Arguably one of the best formats in Magic: The Gathering is Pauper, a play mode where decks can only use cards that were printed at common rarity. At first glance, that might sound like a weaker or budget-friendly version of Magic — a stripped-down sandbox where mythic rares and expensive staples don’t exist. But longtime players know the truth: some of the most broken cards in Magic history were commons.

In the game’s earliest years especially, rarity often had little to do with power level. Wizards of the Coast was still figuring out how to balance colors, card advantage, mana acceleration, and efficient removal. The result was a flood of commons that would go on to define entire formats, shape competitive metas for years, and in some cases remain staples more than three decades later. Even today, plenty of the strongest Commander, Legacy, and Pauper decks still rely on humble commons.

Some of these cards are infamous because they feel unfair. Others are deceptively simple, quietly warping games through efficiency alone. From free mana and absurd card draw to removal spells so strong Wizards still refuses to reprint them into Standard, these are the 10 most powerful commons in Magic history.

There is no staple quite like Counterspell in the history of Magic. All at once, it defines an entire color’s strategy while infuriating millions of players at its mere mention. Pay two blue mana to counter a target spell — any spell at any time. It can be your expensive damage-dealing spell that can win you the game or a huge creature that can do the same. It’s just instantly gone. Back in June 2021, Gavin Verhey put out a Good Morning Magic video all about the history of Counterspell, including how it was omitted from 8th edition since it was deemed too efficient, particularly given the historical dominance of blue decks in Standard. In that video, he goes in great detail as to why Counterspell was reintroduced with Modern Horizons 2 in 2021. While Counterspell is often printed at uncommon rarity, it did flutter at common rarity in the early days of the game — which is the only reason it’s not higher on this list.

Many of the best commons in the history of the game feel like a mistake, but this one legitimately seems like one. Maze of Ith was first printed in The Dark as an uncommon and then later reprinted as a rare. But in........

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