Arcum’s Astrolabe was banned in Pauper on Monday.
For those familiar with the format, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Recently, both Ephemerate and Acrum’s Astrolabe have been dominating. Both have shown up in over half of the Top 8 and Top 16 decks of Pauper Challenges and real-life tournaments for weeks. Astrolabe took the relatively weak mana of Pauper and made it much stronger, allowing for more aggressive three and four color decks than had previously been possible. Ephemerate followed in the footsteps of Ghostly Flicker as an amazing value flicker card. However, it came online faster than Ghostly Flicker, shortening the amount of time aggressive decks had to get in underneath the value train.
The resulting format featured Tron and Jeskai Ephemerate at the top, with other decks struggling for the scraps. Both could abuse the mana Astrolabe gave, as well as the value Ephemerate generated better than other decks. As a result, Arcum’s Astrolabe was banned.
Astrolabe Banned
With Astrolabe out of the format, manabases are going to simplify. We should see the return of Snow Lands indicating that decks are running Skred as a removal option (or trying to trick opponents into believing that). With worse mana, the three and four color decks of today need to change in order to stay relevant.
Slower games could lead to Tron being better. When it has ample chances to deploy mana and utilize its spells, the deck can dominate games. However, it certainly can’t stretch its mana like it presently does [Editor’s note: I’ll take that bet], so expect the average Tron shell to look more like the Tron of old, before Horizons. Additionally, still expect to see many Kor Skyfishers in the format, as it is still a powerhouse of a 2-drop even without the Astrolabe. However, be prepared to see it in UW or Boros again, as opposed to the Jeskai shells it currently helps define.
