Pauper on the Horizon

Reprints

One of the selling points for Modern Horizons was bringing older cards into the Modern era. Obviously, this doesn't matter too much unless they also downshift those cards. We do get some bonus from this, as some cards don't fit their common moniker when it comes to pricing. The increased availability of these cards makes now a great time to pick them up!

, , , , , , , , , , and the full art Snow Covered Basic lands are my personal picks for these reprints, so get 'em while the getting is good!

Downshifted Cards

You'd normally find the odd downshifted card that can make an impact like and [Auger of Bolas] in Masters sets, but Horizons appears to have not made any significant downshifts, but as the expansion also adds a lot of new commons, this doesn't reflect poorly on the set for Pauper players.

The New Cards

I was floored when I started looking through the full spoiler. I could never fit all the cards that looked interesting in one article and I don't want to write that excessively long article that you won't finish, so I'm only gonna talk about my absolute favorites here. This all being said, please offer your feedback in the comments as to what new commons you think might make their way into our little (but quickly growing) corner of Magic.

Answered Prayers

I wonder if can live up to its name? I have a long standing love affair with life gain decks, dating back to the and combo and the old school Soul Sisters decks in Standard and Modern. Therefore, I'm slightly biased on this one as I think it can find a home, though that home will likely NOT be the [Slippery Boggle] or decks. I feel this might help Boros Monarch strategies or a White Weenie build.

Ephemerate

has some game, potentially helping the decks running around. The addition of Rebound to the card means you can get some extra flicker value out of it. Flickering on an opponent's turn to blow out their removal and then rebounding at the start of your turn for additional value is pretty amazing with cards like and [Auger of Bolas].

Martyr's Soul

When I first looked at the set, totally went over my head. A 3/2 for 3 isn't that impressive after all. Later, I took a look at that Convoke and thought, "okay, so to play this on turn three, you'd need a one drop and either two more one drops or a token generator for a 5/4." Okay, that's usually faster than a speeding , but I can't help but feel it's a fragile combo. But when it works, it's likely going to crush the competition.

Settle Beyond Reality

Gavin Verhey from Wizards – take a bow. I'm still only looking at white cards and believe I've found another great card. So, we can get rid of opponent's biggest threat, flicker our best card – or both. I can see this being a staple card in Azorius control shells.

Chillerpillar

Gulp! Fliers in Pauper don't tend to be this large and usually are around three power and toughness. is a big investment and will require a snow mana base, but once Monstrous, it's a house as a 5/5 flying. This card could just be seducing me into thinking it's the next big thing though, as , and [Watcher in the Mists] have done in the last year.

Faerie Seer

Oh my! , and all see play in the format and feels like a slam dunk include in blue tempo decks. My reasoning is simple. You get to Scry 1, guaranteeing a Delver flip if you need it, while also getting an extra flying creature that synergizes with the Pauper all-star . With and both playable as well, could the scourge of Faeries become a force in Pauper.

Defile

Black has so much removal in the format with and . But, is definitely going to challenge those kings for their throne. It scales exceptionally into the late game and people are going to want that in their mono-black or heavily black control decks

Mob

Premium removal is quite common in Pauper. However, the affordability is another matter. 4B would usually be prohibitive but adding the Convoke mechanic changes the equation. The card reminds me of , but it's a little harder to set up. In exchange, it does a at common - sometimes. We'll have to wait and see if black decks can keep their board around long enough to make this worth running.

Umezawa's Charm

The name alone evokes something powerful and while this may not be an actual in Pauper, it's still quite intriguing. Charm's are inherently flexible spells and all three effects on this card are useable, meaning this card has a decent chance at seeing play.

Bogardan Dragonheart

A lovely card that will demand removal or it can take over the game. Token generation to feed the is vast in pauper and the sheer power of the dragon being 4/4 with flying is immense in the format.

Magmatic Sinkhole

Move over , and frankly, move over Black decks, Red is making a play at being the best removal color in Pauper with this one mana instant speed premium removal spell. Sure, you'll need to Delve some cards away to get that rate, but that's easily worth the five damage it deals at Instant speed. This card will see play – no questions asked.

Mother Bear

I find to be the standout green card for Pauper. The color as a whole is somewhat weak in this set, but this is an early game with some added value in the late game. It seems decent.

Fountain of Ichor

I love . It will help Tron decks splash for their additional colors while providing mana fixing at a reasonable cost. However, the ability to become a 3/3 Dinosaur in a deck brimming with mana feels like a great way to use up surplus mana.

Brewing with Modern Horizons

So, I thought I would round off the article with a deck list. I'm not saying this is for sure going to the next Tier 1 Pauper deck, but it'll use a bunch of the new cards in order to more fully explore their playability in Pauper. I am aiming to maximize the number of new cards I use, so you'll also see a few fringe cards that didn't feature in the main body of the article. But such is the depth of Modern Horizons, with tons of new Pauper standouts.

One of the cards that most interested me when looking through the spoiler was . As such, I'm looking at a base blue deck concentrating mainly on the Faeries of Pauper. I next need to decide what color to pair it with! I've decided against green and red, as they don't synergize all that well. This leaves me with a choice between Dimir, Azorius or Esper. I ended up settling on Azorius, as it lets me try and utilize some of the new flicker spells for value.

W/U Faeries by Mark P

I'm utilising Snow-Covered Basic lands, which are searchable with . This allows us to use as "removal" and Chillerpillar late game as a finisher.

I'm using the full on Ephemerate and Settle Beyond Reality recursion options from the Faeries using come into play effects. I've added another non faerie in Mulldrifter for additional card draw.

I've gone creature heavy in this build when traditional blue builds usually run and a cantrip package to easily flip it. This is deliberate as I want to explore the viability of some of these new creatures in a vacuum.

I didn't explore a Dimir variant here, but the new Ninja's seem sweet and I'm excited to try a Dimir Ninja deck enabled by the cheap flying Faeries. Martyr's Soul looks like a strong card, but no white creatures make it difficult to enables. As such, I'll have to find another home for it.

I've intentionally left the sideboard empty for now until I see how it plays and where I can add some solid options to improve my matchups.

Conclusion

I have to say this was one of my favorite articles to write as there are so many interesting cards coming into the format. In addition to individual cards that may just improve a current deck, there are some interesting tribal options coming out of the new set. I feel a desire to brew and sleeve up new cards in new decks to see if this is a new avenue for deckbuilding in the format.

Do you have any cards that you think will perform well in Pauper from Modern Horizons? Let me know in the comments!

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily Cardmarket.

---

Check out our Modern Horizons page if you're interested in picking these up before everyone else catches on!