Cards For the Journey, Part One

We've started a new season of Monday Pauper Deck Challenge, and as always it's interesting to see which cards from the latest set are making the biggest impact on the format. At the end of my set review for Journey Into Nyx, I highlighted ten cards that I thought would have the most impact on the format. So for my next two blog posts I want to examine how my predictions have lined up in the metagame thus far.

To do this, I took a quick survey of the 16 decks that have placed in the Top 8 of MPDC since Journey Into Nyx was released, and picked out the four cards that have had the most copies played. And here's what I found:

The fourth most commonly played Common from Journey Into Nyx, coming in at eight copies, is Satyr Hoplite. Experience has proven that nearly all of the Heroic creatures that gain +1 / +1 counters are worth playing, and even this unassuming 1/1 for R makes the cut. While it takes a fairly dedicated and aggressive build to want to include this in your decklist, this has the potential to get big in a hurry and get in for a surprising amount of damage before your opponent is able to deal with it. Throw a Madcap Skills or Titan's Strength of this Game 2, and it's quite possible your opponent will never recover.

The third most commonly played Common from Journey Into Nyx, with 11 total copies, is Ajani's Presence. This card is part of a Strive cycle at Common, and is definitely the best of the lot! It's combines the very relevant indestructible ability with a minor combat boost while at the same time allowing for a double Heroic activation! While not quite as versatile as Gods Willing, it has the potential to be much for effective in the right scenario, allowing multiple creatures to survive combat. Like I discussed last time, cards like this are why White tends to be so good in Standard Pauper!

So far so good! Both of these cards were part of my predicted top 10 for Journey Into Nyx. On Saturday, I'll reveal the two most often played Commons thus far from this set. Will my streak continue?