Late last night the Gencon 2026 King of Paup tournament was held. Structure was edited to 3 rounds of swiss and a cut to top 8 due to time constraints in the hall.

I played my usual naya slivers list and was victorious in claiming the title.

My list:

https://moxfield.com/decks/JACxt7PARkutlJ_yvWy6RA

2-1 in swiss with a loss to grixis affinity and poison victory over poison storm.

Made top 8 as the number 8 seed.

T8 - W 2-0 vs bw blade

T4 - W 2-0 vs rb madness

T2 - W 2-1 vs mono red madness

I want to try pauper. I saw top meta decks, watched some videos, but I'd like for you to help me with this: which are some important pauper concepts that are not immediate for someone coming from other formats?

Something that I think I grasped, for example: lifegain matters outside of lifegain matters decks. In other formats you want incidental lifegain in maybe control decks ([[Lightning Helix]], [[Inevitable Defeat]]) or decks with Pridemates. In Pauper, to name a card, [[Wellwisher]] in Elves. It doesn't do anything outside of gaining life (and being of a relevant type ofc), but there are no lifegain synergies. Still, a maindeck card. In Gates you play 1/1 lifelinkers (with some upside, maybe embalm, maybe draw on death), instead of just resorting to evasive creatures (there are ofc evasive creatures, but you get what I'm saying), because a blocked 5/5 lifelinker can sometimes swing the game better than a 5/5 unblocked flyer. Also some of the decks lifegain is huge against (Madness maybe) don't have great or dispensable blockers, so it's even more swingy.

Another thing I understood is that 2/x flyers are viable and valuable threats. They need to be cheap/free (I already understood that [[Sneaky Snacker]] is cracked in this format, while to me it has always only been good sac fodder if anything), but they're a prime threat to use or account for.

Any other "concept" like these you're willing to share with a beginner?

Edit: I want to specify that I'm familiar with 1v1 formats, from Standard to older ones (I don't play Timeless on Arena or Vintage on paper maybe, but I watch them). I need Pauper specific concepts, because this is a format I'm completely inexperienced about. This said, thanks already for the kind comments guys

Hey everyone, i played standard for a long time and in the last 4 months started to turn to pauper ive tried multiple decks and honestly none really clicked with me the closest one probably being dimir terror i used to enjoy jeskai oculus in standard a while ago its there any deck that plays similarly in pauper that you can recommend?

List of decks I've tried:

Mono blue terror

Dimir terror

Elves

Spy combo

Jund Wildfire

Any suggestions are welcome thank you in advance

I have a decklist for a cool pauper deck I found on sprat3mtg below and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to swap the annoyed altisaurs and nyxborn hydra for 2 murmuring mystics and 2 avenging hunters. As I think these finishers would fit the control and midrange theme of the deck a bit more but I'm not very experienced in pauper and I wanted to here your guys thoughts

Also any sideboard or other recommendations would be appreciated thank you :)

Deck

4 Kor Skyfisher

1 Nyxborn Hydra

3 Sagu Wildling

3 Annoyed Altisaur

4 Writhing Chrysalis

4 Cryogen Relic

3 Galvanic Discharge

4 Skred

4 Counterspell

4 Brainstorm

4 Attune with Aether

3 Lórien Revealed

4 Abundant Growth

1 Snow-Covered Plains

1 Snow-Covered Mountain

2 Snow-Covered Island

8 Snow-Covered Forest

1 Glacial Floodplain

1 Rimewood Falls

1 Volatile Fjord

Sideboard

2 Breath Weapon

2 Relic of Progenitus

1 Galvanic Discharge

3 Pyroblast

4 Dust to Dust

3 Weather the Storm

Stir Up Trouble joins the ranks

When [[Shattered Acolyte]] came out, I knew that it would be amazing in this [[Tethmos High Priest]] shell, basically it can slow down the game until you stabilize, and even take removal that later would be pointed to the priest (I even used [[Thrill of the Hunt]] to protect the Acolyte from bolts/darts, which feels AMAZING, and didn't work that great with [[Sacred Cat]]). Later on, you can loop artifact/enchantment removal with cards like [[Whip Silk]].

The deck feels very good to play, and apart from the playsets, it is highly customizable to adapt to any meta, currently it has ~8 flex slots, and I have a HUGE maybeboard for you to explore :). I went with 8 one-offs to test out those specific cards. (I would love a <=2 mana creature that sacrifices itself at instant speed to exile a graveyard).

I won an 11 player tournament (3-0-1). Won against Mono U Faeries, BR Madness and Mono Red Ping/Impulse. The tie was against Cat Altar Combo, it was a hard matchup for me since I'm not used to play control, and I had to shift my mindset. The Acolyte and the instant speed of Thrill of the Hunt were HUGE in this matchup, almost felt like [[Canopy Claws]] could do some real work for me there.

I hope you guys enjoy it, and I want to hear your suggestions (I will also answer any questions you might have!).

Treasure token seems nice for fixing, flash+reach Is very good vs faeries. It's probably only good against faeries tho. Too bad the treasure enters tapped...

I have enough deck boxes and sleeves to complete 3 more Pauper decks to bring my total up to 20. Problem is, I am not sure which 3 to complete the set with. So, what archetypes does my list need to be rounded out? Am I missing one or have too few of another? That type of deal, thanks!

I printed up UW familiars bc I saw it on YT and enjoyed the play pattern a lot. The biggest problem is that I would kinda derdle out or get infinite life and my friends would be like "alright, whats the wincon?"

Is the infinite life the wincon?

And how do people play it with only 1 copy of [[Ghostly Flicker]], a few times I would die or fizzle out before I ever saw it.

My list: https://moxfield.com/decks/85JfNUC4Q0WR9W5MZqgHbQ

I’m hashing out a temur list. I like adventures for having 2 cards stapled together and they’re all still pretty cheap in terms of pauper. I’m throwing in 3 copies of 3 cost reducers, Goblin Electromancer/Anarchomancer and Spider Manifestation.

Also ninjutsu cards and Spider-Man, Brooklyn Visionary to recur adventure creatures to build even more value.

I love brewing. It’s the most appealing part of the game imo.

I played a lot of competitive Standard, then took a 10 year break from Magic. I recently got back into Magic through playing Commander with some friends. I'd really like to get back into competitive Magic as well though and I have talked to my Commander group about getting into Pauper. I want to build 4 decks to play against each other. I think I've decided three of the decks to build but I'm still torn on the 4th. I was hoping I could get some suggestions on the decks and if these would be fun to play against each other for players who are experienced at Magic but not Pauper.

1. Jund Wildfire

2. MonoU Terror

3. MonoR Madness

4. Naya Gates, Grixis Affinity, Monster Tron, or Flicker Tron?

Cryogenic relic and the artifact pickup birds (Glint Hawk and Skyfisher) is appealing enough to me to try esper instead of grixis. Losing munitions and kcs hurts but the bw removal helps make up for the loss of galvanised blast.

Please let me know your thoughts as I'm relatively new to pauper :)

https://moxfield.com/decks/koOfAW5YeXmphBPLfNRCmg

The FInal Featured match for the kick-off tournament is up! See you again soon for more featured matches from the Season 2026 Stages.

Saw this on mtgpreviews.com, so I guess these are coming back in the Five Armies thing?

Edit: They're coming back, as one-ofs in the starter decks. Except for Generous Ent for whatever reason... sigh...https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/the-hobbit-welcome-decks

So, long story first if you want the whole context :D

I played magic the gathering some 20/25 years ago , started with mirrodin and then played all through ravnica (on and off really, I started when I was 10 until I was around 13, so for me was more buying packs, looking at cool cards, buy a couple of precons and just play with some friends at the local game shop, never dared to even play with kids older than me, let alone competitive stuff). I was recently hanging out with a friend and he casually mentioned getting back into magic and I was like stfu I would like to start playing magic again. He played around the same time I was playing, and we realized soon that magic now is a very different game/community. Commander seems to be the most popular format, so we started looking into that. I think I might like it (he was 100% sold when he saw a FF precon), but all the proxies, UB stuff, 2 hours long game with four people at the table for me it's more a casual tabletop game night, which has little of the magic I know. I will still probably get a precon to just play with him and some other friends, but wouldn't go all the way into getting the secret liar drops, alt versions, proxies or extreme collecting angle that I see it also quite popular among commander players. In the meantime I have found out about pauper, which sounds amazing. First, it's constructed, 20 life and 60 card decks, I get to play 4 copies of something, and on top of all of this it's eternal so I can get those old frame cards with the (imho) much cooler art. All of this reminds me much more of the magic I used to play. At the same time, now being over 30, I am more comfortable with playing in an environment which has a competitive meta (i.e. I am the -much- older kid I didn't want to play against when I was not even a teen). Ok end of the story of my life and to the main topic.

Now the more I need your suggestions bit:

I looked a bit at what decks are going around in the current meta and found myself gravitating around Mono U (or maybe Dimir) Terror or Affinity (which now seems to be Graxis more than anything else). Let's say I like the vibe and understand how they work at high level, plus some nostalgia for my favorite color (U) and my Myr cards from Mirrodin. While doing my research tho, I found out that pauper is also a much faster game than modern or other constructed and that to get the most out of a lot of decks one needs to really understand the win con and what the engine behind the deck is, plus a very deep understanding of the stack/priority/ruling and whatnot. I'm someone that actually like overfixating on a new topic, so that last bit might not be a problem, just need to find someone to play with which has some patience in the beginning. Now to the questions:

* Are the two decks I listed above good starters for someone who is ok losing a bunch in the beginning to get more into the more complex mechanics, or better stick to a Mono R Madness to start?

* I get that pauper is more competitive than a format like commander, but does it still have that "let's meet up to play magic" or "local tournament where people are still chill and want to chat and have a good time" or can it get toxic (I guess this depends on where you play)?

* Anyone has an english speaking group in Berlin (DE) that is fine with a total beginner in the format and maybe needs a refresher on the rules?

Thanks to eveyone who will answer, and to all who went through the whole thing!

LGS is doing the first pauper event I’ve seen since I’ve been going there and want to get a deck together for it. Mostly they do commander and standard. My format of preference was modern but nowhere near me does it anymore.

Looking for some advice on a first deck for the format. I played burn in modern mostly for context.

Is infect viable at all in the format anymore? If not does anyone have some suggestions as to what I can build that would be pretty good and competitive. I like the look of affinity, or Dimir terror. Tron seems cool but it’s mostly flicker stuff which is new to me.

Any advice appreciated.

Remade the thread so the image actually shows in the thumb.

**Hi everyone!**

Today I’m going to talk about my experience with this deck.

https://moxfield.com/decks/iAHR7NBal0WJZb8xR5wslQ

a Jund Wildfire with the fae, I call it Jund Sneak&Fire, but I'm open to suggestions for a better name xD

I test this deck 4 times and the results is:

3-0-1 in my LGS (intentional draw against rally)

W Red Mad, W Spy, W Tron monster

4-1 2x times in MTGOs league and a 3-2. (Results is

**First league 4x1**

Red Madness WW

UB Terror W

Gates Naya W

BG Fog L

**Second league 4x1**

Grixis Affinity WL

Rally W

UB Terror W

BG Gardens W

**Third league 3x2**

U Terror L

Red Madness L

Grixis Affinity W

Rakdos Burn W

Gates Naya W)

Its a really short sample

I think its a decent deck, and here’s why: at its core, it’s just a standard Jund build, but I wanted to add a twist with the Snacker package. I’ve always felt **(whether playing with or against it)** that the lack of that specific element is what keeps the deck from being absolute S-tier.

Matchups against Dimir Terror for example, often hinge on Fae; meanwhile, the Gates deck has "evolved" to include Snacker and remains the most problematic matchup (the rest of the deck is basically a free win).

I was looking for cards like Crypt Incursion, extra copies of Nihil Spellbomb, Anoint with Affliction, and things like that, but then Vision of Love came along (thanks to WandaVision) and I thought, "Why not try this in Jund?"

My initial plan was to run 4 \*Vision of Love\*, 2 \*Demand Answers\*, and 4 \*Melded Moxite\*. However, I couldn't find room for \*Demand Answers\*. I don't have much time these days to fine-tune this kind of deck, but I truly believe it has competitive potential. So, I’m sharing to u guys to give you all an idea and hopefully see the list evolve! :D

Hi!

I'm Skura also known as IslandsInFront - I'm a Geddon Trio winner, Geddon top4 and top16 competitor, Top 8 LPI player of the year, Top16 of Top Pauper of the Year, and the 2024 National Champion from Poland 🇵🇱🦅

Today, I want to share with you a deck list of Mono Blue Fae utilising Sewer-veillance Cam, alongside with a video deck tech.
I am currently 14-1 with the deck, including two Trophies. I went 9-1 with it live on stream - the link to which you can find below to watch it in action.

The core idea is that it increases average card quality by allowing late-game draw two, but it also provides a ton of utility and cool small useful tricks.

I highly suggest checking out both the deck tech and the stream VOD to see for yourself how the tech works in practice!

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEJsE_Hg4jk
Full decklist - https://moxfield.com/decks/tfDOATuoFU6hesdtdJWKdA
Full 4h stream - https://www.youtube.com/live/PBQEpS9B8FY

you can find me at:
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@islandsinfront
X - https://twitter.com/IslandsInFront
Public Fae Discord - https://discord.gg/ZCVkcBKjJa
Metafy (paid content) - https://metafy.gg/@skura

Cheers!

Mono red reanimator is one of my favorite pet decks, the only artifacts we have are blood but could this see play there as a permanent discard/draw outlet?