#117 - What to Expect Part 2: A 2023 Metagame Analysis

Decks to Beat

It has been 6 months and two bans since we last looked at the Pauper Duel Commander metagame. A lot has changed since then, and it is time to take a look again at what is being played in PDC. There have been over 76 unique commanders played so far in 2023 in games reported on the PDH Homebase Discord. But a few of them are played much more than the others. This group could be considered the “metagame” or the “decks to beat.” You do not have to play one of these 5 decks to do well, but you need to be prepared to face them.

Armix & Toggo

A&T is an artifacts-matter midrange deck. Armix, Filigree Thrasher is a three-drop beater who uses artifact synergy to remove opponent’s threats while attacking, and Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith provides that synergy with Rocks which can also be used as removal. It is pretty darn good at just about everything. It has loads of efficient black and red removal, edicts for voltron commanders and wraths for go-wide decks. The deck is rounded out with draw spells, powerful creatures, and general good stuff. Expect games to go long as A&T grinds out an advantage. Synergy cards include: Arcum’s Astrolabe, Resourceful Return and Voltage Surge.

Wilson / X

Wilson, Refined Grisly is already responsible for one ban. The black/green color combo proved to be just too much for the format to handle. Now, players are trying out several other backgrounds to see which is the most broken which one is the best. Hardy Outlander, Guild Artisan and Veteran Soldier seem to be the most promising choices at the moment. Wilson is hard to deal with in any color combination. The bear has ward 2 which means you cannot answer it the turn it comes down most of the time. It also can’t be countered. Once it is on the board it is hard to race thanks to vigilance and reach, and it can get damage through blockers with trample. Most Wilson builds tend to lean voltron and will also pack some number of cheap hexproof or protection spells. Synergy cards include: Jaspera Sentinel, Gather Courage and Embiggen.

Dargo & Esior

This combination is so good it wouldn’t even be legal in Duel Commander. Before commander damage was raised from 16 to 21 in PDC, this deck was downright terrifying. DEsior wants to get a big 7/5 trample on board as fast as possible, preferably with Esior’s protection backing it up. It plays lots of cheap cards that put two or more permanents in play that can be sacrificed to Dargo. The deck LOVES treasures as they “discount” Dargo by 3. Combine the big man with some cheap red removal and a few counterspells and wraths and you have a pretty scary deck. Synergy cards include: Patron of the Arts, Molten Monstrosity and Generator Servant.

Baleful Strix

Baleful Strix is the OG. Players have been clamoring to ban this little bird for years. Strix is the closest thing to classic draw-go control in PDC. It matches up well against voltron decks by stalling with the deathtouch blocker until a few good edicts arrive. It has cheap black removal and several wraths for aggro. And it has a load of counterspells for everyone else. The deck is slow. Methodical. Efficient. It answers and answers until you have nothing left to play and then it beats you down with an Underdark Explorer or Gurmag Angler or some other body. Be prepared to face loads of low CMC spells. Synergy cards include: Moon Circuit Hacker, Winged Words and Viridian Longbow.

Rograkh & Keleth

Last of the old stalwarts is Roger and Keleth. This aggressive deck knows what it wants. It gets Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh and Keleth, Sunmane Familiar on the board as fast as it can. It guards them with many 1 cmc protection spells. And, it beats your face in. It will often use tricks like Simian Spirit Guide, Lotus Petal, or even Goblin Motivator to get things going a turn earlier. The deck utilizes Keleth to put +1/+1 counters on both commanders every turn. The counters combined with the keyword soup on Rograkh make combat math frustrating. It can also be tricky to remove two different bodies through protection. And if you slip up, you are often dead before you get a second chance. Synergy cards include: Ainok Bond-Kin, Ambitious Assault and Flaming Fist.

Up-And-Coming

The above are mainstays of the format. But for the spring Discord league, a few brave souls chose to try something new and proved that you don’t have to netdeck to win. These decks don’t yet have a lot of reps in, but early showings indicate that they will be sticking around for a while.

Phalanx Leader

Finally, a good white-wheenie deck. Phalanx Leader seems innocuous, but ignore him at your peril. The deck is simple. Play cheap evasive creatures for a few turns. Then play the commander and put multiple counters on everything. The most surprising thing about the deck is its ability to shrug off removal. Sure you removed the commander, but everything got a few +1/+1 counters before he died, so the deck is still humming along. Plus, it plays loads of 1 cmc white protection spells. Synergy cards include: Soltari Foot Soldier, Bandage and Wojek Siren.

Sailor’s Bane

This deck seems like a meme but it isn’t. The turtle is really big and can be cast super early. Even if you kill it through ward, they can just cast it again for two mana. Plus, it only takes three hits to kill you. The deck may be slow. Really slow. But it is powerful. There are many great cantrips and counters printed at common and the turtle wants all of them. Synergy cards include: Rush of Knowledge, Thought Scour and The Modern Age.

Passageway Seer

We know that initiate is pretty good. Pauper has taught us that much…. And Legacy for that matter. But what if you could have initiative in the command zone? Passageway Seer does just that. It combines all the best black cards with creatures designed to defend the initiative. On top of that, the commander just gets bigger and bigger. Hopefully you can deal combat damage to this deck before its too late. Synergy cards: Ashes to Ashes, Nested Shambler and Yuan-Ti Fang-Blade.