What does it take for a new card to succeed in Pauper? The all-commons format was the latest Constructed offering to receive leagues on Magic Online. As such, there is a huge amount of raw data on what has been blitzing through these events at a 5–0, undefeated clip.

Unsurprisingly, there is a ton of blue at the top. This should come as no surprise, as Pauper is a nonrotating format with a small banned list. Ponder and Preordain continue to reign here and help to form the backbone of the most heavily played deck: Delver:

Delver ? Pauper | Woundedpanther, 5?0 Pauper League

• Creatures (20)
• 1 Pestermite
• 4 Cloud of Faeries
• 4 Delver of Secrets
• 4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
• 4 Spellstutter Sprite
• 3 Spire Golem

• Spells (23)
• 1 Deprive
• 1 Mutagenic Growth
• 1 Oona's Grace
• 1 Piracy Charm
• 2 Daze
• 2 Gush
• 2 Snap
• 2 Vapor Snag
• 4 Counterspell
• 3 Ponder
• 4 Preordain

• Lands (17)
• 17 Island

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Annul
• 3 Dispel
• 2 Fade Away
• 2 Force Spike
• 3 Hydroblast
• 4 Stormbound Geist

Buy This Deck

Playing Delver is like playing Blue’s Greatest Hits. You have the original, often-imitated-but-never-duplicated Counterspell and the sweet suite of Ponder and Preordain, sometimes supplemented by Gitaxian Probe and Brainstorm. Spire Golem holds down the fort late with Ninja of the Deep Hours keeping the cards flowing. But that early game, it is the stuff of dreams.

Clearing this hurdle is the first step on the path to seeing play in Pauper.

One deck that has had a history of performing well against Delver is Goblins. A highly redundant deck with access to some fantastic anti-Delver spells, Goblins can deploy multiple threats per turn while holding back Lightning Bolt or Death Spark. Death Spark is perhaps the best card at fighting Delver, as it trades with so many key cards.

Goblins ? Pauper | hitoshi, 5?0 Pauper League

• Creatures (35)
• 1 Mogg Flunkies
• 2 Jackal Familiar
• 4 Goblin Bushwhacker
• 4 Goblin Cohort
• 4 Goblin Matron
• 4 Goblin Sledder
• 4 Mogg Conscripts
• 4 Mogg Raider
• 4 Mogg War Marshal
• 4 Sparksmith

• Spells (8)
• 2 Death Spark
• 2 Fireblast
• 4 Lightning Bolt

• Lands (17)
• 17 Mountain

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Flame Slash
• 2 Gorilla Shaman
• 3 Pyroblast
• 3 Raze
• 4 Sylvok Lifestaff

Buy This Deck

Goblins is getting a brand new toy come Oath of the Gatewatch that may help push the red menace up the rank once again. Allow me to introduce you to Goblin Freerunner.

Now that is a Goblin I can get behind. Let’s get something important out of the way: If your first spell of the turn is countered, you can still cast Freerunner for its surge cost.

Do you see where I am going here?

Goblin Freerunner is quite the anti-Delver card. It can easily come down on turn three without biasing a deck too hard, and it has the advantage of being challenging to stop with a Spellstutter Sprite (remember that its converted mana cost is always 4). Having menace means it will trade with almost any two of Delver’s creatures early. While I would be hesitant to run the full four in a land-light deck, finding space for two or three seems easy.

Of course, we can also build to optimize Freerunner in Goblins. Gut Shot is a common thanks to Modern Masters (2015 Edition), which means this card can come down on the second turn. I’ll blow up your Cloud of Faeries and land a 3/2, thank you very much. The presence of Gut Shot and Goblin Freerunner in the same deck introduces a new element to the first two turns of the Goblins–Delver matchup. Now it becomes a game of asking, “Does my opponent have it?” on both sides of the battlefield. I could see starting here for a version of Goblins with Oath of the Gatewatch.

Goblins ? Pauper | Alex Ullman

• Creatures (34)
• 3 Goblin Freerunner
• 3 Sparksmith
• 4 Foundry Street Denizen
• 4 Goblin Bushwhacker
• 4 Goblin Cohort
• 4 Goblin Sledder
• 4 Mogg Conscripts
• 4 Mogg Raider
• 4 Mogg War Marshal

• Spells (9)
• 2 Death Spark
• 3 Gut Shot
• 4 Lightning Bolt

• Lands (17)
• 17 Mountain

Buy This Deck

How does Goblin Freenrunner stack up against the other big decks in the format? Not too badly.

The current number two is Esper Combo, a deck based on looping Cloud of Faeries and Mnemonic Wall with Ghostly Flicker, Azorius Chancery, or Dimir Aqueduct and on Sage's Row Denizen to generate an unbounded loop that reduces an opposing library to zero.

Esper Combo ? Pauper | 420dragon, 5?0 Pauper League

• Creatures (20)
• 1 Lone Missionary
• 2 Nightscape Familiar
• 2 Sea Gate Oracle
• 3 Mnemonic Wall
• 4 Cloud of Faeries
• 4 Mulldrifter
• 4 Sunscape Familiar

• Spells (18)
• 1 Capsize
• 1 Reaping the Graves
• 1 Repeal
• 3 Ghostly Flicker
• 4 Snap
• 1 Foresee
• 3 Preordain
• 4 Compulsive Research

• Lands (22)
• 2 Plains
• 2 Swamp
• 6 Island
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 3 Dimir Aqueduct
• 4 Azorius Chancery
• 4 Evolving Wilds

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Lone Missionary
• 1 Foresee
• 2 Circle of Protection Blue
• 2 Circle of Protection Green
• 1 Circle of Protection Red
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Doom Blade
• 3 Hoodwink
• 1 Rest for the Weary

Buy This Deck

Goblin Freerunner, again in concert with Gut Shot, helps to apply some serious pressure in this matchup. Access to Sunscape Familiar and Sea Gate Oracle makes it very easy for Esper to absorb early blows. Freenrunner’s menace can exert additional force on a life total while sidestepping early defenses. In what is normally a race in which Goblins is a turn too short, Freerunner may provide that extra bit of oomph.

The other top deck at the moment is a three-colored, midrange, value Jeskai Metalcraft build. Based on Kor Skyfisher and Ichor Wellspring, artifact lands, and Galvanic Blast, Kuldotha Jeskai can gum up the ground while drawing quite a few cards. The mana base blunts assaults by leaning on the Khans of Tarkir gain lands. Eventually, Kor Skyfisher will fly over and soften a life total for Lightning Bolt and Galvanic Blast to do their job.

Kuldotha Jeskai ? Pauper | _ability, 5?0 Pauper League

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Kor Sanctifiers
• 2 Lone Missionary
• 2 Mulldrifter
• 4 Glint Hawk
• 4 Kor Skyfisher

• Spells (24)
• 1 Perilous Research
• 3 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Galvanic Blast
• 2 Firebolt
• 2 Kuldotha Rebirth
• 3 Journey to Nowhere
• 1 Serrated Arrows
• 4 Ichor Wellspring
• 4 Prophetic Prism

• Lands (23)
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 1 Mortuary Mire
• 1 Tranquil Cove
• 2 Azorius Chancery
• 2 Secluded Steppe
• 2 Wind-Scarred Crag
• 3 Forgotten Cave
• 3 Swiftwater Cliffs
• 4 Ancient Den
• 4 Great Furnace

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Lone Missionary
• 1 Serrated Arrows
• 2 Circle of Protection Green
• 2 Circle of Protection Red
• 2 Electrickery
• 2 Gorilla Shaman
• 4 Pyroblast
• 1 Relic of Progenitus

Buy This Deck

Goblins has a tough time against Jeskai, and I am not sure Freerunner does enough to save the matchup. It will come in handy by absorbing some burn spells, but that may not be enough. I have found that a key card out of Goblins to keeping Jeskai off balance is Gorilla Shaman. Shaman does yeoman’s work against Affinity but can help to stall the artifact-reliant Jeskai builds as well. In tandem, these cards may help give Goblins a chance, but it is still an uphill battle.

There are a few other “free” cards available to Pauper. Gitaxian Probe is one, but the format also contains Lotus Petal. The Petal is attractive, as it facilitates a turn-one Freerunner. As Delver of Secrets shows, a 3/2 on turn one is a great way to end games. Red can also cast Manamorphose for a “free” card and has access to the banned-in-Modern Rite of Flame. With all these enables available, it would be downright irresponsible to not attempt the following deck:

All-In Rakdos ? Pauper | Alex Ullman

• Creatures (14)
• 2 Sultai Scavenger
• 4 Gathan Raiders
• 4 Goblin Freerunner
• 4 Gurmag Angler

• Spells (28)
• 2 Snuff Out
• 4 Gut Shot
• 4 Manamorphose
• 2 Molten Rain
• 4 Gitaxian Probe
• 4 Rite of Flame
• 4 Stone Rain
• 4 Lotus Petal

• Lands (18)
• 6 Mountain
• 6 Swamp
• 2 Terramorphic Expanse
• 4 Evolving Wilds

Buy This Deck

This deck has it all: turn-one Freerunner, early Gurmag Anglers, a low land count, and a ton of interaction. Green is another possible color here, as Hooting Mandrills is a fine card, but 4 toughness puts it firmly in range of Flame Slash and Galvanic Blast.

All this, and we haven’t even touched on Goblin Freenrunner’s other creature type: Ally. While this will certainly have applications in Limited—and possibly Standard—Pauper lacks a good Ally deck, and Goblin Freerunner is not going to change that. Instead, the newest threat gives decks besides blue access to a serious beater in the early game. That alone may help Freerunner find success in Pauper and possibly beyond.