Pauper: 5 Off-Meta Decks to try out!

Pauper has a well-established Metagame around six archetypes: Kuldotha Red, Grixis Affinity, Broodscale Combo, Gruul Ramp, Faeries/Mono Blue Terror, and Rakdos Burn, with some variations occurring each week among Tier 1.5 strategies such as Jund Wildfire, Bogles, Dredge, White Weenie, among others.

In addition to these, the format also has a dozen variable strategies. Some are more well-known and have a wide range of enthusiasts, and others are less famous, have emerged recently, or have achieved some results but are not on the radar - most of these remain in the Magic Online Leagues, but in some cases, they even reach the Top 8 of the Challenges.

In this article, we present five off-meta Pauper decks to try, with lists that range from themes with artifacts and sacrifice to archetypes that use themes that have existed in the format for over a decade.

Mortician Sacrifice

Mortician Sacrifice is an archetype focused on the synergy between Carrion Feeder and Mortician Beetle combined with several creatures that generate some effect when they die, such as Infestation Sage and Nezumi Linkbreaker, which put another body on the board when sacrificed, or Shambling Ghast and Greedy Freebooter to generate treasures.

One of the advantages of this deck is that the quality of sacrifice effects has improved considerably in recent years with Deadly Dispute. Furthermore, even if your opponent deals with one of your creatures, Reaping the Graves and a combination of one-drops and/or Sac effects + the casting of Reaping guarantee several creatures back to your hand to start another sequence.

Although the above list made Top 8 in a recent Challenge, one element that I miss in it is a way to win the game outside of combat in an archetype where we grow creatures to gigantic proportions, so I recommend including at least one Rite of Consumption to threaten the combo-kill similar to Atog + Fling.

Mono Black Artifacts

Mono Black Artifacts is a new archetype that gained traction with the release of Pactdoll Terror in Aetherdrift. Its plan involves casting artifacts and spells that put artifacts into play to trigger the new card's ability and drain the opponent's life, while Glaze Fiend is an aggressive one-drop that benefits from the same theme.

Like the deck above, this list benefits from the enhanced effects of sacrificing artifacts or creatures to draw two cards while putting more artifacts into play, and the combination of these also ensures that you can find Duress and removal to interact with your opponent.

Mono Red Fiend

Kiln Fiend has been in Pauper for many years and has always had some occasional results in various versions, but the fastest and with the greatest potential for free wins today is Mono Red, which has gained several support cards in recent years such as Festival Crasher and Ghitu Amplifier, in addition to Ancestral Anger.

The plan remains the same as when it was known as Izzet Blitz. Put a creature that grows with each spell cast on the board, make sure you can untap with it and sequence several spells between pumps like Brute Force and free spells like Manamorphose and Mutagenic Growth to, with Temur Battle Rage or another card that gives Double Strike, cause lethal damage to the opponent in one or two combats.

Personally, I really like this list used by player Mateus Ascari to a 7-2 result in the 2024 Brazilian Pauper Nationals. It is very focused on what it does while including some completely under-the-radar cards, such as Artifact Blast and Singe, which works as a protection against Snuff Out.

Azorius Faeries

Faeries is still one of the most popular decks in Pauper and white is currently the best Sideboard color of the current Metagame, and there are no impediments that prevent players from trying to mix the inherent Tempo plays of the Mono Blue version with excellent white card support to combat the Metagame.

This list works in much the same way as Mono Blue Faeries, but with the addition of Thraben Charm as an efficient removal against Writhing Chrysalis while also functioning as a graveyard hate and answer to Sadistic Glee, and Kor Skyfisher allows reusing your creatures' ETBs without having to resort to Ninjutsu, and its interaction with Moon-Circuit Hacker allows for some valuable combos that ensure a good flow of card advantage.

In the Sideboard, iconic staples like Dust to Dust and Destroy Evil await opponents alongside the already familiar suite of interactions Faeries, making it slower but also more efficient in responding to the format's main decks.

Sultai TortEx

Tortured Existence is another card that has been in Pauper for a long time, but has never made significant results. It has had Golgari, Abzan, Jund versions and now Sultai variants have appeared with new interactions.

In this version, we want to explore the interaction of the enchantment with the cards Footlight Fiend, Entropic Eidolon, Carrion Feeder and Shipwreck Sifters to generate a sequence of triggers: Entropic Eidolon returns to its owner's hand whenever the player casts a multicolored spell, then we can discard it to get Footlight Fiend and cast it to return the Eidolon to the hand.

Since the Eidolon is a spirit, Shipwreck Sifters gains a +1/+1 counter whenever we discard it for Tortured Existence, and with Carrion Feeder, we can sacrifice Footlight Fiend to deal damage to the opponent and repeat the loop as long as we have mana available.

Other interactions on the list include Dihada’s Ploy to hold back Aggro, as well as the classic combination of Spore Frog with a creature with Dredge to “lock” the opponent’s combat.

That’s all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!