Welcome to another episode of “Science of Pauper”! First of all, I have a couple of announcements to make.

1. As you might have noticed, the frequency of the column is not as bi-weekly as I would like it to be. I have some real life commitments that definitively have priority. I hope you, my dear readership, understand that. However, I did, do and will do my very best to publish as regularly as possible.

2. I would like to thank Gabochido from “Pauper’s Cage” for his shout out and to return the favor. It is a young podcast that analyzes the Pauper format in great detail. What I like most about it is the fact that the hosts invite players that have consistently won multiple daily events to talk about their deck.

3. I suppose I was a bit too optimistic about the number of my readers. I hope it is due to the novelty of the column rather than it being bad. Therefore, I will prolong the Deck Challenge by one month, i.e. 31st July 2012. That way, you have more time to come up with an idea and/or spread the word. I would really appreciate the promotion and I thank you in advance.

Coming to this episode, I will again present to you a discussion of key abilities in order to have them all explained at some point. As you know, I keep up as Wizards of the Coast steadily invents new expansions. However, be assured that there will be sufficient non-mechanic-related content in the subsequent episodes. I hope the discussion will help you understand Magic with all its facets a little better. Otherwise, please bear with me until the next episode.

M12

Bloodthirst. This ability was originally introduced in Ravnica block. A creature with Bloodthirst X enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters if an opponent was dealt damage that turn. Usually, it is better to cast creatures in the second (post combat) main phase. Therefore, playing with Bloodthirst encourages even more this sequence since one obvious way to deal damage to an opponent is to attack with creatures. It is noteworthy, that Bloodthirst ignores the source of the damage, so it will also apply when the opponent somehow hurts themselves.

Hexproof. The term „Hexproof“ was formerly known as the unofficial „troll shroud“ referring to Troll Ascetic. It means that the permanent with Hexproof cannot be targeted by spells or abilities your opponent controls. This makes Hexproof a better version of Shroud.

Dies. The term „dies“ was introduced to replace the long expression „when [this permanent] is put into the graveyard from the battlefield“. In my opinion, it makes the text box less crowded and therefore cards easier to understand.

Planeswalker. Planeswalkers are special permanents with activated abilities. Once a turn, you may activate one of those abilities at sorcery speed. Furthermore, there is something like a modified legendary rule for Planeswalkers that say if there are two Planeswalkers of the same subtype (e.g. one Ajani Goldmane and one Ajani Vengeant), they are both put into the graveyard from play. However, there are no common Planeswalkers to worry about.

Scars of Mirrodin

Infect and “poisoned”. Infect reminds me of a combination of Wither and Poisonous. Creatures with Infect deal damage to creatures in form of -1/-1 counters (Wither component) and to players in form of poison counters (Poisonous part). If a player has 10 or more poison counters, they lose the game. This makes Infect creatures extremely effective combatants. When fighting a creature, if they do not kill it, they will permanently shrink it, which makes attacking and blocking quite unprofitable most of the time. When attacking hurting players, they virtually do double the amount of damage. The downside of Infect is that a deck really needs to be dedicated to it. Doing both regular and poison damage is counter-productive. Therefore, it limits your repertoire of creature you can choose from if you decide to go the poison route. Just as a side note, that is why I like Wither better. The most effective way to deal with Infect creatures are creatures with First Strike or removal spells.

Proliferate. Proliferate is a mechanic that lets you chose any number of permanents or players with any type of counter and put another one of those counters on that permanent or player.
For example, you may put another loyalty counter on a Planeswalker, a time counter on a Vanishing creature, or a poison counter to a player. If a permanent has multiple kinds of counters, you may only choose to add one of them. Since Proliferate affects all kinds of counters, it can be used in a variety of decks, such as Graft or Infect. It is noteworthy that this mechanic does not target, so you can add a fade counter on Blastoderm. Moreover, if you want to react to Proliferate, you will not get the information about which permanents/players will get another counter.

Metalcraft. A card with Metalcraft has an alternate effect if you control at least three artifacts. It is important to know that the condition is checked on resolution rather than when the spell or ability is put on the stack. For example, you cast Galvanic Blast while having three Panic Spellbombs as your only artifacts, therefore enabling Metalcraft. When Galvanic Blast is still on the stack, you decide to sacrifice one of your Panic Spellbombs (two left). When Galvanic Blast resolves, it will only deal two damage.

Imprint. Imprint has its root in the original Mirrodin Block. Cards with Imprint always have at least two abilities. The first ability tells you how to Imprint another card. Imprinted cards are exiled and stay exiled when the permanent leaves the battlefield. The second ability somehow refers to the Imprinted card. For example, you may Imprint a Lightning Bolt to Isochron Scepter by exiling it from your hand when the triggered ability resolves. For {2}, {T} you may copy and cast Lightning Bolt. Despite the danger to trade two for one, Imprint cards offer powerful effects. In fact, too powerful for Pauper, since there is no common with this ability.

Equipment. Equipments are artifacts with reusable Aura characteristics. Each equipment have an activated ability (Equip [cost]) to be attached to a creature you control at sorcery speed. The huge advantage of Equipment over Aura is the fact that the artifact stays on the battlefield when the target creature is removed while equipped or the equip ability is countered. On the other hand, artifacts are more fragile and susceptible to removal than enchantments.

Mirrodin Besieged

Battle Cry. Creatures with Battle Cry pump other attacking creatures by +1/+0 when they attack themselves. Since Battle Cry is a triggered ability, you need to prevent the creature with Battle Cry from attacking to avoid the pump effect, which would be the beginning of combat step. Remember it will not boost the Battle Cry creature itself.

Living Weapon. There is only one common with this ability: Living Weapon. In general, only Equipment cards have Living Weapon. Each Equipment with Living weapon has an enters the battlefield ability that let you put a 0/0 black Germ token into play that get the Equipment attached to it. Logically, each Equipment with Living Weapon has toughness boosting effects. Therefore, you do not necessarily need a creature to use your Equipment as it brings one itself. Other than that, they act as regular Equipment that can be equipped to other creatures you control.

New Phyrexia

Phyrexian mana. Phyrexian mana can be paid with either with mana of the respective color or two life. Regardless of how you cast the spell, it does not change the color of it. However, it allows you to play off-color cards for the prize of life. Furthermore, by paying life instead of mana, it accelerates your play which is especially important for aggressive or combo decks.

Colored artifacts. Even though colored artifacts existed for quite some time already, artifacts that required colored mana to be cast were spoiled in the Time Spiral block and introduced in the Alara block. Technically, colored artifacts are not a mechanic as such. Nevertheless, I think it is worth to talk about them since they do have some special features to take into account when building a deck. Even though colored artifacts have a color identity dependent on their mana cost, they are still artifacts. Meaning that they still can be destroyed by Shatter effects. In my opinion, colored artifacts do not have any specific advantage over their colorless conspecifics (except in a dedicated deck that somehow abuses colored permanents). In fact, I believe that their casting cost makes them worse as they are harder to cast.

That’s it. Stay clean!

High_Gene

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