Pauper Commander

An Introduction to Pauper Commander

Chev Eldrid

10 Jun 2021 - 5 min read

At the Hexdrinkers, we’re always looking for new ways to innovate and provide interesting and unique takes on MTG’s growing conglomerate of formats, sets, philosophy, and place in popular culture. So after a year doing this whole content thing with a heavy focus on Commander with our weekly podcast, and Julian’s insight and deck techs for the more standard-focused crowd, we want to offer more.

More formats, more forms of media, more anything to continue to push ourselves, and as Julian usually puts it “level up our game and yours.” That’s why we decided to push into formats that don’t get quite the same attention or limelight as the heavy hitters. Formats that have their own equally engaged and devoted fanbases that just aren’t the direct targets for a lot of set innovation, similar to Commander some 8-10 years ago… and speaking of Commander, that’s the family in which our first new featured format resides:

Ladies and gents, we’re getting into Pauper EDH.

You might remember our first foray into the format way way back in Episode 2 (excuse the audio quality), and behind the scenes it’s something that a few of us have been very excitedly experimenting with ever since (personally, I cannot wait to share this sweet Shirei deck I’ve been brewing these last couple weeks…). But maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves. While I’m sure the majority of our readers have heard of pauper, have certainly heard of EDH, and can probably put together what the combination might be:

What is Pauper EDH?

Pauper EDH (PDH) is a commander variant where your commander can be any uncommon in the history of magic, and the 99 must be cards that have all been printed at common at one point or another. It’s a super fun take on Magic’s premier format that really maintains the jank and innovation of everyones’ early days around a kitchen table, when any new booster could yield just the piece you need to complete a deck. Since every card has to be a common, you lose a lot of the busted abilities and effects that continue to push regular edh forward in favor of more nuanced or unique concoctions. No cyclonic rifts, no Pacts of Negation, no Necropotence…there’s a lot more room for originality since each card has a much smaller effect on the deck as a whole.

Honestly some of the most fun I’ve had deck building in recent weeks has been for PDH builds I plan to highlight in this series: where you’re actually digging to find enough cards to FILL a deck meaning just around the corner you might find the perfect piece of tech printed as a random equipment in Ixalan (looking at you [[Prying Blade]]). It’s a lot of fun, and I recommend it to anyone who loves Commander. Oh, and did I mention how CHEAP these decks can be to assemble? Budget readers take note, this format is perfect for those who are looking to spend their time digging through the draft chaff boxes or scoop up what’s left behind after an FNM.

For an in-depth primer and further rules info, check out what the PDH rules committee have to say over at pdhhomebase. These guys are the real deal, forming an RC with members of both the casual and growing competitive (cPDH) community to better serve both groups of PDH fans. We even saw our first B&R last month!

There’s also a thriving community of PDH brewers over on reddit who continue to find new and terrifying ways to use and abuse all cardboard printed with a black set symbol. Our goal here at Hexdrinkers is to complement these existing mediums with weekly content you’d find for any of the larger formats on any of the larger sites. We want to showcase PDH for the unique jank that it is and highlight it going forward. To start, I’ll be the main voice of the initiative - but I’m sure we’ll hear from the whole gang sooner or later. So relax, kick back, and enjoy some premier PDH content!

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