With roughly 1 month left until Eternal Masters spoilers are here, what do you want to see downgraded? They've said in the past they want to give Pauper some support before, and while Modern Masters was somewhat mediocre (we only got Gut Shot as a relevant card, alongside fringe things like Rusted Relic, Telling Time, Dragonsoul Knight, Thief of Hope, Scion of the WildViashino Slaughtermaster), Vintage Masters certainly delivered in spades. It brought upon us some all-stars like Chainer's Edict, the formats premier kill spell, or Battle Screech, a core card in White Tokens, and somewhat of a Pauper's version of Lingering Souls. It also brought strong contenders that have seen some play like Arrogant Wurm and Circular Logic, or straight up value cards that haven't found a home yet like Beetleback Chief or Brindle Shoat, so I'm quite certain that Eternal Masters, and Pauper being technically an Eternal format, will shake the meta.
What is in your wishlist for a downgrade to common rarity?
I really want Slide to be a thing in Pauper. The card just oozes value, and giving birth to an entirely new archetype (and one that can produce value and dodge spot removal on a whim provided it has fuel) is something that would certainly shake up the meta. Being an enchantment, like Tortured Existence means that the engine itself would be difficult to stop on game 1. Adding Lightning Rift to the mix is optional, but would certainly be lovely, and push one of the most underplayed color pairs (except for Boros Kitty decks) to popularity. I don't play Peasant so I don't know if Slide is overcentralizing or problematic there, but if not it would be a really nice addition to the meta.
Yeah, I know this card is still in Standard and all and probably won't be eligible, but this is a rock-solid engine for Control decks and Combo decks with spare mana to get added value out of their spells. Being a do-nothing enchantment at 4 mana means that any deck playing this has the opportunity of being beaten before it starts to bury the opponent in card advantage, and it's extremely susceptible to counterspells if played on curve. But it would be a great engine for Control decks, as every spell now produces an evasive threat for a mere 2 mana more.
Another solid Control / utility land. Teachings, MBC, Tron, Kuldotha Jeskai and Caw Blade could use this land to simply spam 2/2 threats EOT if they have nothing better to do with their mana until the game is over. Again, it's a difficult card to hate since it requires some Stone Rain variants from the sideboard in order to be dealt with. Inevitability and resilience at the cost of no deck space at all would make for an all-star format staple in Control decks. Notice it's cost can be paid with one Tron and that it can be found via Expedition Map.
In that order of preference. Something I think Pauper lacks are manlands. They can be easily interacted with, be it via combat or the plethora of instant speed removal of the format, so they wouldn't imbalance it a lot. Factory is obviously the better of them all, being a poor man's Mutavault stapled with Blinkmoth Nexus. It becomes better in multiples without the need to risk various activation, and it has nice synergy with the previously mentioned Urza's Factory, as it's flavour text points. Affinity could adopt it, as could some swarm / aggro decks and control decks alike. Tenth Edition's manlands have Faerie Conclave and Treetop Village as notable inclusions, the latter bolstering Green Midrange's game, as it's all about Stompy aggression these days. Ghitu Encampment is also notable for Red decks. Statuary has a huge front but a poor butt that makes it too much vulnerable for 4 mana. Had it been a 2/4, I would've ranked it probably second after the Factory. Stalking Stones is the last because it's permanently turned into a creature, thus defeating the purpose of a manland.
Yeah, a man can dream. I'd want Green to be something more that either Stompy zerg rush or spamming Fangren Marauder. Both are Green midrange cards, with Witness requiring a heavy green commitment and coming with a puny body, and Skullwinder having a more splashable cost and respectable body with deathtouch at the expense of returning a card to the opponent too (can be played around with graveyard hate). We've got Pulse of Murasa as a precedent recently though, so who knows. I hope we get any of them eventually.
A man can dream 2.0. White is the least played color due to it's lack of individually powerful cards. What can White do that Black can't do already? An instant speed removal for just 1 CMC, even with drawback, could push White more into playability, especially when coupled with Journey to Nowhere for 8 solid maindeckable pieces of removal. Won't probably happen though, but I wish either of them or something similar could get downgraded someday.
Would probably unbalance the format by a fair margin with Black being the second most powerful color. This is able to nag practically everything at no downside in a color that is already pretty strong, so it's definitely a no-no. However, I would like 1 CMC disruption spells that aren't Duress some day.
It's a shame that the best color pairs at removing permanents don't have catch-all removal. Golgari has Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse at rare, so I think that a downgrade on Putrefy would help the underplayed guild. After all, Murder isn't precisely a format all-star, so is swapping a B for G in order to have maindeck Artifact hate that bad? Orzhov is also underplayed, and Mortify would be certainly worse, as Artifacts are played more heavily than Enchantments, but it would be a pretty good maindeck card, and a throwback to Vindicate or the new Anguished Unmaking which are rare.
Two good Control counterspells. Foil could serve as a Pauper Force of Will, and abusing it freely means severe card disadvantage and missing land drops, so Tempo decks like Delver would run out of gas pretty quickly, so it would be a 2-of in Control decks in order to counter things while being tapped out. Dismiss is Pauper's true equivalent to Cryptic Command: 4 to counter any spell and draw a card seems fair in a fast format like this, so it would be pretty nice to have.
Two rock-solid removal spells against Aggro and swarm decks overall. Both can go to the face, and can remove any creature while providing some sort of advantage. The first one gains you 3 life, and when played in a key Combat Step can net you a lot of advantage in just one card. The second one can kill a medium guy or two small ones while drawing a card, so even if it costs 3 whole mana it's never a dead draw, and has the versatility of going to the face. A nice UWR control deck could come together if these two and some of the suggestions in the list (Dismiss, a manland and a white 1 CMC removal) come together.
Of course I'd like some new equipment for my pet deck. Lens turns the equipped creature practically into unblockable, Naginata gives further evasion and a lot of power to an already equipped creature, and Machete is an strict upgrade over Bonesplitter.
These are the few I could think off the top of my head. Which are your ideas?
Above all, I want Wizards to repair the rift they created with Vintage Masters by printing at common many (or all) the downgraded commons into a paper set.
After that, I completely agree that Pauper is in need of man-lands. I think Stalking Stones would be a good candidate for a downgrade, as with the 10th edition lands.
A man can dream 3.0: Sphinx's Tutelage. clearly way too powerful for Pauper, but it would be really awesome!
Ivory Tower would be a very interesting card to have as well.
Web of Inertia: We're talking about maindeck graveyard hate and creating new archetypes? This card would be great to play in Pauper.
I agree with Xyx on Shriekmaw! That would be a huge gain for Pauper and probably be amazing in TortEx or any other creature recursion deck!
My biggest want in Pauper would be Go for the Throat, but this is A Man Can Dream 4.0. It would be great as a way to balance out both Gray Merchant AND Gurmag Angler, but considering that Doom Blade recently received and upgrade to Uncommon I highly doubt they'd downgrade a more efficient kill spell.
But generically speaking, I'd be happy with anything that allowed for new archetypes or building up fringe decks!
I think most of the suggestions here are quite unrealistic unfortunately. More of you should play peasant in casual paper magic! Just let go and join the dark side So many archetypes to explore. That's not to say peasant isn't benefitted by common downgrades too - uncommons are scarce after all. But I highly doubt the likes of Astral Slide, Lightning Helix or Mishra's Factory will ever make common.
I could see Stalking Stones making common though. It's bad enough that not many would want to play it in pauper even if it was available and even if their deck would benefit from the card type. I think that is prerequisite #1 for a downgrade to be considered: that it's pretty much worse than the common options already available.
As a rule of thumb, I think cards with a) weird, b) complicated or c) undercosted effects (compared to what's already available) are unlikely to be downgraded.
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Demonic Taskmaster and Fettergeist would be incredible Control / Tempo tools as big, cheap and evasive creatures (and in the case of Geist, surviving Bolt) in decks that like loner creatures. There has been a push in efficient creatures recently, so I don't mind more of them coming and spreading into other colors, particularly White and Red, which are sorely lacking in them.
Spider Spawning would also be really sweet, although I don't know how dangerous a twice-castable army in a can with 2 toughness would be. Pyroclasm or some other Wrath variant would be good too, we need more wraths.
EDIT: The Waterveil Cavern cycle would also be a nice addition as sort of an untapped Dual. I believe that, and fetchlands that fetch any of two exclusively basic lands will be the closest we'll ever get unless they decide to explore some revolutionary design space.
I would love to see a land based sac outlet at common, mostly for PDH purposes. It amazes me that High Market is a rare. Sac outlets that don't take up deck space could also encourage new archetypes and make use of underplayed commons with death effects. How about something along the lines of Rupture Spire:
"When THIS enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you sacrifice a creature. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool." They printed a lot of new gold lands at common before, so I'm hoping for something like this to come along for my Child of Alara PDH deck in the future.
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Here's an interesting one: Kavu Predator. Some very interesting things could be done with him and cards like Skyshroud Cutter (there's a whole series of green cards that have alternate costs of opponent gaining life). It would make people think twice about playing with gain lands, and hose a few cards out there.
In terms of board wipes, I just thought of Spontaneous Combustion. This card is in colours that aren't often played together in Pauper, and require a sacrifice. Seems strong but balanced.
Sudden Shock would be amazing, but is probably too strong. What do you think?
Psychatog is truly a far-fetched dream as it's clearly powerful enough to terrorize the format, although it would be interesting to see. How does it fare in Peasant?
Elixir of Immortality would be fantastic in Caw Blade, and the cards Upkeep listed are pretty solid overall.
Thinking a bit more:
- Tortured Existence is due for a reprint at whatever rarity, and I want to pick up some foils.
- Lingering Souls is a really powerful card, enough to be banned in Block, but it's in an underrepresented guild, it's main color is the least played one, and it's a roadblock against the best deck in the format (Delver).
- Artisan of Kozilek is another really good and efficient top-end creature. Well costed, a big body with Annihilator 2, and an ability that brings another Eldrazi with it, or simply a value card like Mulldrifter would make it one of the top creatures in the format. It's only playable by Tron though, and it can't be fired off a single one.
- Unburial Rites: we need some Reanimator spell other than Exhume. This is fairly costed (see False Defeat for comparison) and in an underrepresented guild.
I would like a "fair" combo deck, and I think the correct answer would be Dragonstorm. The only target is Lightning Shrieker, and the deck would need to storm four times to win.
The deck is looking at turn 3 to go off best case, easy to distrupt, and the combo creatures can be lightning axed.
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Pauper: UB Wight Phantasm RB Burn UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
- Grizzly Fate and Bestial Menace: More Green midrange cards.
- Pelakka Wurm: A big fatty for Tron, Ramp and Reanimator.
- Calciderm: Blastoderm is legal, so why shouldn't this one be? Would give White another push.
- Flametongue Kavu: A real good 2-for-1 in a land of 4 toughness creatures. It's in a color that's all about aggression most of the time, so this would give a good option to slower Red decks (Gruul Monsters for example).
- Roar of the Wurm: I missed it last time in VMA as it was Uncommon, so that means probably no downgrade, but A Man Can Dream 5.0.
- Vivid Marsh cycle: More good options for multicolor decks.
- Chimeric Idol: Interesting in tap-out control decks.
- Isochron Scepter: Okay, maybe Terror, Lightning Bolt and Counterspell on a stick are too broken.
- Reclamation Sage: It's pretty similar to Kor Sanctifiers but in green. Trades 1 mana less for 2 less toughness.
- Flickerwisp and Glimmerpoint Stag: Bounce archetypes would go crazy with these.
- Stonecloaker: Sick value play. Counter a removal spell, put a 3/2 flying onto the battlefield, and snipe a Flashback spell, Dredge creature, recursion target, or simply take out Delve / Delirium fuel, all rolled into one nice 3 cmc package.
- Harm's Way: Pretty good removal / damage prevention spell. It's pretty similar to Righteous Blow.
- Bone Shredder: Removal and Edict bait.
- Magma Jet: Cool control Burn that hits most of the creatures in the format and can also go to the face.
- Gelectrode: Could spawn another "fair" combo engine, since I doubt Dragonstorm would ever go lower than Uncommon.
Flametongue Kavu is too notorious as one of the best creatures of all time. I think the uncommon slot is too appropriate for it.
I just remembered another couple sweepers that I thought should really be common: Howling Gale and Volcanic Spray. These cards can end up doing what a Pyroclasm does for more mana, but also have slight upside in having two activations, making them usable multiple times a game and resistant to countermagic. and the green one is an instant! I could definitely see these becoming common.
I agree that more sweepers would be welcome and the ones Upkeep suggest (Spontaneous Combustion, Howling Gale and Volcanic Spray) seem eminently balanced compared to Evincar's Justice and Crypt Rats.
I also agree that looking at peasant is a fairly good indication for many cards, especially build-around-me creatures like Psychatog or Kavu Predator. I don't think either of these would be too bad. Sudden Shock is very well balanced as a common too IMO, who would play it? It's a pretty bad burn spell for burn (who would want to counter the 2-for-2 anyway when you have 16 3-for-1 and 4 4-for-0?). It's best in a deck that can use its potential for uncounterable weenie removal, which is pretty much any deck with access to red mana that has problems with Delver decks.
I disagree with Astral Slide's position in Peasant being a good indication of downgrading Astral Slide and Lightning Rift though. In Peasant, you have only 5 slots so these decks can only use that for Slide, Rift and possibly Enlightened Tutor (Commune with the Gods is the best pseudo-tutor for the deck). With all 8 slots available, we could very easily revive the oppressive slide deck from its golden age in Extended, and add an even better engine piece in Tilling Treefolk that trump the efficacy of Eternal Witness back in the day. I'm all for new build ideas in Pauper, but I really think a shell of:
4 Lightning Rift
4 Astral Slide
4 Tilling Treefolk
4 Commune with the Gods
12 R/G/W lands that cycle for 1 mana
would be too powerful for Pauper.
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Some of the cards mentioned so far are among the better ones even in peasant cubes, while others seem to be at a much more conservative (realistic?) power-level - I'm particularly intrigued by Astral Slide. (not so much it AND Lightning Rift) Some others that might be interesting:
I really doubt cards with such infamy as Astral Slide would ever be downgraded. If anything, it feels much more like a rare than anything else.
I couldn't agree more with repairing the rift between online and paper pauper.
Do you think Desert would have a significant impact on the metagame? It's certainly a powerful card, and it helped a lot against Delver decks when I was testing with it.
Wouldn't Merchant Scroll and Hymn to Tourach only serve to make already good decks even better though? Maybe that's why Wizards are hesitant to downgrade them on-line.
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I doubt Scroll and Hymn would ever get downgraded, as the cards are too good. We already have Mystical Teachings as a broader Scroll and Wrench Mind as a fairer Hymn.
I'm a sucker for Flashback cards since they provide a lot of value, so I agree with both Green and Red wraths. Some more interesting Flashback cards:
- Memory Journey would be great for toolbox decks that can search the cards again.
- Mystical Retrieval good for UR Control decks in order to rebuy cards from the grave.
- Quiet Speculation really good as an enabler for cards with cheaper Flashback costs like Lingering Souls or Unburial Rites or simply as a tutor that provides good value.
- Recoup a bad impersonation of Snapcaster Mage.
- Runic Repetition more value for Flashback cards.
- Beast Attack would a 4/4 flash for 5 with super heavy commitment to Green be too dangerous for the meta? We already have Arrogant Wurm as a 4/4 trample flash for 3, and while it requires set up it also negates the discard downside from Looters and similar cards.
- Cabal Therapy great sacrifice outlet and 1 CMC disruption that's not overly busted.
- Conflagrate Wrath and finisher all rolled into one.
- Dread Return and Narcomoeba: This pair could bring an all-in dredge build into spotlight. Pauper doesn't have mass-haste outside of Goblin Bushwacker, or anything like Bridge from Below.
EDIT: Good Cascade cards would be really nice to have. While I doubt we'll be getting Bloodbraid Elf any time soon, Enlisted Wurm, Bituminous Blast and even Shardless Agent would be interesting, but I highly doubt on them making the latter a Common. They made Baleful Strix, which is arguably a Common based on Tidehollow Strix, a rare in VMA after all just because it's value in Eternal.
While Hymn to Tourach and a few other old commons would be quite strong, I still think it'd be in Pauper's best interest to reprint them at common in a set like this - perhaps not all in one set, but eventually. It'd be worth it to unite the format, even if something provokes the banhammer. For paper players who use the 'official' banlist, those cards are a constant source of illegitimacy. The question of whether they would be banned or not makes one question the banlist's applicability in paper Pauper. Addressing them in this way would go a long way to making Pauper even more appealing by settling those questions.
I couldn't agree more. Even if they printed it at common at banned it before anyone could put it into their deck, it would at least answer a lot of questions that keep coming up in these forums.
I think they need to use this opportunity to print things in Common in Paper the way they did Vintage Masters online. I mean, they could just say, "Use the online legalities" but it would be way more simple to use sets like this to just print the stuff at the rarity they want it at for Legality's sake to make the formats the same. That way you avoid the whole, "That's not a common." "It is online." conversation. You can just say, "It was printed at common in X set." the way it works online currently.
I mean we are ultimately talking 6 cards or something like that right? Use future iterations of Modern Masters & Eternal Masters to move things to common but this set needs to just bridge the gaps between Paper and MTGO, leave it there for now, and then move forward in the future.
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There are also a couple interesting cards that came from Conspiracy that aren't available online, so the reverse is true as well. Custodi Squire comes to mind.
Speaking of new archetypes, for aggro it would nice to be able to play Undying Pongify. It would need them to demote pongify and Rapid Hybridization, and it would make for a cool aggro alternative to the existing ones.
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Pauper: UB Wight Phantasm RB Burn UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy: R Burn CG-Post
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What is in your wishlist for a downgrade to common rarity?
- Astral Slide / Lightning Rift
I really want Slide to be a thing in Pauper. The card just oozes value, and giving birth to an entirely new archetype (and one that can produce value and dodge spot removal on a whim provided it has fuel) is something that would certainly shake up the meta. Being an enchantment, like Tortured Existence means that the engine itself would be difficult to stop on game 1. Adding Lightning Rift to the mix is optional, but would certainly be lovely, and push one of the most underplayed color pairs (except for Boros Kitty decks) to popularity. I don't play Peasant so I don't know if Slide is overcentralizing or problematic there, but if not it would be a really nice addition to the meta.
- Skywise Teachings
Yeah, I know this card is still in Standard and all and probably won't be eligible, but this is a rock-solid engine for Control decks and Combo decks with spare mana to get added value out of their spells. Being a do-nothing enchantment at 4 mana means that any deck playing this has the opportunity of being beaten before it starts to bury the opponent in card advantage, and it's extremely susceptible to counterspells if played on curve. But it would be a great engine for Control decks, as every spell now produces an evasive threat for a mere 2 mana more.
- Urza's Factory
Another solid Control / utility land. Teachings, MBC, Tron, Kuldotha Jeskai and Caw Blade could use this land to simply spam 2/2 threats EOT if they have nothing better to do with their mana until the game is over. Again, it's a difficult card to hate since it requires some Stone Rain variants from the sideboard in order to be dealt with. Inevitability and resilience at the cost of no deck space at all would make for an all-star format staple in Control decks. Notice it's cost can be paid with one Tron and that it can be found via Expedition Map.
- Mishra's Factory / Tenth Edition's monocolor manlands / Dread Statuary / Stalking Stones
In that order of preference. Something I think Pauper lacks are manlands. They can be easily interacted with, be it via combat or the plethora of instant speed removal of the format, so they wouldn't imbalance it a lot. Factory is obviously the better of them all, being a poor man's Mutavault stapled with Blinkmoth Nexus. It becomes better in multiples without the need to risk various activation, and it has nice synergy with the previously mentioned Urza's Factory, as it's flavour text points. Affinity could adopt it, as could some swarm / aggro decks and control decks alike. Tenth Edition's manlands have Faerie Conclave and Treetop Village as notable inclusions, the latter bolstering Green Midrange's game, as it's all about Stompy aggression these days. Ghitu Encampment is also notable for Red decks. Statuary has a huge front but a poor butt that makes it too much vulnerable for 4 mana. Had it been a 2/4, I would've ranked it probably second after the Factory. Stalking Stones is the last because it's permanently turned into a creature, thus defeating the purpose of a manland.
- Eternal Witness / Skullwinder
Yeah, a man can dream. I'd want Green to be something more that either Stompy zerg rush or spamming Fangren Marauder. Both are Green midrange cards, with Witness requiring a heavy green commitment and coming with a puny body, and Skullwinder having a more splashable cost and respectable body with deathtouch at the expense of returning a card to the opponent too (can be played around with graveyard hate). We've got Pulse of Murasa as a precedent recently though, so who knows. I hope we get any of them eventually.
- Swords to Plowshares / Path to Exile
A man can dream 2.0. White is the least played color due to it's lack of individually powerful cards. What can White do that Black can't do already? An instant speed removal for just 1 CMC, even with drawback, could push White more into playability, especially when coupled with Journey to Nowhere for 8 solid maindeckable pieces of removal. Won't probably happen though, but I wish either of them or something similar could get downgraded someday.
- Inquisition of Kozilek
Would probably unbalance the format by a fair margin with Black being the second most powerful color. This is able to nag practically everything at no downside in a color that is already pretty strong, so it's definitely a no-no. However, I would like 1 CMC disruption spells that aren't Duress some day.
- Putrefy / Mortify
It's a shame that the best color pairs at removing permanents don't have catch-all removal. Golgari has Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse at rare, so I think that a downgrade on Putrefy would help the underplayed guild. After all, Murder isn't precisely a format all-star, so is swapping a B for G in order to have maindeck Artifact hate that bad? Orzhov is also underplayed, and Mortify would be certainly worse, as Artifacts are played more heavily than Enchantments, but it would be a pretty good maindeck card, and a throwback to Vindicate or the new Anguished Unmaking which are rare.
- Foil / Dismiss
Two good Control counterspells. Foil could serve as a Pauper Force of Will, and abusing it freely means severe card disadvantage and missing land drops, so Tempo decks like Delver would run out of gas pretty quickly, so it would be a 2-of in Control decks in order to counter things while being tapped out. Dismiss is Pauper's true equivalent to Cryptic Command: 4 to counter any spell and draw a card seems fair in a fast format like this, so it would be pretty nice to have.
- Spell Snare / Remand
In direct contrast to the previous two, these are best used in Tempo decks like Delver. Spell Snare is narrow in what it can counter, notable targets being Journey to Nowhere, Kor Skyfisher, Spellstutter Sprite, Prophetic Prism / Ichor Wellspring, Chainer's Edict, Kiln Fiend, Squadron Hawk and other counterspells. Remand on the other hand can counter everything while drawing a card, but won't get rid of the spell entirely, so it's sort of a reverse Memory Lapse (which no one plays anyways).
- Lightning Helix & Electrolize
Two rock-solid removal spells against Aggro and swarm decks overall. Both can go to the face, and can remove any creature while providing some sort of advantage. The first one gains you 3 life, and when played in a key Combat Step can net you a lot of advantage in just one card. The second one can kill a medium guy or two small ones while drawing a card, so even if it costs 3 whole mana it's never a dead draw, and has the versatility of going to the face. A nice UWR control deck could come together if these two and some of the suggestions in the list (Dismiss, a manland and a white 1 CMC removal) come together.
- Infiltration Lens / O-Naginata - Trusty Machete
Of course I'd like some new equipment for my pet deck. Lens turns the equipped creature practically into unblockable, Naginata gives further evasion and a lot of power to an already equipped creature, and Machete is an strict upgrade over Bonesplitter.
These are the few I could think off the top of my head. Which are your ideas?
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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After that, I completely agree that Pauper is in need of man-lands. I think Stalking Stones would be a good candidate for a downgrade, as with the 10th edition lands.
A man can dream 3.0: Sphinx's Tutelage. clearly way too powerful for Pauper, but it would be really awesome!
Ivory Tower would be a very interesting card to have as well.
Web of Inertia: We're talking about maindeck graveyard hate and creating new archetypes? This card would be great to play in Pauper.
Augur of Bolas and Azure Mage would both be very welcome Blue creatures in my books.
Dakmor Salvage would make dredge a lot better than it already is.
I'm sure there are many more that I will think of later!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
My biggest want in Pauper would be Go for the Throat, but this is A Man Can Dream 4.0. It would be great as a way to balance out both Gray Merchant AND Gurmag Angler, but considering that Doom Blade recently received and upgrade to Uncommon I highly doubt they'd downgrade a more efficient kill spell.
But generically speaking, I'd be happy with anything that allowed for new archetypes or building up fringe decks!
I could see Stalking Stones making common though. It's bad enough that not many would want to play it in pauper even if it was available and even if their deck would benefit from the card type. I think that is prerequisite #1 for a downgrade to be considered: that it's pretty much worse than the common options already available.
As a rule of thumb, I think cards with a) weird, b) complicated or c) undercosted effects (compared to what's already available) are unlikely to be downgraded.
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"At least for those who can play cards, their present incarnation is not quite wasted."
[Click here for the articles!]
Demonic Taskmaster and Fettergeist would be incredible Control / Tempo tools as big, cheap and evasive creatures (and in the case of Geist, surviving Bolt) in decks that like loner creatures. There has been a push in efficient creatures recently, so I don't mind more of them coming and spreading into other colors, particularly White and Red, which are sorely lacking in them.
Spider Spawning would also be really sweet, although I don't know how dangerous a twice-castable army in a can with 2 toughness would be. Pyroclasm or some other Wrath variant would be good too, we need more wraths.
EDIT: The Waterveil Cavern cycle would also be a nice addition as sort of an untapped Dual. I believe that, and fetchlands that fetch any of two exclusively basic lands will be the closest we'll ever get unless they decide to explore some revolutionary design space.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Sure, many of these are not realistic, but this thread is just a wishlist
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
"When THIS enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you sacrifice a creature. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool." They printed a lot of new gold lands at common before, so I'm hoping for something like this to come along for my Child of Alara PDH deck in the future.
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Here's an interesting one: Kavu Predator. Some very interesting things could be done with him and cards like Skyshroud Cutter (there's a whole series of green cards that have alternate costs of opponent gaining life). It would make people think twice about playing with gain lands, and hose a few cards out there.
In terms of board wipes, I just thought of Spontaneous Combustion. This card is in colours that aren't often played together in Pauper, and require a sacrifice. Seems strong but balanced.
Sudden Shock would be amazing, but is probably too strong. What do you think?
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
That's my dream.
Modern
GWBAbzan CompanyGWB
Pauper
UGU/G BeatsUG
Elixir of Immortality would be fantastic in Caw Blade, and the cards Upkeep listed are pretty solid overall.
Thinking a bit more:
- Tortured Existence is due for a reprint at whatever rarity, and I want to pick up some foils.
- Lingering Souls is a really powerful card, enough to be banned in Block, but it's in an underrepresented guild, it's main color is the least played one, and it's a roadblock against the best deck in the format (Delver).
- Artisan of Kozilek is another really good and efficient top-end creature. Well costed, a big body with Annihilator 2, and an ability that brings another Eldrazi with it, or simply a value card like Mulldrifter would make it one of the top creatures in the format. It's only playable by Tron though, and it can't be fired off a single one.
- Unburial Rites: we need some Reanimator spell other than Exhume. This is fairly costed (see False Defeat for comparison) and in an underrepresented guild.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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The deck is looking at turn 3 to go off best case, easy to distrupt, and the combo creatures can be lightning axed.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
- Grizzly Fate and Bestial Menace: More Green midrange cards.
- Pelakka Wurm: A big fatty for Tron, Ramp and Reanimator.
- Calciderm: Blastoderm is legal, so why shouldn't this one be? Would give White another push.
- Flametongue Kavu: A real good 2-for-1 in a land of 4 toughness creatures. It's in a color that's all about aggression most of the time, so this would give a good option to slower Red decks (Gruul Monsters for example).
- Roar of the Wurm: I missed it last time in VMA as it was Uncommon, so that means probably no downgrade, but A Man Can Dream 5.0.
- Vivid Marsh cycle: More good options for multicolor decks.
- Chimeric Idol: Interesting in tap-out control decks.
- Isochron Scepter: Okay, maybe Terror, Lightning Bolt and Counterspell on a stick are too broken.
- Reclamation Sage: It's pretty similar to Kor Sanctifiers but in green. Trades 1 mana less for 2 less toughness.
- Flickerwisp and Glimmerpoint Stag: Bounce archetypes would go crazy with these.
- Stonecloaker: Sick value play. Counter a removal spell, put a 3/2 flying onto the battlefield, and snipe a Flashback spell, Dredge creature, recursion target, or simply take out Delve / Delirium fuel, all rolled into one nice 3 cmc package.
- Harm's Way: Pretty good removal / damage prevention spell. It's pretty similar to Righteous Blow.
- Bone Shredder: Removal and Edict bait.
- Magma Jet: Cool control Burn that hits most of the creatures in the format and can also go to the face.
- Gelectrode: Could spawn another "fair" combo engine, since I doubt Dragonstorm would ever go lower than Uncommon.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Flametongue Kavu is too notorious as one of the best creatures of all time. I think the uncommon slot is too appropriate for it.
I just remembered another couple sweepers that I thought should really be common: Howling Gale and Volcanic Spray. These cards can end up doing what a Pyroclasm does for more mana, but also have slight upside in having two activations, making them usable multiple times a game and resistant to countermagic. and the green one is an instant! I could definitely see these becoming common.
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
Worm Harvest would be cool, since it works fantastically with Treasure Hunt. Slow, janky combo hunt deck but still would be fun.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
I also agree that looking at peasant is a fairly good indication for many cards, especially build-around-me creatures like Psychatog or Kavu Predator. I don't think either of these would be too bad. Sudden Shock is very well balanced as a common too IMO, who would play it? It's a pretty bad burn spell for burn (who would want to counter the 2-for-2 anyway when you have 16 3-for-1 and 4 4-for-0?). It's best in a deck that can use its potential for uncounterable weenie removal, which is pretty much any deck with access to red mana that has problems with Delver decks.
I disagree with Astral Slide's position in Peasant being a good indication of downgrading Astral Slide and Lightning Rift though. In Peasant, you have only 5 slots so these decks can only use that for Slide, Rift and possibly Enlightened Tutor (Commune with the Gods is the best pseudo-tutor for the deck). With all 8 slots available, we could very easily revive the oppressive slide deck from its golden age in Extended, and add an even better engine piece in Tilling Treefolk that trump the efficacy of Eternal Witness back in the day. I'm all for new build ideas in Pauper, but I really think a shell of:
4 Lightning Rift
4 Astral Slide
4 Tilling Treefolk
4 Commune with the Gods
12 R/G/W lands that cycle for 1 mana
would be too powerful for Pauper.
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"At least for those who can play cards, their present incarnation is not quite wasted."
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I also think this could be an excellent opportunity to further merge online and paper Pauper, by printing cards such as:
I couldn't agree more with repairing the rift between online and paper pauper.
Do you think Desert would have a significant impact on the metagame? It's certainly a powerful card, and it helped a lot against Delver decks when I was testing with it.
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
A series of seven articles using Magic to explore the very stuff of the Universe!
"At least for those who can play cards, their present incarnation is not quite wasted."
[Click here for the articles!]
I'm a sucker for Flashback cards since they provide a lot of value, so I agree with both Green and Red wraths. Some more interesting Flashback cards:
- Memory Journey would be great for toolbox decks that can search the cards again.
- Mystical Retrieval good for UR Control decks in order to rebuy cards from the grave.
- Quiet Speculation really good as an enabler for cards with cheaper Flashback costs like Lingering Souls or Unburial Rites or simply as a tutor that provides good value.
- Recoup a bad impersonation of Snapcaster Mage.
- Runic Repetition more value for Flashback cards.
- Beast Attack would a 4/4 flash for 5 with super heavy commitment to Green be too dangerous for the meta? We already have Arrogant Wurm as a 4/4 trample flash for 3, and while it requires set up it also negates the discard downside from Looters and similar cards.
- Cabal Therapy great sacrifice outlet and 1 CMC disruption that's not overly busted.
- Conflagrate Wrath and finisher all rolled into one.
- Dread Return and Narcomoeba: This pair could bring an all-in dredge build into spotlight. Pauper doesn't have mass-haste outside of Goblin Bushwacker, or anything like Bridge from Below.
EDIT: Good Cascade cards would be really nice to have. While I doubt we'll be getting Bloodbraid Elf any time soon, Enlisted Wurm, Bituminous Blast and even Shardless Agent would be interesting, but I highly doubt on them making the latter a Common. They made Baleful Strix, which is arguably a Common based on Tidehollow Strix, a rare in VMA after all just because it's value in Eternal.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
I mean we are ultimately talking 6 cards or something like that right? Use future iterations of Modern Masters & Eternal Masters to move things to common but this set needs to just bridge the gaps between Paper and MTGO, leave it there for now, and then move forward in the future.
https://pucatrade.com/invite/gift/86097
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post