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!
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