When Donovan e-mailed me about Pauper Commander, I was like, “isn’t this a format for poor people and losers who associate with poor people?” As a rap-video-rich baller, I didn’t imagine anybody would care about this little corner of the Commander world. After all, commons only? Even the most broke Magic players can afford uncommons. I was sitting there contemplating the worthlessness of Pauper Commander, warming myself with the glow of burning $100 bills and nodding off to the sound of my stock ticker. I suddenly awoke from this dream to find myself needing to replace the bags on my feet. I fought the raccoons away from my bag-holding bag and decided, “maybe this Pauper idea isn’t so bad.”

SHOW NOTES

00:00 to 05:24: Intro: Your hosts, our subjects, and whatnot.

COMMUNITY

05:33 to 22:50: Pauper Commander: WHAT IS THIS MADNESS? Donovan, Carlos and Adam provide a brief rundown on the actual structure of Pauper, an introduction to it’s virtues, and generally explain why you should try it.

23:02 to 34:07: Free-For-All Roundtable: Money Generals: Some people think Pauper should maintain the purity of identity that it’s 60×4 bretheren format maintains and only permit commons; other think that for Commander, Pauper is better served by allowing Legendary creatures of any rarity as generals. We debate this topic on the Roundtable this week.

STRATEGY

034:17 to 48:50: Alt. Format Strategy: Pauper: When you lose a huge range of card types when Uncommons and Rares suddenly disappear from the available range of cards, how does strategy change? What kind of archetypes are good, and which lose value? How do you need to change your mindset to succeed in a Pauper environment?

TECHNOLOGY

49:02 to 65:09: Pauper Tech: In a broke-ass format with no real monies, the barrier to entry is so low that you can’t really impress opponents by spending money anymore, so how about impressing them with some unique or obscure-ish card choices? Here we run down some good cards for Pauper Commander.

Donovan’s Picks:
General: Niv-Mizzet
Other: Mind Extraction, Ulamog’s Crusher

Adam’s Picks:
General: Rhys the Redeemed
Other: Neurok Stealthsuit, Guardian of the Guildpact

Andy’s Picks:
General: Thrun, the Last Troll
Other: Gaea’s Touch, Swirling Sandstorm

• PDC forums for Commander.
• Adam’s recent article on Pauper.
• The Pauper Dreamcrusher.