MonoBlack Sacrifice Control

I always love seeing quality Magic videocasts online covering interesting decks and skilled gameplay. And when those videos are about Standard Pauper, so much the better! Today I want to look at a recent video covering a Standard Pauper list run in MPDC 30.05. The video is published over at MTGOAcademy by Jason Moore, aka BambooRush, in his series Dime a Dozen, covering a MonoBlack Control list with a very small White splash. Here's the decklist:

This is a unique take on the MonoBlack archetype, maximizing the powerful Devotion ability from Gray Merchant of Asphodel while also taking advantage of some sacrifice synergy with Nantuko Husk and/or Vulturous Aven combined with cards like Black Cat, Dutiful Attendant, and Sultai Emissary. The White splash primarily allows it to run Pacifism, but also gives it access to Pillar of Light and Revoke Existence in the Sideboard.

The deck ended up going 3-0 in the Swiss rounds, but BambooRush didn't participate in the Top 8 playoffs for some reason (I was absent for this event, so I am not sure what happened). If you're interested, I encourage you to click on the link and watch all the videos for yourself. And be sure to follow BambooRush on Twitter for more great Pauper content!

Standard Pauper News

There's a surprising amount of recent news concerning Standard Pauper that I wanted to pass along to you today.

First of all, I am happy to report that the Standard Pauper format is now listed as a Magic Online format on the Wizards of the Coast website. There has been quite a bit of angst in the community when this oversight was discovered, so seeing it corrected should help reassure people that WotC is not trying to ignore or squelch the format.

Second, this week Pauper enthusiast Jason Moore published an article over at MTGOAcademy covering his matches from MPDC 29.04, where his Golgari Delve deck went undefeated in the Swiss rounds. This is the first time MTGOAcademy has covered the Standard Pauper format on their site, so this is a pretty big deal. Take a look at his build below, and be sure to check out the whole article.

Finally, the survey regarding the Standard Pauper Player Run Events is still going strong. We've had nearly 100 responses from over 22 different countries! If you haven't voted yet, the survey will be live through the end of May, so I encourage you make your voice heard. Here's the latest results as of this post:

Thanks again to everyone who voted! See you next time.

Monday on MPDC

Monday was fairly eventful (get it, event-full?) for MPDC 29.03, our weekly Standard Pauper Player Run Event. So I thought I would take some time today to talk about what happened.

First of all, after averaging somewhere around 15 players per event, we had 22 players, which is almost enough to get us back to 4 rounds of Swiss plus Top 8. Among them we were fortunate enough to have Jason Moore, who goes by the username BambooRush, join us for the event. In case you don't know, Jason is a regular contributor over at MTGOAcademy on the Pauper format and part of the Pauper's Cage Podcast. In fact, Jason was recording all of his matches, which you can check out here. We were also joined by one totalhate, another well known Pauper player.

Second, based on the surge in attendance, I made the decision that every week in which we have at least 18 players for MPDC, I will give away a single Dragons of Tarkir booster to one random player. All you have to do is play in all of the Swiss rounds, and you'll automatically be entered into the giveaway. Where else can you get value like that?

Finally, I also managed to take 2nd place with a Green "Formidable" deck (based on Gq1rf7's list of the same name) splashing Blue for Anticipate and Treasure Cruise that I called Wintergreen. I am working on an article for PureMTGO covering the deck, but I was also fortunate enough to have the deck mentioned on the latest episode of the MagicGatheringStrat Show, which I encourage you to check out.

Like I said, it was an eventful day for MPDC. Hopefully it's a sign of even better days to come!

In Case You've Forgotten

It's a good time to be a Standard Pauper player.

Once upon a time, this was just a fringe Pauper format - one of many variations of Classic Pauper - with a dedicated but small community of players. There was no Magic Online format filter, few if any articles, and very little exposure to the wider Magic the Gathering audience.

It's amazing how different things are today. In the four years I've been playing Standard Pauper, we've come a long way. There are three different weekly PREs in the format right now. There is a game filter on Magic Online, making it a far simpler task than before to find fellow Standard Pauper players. There is a growing number of writers covering the format. And proponents of the format have brought attention to the format not only a much wider audience than ever before, but even put it on the radar of Wizards of the Coast themselves. That is no small accomplishment.

Just for today's blog, I was able to pull together three different articles on Standard Pauper, none of which have anything to do with me. Each are worth checking out in their entirety:

1. A Farewell to Flickergate - Pauper enthusiast Dan Horning (known more commonly as MagicGatheringStrat) discusses the variations of the Flickergate deck and recounts his experiences with the excellent Standard Pauper PRE community.

2. Post Standard Pauper Rotation Grief Counseling - Another member of the MagicGatheringStrat website, Brennon looks at the current Standard Pauper cardpool and provides excellent analysis of what will change with the upcoming rotation. He also examines some of the new cards for Theros and what they will mean for the format.

3. Theros Spoilers for Standard Pauper - Jason Moore, a contributer for several Magic websites, examines the early spoilers for Theros and even submits a few sample decklists for consideration.

Don't miss these great articles. And don't forget just how far Standard Pauper has come.