Let’s cut right to the chase. The current format has been dominated by Affinity, Dimir, and Storm since Modern Horizons 2 came out. Since that set was released there have been 26 Challenges, which means 208 Top slots and 832 Top 32 finishes. Looking at just these big three – Affinity, Dimir Faeries, and Squirrel Storm, here is how things shake out:
Affinity: 10 wins (38%), 49 Top 8s (23.56%), 224 Top 32 appearances (26.9%)
Dimir Faeries: 5 wins (19%), 44 Top 8s (21.12%), 126 Top 32 appearances (15.1%)
Squirrel Storm: 7 wins (26.9%), 57 Top 8s (27.4%), 173 Top 32 appearances (20.8%)
All told these decks account for almost 85% of all Challenge wins, over 72% of all top 8s, and almost 63% of all Top 32 appearances.
This is 13 weeks of the same metagame. 13 weeks of three decks crowding everything else out of the meta. By comparison the three most popular decks from Strixhaven season (Dimir Faeries, Flicker Tron, Burn) accounted for just under 33% of all Top 32 appearances. These decks also had the most Top 8s and accounted for just over 40% of all Top 8s in that season.
Pauper deserves better than this stale format. It boggles my mind that right now Stompy, a perennial contender, has made exactly zero Top 32 appearances in Forgotten Realms season. Rancor has only two Top 32 finishes.
How is any of this okay?
NerdtotheCore 