The Ultimate Guide to Pauper on MTG Arena

Last updated on March 19, 2026

No Escape | Illustration by G-host Lee

We cover quite a few different formats in Magic, from Alchemy to Historic. MTG Arena has a limited number of options to choose from. Not all formats are as supported as others with sponsored tournaments and official events, but if you’ve got a collection, you have cards that might never have been played before.

If you’re looking for a new format without the rare and mythic cards, then this format is for you!

What is Arena Pauper?

Ethereal Armor | Illustration by Tyler Walpole

Arena Pauper is a constructed format in which you play with only commons on Arena. You brew decks with the same deck-building rules as most other constructed formats: a minimum 60-card deck with no maximum size, a 15-card sideboard if it’s needed, and up to four copies of individual cards except for basic lands.

Who Is Arena Pauper For?

Pauper on Arena is perfect for players that are low on wildcards or want to play without mythics, rares, and uncommons. The format is a deckbuilding challenge that excludes many of the most complicated cards and maintains a competitive nature. If you want to get more competitive on MTG Arena, this is a great place to insert yourself since you can craft your most needed cards easier than in other formats.

Does Pauper Include Uncommon Cards?

Uncommon cards are not allowed in Pauper. If a card exists on Arena as a common, then it's legal.

Take Ashnod's Altar as an example: It was first printed at common and is legal in paper pauper but since it exists on Arena only as a rare, it is not legal in Historic Pauper.

That’s about all there is to it. The gameplay is the same, deck building is the same, it’s just the legality of common-only cards that you need to keep in mind. It’s pretty straightforward, really. If you take another step you reach the Arena-only format, Artisan which lets you play exclusively with commons and uncommons.

Pauper Rules and Regulations

Celestial Regulator | Illustration by Mathias Kollros

Pauper as a format has had a bit of a rough ride, as Wizards did not release official rulings or a ban list before the creation of the Pauper Format Panel in January 2022.

Is There a Pauper Card Pool Rotation In MTG Arena?

No, Historic Pauper on Arena does not rotate but Standard Pauper follows the Standard-legal card pool and rotates annually.

Historic Pauper grows with every set added to MTG Arena. Let’s step aside from the card pool and dive into the cards you can’t use.

The Arena Pauper Banlist

Here are the handful of cards that are banned in Pauper (and therefore also banned in MTGA for this format), their common-ness be damned:

• Aarakocra Sneak
• All That Glitters
• Arcum's Astrolabe
• Atog
• Bonder's Ornament
• Chatterstorm
• Cloud of Faeries
• Cloudpost
• Cranial Plating
• Cranial Ram
• Daze
• Disciple of the Vault
• Empty the Warrens
• Fall from Favor
• Frantic Search
• Galvanic Relay
• Gitaxian Probe
• Grapeshot
• Gush
• High Tide
• Hymn to Tourach
• Invigorate
• Monastery Swiftspear
• Mystic Sanctuary
• Peregrine Drake
• Prophetic Prism
• Sinkhole
• Sojourner's Companion
• Stirring Bard
• Temporal Fissure
• Treasure Cruise
• Underdark Explorer
• Vicious Battlerager

The Popularity of Pauper

Beloved Princess | Illustration by Howard Lyon

The pull to the Pauper format is simple. As we mentioned above, it allows you to play Magic without breaking the bank, so to speak. By restricting legal cards to only those at common, it is much easier to get your hands on cards to play. It also means that your opponent won’t have any advantages if they’re able to spend countless amounts of cash or gems on the best and rarest cards.

Beyond collecting cards, wildcards are the go-to way to get specific cards you need. To earn common wildcards is nearly passive for casual players, and I've never heard of anyone having a shortage of them. Pauper is a particularly affordable format. You avoid the need to acquire mythic and rare wildcards, which typically require you to spend money on Arena's packs or to win a lot of events.

I’d say Pauper is a bit of an equalizer, and one of the best formats to learn the ropes of Magic. If you’re a new player, you don't go up against any crazy mythic rares or loads of game changers that aren’t banned for whatever reason. By the way, the only Commander game changers you'll see in Pauper are Crop Rotation and Rhystic Study. Even the worst mythics have complexity and power way above the best commons. It also means that you need to get creative in building decks with lots of synergy (and perhaps some unique win conditions).

This is also the only format that cares about rarity, and that’s pretty cool. It’s a unique identifier of the popular format and the benchmark for any formats that claim to care about rarity.

MTG Arena Pauper Events

Tournament Grounds | Illustration by Cristi Balanescu

It might surprise you to know that there are some Pauper events on MTG Arena. But, there’s a twist.

Because MTGA only has sets starting from Ixalan, it can’t have a true Pauper event like MTGO or tabletop Magic. A whole heck of a lot of the cards just don’t exist on the client, and so they can’t be used. Remastered sets continue to be added and Standard rotates so you're left with two versions that MTGA can use: Historic Pauper and Standard Pauper, but they're not regular events.

If you play Arena outside of the weekends, Midweek Magic events occasionally feature Pauper for low-stakes fun.

Persistent Petitioners

Also, all of MTG Arena’s Pauper events banned Persistent Petitioners, as it was causing a bit of a kerfuffle since you can have any number of them in your deck (per the card's rules text). It may be noteworthy to point out that although it was banned in MTGA’s Pauper events, Persistent Petitioners has not made it onto the format’s official ban list.

Beyond that and the limited card pool available to players, the rest of the rules were the same.

C'Mon Back Soon

Avatar Enthusiasts | Illustration by Leanna Crossan

So hold onto those rare and mythic wildcards, and put the draft chaff and common wildcards to good use. Pauper places less emphasis on card quality and more on how they work together and how you play the deck. Playing Pauper is a great reason to put Arena Tutor to use and get more stats on your games.

I love the consistency of easily crafting playsets of commons and I think of my favorite vertical card cycles, and I get great satisfaction when I play cards that didn't cost a fortune and beat all-star decks. Have fun playing Magic cards I thought I’d never play. Be sure to comment what you hate about expensive and rare cards, and share a little rant on Draftsim's Discord.