It's been a little more than a few weeks now since the last Pauper review came about and it's already time for the next one! Phyrexia: All Will Be One launches this week with the cards becoming legal alongside the weekend's prerelease. That means there's a whole host of new cards to talk about for Magic's premiere commons-only format! There's no shortage of cards to discuss this time around, so let's get right to it!

Before I dive too deeply into the set as a whole, though, I want to cover two aspects in a more broad sense all at once: toxic and corrupted. While both of these mechanics do feature a handful of interesting options, I think that the majority of them will ultimately have the same outcome. That being largely a matter of "these seem interesting, but likely won't see play unless the right deck comes around." There're a few exceptions, which I'll touch on, but to save you, the reader, your sanity by not reading the same line over and over across 20-30 cards, I'm going to talk about them mainly in groups here and now.

Toxic

The problem with creatures featuring the new toxic mechanic is, well, they largely don't do all that much. Most of them have relatively weak stats and aren't that exciting other than provide new methods to hand out poison counters. The reason infect is so good (at least in theory) is that you can have just one or two creatures and pump them up enough to give your opponents the poison counters needed to win the game. Because of this, you can rely on only a small handful of creatures and focus the rest of your deck on support. With toxic, however, the amount of poison counters that can be dished out is much smaller and can't scale up, thus requiring a higher number of relevant creatures, and frankly they just aren't here.

I do think there are a handful of creatures that can be good, however. Basilica Shepherd provides a nice flicker target to generate a swarm of tokens to take out an opponent and Charge of the Mites can be used in a more spell-focused package as a finisher. Similarly Crawling Chorus playing a Doomed Traveler role and making extra mites on death is a solid rate. Blightbelly Rat has good stats with a relevant death trigger. Branchblight Stalker has decent stats, but it's very fragile. Plague Nurse can stack toxic abilities, but it's at an expensive rate. Tyrranax Atrocity can be really good if you can give it trample, as only one trample point of damage will still net three damage. Lastly, Dune Mover has respectable stats on a toxic creature and can also get you a land if you really need one.

The problem I see here is that none - or maybe few - of these want to really be in a deck together. They don't really mesh well and if you fill a deck up with them, the overall stats are going to be too weak to form a cohesive deck in the world of Pauper. If we get more toxic coming up in March of the Machine and/or other future sets (depending on the result of that set's story) then maybe we can see these be relevant in the future. As is, for the most part, I think they're largely going to get sidelined, barring a few possibilities like Basilica Shepherd as an alternative to Soul of Migration for flicker strategies. They may have their uses, but it's unlikely and they'll be largely narrower than anything.

Corrupted

Corrupted is in a similar boat. There are a number of cards here that do interesting things, but the problem is that they necessitate you dishing out poison counters as well. Incisor Glider isn't a bad rate, but its ability doesn't feel like it's going to work well with poison a lot of the time. Same goes for Zealot's Conviction. This is both because the pushing life-loss feels counterintuitive to a poison strategy and most good infect cards aren't in White, making it even harder to get poison online. Fleshless Gladiator falls into a similar space. Getting a creature back repeatedly is great, but it's pricey and conflicts with the poison element. As a result, these feel like they're made more for the sake of Limited than they are Constructed.

Still, there's a couple cards that could make the cut. I think with the help of a certain spell or two (namely Prologue to Phyresis) there's talk of having a sort of poison-proliferate control deck popping up. This could make Bring the Ending a little bit of a solid counter option, as it can counter stuff early just fine and turns into an easier to cast Counterspell once the game goes on. Anoint with Affliction takes a lot of small fry creatures also and can deal with bigger ones with enough poison. I do think there's probably better options overall in both countermagic and removal, but hey, they exist. Lastly, Phyrexian Atlas provides a good mana rock for the control decks, providing extra mana, while taking out life totals slowly if you can't quite get there on the poison plan like you'd hoped. It's an interesting reverse Pristine Talisman in that sense that only works in these poison control sorts of strategies.

Leonin Lightbringer

This card's stats are pretty underwhelming on the whole, but having ward makes it a little easier to justify putting down onto the battlefield. If you can get this to stick around and use it in a deck with some cheap equipment, this can be a real house. With a Bonesplitter, this turns into a 6/3 or a 5/3 with Bone Saw. You can even just use something like a Cliffhaven Kitesail, Cobbled Wings, or similar and it becomes a 4/3 flier. All not bad rates at all, but the problem is it's a decent amount of setup for a payoff that realistically might not get you there. The "equipment matters" theme deck has always been on the edge of getting enough tools to work, though, and this is another excellent option to have in your arsenal if you want to brew it.

Mandible Justiciar

Um, can you say Affinity? This thing triggers off any artifact entering your side of the battlefield. That's not when you cast an artifact spell, but whenever an artifact comes into play. Put an artifact land down? That's a pump. Put down a Blood Fountain? That's two pumps. Play a Chromatic Star and then Deadly Dispute? That's another pair of pumps right there. With most Affinity lists being more of the Grixis variety, it's likely this won't find a home in current lists, but we may see new variations of the archetype appear.

As an aside, this card is a good example of why the option of banning a specific set of Modern Horizons 2 bridges - as many people want to see - isn't as good of an option as it may initially seem. The reality is that there're enough other cards in various colors that you'd just move onto the next best Affinity strategy that utilizes the remaining bridges. This could lead to a new take on the old Temur builds or else Jeskai lists using cards like Auriok Sunchaser. This kind of card would slot well into the latter, so you'd just be looking at another flavor of Affinity decks popping up and wreaking havoc once more. This is why if a ban does ever happen, it will likely be an all or nothing sort of approach, as discussed in previous Pauper Format Panel announcements.

Orthodoxy Enforcer

I mostly mention this because I feel like players will point out the synergy with artifacts, which are so rampant in the format right now. Yes, that does mean this makes it easy to turn this into a solid 4/4 beater that can also block, but four mana to get there is a tall ask given the current speed of the format. Especially with the current nature of artifact aggro strategies, this one feels like a pretty easy pass for me.

Planar Disruption

Pacifism has never been too great, but this is like Pacifism on steroids. Not only does it stop attacking and blocking, but it also stops activated abilities. It even shuts down artifacts, meaning you can use it to stop something like an Energy Refractor dead in its tracks. There are some limits to this, though. Notably you can't enchant an enchantment, so that makes it hard to stop something like Makeshift Munitions. It can shut off or force the hand of cards like Krark-Clan Shaman and Skirk Prospector, though, and for two mana that's not a bad exchange. My gut wants to lean on this not being very often played outside of perhaps the occasional sideboard, but this card definitely has some solid potential. This is far and away the best Arrest we've ever seen, and probably will see for a very long time.

Vanish into Eternity

Evaluating this card is weird, at least in the context of Pauper. The reason is there aren't a ton of nonland, noncreature permanents you really want to be spending three mana to exile. I can mostly think of Makeshift Munitions, Energy Refractor, and Network Terminal. There are other options, sure, but these are the ones that generally strike me as the most impactful. On the creature side, it's so expensive that you'll only realistically be looking to use it in something like Tron. This is the kind of card that's going to be much more of a house in formats like Pioneer, Modern, and Commander where there's a much bigger pool of nonland, noncreature permanents worth hitting. In the land of commons, though, I think this one's best as a rare sideboard option or Tron one-of and not much else.

Chrome Prowler

Frost Lynx that doesn't keep the creature tapped through the next untap step isn't that exciting. However, the fact that it has flash, is a 3/2, and is an artifact for artifact synergies means it can be good at getting some serious damage through in artifact aggro decks. Right now, though, I think those decks are cornered by Affinity which has enough power going on that it probably doesn't want this. I do think there's a possible future where it gets there, though, so I'll be curious to see if anything happens with it over time.

Escaped Experiment

This being an artifact creature with decent stats that can power down opposing creatures is extremely good. That said, it's once again vying for space in the artifact aggro strategy which is once more almost exclusively taken up by Affinity, making this a cool option destined for the sidelines.

Experimental Augury

Anticipate isn't that great of a card in Pauper. We have access to Impulse, so why play an inferior version when you could just play the original? Adding proliferate onto Anticipate, though? Now we're talking. If posion-proliferate control decks become a thing, as players have been discussing as a possible option, this will be a lynchpin in that archetype. The uses for this kind of card are certainly narrow in that you must be in a deck with lots of counters to make it work, but if you can make good use of it, then this becomes an absolute must-play.

Eye of Malcator

Unlike Orthodoxy Enforcer, this is a card I can definitely see making the cut in Affinity-type strategies. This sets up your draws on ETB thanks to scry and because the deck is overflowing with artifacts, triggering the 4/4 ability is easy as can be. What's more, it's actually a lot easier to trigger the ability on opponents' turns as well thanks to the likes of Deadly Dispute, making it very easy to set up a solid gotcha moment. Given the mana cost and the fact that it's not always a 4/4, I doubt you'll see this as anything more than a 2-of, but the potential definitely feels like it's there with this one.

Gitaxian Raptor

If proliferate decks become good enough they can churn out several counter bumps a turn, then this can potentially get in for a solid 3-4 damage a turn. In every situation outside of that very narrow and almost wishful thinking scenario, though, this card is really not great in the slightest. Pretty easy pass, but worth acknowledging in the off-chance it ends up having possibility down the line.

Glistener Seer

This is another card that lives or dies by the number of counters you can put on it. It sets up your draws well, but only for a short while unless you have ways of proliferating. It benefits from costing less than Sigiled Starfish, allowing you to block small aggressive creatures earlier, but is it worth it? My gut says no, but it may have its uses one day.

Ichor Synthesizer

This is one I really like. It's extremely easy to get four counters on this with a spell-heavy deck. What's more is that even without the four counters, it can still get in small points of damage and also block well. That's a pretty great package overall, making this an obvious standout option that might just make the cut, but at the same time doesn't necessarily have an immediate home to go into. Keep an eye on this one.

Malcator's Watcher

This is yet another option that looks like it could fit well into Affinity-style strategies, but probably is too weak to make the cut. Drawing a card when it dies makes this good sacrifice fodder and flying makes it a good attacker for early chip damage. What's more is that thanks to vigilance, it can attack and then block for a card draw. You can even block to soak up damage and then before damage, sacrifice this to a Deadly Dispute or Reckoner's Bargain for extra value. The potential is there for this one in the synergy and value department, but how often are you going to want that over the existing options and beating your opponents' faces in with cheap/free Myr Enforcers and Frogmites?

Meldweb Curator

I mention this because someone will probably note it as a neat option, but honestly, you should just play Archaeomancer and Mnemonic Wall. Yes, this is a bit beefier for a comparable cost, but there's a very real difference between getting a card back to your hand and to the top of your deck in the decks that want this effect.

Mesmerizing Dose

These creature tap effects haven't been making the cut despite being more and more aggressively costed as the years have gone on. If you can make a deck that uses the proliferate effect, though, then it gets a bit better. If poison-proliferate control takes off, this is a great way to remove creatures while furthering your ultimate win-con simultaneously, and that can make this a somewhat reasonable option but probably only for that kind of deck.

Prologue to Phyresis, Infectious Inquiry, and Vraska's Fall

I've talked about Prologue to Phyresis a bit here and there, so at this point I think you know where I stand on it. It's great and one of the standout players in this set. Up until now, we've never really had a card that just outright gives a poison counter to an opponent. It's especially great because it's a cantrip as well, making it a pretty simple and elegant option. Similarly, Vraska's Fall provides an easy way to give poison counters while also acting as removal. It being an edict is a little underwhelming, but hey, removal is removal, and it furthers what you're doing. Lastly, Infectious Inquiry also gives the counters of perfection and you get to draw some cards in the process. If poison-proliferate control becomes a thing, these three cards will absolutely form the backbone of it and be the cards players rely on the most to get the core game plan rolling. Expect to see these played with quite a bit as players experiment in the coming weeks.

Vivisurgeon's Insight

Draw threes are always worth a look, and this one having the added proliferate keyword is a nice bonus. Sorcery speed is what really hurts this one, though, and I don't see it really making the cut outside of maybe a rare one-of.

Annihilating Glare

Bone Splinters has long been a bad card. Bone Shards made it a little better by being able to discard a card instead. This one falls into a similar category, but it lets you sacrifice artifacts instead. That makes this far better than the others since, as you likely are aware, there's no shortage of artifacts running around that you actually want to sacrifice. You want to get rid of Chromatic Stars, Ichor Wellsprings, and Experimental Synthesizers, making this a no-brainer removal spell in many decks. You likely don't want to run too many copies of it, and I doubt you'll see many decks running the full playset, but this is an easy 2-of if ever I saw one for a variety of artifact decks.

Cutthroat Centurion

Sacrificing artifacts for pumps? That's pretty good, especially alongside Gixian Infiltrator. Unlike Atog, though, this sacrifice effect can only happen once per turn, meaning you can't go all-in and make things extra nutty. Once per turn might be plenty, though, when there's plenty you're more than happy to lose. As such, I'll be very curious to see if this makes the cut in small numbers, but I think it might once more be a card that looks like a solid fit for artifact aggro strategies and just doesn't make it given the quality of existing options.

Whisper of the Dross

Even just a -1/-1 for one mana can be enough to take out some critical problematic creatures at an important moment. The proliferate just makes it even better, and possibly worth it for that side of the card alone at one mana. This one looks pretty innocuous, but I think may become a pretty decent player in Black decks that make use of a lot of counters.

Barbed Batterfist

This card is interesting in that it got a lot of attention and hype when it was leaked as a result of a blurry image making it seem like it gave the creature +1/+1. A two-mana 3/3 that leaves an equipment behind if the creature dies? What a bargain!

The reality is that with the buff actually being +1/-1, it's a lot less exciting. However, it still has a bevy of great play patterns that make it an excellent tool. It's great for bouncing with the help of Kor Skyfisher and Glint Hawk, makes for good sacrificial fodder to Deadly Dispute, Kuldotha Rebirth, and Krark-Clan Shaman, and can even just be re-equipped if your creature dies. You can even just re-equip it onto a more suitable threat and still be left with a 2/2 as well. There's a lot of great possibilities that make this card still look like a pretty solid powerhouse in the format, even if it's quite different from how people initially read it.

Bladegraft Aspirant

Remember what I was saying earlier about equipment decks being really close to having enough tools to be playable? Well, here's another monstrously good card for that kind of deck. This basically turns your Bonesplitters into a zero cost spell with zero equip cost if it goes onto this, making this an easy 4/3 with evasion. That's absolutely nothing to sneeze at. I still think we're not quite at the density of quality cards for this archetype to truly break out, but I'll be damned if this doesn't bring us really close. By now, I think the biggest hurdle is needing just a few more higher power equipment to really get the deck there. This card, though? This one rules.

Blazing Crescendo

This one got a ton of hype for being good in Burn lists, which are currently represented in the form of Kuldotha Red lists. This isn't just a good pump for some unblocked creature on its own, it also triggers prowess effects as well. It provides additional card advantage in a deck utilizing the card draw of cards like Experimental Synthesizer and Reckless Impulse. This also works as an option for Heroic decks, Blitz decks, and so on. It's a basic but extremely versatile card for the right kind of deck, and I think right now it's got a perfect home waiting for it in Kuldotha Red. It'll be very interesting to see how many copies show up in the near future.

Chimney Rabble

We've seen Ephemerate lists pop up making use of Red cards, and this is one of the few times I could see a card like this making the cut. Hill Giants are often unremarkable, but the fact that this one makes a token helps separate it from the pack. What's more, haste allows you to flicker it on your turn off of a rebound and then immediately swing in, making it easier than a lot of creatures to get quick value out of the package. A very aggressive beater that makes it easy to attack, block, and fill your board is a great card in my book. I'll be very interested to see if this one actually ends up going anywhere.

Free from Flesh

Cheap pump combat tricks really aren't that great, so this card lives and dies by its ability to make use of the oil counters. As of this set, I don't think there's anything that's going to make this worthwhile, but should oil counters come back in heavy amounts in the future, this is a card you should definitely keep in your back pocket.

Hazardous Blast

It's been a long time since we saw Wrap in Flames played, but this is more akin to a full on board wipe. What's more, any creatures that stick around can't block, making it extremely easier to get in for your alpha strike. This being four mana and sorcery speed, though, I think I'd much rather just have a cheaper board wipe I can use at any time, but I like where this one's at.

Hexgold Slash

Oh look, it's the obligatory "deal two damage to a creature but not a player for one mana" spell of the set. This is not good, but might have a weird outside shot if Toxic makes a big showing down the line. Generally speaking, you have far better removal options at your disposal, so just play them instead.

Sawblade Scamp

This is a Raging Goblin that can easily turn into a once-per-turn pinger once your opponents get creatures on the board by casting bolts here and there. This seems like a reasonable, if somewhat boring, option for Burn strategies. If Goblin Fireslinger could see play in the past, though, then there's always a shot for this one.

Shrapnel Slinger

There're enough artifacts going around that this might be a reasonable sideboard option for some decks. Kuldotha Red and various Boros builds get enough tokens going around that playing this, ditching a small 1/1, and blowing up a Myr Enforcer or a land seems like a pretty good tradeoff. The play here is narrow, but when it's good, it can be very good.

Adaptive Sporesinger

I'm largely unenthused by this card. It's slow and clunky, but there's enough happening that I think it at least warrants a look. As a 2/2 with vigilance, that's respectable, and the one time effects are fine too, I just don't think there's really a deck out there that's going to want to take advantage of either one.

Carnivorous Canopy

This is another sweet riff on the Naturalize + Plummet spell. Even with the number of things going on here, though, three mana is a pretty tall ask for a sideboard card. Unless you're all in on something like a Travel Preparations deck or something, I'm going to suggest you pass on this one.

Contagious Vorrac

A 3/3 for three mana is a pretty solid rate, but this gets even better because you can find a land or proliferate. Unlike some spells, which force you to reveal cards off the top of your library and take a card if it's there, this one doesn't make you reveal. As such, you can essentially fail to find and thus choose whether you want the land or if you want to proliferate. That makes this card an overall rock solid package and makes for quite a beefy creature. Keep an eye on this one.

Copper Longlegs

There're enough fliers going around that I like the fact that this can both deter them and then pump your board if you have counters floating around. In general, though, I think this is too weak to make the cut, but there's enough happening that I think it's at least worth the shoutout.

Lattice-Blade Mantis

This thing is really big with pseudo-vigilance if you can keep the oil counters coming. Even if you can't, shooting twice with five damage and vigilance and then being left with a 4/3 beater without vigilance is pretty great value for four mana. The big problem, though, is getting to that four mana. Pauper's sped up a lot in the last couple years, and at this point, I simply don't know that this kind of card can compete. The power is here, though, so maybe one day it'll have its time to shine.

Predation Steward

I can see someone talking about how you can use this to pump stuff, but it's too slow, too expensive, and generally will too often be too limited in its uses. Easy pass from me.

Rustvine Cultivator

This is far, far too much work to be able to untap your lands. I kept re-reading it trying to see if there was something I missed that made it easier, but no, it's exactly as slow as you think it is. Just play Arbor Elf and be happy about it.

Ruthless Predation

Were you pining for copies 5-8 of Epic Confrontation? Well, here you go! There's probably a weird corner case where you want to have different named copies, but I sure can't think of any reasonable enough to warrant this. Basically, it comes down to if you're playing Epic Confrontation in your deck, do you want to play the sickest dragon punch in the world, or do you want to play whatever this is?

Thirsting Roots

Lay of the Land has never looked so good. That card has seen occasional play (and even got banned out of Standard when it was juiced up as Attune with Aether) and this giving you the option to find a land or proliferate is pretty sweet. Again, the uses for a card like this are pretty narrow, but in the right home, this can easily become a staple.

The Skullbomb Cycle

It's a sweet new take on the Spellbomb cycle! The originals gave you the option of sacrificing or drawing a card, whereas the second ones gave you an effect and you could pay a little extra to draw a card as well. These are closer to the former, but also draw you a card if you go for the extra ability. None of these are terribly exciting, but they all at least have some amount of use - particularly Dross Skullbomb doing a decent Blood Fountain impression. Furnace Skullbomb is easily the biggest dud of the bunch, but that's largely due to the lack of good oil counter utility in this set. If more oil counters were to come about, this one's utility could go up quite a bit, but as of now it's just useless.

Myr Kinsmith

There has yet to be a decent myr deck or strategy utilizing myr outside of possible Myr Retriever combo decks to really utilize this. However, myr is such a regularly revisited creature type that there's potential in some good old fashioned jank by utilizing tutor effects. It's narrow in its applications, but this is definitely one to keep an eye out for. If the right set of cards comes about in the future, this could get really good.

The Sphere Lands

The most obvious comparison to these is the cycling lands from Onslaught. These can come down earlier and cycle later, while the cycling lands can cycle earlier or more immediately later. Generally, I think you'd just rather have the cycling lands, but it's easier to keep these around and have use for them in a pinch later if the need arises. I've seen some debate and players don't seem to be convinced entirely on one or the other. Both are very good, though, so it'll be interesting to see how players try both out in lists over the coming weeks.

That wraps things up for this set! Phyrexia: All Will Be One brings a lot of interesting tools and toys to the table and it's going to be very fun to see where Pauper goes from here. Some cards will absolutely benefit existing decks, while many of these new cards have players starting to put on their brewing caps. Whatever the case, it's going to be very fun seeing how Pauper evolves from here. We've got a good few months until the next true release in March of the Machine, so it'll be interesting to see how things play out in that timeframe. Until then, may you be granted the blessings of Phyrexian perfection.

All will be one!

Paige Smith

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