The Power of Pauper: The Ever Changing Horizon
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 going to be diving into Modern Horizons 3 and what it will inevitably mean for Pauper! In addition to that we've got some news about an upcoming Creator Event for MTGO, and a bunch of Challenges from last week to discuss.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Modern Horizons 3 - The Affinity Set
We are looking ahead here to Modern Horizons 3 as spoiler season has been underway, and let me tell you what there are some doozies of cards in this set. Of course, we will be heavily discussing a card that Gavin Verhey himself mentioned may need to be banned in Pauper, so we'll be starting with that to get things underway. There's a lot of mechanics and a lot of things happening in this set overall, so let's get to it.
Cranial Ram
This is the biggest hit of the entire set for Pauper and it isn't even close. This is the card that was confirmed by Gavin Verhey that it may possibly end up needing to be banned out of Pauper, due to the fact that it's so incredibly similar to cards that are already banned in Pauper, namely Cranial Plating and All That Glitters (which was recently banned).
This card has a couple key differences thant Cranial Plating that should be pointed out, however. The first thing is that instead of costing two generic, it costs two different colors. This isn't usually an issue in Pauper thanks to Bridges and Treasure tokens that float about, but it is a limiting factor for this card overall. Secondly instead of costing one to equip, it costs two, requiring four mana to get this onto a different creature. It also lacks the ability to instant speed move the equipment around.
The key difference between this and All That Glitters is that the card only grants +X/+1 and doesn't give +1/+1 for everything, so the base toughness of the creature doesn't raise all that much.
That being said, the strengths of this card is that there already exists a shell for it (Grixis Affinity) and the fact that it has Living Weapon which means it comes into play with a ready made creature. That alone is a lot for it.
I definitely can say we will see this card all over Pauper once Modern Horizons 3 releases. It will be everywhere and a short time will tell whether or not this card will be okay in Pauper. The Pauper Format Panel has already said they are giving this a very short leash, so I would not be surprised if it gets banned super quickly if it is a real problem.
Eviscerator's Insight
We continue to receive many more of these draw two effects in Pauper in black, and this one is no exception. The upside of this one is that it has FLASHBACK, giving you the ability to cast this again late game, unlike the others that appear in many other decks. While this might not replace Deadly Dispute or Fanatical Offering (leaving a token is very powerful after all), it may be another option over Reckoner's Bargain. It's definitely a cool card and I expect to see people trying it out.
Evolution Witness
Eternal Witness in Pauper? This is pretty cool. There's lots of ways to add counters continually to these kinds of cards, like Sadistic Glee and stuff. Seems quite fun to play around with actually.
Expel the Unworthy
Speaking of old cards becoming new cards with callbacks, this is functionally a Swords to Plowshares effect that can be upgraded to hit any creature for a total of 3WW. Might not be great but is definitely interesting.
Mandibular Kite
A one mana flying threat that can start beating face in and then later be moved to a different threat seems quite good. This one looks quite fun and interesting for aggressive white decks for sure.
Skoa, Embermage
A common Legendary is quite amusing actually, especially since it's a Goblin. This is like Fireblast at home, and very amusing. I don't know if this sees play or not, but it is cute.
Basking Broodscale
Speaking of cards like Sadistic Glee, you can basically make this thing infinitely gigantic with a Sadistic Glee because you can keep sacrificing the new Eldrazi Spawn to make mana and keep adding counters. Seems like it might actually be a super fun build-around.
Thraben Charm
This is really interesting. I love Charms and modal spells, I think they offer lots of flexibility for sure. This one can do a number of different things in mono white, and has tons of versatility. Might be curious to see where this one lands.
Colossal Dreadmask
SOMEHOW COLOSSAL DREADMAW RETURNED.
Creator Showdown - June 2024
The first announcement about the Magic Online Creator Showdown is out there now and the first of these monthly events is actually going to be Pauper! Taking place on June 15, 2024, 64 of the Magic Online Creators in the Creator Program will be throwing down and streaming all their matches in a sweet six round double elimination tournament based on Pauper. This will be super interesting given that it takes place days after Modern Horizons 3 releases on MTGO.
Unfortunately I am not personally in for this month due to some preexisting commitments, but I am looking forward to watching and covering this event!
You can find out more information about this here.
Pauper Challenge 32 5/24
The first Challenge event of last week was the 5/24 event. This event had 56 players in it thanks to the data provided by Daybreak Games.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Grixis Affinity was the most popular deck of the event, and it's win rate was very good. Jeskai Ephemerate also performed very well here, while Burn seemed to suffer as did Gardens.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Grixis Affinity | 1st | LuffyDoChapeuDePalha |
| Grixis Affinity | 2nd | Mogged |
| Jeskai Ephemerate | 3rd | Foresterf |
| Goblins Combo | 4th | Beicodegeia |
| Jeskai Ephemerate | 5th | DenisvevichAlexey |
| Izzet Terror | 6th | SpockVidaLoka |
| Orzhov Midrange | 7th | ZAAAAMU |
| Dredge | 8th | PintuMtg |
Fairly interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was a pair of Grixis Affinity lists in First and Second.
Fairly close lists in deck construction for the most part. The winning list has some interesting stuff like Extract a Confession while the Second Place list has stuff like Tithing Blade.
Also in this Top 8 we had Jeskai Ephemerate.
I really like Murmuring Mystic in this kind of shell. It gives the deck a lot of ways to just win the game by making a bunch of evasive threats for simply playing its long game. Pretty cool.
Pauper Challenge 32 5/25
The next Challenge of the week was the 5/25 event. This event had 39 players in it thanks to the data provided by Daybreak Games.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Both Burn and Grixis Affinity were tied for most represented, but both had a slightly less than 50% win rate. Dimir Terror looked good, as did Izzet Terror.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dredge | 1st | immvp |
| Azorius Gates | 2nd | carrot_eater |
| Grixis Affinity | 3rd | discoverN |
| Cycle Storm | 4th | Tyerube1618 |
| Dimir Terror | 5th | O_danielakos |
| Gruul Ponza | 6th | LucasG1ggs |
| Izzet Terror | 7th | SpockVidaLoka |
| Burn | 8th | gybird |
Fairly interesting Top 8 overall here. At the end of the event though it was Dredge that won!
I really like this list. It's clean and straightforward to the point. I especially like Flaring Pain in the sideboard.
In Second Place we had Azorius Gates.
Very solid looking list. Surprised to not see Outlaw Medic because that card has become a really good thing in this deck, but the threats can realistically be anything that is playable with this shell.
Further down the Top 8 we had Cycle Storm.
This deck is really super fun. I enjoy that it makes use of really sweet cards that don't really see play in Pauper elsewhere like Dihada's Ploy. Really fun.
Pauper Challenge 64 5/26
The third regular Challenge of the week was the 64 player event on 5/26. This event had 68 players in it thanks to the date provided by Daybreak Games.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Grixis Affinity was the most played deck, but it's win rate was pretty poor. Gates did very well as did Goblins and Ponza.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Goblins Combo | 1st | seasonofmists |
| Azorius Gates | 2nd | carrot_eater |
| Mono Blue Terror | 3rd | newbarola |
| Mono Blue Terror | 4th | Brivenix |
| Dredge | 5th | Lollopollo2001 |
| Gruul Ponza | 6th | Captain_Tsubasa |
| Dimir Faeries | 7th | DobleP |
| Mono White Aggro | 8th | jwaves |
Fairly interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was Goblins Combo that won.
Solid looking list. Fanatical Offering seems so insanely powerful in this deck. Being able to possibly negate a Persisted Putrid Goblin with a Map token is super cool.
In Second Place we had Azorius Gates.
Same player and list from the day before here actually, so there's not much else going on here in this list.
Further down the Top 8 we had Gruul Ponza.
Really straightforward looking list here. Clean mana. Reclaiming Vines is a pretty sweet and clean card.
Pauper Showcase Challenge 5/25
This weekend was also a Pauper Showcase Challenge event! These events are QP entry only and the Top 8 of the event are invited to the Showcase Qualifier at the end of the season. This event had 148 players in it thanks to the data provided by Daybreak Games.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Grixis Affinity was the most played deck and it looked quite good. Jeskai Ephemerate also looked good, and most of the decks above the cutoff hovered around that 50% mark.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Azorius Gates | 1st | kasa |
| Jeskai Ephemerate | 2nd | Foresterf |
| Madness | 3rd | karatedom |
| Grixis Affinity | 4th | fingers1991 |
| Grixis Affinity | 5th | MentalMisstep |
| Cycle Storm | 6th | Tyerube1618 |
| Grixis Affinity | 7th | MackSmith |
| Grixis Affinity | 8th | PedraStone |
Quite a lot of Grixis Affinity in this Top 8, but at the end of the event it was Azorius Gates that won.
Glorious Gale is a super interesting card because there aren't many Legendary creatures at common that see play in Pauper, so the Ring tempting makes not much difference. That may change with Modern Horizons 3!
In Second Place we had Jeskai Ephemerate.
Solid looking list here. I really like the interaction and power level of this deck right now. It seems quite good.
Also in this Top 8 we had Madness.
I like the Madness aggro variants. They seem quite fun indeed. Fodder Tosser is in this! That's awesome.
Around the Web
- Nyx has a video on Azorius Gates. Check it out here.
- StompyMTG has a video on Cranial Ram. Check it out here.
- Episode 54 of Casting Commons is available! Check it out here.
- Our good friend Alex ullman has some thoughts on Cranial Ram. 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!
SLIVERS.
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!
