So much has happened right here on these forums. The website has changed so much over the years, constantly adapting to the interests of its users, old and new. It helped shape and reinforce what it means to play and love Magic for thousands of people.
I've been here just two months short of seven years. Salvation has really shaped who I am as a player. I started in the Legacy forums talking about Stax, Burn and Reanimator, but thanks to the open nature of these forums and its users I slowly transformed into a Pauper and Commander player. If I look back at my first posts, I'm a completely different person.
Thank you.
Here's to the end of something great and the beginning of something new and interesting, created by the backbone of MtgSalvation.
I'm personally a bit more in favour of Commodore than Throneguard since it doesn't die to artifact hate and the board is usually kept clear, making it a much faster win condition. I totally get wanting the 5 toughness creature, though, as it survives most burn spells.
Bonder's Ornament is basically the best card we could have in terms of card advantage, since it also ramps. Too bad about the price tag; I was lucky to open a copy from a random booster.
I'm glad you're testing out the wildfire/darksteel combo. Has it been paying off? It bet it's also fun to disrupt Tron in the maindeck!
Shimmerdrift Vale makes fixing very easy and should allow for better 3 colour decks. Interesting!
Scorn Effigy seems pretty great! You can foretell it on turn 2 and get a 2/3 next turn. Seems like a good combo with Burning-Tree Emissary.
Bind the Monster is clearly supposed to be pushed to the limits of what cards like it do. Taking the damage is well worth dealing with the creature potentially forever for 1 mana.
We got some pretty exciting new lands for Pauper: actual honest-for-goodness dual lands! ... I mean lands that have two land types.
They printed all ten at once, which is also nice. Glacial Floodplain is the WU one.
Basically, they're snow permanents, enter the battlefield tapped, and have two land types.
While this is exciting, I'm wondering how useful the land type will be. Into the North just got a lot better for fixing and ramping, as did Nature's Lore/Three Visits/Farseek, Land Grant, Mwonvuli Acid-Moss and the landcycling cards like Chartooth Cougar. I guess Wild Nacatl is easier to enable for turn 2. Aside from that, are there any other notable interactions with lands types that don't specify basic lands?
Other than the lands, we got a good number of other commons.
Behold the Multiverse shows off the Foretell mechanic. It's unfortunate that you have to pay the foretell cost only on your turn, but this is still a potentially very powerful card draw spell, being able to scry 2 and draw 2 at instant speed at a discount on later turns. I haven't found the other Foretell cards spoiled to be particularly good.
Frost Bite is a very tame Skred, which unfortunately won't see much constructed play when players have access to so much better burn.
Masked Vandal seems great. Changeling can have some applications across the board and exiling a creature in your graveyard in exchange for exiling an artifact or enchantment for only 2 mana seems powerful. Exiling the target is key.
The Pauper community on MTGO is basically dead, as sad as I am to say it. I would ask around on Reddit. I did a quick search and most results came from there.
Hope you find what you're looking for!
Fiery Cannonade is about to change Pauper forever. We haven't had a board wipe this cheap before, as far as I know. This one is instant speed and hits fliers. This is really good for red decks.
Champion of the Flame is also a really good downgrade. I can't wait to see some people piling on Leonin Scimitars and other janky equipment and going to town with this guy. Oh, and Bonesplitter, too...
Crimson Fleet Comodore is a great Monarch card for Red. Having Trample makes it good at stealing the Monarchy back. 5/2 are perfect stats, too.
Slith Ascendant makes me hope we get to see the whole set of Sliths. The Red one in particular would be great.
Benevolent Blessing is a better version of Cho-Manno's Blessing, which is hard to imagine. Looks like Mono-White Heroic got a good boost.
I love that they reprinted Cuombajj Witches with the Seb McKinnon artwork that was originally for MTGO. These are beautiful.
Jalum Tome and Howling Golem both give repeatable card draw in colourless, which is pretty exciting!
HOLD ONTO YOUR SEATS EVERYBODY!
Blue just did it again...
Fall From Favor
This card is about to change how we play Pauper.
This set contains both brand new cards and downshifted reprints.
The Diamond cycle has been downshifted to common (Marble Diamond, etc.). I think these are probably playable in some decks. It gives certain colours access to ramp that didn't necessarily have it this efficiently before. I'm not sure where they would see play in particular though.
Maelstrom Colossus is probably on of the most interesting cards to come out so far. This is finally good competition with Ulamog's Crusher for "best fatty". This one feels especially relevant now since Ghostly Flicker effects are commonplace in Tron decks, giving this colossus an easy home as both a finisher and a value engine.
Natural Reclamation is expensive, but the potential value out of this is extraordinary. I've love to kill an artifact land and get a free Blastoderm, for example.
Forceful Denial is good along the same lines, but maybe a bit harder to use, since leaving up 5 mana to counter a spell is not great, but Blue manipulating its library might improve Cascade results.
We got much needed reprints of Thorn of the Black Rose and Entourage of Trest. I assume Palace Sentinels will also appear soon. These cards are obscenely expensive on MTGO.
Makeshift Munitions is making its way to common. I think this is a great card that should be somewhat playable in Red decks that play tons of tokens or artifacts. It might make for some interesting control-oriented Aristocrat decks. I love it! It's Pauper's Goblin Bombardment!
There are a few black commons printed, but they all seem pretty overcosted for Pauper.
Are there any printings/downshifts that you're excited for?
It's a really cool idea, but it does require of lot of adaptation on the part of the player. Unless they are fully enfranchised in the format, it can be very daunting to have to update/change decks so frequently.
That being said, Penny Dreadful players developed many good tools for tracking card prices that you would most likely be interested in. Perhaps they could be changed/adapted to fit your "IRL" model. Instead of "Penny Dreadful", it could be "Dime Dreadful", haha.
Pretty interesting set for Pauper, considering it's not a masters set.
As for Tormenting Voice... Yeah I agree it's overprinted. They could stand to change it up more often. I mean, it has more printings than Colossal Dreadmaw by a good margin! Not to mention Thrill of Possibility has been in M21, Theros AND Throne. Enough already!
Nahiri's Binding seems pretty decent as a cheaper version of Faith's Fetters.
Addressing the play pattern that Tron has focused on is a very complex issue. CWeaver believes banning the Tron lands would be the simplest solution.
I generally agree, but I have to admit I have mixed feelings about Tron lands leaving the format altogether. I feel like they are a pillar of Pauper and a selling point for the format for people coming from Modern. It would be like banning Delver of Secrets, essentially the poster-child of the format.