Outlaws of Thunder Junction is here and I’m already excited for what powerful new cards Pauper is receiving from this Wild West set. Not only am I a huge fan of Pauper, but I’m a huge fan of Western motifs too. I watched a lot of comedy Westerns with my dad growing up. In case you were wondering, here’s a quick list of my favorite Westerns.
4. Maverick (1994)
3. Three Amigos (1986)
2. City Slickers (1991)
And of course, at Number 1, Wild Wild West (1999). How can you not love this movie. To set the scene for the actual Top 5 list, here’s some music to accompany the rest of this article!
Alright, but now for the real stuff. Outlaws of Thunder Junction is here, and I have insight on five (…ish) cards I’m snagging this weekend for my Pauper decks. This is the Top 5 Pauper cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction!
Number 5: Freestrider Commando
Green consistently struggles in Pauper. A lot of that has to do with the format being both very Artifact focused which is not a Green thing to be. Green has ramp spells from the beginning of time but Cleansing Wildfire happens to be the sickest Rampant Growth ever printed and unfortunately is a Red card. One day we’ll get typed lands that Farseek can hit alongside some ETB mechanic maybe. But I digress.
Freestrider Commando (why does it have spurs?!) represents a piece of the metagame that Green should be in, cheap 5/5s. Aside from the Plot mechanic as a way to get it into play, we can pair with Black and use Unearth to have Gurmag Angler at home. We just got Rubblebelt Maverick and that guy would love to get in the mix here. White gives us Recommission letting us juice this outlaw up to a 6/6 and be the biggest creature in the format, as well as getting flicker effects to have it come back to play buffed if we had to cast it from our hand on curve.
Ultimately, Pauper has a lot of easily accessible graveyard hate so cheating it in from that zone will have its issues, but people jump through those hoops to get cheap 5/5s already so maybe this can help Green get back into the fight.
Number 4: Outlaw Medic
Well, howdy partner. Is 39 old? Maybe…probably…I don’t feel it, but when I read a card like this I have to remember it’s not 1999 anymore. This card doesn’t even cost WW! I think that was my first thought reading this.
Outlaw Medic is going to be sooo annoying for aggressive decks. If this thing eats a Lightning Bolt you’re up a card! And if it doesn’t? You’re gonna be whittling away at them stabilizing the early assault. Pieces of cardboard I want to place next to this rugged 1/3 include: Bonesplitter, Greatsword of Tyr, and Homestead Courage.
Number 3: Raven of Fell Omens
Raven makes my brain twitch in all the fun ways I want a Magic puzzle to make me feel. The body is fine for the format, blocking most of the fliers but falling short against Glint Hawks and Kor Skyfishers but beating a lot of Suffocating Fumes type effects and Faeries in combat.
Maximizing our Crime Bird will require having a lot of instant speed effects to target our opponents stuff so we can get a trigger on both our turn and theirs. Makeshift Munitions and Relic of Progenitus are both solid cards in the format that will let us commit crimes for little effort.
As a bonus flavor win, Raven’s Crime will let us hedge against flooding out and help us turn excess lands into a crime spree. A perfect card to toy with in the Pauper format, making it an easy include from Outlaws of Thunder Junction for this Top 5 list.
Number 2: Reckless Lackey
Since the banning of Monastery Swiftspear there’s more room at the one drop slot for the red decks. With another aggressive Goblin entering the format I think Goblin Grenade is looking better and better. Reckless Lackey, like most Goblins it seems these days, is also a Pirate, a very relevant creature type in the format.
This more raging-er goblin can dodge Fiery Cannonade from an opponent. Although Breath Weapon seems to be the more played sweep now, it doesn’t mean Reckless Lackey’s controller couldn’t themselves be playing Fiery Cannonade. Reckless Lackey alongside Goblin Tomb Raider and other future Pirates might make Fiery Cannonade a must-have against other aggro decks later.
Number 1: Desert Lands
Okay, so here’s what the “…ish” part from earlier was alluding to. The whole cycle of tapped duals at common are what I think are going to make the biggest impact on the format. Specifically, the White ones, Abraded Bluffs and Forlorn Flats, can be paired along Kor Skyfisher decks for extra damage triggers. Black Burn decks want a way to splash Red for Bump in the Night so adding Jagged Barrens also seems like a no brainer.
Shoutout to Conduit Pylons for being an upgrade for Crystal Grotto moving forward and one that actively helps decks like Tron by finding targets for Myr Retriever in the combo builds and flashback cards/Archaeomancer hits in the control ones.
Check out the complete list of new cards added to the Pauper format thanks to Outlaws of Thunder Junction yourself by using this handy dandy Scryfall link! Even though these were my Top 5 Pauper cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, there are still a ton of cards to consider experimenting with. Make sure to snag your must-have Pauper singles from our catalog of singles.
