Scotford Takes on Pauper Role for Thunder

by Dave Scotford September 1, 2021

Dave Scotford - Team Norse Thunder

Team Norse Thunder has officially dipped its toe into the world of Magic: The Gathering with Dave Scotford being named as the team's first Pauper format player. The announcement comes as the organisation begins to look to 2022 and the planned expansion into the competitive side of the game across multiple formats.

Though not usually a format played in the main events of Magic's biggest tournaments, the commons only Pauper format has long been a fan favourite and has some very well-known advocates supporting it - like The Professor at Tolarian Community College.

As well as leading the Team Norse Thunder operation, Dave has previously represented the team at the 2018 Exodus World Championships, finishing in 11th place. He then began representing the team in Hearthstone events before Phoebe Belfield joined the set-up and rook over the reigns.

Speaking about his move into Pauper, Dave Scotford said: "The Pauper format is always something I've really enjoyed. When I first started playing Magic, I took a lot of the cards I got in a free Welcome Deck and turned it into a Pauper deck. It wasn't very good, to be honest, but I loved hunting for commons and discovering cards from throughout the game's history.

"The meta is in an interesting place at the moment. Modern Horizon's II brought some pretty powerful cards to the format and that's had a bit of a warping effect. Now seems like as good a time as any to jump in... but I do hope that Chatterstorm isn't around for too much longer.

"We said last year that Magic was a game we really wanted to be more involved in and Pauper is our way of testing the waters. We'll be putting out a good chunk of Pauper content over the next few weeks and months and that'll hopefully lead us into the wider game once things get back to normal post-pandemic.

"With COVID-19 still very much a thing, we don't expect to any see large scale events coming back any time soon, and so that gives us plenty of time to really explore Magic and get things set up right."