Author Archives: Alex Ullman

July 4th and 5th Pauper Weekend in Review

I was all set to write about the most recent Challenges, and I suppose I’ll say a few words about them. But the real story is this announcement: Yeah. Big news. We’ll get to it in a bit. July 4th saw Slivers take down the challenge. It beat Boros Monarch and Burn on its wayContinue reading “July 4th and 5th Pauper Weekend in Review”

June 27-28 Pauper Weekend in Review

Core Set 2021 has made its way to Magic Online, as has Jumpstart. Some of the new cards – notably the Thriving Lands – are still challenging to acquire. Still, none of the cards released last week should have such a huge impact that they completely upset Pauper’s apple cart. Last week I took aContinue reading “June 27-28 Pauper Weekend in Review”

June 13-14 Pauper Weekend in Review

We are in the home stretch of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths season as there is only one more weekend of Challenges before Core Set 2021 hits the scene. The results from this past weekend are nothing out of the ordinary and largely make sense given the trends in Pauper. My latest Power Rankings had IzzetContinue reading “June 13-14 Pauper Weekend in Review”

Whisper, Blood Liturgist

I have an Aristocrats problem in Commander. At one point I had nearly 20 decks built and a third of them had a pretty significant Aristocrats element. While there are many ways to play Aristocrats – shorthand for sacrifice for value – mine all fooled around in similar space. As a result I was neverContinue reading “Whisper, Blood Liturgist”

May 30-31 Pauper Weekend In Review

Burn and WonderWalls won the weekend challenges. But that’s only part of the story. Izzet Mystic Sanctuary decks took a back seat to Dimir Delver and Stompy. Let’s get into the numbers. Burn won the tournament, which itself is notable. Burn is an often maligned deck and has a tendency to be played often whileContinue reading “May 30-31 Pauper Weekend In Review”

May 23-24 Pauper Weekend in Review

Historically, it’s really hard to keep Delver decks down. When mono-blue Delver rose to prominence, it did so in no small part thanks to the interaction of Cloud of Faeries and Spellstutter Sprite. Then came the era of Augur of Bolas and Gush; once Delver decks were at the top of the metagame. Today itContinue reading “May 23-24 Pauper Weekend in Review”

May 16-17 Pauper Weekend in Review

The weekend of May 16-17 took place on the fifth week of Ikoria season. After one month, Flicker Tron proved itself to be the top deck but not by a massive margin. At the end of the first four weeks of Ikoria season we saw a resurgence of Mono Black Control and saw Izzet FaeriesContinue reading “May 16-17 Pauper Weekend in Review”