So did you hear that Monastery Swiftspear got banned?
Anyway, the most recent Pauper League results include a mix of decks from before the recent format update and after and as such I wanted to take a look at some of the decks that captured my attention in this new metagame.
This mash up of Mardu Synthesizer and Glitter Affinity feels like a decent take on a slower aggressive deck in the new landscape. This build takes some of the more assertive elements of Boros Synthesizer and pairs them with All That Glitters for a chance to pile on the damage. I think there’s a reasonable argument to be made for Fanatical Offering here as a way to increase the size of your threats.
Dimir Scam is what happens when you believe you need to resolve your haymakers as quickly as possible and ride them to victory. In a world where you are facing intense pressure starting on turn one these strategies make some more sense since the advantage the four drops generate is massive. However if the format slows down at all these decks take on a much greater risk.
These so called “Black Burn” decks crop up from time time to time and this one seems focused on having some element of board control while also leaning into the inevitability of Lembas and Cauldron Familiar. I am normally wary about these strategies but considering that this one was piloted to a trophy by Beicodegeia it probably deserves to be explored as a viable option.
Non-CawGate Basilisk Gate decks have fallen on hard times. This build is reminiscent of the old Abzan and Naya Gates lists from earlier this year. One thing I really like about this build is the addition of Fanatical Offering as additional ways to dig towards Basilisk Gate while also growing your unsolvable threats.
What? You thought red was dead? This seems like a much more reasonable red deck in the sense that while it is still clearly very good it has far more pinch points. The absence of Swiftspear makes toughness based removal significantly better which also informs some of the other choices in this deck. That being said I would rather have this version of red running around than one that gets to add an ever-growing threat to the mix.
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