With the release of Modern Horizons 2 and AFR came an update to the Pauper Cube which introduced some great new cards. Since the Pauper Jumpstart Cube is based on the Pauper Cube card-for-card we will always mirror all changes. While some swaps are merely upgrades of existing cards, often times these changes will fulfill very different roles. As such, each time the Pauper Cube, and thus the PJC, is updated we must re-examine the packs to ensure they’re thematically correct.
One aspect of the cube that we’ve been pondering over is the mana base. Players often want 17 lands in a 40 card deck as the difference between 16 and 17 is frequently significant. We thought about mimicking the J21 take on mana bases, separating them from the packs so players can tailor their mana base as needed, but felt at odds with the core concept of Jumpstart in a paper setting – we’re already adding a bit of deckbuilding with the third pack, so we came up with a solution which should work well.
Let’s preface this with the fact that, yes we want the PJC to mimic the experience of The Pauper Cube, but since we’ve already added extra Thriving Lands in each pack, we thought we’d fudge the mana bases a little more. As such, we’re going to add all 10 bounce lands into the cube, increasing the card-count in the dual “guild-packs” from 7-8. This way players have access to 17 lands no matter what combination of packs they choose – 14 from the mono-packs and 3 from the dual packs. This increases the cuts from 7-8 as well, but is a lot less deckbuilding than building a mana base from scratch. Also, it allows us to remove the extra lands from a few packs we thought needed access to an 8th land.
In addition to the PJC updates we’re also going to trimming the page a bit for ease for everyone. Rather than pages linking out to scryfall, we’re going to fall back on using CubeCobra as the main way to provide pack-lists and show updates as it’s far easier than navigating the back button over and over.
With that out of the way here are the updates.
Black – Aristocrats
Out first set of swaps are fairly straightforward. In terms of their base modes, the inclusion of Tragic Fall is a pure upgrade over Vicious Offering. While the kicker for Vicious Offering makes more sense in an Aristocrats pack, Tragic Fall is far more capable of dealing with larger threats in the late game, so keeping this as a one-for-one swap made sense.
The next swap in Aristocrats is the inclusion of a card that embodies the pack’s namesake – Village Rites. This inclusion was a no brainer as it fills the sack outlet that left with Vicious Offering‘s kicker. Rites provides a nice payoff. Sadly, we’re saying goodbye to Fungal Infection which, while great for early game tempo, was often times a dead card in the mid to late game.
Black – ETB (Enters the Battlefield)
Next up is Predatory Nightstalker’s departure in the Black ETB pack. In its place we’re adding in Loathsome Curator, another one-for-one swap from the Cube update. This made sense as Curator’s easier to cast despite being the same mana value and leaves behind a much more threatening body – 5/4 menace makes this a tough card to deal with, especially when it’s removing a blocker. Nightstalker’s edict ETB doesn’t require an additional cost, but in the late game (when you can afford to cast it) edicts are going to hit the weakest creature on the board anyway, so at least Curator’s targeted removal widens the reach of this slot a bit.
Black – Evasion
The cube update provided a fun combat trick in the form of Feign Death which is replacing Thrill-Kill Assassin. This was fine to leave as a one-for-one swap as the Evasion pack already had a fairly high creature density. With the prevalence of Deathtouch in the pack, Feign Death essentially becomes pseudo-hard removal and it’s secondary effect of buffing your creature pairs well with the pack’s various -x/-x interaction.
Blue – Tempo
While none of the cards in Blue’s Tempo pack were removed we decided to make one upgrade since the Cube update gave us a new favorite of ours, Hard Evidence. In terms of Tempo, you’re not going to find a better turn one play. The 0/3 body provides early game protection and the raging clue it leaves behind essentially replaces itself. Additionally, a turn one body that might not to be blocked enables Ninja of the Deep Hours on turn two and, if it survives a bounce, it’s a body for Dreamtail Heron to mutate onto. To make room for it, we’re dropping Shaper Parasite into the reserves pool.
Blue – Flyers
Honestly, there’s not much to say here since the only swap for the Flyers pack is a straight upgrade in our opinion. Yes, flyers are good because of their evasion, but they’re also good because they can block other flyers. Kitesail Corsair being a 2/1 flyer for two is fine, but its inability to block flyers makes it easy to part with. Faerie Duelist’s flash makes this a much more versatile card and a far better blocker with ETB combat trickery at 1/2.
Blue – Bounce
Even though there was only one card leaving the Bounce pack (Rushing River) we felt like this pack needed some reworking. While it certainly represented its namesake well, it needed some additional payoffs for bouncing / blinking your own stuff. As such, we brought Mulldrifter over from the Control pack.
The next update to the Bounce pack pulled cards from the reserve pool (cards in The Pauper Cube, but not assigned to a pack) for some additional payoffs for bouncing and recasting. Pondering Mage is moving into Aethersnipe’s spot and Filigree Familiar is taking the spot of Silent Departure. This rounds out the pack for some payoffs for recasting bounced targets as well as some card draw and selection.
Blue – Control
Control was another pack that had a single card replaced but ended up with some additional adjustments. As we mentioned, Mulldrifter went over to the Bounce pack, so we threw in You Find the Villains’ Lair. This new common is a fantastic addition as a counterspell, but it’s nice to have the option to rummage when you need to find your threats once your shields are up.
Additionally, we replaced Omenspeaker with Preordain since they both serve the same purpose. We feel the additional card draw from Preordain is far better than a 1/3 body in a Control shell and makes up for the loss of Mulldrifter’s card draw.
The last swap for Control is due to Naiad of Hidden Coves leaving for the new card Lose Focus. We kept this as a one-for-one swap as Naiad never really stuck around long enough to be useful since the Control pack’s creatures tend to appear in the mid to late game so it usually was a prime target for removal. We love Lose Focus because it removes the downside as conditional removal in the late game.
Green – Bogles
The exit of Rubbleback Rhino in the Bogles pack wasn’t much of a loss. Having hexproof certainly made it applicable, but being a five drop was just too slow, especially since the pack has a low creature density. In its place we’re adding Bannerhide Krushok. Sure, it doesn’t have hexproof, but the body (even though a 4/4 trample for 4 is great) is it’s secondary mode since it can be used to buff your “Bogle” twice, or play it as a 4/4 trample, then use it as a +4/+4 buff to close out the late game.
Green – Midrange
Fierce Witchstalker’s exit from the cube left us with a fairly diverse slot to fill in midrange. In its place we’re adding Urban Daggertooth which synergizes well with Typhon’s Escape and Nessian Asp’s Monstrous abilities due to its proliferate mechanic which can be triggered with either of the fight cards in the pack. Since we’re low on +1/+1 counters to proliferate with we’re making another swap.
The Midrange pack benefits from creatures being binned, so while Pulse of Murasa made sense, in practice it felt a little slow. Three to bring back a creature you then needed to cast again when so many of your creatures cost 4+ just doesn’t work as well as we’d hoped. It also felt at odds with delve and escape. Instead we’re going to try something a bit spicy with Serrated Arrows since it pairs really well with Urban Daggertooth’s proliferate. Add another -1/-1 counter and reload another arrow each time Daggertooth receives damage or fights? Don’t mind if I do! This is a bit of an experiment since Serrated Arrows isn’t cheap and might end up getting swapped out again. Until then we’re excited to see how often players are able to pull it off.
The last swap is a bit of QOL in utility lands, we’re going to be swapping Evolving Wilds out for Tranquil Thicket since we feel an additional means of cycling into what you need is more important than color fixing in a pack that really excels in mono-colored situations.
Green – Tokens
Saproling Migration is leaving the cube with Deepwood Denizen taking its place. While these two cards certainly do not fill the same role we kept this as a one-for-one swap since Deepwood Denizen pairs so well with the other card sharing its namesake, Ivy Lane Denizen and Phantom Tiger, quickly becoming an extra card for 1-3 mana per turn. Additionally, its vigilance means you don’t have to choose between attacking and its card draw.
Next up is a swap due to the change in mana base since tokens was one of the packs which had 8 lands in it. As we mentioned at the top of the post, we’re adding in an additional land in the “Guild” pack so we’re moving each mono-pack to seven total lands. As such, we decided to throw in Renegade Freighter which should be easy for a token or two to crew to bust through stalled board states.
Green – Ramp
Ramp was another pack that we felt needed some work. We started off with a substitution in the form of Abundant Harvest for Winding Way. These cards are quite similar, but we feel Abundant Harvest fills the role better as it removes the inherent risk that came with a card like Winding Way. Sure the payoff is less with Abundant Harvest, but we’re willing to trade consistency for payoff. Due to the low creature density of the pack, most of the time you’d be choosing land with winding way anyway, and this way if you do go that route, you’re guaranteed at least one because, let’s face it, we’ve all been unlucky at one point or another.
Next up the update replaced Wrecking Beast with Owlbear, the new 5 drop 4/4 trample from AFR. Even though the pack is built around ramping up to large creatures, we agree with The Pauper Cube folks, seven mana is just too much. Owlbear feels a lot more reasonable here and can easily drop turn 3 and the fact that it replaces itself is fantastic.
The last swap is a tweak we made to add a bit more protection. Ramp is great, but it also leaves you open in the early game. Due to the lack of any interaction in the pack, you were often times left at the mercy of evasive creatures. While the pack does have Thornweald Archer stave off early game pressure, it was always a removal target since there were no other creatures on the board besides Wall of Roots. As such, we’re swapping out one wall for another. Sure Wall of Roots had it’s own unique way of adding mana, but felt like Skyclave Sentinel provided much better early game protection avoiding being a dead card in the mid to late game. All in all it felt like a much more versatile inclusion.
Red – Go Wide
The update kicked Mogg Flunkies to the curb, which was a fun inclusion in the Go Wide pack since it was easy to attack with due to the pack’s namesake. In it’s place we’re going to be adding another two drop in the form of the new addition to the cube, Aether Chaser. In many ways, they’re very similar cards in that they’re two drops for essentially 3 power. Chaser’s first strike means it’s going to likely survive early game pressure and it’s additional token certainly fits the theme of the pack.
Red- RDW
Two swaps here. First up is Chandra’s Magmutt leaving the cube. In it’s place we’re adding RDW staple Ghitu Lavarunner for all the reasons you’d expect and none of which we feel we need to state.
The second swap is due to our mana base change. RDW was the only pack in the cube that had 6 lands, so for consistency’s sake we’re adding in a Mountain so all packs have 7 across the board. We decided to drop Staggershock as having a rebound mechanic was nice, but 3 mana for 4 damage over 2 turns was middling enough to drop back into the reserve pool, especially since it’s sometimes at odds with our new Lavarunner as it’s not hitting the graveyard on cast.
Red – Haste
The cube update pulled three cards from the Haste pack, none of which really were . . . well, haste, or haste adjacent. As such, we had to do some reworking with cards from the reserve pool along with our new additions. The first swap for Tuktuk Rubblefort was Dueling Rapier, a new addition to the cube from AFR. We love that WotC is releasing more auto-attach equipment to make them more viable, and the fact that this has flash to boot means it’s going to work well here. Sure the re-equip cost is a bit much, but the fact that it’s an all intents-and-purposes flash aura card that stays on the battlefield is enough.
Next up on the chopping block was Irreverent Revelers. In its place we’re going to be adding some more interaction. Arc Lighting being as versatile as it is should help out with the bane of this packs existence, chump blockers. Or, if needed can close out the game when you just need that small push.
Last up is our replacement for Raging Kronch, which, while fine wasn’t exactly a huge loss here. In it’s place we’re adding a little more interaction to help out our hasty-bois in the form of Quakefoot Cyclops. Sure he’s big and slow, but can help close out games with his ETB or cycling ability when you need to punch through defenders.
White – Flicker/Blink
Even though no cards were removed from the Flicker/Blink pack we still thought it needed some retooling. The first of our swaps involves throwing out Skyscanner, a 1/1 flyer for 3 with a draw ETB with Aven Riftwatcher, a 2/3 flyer at 3. While drawing a card is far better than two life, a 2/3 flyer adds pressure, something sorely lacking from the pack’s original lineup.
Additionally, we’re going to be dropping Prophetic Prism from the pack in favor of Settle Beyond Reality, a late game all-star that pulls double-duty in terms of interaction and value.
White – Prison
Prison lost Blinding Beam in the update so we’re swapping it out for Minimus Containment, a great new addition from AFR that hits any permanent for 3, and since it’s an aura you have two opportunities to tutor it up with Heliod’s Pilgrim and Totem-Guide Hartebeest.
Next up is a swap of our own. We’re going to be dropping Syndic Tithes in favor of more interaction in the form of Pacifism. Syndic, a fine two drop, but usually didn’t stick around long enough to offer much.
Our third swap comes from the mana base change. Prison was one of the eight land cards that’s going down to seven, so we added in Seraph of Dawn. She’s got evasion, she’s got lifelink and a big ol’ butt to boot. This should help apply pressure while controlling the board.
Last up, and yes our fourth change to the Prison pack is another land swap, only this time we’re swapping Secluded Steppes for a basic as the ability cycle should round out this pack nicely.
White – Weenie
The last two swaps in our mono-packs are within the White Weenie pack. We’re losing Call the Cavalry for Priest of Ancient Lore which we felt fine with as a one-to-one swap here. Sure it’s a bit expensive for a Weenie’s pack, but it was needing some sort of card draw.
The last swap is Loyal Cathar for Topan Freeblade. Like the swap before it, this is also a one-for-one swap out of the Pauper Cube’s update. 2/2 Vigilance for 2 is already a solid body, but the possibility of its Renown to make it a 3/3 is very relevant with what this pack is trying to accomplish.
Guild-Packs
Six of the ten guild-packs got a new card or two. Since these are all one-for-one trades there’s not much to talk about here. For a list of what is coming and going out check out the Pauper Cube’s AFR and MH2 update page.
Additionally, as we mentioned at the top, we’ve added all 10 bouncelands to each respective guild-pack to try and solve the 17-lands issue. Sure this means you’re going to need 8 cuts instead of seven for a 40-card deck, but it also allows you to sometimes play 16 lands as your guaranteed a bounceland so one of those cuts can easily be a basic land.
