Jeskai Ephemerate has been one of the most famous Control decks in Pauper for several years, adopting various approaches over time: from more traditional versions to those that tried to ramp mana with Cleansing Wildfire and the Modern Horizons II Bridges.In recent weeks, the deck has reappeared in independent events, with results showing how the paper Metagame can benefit Control lists a bit more than on Magic Online, due to the platform's individual clock.The strategy revolves around extending the game to the point of generating inevitability with an endless flow of card advantage between Ephemerate and Archaeomancer, which lets you reuse any spell from the graveyard each turn cycle. The three‑color combination also allows access to a diverse range of some of the best Sideboard choices in the Metagame, such as the full package of Pyroblast, Hydroblast, and Dust to Dust for the format's most famous archetypes.The DecklistMaindeckThe heart of the archetype is the interaction between Ephemerate with Mulldrifter and Archaeomancer to create a constant source of card advantage and/or "infinite" recursion of any spell from the graveyard. Simply target Archaeomancer with the second (Rebound) trigger of Ephemerate and return it to your hand to repeat the loop.Murmuring Mystic, our main win condition, benefits from these interactions to flood the board with 1/1 tokens, which both hold off the game and finish the match once the opponent's resources are depleted.Brainstorm interacts with Augur of Bolas and Lorien Revealed to filter the top of the library, removing less useful pieces to improve draws. Augur is also a great early blocker and a decent target for Ephemerate, while Lorien Revealed becomes an additional card advantage source as the game goes long.Counterspell answers most problems on the stack, and Dispel ensures we can still resolve threats in a counter war, protect our threats from removal, or even deprive the opponent of card advantage sources.For board interaction, we have Skred, which scales in scope as the game extends, plus Ride's End and Fanged Flames to exile creatures. Except for Skred, these are all flex slots and can be replaced by other removal categories depending on the Metagame's demands.The same applies to the three cards above. Thraben Charm has a board interaction mode, but its primary function is to exile graveyards at key turns, while Union of the Third Path can buy an "extra turn" against Aggro when you have enough cards in hand.Finally, we have an extra card advantage and mana-fixing source with Bonder's Ornament. Ephemerate without Tron does not seem like the best archetype to run it, but other Midrange and Control categories have experimented with the artifact with some success, and the most recent lists have adopted one or two copies.Glacial Floodplain and Volatile Fjord are the common targets for Lorien Revealed and guarantee access to white and red. We also have Perilous Landscape to find basic lands early and to provide some extra draws in the late game.SideboardThe three pillars of Sideboard in the format today.Pyroblast and Hydroblast have a wide range of archetypes where they come in: Faeries, Tolarian Terror, Azorius Gates, and the mirror for Pyroblast, and the various Red Aggro variants for Hydroblast.Dust to Dust is our main tool against Affinity. Unlike other decks, Jeskai Ephemerate relies heavily on it to gain an edge over Affinity; if we let Affinity play mana disruption, it will generate so much value that we will not be able to keep up.Envelop is the only one‑mana interaction that unconditionally answers Dread Return. It is our best choice against Spy Combo, but we need some additional setup to avoid losing "for free" to a Mesmeric Fiend.Breath Weapon comes in against go‑wide decks, such as Mono Red Rally, White Weenie, Elves, or against the Mono Blue versions of Faeries, which have lost ground recently.Thraben Charm adds to the graveyard hate and can answer troublesome Auras from decks like Bogles. Campfire provides recurring life gain against Aggro, protects your graveyard from effects that exile it and remove important interactions, and prevents losing to deck‑out in very long grindy games.Sideboard GuideMono Blue TerrorINOUTGrixis AffinityINOUTMadness BurnINOUTSpy ComboINOUTMono White AggroINOUTElvesINOUTMono Red RallyINOUTDimir FaeriesINOUTWrapping UpThat's all for today!If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!Thanks for reading!
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