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4,356 decks analyzed, data through

What is Pauper

The format

Pauper is a Magic: The Gathering format where you can only play cards that have been printed at common in some set or product, either in paper or on Magic Online. A card that was ever printed at common is legal in any of its versions.

With that restriction, decks are cheap to build and the format has an identity of its own: many of its most played cards are Magic classics that never went past common.

Basic rules

  • A deck has at least 60 cards.
  • The sideboard is optional and has at most 15 cards.
  • You can play up to 4 copies of each card between deck and sideboard, except basic lands.
  • Some cards are banned.

The details (promos, lands with a special rarity symbol…) are in the official format rules (opens another site).

Where it is played

Pauper is played mostly on Magic Online, in five-match leagues and in tournaments such as the weekend Challenges. The published results of those events are this site’s data. It is also played in paper, in stores and in community tournaments.

The banned cards are decided by the Pauper Format Panel, a group of community players, together with Wizards of the Coast.

Getting started

The most played archetypes of the last 30 days are a good place to start:

To choose and build a deck:

  • The metagame shows how much each archetype is played in the last 7, 30 or 90 days, and what is rising and falling.
  • Each archetype’s page has a typical list, the closest to the average of its decks, and its core and flex: the cards almost everyone plays and the slots each player fills their own way.
  • The staples list the format’s most played cards, and each card has a page with the archetypes that play it.