This is an article I have wanted to write for well over a year. It is not about my disdain for a particular card or strategy, but rather because I care deeply about Pauper and want to see the format thrive.

It was either late Friday night or the earliest hints of Saturday morning, depending on how you delineate the differences between days, when my phone erupted. I normally turn all my notifications way down but some apps seem to override my wish for uninterrupted sleep. With great grog I glanced at my phone only to see exultations from the manager of these here site Josh. “IT’S DEAD!”, “CLOUD IS GONE!”

As proof I don’t think about Pauper all the time, my reply was a simple “?”.

By the time I left the bedroom so as to not further disturb my wife, I saw the message, “It’s been banned.”

I checked the sources and immediately knew it to be true. Upon reading the official release I saw that the reason cited for the ban was to promote color diversity. Even though I feel that Cloud of Faeries should have been banned because of the pressure it exerts on the format, as they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

And their reasoning is far from wrong. Seven of the top ten most popular undefeated decks from Battle of Zendikar season run blue cards. Two of these decks - Affinity and Kuldotha Jeskai - touch blue for card draw but do far better than similar strategies that ignore that option. According to the statement, the data Wizards has collected claims that nine of the ten most played non-land cards in the format are blue and MTGGoldfish backs up this statement.

Such a stance ignores the heart of the issue. Cloud of Faeries represented a card that ignored the interactive elements of the format. It was simply too strong. In Delver it was the best possible turn two play in that it placed a threat on the table while leaving mana open to say “no”. In various combo decks it was the engine and despite the formats very best efforts it was one that proved incredibly resilient to hate.

The history of bans demonstrate Pauper has been moving towards a “fair” format. Excising Storm, Cloudpost, Invigorate, and Treasure Cruise hint that Wizards views the format more through the lens of current commons than the entire history of the rarity. Current examples from design and development indicate what we should expect at the highest power level of the format. Vintage Masters gave us Battle Screech but moved Cloud to uncommon and Tempest Remastered shifted limited powerhouse Rolling Thunder up as well, while Modern Masters 2015 demoted Scion of the Wild from rare to common. While Mulldrifter continues to see print as uncommon, I expect it to represent the upper bound or power in the format.

The ban does give me the briefest of pauses. While I believe Cloud to be too strong for the format I am wary that another common from the old guard takes its place as the hub of Pauper. While I do not think it will happen I do not want to see Pauper become a place where the only old cards we see are limited dregs. Thankfully, I believe we are safe.



The ban is the past. The format after January 27th is the future.



Immediately Cloud of Faeries based combo loses its status as “viable”. Without the ability to loop Ghostly Flicker through Mnemonic Wall and Cloud to repeatedly trigger (Sage’s Row Denizen) any new combo deck is going to have to look drastically different. The Familiar plan is not without some merit as Snap remains in the format. It is still possible to use the same shell with extra copies of the Wall and Snap to complete the loop but it is playing on hard mode.

For those looking to generate mana in the vein of the Simic flavors of the combo - powered up by Fertile Ground and Overgrowth - there are some interesting choices. Krosan Restorer and Voyaging Satyr can work wonders for generating mana and when combined with cards like Psychic Puppetry and Toils of Night and Day can represent a lethal amount of mana when combined with Kaervek’s Torch. Here is an old version of such a deck that Jacob Van Lunen proposed back in 2009.



While the kill mechanism will have to change the card selection has improved. It is also possible to run Dizzy Spell to go fetch a Torch or a Gigadrowse to protect the combo.

Old time favorite Freed from the Real may also make an appearance. Almost as convoluted as Esper Combo Freed wants to place the eponymous Aura on a card like Voyaging Satyr in conjunction with a land that can produce more than one mana to then turn that into an unbound amount. Muddle the Mixture can be used to fetch Rolling Thunder or Pyromatics - the latter dodges Circle of Protection: Red quite nicely.



Just because Splinter Twin has been banned does not mean the Pauper equivalent also has to ride the pine. Presence of Gond and Midnight Guard is a deck that has existed at the fringes of the format for some time. Without Cloud of Faeries shrinking the length of games it may be possible for this deck to have a greater level of success. Cards like Commune with the Gods and (Heliod’s Pilgrim) make it much easier to stitch the pieces together and with (Vines of the Vastwood) and Apostle’s Blessing the Guard does not automatically die to Lightning Bolt.



Finally there is now a reason to try and make Ivy Lane Denizen the preeminent Denizen. In conjunction with Nantuko Husk or Carrion Feeder and a Safehold Elite one can create a creature with an arbitrarily large power. Woven together with Shred Memory and Dimir House Guard (which also acts as a sacrifice outlet), this deck can kill quite easily with either a (Traitor’s Clutch) or a Rite of Consumption.



What about the rest of the format? Do not expect Delver to suddenly disappear. The deck still runs a high concentration of excellent cards. While the deck will now have to weigh a more significant opportunity cost on turn two without a free enabler it should still be a dangerous turn. It is likely that Delver can move to Faerie Miscreant as a lead in to Spellstutter Sprite. The blue deck can also return to Phantasmal Bear for a more aggressive one drop or Jeskai Sage as a way to combat removal. Cloudfin Raptor represents a third track but one that would require stripping some spells from the deck to add creatures to help the bird evolve.

Daze also will be far more important. Without the ability to resolve a threat that leaves two lands untapped the ability to commit to the board and stop an opponent’s follow up will be huge. Daze already sees play in certain Delver decks and its popularity is likely to climb.

For non-Delver decks this places an increased emphasis on the first and second turns of the game. Up to this point these turns had to attempt to keep pace with the Delver opening. Early plays could be answers to small creatures. The first few turns could be kill spells or flyers, but they could not be key elements to a strategy. Yes - decks could play a redundant piece (see Goblins or Stompy) but attempting to lean on one of these drops could prove problematic. Elvish Mystic is a powerful card and is one that has seen almost no play recently. Mystic and its ilk are still vulnerable and yet without the threat of falling so far behind if the accelerator was killed or countered, strategies leaning on mana elves may see more play. They also benefit from people shaving slots on small removal that normally would be used to handle Delver or Cloud of Faeries.

In fact is it is very likely that turn two now becomes the most important turn in Pauper. Different from the Fundamental Turn - the turn on which a deck should have won (or locked down) a game - this now becomes the time when initiative can be won or lost. With the ban in place attempting to resolve a Putrid Leech or similar threat on turn two now has a reduced opportunity cost. Previously it meant facing down five damage with nothing to show for your troubles. Now in order to stop said threat while investing in creatures means the maximum crack back is three damage (two 1/1s and a Ninja of the Deep Hours). A slower clock means that falling behind early is no longer a death sentence. The banning of Cloud of Faeries will not stop counterspell based strategies from existing but it will widen the gap between the best Counterspell deck and the best aggro-control shell. The format should slow down.



All other decks will take time to adjust to the new normal. The gap between the very best and very worst decks should shrink. The metagame will recalibrate and sideboards should now have slots to help combat other popular decks. In my opinion the popularity of decks should trends towards a norm and we may see a more dynamic metagame with the rankings changing regularly from week to week instead of seeing the strict strata we now experience.

As the format slows down it is probable that multicolor decks will emerge. The Khans of Tarkir Gain Lands are perhaps the most important addition to the format from the past year. These cards help blunt the assault of beatdown decks while adding mana flexibility. The only deck to take advantage of these to their fullest extent recently has been Kuldotha Jeskai. I expect this to change as the format at large will now have the time required to risk taking turns off for better mana.



I’ll be taking looks at different builds in the weeks to come but one thing is for sure - everything is about to change.



And that’s amazing.



Keep slingin’ commons-

-Alex



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