Common Ground MtG Pauper Podcast

Welcome back Pauper fam! As folks prepare for PauperGenesis and PauperGeddon this coming weekend, it's important to discern what the truth of your preparation and process is based on. To help with this, we revisit the classic Patrick Chapin article "Information Cascades" and apply it to our Pauper tournament prep and decision making skills. Best of luck to everyone competing and ple...

Welcome back Pauper fam! Seeker of Skybreak is banned! What does this mean for the Pauper format? We invited Alum of the Pod Brute back on the show to discuss how the Naya Bow deck felt after his recent (and only possible) tournament win with the deck, and we chat about the big winners from this decision and whether or not we're aligned with the PFP's decision. Thank you as always for li...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week we invited Alum of the Pod and CGCup Head Judge Austin Walker back onto the show to dig into the intricacies of the Combat phase and the many steps and priority passings contained within. It's a great refresher for veterans and might include some new information for newer players! Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/kdvSav...

Welcome back Pauper fam! It's spoiler time once again and this time Marvel's Superheroes have joined the Pauper fray. Are we hyped about more tacky UB cards in the format? Not particularly. Will a number of them lead to some new and innovative decks? Absolutely! Following the Bow combo story is going to be very exciting but it's not only card we have our eyes on. Plus, we briefly re...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week, we catch up with a handful of emails from our most frequent emailer Elliot! He has some good thinkers for us that lead into some fun discussions and general nonsense. Also some brief chat about the new Hawkeye's Bow combo with Seeker of Skybreak. Full Marvel spoiler episode next week! Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/k...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week, Derrick Smith returns for another very fun episode where we dive into the Elves deck, how it works, and how to play against it. We also dig into Thomas' testing with the new version of Jeskai Ephemerate and discuss some options and play patterns to consider. Special shoutout to Robert White and Devin Northcutt for their commentary excellence. Thank you as a...

Welcome back Pauper fam! We just got back (for Cameron, within hours) from our annual Cube Weekend and have some catching up to do with the past weekend's Pauper events! Will Infect stick around? How many "Manaliths" is Jeskai playing now? Lots to talk about alongside a plethora of stories from a great weekend vacation on the lake. Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord...

Welcome back Pauper fam! Bonder's Ornament is unbanned! Will it finally propel Tron to the top of the metagame? Will the midrange/control decks pick up a singleton copy? James and Cameron discuss these points alongside a quick review of the recent MOCS Pauper Qualifier. Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/kdvSavFkpz Check out our YouTube channel: https://ww...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week, we're joined by Alum of the Pod Matthew "Silly" Sentilles for a DEEP dive into the Jund Wildfire deck! If you enjoy the "slop" midrange decks of the format or enjoy playing 20 turn games, this is the primer for you. Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/kdvSavFkpz Check out our YouTube channel: https://w...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week, we check the pulse on the current state of the Pauper format and the neat decks that have been reshaping the metagame. Between some new additions from TMNT and Strixhaven, and some innovations in the Gates-package space, there's a lot of sweetness to go over! Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/kdvSavFkpz Check out our Yo...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week, we invited Chris from NYC Pauper League onto the show to learn more about NYC's incredible League and the upcoming PauperGenesis tournament this July! Chris and her local community are on the forefront of organizing Pauper in the US and we're excited to see where things go from here. Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https://discord....

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week, we discuss a Sam Black theory article that breaks down card advantage into two major concept pillars of Big Games and Small Games. We apply these concepts to Pauper and dig into how to use this information in your games and deck choices. Plus some tournament updates from our last week of Pauper action! Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https:/...

Welcome back Pauper fam! It's spoiler season once again and there are some exciting Strixhaven commons that we have our eyes on. Plus a few decklist results and certainly no mention of Pokémon Champions! Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/kdvSavFkpz Check out our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CommonGroundMTG Sponsored by: Game Knight (Columbia...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week, Skura, the Faerie King himself, returns to share some stories from Paupergeddon coverage and how he's been innovating on the Faeries archetype with a different take on the black splash. It's a great conversation and we're grateful to Skura for joining us once again! Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/kdvSavFkpz...

Welcome back Pauper fam! There seems to be some rather Fool-ish energy in the studio today. Follow along with "Cameron", "Thomas", and "Hippo" as they share their 100% accurate and fully-supported opinions on Pauper bans, unbans, and downshifts. Maybe something was just weird with the recording but there seems to be something a tad off. Oh well! Thank you as always fo...

Welcome back Pauper fam! Paupergeddon Spring edition has come and gone and we have some really sweet decklists to look through! We also recap our experience at Game Knight's (#sponsored) Win-A-Dual tournament this past weekend, featuring a sweet brew and great hangs. Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/kdvSavFkpz Check out our YouTube channel: https://www.y...

Welcome back Pauper fam! Cameron and Hippo just got back from Shoebox and have some shenanigans and Cube stories to share with us!* There have also been some shenanigans afoot with these new Turtles cards and some combos have started to emerge. Finally, Thomas needs some help getting over the decision paralysis of what Pauper deck to play for the upcoming Win-A-Dual at Game Knight (#sponsored) Tha...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week we invite our friend and Limited crusher Sam Snodgrass onto the show. Known as snodz on MTGO, Sam has consistently been at the top of the draft trophy leaderboard for the better part of a year and had a deep run at the 3rd Common Ground Cup finishing in the Top 4 at his first Pauper event! We dive into some lessons to be learned from Limited fundamentals, some st...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week we return to the control archetype to go over some updates to the more long-form decks of the format and how they line up against the metagame that exists today. Gardens has seen a resurgence online as Rally overtakes Madness as the red deck of choice and the UB Terror decks have also been seeing more play. Plus a chat about some intriguing innovations to the Hex...

Welcome back Pauper fam! It's TMNT spoiler time and even though we're not the biggest fans of this set, there are still plenty of cool Pauper cards to discuss. Will pizzas take over the meta? Is Cast Down stock at an all-time low? We chat about all this and more, including some very cool innovations of the Gates archetype! Thank you as always for listening! Join our Discord! https://disc...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week we're joined by our friend Ryan Adams to discuss how to assess different metagames in Pauper using data analysis in new and creative ways. It's not just about winrate and matchups; how granular can we get when we take sideboards and variance into account? You can follow along at home with Ryan's slides linked below (as long as you're not drivi...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week Cameron and Thomas sit down with Ethan from Pauper Pacific Northwest (Pauper PNW) to chat about how we've each worked to build up our local Pauper scenes and how Pauper PNW has built out the Cascadia Pauper Circuit to best suit the needs of their community. It's a great chat with lots of insight for other aspiring community organizers and if you're...

Welcome back Pauper fam! The 3rd Common Ground Cup is in the books and y'all showed up in a BIG way to make it the best one yet! 80 Pauper players came to do battle and win their share of $2000. Between handling coverage, watching the action, and interacting with/meeting some of you, it was an incredible day and we're so grateful to be a part of this awesome community. Our champion, Mich...

Welcome back Pauper fam! It's Common Ground Cup time once again and we're all very excited to bring you another great event! We invited our friend Tristan Aita (SoIMBAGallade on MTGO) to join us in the commentary booth this time around so he joins us this week to chat about his thoughts on the format, what decks he expects to do well, and even some bonus "bounty" prizes for fol...

Welcome back Pauper fam! This week we sat down with local friend and Discord regular Jonathan Collins (aka Brute) for a laidback discussion and storytime episode, mostly centered around Jonathan's first constructed Magic experience being competitive Pauper! From getting the round 3 bye at locals to finishing 9th on breakers at the 2nd Common Ground Cup in just a few weeks time, we dig into hi...