Pauper Cube Guide: Commons Only, Full Depth

A pauper cube is a cube where every card has been printed at common at least once. That single rule removes nearly every bomb, most of the planeswalkers, and all of the fast mana, and leaves a format where games are decided by sequencing, combat, and card selection. It is the second cube most owners build, and for a lot of groups it becomes the first one they reach for.

We have already compared pauper to vintage cube and covered who each suits. This article is the construction guide: how to split the sections, which ten decks to support, the commons that anchor each, and the places where the commons-only rule needs a conscious decision rather than a reflex.

What counts as a common?

The standard rule is “printed at common in any set, paper or Magic Online,” checked against the card’s printing history rather than its rarity in the set you own it from. That matters more than it sounds:

• Counterspell, Lightning Bolt, Savannah Lions, and Rancor are all legal because they were commons once. The Pauper Cube’s own site names those four as the kind of cherished card the rarity rule lets in.
• Battle Screech (uncommon in Judgment, later common in Commander Masters), Exhume (Urza’s Saga common), and Pestilence (common since Alpha) are legal and strong.
• Cards that were common only on Magic Online or Arena (the Vintage Masters and Tempest Remastered downshifts, Arena-only commons) split the community. Most paper pauper cubes allow MTGO commons, which is also the constructed Pauper format’s rule. Pick one standard and write it down in the primer.

Scryfall’s search handles this in one query: r:common game:paper for paper commons, or f:pauper for the Pauper format’s legality, depending on which standard you chose.

How big should a pauper cube be, and how is it split?

The best-known list is The Pauper Cube, originally created by Adam Styborski in 2008 and maintained by a small team since 2019, and its own site admits the current list is large enough to be a chore to acquire. Its CubeCobra list sits at 450 cards. For a group that drafts eight at a time, 360 or 450 is the right first build; 540 is for groups that draft often enough to want the variance.

Section counts are a house guideline, not a standard, but these are what we would start from for an archetype-driven pauper cube:

Pauper cubes skew toward creatures more than powered cubes do, because common removal is good and common card advantage is slow. Aim for about 55 to 60 percent creatures in each color’s section; the aggressive colors (white, red) go higher.

What are the ten archetypes, and what anchors them?

The commons-only pool supports the standard ten-pair structure well, and most public pauper cubes land on some version of this. Most pauper cubes fill the ten pairs something like this:

• White-Blue flicker. Kor Skyfisher, Mulldrifter, Mnemonic Wall, Ephemerate, Ghostly Flicker. The deepest and most popular pauper archetype; it is the format’s “value” deck.
• Blue-Black control. Chainer’s Edict, Counterspell, Compulsive Research, Gurmag Angler, Pestilence as a finisher. Wins late.
• Black-Red sacrifice. Carrion Feeder, Deadly Dispute, Blood Fountain, Fireblast as reach, Village Rites. Aristocrats with real card flow since Deadly Dispute’s printing.
• Red-Green monsters. Mother Bear, Annoyed Altisaur, Fanatical Firebrand to Boarding Party ramp. Curve-out midrange that tops at four or five.
• Green-White counters and tokens. Travel Preparations, Battle Screech, Raise the Alarm, Rancor, Basking Broodscale. Goes wide, then pumps.
• White-Black midrange. Chainer’s Edict and Journey to Nowhere on one side, Thraben Inspector and Kor Skyfisher on the other. Removal-plus-bodies.
• Black-Green recursion. Gravedigger, Evolution Witness, Wasteful Harvest, Grapple with the Past. Grinds with the graveyard.
• Green-Blue tempo. Ninja of the Deep Hours, Faerie Miscreant, Vapor Snag, Quirion Ranger. Cheap evasive bodies and bounce.
• Blue-Red spells. Kiln Fiend, Firebrand Archer, Preordain, Ponder, Lightning Bolt, Skred. Counter-burn or prowess, depending on the cube.
• Red-White aggro. Savannah Lions, Goblin Bushwhacker, Rally the Peasants, Thraben Inspector, Fireblast. The deck that keeps every other deck honest.

Each pair needs two or three gold signposts a drafter can read at a glance. Kathari Bomber, Agony Warp, Wee Dragonauts, and Armadillo Cloak were all common and each points at exactly one lane. Lightning Helix, exactly the kind of card you want, has only ever been uncommon or rare and stays out. Audit the gold section against your lanes and cut anything that does not point at one.

If this is useful, the newsletter sends more like it.

How much removal, and which commons?

Common removal is the best thing about the format. It is cheap, varied, and conditional enough that creatures still matter. A 360 wants about 40 to 45 removal spells across five colors, weighted toward white, black, and red; that is our house target, not a published standard:

• White: Journey to Nowhere, Oblivion Ring (a common in Lorwyn and Shards of Alara, despite later uncommon printings), Sunlance, and Prismatic Strands as a Fog that wins combats.
• Black: Chainer’s Edict, Snuff Out, Cast Down, Doom Blade, Disfigure, Crypt Rats as a sweeper.
• Red: Lightning Bolt, Fireblast, Skred, Firebolt, Flame Slash, Electrickery for tokens.
• Blue: Counterspell, Vapor Snag, Capsize, Exclude.
• Green: Almost none; Rancor and fight spells only. That weakness is part of green’s identity in pauper.

Keep sweepers rare and conditional. Crypt Rats, Pestilence, Electrickery, and Swirling Sandstorm (threshold) are the usual set, and four is enough for a 360.

Where does commons-only need a deliberate decision?

The rarity rule does most of the power policing for you, but five places still need a hand on the dial:

1. Lands. Common fixing is tapped: the gain lands, the Guildgates, the Kaldheim snow duals, the bounce lands, Ash Barrens, Evolving Wilds, and the Thriving lands. Run more than a powered cube would (one tapped dual per pair at minimum, often two) and expect two-color decks almost exclusively. The Pauper Cube’s maintainer runs 40 to 50 copies of each basic alongside the box.
2. Affinity. Frogmite, Myr Enforcer, Somber Hoverguard, and Atog with Chromatic Star and Ichor Wellspring form a real deck at common. It is fun once and oppressive weekly. Most lists keep the artifact-sacrifice half and cut the free creatures.
3. Storm and combo. Common has real storm kills (Grapeshot, Empty the Warrens), and Ghostly Flicker loops with Mnemonic Wall and a Peregrine Drake make infinite mana. Many cubes cut Peregrine Drake specifically and keep the flicker shell.
4. Mono-color depth. Mono-black (Pestilence, Crypt Rats, Gray Merchant of Asphodel) and mono-red are the two mono-color decks the common pool supports. Decide whether you want them, and if yes, give them 60 to 70 playables per color.
5. Downshifted bombs. Every Masters set and Commander precon downshifts something. Recent printings put former uncommons and rares at common that would have been first picks ten years ago. Check each new set’s commons; this is where a pauper cube’s power creeps.

How much does a pauper cube cost?

A 360 built from scratch runs about $100 to $150 in singles at the time of writing, less if you swap out the pricier commons, and most of those (Pestilence, Rancor, Exhume) are a few dollars or less at the time of writing. Sleeves and a box add about $30 to $50. If you are building from an existing collection, the whole project is an afternoon of sorting.

That cost is the reason pauper cubes travel to conventions, get lent out, and become a group’s community cube. Nobody is nervous about a box of commons.

FAQ

What is a pauper cube?

A pauper cube is a draftable card pool where every card has been printed at common in at least one set. The rule removes bombs and fast mana and produces games decided by sequencing and combat.

How many cards should a pauper cube have?

360 is the standard first build for eight players; 450 or 540 for groups that draft often. The best-known public list runs about 450.

Are MTGO-only commons allowed in pauper cube?

It varies by cube. Most paper pauper cubes allow cards that were common on Magic Online, matching the constructed Pauper format, but write your rule into the primer either way.

Is affinity too strong for pauper cube?

The full free-artifact-creature package is strong enough that most lists trim it. Keeping the artifact-sacrifice cards and cutting Frogmite and Myr Enforcer is the usual compromise.

The cube that everyone can afford to love

A pauper cube is the cube you can hand to a stranger, draft with a new player, and still lose to a friend who has drafted it two hundred times. The game is the reason. The people are the point.

Subscribe to the Ludarium newsletter for new cube-building pieces, and if you are in Indianapolis, you will hear first when Cube Commonwealth, our cube group, sets its first night as part of The Ludarium.