#017 – UeB-3_GTC
Welcome to another episode of “Science of Pauper”! The second set of the RTR block is about to be available. Let us see what it has for Pauper.

White
Aerial Maneuver. There are better pump spells in white at a converted mana cost of two, like Kjeldoran War Cry. Admittedly, Aerial Maneuver also grants flying and first strike, but those abilities are quite frequently represented on white creatures.

Angelic Edict. This is a functional reprint of Iona’s Judgment, which has not seen and will not see play due to its high mana cost and sorcery speed.

Assault Griffin. A white Snapping Drake is simply overcosted in a world of Squadron Hawk and Kor Skyfisher.

Basilica Guards. This creature was designed for very grindy decks. It is a defender that can drain your opponent one point of life for each time you cast a spell (and pay {W/B}). There is not a white-based heavy control deck yet. Together with the uncertainty if the Extort mechanic is playable in Constructed, I would estimate that Bailica Guards will not see play.

Court Street Denizen. This creature has a powerful ability which can basically only be used offensively. For that purpose, its mana cost is too high to fit the curve in a White Weenie deck.

Daring Skyjek. A conditional 3/1 flyer is too fragile with Elektrickery in every red deck and 1/1 critters everywhere.

Dutiful Thrull. An Orzhov Rimebound Dead is not very impressive.

Guildscorn Ward. If Enemy of the Guildpact saw play, this Aura would certainly be playable.

Knight Watch. The value of this card is reasonable for its cost. However, it does not fit in any established archetype. Similar to Basilica Guards, this sorcery could be played in a white-based control deck.

Nav Squad Commandos. A five drop with an aggressive ability is underwhelming.

Shielded Passage. Blessed Breath is strictly better.

Smite. Conditional removal in white is usually worse than a (more expensive) Journey to Nowhere. If you want to have something in the one mana slot, I would suggest Sunlance.

Syndic of Tithes. I could see a Grizzly Bear with Extort being played in combination with Suture Priest in an unprecedented archetype.

Zarichi Tiger. Life gain as an activated ability on a four drop is not going to win you the game.


Blue
Clinging Anemones. A conditionally growing defender for four mana is too slow for a fast format as Pauper.

Cloudfin Raptor. Even though I cannot think of a deck from the top of my head, I do believe that this creature has great potential in an aggressive deck. Basically any creature will at least turn it into a potent blocker for Faeries and other 1/1s.

Frilled Oculus. I like this creature since it is a potent blocker for random Grizzly Bears in the early game and a respectable threat later on. Its pumped toughness of five will normally require three blockers to kill it in combat.

Hands of Binding. This is the best card of the set in my opinion. It shuts down a blocker for good, thereby completely changing the race in your favor. I predict it being devastating in blue tempo decks.

Keymaster Rogue. This creature has its applications in dedicated decks that yet need to be brewed. I could imagine bouncing my Man-o’-War to replay it turn five for another tempo swing. In the end, it will probably be too slow and fragile (only toughness of two).

Last Thoughts. This sorcery grants any creature you control Ninja of the Deep Hours’s triggered ability which really appeals to me. However, the mana cost of four together with it being a sorcery makes it hardly playable.

Leyline Phantom. Within the context of the set, Leyline Phantom is an amazing card that puts your opponent under serious pressure while simultaneously enabling Evolve. However, Pauper is too fast of a format to have five mana every turn to cast a fragile 5/5.

Metropolis Sprite. This card is quite intriguing. First, it is a two mana flying (obviously) Faerie which makes it considerably playable with Spellstutter Sprite. Second, it has an additional point of toughness which makes it resistant to “sweepers” like Electrickery or Green’s sideboard choice Scattershot Archer. Moreover, its Flowstone ability makes it a decent clock. I think this little Faerie may be better on second thought.

Sage’s Row Denizen. I think a successful Mill deck would be creatureless to render removal dead cards. Therefore, I do not believe that another milling creature will be playable.

Scatter Arc. Finally, there is an Exclude analogue for Negate. However, two additional mana for drawing a card makes it rather unlikely to see play.

Skygames. Repeatedly giving any creature flying only at your turn seems underwhelming.

Spell Rupture. This soft counter is barely playable due to its susceptibility to removal in addition to its inherent variability.

Totally Lost. An extended Griptide is too weak and too slow for five mana.

Way of the Thief. The cost of four mana for an Aura already makes me want to read on, despite the effect being decent. I still believe that flying is an evasive enough ability rendering Spectral Flight the card of choice when playing blue Auras.


Black
Balustrade Spy. Another milling creature for which the same applies as for Sage’s Row Denizen.

Basilica Screecher. This creature would fit nicely in an Extort exploiting deck due to its low casting cost and early evasive pressure. I remains to be seen if there will be such a deck.

Contaminated Ground. Some black decks play Evil Presence in the Sideboard against the Cloudpost match up. Contaminated Ground may be a considerable alternative.

Corpse Blockade. This underwhelming defender has additionally basically irrelevant activated ability.

Death’s Approach. This Aura may be considered as an alternative to Dead Weight as the malus should usually be greater than -2/-2. However, in an Infect match up, it may not be sufficient to survive the first couple of turns.

Devour Flesh. Even though this card is a strictly worse Diabolic Edict, this may still see play in multicolored control decks as edicts 5-8. Grindy control decks normally do not care about their opponents’ life totals since they will win once they have the board stabilized.

Grisly Spectacle. This Common Go for the Throat with build-in mill is probably too expensive for a mill of two on average.

Gutter Skulk. A black Grizzly Bear is not playable in Classic Pauper.

Horror of the Dim. Mulldrifter is the five drop of choice when playing blue.

Midnight Recovery. A Raise Dead each turn sounds good to me. However, the initial cost is pretty high and there is no guarantee that your encoded creature will connect reliably.

Shadow Alley Denizen. With MBC being rarely played, this creature may see some play in a Suicide Black deck to give the deck some more punch and reach.

Shadow Slice. I think that Dark Favor would be better with basically the same effect when the creature is unblocked.

Slate Street Ruffian. This creature is basically a functional reprint of Ally Grifters. Despite the ability being decent, it may never trigger rendering creatures like Liliana’s Specter simply better.

Syndicate Enforcer. A four mana 3/2 with Extort seems too fragile and overcosted.


Red
Act of Treason. This card was reprinted several times but has never seen play.

Bomber Corps. The effort for pinging something from a Battalion trigger is too high to be playable.

Ember Beast. A slightly bigger Mogg Flunkies for an additional mana seems bad.

Foundry Street Denizen. The Goblins deck has better one drops than this creature.

Furious Resistance. Is a defensive instant in red playable? You know the answer.

Madcap Skills. Even though the effect is quite good, there is no deck where this Aura fits into.

Massive Raid. There is no red Tokens/swam deck yet (besides Goblins which have access to Goblin War Strike) that could make good use of a Dogpile effect.

Mugging. Two damage are sufficient to kill the majority of the creatures, so the Falter part is rather irrelevant. Furthermore, a burn spell at sorcery speed which only can target creatures is outclassed by many other cards.

Scorchwalker. The Bloodrush buff from this guy is scary. The cost, however, is quite limiting. Moreover, there is no suitable deck yet that can effectively exploit the Bloodrush mechanic.

Skinbrand Goblin. Similar to Scorchwalker, the creature itself is not playable. The Bloodrush bonus is worse than Brute Force except being uncounterable.

Structural Collapse. An edict effect for an artifact and a land which costs six mana is barely playable.

Tin Street Market. Turning a land into a Rummaging Goblin is fun. Having to pay five mana is less fun.

Towering Thunderfist. Expensive red creatures do not have a home in Pauper yet.

Warmind Infantry. A small bonus for attacking with at least three creatures on an unimpressive creature does not help.


Green
Adaptive Snapjaw. Even though this Evolve creature can be grown quite easily due to its low toughness, that feature also makes it vulnerable to removal. Furthermore, the casting cost of five exceeds most Pauper decks.

Burst of Strength. I like growing my creatures with +1/+1 counters. The fact that it untaps the buffed creature may ambush an attacking creature. However, I am skeptical about this pump spell will match up against cards like Gather Courage and Hunger of the Howlpack.

Crocanura. Even though this creature is decently costed for its abilities, yet it needs to find a home in the Pauper world.

Disciple of the Old Ways. A weenie like multicolored deck still lacks sufficient mana fixing. Therefore, I do not think that an aggressive Gruul deck is viable which includes cards like this.

Forced Adaptation. Growing a creature every turn can quickly get out of hands. Combined with a Hexproof creature, the risk of being two-for-one’d is minimized. However, there may not be room for this Enchant creature in the WG Aura deck.

Greenside Watcher. There is no multicolored deck yet that relies on mana fixing from lands only. If that time comes, this creature may see play.

Ivy Lane Denizen. In a vacuum, this creature is probably the best amongst the Denizen cycle. For Pauper however, Ivy Lane Denizen is too expensive.

Predator’s Rapport. This card does not win you the game like any other life gain. Furthermore, this instant can be countered by a removal spell.

Scab-Clan Charger. The Bloodrush pump is reasonable. It may take one or two slots in green decks due to the uncounterability and immense toughness increase.

Slaughterhorn. Similar to Scab-Clan Charger, this card may see some play in green decks for the same reasons.

Spire Tracer. Even though this pseudo-flying Elf is a nice addition for the Green Weenie’s offense, adding Hexproof for one mana to play Silhana Ledgewalker is usually worth it.

Verdant Haven. This is basically a Fertile Ground that gains you two life for an additional generic mana. If you want to ramp, you do not want to wait until turn four to have an effect.

Wildwood Rebirth. This card is strictly worse than Evolution Charm.


Multicolor
Drakewing Krasis. Even though this creature represents a serious clock for your opponent, it is too fragile to be played.

Executioner’s Swing. Conditional removal in black and/or white needs a significant upside to be worth playing. This card does not have it.

Hydroform. Turning a land into a Phantom Monster for a turn sounds like fun but is probably not worth a card.

Kingpin’s Pet. This creature could be considered as the bigger brother of Basilica Screecher.

Martial Glory. There are better pump spells in either white or red.

Mortus Strider. Dimir-based heavy control decks may want to play one or two copies of an immortal blocker.

Paranoid Delusions. This card is significantly worse than Mind Sculpt, especially when considering the creature aspect I have already mentioned twice before. Moreover, I am not sure if black is needed for a mill deck to work.

Primal Visitation. A five mana Aura that only grants +3/+3 (it cannot be expected that you reliably have sufficient mana to cast a creature and Primal Visitation) is not playable.

Psychic Strike. This card is a nice addition to the repertoire of blue black control decks. An unconditional hard-counter without requiring two blue mana makes it easier to cast. It remains to be seen if there is an actual need for it.

Purge the Profane. Mind Rot is already too expensive when Hymn to Tourach and Wrench Mind can be played. Therefore, Purge the Profane will not be an exception.

Ruination Wurm. Even though a 7/6 body is impressive, the casting cost of {4RG} and the lack of abilities makes this creature rather unplayable.

Shambleshark. I can see this creature being played in a Simic tempo build. Its Flash ability allows you to keep up counterspells for potential threats. If they do not play anything you want to counter, you can simply play Shambleshar.

Skyknight Legionnaire. Even though I like this creature, it has not found a home in Pauper yet and reprinting will not change it.

Wojek Halberdiers. This creature really pushes a potential Boros deck by being an extremely aggressive 3/2 body for mere two mana. Its Battalion buff (First strike) makes it difficult to block profitably.

Zhur-Taa Swine. If there will be an aggressive Gruul deck, this creature is an auto-include. Pumping your creature by +5/+4 for only three mana that cannot be countered is really scary for your opponent.

Beckon Apparition. This card has not seen much play outside the Nightsky Mimic deck. Exiling only one card is usually too few.

Bioshift. I can see this card in a deck build around +1/+1 counters. It may function as Mogg Raider, Hunger of the Howlpack, and/or Evolve enabler (by shrinking your Evolve guy for future triggers). That is a lot of potential power for a single mana.

Deathcult Rogue. There are not a lot of Rogues played in Pauper except Silhana Ledgewalker. Thus, this creature is basically a Phantom Warrior. I do not think that there is a need for a three mana unblockable creature when considering all the creatures with flying, shadow, or fear in Common unless the deck exploits Deathcult Rogue’s multicolored nature (e.g. with Helm of the Ghastlord.).

Pit Fight. This is basically an expensive Prey Upon at instant speed. Even though it sounds like an amazing addition for green to get instant removal, I do not see a particular deck wanting to play Pit Fight yet.

Shattering Blow. The primary reason to play Dust to Dust is because of the card advantage rather than the fact of exiling artifacts. There is not a lot of graveyard recursion being played for artifacts.

Armored Transport. To keep things short, this creature is too fragile and too expensive.

Millennial Gargoyle. There are better ways to spend four mana for an metallic Wind Drake.

Prophetic Prism. This mana fixer is played in various versions of Cloudpost and Affinity decks. It is superior to Chromatic Sphere/Chromatic Star when a constant source of mana fixing is needed.

Razortip Whip. If I played an artifact like that, I would prefer Onyx Goblet as an one-time investment rather than continuously spending mana. Obviously, Viridian Longbow is significantly more powerful despite needing creatures to carry it.

Riot Gear. A Holy Strength for two mana sounds too expensive for too little effect.

Skyblinder Staff. Although the buff granted is decent, the high equip cost makes it too slow for an aggressive deck.

Boros Guildgate, Dimir Guildgate, Gruul Guildgate, Orzhov Guildgate, Simic Guildgate. Even though I still think the original Ravnica bounce lands are superior to the Guildgates, I can see the need for the new dual lands.

Conclusion
I think the mechanics of Gatecrash are more viable in Pauper than it was case for Return to Ravnica. I predict that all of them will see some brewing, with Evolve and Bloodrush being the most tried. We will see how the meta shifts with the new set and the new bannings.

That’s it. Stay clean!

High_Gene


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