Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
Diagnosis: So, Gates are actually a thing in Pauper, with both (approximately) Azorius and Naya versions seeing tier 2 play. You'ld think there aren't that many payoffs, with many incentives for running gates appearing at uncommon. You'ld be looking at the list and seeing only a copy or two of
Saruli Gatekeepers and some
Gatecreeper Vines. The Azorius version doesn't even run any gate payoffs at first blush...
Diagnosis: Until you look at the land section and see this one colorless gate that presents repeatable pump, targeting annoyingly hard to block creatures like
Guardian of the Guildpact. Together these form a fun little land package that enabled a few new decks to emerge on the back of a different kind of mana base!
Diagnosis: Yup... the gates deck runs this one too.
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Diagnosis: This land is strictly inferior to the
gates from CLB an the
thriving lands from Jumpstart, so there's no reason to run this ever. This is, in fact, a rather rare case of a useless common land! How rare? You'ld be surprised!
Modern Horizons 2
Diagnosis: Just like the original artifact lands, these see a lot of play. Losing etb'ing untapped, but fixing your mana is a fair trade-off, and being indestructible is just sugar on top with a card like
Gorilla Shaman being a sideboard staple in the format. Great lands!
Strixhaven: School of Mages
Diagnosis: The campuses (campi? camposi?
) aren't hugely relevant, but do sometimes see play. They're roleplayers in decks that tend to prolong the game, like Orzhov Midrange decks or the
Turbo Fog deck.
Diagnosis: Archway Commons, on the other hand, isn't a card that sees much play. Some tried it, but I don't believe it's gaining much traction. We're at a stage in the Pauper format where fixing your mana simply isn't that hard anymore, so the value of a rainbow land is lessened, let alone one that asks you to pay mana when it etb's.
Kaldheim
Diagnosis: Typed duals are the bomb! Like Kirblinx already said, there are blue decks splashing black on the back of both UB duals, giving them reliable access to both
Counterspell and
Snuff Out. The snow subtype isn't hugely relevant for every deck, but
Skred is a card that still sees play and doesn't mind the supertype at all. Very good duals!
Diagnosis: The Vale does have the snow subtype, but generally you're better off playing a fetchland for a basic snow land, so there's no real reason to play this.
Jumpstart
Diagnosis: A weird little cycle that doesn't look like it offers a big benefit over stuff like the campuses or the typed duals, but... Slivers! This old tribal favorite has a
core, but splashes red and sometimes blue, and routinely includes thriving lands to fix for whatever splash color they're missing.
Throne of Eldraine
Diagnosis: Mystic Sanctuary, the blue member of this cycle, was so powerful it had to be banned, so... yeah, I think we can conclude this cycle at least contributed to the format. The white and black members of this cycle still see play in their respective mono color decks, so that's 3 out of 5 that were or are relevant to Pauper. Not bad!
Modern Horizons
Diagnosis: Has since been supplanted by
Crystal Grotto in Tron, but this was a legit addition at the time. It still sees a little bit of play, but is definitely less relevant than it used to be.
Guilds of Ravnica
Diagnosis: Not even good enough for the gate deck, because having to pay mana to keep your land when you play it is
really bad. So, another stinker.
Hour of Devastation
Diagnosis: We have better cycling lands available, and a desert matters deck never took off, so this cycle sadly sees almost no play.
Diagnosis: Weirdly enough, this one does see play, as a one-off in the high tier 2 Defender Combo deck. Also, Slivers again saves a weird common land from not seeing play, with many opting to include a few encampments in their list in an effort to splash greedily.
Amonkhet
Diagnosis: I'ld fold
this card on the small blind. Next hand please!
Diagnosis: Accursed indeed, judging by the number of decks that play this card.
Diagnosis: Ok, can we just agree that the Amonkhet lands all were a dud for Pauper, considering that a desert deck never took off? This is one of those sets that
was cool to draft, requiring a specific setup of lands that just never translated to constructed.
Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, and Amonkhet
Diagnosis: This cycle saw print in preconstructed decks, I believe, over a period of three sets. None of these are offering anything other options didn't already offer. The Amonkhet curse strikes yet again! (And these non-deserts weren't even in the main set!)
Commander 2016
Diagnosis: Ash Barrens, on the other hand, is a hot cycling card! This still sees play in various decks, whenever they need a filler fixer but don't want their fixers to etb tapped in the late game. This card sees play in such a wide variety of decks, that I wouldn't mind calling it a staple.
Shadows over Innistrad
Diagnosis: Not a single player dared to put this into their deck over the past weeks. It's strange how Ash Barrens and this saw print back to back with how much weaker Warped Landscape is!
Oath of the Gatewatch
Diagnosis: Survivors' Encampment is a functional reprint, considering that the desert subtype isn't doing anything in pauper, so see that card's diagnosis.
Diagnosis: Incredibly, the player GustShaman piloted a
Bogles deck to first place a couple of times over the past six months, playing three copies of this. I'm guessing that their four copies of
Abundant Growth make Crumbling Vestige play like a
Savannah much of the time, which contextually makes it the best dual in the format available to them!
Battle for Zendikar
Diagnosis: Mortuary Mire is the only one of this cycle to see play, but it's a mainstay in UWx familiar decks, amongst others, mostly as a one-off (after all, bouncelands let you reuse those). Not the most succesful cycle, but with one very useful member.
Khans of Tarkir
Diagnosis: The gainlands! In a world where mono red is the boogey-man, every point of life gained is one step closer to survival, so these definitely have their use. There was a time when these were all over the format, but more recent options have definitely diversified the mana bases in Pauper, and the gainlands are not as ubiquitous as they once were. Still really solid though!
Magic 2015
Diagnosis: You know what's more efficient than gaining 1 life off of a land? That's right, gaining 2! While no deck wants to run 4, as far as I'm aware, there are plenty of decks including one or two copies of this card as part of their arsenal to combat mono red.
Theros
Diagnosis: I mean, we're almost a decade into the past by now, and this card has been thoroughly power crept twice by now.
Cave of Temptation and
Crystal Grotto have made Unknown Shores utterly superfluous.
Gatecrash and Return to Ravnica
Diagnosis: Once upon a time these fueled
Saruli Gatekeepers and other lower tier strategies. It's cruel that they printed
Basilisk Gate in the same set as the
Citadel Gate cycle, because that cycle is simply a strict upgrade over locked in duals. That said, Azorius Gates often runs few enough colors that it can still make room for a couple of
Azorius Guildgates, so at least one card in this cycle remains relevant!
Diagnosis: See, they kept trying to improve on this design, but they're just bad, and paying mana for your lands will keep being bad unless they include an upside much larger than being able to tap for any color.
Avacyn Restored
Diagnosis: Just because someone took an angel deck with four of these to a Pauper tournament once doesn't make this a played card, right? Unless angel tribal ever becomes viable in Pauper, I don't see this gaining much traction. There's some playable and even good angels already out there though, so who knows!
Dark Ascension
Diagnosis: The random aspect of this makes it a bit shaky, but still, it's card advantage on a land, and what other deck to take advantage of that than Tron? Only the green versions though!
Master's Edition IV
Diagnosis: Weirdly enough, no one wants to play lands that don't tap for mana, apparently. Who would have guessed?
Scars of Mirrodin
Diagnosis: Ok, this sees zero play, nowadays, but back when
Cloudpost was still legal this was everywhere, so still a good land.
Rise of the Eldrazi
Diagnosis: There are still cards that play this, though most of them should switch to the
Streets of New Capenna fetches. For the longest time, this was a staple though, so I'ld still classify it as relevant.
Worldwake
Diagnosis: Bojuka Bog is a staple, and Khalni Garden sees some play as well, but the others seem lost to memory.
Diagnosis: I remember playing Quicksand, in Peasant even, but that was long ago. Nowadays it hardly sees any play anymore.
Zendikar
Diagnosis: The stayer in this cycle turned out to be
Kabira Crossroads. Much like
Radiant Fountain, the 2 life helps you in staying alive. I remember Teetering Peaks seeing play in aggressive red decks to push through extra damage, but with the increased speed of those decks, and the quality of the format in general, mono red decks want their sources to etb untapped nowadays.
Conflux
Diagnosis: This is all your fault Rupture Spire. You are officially the common land with the most unnecessary functional reprins. Three! (Even if one of those is a gate...) Three! Get out of here Spire!
Shards of Alara
Diagnosis: These haven't aged well. Oh well.
Lorwyn
Diagnosis: Like
Unkown Shores after it, this has been power crept out of the equation.
Dissension, Guildpact, and Ravnica: City of Guilds
Diagnosis: The original bouncelands are still relevant after all these years. Great cards, I don't think I need to explain why.
Time Spiral
Diagnosis: The original
Evolving Wilds, and much like it, it should be replaced by the Streets of Capenna fetches.
Darksteel
Diagnosis: Affinity staple, though less necessary now that the bridges have been printed.
Mirrodin
Diagnosis: Multiple tier 1 decks run artifact lands. Of course there is the Affinity deck, but cards like
Kuldotha Rebirth,
Deadly Dispute, and
Glint Hawk keep these relevant for other decks as well. On top of their premium double card type, they even enter the battlefield untapped, making them true S-tier staples in my mind.
Onslaught
Diagnosis: The best cycle lands (out of three cycles) because they are the cheapest to cycle. The green and blue one aren't really popular, but the rest see a bunch of play.
Odyssey
Diagnosis: Reeeee! These are just bad.
Invasion
Diagnosis: Not much play remained for these, but these offer an explosive amount of mana. I think for Pauper we're just short of enough spells to abuse these, and consequently these were more popular in Peasant.
Mercadian Masques
Diagnosis: These directly enabled the initiative deck that got banned into oblivion, so I'ld say, yes, these are powerful in the right shell.
Urza's Saga
Diagnosis: While the Onslaught cyclers are the best, that doesn't mean these don't see play. The biggest upside of this particular cycle is that they cycle for colorless mana! That means Tron decks can often make room for one or two of these to round out the mana base.
Antiquities
Diagnosis: An entire tier 1 deck is based on these three, so easy S-tier staples.
Arabian Nights
Diagnosis: I might have mentioned before that deserts never really took off, despite WotC trying their hardest in Amonkhet block. You might be surprised to learn that the oldest desert does see play though, as they're a staple in
Turbo Fog!
Alpha
Diagnosis: These need no introduction. Having your colored mana sources enter the battlefield untapped remains one of the best upsides in Magic, and the basic land type means you get to run as many as you want. Very cool benefits that make sure these beauties will be relevant for years to come.
