Welcome back to Pauper Chronicles, and I’m glad you’re back here with us after all our server troubles. Hopefully we've seen the last of all that! This has been a great time to be an author here at MDV, and some of the coolest things we’ve been doing lately are beginning to appear for you, our faithful audience. Expect more and more to come; we’re kicking it into high gear!

Set release time is always an exciting time for any format. While competitive Constructed formats like Standard and Extended look for new powerful cards (Thoughtseize comes to mind), Pauper instead looks at powerful commons. As sets leave with the rotation and new sets are added to the total pool of cards, entire formats and decks are dismantled and instantly change.

The commons coming out of this new set will provide the basis for two years worth of Pauper Standard, and will add new cards to the ever growing Pauper Classic format. With Lorwyn freshly baked into Magic: Online, and more and more chances to play and win prizes – are you ready to start playing Pauper?

The End of Spore Cry?

One of the most powerful decks in recent Standard memory is Spore Cry, a deck that abuses Saproling making creatures from Ravnica and Time Spiral to push through lethal damage with saproling tokens and cards like Pallid Mycoderm. Originally named for its abuse of Thallids and Marshalling Cry, this deck is amazingly strong because there is hardly any common mass removal in Standard other than Martyr of Ashes. Even with Martyr of Ashes destroying all of your Saprolings, you can cast Wrap in Vigor or Fortify to keep their Martyr from doing anything.

This changes as Ravnica rotates out. Some of the deck’s most powerful enablers, like Fists of Ironwood, Scatter the Seeds, Veteran Armorer, and Selesnya Evangel, are all gone with the new rotation. This means I can start playing Pauper more seriously! In all honesty, Saproling decks and their variants have been keeping me away from serious tournament play in Pauper for the past month.

Unfortunately, a good deck can always be retooled, provided that there are cards that can replace what has been lost. Saprolings are a very powerful “tribe” of cards, and at common, there are some cards with a lot of potential that have yet to be played. Sporoloth Ancient, for instance, is a card I expect to see much more of in the coming weeks, and I expect that Deathspore Thallid will be the MVP of my first deck this week. Let's take a look at some variation on the old theme; first up, is Dreamspore Rock.

This deck is a very interesting machine, in that it uses quite a bit of synergy to pull together a strong game plan. Thallid Shell-Dweller and Deathspore Thallid provide early defense, and Essence Warden keeps you out of harm’s way as more and more Saproling Tokens are made. Sprout Storm is a key card here. As soon as tokens start building up, Sprout Swarm unleashes more and more tokens in a flurry or life gain and creature destruction. As the game progresses, Terror and Death Rattle take care of opposing creatures, while Grim Harvest and Mystical Teachings create card advantage over the long game.

Dreamspoiler Witches is an interesting card introduced with Lorwyn; its ability is amazing in conjunction with common instant removal and counterspells. I suspect that Dreamspoiler Witches will become a staple in control decks as we move into a brave new Standard. A Standard, which, is unfortunately, seeing little coming from this next set.

Lorwyn Standard == Time Spiral Block?

Many of the pundits of Pauper have suggested that Lorwyn as a set does very little to affect the new Standard. They suggest that Lorwyn is poor for Pauper because many of the tribal interactions within the new set can only be fully experienced with uncommons and rares, as well as commons. Entire Faerie and Merfolk decks that can see regular play in limited formats cannot even be dreamed of in Pauper Standard, because key uncommons like Glen Elendra Pranksters and Drowner of Secrets are, well, uncommon.

To make matters even more trying, two of the four mechanics of the block are uncommon and rare centric. Champion and Hideaway are both mechanics out of the reach of Pauper. If you consider these things, along with the fact that the current Standard has amazing common removal like Terror and Skred, a creature-based deck will be less than effective inside a removal-based Standard format, and because of this, tribal decks may fail to thrive.

What this means, in a nutshell, is that it might take a while for Lorwyn commons to find their home in the PDC formats, and that home might not even come until Morningtide is released online sometime in late February, early March (its paper release date is February 1st, 2008, and the MTGO version normally is online within a month).

Mutant Ninja Turtles!

One card, or type of cards that have been getting a lot of hype are the Changeling spells. Nameless Inversion is heralded as the newest Last Gasp, and creatures like Avian Changeling and Woodland Changeling have been labeled as “subtly powerful and potentially overwhelming.” These amazing creatures play off of every tribal synergy and interaction, and do some amazing things with the all too recent Sliver Horde. I, however, am not going to do much with that deck – I’ll let you come up with your own versions of Slivers with Changelings. I will, however, show off a RW aggro deck that’s been on my list of decks to play – it’s a deck that likes Giants, and cheap efficient creatures.

This deck sets ‘em up, then knocks ‘em right back down. Avian Changeling interacts with Blind-Spot and Kithkin Greatheart extremely well, and quick beats from creatures like Aven Riftwatcher can keep your opponent on the edge of his seat. I love Amrou Scout in this deck, because not only does it find my Riftwatchers, it also finds my Avian Changeling, which is amazing in this deck. Synergistic creatures can do a lot of work if played right.

The burn package is fairly standard, playing Rift Bolt and Incinerate as token 3 damage burn, and Skred to finish up any creature that can’t be brought down the normal way. Oblivion Ring is great against certain creatures, and if other permanents become a problem (say other Oblivion Rings) then this card almost certainly warrants inclusion.

I think that one of the biggest problems this deck faces right now is what is probably going to be a prominent control matchup. Blinkdrifter is one of those prominent control decks. This deck is not as aggressive or as quick as some White Weenie builds, but what it lacks in explosive behavior, it makes up in solid creatures and good removal. But wait, what’s Blinkdrifter, you ask?

Stupid is Priority #1

One of the most powerful and amazing combos to come out of the new switch to Lorwyn block is Momentary Blink’s interaction with Evoke creatures. Mulldrifter, where this deck gets its name from, allows players to Blink it after it’s been Evoked. This voids the “sacrifice creature” bit at the end of the Evoke clause, and it nets you another 2 cards. That means, for 3WU, you can draw 4 cards, and get a 2/2 flyer. That’s not a bad little Braingeyser. Add in cards like the amazing Faerie Trickery, and a Faeries sub-theme, and you’ve got a deck that can best both aggro and control.

Blink is ridiculous. That’s pretty much what you need to know for this deck. The Faeries sub-theme allows this deck to abuse Pestermite and Spellstutter Sprite with impunity, and Kinght of Sursi takes down opposing flankers with relative ease. Errant Ephemeron is added threat density, and Mulldrifter is well, Mulldrifter. This deck has some problems with discard themes, or any deck that can get the Blinkdrifter combo taken care of before the cards are drawn. If you can counter your opponent's Mulldrifter, or make him discard it, you are almost guaranteed the match. Even with this weakness, I expect this deck and variations on it to do well throughout the next year of Pauper Magic.

That’s all I’ve got this week. Next time, I’ll be looking at the 4 most powerful cards in Pauper Standard, and what you can do to abuse, and stop them. Until then, get to the commons box, spend a few cents, and get to playing!

~Death_By_Beebles~

Death_By_Beebles is a relatively normal guy. When he’s not working on a new Raiding the Dollar Bins deck, or studying for his next Physiology exam, he’s spending his time writing, reading, and playing Pauper Magic.
If you’ve got questions, comments, or suggestions, send them on over to deathbybeebles@yahoo.com.

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Articles Spotlights from 2007:
Lorwyn Theme Week Intro & Schedule of Events
Blink And Bounce: Timing is Key
Going Blind: XCB Metagaming - A Prolonged Conclusion.
The Science of Magic: Genetic Engineering, Part Two.
Shifting Lineaments: Casual Metagaming (Pt. 2).
The Dungeon Of Malefict: Pure Evil!
Land Week Introduction & Schedule.
Combofusion: Legends Timeshifted.
One Card to Rule Them All: Coastal Piracy
Irrational Love: Chimeras. The Lego's of Magic.