In this early pre-release window, Edge of Eternities isn’t looking like a super-impactful set for constructed Magic. There are plenty of flashy, flavorful designs in here, but most look too clunky to see real success. There are few safe bets, even among the more expensive rares and mythics. That said, the common rarity is actually eating pretty well here. Edge of Eternities features some of the best new commons for Magic’s Pauper format that we’ve seen in some time.
From infinite combo enablers to powerful new tools for artifact decks, this looks like a set that could genuinely shake up Pauper. Considering how few sets actually manage to do that, this is a pretty promising start. The following are our picks for the commons in the set that are likely to have the biggest impact in the Pauper format.
5 | Perigee Beckoner
- Mana Value: 4B
- Type: Creature – Horror
- Rarity: Common
- Card Text: When this creature enters, until end of turn, another target creature you control gets +2/+0 and gains “When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner’s control.”
Warp 1B (You may cast this card from your hand for its Warp cost. Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.)- Stats: 4/5
Infinite combos in Magic: The Gathering, while maybe rare at one point, are fairly common nowadays. Heck, Edge of Eternities enables quite a few of them itself. That said, these combos tend to require higher-rarity cards, and therefore lie outside the remit of Pauper. With Perigee Beckoner, however, Pauper gets its first new infinite combo since Basking Broodscale.
With a sacrifice outlet in play and two copies of Beckoner in hand, you can execute the combo. Simply cast one Beckoner, cast the other targeting the first one, then sacrifice the first one. It’ll return due to the dies trigger, and you can target the second one with the ability. Rinse and repeat for infinite enters and dies triggers, as well as infinite benefits from your chosen outlet.
You can round this combo out in a number of ways. You can use Carrion Feeder as the outlet, build up infinite power, then Fling it for the win. Alternatively, you can use Ashnod’s Altar, generate infinite colorless mana, and funnel it into something like Valakut Invoker to burn your opponent out.
Both of these lines seem fairly clunky, but the individual pieces are reasonable enough to play on their own, so it could be the real deal. Any time Pauper gets access to a new combo like this, it’s worth taking note.
4 | Melded Moxite
- Mana Value: 1R
- Type: Artifact
- Rarity: Common
- Card Text: When this artifact enters, you may discard a card. If you do, draw two cards.
3, Sacrifice this artifact: Create a tapped 2/2 colorless Robot artifact creature token.
For the longest time, Pauper has been a format defined by its artifacts. Between straight-up Affinity decks and those that just relied on powerful artifact synergy cards, the type is well-represented to say the least. Even after both Deadly Dispute and Kuldotha Rebirth caught the ban hammer back in March, plenty of the format’s top decks are still artifact-centric.
In such a world, Melded Moxite is an absolute slam-dunk. It’s like a Grab the Prize or Highway Robbery that also leaves behind an artifact for you to leverage later. Both of these cards see regular Pauper play already, and this feels like a considerable upgrade. In fact, it feels a lot like the just-banned Deadly Dispute in a way.
If that was all the card did, it’d already be worth considering, but it actually has more upside. If you don’t have any artifact sacrifice synergies to hand, you can always sacrifice it to its own ability and flash in a 2/2 for three. The rate here isn’t amazing, but it’s much better than nothing. Melded Moxite is easily one of the best new Edge of Eternities commons for Pauper, and should see play everywhere from Jund Wildfire to Grixis Affinity.
3 | Illvoi Galeblade
- Mana Value: U
- Type: Creature – Jellyfish Warrior
- Rarity: Common
- Card Text: Flash.
Flying.
2, Sacrifice this creature: Draw a card.- Stats: 1/1
One of the most consistent non-artifact decks in Pauper is Mono-Blue Faeries. Relying mainly on the sheer power of Spellstutter Sprite and Ninja of the Deep Hours as tempo tools, this has long been a strategy that bobs between tier one and two. In Illvoi Galeblade, it gets one of the best upgrades it’s had in a while.
The deck already plays a ton of one-mana Flash creatures, to hold up alongside countermagic. Most of these are underwhelming combat manipulators, like Brinebarrow Intruder or Humbling Elder. Galeblade offers a much more exciting option. Not only does it fly, which lets it serve as an activator for Ninja of the Deep Hours, but it can also cash itself in for a card at instant speed. In a deck that always wants to be holding up mana, this is a huge advantage.
There’s an argument that Galeblade, as a non-Human creature, is worse than the alternatives above because it doesn’t help cast Of One Mind. On the other hand, it’s much more proactive and draws a card itself, so it balances out. I expect Mono-Blue Faeries to test this card at the very least, and I won’t be surprised at all if it earns staple status there soon.
2 | Temporal Intervention
- Mana Value: 2B
- Type: Sorcery
- Rarity: Common
- Card Text: Void — This spell costs 2 less to cast if a nonland permanent left the battlefield this turn or a spell was warped this turn.
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
Thoughtseize is a truly legendary Magic: The Gathering card, seeing play in pretty much every format at one point or another. It’s the gold standard for discard spells, and it’s pretty much never been bettered, even at high rarities. In Temporal Intervention, Wizards has brought Thoughtseize to Pauper, albeit with a pretty sizable asterisk attached.
In order to use this card as a Thoughtseize, you need to trigger Void. This means you need to have a nonland permanent leave play, or Warp a card. The former is much more likely, especially given all the artifact sacrifice that still goes on in the format. On turn two, you can drop an Ichor Wellspring, then on three use Fanatical Offering to cash it in, and follow up with a one-mana Intervention.
There are enablers for this card in most of the top black decks in the format, from Madness Burn to Jund Wildfire. If you can discount it consistently, this is the best discard spell Pauper has ever seen. It’s actually better than Thoughtseize in that case, since you don’t lose two life. Whether that’ll happen enough to earn the card permanent slots remains to be seen, but it’s definitely an exciting prospect.
1 | Cryogen Relic
- Mana Value: 1U
- Type: Artifact
- Rarity: Common
- Card Text: When this artifact enters or leaves the battlefield, draw a card.
1U, Sacrifice this artifact: Put a stun counter on up to one target tapped creature. (If a permanent with a stun counter would become untapped, remove one from it instead.)
Anyone who knows Pauper at all will have seen this pick coming a mile away. As we mentioned above, it’s a format drenched in artifact synergies. Melded Moxite, despite being a mediocre rummage card, is likely good enough to see play just because it’s an artifact. By the same logic, Cryogen Relic is all but guaranteed to become a new format staple.
For starters, this is just copies five through eight of Ichor Wellspring. Two mana for an artifact that draws on the way in and out is good enough to see play in 20% of Pauper decks, and you get the same deal with Relic. In exchange for the blue pip in the cost, you also get a built-in way to sacrifice it. Like Moxite, if you don’t have another outlet, you can use this to draw a card and lock down an opposing tapped creature.
This is an easy add to Grixis Affinity, and may even warrant a blue splash in other artifact-focused decks too. It also has generic potential in other blue decks, as a reasonable draw piece that interacts nicely with self-bounce. As a near-objective upgrade to one of the most-played cards in the format, Cryogen Relic is an easy pick for the best of the new Edge of Eternities commons for Pauper.