Want to learn more about the metrics I use in tracking the metagame? You can find an explainer here.
As is tradition it is time to do my check in one month into the new Pauper season on Magic Online. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been in our hands for a little more than four weeks and in that time we have had sixteen Challenges on Magic Online as well as the first Paupergeddon of 2026. For today’s post I’m going to start with the Power Rankings (last updated for the March 12-15 weekend) and then we’re going to compare the Pauper format today to how things looked at the end of Lorwyn Eclipsed season. Good? Good!
Power Rankings
Dropped from rankings: Bogles
10. Gruul Ramp
9. Spy Walls (-4)
8. Jund Wildfire
7. Mono White Aggro (-4)
6. Blue Terror (-2)
5. Grixis Affinity (+2)
4. Dimir Terror (+5)
3. Golgari Gardens (Not Ranked)
2. Elves
1. Madness Burn
10. Gruul Ramp
Gruul Ramp did not make the final Power Rankings of Lorwyn Eclipsed season. After two dozen events the deck ended up with a Winner’s Metagame share of 0.71%; through the first sixteen tournaments of TMNT season Gruul Ramp has a Winner’s Metagame share of 2.86%. Considering that Gruul Ramp is barely making the Power Rankings as it stands (barely edging out Bogles) I would expect the strategy to regress just a bit.
Gruul Ramp is a deck that benefits from the early season shifts in the metagame. As people are figuring out their flex slots to try and approach the current swath of threats, Gruul just wants to smash. It has a similar gameplan and while the creatures might change ever so slightly the gameplan remains largely the same. Ramp tends to be more successful than the land destruction variant in part because there are so many decks out there where you can’t blow up their mana base.
9. Spy Walls
There was a period when Pauper’s Balustrade Spy combo deck was The Deck to Fear. It was consistent and if the combo kill was not viable the deck had access to a reliable second lane in just casting monsters and attacking. The deck and it’s 1.9% Winner’s Meta Share was also absent from the final Lorwyn Eclipsed Power Rankings. At the four week check in of the new season Spy Walls has fallen from its previous Top 5 status but still holds 4.14% of the Winner’s Meta.
Spy Walls is another proactive deck that wants to enact its plan. It also has relatively few flex slots and due to its heavy reliance on creatures it has even fewer options when it comes to tech for a new metagame. As the TMNT metagame has evolved past decks racing to their victory Spy Walls has taken a step back. That being said it has more play to it than Gruul Ramp and I could see it ending the season within the Top 10 provided the graveyard hate does not come out in force.
8. Jund Wildfire
Jund continues to Jund. It was in eighth place at the end of last season and lo and behold, it’s back in the same spot. While its current Winner’s Meta Share (5.08%) is lagging behind last season’s final tally (6.29%), Jund is performing better in “isolation”. What do I mean? Winner’s Meta Share is a product of many things, including how well other decks are doing in the format. When it comes to more “individual” measures – that is how well Jund is performing in both the Swiss and Swiss + Top 8, Jund has improved upon it’s Lorwyn Eclipsed numbers. Last sesson Jund Wildfire average a Win+ score (Swiss record) of 0.51 and a K-Win score (Swiss + Top 8) of 1.21. This season those numbers are boosted to 0.59 and 1.44 respectively. In other words, Jund is still averaging a finish in the Top 16, but this season it’s trending closer to the Top 8 than in the previous cycle.
7. Mono White Aggro
Sometimes all it takes is one card. Mono White Aggro has been a fringe contender for quite some time but has struggled to cement itself as a top deck. Leonard, Big Brother, has changed that. The combination Lava Axe and Kor Skyfisher has given Mono White a boost, even if the deck has skidded as of late. It was outside the Top 10 last season with 1.9% of the Winner’s Metagame and is currently sitting pretty at 6.24% of the Winner’s Metagame. I believe Mono White can sustain this success and just needs a few more solid weeks of finishes outside the bottom of the Top 32 to rebound to its early season numbers.
6. Blue Terror
At the end of Lorwyn Eclipsed season Blue Terror led the way with 13.02% of the Winner’s Metagame and an Adjusted Meta Score Above Replacement of 0.92. As it stands today, Blue Terror has 6.4% of the Winner’s Metagame and an AMSAR of 0.2 in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles season. This is a function of the success of Mono White but also Elves – a deck that found itself outside the Top 5 last season. Blue Terror has been knocked from its pedestal but it remains a solid choice for the format. That being said the rest of the metagame is somewhat hostile to the archetype so it should struggled to reclaim a top three spot in the back half of the current cycle.
5. Grixis Affinity
Grixis Affinity finished Lorwyn Eclipsed season with the silver medal but, like Blue Terror, has dropped down the standings. The deck added some new tools in both Sewer-veillance Cam and Utrom Monitor but at the end of the day it remains a midrange deck. It’s current 7.81% share of the Winner’s Metagame is behind last season’s 9.44% and its 0.31 AMSAR is a far cry from Lorwyn Eclipsed‘s 0.89.
Grixis can benefit from being steady. It has a strong control package and can keep the board clear with Krark-Clan Shaman tricks, with or without Toxin Analysis. That being said the things Affinity are strong against are not extremely present in the top half of the Power Rankings so it may be an uphill climb for the Machine to return to the apex of the metagame.
4. Dimir Terror
Another deck that was completely absent from the end of last season’s Power Rankings, Dimir Terror’s has blitzed past last season’s 1.6% Winner’s Meta Share to currently hold 6.6%. It ended Lorwyn Eclipsed season performing slightly worse than the average Top 32 deck with an AMSAR of -0.08. This season it has turned the boat around and currently sits with a comfortable 0.47 AMSAR.
Removal has proven to be important. While Elves and Mono White can both flood the board with bodies there are only a few that actually matter in a given game. Being able to Snuff Out a Leonardo or Priest of Titania and continue to apply pressure, instead of simply tapping it down with Sleep of the Dead or temporarily removing it with Deem Inferior, has given the Dimir builds an edge over the more tempo oriented blue builds.
3. Golgari Gardens
There’s huge variety of decks that fall under the Golgari Gardens archetype but here is how I make the distinction. If the deck is running the Cauldron Familiar engine, that’s Cat Food. If it’s loaded up with Weather the Storm and Moment’s Peace main, that’s Turbo Fog. If it’s somewhere in the middle, whether it has Campfire and Crypt Rats as the main win conditions or leans into Avenging Hunger, those are Gardens decks.
As for the archetype itself it has 6.03% of the Winner’s Metagame which might seem low but it also has an impressive 0.68 AMSAR score. Both of these are improvements from last season’s fifth place finish (5.8%m 0.48 respectively).
2. Elves
Elves won Paupergeddon. Elves has been on a heater for quite some time, rising from sixth in the previous season’s Power Rankings all the way to second place. Closing out the previous cycle with 7.64% of the Winner’s Metagame Elves now lays claim to 12.93% of the Winner’s Meta. Last season’s 0.29 AMSAR has jumped all the way to 1.02. Simply put – Elves is real and will stay that way until removal adjusts.
Elves is extremely good at getting to the board and then converting those resources into mana – and fast. If they are not able to pick off the small green creatures early, Elves can overrun the opponent. Elves also has a strong midgame thanks to cards like Avenging Hunter and Nyxborn Hydra which can completely turn a game on its ear. It is not that Elves is not vulnerable in the current metagame, but rather it requires answers that are largely dead against the other best decks in the format – a good place to be.
1. Madness Burn
Madness Burn ended the six weeks of Lowryn Eclipsed with a fourth place finish in the Power Rankings. It had a solid 8.08% of the Winner’s Meta and an AMSAR of 0.26. Fast forward a month and the deck is riding high with 13.37% of the Winner’s Meta and an AMSAR of 1.09. As the premier aggressive deck in the format, Madness Burn is good at applying pressure early and has a consistent uncontested turn four kill.
Like Elves, Madness Burn requires answers that are largely ineffective against other top competitors in the current landscape. Life gain may help against Spy Walls and Mono White but if you are not also handling Guttersnipe then every Faithless Looting represents at least a Shock’s worth of damage. Focus too much on the creatures and the burn plan can get the job done. Ideally you want a Commander’s deck worth of life total before you can even feel remotely safe, and that is a tall order. As such I think it is going to be a challenge to upset the top of the metagame in the immediate future.
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