RIW’s first big tournament in the 2026 Pauper Championship Series is in the books; it was a resounding success with a whopping 63 players! I played my new favorite deck, Jund Wildfire, to a 4-1-1 finish with the ever heartbreaking ninth place on tiebreaks. I managed to get five points for a top 16 finish toward the end of year invitational; an overall success on a personal level.
I had a round one feature match that resulted in my only loss to Mono Blue Terror. Brian Demars and Ben Topping did a great job covering the event which can be found here.
Today I’m going to talk about my card choices for Jund Wildfire and my decklist for the event.
Jund Wildfire is one of the top decks in Pauper and fills the role of playing the most powerful cards in the format, pound-for-pound.
Despite playing so many powerful standalone cards, such as Writhing Chrysalis, Jund has plenty of velocity thanks to the Ichor Wellspring and Fanatical Offering combo.
Writhing Chrysalis is able to stall a battlefield with multiple 0/1 Eldrazi Spawn blockers and up to a ⅘ body which provides time to generate card advantage. Drawing a second Chrysalis provides additional fodder to grow them even larger which is particularly relevant against Tolarian Terror. Remember that sacrificing a Chrysalis to Fanatical Offering or Eviscerator’s Insight gives +1+1 counters to the other Chrysalis; the Eldrazi don’t need to make mana to trigger.
The reach ability on Chrysalis makes it hard to be attacked by flying creatures as they are smaller on average. The devoid ability may look like flavor text, but dodging Hydroblast and Blue Elemental Blast is very important. The Chrysalis damage also cannot be prevented by Prismatic Strands.
Another Modern Horizons haymaker is Refurbished Familiar. Jund has an artifact subtheme for many reasons and it’s not uncommon to cast the Familiar for a black mana. A 2/1 with flying happens to line up well against opposing Delver of Secrets.
Remember that discarding a card for the opponent may help them in the case of Fiery Temper or accelerating instants and sorceries into the graveyard for Tolarian Terror and Cryptic Serpent. Great fodder to return with Blood Fountain in the late game to close.
Jund is known for playing plenty of removal to line up well into creature matchups and this is no different in Pauper.
Krark Clan Shaman may look unassuming, but is the most powerful sweeper in the format. It can be granted deathtouch and lifelink from Toxin Analysis to sweep non-flying creatures with just a single artifact.
Krark requires you to sacrifice multiple artifacts while holding priority, but it can be sacrificed to Eviscerator’s Insight and Fanatical Offering ahead of the damage resolving. The +1+1 counter from a map token can save Krark meaning a single point of damage can be dealt at different times in the game.
The natural predator of Krark is Prismatic Strands so be sure to be on the lookout for a potential blowout. It’s possible to deal more damage on top of Stands resolving if you have extra artifacts to sacrifice.
As I play more Pauper there’s more respect given to Krark in unassuming positions. The opponent needs three flying creatures against Four Land Spy Combo ahead of milling themselves out because you can kill the fodder they plan to use to flash back Dread Return. Krark + Toxin Analysis can also kill multiple Tolarian Terrors and Cryptic Serpents against Mono Blue.
Cleansing Wildfire combined with indestructible bridge lands act as a cantripping Rampant Growth. It can fix your colors and ramp into a third turn Writhing Chrysalis.
Wildfire will target your own bridge 90% of the time, but you can target opposing Tron lands, Basilisk Gate, bounce lands, and storage counter lands from Mercadian Masques. Also, keep track of your opponents basic land count as it may act as a cantripping Stone Rain against Four Land Spy Combo.
If you’re behind and more of the match remains it’s reasonable to fire off a Cleansing Wildfire to see if the opponent has additional basics in their deck for the next game. When I tap out for Cleansing Wildfire I will search for the basic land as I pass the turn to save time as Jund can take a while to win.
When you cast Cleansing Wildfire in post board games keep an eye out for Steel Sabotage to fizzle your spell and return a tap land to hand.
Cast Down is basically Terminate in Pauper. The only legendary creature that sees fringe play is a copy of Spider-Man, Web Slinger in White Weenie. It’s not even played in the White Weenie stock list at the moment. Cast Down mainly kills Writhing Chrysalis and Tolarian Terror. Some versions of Jund Wildfire play a Go for the Throat or Snuff Out as a fifth Terminate effect.
Ichor Wellspring and Lembas are sacrifice fodder with their own upsides. I like three Wellspring and two Lembas because the scry is helpful in fast matchups where I need specific cards and the life gain is good against Rally Red and Madness. When Lembas goes to the graveyard it’s shuffled back into the deck making the quality of your remaining draws slightly stronger on average.
Blood Fountain helps close a game as finding fallen Writhing Chrysalis can be hard to match in a battle of attrition. The Blood token is the ideal sacrifice fodder to Krark Clan Shaman and Fanatical Offering/Eviscerator’s Insight and ramp out Refurbished Familiar.
Nihil Spellbomb is another trinket to sacrifice and gain affinity, but interacts with a few of the combo decks in the format that are otherwise tricky matchups. Dredge and Four Land Spy demand a quick Spellbomb, but beware of Masked Vandal prompting a premature sacrifice.
The two Myr Retriever + Ashnod’s Altar combo can threaten to repeatedly cast Retriever with Golem Foundry in play and create thousands of tokens or a Pactdoll Terror to drain out the opponent; this can be avoided with a Nihil Spellbomb. I have found this style of deck is actually weaker to graveyard hate than Four Land Spy.
Mono Blue Terror can also be slowed down by Nihil Spellbomb, but it’s not lights out as it’s easy to get at least five instants and sorceries in the graveyard quickly. It’s still relevant as it removes some fodder to escape Sleep of the Dead.
Pulse of Murasa is similar to Blood Fountain and Lembas in certain situations. When an opponent plays Dread Return on Lotleth Giant it can be fizzled by adding it to their hand. Gaining six life not only helps against Mono Red, but also helps stabilize against aggressive decks that don’t warrant Weather the Storm.
Sagu Wildling is another way to stabilize without explicitly playing life gain. Think of it like the 22nd land that has the flexibility to be cast as a respectable threat in the late game. This will probably never happen in practice, but you can in theory never deck because the omen can be cast every turn and shuffled back into the deck.
I like playing cards like Sagu Wildling and Blood Fountain because they both enable early consistency and are great topdecks in the late game.
Makeshift Munitions is a game-ending spell that can help stabilize the battlefield against small creature decks. It’s played in stock Jund Wildfire, but it underperformed. I like the ping effect against Elves, White Weenie, and Caw Gates but they play Masked Vandal or Thraben Charm.
Nyxborn Hydra is my preferred bomb as it can slam the door in the Jund Wildfire mirror that can otherwise take a lot of time. Bestowing a creature will demand two premium removal spells and can then be brought back with Blood Fountain and Pulse of Murasa.
A big creature with reach also lines up well in the format because Krark handles the non-flyers. Casting the hydra with bestow means it can be hit by Negate against Azorius Familiars and Spell Pierce against Mono Blue Terror.
Trample is relevant to bestow on a creature because of the deathtouch combo from Toxin Analysis. It not only means a single damage is required before hitting the opponent, but it prevents red opponents from chumpblocking and bolting their own creature to stop lifelink.
Jund Wildfire plays twenty or twenty one lands. I prefer to play the extra land because they can be cycled and there are plenty of ways to filter through the deck.
The eight bridges add red mana because they combo with Cleansing Wildfire. Despite being indestructible they are a liability against Dust to Dust and Steel Sabotage after sideboard. Again, watch out for Masked Vandal against Elves and Four Color Spy; they aren’t joking around with the full four copies in the maindeck.
Vault of Whispers enters the battlefield untapped enabling a quick Refurbished Familiar and can be sacrificed to Krark and Offering/Insight. They aren’t materially more vulnerable than the bridges because most artifact destruction in Pauper will exile as the bridges are key players.
Even if twenty one lands feels high in game one, I will want it post board to account for artifact destruction.
I play seven basic lands for Twisted Landscape, Cleansing Wildfire, and Sagu Wildling. Most decks opt for a fourth Swamp or Bojuka Bog over the second Mountain, but I prefer another red source that enters untapped.
Breath Weapon helps against Faeries, Elves, White Weenie, Rally Red, Black Sac, and other swarm decks. The only dragons in these decks are Masked Vandal out of Elves which has three toughness anyway. It critically hits creatures with flying, making it a much needed answer to Battle Screech out of White Weenie.
Pyroblast is a strong sideboard option in any red deck. I prefer to mix them with Duress to make sure I have a generic card to bring in against non-blue decks that don’t care about creature removal. Pauper is a wide open format and you can face anything.
Duress is oddly best against white decks because it hits your kryptonite, Dust to Dust. It can also help against tall creature decks, like Bogles and Heroic, to take protection spells.
There are times I want to hold onto Duress against Blue Terror to prevent too many instants and sorceries from going to the graveyard early.
Thorn of the Black Rose is a post board control and midrange haymaker that can be returned with Blood Fountain and Pulse of Murasa.
Cast into the Fire can exile indestructible artifact lands and Ashnod’s Altar, or deal with small creatures. A very versatile sideboard card, but I would play a Troublemaker Ouphe over a second copy to deal with enchantments out of Jund, Bogles, and Heroic.
The third Toxin Analysis not only helps Krark Clan Shaman sweep the board more often, but also gains life against red decks. I’m closer to maindecking three Toxin Analysis than not playing the third in the sideboard.
Weather the Storm is for red decks only. Jund Wildfire is a midrange deck, but can generate impressive storm counts thanks to Writhing Chrysalis Eldrazi Spawn tokens. I’m happy with twelve life, but discard spells can prompt the opponent to fire off a burn spell, too.
Go for the Throat is a fifth Cast Down effect. It didn’t impress me in the tournament, but I brought it in against Black Sac, Spy Combo, and Mono Blue Terror.
Overall the deck performed very well. I would make the following small changes:
Maindeck
-1 Makeshift Munitions +1 Nihil Spellbomb
Sideboard
-1 Go for the Throat +1 Troublemaker Ouphe
Pauper is in a healthy state; there are plenty of playable decks rewarding format experience. I look forward to RIW’s next Championship Series event on March 7 to get more points for the December invitational. I’ll likely run back Jund because it was fun and the experience gained last weekend will be helpful in tuning my future list.
Michigan hasn’t had a good circuit to grind points so it’s exciting to have an invitational in my own back yard.
