Pauper: 5 Decks with Wilds of Eldraine

The first week of Wilds of Eldraine (WOE) showed us the set marked its presence in many formats. In Pauper, we haven't yet had any list bringing relevant results with the new cards, probably because the set didn't bring many relevant cards for the format, which is to be expected of a Standard set. However, there are a few cards which can potentially see play in Pauper.

In this article, I'll present to you five Pauper decks which can use some of the best common cards in Wilds of Eldraine.

Mono Black Burn

The first list I want to present is quite underestimated currently. Black Burn is a version of Burn which escapes the hate Mono-Red tends to get, and it can be as resilient and fast as its red cousin.

This version leans on a Food sub-theme which offers support for Deadly Dispute and Cauldron Familiar, which are cards that fit the deck's goal really well.

As it is a Mono-Black deck, it is harder to deal with its Burns, which, besides that, also provide a good fight against cards such as Prismatic Strands - considering this deck uses life loss, and not damage, as traditional Burn decks use.

Practically all Burn cards in this deck are in Sorcery Speed cards, which is another factor that makes it harder to interact with this deck. The greatest WOE addition in this list is Hopeless Nightmare, an enchantment which acts as Burn, disruption, and, later on, can help with card selection.

Mono Green Stompy

Recently, I wrote an article highlighting Troublemaker Ouphe as one of the best commons in the set, and discussed its great potential in Pauper, particularly in decks such as Mono-Green Stompy, which haven't gotten an update for quite some time.

Stompy struggles considerably against decks such as Affinity, particularly against the Grixis version. Troublemaker Ouphe is a great addition to the deck, and brings more versatility, also bringing the possibility of interacting well against Rancor.

Golgari Initiative

Golgari Initiative is one of the most popular decks in Pauper's current metagame, and manages to get good games against most tier decks in the format. This list has a significant number of removals, using just a few creatures, which, most times, will act as a resource besides their use in combat. All that combined with one of the best draw engines in the format to protect the deck's true win condition: Take the Initiative.

Troublemaker Ouphe is a great addition to the deck, once Affinity is one of its worst matchups. The Bargain mechanic fits this list well, because this deck has many sacrifice targets to enable this mechanic's benefits.

Candy Grapple is an upgraded Final Flourish, which can deal with Kenku Artificer with no need for sacrifices and can slay bigger creatures, such as Cryptic Serpent, if the Bargain cost is paid.

Boros Synth

Hopeful Vigil and Candy Trail are excellent additions to Boros Synthesizer. The new food card fits the deck's curve better and represents potential card advantage which aligns well with Lembas and helps Galvanic Blast.

As for Hopeful Vigil, it really resembles Barbed Batterfist, but it works more defensively than aggressively and escapes artifact hates and also Hydroblast, offering a different synergy, but it is still consistent with Kor Skyfisher. Besides that, the 2/2 tokens with Vigilance can really help against Kuldotha Rebirth's tokens.

Mono Blue Faeries

Faeries decks haven't lived their best lives in Pauper. However, the Mono-Blue version of the deck is still quite popular, solid in the current metagame, and can have quite balanced games against most tier decks in the format.

With Affinity leaning more into Aggro and losing red, now might be a good time for Faeries to shine once again. WOE brought two interesting additions to the deck.

Snaremaster is a new Faerie type creature with an ability which fits this deck well, many times being able to replace the not-enough Faerie Miscreant. Miscreant hardly lives long enough to become relevant with its ability, whereas Snaremaster has the potential to open up space for the ninjas' attacks and also helps boost Spellstutter Sprite.

Spell Stutter, in turn, is a new counter for the deck, which gets stronger the more Faeries you have on your side of the board, being able to target any target spell, which makes this card versatile - despite being a conditional 2 mana counter.

Wilds of Eldraine brings just a few relevant common cards for Pauper, but, for a standard set, I believe its power level is as expected, and there is space to explore these new common cards in Pauper.

One more article down. I hope you liked it. Leave your questions, suggestions and critiques in the comment section, as I'll try to answer all. See you next time.