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Each time a set comes out, players across the world devour each spoiler and evaluate whether a particular card is good or not. That evaluation never occurs in a vacuum, as each player's evaluation is shaded by the environment(s) in which they play and the formats in which they play. Limited and block players will judge a card within the narrowest card pools, but with the widest acceptance for the power level of the card. On the other hand, players of eternal formats rarely find new cards that live up to the power level of the cards that already feel their binders.
This particular article will focus on the cards that Magic 2011 is providing to the Pauper environment. With 51 commons that are new to Pauper, M11 has the opportunity to have a much more significant impact than most core sets, even more than its predecessor, Magic 2010. Of these 51 commons, 48 are brand new cards, while three are existing cards which have had their rarity reduced to common.
For the purposes of this review, each common that is new to the Pauper will be rated as follows:
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Straight to Binder
These are the cards that go from a pack directly into a binder, never to see play in a constructed Pauper deck. Even cards that are perfectly viable in other formats may not work in the Pauper format due to the eternal nature of the card pool or the lack of needed supporting cards that are found in the uncommon, rare, and mythic slots of a set.
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Worth Consideration
These cards may make it into a deck or sideboard here or there, or they may be simply good enough to try in a deck with too many variables to predict their long term viability. The playability of these cards may fluctuate over time based on the metagame or other future releases.
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Deck Worthy
These cards most definitely have a place in Pauper decks. These are the home runs of Wizards' design and development teams. I would expect to face these cards with some frequency in duels in the casual room, Player Run Events, and even in Premier Events. This ranking includes cards which should become stalwarts of players sideboard as they provide new solutions to historic challenges.
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Now on to the grades...
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Act of Treason |
This is the first of three cards that is not new to Magic, but is new to Pauper. Premiering in M10 as an uncommon, Act of Treason returns in M11 as a common. Act of Treason is only the second card in Pauper to allow a player to take control of an opposing creature. While Ray of Command does not see play, Act of Treason costs one less mana with the downside of being a sorcery. There may be some to exploit this spell in a deck such as Team America which includes the requisite colors and Momentary Blink. |
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(Æther Adept) |
Outside of Soldier, Elf, and Goblin, creature types mean very little in Pauper which means that (Æther Adept) is functionally identical to Man-o'-War with a more color-restrictive casting cost. The 2/2 non-flying body hasn't worked with Man-O'-War and I doubt (Æther Adept) with is more challenging casting cost will see play either. There are simply better bounce spells such as Echoing Truth.
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Ajani's Mantra |
Gaining one life a turn starting on turn 3 isn't going to cut it any competitive environment, especially when that means bypassing a more proactive play on turn 2. Ajani's Mantra is unlikely to see play in any format that I can imagine, even pauper where better live gain spells exist such as Aven Riftwatcher and Sunbeam Spellbomb. |
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Arc Runner |
With more power and a lower casting cost, Arc Runner is a substantial upgrade over Lightning Elemental and seems. While still more situational than Spark Elemental, the possibility of dealing 5 damage for 3 mana is not to be completely discounted. I suspect that Arc Runner will be tried in a few variations of Red Deck Wins, especially in the casual room, but the Arc Runner has a limited upside that will keep him from supplanting Keldon Marauders in most versions of RDW.
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Armored Cancrix |
A 2/5 landlubber for 5 mana in a deck that can play a 2/4 flying Spire Golem for free most games doesn't make the cut. I suspect that opening an Armored Cancrix in environment, including limited, won't be cause for celebration. Even in an M11 environment, Azure Drake is probably a better option.
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Assault Griffin |
There are a number of comparable counterparts to Assault Griffin, but the Griffin is clearly in the shadows of the ones relevant in Pauper. Knight of Sursi can eliminate the same creatures as a 2/2 flanker, and can be suspended into play for W. Veteran Swordsmith is another 3/2 creature with a meaningful ability, but the Swordsmith is playable for 1 less mana and can drive a white weenie deck.
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Augury Owl |
Sage Owl is clearly a weak card, but Augury Owl ramps up the enters the battlefield ability with Scry. That still doesn't do enough to make Augury Owl worthy of consideration for a deck, at least in Pauper.
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Azure Drake |
While Azure Drake has sentimental value to me with its delightful mono-chromatic Legends art, the Drake really hasn't been playable since its original release. Upstaged by Spire Golem, the change from an uncommon to a common in M11 won't help the Azure Drake to make it into a Pauper deck.
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Barony Vampire |
Only the creature type change keeps this from being a functional reprint of Warpath Ghoul. Barony Vampire is likely to make it into as many decks as did his predecessor, which means that you are unlikely to see your opponent cast a Barony Vampire any time soon.
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Blood Tithe |
With the same mana cost, I just can't see playing this over Tendrils of Corruption in a two-player game. With Tendrils of Corruption offering more life gain at four mana and eliminating an opposing creature at the same time, Blood Tithe pales in comparison for the purpose of helping out a control deck, and any other deck has better options that are not limited to exactly 3 damage/life gain.
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Bloodcrazed Goblin |
One of the more interesting cards from the perspective of what impact it can have given consistently solid Goblin archetype and the occasionally surprising Red Deck Wins. Goblins has proved that a 2/2 for R is a viable component to a winning deck. Red Deck Wins has shown that going straight to the dome is a viable winning strategy in the right metagame, but typically does not use persistent creatures. This new common may drive a hybridization of one of these two strategies to find a means to incorporate Bloodcrazed Goblin. With enablers such as Staggershock, Keldon Marauders, and/or Firebolt, Bloodcrazed Goblin would work well in a deck with Kiln Fiend, as both would benefit from the instants and sorceries aimed directly at the opponent.
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Brindle Boar |
Brindle Boar is not terrible, but the potential to sacrifice it for 4 life when it is about to be destroyed is not quite enough to push it over the edge to worthy of consideration. A 2/2 for 3-mana is too slow to push the Boar into playability regardless of the potential for 4 life gain. Brindle Boar simply isn't large enough to attract a destruction spell which would result gaining 4-life while reducing the effectiveness of an opponent's spell. While Rancor would help, there are simply better creatures to enchant.
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Chandra's Outrage |
Requiring two red mana limits the decks that will want to run Chandra's outrage, but the ability to deal with an Errant Ephemeron or a Myr Enforcer while still dealing 2 damage directly means this card could be a viable sideboard inclusion even if it isn't efficient enough as a main deck spell.
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Cloud Crusader |
The second white flyer for four mana in Magic 2011 is no more playable than Assault Griffin. While Cloud Crusader has first strike, his 2/3 body is consistent with power/toughness of Aven Riftwatcher and Kor Skyfisher, both of which clock in for a reduced mana cost and more abusable abilities. |
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Cultivate |
This functional reprint of Kodama's Reach may see play in decks just like the arcane version. Cultivate doesn't really fit into any top tier Pauper archetype, but it will probably be seen in the casual room in a domain deck including Matca Rioters and Exploding Borders.
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Diminish |
This may be my favorite card in the set. Snakeform occassionally sees play and Diminish produces the same effect without the cantrip ability for two-less mana. While it won't help against Blastoderm, Diminish will allow blue decks to handle about any creature coming their way without disrupting their ability to cast counterspells. With so many other cards to support card draw, the reduction in converted mana cost will make this a preferable alternative to Snakeform for many decks.
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Dryad's Favor |
Even for a single green mana, the value in enchanting a creature to gain forestwalk is so minimally beneficial as to not warrant inclusion in any deck. Against most green decks, gaining forestwalk for a single creature will be far less sideboard-worthy than something to actually eliminated the creatures that will be dealing damage.
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Garruk's Companion |
A highly efficient french vanilla creature for two mana is likely to find a home in Zoo and/or Stompy. With a 3/2 stat line and the highly beneficial trait of trample, Garruk's Companion should see plenty of play in green decks, enhancing other common inclusions in these decks such as Giant Growth and Vines of Vastwood.
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Goblin Balloon Brigade |
Originally an uncommon from the original Alpha set, Goblin Balloon Brigade is now available as a common. While I can argue for his inclusion in a Classic Tribal deck to overcome Moat, Goblin Balloon Brigade will not break the lineup of the highly efficient Pauper goblin deck.
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Greater Basilisk |
While there are a number of five-mana creatures played in Pauper, few of them actually come into play as a result of someone paying their full cost. Greater Basilisk, while impervious to most damage spells with its 5-toughness, is still too vulnerable to targetted destruction such as Terminate and Doom Blade. In addition, the Basilisk's measly 3 power is not going to push an opponent to actually block it and its lack of flying or reach won't allow it to stop enough opposing creatures.
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Harbor Serpent |
This is truly an upgrade over Sea Serpent, but a 5/5 creature with a converted mana cost of 6 isn't exactly going to create a new benchmark for efficiency. All in all, Harbor Serpent isn't going to change the level of respect that competitive players have for serpents.
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Hornet Sting |
While I can see a slogan for Hornet Sting - "One Mana, One Damage. A fair reward for a fair price." When the next door neighbor can get three damage for one mana or can reuse their one mana, one damage spell every turn, Hornet Sting just doesn't work out.
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Hunters' Feast |
Life gain can be popular in Pauper with Golgari Brownscale, Essence Warden, and Wellwisher, but (Hunter's Feast) has no chance of breaking into the Pauper environment. For Pauper, Rejuvenate has the exact same effect as (Hunter's Feast), but that is never played, and even if anyone included it in a deck, I suspect the cycling ability will be used for more often than the life gain.
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Incite |
What is the need to make opposing creatures attack? In a color with sufficient removal to not rely on blocking and killing attackers, Incite seems to have minimal application. In the end, this card is usable for little else than trading life to remove a blocker, and for that, Act of Treason is a much better option, even at 3 mana.
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Inspired Charge |
White Weenie in pauper is a mid-level creature based deck that is focused on stalwarts such as Shade of Trokair and Razor Golem. Even though significantly more expensive than other across the board pump spells, Inspired Charge may find a home in White Weenie. This card certainly has the ability to change the course of a game in an alpha attack, especially with token generators such as Cenn's Enlistment.
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Jace's Erasure |
Milling strategies in Pauper are not very good. Using an enchantment that cannot be played until turn 2 and thus triggered only starting on turn 3, is a strategy destined for failure. While your natural card draw will net one card into a graveyard for free each turn, that rate of decking a player will see your life reduced to 0 far sooner than your opponent's library reduced to 0 cards.
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Liliana's Specter |
While a 2/1 flyer for 3 isn't that impressive, Liliana's Specter also doubles as a slightly more expensive Ravenous Rats. With potential for pulling out of the graveyard for multiple uses of her enter the battlefield effect, Liliana's Specter provides potential for hand decimation while also being large enough to actually trade with an opponent's creature. In addition, with flying, she avoids one of Pauper's best board sweepers, Martyr of Ashes.
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Manic Vandal |
Artifacts are powerful in Pauper, including an entire archetype centered on artifacts in the form of Affinity. With Spire Golem, Razor Golem, artifact lands (search-able with the occasionally popular Trinket Mage), and a few other artifact options littering the field, Manic Vandal is very usable, especially in the Team America archetype. The only thing keeping Manic Vandal from receiving the Deck Worthy rating is that Gorilla Shaman is in the same color and will likely maintain position as the top anti-artifact metagame choice.
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Maritime Guard |
Maritime Guard fills the same role as Horned Turtle, sacrificing a point of toughness in order to gain a more relevant creature type. Of course, very little related to creature type matters in Pauper, resulting in the degradation of an already unusable card for the format.
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Merfolk Spy |
A 1/1 islandwalker for U does not constitute relevancy in Pauper. Adding a meaningless ability to look at a random card in the opponent's hand does not help make Merfolk Spy meaningful. While its better than Merfolk of the Pearl Trident, Merfolk Spy is still bad.
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Mighty Leap |
Evasion with a power/toughness boost makes Mighty Leap an intriguing possibility. Just as Predator's Strike borders on playable in Stompy, Mighty Leap could work in Zoo. This card's viability truly depends on the metagame and how likely Flying will allow an attacker to ignore blockers.
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Nether Horror |
A vanilla 4/2 black creature for 4 mana. Usually one mana buys more than 1 power, but a boost of 1 power is all that the Nether Horror has on the unplayable Barony Vampire. Swampwalk would at least make him a metagame option if Mono-Black Control ever underwent a revitalization. As a vanilla creature, Nether Horror is unimpressive.
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Nightwing Shade |
I have never been a big fan of shades because the mana investment can be easily wasted by a wide range of spells. A 2/2 flyer for 5 mana is not unheard of in Pauper, but the most notable parallel is Mulldrifter which is so far beyond Nightwing Shade, that comparisons between the two should only reveal how morose the Shade is.
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Phantom Beast |
A 4/5 creature with the low cost of 3U would be amazing, that is until you realize it is an illusion that simply goes away if it is targeted by a spell or an ability. While there are not many creatures with abilities that target other creatures, when a four-cost creature can be eliminated by a Serrated Arrows or a Teetering Peaks, that creature is not destined for success in Pauper.
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Plummet |
Errant Ephemeron, Kor Skyfisher, Spire Golem, and Scryb Sprites are all valid reasons to run Plummet in a sideboard. This card should make a strong showing in the sideboards of any deck including green such as Slivers, Stompy, and Zoo. Heck, Affinity could run it if they switched to Tree of Tales over the other artifact lands.
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Preordain |
Of all of the new commons introduced in M11, I expect Preordain to be the most expensive. This card is a viable inclusion for decks for every format, including Legacy, Extended, Standard, and Pauper. I would expect to see Preordain replace Ponder and Brainstorm in Affinity and be included in Mono-Blue Control as the top choice of draw cards for a single Blue mana. Easily better than Serum Visions and Ponder, Brainstorm should only be preferred in discard heavy environments with Preordain being the more flexible option the majority of the time.
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Primal Cocoon |
Enchantments are risky endeavors which invite losing two cards in exchange for only a single card cast by an opponent. Card disadvantage loses games, which is why more most enchantments not named Journey to Nowhere, Oblivion Ring, Rancor, and Armadillo Cloak don't see play. Primal Cocoon takes the risk and expands it so that not only is the risk there, but the creature with the bull's eye painted on it cannot do anything important while Primal Cocoon does its thing. Awful.
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Pyretic Ritual |
Originally I evaluated Pyretic Ritual as a binder fodder, but I think Pyretic Ritual may actually be usable in a blue/red version of Storm that ignores black. As another mana escalation spell, Pyretic Ritual can take the place of Dark Ritual with a trade-off of 1 mana in your mana pool for allowing you to focus only on stockpiling red and blue mana.
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Quag Sickness |
I like Quag Sickness for its resiliency and its ability to deal with very large creatures. While Giant Growth may invalidate Last Gasp, Quag Sickness will remain with its target until the creature is dead. Regeneration cannot save a creature from Quag Sickness, and even if the creature does not die to the Sickness, its ability to inflict damage will be greatly reduced until you do lay down the Swamp that finally kills it.
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Rotting Legion |
Spending 5 mana for a creature that is worthless the turn it enters the battlefield seems like a poor deck building decision. At 4/5, Rotting Legion is a large creature without any lingering drawbacks. Unfortunately, the Legion's mana cost and comes into play tapped penalty are sufficient enough to exile Rotting Legion to your binder.
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Sacred Wolf |
I only see Sacred Wolf making its way into decks that already contain Silhana Ledgewalker and then as a second class citizen of the deck. The 2G mana cost is simply too steep for the 2/2 body, but troll-shroud (the trait that prevents only opponents from targeting your creature) provides one of the best options for utilizing auras while minimizing the risk of being on the wrong side of a 2-for-1 trade.
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Scroll Thief |
Ninja of the Deep Hours is a popular creature for a number of decks, especially mono-Blue Control. With an arsenal of Ninja of the Deep Hours and Scroll Thief, a blue/black or blue/red control deck may have the ability to manage the opposing creatures while constantly refilling its pilot's hand and slowly whittling away at the opponent's life total.
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Squadron Hawk |
While a 1/1 flyer for 1W is nothing to crow about, Squadron Hawk provides some interesting possibilities with global pump spells such as Inspired Charge. While I don't foresee Squadron Hawk making a huge ripple in Pauper events, the uniqueness of this creature cries out for a rogue deck builder to maximize its potential.
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Stabbing Pain |
Stabbing Pain is likely to contend with Disfigure as the black creature control mechanism of choice for the one mana cost slot. Both are instants, but Disfigure can eliminate a much larger contingent of creatures in the format, but does little to creature with more than 2 toughness. Stabbing Pain, on the other hand) can at least tap the creatures outside of its kill range. The deciding factor here is how important is slowing down an opposing creature vs. killing an opposing creature. I suspect that Disfigure will be the more commonly used card, but Stabbing Pain has the potential to be included in a few decks.
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Sylvan Ranger |
As much as any new card in M11, Sylvan Ranger feels like something that has existed in Magic for years, and yet, it fills a niche that has not been previously filled. At converted mana cost of 2, Sylvan Ranger may be affordable enough to include in a low land count deck such as Elves. The Ranger will work in decks wanting to hit specific basic lands, but not necessarily trying to ramp up quickly. It is a narrow window of opportunity for this common, but Sylvan Ranger just barely crosses the boundary from binder fodder to worth consideration.
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Thunder Strike |
Thunder Strike is at least an interesting card even if it won't see much use in Pauper events. While the instant does provide an increase in damage for creatures, there are many more efficient options such as Brute Force. For comparison, I would actually draw a comparison with Shelter. Both spells allow combat trades in your favor, but the Shelter's additional uses (protection from targeted spells, making a creature unblockable) and cantrip effect make it a preferable spell and it hardly ever sees play.
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Tireless Missionaries |
Tireless Missionaries is very similar to Aven Riftwatcher, both gain 3 life upon entering play and are 2/3 white creatures. Tireless Missionaries cost 4W instead of 2W, do not having flying, and do not provide life gain when the leave play. Their big advantage over Aven Riftwatcher is that they do not disappear after three turns in play. Of course, with only 3 toughness, they cannot really be expected to last longer than three turns anyways.
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Viscera Seer |
This card intrigues me as means for dealing with opposing destruction spells while improving the consistency of a deck. I suspect Viscera Seer will work best in a red/black with creatures like Mogg War Marshal and Keldon Marauders.
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Volcanic Strength |
I find Volcanic Strength an interesting option in a format where Goblins are always viable and occasionally dominant. With a +2/+2 bonus, many creatures will be out of Lightning Bolt range and the mountinwalk plus bonuses will create a quick clock for an opponent while allowing you to focus the rest of your resources on staying alive.
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Wall of Vines |
Defenders with no meaningful ability other than to counter a single type of evasion (flying in this case via reach) should not require anyone to spend any time deciding if they should be added to a deck. If you want a good creature for G, starting with a 0/3 wall isn't they way to go. If you want a creature to block flyers, there are better options. Either Nettle Sentinel or Thornweald Archer will work better in just about any deck.
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Yavimaya Wurm |
Six mana is a ton of mana to build up for a creature, even one with trample. Giant Warthog doesn't see play as a 5/5 for the same cost, so I wouldn't expect Yavimaya Wurm to really see much play either. If you want a big green creature in your deck, Krosan Tusker is a much better option as it can actually be useful in every game, not just the ones that reach turn 8.
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Overall the set provided a decent number of commons to excite fans of the Pauper format, with each color getting at least one new toy play with. Here are my favorite cards for each color.
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13 Comments
Treason, arcrunner, sparky, and keldon with some blink/skyfisher/lion goodness, may prove quite powerful in a White/Red build.
I've made this comment on similar article-types, but it would be quite nice if you (and the other puremtgo authors) could link cards to Gatherer (or somewhere else) in the event that the mtgotraders database doesn't have the new card information yet. As is, these articles are very hard to follow along with.
As a nonpauper author I have actually done that on occasion and let me tell you it is more work by far. Getting it down to a science requires a set up. Most writers on pure do not want to go through all that.
Ok... so are you justifying this author behavior then? I'm unsure what to take away from your response.
I appreciate most of the articles on here and I'm a daily reader. I just fail to see the point of preview articles of this nature where the reader has no clue what 80% of the cards even do. Maybe the articles are directed at people that already know the sets inside and out? That certainly isn't me.
There are mock up of the new cards in the article I wrote on the same topic:
http://puremtgo.com/articles/turning-pauper-11
Not really justification. Every author has their own priorities. I spend 6-8 hours to write my articles which I do every 3-4 weeks. I make sure that my articles are as well formatted and error-free as is possible. Not every author spends that time. Some put out more articles with less work. Keep in mind that at the rate of 6 hours for 15-25 credits the author is NOT doing this for compensation but because they have stuff to say.
As far as new set reviews are concerned I agree that it is nice for the author to find working images and use those instead of short cutting and hoping Jamuraa eventually gets around to making them active. And I would certainly make that effort because I want my readers (all 3) to be happy. Nice but unnecessary. You know how to type. You know how to browse. Use gatherer yourself if your curiosity is really sparked. Otherwise, I suggest you move on to other things that DO interest you.
That's my take on it.
I don't do previews for most sets, in fact this is only the second preview I have done. The set really needs to strike me for me to want to do a card-by-card dissertation. Last time, I included a picture of each card in the preview, but I thought that came out busy.
This time I tried to balance showing off the cards that were most interesting and providing enough references to the card's mechanics in the article. A link to the M11 visual spoiler would definitely have improved the accessibility.
I am always interested in constructive criticism, so thanks for taking the time to comment.
I understand the desire, but I actually don't think it is fair to MTGOTraders to bypass the autolink.
You can see with Sea Serpent that I linked to Gatherer because that card is not online and is not currently scheduled to be online. However, M11 will be set up on MTGOTraders soon and then the the cards linked on PureMTGO to the MTGOTraders is usually updated.
If I linked directly to Gatherer, that automatic update would not occur.
If Joshua indicates that linking to Gatherer is preferred for the set reviews before the set is ready for autolink, then I will be happy to do link cards to Gatherer.
Thank you for the responses, BTW. I figured that there was some sort of MTGOtraders protocol going on here, and I get that. I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here. If the management of this site can one day address the situation of cards being linkable much sooner, then I'd be thrilled. But if that's not a possibility, then I really can't complain considering the content is free. Keep up the good work.
Good stuff. Sacred Wolf is a 3/1 though. Ironically, I think a 2/2 troll shroud for 3 mana would probably be better as it dodges tremor effects!
Good catch of my mistake. Basically Sacred Wolf is an improved version of Pincher Beetles, but I do not think he is improved enough to make him playable. If Oakenform had been included in M11, Sacred Wolf and the beefy aura would have made a nice combo in limited, but alas I think the Sacred Wolf is an omega rather than an alpha.
I think I know what you're getting at with Treason + Blink, but I don't think it works. It specifies "owner's control." Treason may be useful in BR Husk though. Treason + Skyfisher could work too.
I love the layout of the article and it makes for a very easy to follow and enjoyable read. I dunno how you do it but kudos, keep doing what you're doing!
As for the picks I have some disagreements. Quag Sickness is just subpar to black's amazing removal, if you're worried about Stompy's pump just smack them with Doom Blade. I'm not positive but I believe Ponder is still better than Preordain because it digs 3 instead of 2. Plummet seems pretty unlikely too, as I would think Stompy / Slivers would prefer the easily sneaked in Hidden Spider instead, and Affinity has much better and more versatile removal in RBU already (Doom Blade again for example). Diminish is just too situational to get use.
I am looking forward to a couple cards though, namely Garruk's Champion for Stompy since Trample is so lacking in current builds. Liliana's Specter is a great replacement for Ravenous Rats as I've said before.
You mentioned Squadron Hawk and it's funny because some people are thinking of using it in a BW Dead Dog type build. Play a Squadron Hawk, get 3 creatures in hand to discard with Vampire Hounds. Pretty neat eh?
I knew there was something wrong with the Momentary Blink and Act of Treason working together, but my brain wouldn't click on it. I still like Act of Treason for a Red/Black deck with Viscera Seer and some sacrifice spells such as Bone Splinters.
Preordain still lets you get through 3 cards. If you scry the first two cards to the bottom of the deck, you are grabbing the third card from the top with the Spell. I think the Preordain vs. Ponder debate is going to come down to personal preference.
I like being able to see two cards, and if they stink, placing them on the bottom of the deck. If the third card stinks, I either have a very unlucky draw or a bad deck.
With Ponder, I get to see all three cards. If all three are perfect, I still lose one to the bottom of the deck. If two suck and one is good, do I keep the good one knowing next turn is a dead draw or do I shuffle away the one good one? If I shuffle the bad cards back in the deck, I know that they are likely to be next draw as any other card in the deck, whereas if two bad cards are shunted to the bottom of the deck with Preordain, I will not see them for the rest of the game unless I shuffle my deck.