The Power of Pauper: Horrifying Tales of Commons
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of The Power of Pauper! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're finishing up our review of Duskmourn: House of Horror for Pauper! In addition to that we've got some Challenges from this past weekend to look at.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Commonly Terrified of Commons
We're shutting the door on Duskmourn: House of Horror with our set review this week. Time to see if we missed any cards worth talking about since last week. There's always commons that flow through with the final gallery posting, so I'm sure there's something to discuss, even if it doesn't look good.
The Unlucky Lands
Worth noting this new cycle of Common tap lands. These ones are most likely not going to see play in Pauper, as there's not often going to be a scenario where you will be waiting until either player is at 13 or less life to play them. It's not like this format has a Death's Shadow in it somewhere.
Don't Make a Sound
Pretty standard soft counterspell effect here, with the upside of getting to surveil if the opponent is able to pay for the tax. Might be a neat inclusion as an additional counterspell somewhere.
Final Vengeance
Exiling a creature for one mana when so many little sacrificial fodder like the Plant tokens from Khalni Garden exists is interesting enough. More than likely sacrificing an Enchantment isn't happening too often, but there's a lot of creatures that can be sacrificed for this effect. Too bad it's a Sorcery.
Rooms in General
Rooms in general in this set, especially at the Common rarity, all seem fairly overcosted for what they accomplish. There are a few that are maybe interesting, like Underwater Tunnel // Slimy Aquarium (for a one mana Surveil 2 spell) but many of these cards and their effects don't seem to fit too well into current Pauper and the speed of the format. I'll be curious if someone does find one of the Common ones that plays well though.
Monstrous Emergence
While this is your standard Sorcery speed "Fight" effect of the set, the fact that it's based on the creature you control or one you reveal is pretty strong for two mana. It doesn't even have to be a green creature. That part is kind of interesting.
Twist Reality
Three mana counterspells are usually not so good, but this one has the modal upside of maybe being a creature at instant speed as well. Modal cards often find a niche somewhere in the format. Would be super fun with a Faeries deck to get a 2/2, swing in with it and ninjutsu something into play to get back the card you manifested (especially if that card is a non creature).
Possessed Goat
BAA BAA BAA.
Pauper Challenge 32 9/13
The first Challenge event of the weekend was the Friday event. According to the MTGO website, this event had 56 players in it. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Jund Broodscale | 1st | ezocratto |
| Dimir Faeries | 2nd | Beicodegeia |
| Mono Blue Terror | 3rd | discoverN |
| Dimir Terror | 4th | O_danielakos |
| Gruul Ramp | 5th | _Shatun_ |
| Dimir Terror | 6th | Bugsy69 |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 7th | Yuxiaoyu |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 8th | Kampo |
Lot of Terror and Faeries floating around this Top 8. At the end of the event though it was Jund Broodscale that won.
Implementing not only the Deadly Dispute core to this deck but also the Cleansing Wildfire + Bridges tech is insanely strong. Ramping yourself plus having big threats like Chrysalis that win the game is gross.
In Second Place we had Dimir Faeries.
Wither and Bloom is kind of a sweet card that I hadn't seen before. Targeted removal + a creature boost later on? Seems kind of sweet.
Also in this Top 8 we had Gruul Ramp.
Nyxborn Hydra seems like a super sweet card that I want to play around more of with. Also main deck Relic of Progenitus is wild, but at the same time with all the stuff like Affinity with Blood Fountain and other decks that utilize the graveyard it seems smart.
Pauper Challenge 32 9/14
The second Challenge event of the weekend was the Saturday event. According to the MTGO website, this event had 56 players in it. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mono Blue Terror | 1st | discoverN |
| Golgari Turbo Fog | 2nd | RitualSinkhole |
| Grixis Affinity | 3rd | MTGMoneyMaker |
| Boros Synthesizer | 4th | Yahakara |
| Gruul Ramp | 5th | Venga |
| Grixis Affinity | 6th | outZEROo |
| Burn | 7th | BuenosLoko |
| Burn | 8th | Galeogiao |
Honestly this is a nice looking Top 8. At the end of the event it was Mono Blue Terror that won.
Very clean and solid looking list here. I really like Spell Pierce at the moment. Seems very good versus moments where an opponent might try to go for Sadistic Glee but not have the mana to pay for a Pierce.
In Second Place we have Golgari Turbo Fog.
This deck is honestly absurd, as I've played a bit of it myself. I'm definitely going to work on a video for this deck at some point here, because it's wild to watch in action (and also at the same time excruciatingly demoralizing). Putting Toxin Analysis on a Crypt Rats is INSANE.
Further down the Top 8 we had Boros Synth.
Gates Synth is a cool thing to see. Some solid looking cards here. Thraben Charm has continually looked impressive to me.
Pauper Challenge 32 9/15
The final Challenge event of the weekend was the Saturday event. According to the MTGO website, this event had 59 players in it. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Azorius Familiars | 1st | Gn42 |
| Grixis Affinity | 2nd | Hamuda |
| Gruul Ramp | 3rd | Walker735 |
| Mono Blue Terror | 4th | ThiGuyAgain365164 |
| Dimir Terror | 5th | Carvs |
| Dimir Terror | 6th | Captain_Tsubasa |
| Mono White Aggro | 7th | jwaves |
| Mono White Aggro | 8th | mnaga |
Lot of Terror and Mono White here, however the event was won by Azorius Familiars.
Not much frills going on here in this version. I do like main deck Dawnbringer Cleric, which is super sweet. Being able to Ephemerate it with Sadistic Glee in play seems groovy. The Contaminated Landscape in the deck is cool too.
In Second Place we had Grixis Affinity.
Sunshot Militia seems like a super sweet card. You can't, like, kill someone at instant speed with it, because its only activated as a sorcery, but being able to turn spare artifacts into extra damage seems quite nice.
Also in this Top 8 we had Mono White Aggro.
Solid and straightforward list here. Again, Thraben Charm in these white-centric decks has continued to look very strong and super impressive. Modal cards in general always are very interesting, but cheap and effective ones that are removal based are sick.
Around the Web
- TeasdaleMTG has a video on Golgari Broodscale. Check it out here.
- Kalikaiz is ZOOMING. Check it out here.
- StompyMTG has a vide on the Top 10 Pauper cards from Duskmourn. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
As League results are now spread out across the week, let's dig in and find something spicy!
Rakdos Tron with a splash of Green is kind of sweet.
Haven't seen Kiln Fiend in a hot minute.
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for continuing to support the column and join us next week as we continue our journey into Pauper!
As always you can reach me at all my associated links via my Link Tree! In addition I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the MTGPauper Discord Server.
Until next time!
