This week, MTG Arena's Midweek Magic event might have been a little more special than usual for some, because we finally got to try out Standard Pauper!
I have always found Pauper (commons only) and Artisan (commons and uncommons only) extremely interesting and stimulating for several reasons that I can summarize as follows:
- They are fresh and new, and it’s not possible to netdeck the strongest lists right away, thus creating an unexplored metagame and leaving room for inventiveness and creativity like the Magic of the past.
- They don’t have rares and mythics, and therefore the obviously strongest and most dominant cards, so that no one has access to the card that wins by itself if it doesn’t find answers, and the games become fought and won by the synergy of the deck.
- They are cheap and therefore accessible to everyone, thus promoting inclusion, without having to force anyone to play a certain deck just because they don't have the cards necessary to play another one, and giving the possibility to try them all.
The Historic format is obviously deeper, with a much larger card pool and more room to roam, but, in the current state of Standard, with a three-year rotation, 6 Standard-legal sets per year, and an ever-increasing power level, I believe that this Pauper format is equally interesting and undoubtedly worthy of being explored!
I spent several hours at the event and tried several brews, so I want to share with you my 6 most interesting lists (3 monocolor & 3 bicolor), and these can give you an idea of how open the format can be (don't worry, no Mono-Red, Mono-Black Discard, Dimir Toxic, or Orzhov Lifegain, already deeply widespread in the event!).
Mono-Green Monsters
Let’s kick things off with Mono-Green Big Creatures, not the most original deck ever seen, but I couldn’t help but include it, given how strong and efficient this deck turned out to be!
In Pauper, creatures often take center stage, and green is not only the color with the biggest creatures, but it's also the color with the mana dorks!
Being able to accelerate from turn 1 with Llanowar Elves is too good to miss out on this archetype, which also sees as a follow-up one of Druid of the Cowl, Rootrider Faun, and Three Tree Rootweaver. These three, in addition to adding mana, have a very respectable 1/3 body for only 2 mana, which keeps them safe from Shock effects and allows them to block every early creature of the super popular Mono-Red. Having so many mana dorks allows you to skip the 3-drop and go directly to the 4 one, which sees in Hazardous of the Dunes the best exponent, since it not only has reach and trample but can also further power up later.
Spinewoods Paladin is instead a versatile alternative that can be cast with both 4 and 5 mana, depending on availability, in addition to the fact that the 3 life are very relevant. It's not left to chance that both they and Junkblade Bruiser and Ferocious Werefox have trample, thus making it impossible for the opponent to survive by chump blocking, but above all to make the most of the incredible Treeguard Duo's boost, which checks the creatures on your field and therefore further enhances the many mana dorks!
Mono-Blue Terror
With Tolarian Terror legal in the format, I had to build around it, as it's one of my favorite Pauper cards!
I tried it in both the Izzet and Dimir versions, but the Mono-Blue version is the one that convinced me the most, avoiding unpleasant tapped lands that slow it down a lot and only giving up removal, often unnecessary anyway.
The deck is a great tempo, sometimes a control deck, threatening bounces and counters while proceeding to cantrip and draw spells whenever the opportunity arises.
Fallaji Archaeologist is the only other creature besides Tolarian Terror, and it's useful in the early game as a small boost for the graveyard, as a blocker, but above all as a creature to sacrifice following an edict effect like that of Tithing Blade or Vraska's Fall.
Thanks to cantrips, among which Moment of Truth stands out, we should be able to cast the Sea Serpent no later than turn 4 or 5, with very little mana and protected by counter or bounce spells.
At that point, we will have to do nothing but control the game, neutralizing and managing possible threats, without ever running out of gas thanks to Deduce and Quick Study, until we have further Tolarian Terror that will overwhelm the opponent.
Mono-Black Sacrifice
There were a lot of Mono-Black Discards in the event, so I wanted to try something different!
The deck is based on two key cards, Gixian Infiltrator and Voracious Vermin, which grow respectively if you sacrifice something or if one of your creatures dies (and often these things coincide).
Greedy Freebooter, Infestation Sage, and Nezumi Linkbreaker are three great 1-drops to sacrifice, as they don't leave us empty-handed and make us suffer a 2-for-1, while the rest of the deck is made up of cards that give us advantages when we sacrifice things.
Corrupted Conviction, Fanatical Offering, and Mephitic Draught allow us to never run out of gas, which could easily happen since our mana curve is so low, while Annihilating Glare, Eaten Alive, and Grim Bauble are our many removal spells that keep enemy threats at bay.
The deck also features interesting combinations such as Annihilating Glare, which allows you to sacrifice Mephitic Draught, or the Map token by Fanatical Offering, which buffs Gixian Infiltrator, as does Grim Bauble's scry.
Orzhov Bounce
Orzhov Bounce Value is an extremely solid and strong midrange, which has recently been further bolstered by the arrival of Grim Bauble!
As a regular deck, you can pressure the opponent's hand with Hopeless Nightmare, remove enemy creatures with Grim Bauble and Tithing Blade, or 2-drop with Hopeful Vigil. Nothing too crazy or unmanageable for the opponent who will trade resources 1-for-1 in the early game... only to suddenly find himself running out of gas!
Yes, because such spells are nothing more than permanents that remain in play to do little or nothing after resolution and can therefore be returned to hand for value, so as to be replayed!
Scrollshift, Stockpiling Celebrant, and Indoctrination Attendant are the key cards that make these 2- or 3-for-1s possible, adding pieces to the board and giving us an unmatched late game that consistently uses all of our available mana.
Once the opponent is completely cornered and without anything, it's even possible to use Scrollshift on Hopeless Nightmare in the opponent's draw step, thus taking away even the last hope of a good topdeck... Leaving them exactly "hopeless"!
Golgari Graveyard
Writhing Necromass and Overwhelming Remorse were already two interesting payoffs to build something based on the graveyard, but now that Aetherdrift has also given us Chitin Gravestalker, it's impossible to resist wanting to see them work!
These three key cards are drastically discounted for every creature in our graveyard, to the point where they cost only 1 mana, but to do that you need some self-mill options.
Snarling Gorehound is the first choice, able to add 1 card to the graveyard for each small creature we bring onto the battlefield. Rubblebelt Maverick and Blanchwood Prowler, already seen and used in the Roots archetype, follow, as well as Desperate Bloodseeker and the new Wreckage Wickerfolk for extra consistency and creature density.
As a strong creature that triggers Snarling Gorehound, we can't miss Llanowar Elves, which also allows us to ramp for Fierce Empath, the glue that holds the deck together, since it is able to tutor both of our win conditions: Chitin Gravestalker and Writhing Necromass!
Dimir Artifacts
Affinity for artifacts was the mechanic I found in Mirrodin Standard when I started playing 22 years ago. It's unreal that it's still in Standard today, thanks to cards like Gearseeker Serpent!
The latter and Pactdoll Terror are the two payoffs and win conditions for a full artifacts deck, in which their synergies and the presence of critical mass in play are enhanced.
Oaken Siren and Guidelight Optimizer on turn 2 allow you to ramp Pactdoll Terror already on turn 3 so that it starts draining life from the opponent right away. The mana they produce, however, allows you to speed up the game, casting and cycling the various low-cost artifacts, which have the function of creating affinity for Gearseeker Serpent in the early game, to then be traded for a new card.
Fountainport Bell is particularly suited to this purpose, as it allows you to have a low number of lands and fix the mana. The black mana provides us with removals in Grim Bauble and Tithing Blade, as well as a constant drawing engine with Fanatical Offering and Mephitic Draught, so as to have continuous ammunition for Pactdoll Terror!
That’s all for today! These were some of my brews from this day and a half of Midweek Magic. As always, I enjoyed the format a lot, and I always hope that on MTG Arena there could be a little more space for this kind of format, which unfortunately is always a little snubbed... not because they are not good, but because they are not supported enough!
