Top Tier MTG Pauper decks for 2025

Hey everyone! I know it’s been a minute, but I’m back with more Pauper decks content—whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you!

With 2024 behind us, I wanted to take a closer look at the best Pauper decks as we move into 2025. I’ve been digging through data from the second half of the year, especially after Modern Horizons 3 (MH3) shook things up, and I’m here to break down what’s been working and what might dominate the format going forward.

If you’re wondering what Pauper decks to play in 2025, stick around—I’ve got answers!

Table of Contents

What are the best-performing MTG Pauper decks for 2025?

The top Pauper decks dominating the 2025 meta include:

• Affinity – A powerful artifact-based deck with strong card draw and efficient threats.

• Burn – A fast-paced deck that relies on direct damage and cheap creatures to close out games quickly.

• Mono-Blue Faeries – A tempo-based deck featuring evasive creatures and strong counterspells.

• Broodscale Combo – A synergistic combo deck that leverages ramp and recursion for explosive plays.

These best Pauper decks have consistently performed well in tournaments and online play, making them top choices for competitive players in 2025.

Let's take a close look at them.

Grixis Affinity

Affinity remains one of the best Pauper decks in 2025, continuing its dominance with a mix of efficient threats, card advantage, and artifact synergies. The Grixis build thrives thanks to its ability to grind value while applying constant pressure.

Pros:

• Powerful card advantage – [card]Deadly Dispute[/card] + [card]Ichor Wellspring[/card] creates massive value.

• Resilient mana base – Indestructible lands like [card]Drossforge Bridge[/card] ensure stability.

• Fast, efficient threats – [card]Myr Enforcer[/card] and [card]Sojourner’s Companion[/card] hit hard for low cost.

• Strong removal suite – Access to [card]Galvanic Blast[/card], [card]Cast Down[/card], and more.

• Explosive board presence – Affinity’s cost reduction enables huge turns.

Cons:

• Vulnerable to artifact hate – [card]Gorilla Shaman[/card] and [card]Dust to Dust[/card] can be devastating.

• Struggles against fast combo – Can be outraced by decks like Broodscale Combo.

• Dependent on synergy – Needs artifacts in play to function at full power.

Burn

Mono-red Burn excels in fast-paced matches, combining low-cost spells like [card]Kuldotha Rebirth[/card] and [card]Goblin Bushwhacker[/card] to quickly close out games.

Pros:

• Blazing fast starts – Can win games before opponents stabilize.

• Efficient, low-cost spells – [card]Kuldotha Rebirth[/card] + [card]Goblin Bushwhacker[/card] create explosive turns.

• Strong against slow decks – Punishes control and midrange strategies.

• Consistent game plan – Simple, aggressive, and effective.

Cons:

• Struggles against life gain – Cards like [card]Weather the Storm[/card] can shut it down.

• Vulnerable to sweepers – Board wipes like [card]Fiery Cannonade[/card] can reset its aggression.

• Requires careful sequencing – Playing the wrong spell at the wrong time can cost the game.

Mono-Blue Delver

Mono-Blue, as a whole, is an excellent meta choice, particularly in leagues where mono-red strategies are prevalent. The ability to run up to eight copies of [card]Hydroblast[/card] significantly boosts your chances of winning those matchups. Beyond that, the deck performs solidly against the rest of the meta, thanks to its suite of countermagic and powerful game-ending creatures like [card]Tolarian Terror[/card].

Pros:

• Great meta choice – Especially effective in leagues with a lot of mono-red strategies.

• Efficient anti-red tech – Up to eight copies of [card]Hydroblast[/card] significantly improve your chances against red decks.

• Solid against the meta – Performs well against most other strategies due to its countermagic and disruption.

• Powerful game-ending creatures – [card]Tolarian Terror[/card] and other big threats close out games effectively.

Cons:

• Vulnerable to graveyard hate – Struggles against cards like [card]Relic of Progenitus[/card] and [card]Tormod’s Crypt[/card].

• Relies heavily on countermagic – If the deck's counters are disrupted, it can struggle to recover.

Broodscale Combo

Since it was introduced to the format, [card]Basking Broodscale[/card] along with [card]Sadistic Glee[/card] has been a critical part of the meta as they are very cheap and easy way to setup for having an infinite power and toughness creature along with infinite mana that you can use to win the games in other ways.

Pros:

• Consistent win conditions – Once the combo is assembled, victory is almost guaranteed.

• Efficient and cheap – The combo is easy to set up and can be executed quickly.

Cons:

• Vulnerable to interaction – Easily disrupted by spot removal.

• Combo-heavy – If the combo pieces are countered or removed, it can leave you without a reliable backup plan.

• Weak to fast aggro decks – Needs time to set up the combo, which can be risky against aggressive decks like Mono Red or Mono-White Aggro.

• Requires specific pieces – If you don’t draw into the right combo pieces or too many protection cards like [card]Duress[/card] or [card]Tamiyo’s Safekeeping[/card], the deck can be inconsistent.

Still, these decks are not what pauper is all about, as some other options are still very solid, such as Mono White Agro, Caw-Gates, Rakdos Madness, and Elve,s among other options, which make Pauper a very diverse meta.

How has the Pauper metagame evolved for 2025?

To answer this, I will analyze both league and challenge data from June 2024 until the end of the year on MTGO. As much as I would like to include in-person events, we can’t really rely solely on Paupergeddon, which happens around 3-4 times per year.

There are also some considerations I will point out when they will be convenient, but for now, let’s look at some numbers.

This is the number of trophies each archetype has earned since June 2024, when Modern Horizons 3 (MH3) was introduced, and Broodscale Combo surged in popularity. 

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

Note that this number does not include the additional 99 trophies earned by Jund Broodscale variations. If we were to count those, the archetype’s total would rise to 507 trophies.

While high numbers are expected for Burn, given how easy it is to enter a league and complete it, Broodscale Combo demands a bit more “skill” to win consistently. Players must carefully play around removal spells and time their win conditions effectively (similar to Moggwarts). Despite this, Broodscale Combo is the second most-used deck when combining results, just behind Grixis Affinity. 

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

Grixis Affinity, a deck many players hate to face, is notoriously difficult to outvalue once it establishes its board, primarily due to cards like Deadly Dispute and Blood Fountain.

Below these top-performing archetypes, we see more evenly distributed numbers among the rest of the meta, which we can classify as Tier 2 decks.

Since league data alone isn’t sufficient for a complete analysis, let’s now examine Challenge data from the same time period, with a few additional considerations.

• We will only look at top 32 data for challenges

• I will rank each place by a pointing system that ranges from 3 to 0.

• Since 1st and 2nd Places often split, I will award both 3 points, while 3rd and 4th will get two, and from 5th to 8th they will get 1 point, with the rest of the results awarding 0.

This will make it so we can look at which decks have the best results, vs the number of appearances they have through the entire top 32.

As you can see, Mono-Red Burn remains at the top in terms of appearances, but its average points (AVG Points) are quite low compared to other decks with over 40% conversion rates. 

Meanwhile, decks like Familiars and Goblins (Moggwarts) boast very high conversion rates, reflecting how often they appear in top results relative to how often they are played. This suggests that only highly skilled players tend to pilot these decks successfully.

[cards]{{Myr Enforcer}}{{Basilisk Gate}}{{Faerie Seer}}[/cards]

From there, the most consistent deck is, hands down, Affinity, which has the second-highest conversion rate among the ten most-played decks. It is closely followed by Caw-Gates and Dimir Faeries.

In terms of top finishes, aka, decks that have reached the first or second place, we see Grixis Affinity at the top with 35 appearances in the finals, followed by Burn and Broodscale Combo.

What are the most consistent MTG Pauper decks for tournament play in 2025?

Based on data from MTGO Challenges, I would suggest Grixis Affinity as a strong choice for an open meta. However, in leagues, if my goal were simply to play as many matches as possible, Burn would be my go-to deck.

Broodscale Combo is another solid contender for both formats, but it requires a fair amount of practice to consistently win. I believe its high conversion rate is likely because there isn’t a clear, effective counterstrategy to the deck—other than relying on removal. However, Broodscale Combo players often include [card]Duress[/card] and [card]Tamiyo's Safekeeping[/card] to protect against that approach.

That said, when considering in-person (IRL) events, I’d probably stick with Broodscale Combo. Even though Grixis Affinity shows stronger numbers overall, it faces more hate in closed metas, similar to Mono-Red.

While blue-based decks like Dimir Faeries and Caw-Gates are still excellent choices, they tend to require more precise play and skill to succeed.

Wrap Up

I wanted to keep this blog a bit shorter since the Pauper meta has remained fairly stagnant since the release of MH3, despite a few strong cards entering the metagame in subsequent sets.

If you'd like to explore the data I gathered, feel free to download a copy here. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out—I’m happy to help.

I also want to take a moment to thank everyone who has supported my YouTube channel and blog. This wouldn’t be possible without you, and I’m truly grateful for your support. To show my appreciation, I’ll be working on bringing you more content through my social media channels, so expect exciting new ideas in the near future!

Thank you for reading, and as always, take care. I look forward to meeting you again in my next article.

Where to Play Pauper?

I have compiled a list of places to play Pauper, mostly IRL. The address may vary, but it's a helpful place to start and check if some of them are near you. They may not play Pauper every day, so it's always a good idea to ask before traveling.