Outside of that, it mostly looks like Izzet Control with the introduction of some green cards like [card]Malevolent Rumble[/card] that synergizes beautifully with the rest of the deck. Regardless of these nuances, the following are decks that have proven themselves through solid performance and creative design. In some cases, players at 4-0 may agree to split prizes, leading to one player conceding in exchange for having their deck appear as a 5-0 list.

This will gradually happen over time as Wizards releases more Remastered sets and Anthologies. Alongside the rather unorthodox assortment of major threats, Alchemy’s Gruul Ramp deck also has a Dinosaur sub-theme. Providing ramp and early game pressure Intrepid Paleontologist are Huatli, Poet of Unity are veritable staples. For some added spice, some lists choose to include Planeswalkers such as Wrenn and Realmbreaker. Being a brand-new format, there’s understandably a lot of hype and interest in Timeless right now.

Pauper Meta Report - TOP Decks of 2024 so Far

This is a good place to be against almost every creature deck, and on top of that, you also run the Counterspell package to prevent annoying threats from beating you. Both Tolarian Terror and Murmuring Mystic are decent finishers, and both the red and the blue monarch are excellent for outgrinding decks like Golgari Gardens. I expect this deck to see more play once players have realized that it has the most tools to beat Glitters Affinity consistently.

Format-Wide Staples

Arguably, Enduring Curiosity is one of the best cards in the format due to its potential to refill your hand with just a few evasive creatures on the board. On top of that, the deck also runs a solid value card in the form of Knight-Errant of Eos, which replaces Enduring Curiosity for the deck, and a solid finisher on Imodane's Recruiter. In such a deep and diverse format, it’s way more important for players to be able to understand and play their deck effectively. There are plenty of tools available to adapt your weapon of choice for your perceived metagame.

Meanwhile, decks like Familiars and Goblins (Moggwarts) boast very high conversion rates, reflecting how often they appear in top results relative to how often they are played. This suggests that only highly skilled players tend to pilot these decks successfully. Affinity remains one of the best Pauper decks in 2025, continuing its dominance with a mix of efficient threats, card advantage, and artifact synergies. The Grixis build thrives thanks to its ability to grind value while applying constant pressure.

On the one hand, it has flying and lifelink putting it much higher in the creature quality department. On the other, it exiles the card that will get returned when Bat leaves the battlefield. It can be bitter sweet when it just dies but then again – the opponent had to spend a removal on this Bat so that’s a win in my book. As you can see, there are still plenty of off-meta decks waiting to be discovered in Pauper that can be highly effective when built thoughtfully, keeping popular cards and the broader metagame in mind.

While it may seem harsh, hell queue is absolutely where Rusko, Clockmaker belongs. When combined with plentiful flicker abilities, Rusko, Clockmaker provides unrivaled draw thanks to, well, making clocks. Putting a Midnight Clock into turn each time they hit the battlefield, this mighty clockmaker offers Commander decks exactly what they need to be successful. For the longest time, this card was absolutely everywhere, thanks to the matchmaking system being rather wonky. Here, Rusko, Clockmaker faces off against only the best and most competitive decks in Brawl.

Standard Cascade – Midweek Magic Event Guide

On top of that, Both Tolarian Terror and Gurmag Angler are bigger in size than, let's say, Myr Enforcer, so you will wall and even race in some spots against your opponents. Against the field, the deck is also very solid as it packs the Hydroblast Package against other red decks and can punish slower starts with early Tolarian Terrors on the play. For a while, Boros has been one of the most popular decks in the Format; however, it's not performing exceptionally well. It does have access to eight copies of Thraben Inspector, but the deck is significantly slower. Against decks like Golgari Gardens, it is destined to lose, and control decks can out-grind them as well. This deck’s flaw seems to be its overall slowness, despite having access to Pyroblast against blue decks.

There are so many versions of that archetype that I could have made an entire Tier List solely including them. I could also have made an entire report about decks with Iron Patriot and Sam Wilson Captain America, as these two are the core of those flexible decks. They both grant lots of points for cheap, which opens more slots for reactive cards like Shang-Chi and Enchantress.

We’re using a mixture of sources, and from the looks of things, black features in about 4 of the five decks we’ll be recommending today. In addition, there seems to be no Esper Legends in the results, suggesting that all the Esper players have jumped the Midrange train for good. While I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mono Red fall back out of Top 5 in two weeks, Boros is that combination between Mono Red and Mono White that we’ve lacked. It looks like another case where right after the set release I put Mono Red back into the Top 5 – but that’s exactly how the tournaments went. Most builds agree on including 3-4 copies each of pwoe-231p-mosswood-dreadknight-dread-whispers, lci-113-preacher-of-the-schism and lci-211-sentinel-of-the-nameless-city, along with the usual black removal.

Besides being a great mana sink, it makes our removals like Lightning Axe hit bigger targets as Niv-Mizzet, Reborn or Ygra, Eater of All. Nevertheless, with seven more strong finishes this weekend, Rakdos Prowess stands firm as one of the strongest decks in the format. Now, with twelve players making the top 8 in seven tournaments, playing a less-creature version seems to be the right choice. This Blue/White deck makes for an excellent alternative option for a budget deck but is also incredibly powerful if it’s allowed to get to top speed. A large part of its success stems from not only Sheoldred being a mtg card heavy hitter with an incredible ability, but also the plethora of removal options currently in the game. Cut Down, Go for the Throat and more are all available, bringing cheap removal to your games.

First, the most popular archetype was Control, and the 56% Win Rate is honestly pretty low for the archetype’s pedigree. But, even if you skip Turn 1, the fact that you almost never have a bad play due to how good all your cards are makes this deck scary in almost every game. Although there are still a few synergistic decks around, such as Bullseye Discard, Scream Move, and the returning High Evolutionary, it seems like Marvel Snap is back to what it was in January. Games are most often decided by an early Snap from the player with the best opener, which is often followed by a Retreat due to how scary winning Iron Patriot‘s location can be. Behind it are Silver Surfer, Arishem, and Thanos, each solidifying the dominance of flexible builds.