May 26th Pauper Challenge Winner's Metagame

On Sunday, May 26th, the first Pauper Challenge after the banning of Daze, Gitaxian Probe, and Gush took place. There were 64 players in the event - a moderate increase from the previous few weeks but not enough to push the tournament to seven rounds. There were 21 distinct archetypes in the Top 32. If you instead want to group decks together in "macro" archetypes, such as all three Tireless Tribe builds in one bucket, all Ghostly Flicker Tron decks in another (and so on), you still end up with 15 different archetypes posted. You have to go back to December 2nd, 2018 to see a Top 32 with 21 different archetypes. 

This is of course a single point of data. One event after a ban is not a trend unto itself. While these results look promising, none of the bans will matter if in a month's time the format has codified around a few best decks that are again miles better than everything else. 

That being said, these early results are incredibly promising. The absence of Gush left a power vacuum that could have easily been filled with Monarch or Tron strategies. While both of these were popular (4 dedicated Monarch decks; 7 Tron decks) neither put up numbers that look alarming. It may be the absence of Daze might be the thing that helps keep these decks under control. The lack of a "free" stop on the second turn means decks like Rakdos Reanimator and Project X have a chance to combo off earlier. That is incredibly important in keeping turn four decks like Tron and Monarch in check.

The rise of these combo decks would be worrisome except for the fact that they are incredibly fragile. Rakdos Reanimator can be pulled apart rather easily with a timely Duress or a Doom Blade. Project X is a convoluted deck that involves a sacrifice outlet, Ivy Land Denizen, and Safehold Elite. And even then it needs to either attack or have another piece in play - Falkenrath Noble - to end the game. Having a rotating cast of combo decks, each easy to answer, but requiring a different suite of cards to do so, could be good for keeping the format dynamic and shifting from week to week.

The other big takeaway from this week is that blue cantrip decks are far from dead. Dimir Angler, featuring Ponder, Brainstorm, and Augur of Bolas opted to include Accumulated Knowledge. All told, the Nemesis standout was in four decks - three in the Top 16.

There's only one more challenge before Modern Horizons hits Magic Online. When that happens, everything is sure to change again. Given what we've seen of the set so far, Pauper is in for a wild ride.

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!