially with a lifelink+counters enchantment such as Eternal Thirst or Mark of Vampire
    * gurmag angler or some other delve card to use graveyarded instants and sorceries. Provides alternate way to win

ABOVE WAS SUMMARY

MORE DETAIL INTO MY THOUGHT PROCESS

It's useful to supplement pestilence with Gurmag Anger and/or Disowned Ancester threats because:

* Pestilence may not show up
* Pestilence requires having higher life total than opponent. Must rectify if this isn't the case.
* The graveyard fills with instants and sorceries which makes Gurmag Angler cheap
* On dead turns with no creatures on the board except my disowned ancestor, there is something to spend mana on
* I can turn offense-worthy creatures into sources of life-gain with enchantments or instants.
* Harder for opponent to stop a multi-threat deck

The initial build was heavily inspired by:

http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/casual-related-formats/paper-pauper-peasant/paper-pauper-peasant-primers/508920-primer-pauper-pestilence

I did play a few games with something close to this deck, though I never did try cards suggested in the discussion, Geth's Verdict (vs hexproof) or Shield Sphere (cheaper). Geth's verdict x 4 is still worth considering for sideboard.

That first deck didn't work. It was cluttered with things that served only a pestilence purpose, namely Dimir Houseguard and Walls:

Dimir Houseguard was an expensive 3-drop for what I got: fetch for pestilence or tendril of corruption, which hurt tempo.

I found that the defensive walls were way to inflexible. They helped keep me alive until pestilence shows up, but did nothing more and were essentially dead weight thereafter, serving only to insure pestilence stays on the board. They couldn't deal with flyers, unblockables, or intimidators. They wasted space when facing creature-light opponents (voltrons, burn, etc.). They also cost too much (though I never did try Shield Sphere).

However, merely reducing the number of walls caused me to be overrun by creature-heavy decks. Eventually I decided walls are silly if I can get creatures on the board capable of doing something other than just blocking - perhaps helping me with other parts of the game plan such as discard or improving relative life totals or plan B if pestilence fails. I also wanted creatures cheap to cast, as I found many of my games started too slow with too few one-drops. Ultimately, I realized it was better to have multiple threats than require pestilence.

So . . .

Disowned ancestor is nice as early 1-drop defender with potential to grow into a substantial late-game offensive threat. Due to heavy card removal, dead turns are possible with nothing but a 0-4 Disowned Ancestor on the board. Outlast is something to do with unused mana on these turns.

Death Cultist only blocks once, but improves relative life totals and gracefully combines with Cry of Contrition for extra discard. This deck doesn't require blocking after Pestilence comes out.

Heavy hitter Gurmag Angler typically comes out by turn 5 and with lots of luck as early as turn 3 thanks to many instants and sorceries.

Disowned Ancester or Gurmag Angler can add to lifegain with an appropriate enchantment. I prefer Eternal Thirst over Vampiric Link or Mark of the Vampire. Vampiric Link is quite interesting though as it is strictly better than lifelink (can gain life off an enchanted opponent creature).

There are OTHER WAYS TO GAIN LIFE. Here are some I considered:

Devour flesh - I'd have 2 options with it: destroy my own creature to gain life, or destroy an opponent creature that is protected from many things but not from sacrifice. Might be a reason to include Tanglecord as 6 life is quite a bit.

Death Watch is another interesting card that can be cast just before devour flesh (if on my own creatures, or on a solitary opponent creature that happens to have high toughness - would be a devastating blow to a voltron for example).

Death Watch has more synergy with my deck than Geth's Verdict.

If I need more creatures for certain matchups, the following are worth considering for sideboard:

Marshmist Titan (cheap to cast by turn 5 or so)

WHICH DISCARD SPELLS

I wanted discard spells to be cheap first and foremost, and strong second to get rid of enchantment killers. Duress takes care of the second need, while Cry and Hymn are cheap ways to dismantle the opponents hand.

A drawback to Cry is that it (usually) doesn't fill my graveyard to help get out the Gurmag Angler. The one cost is nice though and if I haunt a death cultist, I get to do the 2nd discard at instant speed, including right after opponent draws a card if I so desire (Note though that an instant in hand can be cast before the opponent chooses a discard). The more routine use will be casting Cry, haunting an opponent creature, than killing it with Sorin's Thirst or Pharika's Cure.

A drawback to Duress is that it only removes 1 card so I get no card advantage. But it might be the card I most need removed which it what makes it worth that tradeoff.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH WORTH CONSIDERING:

I'm relying on death cultist to assure Cry of Contrition going off twice and other minor benefits. It was the best fit of sacrifice cards. But what if I went for cards that do something when they die (and maybe I'll have to kill them myself?).

Some cards that work well if I pursue this approach:

Ashen-Sink Zubera
Black Cat
Cast of Bones
Deadbridge Shaman
Drainpipe Vermon
Dying Wail (this one especially!)

INSTANTS worth considering:

Spinning Darkness - another way to use graveyard cards as resource
Cruel Feeding
Foul-tongue Shriek (not creature heavy enough for this)
Undying Evil
Tragic Slip - flexible removal but no lifegain
Butcher's Glee

Rejected ideas:

Sadistic Glee takes advantages of so many dying creatures, working to ramp up Gurmag or disowned ancestor. However it is much weaker than eternal thirst and paints a big fat removal target. At least with eternal thirst, I at least get one round of lifelink but with Sadistic Glee I might get nothing.

Playing this deck:

Runs very well if I start with all 1 and 2 drops. Be sure to Mulligan if there are no 1-drops or if I'm heavy with Gurmag, Pestilence, Tendrils of Corruption, and/or Eternal Thirst.

May be better to go 2nd than 1st as card advantage matters a lot for this deck for first few turns.

Do not use removal on creatures with attack value of only 1. Save it for creatures that can do significant damage or are critical to opponent's game plan. Pestilence will cleanse the little critters later.

With Cry of Contrition, I was unclear on a few things:

Does haunting work on a token? Yes:

216.3. A token in a zone other than the in-play zone ceases to exist. This is a state-based effect. (Note that a token changing zones sets off triggered abilities before the token ceases to exist.) Once a token has left play, it can’t be returned to play by any means.

Note that Cry of Contrition gets removed from the game when it haunts. It therefore does not help get me a Gurmag Angler as it is not in the graveyard. However, if it didn't have a legal target, it goes to graveyard.

Also note that I lose the haunt benefit if the haunted card leaves the in-play zone but doesn't go to graveyard:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/haunting-your-dreams-2006-01-13

PROBLEMS REMAINING

The deck relies primarily on card advantage to survive the first few turns (and secondarily on removal). This doesn't work if opening hand has several cards among [Gurmag, Pestilence, Eternal Thirst, Tendrils of Corruption] which will be dead cards for a while. Especially problematic is getting more than one copy of Pestilence, as all copies after the first are useless against an opponent without Enchantment removal. It's why I moved Pestilence, Gurmag, and Eternal thirst all down to 3 copies. Even then, 13 cards that I don't want in opening hand may be too many - not really sure yet.

Ideal opening hand looks pretty and even average hands are workable but more than 1/4 of the time the opening hand is problematic and then I lose card advantage mulliganing down to 6.