The problem with this is that now you need to worry about another one-drop in mono red outside of Monastery Swiftspear. While you can hold removal for one, chances are that you will miss it for the second. Still, so far, since decks are still relying on the good old “Eight Hydroblast” strategy in the sideboard, the impact of mono red in Pauper has been diminished. But from two weeks until now, we’ve seen a big resurgence in the archetype despite efforts to keep it in check. For a while, Boros has been one of the most popular decks in the Format; however, it’s not performing exceptionally well.
This Speed increases once per turn whenever your opponent loses life, up to a cap of 4. While this isn’t as impactful as Monarch or Initiative, it does have specific payoffs. I imagine that players must and may disagree with having a UW Familiars as the best deck currently, but allow me to further explain it. In the same way that I spoke about Mono Red with the number of draws, Affinity has 8 copies of draw effects.
Goblin Tomb Raider and Goblin Blast-Runner are two other important pieces to establish pressure from the first turns. Mono Blue Terror is a deck that thrives on careful sequencing and smart decision-making. With practice, it becomes one of the most rewarding decks in Pauper, letting you outvalue your opponents and apply relentless pressure while keeping interaction ready.
Playing Pauper Tron, the large part of your deck will need to be colorless, to make use of all that free mana. You can do pretty much whatever you like with the rest of it, meaning this is a Pauper archetype with some of the most varied decklists of the lot – at least when it comes to mana colors. The banning of Bonder’s Ornament in early 2022 really hurt the deck, but there are still some devotees. Here we’ll examine the best decks in MTG Pauper, but we also have handy guides to help you with other formats. Check out our guide to the best MTG Arena decks if you’re sweet on the Standard format.
Pioneer: Dimir Bounce (Yorion) – Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide
As you might have guessed, I appreciate any competitive brew that can secure wins against the current meta. One of my challenges is getting bored of repeatedly playing the same deck. Consequently, I constantly seek out new strategies rather than attempting to reinvent the wheel by testing the 100th iteration of the same deck.
Azorius Affinity
However, remember that sometimes it only takes a single card to revive an older, forgotten strategy. For example, [card]Sadistic Glee[/card] made its way back into the Pauper metagame, bringing a fresh, new dominant deck into the spotlight. As new sets and mechanics are released, don’t forget that older cards can also regain popularity. When you’re diving into off-meta decks in Pauper, the first thing you’ll want to do is understand the current metagame. This helps you figure out how to build a deck that can catch people off guard. Look for synergies or cards that aren’t getting enough attention—those are often where the magic happens in off-meta decks.
[card]Cryptic Serpent[/card] follows a similar pattern, benefiting from a stocked graveyard to become a low-cost, high-power threat that can close out games quickly. Faeries have had a mix of good and bad results, but they’ve been getting consistent results since the banning of Monastery Swiftspear. This is a side effect of the deck losing popularity and the need to run some key cards like Lava Dart, which was very effective against decks that run 1/1’s as their main game plan, and Spellstutter Sprite, which hated it especially. Snuff Out and Cast Down are good cards to have to remove threats, and for difficult ones like Guardian of the Guildpact or Tolarian Terror, you can always rely on Chainer’s Edict.
Commander Deck Guide: K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
They may not play Pauper every day, so it’s always a good idea to ask before traveling. These decks have been crushing mtg card it in recent tournaments and are definitely some of the top picks in the current Pauper metagame. If you want more detailed info on the Pauper 2025 meta, I’ve got an article that dives deep into it. By integrating cards like [card]Molten Gatekeeper[/card], it adds a second win condition while also enabling an explosive way to bring back [card]Ulamog’s Crusher[/card].
While two-card combos have been unreliable in Pauper before, this one has players excited. Today, I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 cards that could see play in the format. But before we dive in, let’s examine the set’s mechanics and their potential impact on Pauper. This deck came about with the arrival of Pegasus Guardian // Rescue the Foal and many creatures that were released recently that when they come into play draw cards. There’s nothing better than “blinking” these creatures with Pegasus and Ephemerate.
It will be very disappointing to see Glitters go, but if no one can come up with a better solution, I’m on board with it going away. Right now, I understand how frustrating it feels to lose to a deck in just one turn. If you’d like to explore the data I gathered, feel free to download a copy here. That said, when considering in-person (IRL) events, I’d probably stick with Broodscale Combo. Even though Grixis Affinity shows stronger numbers overall, it faces more hate in closed metas, similar to Mono-Red. Since league data alone isn’t sufficient for a complete analysis, let’s now examine Challenge data from the same time period, with a few additional considerations.
However, if you pick up each of the top 8 decks granularly, you will see that each has its fair share of 5-6 slots dedicated to beating the burn deck between the main and sideboard. The ability to cascade from an Annoyed Altisaur into a Boarding Party into another threat is what this deck offers. Right now, it’s not very popular on the meta, given how fast it has become, and it’s worth noting that it lost one of its better ramp cards when Bonder’s Ornament was banned for all the wrong reasons. In my latest post, I described which decks I hated playing the most and pointed out that depending on your playstyle, you will get annoyed rightfully if those became the most popular archetypes of the meta.
GW Auras is a deck based on making a creature with protection and growing it with Auras to try to end the game quickly, but it mulls a lot and is that type of deck that ends up losing to itself. It’s even normal to draw only creatures or auras and fail to develop the board. Beyond this synergy, the deck plays Lembas for added support, and basic removal like Lightning Bolt and Journey to Nowhere. While this deck does lack closing speed, the addition of Monastery Swiftspear certainly helps in that department. While this is already decent value, Synthesizer can also be abused as a card advantage machine if you can keep bouncing it to your hand. Not only does this net you cards when you replay it, but also when Synthesizer leaves the battlefield in the first place.