The Power of Pauper: Relics in Space
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 over what's going with Pauper in the first week with Edge of Eternities legal. In addition we've got some Challenges to discuss, one of which was a Showcase Challenge!
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
The Edge... of Eternity
Week One of Edge of Eternities is here and while there are a number of different cards seeing play from this set, I think it's pretty clear what the best card in this set is for Pauper.
I don't think anyone thought this card wouldn't see play in Pauper. Generally any time an artifact does something when it enters or leaves is really good, but when it draws cards? That's just way better in a million ways. And to say there aren't a bunch of different decks utilizing this card in different ways would be a big old lie. It's extremely good.
For example... Familiars?
Yeah, I mean, blinking this with Ghostly Flicker and an Archaeomancer seems quite good since you're going to net a bunch of cards every time you blink it. Two cards per blink is insanely powerful.
Also you know... Tron?
Again, Ghostly Flicker! It's crazy just how good this card is with that card. Being able to just draw so many cards is so good that it really makes this deck hum.
We're also seeing some sweet things like four color Kor Skyfisher piles.
Gotta love it. You're not even blinking it here, but bouncing it with Skyfisher and Glint Hawk, and it's still absurdly powerful.
And finally... Dimir Affinity?
This seems like a really strong shell, especially given that you have stuff like Hard Evidence to generate affinity but also Black Mage's Rod is such a good card in this sort of deck.
I think we're going to definitely continue to see this card show up in a lot of unexpected ways going forward, but it is extremely good, and if you don't have a set for Pauper you probably should pick up some. It's an exceptionally powerful thing to be doing and I don't see it going away (unless it gets banned).
Pauper Challenge 32 8/1/2025
The first regular Challenge event was the Friday event. We don't know how many people were actually in this event because the MTGO website just defaults to the main page whenever I go to it.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mono Blue Faeries | 1st | barff |
| Bogles | 2nd | PedraStone |
| Dimir Affinity | 3rd | Hamuda |
| Tron | 4th | DataPusher |
| Jund Wildfire | 5th | FerMTG |
| Dimir Terror | 6th | carvs |
| Golgari Gardens | 7th | Rubenma |
| Azorius Familiars | 8th | Viatt |
Fairly interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event, it was Faeries that won.
Illvoi Galeblade as a very cheap evasive threat is pretty cool when you consider it's generally going to be unblocked for ninjutsu, but then can come down at flash speed if need be. Really solid looking addition to this deck. Also, it's a Jellyfish, and you can't be mad at them.
In Second Place, we had Bogles.
Fairly straightforward list here. Mask of Law and Grace is a sweet sideboard card for dealing with both blocking black/red threats, but also keeping your creatures alive through stuff like Breath Weapon.
Pauper Challenge 32 8/2/2025
The second regular Challenge event was the Saturday event. This event had 44 players in it, thanks to the MTGO site.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Golgari Gardens | 1st | __Noob__ |
| Spy Combo | 2nd | Mikthara1994 |
| Sultai Faeries | 3rd | Brivenix |
| Burn | 4th | Shoryu_ |
| High Tide Combo | 5th | PNascimento |
| Madness Burn | 6th | Brasatore |
| Mono Black Sacrifice | 7th | elvis10 |
| High Tide Combo | 8th | Tyerube1618 |
Fair amount of Combo in this Top 8, but a lot of Burn and other stuff too. At the end of the event, it was Golgari Gardens that won.
Realistically, it's kind of nice to see a big midrange threat type deck like this do well. It's always a reasonable spot for a format when midrange piles are good but not overpowering. That applies to a lot of Pauper at the moment, I feel.
In Second Place we had Spy Combo.
This deck has certainly gotten a bunch of cards that push its game plan. Being able to mill yourself and then Dread Return a Lotleth Giant is golden.
Pauper Challenge 32 8/3/2025
The final regular Challenge event was the Sunday event. This event had 87 players in it thanks to the MTGO site.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Golgari Gardens | 1st | NickNorman |
| Elves | 2nd | SuperCow12653 |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 3rd | Oceansoul92 |
| Mono Blue Terror | 4th | discoverN |
| Madness Burn | 5th | xDaddy |
| Madness Burn | 6th | 4UBro |
| Elves | 7th | _against_ |
| Infect | 8th | ICT95 |
Some Faeries, some Burn, some Elves. At the end of the event it was again Golgari Gardens that won.
Campfire is one of the most innocuous cards because it seems like it should be kind of dumb given its Commander text, but it's really quite good because of the graveyard reshuffle and consistent life gain.
In Second Place, we had Elves.
Incredibly clean deckbuilding here. Lots of fours, and it's always interesting when you see 3-ofs because you often realize the math was indeed done on them. Vitu-Ghazi Inspector in the sideboard is also really interesting.
Pauper Showcase Challenge 8/3/2025
This weekend was also a Pauper Showcase Challenge event. Showcase Challenges are Premier Play events where the Top 8 qualify for the Showcase Qualifier at the end of the season. As such, they require Qualification Points (QPs) to enter. This event had 292 players, which is super solid turnout.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Jund Wildfire | 1st | AlessandroPiraccini |
| Spy Combo | 2nd | Mistakenn |
| Elves | 3rd | ganjadejanga |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 4th | gazmon48 |
| Jund Wildfire | 5th | flower270 |
| Bogles | 6th | Jositoshekel |
| Madness Burn | 7th | vikizin |
| Madness Burn | 8th | Blvcky |
This seems honestly pretty reasonable for such a large event. At the end of the event, it was Jund Wildfire that won.
This deck just continues to be one of the more interesting decks in the current format. It's midrange-y, it's got a lot of draw action, and it plays a bunch of really individually powerful cards. It's definitely Jund through and through.
In Second Place we had Spy Combo.
This deck making the finals of a 292-player event? Whew. Yes, it is very good and very powerful.
Around the Web
- kalikaiz has a Pauper Meta Report video. Check it out here.
- Pauperganda has a video on the Brute Squad. Check it out here.
- The Common Cold Snap has a new episode. 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!
SLIVERS.
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!
