Filip Skórnicki – better known as Skura or IslandsInFront. He’s a content creator and an EU caster. Currently, Geddon Trio winner, Geddon Main Event top4 competitor, and Polish National Champion – all of which accomplished in 2 weeks! He’s also qualified for Pauper player of the year invitational.
He’s converted 29-3 in matches played (undefeated Trio, undefeated Nationals).
With his results accounted for, he’s 11th in the LPI ranking and 3rd in TTP 2025! – all of which accomplished in 2 weeks!
Twitter/X – https://x.com/IslandsInFront
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@islandsinfront
Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/FSkura
Twitch – https://www.twitch.tv/fskura
Skura’s Fae Discord – https://discord.gg/ZCVkcBKjJa
If you want, you can watch my last game of the Nationals here!
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1. Hi Skura! Let’s start with the question everybody has in mind: why did you choose to play Mono Blue Fae, what do you think of its position in the metagame?
I think the Universe wanted me to play Fae – let me tell you why.
Since I put a lot of importance on Trios with my close friends – Sodek MTG and Frakom – I wanted a deck that fits our lineup.
Naturally, I was assigned a blue deck very early on. In the end, we decided to play Blue Terror, as it takes the fewest cards from the team and is in the top 5 decks in the format.
When we arrived in Rome, we took a train that unfortunately was met with a strike in Italy, because of that we had to sit in a stationary train for an hour or so.
Out of boredom, Sodek suggested that we sleeve up the decks, he reached into his backpack but he gave me the wrong box.
I open it up, flick through the cards, and I see Spellstutter Sprite.
My heart sends me a signal and I say out loud ‘well, maybe I’ll play Fae actually?’
Guys say that it’s fine…and so I played Fae.
Thanks to us arriving in the evening, exactly when the strike started, and because Sodek gave me the wrong box, I won Trios, Top4ed Geddon, and became the Polish National Champion.
I love you, the Universe!
What do I think of it in the metagame?
I reckon it’s really well positioned against the meta that’s centered around taplands and spending time setting up with cards like Ichor Wellspring.
We have the time to create board presence before the opponent has actually started playing the game.
P.s. Before the event, I’d played a literal single league going 3-2 in it!
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2. Your Mono U build for Paupergeddon is very straightforward, it apperars very clean and effective but there are some notable exclusions in card choice that I’m sure people will be curious about.
Tell me about the absence of Force Spike, Mutagenic Growth, Smoke Shroud adn Vapor Snag.
Force Spike – I played it in Trios and hated it every single time. The only thing I knew what I wanted to do before the main event was to add something in those slots – whatever. I ended up going with 2 more Snaremaster Sprites which were fine but also unexciting. But don’t play Force Spike. Cards like these lose relevance quickly and it makes you a one-trick pony deck that either dominates early or it loses. Naturally, that’s a hyperbole but the more cards like this you play, the more pronounced the effect.
Mutagenic Growth – I dislike the card for numerous reasons. The main thing is that it forces you to be the aggressor always and I like the flexibility of the role to assume. If you draw multiples, it really makes you have to convert them which might lead to bad attacks just to push damage through. Paying 2 life is also worth noting, especially in Kuldotha matchups. On top of that, most removal now is black anyways so it barely saves anything. I might consider it if I am to play the mirror or against Kor Skyfishers to win in combat – otherwise I don’t like it.
Smoke Shroud – my bar for two mana cards is insanely high in this deck and Smoke Shroud doesn’t clear it. There aren’t clean way to have it in the graveyard so you actually have to deploy the front half which is awful on rate. When it comes to scenarios where you loot it away with Ninja, I don’t want cards that are good when I’m already getting in with an unchecked Ninja. If I had a cleaner way to get it into the yard, I think it’d be a candidate but as of now it’s bad.
Vapor Snag – this is another example of a card that puts you down resources. You’re hoping for the opponent to kill your creature when you can protect so as to actually convert it into a real card.
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3. Traveling in a foreign country for Magic with friends should be an awesome experience, do you have an interesting anedocte for us?
I think the best anecdote is there above about the Italian strike leading me randomly to playing Fae. However, what struck me in that spot as well was how chill everyone was in the face of such delays.
I could imagine Polish people already storming into the cockpit and demanding that the train start. Italians?
Not a single worry in the world.
As chill as it gets.
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4. Is your first Paupergeddon experience welcoming to foreign League?
Talk me about how was our italian community and also the event location, very contested in the italian feedbacks.
The Italian community was super welcoming!
When I won Trios, I got congratulated a lot by people I didn’t know.
Same went for the main event – people coming up, talking about my list, saying they are happy to have their faith restored in Fae.
It was so wholesome.
It was my first Geddon ever so I have no comparison and to me…the location was really solid!
This might be controversial but I enjoyed myself and didn’t find too many issues.
Yes, the aisle space was quite limited but other than that? Toilet queues were long but they went by pretty fast, there was food at the venue but also numerous cafeterias nearby, I had access to fresh water to refill my bottle.
Honestly? I liked it quite a bit!
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5. I dont’ want you to write a report but I’d like you to tell us your Paupergeddon run highlights.
Fae as a deck is very tricksy, combat focused, and gives you a lot of options for interesting plays. And indeed I had a ton of cool choices that allowed me to stay in the game.
One example. I am at 2 and my opponent has a Kitchen Imp. I have just Brinebarrow and Hacker on board so I need to loot into a flyer to block. I go to attacks, deal damage, and I draw…another Hacker.
But wait… I held priority in the end of combat step and used my new Ninja to ninjutsu it in, and bounce back Brinebarrow! It’s not only a legal play but also one that helps me stay alive!
During the tournament I also had situations like bouncing a land with Steel Sabotage in response to Wildfires, counter Chrysalis with Spellstutter, or Unable to Scream an opposing Crypt Rats.
Coming up with and executing on such cool ideas in the moment makes you feel like a Magic god – and when they convert to a win, even more so.
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6. We talk about your italian adventure, now let’s focus on the polish Pauper scene: a little bird that travels a lot told me you win polish national…
I have been a member of the Polish community for the last couple of weeks. We’ve had our differences at first when the worlds of Modern and Pauper collided but we did find a common (pun intended) language.
The community is robust, passionate, and it loves pauper to death. Our discord is active 24/7 with people brewing, thinking of new ideas, asking questions.
I am fortunate enough to top my Trios and Geddon Main achievements with the Polish Nationals win as well, going 9-0-2. It makes me insanely proud to be the Polish Pauper Champion and represent us on the international scene.
And what more can I say – Geddon attendees, you do have to fear the Polish flag from now on every event.
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7. There is some loud ban talk in the Pauper community right now, what’s your opinion about cards like Sadistic Glee, Writhing Chrysalis and Artifact lands?
Coming in as a fresh pauper player, I found the meta pretty balanced. I see the big three of Jund, Kuldotha, and Affinity, with a couple of really solid tier 1.5 decks in Terror, Madness, and Gruul. All of these 6 decks are completely distinct, have vastly different gameplay with their own pros and cons within the meta.
As a Modern player seeing how everyone shoves The One Ring into their deck, I kind of see that with Chrysalis here and it’s definitely worrying. Glee being so ever present at the top tables of Pauper is also a clear sign the deck is really good.
However, we’d need to consider some ripple effects. If we ban Chrysalis, there’s a chance that Gruul just vanishes into tier 3 and Glee stays right where it is – just a different take. Just Glee ban? We already saw a fair Jund deck in the top8 of Geddon so it’d be just more of that.
I personally like the fact that there is a combo deck in the format like Glee so I would happily ban Chrysalis, a very good but also annoying card, and make Jund as a colour combination a bit worse while keeping Glee as a competitive deck.
All in all though, I could see no action but I would expect the Panel to give us their perspective on things so we know that they see what’s happening.
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8. Final provocative question: how do you win so much with so little pauper experience?
Before Geddon, I’d played Pauper for 2-3 weeks, which consisted of only MTGO Leagues and zero paper play. I also *chose* a deck almost at random. How did I manage to get such an insane result?
I believe that it’s both a combination of me unlocking some secret saiyan mode inside but also the fact that Pauper allows magic skill to manifest. The games never randomly end on turn three (like they do in other formats I played) but they always last quite a bit and both players tend to participate in the game. It’s not the case when you see Mill vs Belcher in Modern for instance.
Here because both players take part in the game of Magic and we see conventional parts of the game like combat, interaction, and card advantage, the player skill really nicely shines through. And I’d like to believe that both the deck choice and my predisposition to play such decks made for a powerful combination that allowed me to skill my way through the competition. I could talk about winning matchup lottery but that wasn’t really the case – I played top5 decks all weekend long.
Does it mean you don’t need Pauper experience? No! It helps a ton as you need to know what the opponent can do. But you don’t need *years* of experience. It’s better to have years of experience playing Magic well and sprinkle Pauper knowledge on top, rather than the other way round.
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On a more personal note, I launched a Patreon for Pauper Fae that’s going to gather all my knowledge and expertise to help you emulate my results! You’ll find quick and easy in-and-out cheat sheets for my newest lists, in-depth guides, card comparisons, and much more!
You becoming a Patreon supports me directly and helps me make even more competitive pro content!
You can also become a part of the community for free by signing up to to the free tier of Patreon (there is free content as well!) and my public discord all about Fae!
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