Welcome back to another thrilling week of the Pauper Brewer’s Cup. Some super-interesting submissions last week, and another deck secures its spot in the gauntlet. As always, if you have theme suggestions, don’t hesitate to suggest them!

By now you know the score. If you’re new here, don’t worry, I’ll go over it each week. This week’s article has two sections. First you get to vote on your favorite list from our top contenders last week. Second, you get to submit new lists around a new theme, which will be voted on next week. Here is a reminder of how this whole thing works.

The Pauper Brewer’s Cup

Here are some rules and stuff.

Every week, I will offer some kind of constraint or challenge to our readers. Submit a fun, innovative, or powerful brew built around those constraints. Your submission must be legal for Pauper in Magic Online. Guidelines are here. I will select three lists out of your submissions, and you will get to vote for that week’s winner. After 8 weeks we will have 8 innovative brews, and they will enter the gauntlet portion of the Brewer’s Cup. Whoever owns (submitted) the deck that wins this gauntlet will be endowed with fabulous riches (to be determined) and great esteem.

If any of that doesn’t make sense, ask for clarifications in the comments. The idea is that we should have fun sharing ideas and brewing, maybe discover some new, powerful decks, and in general support and promote the format we love the most, Pauper.

If at any point you have a suggestion for a theme or challenge, send those along too. I will do my best, but I am relying upon the ingenuity of you guys to make this thing really successful. I know you won’t let me down!

So, rules and stuff aside, let’s get down to business.

Week Two Winner

Wow! We tallied 70 votes over the week for your favorite Blades of Alara lists.

This was a close one! Brick’s Esper Blink-ifacts list edged out Heltoupee’s Bant Sword and Shield list to take the win, securing 29 votes to Bant’s 26. Zturchan’s Jund list brought up the rear with 16 votes.

Congratulations to Brick and his Esper Blink-ifacts list! Esper Blink-ifacts is now officially the second list that will go into the gauntlet portion of the Brewer’s Cup where it will have the opportunity to fight for glory and riches.

Voting for Week Three

Our constraint in week three was that almost everything had to be castable with one mana. On the surface this seemed quite straight-forward, but with Delve, Suspend, and other tricks, you guys found ways to introduce variety into the submissions. Nicely done! There were some excellent submissions, and here are my three picks for you to vote on.

[d title=”Little Heroic Boros by Heltoupee”]

Instant

3 Brute Force

4 Defiant Strike

2 Gods Willing

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Titan’s Strength

Sorcery

2 Assault Strobe

2 Firebolt

3 Reckless Charge

Enchantment

2 Dragon Mantle

Creature

3 Akroan Crusader

2 Deftblade Elite

4 Kiln Fiend

4 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer

4 Satyr Hoplite

Land

4 Boros Garrison

9 Mountain

4 Plains

Sideboard

2 Doomed Traveler

2 Electrickery

2 Erase

2 Gods Willing

4 Pyroblast

1 Relic of Progenitus

2 Smelt [/d]

Representing the aggro portion of the one-cost lists, Heltoupee has another chance to make it into the gauntlet with this Boros Heroic list. I’ve played similar lists in Standard Pauper and loved them, but we don’t have a list like this working in Pauper. Perhaps now is the time? I disagree with [c]Boros Garrison[/c] since the list only runs 17 lands and any hand with just Garrison is a mulligan, while any other land would let you keep. It’s the eternal problem of multi-color aggro decks in Pauper, though. Nothing new.

I considered Boros Metalcraft and Red Heroic for this spot, but both are very similar to lists we’ve seen place in Daily events.

[d title=”BR Lowrider by BrocoLee”]

Land

8 Mountain

7 Swamp

4 Evolving Wilds

2 Terramorphic Expanse

Creatures

4 Gurmag Angler

4 Sultai Scavenger

4 Kiln Fiend

Spells

4 Chain Lightning

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Duress

2 Ostracize

1 Ghastly Demise

2 Faithless Looting

2 Raven’s Crime

2 Disfigure

1 Gut Shot

4 Crack the Earth

3 Raze

Sideboard

2 Duress

2 Ostracize

3 Ghastly Demise

3 Electrickery

1 Gut Shot

2 Lightning Axe

2 Smelt [/d]

BrocoLee presented this midrange list with plenty of disruption and gas, and a number of threats that need to be answered or will take over the game. There were a couple good Angler lists presented, but I like this one for how it lets us trade resources we don’t care about (lands) and use them later to fuel big Delve dudes.

[d title=”Jund Suspenders by Honkbonkington”]

Land

4 Terramorphic Expanse

4 Evolving Wilds

2 Swamp

3 Forest

3 Mountain

2 Bloodfell Caves

2 Rugged Highlands

Creatures

4 Rift Elemental

2 Jhoira’s Timebug

2 Keldon Halberdier

4 Durkwood Baloth

3 Gurmag Angler

Sorcery

4 Raze

4 Rift Bolt

2 Search for Tomorrow

3 Innocent Blood

3 Crack the Earth

3 Duress

Instant

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Terminate

Sideboard

3 Mindstab

4 Pyroblast

2 Nature’s Claim

3 Electrickery

3 Ostracize [/d]

I had a rough time picking a third list. In the end, while I feel like Suspend lists just plain “don’t work” I still liked the creativity displayed here. Red Heroic nearly nabbed this spot again (sorry Scion!) but since it is a brewing contest, I want to reward creativity as much as playability. In any case, the disruption here could work to hold the game off until some of the suspended fatties can come in and impact the game.

Vote Here!

Alright, which of these three lists do you like the most? Submit your votes by the end of the week. One vote per reader, please.

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Week Four: The Wrong Tribe

Not everyone gets to be an elf or a goblin. Some creatures are relegated to obscure tribes like Kithkin, Giants, Oozes, and others. This week’s challenge inspired by a suggestion from Tom Scud.

Here are your constraints this week:

You have to run 3-4x [c]Distant Melody[/c]. At least 16x creatures of the same creature type. No elves.

Submissions will be judged on power, innovation, and how well you work within the constraints.

This is a brewing contest, so creativity is paramount.

Submit your brews and ideas

That’s it! Submit your lists in the comments below. Yes, that means other people can see your stuff and copy it or adapt it, but I do really want this to be an opportunity for us to discuss and brew together for Pauper.

Lists need to be submitted before next Tuesday, July 14, to be considered.

I will pick three submissions to highlight in next week’s article, and you guys will get to vote to decide the winner.

Our Forum Guidelines and Style Guide are available here, so you can make your decklist look like a list. Please use it.

Other thoughts, comments, or concerns? Suggestions for a weekly challenge? Leave those in the comments too!

Last but not least, if you like this challenge or any of our other content, please consider supporting us via our Patreon.

Happy brewing!

/bava