The State of the Format
Pauper forum
Posted on Feb. 18, 2021, 11:43 a.m. by Grubbernaut
Full disclosure: In MtG terms, I'm basically a generation behind the curve, so take this with a full tablespoon of salt.
I began playing pauper in 2017, and played very actively through 2019. In my local meta, and online, you could expect to see a wide, healthy variety of decks; linear things like mono white or red heroic, UB control, and U, UR, or UB delver. Even tron, turbo fog, and the usual suspects like boros monarch and MBC. Tons of decks!
After a move, I took a hiatus from pauper, and have now recently come back to it - to find that land destruction, cascade, and Ephemerate seem to have a death-grip on the format (at least online). While I subjectively despise LD, especially in what was once such an open format, I think Acid Moss is fine as it punishes 3+ color decks (or, at least tries to).
However...
Ephemerate makes for some of the most unfun play patterns allowed in any format, at the moment. It feels like it's only half a notch down from Lantern Control, in modern, or how Caw Blade was in standard. I have a handful of decks that I adore playing, but unless you both get lucky and have your opponent get /un/lucky, defeating the blink decks feels unpleasant at best.
With a Mulldrifter and Ephemerate , you essentially have two Ancestral Recall - on a 2/2 flyer. And even then, in a vacuum, Ephemerate also acts as protection used outside of the wombo combo... and Archaeomancer only makes things worse.
I LOVE pauper. I want to continue loving it. I am hesitant to seriously call for bans, in general, but the game has largely lost its luster, for me. Legacy lite has become jeskai snow.
How do other pauper regulars feel about the current meta? Am I simply an out of touch MtG boomer, or is this a real problem?
Cheers, and keep pauping off, y'all.
Grubbernaut says... #3
The two decks I play the most have 8+ instant speed removal spells.
February 18, 2021 4:15 p.m.
Could try Mono Black Control or Boros Aggro or Mono Green Aggro.
Lots of Lightning Bolt or other burn. Or lots of stuff like Vines of Vastwood . Or Gray Merchant of Asphodel and monarch stuff.
DavidBray says... #2
Lightning Bolt
February 18, 2021 4:01 p.m.