Artifacts have become the new core of Midrange in Pauper. Over the years, Magic's design shift to make the game more permanent-based has greatly benefited these archetypes in Pauper, to the point where Deadly Dispute had to be banned for becoming too efficient.
But this hasn't changed the direction of Midrange. On the contrary: Affinity and Jund Wildfire remain very solid archetypes in the Metagame, and with the releases of Pactdoll Terror and Black Mage's Rod this year, Mono Black Midrange is also geared towards this theme.
The Decklist
This list follows almost the same pattern we've seen in Pactdoll lists since Black Mage's Rod came out in Final Fantasy. There are two crucial differences: the first is with the splash of 
for Weather the Storm and, in some cases, Troublemaker Ouphe — since we've already covered Golgari Gardens in another article, I'll be focusing on Mono Black here.
The second involves the creatures that complement Pactdoll Terror and Refurbished Familiar. Some opt for Crypt Rats, others run Shambling Ghast, but in this list I'm going for a more aggressive stance with Glaze Fiend, whose interactions with Vault of Whispers and Blood Fountain provide a fast clock for non-interactive games, allowing us to finish the game quickly.
In 2018, I used Kiln Fiend + Temur Battle Rage in Rakdos Monarch lists for a few months with a similar principle of playing over my opponent if the late-game wasn't possible, or if extending the game would be worse for me — at the time, it was common to use this line against Tron or Familiars, while the Monarch plan was more efficient in Midrange mirrors or against most Aggro, where our removals took care of their threats.
Glaze Fiend serves the same role, and we already naturally benefit from artifacts enough that we don't need to make any concessions to include it in the list.
Maindeck
The threats.
As mentioned above, Glaze Fiend is an aggressive clock that works especially well in non-interactive games or when the opponent doesn't have flying blockers. Along with a combination of Blood Fountain and Vault of Whispers, it already provides six damage with a single attack, which can be increased to ten on the third turn with the right combination.
Black Mage's Rod works as a complementary late-game threat that benefits from the large amount of non-creature spells we have, while being an artifact to interact with our other creatures.
Pactdoll Terror is our main threat. Once in play, it will drain the opponent's life for each artifact you play, turning Blood Fountain into Shock or amplifying the advantage of using Fanatical Offering and Ichor Wellspring.
Refurbished Familiar is one of the best creatures in Pauper today. In addition to the ETB effect, it is also a flying threat to pressure the opponent in the early game.
To complement our game plan, we run both Ichor Wellspring and Blood Fountain in addition to the Fanatical Offering package to consistently put more artifacts into play.
Fanatical Offering and Eviscerator’s Insight are also our sources of card advantage, and we use several cards that we can sacrifice with them. Some lists opt for Shambling Ghast to simulate Deadly Dispute or to speed up Pactdoll Terror.
Grim Bauble works like a Disfigure in artifact form, granting more triggers for our threats while dealing with small creatures from decks like Mono Red, White Weenie, Elves, among others.
Cast Down deals with basically any creature and is preferable to use against cards that we have no other means of resolving, like Writhing Chrysalis and Myr Enforcer.
Vault of Whispers and Darksteel Citadel trigger Pactdoll Terror and Glaze Fiend with land drops. Citadel shares slots with Khalni Garden, which offers a body on the board for the cost of “one mana” to sacrifice with our Dispute effects, or to block the opponent in the first turns.
Bojuka Bog works as a graveyard hate in the maindeck that we can play as a land. We also have Troll of Khazad-dûm as a way to find Swamps in hands that come with too many Citadels or Khalni Gardens, and becomes a complementary threat in long games.
Sideboard
Duress protects our creatures, deals with troublesome spells in non-interactive games, and also provides information about the opponent's resources so we can play around them when necessary.
Campfire is a recurring source of life gain against Aggro and Burn, but its main function is to delay the High Tide combo for a few turns.
Nihil Spellbomb is our main graveyard hate and interacts with Pactdoll Terror and Glaze Fiend, in addition to functioning as an extra draw when necessary.
Arms of Hadar is a sweeper that destroys only the opponent's creatures, being ideal to deal with the go wide decks of the format, while we can attack with Refurbished Familiar, Glaze Fiend and the Black Mage's Rod token.
Tithing Blade also interacts with our Artifacts plan while resolving individual large creatures. Ideal for Bogles, but can also be used against Tolarian Terror.
Unexpected Fangs grants a creature a power boost and permanent Lifelink. If used on Pactdoll Terror or Glaze Fiend, it can hold off Aggro's clock for several turns.
Sideboard Guide
Madness Burn
IN
OUT
Mono Blue Terror
IN
OUT
Jund Wildfire
IN
OUT
Bogles
IN
OUT
Elves
IN
OUT
Mono Blue Faeries
IN
OUT
Dredge
IN
OUT
High Tide
IN
OUT
White Weenie
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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