Players have been waiting anxiously to see what is going with Pauper and Wizards of the Coast dropped that information today. Pauper is the commons-only format that has a huge community following, which is a sanctioned format since 2019.
Announced earlier today, Wizards of the Coast provided an update on the Pauper format. There’s been plenty of disdain with the format since Modern Horizons 2 release with Storm and Affinity dominating the format. This hasn’t been the first time a Modern Horizons card has blighted the format.
Arcum’s Astrolabe
Arcum’s Astrolabe
({S} can be paid with one mana from a snow source.)
When this artifact enters, draw a card.
{1}, {T}: Add one mana of any color.
saw a ban in 2019 as that dominated the format with
Kor Skyfisher
Kor Skyfisher
Flying
When this creature enters, return a permanent you control to its owner's hand.
loops.
September 8 Banned and Restricted Announcement
However, Modern Horizons is looking to add to the ban list with
Chatterstorm
Chatterstorm
Create a 1/1 green Squirrel creature token.
Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn.)
and
Sojourner’s Companion
Sojourner’s Companion
Affinity for artifacts
Artifact landcycling {2} ({2}, Discard this card: Search your library for an artifact land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
are leaving the format with immediate effect. Both of these cards have skewed Pauper into an unpopular format, to the point where players registered 60 basic lands in a Pauper Preliminary event. After the event, Wizards of the Coast responded that they were looking to update the Banned & Restricted list later this week.
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MTG Community Responds to the Banned & Resticted Update
Although the news just broke, noted players and community members are adding their thoughts to the announcement. Overall, it seems it may not add much since
Sojourner’s Companion
Sojourner’s Companion
Affinity for artifacts
Artifact landcycling {2} ({2}, Discard this card: Search your library for an artifact land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
are additional copies of
Myr Enforcer
Myr Enforcer
Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)
but it could be enough for other archetypes to catch up. However, Wizards of the Coast did consider
Atog
Atog
Sacrifice an artifact: This creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
or
Disciple of the Vault
Disciple of the Vault
Whenever an artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may have target opponent lose 1 life.
which would force Affinity to take an aggressive approach.
Going further, Storm will remain a powerful option since
Galvanic Relay
Galvanic Relay
Exile the top card of your library. During your next turn, you may play that card.
Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn.)
is still legal. Storm will exist but Wizards of the Coast hopes with the removal of
Chatterstorm
Chatterstorm
Create a 1/1 green Squirrel creature token.
Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn.)
will slow down the strategy. There’s been plenty of discourse on Pauper needed an aggressive ban as we saw in Standard back in 2020. Unfortunately, we haven’t had an extensive ban update this time around, but hopefully, the removal of two cards will be enough for Pauper to come back to life.
What are your thoughts on the Banned & Restricted update? Is it enough? Will Tron come back and reign supreme once again? Let us know in the comments!
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