January 20 Pauper Challenge Breakdown

Welcome to Ravnica Allegiance season! Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Delver won the day in the hands of PauloCabral_br and despite not running Augur of Bolas, the pilot had no problem taking out the lone Stompy deck to make the Top 8 in the Quarterfinals. Then the mono-blue player dispatched two Boros Monarch decks on their way to victory. 

The Top 8 had some very interesting pieces of tech. First, that same Stompy player eschewed Elephant Guide in favor of Moldervine Cloak. Entropy263 had four copies of Fire//Ice in their Devious Cover-Up control deck. And the winner moved back to Spire Golem in Delver. This makes some amount of sense thanks to Foil. Foil is very good at protecting a singular threat and the Delver decks of old had Spire Golem act as that threat. In this new era it would follow that the old standard would return.

This first challenge showed that despite the recent surge of Boros Bully, Boros Monarch might still beat the red-white deck to beat. Three Top 8 finishes, and it would have had a 1:1 Win+ to Volume ratio if not for the 32nd place list, which went 3-4. 8 total Win+ points in 12 total appearances puts Boros decks ahead of the curve this season.

But don't sleep on Delver-Gush decks. Dimir Delver had a very strong showing as well - better than Bully in the same number of appearances. Delver, outside of the winner, faltered, with that lone Top 8 appearance being the only 5-2 or better finish. 

Last week Kendra Smith made the case to ban Gush, Ghostly Flicker, and all the Monarch cards. Despite the fact that nothing got banned today, Kendra played prognosticator rather well.

Fifteen of the Top 16 decks ran one of the cards Kendra called out. Her eye for the metagame is keen and just because Play Design didn't act doesn't mean her article was in the wrong. Give that woman some dap. You can check out my thoughts on the lack of bans here.

Moving forward, Gush and Monarch continue to have a target on their heads. If you are trying to attack the metagame I would look for another way to generate card advantage. You ideally want something that can keep pace with those two pillars in terms of card economy that does not sacrifice board position or force you into bad trades.

2019 is going to be a banner year for Pauper. I want to continue to be at the forefront of the metagame. If you like the work I do, please consider becoming a Patron. Thank you!