The Power of Pauper: No Bans Needed!
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of The Power of Pauper! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're going to be talking all about the update from the Pauper Format Panel this past week via Gavin Verhey on the state of Pauper as a format. In addition to that we've got some Challenges to look at from last week.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Pauper Format Panel Update - No Bans in Pauper!
There was a Banned and Restricted Announcement this past Monday, with no changes to Pauper as a format. However, we did get a video update from the PFP via Gavin Verhey's "Good Morning Magic" channel on the state of Pauper as a format and what decks are on their radar. Take a moment below to watch this, because it's worth watching to understand what we're talking about.
Let's break down the points that Gavin makes in this video. Right off the bat we are calling out three decks that the Pauper Format Panel is watching. Those decks are: Mono-Red (Burn), Broodscale Combo, and Grixis Affinity. Let's look at each one.
Mono-Red Burn
This deck has been pretty much at the forefront of Pauper for a long while now, having been hit with a major ban prior in the form of Monastery Swiftspear. Gavin notes that this deck got some strong upgrades in the form of Goblin Tomb Raider and Clockwork Percussionist this past year. One major thing about this deck is that its overall win rate as specified in the video is around 52% in Magic Online leagues (of which the deck is the most played deck in leagues), which really isn't that terrifying. It's noted that the deck's Game 1 percentage is much higher, which is a metric they've taken into account with Pauper for the banning of Swiftspear. Other decks have an answer for Burn in a lot of ways, so it's able to be beaten and is not pressuring the format.
Gavin does mention that if there was one card to consider here, it would likely be Goblin Tomb Raider. The combination of Great Furnace turning Tomb Raider into a Goblin Guide in Pauper might be a bit much. Other cards that were called out here were Goblin Bushwhacker and even Kuldotha Rebirth, showcasing the level of conversation being had on this archetype behind the scenes.
Broodscale Combo
The new kid on the block post MH3, Broodscale Combo has quickly risen to become a huge part of Pauper as a format. Gavin is quick to call out that this deck is functionally a Splinter Twin for Pauper and that the only card that would be looked at to break up the deck would be Basking Broodscale, rather than Sadistic Glee. Glee was not a played card in Pauper prior to this deck existing, while Broodscale could eventually combo with anything similar down the line.
However, it's also noted that the Jund Broodscale decks have around a 51.5% win rate in MTGO leagues. It's a strong deck, but the format seems to have adjusted to its presence and are figuring out ways to beat the deck.
Gavin does take this moment to specifically call out the power level of Writhing Chrysalis as a card that they are certainly watching in Pauper. While the card is seen in the Jund Broodscale variants, it's fairly ubiquitous in a bunch of other decks in Pauper and the fact that all of the things it does sidesteps a good number of normal stopgaps in Pauper (for example, blocking fliers and not being able to be hit by Blue blasts). Chrysalis is incredibly powerful in multiples, and has functionally changed many of the decks it goes in.
Grixis Affinity
Affinity is a deck that has weathered so many changes in Pauper and is currently the third most played deck in MTGO leagues. However, Gavin notes here that the current win rate of Affinity in Leagues is 50%. It is in the medium right across the board, which is so incredibly interesting to see. Gavin does note that if something does change in the format however, that win rate could flop back towards positive as other top decks are keeping Affinity in check.
One important notion here that is called out is that players responded over questions about whether or not not they would want the original artifact lands banned and the end result was overwhelmingly in favor of keeping those lands and possibly banning the Bridge lands from MH2. This is something that the PFP is keeping an eye on though but right now Affinity is well within normal bounds. There was one other card though in this group that has garnered some attention: Deadly Dispute.
Dispute has consistently been a staple card of not just Affinity, but of multiple decks across Pauper. While Gavin notes that inherently, having staple cards of a format isn't a bad thing, Dispute's power level with artifacts that draw cards like Ichor Wellspring form a deckbuilding core of a bunch of decks in the format. To be honest, I myself have never really considered Dispute from a banning perspective, but in terms of deckbuilding homogenization and deckbuilding cores I could see it happening. Dispute is certainly a powerful card, often referred to as Pauper's version of Ancestral Recall in some places, and so Gavin mentions it is a possibility in terms of breaking up Affinity a little but also impacting the format at a larger scale, and certainly a ban of Dispute would definitely redefine Pauper a bit, but that might not be a bad thing. It will be interesting to see what happens here.
Balance of the Top Three Decks
Gavin does also call out that there is a balance held between the top three decks called out in this video. For example, Affinity is favored against Mono Red, but Mono Red is favored against Broodscale, and Broodscale is favored against Affinity. Removing one of these from that balance may upset more than just getting rid of one deck, so it is a fine line to walk of balancing the format overall.
Other Decks Doing Well
Gavin calls out some other decks that are doing well in Pauper outside of the Top Three. One of the decks called out is Mono Blue Faeries at 55% win rate, while Synthesizer decks are at around 54% win rate. The surprising one of this is Poison Storm, at a 58% win rate.
It's a firm reminder that there is a ton of diversity in Pauper as a format and that always playing the Top Three decks of the format in this format isn't always the best thing, and playing outside the box could be good for discovering new innovations.
Wrapping Up
Gavin also calls out that MTGO Leagues simply aren't everything. There have been some exceedingly large Pauper events in paper this year and that all of these events add to the overall sample size, but aren't the only sample sizes that should be considered.
Another final note to the video is that there have been a lot of questions surrounding downshifts in Pioneer Masters for Arena, and that as always Arena does not dictate any legality for Pauper at all. The current legality for Pauper is firmly still unified to everything on MTGO and everything in paper Magic.
All in all this was a great video and continues to showcase how much the Pauper Format Panel truly cares about Pauper as a format, and how different Pauper is handled is a great thing to see. Do you have thoughts on what you think should happen to Pauper? Should anything be banned? Should anything be unbanned? Hit the comment section below and let us know and also be sure to share those comments on Gavin's video. The better feedback the PFP gets from the community, the better informed they can be over what players want to see.
Pauper Challenge 32 12/13
The first Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 43 players in it according to the MTGO website.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Grixis Affinity | 1st | Rooney56 |
| Dimir Terror | 2nd | carvs |
| Mono Blue Terror | 3rd | discoverN |
| Mono White Aggro | 4th | IvernOP |
| Mardu Synthesizer | 5th | __Noob__ |
| Golgari Broodscale | 6th | oskiyaa |
| Jund Broodscale | 7th | Mikibairon96 |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 8th | galeogiao |
Fair amount of diversity in this Top 8 overall. At the end of the event it was Grixis Affinity that won.
As one of the top three decks talked about in Gavin's video this week, it's not a huge surprise to see one great result from this deck over the past weekend's events. It's definitely a very powerful deck. This list is leaning a lot more on some of the removal aspects and also almost a full playset of main deck Nihil Spellbomb instead of more Kenku Artificer and things like Toxin Analysis.
In Second Place we had Dimir Terror.
Sneaky Snacker as part of this deck is pretty interesting once you consider that you can self-mill it with stuff like Mental Note and Thought Scour and then get it back off a Brainstorm on your opponent's turn. Pretty slick stuff you can do with this card for sure.
Further down the Top 8 we had Mardu Synthesizer.
Synth is a deck we haven't really seen in a while in a lot of ways, as it hasn't been as present as other decks. Adding in a bit of the Gates plan to this deck is also kind of sweet. Makes it so you can make a really big flier and hit your opponent with it. Krark-Clan Shaman + Toxin Analysis is BONKERS.
Pauper Challenge 32 12/14
The second Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 45 players in it according to the MTGO website.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Jund Broodscale | 1st | Maccaciock |
| Mono Blue Terror | 2nd | DobleP |
| Burn | 3rd | Jinjaa |
| Jund Broodscale | 4th | PNascimento |
| Dredge | 5th | marzaboi |
| Jund Broodscale | 6th | Edo_01 |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 7th | LucianoGuma |
| Dimir Terror | 8th | Purgatory_01 |
Lot of Broodscale Combo here, with the winner being on Jund Broodscale.
The core of this deck does so much and it does it so efficiently. There's definitely answers to the deck, but it would be interesting to see what some other potential answers could look like for it in the future.
In Second Place we had Mono Blue Terror.
Hoodwink is sort of an amusing sideboard card. Being able to bounce an artifact, enchantment, or land in this current format seems quite good. Sleep of the Dead as a tap effect that can be cast later on with Escape is also pretty interesting.
Also in this Top 8 we had Dredge.
I consistently love that there's a Dread Return deck in this format and that it's not exceedingly broken. Dread Return is certainly one of my favorite cards and it's exciting that it's a good deck but not overpowered. The sideboard card in Fang Dragon is really interesting, because it's a sweeper that also can be cast later on or it counts for Lotleth Giant when it's milled or can be DR'ed for a 6/3 flier.
Pauper Challenge 32 12/15
The final Challenge event of the week was the Sunday event. This event had 45 players in it according to the MTGO website.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Jund Broodscale | 1st | Mikhathara1994 |
| Jund Broodscale | 2nd | Edo_01 |
| Turbo Fog | 3rd | RitualSinkhole |
| Mono White Aggro | 4th | Wolek |
| Burn | 5th | JuaKi |
| Mono Blue Terror | 6th | Luminati |
| Jund Broodscale | 7th | Hamuda |
| Burn | 8th | LucasG1ggs |
Again a bit of Broodscale, mixed with some Burn and some other decks. At the end of the event it was two slightly different Jund Broodscale decks that were in the finals.
This variant is more like the typical Golgari versions, in that it's not playing any of the normal Jund cards like Cleansing Wildfire. The big splash is mainly for Writhing Chrysalis and Breath Weapon here.
Let's look at the Second Place list.
This is more in line with the typical versions of Jund that we see out of this deck. Cleansing Wildfire as a way to ramp with Bridges has long been a really interesting aspect of Pauper decks.
Further down the Top 8 we had Turbo Fog.
This deck keeps changing a bunch from week to week with new threats and new things to try. Thorn of the Black Rose is pretty sweet from a standpoint of being able to keep up card draw and keep the monarch by utilizing the fogs. I like four copies of Campfire here. That card is just super strong at recycling your deck.
Around the Web
- Pauperganda has a video on Poison Storm! Check it out here.
- StompyMTG has a video on Mono Blue Faeries. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
As League results are now spread out across the week, let's dig in and find something spicy!
Rakdos Affinity is interesting.
This is a neat take on Gruul Ramp.
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!
