The Power of Pauper - The Little Aggro Deck That Could
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of The Power of Pauper! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're going to taking a look at one of Pauper's cheaper and very aggressive decks. In addition to that we've got some Challenges to look at.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Aggro Aggro Aggro!
Aggro decks in Pauper are a big part of the format, largely due in part because much of the format is very creature-centric. However, more often than not most of those aggro decks are usually Mono Red due to the extra cards like Lightning Bolt that make the deck have creature removal and reach.
However, there is an aggro deck that is not only not red, but also a really solid and cheap entry point into Pauper. It's Mono White Aggro!
This deck is exceptionally sweet, and it's gotten a lot of really good upgrades over the past few years. At its core, it's a deck that gets to utilize some of the core cards that operate a lot of Pauper decks. Kor Skyfisher, Thraben/Novice Inspector are all cards that are large cores of multiple decks, and they do a great job here.
The bigger and newer things this deck has adopted has been a number of really strong new threats but also some new tools.
Of these cards, I think the biggest and most impactful one is Thraben Charm. This card's sheer flexibility gives this deck an extreme edge. Being creature removal, enchantment removal, and graveyard removal all in one card is a really absurd combination of effects at common that it provides this deck a very neat tool to combat various strategies. Eagles of the North is both a land and a creature, but it also represents a bit of a spell by getting to go fetch Idyllic Grange. Raffine's Informant is a cheap threat that not only grows biggers if it connives a nonland, but also is able to draw cards, an effect that's often difficult for Mono White.
This deck also gets to play a bunch of really neat cards that just don't see play in a lot of decks these days or even at all. Idyllic Grange, Steadfast Unicorn, Battle Screech (one of those really cool old school cards that was a true bomb in Vintage Masters draft) are all really powerful things to be doing.
This is a really sweet deck, and it's price tag at being just under $50 currently in paper (a little over $60 on MTGO due to Dust to Dust and Prismatic Strands) at the time of this article makes it a very attractive and fun option for people looking to get into Pauper.
Pauper Challenge 32 3/14/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 42 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Burn | 1st | Bong0411 |
| Mono Black Sacrifice | 2nd | medvedev |
| Grixis Affinity | 3rd | Mirozel1 |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 4th | yesicabyalexisf |
| Jund Wildfire | 5th | TrueHero |
| Bogles | 6th | hockeybro26 |
| Bogles | 7th | PNascimento |
| Gruul Ramp | 8th | Tiomax |
This is a fairly reasonable Top 8. At the end of the event it was Burn that won.
Something interesting came up in some discussion over Pauper I was having with someone. They asked very specifically why a lot of decks play Breath Weapon over options like Fiery Cannonade, since from the outside they appeared to be the same card. The answer is that since Cannonade doesn't hit Pirates specifically, it misses two very key creatures you want off the board in Burn in the form of Goblin Tomb Raider and Reckless Lackey. Not hitting eight of the creatures Burn plays is a pretty huge miss, so keep slinging those Breath Weapons my friends!
In Second Place we had Mono Black Sacrifice.
I think it's reasonable to call this deck this now. It is functionally linked to sacrificing things and getting value out of when a creature is either sacrifice or dies. This looks like a really interesting and reasonable deck, and realistically at just around $60-ish it's a pretty sweet way to get into Pauper right now that also seems very strong.
Also in this Top 8 we had Bogles.
Very straightforward looking Bogles list. My favorite thing about Pauper sideboard cards is all the cards that generally look to be devoted to the Burn matchup. Four copies of Freewind Falcon? No problem!
Pauper Challenge 32 3/15/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 54 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Golgari Broodscale | 1st | pepeteam |
| Turbo Fog | 2nd | Kirblinxy |
| Jund Wildfire | 3rd | Heisen01 |
| Grixis Affinity | 4th | LuffyDoChapeuDePalha |
| Burn | 5th | Mahers |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 6th | yesicabyalexisf |
| Mono White Aggro | 7th | dragtar |
| Mono Blue Terror | 8th | Luminati |
This is also a very interesting Top 8. At the end of the event it was Golgari Broodscale that won.
I continue to hear a lot of rumblings over this deck and wonder whether the PFP may end up doing something about it with the upcoming B&R announcement on March 31st. It is a powerful deck, and I do believe there is a firm balance between it, Burn, and Affinity that needs to be recognized and respected. Taking something completely out of this deck that kills it (like Broodscale or Glee) doesn't feel like the right way to do this. I do think there is a world where to maintain some amount of major balance that Dispute does get banned.
In Second Place we had Turbo Fog.
The current incarnation of this deck is pretty interesting. It also showcases how good stuff like Dispute and Eviscerator's Insight are when generating such extreme value. It's also really sick to see cards like Seal of Doom in the sideboard. I love the Seal cycle in general, so it's always fun for me to see them pop up.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Mono Blue Terror.
I like this list quite a bit. Dragon Wings is a sweet inclusion to this deck when it can jam a Tolarian Terror into play and give it flying. Being able to cycle Dragon Wings makes it nicer.
Pauper Challenge 32 3/16/2025
The final Challenge event of the week was the Sunday event. This event had 61 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Jund Wildfire | 1st | Heisen01 |
| Burn | 2nd | slaxx |
| Golgari Broodscale | 3rd | HobbyHorstorian |
| Golgari Broodscale | 4th | Patxi |
| Golgari Broodscale | 5th | NickNorman |
| Bogles | 6th | PedraStone |
| Jund Broodscale | 7th | Caleb_Yetman |
| Mono Blue Faeries | 8th | yesicabyalexisf |
Quite a lot of Broodscale in this Top 8. At the end of the event though it was Jund Wildfire that won.
This deck is very interesting. It's just a lot of the format's best cards smashed together, which is how Jund usually tends to be built in most formats. It's sweet though, and has a lot of cards I like out of current Pauper.
In Second Place we had Burn.
Very straightforward list, no frills. There doesn't need to be. We come here to BURN.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Mono Blue Faeries.
This specific player Top 8'ed every Challenge this weekend on this deck. I think that says a lot about how dedicated Pauper pilots are to their decks but also their general skill level.
Around the Web
- Kirblinxy has a video on the state of Pauper. Check it out here.
- Kalikaiz has a video on Ruby Storm. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
As League results are now spread out across the week, let's dig in and find something spicy!
Big Creature Tron GO BOOM.
GOBLINS.
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for continuing to support the column and join us next week as we continue our journey into Pauper!
As always you can reach me at all my associated links via my Link Tree! In addition I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the MTGPauper Discord Server.
Until next time!
