The Princes of Pauper

New York Pauper League Champion Colin Hostetter joins Rich this week: They talk about the innovative Synth Gates deck that Colin used to take down Season 4.

Colin beat Mike so badly in the League playoffs that Mike didn't show up for this one, but will grudgingly add some links that Rich asked him to ("for the listeners, before they ask" or something).

Colin's deck list:
https://melee.gg/Decklist/View/26efb639-a9a0-4a55-8beb-b3f101529475

The Upstate New York Pauper Open:
https://www.spicerack.gg/events/3008876

"Are they paying us for this?"
-Mike

"No Mike, no one is paying us."
-Rich

"Shrug emoji."
-Mike

It's an emergency episode of The Princes of Pauper!

Rich has ended his damnable streak, defeating Mike at League... and wants everybody to know about it! Dimir is the best, Mike is the worst.

As Mike has found an all-new way to lose (this time with the Wall Spy combo deck) we've added a classic episode, a la Ancestral Recall to this very special episode.

"Elves is terrible!" says the Light Prince*.

"Another 1-2!" agrees the Dark Prince**.

Such The Princes of Pauper has become a hotbed of Elves slander.

Yet... Elves is one of the most popular decks in League play, recently won a Large SCGCon event, etc. Might Rich and Mike be missing something good about the Little Green Men?

So we enlist absolute Elves assassin Bill Ellis!! for a deep dive on one of the most powerful and popular decks in Pauper (just one that hasn't served us quite yet).

* Listen to the podcast!

** See the above note.

Mike takes a victory lap after his first-place finish at The NYCIS Heavy Play Championship (which, was, in fact, one-third Pauper; Mike played Dimir Terror).

This episode scratches the surface of the Pauper Elves experience from both Mike's perspective and Rich's, updates and innovations to decksandthecity.org (shout out to Mike Evans) and is mostly an avalanche of love and admiration for the NYC Pauper community. Did we mention Mike won the big one though?

In the vein of Ancestral Recall Mike starts out with the ancient mother ship article "UB Trippin'" and then challenges Rich to apply it to contemporary Pauper.

How does the 1997 "Xerox" strategy innovated by Hall of Famer Alan Comer inform not just Dimir Terror... But so many great decks in Pauper? Find out, and how not to cast an Arms of Hadar in our latest podcast.