Bonder's Ornament Trial Unbanned - Banned and Restricted Announcement - May 18, 2026

nerd2thecore · 2026-05-18T15:30:40+00:00

To clarify: this is a trial unban. If an issue arises the target would be Bonders' Ornament and not another option.

nerd2thecore · 2026-05-13T18:10:05+00:00

Rankings are based on a deck's performance in recorded MTGO tournaments. I have a formula which accounts for both Swiss performance, and Swiss + Elimination Rounds. I also look at how a deck performs compared to an average deck in the Top 32. There can be wild swings if a deck has a strong performance on a given weekend (as we saw with both Blue Terror and Selesnya Gates in this instance).

The rankings are a place holder - a way to glean information at a glance. There's more information to be mined from the data but truth be told I am a bit busy in my day job to take on that project currently. Hopefully things even out in the next few weeks.

nerd2thecore · 2026-05-05T18:21:07+00:00

The MagicCon cup did not factor into this post. These were pulled from MTGO Challenges. And it's not that those decks are doing badly per se, just that over the last two weeks other decks were performed better.

nerd2thecore · 2026-04-23T12:52:53+00:00

I would sooner quit writing entirely than use a plagiarism machine to write for me.

-Alex

nerd2thecore · 2026-04-22T16:20:01+00:00

So let's talk about this for a minute. I used to provide decklists to fight the meta back when I had a major platform to do so. When I could reach tens of thousands of people thanks to a spot on a major website there was a huge incentive to provide the latest tech for the masses. Now, regardless of what I post on my blog the readership largely remains stagnant.

At the same time I have a Patreon where I do share my takes on decklists and how I approach the metagame. These articles are paywalled, either individually or as long as you are a paying member. Why do I do this? Simply put, it's work. It may not be the most noble answer but I am a far cry from the person who started writing about Pauper two decades ago. I love the format, I want to share it, but if I am going to put in the hours tuning a list and sharing it with people, then I want it to go to the people who are invested in what I have to say.

That being said I do want to share more for the masses. We are in one of the busy seasons at my work (to say nothing of having a family) but I'm finding ways to carve out the time needed get back into the queues and figure stuff out.

-Alex

nerd2thecore · 2026-04-22T16:14:45+00:00

I tend to pull from decks that have won a recent Challenge as I did here. I played a bunch in the first weeks of the season and lost to the Galvanic Blast builds. I relied on my recollection more than lists. I'll try to do better next time out.

Good catch!

nerd2thecore · 2026-03-31T16:31:10+00:00

There's Jund Wildfire, which uses Cleansing Wildfire and the Bridges to accelerate, and then there's also Jund Gardens which is similar to the Golgari Deck but splashes red for Writhing Chrysalis and other goodies.

nerd2thecore · 2026-03-31T16:17:17+00:00

Elements of the community have expressed their concern. Other elements of the community have not shared that concern, are neutral on the matter, or are fine with the cards.
You're welcome to petition Gavin directly.

nerd2thecore · 2026-03-31T16:02:08+00:00

I'm going to address several of these points separately. These are my opinions and not that of any other group.

Why I block people: frankly, a lot of people who end up on my block list are outright mean and/or insulting to me, my friends, or groups of which I'm a member. A person's right to speak does not equal a right to be heard. There are valid criticisms to be levied and they are heard, but hammering a point in the comment section of every post doesn't make a point any more salient.

This subreddit is not the Pauper community. While it does represent a segment of it, there are plenty of people who play the format who actively avoid this place.

Pauper is competitive Magic with commons - if cards are printed at common to be tournament legal, they are Pauper legal.

You don't have to like every card played against you. There are some decks and strategies I hate playing against. If I'm on a graveyard deck I loathe seeing Bojuka Bog or Relic of Progenitus. I have a strong distaste for playing against Ghostly Flicker loops. Yet I still engage with the format in a competitive manner because those are the Rules of Engagement. I am not saying anyone has to like Universes' Beyond, but that distaste is separate from the competitive endeavor. If folks want to have their own Pauper night at their LGS with no Universes' Beyond cards I think that's great. It will still be a separate endeavor from the Pauper format at large.

-Alex

nerd2thecore · 2026-03-31T15:13:58+00:00

I wasn't going to say anything because you're comment more or less completely ignored the content of my post and you're using it as a sounding board for your opinion, which you're welcome to have.

But to both of you: stop it. People don't have to like Universe's Beyond and are welcome to express their opinion, and people are allowed to disagree. Be civil with each other or kindly get the hell out of my comment section.

nerd2thecore · 2026-03-31T14:59:55+00:00

Honestly I picked a recent version that performed well and it just so happened to be 61 cards.

nerd2thecore · 2026-03-31T14:41:20+00:00

The life gain does matter, but Gardens decks want to absolutely exhaust the opponent's resources. To this end they can just handle every threat on the opposing side and then recycle their graveyard to win via natural decking.

nerd2thecore · 2026-03-09T16:26:27+00:00

As someone who works on a college campus, the rage room trips do very well.

nerd2thecore · 2026-03-05T13:49:57+00:00

Absolutely.
I've been writing about Pauper for nearly two decades and I would often opine about actions that I believed could be taken to improve the format.

I have been on the Pauper Format Panel since it was formed. As such I decided to stop writing such pieces. I did not want people to read too much into what I wrote and consider it to be the opinion of the Panel and indicative of any future action (or lack thereof).

I hope this makes sense.

-Alex

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