10 of the best!

Friday 27^th July 2012 sees the debut of Modern Pauper at FNM relax.  We wanted to give people every chance to play the cards that they have bought in a relaxed environment and Modern Pauper does just that.

For those that don’t know Pauper is a very popular format from Magic the Gathering online (MTGO) and allows the playing of common cards only.  As it is modern pauper the cards need to have been printed in the modern card format with a black rarity symbol.  So if you have a common card in the modern format of MTG cards you can play it, the only exceptions being those commons on the modern banned list which are – Ponder, Preordain, Vault of Whispers, Seat of the Synod, Tree of Tales, Ancient Den, Rite of Flame and Wild Nacatl. 

Rather than look at the deck list I am going to play at this point I thought it would make a difference to look at the top ten common cards in the modern format to see if this helps give you ideas for a deck to play.  As all these cards are commons they should be easy enough to pick up even if you don’t already have them.

Lightning Bolt – Around since the first ever set of MTG this 3 damage to a creature or player for just one red mana is still the boss of all burn spells.  A cheap way to kill your opponent or get rid of that creature which is going to kill you, lightning bolt is a star in any format you can play it in.

Blightning – This is not a fun card.  Under costed for it’s effects shooting your opponent for 3 and making them ditch 2 cards is not going to make you any friends.

 

Mana Leak – Although no longer with us in M13 this card has been a staple of control decks since it first started to make people unhappy in Stronghold.

Oblivion Ring – O-Ring as it is commonly known has been in both M12 and M13 as an Uncommon.  However, when it was printed in Lorwyn and Shards of Alara it was a mere common which qualifies it for this format.

Hand of Emrakul – Ok there are loads of big creatures which are common in Magic and 9 mana for a 7/7 which doesn’t have trample may seem a little steep.   But, Hand of Emrakul has an alternate casting cost of sacrificing 4 Eldrazi Spawn which means you can do this – Turn 2 play Nest invader or Spawning Breath, Turn 3 play Brood Birthing for 3 more Eldrazi Spawn, sacrifice the four spawn and now I have a  Hand of Emrakul – ouch…

 Terminate – It kills anything for 1 red and 1 black mana and stops it from regenerating, what’s not to love?

Sea Gate Oracle – A 1/3 guy for 3 mana is not the greatest ever but this one allows you to scry 2 and put one of the cards into your hand.  Never forget that the 3 best words in Magic are “Draw a Card” and adding them just makes things better.

 Squadron Hawk – It is rare that standard is dominated by a common card but Caw Blade with dear old Squady and his mates did just that for the best part of a year from M11 until Innistrad came out.  The sight of Squadron hawks wielding swords and even batterskulls was everywhere making what some think was the best deck ever.

 Rancor – usually creature enchantments are bad in constructed play because you give your opponent the chance to “2 for 1” you (they kill your creature with the enchantment on it for the cost of one card out of their hand).  Rancor makes it in on a technicality as it is currently an uncommon in M13 but has been printed in Planechase, Archenemy and Garruk Vs Liliana as a common in the modern card format.

Explore – There are a number of “ramp” spells in green but this is my personal favourite.  If you have a land in your hand you get to play it (it doesn’t come in tapped) and it draws you a card, which we have already established is good.

So there we go, that is mine and Robert’s selection of 10 great commons for modern pauper.  I look forward to being bashed in the face with Squadron Hawks and shot by lightning bolts.  Remember do unto others as they would do unto you, but...do it first!