Hey everyone! I know a lot of people are excited for this week’s Midweek Magic. That’s not even sarcastic (I know, I know…who am I and what did I do with Josh) since it is the beloved format of Historic Pauper. There are whole discords and tournaments dedicated to this format.
For those of you that are new to this, it is all the historic legal cards, but you can only use cards that have a common printing on Arena. That tends to be a bit different than real life pauper, but it’s still a fun format.
Since it is only commons, then the whole format is considered budget. Of course, you could still just play a ton of Hare Apparent or Slime Against Humanity if you don’t want to bother with the theme.
Ignore that some of these lists say rares or uncommons on them. There are common versions on Arena for them. Of course, I can’t do anything about it if they make up a random ban list at the last second.
Event Details
Bring a 60-card Historic deck that contains only commons and basic lands. Look for some common ground with all those cards you’ve drafted and build something new!
Find out more details about this and upcoming Midweek Magic events HERE.
Duration: May 6th, 2025 @ 2:00 PM PST to May 8th, 2025 @ 2:00 PM PST
Format: Historic Pauper
Entry Fee: Free
Ends After: You can play as much as you like for the duration of the event.
I know the MTGA Pauper Discord has a bunch of these cards banned, but it’s doubtful that Arena follows suit so might as well try it out. Cranial Ram your opponent straight in the face with some massively pumped-up monsters.
You all know the drill with this. Play cheap, hard to interact with creatures, and pump up the jams. Then simply send your large critter into the red zone on the way to a massive profit.
Cleansing Wildfire is amazing when you have indestructible lands because it turns into a Rampant Growth that draws a card. Alternatively, it can mess with your opponent’s mana if they lack basics in their deck, but that tends to not come up as often in pauper.
Josh is a member of the elite limited team The Draft Lab as well as the host of The Draft Lab Podcast. He was qualifying for Pro Tours, Nationals, and Worlds literally before some of you were born. After a Magic hiatus to play poker and go to medical school, he has been dominating Arena with over an 80% win percentage in Bo3 as well as making #1 rank in Mythic.
