Pauper: 5 Decks to start playing in 2025

Magic is one of the most famous TCGs in the world. With over 30 years of history and over a hundred expansions released, the game has established itself through the diversity of strategies and competitive formats.

However, it is common to hear from players that “Magic is an expensive game” - and it is: if you want to compete, participate in tournaments and win prizes, you need the best cards. Consequently, you need to invest more in the staples and ideal pieces for your deck.

But Magic doesn't have to be expensive to play in tournaments. In the last decade, a format exclusive to Magic Online has gained notoriety and space at the gaming tables, moving communities and promoting tournaments with hundreds of competitors over the years, the Pauper - a mode where only common cards are legal, which significantly reduces the cost of entry while, on the other hand, having a very receptive community around the world.

In this article, we present five decklists for players who want to start playing Pauper and/or get to know the tournament scene in local stores through a cheaper format, with easy-to-pilot archetypes that are important for the current Metagame.

Kuldotha Red

Today, there is no way to go wrong playing Kuldotha Red. The evolution of Burn in Pauper combines artifacts like Experimental Synthesizer with Kuldotha Rebirth to generate value while amplifying the pressure at the board that, combined with Goblin Bushwhacker, can double the damage caused by your tokens.

This plan is complemented by Voldaren Epicure and Implement of Combustion, both cards that also interact with Galvanic Blast, which joins Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning to expand the damage range. Goblin Tomb Raider and Goblin Blast-Runner are two other important pieces to establish pressure from the first turns.

Kuldotha Red defines the speed of the format and enables strategies according to its predominance at the top of the Metagame, consequently being the most popular deck in Pauper today and one of the easiest for those who have never played the format to adapt and learn to play.

Bogles

Bogles is another archetype that follows a linear plan: build your own Megazord with Slippery Bogle and enchantments like Ethereal Armor and Armadillo Cloak. Its strategy punishes non-interactive decks and/or decks that rely on spot removal to deal with threats, in addition to being able to play “on the race” against Kuldotha Red and punish strategies that take too long to execute their game plan.

Once your creature has two or more enchantments, it becomes very difficult to combat Bogles, and you just have to keep piling cards on it to win the game. Malevolent Rumble was a recent addition that greatly improved the archetype's consistency and resilience against Chainer's Edict and similar effects, putting it in a favorable position against unprepared Metagames.

Bogles has also learned to adapt to Pauper's current speed by introducing creatures with Infect for games where dealing 20 damage takes too long, such as against Broodscale Combo.

Mono Blue Delver

Delver of Secrets has a long history in Pauper: considered for years to be the core of the best deck in the format, it fell into decline as the Metagame shifted towards attrition games and two-for-one effects, and returned to the competitive scene when Tolarian Terror and Cryptic Serpent motivated a more Tempo-oriented version of blue decks, where Delver excels.

Its plan is the Turbo Xerox in its most classic version: several cheap spells to draw cards, effects that mill and draw to increase the number of spells in the graveyard and Counterspell with bounces to delay the opponent's turns until our creatures end the game.

Although it seems simple, Mono Blue Tempo requires a good knowledge of the list to be played masterfully. A bounce on the wrong turn or a countered spell early can make the difference between two or three turns later, putting its controller in an unfavorable situation, but even so, it is still one of the most intuitive archetypes to pilot in Pauper today.

Gruul Ramp

Gruul Ramp is the natural evolution of Ponza, which has given up on land interaction in favor of a more straightforward game based on “go big” - the ability to play with a curve above the rest of the format and bury opponents in value with these high-cost cards.

These cards include creatures with the Cascade mechanic, which bring another spell with them. In an ideal world, they will bring other high-cost creatures, such as Writhing Chrysalis and Avenging Hunter, whose Initiative mechanics generate a lot of value for their controller.

To accelerate mana, it uses the combination of Arbor Elf with enchantments that increase the mana generated by Forests. With one of them in play, Arbor Elf can take its controller from two mana on turn two to four, enough to cast the first of their bombs and/or set up for a more explosive play the following turn.

Golgari Broodscale

The Broodscale Combo was the most recent addition to the Pauper competitive Metagame and finds itself in a favorable position in the format. Between the Jund and Golgari versions, I chose the two-color variant because of it's more focused on its game plan, which is easier to understand for those who have never played Pauper before.

This combo requires enchanting Basking Broodscale with Sadistic Glee, and then sacrificing another creature to trigger Sadistic Glee, which will put a +1/+1 counter on Basking Broodscale, triggering its ability to create a 0/1 token that can be sacrificed for mana, starting a loop that will give infinite power to Broodscale and infinite mana to its controller.

With this loop, we can end the game in three ways: attack for lethal with Basking Broodscale, repeat the loop by triggering Nadier’s Nightblade for infinite damage, or use Thoughtpicker Witch’s ability to mill the opponent’s deck.

The rest of the list is focused on finding the combo and protecting it at all costs, with Duress ensuring the path is clear to play your pieces and Tamiyo’s Safekeeping keeping your creatures safe during the combo, in addition to Eviscerator’s Insight and Deadly Dispute to find the remaining pieces.

That’s all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!