Turning Pauper Up to 11

By: sanhedrin, John Franklin
Jul 12 2010 11:52pm

I’m as happy as anyone with the changes to the Core Set M10 brought, and M11 just seals it. I never understood why Wizards would want their “Base Set”, the cards that presumably give new players their first taste of the game, to be filled with sub par, mostly unplayable cards. Exactly what lesson does that teach, other than to promote inferiority complexes in new players? It’s hard enough to jump into a game that’s almost twenty years old when your collection is made entirely of Goblin Sky Raider, Eager Cadet, and the like. As a Pauper player I’m even more excited that the Core Set is now moving away from mostly vanilla creatures in common slots into meatier options. M10 was the first time since the format’s inception that Pauper was actually shaken up from the release of a Core Set, and with original cards included it was the first time a Core Set has been worthy of discussion.

So I’m going to give a quick look to some of the new Pauper cards in M11, with an emphasis on their applicability in Casual Plus / Tournament level decks. At the end I’ll also give my one-cent on cards from the recent-to-MTGO release of Urza’s Legacy.

Inspired Charge

Yet another mass-pump option for that token deck you’ve been fiddling with. I can only see you playing this over Trumpet Blast if you absolutely can’t branch off into red, so maybe not. Playing Trumpet Blast twice in your Alpha Strike turn is easy -- playing two Inspired Charge is not. Unrelated, I think this might be a bit of a Limited sleeper.

Squadron Hawk

One of the first lessons new players (should) learn, right after the fact that your life-total is a resource and that it’s not necessary to chump when you’re at 20, is that drawing cards wins games. It takes a little longer to learn that drawing ANYTHING is good, and drawing lands when you’re not mana-screwed is not the same as wasting a draw. I see Squadron Hawk in the same light. It draws three cards when it comes into play. Those three cards are all Squadron Hawks, but you’re nevertheless up three cards for two mana. It’s not Ancestral Recall. There’s no way it could compare to an aggressive draw spell because the cards it draws are too narrow. But what if you look at it not as a draw spell, but as a little guy with an Enters the Battlefield ability? What if you compare it with Elvish Visionary? At what point does drawing X 1/1 fliers for two mana equal or exceed the value of drawing a single a non-specific card for two mana? Surely when X = 3?

AEther Adept

For being such a famously-powerful tempo card, (Man-o’-War) sees surprisingly little play. Making it more mana intensive won’t help any. I'd love to see Tempo decks make more of an impact in Pauper, but between Storm, MUC, Burn, and others there are too many decks in the format with few or no creatures, and ending your third turn with AEther Adept stuck in your hand is far from a remote possibility.

Augury Owl

There’s a reason why people are so excited about this little guy. Even with eight copies of Terramorphic Expanse in the format, we haven’t seen Sage Owl and Halimar Depths used as a pseudo (Sensei’s Diving Top). But being able to get rid of the card you don’t need is huge. Think about this guy as 1/1 flyer in the same color of Ninja of the Deep Hours with a free Ponder.

Diminish

A replacement for Piracy Charm in blue decks with creatures? Since those creatures are 1/1 fliers that would just block and trade, no. Your best case is using this as a combat trick with a Sea Gate Oracle in play, making this akin to a blue Condemn. You're better off with Repulse.

Harbor Serpent

If your opponent is playing blue it’s an unblockable 5/5 for six, but if they’re not it’s a vanilla 5/5 for six. I’d say you’re better off working toward (Ulamog’s Crusher). It only costs two more, but its board presence is likely to be much greater. But I’m glad Islandhome is going the way of Bands with Others. Now they just need to errata Sea Monster so it at least has the offensive capabilities of Merfolk of the Pearl Trident

Phantom Beast

It still dies to Lightning Bolt, so think about this as a mostly-vanilla 4/3 for 4. You can do better.

Preordain

Ponder will still let you see a third card before you have to make any decisions about what to ship and what to keep, which may give it the edge in decks where you’re searching for something specific. But if you’re just using it to smooth out your draws, Preordain win for the ability to put one of the cards on the bottom.

Scroll Thief

Strictly better than Ophidian in a Core Set? Who would’ve guessed? Even the creature types are more relevant, letting you exploit both merfolk cards and the Prowl cards from Morningtide, Latchkey Faerie and Morsel Theft. A pretty narrow application, but it’s something. I love this with Shadow Rift or Distortion Strike, and Trinket Mage plus Bonesplitter gives it a little more oomph. Frankly, it's about time Pauper got its own Thieving Magpie or Shadowmage Infiltrator.

Liliana's Specter

A clear upgrade for the Rats deck. The question is, does this replace Ravenous Rats or Chittering Rats? If the discard component is the most important, then Chittering Rats. If the bigger teeth and evasion matter, then Ravenous Rats. I'm not generally a fan of monoblack, but I'd love to see how this compares with Shrieking Grotesque in BW or Blink.

Act of Treason

As I write this, Act of Treason is listed in the spoiler as a common in M11. If this isn’t the typo it probably is, this will be the first Threaten in the Pauper toolbox. In a format dominated by smallish creatures with EtB abilities, I’m not sure it’s relevant.

Bloodcrazed Goblin

The power behind Zoo is in their damage-to-cost ratio. If your Kird Ape or Wild Nacatl get through for 4 or 6 damage for a single mana, it’s hard for other decks to keep up. The problem with Bloodcrazed Goblin is that it straddles the domains of two different fast red aggro decks, Goblins and Burn, but doesn’t meet its full potential in either. In the Goblin deck it won’t have enough burn spells to keep it activated, and even a first turn Bloodcrazed Goblin will set you back in tempo since the red mana you used to cast Lightning Bolt could have gone into a Mogg Conscripts or Goblin Cohort, either of which can be relied on for at least 4 damage. In a burn deck, you’re probably better playing a creature with more board presence like Kiln Fiend or Keldon Marauders.

Chandra's Outrage

I love the “improved” Char. It takes a while to come online, but you’ve got Lightning Bolt and Firebolt for the early guys. It kills so many of the format’s big beaters that there’s got to be a place for it somewhere. I’d like it even more at 3R. My Card Advantage Sense starts to tingle whenever I see a card that does two things, even if one is just a Shock to the dome. At any rate, Chandra's Outrage could even let you hang on to that Lightning Bolt in your hand when an X/3 or less threatens you, helping with that classic "Bolt to the dome, Bolt to the dome" endgame that makes me wish MTGO had a "reveal your hand to convince them to scoop" function.

Manic Vandal

An obvious sideboard card against Affinity, I think this might see more play than similar cards Tin Street Hooligan and Ingot Chewer for its easier mana, but for utility it’s still hard to beat Kor Sanctifiers. In the Casual Room your just as likely to see Journey to Nowhere or Oblivion Ring, making a white enchantment-hating version of this card even more appealing. Sorry, Monk Realist, you're too dinky.

Pyretic Ritual

Like you, my first thoughts were of Storm, and how it really doesn’t need any help. But I don’t think will actually replace anything in current builds, so we may be okay.

Brindle Boar

Another option for fighting Red Deck Wins, but it compares unfavorably with Lone Missionary. If only we still stacked combat damage...

Garruk's Companion

It’s almost like something from the Bant Sureblade / Esper Stormblade cycle that’s always online. It dies to almost everything but certainly packs a punch when unopposed.

Hornet Sting

It’s so easy to splash colors in Pauper (like red for Lightning Bolt, obviously) that this will never see play.

Plummet

Good sideboard tech against MUC if for some reason they forget to play the four counters in their hand. This gets the pick over Leaf Arrow because it handles Errant Ephemeron and Spire Golem.

Sacred Wolf

What removal? This is the scariest card in the set to me, and almost an automatic-include in your Aura Gnarlid / Armadillo Cloak deck. Is this the Pauper version of Troll Ascetic? This makes Vines of Vastwood a must.

Sylvan Ranger

A great card at a fantastic price, but I like Sakura-Tribe Elder better. For the same price as Sylvan Ranger you get acceleration, so long as you’re okay with “Evoking” it. Even in an Elf deck where the creature type matters and the acceleration is largely unnecessary, I’d still like Elvish Visionary better in this slot.

Playing a big part in “Life” decks that comboed Nomads en-Kor or other en-Kor creatures and Daru Spiritualist to gain infinite life, About Face served as an odd win condition. While it’s still possible to make a very fat Spiritualist in Pauper, the more recent power/toughness flipping card Inside Out also cantrips. Is redundancy with Inside Out what the deck needs to become a force in Pauper? What it really needs is for Lightning Bolt to be banned. Though it’s seemingly designed to shrug off Onslaught’s Shock, even Daru Spiritualist has problems with Lightning Bolt.

Fling, which is now back in the core set, allows for even more tomfoolery with cards like About Face, but at that point we’re talking about 4-card combos. And getting a little Rube Goldberg. A better 2-card combo with About Face or Inside Out is Tireless Tribe, allowing for a slightly silly Turn Two kill on the draw:

Turn One – Plains, Tireless Tribe

Turn Two – Mountain, discard 5 cards, About Face, attack for 21.

A nice little control card that lets you turn that (Ulamog’s Crusher) they just got back with Exhume into an 8/8 wall. So why are we talking about Pacifism-style removal when there are both Oblivion Ring and Journey to Nowhere being played? Aura Gnarlid.

The problem is that the Rancor ability on Cessation isn’t all that applicable. In an environment famous for its lack of mass removal, you’re more of less reliant on your opponent to sac or bounce their guy to get your Cessation back. You’re far better off playing Hobble, which costs the same as Cessation, cantrips, and acts as a true Pacifism on a black creature.

Set up your Ninja of the Deep Hours while keeping your Counterspell mana up. Awesome with Cloudpost and Karoos like Dimir Aqueduct. And I think it’s going to make the Pauper Faeries deck even more or a powerhouse than it already is. What a great way to pump your Spellstutter Sprite right before it’s needed.

Highly versatile. This would see play in almost any Blue deck if the effect didn’t cost you a card, but being able to throw things like (Ulamog’s Crusher) into your graveyard while drawing cards at the end of your opponent’s turn can accelerate the game plan of any graveyard-abusing deck.

The mana cost doesn’t really match the effect here, but there’s always room for card advantage-generating, enters-the-battlefield guys in Pauper. Ghitu Slinger makes an oddly-efficient sideboard card against aggro decks like Goblins and White Weenie, where it can take out a guy and chump another before you have to pay the Slinger’s echo cost.

What breaks this? Freed from the Real, though an awesome podcast, is probably too mana intensive to get the job done. But a control-ish RU or RUW deck could use it as a fragile kill over the course of several turns.

Now we’re talking about the real deal. The only thing that’s prevented this from dominating the casual room (and maybe beyond) has been its $5 price tag and lack of availability. Yes, Rancor was the Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Force of Will of Pauper.

I’m sure I don’t need to detail how awesome Rancor is, but trample and the ability to regrow itself makes The Little Aura That Could into a dangerous threat. And the timing couldn’t be better now that Wizards has gifted us with Aura Gnarlid. It more or less builds itself, but the other MVPs are Guardian of the Guildpact, Armadillo Cloak, and Hobble. I think a GWU version with Mulldrifter, Trinket Mage, and Bonesplitter is also pretty fantastic.

Would you play this over Repulse? Maybe in MUC when you want to keep counter mana open?

I’ve read some arguments that this card isn’t that hot. Let me give the opposing viewpoint with a little collage entitled “Just the Cards I Could Think Of Off the Top of My Head”:

And that's just the creatures with EtB abilities.

There you have it. I like to include a little contest for each of my articles with a fabulous/worthless prize. This week, the person who posts the best creature to abuse with Unearth that I left out will receive a special Pauper Commander Starter Pack, with a suggested retail value of twenty cents!

12 Comments

Contest by fliebana at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 06:51

My vote is for Kor Skyfisher, to combo it with almost all you have selected.

Greetins.

Wow, I should have remembered by sanhedrin at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 13:20

Wow, I should have remembered Skyfisher... Good call. Chaining up recursive card advantage is fun.

Also missed Veteran Teacher by Paul Leicht at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 14:32

Also missed Veteran Teacher in a Level deck. Oh and Ghitu Fireeater for recursive damage. There are plenty of others actually. Flickerwisp is insane on recursion given the right board position.

Flickerwisp isnt too good in by ShardFenix at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 14:49

Flickerwisp isnt too good in pauper...

Neither is Ghitu Fire Eater. by sanhedrin at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 16:48

Neither is Ghitu Fire Eater. :)

Ah pauper...always forget by Paul Leicht at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 19:12

Ah pauper...always forget that. Though to be fair it wasn't entirely clear that the parameters of the contest only allowed pauper cards. Again obliviousness wins out. :/

Congrats, you win! I'll look by sanhedrin at Sun, 07/18/2010 - 23:21

Congrats, you win! I'll look for you online, or msg me when you see me.

My vote goes to Phyrexian by lenney at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 13:49

My vote goes to Phyrexian Rager, but seeing as how you've got it listed, I guess I don't have any usefull info. lol

A creature by Lythand at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 17:28

Your rules did not specify a rarity for the creature so I would say Eternal Witness.

If you are looking for a common then I would say Mulldrifter.

A 1CC spell that lets you draw two cards and put a 2/2 flier in play is saucy.

3cmc or less. :/ by Paul Leicht at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 19:13

3cmc or less. :/

Wow, just wow. The article is by inneutral at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 17:54

Wow, just wow.

The article is titled "Turning Pauper Up to 11"... I think the common rarity is implied. Here's a card I made up. Game Win: "Creature, BBB, Text: If Game Win is in your deck at the beginning of any game, begin the game with Game Win in your Hand, Add B to your Mana Pool, search your library for any number of cards named Unearth and put them into your hand. Cards named Unearth can be played any time you could play an instant. Cards named Unearth cannot be countered. When Game Win enters play, you win the game." The author didn't specify that the card had to be real or legal either.

Also Mulldrifer has a converted mana cost of 5 so doesn't work with Unearth.

Personally I like the by ShardFenix at Tue, 07/13/2010 - 20:29

Personally I like the lockdown ability of Kor Hookmaster. Get a decent body for one mana and tap down their biggest creature threat for a turn.