MTG Salvation

Another little update for the deck. Quandrix Campus seems pretty great in the deck, considering there are few decks that durdle more than Turbo Fog. It should be able to generate some value over the course of an average game (12-ish turns).

I am pretty excited to try out Resculpt. I am very surprised that Blue is getting exiling removal these days. This card ticks a lot of boxes for me. First, it exiles, which answers threats like Ulamog's Crusher permanently. Second, it's an instant. Third, it costs two mana, which is important because it's efficient for the cost and can be tutored with Muddle the Mixture. Fourth, it hits artifacts, so watch out Bonder's Ornament. Lastly, the 4/4 body they get in return is largely irrelevant for Turbo Fog.

I was carefully considering Ravenform as well, since it has the advantage of being able to be cast for 1 mana but still have a mana value of 3, which is significant when fighting Spellstutter Sprites. I think the instant speed and cheaper cost overall makes Resculpt just a bit stronger, though.

The learn/lesson package is also worth thinking about for Turbo Fog. Cram Session and Pop Quiz both have some potential in the deck, though definitely weaker than both the life gain and card draw options I'm currently playing. I could definitely see playing an Environmental Sciences, Pest Summoning and maybe Introduction to Prophecy. Introduction to Annihilation could also have some applications, though 5 mana is asking a lot. Any opinions about this?

Here's where I'm at right now.

That's a great article! Thanks for sharing!

For sure. If it were the other way, we would have a powerful card that could act as a counterspell, or just about anything else. We certainly don't want Fork in the format!

Nice! That seems like a good place for it. Land Destruction decks also seem like they could be a good fit for Teach by Example.

We're almost done with Strixhaven spoilers and boy there are a few cool things to talk about!

The cycle of Scry-lands for enemy colours might seem overcosted, but you can be sure these are going to see play. Quandrix Campus in particular is going to see play because it produces the colours that current Tron decks need. Paying 5 mana for scry 1 will be used infrequently, but having that occasional free scry will be better than 1 life from Thornwood Falls, there's no question. I will absolutely be playing the campuses in Turbo Fog and any other multicolour control decks I build over the gain lands.

I don't understand why Blue is getting such great removal, but Resculpt is fantastic. 2 mana to exile an artifact or creature at instant speed is as good as it gets, in my opinion. A 4/4 is big, but that won't matter as much when you are exiling Ulamog's Crushers, Gurmag Anglers, Bonder's Ornaments and even Ninja of the Deep Hours. That token can be blocked, destroyed, bounced... I think Resculpt is going to be a great sideboard removal spell for many decks.

Deck-building is going to get very interesting if any of the Lesson/Learn spells are worth playing. What are your favorite combinations? Pop Quiz seems like a contender to see play because it's a blue instant, and it's able to get all sorts of toolbox answers, like fixing and life gain with Environmental Sciences, broad removal with Introduction to Annihilation, more card draw with Introduction to Prophecy. These colourless cards seem likely to see some amount of play. Even if they are overcosted, they still do a lot because they don't take up maindeck space. The coloured Lesson cards have not impressed me much so far. Maybe Pest Summoning could be okay.

First Day of Class may be the most broken card in the set for Pauper. It enables infinite combos with Persist creatures, as well as making token strategies way better. Can you imagine this with Battle Screech or Triplicate Spirits? Or in colour, you could go for Mogg War Marshal or any mass token producer. The fact that it also draws you cards or gets you your wish board is just gravy. I'm keeping an eye on this card.

Guiding Voice is the cheapest Learn card out there. The effect is modest, but having access to a wish board or just digging through the deck seems great. I think this will see maindeck play in Mono-White Heroic decks. Fetching up an Expanded Anatomy seems strong.

Bayou Barker seems like a great addition to aristocrat decks out there. It seems very easy to get it out on turn 2 and get value out of a 1-drop like Blisterpod. I could even see it in Stompy decks, where sacing a token from Nest Invader or Young Wolf could leave you with some real power on the board.

Is Heated Debate the first uncoutnerable spell in Pauper? At 3 mana, it doesn't seem like it will see much play, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Teach By Example is pretty unique in Pauper as well. What would be the best spells to copy with this kind of ability?

So far, pretty good spoiler season for a Standard set! Have I missed anything worth mentioning?

Hey! It was really nice playing you the other day. That was an excellent match.

I'm really happy that you got to upgrade your deck with Bonder's Ornaments! Do you think Pristine Talisman is not worth playing anymore?

Any reason why you're playing 2 Electrickery instead of having an extra copy of Fiery Cannonade for the sideboard?

Has Skred been performing well despite you running 18 snow lands?

I'm going to have to update my own list at some point and try this out. Looks like a lot of fun! Wildfire in this meta is crazy good.

This deck got so much better in 2020!

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!

That's pretty interesting. It reminds me a bit of Burning-Tree Vandal, but this obviously has the upside of actually generating card advantage, potentially.

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.

Codespell Cleric seems really interesting. It's fairly easy to meet its two spell requirement in a lot of aggressive decks, which could leave you with a 2/2 vigilance for 1. That's almost Nettle Sentinel levels of power. The cleric also has the bonus of being able to put the extra +1/+1 on any creature. I'm pretty high on this card! Nice to see White get something nice for a change.

Man, artifact/creature hate that exiles in Blue... What is happening in this set.

Howdy folks!

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.

Hi Balsamify!

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!

Cascade seems like a lot of fun for Pauper, but I wonder how "competitive" it will really be.

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!

Good call on the Maelstrom Colossus. I did not read Cascade well enough. Having to recast it over again definitely makes this a lot less good than I thought, but still a very powerful and value-producing card that I think many players will want over Crusher. Even if it just Cascades into something like Prophetic Prism or Ancient Stirrings, you're still coming out ahead on cards in a world of Cast Downs.

Oh wow, Fleshbag Marauder is a really nice downgrade! Thanks for mentioning it.

HOLD ONTO YOUR SEATS EVERYBODY!

Blue just did it again...

Fall From Favor

This card is about to change how we play Pauper.