PDC is an all player run format on Magic Online. It consists of competitive games using exclusively commons cards. Games can be found in the "/join pdc" room and events can be found on the Magic Online official message boards. For more information please visit paupermagic.com

PDC Standard is a format that is currently defined by creature combat. Currently, the format has one huge limiting factor: Saps. This deck is aggro-combo, pumping out hordes of tokens and then using a mass pump effect, such as that on Pallid Mycoderm to pull off an Overrun style kill. This deck is fast and redundant. Because of this, any standard deck has to be able to handle creatures on the first few turns of the game; doing this shuts off Saps main offensive source of power. However, doing this tends to weaken the deck against the other dominant deck of the format: Mystical Teachings based control. Although these decks come in many different varieties, their main course of win is the same: card advantage through a Teachings engine. Recently, Orzhov strategies using Momentary Blink and Blightspeaker to reuse and abuse Blind Hunter and Aven Riftwatcher have jumped into the metagame. The final major player is a gap deck; with decent to good matchups against both of these decks, and that is an Izzet special that combines card advantage with removal and large creatures, usually referred to as Steam Machine. This format will exist until the Lorwyn online release, so understanding this triad is important. Here are some lists for reference:

Approaching this format from a deck designer’s perspective presents many interesting obstacles to overcome. It is a combat phase format: battles are won and lost on life totals and creature removal. This makes cards that do either very important. However, it is a format limited by the speed of Saps, meaning that every spell has to be highly efficient- there can be no dead cards. This means that any card that is part of a good interaction must be multi-functional.

Competitive Standard decks also need to have an early, middle, and late game plan. All of the big three have these (with the exception perhaps of some Saps builds) and to have a chink in the armor at any point prove lethal. Removal is a must and your deck must be able to handle having a significant portion of your army targeted. Being able to sweep the board is an important tool against Saps and other swarm style decks that pop up. You can not just have removal, however, as the slower decks of the formats often run a Grim Harvest engine. Rather, a deck needs additional disruption where ever it can be found.

In addition to this, building a deck for standard requires one to be aware that there will be a number of aura based decks. These decks are expert at card-disadvantage. They load up Silhana Ledgewalkers with as many pairs of pants as possible and swing in. It is not uncommon for these decks to play eleven creatures and sixteen auras. I am not saying the decks are good, only that they are played and even have won events.

Your deck must prepare for Saps:

The old saying goes a failure to plan is planning to fail. Every deck must have a way to stop the fungal swarm from ending the game on their terms. There are a few ways to accomplish this task. First is to overload on removal, playing upwards of twenty spells specifically to answer creatures. In this case, the removal has to exist on a curve with an overload in the two mana slot. This way, the removal can match the curve of a Saps deck and hopefully keep their army off the board. Sometimes, this does not work, as the removal drawn comes at odd times, hence the overload at the second mana slot. Here, Momentary Blink is a virtual card advantage engine, but also serves as a counter for removal. Fortify could conceivably do the same thing, either ending the game or saving your creatures. Terror and Last Gasp are key spells, as are cards like Skred and Tendrils of Corruption. Feast of Flesh also helps at the start of the removal curve.