Last updated on September 4, 2026
Chrome Mox | Illustration by MSCHF
Earlier today, Gavin Verhey announced, on behalf of the entire Pauper format panel team, that they will be reversing a previous decision on the new Zeta Secret Lair set that resulted in cards receiving a first-time common printing not being legal in Pauper.
This means that all cards printed at common in Zeta set will be treated as having an official common printing, making them legal in pauper.
“Today, we are making these cards legal in Pauper (with a few notes). You may have heard differently in the past, and this is a change from what was said previously,” Verhey said. “These cards will be legal for tournament play effective Monday, September 7.”
The full list of Zeta set cards receiving common printings and being moved to legal in pauper are:
- Narcomoeba (Now immediately getting banned)
- Price of Progress (Now immediately getting banned)
- Dispatch
- Serra Angel
- An Offer You Can't Refuse
- Cut Down
- Sengir Vampire
- Vandalblast
- Gigantosaurus
- Baleful Strix
- Soul-Guide Lantern
Card-By-Card Impact
Big Additions: Vandalblast, Return to Dust, Cut Down, Dispatch, and An Offer You Can't Refuse
Return to Dust and Vandalblast feel like overkill against Affinity, but their presence may open the door to unbanning other cards. Cut Down is also fine, although I personally dislike it because it continues the trend of pushing true aggro decks like Mono-Green Stompy out of the format due to the amount of efficient removal already available.
In a Monastery Swiftspear meta, I would have loved this card because we needed another one-mana removal spell besides Lightning Bolt to answer it. In the current meta, however, it is merely a decent but otherwise unremarkable inclusion.
The same goes for Dispatch, although it now gives Mono-White Brute Squad decks a strong removal spell if players want to revisit the archetype after the All That Glitters ban. An Offer You Can't Refuse is fine, but mostly for dedicated combo decks. High Tide would probably have loved it, but in the current format, only pseudo-Storm decks such as Poison Storm are likely to run it.
Watchlist: Baleful Strix
Baleful Strix is worse than Sneaky Snacker in some ways, but it could see plenty of play in Ninja decks. That said, the sequence of turn-two Strix into turn-three Ninja might already be too slow for Pauper, and the card is definitely not so good against Burn.
Still, it can shut down a huge Writhing Chrysalis, Boarding Party, or even the scariest Ulamog’s Crusher. I would be happy to see it support other archetypes such as Dimir Control or even Grixis Affinity. However, with all the new artifact hate entering the format, Grixis Affinity will face more hate than ever, which may shut down any attempt by the archetype to resurge.
Probably Nothing: Serra Angel, Gigantosaurus, Sengir Vampire, and Soul-Guide Lantern
Pauper is a fast format, and we are far beyond the point where these expensive creatures can meaningfully affect the meta. Maybe Gigantosaurus could appear in Elves or something similar, but Pauper Elves doesn’t play that way. Even if it did, Sneaky Snacker could chump-block Gigantosaurus every turn.
The same applies to Cauldron Familiar and nearly every other creature that can easily return to the battlefield. Soul-Guide Lantern is whatever. Relic of Progenitus and the zero-mana options are better graveyard hate cards, but if you are looking for a fifth Relic, this is your go-to option.
Maybe it could help against Spy decks, but I would still rather play Faerie Macabre to exile cards from the graveyard.
Pauper Card Analysis by David Royale
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