This means that Monastery Swiftspear fits into so many possibilities that it's impossible not to consider it an instant staple for several decks: Burn, Kiln Fiend, Boros Synthesizer, Tribe Combo, Izzet Tempo, Gruul, Heroic, among many others - I can even imagine Affinity testing a few copies of it, although I'm not certain if that's a good idea. It wildly alters the nature of most red spell-based archetypes because absolutely everything you play will be rewarded with it, and it's important to note that Prowess triggers with any non-creature spell, including artifacts and enchantments. I always mentioned that Pauper needed better threats, and Monastery Swiftspear is above any power level expectations I had: for comparison purposes, in an imaginary world, I would consider a Goblin Guide downshift to be more logical and reasonable than Monastery Swiftspear.
The staple of pretty much every eternal format has arrived at Pauper - and it will definitely be Double Masters 2022's most impactful addition to the format. Vampire Sovereign is the Siege Rhino we have at home: it has evasion, costs an extra mana, and has a smaller body that doesn't survive Galvanic Blast, but interacts just as well with Ephemerate as the old Standard and Modern staple would, which leads me to believe that it is an incredibly decent option for several Black-Based Midrange categories and even an option for Cascade strategies, and will likely see play if the format slows down in the future.
If you want to know my opinion on this matter, even with the Abzan colors not having its version of Ardent Elementalist, I believe a 4/5 body with Trample that generates a Lightning Helix for four mana and reusable with Ephemerate and Kor Skyfisher, in a format where players can pilot Five-Color Cascade without much mana issues thanks to Thriving Lands and Gates, doesn't seem like the healthiest thing in the world - especially if we consider what Affinity does today as an anomaly. On the day of writing this article, I had an interesting debate about how much Siege Rhino would really impact Pauper and whether it would break the format these days when it was mentioned as the perfect threat against Affinity.
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