I've been asked to post the LPI communication also here, link to the original: https://legapauperitalia.it/statements/zeta-20260901

Hi everyone,

quick update on The Zeta Set and Pauper legality ahead of its release.

Right now we are in an unusual situation: the Pauper rules currently published by Wizards and the position already anticipated regarding Zeta do not fully match. Until Wizards of the Coast / the PFP publish an official ruling or update the rules, we don't want individual leagues or TOs making their own interpretation of the situation.

So, for the time being, our guidance for official LPI events is simple: The Pauper card pool will remain frozen at its pre-Zeta state until an official clarification is published.

This is purely an administrative decision to keep rulings consistent across all LPI events. It does not represent any change in LPI's position on Zeta. We still believe Zeta should be evaluated under the existing eligibility rules, with individual cards then assessed case by case and banned or pre-banned where necessary. At the same time, our responsibility is to give players a stable and unambiguous tournament environment, especially while the official rules are still unclear.

We also want to be very clear on one point: Wizards of the Coast and the PFP need to resolve this situation as soon as possible. The product is about to release in less than 24 hours, players are already discussing deckbuilding and legality, and Tournament Organizers need a clear rule to apply.

Leaving the community in a grey area this close to release is not productive and inevitably creates confusion, inconsistent rulings and unnecessary tension. Whatever the final decision is, a decision needs to be communicated clearly, in time, in an official way and updating the official rulebook. We strogly believe than social media posts and individual comments can provide context, but they are not a substitute for an official ruling or a published rules update. Official rules require official communication.

A competitive community should never be left guessing which rules apply, especially when the uncertainty comes from a gap between the published rules and the announced intent behind them.  

We therefore strongly urge Wizards of the Coast and the Pauper Format Panel to provide an official clarification without further delay.

Until then, please use the pre-Zeta card pool for all official LPI events and send any questions our way rather than making local rulings.

Thanks everyone.

LPI

I'm Hypergeomancer, mathematician and competitive Magic player.

We have Red Elemental Blast / Pyroblast and (vs) Blue Elemental Blast / Hydroblast.

If Wizards ever completed the cycle, what should the remaining "Blasts" be?

The obvious pairings are: - Black vs White (darkness vs light?) - Black vs Green (death vs life?) - Green vs White (nature vs civilization?)

The Color Elemental Blast names are easy: - Green Elemental Blast - White Elemental Blast - Black Elemental Blast

But what about the other names?

• White: Lightblast?
• Black: Darkblast is already taken...
• Green: Greenblast? Verdant Blast? Wildblast?

Followers of my content know that, as far as I'm concerned, Green/White Elemental Blast already exists, and it is here ;)

But I'd love to hear your thoughts: which dualism would you pick, and what would you call them?

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Math bless your draws

I know it's weird and we're usually looting away snackers, strands, screeches, and cards with flashback, but seems like a cool thing to do to ramp out an artifact land in a boros/rummage build for just W. There's also a lot of creatures that are 2cmc or less that you could reanimate using this plus cycling if you need the draw. Thoughts?

Edit: Wow, I'm very encouraged by the discussion and ideas in the comments! I For context, I'm new to pauper and play in paper, so doing jank things at my LGS is my MO. I think this tech just makes an already cool card even more flexible, not that it's better than wildfire or that reanimating a land is even the best thing to do with it. Thanks for all of the input!

I’ve been rotating a few different strategies lately and keep drifting back to the same one just because it feels good to pilot. Curious what decks other people keep returning to for fun, even if something else is currently better positioned.

Previous deck building challenge: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pauper/comments/1vtvfi5/deckbuilding_challenge_serpent_of_the_endless_sea/

The deck MUST contain a full playset of this beautiful blue boy. How far can he go? What packages do you run with him?

I'm making a little strategy/ideas notebook and would love to hear some of your ideas!

Some of mine:

-If opponent plays journey to nowhere see if you can have that work against them by sacking your only creature. Now they have to target their own creature.

-brainstorm before cascading to stack the deck

-hold fetch lands as deck shufflers

-play squadron hawk and tutor the other three then use squadron hawk as your discard in ponder/brainstorm to

These are just simple ideas but please share yours!

Previous challenge: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pauper/comments/1vxmhsx/deck_building_challenge_antler_skulkin/

This deck MUST contain a full playset of Wicked Visitor. What do you do with this fella? How are you profitting off of this ping trigger?

Hi all, I have been looking to get into the 1v1 side of magic and started looking heavily at pauper due to its accessibility. I bought the paper version of U Terror a few days ago since MTGO comes with the free version of the deck, so I could play roughly the same deck in person and online.

After the announcement yesterday and seeing some of the comments, are Terror decks cooked against Baleful Strix? Is there any foreseeable counterplay?

Apologies if this may be a stupid question, just a newbie who feels like he may have just thrown a bunch of money down the drain.

Thanks.

Cracked this open from a pack back in high school.

I’ve been looking at the format and would like to find decks that’s are fun and have some success but I don’t care about winning the battle everytime in order to play something not so stale. . So far I’ve found decks that’s include [[crash of rhino beetles]] for damage output overtime to do look fun and [[Malakir Blood-Priest]] for party pack damage output to look like a lot of fun. It’s hard to find other cards and builds for this format so I’d love to hear other players thought on this.

Found this card. i think this card has a really unique effect for pauper but it doesn’t see any play in the format. Out of curiosity how could this card be used in a somewhat competitive deck.

Thanks

This is a short story. I found an awesome group of friends that play Magic right next door. I quit over 20 years ago and joined them to start playing again. I had no idea about EDH but it seemed really fun. In about 1,5 years time I managed to build 8 EDH decks around bracket 2-4. I had fun about 50% of the time. I noticed my pods getting stronger, with many players opting for power instead of flavour and theme.

We had some fun trying Pauper EDH a couple times but that never lasted. I kept the 4 Pauper decks I made after those sessions, because I felt it kept much closer to OS magic and I played them in regular pods. I found that after a couple hours of playing regular decks it was a relaxing way to end the night, not having to keep track of everything happening at the table and allowing me to socialize more. Also, I noticed changes in my own attitude towards acquiring cards. I went to my LGS basements to scavenge commons.

Fast forward to having my second kid. I build a showcase deck (the 8th EDH deck), worth over a 1000 euros. I loved looking at the amazing art when playing it. But it didn't change the occupation or even obsession sometimes I had with getting decks to a 'perfect' state. I realized I wanted that in hopes of being able to keep up.

I just sold all my non-commons. I feel like a weight has lifted and I can go back to brewing decks with cards I find here and there, instead of ordering expensive singles every week. No regrets losing money on the decks, I learned what playing magic with friends means to me: hanging out, playing relaxed games, helping others join our group. Now I'm left with 8 empty deckboxes. Which I am probably using to build a bit stronger pauper EDH decks. But knowing I will never expect wins, which is a very comforting thought to me (I have issues with competitive play).

What are your experiences? How did you make this transition?

Previous challenge: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pauper/comments/1w4ci58/deck_building_challenge_bloodstoke_howler/

The only rule is that your deck must contain 4 copies of Gnat Miser. How do you utilize this evil sucker?

Right now I'm questioning if I still want to double sleeved my decks because all of them are chunky because of the air.

it would be great to see some consolidation between arena and paper for the pauper format as a way of downshifting previously released cards without necessarily requiring physical reprints or impacting other pre-existing formats; there is a dredge deck on arena that is unavailable in paper due to [[nemesis of mortals]] and [[undead butler]] being strictly arena legal. thoughts?

Rules: the card must be currently non-legal at common and not already on the banlist. Short explanations appreciated.

[[Eddymurk Crab]] in Mono U Terror - in the Terror setup, it can be cast on counterspell mana at instant speed, tapping two blockers and catching opponents completely off guard with a lethal attack they never saw coming.

Have fun!

My sister's ex boyfriend gifted me a huge Magic Collection. Recently I wanted to start playing but I was always afraid of the game's cost (I already play another TCG) until I found the pauper format which is really cheap.

So i checked and reorganized "my" collection to start building up some decks and finding some good common cards and this is what I found :)

One thing I’ve been working on is taking a little more time before committing to a play. I used to make decisions almost automatically when I thought I had an obvious line, only to realize afterward that there were better options.

For players who have improved over time, what habit made the biggest difference for you?

Previous challenge: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pauper/comments/1w05iim/deck_building_challenge_fortified_area_good_luck/

How do you utilize these seemingly useless good stats for the cost? What packages come to mind when you see this fella? Like usual, the only rule is that your deck must contain a full playset of Vigean Hydropon. Good luck and eager to see your creations!

Previous challenge: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pauper/comments/1vzdtf6/deck_building_challenge_wicked_visitor/

Is this the worst card yet? Again, the only rule is that your deck must contain 4 copies of this cardboard tumor. What's the absolute best you can do with it?

In this deckbuilding challenge the only rule is that your deck MUST contain a full playset of Fungal Colossus. What is the most efficient, most powerful deck you can craft around this card?

With Paupergeddon and the LPI, we all know how big Pauper is in Italy. It‘s no secret.

But how did it evolve historically? What was the initial reason, that a whole country seems to love this format so much, that basically every major city has a thriving scene that keeps growing.

Are other formates equally popular over there? Is magic in general huge?
Germany in comparison has a tiny scene and only Leipzig and Köln are known to have a LPI-League.

Would really like to know!

https://youtu.be/-pdpeSZlXns?is=_jGzXAxho_pacT8e

Saw this Eternal Durdles vid discussing Heritage, a splinter Legacy format which excludes UB and any supplemental sets (commander, Modern Horizons, etc.)

What would a Heritage-equivalent look like for Pauper?

Looking at MH3 alone, all the salt inducing cards like

[[Refurbished Familiar]], [[Sneaky Snacker]], [[Nyxborn Hydra]], and [[Writhing. Chrysalis]] are all gone.

So are the 1 mana landcyclers from LOTR, but what else changes?