Hey everybody! Another spoiler season come and gone. I must say this is to me the most disappointing set in a long time for Pauper. I see pretty much nothing of value to any current deck or any real brewing potential. Regardless, here are my thoughts on a few cards.
Snubhorn Sentry might be good enough in a tokens decks. Keep in mind that you can play this on turn 1 and activate the City's Blessing later to get the bonus, since the reminder text mentions nothing about timing. a 3/3 for 1 is good at most points in the game. Unfortunately, needing to control 10 permanents makes it so that if you already have 5-6 tokens out, a 3/3 suddently matters a lot less.
Luminous Bonds might make its way into my PDH Pacifism deck, but that's it. Basically just limited removal.
Kitesail Corsair is a 2-power flier for 2 mana with negligible drawbacks. Will it see play? Meh...
Secrets of the Golden City: any card that has "draw 3" written on it is worth looking at. I kind of like this card. It's a divination throughout mot of the game and gets better with many permanents out. What deck would play this? I'm not sure. Turbo Fog can't really make use of City's Blessing reliably, but maybe some rogue UX decks could make it work. City's Blessing is easy to achieve with token producers or Midrange-y decks.
Dusk Charger is a lot like Snubhorn Sentry where you can play it as a 3/3 on curve, beat face and end up with a 5/5 a few turns later to finish the game. I think this could maybe see some play, though 3B is a lot to pay.
Dusk Legion Zealot is a mini Phyrexian Rager, which is a staple in Mono-Black Control. MBC doesn't really have early plays and its 3-drop slot is very full, so maybe it's good? Then again, being a 1/1 is much worse than a 2/2 as it won't trade with anything in the format. I still think it's pretty good.
Jade Bearer has good stats for a 1-drop, spreading out a 2/2 over two bodies. Unfortunately, the other creature needs to be a merfolk, making this terrible. Even if it wasn't the case, there are easier ways to get a 2/2 for 1 mana already.
Jungleborn Pioneer is a 3-mana hexproof creature with a 2/2 body to protect it from edicts. Is it playable? Maybe. It clashes with Aura Gnarlids in the Hexproof deck, which is always missing its hexproof creatures 13-16. I think it's too expensive, but you never know.
Are there any other cards you think are worth mentioning?
Fanatical Firebrand is interesting. A Raging Goblin made a baby with Mogg Fanatic. Having to tap to sac it makes it less flexible than Fanatic though. Still it has a good creature type attached to it and a good amount of text for a Common one-drop so this might see some play.
Overall this set is very bad for Pauper and tells me that the future of Pauper might not get any better than what we have now. For starters we have reprints of cards that came out in the very same block! I've seen reprints of cards that were already in standard, but at least it was in a later set to stay after rotation. So we have Legion Conquistador and Colossal Dreadmaw. This used up 2 slots that could have gone towards either new commons or maybe even some downgrades. Then we get one of the worst removal spells for Pauper with Impale! It cost more than Murder but it's a Sorcery?! I think we've seen the best we'll ever get for removal in Pauper.
Fanatical Firebrand is amazing. Unlike Mogg Fanatic it is fast enough to get in for combat, and unlike raging goblin it can kill delvers. Goblins got a big boost there, very versatile card.
Edit; Pauper will get new stuff, it is just going to get it through downgrades via masters sets.
Overall this set is very bad for Pauper and tells me that the future of Pauper might not get any better than what we have now. For starters we have reprints of cards that came out in the very same block! I've seen reprints of cards that were already in standard, but at least it was in a later set to stay after rotation. So we have Legion Conquistador and Colossal Dreadmaw. This used up 2 slots that could have gone towards either new commons or maybe even some downgrades.
I was thinking this too! I understand why they would reprint Legion Conquistador, since people will be drafting Ixalan-Ixalan-Rivals so you want to open them in every pack, but Dreadmaw? I don't get it. They could at least have put some different artwork on the the vampire...
Fanatical Firebrand is amazing. Unlike Mogg Fanatic it is fast enough to get in for combat, and unlike raging goblin it can kill delvers. Goblins got a big boost there, very versatile card.
Edit; Pauper will get new stuff, it is just going to get it through downgrades via masters sets.
I hadn't thought of Fanatical Firebrand that way. I think you might be on to something. It certainly is quite versatile, being able to ping the turn it comes into play or be a fast attacker is nice.
We are totally spoiled with Masters sets, to be honest.
Do you guys think Ascend cards will be any good in Pauper?
Snubhorn SentrySecrets of the Golden CityOrazca Relic are the three that might see play. Snubby could go in boros monarch, the question isn't turning it on but if a 3/3 vanilla is worth it when you make half a dozen tokens.
Secrets of the Golden City needed to be an instant. It is clearly a fixed/pauperfied version of sphinx's revelation or pull from tomorrow, as U control can cast it for 2 early and for three once it has 10 lands out. As a sorcery though the early casting loses its value, late game it doesn't matter as much.
relic seems okay, but there isn't much payoff for it. It cantrips once you hit the end game and ramps early, but other mana rocks do it better.
What we really needed was:
UU
Instant
Ascend
Draw 1, if you control ten or more permanents draw 3.
and
W
Creature
Ascend
o/3 becoming 3/3 with flying
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pauper: UB Wight Phantasm RB Burn UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
I really don't know how to feel about Ascend. It seems like we don't have have anything that's impactful enough to justify it being played late game, except maybe Secrets of the Golden City since Card Advantage is always good. By the time Snubhorn activates it can be outclassed by a lot of other creatures in the format. I agree with Tvtyrant that there should have been some form of evasion added on or even First Strike.
They would still take 4 dmg for targeting frilled deathspitter twice with the ping so I wouldn't say free, but yea 3 mana for 4 dmg isn't the greatest trade off assuming it get taken out first try. But with 1 pestilence and 1 spitter your opponent now needs to sit above 6 health at all times; certainly reduces the kill clock for control. Also doesn't need the buildup for something like gray merchant of asphodel (of course it also doesn't help the merchant).
I also agree that it looks like it could fit nicely into any number of creature decks
Snubhorn Sentry might be good enough in a tokens decks. Keep in mind that you can play this on turn 1 and activate the City's Blessing later to get the bonus, since the reminder text mentions nothing about timing. a 3/3 for 1 is good at most points in the game. Unfortunately, needing to control 10 permanents makes it so that if you already have 5-6 tokens out, a 3/3 suddently matters a lot less.
Luminous Bonds might make its way into my PDH Pacifism deck, but that's it. Basically just limited removal.
Kitesail Corsair is a 2-power flier for 2 mana with negligible drawbacks. Will it see play? Meh...
Secrets of the Golden City: any card that has "draw 3" written on it is worth looking at. I kind of like this card. It's a divination throughout mot of the game and gets better with many permanents out. What deck would play this? I'm not sure. Turbo Fog can't really make use of City's Blessing reliably, but maybe some rogue UX decks could make it work. City's Blessing is easy to achieve with token producers or Midrange-y decks.
Dusk Charger is a lot like Snubhorn Sentry where you can play it as a 3/3 on curve, beat face and end up with a 5/5 a few turns later to finish the game. I think this could maybe see some play, though 3B is a lot to pay.
Dusk Legion Zealot is a mini Phyrexian Rager, which is a staple in Mono-Black Control. MBC doesn't really have early plays and its 3-drop slot is very full, so maybe it's good? Then again, being a 1/1 is much worse than a 2/2 as it won't trade with anything in the format. I still think it's pretty good.
Jade Bearer has good stats for a 1-drop, spreading out a 2/2 over two bodies. Unfortunately, the other creature needs to be a merfolk, making this terrible. Even if it wasn't the case, there are easier ways to get a 2/2 for 1 mana already.
Jungleborn Pioneer is a 3-mana hexproof creature with a 2/2 body to protect it from edicts. Is it playable? Maybe. It clashes with Aura Gnarlids in the Hexproof deck, which is always missing its hexproof creatures 13-16. I think it's too expensive, but you never know.
Are there any other cards you think are worth mentioning?
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
Overall this set is very bad for Pauper and tells me that the future of Pauper might not get any better than what we have now. For starters we have reprints of cards that came out in the very same block! I've seen reprints of cards that were already in standard, but at least it was in a later set to stay after rotation. So we have Legion Conquistador and Colossal Dreadmaw. This used up 2 slots that could have gone towards either new commons or maybe even some downgrades. Then we get one of the worst removal spells for Pauper with Impale! It cost more than Murder but it's a Sorcery?! I think we've seen the best we'll ever get for removal in Pauper.
Edit; Pauper will get new stuff, it is just going to get it through downgrades via masters sets.
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
I was thinking this too! I understand why they would reprint Legion Conquistador, since people will be drafting Ixalan-Ixalan-Rivals so you want to open them in every pack, but Dreadmaw? I don't get it. They could at least have put some different artwork on the the vampire...
I hadn't thought of Fanatical Firebrand that way. I think you might be on to something. It certainly is quite versatile, being able to ping the turn it comes into play or be a fast attacker is nice.
We are totally spoiled with Masters sets, to be honest.
Do you guys think Ascend cards will be any good in Pauper?
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
Snubhorn Sentry Secrets of the Golden City Orazca Relic are the three that might see play. Snubby could go in boros monarch, the question isn't turning it on but if a 3/3 vanilla is worth it when you make half a dozen tokens.
Secrets of the Golden City needed to be an instant. It is clearly a fixed/pauperfied version of sphinx's revelation or pull from tomorrow, as U control can cast it for 2 early and for three once it has 10 lands out. As a sorcery though the early casting loses its value, late game it doesn't matter as much.
relic seems okay, but there isn't much payoff for it. It cantrips once you hit the end game and ramps early, but other mana rocks do it better.
What we really needed was:
UU
Instant
Ascend
Draw 1, if you control ten or more permanents draw 3.
and
W
Creature
Ascend
o/3 becoming 3/3 with flying
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
U
Sorcery
Draw a card.
Ascend: Draw 2 cards.
R
Sorcery
Deal 2 damage to creature or player.
Ascend: Deal 4 damage to creature or player.
B
Sorcery
Add BB to your mana pool
Ascend: Add BBBB to your mana pool
G
Sorcery
Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn
Ascend: Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn and indestructible
W
Sorcery
Exile target enchantment or artifact with CMC 2 or less.
Ascend: Exile target permanent with CMC 4 or less
UB Wight Phantasm
RB Burn
UR Faerie Rites of Initiation
Legacy:
R Burn
CG-Post
Would it be worth splashing for in MBC to ping it with cuombajj witches or Pestilence, or even chump blocking
I also agree that it looks like it could fit nicely into any number of creature decks