Pauper Meta Report - How Strong is Sticker Goblin?
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How Strong is Sticker Goblin?
Last week, finally, _____Goblin or as often it's called “Sticker Goblin,” was legal in MTGO Pauper. Of course, people have started to play around with it, but before we dive into the topic in-depth, let's take a few steps back and analyze something: It’s never a problem until it hits online.
I remember that initiative was released and took a while to get implemented into the Online client. I am talking of at least a couple of months, a timeframe where players on paper had more than enough to test it and prove that it was too good for the format, but no one said anything other than we want it online.
Petitions were heard, and It only took one week, even a couple of days after it was declared officially too strong. Later, almost every card with initiative got banned.
Now, we are in a similar situation where we are seeing crazy things happening with the implementation of the Sticker Goblin online: some are hyped about it, some are sad about it, and some are frustrated because it seems to be too good.
However, Is it really broken? Probably isn't, but it gives burn strategies a new, faster edge to get more explosive turns.
Think about it: it always gives you one more mana than what you spend on it, and aside from dealing with a body, now you need to deal with it, and also, the rest of the cheap spells burn can play. Of course, this would not be an issue on regular burn decks because they run out of gas, but with eight reckless impulse copies and four experimental Synthesizers, they are almost guaranteed always to have something to play every turn and don’t get me started on the dream hand involving a couple of kuldotha rebirths and a goblin bushwhacker, because probably you had already seen that.
Still, my main point is, why is it until now that it's getting noticed? Is the gap between Paper and Online so brutal? Or is it just because of availability that people can't afford to test new strategies involving cards that are not yet online on Paper?
Also, this is very intriguing because I went back to all the Paupergeddon Events of the Year, searching for decklists that run “_____ Goblin,” can you guess how many had it? ZERO.
Now, this is just one card. What would Pauper really be like if the full Unfinity Sheet was implemented ONLINE? What strategies are out there that we are not seeing?
A lot of questions and few little answers based on the paper's competitive scene.
Top Decks of the Week
Beicodegeia Mono Blue Delver - Saturday and Sunday Challenge winner
Usually, I would cover Saturday and Sunday decks separately, but this time, the same player took down both challenges with the same 75. It's no surprise to me to see this, given how the meta is currently looking ( I mean, look at the eight Hydroblast in the sideboard). However, this is tricky because, in contrast to last weekend, the presence of Burn decks dropped significantly in both challenges, and the most played deck on Sunday with four copies of it in the top eight was mono blue delver.
As I've stated in the past, mtg players are clever enough to not bring the best deck in the format to competitive events if they know they will also be the most hated, and this seems to have been the case for this weekend challenges, mimicking what people experience in Paper events.
Deck of the Week Award
I'm always happy to see mono-black devotion lists do good, but this one is on a completely crazy level. For the most part, it looks like your standard MBC deck; however, Snuff Out in the main deck is surprising to me, given how popular Burn decks are in the meta. With that aside, this deck seems very good, and it's a more direct approach to what Golgari Gardens is trying to do, but with a better mana base.
Wrap Up
Aside from the mayhem that Sticker Goblin may or may not represent to the meta, Pauper is still in the same spot. Embiggen is the other card from the Unfinity set that was added, but it is not enough to justify running Infect decks in a meta dominated by lava dart.
Thanks a lot for reading until now, and we will catch up with more content through the rest of the week. Take care, and we will meet again next time!
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