Want to learn more about the metrics I use in tracking the metagame? You can find an explainer here.
We’ve made it four weeks through Spider-Man/Through the Omenpaths season. Traditionally this is where I check in with the format as opposed to recounting what happened in the previous week. So let’s do that by examining what I consider to be the ten best decks in the format over the past month.
Power Rankings
10. Faeries (-2) – 7 Top 8s; AMSAR: 0.21
Faeries remains a stalwart of the format. Despite a recent surge in the popularity of Dimir Faeries, the mono blue version continues to put up solid results. The game plan of sticking evasive creatures and turning them into ninjas, all while backed up with counterspells, has stood the test of time. Faeries might not be the flashiest deck in the format but it gets the job done.
9. Dimir Faeries (-3) – 3 Top 8s; 2 Wins; AMSAR: 0.23
How can Dimir Faeries be above the other two decks considering it has worse seasonal metrics? Recency bias. While Dimir Faeries might be lacking in raw numbers it has come on strong over the past few weeks and is gaining popularity. The ability to play a traditional Faeries game with access to removal is potent, especially if you manage to fit in a threat like Murmuring Mystic or Gurmag Angler to help turn the corner.
8. Rakdos Madness (+2) – 2 Top 8s; AMSAR: 0.31
Another well established archetype that tries to turn the downside of Faithless Looting and similar cards into an advantage. Rakdos Madness can pile on the damage and has adopted Swarm, Being of Bees/Wekhdu, Midnight Hunter as another threat, giving the deck more options to flash this out or to access it post combat with Mayhem.
7. Elves (Not Ranked) – 7 Top 8s; 1 Win; AMSAR: 0.37
Elves has restablished itself as a real player in Pauper. The deck is capable of spitting out a ton of creatures and present a lethal combination involving Timberwatch Elf. Elves also has adopted Avenging Hunter as another top end threat which makes sense considering the deck is quite capable of gumming up the board to defend the Initiative.
6. Aristocrats (-4) – 6 Top 8s; 1 Win; AMSAR: 0.38
Aristocrats – or Black Sac – is a mono black aggressive deck that leverages sacrifice outlets and creatures that leave behind material to generate massive threats. The deck strategy has been on the fringes of Pauper for quite a while and has broken out this year thanks to Perigee Beckoner. With two copies of the Beckoner, Aristocrats can generate an unbound number of death triggers and an arbitrarily large Carrion Feeder. It is this additional gear that has boosted the deck from jobber to contender.
5. Madness Burn (+2) – 9 Top 8s; 1 Win; AMSAR: 0.5
What happens when you cut the black cards from Rakdos Madness and replace them with Guttersnipe and more burn? You get the best red deck in the format. Madness Burn can pile on the damage and when it is doing the thing a single Lava Dart can represent nearly a third of a starting life total. Things get scarier when Guttersnipe is joined by Kessig Flamebreather or two, turning any one damage spell into a Fireblast level threat.
4. Jund Wildfire – 10 Top 8s; 1 Win; AMSAR: 0.5
The Midrange Deck of the format, Jund Wildfire is just a collection of good cards. Stitched together with a Cleansing Wildfire engine, the deck runs solid threats, top tier removal, and can even have maindeck Duress as a treat. It’s hard to describe this deck as anything other than Jund and while it is falling back to the pack just a bit it is still quite capable of Jundin’ them out.
3. High Tide – 8 Top 8s; 1 Win; AMSAR: 0.53
I wrote my piece on High Tide last week so I will not rehash it here. Suffice to say the deck is quite good but hardly Storm levels of broken. It remains a polarizing strategy due to the fact that some decks are simply incapable of presenting meaningful interaction. In it of itself this is not a bad thing, but the list of decks that fit this bill may be too long.
2. Grixis Affinity (+3) – 11 Top 8s; 2 Wins; AMSAR: 0.93
The only reason Affinity is not higher on this list is because it has only recently put up strong numbers. It is also hard to separate the deck’s success from the pilot that is LuffyDoChapeuDePalha, who has put up the vast majority of Top 8s and wins with Grixis Affinity. Make no mistake – the control deck is powerful – but like any control deck it takes some time for the metagame to settle before it can present the proper answer suite.
1. Blue Terror – 11 Top 8s; 1 Win; AMSAR: 0.87
Tolarian Terror better watch out – Grixis Affinity is coming for its crown. Blue Terror can present a quick threat and protect it with counterspells. Blue Terror’s threats are some of the largest available in Pauper and rarely come at full price. Whether or not this strategy can stay on top remains to be seen, but it almost certainly isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
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