The Power of Pauper: Summoning the Chocobo
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 about one specific card in Pauper that's had a solid impact on Mono White Aggro. In addition to that we've got some Challenges from last week to look at, as well as a look at Paupergeddon!
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
CHOCO/MOG
Final Fantasy has introduced some really cool cards to Pauper, and we talked in recent weeks about the impact that Black Mage's Rod has had on the format, but the more interesting impact is the one that a Saga Creature has had.
Enter Summon: Choco/Mog.
This card looks unassuming at first, but when you look at it in the context of an aggressive shell, you're getting a ton of value for three mana spread across four turns where every other creature is getting +1/+0 each turn. This being a 3/3 for 3 is nothing to sneeze at on stats either.
Where I think this card really shines is in multiples. Deploy one on Turn 3 and then another on Turn 4 and everything is getting +2/+0 while the other Choco is getting +1/+0 from the second copy, and can swing in as a 4/3. Play another on Turn 5 and you're really cooking with gas. This deck often plays a bunch of small threats that all either get bigger or swing in for lots of damage in one swing, so this effect is just like a permanent Ramosian Rally that can also attack on its own and that makes it superb.
This is certainly a card to keep an eye on for this deck, because it only stands to make the deck stronger and more explosive down the line, especially if the deck gets even more cost effective threats.
Paupergeddon 2025
An insanely large Pauper event just took place this past weekend in Polo Fiere, Lucca in Italy as part of the Paupergeddon series. The main event of this took place over two days and had a stunning 1076 players overall, which is absolutely bonkers.
This event also had in attendance a bunch of artists as well as both Gavin Verhey and Emma Partlow from the Pauper Format Panel. What a super cool event. All of the lists for this event were covered by Pauperwave, so you can find the Top 8 here and all the Top 16 decklists here.
This image was posted of what the metagame overall looked like, and I have to say it's interesting how much Jund Wildfires there was here. It was easily the most played deck of the event, and honestly it makes sense. It's a really strong deck filled with a bunch of really strong cards and it does some very powerful things. Burn, Madness Burn, and Faeries all being popular also doesn't surprise me too much either.
Let's see what made the Top 8 here.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Jeskai Gates | 1st | Pietro Carocci |
| Mono Blue Terror | 2nd | Francesco Fiorenzoni |
| Burn | 3rd | Franek Komsta |
| Altar Tron | 4th | Francesco Foschi |
| Mono Blue Terror | 5th | Riccardo Cestari |
| Gruul Ramp | 6th | Tommaso Punis |
| Gruul Ramp | 7th | Francesco Zibella |
| Mardu Synthesizer | 8th | Jose Vidal Ros |
What a wildly cool looking Top 8 here. This was a big deal of an event for the Pauper Format Panel too as it is easily one of the biggest events in recent history and especially after the trial unban period being extended for High Tide. With High Tide only having been 4.2% of the overall metagame, I think it's safe to say that people don't think the deck is so insane that it should be overpowering the entire event. The deck does have some very real predators that are at the top of the metagame and while it can do some cool things, I think it's slow enough that its easy to interact with.
But still, what a crazy event, and the winner being Jeskai Gates is super cool.
Pauper Challenge 32 7/4/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 51 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mono Blue Terror | 1st | Luminati |
| Dredge | 2nd | AguaTonificada |
| Grixis Affinity | 3rd | LuffyDoChapeuDePalha |
| Boros Synthesizer | 4th | viashinoperuano |
| Madness Burn | 5th | Sailor_Moon |
| Mono White Aggro | 6th | cat_JAM |
| Madness Burn | 7th | medvedev |
| Madness Burn | 8th | Carlinhoss |
Quite a bit of Madness Burn in this Top 8. At the end of the event though it was Mono Blue Terror that won.
This is a pretty solid and straightforward list. I am digging it. Very powerful deck.
In Second Place we had Dredge.
I love Pauper Dredge. It's definitely a deck that's on my short list of decks to build in paper. Town Greeter seems quite good here as a second Satyr Wayfinder.
Also in this Top 8 we had Boros Synthesizer.
It's cool to see this back and around. Boros Synth has always been a reasonable part of Pauper, as Inspectors and Kor Skyfisher is just a solid core of things.
Pauper Challenge 32 7/5/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 36 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Golgari Gardens | 1st | __Noob__ |
| Grixis Affinity | 2nd | LuffyDoChapeuDePalha |
| Mono White Aggro | 3rd | _Tia93_ |
| Elves | 4th | Tsubasa_Cat |
| Madness Burn | 5th | BOB_THE_CAT |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 6th | Enz091 |
| Madness Burn | 7th | Sailor_Moon |
| Burn | 8th | CounterTopGarchomp |
This is a pretty reasonable spread of decks. At the end of the event it was Golgari Gardens that won.
Spinning Darkness is a pretty sick inclusion in this deck. Kind of wild to have it over something like Snuff Out, but it really is solid.
In Second Place we had Grixis Affinity.
Definitely seems like Black Mage's Rod is becoming a core part of this deck. It seems like a potent card in this deck since it's both a creature and a non-creature spell for triggering the other copies. Really cool.
Also in this Top 8 we had Elves.
Very straightforward list here. I do like Crashing Drawbridge as just a way to give haste to everything so you can play a new tap effect like Priest of Titania and immediately get to use it, which is gas.
Pauper Challenge 32 7/6/2025
The final Challenge event of the week was the Sunday event. This event had 66 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Madness Burn | 1st | THXrhys |
| Madness Burn | 2nd | Yugi_Moto |
| Turbo Fog | 3rd | BabySoft |
| Madness Burn | 4th | alfonseelric |
| High Tide Combo | 5th | PNascimento |
| Mono Blue Terror | 6th | Luminati |
| Jund Wildfire | 7th | digdude13 |
| Grixis Affinity | 8th | LuffyDoChapeuDePalha |
Very interesting Top 8. At the end of the event it was two Madness Burn decks in the finals, with the winner being the newer variant.
This version definitely feels much more streamlined. It doesn't have to go too deep on certain cards to be good, and its mana base is extremely clean.
Let's look at the Second Place list.
This is much more in line with the older versions of this deck, as it gets to play aggressive threats like Kitchen Imp and other burn spells like Vampire's Kiss and Alms of the Vein.
Also in this Top 8 we had Turbo Fog.
I kinda love that there's a Turbo Fog deck that plays Crypt Rats and Campfire. So amazing.
Around the Web
- GiorgioCombo has a video on Paupergeddon. Check it out here.
- The Common Cold Snap has a new episode. Check it out here.
- Kalikaiz has a video on RG Ramp. 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!
INFECT.
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!
