Spoiler Highlight: Public Thoroughfare and Escape Tunnel in Pauper

Pauper will get a few cards due to the release of Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM). Among these new additions, two new lands were revealed: Public Thoroughfare and Escape Tunnel.

Public Thoroughfare

Public Thoroughfare is a land that comes in tapped and demands its controller to tap an artifact or an untapped land under their control to keep it in play.

Pauper is a format that naturally presents a certain inconsistency in mana bases that want to use more than two colors, and also has more obvious options to try and splash these builds, such as, for instance, the Baldur's Gate gate cycle.

Another mechanism that some decks use to play with three or more colors are indestructible lands alongside Cleansing Wildfire.

So, what's the advantage of using a land like Public Thoroughfare? Some decks, like Trons, can prefer a land that can generate any color at any moment, instead of simply splashing a single color permanently.

Escape Tunnel

Escape Tunnel is a sort of upgraded Evolving Wilds. It is useful as a fetch land due to its first ability and becomes much more interesting due to its second ability, which makes any creature with a power equal or less than 2 Unblockable. You don't need to think very hard to see how many decks already use fetch lands regularly and can take advantage of this new card thoroughly.

As I mentioned before, Tron decks are the most obvious home for Public Thoroughfare. These lists regularly use four or five colors and can take more advantage of this land, besides already using artifacts in their lists and not worrying that much about mana, which makes it easier to use Thoroughfare.

It is common to see Tron lists using lands that filter mana to splash any color at any moment, and I believe it is possible to fit Thoroughfare in card slots like Crystal Grotto's and Cave of Temptation's.

Escape Tunnel, on the other side, can find space in this format easier. Its presence as a replacement for other fetch lands provides another line of play to decks like UX Faeries, which will now have a tool that allows their ninjas to attack without any further issues.

Another deck that can benefit significantly from this new card is Caw Gates, which will potentially defeat opponents with any creature by making their cats and birds Unblockable and then transforming them into giant creatures with Basilisk Gate to deal lethal damage.

Another interesting play line is giving Guardian of the Guildpact Unblockable, in case the opponent has artifact creatures on their board, which will allow it to attack without any further issues.

There are still other strategies that can benefit significantly from this card and start appearing in this format again - such as Infect, Hot Dogs and Tribe Combo. They can all use this new card excellently in their builds.

I believe both cards are fair additions to Pauper. Even though Public Thoroughfare looks less interesting than the options that already circulate in this format, it seems to be a card that offers a different play line for the decks that can use it.

On the other side, this land can easily fit Tron, which has many artifacts in its lists, and is a more effective splash than Crystal Grotto, considering it creates mana instead of just filtering it. I can see one or two copies of this card being beneficial in Tron, and they might even deserve a test in Affinity lists that currently use zero-cost artifacts, which make it possible for this card to go in this deck instead of a basic land, for instance.

Escape Tunnel is an instant staple, and will retire Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse in several decks. The lines of play this card will allow seem very interesting; everything will just be a matter of adjusting the right number of copies in each deck. It will be quite a weapon both against Monarch and Initiative.

Another article finished, I hope you liked it. Leave your questions or suggestions for future articles in the comment section; I'll try to answer all.

See you next time!