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By: Fragoel2, Fragoel2
May 30 2016 12:00pm
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Unlike most other players I have been playing only Pauper in the last few years, therefore whenever a new set comes out I'm mostly interested in commons. Usually, I always get disappointed when full spoilers are released: Pauper is a format with a very high power level and Wizards mostly prints limited-fodder cards as common now, meaning that new cards that are able to impact the format are few and far between. This, of course, it's not true for the annual Masters set, where we get some new cards printed as commons, cards that used to have a higher rarity! Every Masters set offers several new playable cards for Pauper and Eternal Masters is not different. In the following I will review the new additions, looking for the most powerful and interesting cards.

Notice that I'm not gonna review all the commons in the set, but I'm limiting myself to the ones that will appear as a common on mtgo for the first time (Those are actually the new cards in pauper, that will be legal in the format for the first time) and at the same time are high enough in power level to be have a chance at seeing play in the format (I see no reason to talk about cards that will never be relevant in the format).

White 

Elite Vanguard

Long gone are the days where a one mana 2/1 without drawbacks, namely Savannah Lions, was good enough to be printed at rare (and it was actually a good one!). Now, for the first time we get such creature at common, and even with a more relevant creature type to booth. Elite Vanguard won't be shaking the format upside down anytime soon but it will totally be a mainstay in White Weenie and W/x aggressive decks. It is worth nothing that it is also an enabler for War Falcon, a card that already saw some play in White Weenie in the past and could now be making a comeback alongside Vanguard. 

Monk Idealist

 

Not really a new card, since we already had Auramancer in the format, but still an interesting card as some decks that relied on returning Dead Weight to hand with Auramancer have already seen some play in the past and Monk Idealist provides some redundancy to them. That deck also got some new interesting toys in the meantime with the printing of the Vessel in Shadows over Innistrad and the Font cycle in Journey into Nix, so we might see a new version popping out.

Rally the Peasants

Effects like the one provided by Rally the Peasants already see play in white based token decks that combine token generating cards with Ramosian Rally and (Guardian's Pledge) to finish the game really quickly. Rally the Peasants it's not strictly better than those cards but it can create so much damage that even decks that are not fully reliant on tokens might find one or two slots for it. Think for example of Kuldotha Jeskai decks, that already play some tokens (Kuldotha Rebirth) and evasive creatures (Glint Hawk and Kor Skyfisher). A new version of the deck, that aims at closing the game quickly rather than dragging it to the long game, might be a real possibility now. 

Blue

Peregrine Drake

 

Seemingly disguised as limited fodder, here comes the best card in the set for Pauper. It's not cheap ( 5 mana is a lot for the format) and does not have impressive stats, but it does provide a new enabler for the Familiar Combo deck after Cloud of Faeries was banned not too long ago. It is a lot slower than Cloud but, on the upside, it untaps five lands instead of only two, so you do not really need Familiars to enable the combo, as, instead, you could just run a couple Drakes in a control deck that at some point finishes the game with the combination of Ghostly Flicker-Mnemonic Wall-Peregrine Drake. Whether the old Familiars deck will make a comeback or a new different version will emerge is something that is not clear yet, but unmistakably this is the Eternal Masters card that will have the greatest impact on the format.

Warden of Evos Isle

 

Another card that raised quite a buzz on the internet, most people consider it as a third new Familiar for the Ghostly Flicker-Mnemonic Wall-Peregrine Drake combo. Myself, I don't think it is good enough to fill that role, as it actually does not provide a discount to all the blue card draw spells that the deck wants to play. Still, it could see some play as it is quite a good combination with Squadron Hawk and even just curving turn three Warden into turn four Mulldrifter is a good start against many of the midrange decks that see play in the format. 

Black

Night's Whisper

 

Another effect that we already had in the format thanks to Sign in Blood but (Night's Whispers) not only provides redundancy for those that want to play more copies of it but also has a mana cost that is considerably easier to cast for two-colored decks. This card, coupled with Read the Bones, gives some serious draw power to any deck that plays black, meaning that non-blue control decks might be a real option now. 

Wakedancer

 

Wakedancer is, in my opinion, a very interesting card for black control decks. While black already has several playable three drops, none impact the board as a morbid-enabled Wakedancer does. Of course, you have to build your deck in a certain way to take full advantage of it, so you should build your deck so that it can easily enable morbid, with cheap removal and cards like Augur of Skulls and Fume Spitter, but, should you choose to do so, the reward is high.

Red

Avarax

 

Despite not being a card that is going to revolutionize the format, Avarax has the potential to see some play. Its distant cousin Aurochs Herd is already enjoying some play in the format and Avarax has several upsides compared to it: it's cheaper, it has haste and it is in a better color. It could see some play as a finisher in red midrange or control decks. 

Desperate Ravings

 

Desperate Ravings is a card that currently sees play in Modern in storm decks. Despite the fact that Pauper has a lot less ways to abuse cards that end in the graveyard, it still remains a cheap, cost effective draw spell that gets better and better the more you are able to take advantage from stuff going into your graveyard. A similar card, Think Twice, saw a lot of play until not too long ago, so I can totally see some decks running Ravings in the future.

Kird Ape

 

Even if it is already available as a common in paper, this is actually the first time that Kird Ape gets printed as a common online, meaning that is now legal in Pauper. While it is for sure a good card, the lack of dual lands in the format makes it definitely less good than in other format. Still, the Ape will be a mainstay of Red/Green decks, should those decks emerge, and could even see some play in the 5-color Zoo decks that saw some popularity not too long ago. 

Green

Elvish Vanguard

 

Downshifted from rare to common(!!!), Elvish Vanguard will find a new home in the Pauper elfball deck, greatly improving the deck's capability of winning through regular damage rather than comboing out. 

Nimble Mongoose

 

Mongoose is a very interesting card for Pauper. In a dedicated deck getting to threshold is rather easy, thanks to cards like Mental Note, Thought Scour and Commune with The Gods, so you can basically always assume that it is going to be a 3/3 all the time if you want to. 3/3 is not enough to punch through the bigger creatures that see play in the format (4/4s like Carapace Forger and Myr Enforcer, 5/5s like Gurmag Angler) but it is definitely enough to punch through most of the creatures that see play in midrange and control decks. In addition to that, it blanks a lot of the commonly played removal spells, completely getting past the cheap red removal spells that most decks play. So, yeah, expect to see a lot of play for Nimble Mongoose, even if, currently, there is not really a deck where it is a natural fit. 

Yavimaya Enchantress

 

Yet a slight variant of another a card that we already have in the format, thanks to Aura Gnarlid. The Enchantress is mostly worse than the Gnarlid, since most of the enchantments that see play in the format are auras anyway, but nonetheless it provides redundancy to a green enchantment based deck.

Special mentions

Ancestral Mask, Daze, Hydroblast and Pyroblast are interesting reprints. Even if these are not really new cards for Pauper, these cards were pretty expensive in the past (especially Daze, that was sold at as much as 20 tickets for a copy). Their reprint in Eternal Masters will definitely lower their price, so it is a good time to collect them if you plan on ever needing the for your Pauper collection.

Top 5 Eternal Masters cards for pauper:

1 Peregrine Drake
2 Night's Whisper
3 Nimble Mongoose
4 Kird Ape
5 Desperate Ravings