About PauperToday, we'll show you everything you need to know if you would like to explore one of the cheapest and most fun competitive MTG formats.Pauper is a great choice if you are a beginner or looking for an accessible way to play MTG, but it is also a great choice if you have been playing MTG for a while and enjoy playing at big events and facing many different decks.This flexibility also makes this format quite complex. There are many "tricks" as well as lots of ways to grind and make each small advantage count.Let's go!What is PauperMTG cards can be common, uncommon, rare, or mythic. When the game first came out, this division wasn't public knowledge, and it had more to do with how rare each card was than with how powerful it was. So, players were encouraged to try different cards to find out if they were good or not.After 1998, the rarity of each card became easier to identify because WotC introduced set symbols in different colors stamped at the very center of the card. Black and white symbols represent common cards, silver symbols represent uncommon cards, gold symbols represent rare cards, and red symbols represent mythic cards. From 2015 onward, each card also includes a letter for each rarity (C, U, R, M for common, uncommon, rare, and mythic, respectively).The Pauper Card PoolThe Pauper card pool only allows cards that were printed as commons even if that particular copy is not a common card. One such example is Ashnod's Altar, which has been printed as a common, an uncommon, and a rare card. All of these versions are available in Pauper. Foil versions and other treatments are also allowed.The same card in 3 different rarities.The only exceptions are the cards on the ban list, which you can't play in your deck or sideboard. You can check out if you can play a card in Pauper or not by using our search engine.Main Pauper ArchetypesMany strong decks see play in Pauper, so you can more or less just pick whatever strategy you like best. Popular decks change as new sets come out and the meta adapts, but you will always be able to find something to play.Here are some of the most popular archetypes:MadnessThis is one of the most popular decks in the format. It centers around dealing damage to the opponent directly with aggressive spells and creating advantage from the Madness mechanic: spells that you can cast for less when they're discarded.Your creatures will make your spells deal more damage and can be quite destructive if they stay on the board. The most common version is a red deck, but red and black versions that also play lifedrain see some play. They're a bit slower and more consistent.White WeenieThis archetype uses small creatures that create value when they enter the battlefield, like Thraben Inspector and Raffine's Informant, as well as Leonardo, Big Brother, and Guardian's Pledge to deal a lot of damage.SpyThis is the most consistent combo in the current format. The main game plan is using a Balustrade Spy targeting yourself to mill all cards in your deck and cast a Dread Return for its alternative cost, sacrificing 3 creatures, to put a Lotleth Giant in play. This card, in turn, will deal over 30 damage to the opponent.This deck uses just a few lands but many ways to tutor them to set up its combos. It also has an alternative, aggressive game plan: you can create a lot of mana with Overgrown Battlement and cast creatures like Avenging Hunter as you set up your combos.TerrorThis deck uses spells to fill the graveyard and creatures that cost less when the graveyard is full. Like so, you'll be able to cast big creatures like Tolarian Terror for 1 or 2 mana. It also plays lots of creature removals and counterspells, so it's a tempo strategy.Three versions see play in Pauper: black, black and blue (Dimir), and blue and red (Izzet). The two-color versions are more resilient to cards like Pyroblast but are a bit less consistent and a bit slower as well.ElvesThe most popular kindred list in Pauper is Elves. It plays many Elf creatures, as the name suggests, that create mana, like Priest of Titania, or that buff your creatures, like Timberwatch Elf. In particular, this last card buffs other cards according to the number of elves you already have in play. You can create a lot of mana to cast big creatures and refill your hand with Lead the Stampede and Winding Way.AffinityThis list plays many artifacts so that you can take advantage of Affinity: cards with this keyword cost 1 less for each artifact you have in play. So, you will be able to cast a 4/4 Myr Enforcer for 0 mana.This deck can draw a lot of cards and remove creatures without flying with Krark-Clan Shaman and Toxin Analysis. The most popular version is in Grixis colors, but the Esper version and the Dimir version also see some play.JundThis is another great midrange list. It plays Cleansing Wildfire on its own indestructible lands to ramp and control the board with Krark-Clan Shaman and Writhing Chrysalis. It forces you to make a lot of decisions, and you need a lot of time to master it.GatesThis is one of the best control lists in the format. It plays Gate lands and creatures that refill themselves, like Outlaw Medic, Sacred Cat, and Squadron Hawk. Gate decks control the board until they put enough lands in play. Then, they use Basilisk Gate to defeat the opponent.The most common variants are blue and white (Azorius) and are usually called Caw Gates because of Squadron Hawk. The green, red, and white version (Naya) also sees some play.GruulThis deck is pretty straightforward. The idea is to ramp mana and put big creatures in play, like Writhing Chrysalis and Avenging Hunter. Some variants play a lower mana curve and create tokens to deal damage to the opponent with Impact Tremors and Raphael, Tough Turtle. Others focus on land destruction and use Mwonvuli Acid-Moss.BorosThis is a white and red list that leans heavily on Kor Skyfisher and Glint Hawk to replay permanents with ETB effects. It can control the board with cheap removals and put pressure on the opponent, all at the same time. Eventually, they'll be so low in HP that you can finish the game with Makeshift Munitions or Galvanic Blast.Tireless TribeThis is a combo deck that discards cards to make Tireless Tribe more resilient. Then, it uses Inside Out to swap its stats.GardensThis is a straightforward control deck that creates lots of cards with cheap artifacts and clears the creatures in play frequently until the opponent runs out of resources. It usually sees plays in black or black and green (Golgari).UrzatronThis list plays Urza's trio: Urza's Power Plant, Urza's Mine, and Urza's Tower, which, together, create 7 colorless mana. Many versions of it see play, like Flicker Tron, which blinks permanents, Altar Tron, which plays a combo to end the game, and Eggs Tron, which plays multiple cheap artifacts to gain life with Fangren Marauder. The most popular nowadays is Monster Tron, which plays huge creatures that give you life and stabilize the board.EphemerateThis list plays Ephemerate to create value with creatures that do something when they enter play. One of the most classic strategies in it is casting a Mulldrifter for its Evoke cost and, before it is sacrificed, blinking it with Ephemerate. Like so, it will enter play as a new object and won't be sacrificed. It will also draw you 2 extra cards.FaeriesThis archetype is usually blue and plays lots of 1-cost and 2-cost creatures with ETB abilities and Ninjutsu creatures to send them back to your hand, all while you put a stronger creature in play. It's a tempo strategy that deals damage slowly while it keeps your hand full of cards and counterspells.Please note that these are just the most popular decks in the format. There are many other lists that see play, as well as new strategies that pop up as new sets come out.The Pauper Mana BaseMana bases in Pauper are extremely peculiar, and the lands you chose to play change your lists considerably. Once you know what your deck does, you may pick which lands are more useful.Knowing your lands will also help you identify which strategy your opponent is playing.There are many ways to get the most out of your mana base depending on the colors and spells you need.Aggro decks play cheaper spells and more basic lands or lands that deal damage when they enter play, like Bristling Backwoods.Monocolored decks can play Idyllic Grange, Gingerbread Cabin, Witch's Cottage, Bojuka Bog, or Khalni Garden for utility and oftentimes bouncelands to replay ETBS for a small cost.Multicolored decks can play Thriving lands, which create one fixed mana color and one color of your choice, and landscape fetchlands, like Tranquil Landscape, to create a certain mana color or recycle cards when you have leftover mana.You can also play artifact lands in each color, like Great Furnace and the indestructible two-color bridges that you can use to improve cards like Galvanic Blast and Fanatical Offering. Though one-color lands come into play untapped, keep in mind that using them makes you vulnerable to hate because artifact destruction is very common in this format.You can use snowy lands to make spells like Skred and Into the North more useful. Snow is a type of land, so you can use basic snow lands and two-type lands like Volatile Fjord.Gates can fix your colors and also be useful in another way, like Heap Gate, which creates treasures, and Basilisk Gate, which makes your creatures bigger threats in the late game.Furthermore, some spells and creatures recycle certain types of lands that are usually not basic. You can use this to get these mana colors in exchange for some tempo, like, for instance, using Lórien Revealed to get an Idyllic Beachfront.Like so, you can play half as many lands in your deck without giving up consistency and also improve your late game, as you can combine these spells or reanimate creatures in your graveyard. This is particularly interesting in Elves: Generous Ent lets you play only a few lands in this strategy and also improves Lead the Stampede and Winding Way.Picking a Pauper DeckIf you have just started playing Pauper, we recommend you pick a pre-existing list instead of trying to build an entirely new one. You can use it as a base and, like so, make sure your first build is powerful enough to compete against other decks. Then, you can focus on learning how to pilot it.At first, stay away from decks that only work if you know a lot about the format, like Caw Gates and Jeskai Ephemerate. To master them, you'll have to change your game plan according to what your opponent does, know when and how to play your counterspells, know what each player has in their graveyard, and a lot more.We recommend you start out with White Weenie, Gruul, or Monored Madness, which are powerful and quite straightforward.But don't worry about playing the perfect deck: this format is quite cheap, and you can test out different strategies and swap them out quite easily. Furthermore, the community is quite friendly, and you'll always find someone willing to teach you or loan some cards.Final WordsThank you for reading. I hope this guide made you a bit more curious about Pauper and taught you everything you need to know to start playing it.What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.See you next time!
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