If you’ve been playing Pauper lately, chances are you might have recently been killed by 40-50 hasty goblins on turn 4. Maybe you were hit for 20+ damage by a makeshift grapeshot? How about milled out with an infinite mana combo? Well, they were all created by the rising YouTuber Caleb Gannon, who is quickly making a name for himself in Pauper’s community. I was able to sit down and have a chat with him about his recent surge in popularity.
I’m Conner, and today I’ll be interviewing Caleb Gannon. Let’s begin!
I’d love to get to know you better, Caleb. How long have you been playing Magic? Did anything in specific bring you to the game?
I’ve been playing Magic since the end of Alara block, so around ten years now. Before that, I played Pokémon and the Lord of the Rings trading card game (I’m not sure if it’s even still around) [Editor’s note: kind of]. Then one day, some of my friends dragged me to a card shop and got me some Magic cards. The artwork is what really sold me on the game, especially the older art style. I have never found another card game that has as strong of a visual appeal as Magic. They really have some talented artists working on the game, and it shows.
How long have you been playing Pauper?
I probably started, like, 7 years ago. I hosted a few tournaments at my MTG club in college. Then I played it every once in a while to relax, but I didn’t really play very consistently until a few months ago when I decided I wanted to make videos on it.
Your subscriber gain per month on YouTube averaged the highest near the end of June when you first released Goblin Storm. Did this surprise you? Did you think your Pauper content would do so well?
I had released two other pauper videos before the Goblin Storm video (both leagues with Tortured Existence) that didn’t do very well initially. I think they got, like, 100 views in the first week, so I assumed people didn’t like the content. Then I heard about the digital and paper pauper unification, so I figured it was a good time to give the format another try. I looked back at my old videos and realized they had somehow accrued a few thousand views when I wasn’t looking! So that kinda motivated me to really give the format a good try. Plus, it was a format that I really enjoyed playing, so I wanted other people to see how much fun it is.
In hindsight, the success makes sense since constructed videos are a more shareable format than draft. When I draft a good deck, there’s not really any hope for it to be replicated, so people can’t try it out for themselves. In constructed formats, people get excited about the ideas behind a cool deck and can build it themselves or tell their friends, so it creates more of a community.
Are there any other notable motivations or influences in your influx of pauper content recently? You only had a couple Pauper videos floating around from a while back, yet newer videos are coming out faster than ever.
I’ve been dealing with some chronic health issues for the past few months (I had mold in my old house, and it is kinda having a field day on my immune system) and haven’t been able to do as much work on my PHD research as before. I work in AI, and debugging/coding is pretty difficult to do when you don’t feel well. So I guess I got a little bored and turned my creativity towards Magic and deck building because it made me feel a bit better to be taking breaks and playing games instead of working all the time (don’t tell my boss).
Did you expect to post as much Pauper content as you have? Has your enthusiasm for the format increased with each video? It seems that way, with your incredible drive and energy in each video!
No, I definitely didn’t think it would be as big of a thing as it is now. I’m very passionate about my work, so when I start out on something, I tend to do way more than I originally expected. I guess this is no exception!
What are your favorite things about Pauper? Is there anything you dislike? Would you make any changes?
I really enjoy the relatively low power level of finishers in the format. In Standard and Modern, it seems like most of the decks end up being, “Well I put the best mythic rares into a pile, and it worked pretty well.” The decks ride on the strength of individual cards like Planeswalkers who provide card advantage, interaction, and a threat towards ultimates which basically win the game. In Pauper, each individual card is not very powerful, so there is a lot more room for creative deckbuilding and gameplay. You won’t be able to just play a 4 mana 6/6 hexproof haste creature and win the game. Instead, you get to do bizarre things like play Whiteout just so you can trade your lands for a card to discard to Tireless Tribe to gain toughness, so you can give it power with Inside Out. Each of these cards looks so bad on their own, but with some creativity, you can make a pretty strong deck.
Your brews, such as Fishelbrand and Zubera Storm, are insane, and I’m dying to ask: What steps do you take when crafting your decks?
I take a very scientific approach. I plan to make a video series explaining this in more detail, but I break down the components of a successful deck into chunks (e.g., card draw, mana, interaction, win condition, protection, etc..). Then I spend a lot of time reading through basically every card in the format, looking for cards that fit in each role and put them into bins. Then I look for overlap between bins, and that’s where the interesting decks come out. For example, in my most recent deck, the delve creatures are the win condition and the card draw (from the combo with Rush of Knowledge) and sometimes mana (with Energy Tap), and the rituals are the mana, storm, and delve enablers. By having one card serve multiple roles, you end up with a much stronger deck overall. For an example of this in nature, you can look up the information storage density of DNA. Each nucleotide can be used to describe multiple overlapping genes, depending on where you start reading from. Because one nucleotide can serve multiple roles, depending on your reference, a fixed nucleotide sequence is able to store a lot more information than you would originally expect.
Which deck that you built have you played and/or enjoyed the most?
Right now, the Fishelbrand deck is the most exciting, but my favorite Pauper deck will probably always be Tortured Existence. It’s so grindy and has all the answers to every situation. I also really enjoy the elemental combo deck. There is something so satisfying about destroying lands and drawing cards.
Do you think any of your decks will have a stance in the metagame in the future?
I think the Fishelbrand deck is actually really good. If Echoing Truth doesn’t end up being enough to stop it, the deck might actually become a real problem. It’s not even tuned, and it can win on turn 2-3 rather consistently. I think once I get the ratio of spells and creatures to card draw down, it’s going to become a real contender in the format.
Being the Pauper Storm Legend right now, storm style decks and decks that go infinite are a big theme in all of your Pauper videos. Will that continue, or do you think players might get a glimpse at your take on something along the lines of control?
I definitely plan to branch out into other archetypes. I’m just really enjoying storm right now, so I haven’t stopped yet.
What I’ve gathered from my time with Caleb is that he is a very intelligent and humble creator who could be on his way to becoming the new face of Pauper. His analysis of Pauper and what makes it different from other formats was brilliant and shows that he sees the format as another way of playing, not necessarily a substitution for others. What you can expect from Caleb are more deck archetype brews with gameplay as well as a video series on how he builds his decks.
You can find Caleb Gannon on
Twitter (@CalebGannonMTG)
YouTube (youtube.com/Caleb_Gannon)
Instagram (@caleb_gannon_official)
Twitch (twitch.tv/CalebGannonMTG)
