Pauper Modern MTG

JUNE 2026 TOURNAMENT REPORT:

This is a deck you’ve seen, courtesy of Jesse, with a few minor changes. 

https://manabox.app/decks/AZ4VfYJ3eo2J2xqFmTry2w

This deck is trying out a One Mana 1/1 elf, copperhorn scout. 

Copperhorn Scout · Conspiracy: Take the Crown (CN2) #179 · Scryfall Magic: The Gathering Search 

https://scryfall.com/card/cn2/179/copperhorn-scout

It’s not an advisor but given the chance to attack can double the work of each advisor on the battlefield. It is almost certain to die but that is a small sacrifice for getting two turns of milling in one. I am running only 3 to test this out but was able to go 3-1 for the day and saw it’s use at least every match. 

Match 1 - (1-2) Eldrazi pouncer, molten impact tremors. 

Was able to win game 1 but barely. The pouncers are hard to beat. Might have been a mistake to take out Weakstone Subjugations from the sideboard but that only solves half the problem. Gatekeepers allow a second method of damage. 

Match 2 - (2-0) Arbor elf Ramp - Player was slightly new to 1v1 magic and didn’t miss too many triggers but wasn’t as aggressive as could have been. Sideboard was new to them too. I think copperhorn was able to do its work at least once. 

Match 3 - (2-0) Divine life gain - this match seems like the best matchup mill can get, a slower game banking on high life total to out game the opponent. Life is irrelevant to mill. 

Match 4 - Frantic salvage combo

Only played one game since they had to leave early, but I won that one game. Otherwise I lose that match up every time I think. 

All in all I think the scout was a good addition and will keep trying it, maybe change up the qty.

Decklist: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/paupermodern-rb-artifacts-2/?cb=1779152764

Another victory to my name! Last week, I debuted my brand-new Rakdos Artifacts deck to excellent results. I landed 1st place with a 3-0 record. In this post, I'll offer a quick introduction to my deck, my thoughts about my matchups at the tournament, and some takeaways.

I am usually reluctant to test dedicated Artifact strategies in PauperModern due to the absence of the Mirrodin Artifact Lands. However, the novel strength of recent cards like Refurbished Familiar, Deadly Dispute and Pactdoll Terror finally encouraged me to build something new. I first built a PauperModern Lantern Control deck around Orcish Spy & Ghoulcaller's Bell, with Deadly Dispute and Ichor Wellspring as part of the draw engine, and Pactdoll as my top end finisher.

Although I did not win many games with my Bell Spy deck, I was thoroughly impressed by the engines around the namesake cards. I rebuilt the deck, swapping my Spies and Bells for the Krark-Clan Shaman + Toxin Analysis combo as an efficient board wipe, and added in Disciple of the Vault to gain additional value from Shaman and my Dispute+Wellspring draw engine. Finally, I added Galvanic Blast for its sheer power, as Metalcraft is easy to achieve in this deck.

The result is a midrange deck that squeezes loads of value out of all its synergies to attack the opponent on many different axes. Refurbished Familiar allows for cheap and early hand disruption, Shaman+Toxin is a boardwipe that many decks find difficult to recover from, Disciple and Pactdoll attack the life total directly to set up Galvanic Blast finishes.

Match 1 had me facing John on Hot Dogs (Think Kiln Fiend and Temur Battle Rage). The combo-oriented combat strategy did not fare well against Shaman+Toxin. I got lucky and didn't run into any protection spells from my opponent, and was able to kill off all attacking creatures. I sided in Accursed Marauder for some bonus removal. I had plenty of removal and plenty of ways to draw into it.

Match 2 had me against Jared playing his unique Red Rally Storm deck. This was my closest match of the tournament for sure; Jared's deck operated a midrange strategy similar to mine, leveraging the combat power of First Day of Class+Rally the Hornburg alongside direct damage from Burn staples like Lava Dart and Kessig Flamebreather. To top it off, he also had a few copies of Empty the Warrens. I anticipated Burn, and knew Pactdoll's drain ability would be important here. I only won because Jared forgot he had a Lava Dart in his graveyard. I sided in Duress and Fiery Cannonade to excellent effect.

Match 3 had me facing Nik on my Gruul Storm deck. I recently updated it with Faithless Looting and Abandon Attachments, which speed up the deck a little. This matchup definitely favored me, as Nik's wincon was Empty the Warrens, which simply cannot get past my Shaman+Toxin combo. Nik's quickly recognized this and realized he had to establish a field and start attacking quickly. He was able to draw all 4 of his Goblin Anarchancers, forcing me to exhaust my removal suite and winning him Game 2. I sided in Duress and Fiery Cannonade again, to pick combo pieces out of his hand, and to wipe out his Goblin hordes respectively.

This is the most successful midrange deck I've ever built. It is very interactive and built to synergize with a powerful draw engine that can quickly overwhelm the opponent with card advantage. Krark-Clan Shaman exceeded my expectations, though I admit I had very favorable matchups the entire day. I did realize that I have no way to deal with flying threats. I played a practice game against Dan's Breathless Knight deck and simply had no answers to large flyers backed up by Unearth and Recommission. I'll have to work on the Sideboard. Black Mage's Rod is a viable replacement for Pactdoll, but I think Pactdoll just feels more fun to play. It, and Disciple of the Vault, are incredible ways to push the advantage gained from Deadly Dispute.

You could easily drop the Pactdoll and Disciple package entirely and add in Cranial Ram and Plating, or even the aforementioned Mage's Rod, for a more aggressive, combat focused deck. There are now so many playables in PauperModern that I am rarely without an interesting deck to test. I am also really, really pleased to see multiple Storm decks at a PauperModern tournament. It's a great time to be playing this format, and I can't wait to show everyone what I put together next!

I did it, friends. I finally learned how to Cube Draft. Hours of Benjamin Hill ‘s Vintage Cube commentary actually paid off. Normally, I’m not excited by The Pauper Cube, as it is explicitly designed to produce hellishly slow midrange grinders where players are forced to struggle for every tiny advantage. However, The Pauper Cube’s newest update eliminated many of the least synergistic cards and replaced them with much more interesting releases from 2026. Our own Cube Council came together to audit the Cube as well, which involved replacing some of our least favorite cards. With a fresh perspective on Cube Draft, and some actual familiarity with the Cube after our audit, I entered this tournament confidently.

                I attribute my success to a great opening pack, reading signals, and focusing my picks down to very tight synergies around Instants, Sorceries and the Graveyard. Pack 1, Pick 1 was  Monastery Swiftspear. I admit, I picked Swiftspear because I’ve had so much success with it in Pauper Modern, and not to mention it is Banned in Pauper. I could visualize my entire deck from this first pick. Draft some more aggressive, threatening  creatures and back them up with a suite of cheap removal spells. Lo and behold, I saw a Firebolt next, and then Tempest Angler, exactly the sort of cards I wanted. Angler was an excellent signal to me that Blue could be my 2nd color, and a late Pack 1 Izzet Boilerworks confirmed that Izzet was absolutely open. Goblin Electromancer and Murmuring Mystic then cemented my focus on Instants and Sorceries.

  At this point, I started laying out my cards in piles sorted by CMC, which gave me an idea of what my curve would look like. I also have to give credit to the small Gravestone icon in the top left corner of Firebolt; it reminded me to look out for Surveil and Looting effects. I only found a few Surveil effects in the form of Hidden Grotto and Cruel Witness, but I was then rewarded by a very late Treasure Cruise.

I have so much to say about this card. It totally changed how I thought about my draft and my deck. Treasure Cruise tips almost every trade in it’s owner’s favor, in that every card in your Graveyard gets you closer to casting it, and drawing 3 cards in Pauper Cube is very powerful. I kept my curve low with powerful pieces of card selection like Ponder and Preordain, which meant I could quickly cantrip and fill up my graveyard while I dug for my creature bombs.  Lorien Revealed is of note here too; it, along with the cost-reducing Goblin Electromancer, allowed me to cut my land count down to 15 without any noticeable downsides.

Along the way, I drafted Counterspell, Mana Leak and Remove Soul, exactly the sort of countermagic I needed to protect my few creatures. Fireblast and Guttersnipe tied together the Burn strategy of my deck beautifully. Casting Fireblast for free was not difficult, even with only 5 Mountains in my deck, and it even put 3 cards in my graveyard to speed up Treasure Cruise.

I got a Buy in Round 1, and faced Rob’s Dimir Flicker deck in Round 2, winning 2-1. Flicker can be a truly threatening strategy in this cube, from what I’ve seen in the past, and the addition of creatures like Mechanozoa have only helped the archetype. Dinrova Horror especially is terrible to fight against, but luckily I almost always had countermagic ready for Rob’s bombs. Rob had some of the best removal in the cube, like Ashes to Ashes, but my synergies helped me pull ahead in advantage in the mid and late game. Ashes to Ashes and similar spells were effective, but did not really build into the Flicker strategy. I admit that I did some serious heckling in the last 5 minutes of the game, which negatively affected my opponent’s gameplay, so I take this win with an asterisk.

Round 3 placed me against Julian’s Simic Ramp deck, featuring cards like Coiling Oracle and Growth Spiral, ramping up to interesting threats like Evolution Witness, Champion of Dusan and Owlbear. I won this match, 2-0, able to easily remove or bypass Julian’s blockers while also dealing direct damage with Guttersnipe and Firebrand Archer. Murmuring Mystic saved me in our final game, providing many Bird tokens to chump block and attack with. I felt truly in control of this match, navigating every decision and exchange with confidence. I knew I had the tools I needed to deal with whatever Julian might summon, and I knew I could build up a threatening board of my own that would be difficult to interact with.

As winner, I would like to remove Izzet Charm and replace it with Boulderbranch Golem. I am thoroughly unimpressed with Izzet Charm. Boulderbranch Golem slots nicely into every Green archetype, and even synergizes with Maul Splicer.

8 Pauper Modern players convened at Jared’s house for the first tournament of the year on Monday 2/16/26 coincidentally kicking off my birthday week with a damn good time.

I brought Mono-Red Madness Snacker (Grixis Control). Here is the list.

I lost every dice roll. I won every game. Maybe this deck actually wants to be on the draw?

Round 1

Jesse dropped a Forest and a Nettle Sentinel, looked me deep in the eyeholes and said, “If you’re playing red, you win.”

“Draw, Mountain, GG.”

Turn 1 I Faithless Looting’ed away a Sneaky Snacker and a Mountain. Turn 2 Grab the Prize pitching a second Snacker: 2 damage, 2 flying 2/1s, and 2 new cards. This shit is busted.

Did you know Sneaky Snackers can block Silhana Ledgewalkers? It’s true! Jesse’s Rancor got me down to 8 but it cost 3 him creatures, and then Jesse was forced to do some blocking. Stompy doesn’t win by blocking.

I sided in my newest addition to the board: 3 Searing Blazes

Game 2 in the face of a race, I turned into a pure Grixis Control jalopy. Opening hand was 3 Noah Bradley Mountains, Lightning Bolt, Kessig Flamebreather, and 2 Fiery Temper. Not ideal, but definitely not bad. Jesse dropped a Quirion Ranger on turn 1. I wrestled with whether or not to bolt the elf. If he kept a 1-lander with the plan to bounce his land for positive mana, then the upside would be huge. I bolted the elf.

Turn 2 he played a second Forest and a second Quirion Ranger. Oh well. I deployed my Flamebreather and started getting pings in with each removal spell. Turn 3 Jesse hit me with a main phase Might of Old Akrosa for 5, then proceeded to deploy a team of beaters.

The following turns I cast my Murders (Fiery Temper) while pinging away: 19, 16, 15, 12, 11, 9, 7, 6, 5… Jesse turned the tide with a Weather the Storm for 9 life, an attack taking me down to 1, but I managed a profitable block with an instant speed Searing Blaze and finished it with a flurry of Snackers and burn.

Round 2

The last time I played Noah he took away all my combat steps, and Gruulisaurus wept. Not gonna lie, that experience inspired me to sleeve up this burn-oriented monstrosity. Noah was again on Tron with Stonehorn Dignitary. We rolled some excellent dice that featured cats on a side. I picked them up and asked, “Is the cat a 6 or a 1?” then proceeded to roll cats eyes. If you will.

I came out slow, but so did Noah. He played EtB tapped lifegain lands in Bant colors, Tron, and a handful of mana-filtering baubles. I chipped away with an early Snacker and Epicure, saw a Mulldrifter evoke by, bolted a couple Augurs of Bolas, and then we sat at a near stalemate around turn 8. Noah correctly noted that my 3 cards in hand had to be lands. I was sitting there with 4 lands out while he was sitting at 8 life. I had been churning through my deck flooding ridiculously, just sitting there with too small of a board. Luckily Noah was flooding out too with upward of 8 lands in play, and lots of do-little permanents. He wasn’t able to stabilize the board while simultaneously protect from burn, and I finally drew some business after he tapped out.

Game 2 I sided in 2 Smash to Smithereens, but otherwise just hoped for a faster start. I got it with a Monastery Swiftspear, Kessig Flamebreather, Sneaky Snacker, and Highway Robbery. I rapidly chipped away while a Dawnbringer Cleric gained a couple life, a Weather the Storm gained 6 more, and I found myself with a Smash in hand but not a single mana-filtering bauble to target. The final turn saw me pass with a Flamebreather on board, a Lava Dart in the bin, and a useless Smash. Noah untapped with 6 life and plopped down a Prophetic Prism finally. Ironically, I received priority next after Noah put a lifegain trigger from a Tranquil Cove on the stack. Noah let out a sigh of relief, and in response I flashed back Lava Dart and Smashed that Prism to Smithereens to deal lethal.

Round 3

Amin and I first met on our way to Mud Man 2023, his virgin year and my last. I don’t think Magic came up in conversation, but since the Bay Area is tiny and Magic is humongous it was only a matter of time til we reunited on the battlefield. His weapon of choice was a sweet Affinity brew featuring Atog. Obviously Affinity is a house in Pauper Proper (PP), and as a community we toss a lot of Affinity lists around trying to brew up the archetype in Pauper Modern. But I’m not convinced the deck is tier 1 without EtB untapped artifact lands. We have access to a lot of powerful cards banned cards in PP: Disciple of the Vault, Sojourner’s Companion, Cranial Ram, Kuldotha Rebirth, etc. Atog tends to receive the least attention but may be the strongest of them.

Game 1 I had that busted start: Faithless Looting away a Sneaky Snacker and a Mountain, Turn 2 Grab the Prize pitching a second Snacker. Turn 3 a Swiftspear joined the festivities and I started lopping off Amin’s life total. I saw the indestructible bridges, a 3 mana Myr Enforcer, and nothing to slow my pair of 2/1 flyers. Quick and dirty game 1. I sided in 4 Smash to Smithereens removing a couple Epicure, a Faithless Looting, and a Highway Robbery.

Game 2 I built up a big board of attackers topped off with 2 Flamebreathers. Smash to Smithereens caught the first 4/4 to appear. Amin managed to slow down my assault with another Enforcer, and an Atog, but he didn’t remove anything besides through combat damage. I made an attack with Swiftspear and burn in hand to try to force Amin to sacrifice permanents, but unfortunately Amin cast Unexpected Fangs after pumping his Atog. Blow-out! I honestly figured this game was over. I was staring into the abyss, and the abyss’ name was Atog.

I kept poking Amin with flyers, chump blocking his Atog with my little red dorks. A Myr Enforcer chunked me a couple times down to 12. It became a back-and-forth game of chicken. Luckily I had a lot of fodder, and I was doing my best to disincentivize sacrificing artifacts. Not blocking (or trample!) would’ve ended me, but we held on. Amin’s life total looked like this:

20

18

15

12

18 (Unexpected Fangs!)

21 (chump)

19

13

15 (chump)

11

15 (chump)

13

20 (Cranial Ram!)

Cranial Ram made an appearance. Amin opted not to sacrifice any artifacts, assuming that surely ending the turn on 20 life would be enough. I was running out of blockers, but I had 2 Flamebreathers and a Guttersnipe sitting around unmolested. In hand I had a second Guttersnipe and an End the Festivities. I drew a Lava Dart. While the spells claimed to only deal 1 damage each, each cast was accompanied by 6 triggered damage. I dealt 21 damage before even attacking. GGs.

Thanks to Jared for hosting another glorious Pauper Modern tournament. Thanks to Chris for lunch and an amazing prize pool. Thanks to all my opponents for being fierce competitors. Mono-Red Grixis Control snacked hard this day.

5 mages convened. 4 matches of Magic in 3 hours. If a source would produce mana of a color other than Red, it produces Colorless mana instead. Bolt after bolt after bolt.

I brought my Kuldotha Red list, substituting the Mutagenic Growths with End the Festivities, reasoning that I did not want to be paying life for spells in a Burn tournament, and that sweepers would be great against opposing swarms of goblins. I wish I kept the Mutagenics; in my first game, I realized I could have won an entire turn faster if I had 2 more points of combat damage. Lesson learned: free spells are great. Match 1 vs our newest player, Beau, who was still exploring the power level of Pauper Modern. Beau cast various Goblins with Goblin Grenades and Wrenn's Resolve. I think Beau's curve was too high, and just could not output as much damage as I could, as quickly as I did. My Tomb Raiders with Inventors Axes carved a clear path to victory.

Match 2 vs Jesse, who also had Goblins and Grenades, but with a lower curve, and to my surprise, Goblin Mountaineers. I saw this 1/1 with MOUNTAINWALK and thought, "I need to kill that before Jesse casts an Inventor's Axe." Jesse was not running Axes, so I had naught to fear. This was some tight magic, with misplays on both sides. I forgot to cast End the Festivities to clear away blockers, and it actually lost me a game. Combat math was relevant; life totals depleted quickly, so I did not feel safe attacking with all my creatures every turn. I had to do the unthinkable and keep up blockers in my Red deck. I'm pretty sure I top-decked a Lightning Bolt to win this match though. Quite evenly matched, IMO.

Match 3 vs Jordan, who was playing Madness Burn. Faithless Looting, Guttersnipe, Kessig Flamebreathers, Lava Darts. And that new spell, Grab the Prize. Lots of potential damage... but again, a curve too high to keep up with my onslaught.

Match 4 vs Owen who borrowed my classic Burn deck; Lightning Bolts, Lava Spikes, Skewer the Critics, Searing Blaze and Swiftspear. I lent Owen 2 copies of Electrickery, which he used to great effect, sweeping away my Goblins on my turn. That ended up winning him a game, and prudent play secured him the match. Searing Blaze was especially effective against my creature-focused strategy.

Big takeaways:

Madness Burn has lots of damage potential, but needs more turns to set up compared to Kuldotha Rebirth strategies.

Free spells win games.

2 - 3 copies of Goblin Grenade are probably enough.

Electrickery remains a Pauper Modern sideboard staple.

This Winter Solstice was steeped in the philosophy of fire. I brought the hottest, fieryest, streamlinededest to the house of our gracious host Jared, and I lucked my way to total inferno. My spellbook of choice was Mono-Red Snacker -- a Modern remix of the Pauper proper Madness Burn. We lose the epic finisher Fireblast, the extra bolts of Chain Lightning, and powerful sideboard options like Flaring Pain and Pyroblast. But you knew that. Also you’ll never see me sleeve up Masked Meower. (I’m allergic to Universes Beyond, but you probably knew that too.)

We gain Monastery Swiftspear. Suck it, Pauper proper.

Too much has been already written about the Prauper equivalent of the deck, but here's a quick recap. The deck chips in for damage along the way to an explosive final turn. The 11 draw-2 spells are plopping into play your Sneaky Snackers, pitching Fiery Tempers, and loading up your graveyard with Lava Darts. In a pinch you can also discard lands, but you tend to have enough gas to avoid it until late game. The deck is hangry for mana, often tapping out and sacrificing lands for the kill by turn 5. Faithless Looting is a little awkward with Snackers because you draw before discarding, but the flashback more than makes up for it. Blood tokens from Voldaren Epicure provide just that little bit extra, but the little vampire is the most obvious first cut. Maybe for Manamorphose? Maybe for more bolts? 

I brought a sideboard, but I didn’t use it. OK ok I DID side Tormod’s Crypt in for game 2 against Rakdos Burn, but I didn't need it. The board pivots you into more efficient answers against Faeries, artifacts, and graveyards. You’re hoping to just dodge enchantment-based opponents. After much post-tourney discussion, I think I’ll find room for a couple Searing Blazes in the board. With all the card draw in this deck, I’ve almost always got a land in hand to pitch or play. Folx were against my use of Fiery Cannonades, but I’ll likely still include them to sweep storms of squirrels and gobbos heading to their First Day of Class. I could also see an argument for Skred or similar big-butt-removal to deal with Serpents. Finally I’m curious if Underworld Rage-Hound could provide a long game against control. Speaking of control…

               Round 1: 2-0 vs Jared on Jund

Jared sleeved up Jund Valuetown featuring Writhing Chrysalis, Refurbished Familiar, and Cleansing Wildfire. I won the die roll. I won the games.

Taylor Swiftspear popped off game 1. She shows up for a single R, deals at least 3 damage, and demands a removal spell. She was banned in Pauper proper for reasons. Game 2 there was a scary showdown on the stack when I tapped out to cast a Grab the Prize into Fiery Temper with a Kessig Flamebreather out for lethal. As we started resolving the stack to wrap up the game, Jared said, “I have it and need to cast it now,” revealing a Weather the Storm. I looked in my graveyard and saw a Lava Dart. Looked at his life total at 4. Looked in Jared’s eyes and agreed, “Yes. You’d better do that now.” +9 life! Timing is important, kids. Even if it only delayed the inevitable. Luckily Grab the Prize chained into enough action to close the game out on the next turn. GGs! I’ll admit I lost the post-match bonus game.

The fact that Mono-Red Snacker functions almost entirely at sorcery speed is certainly a drawback, but the combination of draw and Guttersnipe/Flamebreathers lets us grind through life gain fairly well. Last tournament I was only a single point of damage short of besting a turn 2 Circle of Protection: Red. Potent magicks.

               Round 2: 2-1 vs Emory on Rakdos Burn

Thus began a couple of near-mirrors. Emory and I both knew what we were walking into since we had identified our shared passion for Blightning prior to the tourney. I won the die roll. I won the majority of games.

Game 1 I chipped in early with Swifty and a Snacker then closed out with a flurry of burn to the face. Emory showed me Kitchen Imps and the incremental life gain from their vampiric tendencies in Alms of the Vein and Vampire’s Kiss. 

What I enjoy the most about playing burn mirrors is the few but critical game decisions. We distill the game of Magic down to only several turns full of pivotal moments. You may think you’ve mathed it all out, but there’s enough concealed information to throw you for a loop. Absolutely thrilling. My main point of consideration every single game was whether to toss a burn spell at the Kitchen Imps or let them go. It’s a constant struggle of determining “Who’s the Beatdown?” My card draw and ability to combo finish with a Guttersnipe gave me the illusion of security in controlling the board, however Emory’s life gain really confused my math and in turn my planning.

Game 2 I mulliganed into a shaky hand of 1 land, a Swiftspear, and a Faithless Looting. Luckily I drew lands when I needed them. There was a spicy moment when my fast opening actually punished me. Emory played a Razortrap Gorge untapped on their turn 3 immediately after I torched their health to 13 on my turn 2 (Swifty+Looting+Bolt) definitely contributing to that game loss. Dual lands are good especially when these margins of victory are so tight.

I had a tough turn 3. I could either cast Guttersnipe, flashback Faithless Looting, or fire off a couple spells. I decided to push my advantage and exposed a Guttersnipe early. Mistakes were made. The goblin ate a bolt, and I drew into a bevy of Lava Darts afterward. I was a little shook and ended up 1 point short of lethal on the penultimate turn of the game. Emory was not short on the next and final turn of the game. I believe they popped 3 or more blood tokens that turn to find business and madness out my final points of life. I was sitting there with too many Lava Darts in my hand that I could have dumped in the yard on prior turns. After the Guttersnipe loss I felt safer trying to eke out maximum value from the Darts until I suddenly wasn’t. Bummer.

Game 3 Swifty did WERK. I dropped her on turn 1, saved her from death with an early instant speed Bolt plus Lava Dart flashback, and then rode that prowess to victory. GGs and welcome to the scene, Emory!

               Round 3: 2-1 vs Chris on OOPS ALL BOLTS

Where my deck can feel a little slow for a burn deck until the explosive Lava Dart and Guttersnipe finish, Chris’ Black-Red all bolts monstrosity was the opposite. She came out swinging with Lava Spikes, Bump in the Nights, Rift Bolts, Skewer the Critics, and Sovereign’s Bite. High octane pew pews! Serenity shall be my prize.

Game 1, turn 1 set the tone of the entire match: Chris won the die roll and had a tapped ping land turn 1. I dropped a smug smile, a Mountain, and a Swiftspear for 1 damage. Chris immediately tamed Taylor with a Plasma Bolt on her turn 2. I had to read this card. Who would play a sorcery speed Shock? The next Plasma Bolt did a Lava Spike impression a few turns later. I get it now.

Mountains were likely my strongest asset in these games. Untapped lands immediately casting spells proved just a wee bit better than tapped duals that ping for a life. So while Chris had the speed advantage in sheer spell damage, I had the timely resource advantage. That being said, Razortrap Gorge came into play untapped against me on a turn 4 after a flurry of burn spells. Again, very cool to see a proper dual land at common.

I took game 1 with a Kessig Flamebreather and spells. Game 2 was close, but I got Rakdid to the face. Game 3 I drew double Guttersnipes and plenty of spells. As much as I love a true burn deck, I think the format currently favors fast permanent-based damage. GGs!

-Rob Dec2025

On 11/30/25 we held a special one-off Pauper Modern tournament with the additional rule "If a source would produce mana of a color other than Red, it produces colorless mana instead." Sooo "Mono-Red" Pauper Modern. We each played 4 matches and, other than Sneaky Snacker and artifacts and lands, I personally saw only red cards all day long (though I overheard a Mutagenic Growth at another table). When we scheduled this, I immediately knew I wanted to buildaround 4 copies of [[Goblin Grenade]]. Such a fun card. So flavorful, and of course, downright powerful: If I cast the full playset, I win! I came up with this list: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/paupmod-gobbo-v2/ In updating the deck from my last attempt (https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/paupmod-gobbo-v1-1) in a prior decade(!), I dropped all the long-game/slow payoffs like [[Goblin Fireslinger]] and evasion like [[Frenzied Goblin]]. I added the best new red 1-drops like [[Voldaren Epicure]] and the rest of the artifact package – and tuned it for this event by adding 4x [[Goblin Mountaineer]] which ultimately did not prove very relevant.

I played round 1 against Owen who was on Burn. I won the die roll, which proved an excellent predictor of success in this subformat. In game 1 I kept a 1-[[Mountain]] hand, got lucky, drew a second Mountain on my second turn as my first draw, then drew [[Goblin Bushwhacker]] on turns three and four for the turn-four win. In game 2 I felt confident throwing [[Galvanic Blast]] at [[Monastery Swiftspear]] right away, knowing there were very few other creatures coming. At the end of game 2, I was holding 2x Goblin Grenade while needing only one to win, but all my goblins had been Burnt to a crisp, and I successfully drew another and won, from which I learned that packing 4x Goblin Grenade – while definitely correct from a flavor perspective – is in fact overkill for competing in this subformat. So during my other 3 matches, I sideboarded out some combination of Goblin Grenade & Goblin Blast-Runner, and sideboarded in some combination of [[Fiery Cannonade]] and [[End the Festivities]]. 2-0.

Round 2 against Chris who defeated me, but at least I won a game. I had guessed that Chris would play Storm, and I was wrong, it was a better-tuned version of Red Deck Wins featuring many [[Wrenn's Resolve]]-style effects. Thus Chris had a card-draw advantage and I was thinking I would need to win quickly or lose, which was also wrong. Our first game went much longer than in my first round, but I eked it out. My sole win against Chris proved my final use of Goblin Grenade. In our second game, I brought in several Fiery Cannonade, thinking to defeat Monastery Swiftspear and Samurai tokens. Chris came out swinging very strong with t1 Voldaren Epicure t2 put [[Inventor's Axe]] on [[Goblin Tomb Raider]] swing for five! Two turns later I was quite dismayed when I cast my sideboarded [[Fiery Cannonade]] and said "I wipe your board," only to learn that [[Goblin Tomb Raider]] is in fact a Goblin PIRATE! 1-2. Round 3 against Jordan who was on Snacker Madness with [[Fiery Temper]] and [[Highway Robbery]]. Game 1 he powered out a [[Sneaky Snacker]] on the second turn so I knew I needed 4x End The Festivities for game2. I kept attacking, got Jordan down to 5, he said "If neither of your cards are Goblin Grenade then I'll get to untap again" but I was holding 2x [[Lightning Bolt]]. 2-0.

Round 4 against Beau who was on Sligh (which is the same as RDW in our subformat, I think?). Beau had a lot of the same Wrenn's Resolve/Synthesizer effects that Chris had beat me with. Game1 felt like a grindy mirror because we both played t1 Voldaren Epicure. The turning point of our match was in game2: Beau played a Goblin and used a [[Kuldotha Rebirth]] to pop [[Experimental Synthesizer]] then flipped another [[Kuldotha Rebirth]] and played it, for seven goblins in one turn, then on my turn I popped my own Synthesizer and flipped an End The Festivities, wiping his field. 2-0.

After playing, we reviewed the results and saw that I the tie-break was in my favor because, while Chris and I were each 3-1, I had lost no other games besides the one in our match, while Chris had lost three other games. So technically I won the tournament, so I got first pick of prizes :) Finally, after the tournament, for future I dropped 2x Goblin Mountaineer for 2x [[Sarpadian Simulacrum]]. Next Pauper Modern tournament is Sun Dec 21, 2025!

The streak is alive! But also dead. Pauper Modern Tourney Report 3-0 with Mono Black Sac

I apologize to those who were hoping for a new deck. I was working on two new ones, but they were both not quite ready. As far as the list, it’s pretty similar to last time. The only changes are the playset of disputes and 1 nested shambler added to provide more sac fodder for said disputes. I moved the 3 unearth and 2 of the 3 rites of consumption to the sideboard. Unearth and consumption both seem to be for games that go long, which doesn’t seem to be a thing really in most pauper modern games. Consumption has the plus side of sometimes giving you a faster kill, but you really don’t want to draw more than one in a typical game. Consumption is still useful if you need a way to deal indirect damage, but that’s more of a case-by-case basis. Case-by-case sounds like sideboard material to me. The unearths were cool, but I just found myself wanting more gas. Just sacrificing what was being removed for two cards was typically better than bringing it back for the same mana. Round 1 vs Mono Red Burn 2-1

Round 1, I was up against burn. We were both aggressive decks with burn, having the ability to go face with spells, while I end up with bigger creatures and lots of chump blockers. It's tempting to sit back and amass a board, but with bolts, skewers, rift bolts, and spikes, my turns are numbered, and I had to try and swing out as much as possible. Thankfully, I have lots of creatures that can die and leave behind a token as another blocker or that can swing back the next turn. Multiple turns, I was only 1 spell from death, but I had to just accept it, or be left without the resource to win anyway. Luck was on my side, but it could have easily gone the other way. Sideboarding was just a couple of tragic slips in. One of these days, I’m going to have to try the lifestaff, but it just seems so slow.

Round 2 vs Defender Combo 2-1

Round 2, my opponent mulliganned down to 5 cards. I got off to a pretty fast start and managed an aggressive win, but not before having the fear of god put into me by an overgrown battlements into an axebane guardian. Game 1, I saw 1 combo piece and 1 more turn would have been infinite if my opponent had the other in hand. This made me feel a need to go faster. I cut down on my rite of consumption and a shambling ghast to bring in 2 tragic slips in an attempt to slow down the by targeting the big mana guys. I succeeded in slowing my opponent down, but it turns out they were not all that fast anyway, relying on tutors to find Freed from the Real in a more consistent creature based shell. My “more aggressive” stance was stalled out by a flood of blockers and a spore frog. Even though the life totals looked close in game two. It really wasn’t that close. This did, however, give me a clearer idea of what I wanted game three. I brought back all 3 rites of consumption, dropping the marauders and one more ghast. Game 3 was a nailbiter and ended 1 turn before the infinite combo went off with two rites to the face for 13 direct damage. Aside from the finisher, turn 3 included a crucial slip on an axebane guardian that would have likely allowed my opponent to dump his hand and stop me from getting in the damage I needed to make the rites lethal. Round 3 vs Mono-white Enchantments 2-0

Last round was vs mono white enchantments. Seems like a tough matchup for my opponent with my ability to block and sacrifice 1/1 tokens, while having comparatively large creatures and the ability to sacrifice any pacified creatures for value. Game 1, marauders kept the board clean as I rode a big ol’ mortician beetle to victory. Game 2, I got off to a good start again. Turns out, faithful companion is pretty good against marauders, but a beetle and a carrion feeder were able to keep up the pressure and force my opponent to block with their enchantment creatures, preventing them from swinging back for lethal with a protection from black slumbering keepguard. By request- Thoughts on the format: I came into pauper modern with the knowledge that I didn’t really know what I would be playing against or how games would play. This pushed me towards noninteractive decks (infect, bogles), with mono black sacrifice being my most interactive. In general, I feel like this is something I have been really rewarded for. The format has some powerful, aggressive decks that put a clock on your gameplan. Either you have a similar/faster clock, or you have to be able to slow your opponent down AND play to the board at the same time. The best cards in pauper modern seem to be cards that do one thing really well, which makes it an exciting place for people looking for linear game plans. Maybe that’s ramping into big dinos, suiting up a bogle, or killing everything your opponent plays, but since most cards do one thing well, adding variety or answers to your deck also comes at a real cost. If you are playing a synergy deck, you need at least two cards. Common cards that do cool (nonaggressive) things don’t tend to be cheap 1-costs, so you’re looking at spending 3-4 mana before you can start to manifest your gameplan. If, on top of that, I want to interact with my opponent, I have to run either cards that aren’t really part of my plan, or I can run a card that synergizes with my deck but doesn’t do the job as well, or costs more. Now my deck is less consistent or more clunky, making me vulnerable to the fast decks, which don’t have to worry about interaction beyond player removal. This is especially true of deck archetypes that are built around value or 2-for-1 plays that are just much slower to set up with all commons. I love the format, and I'm totally happy working under the restraints of a speedy clock, but it certainly is a litmus test for ideas that I think might be viable in the format.

Jeff Owen Chris Jesse and I played some MtG for the high stakes of a playmat.

Feeling dejected from cranial plating failing me yet again at our mid-week scrimmage, I opted for the serpents deck. Featuring Cryptic Serpent and Tolarian Terror, the serpents, birds, and counters were too much for my opponents. 

Enjoyed the bye round one and cased the meta. Jeff carried Jesse’s white heroic deck to victory against its creator. Chris couldn’t combo against Owen’s selesnya auras.

I got paired against Owen and lost the first game to a huge flying enchanted angel or something. I eaked out the second game after vapor snagging the same voltron-ed up 4/4 flyer. Game 3 I took after echoing truth two enchanted creatures and then shutting down all of his plays with counters. 

Game two I faced off against Jeff’s heroes and used the same vape-snagging and echoing truth to zap his precious heroes back to hand. Slapped some serpents on the table and slithered to victory. 

Game 3 I faced off against Chris’s goblin combo. I figured out that the most important card is the goblin that makes everything cheaper and directed all my energies to preventing them from casting it. Bounced it, kept counters for it, prevented Chris from getting positive mana from their ramp spells. Grabbed a few by bouncing the gobbos against the snakes. That deck NEEDS some chatterstorm. 

On this fortuitous Wednesday evening, A small group of four convened. Everyone played everyone and we had a good mix of decks.

I was playing Walls, a deck I have been tweaking for nearly a year, but have yet to play. For the uninitiated, the deck uses Freed from the Real and a suite of mana dorks with defender (the titular walls) to produce infinite mana, and then do infinite damage with Valakut Invoker. My full list, adapted from Regular Pauper, here: https://moxfield.com/decks/1ZpgF_M5FEuIzCJGkoDU5Q 

Round 1: Chris - Storm (???)

Game 1: Chris started with a Burning Prophet. I was not sure what deck Chris was on. Is this hot dogs? Is this storm? Chris had an impressive turn with many spells, but did not storm off. The next turn, I did the wall thing and closed out the game.

Game 2: I still wasn’t sure how Chris wins, so I made no changes. Unfortunately, Chris popped off, the warrens emptied and I got schooled by goblins with a storm count of 6. Win condition ascertained, in came the Spore Frogs.

Game 3: I landed a spore frog pretty early on. I ramped, I transmuted for Freed, and then executed the combo to close out the game.

Round 2: Jarred - Mono B artifacts, featuring the new Black Mage cards

Game 1: Jarred started a bit slow. Cornered by Black Mages forced me to sac s Saruli Caretaker. But I ramped and quickly combo’d off.

Game 2: I brought in Gorilla Shaman for this game, which I was happy to see in my opening hand. Jarred landed an early Ginger Brute and Cranial Plate for some unblockable damage. He followed that up with a Refurbished Familiar, forcing me down a card. I was down to 6 life. Over the course of a couple turns, I managed to dig with Lead the Stampede, gain life with Pulse of Murasa, pop the Plating with Gorilla, recur the Pulse with Menmonic Wall to gain more life, and land a Generous Ent to stabilize. I soon after found the combo to end the game.

Round 3: Jesse - Petitioners Mill, featuring frogs

Game 1: I established a couple early walls to ramp as Jesse assembled the four advisors to mill. He got one or two mills off before I transmuted for Freed, made much mana, transmuted again for Invoker, and started blasting for game-ending damage.

Game 2: This game was the Magical Christmas Land™ situation for the deck– with Jesse tapped out on turn 3, I hard-drew into Freed and combo’d with Jesse tapped out. I already had an Axebane Guardian and one other defender, so that’s infinite mana. Drift of Phantasms got me to Invoker. After the game, Jesse revealed a counter spell in his hand and lamented tapping out. Neither of us realized the deck could go off so quickly.

For funsies, we played a game 3 - I had a slow start and kept a greedy hand with no access to blue mana. Jesse curved out, I was punished for my greed, and before I knew it my deck was gone.

In conclusion, the deck was very fun to play and fairly forgiving. Among combo decks, it was fast, resilient, and deadly. I wonder how I would have fared against the more aggressive decks in our format. Guess we’ll play next time and see!

Pauper Modern 6-15 Tourney Report by Ian

The deck- GW bogles - https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7179221#paper

You know it. You love it. GW bogles has been terrorizing multiple formats since 2011. It was also the first competitive deck I ever put together for Modern. My experience with the Pauper Modern format has primarily centered on creature combat. This meant that I wanted to have the best creature on the battlefield, and while there are some fast decks, I figured I could get a bogle online fast enough to dominate the field. To feel extra safe, I main-boarded two lifelink effect enchantments. With 2 heliod’s pilgrim and 2 malevolent rumble, I figured I should be able to find them in longer games if I wanted them. I also wanted to try nyxborn hydra as a tutor target as well as the rumble’s which can grab both my creatures and enchantments.

Round 1: 2-0 vs UG Infect

Round one I was up against my own deck! I won the coin flip to go first which ended up being important in game 1, so that my bogle grew enough to jump in front of the infect creatures. In Game 2, my opponent kept card selection but was unable to find an infect in creature to slap their pump spells onto. (Editors note: Ian lost Game 2 to Infect, but did win Game 3, taking the Match)

Round 2: 2-0 vs Mono Black Sacrifice

Mono black sacrifice can grow creatures pretty quickly and doesn’t run out of things to do, but in the end my bogle was bigger and swung in with lifelink for a life total swing of 54 points. The cartouche of solidarity tokens, khalni garden tokens, and malevolent rumble tokens were all great as sacrifice insulation and chump blockers. In typical bogles fashion, I was top decking pretty soon in each game.

Round 3: Mono Blue Delver with Snakes

Mono Blue Delver was a fun deck to play against. Thankfully for me, bogles and enchantments are cheap and easy to double spell, making it harder to use counters effectively. Despite this, my opponent was able to ride a turn one delver to victory with a couple of well-placed counters keeping my bogles just a touch too small to save me.

Takeaways if you want to bogle-

- You don’t really need the umbras. I had them left over from days of yore, but there are not really that many effects to that would destroy your creature in pauper modern. I would say that if you cut them, I would start with cutting the hyena umbra’s. The spider umbra ended up being more relevant than the redundant first strike. Maybe you can keep to tutor or rumble into just in case someone is building their own pauper wrath of god with rats and deathtouch.

April 20th, 2025 - Ian takes 1st Place

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7072505#paper

Mono black sacrifice 4-0’s Coming into this tournament, I figured people might be packing more removal, and what better way to blank removal spells than 8 main deck corrupted convictions/village rites! I also noticed in February that a lot of the removal running around was damage-based, so removing my important creatures wouldn't be an option if I could get those creatures out of burn range. I saw this list pop up in some deck dumps a month and a half ago and thought it fit the bill for a fun and dynamic deck that could really turn on the gas with the right draw. I wanted to be able to kill turn 1 mana dorks, so I swapped out the pauper list snuff outs for some tragic slips which were fairly easy to turn on with 14 main deck sack outlets and just chump blocking/attacking. I also wanted to have a bit of reach, so I added some spicy rites of consumption for a shrapnel blast-esque effect to close out games.

Round 1: I was up against Mike playing Boros Birds Bounce Value. I was able to take game one with a pretty fast start, including both a carrion feeder and a mortician beetle. I was swinging with two 5/5’s around turn 4 and was able to finish it off with a rite of consumption. Mike pushed back in game two, managing to weave in some timely removal spells to snipe my big beater creatures before they could grow out of range. He burned me with a bolt+blast combo to take game 2. The last game I was able to get a bunch of sac fodder out first in front of my beetles, letting them grow immediately and then beating down with some big beetle butts.

Round 2: Once again, my round two opponent was Rob, the Gruulisaurus pilot, and it turns out that beetles are just bigger than dinosaurs. The combination of chump blockers to sacrifice and forever-growing threats turned out to be a naturally good matchup, and I took this round in 2 games with some help from my opponent flooding.

Round 3: Round three was a blast. Up against some bushwacking shenanigans from Chris my chump blockers proved to be vital once again. However, chumping meant I wasn’t sac-ing my sac fodder, which in turn meant that my beetles never got very big booties and were bolted fairly reliably. The lifegain from the rite of consumption turned out to be perfectly enough for me to survive the deciding game of the match, and I was able to take the round 2-1.

Round 4: I was up against U/B Fairies. The real MVP for this match was the insect token from Infestation Sage. The 1/1 flying blocker paired with my deck cooperating with a timely tragic slip made it hard to get the ninjas on board and rollin’. I had to be careful about metering out my sacrificing to play around bounce spells and not village rites into a spellstutter sprite, but the theme of the day seems to be that chump blockers are good!

Takeaways if you want to play Mono Black Sac: -Knowing your matchup can be really helpful in deciding what to do on turn 1. Ideally, you want to get a threat on board to start attacking turn 2 (provided you will be able to sacrifice things to pump), but if you think your opponent might be packing 1 mana removal, it's usually better to get some sacrifice fodder on board first.

-Hitting threats is important. I would probably swap out an unearth for the last gixian infiltrator. You can grow these threats incredibly fast, but you have to draw them before you use all of your village rites to draw cards, or you are left with sad, small beetles.

-I loved the rites of consumption and they certainly pulled their weight. I had 3 in my main deck, but I think I would probably knock it down to 2. You only really are happy to see them later anyway and drawing multiples felt pretty bad on most boards. To make 2 of them good, you need 2 big creatures, which probably means you have a good board state anyway.

From out of the past! A year ago, I debuted a culmination of my passion for Magic (<-decklist link). After several 2nd place finishes in 2023, I wanted to place 1st, and I wanted to do it quickly, without going into time or scoring draws. I spent Fall and Winter of 2023 practicing Mono Red Kuldotha against a bot and learning the nuances of Burn.

Of note, I read The Philosphy of Fire several times. Okay, easy enough, build a deck of Lightning Bolts and Shock-equivalents and make sure that each spell I cast deals 2 damage minimum to my opponent before it hits the graveyard. Inspired by lists I saw in Pauper, I decided to run a Mono Red decklist with 17 Mountains and only spells that could be cast for 1 or 0 mana (No mana curve!). No more Thermo-Alchemists nor Kessig Flamebreathers; yes to the Kuldotha Rebirth and Goblin Bushwhacker. The results speak for themselves; of the 10 games I played, I only lost 2!

Tech notes: Mirran Banesplitter is a Bonesplitter with Flash. An instant speed pump spell that sticks around and turns on Metalcraft... it was too good not to try out, and it performed well.

Mutagenic Growth... how I love thee. It lets you attack in for game-winning damage even when you're short on mana. It really shines in its ability to take advantage of the sense of safety opponents have when you're tapped out. Players aren't usually going to block a 1-power Swiftspear if you have no mana up, but a Mutagenic Growth on a Swiftspear becomes a Lightning Bolt. I have won games specifically because my opponents declared no blockers, thinking they could live another turn to stabilize.

Match 1 was against Ben piloting Jeskai Wildfire; I'd piloted this deck before in the past so I was familiar with the general strategy. I was prepared to see some Ephemerate+Mulldrifter tech, but I was able to deal 20+ damage by Turn 3, two games in a row. Too quick for groan or sigh!

Match 2 had me up against Jeff piloting a classic Hot Dogs list, featuring Kiln Fiend and Festival Crasher next to powerful pump spells. This combat-focused strategy is a shaping force of the PaupMod meta, in my opinion, able to easily secure consistent Turn 3 kills through Kiln Fiend's singular ability. Luckily, I always had plenty of removal, and I was able to take 2 games in a row again.

Match 3 had me against Jesse with (if i remember correctly) a 5-Color Infect list, featuring Blighted Agent and various pump spells. I saw my first game loss here; I did not expect an Unearth followed by a Reckless Charge, and was foolishly bereft of blockers and removal. Lesson learned. I went into Game 3 with all my removal boarded in and was able to secure the match. I was thoroughly impressed with Jesse's list, being a multicolor deck that could win FAST.

Match 4 pitted me against Isaac's Mono U Ninja Faeries. I've always felt like Red decks are at a disadvantage against Blue Control decks, but Ninja Faeries perhaps lean more into the realm of Aggro. The deck relies on evasion and combat damage to win, not too dissimilar to my own strategy. Perhaps most importantly, the deck relies on its creatures for its draw engine. Ninjas can't ninjutsu if you bolt or sweep away the attackers, and Of One Mind becomes much harder to cast if you can't keep your creatures alive. Electrickery and End the Festivites were must-haves. I lost one game due to flooding on lands, but was ultimately able to throw down more threats and creature removal than Isaac could handle. Match 4 Victory for the Championship!

So, the Red Deck certainly does Win. I was initially skeptical of a deck full of 1-drops, but... it works. A low, basically non-existent curve means you always have something to cast. I was excited by almost every card I drew.

This was a really fun deck to play, and hopefully it was fun to play against. Many thanks to all who participated!

Much love,

Chris

Simic Infect Steals a 4-0!

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6942804#paper

by Ian

Coming into the tournament, I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I was familiar with the modern card pool, but I had never played pauper. In situations where I feel like I don’t know what the metagame might be, I tend towards linear decks that aren’t planning on interacting. I also checked out the winning deck last time and saw that it had no main deck removal. Thus, I decided to play Simic Infect specifically to play blighted agent, and I loaded up on a few extra ways to make my other creatures unlockable to sneak past blockers(3xSlip Through Space, 1xDistortion strike, 2xEscape Tunnel). The list was pretty similar to pauper lists minus the unset Embiggen’s. I also added Serum Visions because I want to be able to find evasion or replacement creatures, and I didn’t have Preordains. I was pretty surprised with how smooth it ended up running. I’m sure it was some good variance, but I also liked being able to cycle Slip Through Spaces and sift for the last pump spell with Serum Visions. I will probably revisit this to try a few tweaks.

Round 1:

Round 1 I was up against Jordan on B/W enchantments. We were two ships passing in the night. Him swinging with his 8/8 Hopeful Eidelon and me trying to find an opening for a good swing. Game 1 I was a turn from dying, but I was able to swing in for 10 infect in one go after he swung in to put me on a one turn clock. I boarded in some Nature’s Claims, taking out my Vines Of Vastwood. Game 2 he took out my first infect creature but had a slower start. I was able to swing in for another one shot kill after he attacked with both of his creatures. I had back-up evasion in the form of an Escape Tunnel that would have sneaked in either way though.

Round 2:

Sitting across from the last tournament report writer I thought I had a good matchup, but ended up losing the first game to a You Meet at a Tavern-Start a Brawl for exact lethal which was sick. Unfortunately, in retrospect, I misplayed by not pumping my attacker to shrink his Writhing Chrysalis two more -1/-1 counters the turn before. They were protective Snakeskin Veils, but I did not need them for lethal the next turn was fairly confident that Rob was not playing main deck removal. Round two I managed to save my elf from a Fiery Cannonade with a MutagenicGrowth and swing in for a turn 4 lethal. The last game I just kept playing infect creatures and seeing them die to removal. The last one, I managed to save with a Mutagenic Growth and swing in for lethal with the help of a Distortion Strike.

Round 3:

Up against Jesse piloting RB madness. Keeping a creature on the board is harder against 12 main deck burn spells, and I lost the first game only getting Jesse to a measly 3 poison. I boarded in some Dispels as extra protection and Tormod’s Crypts. Game 2, Jesse got stuck on lands. I managed to keep a Blighted Agent on the board and chipped in over the course of a couple of turns, protecting it from two removal spells with Dispel and Snakeskin veil. Game 3 I was able to stick an Agent again and chip in over two turns once again.

Round 4:

Up against a sweet blink value deck piloted by Noah, I kept a one lander game one. I had turn 3 lethal if I could draw a land in the first 2 draws. I did not. I conceded on turn five with only 1 land still. Sideboarding brought in some Dispels to maybe stop a key flicker, taking out Vines of Vastwood. The plan was simple. Don’t let the game go past turn 4 or lose. The next two games I got lucky to dodge removal and swung in for lethal on turns 3 and 4. Shoutout to Escape Tunnel for sneaking in the last hit past an evoke/Ephermated Mulldrifter.

Takeaways if you wanna play UG infect:

-Escape Tunnel was great, finished off two games and worked as an Evolving Wilds the rest of the time. Seems pretty good. I’m likely to drop a Landscape and go up on Tunnels.

-Vines of Vastwood is just worse than snakeskin veil. This was just a deckbuilding error. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to have the two green mana up to use the kicker mode. Tap lands are rough when you are trying to be fast, so I am running mostly basics and often just don’t have two green mana, period. Would drop Vines and pick up one more Veil and Apostle’s blessing.

Jesse’s Skybox in SF, Sunday 12/29/24

My tournament started about a week prior when Faithless Looting came off the Modern ban list. Hot diggity dawg they sprung my old friend from #banlife! So I broke out my playset and laid it across a corner of my desk and let my kitten The Professor bask in the glorious recursive glow. (Luckily she didn’t chew on them like my Arbor Elves…)

Anyway, they sat there, and after a week of not conjuring 56 cards to accompany the lootings, I woke up tournament morning to update my Gruulisaurus sideboard with the assumption others would’ve done the work I never got around to. And yes. Yes others did. Rakdos Burn with Faithless Lootings and Sneaky Snackers made up 30% of the Pauper Modern meta this weekend.

Anticipating this fate, I brought my Tormod’s Crypt count to 2 and added a Relic of Progenitus. I plan to possibly add another Relic going forward considering Serpents, Dan’s Dredge, Goblin combo, and more.

The plan is: Against aggro, combo, and tempo I shave off Altisaurs, You Meet in a Taverns, and/or Malevolent Rumbles. Against control -- hahaha funny!

Round 1

I was up against Isaac who locked eyes with me after pairings and said, “Well this isn’t a good start to my tournament.” Game on.

Game 1 Isaac was dropping islands but I landed Jewel Thief on turn 2 and did my best Delver impersonation hitting for 3 each turn while building out my mana. Isaac went to shuffle after an Altisaur got through counter magic.

Game 2 was a nail-biter that started with my elf getting Vapor Snagged into a Spellstutter Sprite the following turn. Isaac was chipping away at my life total until I had enough 3/3s to catch up. We had a little tempo dance with each of us under 10 life, but Faeries win the tempo dance. Phantom Interference shined this match as both a counter and additional beatdown. I also blundered into a Mana Leak keeping only 2 mana open for the Interference. Games of the mind!

Game 3 Isaac did about as well as a two-island game can go. I fought through 3 Counterspells, a Mana Leak, a Snapback, and an Echoing Truth on my double Arbor Elf aggro. I had just Started a Brawl representing lethal. The hits keep coming and they don’t stop coming. But the stomps eventually came down. Good way to start a tournament. GGs Isaac!

Round 2

At some point during round 1 I heard “Goblin Grenade for 5” spoken aloud and cheered. So when I was paired with Brian round 2 I anticipated goblin aggro, and the pair of Epicures he presented during game 1 seemed to confirm this. I sent my 3/3s into the red zone, cast an Altisaur, and Brian went to shuffle. Can you guess what happened game 2? Can you even imagine?

I added Healer of the Glades, Weather the Storm, and Fiery Cannonades. Not all bad. BUT as we rounded the corner of turn 5, after a Goblin Matron sought out a Putrid Goblin I started asking, “Am I about to die? Are you about to Splinter Twin me?” I had been juked. And I lost game 2. I lost to a flurry of infinite red mana, and cards, and pings for 1. And now I didn’t know what to expect game 3. Luckily, I was on the play and Fiery Cannonades could do work against Goblin tokens and Goblin combos both.

I tried not to overthink it, after all you "never get involved in a land war in Asia.” So anticipating the poison would require an antidote I had begun administering years ago, I also put both Tormod’s Crypts in. I am no one to be trifled with.

Game 3 I landed a Crypt on turn 2 imagining a Faithless Looting into Unearth situation. The spaghetti monsters and 3/3s started wailing. I managed to pinch Brian on resources with the Crypt and held up a Cannonade in the final turns. GGs to you Brian! Truly you have a dizzying intellect.

This goblin juke deck design here, Brian’s Combo Smokescreen is super fun and reminds me of a Sphinx’s Revelation standard deck a friend of mine at Eudemonia (RIP) played to some PTQ wins. Take me back to 2015. The deck was configured as a control deck with no win conditions for the first game but could pivot with a 15-creature sideboard for a juke games 2 and 3. I remember the glee on his face every game 2 as he just shuffled his 15-creature board in while his opponents removed all the removal from their decks. Games of the mind!

Round 3

The gracious host with the most Jesse was my 3rd round opponent on Rakdos Burn. Fortunately my deck absolutely purred for 2 games both ended by going wide with a You Meet in the Tavern for 20 damage and then 16. I think Gruulisaurus is particularly well positioned against a slow burn deck. I have potent sideboard options in Healer of the Glades and Weather the Storms, lifegain isn’t effective against my board presence, and the keyword jamboree of my creatures really shines here, especially the hidden reach on my Chrysalises. Everyone asks. why do the noodles have Reach? No one asks, how are the noodles? GGs Jesse!

Round 4

At this point of the tournament I was the only 3-0 deck, but a round 4 was announced. I was paired with Chris on Elves, and honestly the prospect of facing a brand new deck piloted a dear friend and master brewer kept me squarely in the moment. Does the Gruulisaurus have any game against Elves? My mainboard has zero interaction so I didn’t have high hopes for game 1. I was right to be concerned and Chris fireballed me into the ground with a gigantic bestowed Nyxborn Hydra. Touché, that used to be MY trick!

I noted several key elves with 1 toughness including Priest of Titania and Quirion Ranger, so I broke out the entire artillery: Cast into the Fires and Fiery Cannonades. Game 2 I landed a Cannonade and swept up. Game 3 I mulliganed once and didn’t see any interaction. Maybe I should’ve mulliganed more aggressively, but I kept a playable hand and drew into Cannonade on turn 5. Unfortunately the turn prior Chris had already cashed in on her veritable slew of pointy eared mana makers, so I was staring down a lethal 14/15 amidst the 1- and 2-butts. Cannonade couldn’t do it alone.

Elf ball is alive in Pauper Modern! And the Gruulisaurus has been felled by her. Dwynen’s Elite shined as a roleplayer to pad numbers, Winding Way drew so many cards, and Nyxborn Hydra was even more explosive in this deck than mine. Green fireball is stronk. GGs Chris!

In Gruulclusion

Unlyrically, my record of 3-1 was somehow better than Chris’ 3-1 due to some marginal advantage wrought by our previous opponents’ records or something or some such. Gruulisaurus walks away bruised and crowned. Rawr.

A great misfortune has befallen our normal venue. But thankfully, Jesse and Chris stepped up to host!

I was pleasantly surprised by my deck! I brought a mono-white enchantments list using a handful of new cards from MH3 and Duskmourn. The deck list (including some thoughts and theorycrafting in the primer) is on Moxfield. Feedback always welcome.

Round 1 - Chris - Goblin Storm 

I won the first game with a solid start, building up a big Eidolon. Chris Resolved some Wrenn and Impulsed Recklessly, but did not find what they needed. Meanwhile, I made a big dude and get those beats in. Felt good.

Second game I started a bit slow, and then got stormed. Storm count of 6 = 12 goblins. First Day of Class means they were 2/2s with haste. That’s a lot of damage!

Third game managed to gain enough life to stay out of danger, got in with early beats, and the attempt to storm fizzled. In all a great match, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Round 2 - Daniel - Breathless Knight

Game one had a pretty good start for both of us. Daniel played an early Breathless Knight from the grave. Left unchecked, this card is a menace, especially with the inclusion of Sneaky Snackers. I opened with a Dog Umbra to answer it, and managed to keep the pressure on from there.

Game two was superbly grind-y– I opened mostly removal with few creatures. Daniel started with a couple creatures, which I spent my Dog Umbras and Journey to Nowhere on. I managed to build up a sizable Transcendent Envoy, and swing in for a good amount of damage. Then, Daniel turbo’d out three snackers and used a Stinkweed Imp to repeatedly block my Envoy while getting in chip damage with snackers. But realizing they were in danger of milling their deck by dredging Stinkweed, they made a risky play with Crypt Rats to wipe most of both boards (and many dog umbras!). It was anyone’s game. Unfortunately, Daniel did not find enough follow up or removal, and I closed things out. 

Round 3 - Jesse - Frog Mill

Both games were a race- Jesse ignored damage until it would be fatal to get the requisite four advisors online. Thankfully both games I was able to establish an early threat and force unfavorable blocks. I came out victorious, ending both games with just a few cards left in my library. We later played a game for fun in which I got milled for game. Frog mill is a contender to keep your eye on. It feels like one of the many decks in the format that is one card away from being totally busted, and where you are just one well-timed Fog away from losing your library.

Round 4 (the finals!) - Jared - 8-plate

In the finals, I played the latest iteration of Jared’s Rakdos 8-plate. Jared has another name for the deck that I will not include here. This is a potent artifact deck that can quickly setup lethal swings, but also has great advantage in the grind game. We discussed card choices last time we played, it was cool to see the updated and refined list in action.

Game one - I played a turn one Sleepy Boy, which got bolted. But then I was able to build a big body and keep swinging my way to victory, forcing Jared to block with Vault Skirge, germs, etc. First strike felt especially busted against the plates.

Game two - Sleepy Boy in the opener stuck, and helped filter my draws to find what I needed and avoid flooding. The game stalled out a bit with both of us trading back and forth with lifelink. Vault Skirge is a hell of a card, and Jared managed to find two of em. I was eventually able to land an Armor and All that Glitters to make two independent big threats. Jared fought back with a cast down, but at that point he was on the backpedal and was forced to block lethal a couple turns until he was out of blockers.

In all, I had a great time. Thanks again to Jesse and Chris for hosting, Rob for pizza, and for the group for making time in the middle of the week to meet and play. It is truly a joy to test one’s mettle against such a fierce group of competitors in a wide-open and quickly evolving format!