So many of the Airbend cards work wonders in Mavinda. Avatar's Wrath resets your blink shenanigans but more than that, it has the glorious word "target" which means you can flash it back with Mavinda's ability.

Well, that happened. And it went great (I think?)!

Saw some kids playing it on the playground at school in 1994. Thought it was cool.

As someone who is currently a college student living in a college town, seeing how people have engaged with Magic around me has been super interesting as we get more UB. I’ve never had more people wanting to start playing.

Someone pay me to talk about understanding student engagement in the college setting with Magic.

Once of the presentations at this conference talked about the way the younger generations are choosing to engage with activities, and so much of it has to do with comfort. Being able to dip their toe into something familiar. From that perspective, UB makes a lot of sense.

Best Friends Forever*

Legions week: Noxious Ghoul is a brutal one-sided board wipe in zombie decks, and despite seeing play in about 30k zombie lists that's probably not enough. edhrec.com/route/?cc=No...

You know what card rules in Commander? Rescue from the Underworld.

Wow, so relatable.

Hey BlueSky, remember like 6 years ago when I stopped making process videos? Well, I've been given the opportunity to produce a whole video course. I'm working on it now, but if you want to sign up to get more info about releases/pricing, the sign up is here: www.waitlistcourse.com/rpancoast

*Grixis Affinity was the best Swiss deck (don't sleep on this deck post ban) *Jund Wildfire is the Jundiest Jund to ever Jund

Some other stats: *Blue Terror was most popular (12.78% of Top 32 meta) and had the most Top 8s (29) and wins (3) *High Tide was 5.54% of the Top 32 meta and had 16 Top 8s with 3 wins. *Madness Burn was the most popular red deck (9.52%) but under-performed relative to volume (15 Top 8s/1 Win)

Hey #MTGPauper - I just finished running the numbers on the pre-ban Challenges in the MTGO Spider-Man/Omenpaths 1 Season. Out of decks with at least 14 appearances (2% of Top 32 meta), High Tide: *Third best Swiss performing deck *Best conversion from Top 32 to Top 8 *4th best deck overall

the republican party is engaged in a cover up to keep the american people from learning whether president trump is president pedo

Idc what you say Inside Out is a mech anime

Anyone have a good on ramp these days?

Hey #MTGPauper - I just finished running the numbers on the pre-ban Challenges in the MTGO Spider-Man/Omenpaths 1 Season. Out of decks with at least 14 appearances (2% of Top 32 meta), High Tide: *Third best Swiss performing deck *Best conversion from Top 32 to Top 8 *4th best deck overall

Goblins.

Malevolent Rumble is an obscenely good card and has enabled so much nonsense but this is a format with access to Ponder, Preordain, and Brainstorm.

It really depends on what kind of deck they like to play. Shot in the dark I'm going Goblin Combo because it's WILD.

I am never a fan of downshift questions - the format should exist with the cards printed. That being said, I would love to see some more disruptive elements that would make it so spell based combo could be viable without being problematic.

I think one of the biggest things holding Pauper back, still, is the lack of innovation once things are established. What does green add to Terror? What does Gruul do that Wildfire doesn't? These are changes that might be right, they might be wrong, but they are worthy of exploration.

C'mon Emma

20 of each, but probably want more specialty lands.

I think we're going to see a brief surge in Bx and Skyfisher midrange before graveyard combo comes back in a big way. Then I anticipate a rise in Thraben Charm midrange decks and we settle into a nice cyclical format.

Terror is a strong deck that has been at the top of the metagame for a while. At the same time, it doesn't do anything inherently out of bounds of the format.

Tortured Existence/Bartered Cow/Cauldron Familiar

The response is expected. I think the experiment was good overall and helped to illuminate that there is a much larger tabletop base for the format than I think people who grew up with the format on MTGO realize.

Kendrick, Joyce Carol Oates, Menswear Guy, and Isaac Chotiner are the Voltron of People You Don't Want Focusing on You

I think now is a good a time as any for a #MTGPauper AMA. So have at it!

Really wish I had gotten a better shot of this but holding a phone that says “who else was just ‘following orders’?” up to a riot cop is hard as hell

So this Saturday I'll be giving my first official presentation at a professional conference in over a decade.

‪ Was the calculus that we'd stop giving the Dems crap once the president and his cronies started doing even worse stuff again? Do these people not realize our capacity for hate? We had to hold grudges on message boards. That's dedication.

Hiii. 👋 Going to be annoying for a moment. Want to mention that on November 29th, UK Pauper Nationals will be happening with a whopping 100 players already registered! Excited to jam Pauper in a world without High Tide? You can grab your ticket now! 👇 buytickets.at/mtgpauperuk/... #MTGPauper

If I were to make Magic content to help POC get into competitive magic. What would you like to see? Also on that note. What do you feel or see as barriers that keep you from playing comp mtg. I'm all ears.

This seems like the most straightforward and also basically accurate message.

Do you have opinions on yesterday's #MTGPauper High Tide ban? I want to hear from you. Visit the MTGPauper discord to leave your comment: discord.gg/Zc9yA3EZ

Yesterday on the blog I wrote about decks that stay in the draft folder. So much Commander comment is about doing, what about the times we don't? nerdtothecore.com/2025/11/10/u...

I found the only comment on the High Tide ban that matters:

It's very simple. The next film should be about four Bonds: a cyborg one, a bloke in a suit of armour with a big hammer, a teenage one who's cloned from the DNA of Bond and Blofeld, and a fascist one that's secretly an artifact from Bond's homeworld. Then the real one should come back with a mullet.

At risk of flogging a dead horse: this whole letter is a reminder that the creative process is an end in and of itself, and vital to self-actualisation. You can’t experience BECOMING, as he puts it, by outsourcing it to ChatGPT.

Today on the blog I talk about something I'm sure many folks have experienced - not building a Commander deck. nerdtothecore.com/2025/11/10/u...

Shared my thoughts on some of the current conversations in Magic Commander, most notably the proposed change to the Hybrid Mana rules youtu.be/1JQmBBB2W9k

CUNY is waiving its application fee from Nov. 10-21 for New York State high school seniors on pace to graduate next year. You can apply to up to six of our colleges with one application! Go to cuny.edu/apply.

Oh no the middle aged writer found Hot Mulligan again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=okko...

Remember: spoiler season can be fun.