June 23 Pauper Challenge Winner's Metagame

What happens when a format decides to take several turns off to spin its wheels? The answer appears to be found in the June 23rd Challenge. For weeks the name of the game has been Arcum's Astrolabe. On Sunday, two Affinity decks made Top 8 and Stompy took down the tournament.

Arcum's Astrolabe is a good card but at the same time it doesn't really do anything. Yes, it fixes mana and yes, it is cheap. Compare it to Ponder, Preordain, Faithless Looting, and Ancient Stirring. It is clearly less powerful than these and this is a horrible comparison. 

But run with it for a second.

At their apex, Ponder and Preordain helped to keep the best decks in the format flowing, They looked at multiple cards for a single spell and presumably upgrade the quality of a card in hand (although the number of times I've seen people Preordain into Preordain is...high).

So Astrolabe replaces itself with a random card and helps to fix your mana at the cost of a mana. For a deck that features Glint Hawk and Kor Skyfisher, that is all part of the plan. In a deck like Tron, however, the cost is a bit higher since Tron cannot cast the spell. And the Glint Hawk decks have now taken to running more spells to find key cards (similar to Tron) and less action. 

So what is the end result? Sometimes Astrolabe decks are glacially slow. Affinity and Stompy can prey upon slow draws and apply pressure early and often. Will this last? Probably not, but it exposes something about Pauper - you can't always afford to waste turns one and two on hand sculpting. 

Minimum number of appearances: 2 (or a Top 8)

So where does that leave us going into next week's playoff? I think we could see a return to an earlier metagame. Glint Hawk decks will likely need to choose which is better - Arcum's Astrolabe or Prophetic Prism - and run a playset of one and one or two copies of the other. Tron may have to devote more slots to actually handling the board instead of seeing a random card. 

If I had to pick one deck to do well on Sunday, it would be Boros Midrange - no Monarch. These decks have been picking up steam in recent weeks and now with Astrolabe, they have an easier time making Seeker of the Way large. Of course that could make an opening for a correctly metagamed Tron deck to take the whole thing down.

We'll have to wait and see.

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!

June 16th Pauper Challenge Winner's Metagame Breakdown

It's Arcum's Astrolabe's world; we're just living in it. That's the distinct feeling I got after looking at the June 16th Pauper Challenge results. The winning Murasa Tron deck featured four copies of the card and there were 16 copies in the Top 8 - 40 across the Top 32. Why is this trinket so attractive?

For years, Pauper players bemoaned how hard it was to play multiple colors. Before Khans of Tarkir gain lands and before Gates, trying to build a multicolor deck that could function would often mean relegating the second or third color to a splash or running a card like Prophetic Prism to stitch things together. Over time Prism became less a necessity and more a luxury if not an outright engine piece. The lands got better and so too did the mana bases. One only needs to look at a deck like Dimir Flicker, which runs both Chittering Rats and Counterspell, and finds slots for Radiant Fountain, as to the strength of Dismal Backwater and Dimir Aqueduct. In this way, Arcum's Astrolabe represents opportunity.

Prophetic Prism is a fine card. It replaces itself and it can fix your mana. It still costs two mana and in eats a turn of development. Tron decks are fine with this as they can afford to take turn two off since their third turn is more like a seventh turn with regards to mana development. Glint Hawk decks enjoyed the opportunity to build their own Mulldrifter. But it still costs you two mana. Arcum's Astrolabe cuts the cost in half and has the exact same effect, but requires you to run a Snow mana base.

In my set review I said that Astrolabe would find a home in Boros decks but that Tron would struggle to include it. One out of two ain't bad, but it isn't good either. I underestimated how Tron would contort their mana base to fit in another cantrip fixer. It appears as if Astrolabe fueled Tron decks are here to stay as all four Tron decks in the Top 32 ran the new addition. 

All that being said, I think the card is overrated. Running Arcum's Astrolabe alongside non-Snow lands leaves you often with a card that can be impossible to cast. That is not to say that decks should not run the card but rather care has to be taken in crafting a mana base. Ideally you want to cast it on the first turn and trying to shoehorn in too many other specialty lands could impact a decks ability to cast key spells. Should Astrolabe continue seeing play in Boros? Absolutely. Tron, I'm less sold but considering how I was wrong before I am willing to be wrong again. But I think many of the three and four color decks that are being held together by Astrolabe, duct tape, and a dream are prone to poor draws. Take the Top 4 deck from Sakkra. While this deck can churn through cards quickly, its main win condition is Bonesplitter. These kinds of decks can (and do) win, but personally I would much rather run a deck that draws one too many land than one too few.

We are still very early in the Modern Horizons season and yet it is already almost over. Given how soon Core 2020 will be upon us, figuring out the best deck might be a challenge. That being said, I am still very high on cards like Manic Vandal (provided they don't hurt your own board in the process).

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!

June 9th Pauper Challenge Winner's Metagame

It's finally here. Modern Horizons is legal for play on Magic Online. The Leagues have been consolidated. The bans are in effect. Pauper has entered a new era. Whatever Pauper was a few weeks ago it is something different today. It's also rather familiar. Both poles were on display in the June 9th Challenge.

What's familiar? The decks at the top of the challenge. Izzet Delver, featuring Accumulated Knowledge, won the day. It had two slots in the Top 8 (with a third going to Izzet Faeries, complete with Faerie Seer) and another finish in the Top 32 with a 3-4 record. Izzet Delver did not lean as hard on Daze or Gitaxian Probe as other blue tempo decks and as such had an easier time porting directly over to the new metagame. The two Top 8 lists were fairly stock and avoided the recent addition of Fire // Ice. 

Coming in with two Top 8 appearances - Mono Black Control. While this deck has never really gone away, Modern Horizons has given the deck its very own version of Skred in Defile. Defile was the most played new card in the Top 8 with 7 copies. The eighth place list splashed blue for Dimir Guildmage off of four Dimir Aqueduct. I'm a fan of Dimir Guildmage but have moved my Mono Black deck to a Snow-Covered Swamp mana base to facilitate Arcum's Astrolabe. The one mana prism allows you to keep your Swamp count high for Defile while enabling cards like Dimir Guildmage and other fringe (read: only I play them) cards like Strangling Soot.

Speaking of new, Arcum's Astrolabe headlined all new cards. There were 16 copies across all Top 32 decks. Faerie Seer and Winding Way were tied for second with 8 copies each. Astrolabe gives every deck a solid turn one play that replaces itself. There is a real cost to this as it means skimping on the number of gain lands, karoos, cycling lands, and fetches you are able to run. Still, the opportunity to fix your mana while also seeing a fresh card is attractive. Anecdotally, I saw a ton of decks in the league lean on the Astrolabe to stitch together base Boros decks splashing multiple colors.

Dimir Control has also emerged in the wake of Dimir Delver. Leaning hard on Gurmag Angler and disruption, this deck is still quite capable of dumping a ton of cards into the graveyard early to fuel a big fish. Condescend played the deck to the finals this week, complete with three copies of Mulldrifter. While the deck lost some free wins off of Delver of Secrets, it still has the ability to play a solid control game and see a ton of cards. 

Moving forward cards like Tin-Street Hooligan become attractive options. The ability to develop your own board while potentially stranding a Glint Hawk looks to be important for the foreseeable future. Hearth Kami and Torch Fiend are not as good since they have to hit the bin, and Ainok Survivalist is just a bit slow (and it's no Nantuko Vigilante). Qasali Pridemage, however, might hit the sweet spot between threat and answer. Still, this is just Week One of Modern Horizons season. The league results drop on Wednesday and considering the influx of new cards, it will be interesting to see what decks managed to get to five wins.

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!

Whisper, Blood Liturgist

When I was writing for GatheringMagic (now CoolStuffInc.com) At that time I was writing Pauper content for another website and my friend - Adam Styborksi - had recruited me to write some articles about Cube. Eventually The Stybs got me to write a few pieces about Commander (fun fact: my first ever preview card article was Commander focused) but eventually I stopped writing words considering the century. 

I'm a big proponent of only writing when you have something interesting to say. Over time I found that I wasn't creating any Commander content that mattered. Nothing about anything I produced felt impactful.

This stems from how I view Commander. To me it is an intensely personal experience. Sure, I like winning games but I also enjoy being able to play some of my favorite cards and do strange things. Heck, one of my favorite decks is Hakim, Loreweaver Voltron. There is something absolutely primal about winning with a pile that is yours (and being blunt this is something I cannot get out of Pauper). 

Let's get back to something I just said: I like winning games. 

I'm also terrible at it.

I struggle mightily between wanting to end games of Commmander while avoiding the dreaded "unfun". Fun is so subjective but to me it comes down to this: I don't want to win a way I would hate losing. There's more to this, of course. Is Mike-Trike fun? Maybe. Is Mikeaus, the Unhallowed your Commander? Can your deck win other ways? Is this what your deck is designed to do over and over again? 

There is no hard and fast rule here; it's about emotion. And emotions are fickle so what feels fine one night can leave me packing up my cards early the next week. And as much as I hate losing to some combos there are others I absolutely admire for their audacity, like Marchesa and Jokulhaups. 

All this is a roundabout way of saying I've built a combo deck that I love and hits so many of the things I love to do in Commander. It features a card that, when it was spoiled, had me saying that this was designed just for me. It is black and has a drawback I want to desperately turn into an advantage. It's underpowered. It fosters graveyard shenanigans. 

When discussing the archetype that would come to be known as Aristocrats Sam Black - the driving force behind Tom Martell's Pro Tour Gatecrash winning deck - said that sacrificing a creature is one of the best things you can do in Magic. It makes sense. If you have played a creature that you want to sacrifice, there's a good chance you have already gotten some amount of value out of it and are about to generate more by sending it to the graveyard. Whisper, Blood Liturgist gives you two for the price of one - you bin two creatures to get one back. 

Like I said, I love underpowered cards.

But Whisper has so much potential. In blue you could pair her with Intruder Alarm and any black creature that creates tokens to generate an unbound loop. And you could do that. Or you can do what I did and pair her with Thornbite Staff. Now Whisper can get two untap triggers per iteration which gives you one in the bank if something goes wrong. 

Let's get to the list and then I can talk about some of the combos.

Creatures

Abhorrent Overlord

Apprentice Necromancer

Archfiend of Despair

Bloodghast

Blood Artist

Butcher of Malakir

Crypt Ghast

Demon of Dark Schemes

Falkenrath Noble

Grave Titan

Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Grim Haruspex

Harvester of Souls

Hell's Caretaker

Massacre Wurm

Midnight Reaper

Nether Traitor

Overseer of the Damned

Pawn of Ulamog

Pitiless Plunderer

Reassembling Skeleton

Rune-Scarred Demon

Sengir Autocrat

Sepulchral Primordial

Skeletal Vampire

Tenacious Dead

Vindictive Vampire

Zulaport Cutthroat

Sifter of Skulls

Smothering Abomination

Krav, the Unredeemed

Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Arcbound Reclaimer

Meteor Golem

My Battlesphere

Solemn Simulacrum

Workhorse

Instants

Corpse Dance

Imp's Mischief

Mausoleum Secrets

Sorceries

Buried Alive

Decree of Pain

Demonic Tutor

Exsanguinate

Life's Finale

Torment of Hailfire

Toxic Deluge

Artifacts

Ashnod's Altar

Crucible of Worlds

Expedition Map

Jet Medallion

Sol Ring

Trading Post

Illusionist's Bracers

Lightning Greaves

Nim Deathmantle

Skullclamp

Swiftfoot Boots

Thornbite Staff

Enchantments

Contamination

Dictate of Erebos

Grace Pact

Strands of Night

Lands

26 Swamp

Bojuka Bog

Buried Ruin

Cabal Coffers

Cabal Stronghold

High Market

Sequestered Stash

Winding Canyons

Inventors' Fair

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Whisper is absolutely a combo deck, but it's really multiple combo decks. You do need Whisper and Staff out for the deck to sing, which is why we have so many cards dedicated to finding and recurring artifacts. Hell's Caretaker is a bit of redundancy for Whisper but is nowhere near as powerful thanks to the timing restriction. Strands of Night provides some protection for the Commander and just so happens to work nicely with Crucible of Worlds. 

So what are the loops? Once you have Whisper equipped with Staff, you want any of your token producers in play. Then you sacrifice them to get something back, untap, and repeat. The spouts are numerous. Have Sifter, Pawn, or Plunderer in play? You just made enough mana to make everyone hate you with an X spell. Or maybe you could loop enough time to make one of your Blood Artists lethal. You can also just bring back Gary over and over, making everyone relive Theros Standard. 

Whisper is not going to become my go to deck. While it is powerful and has multiple avenues to victory, I am definitely going to reserve it for spikier pods. And that's fine. Sometimes you need a deck that can just win the freaking game.

2019 is going to be a banner year for Pauper, but I want to bring you Commander content as well! If you like the work I do, please consider becoming a Patron. Thank you!

June 2nd Pauper Challenge Winner's Metagame

So Modern Horizons has been fully revealed and is coming to Magic Online this Friday. Pauper is going to look different very soon. However we still have a post-ban, pre-Modern Horizons challenge to go over. And wow was June 2nd a doozy. There were 22 archetypes in the Top 32 and no deck had more than three appearances - we see you Burn.

So two weeks into the world after the Blue Monday bans, the challenges have send 30 different archetypes. If you want to group certain archetypes together - e.g. all Flicker Tron, all Tireless Tribe - there are 26 macro-archetypes. In the four weeks leading up to the bans there were 20 distinct archetypes and 18 macros. If the goal of the bans was to increase format diversity the early returns seem to indicate success.

Izzet Delver is making a comeback. Despite losing out on Gush it still runs a high density of powerful cards. Turns out that both Think Twice and Accumulated Knowledge are good cards. The lone Dimir Delver deck that placed this week looked more like its Izzet cousin than the old Delver of Secrets - Gurmag Angler decks from previous seasons. 

I want to take some time to discuss two lists from this most recent challenge. The 6-0 Dimir Control deck and the winning Bant Freed Familiars.

Dimir Control is not a new deck, per se. Across the two last two challenges these decks, which resemble Forbidden Alchemy lists absent the eponymous card, has gone 12-0 in the Swiss. That's a small sample size but it is promising. Accumulated Knowledge makes it reasonable to run more expensive threats and reactive spells so relying on Gurmag Angler to get the job done might just be good enough.

Accumulated Knowledge does not require you to run a heavy Island mana base. The fact that you do not need early untapped blue for Delver of Secrets makes running Dimir Aqueduct and Dismal Backwater reasonable. The result is that this build can reasonable cast and flashback Chainer's Edict and play both modes of Mulldrifter. Dimir Control wants to play out its lands. The result is something that can pivot from draw-go style control to going on the attack on a dime. 

Dimir Control shows promise. Even though the deck went out in the semifinals both weeks, losing to Elves and Boros Monarch, it has the kind of shell that can easily adapt to different metagames. It is not impossible to imagine a build with maindeck copy of Pestilence or its own copy of Thorn of the Black Rose. Definitely a list to watch.

Please understand that what I say next is intended with the utmost amount of respect. This deck is a lot. Raptor56 is a Pauper brewer and grinder and it's awesome to see their hard work and ideas pay off. Raptor has credited another Pauper regular Trochk with the deck and honestly, this thing is interesting. It takes elements of Freed from the Real combo and Familiar-Ghostly Flicker combo. It lacks the traditional spout of a Freed from the Real deck - whether it's a Rolling Thunder or a Flamewave Invoker - but instead leans on a Flicker Tron kill of Mulldrifter beats or Compulsive Research mill.

Like I said, a lot.

I am interested to see if this deck can catch on or if it struck at the perfect time. Time will tell, but it does get a nice tool from Modern Horizons in Stream of Thought.

So that's it. War of the Spark season is over. Six weeks of challenges and we saw a seismic shift in Pauper. And now everything is going to change again. 

It's a lot.

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!