A returning favorite is back for another Midweek Magic: Historic Pauper! Every common that has ever been released on Magic: The Gathering Arena is legal in this format, putting all players on an even playing ground to try and earn rewards.
This free event can get you up to three rewards, two of which are Rare Individual Cards, randomized rare or mythic rare cards from across all cards available on Arena. Since it’s randomized, you can earn a card you already have, in which case it will be converted to gems.
The final reward available is a Mystery Cosmetic pack, a bundle of rewards that have a chance to give out fancier rewards. Players can open card styles, avatars, and even pets from these packs, though the most common drop is a card style.
The great thing about Midweek Magic events is that they are all completely free to join, making the rewards even sweeter. If you’re looking to jump into some Historic Pauper games, you’ll have to join the event between Tuesday at 2 p.m. PT and Thursday at 2 p.m. PT. You can get your games in on the Arena game client or the mobile app, either one works!
Historic Pauper Rules
There aren’t many rules to follow for this event other than the most important: you will be restricted to only using cards printed at the common rarity and basic lands. If a card has been printed at a different rarity—but also has been printed as a common—that card is legal in Pauper, as well.
Historic Pauper Deck
One of the more common decks you’ll find during these events is Burn or some sort of Red Aggro deck. They’re filled with powerful spells and tend to do tons of damage quickly while providing late-game draw power. If you want to jam an incredibly fast deck, read about our list here.
Historic Mono-Red Burn
| Creatures (16) 4 Festival Crasher 4 Dwarven Forge-Chanter 4 Kessig Flamebreather 4 Kiln Fiend Spells (24) 4 Shock 4 Lightning Strike 4 Whirling Strike 4 Ancestral Anger 4 Crash Through 4 Reckless Impulse | Lands (20) 20 Mountain |
But if you want something a little more resilient, Green/White Auras might be the next best thing.
Historic Pauper Selesnya Auras
| Creature (15) 4 Healer’s Hawk 4 Transcendent Envoy 3 Heliod’s Pilgrim 4 Jungleborn Pioneer Instant (4) 4 Snakeskin Veil Enchantment (21) 4 Ethereal Armor 4 Sentinel’s Eyes 4 Cartouche of Solidarity 2 Angelic Gift 2 Warbriar Blessing 4 Ancestral Mask 1 Captured by Lagacs Land (20) 4 Blossoming Sands 7 Forest 9 Plains |
One of the best cards in the deck is Jungleborn Pioneer, a three-mana Merfolk that produces a Merfolk token with Hexproof when it comes into play, making it the perfect target for all your Auras since your opponent likely won’t have very many ways to deal with it. Past that, landing an early Healer’s Hawk with a few Auras will help you sustain and push damage since it also has flying.
Just make sure you don’t put all your eggs in a Healing Hawk basket, since if you happen to lose that creature, it can set you back quite a bit. Spread out your enchantments across a few creatures once you get a slightly beefier creature out just in case your opponent has removal for it.