Hey Pauper community!

I wanted to share the results of our 2026 Extra Life Pauper Tournament and hopefully get some of you excited about what we're planning for next year!

This past Saturday, we hosted our annual charity Pauper tournament in Joplin, Missouri, benefiting Children's Miracle Network at Freeman Health System.

The results blew us away!

• 64 registered players, completely filling our venue!
• $12,109 raised for Children's Miracle Network!
• Over $20,000 raised through our Extra Life events to date!
• Six rounds of Swiss followed by a Top 8 playoff.
• Prizes for the Top 16, raffles, silent auctions, giveaways, and tons of donated MTG products and artwork.

We also received official support from Wizards of the Coast for the first time this year, along with donations from some incredible MTG artists, manufacturers, game stores, and community members.

I've been playing and teaching Magic for over 20 years, and seeing this community come together for a great cause has been an incredible experience.

Now, let's talk about 2027!

We've officially outgrown our current venue, and we're already working with The Card Wizards to turn next year's event into something much bigger.

Our preliminary plans include:

• A 100+ player Pauper main event with a larger venue and expanded prize support.
• Additional MTG side events and opportunities for casual play.
• Vendors, artists, giveaways, and more activities throughout the day.
• More opportunities to raise money for Children's Miracle Network.

We're looking at making this a regional Magic event worth traveling to, not just another local tournament. We're located in Joplin, Missouri, making us accessible to players from Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

We're still early in the planning process, but after seeing what 64 Pauper players accomplished this year, I'm excited to see what we can do with 100 or more!

I'll be sharing details as things come together at MTGForKids.Org.

So here's my question for the Pauper community:

Would you travel to Joplin, Missouri, for a large charity Pauper tournament in 2027? And what would make an event like this worth the trip for you?

I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially from players who regularly attend larger Pauper events.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this year's tournament such a success. Let's make 2027 even bigger!

Daniel Crabtree
MTGForKids.Org

My LGS has an absolute ton of unsorted bulk( just by color.)
I have gotten 3ish decks for 10 cents a pop but the process is very time consuming and every week, I feel like I see a new card in a deck that I for sure have looked at and not grabbed just from knowing all the decks.

Is there a tool or system you use for checking bulk to make sure less is slipping through the cracks?

Struggling to decide within Boros Synth, Boros Bully or Boros Metalcraft (aka Moxite/Snacker/Spear/Dispatch package).

The less funny as a play pattern for me is Metalcraft, but I'd love to change my mind.

What's your opinion?

Finished altering the artefact basics so now I have ancient dens, seats of the synods, and vaults of whispers!

I've been playing cabrabr12's Camel Squad list on endstep. It's been fun, but I wouldn't say it's a Tier 1 deck. I don't normally make decks because I feel it's almost impossible to do better then the group project that is netdecking, but I had some ideas I haven't seen done yet so I tried anyway.

The first brew I came up splashes for Refurbished Familiar. Everyone knows it's a busted card; recurring it with sneak/webslinging alone can win games. I've iterated this list over endstep matches and it feels solid; 2 Mardu Devotee feels great to play as it both digs for lands/draw cards and keeps your manabase consistent.

The other brew idea I have is Esper Affinity Camel Squad. I got the idea when I played a match vs a spicy dimir ninja faerie ornathopter springleaf drum tempo brew that ran [[Of One Mind]] and was like wait, I run humans I could do that! I haven't tested this list as much but with Moon Circuit Hacker you have even more ways to bounce familiar and scam your opponent.

These lists have a 6 thopter / 2 springleaf drum ratio for a bit of explosive starting potential. Old lists ran 4 drums but they're pretty dead draws later. I have no idea how badly cutting two 0 drops affects consistency as I'm not Hypergeomancer though so it might be dumb, idk

Anyway blog over lmk what you think Camel enjoyers ^_^

With how popular artifacts are, why aren't Artifact Ward a more popular card?

I was looking for new sideboards cards for my white heroic and I think this can be a real strong card

I heard stories of casting [[Dark Ritual]] into [[hypnotic specter]] in old magic days. Is that kind of play ever going to work in Pauper? Is there a 3 drop that can be cast that scares people? Or 3 1 drops for an aggressive deck.

https://moxfield.com/decks/maK0ciksYUyh79ZSVACYtg

Trying to see if its worth the slot. It feels kinda risky.

Title is question; is there a reason to run blessed ghoul in this slot or is 3 mana too much? I am thinking maybe in the UW shell since we are leaving open mana for counters sometimes

I am trying to make a good old jund deck that can win long matches. I do not like gardens because it is too passive and cannot play the aggro against control and I do not like jund wildfire because the manabase is not that flexible. I know I am not going to be the next paupergedon champion but I think that I can improve this list and I need all the suggestions I can get. Thanks in advance!

I'm a pioneer refugee who used to play Izzet Phoenix. It was my favorite deck ever in any format due to the volume of draw, burn, and flying combat. Gosh I miss it. Anyway! Now I'm looking to get into pauper but I can't decide between getting a bogles deck because I think he's very funny looking and it's a silly strategy or red madness because... red! Anyone played both and have opinions?

I had a debate with a friend. We both play Dimir Mystic, but the difference is I run 4 Plunder the Trollshaws while he runs 4 Brainstorm instead, as he thinks they are better. What do you all think? I won't share our thoughts so as not to influence the comments.

is it me or red rally is putting better results than madness in real life tournaments?

Pauper metagame update.
New feature: See decklists inside the tracker. You can now endessly scroll decklists smoothly.

source: magic4ever.com/pauper

Baleful Strix has put Dimir Control, featuring Monarch and Murmuring Mystic, back under the spotlight in Pauper!

Hey y'all looking for some help with additions or cuts to my just for fun deck. My two win cons are currently Thundersteel and Kaerveks Torch. Would love some insight. Thanks in advance. https://manabox.app/decks/AaChV6Irf_64hwjv7rhIJg

But it may take out indestructible land creatures.

All my Strix'es finally came in, so my Orzhov Blade -> Esper Blade conversion is finally done in paper!

Hello everyone, I'm running dimir control / dimir faeries and dimir terror and my local meta play a lot of monster Tron/ grull ramp leading to any cascade treat completely out value me. What would you suggest as a sideboard card against them, is really a splash of vandalblast to clean up their mana fix the only way? Even annull feels weak as nowadays even a crop rotation can finish Tron super fast.

Any help is super appreciated as I'm sure there are some old cards around that may help. I really wish we would have something slightly weaker than dumping sphere to handle all these decks that cheat creatures not for their actual mana cost ( affinity the same mess)

Thank you in advance and wish you all a nice evening

Z set brought me back to think about peasant. Today it seems it has only a little presence in France and on Cockatrice. The current decks are mostly pauper lists on steroids, and there is a massive space for exploration. It looks fun and with a lot of potential to be a competitive format.

Now, who is regulating that format? What are the reasons to think it will ever become a thing, or viceversa, remain niche forever? What would have to happen for the format to emerge?

Cheers

[[Coiling Oracle]] is a favorite of mine and I've long tried to build a competitive deck that uses it.

With [[Baleful Strix]] in the format, I've realized how similar these two cards are. Same body and draw effect. Strix doesn't have to reveal the drawn card, but Oracle has a chance to ramp you.

Then the obvious, Strix has deathtouch and flying (and is an artifact for decks where it is relevant).

I'm curious just how valuable people think flying and deathtouch are to make Strix a top creature while Oracle remains quite unplayable. Or, how much of this has to do with Simic being a far worse color pair than Dimir.

What about fetch land but with the fetched land entering tapped?

Could it be enough with dual lands?

Could it see plays?

Could it be a common card?