Want to learn more about the metrics I use in tracking the metagame? You can find an explainer here.
Thirteen weeks.
The Foundation season on Magic Online lasted over three months. Technically the final few events took place under the auspices of Innistrad Remastered but that set only released a few cards into Pauper’s ecosystem. The result is a massive data set that can help shape the understanding of the format moving into Aetherdrift and the rest of 2025. While the metagame in Pauper moves slowly it does in fact move and we have seen some shifts over the course of Foundations.
Today we are going to look at the top performing decks from last season. I will be basing this on the measures I regularly track as linked above. For the season, the baseline Meta Score Above Replacement for the entire field was 0.56; the baseline Adjusted Meta Score Above Replacement was 0.11. This 0.11 number helps us to determine the delta for each individual archetype’s AMSAR score.
While the top two decks in Pauper were very close in performance, the best deck over Foundations season, in my estimation, was Grixis Affinity. The deck put up an impressive 37 Top 8 finishes but an absolutely staggering 11 victories. It averaged one Top 8 per Challenge and won almost 30% of all events offered over the past three plus months. This should not come as a shock to anyone who has played Pauper since Modern Horizons 3. Affinity as it exists today is not an aggressive strategy despite the presence of efficient threats. Rather it is a control deck with powerful removal and card draw that can occasionally apply a ton of early game pressure. The deck operates in part due to the Bridges which provide a stable mana base, discounts on Affinity cards, and regular fodder for Deadly Dispute. Taken together you have a deck that can operate at nearly any point in the game and has become one of the format’s bellwethers.
The other elephant in the room is Kuldotha Red. The most popular deck in Foundations season with 16.19% of the Top 32 metagame, it ended the quarter year with 14.98% of the Winner’s Meta. Despite 38 trips to the Top 8 it only walked away with one trophy. All told it had the second best aMSAR with a score of 0.67, only lagging behind Affinity’s 0.73. Red has been a stable part of the format’s top tier by presenting a lightning quick clock that is backed up with a decent amount of card flow. Experimental Synthesizer and Clockwork Percussionist provides the potential for a late game surge while the combination of Kuldotha Rebirth and Goblin Bushwhacker makes it easy to win from nowhere. Because of the deck’s strength it has become a known quality in the format and nearly every deck has to have a plan to survive the red wave in order to enact their own plan.
Broodscale Combo rounds out our pedestal, specifically the Golgari varietals. Alone the straight Black-Green builds accounted for 26 Top 8s and a pair of wins (aMSAR score of 0.45). Jund Broodscale was more popular (98 Top 32 appearances to Golgari’s 84) and had twice as many wins in the same number of Top 8 appearances. However Jund pulled in a aMSAR score of 0.34. When looking at the entire season, Jund started stronger but Golgari pulled ahead in the final weeks as the red splash decks moved more towards Jund Wildfire builds. But this is splitting hairs as the combo deck has become a force to be reckoned with in Pauper. Taking out a Basking Broodscale at instant speed has become increasingly important, leading to a surge in cards like Snuff Out and Snap, as well as the reintroduction of Flagbearer’s to Pauper’s competitive ecosystem to mess with Sadistic Glee.
Rounding out the top of the metagame for Foundations season are Counterspell decks. Blue Terror, Faeries, and Dimir Faeries/Sneaky Snacker Control put up solid numbers with Terro (27) and Faeries (26) leading the way in Top 8 finishes while Dimir was tied for third most Challenge victories (3, behind Affinity and Jund Broodscale; tied with Golgari Fog). These decks all want to leverage the strength of countermagic to just say no to some of the more egregious offenders in the format. Blue Terror tries to resolve a big threat early and force it through with tempo plays while Faeries is all about plinking in for damage. The Dimir builds tend towards the control end of the spectrum, relying more and more on the resilient threats presented by Murmuring Mystic and Sneaky Snacker. If trends hold I would predict that both Faeries and Dimir see success early in Aetherdrift season while Blue Terror tails off.
This table represents every archetype that had at least 2% of the overall Top 32 metagame. That’s 15 or 16 archetypes, depending on how you slice it. Only Kuldotha Red appears to be a real outlier with regards to popularity, even though it’s performance is lagging compared to other strategies. If I were buying stock in Aetherdrift season I would be bullish on Golgari Broodscale, Faeries, Dimir Faeries, Golgari Fog (also known as Turbo Smog), and Jund Wildfire. Wildfire has picked up steam as of late. The deck mashes Golgari Broodscale and Gruul Ramp into an efficient midrange machine that, true to the Jund of yore, gets to run all the good cards.
What are you looking forward to in Aetherdrift season? Will Magmakin Artillerist make waves or maybe Lightwheel Enhancements gives Heroic and Bogles a boost? Sound off in the comments, on reddit, or BlueSky for a chance to win one of five MTGO codes good for 120 Play Points courtesy of Daybreak games!
I want to take a moment to thank all my Patrons. I am going to do my level best to keep providing you with the kind of content that brought you here in the first place. If you are interested in supporting my work, you can sign up for my Patreon starting at just $1.
Can’t make a commitment to Patreon? I have a Ko-Fi where you can make a one time contribution.
Looking for another way to support my work? Click here for my TCGPlayer affiliate link. Any purchases through the link let the folks there know you like my content!
NerdtotheCore 