Pauper is a unique format in MTG where all cards must be common. This restriction might seem limiting, but it actually opens up a world of creative deck-building. The format is incredibly diverse, with a wide range of strategies and archetypes. Whether you prefer aggro, control, or combo, there’s a Pauper deck for you. To build a Pauper deck, start by gathering the core cards for your chosen deck. Then, fill in the gaps with cards that support your deck’s strategy and help shore up its weaknesses.
Budget Commander
These are the cards that are essential to your game plan and should be included in multiples to ensure consistency. If you’re looking for another competitive deck, Boros midrange is a solid meta option because it can be configured in multiple ways. Its play patterns make it one of the most fun in the format as they involve high complexity levels and manage the game’s tempo. Previously, the only way to play with the Urza lands (Urza’s Mine, Urza’s Power Plant, and Urza’s Tower) was to use them in Ephemerate shells. However, the format has grown too fast to justify taking too many turns to set up, control, and get an edge on the game. Some other aggressive decks employ pseudo-Bogles strategies, as seen in Selesnya () Bogles and certain mono-white strategies featuring creatures like Lagonna-Band Trailblazer with the heroic mechanic.
Running up to eight copies of [card]Hydroblast[/card] gives you a significant edge in those matchups. Overall, the deck excels with its counterspells and threats like [card]Tolarian Terror[/card], allowing it to hold its own against a wide range of opponents. For example, if you’re playing a Burn deck, you might include Smash to Smithereens in your sideboard to deal with artifacts. If you’re playing Elves, you might include Spidersilk Net to protect your creatures from removal spells.
What is Pauper in MTG?
Cards that would not thrive in formats such as Modern and Standard can potentially find new life in Pauper. Utilizing free resources and engaging with the MTG community can also help you stay competitive on a budget. Websites like CardsRealm offer tools like deck builders and land calculators, which can optimize your deck-building process without any cost. Moreover, participating in online forums and social media groups can provide valuable insights and trading opportunities that could help you enhance your deck. Think about the matchups you’re likely to face and include cards that can help you adapt to different strategies.
The only downside of the fish lady is her own CMC and the window of opportunity that casting her opens up. Draw-Go is the type of deck that plays as its name suggests. This style of deck, whilst sometimes being the bane of standard, has a much harder time in multiplayer formats. Similar to the problems traditional agro decks face it scales poorly with more players. In this case the life total is not the issue but the resources.
Today, the Pauper community has garnered significant interest in both the US and the UK. However, the most passionate Pauper enthusiasts are known to be in the Brazilian and Italian communities. They have wholeheartedly embraced Pauper as their primary way of playing Magic and have even formed teams that have participated in various Pauper tournaments throughout the years.
They require you to play an even more control heavy deck than the others. However Whispersilk Cloak addresses all problems this deck faces in one card. Capsize, Disturbed Burial, Evincar’s Justice, Sprout Swarm – These all do very different things but the all have the very powerful buyback mechanic on them. They are the kind of spells that have the potential to take edh deck over the game by themselves.Rolling Thunder, Death Denied, Ivy Elemental – Big mana sinks are great because their power celing is so high. Mulldrifter, Dinrova Horror, Maul Splicer, Ulamog’s Crusher – Just play whatever creatures you feel are the best of the best.
For example, you can play the Iconic Masters version of Topan Freeblade in your Pauper deck, because the original Magic Origins version was already a common. Feel free to tweak it based on your preferences and the metagame you expect to face. When I first got into Pauper, I wanted a deck that was both easy to play and strong enough to win games, so I asked some friends for advice.
Focus on Budget-Friendly Formats
The best Pauper decks for beginners are ones that are easy to pilot, affordable, and consistently perform well in the format. Mono-Red Burn is a great starting point, using direct damage spells like [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] and [card]Chain Lightning[/card] to win quickly. Full Combo (also referred to as Traditional Combo) is not an archetype that is simply packed full of combos. It can be but most of the time this will make the deck significantly weaker. Instead this archetype describes decks who’s plan A is to assemble and win with their combo. Their interaction is often used to protect themselves and only used on opponents when they really need to.
Their wins are usually very slow and even in their losses the stop people from playing out their strategies as it was intended. Luck is on both the Stax hating and Stax loving players side when it comes to PDH. This is great if you hate Stax but from what I learned from talking to a lot of people who play Stax is that one of their big joys is finding all those interlocking pieces that stop the game. You may not believe it but most Stax players don’t play Stax to make you suffer.
Playtesting is an essential part of deck-building, especially when you’re on a budget. Before you invest in a deck, try playing it online or with proxies to see how it performs. This will help you identify any weaknesses in the deck and make adjustments before you spend money on the cards. If you’re on a tight budget, consider using budget alternatives for more expensive cards. For example, instead of using Force of Will in a control deck, you might use Counterspell or Mana Leak. These cards are cheaper and can still be effective in the right deck.
Overall, it’s a well-rounded deck with a manabase that consists of just Forest and [card]Springleaf Drum[/card], keeping things simple and efficient. Now that you have your first Pauper deck, it’s time to test it out against other players. You can find a group of players in real life or look for a game in MTG Online. There’s no better way to see how your deck ideas work than testing them against other Pauper decks. Building your sideboard will take time and experience, as you need to get a feel of what decks you don’t do well against as well as cards that ruin your day. That helps you think about options for your sideboard and what counters can work.
Use the options below to exercise this right, and please review our privacy policy for complete information on how your data is used and stored. Weekly drafts featuring a variety of formats new and old. Four-player Commander battles featuring a new theme every week. Seems like a very strong card that protects a threat but then can also be bounced with Ninjutsu to be recast. Being able to make lots of Treasures and sac them while growing your Aspirants and also triggering both Nightblade and Bats is pretty cool.