Leipzig has been having a pauper scene for several years now and this tournament was the biggest achievement of this community to date. The mood of the tournament and the organizers was stellar, achieving the huge landmark of 115 people participating - the biggest pauper event in Germany.
One could really feel that the format has now consistently planted its roots also here, and no matter my personal result (mediocre, by the way) this feeling persisted through and after the event. I joined the Leipzig community and started playing the format at the end of 2023 and since then have been deep diving into it, developing a sense for the aspects of competitive magic, with some decent results at Paupergeddon.
Deck: Gruul midrange/Ramp
Decklist: https://www.manatraders.com/webshop/personal/1282348
Unfortunately, I did not have plenty of time in terms of testing to prepare for the tournament, unlike previous events. This meant that I had to focus my energies and time in the most profitable way, by keeping a list that I am the most comfortable with and testing only specific matchups - specifically those that are neither impossible or too easy to win, and those that I would have expected to be present in real percentages at the tournament.
I picked my old time favourite Gruul deck.
I am basically on autopilot with this deck at this point, and I felt confident with it after a top 16 in Lecco at the Rebound event with a similar list. After some testing, I believe this very aggro-ish way of playing Gruul is still the best against the current meta, being able to both setup early clocks and present resiliency with Nyxborn Hydra and Bannerhide Krushok. The “Cascaders” version has also been bringing home some results, especially online, but I don’t love the swingy feeling of blind cascades as the only mean of putting a serious threat, especially when with this list there are multiple lines easily presenting 5/5s with important keywords of sort on turn 3, and this is excluding the nutty lines that are common to all the Gruul ramp decks.
There are some new tweaks to it in respect to before the Glee-Dispute ban, as the Vines of Vastwood &/or Ram Through package is not that needed anymore. Keeping the rest of the list steady and the land count to 16, this frees up 4 flex slots that I have been seeing used in different ways, from packages of Evolution Witness to 4x Ram Through for maximum damage.
I decided to go for 2x Boarding Party and 1x Oliphaunt as additional mid game threats, and one Ram Through because it’s an amazing card. While I don’t generally love Boarding Party, I was expecting many grindy decks on the opponent side, and the 2-for-1 value from the Party requires 2 interactions and presents an immediate threat, ending up preferring it for these reasons to more classical Lead the Stampede effects. Also, the only card I didn’t want to Cascade into is Hydra ( < 10% probability), and I consider everything else basically card advantage.
Round 1: Gruul Tokens 2-0
Talking about focusing the testing just on probable decks, this one was something I didn’t expect. Opponent was relatively new to the format and at their first real event, which got me immediately in an amazing mood for the success of the event. The deck was something along this line, with the addition of 4x Cloakwood Swarmkeeper. Sweet sweet brew.
Game 1 I start on the play and I have only gas, setting up a very early Jewel Thief followed up by Avenging Hunter. The game proceeds a little longer as they can hold up with their tokens, but having unreasonably early creatures with Trample gets me an easy win. 1-0
Game 2 Breath Weapons sound like a reasonable side in, but I don’t want to give up on my early aggression and trying to have the high ground from turn 1. I end up deciding on 1 Breath Weapon in and 1 Boarding Party out, given it’s embarrassing lack of trample. I probably should have brought in also the second copy as an early breath weapon got me the game.
They go T1 Swarmkeeper, I ramp with Wild growth. T2 they ramp with a Blood birthing, I play land and keep mana open. T3 they cast a Chrysalis, I let the spawns resolve and the Swarmkeeper ability go on the stack. Here the Breath Weapon clears the board and leaves them with a 2/3 Chrysalis on the board. From there on it’s easy for me to get the upper hand and win the first match. 2-0
Round 2: Izzet Terror 2-0
This is a “Leipzig derby” but we don’t know what the other person is playing that day, which I appreciate in this case. Their list ended up being the most classical Izzet Terror with 4 Augur of Bolas and 4 Bolts and no fancy Fire//Ice, Galvanic Discharge or Lose Focus. This all plays to non-Ponza Gruul’s advantage.
Game 1 I start on the play and drop an unanswered Avenging Hunter on turn 3 followed by Chrysalis. This was already basically game, and all because they chose to play an Augur of Bolas on T2 leaving themselves open to my T3 threats. 1-0
Sideboard: +2 Vines of Vastwood -1 Oliphaunt -1 Ram Through
Game 2 This one is a bit more tight and they can resolve a Terror at some point. They correctly predict that my last threat in hand was a Hydra so they leave only one blue open for Spell Pierce, but I get a supernatural prediction of what’s gonna happen, cast it as a 4/5 creature and pump it with Krushok the next turn. That and an already crowded board win me the game from there. 2-0
Round 3: Mono R pingers 0-2
I also know this opponent, although from another city and rarely visiting here just for pauper. Really skilled opponent, knowing their deck really well. What an amazing get-together this event was!
Game 1 On the draw I mull down to 5 (first time of the day, out of luck?) and get beaten mostly by Clockwork Percussionists and Goblin Tombrider, which is the thing that shouldn’t and generally does not happen in this matchup. As soon as I establish a board they put an end to this non-game with some burn and a Thermoalchemist. 0-1
Sideboard: -2 Boarding Party -1 Ram Through -1 Oliphaunt +3 Nylea’s Disciple +1 Weather the Storm
We get a post-board 20’ deck check. Generally annoying, but everything was in order and I get the time for a bathroom break and a very pretty “Judge!” token (see picture).
Game 2 On the play I keep a nice 6 and establish a good board and clock. They get me down to 13 and I feel safe leaving only a couple creatures back to prepare lethal for the next turn (around turn 5 to 6 I believe). I also leave 2 mana open for the Krushok, hoping they read a Weather the Storm in them. But here comes my lack of testing, as I don’t see how much damage the new red deck can do on the stack, 5 lands and a Thermoalchemist on board. They state they will risk the weather the storm, 2 damages filter through my blockers and deal 11 damage from hand. Oof, lesson learned, and I am still trying to figure out what could have gone differently. 0-2
Round 4: UB control snackers 0-2
The previous match didn’t really feel bad: I could easily trace back the reasons for the defeat to a combination of lack of preparation and opponent’s skill and luck - fair. Instead, I tested against UB control and while testing with the person that got 5th with a similar list I was struggling to understand how to even lose provided no major screw-ups and a proactive gameplay. So I was rather confident once I identified the archetype.
Game 1 I know how to play against the deck: you slam the threats and put them in the position to either look for cards or answer the problems on the table, which given the limited amount of mana often ends up with them being cornered. Reality check: on the draw I mull to 6, they see 6 naturally drawn answers and I run out of gas. 0-1
Sideboard: +2 Vines of Vastwood -1 Ram Through -1 Oliphaunt
Game 2 I mull to a good 5 on the play and establish a good Thief+Hydra on a Spawn. They manage to answer the two threats on the board and keep up Counterspell for my last Chrysalis. I go topdeck mode and see a Boarding Party into Hydra :) followed by a Vines of Vastwood on an empty board of mine :) The game is basically over but lasts long enough for them to slam dunk me with a Spellstutter Sprite on whatever threat I drew too late to be anything meaningful. 0-2
Round 5: Ponza 0-2
The opponent sits down and frankly tells me his friend (the previous opponent) told him everything about my deck. Honest, but frankly I have no idea of what to do with this information. I thank him and we proceed to get my booty spanked like a little crybaby.
Game 1 we both mulligan down to 6, but the land destruction version of my same deck has a ridiculous advantage, and I am on the draw. I manage to retain 2 untapped forests and SLAM an Arbor Elf on turn 4 that converts on turn 5 in a Jewel Thief. I look at his initiative counter that’s moving from Trap! to Archives and I scoop. 0-1
Sideboard: -1 Boarding Party (uncastable) +1 Shinen of Life’s Roar. I wonder if this matchup actually requires Deglamer to keep up with them messing up with my tempo
Game 2 I mull 2 landless hands down to a sweet 5. I get to play a 3 drop on turn 2, but they follow up with T2 Mwonwuli Acid Moss, T3 same, T4 Annoyed Altisaur. I look at my board of 1 land, 1 Spawn, 1 Thief and an empty hand and I scoop. 0-2
Round 6: Gruul Ramp 2-0
Second quasi-mirror match. They went for the cascarders version instead of Krushok version, but the play pattern is similar.
Game 1 as we understand the kind of matchup we got, I tell my opponent it often gets lengthy and messy, they don’t agree. It got obnoxiously lengthy and messy. The opponent plays the aggressor and I just slam creature after creature to prevent any good attack from him, to the point that his initiative spinning does not really matter.
If I got invited to a Commander night with “no board wipe” “no combo” “not too much removal” as house rules, I would politely decline. In this case, I was already sitting at a table with a board twice as messy as it could get in such a game, but this was not in the premises of the tournament. Crying: yes; scooping: no. Every hand movement is at risk of messing up with carefully piled up dice and we agree on moving boxes and sideboards to the floor to make space. A judge passes by and stops just to take a picture of this Eldrazi Ragnarok (picture will be included as soon as I get in contact with him).
Eventually they draw a You Meet in a Tavern, count 15 times and are sure to deal 9 damage over my 8 total life. I count 30 times and find a way to survive by gaining two life from my Krushok from hand and winning on the swingback.
15 minutes left on the clock, we go to Sideboard. 1-0
Sideboard: -1 Oliphaunt +1 Shinen of Life’s Roar
Game 2 goes very differently. He is again on the play and we both start with 6 cards in hand. I delay my Avenging Hunters to steal their initiative and do so twice. We are both helping each other with triggers and some lines as our brains are a shapeless ooze at this point.
I retain initiative and quickly win from there, not even overtime. We were probably both right on how this mirror can go, i.e. very fast, interactive and satisfying, or like a Commander night between people that do not have a job or anything better to do. 2-0
Round 7: Gruul Midrange. 1-1
Third mirror in a row, but this time of the real sort.
Game 1 and 2 There are not really many stakes on this games and I have a vague memory of them. After finding out we were not playing versus Ponza with great relief, we started nerding about how cool of a card is Bannerhide Krushok and the play patterns of this version. The first one ends up on a board stall with them winning, the second one is mirrored and I win. The third one quickly goes to overtime and we draw it. We wait for the other matches to end while looking at each other’s sideboards and flex slots, discussing how much this deck is the real Magic as Richard Garfield intended.
Gruulmance established. 1-1
Wrap-up
It always feels bad to win the first two rounds and move to a losing streak, and I feel I didn’t manage neither my preparation nor my tournament mindset well. On the other hand, I really cannot think bad of this event and the pills of bitterness are coated in a very very thick layer of sweet candy, from the success of the event to the amazing people and opponents I met.
The fact that I didn’t face two opponents from the same city (and some of them traveled half a day just to be there!) made this all feel like a Germany pauper-con and made me look forward to other events like this. 10/10 would recommend.
In terms of Magic-and-not-the-Gathering, I learned some lessons from archetypes that are on the rise after the February banlist, from the fact that ironically now mono red can be even more a menace than before for a deck like this, to the need of checking the clock more often in the mirror match.