Prismatic is a format in which your deck must contain at least 250 cards with at least 20 cards in each color.  Multicolor and split cards count as one color, not both.  When I came back into the game after my hiatus and started playing Prismatic, there seemed to be something off. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.  Then it suddenly came to me. They did away with the Big Deck Mulligan!  This was an unintended casualty of the move to client version 3.0. The problem has not been fixed and I doubt it is very high on the list of priorities.  If your opening hand contained 0, 1, 6, or 7 lands, you would have the option of taking a big deck mulligan, which would give you seven new cards.  You were entitled to one big deck mulligan a game and if you elected to take a big deck mulligan, your opponent could take one as well. Both players revealed their cards prior to drawing a new hand. 

I always loved the prismatic format even though I didn't have a competitive deck with older staple cards.  I remember often competing against cards like Akroma's Vengeance, Decree of Justice, Vindicate, Pernicious Deed, and Mirari's Wake.  Even Terminate was a costly common as IPA block was still rare. I had just become a new father and what little disposable income I had went to a movie or dinner with the wife. I always disliked when players ran mono black decks which contained hybrid cards to meet the Prismatic requirements. This is well within the rules of the format and a creative deck building concept, but these just didn't feel like authentic Prismatic decks to me. One of the biggest challenges of a Prismatic deck is mana fixing and these decks which were basically mono black just felt too easy to pilot because they couldn't get hung up on their mana. And yeah, they usually beat me!  Prismatic requires 250 cards but you don't have to abide by that strict number. My deck has been steadily growing as I find more cards to play with and I quite like having a deck that has 298 or 312 cards. It's refreshing to play with a random number of cards and not be criticized for not abiding by the strict minimum.   I played against an opponent the other night with an 1100 card deck.  Imagine trying to shuffle that in real life!  Or trying to tutor in a deck like that!  Even tutoring with a 300 card deck lags the client and I warn you to be patient while choosing your card because sometimes the client will lag so badly the card you click isn't the card you will receive. 

(An example of a PPS game I played recently. They often go long and epic.) 

When I returned to the game a few months ago I was surprised at the lack of regular Prismatic games to be found in the casual games room.  When I left, Prismatic was gaining popularity with games firing regularly and even premier events. Another format I enjoyed playing which seemed to be gaining popularity was Rainbow Stairwell, which has gone the way of the dinosaur and dodo.  Pauper has risen in popularity on MTGO through the years and although regular Prismatic decreased in popularity, Pauper Prismatic and Pauper Prismatic Singleton specifically seem to have gained popularity.  This is a welcome change for me and my former angst of not owning expensive staple cards.  There are around 50 banned cards in Prismatic, none of which are printed at common rarity. I decided to focus my article on Pauper Prismatic because after being away from the game for a good two years, there were plenty of new cards to discover, as well as finding those overlooked treasures.  While Pauper Prismatic Singleton doesn't allow the most creative deck building, at this point it is the format most likely to be found being played in the Casual Games room.  During the next few weeks I plan to highlight the playable cards in the format.  Today I am focusing on Artifacts, as well as Dredge and Transmute cards.

Artifacts

Mana Fixers

With decks of over 250 cards and containing all colors, mana fixing is a very important consideration.  Artifacts provide important options in this area.  Many of these are automatic inclusions in every deck. There are also artifact mana sources, in which I have shown one from each cycle.  Personally, I think the Borderposts are valuable to have, as well as the Signets.  The Obelisks are appropriately cost for the additional colored mana they provide compared to the Signets. The Talisman are another option, however with the drawback of dealing you damage when tapping for colored mana. When running artifacts, there is always the chance an opponent will destroy them, cutting off vital colors.  Beware when cycling or pitching lands, as I've often played into throwing away a Forest which I thought was covered by a Firewild Borderpost, only to see it destroyed the next turn.  Chromatic Sphere , Chromatic Star, and Terrarion offer a good cantrip to dig deeper into your deck while trying to find a mana source that may be alluding you.



Role Artifacts

Every Spellbomb is useful for the card draw and only the white and black seem underpowered for their main ability. Relic of Progenitus is highly valuable to get rid of those annoying dredge and flashback spells. Creatures are often returned from the graveyard with cards like Urborg Uprising or Cadaver Imp.  While Trinket Mage is often used in regular Prismatic to fetch a Sensei's Divining Top, he can be useful here too, most often tutoring up Relic of Progenitus, Executioner's Capsule or an artifact land if you're lacking that vital mana. 



Equipment

The purpose of this article was to not only inform readers about the staple cards in the format but to find new and interesting cards for me to play with.  Leonin Bola and Opaline Bracers are examples of cards I owned but wasn't aware of.  Opaline Bracers are costly but offer a sizable pump to any creature in play and Leonin Bola offers a way to stop that Armadillo Cloaked threat until you can draw into some removal. Some of these equipment aren't the strongest choices such as Slagwurm Armor or are very dependent upon other cards such as Cranial Plating.  I believe Kitesail, Vulshok Morningstar, Bonesplitter, and Whispersilk Cloak to be satisfactory in any deck. The Cloak has often allowed me to ride an unimpressive threat such as Izzet Chronarch to victory!

Artifact Creatures

Running artifact creatures can be a risky proposal as they die not only to regular removal but artifact removal, which any good deck should have plenty of in the form of cards like Kor Sanctifiers, Tin Street Hooligan, and (Quasali Pridemage).  However, they can also benefit from being untargetable by certain removal spells such as Terror or Expunge.  Scuttlemutt is a great fixer and gives you a bear to back it up. Tidehollow Strix offers deathtouch and flying for cheap and is nice against an early Errant Ephemeron.  Skyreach Manta is probably the most aggressive and one of the best finishers in the Prismatic Pauper format as you'll most likely have a 4/4 or 5/5 flyer. 

Transmute

There are those who believe that transmute cards should not be allowed to be played in the Pauper Prismatic Singleton format. It's easy and inexpensive enough to obtain the common transmute cards so why not play them?  I believe they feel the cards aren't in the spirit of the game. Many of the cards that are banned in Prismatic are tutors and although Transmute cards act as tutors, their scope is very limited. Most of these cards are decent on their own, with the only poor card being Dizzy Spell.  However, obtaining the double mana to transmute these cards can be difficult in some games.

Dredge

There are only 4 cards printed at common rarity with the dredge mechanic. Perhaps the most annoying early creature to face down is Stinkweed Imp. Removal Spells are only a temporary respite from this annoyance, with aura's such as Faith's Fetters or Pacifism a better short term solution.  This forces an opponent to either blow a removal spell on his own creature or find an enchantment killer. I believe him to be an automatic 4 of in any Pauper Prismatic deck. Shambling Shell is a card I had forgotten about during the passage of time.  I drafted Shambling Shell quite a bit with the Golgari Brownscale,during Rav Block and own 17 of the former and 22 of the later. Spending removal on Shambling Shell seems wasteful but letting him attack unchecked will quickly deplete your life total. The Mossdog is basically a Hill Giant and the Brownscale can gain you life every turn. Having the option to draw into these will often provide you with an adequate blocker until you can draw a more impressive threat or removal.

Closing

I enjoy Prismatic and would like to see it gain popularity once again.  The Pauper Prismatic format is inexpensive enough to be accessible to most players. I have been toying around with the idea of a Pauper Prismatic or PPS PRE but I unfortunately don't have the time to organize it right now.  My men's summer hockey league is winding down and maybe at the completion of the season I can devote more time to get this idea going.  I believe I touched upon most relevant artifacts for this format but if I missed any inclusions, please throw me a comment.  Thanks for reading!