What Is Pauper In Magic: The Gathering?

What is Pauper in Magic: The Gathering? It’s a question that you’ll find yourself asking after someone who’s been playing MTG longer than you mentions how it’s the greatest format of all time, and you’re a fool for not playing it.

Well, hopefully, they’re a little less evangelical about it, but you get the general gist of these kinds of interactions, and we’ve all had them and, probably, been the one preaching the good word of our favorite format too. So, what is Pauper in Magic: The Gathering? Well, let’s help you out.

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What is Pauper in Magic: The Gathering?

Pauper is a format that includes every single card in MTG that’s ever been printed at Common rarity. That means that even if a card wasn’t Common when it was first printed, or it used to be a Common and then became a different rarity later on, that it can be used in your deck.

Other than that, it follows the normal constructed rules of at least sixty cards in your deck, up to fifteen cards in your sideboard, and only four of any individual cards outside of Basic Lands. It’s an incredibly fun format, and it’s a good one to check out if you fancy some very odd strategies.

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What cards are banned in Pauper?

Now, you might think that a format built entirely around Commons would mean that there would be nothing too powerful to ban, but you’d be horribly wrong. As a result, here’s the current banned list:

• Arcum’s Astrolabe
• Cloud of Faeries
• Cloudpost
• Cranial Plating Cranial Plating Equipped creature gets +1/+0 for each artifact you control.
  {B}{B}: Attach this Equipment to target creature you control.
  Equip {1}
• Daze Daze You may return an Island you control to its owner's hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
  Counter target spell unless its controller pays {1}.
• Empty the Warrens Empty the Warrens Create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens.
  Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn.)
• Expedition Map Expedition Map {2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Search your library for a land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
• Fall from Favor
• Frantic Search
• Gitaxian Probe Gitaxian Probe ({U/P} can be paid with either {U} or 2 life.)
  Look at target player's hand.
  Draw a card.
• Grapeshot Grapeshot Grapeshot deals 1 damage to any target.
  Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)
• Gush
• Invigorate
• Mystic Sanctuary
• Peregrine Drake
• Temporal Fissure
• Treasure Cruise
• High Tide
• Hymn to Tourach
• Sinkhole

We will forever get a chuckle out of the fact that Treasure Cruise was a card that was ever printed, because oh boy, does it do way too much work. We miss it nearly every day though, so we’re just laughing to cover up the pain.

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