The Week of November 6th in Standard Pauper

Welcome back to this week's look at the Standard Pauper metagame, based upon the results of our two weekly Player Run Events. This week we had the unusual result that SPDC had enough players to cut to Top 8, while MPDC did not, leaving us with 12 decks that made the cutoff. So let's take a look at what these decks tell us about how the metagame is shaping up.

Probably the biggest surprise this week was that a MonoRed archetype captured the first place trophy in both events. DrChrisBakerDC's version from SPDC was very burn heavy, playing only twelve creatures, while bibbob's version from MPDC was much more balanced between spells and efficient creatures. But both relied upon a common core of Fiery Temper, Pyre Hound, Renegade Freighter, Self-Assembler, and Tormenting Voice. Congrats to both of them on their wins!

littlefield continued to innovate with his Simic Big Stuff deck, making Top 4 in SPDC and finishing in 2nd place in MPDC. The newest addition to this deck is Byway Courier, which is particularly good in a format with so much removal, since it always replaces itself when it dies. This archetype is proving to be consistently good despite whatever shifts the metagame brings.

Also noteworthy this week was a brand new archetype by reco91 called Bant Tokens, which made Top 4 in SPDC this week. This deck took the Eldrazi creatures from Simic and combined them with Glint-Sleeve Artisan to create a goodly sized swarm of tokens, which then get buffed via Borrowed Grace to enable a back-breaking strike against your opponent. It's always great to see new decks come to light and perform well in our events!

The rest of the field consisted of familiar versions of Izzet Spells, Esper Artifacts, MonoBlack Artifacts, and Gruul Monsters, with double entries for all but the last one. Not surprisingly, Self-Assembler continues to be an auto-include in every deck, which will only continue to fuel calls for it to be banned.

Let me remind you in closing that I am once again producing regular Standard Pauper Deck Techs over at PureMTGO on the winning decklist from each week of MPDC. Definitely check those out and let me know what you think! Thanks for reading.

The Week of September 18th in Standard Pauper

While all eyes are on  Kaladesh and how that will affect the format once it is released on Magic Online, we've still got one more week of tournaments to go, plus the capstone event for both SPDC and MPDC exactly one week before the set comes out.

This was a somewhat unique week for me, as I ended up hosting both SPDC and MPDC. I finished in the Top 4 in SPDC, but didn't have the time or energy to play the next day. But it was great to be part of both of these events and get to interact with so many of the great people in our community that makes these events what they are. Anyway, we've got 12 decks that made it into the playoffs between the two events, so let's dive in to this week's metagame update.

First, Izzet Spells continued its reign as the top contender this week, accounting for 33% of the winning decklists. We're not really seeing much if any variation in the list from week to week. Interestingly enough though, for the first time the deck failed to earn either first or second place in either event, which may indicate that it's time in the spotlight is drawing to a close.

Second, Storm_blade's Simic Eldrazi deck also continues to do well, taking both a Top 4 and Top 8 spot in MPDC this week. If you're interested in what makes this deck work, I published a Standard Pauper Deck Tech on his list this week over at PureMTGO, which I encourage you to check out.

Third, bibbob once again performed very well with his Impact Tremors build, narrowly losing out in the finals of MPDC to take 2nd place this week following his trophy-winning result last week. His decklist has continued to evolve recently, and now includes a few copies of Sprinting Warbrute, Tajuru Beastmaster, and Rolling Thunder, as well as Snapping Gnarlid out of the Sideboard. Once again, I am surprised how few people are playing this archetype right now given how strong it is in the current metagame.

Fourth, olstyn and I both chose to play a 4 color Pulse Control deck this week. Despite the fact that he splashed for White and I splashed for Red, the deck are remarkably similar, playing the same core of cards but supporting them with different removal options. For whatever it's worth, my version is the exact list that cRUMMYdUMMY took to first place back in MPDC 34.04. Olstyn's version manages to incorporate the Aura package with Ironclad Slayer recurring Choking Restraints and Dead Weight, and definitely looks like a deck worth paying attention to in the last few weeks of this season.

Fifth, br_laern took 2nd place in SPDC with a typical Orzhov Allies deck. Despite being virtually unchanged from last season, I think this is still a viable choice, and one that more people should probably be playing.

However, I definitely saved the most interesting for last. The first place trophy for both events was earned by two new entries into the metagame. First, Ravager1 brought an Azorius Midrange deck that combines permission and card draw with strong sacrifice outlets for Wretched Gryff and Aura-based removal in Pacifism and Spontaneous Mutation, once again recurred with Ironclad Slayer. Second, Cl3m brought a UB Control build that includes the unique mix of  Elusive Spellfist, Monastery Loremaster, Vampire Envoy, and Ruin Processor to augment a mix of card draw and removal spells. Definitely take the time to look at both these decklists!

All in all, this remains a very diverse metagame, and one that I think continues to be very interesting and fun. If you've never done so, let me encourage you to check out our weekly events. Browse over to PDCMagic.com for all the information and then come join us at 2:00pm EST / 6:00pm GMT in the #MPDC channel. See you next time!

The Week of September 11th in Standard Pauper

After a week hiatus from my weekly blog entry, today I'm back with another metagame update for Standard Pauper. As always, I'm looking at the decks that made it past the cutoff in our two weekly Standard Pauper events (SPDC on Sunday and MPDC on Monday) and identifying trends, cards to watch out for, and any other information that seems relevant. This week only MPDC had enough players for Top 8 (just squeaking by with the minimum of 15), so we're only looking at 12 decks this time around. So let's get started!

SPDC was all about Izzet Spells, which claimed three out of the four spots, including both the 1st and 2nd place trophies. While these two decks weren't identical, they were very close, and I would say that DownByTheRiverside's build is more or less the stock version of this archetype. Izzet didn't fare nearly as well in MPDC, accounting for only one of the Top 8 decks, but that could simply be because only two out of the fifteen players chose that particular deck.

The first place trophy in MPDC in fact went to bibbob playing the Tremors deck, which as you may recall is a Gruul build that wins using a combination of tokens and Impact Tremors as well as a bunch of burn spells. This deck has a decent matchup against Izzet Control, but bibbob was the only player among both tournaments to select this deck. But apparently it was the right choice!

Moromete took 2nd in MPDC with a different variant of the 4 Color Pulse Control deck that took first place two week's ago, which is much closer to a Temur deck that splashes Black for Vulturous Aven and a few additional removal spells post-Sideboard. It also looks to have simpler color requirements overall, making it a bit easier to play.

The rest of the decks included two Top 8 finishes by chula and olstyn with an Orzhov Auras build, a repeat of Storm_blade's winning deck from last week, two Dimir decks (one a Control build by beatnik bobby, while the other a Midrange Flyers by rremedio1), and one unknown deck, since this player neglected to actually enter his decklist.

With the the online release of Kaladesh only about a month away and the subsequent rotation in Standard, the metagame is about as diverse as I've seen it, with winning decks found using all five colors in running the full spectrum between Aggro and Control. Izzet Spells continues to be the most important deck overall, so whatever you choose to play, it's important for that matchup to be winnable. But otherwise, there is certainly quite the variety of decks to choose from, with no other deck clearly rising above the others. This is definitely one of my favorite things to see in the Standard Pauper metagame!

If you're interested in more information about these decks, I encourage you to check out my Standard Pauper Deck Tech series over at PureMTGO, where I normally feature the previous week's 1st place deck from MPDC. Thanks for reading.

The Week of August 28th in Standard Pauper

As I mentioned in last week's metagame update, we've continued to see growth in the attendance at our weekly Standard Pauper tournaments. In fact, between the two events this week, we had 32 unique participants, with 5 of those participating in both tournaments. In fact, for the first time since I started these updates, both events cut to a Top 8 playoff, bringing us up to 16 decks to consider for this week's update. That being the case we've got plenty to talk about today, so let's jump right in.

Izzet Tempo continued to be the big player in the metagame this week, accounting for six of the 16 top decks. While there is still some variation between these lists between a more midrange tempo build and a true control build, all of these decks are utilizing Elusive Spellfist and Thermo-Alchemist, activating them with a suite of spells that includes burn and card draw. Of these, DownByTheRiverside was the most successful, taking his build to an undefeated 6-0 in SPDC and capturing the 1st place trophy.

GB Control accounted for only two decks this week, one of which was a unique 4 color variation piloted to 1st place by cRUMMYdUMMY in MPDC, splashing Blue for Wretched Gryff (and Negate in the Sideboard) and Red for Rolling Thunder (as well as Boiling Earth in the Sideboard). The deck relies on 3 copies of Pilgrim's Eye and 4 copies of Primal Druid to gain access to its stringent color requirements, and is slanted enough towards Control to give itself the time to be able to cast all its cards.

The RG Tokens deck that won in MPDC last week had two appearances in the Top 8 of MPDC this week, one of which was my own 2nd place finish. I will be publishing a full deck-tech on this list over at PureMTGO, which should be available this coming Monday. Bibbob played the exact same list as I did, and lost to the exact same deck I did a round earlier (the aforementioned 4cc variant of GB Control).

The rest of the top decks including a Hexproof Selesnya build by bibbob, a Dimir Zombies build by Fred_Dettofano, a Gruul Monsters deck by hero1141, another Dimir Control deck by rremedio1, and a Orzhov Aura build by olstyn. Of these, only olstyn managed to survive the Top 8 round, finishing in Top 4 in MPDC. All of these decks were either new or at least uncommon in the metagame, but look to be potential contenders in the future. If you're looking for something new to play and experiment with, any of these might be a good place to start.

A few other thoughts from this week:

1. Thermo-Alchemist continues its dominance, and has certainly replaced Pulse of Murasa as the most important card in the format right now. Given the dominance of the Izzet archetype right now, your deck should probably include a reliable way of dealing with this card early in the game.

2. Blue and Red have become the most important colors in the metagame right now, with all but three of the sixteen top decks including at least one of these colors. Excluding Thero-Alchemist, the next most popular cards appear to be the Red removal spells such as Boiling Earth, Fiery Temper, and Twin Bolt.

3. Once again, White is the least popular color, with only two decks of the sixteen playing this color. However, the strength of its Aura based synergies with Auramancer, Ironclad Slayer, and Totem-Guide Hartebeest, especially combined with its strong removal, certainly shouldn't be underestimated. Hopefully we'll see this trend reversed in future events.

Finally, let me remind you that every Monday I am publishing an article and videocast on the winning deck from the previous week's MPDC, which you can find over at PureMTGO.com. You can also get a sneak peak at that content early by subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thanks for reading, and hope to see you across the digital table soon!