The Power of Pauper: Without a Glitter
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 taking a look at how the metagame is shaping up in the first week of events in the wake of the bannings of both All That Glitters and cards utilizing the Sticker mechanic (namely "Name Sticker" Goblin. With that being said, we're really mainly going to be looking at the Challenges of the past week to illustrate what changes we are seeing overall. There were only three Challenges to look at so we'll be digging into each one here.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Pauper Challenge 32 5/17
The first Challenge of the week here was the 5/17 event. This event had 46 players in it thanks to the data provided by Daybreak Games.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
In the absence of Glitters, Golgari Gardens seemed to be one of the best decks right out of the gate, as well as, well, Gates. Burn was popular still but had a less than stellar win rate. Izzet Terror also showed up here and looked quite good.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Golgari Gardens | 1st | _against_ |
| Izzet Terror | 2nd | SpockVidaLoka |
| Golgari Gardens | 3rd | LuffyDoChapeuDePalha |
| Dimir Faeries | 4th | galeogiao |
| Poison Storm | 5th | saidin.raken |
| Dimir Faeries | 6th | Beicodegeia |
| Azorius Gates | 7th | carvs |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 8th | JuaKi |
Fairly interesting Top 8 for the first Challenge event post ban. As excpected, Golgari Gardens did so well it won the event.
Not much has to change in this deck's main deck construction now that Glitters isn't a thing, but really where it helps is sideboard construction of being able to devote cards to different matchups. Still, Troublemaker Ouphe is a strong card to have in the 75 here too, but now we get to have stuff like Pyroblast and some graveyard hate to combat Dredge shenanigans.
In Second Place we had Izzet Terror.
This deck seems quite good. With more board control options available, having cards like Skred as scalable removal seems quite powerful. Ghostfire as a way to get around Prismatic Strands/protection type effects is sweet.
Also in this Top 8 we had Poison Storm.
This deck is really sweet, and I can see it doing well in a post Glitters world. As things can slow down a bit, a deck like this that wants to have time to set up it's game plan of giving out poison counters and then proliferating them to death can be really cool.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Mono Blue Faeries.
Very simplistic in what it's accomplishing here. Tempo permission and aggressive beats. Seems quite good at the moment to capitalize on decks trying to adjust to a new metagame.
Pauper Challenge 32 5/18
The second of the three Challenges from last week was the 5/18 event. This event had 44 players in it thanks to the data provided by Daybreak Games.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Golgari Gardens again proved to be quite popular, but it's win rate in this event was slightly less than 50%. Gates also didn't perform so well, but Burn, Dimir Faeries, and Jeskai Ephemerate all looked quite good.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Goblins Combo | 1st | Hamuda |
| Jeskai Ephemerate | 2nd | Purgatory_01 |
| Dimir Faeries | 3rd | carrot_eater |
| Boros Synthesizer | 4th | ZAAAAMU |
| Grixis Affinity | 5th | discoverN |
| Dimir Faeries | 6th | pepeteam |
| Golgari Gardens | 7th | galeogiao |
| Burn | 8th | Oceansoul92 |
Fairly diverse and interesting Top 8 here, and we get to see how Boros Synth looks post ban. At the end of the event it was Goblins Combo that won.
This deck doesn't have to do a bunch to shift any deck construction thanks to Glitters being gone, and this deck was already doing very well in the format because of how fast it can generally win the game. This is definitely capitalizing on the inevitable power struggle as decks figure out their new placings in the format.
In Second Place we had Jeskai Ephemerate.
This is definitely a strong deck still. It's position maybe even gets a bit better because it gets to have time to do its thing and doesn't have to be completely reactive to deal with Glitters. This deck was already doing well as well, so it seems like a great deck to lean into.
Also in this Top 8 we had Boros Synthesizer.
This is more on the Mardu range of Synth decks, trading out cards like the Inspectors for cards like Deadly Dispute and Tithing Blade. It's a very interesting take on the deck overall and seems quite strong.
Further down the Top 8 we had Grixis Affinity.
The other prime loss of the Glitters banning was the loss of Jeskai and UW Affinity decks, so we have had to shift back to the OG Grixis decks. We saw these on occasion during the previous metagame, but not nearly as much as the Glitters decks. This looks like a solid list overall. New cards like Mephitic Draught and even Candy Trail look quite good here.
Pauper Challenge 64 5/19
The final Challenge event of the weekend was the 64 player Sunday event. This event had 75 players in it thanks to the data provided by Daybreak Games.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Burn re-cemented itself as the most popular deck of the event by quite a bit, with a fairly reasonable win rate overall. Golgari looked good as did Gates. Faeries and Bogles as well as Izzet Terror didn't look too good here.
Let's take a look at the top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Goblins Combo | 1st | Beicodegeia |
| Grixis Affinity | 2nd | karatedom |
| Burn | 3rd | IvernOP |
| Burn | 4th | Capitano_CL |
| Ephemerate Tron | 5th | ziofrancone |
| Poison Storm | 6th | renaar |
| Azorius Gates | 7th | Gn42 |
| Azorius Gates | 8th | PieGonti |
Very interesting Top 8 here. Some Burn and some Gates but it was again Goblins Combo that won.
This is again I feel a really good deck for this burgeoning period where people are still figuring out where things sit metagame-wise. It's fast, powerful, and plays off a strong angle of attack. It's definitely a great deck for sure.
In Second Place we had Grixis Affinity.
Solid looking stock list here, not leaning too hard into cards like Mephitic Draught. I do spy a Tithing Blade in the sideboard though!
Also in this Top 8 we had Ephemerate Tron.
This is a pretty sweet deck. I like how we get the Dinrova/Stonehorn Dignitary in the sideboard here since it makes sense for slower matchups. I do love Runaway Boulder too, that is quite cool.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Gates.
Very solid and straightforward list here. I love Outlaw Medic. It seems like a really solid card for this deck.
Around the Web
- Bryant Cook has a sweet deck using Songs of the Damned. Check it out here.
- StompyMTG has a video on Mono Blue Terror vs Burn. Check it out here.
- Alex Ullman has a recap on this past weekend's events. Check it out here.
- TeasdaleMTG has a video on Brews. Check it out here.
- Nyx has a video on Azorius Gates. 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!
Walls Cascade is kind of sweet.
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!
