28th March 2017

Hail Duellers!

To celebrate the successful launch of Modern Masters 2017, Dueller's Point (DP) is organising a series of weekend events with an inviting entry fee. Now, for just S$2, you get a free drink, an opportunity to play Magic and, if you win three matches, a pack of Modern Masters 2017! Just like that, no questions asked.

Now, what format would be utilised in these events? After some deliberation, we at DP have decided on what might be the cheapest format in Magic -- Standard Pauper. That's right, Standard Pauper represents a format where financial considerations take a back seat. It is a format where there is virtually no cost of entry; you can scavenge every card in your deck from your friends or LGS. In Standard Pauper, every card in your deck (including your sideboard) needs to be printed at the Common level in any Standard-legal set. At the time of writing this article, the Standard-legal sets are: Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Shadows over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, all Planeswalker Decks, and the free Welcome Decks of 2016. When Amonkhet gets released next month, it'll become Standard-legal as well and will add more cards to this format. The free Amonkhet Welcome Decks for 2017 will also become legal for Standard.

So why Standard Pauper? Well, we want to spread the joy of Magic in the most economic way imaginable. By gifting a pack of Modern Masters 2017 to the grand winner of our weekly event, we create a gateway to the Standard or Modern formats. Modern Masters 2017 (MM3) contains plenty of valuable staples for the Modern format but if you wish you can trade the cards you win for Standard mainstays.

The Standard Pauper events will be held at DP on Saturdays, 3pm. The very first one will take place on 1st April. Many of us would be free on a Saturday, and would have no qualms playing a friendly game of Magic with our friends. The chance to win a pack of MM3 is just gravy.

The large number of sets currently available in Standard allows a large pool of Commons to be selected. Brewers will not be disappointed. But in case you need inspiration for deck ideas, below are some guidelines:

Standard Pauper is a creature-intensive format. Most of your battles are won by beating face. Of course, with Kaladesh we now have access to Vehicles that are crewed to beat face too.

Generally, the more value you can generate from your card choices (in terms of advancing your boardstate or achieving synergy), the higher chance you will get in winning.

Not all two-colour combinations are represented by dual-coloured taplands printed at Common in Planeswalker Decks. If you need to fix your mana, consider using the more ubiquitous Evolving Wilds or the more exotic lands found in Oath of the Gatewatch, such as Holdout Settlement or Crumbling Vestige.

If you still need help, you can consult the winning decks at PDCMagic.com (http://pdcmagic.com/). But take note, the participants of this website follow another ruleset. They allow for any cards that have been printed at Common rarity at least once. In contrast, we only allow for cards that are printed at the Common rarity in Standard-legal sets. Therefore, a card like Grasp in Darkness that was printed as Common in Scars of Mirrodin and reprinted as Uncommon in Oath of the Gatewatch will not be allowed in our events. This distinction should be noted.

We hope to see you this upcoming Saturday. Come duel, have fun and who knows, maybe you'll walk away with a foil Liliana of the Veil.