In General: Journey Into Nyx Pauper Picks

Hey Zoners! Welcome to another In General. In a rare departure from the norm, I am going to be discussing individual cards in today's article. I don't usually get so nitty-gritty, but I wanted a chance to talk about some of the great new common cards before we concluded our coverage of the new set. So with the preamble behind us, here are a few of my favorite commons from Journey Into Nyx.

Flavor plot twist: This siren is a mute.

Going in roughly alphabetical order here. Cloaked Siren is interesting. Unlike some historical comparables this card has definite upside. Snapping Drake? Psssh. Old hat. This is a much more aggressive card than Nephalia Seakite, but that comes at a cost. This is much less likely to be able to ambush attackers profitably. I see this as a high draft pick in it's block format, but at this point, I am not going to be putting it in my Pauper Cube.

My hand runneth over...with cards!

I am always disappointed when Divination gets reprinted. It isn't...bad, per se, but it certainly isn't great. The real problem though, is that falling back on the default all the time stops innovative new cards like this from getting printed. I am really excited by this card. I am sure it is going to be a popular card in draft and I think it is even capable of making the jump to Standard where there really aren't good two-mana counters. This is a shoe-in for my cube, where I predict it will be making a permanent home.

There is definitely a cup, but I am not sure
you would call this a fountain.

Still on the topic of sweet, succulent card advantage, Font of Return is literally soaked in value. There is no shortage of good graveyard recursion spells in Pauper, but I am considering increasing the size of my cube just so that I can include more sweet cards like this that may otherwise have to get cut for space concerns.

The real question is: can minotaurs tell the
difference between satyrs and themselves?

Flurry of Horns? It's like...font of minotaurs! A 2/3 Haste for 3 is a decent-to-strong common. Getting two at once can threaten lethal amounts of damage. I am going to be giving this a shot in my Pauper cube, but I do have some concerns. Do aggressive decks even have enough lands to reliably cast a five drop? Is this better than just having literally any burn spell? I don't want to include this if it is just a way for slower decks to immediately catch up in the race or clog the board so aggressive decks stall out. If I am going to include a Red threat with Haste, I want it to reinforce aggressive strategies, not neuter them.

I like to think that this lizard is in the
middles of delivering a Wayans bros. style
"WHAAAZZZZZZAAAAAAAPP!"

Anybody could tell you that Red is in desperate need of more card selection at common. This is as welcome a card as I could imagine for its color and cost. It isn't overpowered, it isn't flashy, just rock solid. If they spend removal on this, they have less for your more aggressive/scarier Creatures. If they don't, the Scry is likely to take over the late game. It is unfortunate that this is not a 2/2, as there are almost infinite ways to kill a one-toughness Creature in Pauper.

I have a soft spot for unique cards and make it a point to try and include the widest variety of effects possible in my cube, even when that means compromising slightly on power.  White counterspells, Green card draw, Blue mana accelerators, and now repeatable Red Scry effects.

I am eagerly awaiting the printing of  the
first, Ninja Starfish. Part shuriken. Part sea
life.

About uniqueness...Starfish have it. There just aren't enough of them in the game. They are super cool, although from a flavor perspective, I think they should all regenerate.

This puts the brakes on early aggressive plays and ensures that you will draw into critical lands or removal. That is a heck of a lot of value for a tiny echinoderm.


This is a big-booty for an airborne supply squad. How do they fly with a badonkadonk like that? As a 3/5 for 5, this is the largest White Flier in Pauper. It is also capable of blocking an Errant Ephemeron, the actual largest Flier in the format. That is enough for me. It can easily outclass Plover Knights in size, and that card is a big game in my cube.

That is all for this week folks. Next week we will be off the Journey Into Nyx bandwagon. That means it is back to the old rail road grind for me with a more regular In General next Sunday! See you then, Zoners.