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By: gwyned, gwyned
Feb 04 2013 2:16am
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I. Introduction

It's that time again. With the release of Gatecrash, various authors are weighing in on the new set, evaluating the individual cards themselves as well as how they as a whole will shape Constructed and Limited over the next few months of play. So, in my continuing quest to bring greater exposure to the world of Standard Pauper and promote it as an important online format, it seems appropriate to offer my own thoughts on how this set will impact the current metagame. Thus, in this article I will bring you what I believe are eleven of the most relevant Commons from Gatecrash for Standard Pauper, one for each of the five colors, each guild, and an artifact. Note that my evaluation will be limited only to Standard Pauper. How particular cards will impact the Pauper format as a whole, or any of the various Magic formats, I will leave to much better players than I.

But before we get to that, let me remind you that MPDC is a weekly PRE featuring a Swiss tournament in the Standard Pauper format, with prizes awarded for the Top 8 finishers thanks to the sponsorship of MTGOTraders. As always, if you've never checked out MPDC, I encourage you to browse over to PDCMagic.com for all the information and then come join us at 2:00pm EST / 7:00pm GMT in the /join MPDC room. You can also check out any of my previous articles by clicking here.

Without further ado, here are the cards!

II. Top 6 Mono-Colored/Colorless Commons:

1. White Commons are often surprisingly good compared to their counterparts in other colors, and this set is no exception, with at least seven White or multicolor cards that will see play in Standard Pauper. Of the crop, Court Street Denizen is one of the strongest. This card is comparable to Kor Hookmaster, which for the same casting cost created a 2/2 Soldier that tapped down a creature. Assuming you are playing a deck with a majority of White creatures (such as the perennial favorite White Weenie), this card is even stronger. It is quite reasonable to expect to get several activations out its tapping ability. This card has the potential to make White Weenie even more aggressive than before, sidestepping an opponent's early blockers and forcing him to waste precious removal on an otherwise vanilla 2/2 for . This should definitely see a great deal of play in the post-Gatecrash metagame.

2. Rarely does Blue have access to high Power and Toughness creatures, especially non-flyers. This makes Keymaster Rogue somewhat unique. A 3/2 unblockable for is quite strong in Blue, and it should come as little surprise then that it comes complete with a drawback. However, in some ways this card is like a fixed Kor Skyfisher, in that you get an efficiently costed evasive creature that requires you to return a creature to your hand. While obviously not on the same level as the Skyfisher, this is still a strong card for Blue, especially if your deck is built to take advantage of other 'enters the battlefield' type effects from your other creatures. Of course, it doesn't easily slide in to any of the major existing decks in the metagame. But if an aggressive Azorius or Simic decklist is viable, Keymaster Rogue could easily play an important role in such a deck.
 

3. Watch out Hexproof, an efficient edict-effect is back in Standard Pauper! While not as strong as the rotated Geth's Verdict, Devour Flesh does have the advantage of being easier to cast due to its less intensive cost. The Lifegain isn't insignificant, but certainly doesn't render the card unplayable. In any case, no longer will Black players have to side in Grave Exchange and somehow hope for the best against an opponent whose plan includes multiple Enchantments upon a Hexproof creature like Rubbleback Rhino or Primal Huntbeast. Given the recent resurgence of Mono Black in the Standard Pauper format, a cheap edict effect is quite the welcome addition. At the very least, it will take up several slots in the Sideboard of any deck that has access to Black mana, and depending on the preponderance of Hexproof decks may even be worth slots in the Main deck.


4.In my humble opinion, the mono-Red commons are by far the worst color in Gatecrash. Of the 14 Red commons, none are particularly strong, with perhaps the next best of the worst being Massive Raid or Warmind Infantry. I was reluctant to choose Act of Treason as the best of the bunch, especially since it is a reprint that has only been out of Standard Pauper for a short time. But given how aggressive either Boros or Gruul, the ability to take control of a key blocker and swing in for lethal damage out of nowhere could be quite strong. While this card did not see a lot of play in Standard Pauper when Magic 2011 and 2012 were part of Standard, it certainly had a presence in the Red Deck Wins style decks, even if only in the Sideboard. For this new metagame, I would expect it to be used in similar fashion.


5. After White, I believe that Green has the next strongest set of Commons in Gatecrash. But among several worthy contenders, Ivy Lane Denizen is definitely my favorite. After all, its effect is virtually an improved version of Evolve! Granted, a 2/3 in Green for is pretty bad (Woodland Sleuth, anyone?), but even one additional Green creature boosts it up to a 3/4, which is quite respectable for its cost. Stompy decks have not been very strong of late in the metagame, but this card certainly encourages you to explore that archetype again, as this would be a perfect curve-topper for that deck in Standard Pauper. The fact that the +1/+1 counters can go on any creature, and not just the Denizen itself, is what makes this card so strong. This might also slot into the Hexproof deck, since Hexproof creatures make ideal targets for these types of effects. While I am not certain this will see a ton of play, the potential is definitely there.

6.That's right, it's back! Prophetic Prism has become the mana-fixer of choice for much of Pauper, and it's easy to see why. It can be tough to justify playing color-filtering cards, since their effects are often not worth a card. But Prophetic Prism answers this dilemma perfectly by immediately replacing itself. It's cheap to cast and is "free" to activate, giving you access to any color of mana. Given the fact that the Return to Ravnica block is all about multicolored spells, it only makes sense that what is arguably the ideal color-fixer returns to Standard. Combined with the release of the 5 Common "enemy-color" Dual Lands, the Standard Pauper metagame seems ripe for a whole host of new color combinations to find their way into decks. Indeed, I would not be at all surprised to see even a version of Five Color Control make its way back onto the trophy stand in the future.


Of course, as great as these cards are, they pale in comparison to the power level of the new Commons released for each of the five guilds in Gatecrash. Let me show you what I mean.

III. Top 5 "Guild" Commons

1.  The card of choice for Orzhov is Kingpin's Pet, a 2/2 Flyer for with the Exhort mechanic. In my humble opinion, this is the strongest of the 5 "Guild" mechanics in Gatecrash. The ability to add to the cost of any spell and get a single point Drain Life effect seems quite strong, and when you couple this ability with an efficient 2/2 Flyer, you have a card that I believe will see a solid amount of play in the emerging metagame. In fact, I would not be at all surprised to the White/Black deck archetype make a significant comeback into a worthy contender once more. At least in the current iterations, neither the Mono Black deck or the White Weenie deck could easily slot this into their existing mana bases, but it may be that with the simple addition of the Orzhov Guildgate is enough for this to see play in either of those decks.


2. If Orzhov has the strongest mechanic, I believe Dimir has the weakest. All of the Cipher spells are quite expensive for their meager effect, and with the strong presence of removal in Standard Pauper, it is unlikely that creatures encoded with such spells will survive long enough to wring enough value out of the cards to make them viable. Dimir also has a strong mill theme, and I have no doubt that many players will go that route. But for me, the card of choice from Dimir is the more versatile Psychic Strike. Cancel isn't particularly great in the format, but it certainly has a role to play in the more controlling decks. But this particular card will allow players to splash Blue for several different types of countermagic without having to reliably have access to . The Dimir color pair is traditionally very strong in Standard Pauper, and this card may be enough incentive to explore new archetypes for this metagame along these lines.

3. Prey Upon quickly became the premiere Green removal spell after its release, and in many ways Pit Fight is by far superior. For an additional the spell upgrades from a Sorcery to an Instant, allowing for all sorts of significant applications. When one of your creatures is targeted with removal, Pit Fight can allow the creature to instead trade with an opponent's creature, taking out both and costing both players a card. Pit Fight can also be played after damage is dealt but before leaving the Combat Phase, allowing you to squeeze extra damage out of your best unblocked attacker. And, of course, with careful targeting it can be used as a combat trick, allowing you to keep a blocked creature alive or forcing a trade from an otherwise disadvantageous block. While this sort of effect isn't really needed in Red, giving Green access to this potent of a combat trick is quite nice.


4. For Boros, one of my favorite cards from the original Ravnica block is back: Skyknight Legionnaire! 2/2 Flyers for are a dime a dozen at Common now, and it is not unusual for White to gain access to such a creature for the difficult cost of . Given these baselines, a 2/2 Flying Haste creature for is quite good. If Battalion is going to have a strong presence in Standard Pauper, this Skyknight seems like one of the better enablers for that strategy, since it gives you the ability to get three attackers online before your opponent has a chance to untap and respond. And in a similar vein to Kingpin's Pet, assuming that the Boros Guildgate provides enough fixing, this could easily see play in a slightly modified White Weenie deck once Gatecrash is released. Thus, while perhaps not the most splashy or exciting card, I predict that Skyknight Legionnaire will see plenty of play in Standard Pauper going forward.

5. Perhaps the Guild mechanic I am most uncertain about is Evolve. In some ways it reminds me of the Ally decks of Zendikar block, which became increasingly stronger the more you brought into play. Unlike that archetype, Evolve requires that the different creatures come down in an optimal way to guarantee that you get the full pump from each additional creature. Combined with the propensity towards a great deal of removal in Standard Pauper, I am uncertain whether Evolve will be strong enough to survive. So apart from that mechanic, I believe the best card that Simic has to offer is Drakewing Krasis. If 2/2 Flyers for are run-of-the-mill, a 3/1 Flyer with Trample is quite unusual. While it trades with anything in the skies, if one can keep the way clear, this Krasis can hit for a significant amount of damage quickly. It's no slouch on defense either, often trading up for your opponent's best Flyer. And while it lacks Hexproof, I would not be surprised if it saw play in that deck.

IV. Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed this look at my pick 11 for the best Commons in Gatecrash. I personally can't wait for these cards to get released on Magic Online so that we can discover just how accurate my initial thoughts on the set will be. In the meantime, let me remind you that I have recently started a new blog to cover all my Magic articles as well as my other writing and random musings called Writer Adept, so I would encourage you to check that out. Also, let me remind you that you can also get a sneak peek at my content before it goes live here at PureMTGO.com over on YouTube.com. Simply search for "gwyned42," select one of my video-casts, and click the Subscribe button. You can also now follow me on Twitter at the username gwyned42; check out my profile here and click on Follow. Thanks so much for reading. See you next time!