Another Pauper Premier Event has come and gone, and left us with a wealth of data. You can find all the decklists, courtesy of Lee Sharpe and the other wonderful people at Wizards, here.

Looking at the numbers, there were 92 participants, and the deck that came out on top was Affinity. The big loser of the day, however, was MBC. This powerhouse, which had dominated the top 8s of the past two Premier Events, did not crack the top ten. However, it was far and away the most played deck, comprising over 15% of the field- a plurality by far.I am going to go about this slightly differently: I want to take a look at the most popular archetypes. I am going to be using a totally arbitrary method- any deck that has at least five representatives (a hair over the 4.6 decks needed for 5% of the field), will be listed below, with an example of the highest placing list:

MBC- 14 decks, 15.22%
11^th Place

Jernhoeg

 

Creatures 4 Chittering Rats 4 Crypt Rats 2 Okiba-Gang Shinobi 4 Phyrexian Rager 4 Twisted Abomination 4 Warren Pilferers 22 cards Other Spells 4 Corrupt 4 Diabolic Edict 3 Innocent Blood 3 Tendrils of Corruption 14 cards

Lands 21 Swamp 3 Terramorphic Expanse 24 cards Sideboard 2 Death Denied 3 Distress 4 Dross Golem 3 Duress 3 Relic of Progenitus 15 cards

Slivers- 8 decks, 8.7%

2^nd Place

Wildcat612

 

Creatures 4 Muscle Sliver 4 Plated Sliver 4 Sidewinder Sliver 4 Sinew Sliver 4 Spinneret Sliver 4 Virulent Sliver 2 Woodland Changeling 26 cards Other Spells 4 Prismatic Strands 4 Temporal Isolation 4 Thrill of the Hunt 12 cards

Lands 11 Forest 11 Plains 22 cards Sideboard 2 Armadillo Cloak 4 Circle of Protection: Red 4 Obsidian Acolyte 2 Quick Sliver 3 Relic of Progenitus 15 cards

Storm, 8 decks, 8.7%

6^th Place

Dolmo1

 

Creatures 0 cards Other Spells 4 Cabal Ritual 4 Chromatic Sphere 2 Chromatic Star 3 Compulsive Research 4 Dark Ritual 1 Empty the Warrens 4 Grapeshot 4 Ideas Unbound 4 Lotus Petal 4 Manamorphose 4 Ponder 4 Rite of Flame 2 Seething Song 2 Shred Memory 46 cards

Lands 4 Ancient Spring 4 Irrigation Ditch 2 Snow-Covered Island 4 Sulfur Vent 14 cards Sideboard 4 Deep Analysis 3 Duress 2 Echoing Truth 1 Empty the Warrens 2 Flaring Pain 3 Pyroblast 15 cards

Blink, 8 decks, 8.7%

9^th Place

TaZi

 

Creatures 3 Aven Riftwatcher 4 Court Homunculus 4 Leonin Squire 3 Mulldrifter 4 Ninja of the Deep Hours 2 Okiba-Gang Shinobi 2 Sanctum Gargoyle 4 Trinket Mage 26 cards Other Spells 1 Æther Spellbomb 3 Agony Warp 2 Executioner's Capsule 4 Momentary Blink 1 Sunbeam Spellbomb 10 cards

Lands 4 Ancient Den 4 Island 4 Plains 2 Seat of the Synod 3 Swamp 4 Terramorphic Expanse 2 Vault of Whispers 23 cards Sideboard 1 Dispeller's Capsule 2 Echoing Decay 3 Exclude 1 Executioner's Capsule 3 Hydroblast 1 Mulldrifter 1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi 3 Wail of the Nim 15 cards

Affinity, 6 decks, 6.52%

1^st Place

SARCASTO

 

Creatures 4 Disciple of the Vault 4 Frogmite 2 Krark-Clan Shaman 4 Myr Enforcer 4 Somber Hoverguard 18 cards Other Spells 4 Chromatic Sphere 4 Chromatic Star 4 Lotus Petal 3 Pyrite Spellbomb 4 Rush of Knowledge 3 Springleaf Drum 4 Thoughtcast 26 cards

Lands 4 Darksteel Citadel 4 Great Furnace 4 Seat of the Synod 4 Vault of Whispers 16 cards Sideboard 2 Circle of Protection: Black 2 Circle of Protection: Red 4 Gorilla Shaman 4 Hydroblast 3 Pyroblast 15 cards

Teachings, 5 decks, 5.43%

29^th Place

Belette

 

Creatures 1 Errant Ephemeron 1 Fathom Seer 4 Spire Golem 6 cards Other Spells 1 Agony Warp 2 Brainstorm 1 Capsize 1 Condescend 4 Counterspell 1 Echoing Decay 1 Echoing Truth 4 Exclude 2 Faerie Trickery 1 Muddle the Mixture 3 Mystical Teachings 1 Nameless Inversion 2 Remove Soul 1 Rend Flesh 4 Think Twice 29 cards

Lands 4 Esper Panorama 17 Island 2 Swamp 23 cards Sideboard 2 Annul 1 Circle of Protection: Black 1 Circle of Protection: Red 1 Hallow 4 Hydroblast 1 Muddle the Mixture 1 Plains 3 Relic of Progenitus 1 Wail of the Nim 15 cards

Looking at the rest of the top 8, there were four Naya Cloak decks in the field, and three each MUC, Fish, and White Weenie. The top 8, with the exception of MBC, was a decent representation of the field. The question is, then, why has MBC fallen?

I do assert that the deck has fallen, however. Even with two decks in the top 16 and five in the top 32, this is a far cry from the previous level of dominance. The make up of the event is similar enough to the previous events, yet MBC is down some four percent overall. Why?

One explanation is the development of a true metagame. As I wrote about previously, MBC has some serious faults, and looking at the top 8, five of the decks somehow negate a major part of MBC's arsenal while the final, Affinity, has the ability to simply win on a plus draw. SARCASTO also ran a pair of Circle: Black in the board as a way to combat their big win spells. The Pyrite Spellbombs could take out a Crypt Rats before any real damage could be done, so what is normally an even matching seems tilted in SARCASTO's favor this time around.

Naya Cloak

PojotheChicken, 3rd Place, Pauper PE 3

Creatures 4 Armadillo Cloak 4 Basking Rootwalla 4 Guardian of the Guildpact 4 River Boa 4 Silhana Ledgewalker 4 Wild Mongrel 4 Wild Nacatl 28 cards Other Spells 1 Firebolt 4 Incinerate 4 Lightning Bolt 9 cards

Lands 8 Forest 6 Mountain 5 Plains 4 Terramorphic Expanse 23 cards Sideboard 3 Ancient Grudge 2 Coalition Honor Guard 2 Llanowar Knight 2 Relic of Progenitus 2 Thrill of the Hunt 4 Valeron Outlander 15 cards

The Naya Cloak lists just want to stick a hard to solve creature and a Cloak and go to town. If it can stick two creatures, it makes MBC play off the top for two Edict effects instead of just one against other creature decks. Combined with White's sideboard all-stars, this deck can hassle MBC all day. In fact, five of the eight decks in the elimination rounds had access to White either main or in the side. This reaction was expected by some, but shows just how vulnerable MBC can be to certain styles of hate.

The other decks in the top 8 were of the Island variety:

MUC

GreatClownPagliacci, 4th Place, Pauper PE 3

Creatures 2 Fathom Seer 4 Spire Golem 6 cards Other Spells 4 Counterspell 4 Exclude 3 Faerie Trickery 4 Force Spike 1 Oona's Grace 3 Piracy Charm 4 Prohibit 3 Repulse 4 Think Twice 30 cards

Lands 12 Island 12 Snow-Covered Island 24 cards Sideboard 4 Coral Net 2 Deep Analysis 2 Errant Ephemeron 1 Fathom Seer 4 Hydroblast 1 Piracy Charm 1 Repulse 15 cards

Fish

bruttibler, 8th Place, Pauper PE 3

Creatures 4 Mothdust Changeling 4 Ninja of the Deep Hours 4 Pestermite 4 Spellstutter Sprite 4 Spire Golem 20 cards Other Spells 2 Boomerang 4 Brainstorm 4 Counterspell 3 Piracy Charm 4 Ponder 2 Remove Soul 19 cards

Lands 19 Island 2 Lonely Sandbar 21 cards Sideboard 2 Annul 4 Hydroblast 2 Moonglove Extract 3 Negate 1 Piracy Charm 2 Relic of Progenitus 1 Rushing River 15 cards

While one is aggressive and one is on the control end of the spectrum, both decks handle MBC with relative ease. Countering any of their key threats (Rats or Corrupt) puts MBC way back on the development curve, as all their game winners require the investment of mana- not card draw. This means that if one threat is countered, the resources are still there but there is no good way to expend them. In other control decks, there are usually other cards, other options, held back in the hand. This is not the case with MBC, at least not to the same extent as a deck with dedicated card draw. This means stopping any one of their enders is bad news. Counterspells are good at this.

The Fish list here is a great example of a Pauper aggro-control deck. Seeking to gain maximum value out of itsSpellstutter Sprites and Ninjas, it runs Mothdust Changeling as a source of evasive damage and Faerie goodness. The tag team of Ponder and Brainstorm allow this deck to draw into its threat/answer package faster, shrinking the deck to maximize action. 
 

Before going over some more decklists, I want to go over the takeaways of this event first.

The glaring first point, which cannot be understated, is the ability of the format to police itself. Initial worries were that Slivers and Burn and Storm would be far too good, but then MBC came along and was top dog for a while. It was only after the second Premier Event that people took the threat seriously and reacted, and now we do not have a dominant deck.

Do not get me wrong, Affinity is a powerful deck, but I am not ready to crown a new king just yet. Even though the lists popping up tend to be more resilient to hate thanks to Disciple based combo kills, they are still fragile beasts that are heavily dependent on opening draws. On anything but a nut draw, taking out an early accelerator, or any early artifact, can severely hamper Affinity's development. This will likely mean a rise in cheap Shatter effects like Ingot Chewer and Overload. One also wonders if the addition of Qasali Pridemage will put a damper on the Machine.

The format is also diverse and healthy. No deck made up more than 15% of the field. There were some who feared that MBC would force a polar metagame. However, this field had a whopping 24 different decks scattered amongst 92 participants, with 12 different decks littering the top 16. To me, these are indicators of a healthy metagame.

The graveyard is an important resource in Pauper. In a format of limited power, any potential source of advantage is incredibly important. Being able to utilize expended resources can give a deck a serious advantage. Relic of Progenitus is already heavily played and I fully expect to see it more and more as the format progresses.

Okay, so, lists?

White Weenie

flascker, 5th Place, Pauper PE 3

Creatures 4 Amrou Scout 4 Aven Riftwatcher 2 Knight of Sursi 4 Order of Leitbur 4 Razor Golem 4 Shade of Trokair 2 Soltari Trooper 24 cards Other Spells 1 Oblivion Ring 3 Relic of Progenitus 4 Temporal Isolation 4 Unmake 12 cards

Lands 24 Plains 24 cards Sideboard 4 Akrasan Squire 4 Holy Light 4 Martyr of Sands 3 Oblivion Ring 15 cards

The White Weenie list played to fifth place (first after Swiss) is drastically different from the one I promoted at the beginning of sanctioned Pauper. First, it runs more land, lowering its threat density while also allowing the deck to up the curve. It also has three maindeck Relics, out of fear for Tortured Existence one imagines.

This, to me, is just wrong. White Weenie should win in the first few turns of the game, ideally by turn seven. While the opponent's life total might not be zero at this point, the game will be in hand. Devoting slots to a purely reactive card to a deck that has not even proven itself, especially to a deck that is normally not a bad pairing, is just playing with the Fear. If the game goes long against Existence decks, well, you were not going to win anyway, and having a Relic there is not going to help. I have found Kami of Ancient Law to be much better in this match-up; same with Oblivion Ring.

Tortured Existence

The Ervin Tormos Jazz Hour, 17th Place, Pauper PE 3

Creatures 2 Abyssal Gatekeeper 4 Augur of Skulls 4 Crypt Rats 4 Elvish Visionary 4 Golgari Brownscale 2 Krosan Tusker 4 Mulldrifter 2 Okiba-Gang Shinobi 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 1 Shambling Shell 2 Stinkweed Imp 33 cards Other Spells 4 Tortured Existence 4 cards

Lands 6 Forest 3 Golgari Rot Farm 1 Island 9 Swamp 4 Terramorphic Expanse 23 cards Sideboard 2 Abyssal Gatekeeper 2 Faerie Macabre 4 Mesmeric Fiend 1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi 3 Sewerdreg 3 Wickerbough Elder 15 cards

Sitting just outside the top 16 is the creation of my testing partner for this event. Piloted by The Ervin Tormos Jazz Hour, this take on Tortured Existence combines the potent Enchantment with Dredge and powerful sources of creature based card advantage to create a deck that can tutor our potent sources of advantage. An inherently powerful deck that the creator, Greg Weiss, calls the best deck in the format, it is really only limited by the timed rounds. This is the ultimate long game deck, seeking to win on the back of just better spells that happen to be creatures. Here, Existence plus Dredge means a constant supply of tutor targets. However powerful this deck is, it still strikes me as vulnerable to a blitz attack (although the Gatekeepers do a fine job of holding aggressors at bay). I fully expect decks like these to take off, perhaps making maindeck Relic a plausible idea.

Nightsky Aggro

Tyrjuk, 19th Place, Pauper PE 3

Creatures 4 Blind Hunter 4 Nightsky Mimic 4 Nip Gwyllion 4 Putrid Warrior 16 cards Other Spells 4 Castigate 4 Edge of the Divinity 4 Pillory of the Sleepless 2 Prismatic Strands 2 Raven's Crime 4 Unmake 20 cards

Lands 10 Plains 10 Swamp 4 Terramorphic Expanse 24 cards Sideboard 4 Beckon Apparition 4 Echoing Decay 4 Oblivion Ring 2 Prismatic Strands 1 Raven's Crime 15 cards

I just want to touch on these Mimic based aggro decks for a moment. These decks, potentially, have the most to gain from Alara Reborn. The ability to combine the flexible mana bases provided by the Borderposts as well as the tri-color nature of the Blades give these decks additional two-drops that turn on their centerpiece beaters, while the Mimics also turn on the Blades. I am not sure if this will be good enough, but it will certainly be interesting to see these decks develop once people get their hands on Reborn.

Freed Combo

LulThyme, 21st Place, Pauper PE 3

Creatures 3 Drift of Phantasms 4 Freed from the Real 4 Trinket Mage 11 cards Other Spells 4 Brainstorm 3 Gigadrowse 4 Lifespark Spellbomb 1 Moment's Peace 4 Muddle the Mixture 4 Ponder 1 Pyromatics 1 Train of Thought 1 Viridian Longbow 23 cards

Lands 2 Bant Panorama 4 Fertile Ground 4 Izzet Boilerworks 1 Seat of the Synod 1 Snow-Covered Forest 9 Snow-Covered Island 4 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Tree of Tales 26 cards Sideboard 1 Ancient Den 1 Circle of Protection: Black 1 Circle of Protection: Red 1 Darksteel Citadel 1 Echoing Truth 1 Gigadrowse 4 Hydroblast 3 Moment's Peace 1 Snow-Covered Plains 1 Train of Thought 15 cards

This is a combo list that we have not seen at the top tables of Pauper recently. However, this is the first truly successful Pauper deck (from the days of PDC). The goal of this deck was to get out a land that produces more than one mana, animate that same land with Lifespark Spellbomb and enchant it with Freed from the Real to generate an arbitrarily large amount of mana to draw your library with Train of Thought (if need be) and then win either through Consume Spirit, (Kaeverk's Torch), Pyromatics, or Viridian Longbow. Storm is far more elegant.

JVL Twiddle Storm

Stussy, 67th Place, Pauper PE 3

Creatures 0 cards Other Spells 4 Brainstorm 4 Deep Analysis 2 Grapeshot 4 Ideas Unbound 3 Moment's Peace 4 Peer Through Depths 4 Ponder 4 Psychic Puppetry 4 Reach Through Mists 33 cards

Lands 4 Dawn's Reflection 4 Fertile Ground 4 Simic Growth Chamber 3 Snow-Covered Forest 8 Snow-Covered Island 4 Terramorphic Expanse 27 cards Sideboard 2 Counterspell 3 Echoing Truth 1 Flaring Pain 4 Gigadrowse 1 Moment's Peace 4 Muddle the Mixture 15 cards

Speaking of Storm, here is the new take from the Mothership's Jacob Van Lunen. This deck went live shortly before the new PE and JVL claimed positive results with his brew and I understand why: no one was expecting it- the ultimate Spanish Inquisition. People were used to seeing the typical Storm builds with sac lands and tutors- not the Twiddle version. Once people got to see the deck in action, they figured out the weak spots and this PE showed that, with the highest placing deck ending up in 67^th.

The time leading up to the next Premier Event should be fascinating. With a new set, chock full of incredibly powerful cards and unprecedented first turn mana fixing, Pauper is about to change significantly. Combine this with the fact that the metagame is incredibly diverse, and well, its a deck builders paradise.

Keep slingin' commons-

-Alex