Last week was an exciting one for Pauper. Gavin Verhey announced the new “Pauper Format Panel”, a group of well-regarded Pauper players that will be helping advise Play Design on changes to the Pauper ban list. This has often been a sore spot for the community as much-needed bannings were delayed. The community members on the PFP are Ryuji Saito, Paige Smith, Emma Partlow, Alexandre Weber, Mirco Ciavatta (Heisen01), and Alex Ullman. I asked a few questions to the members of the Panel, but didn’t hear back from Paige Smith or Ryuji Saito.
For the sake of including their information, Saito is one of the people running PauperMTG.com and their YouTube Channel. You can follow him on Twitter @saito_o3.
Paige Smith first came onto my radar when she won the SCG Pauper Classic in 2018 by playing Elves. She streams on Twitch, writes for CoolStuffInc, and you can follow her on Twitter @TheMaverickGal.
I want to highlight that Pauper will be receiving a ban announcement on Thursday, January 20th. You can bet that a significant portion of this is due to the Pauper Format Panel.
Fresh off of last week’s introduction to the Pauper Format Panel, changes are coming to the format.
— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) January 18, 2022
Tune into Weekly MTG this Thursday for a Pauper B&R announcement. Jan 20th 2:30 PM PST on https://t.co/lk4E5kxyxO.
Now, off to the interview questions!
Tell me a little about yourself.
Emma Partlow (@emmmzyne): Hi! I’m Emma, I’m a writer for TCGplayer, and one half of the BMCast, which is a budget-focused podcast that cares about a variety of Constructed formats, including Pauper.
Alexandre Weber (@webermtg): Hello! My name is Alexandre and I love playing and producing content about MTG and Pauper on Twitch and YouTube.
Heisen01 (@Heisen011): Hi! I’m Mirco Ciavatta from Italy and I’ve been a Pauper Player since like 7 years old. In the last year, I opened a channel on YouTube to share my view of Magic: the Gathering and to introduce people to this incredible format!
Alex Ullman (@nerdtothecore ChannelFireball): My name is Alex Ullman and I’ve been playing Magic for almost 30 years. I grew up in Brooklyn and played in the competitive New York City scene. Hanging out at Neutral Ground I got to meet a lot of “names” that would help guide me in my Magic career. In my real life I hold a Masters of Higher Education with a concentration in Student Affairs and I oversee the student union/campus center for a college in Brooklyn. I live a few blocks from where I went to grade school and have an amazing spouse and son. I’m also a die hard New York Mets fan and since the pandemic have taken up biking into the office.
What got you started with Pauper?
Emma Partlow: I came into Pauper around the Cloud of Faeries ban (back in 2016) and had Modern Bogles at the time. I was curious about Pauper since there was some overlap between Modern and Pauper Bogles since they share a lot of the same cards, which also happen to be at the common rarity.
What blew me away when playing Pauper for the first time was how many different archetypes there were. Also, archetypes that existed in formats such as Modern took a different approach to deckbuilding. A great example is Pauper Tron being in 5-colors, and how you run Fling in your Bogles deck. Using only commons as a deckbuilding requirement creates some interesting results, hence why I’m still hooked today.
Alexandre Weber: It was really about the availability of tournaments for me to play and start in the format.
Heisen01: I started due to one of my friends that asked me to try it. Then I enjoyed a lot of the format and the community that stuck me into this world.
Alex Ullman: I got into Pauper in the fall of 2004 through the player run events on Magic Online. I loved competition but was a college kid on a budget. I got heavily invested into the community, writing forum posts and endlessly brewing decks. A few years later I started writing about the format and eventually got invited to the first Community Cup (which we won!). Since then I’ve been bouncing from website to website, writing about the Pauper and trying to get more people involved and engaged in the format.
What do you enjoy in Pauper? Decks, styles, anything.
Emma Partlow: I generally enjoy “blink matter” archetypes which include Familiars, and anything with Ephemerate. I have a Pauper EDH (Note: Pauper EDH is only commons with any uncommon creature as the command) list with Soulherder at the helm that uses a similar game plan, plus I will never get bored of blinking a Mulldrifter or a Thraben Inspector.
I’m also pretty open-minded when playing decks. I like trying different archetypes to keep a pulse on the format while opening up my format knowledge further. Mono-Blue Delver (pre-Mystic Sanctuary ban) was a lot of fun too, but Mystic Sanctuary needed to go.
Alexandre Weber: I like aggro decks mostly
Heisen01: Generally, I’m a control player, so actually I like decks like Tron and Jeskai Ephemerate. I played those decks before they became mainstream. The first deck that I foiled out was Dimir Teachings!
Alex Ullman: My favorite deck in the format is Tortured Existence – I love all the different decision points involved in the strategy. Historically I have had the most success with blue based aggro-tempo decks, go-tall strategies like Bogles, Heroic, and Kiln Fiend, and black-based midrange piles.
What does it mean to you to be on the Pauper Format Panel?
Emma Partlow: It means a huge deal. It’s humble and exciting to be involved with Paige Smith, Alex Ullman, Ryuji Saito, Mirco Ciavatta, Alexandre Weber, and Gavin Verhey to help cultivate the format. Pauper deserves the utmost attention, and I’m happy to help navigate Pauper and encourage a positive community for those who play it.
Alexandre Weber: It means a lot! It is a dream coming true, really!
Heisen01: The creation of PFP means that Wizard cares about the format, cares about what players think and what the various communities have created. For me it means that now I have the opportunity to craft the future of the format, and I’m really excited for this! It’s a huge goal for a simple player like me! I always tried to be an active part of the community and this means that I did it well!
Alex Ullman: It means so much to me. Pauper has given me so many opportunities and the chance to give back in this way, it just rocks. Pauper has been a passion of mine for nearly 20 years and now I have the chance to help shepherd the format into what we all hope will be a new amazing era.
What do you think of the current state of the format? What are your hopes for Pauper in the next year?
Emma Partlow: It’s clear the format needs a lot of attention (hence the existence of the PFP), my hope is that we can bring confidence back into Pauper as it deserves the attention. Players are frustrated (and rightly so!) that their favorite format is incredibly stagnant, which only makes people not want to play it. I feel Pauper is incredibly stagnant at present which is a shame, given the broad card pool on offer.
My hope for the format in the next year is that it becomes inclusive and a positive space for (new and old) Magic players to jump into. It’s a financially accessible and great format, I would love nothing more to see new faces enjoy it too.
Alexandre Weber: Pauper hasn’t been in the best state in the past months, so I hope the format gets better so we can have a lot of people playing it!
Heisen01: I think that actually there are some problems that everyone can see. We all will try to fix some of these and discuss the future. In my opinion we cannot fix all the issues at one time, but thanks to the power given to the PFP we can, in the medium time, resolve the major part of these problems and transform Pauper in a format with the best experience of all time. That’s my hope.
Alex Ullman: I don’t think it’s any secret that I think the current state of the format is a bit out of whack. Affinity is the most recent example of a strategy that is dominant to the point of pushing diversity and players out of the format. What I hope is that the Pauper Format Panel is able to curate the format in such a way that we can foster a wide array of competitive decks and strategies while not completely changing the landscape. It’s a tough task for sure.
Are there any decks you’d like to see given new cards or options in the near future?
Emma Partlow: I’d like to see more tribal archetypes in the format (outside of Elves and Slivers). Often when you see synergistic tribal decks perform well in a format, it’s usually a sign of a healthy metagame as there are various ways to beat these, which opens up deck creativity and options.
Alexandre Weber: Yeah!! A lot of them, I really love fringe decks and get happy when they see play. I love Aristocrats, Goblins, Zombies and some other decks similar to this.
Heisen01: This is a complex point. Generally I don’t like to think about what cards Wizards can create to push an archetype or another, because I have a competitive view. I like to find the best way to push decks that I like with cards that I have at that moment.
Alex Ullman: It’s not about any one deck getting new options. What I want to see for the format is that, if there’s a style of deck you like playing, you might not find the perfect match in Pauper but there is going to be something that can catch your interest AND it’s good enough to play in the MTGO league.
What philosophy will you be using while monitoring the ban list in Pauper? For example, the “turn 4 rule” in Modern, or other patterns that could be problematic.
Emma Partlow: In the last few years, it’s felt like there has been a card (or few) putting pressure on the Pauper format, to the point where the format can’t adapt to the influx of game-breaking cards. Cards such as Arcum’s Astrolabe and Mystic Sanctuary are recent examples, and it’s because Pauper has such a wide net given it is a commons-only format. You have sets such as Modern Horizons, Commander Legends, and downshifts from Masters sets that can all contribute to the Pauper metagame in a volatile way– and a lot of time, the impact is unintentional. The card pool is absurdly broad and figuring out how every single common in every set will behave is impossible to do.
With that, this is still very new to us (the PFP) so we will begin to think about guidelines and a philosophy to use in the future.
Alexandre Weber: We are still trying to figure out the best ways to monitor the format, to make it healthier!
Heisen01: PFP is new! So I think that first of all we will define some guidelines. We are starting to know each other and to understand what’s the view of the format in each component.
Alex Ullman: As I alluded to before, it’s clear when the format gets out of whack. For the past two years it feels like there has been something exerting too much pressure on Pauper, whether it’s Arcum’s Astrolabe or Mystic Sanctuary or Fall from Favor or Chatterstorm – the hits just kept coming. If there is an overarching philosophy I have, it’s making sure there’s a wide variety of competitive choices available to potential players.
Do you think this model works best specifically for Pauper, or do you see this system spreading to other formats going forward?
Emma Partlow: Yes for Pauper specifically, because it’s a community-driven format. I don’t think you can do this for formats such as Standard, Pioneer, or Modern given they are a huge focus for Wizards of the Coast. Pauper requires that attention as it originated as a community-driven format, so it makes sense to have a panel from the community to help navigate the format in some way. There is a world where Legacy could see similar treatment, but unsure if it’s correct or just frustration from players due to the lack of attention on the format at present.
Alexandre Weber: I could see that working for other similar formats, yeah!
Heisen01: I do think that this system is a good experiment. We have to wait to see if this works well enough and then, as I think, export to other formats like Vintage, Commander etc… But it’s just my idea.
Alex Ullman: To be honest, I don’t want to speculate that this is going to work for Pauper. While I truly believe it will – the Panel is full of amazingly smart and insightful people – the proof will be in our action. If the steps we take help to foster a better format, then yes, it will have worked.
As for spreading to other formats, again I don’t want to speculate. Pauper is different from Legacy, for example, as it has a much shorter history and different issues surrounding the format. If this proves a successful endeavor, I could see these panels expand to certain other formats. But then again, that’s above my pay grade.
I’m really looking forward to what the Pauper Format Panel brings to Pauper. Between the ban list update coming tomorrow, as well as the continued maintenance that the PFP promises, my hopes are higher than ever. I believe this is a strong step in the right direction, and I’m glad Wizards of the Coast has made the decision to try this solution to help Pauper.
There is ovef 40 playable decks that can 5-0 eith ease.
Aggro, combo, control and everuthing in between. Its clear this comminty has no idea what pauper is.
The only 3 possible bans
1-Stonehorn dignitary (this card removes combat from the game, and shifts the format)
2-atog (you could ban fling, just be replaced with battle rage. Or some other thing) atog ban woulds fix affinity.
3-crop rotation (this card makes it to easy for tron to sandbag ld)
Unbans
1-sojourners, once atog is gone. Affinity just playing 4/4’s is fine.
2-mystic sanctuary did nothing wrong. It get hit for fall from favor’s sins.
Mystic Sanctuary was banned before Fall from Favor was printed. It was too hard to disrupt the loop with Tragic Lesson, or the various loops in familiars combo.
Banning Crop Rotation would make Tron less consistent, but Tron would continue to be an easy way to cheat on mana. It’s only a matter of time until something else cause Tron to go over the top. A more conservative option is to ban the Tron lands and unban Expedition Map.
Alexandre Weber now is an international celebrity 🥰🥰