Few formats in Magic: The Gathering have seen as meteoric of a rise as the Pauper. Originating on Magic: The Gathering Online, Pauper is currently the biggest it’s ever been, with numerous pauper events popping up across the world. Pauper is a 60-card format similar to formats like Modern, Legacy, and Standard, in which decks can only contain cards that have at some point available at the common rarity
There’s so much to appreciate when it comes to the Pauper format, and we greatly encourage that those who are curious about the format, see what it’s all about. So here today we’re going to cover the greatest aspects of Magic: The Gathering’s Pauper format!
10 It’s The Most Affordable Format
First and foremost, one of the most notable appeals of the Pauper format is its affordability. Due to all legal cards in the format being commons, there are very few expensive cards within the format.
While formats such as Modern and Legacy contain high level decks that cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars to construct, there are numerous viable and powerful pauper decks that can be constructed for well under $100, often under $50. This makes the format significantly less daunting to begin playing, as the paywall of entry is far beneath any other format.
9 There’s No Rotation
Similarly to formats like Commander, Pauper has the benefit of being a non-rotating format. This means that unlike formats like Standard and Brawl, once a Pauper deck is constructed, a deck will be legal within the format until the end of time.
This creates a better sense of longevity in the investments of Pauper decks, even though the prices of most Pauper decks are meager to begin with.
8 It’s Great For Newcomers & Veterans Alike
Due to the fact that the format is constructed around common cards, the format is a phenomenal entry point for newcomers to Magic, whilst still engaging and enjoyable for seasoned veterans. Many common cards throughout Magic are much more simplistic than their rare and mythic counterparts, making the format very easy to teach to someone just starting to play.
At the same time, there are numerous powerful commons such as “lightnight bolt” and the original “Counterspell” that help to keep longtime players engaged in the format.
7 It Has A Diverse Meta
One of the worst problems that can plague a format of Magic is the stagnation of the format’s meta, as it becomes dominated by many similar decks that all utilize the same cards and strategies.
Luckily, Pauper has the benefit of a large and diverse roster of viable decks that can be played. While local metas often differ based on location, there are numerous options players have access to when playing with high tier decks ranging from “Burn,” to “Bogles,” to “Mono-Black Control.”
6 It’s A Brewer’s Paradise
While there are numerous formats that are sometimes viewed as being “solved” by incredibly optimized and time-tested decks, Pauper has a great deal of leg room for players to be creative with their deck building.
Pauper is one of the optimum formats for interesting and complex brewing due to untapped power of countless underestimated commons that had usually not been given the time of day.
5 It Has A Deep & Powerful Card Pool
Pauper allows players to use cards from every set in Magic’s history, resulting in the format having an incredibly deep well of cards which players can draw from when constructing decks.
At the time of this article’s creation, Pauper has 7,320 legal cards available for players to access, with incredibly powerful and efficient cards living within the format. This lets the players utilize almost four times the amount of cards legal in standard at a given time, and let players play with forgotten cards that may not have had a proper home prior to pauper.
4 It Has Regular Shake-Ups
Pauper is a living and breathing format that is constantly changing as new sets are released. With every new set released, there are usually numerous new cards that are bale of finding a suitable home within pauper.
However, Pauper has a unique distinction that sets it apart in this regard from other formats. This is due to Pauper’s ability to bring in new cards to the fold via rarity shifting. As a card is legal in Pauper as long as it was printed at the common rarity at least once, old uncommons and even rares are brought into the format by their reprints coming at the common rarity.
3 It Has A Healthy & Reasonable Ban-List
Unlike some ban-lists which are often miles long, containing numerous cards which players lobby for respective unbannings (we’re looking at you Splinter Twin), Pauper’s banlist is healthy and concise, containing cards that had otherwise warped the format.
Remember how we’d previously lauded Pauper’s diverse range of viable deck archetypes? This is due to the format’s banlist, which has been able to fairly ban any and all cards that have been so powerful that they’d uncontestedly shifted the entire format around them, such as “Peregrine Drake,” “Gush,” and “Daze.”
2 It Has The Best Of All Worlds
No matter the format that a player happens to be coming from, there is an very high likelyhood that there is a pauper equivalency of a deck that was being played in another format.
From infinite combo decks, to agro, to mill, to even “Affinity,” there are pauper equivalencies to iconic strategies and archetypes thanks to the format’s depth of cards. Whether a player’s background is in Modern, Standard, or Legacy, player’s would be hard pressed to find an archetype (well, besides “Superfriends”) that cannot be effectively constructed in Pauper.
1 It Has High Quality Gameplay
Most importantly to note about Pauper is the high quality gameplay that it is capable of delivering. Often noted as a much more accessible alternative to Legacy, the format brings quality on numerous fronts and has a little something for everyone.
While fun is most definitely subjective, Pauper’s diverse collection of potent decks keep things fresh and interesting. Additionally, the affordable nature of the format allows players to amass numerous decks to keep things interesting - all without players accidentally putting themselves into debt.
Few formats are capable of delivering such a high caliber of strategy that Magic is regarded for with such a low barrier of entry that allows for players of all kinds to participate.
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