Hey everyone! I know everyone is hyped for another Historic Pauper Midweek Magic. After all, it’s been so long since we’ve had the opportunity to play this event.
My sources have informed me that was actually a lie.
It’s only been a few weeks since the last Historic Pauper event, but I don’t hear any complaints from the peanut gallery. My bigger question is whether putting a nonrotating format into the Midweek Magic rotation this often eventually starts to take some of the shine off it. I think we’re good for now, but we’ll see the long term effect soon enough.
Spoiler alert: Not much has changed since the last event.
That’s probably a good thing. Pauper doesn’t need a complete shakeup every few weeks when there are already plenty of strong decks, weird interactions, and completely ridiculous ways to win games using cards that barely cost you any wildcards.
Historic Pauper is also a well-loved format with a dedicated community and multiple Discord servers devoted to it. That means there’s already a pretty established metagame, so I didn’t have to spend several hours staring at commons and pretending I was inventing something nobody had ever seen before.
Some of the deck lists may show cards at rarities other than common, but every card included has a common printing available on MTG Arena.
I know what you’re really here for, so I’ll stop rambling and let you get to the deck lists after a quick look at the event details.
Event Details
Bring a 60-card Historic deck that contains only commons and basic lands. Look for some common ground with all those cards you’ve drafted and build something new!
Find out more details about this and upcoming Midweek Magic events HERE.
Duration: October 6th, 2026 @ 2:00 PM PST to October 8th, 2026 @ 2:00 PM PST
Format: Historic Pauper
Entry Fee: Free
Ends After: You can play as much as you like for the duration of the event.
I know you were probably expecting some mono-red pile to take this spot, but Rakdos Madness has taken over as the format’s premier burn deck.
The plan is pretty simple: discard cards, cast them for their cheaper Madness costs, and turn all of that efficiency into as much damage as possible before your opponent has time to stabilize.
If you’re looking to get through your games in a hurry, you definitely won’t be mad about playing this one.
See what I did there? Comedy like this is why they keep letting me write these articles.
Do you enjoy treating Magic like a game of solitaire? Then Boggles is the deck for you.
The plan is simple: stick a cheap hexproof creature, pile a mountain of Auras onto it, and turn your tiny idiot into an unstoppable monster.
Meanwhile, your opponent gets to sit there staring at a hand full of removal spells, wondering why they bothered putting any of those cards in their deck in the first place.
While it may not be quite as cool as the Squirrel Storm version—because who doesn’t love squirrels?—this build is arguably the stronger deck.
The goal is to chain together a bunch of spells before casting First Day of Class and Empty the Warrens, giving your freshly made Goblin army haste so it can end the game on the spot.
Of course, sometimes the deck just spins its wheels and accomplishes absolutely nothing. But when the right storm starts brewing—yes, I’ve already made that joke, and no, I’m not above using it again—the deck can produce some truly absurd turns.
As a bonus, you even get to play with cards like Frantic Search, which is banned in Historic but perfectly legal in Historic Pauper. Because apparently Pauper is where we go when we want fewer rares and more crimes against humanity.
This is the only deck making a return from the last few Historic Pauper event articles, although this is a different build, so you could easily play either version.
White Weenie has been a staple archetype for decades, and Historic Pauper gives it plenty of powerful commons to work with. The plan is exactly what you’d expect: flood the board with cheap creatures, build up an army of Inspectors, and overwhelm your opponent before they have time to get properly set up.
It may not be the flashiest strategy in the format, but sometimes there’s something comforting about playing a deck that has basically been doing the same thing since people were shuffling Magic cards on cafeteria tables.
Writhing Chrysalis wasn’t just completely busted in draft—and don’t think we’ve forgotten everything you did, buddy—it turns out the card can do some pretty disgusting things in Pauper too.
Who could have possibly guessed that a creature that ramps you while also growing into a massive threat would be good?
There honestly isn’t too much to explain here. Make some mana, play some big dudes, and smash some face. Sometimes Magic really can be that simple.
Josh is a member of the elite limited team The Draft Lab as well as the host of The Draft Lab Podcast. He was qualifying for Pro Tours, Nationals, and Worlds literally before some of you were born. After a Magic hiatus to play poker and go to medical school, he has been dominating Arena with over an 80% win percentage in Bo3 as well as making #1 rank in Mythic.
