Today I am looking at the cards we use regularly in our Pauper sideboards to provide an overview of the best cards and provide a comprehensive resource for players new and old.

I intend to divide the cards into categories and have the best options in each colour, assuming that a colour has options available to them.

We have many cards in the format and we regularly see new cards find a home. We have some excellent resources to search out new options like Scryfall and Magic Gatherer. I am predominately looking for the best cards that offer flexibility, there may well be niche cards that work better in or against specific decks.

I will only be including spot artwork for the article as linking every card mentioned could be confusing and overly elongate the article.

Some cards may cross over into multiple categories so I will try to fit them in the most appropriate category. E.g., creatures that gain life may well be considered a life gain source or sideboard creature that holds the board with incidental life gain.

Removal

Many are main deck but depending what you are playing may be more appropriate as sideboard options. Red and Black do not usually need removal as it is better suited to main deck, sometimes you add extra copies to make up to four copies.

White traditionally has slow options of Journey to Nowhere and Sunlance to kill creatures but more recently Crib Swap with its instant speed has found a home. You have Last Breath for removal of smaller creatures but it comes at a cost of a significant life gain for them.

Blue does not really have removal but recently gained Bind the Monster and Ravenform

When it comes to black Cast Down and Snuff Out are clear favourites, Snuff Out gaining more relevance since Kaldheim and snow duals. Disfigure is sometimes used to peck away at aggro decks earlier.

Flame Slash and Magmatic Sinkhole are choices for red when you need the ability to deal extra damage to creatures, Skred and snow lands is the default choice but sometimes you need alternatives.

Green is in a strange place for removal as whilst we see Plummet and similar spells for fliers defeating ground-based options tend to rely on cards that fight like Savage Swipe, Epic Confrontation and Ram Through or we can equip creatures with Viridian Longbow. There are certainly options but they are very clunky.

Finally, I am going to mention Gutshot, whilst it has a red colour identity it also utilises Phyrexian mana so can be used by paying the life cost, sometimes it is common sense to pay the two life to stop more damage in the long term.

Sacrifice

The ability to force a sacrifice needs to be timed correctly but sometimes it is the only way to deal with some threats e.g., Hexproof creatures.

Celestial Flare does an excellent job for white as on many occasions the biggest threat will be the attacking or blocking creature, the double white cost can be difficult on occasion but this is rare.

Reality Acid brings a shiver to many Pauper players and we will be seeing more of these on the market when Time Spiral Remastered hits.

Black has by far the best sacrifice effects in Pauper, depending on the meta Chainers Edict is regularly a main deck card but Mono Black can also use Geth’s Verdict for the benefit of instant speed and life loss. For decks utilising black mana Diabolic Edict is a reliable option and they are readily available due to many printings.

Mass Removal

Mass removal is potent but extremely limited it Pauper, black has by far the deepest range with Suffocating Fumes replacing Shrivel or Nausea in most sideboards, though you do see the latter when players want to clear the board on turn two rather than turn three or haven’t picked up newer product. Black also has two other useful cards in Pestilence that can clear the board repeatedly if built around and Crypt Rats. We also have Echoing Decay for killing multiple creatures with the same name like Elf Tokens or Evincar’s Justice which is a late game horror when it can repeatedly use buyback to recur two damage to all creatures and players.

Fiery Cannonade is now recognised as the premium mass removal in the format and is a staple in many decks. Electrickery can still be occasionally seen due its flexibility as a targeted removal option too.

Life Gain

Against the faster aggressive decks, you sometimes need to stop the bleeding or slow the race down and these are some of the best options you have.

Spirit Link is a great enchantment as it can be used on opponents to nullify their effect or on own creatures to effectively have life link. Lone Missionary and Arashin Cleric are both useful creatures as they gain life then they enter the battlefield, Arashin Cleric though has the significant three toughness to absorb a Fiery Cannonade. Hallow is an interesting option as it reverses a spells damage into life gain so effectively being a two-edged sword.

Unexpected Fangs has replaced Vampiric Link as the best life link option. We also have a removal spell in Tendrils of Corruption and the expensive but potentially devastating Corrupt which deals damage to a creature or player for you to gain that much life. If you just want a slow burn with a potential end game Ill-Gotten Inheritance is worth considering.

Red doesn’t come to this party but this makes sense as it is all about dealing damage.

Weather the Storm is the back breaking life gain source and it is in green. Life gain has come a long way from Stream of Life.

Essence Warden and Soul Warden are the same card but in different colours, both are great cards and they even have white cousins in Soul’s Attendant gaining life when creatures come into play.

Orzhov centric decks also have the option of Gift of Orzhova which not only offers lifelink but a +1/+1 buff and evasion from flying.

This is a very interesting section as so many colours have a multitude of ways to gain life with interesting side effects too, the evolution from Healing Salve has been mightily impressive.

Fog

Fog and Holy Day were the first damage prevention spells and things have come a long way since then.

White has some pretty good options and has many defensive options. Firstly, we have Circles of Protection which do tie up a lot of mana but can prevent multiple sources of damage including burn damage.

Prismatic Strands is a personal favourite preventing all the damage from one colour for a turn which makes it extremely powerful.

Whilst blue has many spells that reduce the attack of attacking creatures few are actually playable in the format.

“I believe in a thing called love” oh sorry that is The Darkness. Darkness meanwhile is a great fog effect for black mages.

Moments Peace is one of the best effects we have and as it has flashback the repeated use is extremely frustrating to play against.

Enchantment and Artifact Removal

I have bound these two sections together as many of the best spells work for both. Disenchant and Naturalise can be improved upon but are still solid choices. Interestingly Modern Horizons gave us Nature’s Chant and the hybrid white or green mana cost would potentially help avoid being colour screwed.

Leave No Trace is a devastating spell that destroys all the enchantments that share a colour with the target enchantment so it can destroy your own permanents too. White also has Fragmentize for the lower mana value permanents.

Black has only recently received enchantment removal in Feed the Swarm to destroy an enchantment or Pharika’s Libation allow you to force a sacrifice. Both though can also be used against creatures as extra removal.

Red cannot deal with enchantments but they can deal really well with artifacts. The choices are wide and the best four are Ancient Grudge which has flash back when using green mana, Shenanigans can be utilised repeatedly with Dredge, Gorilla Shaman can be activated and Smash to Smithereens is very useful as it not only destroys an artifact but also deals damage.

Serene Heart is a classic removal spell that destroys all auras and you still have Tranquillity available to blow up the world. Natures Claim is a risky spell as it does give the opponent some life back, however, in poison strategies where their life total is irrelevant it is all star. Also, there may be times when the target causes more pain whilst it exists like a Circle of Protection. Gleeful Sabotage is great in creature centric decks like elves as the Conspire ability allows for an extra target.

Counterspells

Sometimes, we need to add extra counter spells to help a matchup. Red and Blue have both Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast for blue spells and Blue Elemental Blast and Hydroblast for Red spells but they can also destroy permanents of the relevant colour. They are very powerful and it has been known to see both in the same sideboard to hose the same colour.

We have Lapse of Certainty and Mana Tithe in white but they hardly see play.

In black we have Dash Hopes, it is fragile as the opponent can on many occasions just pay five life to stop Dash Hopes from working, I do like it but too many times it fails to be useful.

Avoid Fate gets forgotten as a green counter but it is extremely limited as it can stop an instant or aura targeting something of yours.

Blue has a multitude of extra spells and those that are used tend to shore up a specific matchup bringing in the likes of Negate, Dispel or Spell Pierce for spells, Essence Scatter and Exclude for dealing with extra creatures but then we have specific counter spells like Annul to deal with artifacts. Sometimes we put in additional spells and sometimes we swap out for better targeted answers.

Re-Animation

Returning creatures to play or just to hand is a very popular option in many decks.

Resurrection was the much-vaunted white downshift and whilst it sees play it is generally infrequent.

Black is by far the best colour for reanimation and we have Unearth which is regularly played in the main deck and Reaping the Graves which can return multiple creatures to gain an unfair advantage.

Pulse of Murasa is great fun as it can return a creature or land to hand but also it gains you a whole chunk of seven life which can be highly significant.

Graveyard

The graveyard is a popular resource in Pauper so having a way to deal with it is extremely useful.

Bojuka Bog can be used though is generally better deployed in the main deck.

Relic of Progenitus is accepted as the best way to manipulate the graveyard but it can also be risky when both graveyards are removed.

Faerie Macabre can be discarded to exile two cards but at a pinch it is at least a 2/2 flyer which has very relevant power and toughness.

Nihil Spell bomb is another useful option and if you have black mana it can also draw you a card to replace itself.

Protection

There are times when you want to keep your creatures on the field.

Apostle’s Blessing is the most commonly used protection as it can be paid for with Phyrexian mana paying life so any colour can use it.

Gods Willing was the poster child for white until recently when Karametra’s Blessing was printed. Both are great

White also has Ramosian Rally which can be quite a trick making all your creatures bigger when tapped out of mana.

Blue has Dive Down and you can overload Mizzium Skin but we have to remember we are talking blue here and with the great economical counter spells we have access to their use is few and far between.

Undying Evil is great as it returns your creature but stronger, Kaya’s Ghostform has seem limited degrees of play.

Green has several options with Vines of Vastwood usually being main deck when needed but Rangers Guile was great until Snakeskin Veil came along.

Land Destruction

Land destruction cascade and Ponza decks are currently popular as a way to combat the Tron menace, it is still a contentious discussion if the cure is worse than the illness.

Whilst Sinkhole is banned Black has three solid options in Rancid Earth, Icequake and Choking Sands, all of which have extra conditional effects. 

Pillage and Molten Rain are excellent choices in red with Pillage offering the flexibility that it can also be used to destroy an artefact instead of desired.

Thermokarst and Mwonwuli Acid-Moss are the chosen options and the backbone of the cascade decks

Creatures

Creatures are unusual as sideboard cards but this does happen occasionally. You will usually find that they have a specific purpose 

The more regular white cards we have already covered under the life gain section with Arashin Cleric and Lone Missionary. Seeker of the Way is also a nice option here as not only can it gain life link it can also give a deck a nice aggressive slant if needed.

Blue already runs some nice defensive utility creatures like Auger of Bolas and Sea Gate Oracle but Stormgeist is regularly used as additional defence against flyers or if you need an offensive clock.

Okiba-Gang Shinobi is a sneaky black creature useful against more controlling decks increasing the amount of discard that can be done.

Keldon Marauders appears in burn decks sideboards when you just need creatures to enable your strategy to work faster with some added damage.

Young Wolf is a great green card and many people under estimate the usefulness of Undying to bring your creature back but bigger. River Boa can also see play as having Islandwalk and being hard to kill from regeneration has been used main deck when blue decks are significantly more prominent.

Speciality Spells

Sometimes we need specific cards to prevent a strategy from working or just to disable

Flaring Pain is a key red sideboard card and great against Fog effects ensuring damage still occurs.

Conclusion

I hope you find this guide helpful when referencing cards for your sideboards, if you have any personal favourites, I have not mentioned I would love to hear your choices and why.

I intend to upgrade this article to a permanent resource on the site for the brewers in the community so happy to add in your choices over time.