Table of Contents Banning the Best Card of the Format There's no doubt to anyone that the best one-drop creature from Pauper was Monastery Swiftspear. Since its downshift to a common in September of 2022, it changed completely the way people approached the format. Red players now had a threat that, when unanswered, could present a faster clock to other players than they could have experienced so far. In turn, the format became faster as slower decks quickly got punished by not being able to deal with a turn-one threat and, god forbid, two or three by turn-two. However, like any story, context matters to understanding the red dominance over Pauper. Behind Monastery Swiftspear's Removal from Pauper To understand the Ban From Monastery Swiftspear, we need to understand better the environment where it was drawn into Pauper. Red got insane buff's from the end of 2021 until the recently released Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI). Here's the breakdown for you. Cri...