The State of Pauper

User avatar
Ulka
Posts: 1538
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Minneapolis
Contact:

Post by Ulka » 4 years ago

Welcome to the State of Pauper Thread!

Lately, Pauper community members have expressed interest in talking holistically about the challenges and problems facing Pauper. Whether or not Pauper has "challenges" or "problems" is up for debate, but what is clear is that people want to talk about all of these issues in one unified setting.

As such, Pauper staff are opening this thread as a replacement for the old "Banlist Discussion" thread and the "State of the Meta thread." You can use this thread to talk about any and all of these varied Pauper issues and their intersection. This thread will be heavily moderated, so be sure to read the rules before posting; Anyone who posts in this thread is assumed to have read and understood these rules.

Allowed topics
  • Bans, unbans, and all things related to the banlist and banlist policy
  • Metagame health and diversity
  • Reprint suggestions and reprint philosophy
  • New cards and design philosophy
  • Prices and Pauper finance
  • Archetype definitions
  • Format health, successes, and challenges
  • Anything that constructively relates to these different issues
Prohibited topics and behavior
  • All site-wide rules apply here.
  • Rules spotlight: No flaming (insulting other users) or trolling (baiting other users into a hostile response). Posts must be civil and respectful.
  • Rules spotlight: No spamming. Posts must be constructive, on-topic, and supported with evidence and argumentation.
  • No format bashing. If you don't like Pauper, that's fine, but constructively/respectfully explain why and be optimistic.
  • Similarly, do not use this thread to voice grievances, complaints, and personal gripes without constructive/respectful suggestions.
  • If you see a user flaming, spamming, trolling, or breaking any other rule, report him/her instead of responding to it.
The mod team will strictly enforce these rules. Please make this a place where people are unafraid to post constructive thoughts.

User avatar
motleyslayer
Posts: 1127
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Contact:

Post by motleyslayer » 4 years ago

I bought into the mono green stompy deck on MTGO and played maybe 2 matches in league so far to a 1-1 record. My loss was to the Boros artifact deck who was running arcum's astrolab, which seems really good. I'm gonna have to play more to see if the card should be banned but it seems too much

User avatar
The Fluff
Le fou, c'est moi
Posts: 2398
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted
Location: Gradius Home World
Contact:

Post by The Fluff » 4 years ago

used to own a modern affinity, sold my opals and ravager. To still make use of the cards I have left, currently trying out Gearseeker Serpent in a pauper affinity build. The serpent is larger than zombie fish, which makes the matchup with mono black decks a little better.

astrolabe seems to be getting a lot of use across many formats, so the price is slowly rising..
Image
AnimEVO 2020 - EFZ Tournament (english commentary) // Clearing 4 domain with Qiqi
want to play a uw control deck in modern, but don't have Jace or snapcaster? please come visit us at the Emeria thread

User avatar
motleyslayer
Posts: 1127
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Contact:

Post by motleyslayer » 4 years ago

finally finished the pauper league I started last month. I played against decks with arcum's astrolab 3/5 my matches, card is good in any deck that can bounce it with kor skyfisher I think it's called

User avatar
Ulka
Posts: 1538
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Minneapolis
Contact:

Post by Ulka » 4 years ago

Yea the deck has been very good recently. It's new blue deck which is rough.
Modern: Goryo's Gifts | Heartless Architect | Soul Sisters | MonoGreen Devotion
Pauper: Blackened Eggs | Zombies | Domain Zoo | Sultai Teachings | Jund Gardens

User avatar
motleyslayer
Posts: 1127
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Contact:

Post by motleyslayer » 4 years ago

Ulka wrote:
4 years ago
Yea the deck has been very good recently. It's new blue deck which is rough.
my problem with that combo is just bouncing astrolab is so much value and it's pretty free to run in your deck. I'm sure the meta will adapt but it's just so good.

Maybe my problem is I just don't have experience in the format

User avatar
Ulka
Posts: 1538
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Minneapolis
Contact:

Post by Ulka » 4 years ago

No. the Value it generates is currently an issue. Its similar to the powerlevel of Gush in the fact its just pure value in a format that can be built around its engine. Like Prophetic Prism was already a staple of pauper but then they lean even further into the snow aspect, something that already was in pauper and drops its cmc. yea thats probably a problem.
Modern: Goryo's Gifts | Heartless Architect | Soul Sisters | MonoGreen Devotion
Pauper: Blackened Eggs | Zombies | Domain Zoo | Sultai Teachings | Jund Gardens

Mimicvat
Posts: 172
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Post by Mimicvat » 4 years ago

How is pauper looking these days? Haven't played for a few years, back when gush was legal. Every game was Ux vs Ux or occasionally an elf deck or the boros "pick stuff up and play it again" deck. I played a decently strong UB "anti-control" deck filled with the usual uber-strong blue control cards but also creatures that gave me a card when they died, so they could block or trade against aggro and 1-1 the opponents control spells.

Biggest things for me are;
- is arcolabe still a problem? Honestly I love picking basic lands for my deck hate the idea of forced snow
- can non-blue control function, or a non pure aggro deck work against control?
Currently building: ww Bruna, the Fading Light (card advantage tribal / reanimator)
Main decks;
r Neheb, Big Red Champion g Yeva's Mono Green Control, b Ayara's Aristocrats rb Greven, Predator Captain the One Punch Man, ugw Derevri, Empirical Tactician Aggro,rwbu Tymna & Kraum's Saboteurs, wbg Kondo & Tymna's Hatebears wugTuvasa's Silver Bullets, urBrudiclad does Brudiclad thingsgubSidisi, Brood Tyrant (lantern control)

Legend
Aethernaut
Posts: 1639
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Eternity

Post by Legend » 4 years ago

Mimicvat wrote:
4 years ago
How is pauper looking these days? Haven't played for a few years, back when gush was legal. Every game was Ux vs Ux or occasionally an elf deck or the boros "pick stuff up and play it again" deck. I played a decently strong UB "anti-control" deck filled with the usual uber-strong blue control cards but also creatures that gave me a card when they died, so they could block or trade against aggro and 1-1 the opponents control spells.

Biggest things for me are;
- is arcolabe still a problem? Honestly I love picking basic lands for my deck hate the idea of forced snow
- can non-blue control function, or a non pure aggro deck work against control?
First card on ban list Arcum's Astrolabe so it definitely isn't a problem.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/game-info/ ... ats/pauper
“Comboing in Commander is like dunking on a seven foot hoop.” – Dana Roach

“Making a deck that other people want to play against – that’s Commander.” – Gavin Duggan

"I want my brain to win games, not my cards." – Sheldon Menery

User avatar
pektusman
Posts: 10
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Philippines

Post by pektusman » 4 years ago

Mimicvat wrote:
4 years ago
Biggest things for me are;
- is arcolabe still a problem? Honestly I love picking basic lands for my deck hate the idea of forced snow
- can non-blue control function, or a non pure aggro deck work against control?
-as stated, Arcum's Astrolabe paid for Ephemerate's sins. Lol.
-mono Black control is still a thing, so yes. what do you mean by non pure aggro? more like mid-range decks?

Mimicvat
Posts: 172
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Post by Mimicvat » 4 years ago

Just from my experience with it, everything was either all-in control or all-in aggro. There didn't seem to be much that was bigger than aggro but able to survive being 1 for 1'd by counterspell etc.
Currently building: ww Bruna, the Fading Light (card advantage tribal / reanimator)
Main decks;
r Neheb, Big Red Champion g Yeva's Mono Green Control, b Ayara's Aristocrats rb Greven, Predator Captain the One Punch Man, ugw Derevri, Empirical Tactician Aggro,rwbu Tymna & Kraum's Saboteurs, wbg Kondo & Tymna's Hatebears wugTuvasa's Silver Bullets, urBrudiclad does Brudiclad thingsgubSidisi, Brood Tyrant (lantern control)

User avatar
motleyslayer
Posts: 1127
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Contact:

Post by motleyslayer » 3 years ago

anyone have any predictions if anything will be banned on Monday? I'm thinking maybe Mystic Sanctuary but I haven\'t played enough of the format lately to actually say

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Pauper”