The Power of Pauper: A Look at Pauper in April 2026
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of The Power of Pauper! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week I am back after two weeks off. I was pretty sick the first week and out of town the second week, so it was kind of a weird way to end March. As it stands, though, we're going to be taking a look at the Pauper metagame a little, and we had some great news while I was out in the form of a B&R that had no changes (which is great, and I'm not going to touch on it too hard) and MTGO replays being back! Yay! We're going to look also at the Challenges from last week.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Pauper in April 2026
I feel like it's a good time to take a look at how Pauper is doing lately from a high-level metagame perspective. Pauper has generally been a very interesting format to me and has always been loads of fun, and I think it's still a very good format. The most recent BnR announcement (which you can find here) had a bit of a blurb from Gavin Verhey, where they discussed the format looking healthy and called out the new additions to the format of Leonardo, Big Brother and Utrom Monitor. They also called out the supply issues around the latter and increasing this on MTGO treasure chests to help with that. There was also some discussion over a trial unban of Bonder's Ornament given how aggressive Pauper has looked. I would be fine with them trying a trial unban of something like this, but it was a really powerful card, so it could potentially be bad.
I will note that replays being back on MTGO is a good thing, and I hope that next month I will have some more hard data for the format in a metagame review because of this.
With that said, let's look at Pauper and see where things lay. As it stands at the moment, aggro decks are a huge part of Pauper, and the format itself, while healthy, is extremely aggro-slanted. Because of that, though, one of the bigger predominant decks of Pauper is Mono Red Madness.
What initially began as a more Rakdos-slanted deck with cards like Alms of the Vein quickly became a more Mono Red-focused deck that gets to play straight-up Mountains for its manabase and has functionally taken up the role that Mono Red Rally/Burn decks were occupying in the format just months before. This is certainly an over-time situation, but Madness has become the de facto red aggro deck of the format.
What also tends to exacerbate the aggro-slanted nature of Pauper at the moment is decks like Elves.
This deck got a lot of upgrades from Modern Horizons 3 (namely Nyxborn Hydra), and its overall metagame share and win rates have consistently looked pretty good over time.
Combating these decks and widely considered to be the best decks in the format are, of course, the Terror decks (primarily Mono Blue and Dimir).
What makes these decks so strong against the aggressive decks is that they are packed full of permission, removal, and other strong cards that allow them to play a one-mana 5/5 that, in the case of Terror itself, is pretty difficult to remove (Ward 2 is insane when you consider a deck having to leverage multiple damage spells against it to get rid of it). These decks can hold down the fort against the aggressive decks, but it's not just that; they're good against a huge array of other decks in Pauper, making them a very attractive option to play. They play as tempo and control and can beat up combo as well as the midrange piles.
In the midst of all this, a deck that likely will never leave Pauper ever (unless some major, major, major changes are made) is Grixis Affinity.
This deck has received a bunch of cards over the past year that have vastly improved it. Things like Black Mage's Rod, Cryogen Relic, and very recently Utrom Monitor have all kept Affinity relevant to the ongoing conversation of Pauper. This is a deck to continue to remain prepared for because being unprepared can be very problematic.
Outside of these big decks, we've had a lot of stuff populating the metagame as well, from things like the Spy Combo deck to Mono White Aggro's recent rise in popularity.
Spy Combo is a deck I see people often discuss in relation to its Legacy counterpart of "Oops! All Spells," but the decks are vastly different, and Spy Combo in Pauper is a lot easier to attack from many different angles. It's not a bad deck, but it's nothing like a Turn 1 combo deck that Oops is in Legacy. The only thing I could see that would be bad for Pauper for this deck is any introduction of MDFCs with lands on the back at common, and any that would produce black mana. I don't actually ever expect this to occur; it seems that Wizards likes to keep these at most to Uncommon.
Mono White Aggro has been a bit of a point of contention, mainly because players seem to be not super thrilled about Leonardo's presence in the deck, but having a non-red aggressive strategy in Pauper seems like a reasonable thing to have. These decks have had a strong advantage versus Terror decks, so like, if anything, these decks may long-term reshape some of the metagame and how Terror interacts with it. This is a good thing in my opinion because it helps keep Terror in a line where nothing needs to be banned from it.
All in all, Pauper feels like a very strong and healthy format. There's a lot of gameplay back and forth, and while there is a pretty big aggro slant to it, it's proving fine to manage it, and there's still a bunch of different decks that one can play and do well with.
Pauper Challenge 32 3/26/2026
The first Challenge event of the week was the Thursday event. This event had 41 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Elves was incredibly popular here, and it had a pretty good win rate to boot. Mono Red Madness also did very well, as did Dimir Terror and Golgari Gardens. Affinity and Mono Blue Terror did not fare well, nor did the Spy Combo deck.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mono Red Madness | 1st | Syns |
| Jund Wildfire | 2nd | kuldothared |
| Dimir Terror | 3rd | Franzisco23195 |
| Dimir Faeries | 4th | Beicodegeia |
| Elves | 5th | pepeteam |
| Golgari Gardens | 6th | __Noob__ |
| Golgari Gardens | 7th | duke12 |
| Izzet Terror | 8th | SpockVidaLoka |
Good bit of weird variety here, but lots of aggro. At the end of the event, it was Mono Red Madness that won.
Fairly straightforward list. There's not much innovation that needs to happen here because its game plan is just very powerful and aggressive.
In Second Place we had Jund Wildfire.
Jund is just a collection of really powerful cards in the format, bolstered by many of the great card draw spells that Pauper has to offer. If you're looking for a deck that has a lot of answers backed up by some great threats, this is a deck to consider.
Also in this Top 8 we had Izzet Terror.
I really love this version of the deck. You get to play Counterspell and Skred, which is super cool. The three Campfire in the sideboard is fairly interesting.
Pauper Challenge 32 3/27/2026
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 64 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Both Dimir Terror and Elves were popular, but both had subpar performances (despite Dimir having two Top 8s). Dimir Faeries did very well here, while Affinity seemed to suffer.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Jund Wildfire | 1st | _blaze66 |
| Mono Red Madness | 2nd | OniReject |
| 4C Gates | 3rd | CHRIS-Mtg-02 |
| Dimir Faeries | 4th | FSkura |
| Mono Blue Terror | 5th | Luminati |
| Dimir Terror | 6th | thediabetical |
| Boros Moxite | 7th | someoldguy |
| Dimir Terror | 8th | Bugsy69 |
This feels like a reverse of the first Challenge! This time it was Jund that won.
The big difference in this list from the other one is no Gixian Infiltrator. There's certainly some flex spots in this deck to play around with. I do like the miser's Snuff Out.
In Second Place we had Mono Red Madness.
Okay, four copies of Suplex is sweet. I can dig it.
Also in this Top 8 we had a 4C Gates list.
The deck is much more Naya focused than 4C, but it stretches into the fourth color with the splash of blue in the sideboard for Hydroblast. I like this list a lot; it gets to play some really cool cards like Guardian of the Guildpact.
Pauper Challenge 32 3/28/2026
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 59 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Both Grixis Affinity and Mono Red Madness were well played, but Mono Red did not do well here. Grixis sat right on the line. Spy Combo and Elves both performed very well, as did Mono White Aggro.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Spy Combo | 1st | JsyvX |
| Elves | 2nd | newbarola |
| Azorius Gates | 3rd | mei0024 |
| Mono White Aggro | 4th | cat_JAM |
| Gruul Ramp | 5th | PrimoShow1 |
| Golgari Gardens | 6th | __Noob__ |
| Ephemerate Tron | 7th | Hampuse1 |
| Grixis Affinity | 8th | LuffyDoChapeuDePalha |
Pretty varied Top 8 here. At the end of the event, it was Spy Combo that won.
This deck is ultimately amusing because it tries to be a full-on combo deck, but it also has a bunch of cards like Avenging Hunter it can get back with Dread Return as well, but it can also just cast them with cards like Overgrown Battlement and Wall of Roots. Makes for a very interesting and versatile deck.
In Second Place we had Elves.
Elves shares a lot of similarities with the Spy Combo deck because it also plays stuff like Sagu Wildling and friends. I actually really love that Elves is such a good deck in Pauper at the moment. It seems very fun and interesting to play.
Also in this Top 8 we had Ephemerate Tron.
I kinda wanna build Tron at some point, but can't really decide which version to build. I do like this one because looping Ghostly Flicker is pretty silly fun. Also, you get to play goofy stuff like Dinrova Horror!
Pauper Challenge 32 3/29/2026
The final Challenge event of the week was the Sunday event. This event had 78 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Mono Red Madness was heavily played here, but its overall win rate was very bad (35.19% non-mirror). Elves did well, as did Mono White Aggro.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Grixis Affinity | 1st | LuffyDoChapeuDePalha |
| Azorius Gates | 2nd | Gn42 |
| Rakdos Madness | 3rd | AdryannTheHero04 |
| Jund Wildfire | 4th | Walker735 |
| Orzhov Midrange | 5th | lostonkato |
| Izzet Terror | 6th | brettwjayne |
| Mono White Aggro | 7th | billsive |
| Dimir Terror | 8th | Orochi-Mario |
Okay, yeah, some interesting lists here and a good spread. At the end of the event, it was Grixis Affinity that won.
I love seeing Sewer-veillance Cam here. It's pretty cool, and it works really well as both an ETB and as a sac target for Reckoner's Bargain, etc.
In Second Place we had Azorius Gates.
I love how straightforward this is. The numbers on many of the cards are kind of amusing. Usually when you see 3's and 2's, you can assume there's some amount of math done on this.
Further down the Top 8 we had Orzhov Midrange.
There's some sweet stuff here. Leonardo and Oroku Saki, Shredder Rising are both very strong in this kind of deck. Very sweet stuff.
Around the Web
- GiorgioCombo has a video on Elves. Check it out here.
- Alex Ullman has some information on the first four weeks of TMNT. Check it out here.
- INFINITE C-C-C-COMBO!
- Pauperganda has a video on Convoke. Check it out here.
- The Common Cold Snap celebrated their first-year anniversary, so happy anniversary! Check out their newest episode here.
The Spice Corner
As League results are now spread out across the week, let's dig in and find something spicy!
PERSISTENT PETITIONER.
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week, folks! Thanks for continuing to support the column and join us next week as we continue our journey into Pauper!
As always, you can reach me at all my associated links via my Link Tree! In addition, I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the MTGPauper Discord Server.
Until next time!
