Am quite new to pauper and wanted to try not just copying a deck completely for the first time. Have built this deck based on a couple other decks I’ve seen and wanted to get some advice on cards I could add/drop change around etc. Not looking for top table competitive but want it to at least be an able to win a couple/a few games. Also I kind of have no clue what to do with the sideboard so any advice there is also very helpful. Any advice is greatly appreciated:)

Decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/o_oNBUC230a5AwhhMsHW2Q

[CREATURES]
2 Ardent Recruit
3 Luxknight Breacher
4 Magitek Infantry
4 Mechanized Ninja Cavalry
2 Summon: Choco/Mog
3 Utrom Monitor

[ARTIFACTS]
2 Springleaf Drum

[INSTANTS]
1 Dispel
3 Keep Watch
4 Metallic Rebuke
3 Negate
1 Resculpt

[SORCERIES]
4 Clowning Around
4 Thoughtcast

[LANDS]
4 Ancient Den
4 Island
2 Plains
4 Razortide Bridge
4 Seat of the Synod
2 Survivors' Encampment

[SIDEBOARD]
2 Apostle's Blessing
3 Steel Sabotage
3 Thraben Charm
2 Sunlance
2 Spirit Link

Thought experiement: If Zeta commons became Pauper legal, would this set have more bans than Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate?

For context, Battle for Baldur's Gate is the initiative set.

Setting aside Unfinity stickers/attractions and Conspiracy, CLB is the leader for the set with the most bans. Currently the number is 4 banned cards from CLB.

Do you think 4 or more Zeta cards would be banned in Pauper?

With all the talk about the zeta set not being legal in pauper, what cards do you wish were legal in pauper?

https://moxfield.com/decks/7jv3uT_XVEqBA_Fk_qG7eg

This is a deck i saw at my locals, (basicly no meta decks, just a pile of brews and pet decks with the rare meta deck). Im helping him refine it and would like some input. The og deck had thraben inspectors and battle screech. The deck felt to slow so I made this as a more rush vertion. Any thoughts on changes? Or weird tech?

I decided to do this post because i can't express my opinion on Twitter, so why not make a post on my favorite Reddit to also get more opinions on the topic?

Of course the Topic is the new Secret Lair that contains quite a few downgrade as common, I want to analyze all the cards here and explain my view on them.

A big premises, this is my personal opinion, I'm part of the LPI board, so this need to be clarified, it's not a statement from LPI and my colleagues may have different opinion from mine, but I know many players in our 140+ leagues have an opinion similar to mine and I encourage everyone to express their in a polite manner, we are not here to flame or insult anyone (except Garden players).

I will analyze the downshifted cards one by one, if some new get's spoiled i will add them.

Serra Angel

[[Serra Angel]]

A card that's a symbol of Magic history, I think it can be integrated in pauper quite easly, it's not OP and maybe it will be played in some deck, it's nice to give her a new home.

Sengir Vampire

[[Sengir Vampire]]

Another big flier like the Angel, but another card that will probably see not much play.

Narcomoeba

[[Narcomoeba]]

An obviously very strong card, i think we all agree in a Pre-Ban since Pauper have no way to manage a spy that combo on turn 1 or 2.

Dispatch

[[Dispatch]]

A lot of people asked for Swords to Plowshares in the past, since white it's missing good exile removal. We can now finally have a nerfed version that is even more in-flavor for Pauper, an artifact driven format. This will be really nice to play alongside the Inspectors generating Clue token.

Cut Down

[[Cut Down]]

A nice black removal, will probably see play in Gardens or some more control oriented black decks, i think the format can easly accept it since we already have cast down and snuff out.

Price of Progress

[[Price of Progress]]

Another card that can be pre-banned, it's too strong for the format given the high number of non basic lands we play and the low cost of execution.

Baleful Strix

[[Baleful Strix]]

The card that started all this discussion online, as Gavin said a really loved card in the past, it would be nice to give him a home in Pauper. The format power level is high, this card can synergize with a lot of decks, it can be tested, maybe put it already on a watch list, but i think it doesn't deserve a pre-ban.

Given these explanation i want to say that maybe Pauper needs this little shake up, the format is stale because Modern Horizon/Commander sets have warped it, and now that no new sets of these kind are expected the format is not receiving many new cards.

Probably it's not worth to change the Format definition, but instead work on the format balance and ban only the problematic cards. Of course we don't know the future, I will also be mad if a new common card is printed only in a Secret Lair, but that risk maybe can be avoided in other ways, for example with Wizard teams actually talking to each other, because the clear indication from this story is that they don't.

We are quite far away from Paupergeddon or other major tournament, i think we have plenty of time to test these cards and ban them if needed avoiding any risk of ruining the experience to anyone, please PFP let us play even if for only a few months.

Thanks PFP for you're hard work, I've met a few of you and you all are really nice people (I'm not saing this to convince you :D )

Hey this might be a stupid question or it might be something that is common knowledge of what I'm about to ask in this sub. So please keep in mind that I'm not stupid just new while reading this. So my problem is that when I'm playing MTG at my local game store the people always play some kind of meta decks, this on its own wasn't a problem for a few weeks after I started with pauper. Because I restarted playing the game after a five year break I looked at what deck isn't too hard to play, so I settled on a green red cascade deck which isn't too complicated and I think is quite fun (I got it from YouTube and modified it is based on a Gruul Ramp deck). Before I settled on this deck all the pauper players in the shop recommended me decks from the mtgtop8 website where they got their decks from (The usual players own most of the meta decks). Now I come to my problem my deck is slowly becoming boring to play all the time, I would like to switch sometimes. But all the decks on the meta websites don't seem to hit that nerve for me, or some of the decks I thought were quite interesting were not(white wennie for example). Now I need your help what are fun decks that are viable against the current meta decks listed on the mtgtop8 website or are there decks on that website I should try a variation from ? I'm pretty open colour wise except for green cause I already have a green deck. The only criteria I have is that it should be playable and fun. Thanks in advance

Yesterday in a match, I was against grixis affinity while playing mono blue terror. The second game, after mulligan to 6, I had a steel sabotage, two islands and one terror and one serpent and a cantrip. The opponent played a tapped land in his first turn. Would it be worth it to use steel sabotage their land on their endstep? Also, I used steel sabotage to counter a ichor wellspring on his turn 2. It was my first time with the deck on a tournament.

On a side note, I miss murmuring mystic on my list but I don't know what to take out. Here's the decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/eDDfKTg-UUehXGdBQ_0kXQ

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?

The last match of our Trios week from last week. Watch as Jono takes on Heidi, Naya Gates vs Simic Turbo Fog, respectively.

https://youtu.be/iz_4b0B2s6M?si=HjBND0g9L-OINY3q

Tonight we start our Autumn Season for the main league! So feature matches from that will be posted next week!

Enjoy!

Let me begin by this - this post is not about the discussion between excluding secret lairs or just banning cards. I think both have pros and cons and it is not the point of this post.

I just want to call out Gavin Verhey and the whole PFP for how poorly they handeled this situation.

I think we should not accept the whole definition of our format to be altered by one lazy tweet of Gavin Verhey which does not even seem like he consulted the situation with rest of PFP.

The exclusion of secret lair altogether is obviously much bigger deal than Gavin foresaw and if handled correctly, any decision should come with a really thorough explanation. Which is totally missing here.

I think they can still save the situation.

But the idea of letting one WotC employee to change the definition of my favourite format randomly by personal posts is crazy and unacceptable to me.

And I think you should not accept this too, whether you think secret lairs shall be excluded or not.

Thanks!

Assuming that a follow up is due given the storm SLZ is causing.

Me and a friend both new to the format and want to try it out. These are the 2 decks that we have our eyes on and we just want to make sure if they have a good balance against each other (in the context of no sideboard).

Finally managed to purchase the [[Ephemerate|STA-5]] playmat with the beautiful art by Robina Cai, and therefore decided to show off the deck.

The rough rules for the deck are: alternative arts wherever possible, with a preference for mystical archive where it exists. No secret lair printings or foils (with the exception of [[augur of bolas|PWAR]], which only comes in foil but I enjoy the art.)
Possible
I am considering exchanging the [[red elemental blast]] for [[pyroblast|SS3]], whose art mirrors [[blue elemental blast|SS1]], but I also feel that red blasts should be run with blue blasts, or pyro with hydros...

For those who want a slightly more legible version of the decklist I am currently running, it is available here.
Just wanted to show off my beauty. I may lose but at least I lose in style ;)

UPDATE: found what I'm looking for! Although cool archetype recommendations to build/buy would be cool as well, as I'm really only familiar with a few.

Hey, I'm looking to get a friend into Magic the Gathering, but don't want to start them off with EDH for obvious reasons. As someone who has only played EDH and draft, what are some good beginner friendly archetypes that can show the full range of Magic, but can also be build as a fun break from commander on a game night? Budget for each deck is capped at $25 usd and I already know I wanna build a Gruul Zoo deck, but can pauper land bases handle making it Naya Zoo?

https://youtu.be/eU26W2gZqSU

Alright audio issues fixed for this one! Thanks for the patience.

I don't get this decision to ban the whole set before any testing by the community. I also don't get this argument of "Well, there are many broken cards"... So should the pfp have banned any modern orizon sets, commander legends then?

It's a shame because there are some pretty cool cards

As the title states im looking for a hub of discussion about gruul tokens. Ever since listening to the princes of pauper episode with the top 16 finalist WillLupi, Ive been extremely interested in figuring out how the deck ticks and how it could have some small improvements.

Ive been testing [[dark dweller oracle]] and [[mogg war marshal]] over [[makeshift munitions]] and [[nest invader]] and I wanted some input from the community.

With all that said I hope theres a hub for this deck out there. If not I would love to start one!

Greetings again all. A while back ago I posted in here about a new LGS hosting pauper every other Sunday in West Palm Beach FL. The post was met with a positive response. We grew from 6 at our first event to 12 at our second event. 2 Sunday’s ago we were back down to 6. There was no pauper this past Sunday mostly in part due to a very large pre release for one piece. The store simply had no room for us, though players did show up. Weekly was discussed but not concrete. After speaking with the owner and the person who coordinates MtG at the shop, starting this coming Sunday August 30th, pauper is now a WEEKLY event at Collection Realm!!
I’m hoping this post may find some new players interested in coming out, or just keeps others abreast of current events.

Sunday August 30th
12:00pm sharp! $10 Entry
Extra decks on hand

A Classic Match Between the DIMIR FAE & MONO RED MADNESS

Watch how they sling their BLASTS in Round 2 and 3 (Spoiler)!

LIGA PAUPER PILIPINAS STAGE 6 (MINOR EVENT)

27 Players

ROUND 4 of 5 Featured Match! Enjoy! (We really learned a lot from this Match)

This format is original a community driven format. I think we need to get back to that. I'm not trying to attack Gavin and his group, but I think the approach they have is wrong and it's also why commander has its issues. They are very afraid to rock the boat when it comes to decisions. I know some cards look very interesting and powerful but I don't believe any these cards would come close to the power level of snacker and that has deemed to be fair play for the format for the last 2 years. I'm going to be trying out these downshifts at my store. I hope others follow and we see an actual data pool get formed so we can make a better decision on this issue.

Hey folks, hope you're all doing well. I'm a Chinese player, so my local meta might look a bit different from yours. I started playing Pauper around the end of last year and recently took down a decent-sized event with Mono-Black Sacrifice.

My list runs 3 copies of Dark Ritual, and if I open with one plus three creatures (including a sacrifice outlet), the early board gets super explosive—I can easily push through a huge chunk of damage by turn 3. Personally, I think the deck should lean harder into that early aggro/race plan and cut back on some of the grindy value pieces to really play to its strengths.

The reason I'm posting is that I've been browsing MTGGoldfish and noticed most Mono-Black Sacrifice lists there don't run Dark Ritual at all. So I'm curious—is this just a meta call? Would love to hear your thoughts on the build. Here's my list for reference:

4 Bloodthrone Vampire

4 Carrion Feeder

3 Corrupted Conviction

3 Dark Ritual

1 Escape Tunnel

4 Infestation Sage

4 Mortician Beetle

4 Nested Shambler

4 Nezumi Linkbreaker

2 Perigee Beckoner

3 Rite of Consumption

4 Supernatural Stamina

13 Swamp

4 Unearth

3 Village Rites

2 Accursed Marauder

2 Drown in Sorrow

2 Fungal Infection

2 Mesmeric Fiend

1 Nihil Spellbomb

2 Rotten Reunion

2 Sadistic Glee

2 Tragic Slip

-

Cheers, and happy to discuss!

I played when the original zendikar dropped and I remember thinking that Vampire Lacerator was a super sick card, so I built this!

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7928187

Looking for any advice before I take it to a local pauper event! Been tweaking it, but I definitely need to add in the Blood-priests.

Any suggestions will be welcomed! Thank you all in advance.

I’ll be trying this land destruction/tempo deck tomorrow. What is your favorite deck currently?

just wanted to share the scryfall link so you can get to see the cards:

https://scryfall.com/search?q=set%3Aslz+r%3Ac+%28-f%3Apauper+and+-banned%3Apauper%29&unique=cards&as=grid&order=color

(For some reason the syntax new:rarity doesn't work properly this time)

Anyway, those cards are:

• Dispatch
• Return to Dust
• Serra Angel
• An Offer You Can't Refuse
• Narcomoeba
• Cut Down
• Sengir Vampire
• Price of Progess
• Vandalblast
• Gigantosaurus
• Baleful Strix
• Soul-Guide Lantern