Brighton Pauper League Recap: British Pauper Open | Birmingham 2026
Six Brighton Pauper League players traveled to the British Pauper Open, securing a Top 8 finish and a 24-15-4 record. Read our event recap, decklists, and meta analysis!
Fantastic showing for Brighton Pauper League at the first British Pauper Open!
In Birmingham UK this past weekend was a brand new Magic The Gathering Pauper national event, hosting 127 players for a post-Zeta showdown - the British Pauper Open. Of those 127 players, 6 of our members came to represent Brighton and grind out some fun matches with friendly faces. The event was amazingly run, with great prizes all the way to the top 32, ample space, an artist alley to peruse beautiful alters and buy supplies; and even a mid event buffet. We’d definitely recommend it, and will be coming to the next one!
How We Did
The league finished with a collective Win/Loss/Draw record of 24-15-4, with all of us hitting top 64 piloting the following decks:
- Ishan - Grixis Affinity
- Adam - Elves
- Wheels - Tron Witness Combo
- Milo - Spy Combo
- Roman - Izzet Skred
- Ted - 4c Affinity
Huge congratulations to Ted, who cruised his way up to Top 8!
How We Prepared
As tournament season is upon us, we’ve all been tuning and testing our decks against each other, competing in our league and sharpening our skills. For some of us, this didn’t make what to bring on the day of the tournament any easier! A few of us were unsure of what deck to bring, and then the main versus sideboard cards we would choose for the meta. We had different accommodation for this trip, but still spent the evening before BPO testing and tuning. Largely, our meta calls worked out quite well - I found my inclusion of 1 mainboard Cast into the Fire in UR Skred useful for most matchups, and didn’t feel I needed the cantrip I substituted it for. Thinking back I wish I had considered a way to apply pressure quicker in some of the matches I had.
Sentiments from the team:
“My preparation was a mess, I read the format all wrong and expected much more durdle-y Esper than there was… Also didn't think as many people would be on Elves, we settled on agreeing it was a very good play locally (Sheffield) but didn't think others would be as high on it”
Neil (Honorary League member, co-founder of Brighton Pauper Scene)
“I put a Tithing Blade in the side because of it (Bogles) and never faced and played against Terror twice never seeing the card lol… I regretted not finding a space for Krark Clan Shaman in the maindeck as well”
Ted (Top 8)
“I did very little to prepare other than playing and writing ins and outs for my SB guide, I had a pretty vanilla Grixis list on the more aggressive side and running BMR won me a game against 4C because I burned them out with draw spells. I also got to force a sac trigger on a Spawn with Makeshift Munitions so that I could Galv Blast the Chrysalis, that was G1 against Gruul Ramp”
Ishan (Canny Affinity Enjoyer)
What’s next?
All in all it was an enjoyable experience, and an excellent way to kickstart these next few months of tournaments. Our next is a home game in Dice Saloon, a nearly sold-out 64 player tournament with some amazing prizes and even better players. Limited amount of remaining tickets available here.
If you want to join us on our next outing, fancy some casual or competitive games, or perhaps would like to learn how to play Pauper MTG, come along every Tuesday to our events at Dice Saloon Brighton - we’d love to play with you! Feel free to give us a shout over on contact@brightonpauperleague.com if you have any questions.