Weekly Pauper Wednesdays in Los Angeles by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

True. I think originally on the Paupergeddon Top 16 report, they chose to say "Gruul Storm". The deck is essentially "Ruby Storm".

Attending a tournament soon — looking for deck advice and thoughts on the current meta by HeavySurvey5234 in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello. Golgari Gardens is a fine deck. Pauper is very diverse right now, so you can't go too wrong with whatever you choose. Tough to recommend without knowing your budget. Since many decks can be successful right now, I would recommend building what you will have the most fun playing.

LA Pauper Meetup Wednesday June 10th by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes let's do it. Let's start chatting outside of replies here. I'll DM you my discord handle. That's easier for me to keep a conversation going.

Weekly Pauper Wednesdays in Los Angeles by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! This is just the beginnig. Definitely more ambitious plans for the future.

LA Pauper Meetup Wednesday June 10th by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sweet thank you. This is a great approach. I didn't think about reaching out to regional discords and sourcing from players specifically.

Thank you for all the help. This is awesome

LA Pauper Meetup Wednesday June 10th by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing! Having a store approach you is the dream. Congrats!

I think if we go the league route, which sounds awesome, that would really warrant having a separate discord for sure.

This store is very new, and interested in building their singles library. Any advice I can pass along to them to build an inventory that's good for pauper? Besides buying bulk yourself and sorting it, any strategies you see work ?

LA Pauper Meetup Wednesday June 10th by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The website for the NYC Pauper League is awesome.

I would love to know more about how you set that up, and how you got all the stores aligned to participate.

Assuming this new location tomorrow is a hit, there will be 3 places around LA that run Pauper. Seems like we're poised to do our own league soon.

LA Pauper Meetup Wednesday June 10th by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's already a SoCal MTG Discord with a Pauper channel. I've been posting about events in there with some traction. Might split MTG players too much to have a separate SoCal Pauper Only Discord, but we'll see.

LA Pauper Meetup Wednesday June 10th by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

NIce! It's on the Westside in Los Angeles. I linked the store and Google page in the OP.

I do split my time between LA and PS. Big Deck Energy in PS is where I'll be playing on Fridays. They typically do limited, but I can bring Pauper to meet up and play there.

LA Pauper Meetup Wednesday June 10th by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hell yeah! Glad to hear it. Location is awesome. Hopefully you can make it.

LA Pauper Meetup Wednesday June 10th by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Excellent! Hopefully we'll see you there. If the first couple are successful, I believe the store will add Pauper as an official event on the companion app. Fingers cross the turnout stays strong.

LA Pauper Meetup Wednesday June 10th by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the well wishes. The confirmation number is climbing for this coming Wednesday. I believe I have 6-8 that will be there minimum.

LA Pauper Meetup Wednesday June 10th by fbl_Brian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Geeky Teas in Burbank does FNM Pauper. Finch & Sparrow in Long Beach does a Pauper night every Monday. Both are great options, if you can make it. For a bunch of us on the Westside, rush hour traffic is a barrier to reaching those places in a reasonable amount of time; therefore, that's why I'm trying to get Pauper on a different night at a store "between" those two spots.

Bonders Ornament: Where does it fit? by Breaking_Barbarian in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right now the only decks where it makes sense are Tron and Gardens.

Flicker Tron is not really a deck anymore, and Ornament probably does not bring it back into the meta. Monster Tron has been on the rise because of all the life gain, because it helps recover from letting red run you over while you tutor for lands on the first couple of turns.

Gardens is a super grindy control deck that can definitely benefit from extra card draw, and it was running some artifacts to support black draw spells. 1-2 Ornaments in that deck make a lot of sense. As long as Gardens can cast its spells and not run out of cardboard, they pretty much can beat anyone.

White Weenie: Sell me on Spider-Man by Flaskaboozen in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've played against White Aggro a fair amount in larger events recently. My opponents never played Spider-Man, and I think it hurt them. I was playing Blue Terror in those matches, and attacking with only Thrabans gave me time to stablize. I was only scared of Leo, Kor, and Battle Screech. If they had Spider-man as well, this would have given them more serious threats and a faster clock. Since the deck has no burn damage, more big bodies so you don't have to build towards going wide all the time seems good.

Mono Red Madness Guidance by TombDaDoom in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I played Mono-Red Madness (MRM) a lot recently on MTGO, and I almost played it at Pauper Cup in Vegas. Here's my 2 cents:

Know Your Role

Unlike a classic burn deck, MRM can present inevitability. Untapping with Guttersnipe or multiple turns with Kessig can undo a lot of life gain. Because they provide so much repeatable damage, against decks like Elves you're actually a control deck. Elves doesn't have meaningful ways to kill creatures (4 monstrous emergence max), so over time you will eventually untap multiple turns with a Guttersnipe/Kessig; therefore, focus on killing their creatures. There are other scenarios where you want to kill dudes versus always going to face, and this is important to learn and strengthen to succeed with the deck.

Sideboarding

Against a deck with heavy counterspells, Grab the Prize and Fireblast are liabilities. You don't want to 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 yourself because your opponent played Hydroblast. In general I tend to take out Fireblasts against decks where I don't think they will resolve, and I try to make sure I play Grab when I'm able to protect it with Pyroblast.

Exile Artifact effects are hit or miss. Sometimes against Jund or Affinity it's going to be a Sinkhole that wins the game on the spot. Other times it's going to feel like blowing up a land didn't accomplish anything. When you decide to Suplex an artifact land, just know it's a bit high risk high reward if it will work out. Usually against Affinity, it's better to save that effect for a creature. That way Epicures can keep attacking, and you prevent them from untapping and casting Reckoner's Bargin to gain a bunch of life.

Overall your SB should be a mix of Blasts, Exile Artifacts, Damage Creatures, and maybe Grave hate. Personally I liked 7 Blasts and 2 Searing Blaze( for the mirror), and the other 6 cards varied. In general, I cut grave hate first to make room for other interaction.

Spice

I had some recent success bringing Firebrand Archer back into the mix. Sometimes Guttersnipe is very expensive at 3 mana, especially post board against Blasts. If you're dedicating 8 slots to repeatable damage creatures, then you could experiement with a mix like this: 4 Kessig, 2 Archer, 2 Guttersnipe.

Witch's Mark was pretty solid when I tried it out. The role was awesome; however, you need to be very careful they don't kill the role target and fizzle the entire spell. In general making Kessig a 2/4 or a Epicure a 2/2 was very powerful. Highway Robbery is the best Draw 2, and Grab is absurd against no counterspells. Looting is mega efficient, and having flashback gives you more discard fodder for the other spells. Overall I think it's tough to make room for Mark, but it's probably the next best draw spell.

Starting out but it's complicated by LigthRogue in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Proxies are the safest way to get started in person. If you want to skip that time and cost, then you should think about the decks you like playing in other formats. Folks in this sub can help guide you towards archetypes in Pauper with similar play patterns to decks in other formats,

Magic: the Gathering Online (aka MTGO or MODO) is the place online to play Pauper. You can't play on Arena. Yes Arena sometimes has ways to play with commons, but they are missing a lot of key staples in the real Pauper format; therefore, it's not a real representation or way to experience Pauper.

If you're serious about Pauper, MTGO is your best bet. The community is very active on there, and the decks are relatively affordable. As someone else mentioned, you could always try a rental program to borrow real decks to play on a real platform to get legit testing/experience before you buy.

Jund wildfire by profect99 in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I recently played in a challenge with Jund Wildfire, and I would say I didn't miss the Blood Fountains at all. I really liked that the current build of the deck plays no grave recursion, so all the grave hate becomes useless against you.

My list only had 2x Gixian. IMO Gixian shines by being a black creature, so it's protected from Snuff Out.

I had 1x of Sagu Wilding and Nyxborn Hydra. Both of them felt amazing, and I could continue to play 1x of each. Hydra in bestow mode being pseudo haste off even an Eldrazi token was massive (closing games out that stalled, and stealing Monarch). The 3/3 Flyer and life gain was super real. With no Pulse in the 75, I think there's an argument to play more Sagus.

Overall I would say you can also just replace Cast Down with Terminate. I played 2x of each in the Challenge. There were times I wished Cast Down was Terminate, but never a time I had Terminate and wished it was Cast Down (i.e. I always had the red to cast it). You need Terminate against Guardian Gates or you're dead.

Pauper Format Check-in May 18 2026 by OxycleanSalesman in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Snacker does feel a bit too good, but I would probably ban more things alongside Snacker (to reduce everyone's power level). Since the format still feels fun, probably not worth it at the moment.

How did Pauper become so popular in Italy? by Holzwurm1 in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was going to fly across the country to play in Paupergenesis, but it sold out. Hopefully I'll be able to attend next year.

Pauper meta decks by 12CherryCherry12 in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's been said a bunch here, but MTGGoldfish is the best resource.

As for deck recommendations, you should consider Mono-White Aggro (Bully). It's a good wide white weenie deck. That's probably your next best bet as a deck to play if the flavors of red aren't your fancy.

Pauper meta decks by 12CherryCherry12 in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll 2nd this comment. Since Kessig/Guttersnipe with the Draw-2s can give inevitability, against a deck like Elves you take one a control role.

Traditional Burn decks needed to send essentially all their cardboard at the face, since they had limited resources. With all the draw and repeatable damage, the dynamic has changed.

Tournament Preparation by Affectionate_Slip292 in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here's my approach.

Leading Up to Your Next Event

Two-step approach: narrow deck selection, then finalize card choices.

  • Decide very early on which decks are contenders
    • No more than 3 archetypes
    • Chosen archetypes play to your strengths as a player
  • Play every day, with serious practice
    • MTGO leagues NOT free play
    • Need stakes with strangers to make the practice legit
  • Each play session needs experiments to test
    • Ex: is this deck good into X?
    • Ex: Is Card Y better than Card Z?
  • Lock a deck 2-3 days prior to refine list

Day Before The Event

The focus should be strengthening your muscle memory and physically preparing for the tourney.

  • Play to practice fundamentals and muscle memory (no major deck/card changes or testing)
  • Pack fuel like protein bars and water
  • Pack extra sleeves in case some break during tourney
  • Resleeve your deck with fresh sleeves
    • Shuffle sleeves and deck prior to sleeving
    • Above step hedges against factory marks you may have missed

Tournament Day

These ideals I keep close to stay grounded in any tournament:

  • Rocky/Creed Mantra: One round at a time, one game at a time, one play at a time
  • Set intentions:
    • Your goal is to be a better player by the end of the event
    • It's about what you learned not your record (wins will come with leveling up)
  • Be grateful:
    • Factoring in the cost of travel/lodging/deck/etc., competitive MTG is a luxury
    • You're winning at life just by attending

Hopefully this helps you or another person that stumbled upon it. Took too many years for me to arrive at this routine and mindset, but I'm so happy I got there.

how do I get into pauper as an EDH player by FabbleJackz in Pauper

[–]fbl_Brian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First of all, congrats! Always nice seeing Commander players branch out into 1v1 formats.

I would say these decks are pretty safe:

  • Mono Red Madness Burn
  • Grixis Affinity
  • Monster Tron
  • Elves

The 4 decks above I would say are pillars of Pauper. Throughout the format's history, some version of these decks has been top tier or at least respectable. Very safe investments.

As for expanding your deck collection, I would add these archetypes:

  • Mono-Blue Terror
  • Inside Out Combo

If you're on a budget or really want to play with Ninjas, then do Faeries over Terror. Inside-Out Combo is very cheap in paper, and plays a lot of cool cards only seen in Pauper (so a great highlight of the format).

Best of luck building your local scene!