The impulse struck me to think and write a little bit about the exciting new cards from M11 that might make a splash in Pauper. As the spoilers continue I’ll review the new stuff in subsequent posts. Let’s start after the jump!

So far, white doesn’t have a whole lot of new tools. This guy, however, is an exception:

Though I don’t play much with Brainstorm, he does have some exciting synergy there. He also works nicely with Tortured Existence. I’m not sure he will be very valuable if you just want four 1/1 fliers, though. (That is to say, I’m not sure four 1/1 fliers will get you very far.)

Onto blue! Plenty of interesting options here.

I don’t see a whole lot of Man ‘o-War being played in the Classic decklists I’ve browsed, so a harder-to-cast version probably won’t make a dent in that format. However, Pauper Extended is notoriously blink-happy and this card creates excellent synergies with many of the big players in that format. Also, because this card can target the opponent’s creatures, it plays a control role as well, bouncing back the scariest attacker for subsequent countering or just to buy some time. I expect this card to see play in Standard for that reason.

This card will be awesome in limited and it’s a huge improvement over Sage Owl. Also, if you compare its effect to Halimar Depths (which sees substantial play), being able to put unwanted cards at the bottom of your library is very nice. The downside to this card over Halimar Depths is that it ties up your mana. It may fit into a blink-style deck, but otherwise blue has better uses for 1U. Speaking of which…

Boo-yah! I’m glad the new art sufficiently conveys the epic stature of this card. (I had always envisioned Lightning Bolt coming out of the caster’s fingers and striking an opponent in the chest, not coming out of the sky into… a barren crag.)

If Mill could be categorized loosely as a combo deck, then this is a great boon. The presence of this card allows you to progress toward your end game while digging for the very pieces that get you there. It may not be quite enough to make the archetype competitive (yet), but it guarantees you at least one card off the opponent’s library every turn. (It turns Train of Thought into a pretty nasty spell, too.)

I sincerely hope this sees play in some format (probably Standard) because I just love combat tricks, and I love blue instants like Unsummon and Into the Roil a whole heap. This, along with a few of the green removal spells that have been seeing print, give the green/blue archetype some non-aura creature kill options. This isn’t as good as Snakeform (it doesn’t give you a card, remove the creature’s abilities, or trigger the green/blue mimic), but it’s also two mana cheaper. We shall see!

How do you get this man through the defenses? That is the question. You could set up an elaborate combo with some card like Goblin Tunneler, you could employ the services of Blinding Mage… or you could just run Sea Gate Oracle and get it done quicker and easier. As enticing as this card is, the tools aren’t as good in Pauper to take advantage of him. He will be at his best in limited, I’m afraid.

“Why the heck is he previewing this piece of crap?” If PDC ever gets a Two-headed Giant tournament going, spells like this that target “each opponent” become suddenly better. Unless I am mistaken, the effect of this spell would be doubled in a 2HG game.

If you’ve ever won a game with Ravenous Rats, give yourself a pat on the back. Now imagine getting it done in half the time. Or imagine ‘two-for-one’ing against a much scarier monster: one with 2 toughness instead of 1. This creature isn’t as splashable, but it’s superior in pretty much every other way. Can a discard deck make room at the log-jammed 3-drop spot for a Ravenous Rats that could actually go the distance?

Plenty of talk on PDCMagic.com and elsewhere (I saw you, KingRitz!) about how great this and other recent tools are for the BR Husk archetype. The only thing more satisfying than stealing your opponent’s creature and beating him in the face with it is making sure he never gets it back when you’re finished. Smack and sac. That’s the true strength of Act of Treason. Or you could just play it for the sheer joy of creating such a powerful effect with red in Pauper Magic.

At worst, this is a Lava Axe for two less mana - and as we know, five damage for three mana is relatively hard to come by. Or, it gobbles up the opponent’s removal. Or, it takes out a blocker with any leftover damage trampling dome-ward. At best, it gets returned to your hand after it does its thing and lives to strike for another turn. In which case, its natural home is in either red-white or blue-red where it can be returned with the casting of a Kor Skyfisher, Whitemane Lion, Dream Stalker, or Aether Adept. The question is whether the trouble is worth it? Red-white blink has some other great targets - Keldon Marauders, Inner-Flame Acolyte, Goblin Bushwhacker, even Heartlash Cinder!

I noticed Jackal Familiar sees play in Classic Goblins. He is only dependent on other creatures, however, and this goblin is dependent on spells. Of which card type are there more in the Goblins archetype? Maybe if you had a recurring way to ping the opponent before the attack phase (like Prodigal Pyromancer or Cinder Pyromancer)…

First of all, you have to hit four mana. Let’s take the Flame Slash out of this, the four damage to creature for R. That leaves 2R for two damage to player and the privilege of doing both with only one card. Other (recent) precedents in this card’s line are First Volley (1 and 1 for 1R), Lash Out (3 and possible 3 for 1R), and Searing Blaze (1 and 1 or 3 and 3 for RR). I just don’t think this effect is awesome enough to cost four mana in any format where one of those other options is legal. Since Searing Blaze will rotate out of Standard at the same time as Chandra’s Outrage, well… there’s no format without one of those better options.

This isn’t a new card but I want to point it out because it’s a great tool for the aforementioned BR Husk deck, and its presence in Standard alongside Vampire Aristocrat (until October), Bloodthrone Vampire, and tons of Spawn generators makes it relevant in that format, too. Bring out an Ulamog’s Crusher, swing with it, and in response to the opponent trying to kill it, cast Fling and deal the damage anyway! (Plus you got that annihilator on the stack!) This card gets around the problem of how to push the otherwise chumpable damage through a wall of defenders. Should be fun in limited, to boot!

Does this card keep Goblinstorm alive in Extended after the July 14 rotation? I don’t know the deck well enough to comment. Does this card presage some new kind of combo coming out in October’s Scars of Mirrodin? I’d look in my Crystal Ball, but it’s uncommon. One thing is for sure, though: I love reds and oranges against a black backdrop. This art does it for me.

Landfall will be in Standard as long as M11 will, so Cultivate is more than usually relevant. But, as above with Chandra’s Outrage, this card is outclassed by Harrow which costs the same, works at instant-speed, and puts both lands into play, creating a bigger landfall impact. The one upside to Cultivate is that it doesn’t require a land sacrifice, so in a dedicated ramp deck (in Standard) this may be the better choice.

There isn’t really much to say about this guy, except that green aggro players need a playset. Vines of Vastwood makes this guy a 7/6 shroud trampler. Giant Growth makes him a 6/5 trampler. And that’s just the beginning.

I like the five toughness on this guy. I love the flavor. I love the idea of green control. All that being said, he’s not really competitive in the larger cardpools. I wonder if Scars of Mirrodin will bring us anything close to Viridian Longbow again…

Awesome sideboard card. Why play spiders when you have this? This is green’s Doom Blade, and it rules. From a color pie standpoint I don’t agree with it (why not reprint Deadly Recluse? far more in-color and flavorful), but since it exists I am going to use the heck out of it.

I am intrigued by this card. It’s a combo piece. It just needs to find a combo. Graft? The +1/+1 guys from Lorwyn-Morningtide? Silhana Ledgewalker?

Another card that speaks for itself. This, so recently after Totem Armor, is going to see a LOT of play. Whether a truly competitive build comes out of it, we’ll see. It definitely gets a spot in Extended’s Bogle Pants (though we lose Ledgewalker on July 14), and in Classic there are even more cool enchantment targets like the phantom creatures to throw in a deck with this guy. Stompy, on the other hand, won’t really use this guy because three mana for one toughness won’t cut it.

Now, a card like this makes you wonder why they invented Borderland Ranger for the previous core set, M10. Borderland suggested that they wanted to weaken Civic Wayfinder by taking away his tribal synergy. But in M11 they reversed expectations, returning the Elf subtype to this card and making it a turn faster. In Standard we lose Elvish Visionary (in October) but this card is a perfect hybrid of the Visionary and Borderland Ranger. I like it.

This is an extremely relevant and worthy wall for the Defenders.dek archetype. It makes Overgrown Battlement twice as good. Those two together bring Vent Sentinel online sooner. If you have interest in playing Walls, you like to see this kind of card.

That’s it so far! I’ll be back soon with another batch! Hopefully there’s at least one knockout red card, and we’re all waiting for white to show up to the party!