Northern Pauper Open 2025 - A Pauper Tournament Cinderella Story

The UK Pauper community is one of the biggest and most active right now, consistently hosting some of the largest Pauper events. Today, I’ll be doing a quick recap of the latest Northern Pauper Open—covering the results, the winning decklist, and most importantly, what it all means for the current Pauper meta.

Table of Contents

The Undisputed Pauper Best Deck

Seeing so many different decks in the Top 8 is a great sign for the tournament’s diversity, but at the end of the day, only one deck can take the crown—and this time, it was Elves! (At least, according to the source. )

While this result might seem surprising, I’ve noticed Elves performing well in certain metas over the past few months. Outside of Grixis Affinity, which runs [card]Krark-Clan Shaman[/card], and decks that rely on [card]Breath Weapon[/card], Elves actually thrives in a diverse format. It boasts explosive board development, insane card advantage thanks to [card]Lead the Stampede[/card] and [card]Winding Way[/card], and a strong win condition in [card]Timberwatch Elf[/card] and [card]Nyxborn Hydra[/card]—the perfect mana sink to capitalize on its seemingly infinite resources.

[cards]{{Priest of Titania}}{{Timberwatch Elf}}{{Nyxborn Hydra}}[/cards]

Against slower decks like Broodscale Combo that rely on assembling combo pieces, or aggressive decks with limited removal like Mono-White Aggro, Elves can easily execute its game plan with little disruption. On the other hand, matchups against Golgari or Jund Gardens would have been much tougher—but since those decks weren’t present, the path to victory was mostly about dodging Affinity in the winning bracket.

Congrats to Steelix1994 for piloting the deck to victory!

*Rip Pauper’s Best deck: Poison Storm

A Diverse Tournament Pauper Meta

[cards]{{Myr Enforcer}}{{Deadly Dispute}}[/cards]

In a 61-person event, Affinity made up about 15% of the metagame, with nine total copies in the field—and despite facing heavy hate, two of them still made it to the semi-finals. Just take a look at those sideboards—practically every deck was packing at least four copies of artifact hate, yet Affinity managed to push through.

[cards]{{Sadistic Glee}}{{Basking Broodscale}}[/cards]

The second most played deck was Glee Combo, coming in at around 8%, while the rest of the meta was fairly evenly spread across various archetypes. One standout aspect of this event was the sheer variety—there were at least 31 different decklists, showcasing just how diverse Pauper can be.

That said, even with all that variety, the metagame is starting to feel somewhat polarized between Affinity and Broodscale Combo. Affinity continues to be the resilient powerhouse, shrugging off hate and dominating top cuts, while Broodscale is emerging as the go-to combo deck, leveraging its explosive plays and synergy to challenge the format’s staples. The two decks are shaping the way people build their sideboards and approach matchups, leading to a metagame that’s both diverse in deck choice yet defined by these two dominant forces.

[cards]{{Kuldotha Rebirth}}{{Goblin Bushwhacker}}[/cards]

Meanwhile, where’s Mono-Red?

Unlike Grixis Affinity, Mono-Red just doesn’t have the staying power to survive in a meta that’s actively gunning for it—especially without [card]Monastery Swiftspear[/card].

There are also other factors at play. Some argue that open decklists make Burn a less reliable matchup, while the overall meta diversity actually works against it. Since Burn is a relatively straightforward deck to pilot, players would rather try other more engaging strategies.

As for this tournament, only three Mono-Red decks were played. One made it to the Top 16, another finished in the Top 32, and the last one underperformed, leaving the archetype with a 44.4% win rate. But with such a small sample size, that number isn’t all that meaningful.

Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see if this trend continues in future events or if another deck rises up to shake things up. What do you think—are we heading toward a two-deck format, or is there still room for surprises?

The Best Card in MTG Pauper Right Now

[cards]{{Deadly Dispute}}[/cards]

Arguably, [card]Deadly Dispute[/card] is the best card in Pauper right now—or at the very least, the most played card in this tournament. It’s not just a key piece of Grixis Affinity; it also slots into a variety of other decks in the current meta. We’re seeing it in Broodscale Combo, Jund Wildfire, certain versions of Rakdos Madness, Orzhov Blade, and now even Cycling Storm has started running it.

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up as a ban target. Unlike the indestructible Bridges, which enable specific strategies, [card]Deadly Dispute[/card] just makes every deck that plays it better—kind of like what [card]The One Ring[/card] did for Modern. And if it gets banned, those decks won’t just disappear; they’ll adapt.

What do you think—should [card]Deadly Dispute[/card] stay, or is it time to pull the plug? Let me know in the comments!

Where is Pauper Heading?

I’ve gotta be honest—one in-person tournament isn’t enough to define how good or bad the current Pauper meta is, but it does give us a glimpse into where the format stands.

I’m really glad that over the weekend at least one person from the PFP was part of these events (NY Pauper Open). That means they could gather firsthand insights from other players who enjoy the format. While I still think it’s important to address both metagames, we need to treat the online and in-person metas equally. After all, MTGO Leagues and Challenges still play a huge role in shaping the format.

I’m also really happy to see these events happening consistently. It’s great that people are putting in the time and effort to promote and play Pauper, especially since the format faces some unique challenges when it comes to growing its player base. The low cost of entry is a double-edged sword—it makes Pauper accessible, but it doesn’t align with WotC’s business model, which naturally affects how much support they’re willing to give the format. 

That means things like tournament promotion, player sponsorships, and content creation often fall to the community rather than official backing. But despite that, it’s clear that the people who do support Pauper do it out of love for the format rather than personal profit, and that’s something really special.

Wrap Up

I really hope Pauper is moving in a better direction, but it feels like an eternity passes between updates. I’m confident the PFP cares about the format, but at the same time, the update schedule feels all over the place—ultimately making things inconsistent.

That said, I hope these latest tournaments and the feedback they generated help the format gain more traction among players. After all, Pauper is almost entirely a community-driven effort.

A Huge Shoutout to @PauperDan and the UK Pauper community who brings Pauper into the spotlight with their dedication!

Thanks for reading!