All-commons format?
General forum
Posted on Sept. 13, 2025, 12:41 p.m. by FormOverFunction
I know pauper is a thing, but it seems to leverage the super-amazing uncommons. Do people go the full distance and actually just play with commons? I know there’s Lightning Bolt and all that, but couldn’t there be a format that’s the opposite of pauper’s “once an uncommon always an uncommon” policy? If a card has been printed as a common AND an uncommon (and maybe even rare) maybe those would be excluded. Having a serious hard-line common-only deck could be fun, forcing people to master those basic aspects of the game (attacking / blocking / tricks / etc) and really commit to try interesting angles to make something weird. Would it be too boring?
Agreed. Trying to keep track of every printing would be tedious. I love the idea though—there’s no better feeling than taking junk and shaping it into something useable. I suppose there’s nothing stopping someone from adhering to these stricter rules within Pauper, but if the other player doesn’t then it kind of defeats the idea.
September 13, 2025 5:48 p.m.
I think if you limit everything to stuff that goes through Standard at Common rarity it should be straight forward enough? I think the complications come from allowing all the specialty sets, Standard Commons also seems harder for WotC to accidentally break with some wack Common in a MH type set.
September 14, 2025 10:18 a.m.
FormOverFunction says... #5
I understand, and agree, that it would be a pain to track what common cards get reprinted as uncommon or rare… but don’t people have to do that already with pauper? I basically don’t pay any attention to the ban lists and whatnot for commander, but it’s never an issue because the super high-power stuff isn’t usually themely or whatever. I guess what I’m saying is that ALL of it seems like a chore lol but it’d probably be worth it to me to pay that level of attention if it meant playing an all-commons “make do with what you’ve got” format. 40 card or commander.
September 14, 2025 11:07 a.m.
FormOverFunction The rules for Pauper is that if it's ever been printed at common, and it's not on the ban list, you can use it, and the only way to stop you from using it is banning it.
For your suggestion, let's look at one of my personal favorite bits of jank support, Faithless Looting. All of its prints are common, with four exceptions. One of those is an online-only event reward, two of them are Strixhaven Mythical Archives, and the last one is Secret Lair. None of these use(d) the common rarity, so it's never been upgraded in rarity on power level alone, only as a promotional piece. So it wouldn't be illegal because it's too powerful, it would be illegal because it has a unique and recognizable effect.
Don't get me wrong, brewing with jank is great, and I think a true commons-only format would be interesting to try. But interesting and useful cards tend to get promotional prints outside of common, so the meta would be inherently unstable. I can imagine WotC hypothetically making a tongue-in-cheek Secret Lair with a bunch of Pauper key cards like Writhing Chrysalis, calling it Pauper Power or something and giving them all the gold stamp. Suddenly, a bunch of cards become illegal because of a promotional gag. (It actually took me several tries to find a Pauper meta card that didn't have a higher-than-common print somewhere. They do love their fancy alternates.)
If I throw this comment down the slippery slope into the pits of worst-case scenario, nobody's going to get excited about blocking a Zombie Goliath with a Fortified Rampart.
September 14, 2025 1:23 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #7
legendofa, I’ve got to admit… the idea of putting walls in your deck as an answer to huge creatures like that makes me embarrassingly excited.
September 14, 2025 8:14 p.m.
FormOverFunction It's even better when you make giant-zombie-bumping-into-stone-wall noises as it happens.
legendofa says... #2
The hardest thing here would be keeping track of what's legal. Most common cards only have common prints. But taking this strictly, even the basic lands wouldn't be legal, thanks to promos, Secret Lairs, and other limited edition weirdness that have gold set symbols.
September 13, 2025 2:41 p.m.