Pauper today is a format dominated by efficiency: decks like Mono Blue Terror and Affinity are built around the combination of individual card quality and reduced mana costs, granting more flexibility to execute multiple plays in a single turn, while emerging strategies like Elves and Mono Red Madness appear as examples of decks trying to answer this efficiency with greater consistency, standing out through the speed of their game plans.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are players trying to make Meta Calls and run answers for each distinct matchup in the current format. One such example is Caw-Gates—an archetype primarily blue and white with light splashes of other colors in the sideboard. In this article, we present a version of this deck that embraces a third color with a 
splash, adopting a more classic "tapout control" approach.
The Decklist
The philosophy for playing Caw-Gates is inevitability. The archetype is known in Pauper as the best example of Control today as it benefits from each new Gate put into play as the game progresses, turning any creature into a finisher with Basilisk Gate.
This variant still aims to prolong the game but focuses on removing threats rather than the classic "draw-go" stance. Counterspell and Prismatic Strands are cut to make room for spot interaction, while Duress provides more information on how to play around the opponent's cards.
Maindeck
The land base is the true engine of the list.
Basilisk Gate is your win condition with any creature and notoriously lethal against Aggro when used on a threat with Lifelink.
Sea Gate, Black Dragon Gate, and Citadel Gate provide efficient mana fixing at any stage while also fueling the main game plan of our strategy.
Heap Gate can be an extra mana source in some matchups and a mana fixer in others, allowing us to "store" extra mana with the Treasures it creates.
Idyllic Beachfront and Contaminated Aquifer can be fetched with Lorien Revealed and help ensure consistent access to colors.
Sacred Cat and Outlaw Medic offer a two-for-one in Midrange matchups while also being good blockers to keep us from losing too quickly against Mono Red Rally or Burn. Alongside a Basilisk Gate, they can close out games and/or force the opponent to work hard to finish the match.
Squadron Hawk, besides being a creature with Flying that gets past most of the format's threats when paired with Basilisk Gate, also has good synergy with Brainstorm to remove dead cards from hand or generate card advantage with the extra copies it fetches.
Guardian of the Guildpact is pretty difficult to handle in many matchups, especially lethal alongside Basilisk Gate.
Brainstorm has synergy with Squadron Hawk, Preordain, and Lorien Revealed, allowing us to dig deeper for specific answers while putting dead cards back into the deck.
Preordain filters the cards left behind by Brainstorm while also digging for specific answers or securing the turn's land drop early game.
Lorien Revealed helps ensure land drops in the early turns, but as the game goes long, it turns into a great source of card advantage.
Cast Down and Journey to Nowhere deal permanently with almost any threat for two mana, with virtually no restrictions.
Thraben Charm works as conditional removal, but its main role in this list is as a versatile answer for various matchups, whether dealing with a creature or exiling graveyards against Spy Combo or Mono Blue Terror.
Extract a Confession provides a sacrifice effect in Game 1. Between Lorien Revealed and Suffocating Fumes, we have enough tools to pay the Evidence cost if needed.
Suffocating Fumes deals with small creatures without losing utility in other matchups due to its Cycling ability, which turns it into another draw spell for the list.
Although not as broad as Counterspell, Duress allows for more proactive windows to disrupt the opponent's game plan and extract information for setting up future turns.
Sideboard
Relic of Progenitus works best in matchups where we can continuously disrupt the opponent with its exile effect, or when we need to remove multiple cards at once, while Faerie Macabre works best in games where we need to deal with specific key cards without losing proactivity.
Dust to Dust is the best answer against Affinity, especially for setting the opponent back on turns, as we are a slower deck. Arms of Hadar deals with small creatures with a broader scope than Suffocating Fumes. Essential against Aggro, but can also come in against Bogles.
Hydroblast is essential in the current Metagame to deal with Mono Red Rally and Madness, offering a cheap one-mana answer that helps us survive long enough to turn the game around.
Extract a Confession comes in for the Bogles matchup but also works against Mono Blue Terror and Jund Wildfire, while the extra copy of Duress provides more disruption in attrition games.
Sideboard Guide
Mono Blue Terror
IN
OUT
Faeries
IN
OUT
Mono Red Rally
IN
OUT
Madness Burn
IN
OUT
Grixis Affinity
IN
OUT
Jund Wildfire
IN
OUT
Elves
IN
OUT
Spy Walls
IN
OUT
Caw-Gates
IN
OUT
Bogles
IN
OUT
Wrapping Up
That's all for today!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!
Thanks for reading!
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