u/Aziuhn

I'm a Pauper noob. I understood the strength of many cards that aren't intuitive thanks to video, community (great community guys) and such. But something that still evades me is [[Makeshift Munitions]]. I'm not saying that I think it's a bad card, I'm just not seeing why is that good that you find it around so often in decklists, even maindecked here and there. Sure, never a playset, maybe a copy, but it's clear to me why you would want a single copy of [[Pulse of Murasa]] in Jeskai Wildfire. MM in the decks that run it? Not so clear. And again, not in a "Under my evaluation this shouldn't be so appreciated" way, more in a "I'm clearly missing something, tell me what's that something" way.

Edit: I won't be answering every single comment as it would be "Thank you!" to all (upvoted you all at least), but here it is, thank you a lot guys for all the comments and explanations, once again wonderful sub

I wasn't there when they fell out of favor, but those are two decks that really speak to me.

I wanted to know why they fell off, and which deck plays similarly. Maybe I can "fix" them a little. Not going to play to tournaments, even LGS ones, just with friends, so I'm not going to face the top tier beasts the whole time.

I suppose Golgari Garden is somewhat a relative of Orzhov Blade, less centered on the namesake card?

I want to try pauper. I saw top meta decks, watched some videos, but I'd like for you to help me with this: which are some important pauper concepts that are not immediate for someone coming from other formats?

Something that I think I grasped, for example: lifegain matters outside of lifegain matters decks. In other formats you want incidental lifegain in maybe control decks ([[Lightning Helix]], [[Inevitable Defeat]]) or decks with Pridemates. In Pauper, to name a card, [[Wellwisher]] in Elves. It doesn't do anything outside of gaining life (and being of a relevant type ofc), but there are no lifegain synergies. Still, a maindeck card. In Gates you play 1/1 lifelinkers (with some upside, maybe embalm, maybe draw on death), instead of just resorting to evasive creatures (there are ofc evasive creatures, but you get what I'm saying), because a blocked 5/5 lifelinker can sometimes swing the game better than a 5/5 unblocked flyer. Also some of the decks lifegain is huge against (Madness maybe) don't have great or dispensable blockers, so it's even more swingy.

Another thing I understood is that 2/x flyers are viable and valuable threats. They need to be cheap/free (I already understood that [[Sneaky Snacker]] is cracked in this format, while to me it has always only been good sac fodder if anything), but they're a prime threat to use or account for.

Any other "concept" like these you're willing to share with a beginner?

Edit: I want to specify that I'm familiar with 1v1 formats, from Standard to older ones (I don't play Timeless on Arena or Vintage on paper maybe, but I watch them). I need Pauper specific concepts, because this is a format I'm completely inexperienced about. This said, thanks already for the kind comments guys

I see a lot of hatebears lists around using cards like [[Eidolon of Rethoric]], [[Ethersworn Canonist]] and the likes. Now, I've also seen a lot of [[Ketramose]] lists with [[Planar Void]] or [[Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief]] with [[Adrix and Nev]], so I mean, I'm not saying that if a lot of people include those kind of cards in hatebears decks then they're granted to be good cards for deck, but I'm humble enough to think that probably here I'm the one missing the full picture, especially since I'm absolutely not a hatebears expert.

Could you enlighten me about why would you put [[Rule of Law]] effects in a deck with a ton of cheap creatures and not that much instant speed plays, since you have a [[Doorkeeper Thrull]] here and a [[Cathar Commando]] there, but for the most part creatures aren't the best to flash around, if you want something reasonably costed. Or maybe this is the point I'm missing, but I don't usually see that many hatebears decks as flash decks, that's maybe more of an [[Ephara, God of the Polis]] thing if any (which isn't exactly hatebears usually), not really a [[Duskana]] or [[Arbiter Augustine]] type of deck, for example, looking around (no, no, guys, chill, I won't build an Augustine deck anytime soon, :'D).

I know that playing hatebears doesn't mean that you can't put in a [[Swords to Plowshares]] and friends, but ofc considering the various taxes on noncreatures that you probably want to have you cannot go overboard with instants.

Thanks in advance guys.