Welcome back to the second issue of RIW PAUPER CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKLY! This upcoming Saturday is the next large event for the series, which makes this week’s Weds Night tournament a special one; since, it’s the last chance for players to participate in some IRL testing before the marquee event this weekend.
I’m expecting a big turnout for Weds Pauper this week and hoping we can break the record of 36 players. Pam does a special thing and gives everybody in attendance a booster pack every time we set a new high-water mark.
Good-guy Michael Russo agreed to cover the Stream for me this week, so that I can play in the Weds event so I’ll be in the seats shuffling up and hanging out as a player for a change! I’ve got to admit I’ve been looking forward to gaming all weekend long. I actually streamed a League on MTGO with our resident MTGO Streamer, Steve Boggemes, over the weekend with a spicy brew I’ve been working on… 0-4 Drop. Hopefully, things go better for me at the shop this week! LOL
Editor’s NOTE: “Good-guy Russo” forgot that the Major event was this weekend and wants to play for the practice, so it looks like I’ll be on the mic for the Stream this week…
Editors’s NOTE: Good-guy Judge B-Topps agreed to commentate the Pauper Stream on Weds, so I’m back in!!!
And they say a perfect Metagame doesn’t exist… Here we see a pretty level distribution of super-archetypes spread across the field. My analysis of this data is pretty straightforward:
- Expect to play against anything and everything in the Pauper Gauntlet at the shop.
- No matter what you’re preferred style of deck to play, there is a viable option in Pauper.
Speaking of viable options let’s take a look at what was played:
NOTE: RG AGGRO & Terror, which I lumped together, had two distinct sbu-archetypes that I clustered together (RG Ramp / Ponza & Dimir / Mono U Terror).
As a point of reference, I’d also like to share this graph that Pauper Ringer, Gary Smith shared with me yesterday depicting stats from last week’s MTGO Pauper Meta:
Online appears to skew way more heavily toward Red Madness being the most probable deck one would expect to face in the metagame -whereas, in our local paper meta the deck is essentially a blip.
LAST WEEK’S 4-0 DECKLISTS
Congratulations to two fantastic players and community leaders on racking up 2 more Pauper points with an undefeated Weds.
It’s also kind of cool to note that these two are both way up on the Leaderboard this season and both playing their now signature decks! Pauper really, really rewards picking a deck, working on it, getting to know it, and learning how to play it well against the field and THAT is something these two have mastered in spades!
| Gary Smith — Ruby Storm |
Jon Piazza — Gruul Aggro |
| 4 Goblin Archaeomancer |
4 Boarding Party |
| 2 Spider Manifestation |
3 Eldrazi Repurposer |
| 4 Thornscape Familiar |
4 Jewel Thief |
| 4 Glimpse the Impossible |
2 Nyxborn Hydra |
| 2 Pirate’s Pillage |
1 Sagu Wilding // Roost |
| 3 Reckless Impulse |
4 Writhing Chrysalis |
| 2 Seize the Storm |
3 Annoyed Altisaur |
| 3 Wren’s Resolve |
4 Arbor Elf |
| 4 Big Score |
4 Avenging Hunter |
| 3 Electric Revelation |
2 Bannerhide Krushok |
| 3 First Day of Class |
3 Ram Through |
| 4 Manamorphose |
4 Malevolent Rumble |
| 4 Seething Song |
4 Utopia Sprawl |
| 4 Geothermal Crevice |
3 Wild Growth |
| 1 Gruul Turf |
13 Forest |
| 4 Hickory Woodlot |
2 Mountain |
| 5 Mountain |
|
| 4 Sandstone Needle |
|
| SIDEBOARD |
SIDEBOARD |
| 1 Abandon Attachments |
2 Breath Weapon |
| 1 Firebending Lesson |
3 Cast into the Fire |
| 1 Flaring Pain |
2 Deglammer |
| 1 Gruul Turf |
2 Flaring Pain |
| 1 Origin of Metalbending |
2 Weather the Storm |
| 3 Pyroblast |
1 Horrific Assault |
| 1 Waterbending Lesson |
3 Relic of Progenitors |
| 3 Weather the Storm |
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One of my goals with this new weekly column is to create a space where players can discuss and learn about Pauper. Since I started covering the format on the Stream about a month ago, I’m 100% hooked and believe the format is one of the best iterations of Pauper we’ve had in a long time. I’ve been learning about the format by watching the best players play the best decks at Table 1 on the Stream each week.
I’ll be doing coverage of the RIW Championship Major Event this weekend with B-Topps so unfortunately won’t be able to play, but I am preparing for a Travel Event to Indianapolis to play in the NRG Team Event within a few weeks.
Editor’s NOTE: “Good Guy Russo” offered to cover the Stream the next two Weds, so I’ll be able to test for Indy.
Picking a deck in a wide open format isn’t easy, but it’s pretty sweet to have so many choices. Let’s wrap this one up with a question. What decks are you considering playing at the RIW Pauper Championship Series event this weekend? I’d love to hear what you’re playing in the Facebook Comments.
What is Kyle Boggemes considering playing on Saturday?
“I’m looking to play my original standby, Dimir Terror. I wrote about the deck recently which can be found here. It’s a great deck if you like to cast Brainstorm, interact with the battlefield, and get the game over with quickly. The big Pauper events reward deck familiarity and I’m no stranger to Tolarian Terror.”
Now that we ke know what Kyle is playing… what do you have on deck…?
