The Pauper format ofMagic: The Gatheringis one where only cards of the common rarity are legal. While that sounds like quite the restriction, March Of The Machine features a plethora of cards that are playable in the Pauper format, and supports a multitude of archetypes.
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Many decks are bolstered with additions to the format from March Of The Machine, offering more consistency. Some cards are perfect for the main deck, while others have a home in the sideboard to bring in as a counter to other decks. These Pauper cards from March Of The Machine are the best it has to offer.
10Chomping Kavu
Pauper is a format where there are many strong decks that play creatures that have low power. So, a card that is unblockable by those creatures can start dealing a lot of damage if it hits the battlefield.
Chomping Kavu has backup, which allows it to give its effect to another creature until the end of the turn. It can give it to a creature with high power to ensure you get in for a hefty amount of damage. Chomping Kavu has a solid statline on its own as well, making sure you will be able to hit in for a good amount of combat damage.
9Assimilate Essence
Assimilate Essencecan counter creature and battle spellsunless the opponent pays four mana. While effects like this are rather common, what makes Assimilate Essence unique is that if they do pay that cost, you get an Incubator token with two +1/+1 counters that you can make into a creature later.
Four mana is a big ask to pay, making you likely to counter any creature early on in the game. Most of the time, these types of counterspells that can have their effects negated by paying mana are useless late-game, but Assimlate Essence still gives you a token to let it have some use.
8Nezumi Informant
One of the biggest downsides to discard decks is that you are doing one-for-one trades with your opponent’s cards. They become better when you still get something out of them. This is where Nezumi Informant comes in, as it forces your opponent to discard a card when it enters the battlefield.
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Unlike dedicated discard cards like Duress, Nezumi Informant gives you a body on the battlefield that can attack and block. This advances your board presence while hampering your opponent’s ability to play the game, making Nezumi Informant a solid card for Pauper.
7Moment Of Truth
There are plenty of cards that look at the top three cards of your deck. What Moment Of Truth does differently is send those cards to different areas: one goes into your hand, one goes to the bottom of your library, and one goes into the graveyard.
In Reanimator decks, Moment Of Truth is an excellent choice, as itdigs through your deck for reanimation spellswhile setting up your graveyard with the creatures that want to be there. It also kills a dead draw by putting it to the bottom of the library, offering versatility not offered by similar cards like Impulse.
6Bladed Battle-Fan
Bladed Battle-Fan is a fairly basic card, but one that is a great counter to removal spells. For just two mana, you get anequipment that automatically attaches itself to a creatureto give it +1/+0 and indestructible until the end of the turn.
While the stat boost is rather uneventful, what makes it strong is the fact it automatically attaches to a creature upon entering the battlefield. Since it has flash, you may cast it at instant speed, something that is very strong if the opponent isn’t expecting it to save a creature from losing combat or getting removed.
5Ichor Shade
Artifacts going into a graveyard is one of the most common things that happen in Pauper. As such, Ichor Shade can get a +1/+1 counter almost every turn. It counts Treasure tokens as going to the graveyard when you use them, making it that much easier to trigger.
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Ichor Shade starts as a 2/3, which can rapidly grow in stats to quickly become a problem that needs to be dealt with. Since it only costs three mana as well, Ichor Shade can hit the battlefield early to start impacting the game right away.
4Saiba Cryptomancer
There are a very low amount of Pauper-legal creatures that cost two or less mana that have hexproof, and Saiba Cryptomancer is one. It has backup, allowing you to give this same effect to another creature. Since it has flash as well, you can give any other creature hexproof at instant speed for the turn.
Saiba Cryptomancer is also fantastic in Boggle decks, which are all aboutloading up a creature with Auras. Since these decks are usually prone to losing to removal, Saiba Cryptomancer’s hexproof provides the deck some much-wanted consistency by playing multiple playsets of evasive creatures.
3Angelic Intervention
Angelic Intervention is one of the very few cards that can give not just protection from any color, but from colorless as well. Since planeswalkers don’t appear at the common rarity, you are always going to be using it to protect your creatures, whichwill also give them a +1/+1 counter.
Angelic Intervention is a fantastic sideboard card if you’re up against a deck playing a lot of removal spells, that also has the added bonus of being a battle trick that can catch an opponent off guard. Since it gives full protection, you’re able to even use Angelic Intervention as a way to ensure you get in for damage by preventing your opponent from being able to block a creature.
2Atraxa’s Fall
Two mana artifact and enchantment removal isn’t new to Pauper, but one that can also destroy creatures with flying and battles didn’t exist until March Of The Machine. Atraxa’s Fall is the first one that only costs two mana for this kind of effect.
Cards like Atraxa’s Fall are sideboard staples, as they are very good to bring in against decks running a lot of the cards it destroys. Atraxa’s Fall despite being a sorcery is very cost-efficient which makes it a very strong option for green decks. Withhow prevalent artifact decks are in Pauper, Atraxa’s Fall is an excellent addition to its metagame.
1Meeting Of Minds
Draw spells that can be cast at instant speed are generally among the best ones, especially when they can be cast easily. Meeting Of Minds has convoke, allowing you to use your creatures as a way to pay for it. If you have four creatures on the battlefield (and at least one of them is blue), you can cast Meeting Of Minds without actually paying mana.
In decks such as Faeries that put a lot of creatures onto the battlefield, Meeting Of Minds is a free way to draw two cards during your opponent’s end step. This is what makes it so powerful, since you can wait until you no longer need to keep blockers up to use.
