PAUPER
Commander Masters: Downshifts and What This Means for Pauper's Meta
August 9, 2023
With the release of Commander Masters, everyone down at my LGS was most excited to see the downshifts for Pauper, as our Pauper event is our second biggest event next to Commander! With so many downshifts, I'm only going to highlight my top 5 downshifts that I am most excited for, or most worried about.
GENEROUS GIFT
This commander staple for mono-white players is an amazing addition to Pauper! I feel it's a very balanced card, at 3 CMC and at instant speed for removal, it's a great card which I saw play this week in a Boros Synthesizer deck. I feel it's a great answer at times to some of those bigger threats, as well as using Generous Gift on one of your own lands or permanents can sometimes push you over the edge to get that lethal strike in (as was apparent against it in my match up).
ALL THAT GLITTERS
As someone who has just begun building Bogles, hearing this card getting downshifted was amazing! In reality, yeah it is just a less powerful Ancestral Mask in Bogles, but giving you more speed to get your Slippery Bogle all big and scary is a nice little addition to the deck! I'm thinking of cutting down to having 2 copies of both All That Glitters and Ancestral Mask (rather than the 4 copies of Ancestral Mask) to see how that makes Bogles run and if this card really is as good for the deck as I hope it is!
CRYPTIC SERPENT
As soon as the Commander Masters downshifts were announced, I remember reading all of them and sending it to my partner. After reading for a few minutes I heard him yell out "Not another one!"" So that's right! Behold, your shitter Tolarian Terror! Costing an extra blue pip and without the ward is this 6/5 serpent! Did Pauper need this? No. But here we are so might as well enjoy it! I feel this is a card you'll mainly see in Dimir Terrorl decks, with instead of using Tolarian Terror and Gurmag Angler (who usually makes your Tolarian Terrors worse by delving the cost reduction that was already in your graveyard), it will now more likely lean more into blue whilst still having the sprinkle of black for the Diabolic Edict and Chainer's Edict removal.
MURMURING MYSTIC
Another very good blue card that works on letting blue do what blue does best, casting instants and sorceries. I would love to see this card go into decks! I don't feel it's the best in Dimir Terror, but it isn't a bad addition either. I wouldn't mind seeing this in an Izzet spell slinger deck, or even some sort of Simic control/storm deck! I think this card has a lot of cool places where it can fit in well, as well as would love to see a deck entirely built around it!
NADIER'S NIGHTBLADE
Okay seperate from Pauper, I was glad to see this card reprinted and downshifted as a Commander player. It wasn't an overly pricey card, but was just a good card that was hard to find as people knew it's value in decks as well as it not being much monetary value meant a lot of people weren't selling copies. But back to the point at hand, with Nadier's Nightblade down shift as well as Mirkwood Bats being printed, I feel there's just one or two pieces of an amazing combo we are missing. Cauldron Familiar is a key part of this, with ideas of cards like Gingerbread Cabin and Quirion Ranger, as well pieces such as Ashnod's Altar and Bartered Cow being thrown into the talks. However with Wilds of Eldraine on the horizon, we may see a common printed card that can make us an infinite combo with pieces such as these.
Some honorable mentions for the downshifts I haven't written about further include but not limited to: Myrsmith, Filigree Attendant, Vizier of Tumbling Sands, Windrider Wizard, Demon's Disciple, Drown in Sorrow, Dread Return, Blood Aspirant, Guttersnipe, Sulfurous Blast, Rot Shambler.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth - What Does This Set Bring for Pauper?
June 4, 2023
With the official release of the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth set being just a few weeks away, a group of players don't care about pulling 'The One Ring'. These players are more excited to see what new commons are going to be available!
Within a few days, a lot more spoilers for this set will be available for players, but with what we have so far it's interesting to see what new mechanics and cards will be available for Pauper players.
So far, we've seen the new mechanic of 'The Ring Tempts You' being printed in cards with common printing, with cards such as Bombadil's Song.
However Bombadil's Song is a card that probably won't see play, with Tamiyo's Safekeeping being 1 generic less and having a similar effect. But seeing cards similar to what is already played in the format wonders, how will the 'The Ring Tempts You' may play into the meta after this sets release?
Most cards that say the keywords 'The Ring Tempts You' don't actually explain this mechanic. This is because it is a multi-step mechanic that has it's own token to assist players with tracking and explaining the mechanic (another example of how reading the card, doesn't actually explain the card).
Realistically, this may have some play in specific decks. Off the top of my head, the main deck I could see this in play are decks that are heavy in combat and want their creatures to go through, such as Bogles. However at this time, it is hard to tell until we have details for the full set if this is a mechanic we can expect to see play or not.
Personally I would love to see new mechanics and new metas emerge but for the most part I am not really counting on it. However, I'm sure that this set will still have strong and powerful commons that will become staples in some pauper decks, and at least be includes in Pauper EDH (such as the Mirkwood Bats, which although at 4 CMC is a card that has large combo potential already for a common printing).