Common Denominators: Welcome To Pauper

Hello all. My Name is Mike Grote (AKA: Ranth). I’ll be your guide here at the Academy into the world of all things Pauper (and occasionally Peasant). There’s a lot to cover so let’s start with five basic questions: what, who, when, where, and why?

The What

Pauper is a MTGO format where all cards used in your deck must be Commons. This means anything that they have been printed at the Common rarity at least once. For example, Mogg Fanatic from Tenth Edition is legal because it was a Common in Tempest. However, Squire is NOT legal, because it was only released Online as a part of the Timeshifted rarity.

But don’t let this limitation fool you: Pauper is far from an introductory format. Right now WotC only offers Classic Pauper. But in the Player Run Event community, there are a variety of other flavors embracing all things Common: Extended, Standard, Block, and (Pauper’s big cousin) Peasant. (I’ll touch on these shortly.)

The Who

Pauper is way more than just a format. It’s a community of players that enjoy the competitive challenge of playing with such a minimal card pool. Even high profile players such as recent MOCS runner-up yaya3 and Pro Tour regular LSV have played in Weekend Challenges.

There’s a very healthy Player Run Community as well, offering all kinds of competitive play beyond the regular Weekend Challenges. We have plenty of veteran players who would love to see new faces and deck ideas. So gather your commons, your courage, and jump right in!

The Where and When

A good place to get a feel for the format is in the Casual and Tournament Practice rooms. It’s absolutely free, and there’s never a shortage of players willing to play. This is the best place to explore deck ideas, gain insight into the decks out there, prepare for the popular Weekend Challenges, and have fun in general.

For those of you looking for more competitive play, there are sanctioned Weekend Challenges (as well as Player Run tournaments I have mentioned). To find out when the next sanctioned event is go to: Menu>Play>Tournaments>Premier Events. Look for the next event titled “Pauper Challenge”.

Alternatively you can check out this page: MTGO calendar.

It’s six tickets to enter and has consistently had 50 to 70 participants. The tournaments typically last anywhere from 5-10 hours, this includes five to to seven rounds op play and a Top 8 with the following prize payout:

1st – 30 M10 boosters

2nd – 20 M10 boosters

3rd-4th – 12 M10 boosters

5th-8th – 6 M10 boosters

9th-16th – 3 M10 boosters

All participants get a promo card that changes each month. Top 8 players get a foil version of this card!

Player Run Events (PREs) are free tournaments run by fans of the format willing to volunteer their time to organize the other types of Pauper that I mentioned earlier. You can join any of them just by being in the right room at the right time and registering with the host for said event. (For those of you unfamiliar with the MTGO chat interface, you can join a chat room by typing: /join ROOMNAME. Then, MTGO will open a chat room with the name you entered. This command is important to know if you want to join any of the Player Run Events.)

Here’s a list of current Player Run Events:

Standard Pauper: Monday 3pm EST (/join MPDC)

Standard Pauper: Thursday 8:30pm EST (/join SPDC)

Classic Pauper Tuesday 8:30pm EST (/join TPDC)

Extended Pauper Sunday 1:30pm EST (/join XPDC)

Block Pauper (Currently Ravnica block) Saturday 12:30pm EST (/join APDC)

For more information on these or any other Player Run Events check out: the MTGO PRE forum.

The Why (and a few decks just because)

I love Pauper because everyone is on a level playing field. No longer do wallets determine deck choices and winning percentages. I love the fact it’s a competitive Classic environment in which nearly every game is truly interactive rather than “draw, go, combo, counter war, win.” The power level forces you to reevaluate the cards that you may have once seen only fit as liner for the bird cage. I love to think strategically and play magic, and Pauper provides me with a great outlet for both.

Here are some other reasons why I, and other people, love Pauper so much:

1.) Ever see a deck you wanted to play, but it was too expensive to build? Well Pauper solves this by being the most inexpensive format out there! Not a single card costs more than four tickets (exceptions being: Crypt Rats, Daze, and Yavimaya Elder). So if you see it, think it, dream it, then GO AND PLAY IT!

2.) We have the largest most interactive community for any of the alternate formats. (Check out pdcmagic.com.) They have forums dedicated to each of the Pauper formats. They also have a nifty little program called Gatherling that has lists all of the Player Run Events and the decks that Top 8 each week.

3.) Even with only Commons, your deck can still be not only competitive but powerful. There are a wide variety of decks (even Combos) and plenty of room for creative deckbuilding. Check out this match where I accidentally joined the Classic 2man queue with my Pauper Goblins deck. I think the outcome may surprise (and even amuse) you!

Game 1: YouTube streaming video

Game 2: YouTube streaming video

Now I’ll be the first to admit I made several misplays due to the fact I was doing the “deer in headlights OMG OMG OMG I’m against a tourney Classic deck.” Lucky for me these errors ended up not mattering as much as I was afraid they would, and I was able to push through the beats till my opponent conceded.

And now for your viewing pleasure, the list of the little deck that could:

(To load a .txt deck into Magic: Online’s Deck Editor, click “Load”, select “Local Text Deck”, find the location of the downloaded deck file and double-click the deck.)

I can’t completely take credit for the deck. Goblins have been around for awhile now and placed consistently well in Pauper Premier Events. What I’ve done to help change this from a run of the mill build is to add more burn and Giantbaiting for added reach and the ability break up ground stalls. (Most people do not expect you to go from a near empty board to dealing 8 damage in their face on Turn 3.) To fit these cards in I took out 2 Goblin Cohort, 2 Mogg Conscripts, 4 Intimidator Initiate, and 4 Sparksmith (three of which moved to the sideboard).

Now how does his deck match up against the field? Personally I do not believe that the deck has any match in which it’s a complete dog. This is an aggro deck with Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Fireblast for that extra reach to win games just as your little green men are starting to lose gas. Giantbaiting is quite the nasty surprise. I’ve won more then my share of matches off that card alone, always forcing an opponent into an unfavorable combat situation where one of three things typically happen:

1) They take 8 to the face from a single spell.

2) They lose a creature and take four.

3) Or they lose any combination of two creatures/removal spells.

So if you like turning little green men sideways this deck might be the right one for you.

Now let’s take a look at two of the current decks you should expect to face in a Weekend Premier Event.

In the history of Pauper, Blue-Black Control has been the deck to beat because of its card advantage engines and vast removal suites. Black-Blue Control (MBC/MBCu) typically lacks in targeted and mass removal with the exceptions of Crypt Rats, Nausea , and Tendrils of Corruption. This forces MBC to use two spells to generally deal with each of ours.

Goblins fits the bill for defeating what is traditionally a powerhouse deck because it’s a quick, aggressive deck that punishes slow development. It can easily win games on Turns 4 or 5, which is when MBC/MBCu starts to muster its real power. This version is quite innovative, and its results speak for itself. And while it lacks Crypt Rats it does have it’s own 2-for-1s built in the form of Agony Warp and Ravenous Rats. Chittering Rats is also brutal for stunting tempo.

WW is typically one of Goblins harder match ups. It usually boils down to who has the better draws. White has better creatures coupled with life gain which can always be troublesome. However, the fact that you can get a blazing fast hand or just amass creatures for an insane Goblin Bushwhacker turn can break the match easily. The trouble cards to watch out for here are Amrou Scout (as they pull out Aven Riftwatcher) and Holy Light as it’s yet another sweeper for the masses of 1/1′s you play. Of course most of their critters can just block yours with no worries, but that is where the burn and Giantbaiting hopefully come in and push through the last few much needed points of damage.

So keep in mind that even if you don’t play Goblins you should definitely be prepared for them as they took four spots in the last Premier Event.

OUTRO

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, please use the comment section below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Next time I’ll cover a few more decks and take a look at what has been winning in the Player Run Events as well as the Weekend Challenges. Till then I hope to see you at the tables. And, most of all, keep those commons coming!

Later,

Mike (Ranth)