Another year, another Masters set release, and that means we're going to be talking about a whole bunch of cool new downshifts! As is tradition for these kinds of releases, these downshifts are bound to have some kind of impact on Pauper, the format of commons. For the few people who may not really know as much about the format, legality is determined by any card having been printed at common in paper or on Magic Online (MTG Arena is excluded, which is relevant for sets like Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered). As a result, whenever there's a card printed for the first time at common and was previously an uncommon or rare, it enters into the format.

Last year with Double Masters 2022, we saw a handful of fairly impactful cards. Naturally, the most powerful of these was Monastery Swiftspear, an instant auto-include in various Red lists that pushed Burn to new heights. Despite being on downshift wish lists for years, many players now see it as a potential mistake in the vein of Peregrine Drake or Foil. Vampire Sovereign became a really strong top-end finisher for the Orzhov Ephemerate lists, allowing for a solid evasive beater that you can flicker for draining. Last, while Goblin Combo lists have fallen out of favor these days, Dark-Dweller Oracle is a strong addition to those lists where they see play. Cards like Militia Bugler, Might of Old Krosa, and Izzet Charm see play from time to time as well, though cards like Experiment One that had players extremely hyped during preview season turned out to not do very much at all.

Now we're at another Masters release, and so it's time to see which cards will join these and other powerful downshifts of the past like Burning-Tree Emissary, Seeker of the Way, and Augur of Bolas. Like with my past Masters Pauper review lists, there's a fairly small list of downshifts to discuss, so I'm going to go through and cover every single one. Some definitely are going to be less exciting than others, but when the additions here are traditionally of an elevated quality, it's worth covering them all. Given that this set offers far more downshifts than the average Masters release, however, we'll be splitting the review into two parts. I'll be covering the White, Blue, and Black cards - which make up 26 of the set's 41 new downshifts - and I will discuss the rest next week.

Let's dive right in!

All That Glitters

We're starting off strong with a huge one! This is one of the ones that has players talking the most and is one I'm personally excited for. There's three kinds of decks most people are talking about with this: Bogles, Affinity, and Heroic. We're going to go a little deep on this since there's so much to discuss, so hold onto your butts.

With regards to Bogles, this is a huge get, but the problem is that despite a decent number of flex slots, the core Bogles package is pretty tight. You don't want to really cut down on your hexproof creatures, your mana filtration/ramp, or your core enchantments like Ethereal Armor or Rancor. So, what do you do with this? I'm thinking the likely answer is that the deck will go down to one or two copies of Ancestral Mask and play this instead, finding additional cards to enable you to play the full playset. Mask gives you way more power, to be sure, but it's too easy to get stuck with two mana and be unable to play it or have Mask be your only enchantment and grant no power boosts at all. All That Glitters gives you a guaranteed benefit and comes down early. The only issue now is what exactly the cuts are and how the mana base will change to accommodate it, but it's absolutely going to show up here.

Now for the other one that people have really been talking about - and has some people a bit worried about: Affinity. Affinity has been perceived as a major boogieman for a good while now, and anything that might push the deck further gives people pause for concern. In this case, it's basically a one-time Cranial Plating that can turn a creature into a mini-Atog, allowing for one turn kills. The difference, though, is that it requires a traditionally Grixis mana base to go into a fourth color, which isn't as easy as it may seem to pull off without diluting the deck a bit in the process. Additionally, unless you're putting this on a Kenku Artificer animated Bridge, any creature you try to put this on becomes a lightning rod for removal and opens you up to an easy 2-for-1. The animated Bridge scenario is certainly scary, but the deck has to prove it's a problem first, and it's not a sure thing that it's going to be as useful as it first appears. I would, however, expect new builds of Affinity to pop up to try utilizing All That Glitters, which if those can be more focused, then it may be a bit more of an issue. Time will tell how this one ends up going.

Lastly is Heroic. Mainly showing up in Mono-White variants, This seems like an easy add to buff up your creatures permanently while also boosting via the Heroic ability. The issue here is the lists are even tighter than Bogles with less obvious flex slots to cut down on to bring this in. I have no doubt brewers will find a way and people will be trying it, so expect an uptick in this deck's appearance, but I also would expect it to not make as much of a long-term splash in the format.

Generous Gift

Generous Gift is an absolute all-star when it comes to formats like Commander and Cube for the sheer versatility in removal that it offers all in one package. Who cares about giving your opponent a vanilla creature when you use this to get rid of something far more problematic? In Pauper, though, it's likely you're going to be hard pressed to find a spot that desperately wants this. Most decks running White already have a variety of removal options at their disposal and none of them leave behind a 3/3 beatstick - something that's bigger than many of the formats' creatures - for them to contend with. In traditional competitive Pauper, my bet is that this one shows up in sideboards from time to time, but on the whole isn't a major player. When you get into the world of Pauper Commander, however, it gets a lot better and becomes a new staple that has many people excited to play with. Jam it there to your heart's content.

Ministrant of Obligation

This is a nifty downshift as an aggressive creature that turns into two evasive critters when it dies. The rate isn't bad, but the problem is that it requires three-mana up front, which is a ton as far as Pauper mana values go. I'd say there's maybe a slim chance of this being a top end for something like White Weenies, but frankly I'd skip the reliance on needing this to die and just play Inspiring Overseer instead. That way you still get 2 power in the air, don't have to rely on something dying, and you also get a cantrip and life gain out of the deal as well.

Myrsmith

In something like Affinity, this probably isn't going to do too much. The deck is too tightly constructed to try something cute like this, though I'm sure some people will try. Instead, it likely will show up in something more akin to Altar Tron, where you can use your many artifact spells to generate a slew of small tokens. These tokens can then be used to close out a game with an attack in a pinch or generate more mana by being sacrificed to Ashnod's Altar. I'm no expert on that deck - especially with how hard it is to play on Magic Online - so this might not actually be a viable strategy, but I'm more suggesting that it's the sort of place you would expect to see a card like Myrsmith. It's possible people try brewing their own new strategies around this one, but it's also a little hard to justify when Pauper has been getting many more strong sweepers over the last few years.

Spectral Grasp

We've been seeing a pretty strong uptick in powerful Pacifism effects over the last year or so and this coming down from uncommon isn't very surprising. Unfortunately, this is a card much more clearly designed with multiplayer in mind, and as such it's not nearly as good as either Realmbreaker's Grasp or Planar Disruption. If you're really hurting for this kind of effect, go with one of those instead.

Sunblade Angel

This is clearly meant to be a neat top end card that's meant to close out games of Limited and probably be a card that Reanimator strategies can take care of. Unfortunately, the body on this is far too weak compared to many of the other typical Reanimator targets in the format and will die to several more forms of removal as a result. This will likely just end up in bulk boxes, but may have a home in some Pauper Cubes for the aforementioned purposes.

Supply Runners

What makes Supply Runners so interesting is that, as far as I can tell, there isn't any other creature that puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control at Common. There's spells that do it (Now for Wrath, Now for Ruin!) and creatures that dish out a handful of counters (Gavony Silversmith and Basri's Acolyte) but never the full board like this. That raises an interesting point: do you want to pay five mana for a permanent board pump that you can then flicker or bounce for additional value? It's the kind of card where it's in a weird limbo because there isn't an immediate home outside Flicker strategies, which generally don't go wide enough to care about the mass pump. Yet it's the kind of thing that could inspire new builds and new strategies to take advantage of the sweeping pump as even just two triggers going off can make your board into an unstoppable army - especially if you have fliers in the mix. Five mana is a tall ask, though, so while I'm cautiously optimistic on this card, I also wouldn't be surprised if it does nothing at all.

Cryptic Serpent

This one caught a lot of players' attention pretty quickly because of the obvious similarities to Tolarian Terror. In many ways they're extremely close and very comparable. The difference here is that Cryptic Serpent is slightly larger, but costs two Blue mana in its seven-mana cost and lacks the Ward effect. When you can cast Cryptic Serpent for two mana, you can do the same with Tolarian Terror, and I personally would rather have the one that's more resistant to removal, even if it's a tiny bit weaker. We'll absolutely see decks running some combination of them given how similar they are, though. But when you already have Gurmag Angler being run as well (which, I should note, Serpent is usually going to function better than Gurmag), you eventually hit the wall of "too much of a good thing." I imagine we'll see most Terror decks swapping Anglers for the Serpent and the Mono-Blue variants finding a few spots to throw a couple Serpents in themselves. Expect to see this one quite a bit in the coming weeks.

Filigree Attendant

This one is maybe a little risky at first glance given the already existing prevalence of Affinity. However, when you look at it more critically, it's not quite as good as it seems. The reason Affinity is so good is how explosive it can be and how cheaply it can cast spells. Paying four mana for something that will die quickly to a Lightning Bolt is not where I want to be, even if it can become massive. There's also a lot of small fliers in the format that can chump it and a heavy dose of artifact removal in play, so rather than rely on this, I'd just stick to good ol' Myr Enforcers and Kenku Artificers.

Goliath Sphinx

It's amusing that this old bulk rare got the downshift, but it's also not terribly surprising. For the purposes of multiplayer Limited, having this around is great for helping close out games that might be dragging on a bit too long. For Constructed, it's a decent reanimation target. It's a little too easy to chump this and for it to eat either a Cast Down or Snuff Out to be as reliable as many existing and other new reanimation targets. As such, this is one of the rare-to-common downshifts that misses, and it's unfortunate to see.

Murmuring Mystic

You know what Pauper's lacked over the years? A good Young Pyromancer effect. We've seen tons of these over time thanks to the printing of Young Peezy, Monastery Mentor, Saheeli, Sublime Artificer; and of course Murmuring Mystic. Now we got one of them in Pauper and it's naturally the one of the bunch that cost the most to cast up front. That's not such a bad thing when you're playing a control game and using this as your finisher, though. Even better, it's one of the harder creatures to remove outright. Yes, the aforementioned Snuff Out and Cast Down will one-shot it, but you won't see this get taken down by a lone Lightning Bolt or Galvanic Blast. If you're playing it, you're also likely to have plenty of ways to protect against these spells, allowing you to build one hell of a bird army with this card and a bunch of spells. It's very much a build around, but I think we'll absolutely see people building around this in the near future.

Renowned Weaponsmith

In many games, this will die before you can use it as a mana dork since it gets picked off handily by almost every targeted removal spell in the format. What's more, most of the artifacts you're trying to cast and/or use get almost as good of a benefit when using any other kind of artifact to lower the cost, since they're normally utilized in Affinity builds. Tron decks - even Altar Tron - wouldn't want the ability. Even less care about the second, so what you have is a neat Limited role player that's simply not cut out for Constructed Pauper.

Reverse Engineer

Do you want an extra costly souped up Thoughtcast? Here you go! The problem with this is that, frankly, Affinity already has a ton of card draw as is. Where do you put this and what do you cut? Are you willing to tap down three artifacts which may include additional lands anyways or essential blockers? It's a much tougher sell than Thoughtcast which is just one mana in most scenarios. I expect to see players try and see if they can make it work, though if it makes the cut, I can't imagine it'll be more than just one or two copies.

Shipwreck Dowser

If you want a five-mana Archaeomancer that can actually attack, here you go. This will definitely hit harder, and will get some solid bonus from Prowess here and there, but it's not going to attack as well if you're flickering it during main phases to get your value going, and it will get chumped endlessly. Five mana is also quite a bit more than four here - even if it may not seem like much - so it's going to be interesting to see if decks would rather utilize the aggressive side of this or stick with the cheaper and more utility-oriented Archaeomancer instead.

Vizier of Tumbling Sands

Two words: Cycling Storm.

This card helps with your cycle strategy, untaps your lands for additional use, and counts as a creature in your bin toward Songs of the Damned. It's the whole package and if you're going to play this anywhere, that's where it's going.

Windrider Wizard

In Pauper, a Wind Drake that doesn't do anything when it comes into play usually isn't going to see a ton of play - especially in a world where Mulldrifter exists. However, there's a bit more to this one than probably meets the eye at first glance. It's not hard to immediately follow up casting this spell with casting an instant or sorcery, or even just holding up some mana for a counterspell or flicker effect of some kind. What's more is the sheer number of wizards that see play in the Blue decks of Pauper. Delver of Secrets, Augur of Bolas, Faerie Seer, and Spellstutter Sprite, and Archaeomancer are all wizards, and if you play any kind of Pauper event you're likely to run into these somewhere. Time will tell if there's a real hunger for an effect like this in the format (I've already seen some people talking about how good this might be in Familiars, for example) but there's definitely some very real potential for this to be quite the filtration engine.

Carrion Grub

I can't think of a single good reason to play this. The only reason I can think of is if you were playing a Reanimator strategy and your opponent was relying so much on Snuff Outs that it's ideal to play this and pitch an Ulamog's Crusher or something. Its utility is so fringe and the cost to utilize it so high, I just can't see it anywhere. The only other place that might make sense is Tortured Existence, and at that point just play any of the many other self-mill cards that are actually useful.

Demon's Disciple

Most decks don't play Fleshbag Marauder at all, so it's unlikely that they'll play this one. It'll be interesting to see if having up to eight copies changes things at all, but I wouldn't count on it. A good get for Pauper Commander and Cubes, but not Constructed Pauper.

Dread Return, Lotleth Giant

Oh baby, now we're talking! After many years of getting one bad reanimation spell after another in Pauper, most people would've just been happy getting a downshift of Zombify to have a decent additional Black option to rely on besides Exhume. I don't think most people had Dread Return on their bingo cards this time around! While not strictly better, it does very much the same thing as Zombify in most situations and then you can cast it with Flashback as well. It's actually that back side that has the more storied history and is what has people talking the most with one simple question: can you make Oops, All Spells and/or Dredge work in Pauper?

The key ingredient to making this work is another card that was also downshifted in the same set here, hence why I'm talking about them together: Lotleth Giant. Lotleth Giant is a colossal creature, making it an excellent option for reanimation. It's even better if you have a large number of creatures sitting in your graveyard, as with the right draws, it can be used to one-shot your opponent. This can be achieved by utilizing Balustrade Spy to flip over your entire deck - including twenty creatures - and then casting Dread Return to bring back the Giant. The Giant's ability then triggers and kills your opponent. This has typically been used in One Land Spy strategies in the past, though that deck is famously inconsistent and easy to defeat.

It'll be interesting to see if that deck really breaks out here, or if we simply see some new flavors of Reanimator coming to the forefront. Regardless, Dread Return is a tremendously exciting - if somewhat scary - addition to the Pauper format. It's one that I personally can't wait to see what people do with it and is making me want to go through my collection to pull out old copies to use myself in the near future. Expect to see people brewing with this one a ton in the coming weeks.

Drown in Sorrow

This is another big board wipe, but we're definitely reaching the point of too many. Pauper players are spoiled for choice by now, and there's already tons of ways to deal two damage or give -2/-2, many of which are at instant speed. This one will no doubt have uses over the others, but it's largely a case of, yeah, this will see some play, but it's just more of what we already have, and isn't quite so exciting as a result. It's neat to see it downshifted - and with new art as well - but at this point, I find this one to be merely whelming. If anything I'm a bit more jazzed (and, as an Elves player, scared) by another sweeper I'll be discussing next week.

Legion Vanguard, Witch's Cauldron

As a sacrifice outlet, Legion Vanguard is great. There's lots of benefits to get with the sacrifice value, and then you get to explore on top of it. This can clear lands from your deck, or else help you manipulate the top of your library while simultaneously making this larger. It's still got some stiff competition when cards like Carrion Feeder and Viscera Seer exist, but it definitely has the right kind of utility. Witch's Cauldron fills a similar role, except you will always draw the card and there are limits to how much you can use the effect. I'd expect to see Sacrifice decks trying both of these out in the near future.

Mire Triton

Mire Triton was a surprising standout in Standard where it attacked and blocked well and gained you value with the self-mill and 2 life gain. It doesn't seem like much, but when used together, it all works to great effect. You're soaking up tons of damage with it thanks to the life gain, blocking a creature, and staving off opposing attacks because you've got a deathtoucher. On top of that, you play it in a deck that can benefit from the self-mill. In Standard, it was to help get out Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger or help Lurrus of the Dream-Den out. In Pauper, it benefits decks using the likes of Tolarian Terror, Gurmag Angler, and Tortured Existence. I'm interested to see if it actually makes the cut, because it may be too weak for Pauper, but its historical play makes me optimistic.

Nadier's Nightblade

It was only a few weeks ago when I was noting how Mirkwood Bats had some decent potential in Pauper. Now you get Nadier's Nightblade as well and you can really get a stew cooking! There's lots of tokens out there in the format, and it's not hard for this to be utilized to take out opponents with said tokens. It can work solidly well in Elves too alongside Lys Alana Huntmaster - especially if you're expecting board wipes. The uses on this one are definitely more niche than a lot of this list, but they're good uses all the same and I'd expect it from time to time.

Phyrexian Gargantua

What happens if you staple two Phyrexian Ragers together? You get this monstrosity, of course! But what makes Phyrexian Rager so good is that it costs three mana, making it a cheap option for card draw on a decent body. Even then, its utility has really fallen off over the years as Pauper has evolved and it's not quite as much of the powerhouse that it once was. Only classic Mono-Black diehards cling to it, and they're a rare breed these days. Paying six mana for what is two of them in one? Not going to cut it, and in Reanimator strategies, you're simply better off using other bigger creature options instead.

That ends part one and boy, there was a lot to talk about. This set really does have a ton of good stuff to offer and I'm seriously stoked to see what happens in the coming weeks when it comes to Pauper. I'll be back next week to cover the last handful of cards, so be sure to check back then! There's a couple of real doozies in that one, so there's still going to be plenty more to discuss. See you then!

Paige Smith

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