The Power of Pauper: The Gates Are Open!
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 continuing our journey into Pauper by starting to look at some of the format's more prevalent decks. This week it's all about Basilisk Gate! In addition to that we've got some events to talk about including a Pauper Super Qualifier event from over the weekend!
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
The Power of Gates
Pauper has quite a few interesting pillars that have defined the game play of the format. Out of the current existing pillars of the format, one of the most interesting ones came out of the release of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. Baldur's Gate definitely provided the Pauper format a ton of cards that have impacted it, but one of those strategies is Gates.
Baldur's Gate had a large cycle of Gate type lands, for each of the Gates in the titular city they belong to. Gates hadn't had much more cards on Lands since the release of the Guildgates from Return to Ravnica and Guilds of Ravnica, but this set had a huge impact on the usage of those lands that is primarily rooted in the card Basilisk Gate. Basilisk Gate having an ability that can pump creatures and a cycle of Gates that can be flexible in the second color pairing is very strong and has led to a number of different variations of the deck.
One of the primary versions we often see is Jeskai.
The Red splash is quite minimal in these variants, as they are often splashing for cards like Smash to Dust, but also cards like Pyroblast or Red Elemental Blast out of the sideboard. This deck utilizes the powerful effects of cards like Squadron Hawk (which can assemble multiple evasive creatures) and Sacred Cat (a lifelink threat that can be rebought later on). In addition, cards like The Modern Age have proven to be very strong effects in this kind of deck.
Very similarly we've seen this also show up in Esper variations as well.
This has a slant just like the Jeskai deck where the black splash is pretty minimal, focusing mostly on removal spells like Suffocating Fumes, Cast Down, and Chainer's Edict (all very powerful pieces of removal in Pauper).
Finally, we also see the effect of this strategy in Non-Blue decks such as Naya/4C Gates.
This version doesn't have the cards like Squadron Hawk but it does gain access to red-based removal like Lightning Bolt and synergy between Glint Hawk and Experimental Synthesizer. Its green splash is often quite light, usually for cards like Weather the Storm, and it often includes a black splash for some black-based removal as well.
Regardless though the very core of the deck centers around cheap evasive creatures that can be pumped for large amounts of damage with Basilisk Gate. Cheap fliers work great for this game plan because they are more than likely going to get through in combat.
This is definitely a powerful sub-set of decks in the format, and they provide an interesting gameplay experience for those interested in the effects of the Gates.
Pauper Super Qualifier 4/15
This past weekend there was a Super Qualifier for Pauper! Super Qualifier events are sort of like large RCQ events, where the Top 4 of the event receive an invitation to a Regional Championship, this one for the 23-24 season. These events usually cost around 40 Event Tickets (or 400 Play Points OR 40 Qualification Points) to enter and are often pretty wildly stacked events in terms of competitive play. This particular event had 217 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Castle of Commons Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here (thanks to karl191 for their hard work).
Both Burn and Affinity were the two most popular decks of the entire event, but both decks suffered some subpar win rates (despite having two top finishes in the Top 8). Of the decks listed here, Familiars did very well, as did the Mono White Aggro variants. Definitely a very wide spread of decks here though in various configurations, but so much Affinity and Burn.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Kuldotha Burn | 1st | arturcosta |
| Ephemerate Tron | 2nd | RClint21 |
| Mono White Aggro | 3rd | saikyoluige |
| Orzhov Ephemerate | 4th | BERNASTORRES |
| Affinity | 5th | karatedom |
| Naya Gates | 6th | Maccaciock |
| Familiars | 7th | Gn42 |
| Jeskai Gates | 8th | trukanshii |
Definitely an interesting Top 8 here. As noted, both Affinity and Burn had some top finishes despite the overall win rate having been dragged down a bit, and we also had some variety of Gates, Familiars, Tron, and even Mono White. At the end of the event, it was indeed Kuldotha Burn that won.
Very clean-looking Burn list here. Surprising to see only one copy of Reckless Impulse as that card is usually a 4-of, but we do get four copies of Searing Blaze which is pretty neat.
In Second Place we've got Ephemerate Tron.
This list is leaning very much on the usage of stuff like Dinrova Horror to win the game by repeatedly bouncing the opponent's permanents over and over. It has a lot of ways to extend the game too, from grindy removal like Breath Weapon to life gain from Weather the Storm.
Also in this Top 8 we have Orzhov Ephemerate.
This deck packs so much removal it's no surprise that it does well versus other creature-centric decks of the format. It wants to go long and grind out a game plan that involves blinking its permanents repeatedly with Ephemerate.
Further into this Top 8 we did have a showing by Affinity.
Very clean-looking list here. I like the main deck Nihil Spellbomb as a graveyard hate and also like the sideboard copies of Breath Weapon as well. Solid list for sure.
Pauper Challenge 4/15
The first Challenge event of the weekend was the Saturday event. This event had 48 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Castle of Commons Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here (thanks to karl191 for their hard work).
Mono Blue decks were the most played in this event, and they had a really solid win rate of 65.22% non-mirror. Burn had a very sub par win rate (despite a Top 8 finish) and Affinity was middle of the road here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mono Blue Faeries | 1st | Mogged |
| Familiars | 2nd | Gn42 |
| Dimir Control | 3rd | _Falcon_ |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 4th | ezocratto |
| Jeskai Ephemerate | 5th | immvp |
| Kuldotha Burn | 6th | LucasG1ggs |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 7th | PieGonti |
| Bogles | 8th | in_vitro |
Quite a lot of Faeries in this Top 8. At the end of the event it was Mono Blue Faeries that won.
This deck is super clean and powerful. It's got a very straightforward game plan and it hits hard with its tempo game plan.
In Second Place we've got Familiars.
I love this deck quite a bit, so much that I ended up purchasing it this past week. It's such a fun deck and has a lot of powerful gameplay to it.
Also in this Top 8 we had Dimir Control.
Fallaji Archaeologist is a card I've definitely seen a lot of in this deck where it can mill and get back another card like a Counterspell or even a Thought Scour to be able to have to cast. If you don't get something back it at least becomes a 1/4 to block against faster decks.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we've got Bogles.
Such a powerful deck here for sure. I love how good looking Bogles looks these days. The sideboard here is great, and even get to see one of my favorite cards in Flaring Pain.
Pauper Challenge 4/16
The second Challenge event of the weekend was the Sunday event, which we had no collected data for so it is unknown how many players were in the event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. There is no data sheet for this event, so no fancy graphs for this one.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Tron | 1st | VanillaJames |
| Mono White Aggro | 2nd | jwaves |
| Affinity | 3rd | LuffyDocChapeuDePalha |
| Izzet Faeries | 4th | cicciogire |
| Izzet Delver | 5th | qbturtle15 |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 6th | NimblestMongoose |
| Walls Combo | 7th | QueMario |
| Affinity | 8th | Backoff |
Some Faeries, some Tron, and even some Affinity. At the end of the event, it was Tron that won the event.
This is a much more aggressively slanted Tron deck, using its mana advantage to push out a bunch of creatures. One of the best creatures here it seems right now is Fangren Marauder, since it will gain a bunch of life in the current format with all the artifact sacrificing.
In Second Place we've got Mono White Aggro.
This deck is so very aggressive for sure. It has a lot of removal and a tutor piece in Squadron Hawk (for you know... other Hawks). Definitely a powerful deck.
Further down the Top 8 we've got Izzet Delver.
This is a true blue (and red) Delver deck! We get to have access to cool spells like Skred and Brainstorm/Ponder here, as well as draw effects like Frantic Inventory. Very cool.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we've got Walls!
This is just one of my favorite decks. I love how goofy and fun it is, despite needing a lot of clicks on MTGO to win the game with. It's still super powerful and super fun.
Around the Web
- Bryant Cook has a video on Pauper Reanimator! Check it out here.
- Pauperganda has a great video on SLIVERS. Check it out here.
- Stompy MTG has a Pauper League video on Mono Blue Faeries. Check it out here.
- Our good friend Alex Ullman has a recap of the All Will Be One season. Check it out here.
- Kalikaiz has a video on 8-Reckless Impulse testing with Wrenn's Resolve. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
You can find this past week's 5-0 deck lists over here.
TURBO FOGGGGG!
What I'm Playing This Week
My local store The Game Haven didn't actually have Pauper this past week because of the Prerelease so I didn't get out to play. I'll be getting over there this week though! I don't think Familiars will be here in time by then so I'll probably be playing Goblins!
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!
