April 9-10 Pauper Weekend Recap

The April 9 and April 10 Pauper Challenges start us on our second four week tour of the format in the wake of the latest round of bans. The Top 8s from these events were fairly diverse, with 12 different archetypes making it to the single elimination rounds – Grixis Affinity and Dimir Faeries eachContinue reading “April 9-10 Pauper Weekend Recap”

April 2-3 Pauper Weekend Recap

Four weekends have passed since the last round of bans. There have been countless words written about the state of Pauper so today I want to take a slightly different approach. The chart I am presenting today takes into account the eight challenges and one qualifier that have taken place on Magic Online since theContinue reading “April 2-3 Pauper Weekend Recap”

March 26-27 Pauper Weekend Recap

Sorry for the delay in this one folks – a busy week at work and a wedding anniversary takes precedence over my pontificating on Pauper. And the extra few days has given me some time to reflect on this Twitter post from Monday. While I believed the format to be in a good place atContinue reading “March 26-27 Pauper Weekend Recap”

March 19-20 Pauper Weekend in Review

Here’s a number: 70.83%. That’s the percentage of Top 8 decks from the Saturday and Sunday Challenges, as well as the Super Qualifier that store their card advantage on the board. These cards can be stored either in of Clue or Treasure Tokens, or in the form of Ichor Wellspring and Experimental Synthesizer. The natureContinue reading “March 19-20 Pauper Weekend in Review”

March 12-13 Pauper Weekend Recap

Pauper just had its first set of Challenges after the most recent bans and things turned out close to expectations with Dimir Faeries having an excellent weekend (including a win on Saturday) while Grixis Affinity (winning on Sunday), Bogles, and Boros all putting up solid results. It is far too early to read too muchContinue reading “March 12-13 Pauper Weekend Recap”

One Engine Just Won’t Do

The March 5-6 Pauper Weekend Recap There were Challenges on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, but the results are now a relic thanks to Monday’s bans that will take Galvanic Relay Storm out of the format and require Affinity to reconfigure itself. The chart below represents every deck that had at least 5 Top 32Continue reading “One Engine Just Won’t Do”

February 26-27 Pauper Weekend Recap

The February 26 and February 27 Pauper Challenges helped to clarify the current state of the format. While there is valid concern about the current Galvanic Relay Storm deck running around the format, the results are telling another cautionary tale. Rakdos decks – both Affinity and Storm – are helping to shape the format threeContinue reading “February 26-27 Pauper Weekend Recap”

February 19-20 Pauper Weekend Recap

The post-Neon Dynasty metagame is starting to take shape and would you believe a one mana artifact is once again setting the Pauper world ablaze? Saturday’s Challenge saw Rakdos Affinity split the finals with Stompy while Sunday’s Challenge was taken down by Rakdos Storm. But when we look at the top of the metagame weContinue reading “February 19-20 Pauper Weekend Recap”

February 12-13 Pauper Weekend Recap

This past weekend saw the first Pauper Challenges where Neon Dynasty was legal. The set is jam packed with power and over the Saturday and Sunday Challenges seven new cards made the Top 32 cut. In a surprise to almost no one, Moon-Circuit Hacker was the most popular Neon Dynasty card last weekend. Various FaerieContinue reading “February 12-13 Pauper Weekend Recap”

Wrapping Up Crimson Vow Season

Let’s cut right to the chase. The following chart tracks the top decks from the post-ban Challenges except for one from late January that did not post. Decks in blue met the 2% threshold of at least 4 Top 32 appearances in that span. Decks in red have a Top 8 finish but failed toContinue reading “Wrapping Up Crimson Vow Season”