Look's Like Skyfisher's Back on the Menu!

Posted on March 23, 2022

By now I think it's safe to say that when most people think of me playing Pauper, or even talking about Pauper, it frequently involves Elves. I've played a lot of the deck and it's in some ways become emblematic of my career in the format. What most people don't realize is that there's some other decks I really love almost as much. Bogles is one people might see me play often, but I also especially love Boros lists. In fact, I was more likely to break out Boros Monarch - the old Skyfisher version - at my local events than anything else.

When I play online, Elves is better to grind out MTGO leagues with, where Boros tends to be better for more local events where I can take my time and enjoy the games a little more. Every so often, though, I like to play it in leagues or Challenges depending on how I'm feeling. To be honest, when you play the same deck a couple thousand times, you really start to tire of it a bit and want to jump to something more again. Unfortunately, Boros Monarch as I knew it went by the wayside as Boros Bully gained popularity and soon I was putting away my Kor Skyfishers and Glint Hawks, leaving them on the shelf where they've stayed for the better part of the last few years.

Recently, though, the addition of a new card from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty allowed the deck to come back in full force: Experimental Synthesizer. The card is bonkers. It made my jaw drop when I first saw it and it's a shame it was somewhat initially overlooked due to the hype surrounding Moon-Circuit Hacker. In fact, the card draw engines became so potent in part thanks to this card, the deck no longer really needed to rely on monarch as a mechanic anymore. The deck swapped the Palace Sentinels for Seeker of the Way and took a slightly more aggressive approach while still retaining its classic midrange roots. The result is a list like this, which won Saturday's Magic Online Pauper Super Qualifier:

Skyfisher Boros | Pauper | galeogiao, 1st Place MTGO Super Qualifier

Sorceries (1)
1 Firebolt

Enchantments (2)
2 Journey to Nowhere

Now, I already discussed this deck a couple years ago. If you look at the Boros Monarch list in that article, you'll notice it's very similar to the one above. The majority of cards in the main deck are exactly the same and the overall goal of the deck ends up being largely the same as well. This is why I typically don't revisit decks much, because there's only so much ground you can cover by retreading. However, this a deck we've seen very little outside of some occasional fringe results, and it's extremely refreshing for it to make a comeback.

To explain how it works, the deck generates a ton of value by taking advantage of several permanents that allow you to draw lots of cards. This is usually a two-mana card the cantrips on entry - in this case Golden Egg and Spare Supplies - and Thraben Inspector with its clue token. From there you out-value your opponent with tons of cards, attack them for large evasive life swings, and finish them off with Lightning Bolts and Galvanic Blasts.

The big changes are, as mentioned before, swapping Palace Sentinels for Seeker of the Way and subbing some cards in favor of Experimental Synthesizer. You'll notice that the deck no longer seems to run cards like Prismatic Strands or Battle Screech and just tries to go as hard as it can going through the deck with card draw. On a related note, you'll also notice that without the now banned Prophetic Prism, the deck had to pick up other cantrip artifacts to replace it with. In Boros Monarch, the mana filter always felt somewhat negligible so it's pretty simple to replace it with cards like Golden Egg, Spare Supplies, and so on.

What's really interesting, though, is that this isn't even really the only version of this deck that we've been seeing in the last few months. Rather than just stick to this build, we end up having another, more sacrifice-focused list as well. Check it out:

Kuldotha Boros | Pauper | Drugo, 8th Place MTGO Pauper Challenge

Sorceries (4)
4 Kuldotha Rebirth

Enchantments (2)
2 Makeshift Munitions

In truth, this version of the deck seems to be a bit more popular. It's incredible to see Kuldotha Rebirth coming back like this once more, but it's also not really all that surprising either. Not only does it play well with Ichor Wellspring like it did once in the past, but it works excellently with Experimental Synthesizer. What's more, with Synthesizer only costing one-mana, you can spit out goblin tokens extremely fast, allowing for quicker and more brutal life point swings. The deck also gets some additional range through sacrificing with the help of Makeshift Munitions - a bit of tech we saw in decks like Affinity and Goblins Combo.

What you get in the end is a very classic deck finding a modern rebirth of sorts. The deck's become one of the best in the format once more and it's extremely refreshing to see a list that's been outdated for a while now return to the top once again. It certainly helps that it's able to boast plenty of sideboard cards to deal with the other big decks of the format. While the Qualifier list packs a whopping 10 pieces of artifact hate, it's clear they were gunning for what was expected to be the most popular deck in the event - Affinity. In truth, most decks play significantly less pieces of artifact hate, allowing more cards like Leave No Trace and Pyroblasts to deal with decks like Bogles and Faeries, respectively.

It's great to see Skyfisher Boros variants making a comeback. In truth, the format's looking pretty sweet in the first couple weeks since the most recent round of bans, and I for one can't wait to play the heck out of this deck once again. It's really an awesome time, so if you're looking for a potent deck to try out at your next Pauper event, take it for a whirl.

Paige Smith

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TAGS articles, constructed, analysis, decklist, pauper, boros monarch, boros bully, paige smith, 03232022