Best Pauper Decks: The State of the MTG Pauper Meta Ahead of Paupergeddon Lucca 2025

Pauper is a huge format that seems to be overlooked purely, because it's not included in the organised played system. Its popularity, however, cannot be understated. While, for instance, Pioneer is nigh-dead when it's not in the seasonal rotation supported by Wizards, Pauper garners as many as a thousand players for its flagship Grand-Prix- style event - Paupergeddon.

Pauper has been very close to me in the last half a year, as I've got a slew of results such as Geddon Trio win, Geddon Top4, or Polish Nationals win. All with Mono Blue Fae, about which I create a ton of content on my YouTube channel and Metafy.

In today's piece, I will talk about the current state of affairs and, as extension, what one might expect coming into Paupegeddon Lucca 2025 that is happening a week from now on 4-6 July.

Top Pauper Player Tournament

This Geddon is also a culmination of a year-long competition in its own EU-wide ranking system. Players get points for events of different rank all across Europe, including other Geddons and Nationals-style events. 

If you have gathered at least 300 points, you will participate in the Top Pauper Player tournament that will take place on Friday at Geddon Lucca. The best of the best will fight for the glory to be called the best Player of the year. As of the writing of this piece, 98 players have qualified to participate.

I myself won't only participate in Geddon, but I am also qualified for the Top Player tourney. And to brag even more...

I am 4th in the whole Europe! All thanks to Fae.
Pauper is love, Pauper is life.

The Metagame

This is my own tierlist of the current metagame that I am basing my Paupergeddon Fae list off.

I've talked about this particular tierlist in depth in this video.

Let's break down the best decks, which in this case are Tier A and Tier B. We will go quickly through the main ideas and I'll post a sample decklist from MTG Goldfish. This should give you an overview of where the format is at if you haven't given it a go yet!

Tier A

Mono Blue Terror

Sample list here.

Mono Blue Terror is typically called a tempo deck and it might be the most accurate one-word description, but it's a very specific type. 

While we typically associate this term with Mono Blue tempo of Standard's past or Delver strategies in Legacy where we deploy threats and interweave efficient interaction, Terror does nothing meaningful in the first couple of turns to self-mill to *then* proceed to overwhlem the opponent with the number of threats where their size is disproportionate to the cost - in a very beneficial way to the deck.

 If on turn four, you see double 5/5 ward Snake backed up by Counterspell - it spells trouble.

It does play the card Delver, so those aggressive draws do exist but they will typically delay the Snake plan a bit more, so in a way it balances out.

Jund Wildfire

Sample list here.

Jund Wildfire is the epitome of midrange. It seems to check all the boxes: flexible and plentiful interaction, proper suite of threats, very strong lategame, adaptability postboard.

It doesn't fully lean on the artifact synergies, but it still takes advantage of them, keeping the balance between getting the best out of it without being very directly vulnerable to dedicated hate. Moreover, it's a Chrysalis deck that further cements its potential to both stabilise and close games.

The namesake Cleansing Wildfire enables those best draws where you can play turn one indestructible land, turn two Wildfire targeting that land - essentially getting a Rampant Growth with a redraw stapled on top. Thanks to it, you can deploy Chrysalis on turn three, which is even scarier on the play.

Grixis Affinity

Sample list here.

This is a full-on artifact synergy deck. While Jund eschews such an approach to be more balanced, Affinity takes the good with the bad. It exploits all the powerful Pauper artifact tools to its maximum but also accepts counterplay like Gorilla Shaman, Cast into the Fire, or Annul.

Marco-archetype-wise, it's definitely in the midrange camp, similarly to Jund, but it does play out differently. Thanks to the presence of Myr Enforcer, it can have those aggro-like draws that will turn the corner out of nowhere. The density of artifacts also makes it trivial to deploy very early Refurbished Familiars at their cheapest. It is also a Blood Fountain deck, so if the game goes long, one needs to be able to contend with ever-recurring Familiars and Enforcers.

Tier B

Mono Blue Faeries

Sample list here.

While I didn't want to concede fully that Terror was a tempo deck, Faeries are the sheer definition of that phrase I feel like. They get onto the board quickly, they play efficient interaction, they do struggle when playing from behind so they want to keep up the momentum, they punish opponents who stumble very hard, and at times they are happy to trade damage for pure card advantage with the aim to close the game before those cards matter or can be deployed.

Admittedly, I reckon it ought to be called Mono Blue Ninjas but there's no way that this name would stick considering the rich (arguable the richest!) Pauper history of the archetype. 

Still, Ninjas are essential to pull ahead early into the game to make up for the fact that the deck is made up of limited power level cards. And this is the essence - individual cards are pretty lacklustre but it's the sum of the parts that make the deck tick.

Pinger Burn

Sample list here.

Pinger Burn is the aggro-burn deck of the format. It used to be Kuldotha but with its ban, Red players had to adjust. 

The deck relies on consistent and recurring damage output that's both within combat and out of it, with the latter thanks to Kessig Flamebreather and Thermo-Alchemist that ping (hence the name) for every spell cast. 

Since the deck plays so many burn spells, it can pivot into a very interactive role, as every Bolt or Lava Dart can target an opposing threat.

There are builds that also utilise Fireblast and Guttersnipe for combo-esque turns, where you deploy Guttersnipe and, potentially in response to removal, unload all the spells.

High Tide

Sample list here.

High Tide is *the* combo deck of the format. Contrary to the Broodscale deck (rest in peace), it's also a fully spell-based combo deck that naturally shrinks the possible suite of tools that could thwart its plan. As the best countermeasure is fighting on the stack,  we have seen a steady uptick of the number of Pyroblasts people play.

The deck is convoluted but is not difficult to grasp and to goldfish test at home. When you resolve 1-2 High Tides, you make enough mana to make your card selection mana neutral, until you find even more High Tides to make those same spells now into rituals. The finishing blow will typically come in the form of Stream of Thought that will mill the opponent out completely.

Gruul Monsters

Sample list here.

This is the stompy ramp monsters deck of the format. If you enjoy big threats and very impressive board-states, this is the deck for you. 

There are a couple of sub-versions: Land Destruction, Cascade, Aggro-Stompy. 80% of the deck will stay the same but you could adjust your deck to prepare for certain metas.

The big strength of the deck is tha you will play 3drops on turn two with very high consistency; the strength that's further exacerbated on the play.

Rakdos Madness

Sample list here.

This is a very neat strategy that borrows a lot from other archetypes - it has burn, it has cool synergies, it has card advantage, it has stabilisation tools, it has card selection. As far as I'm concerned, this might be one of the best entry decks to the format, as it can provide engaging gameplay, decision-making agency, but also relatively clear path to victory.

The deck takes full advantage of the Madness mechanic, turning all the 'discard' downsides on cards into actual benefit. Faithless Looting is the best example where in this deck it's basically 'Draw 2, play 2 cards for their Madness cost'.

Conclusion

As you can see, the format is wide open. I didn't even go to the rich C tier and I've still covered 8 archetypes which are *completely* distinct from one another. We have have 3 Mono Blue Decks and except for Islands they overlap surprisingly few cards, if any.

If you haven't pulled the trigger just yet, do it now. Try Pauper and you won't regret it!

And as always, please remember to hold my hand and let's pass the turn together. Cheers!