Pauper Interview with Beicodegeia - Speaking to the Pauper Master himself!

I got the pleasure of speaking to the legendary Magic Online Pauper grinder, Carlos Roger (Beicodegeia). We are going to dive into his testing process and how he decides to choose decks to play in Challenges. Also, we are going to look into his recent achievements on winning four Challenges in a row and seven out of eleven Challenges.

As previously mentioned, Beicodegeia has won 7 out of the last 11 Challenges when this was written. The first Challenge being the 17th September and the last Challenge being 22nd October.

Beicodegeia won four Challenges in a row and then proceeded to win three out of the next seven. Looking at the records had the following in the last 11 Challenges:

1st: 8-2 (17th Sep)

2nd: 7-2 (23rd Sep)

3rd: 8-1 (24th Sep)

4th: 8-1 (30th Sep)

5th: 4-2 (1st Oct)

6th: Didn’t Play (7th Oct)

7th: 8-1 (8th Oct)

8th: 3-3 (14th Oct)

9th: 3-3 (15th Oct)

10th: 8-1 (21st Oct)

11th: 9-1 (22nd Oct)

So overall in the 11 Challenges he won 66 matches and lost 17 matches giving them a Winrate of 79.5%. This winrate is incredible!

An incredible pilot of a variety of decks I am going to showcase the three decks he piloted to victory. Additionally, he even took a day of as shown by the records above!

Let’s look at the decks Beicodegeia won with.

Mono Blue Terror

Sticker Goblin

Dimir Fae

As you can see, these all have different playstyles and pros and cons to each!

Finally, Beicodegeia put Faeries back on the map! Let’s dive into the interview and really see how he tests and has these amazing achievements!

Firstly, I had to ask him a Burning question I have had on the podcast for a very long time!

Check it out!

How do you pronounce your MTGO name?

A: In my 'formal' language, 'bay so' is the correct pronunciation. If you were doing a test or something, you would definitely go with 'bay so'. But Brazilians in general tend to pronounce words that end with "so" as "su" because it's easier on the tongue. Something like 'bay su di jeia' would be pretty good.

English speakers pronouncing the name like that would prob surprise a lot of people since beiço and géia seems like really tough words for English Speakers.

When did you start playing Magic?

A: I started playing Magic in 2005/2006, when I was entering High School, I discovered the game through friends.

When did that transition into Pauper being your main format?

A: Well, at first, the format I was most interested in was the old Extended (T4) but here in the city it was easier to have championships in the Pauper format, due to the ease of assembling the decks. I alternated at the beginning playing Pauper with borrowed decks and assembled slowly extended the decks.

When I started on Magic Online I played exclusively in Modern, but as time went by I decided to venture into the Pauper leagues. Eventually, I focused only on them so that I could improve as much as possible and get better results.

How do you decide what to register in a Challenge? What is your testing process?

A: Well, a few years ago I decided to play some Pauper Challenges because they had better EV compared to other formats and I chose the decks that I was most familiar with playing. At the start, I never had good results, but I kept myself fairly average, playing with what was comfortable for me.

Nowadays, I use a process that tends to analyze the meta of the leagues during the week (I play around 25 to 35 games a day). I do an analysis just before starting the Challenge of the players who are registered and what possible decks they might be playing, guided by the last decks they used in Challenges. Thus adjusting the deck I will play, as well as the adjustments in the list to suit the likely present metagame.

Another factor that helps me a lot is testing the list and discussing with other excellent players such as Barff, Carvs, Brivenix, Outzeroo among others. I usually don't choose lower tier decks unless it has performed exceptionally well in testing during the week's leagues.

Do you have a testing team to help you practice, in general?

A: I somehow ended up answering this question a little earlier, but some Brazilian grinders help each other a lot: carvs, brivenix, outzeroo, Barff, reptilium, luffydochapeudepalha. We end up exchanging ideas about decklists, metagame and other insights about the game. I also receive a lot of ideas from the Asa Branca team.

How do you decide where the metagame is at in a Challenge to predict what will be good? I.e choosing at the time a dead deck in Dimir Faeries.

A: Playing the Leagues of the week and taking a sample of the latest Challenges and following a certain logic. I adjust a list that I think is good for playing the Challenge.

With Dimir Faeries, it was a joint effort between Carvs who created the list, and me and Barff who adjusted it to beat the 3 strongest decks in the format at that time (Mono Blue Terror, Sticker Red Kuldotha and UW Glitters). We tested the deck throughout of the week and it did very well in these 3 matches. Spellstutter Sprite was incredible in the 3 matches, Snuff Out was absurd against UW Glitters and Mono Blue Terror, even against Kudotha Sticker he did well because it took away the _____ Goblin's explosion, killing him with the ability on the stack. The loss of life would be even less of a downside because the newer lists have less burn than traditional Kuldotha lists.

Shortly before the Challenge I made some adjustments to the side to further improve the match against red. Adding 6 Hydroblasts / Blue Elemental Blasts, is a strategy that I had already tested before in Mono Blue Terror, which had won 3 Challenges before and had worked in the meta infested with red decks.

To my surprise, I also managed to have positive results against other decks in the format, such as Caw Gates and Golgari Gardens, thus succeeding in 2 Challenges and bringing Dimir Faeries back to the meta.

Do you strictly play Magic Online or just paper events?

A: Currently I only play online on Magic Online. Just before the pandemic, I sold all my Papers cards I had and only bought some Pauper decks. Soon I will be returning to play some tournaments for the team here in Brazil, in December. I will play a regional in João Pessoa, which is being organized by Asa Branca and I hope to play in other tournaments carrying the team flag.

Do you prepare differently and how do you find the metagame in paper compared to online?

A: For this regional event that I will participate in, we’ll have meetings with the team to discuss lists and strategies that best suit the Paper Meta, which is quite different from the online one.

What are your thoughts on the format? Do you think cards need to be banned?

A: I think this issue about banning is a very delicate subject, because it sets a precedent for bad things to happen with the format. I understand that people aren't satisfied with the format and want something that shakes up and changes everything or that returns to how it was years ago (a slower format full of different decks but with only about 3 dominant ones (Boros, U/X Fae, Tron)).

However, Magic evolves, formats get faster, cards get more degenerate. That being said, I'm happy with current Pauper. We have decisions to make, whether in the course of the game or in the deckbuilding, there's still room for innovation.

In a short space of time we were blessed with new and powerful decks: Azorius Glitters, Mono Blue Serpents, Kuldotha Variants, Golgari Gardens and Caw Gate and this is something that doesn't happen so easily in a format like Pauper.

Are Challenges the best way to compete in competitive Magic?

A: I think that Challenges are currently the best scenario for playing competitively in Pauper, Online Magic Tournaments are full of excellent players that you can learn a lot from just by playing against them. Whilst we don't have a Pauper GP's Challenges, Qualifiers and PTQ's are the best way to play the format in an extremely competitive way.

Favorite Type of Magic Content?

A: I usually follow discussions on Discord, watch Magic Channels on YouTube (although there aren't many about Pauper specifically) and keep up to date with lists on websites.

Do you play other formats other than Pauper?

A: Currently I only play Pauper, but I've played Modern, Standard and Legacy.

Favorite Card in Pauper?

A: Okiba Gang-Shinobi!

Favourite Card of all time?

A: Meloku, the Clouded Mirror.

Favorite Pauper deck of all time?

A: Dimir Faeries.

Favourite era of Pauper?

A: I don't really have a favorite era in Pauper, but the current era of Pauper is definitely one of my favorite ones.

Most undervalued card in Pauper?

A: Exclude.

Which opponent do you always worry about versing when on MTGO and why?

A: There are some opponents that when you play are very difficult matches, such as saidin, cicciogire, gn42 among others. However, I really try to play 100% focused in Challenges when I'm against Mogged. He is a monster with all archetypes, and he almost never makes a mistake.

Do you think your accomplishment will ever be topped/beaten?

A: I'm still in disbelief at how I managed to achieve so many finals in such a short space of time - it's really quite difficult. Having said that, I think the chance of this happening again is very small, but there are players who have the potential to achieve this too.

Most common mistake you see your opponents making?

A: Regarding Magic Online, it's about F6'ing (skipping the turn), many opponents quickly press f6 on normal turns and when they draw something to respond, they remove this function, so you can play accordingly.

I do it myself sometimes, it's like catching a tell playing in person. Similar to when I cast a spell and the opponent thinks more than normal, you can assume what they may or may not have in their hand. Over time, you get to know whether it's a bluff or not.

As for the normal game, it's about keeping marginal hands against certain decks (1-land hands, hands without pressure playing Aggro decks, hands with no answers for the early game playing Midrange / Control).

Best advice for players wanting to get better?

A: Train. Focus on a deck and play it several times against as many decks as you can. You will inevitably start to notice patterns and plays that are repeated, which cards are good in matches, what to respond to and what not to respond to.

Finally, it helps to watch gameplay from other players, as you get to see a different perspective.

If you were to say your best Magic quality what would it be?

A: Adaptability.

Any last comments you'd want to share?

A: I would like to thank the space and thank the Pauper community, which has always been very receptive to everyone who joined it.

As you can see, Beicodegeia is an incredible player, with some immense skill! But one thing that really shines here is the consistency, and the practice really pays off. Every game he plays, he learns from. This feat will most likely never be beaten.

Hope you enjoyed these questions, and it was a fantastic opportunity to get to speak to him!

Until next time!