Mono Blue Terror claims three Pauper top-eight seats and the trophy as Mono Red Burn spikes 13.6 points
A single archetype sweeping three of eight Pauper slots and then winning the event headlined a day that also saw Doomsday and Dimir Delver split Legacy's two Challenges.
Mono Blue Terror placed three players in the Pauper Challenge top eight and then won the event outright — the clearest bracket story of the day across all six formats. That result arrived on the same day Mono Red Burn spiked 13.6 percentage points in Pauper Leagues, from 6.8% to 20.4% of classified decks. Two unrelated signals, one format, one day.
Shame on the soul, to falter on the road of life while the body still perseveres.
Pauper
DarkSlayer99 took the Pauper Challenge trophy on Mono Blue Terror, defeating DarkSlayer99's semifinal opponent Luminati 2-0 and then Dustin_Comite's Mono Blue Control in the finals 2-0. Luminati and Brvnx also reached the top eight on the same archetype, at ranks 5 and 6. Three seats from one archetype is the kind of concentration that rarely resolves into a win — here it did.
The Pauper Power Ranking is led by Grixis Faeries at 26.4 (S Tier), Mono Blue Faeries at 24.4 (A Tier), and Golgari Garden at 23.6 (A Tier).
Pauper power ranking — top three archetypes
In Pauper Leagues, Vojbe went 5-0 with a heavily reworked Mono Red Burn list — 56 cards changed since the previous version — swapping out Kessig Flamebreather, Reckless Impulse, and Thermo-Alchemist in favour of Gingerbrute, Inventor's Axe, Reckless Lackey, and Goblin Bushwhacker, a clear pivot toward creature-led aggression over spell-damage synergy.
cabrabr12 posted a 5-0 with White Aggro, Berga_ with Azorius Familiars, and serajh with Dimir Faeries.
Premodern
Premodern ran League play only. Gerrod_H and Soup_Smuggler both went 5-0 on Replenish, while Negator87 posted a 5-0 on Selesnya Enchantress — the archetype that sits at rank 1 on the Premodern Power Ranking with a score of 23.9 (A Tier), ahead of Stiflenought at 22.4 and Azorius Landstill at 20.1. LANMEE rounded out the Premodern 5-0s with Sligh.
LuffyDoChapeuDePalha leads Premodern player-form tracking with 11 top 8s from 21 events in the rolling 30-day window.
Standard
SpockVidaLoka won the Standard Challenge on Selesnya Cub, defeating hermanomlg's Izzet Prowess in the finals 2-0. The top eight split across three archetypes: Jeskai Lessons took two seats (ShadowTitan1 at rank 1, _Batutinha_ at rank 6), Izzet Prowess took three (deleon91, hermanomlg, Searzist at ranks 3, 5, and 7), and Selesnya Cub took two (SpockVidaLoka and Caveman842).
The Standard Power Ranking top three — Dimir Looting at 29.9 (S Tier), Jeskai Lessons at 27.2 (S Tier), and Temur Prowess at 25.9 (S Tier) — shows how compressed the format's elite tier is. Two smaller metagame shifts are worth noting: Boros Control reached 3.1% of classified Standard decks today against 0.1% over the trailing 30 days, and Mono White Aggro appeared at 3.1% against 0% over the same window.
VitorCarvalho01 carries 10 top 8s from 17 events in the rolling 30-day window. ShadowTitan1 is close behind with 9 top 8s from 13 events, and itstime has accumulated 6 top 8s from 19 events.
In Standard Leagues, AleFunes84 went 5-0 with Jeskai Lessons, and MyrRetriever submitted a heavily revised Izzet Prowess list — 48 cards changed — adding Flow State, Eddymurk Crab, and Colorstorm Stallion while cutting Elusive Otter // Grove's Bounty and Stock Up entirely.
Vintage
The_shallow_grave won the Vintage Challenge on Dredge, beating Ark4n's Tinker in the semifinals 2-1 and crK's Other Shops in the finals 2-0. Dredge occupied two of the top four finishes, with blackdecks99 reaching rank 1 in the swiss before falling to Ark4n's Tinker 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
The Vintage Power Ranking is led by Doomsday at 25.4 (S Tier), PO at 21.2 (A Tier), and Lurrus Breach at 21.0 (A Tier). Maxtortion went 5-0 in a Vintage League with Oath.
Legacy
Legacy ran two events. In the first, Lord_Beerus won on Dimir Delver, defeating Trohck's Tron 2-0 in the finals. Cirxi had topped the swiss on Blue Artifacts before falling in the quarterfinals to lethargicarcher's Grixis Reanimator 2-1. Tron placed two players in the top five, with Trohck and iome922 at ranks 4 and 5, and Trohck advanced to the finals via a 2-0 semifinal win over lethargicarcher.
Dimir Delver — 1st place
In the second Legacy event, wonderPreaux won on Doomsday, sweeping JakeTMS's Dimir Midrange 2-0 in the semifinals and Salty_Orange's Tron 2-0 in the finals. Tron again reached the finals, with Salty_Orange at rank 5 and _Batutinha_ at rank 6 in that event. Grixis Reanimator placed players in both top eights — _Chamytinho_ and lethargicarcher in the first, Magic_Dads71522 in the second.
The Legacy Power Ranking has Death & Taxes at rank 1 with 23.7 (A Tier), and Azorius Midrange and Grixis Reanimator both at 23.1 (A Tier).
Three reworked Legacy lists surfaced across the two events. uburdub's Painter changed 62 cards from the previous version, adding Mountain, Lightning Bolt, Simian Spirit Guide, and Karn, the Great Creator while removing the artifact-land package including Mox Opal and Lotus Petal — a shift toward a red-heavy, prison-oriented shell. Geodude_Jared's Mind's Desire moved 55 cards: Dress Down and Flusterstorm join the maindeck, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries arrives as a new win condition, and Candelabra of Tawnos exits entirely, with Pact of Negation and Force of Negation filling out the new sideboard suite. gucci_gabe's Izzet Midrange changed 52 cards, adding Flow State, Thought Scour, and Murktide Regent while cutting Stormchaser's Talent and Stock Up.
Modern
reidq7 won the first Modern Challenge on Sultai Titan, defeating Bigatti's Azorius Control in the finals 2-0 after beating Bent's Eldrazi in the semifinals. jussupinator had topped the swiss on Goryo Reanimator. Gerschi won the second Modern event on 5 Color Creativity, defeating Venom01's Dimir Frog 2-0 in the finals after eliminating Xenowan's 5 Color Control 2-0 in the semifinals.
Eldrazi placed across both events: Bent at rank 5 and Scorpion100 at rank 6 in the first, Beekeeper at rank 7 in the second. Grixis Frog (i_b_TRUE, JPA93) and Dimir Frog (Venom01) each placed pilots in the top eights as well.
Selesnya Ritual spiked to 1.9% of classified Modern decks, up 1.8 points from 0.2% over the trailing 30 days, with WanderingOnes reaching rank 2 in the first event. 5 Color Control posted a 0.9-point gain, with Xenowan reaching rank 2 in the second event.
The Modern Power Ranking has Izzet Cutter at rank 1 with 29.8 (S Tier), Mardu Energy at rank 2 with 26.3 (S Tier), and Jund Titan at rank 3 with 23.8 (A Tier). GWT leads Modern player form with 11 top 8s from 17 events over the rolling 30-day window.
In Modern Leagues, NuBlkAu went 5-0 with Goryo Reanimator, kyrre2013 with Temur Aggro, eneges with Esper Control, and danimaak777 with Boros Energy.
Videos
- [Standard] Temur Dragon Wagon Landfall Is EXPLOSIVE by Hello Good Game — A Temur midrange deck uses Dragonback Assault with landfall triggers to flood the board with hasty, trampling Dragon tokens.
- [Standard] I Destroyed Him so Hard HE QUIT MTG by MTG Arena Original Decks — A Grixis control deck steals cards from opponents using Outrageous Robbery and Deadly Cover-Up in MTG Arena Standard.
- [Modern] This is the BEST Reanimator Deck in Modern! | MTG Modern Gameplay by d00mwake — A red-splashing Goryo's Vengeance reanimator build using Faithless Looting wins a 410-player MTGO Modern event.
- [Vintage] I Passed An Underworld Breach For This?? by Luis Scott-Vargas — LSV drafts Vintage Cube and passes Underworld Breach in favor of Broadside Bombardiers with strong results.
- [Modern] Tasigur is better than Murktide in Modern! | MTGO by Andrea Mengucci VEEDEO — Andrea Mengucci argues Tasigur outperforms Murktide in Modern, running a full league across four varied matchups.
- [Legacy] Izzet Delver vs 4c Aggro Loam | MTG Legacy by 90s MTG — Roland Chang pilots Izzet Delver against 4c Aggro Loam in a Legacy match on 90s MTG.