Pauper, also known as legacy lite, is an eternal all commons format. This means that aside from a small banlist you can use any card that has been printed at the common level. Other than that pauper is like any other constructed format, a 60 card minimum for the main deck and a 15 card maximum for the sideboard and you can use up to 4 of any one card except for basic lands.
Paupers Pluses
Pauper is an eternal format meaning unlike standard cards never rotate out and you can dig through the vast amount of common cards from throughout Magics history. This means that there is incredible power to be found in cards such as Delver of Secrets, Ponder, and Lightning Bolt. Being made up of all commons also means that the price to play is relatively cheap compared to formats such as Modern and Legacy. You can purchase a tear one deck for about $50* to $130* in paper and 30* to 90* tix online. Returning players will also enjoy the fact that they can port their favorite deck from other formats to pauper while keeping a similar playing experience. Decks such as
Delver,Burn,Elves,Goblins,Affinity, even
Tron exsist in pauper.
The Meta
The pauper meta never gets too stale. With each new set the meta shifts with new decks emerging and other existing decks shifting to fit in. With the top decks only making up about half of the format there is plenty of room for rogue decks to weasel their way to victory.
An Introduction into Pauper by the Professor
Disclaimer: The first video is somewhat outdated and therefor does not capture all aspects of the Pauper format or might have outdated information.
All rights and credit for the two above video belong to Tolarian Community College.
*Prices in the USA as of December 2018
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