Time to talk commons, specifically commons for my Pauper Twobert!
In this post I will be writing about all the cards people may be considering for a pauper cube environment, mostly in the context of my Pauper Twobert. Unlike my main cube, slots in this cube are very tight at only 240 cards. So while my ultimate verdict may be a pass for me, these cards or cards I've opted to not talk about could certainly be good enough for a larger pauper cube.
Candletrap
The Good: One mana "removal" is quite good even if it's soft removal. If you're happy with Pacifism, for one less mana you can do the same thing except it gets to block. If you have to use it on a creature larger than all of yours that's fine, you may not be able to get through right away but eventually you can pay 3 mana to get rid of it permanently.
The Bad: Like all soft removal it can feel really bad to have this in your hand when you need to remove a creature whose problem isn't attacking. It does give you an avenue to use it as straight removal but I'm not sure how reliable Coven will be to have active.
The Verdict: I'm going to test this one, seems like it could be one of the better removals for control even without the coven ability, especially against aggressive decks.
Cathar Commando
The Good: This is exactly the type of maindeckable artifact/enchantment removal I can run at this size. A 3/1 for 2 with Flash is certainly playable and currently my enchantment-based removal is quite powerful as I don't run much hate for it.
The Bad: It's hard to complain about this one honestly, it's pretty pushed for a common but I suppose the 1 toughness kind of hurts.
The Verdict: I will be putting this card in my cube, I expect it to perform very well.
Search Party Captian
The Good: We just got a white Phyrexian Rager in Priest of Ancient Lore last set and here we have another, but this one has the potential to be even less than 3-mana. This is exactly the kind of early creature you want in pauper cube, a near rate body that gives you straight card advantage.
The Bad: The card is quite unimpressive when you have to play it at full cost.
The Verdict: I'll be testing this one, can never have too many Phyrexian Ragers in my opinion.
Consider
The Good: This card is great! In most cases strictly better than Opt and in my cube that's sure to be relevant.
The Bad: Nothing to say here.
The Verdict: I think for my cube I will be straight replacing Opt, I think I like my 1 mana blue cantrip number at 3 and with this, Ponder, and Preordain, they're a very solid 3.
Falcon Abomination
The Good: Man we've come a long way from Wind Drake the last couple of sets. I view this card as a blue Storm Caller as I can't imagine your opponent ever wanting to trade with your zombie. Instead of the third power you get evasion and that's a pretty decent trade.
The Bad: I am no fan of Decayed tokens and if you draw into this while behind on board, I imagine it will be just Wind Drake a lot of the time.
The Verdict: I don't think this card cuts it for my cube, I run Eldrazi Skyspawner and the fact that its token can block or ramp is way higher upside than getting in 2 extra damage sometimes.
Galedrifter
The Good: A 3 power flier for 4 mana that draws you a card is pretty good. Now this draws on death and it always draws you an under rate creature but it's card advantage none the less.
The Bad: A 5-mana 2/2 flier is generally significantly worse than a random card off the top of your library and the front half isn't quite good enough on rate to make that worth it.
The Verdict: I'm going to pass on this one, I currently run 3 blue 4-drops and they're all better than this.
Organ Hoarder
The Good: This card seems great, a decent sized body with selective card advantage that fills your graveyard and can work with blink shenanigans.
The Bad: Would have been nice to have an extra toughness but it's hard to complain about this one.
The Verdict: My biggest problem here is that I want to play this card but I don't know what to cut. Blue is easily crowded with the best of the best at this cube size. At any rate this card is certainly good enough.
Crawl from the Cellar
The Good: A strictly better Morgue Theft? Sign me up! This card is probably the best Raise Dead variant right above Blood Beckoning.
The Bad: Can't complain.
The Verdict: For me this is a slam dunk. In the grindy, attrition-based games my cube tends to produce, the ability to recur your creatures is big value.
Ecstatic Awakener
The Good: What an amazing way to curve out in your black deck. Most of blacks 2-drops lend themselves to being sacrifice fodder and a 4/4 on turn 3 can be quite the beater.
The Bad: I could see this being a bad topdeck if you're behind on board. Certainly this won't work in every black deck.
The Verdict: I'm really excited to test this one. I may be a little high on it because of how much I've been winning with it in MID limited, but I'm pretty sure this one is a banger.
Morkrut Behemoth
The Good: This is just a VERY big creature and it has evasion. It would be the biggest creature bar none in my cube and for just 5 mana. Black will have something around to sacrifice.
The Bad: The card is a Baneslayer and it can feel double bad to have it removed or countered after sacrificing another one of your creatures.
The Verdict: I have some flex slots in black so maybe I find a cut to test this, the card is huge but my environment is quite removal heavy. I wouldn't be surprised if my environment just can't have unprotected Baneslayers at 5+ mana.
Novice Occultist
The Good: I love Dusk Legion Zealot and this card is quite the same. The extra toughness doesn't really do anything for me and the drawing on death instead of ETB just means you get your card a little later.
The Bad: It can feel bad to have this one unsummoned but I don't have much bad to say about this card.
The Verdict: I'll be playing this card. Black 2-drops that replace themselves is the cube's MO.
Ardent Elementalist
The Good: Easier to cast, easier to splash, aggressively stat'd, red Archaeomancer. I love Archaeomancer and I love this card too. Recurring spells is great in the grind and gets real devious with all the blink shenanigans I run.
The Bad: Hard to complain about this one.
The Verdict: I will be playing this card, getting back your removal is gas and the card combos with Settle Beyond Reality which is one of my favorite things to do.
Famished Foragers
The Good: I'm quite high on this card. If your opponent has lost life, at the very least this card will be Keldon Raider. The fact that you can rummage repeatedly and more easily splash this card makes it a shoe in as a replacement in my opinion.
The Bad: The trigger requirement isn't nothing, there will be times when you just cast this as a 4-mana 4/3. But honestly, with the activated ability tacked on, that is not a horrible rate.
The Verdict: I don't run Keldon Raider but I will be running this, it won't be that hard to turn the rummage into a 2-spell turn instead and a 1-mana 4/3 is absolute gas.
Tapping at the Window
The Good: A nice little Impulse for green to find more gas and it has Flashback at a reasonable cost.
The Bad: Green has actually gotten quite a few 1-mana and 2-mana cards like this and this card will be competing directly with them.
The Verdict: Pass for me as I only run 2 of these type of cards in Abundant Harvest and Winding Way. I personally would also play Adventure Awaits before this.
Alright that does it for pauper cards. I'm thinking I may need to change up the format for these pauper posts as there were some cards worth considering that I ended up cutting from the post. The problem was I didn't want to get bogged down with cards I was passing on and could only say 1 or 2 things about since they were essentially just French-Vanilla creatures or very generic effects. Overall I'm very happy with what Midnight Hunt had to offer in terms of commons and the spooky flavor is one of my favorites in Magic. Thank you for reading this far and check back for my MID inclusions for the Tempo Twobert post!
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