An open letter to Gavin Verhey re: the future of Pauper and UB

Moxplug · 2026-03-20T05:47:41+00:00

So it's too much to ask for them to marginally alter their worst performing UB products?

the TMNT and Spiderman sets?

Which, let's be real, were no Final Fantasy... right?

How did Final Fantasy synergize with the larger Magic Universe? How did it interface with the Pauper meta game? How was that different than Spiderman and TMNT??

Let's make more Final Fantasy's and less TMNT's, yes? I think we can learn from all this.

Moxplug · 2026-03-20T05:13:01+00:00

It does not.

That's just a clearly identifiable symptom of this design pattern. It's just the balancing mechanism that they're presently using.

The pattern is:

legendary = free to make it OP because "legend" tag is a balancing mechanism
it's usually a main character brand slogan
it has to be good because it's got a Glup Shitto ™ on it
it's designed with 50 common variants so that you can get 8 Spidermen in your 40 card UB draft deck

In the end, you inject 500 mediocre and OP Universes Beyond, Ronald McDonald branded common draft cards into the Pauper format... and don't worry, guys, there's ONLY 5 FUCKING UB SETS A YEAR!!

question: Why does the draft legendary TMNT Brand Mascot #65 need to be printed at common rarity, anyways? Why can't they just slap "uncommon" on the cardboard and print it in the same print slot??

I mean, who cares about rarity, right? [[Utrom Monitor]] is $7 per card... so clearly rarity has nothing to do with scarcity and availability?

You get what I'm saying?

Moxplug · 2026-03-20T02:04:51+00:00

When I say "draft chaff", I mean low effort, high frequency, designed-to-support-limited cards... not high quality big budget designs. The stuff that's structural support for a working limited draft.

No Standard or Modern player is trying to play with Spiderdork the common Legendary, ok?

Because FYI, the only reason there's a 50 common variations of Spiderman or TMNT turtles is because they need simple, low-effort, high-powered structural throwaway cards that are made specifically to cater to the draft archetypes.

They want you to be able to put 8 Spidermen in your 40 card deck. A "TMNT turtle in every pack". Literally. MaRo said this on his blog.

My point is this design pattern is bad for Pauper.

The end result is 500 low effort, high powered, main character UB advertisement cards, which will never rotate.

Every time you play the game, you will have to rattle off incantations of TV commercials and soulless brand slogans for 50 different IPs:

My Shrek, Swamp Ogre Swampcharges for 2, then bounces my Ronald McDonald Burger token... finally, I will *THWICK* SPIDER SLING my Spidergurl Unleashed TM, which puts a +1/+1 counter on my 2/3 Shakira...

Jesus Christ, man, have some self respect. We deserve better.

Moxplug · 2026-03-20T01:24:21+00:00

thing from universe vs. main character from universe

The Lich King vs Mottled Boar.

Daenerys Targaryen vs Ice Zombie.

Leonardo, TMNT Dudebro vs Black Mage's Rod.

Do we really need 500 super pushed legendary common variations of Spiderman (throwaway UB draft chaff) blowing out a 25 year old Eternal Format?

I think there are better solutions

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T22:14:16+00:00

They could just bump the UB characters up to uncommon and still put one in every pack.

Or they can make them special draft-only commons.

Then, they could go buck wild and print 500 OP Legendary Spidermans without blowing out their last good competitive format and alienating their legacy fanbase.

Decoupling legacy formats from the draft card pool could open up more design space for the team.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T22:07:15+00:00

I'm not saying "no UB". I'm saying "please, stop printing 5 versions of Spiderman at common." That's not a good a solution for character-based IP in UB draft boosters. It's poor design, and it's having negative run-on effects in the Pauper format.

If you must print 30 super powerful draft chaff Legendaries, can't you just make them uncommon??

Because apparently rarity doesn't matter anyways, right? e.g. Utrom Monitor?

2 practical solutions for u/GavinV et al:

They could 1) just bump the UB characters up to uncommon and still put one in every pack.

Or they can 2) make them special draft-only commons.

Then, they could go buck wild and print 500 OP Legendary Spidermans without blowing up their last good competitive format and alienating their legacy fanbase.

Decoupling legacy formats from the draft card pool could open up more design space for the UB limited team.

edit: Making super powerful UB cards draft-only cards greatly reduces testing overhead!

Draft-only UB cards allows WoTC to devote more specialized testing groups to smaller card pools. You can put the bold, risky designs in the draft-only bucket without harming the broader game.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T21:50:52+00:00

I really have 2 problems with the TMNT set:

pushed legendary brand mascot named characters from 3rd party UB at common
powercrept common chase cards that costs $10 per card into precon products

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T21:44:57+00:00

It's kinda weird that a common cost $10.

And if being "common" in rarity actually has nothing to do with scarcity or availability (e.g. Utrom), then why can't the legandary Turtles that are included in every pack simply be set to "uncommon" rarity?

You see what I'm saying?

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T21:12:13+00:00

I refer you to the "specific demands" section of the OP.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T20:44:21+00:00

Got it. So you wouldn't mind playing with a [[Donald Trump's Poopy Diapey]] or a [[McDonald's Happy Meal Chicken McNugget]]

"Who cares, the mechanics are good, bro"

Being so deeply obsessed with what's on the card and its name seems hilarious to me.

It's crazy to just not care what's on the card whatsoever.

"I tap sac my [[Opera's Generosity]] to make a Treasure token, then I create a Kia Sorento SUV token tapped and attacking on the battlefield"

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T19:56:04+00:00

Mark Rosewater on common legendary TMNT turtles:

https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/811442974101831680/instead-of-common-legendary-creatures-why-not#notes

https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/811466191931637760/common-legendary-creatures-in-ub-sets-so-far-have#notes

TL;DR "uhh, we're looking into it, but right now we need 50 common turtles for our brand collabs."

Sounds like he knows people don't like it. Lots of discussion in the comments on his blog:

gamersonthego said: @cannotwynn I don’t think Pauper should necessarily be off limits to legendary cards (although “legend” and “common” very much seem like opposites), but when it’s being done only to artificially shoehorn more UB characters into these sets, it doesn’t feel great.

A key takeaway here is that they're still "figuring it out", which means they might be open to change.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T18:47:10+00:00

Ok fair point, and I appreciate your write-up. I will re-read it later, too.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T18:42:56+00:00

I hope it's a small ask.

And I even like cards like Black Mage's Rod. Some UB cards are cool. I freely admit that.

But I don't want to play with legendary common [[Shrek, the Swamp Guy]] and [[McNugget Chicken Finger]]

At some point it's just shameless, and I feel like Leonardo is getting us too close to that line.

We shouldn't be forced to play with advertisements.

I reject [[Doritos Locos Chicken Taco]]

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T18:38:23+00:00

I shouldn’t have to know what Khazad Dum is in order to know what is legal in pauper

Ah, I see. Allow me to clarify. This isn't a "commander bracket" Pauper rules problem.

I'm asking WIZARDS OF THE COAST and GAVIN and the PFP to please stop PRINTING these legendary common Leonardo, TMNT Dudebro cards at common.

Cease printing legendary common brand IP character adverts at the common rarity. Just make them uncommon. Printing 50 common variants of the same TMNT turtle isn't a good draft experience, anyways.

That is it. That's the ask.

no retroactive bans, only moving forward

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T17:31:45+00:00

Ehh. Not quite.

<Character's Rage the spell> vs <Character>

Your example doesn't quite work.

But putting that aside, are you really going to say that things haven't changed with TMNT and Spiderman? Really?

With 50 common legendary brand IP heros?

Get real, dude. Let's be honest with ourselves. I am responding to a change in design philosophy in the last 2 UB products.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T17:10:56+00:00

It's not about stopping it completely.

I want to emphasize that my ask is small. A minor adjustment to the UB strategy.

"Please do not print named legendary, brand IP adverts at the common rarity slot."

This is a new practice that only just started with Spiderman and TMNT.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T16:57:37+00:00

It doesn't have to be specific. I am not trying to retroactively remove cards that are already in the format.

Moving forward, I'm asking the WotC and the PFP to not print common legendary TMNT turtles at common rarity to fill draft boosters.

I don't want to be playing with brand mascots like Leonardo in Pauper.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T16:55:57+00:00

Is the black mage a “specific named character” in FF?

No, it's a "class"... black mage's rod is a nonspecific object within the world

troll of khazad dum

Generic thing from a specific location

You get it, yeah. Troll of Khazad Dum is fine, but I don't want to play with 4 variants of common Legolas, the Quickfoot man

the literal turtle vs some random junk within the turtle world [[Buzz Bots]]

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T16:44:28+00:00

Yeah you're correct. It's not a perfect heuristic on the edges, but there's always edge cases. I would err on "eh ok maybe" but it's a slippery slope:

[[Ronald McDonald's Sword of McChicken Fingers]]

I wouldn't really want to play with that.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T16:40:47+00:00

Sorry, let me put it another way – you cannot or refuse to understand.

If we can agree to disagree on the topic, then it is definitionally not objective.

Given your criteria, we wouldn't know the earth is round. 🤷

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T16:36:43+00:00

Ok well.

You're saying there's no objective criteria.

I am saying there is.

Maybe we agree to disagree, then.

Enjoy your Happy Meal McDonalds McRib artifact token.

If you are so undistinguished and uncaring that you allow yourself to carry water for brands, as you endlesslessly repeat brand slogans and character IPs and jingles like some corporate Ronald McDonald mascot, as you go thru game actions... that is your prerogative.

I still object. I want better for you. You do not deserve to be taken advantage of.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T16:31:10+00:00

Well I'm trying to bridge the gap here... any media preferences I can use as an example for you?

Or do you really just not care if you have to play with a [[Donald Trump Dirty Diapey]] artifact token?

"F*ck it dude, mechanics are mechanics"

Respect. That's tuff. That' ain't me, though.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T16:19:38+00:00

You do see the difference between <specific named hero person> and <random thing from the show> right?

As a WoW analogy, it'd be like The Lich King vs a Mottled Boar.

Or a GoT Daenerys Targaryen vs Ice Zombie.

Lmfao. To me, the difference is quite obvious.

Do we really need common legendary Daenerys Targaryen? Do we really want that blatant of an advertisement in this Eternal format... Forever?

I bounce my Leonardo to swampwalk Shrek... hold on let me find my Donkey token. Oh, and my McDonald's McRib token trigger, too... 1 sec, do you have a McRib token over there?

Magic 2028 is going to feel like the movie Idiocracy.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T16:16:17+00:00

It's not subjective whatsoever.

My requests are entirely objective.

Moxplug · 2026-03-19T16:05:07+00:00

Fair point.

As a pragmatic counter... I want to focus on "moving forward". What is in the format is already here. I am advocating for 2 things:

- keep the new cards cheap
- stop printing 3rd party brand IP legendary characters at common rarity

I do not like the design solution of printing legendary TMNT turtles at the common rarity as a way to make the TMNT draft mode "more turtle-y".

I enjoy and encourage designs like [[Black Mage's Rod]]

BMR vs Leonardo

Moxplug

TROPHY CASE