A little post-mortem on this event.

Move “Scrollshift Ramp” up a couple of notches, and my list of decks above is actually roughly in order of how good they were. “A Thousand Cuts” was the most frustrating – it usually didn’t win, but it felt tantalizingly close to being viable. Also, when it did win, it was often with Thunderhead Gunner attacks, which isn’t really in the spirit I was aiming for. Dropping the self-discard theme in favor of more removal/control effects might be the right direction.

The metagame, by which I mean archetypes that I faced more than a couple of times, included:

• Poison (Dimir and Orzhov variants were both popular).
• Mono-red aggro (of course).
• Red spells (the payoffs are all red, so I’m not sure I saw anybody else opting to go Izzet like I did).
• Tolarian Terror control, usually mono-blue.
• Black or Golgari self-mill strategies with Chitin Gravestalker or Writhing Necromass at the top of the curve.
• Orzhov or Esper self-bounce strategies – a lot slower than the ones in Standard, but Stockpiling Celebrant and Indoctrination Attendant get the job done eventually.

The first two were the most popular; have a plan for them if you’re brewing for this format.

I’m not sure Slime Against Humanity needed to be banned. I suspect it is too slow for the metagame. Though it might have been an outsized presence anyway by virtue of being so easy to build.

I enjoyed Standard Pauper and I wish I could play it regularly. But I can’t remember if it’s ever even been an MWM event before. Our chances of seeing it again soon are probably low.