Top 10 Strongest Cards in the Pauper Format
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- Опубликовано: 22 июл 2024
- Pauper as a format is unique in Magic the Gathering due to only cards that have been printed at common being legal. Throughout all of competitive Magic’s history decks have been built with decks of varying rarities, especially since rares and mythic rares are designed to be more complex and powerful than lower rarity cards. Pauper’s lack of conventional high power threats has lead to some cards being uniquely powerful in the format. And beyond this there are of course cards powerful in other formats which also happen to be legal in pauper. Between these cross format powerhouses and cards only played in the format, there are plenty of high power cards in the format to consider.
Script by Uncrowned Jules
Editing by Pumkinswift
├ The List
Intro: (0:00)
10. Great Furnace: (0:19)
9. Kor Skyfisher: (1:57)
8. Spellstutter Sprite: (3:53)
7. Kuldotha Rebirth: (5:42)
6. Tolarian Terror: (7:33)
5. Monastery Swiftspear: (9:42)
4. Deadly Dispute: (11:42)
3. Cast Down: (13:34)
2. Counterspell: (15:05)
1. Lightning Bolt: (16:44)
#mtg #tcg #magicthegathering
(Just a note, we have people who actually know the game very well making the scripts for this channel. As the owner of the channel (Theduellogs/hirumaredx) is a total newbie to the game.)
"Pauper is all about the *_anomalies_* among Commons." Paraphrased quote from a YT video by PleasantKenobi. Pretty much the best cards of the format are all the cards that were ever printed at Common rarity whose power level belong to a higher rarity.
Yup, and we love it
Not just that; many cards on this list have never been reprinted above common.
Part of what makes Pauper fun is how design philosophy in what makes a common has shifted over mtg history.
The best way I've heard it described is "Pauper is using Vintage answers on Draft threats."
You get to use some of the most powerful spells of all time, just because they happened to be common back before wotc decided they were too good for common.
Rarity isn't supposed to determine how good a card is. It's supposed to determine how many copies you can find in a limited pool. There are many cards like the rituals that are absolutely busted in constructed, but aren't that busted in their limited environments, so those are fine at common.
At least this is what it was supposed to be until it turned into exactly what you said when wizards realized a few years ago that they can essentially print money for themselves if they make all of the best cards on Arena rares and mythics for no reason. That's why so many good cards that never had any reason to be rare before have been upshifted to rare or mythic on Arena. That's not why the system was started, though.
Commons are supposed to be playable though, they are not really anomalies
@@XCodes @Joseph Blattert Ideally (or according to WotC card R&D for a long time now), rare cards shouldn't be more powerful than uncommons and commons. Certainly, there are trash rares and powerful commons.
But, in general and in practice, I just can't agree with that. Rarity does correlate _in general_ with a card's power level. After all, if it didn't, then Pauper should not have a lower power level and slower pace as a format than others, such as Pioneer, Modern, Commander, etc. This is besides that Pauper is Eternal and not Singleton and thus has, in its own way, less restrictions than those formats.
And it's not just now, in this weird "Turn on the money printer!" age driven by Hasbro. As an old school player, we chased rares back then for their power too. I remember when Mahamoti Djinn and Serra Angel ruled the skies- and those were good, straightforward, efficient spells too, and never printed at Common.
Consider the history of Counterspell and Lightning Bolt as well. Yes, they were printed at Common as the simplest, most representative spells of their colors. But Lightning Bolt, after 4th Ed. (1995) was not reprinted in Standard until Core 2010 and 2011 (2009, 2010), and not again since. Counterspell hasn't been reprinted in Standard since 7th Ed. It's pretty telling also that in the new non-Standard supplemental sets, Lightning Bolt sometimes is printed as an Uncommon, and Counterspell can go up to a rare. While WotC won't be banning or restricting either from Pauper any time soon, it's pretty telling that they sometimes consider them as higher rarity than how they were originally.
Joseph Blattert- well, Pauper _is_ a constructed format.
(P.S. WotC solidly saying Counterspell is too good at UU is a funny thing on its own. But that's a different topic/story for another day. Suffice to say that after they replaced Counterspell with Cancel (1UU), WotC has since been undermining this policy and basically saying that Cancel is too weak at its cost while Counterspell is too strong at its cost.)
"And at number one, we have Colossal Dreadmaw.."
Not including Ephemerate on this list is huuuge mistake. There are Pauper decks named after that card.
big miss
Counterspell is better usually.
"No" is more powerful than "Yes" 3:)
I was shocked to not see Ephemerate. 60% of my loses in Pauper are directly due to that card.
As someone who just started out their own RUclips MTG Pauper channel I love that the pauper format following is continue to grow and that it's being more well received from the professional level players as well as the well established and respected MTGtube channels. Keep on putting out awesome content!
Synthesizer and Ephemerate should 100% be on the list. Makes more sense to include the more prolific staples and repeat offenders imo, rather than the “key piece in one specific really good deck right now” cards like Terror and Kuldotha.
This is such a well done video. It's nice to hear somebody explain things so the video can be listened to
Another thing that makes Kor Skyfisher good is how it interacts with other effects that care about creatures entering the battlefield. For example, the creature Soul Warden gives you 1 Life whenever another creature enters the battlefield. Since Skyfisher's text doesn't forbid you from bouncing itself, you can repeatedly cast it and generate small amounts of Life by doing so.
Also, while it's not relevant to Pauper due to involving an Uncommon card, one strategy I've found involves combining Skyfisher with Oketra's Monument. It's a 3-mana Colorless artifact with the effects where White creature spells you cast cost 1 less generic mana, and anytime you cast a creature spell, you create a 1/1 Soldier creature token with Vigilance. Since the Monument reduces Skyfisher's cost to a single W, you can continually recast Skyfisher and flood the board with small creatures.
Preordain, Ephemorate, or Ash Barrens you could make a case for. Maybe even Basilisk Gate or Mulldrifter. And if we had to represent Green perhaps Weather The Storm.
Rancor and vines are pretty stronk if were trying to make a case for green haha!
Flipping delver on turn 2 definitely puts the pressure on!
Lovely video!
I wish for the part 2 (or N-th) or any video :D
Another video idea: 3+ weird card combo / synergy that actually works :) I've posted a long list on the video of yours immediately preceding this one
Ephemerate wow, how he missed that is crazy.
As someone who has just started to grow interested in pauper this video was most illuminating!
You might have wanted to bring more attention to the fact that cards reprinted under different rarities are still playable as "common" under the rules of pauper. I only mention it because of how comprehensive your videos already are. Great vid! Love your channel(s)
Amazing!
Revenge of the Ravens imho is the most broken uncommon ever. It can shut down ALL creature decks which they are the 75% of all decks. This card should be at least a Rare one
You’re really overselling it imo. 4cmc is really high in pauper for a card that doesn’t discount itself and fully relies on your opponent, and it only really works against decks that can’t easily build tall. Terror won’t really mind losing 1 life every swing for example.
is green really bad in pauper or is it just coincidence that there are no green cards on this list? i don't play the format but I'm curious
I misread this video's title as STRANGEST cards is Pauper Formant. I still watched it though, because I like to learn new things. :D
I would love to see the Top 10 Commander's in Pauper Commander, where your Commander can be any common or uncommon creature. Would love to see which ones would be on the list.
Kardur Doomscourge, Lagrella the Magpie, Talrand Sky Summoner, Rasaad yn Bashir, Yargle and Multani, Yargle Glutton of Urborg, Bruenor Battlehammer, Sosuke son of seshiro, Killian Ink Duelist, Alena Kessig Trapper, Bladewing the risen, Halana Kessig Ranger, Abomination of Llanowar, Maja bretagard protector, grumgally the generous, Renata called to the hunt, Fynn the fang bearer, Stangg, Danitha capashan paragon, Morite of the frost, mr Orfeo the boulder, rograkh son of rohgahh, Ramirez (either version), umezawa and Araumi of the dead tide
List seems weird. I’d think banned cards like Cloudpost might make it, or cards that define decks like ephemerate.
Banned cards can't be used so they have no influence. "Strongest in x format" means strongest playable cards for most lists.
There's tons of lists made by this page so good chance they'll do "another top 10 pauper" list. Slightly clickbaity title on their end but it's still fun to watch.
Hell yeah lightning bolt is the true #1 haha!! Terror is so good too. I agree a lot with this list but im just not entirely sold on deadly dispute being where it is haha
I’m surprised that pestilence and tortex didn’t make the list but since they don’t have great enablers it makes sense
Seeing Llorowyn/ Modern Masters Spellstutter Sprite makes me want a "Top 10 Cards with Rebecca Guay's Art"
Sorry how are the fast mana card like dark ritual/cabal ritual/lotus petal
They should be in the honorable mentions at least. It's just that the Pauper card pool is now so big (with Magic being 30 years old!) that there are more viable ways to go for speed or aggro. But the cards you mentioned are used in combo decks.
Here is an Idea. Top 10 Cards that changed rules in Magic. Though of it when you walked about lightning bolt as it used to be you can have as many cards as you wanted in your deck (not 4) and games where often who drew the most lightning bolts
Does anyone play lotus petal in pauper?
Yeah. Mostly in combo decks.
Yea wow, that's another one that belongs. Kor skyfisher was a big stretch and I sense a little bias for it making it on his list lol.
Yes. It may not be on this list, but it's definitely an honorable mention.
While scarcity is a big factor in a card's secondary market price, I've a strong feeling high prices for Commons can be indicative of how powerful they are- and this certainly applies in Pauper. And Lotus Petal is *_NOT_* cheap.
@Javier Patag Lotus petal pretty much sees play in any format it is legal in. It's not just pauper that gives it the $25 price tag
@@khub5660 Yeah, I know. But I'm pretty sure its value in Pauper adds to its price tag.
Would be awesome to see a Pauper Format in Yu-Gi-Oh, NGL
Master Duel had an event where you could only use N/R cards. It resulted in a ton of XYZ decks being used iirc.
@@CaptainJLinebeck
Tier 0 Pauper decks? XD
It showed Lightning Bolt as an Uncommon on the card you showed. Is it allowed in pauper because it was a common in earlier sets? I played during Revised, but have been away for a long time (just now getting back into things by watching videos - love your channel for this). I remember Lightning Bolts-a-plenty back when I was in 5th and 6th grade playing Beta and Revised (occasionally could get an Alpha…).
yeah. as long as it has at least 1 common printing, its alllowed. however the art he used in the video is more iconic
I guess rarity bump isn't really a thing in mtg? because I don't really see how a format like this would be balanced in, for example, ygo, where you get tons of rarities for the same card, including powerful staples in common
There are rarity shifts over time. One of the most common being older, expensive staples getting a reprinting with an upshifted rarity. However, there are several times that older cards that have been powercrept do get down shifted in rarity and become legal in pauper.
Imo, the big rarity bump in MTG is the "splashiness" of a card's effects. Because typically, lower rarity cards have more streamlined and simple effects, while higher rarity ones have special and (typically) more powerful effects. It's why Lightning Bolt, one of the most consistently good cards in the game, is almost always common. Can't get more simple than just doing 3 damage to something for 1 mana. Meanwhile rare and mythic cards have more grand effects that are much more in-depth than just "I throw damage at your face". I like this system cause it means all rarity cards are usable in some way, but higher rarity ones tend to get you more bang for your buck. But it keeps lower rarity cards usable as well
Non-YGO player here. Clarifications:
1. What do you mean by "rarity bump"? You mean a card being reprinted at a different rarity than its original or older version? It's been done, both less rare to more rare, and more rare to less rare.
2. Pauper format is simply cards that were ever printed at Common. Ever. (Only exception are those in the restricted and banned lists.) So an Uncommon card that originally was Common can be played. If an Uncommon or rarer card today is reprinted at Common in the future, it becomes legal for Pauper then.
So... Yeah, I guess rarity bump doesn't matter for MTG's Pauper format.
Rarity downgrades are not nearly as common in magic, they DO happen usually when modern or commander focused sets come out but in YuGiOh it happens constantly.
@@khryogenic Rarity shift also occurs to improve the draft environment on the set the cards get reprinted.
I think that Guardian of the Guildpact, Ghostly Flicker, and possibly Basilisk gate all deserve at the least honorable mentions.
No green and one white. Perfect list.
Wheres the Gunther Arcana?
Top 10 cards with Ward
It's pretty surprising how powerful modern common cards are in comparison to cards from Homelands.
It was nice to see all those green and white cards being represented =_(
Ephemerate should def be top 5. As for green… maybe Weather the Storm or Mutagenic Growth.
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Counterspell
3 Wierd Terror
4 Black Gush kinda but also like Tinker or Brainstorm
5 1 mana w/ Haste. (Sure it's kind of got repeatable free Berserk. Honestly though just being 1 mana haste is already pretty big in Pauper though and almost more interesting than Prowess)
6 Affinity-like Myr Enforcer knockoff.
I think over half of these format definers can be seen present or foreshadowed strongly before Darksteel came out.
After Darksteel, one might imagine that Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile would *matter* in whatever commons you find them on. But the truth is that while it's nice to play around indestructible......it *almost* isn't *necessary* because Lightning Bolt and Counterspell on their own cover so much. 🤯
Pauper is cool because you get to play all the banned Alpha cards from Magic the Gathering's iconic past history......for 1/1000 the price of Vintage.
Lightning Bolt. Counterspell.
"I. Am. A. Wizard."
Not to mention that Artifact Lands are basically Moxen.
Oblivion Ring is basically common exile. Ephemerate too I think. But really.
Counterspell is basically the best card.
RIP swiftspear you will be missed by some but not by me
I'm confused. People always say that Pauper revolves around the Commons. But that includes uncommons right?
No,only commons.
But a card only has to be printed as a common once to be legal in pauper even if the printed version is not common
Why would you put artifact hate in the sideboard? Put it in the main board wazzock!
No mention of the Monarch cards at all seems kinda criminal considering they’re pretty much uniquely good in exactly Pauper, even if they aren’t necessarily the strongest cards in the format.
Isn’t experimental synthesizer very strong in pauper or was that only briefly
It's super powerful, both in mono red kuldotha/prowess and in boros/mardu synth, which are at least tier 2 decks
BOLT BOLT BOLT BOLT!
I play a blue weenie/flyers deck in magic arena. It’s so rare to draw a card with Fairy Miscreant (draw a card if there is another Fairy Miscreant in play). I’ve kept it in the deck, anyway.
the card says Thraben, the caption says Traben, the narrator says Tharben
Mono Red is so strong in Pauper.
Lightning Bolt
Kuldotha Rebirth
Experimental Synthesizer
Great Furnace
Galvanic Blast
Fireblast
so much damage.
How is Rhystic Study not on here? Got to be in the top 10 best commons
Rhystic is great in edh; not so much in pauper the format.
@Matthew Utech so after some research I see why, however I've only played pauper/Commander not 1v1. So the value goes up with more opponents
As someone who doesn't play MTG, Kor Skyfisher being so good is surprising to me. Could someone tell me if it's similarly good in other formats?
I play LoR, and we have a very similar card - 2 Mana "Flying" 2/2, "To play me, return an ally to your hand". It was decent but never a standout.
Bouncing can be good in LoR, but sometimes this card is only a two-of in decks focusing around bouncing instead of the max of 3, whereas a 1 Mana "instant" that just bounces is always a 3-of. This is partially because in LoR, we have unit Mana and spell mana - any Mana you don't spend is converted to spell mana for future turns that cannot be used to play "instants" or "sorceries". So you can save up spell mana whereas you can't save up unit Mana, making a 2 Mana creature more awkward since it's understatted.
Think of it this way. Say you have a card with "when this card enters the battlefield" or "this card is casted". You return it to hand with kor. Cast it again. Regain the trigger from it. If multiple kor than multiple set ups for this idea.
You do not save mana for future turns unless you have some kind of bank card to do. There's only a few and they aren't across all colors. I think 5 color has 1. Black has 1. And green has like 2. There could be more idk though. If you don't use tapped mana without bank cards between turn phases you just lose it until you can untap those lands.
In other words saving mana is only good for responses. Most decks gain nothing saving it for nothing. Might as well set up bounce combos
@@XCodes oh, that's interesting
@@demonkingt Yeah, I was just saying that a creature similar to Kor in LoR exists, and I was surprised Kor is good since the LoR equivalent is worse than most alternatives. I kinda figured mtg would have other similar, better alternatives to Kor when it comes to Bouncing. I guess not
@@byeguyssry formatwise it's probably just the best cost effective version versus what the decks built around it does. Higher cost doesn't mean better card since more resources to play plus they start to splinter into specific types weirdly as you go up in some scenarios. Alot of those don't even have any thing statewise or bonus effect wise to make up for it either so smaller quicker versions to spam out. Yes a bigger body is nice but there's better big bodies to use since as things get bigger more justification needed. Sorry if I'm rambling half awake trying to make sure I was fully informative lol
@@demonkingt Thanks lol
You typoed swiftspear at 10:22 I hope you remember it when you sleep
Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep should be legal in Pauper
Kiln fiend is a lil better than swiftspere in my opinion, because way higher upside and there's better value on turn 1like V.epicure
Fiend requires a deck built specifically for it. Swiftspear goes in a lot more decks and is much more widely playable. Keep in mind triggering off of any noncreature is huge.
Where is Brainstorm?
Not nearly as powerful compared to other formats due to no fetchlands
No ninja.. no synth, no Tron? Kor and cast down are dubious
I thought swiftspear was a uncommon
Top 10 keywords
Lighting Bolt is deserving of # 1 it is so useful and makes decks like Kudotha Burn actually viable.
Thaarrrrben Inspector lmao. Love the content but your mispronounciations drive me up a wall. Ne crop o tense and now Thar Ben. Pls stahp lmao keep up the good content my dood
How did he miss oubliette? That's one of the most infamous cards in paupers history. Prior to its reprint it was insanely hard to grab a copy in paper, and it's unique effect and how it broke the color pie, making it a premium removal spell and creating a power vacuum
Oubliette infamous? I disagree. Ask any Pauper player about the cards they first think of in the format and Oubliette isn’t gonna come to mind. Way, way, way more cards are more relevant then, now, and overall
Oubliette is famous, but it's not clutch.
Of all the cards in Arabian Nights, it's the only card that is hypothetically good in the set as the game is played now without being outright bannable.
Juzam Djinn in Old School is kept in check by Shivan Dragon and Serra Angel; you can use Preacher or Control Magic to really punish Djinn exceptionally. It's totally a certain kind of fun to flex $ in any format but Juzam isn't necessary to Old School decks.
Bazaar, Library, of course I know they exist but they are totes ban worthy don't pretend not lol.
Shahrazad ban worthy.
Suleiman not as good as Preacher
Ali from Cairo not great anymore.
Kird Ape has honestly been power crept where you would use it in places like Modern.
ErhnamGeddon is outdated.
Oubliette is wierd because it's good for basically conventional, fair reasons in a set that is warped by Old Design Philosophy and Ban Magnets lol.
However, although it's probably the best design from AN from that POV, it's not essential for good Pauper decks unless you're going for a nostalgic aesthetic for extra flex.
Oubliette is unique and well known.
Lightning Bolt and Counterspell are cool for all reasons Oubliette is, but on top, they are good in all the ways Oubliette isn't quite as good. Bolt and Counterspell are therefore by far more iconic.
City of Brass got power crept by Cavern of Souls and has felt less special ever since.
But Oubliette is honestly playable which is unusual for old cards that are clearly fair and not worth completely banning.
Oubliette is worth reprinting yet went many years not reprinted. That's what made it special.
Ahh, all of those removal spells, none of which do anything against bogles
Sounds like lightning bolt needs s reprint.
Storm Crow
Wait swiftspear is uncommon THATS BSSS BROOOOO WTFFFF AHHHHHH
Ya, at the time of recording there's only 7 legal pauper legends. 5 r the cycle of common backgrounds, so my even creatures. N the last 2 r both red 5 mana 3/3 Human Rogues that have "{R}{R}{R},{T}: Destroy target artifact" from Homelands. The only difference between the 2 is that Chandler is 4R n destroys artifact creatures n Joven is 3RR n destroys non-creature artifacts. Both r hot garbage n look like the creators tried to draw themselves as cards. I love how cheesy the artwork is. So Ya, Cast Down is amazing in Pauper
You missed the Legends legendaries that got downshifted to common.
STARNUSOFFERNUMBERTEN
slow down a bit my guy
Pauper feels lacking - Captain Obvious
lol mno brainstorm ponder and preordain
Lightning Bolt was the only good And fair card from the Boon cycle... It's should ALWAYS be in standard
I'd disagree. Giant Growth and Dark Ritual were both good and fair in their time. Those times have just changed now. That said, Ancestral Recall was never at all fair and Healing Salve was never particularly good.
Agreed. Lightning Bolt existed in Standard for ages & was just fine. Hell, even after a decade away from the game, I came back during Scars block, only to find Bolt was still legal in that new format.
But shortly after Scars Block (Innistrad I think?), Modern came into existence, and since then Bolt has been treated like it'd be impossible to bring back to Standard.
@@jrunestad4508 IMHO for "balanced versions": Dark Ritual's should also cost 3 life, Healing Salve's should grant both effects instead of choosing one and Ancestral Recall's should return 3 cards from hand to top of the deck after drawing (yes, a -1 Brainstorm).
@@FranciscoJG Eh. I don't know about that. That makes Healing Salve probably playable, but it also no longer really fits in the boon cycle anymore, makes Dark Ritual generally unplayable in the relatively fair agro-ish strategies we mostly used it in the early days and relegates it to basically only being playable in the sort of glass cannon combo decks that broke it and have high potential to become an absolute cancer in a format (like Storm) and makes Ancestral Recall basically unplayable without lots of shuffle effects available, which there really weren't a lot of at the time. Dark Ritual needed no fixing at the time since the fast mana already cost you in card resources and you could run out of steam and quickly fall behind once the initial surge of fury was spent. It was only later mechanics that made it kinda busted instead of just situational and a little risky on getting hit with a potential two for one. Opponent going Swamp, Ritual, Hypnotic Specter, "Go." turn one was definitely a very bad start to a game but certainly not insurmountable or "fix" worthy. Likewise, Brainstorm was also probably a fixed enough Ancestral for the time it was printed. It became more powerful but still mostly fair later after the slow fetch lands came out a year or two later but got way more powerful with the fast fetch lands MANY years later. To be honest, even with the slow fetches, Impulse at twice the CMC often felt like the better 4 of at the time since it dug deeper, didn't rely on other cards to be good and couldn't really screw you like Brainstorm could. I think Ritual and Brainstorm could both potentially be perfectly fair cards in some (but certainly not all or even most) standard environments in the future because in the past they've both been fair before other cards made them unfair.
@@corey2232We are now in the world of bad answers and good creatures, rather than good answers and bad creatures.
I cannot believe defile isn't on here. It's perfectly suited for pauper and you run 1 or 2 cast down for other reasons and Geths Verdict is so good as well, total value. If you run mono black correctly you can beat Any deck in pauper very effectively.
Good luck pushing through Grixis Affinity's card advantage and interaction.