We organized the first Spanish Pauper Championship — 247 players and all the tournament data
Last weekend, a group of organizers from several local Pauper communities came together to hold the first Spanish Pauper Championship in Ortuella, Bizkaia.
The event had a capacity of 256 players, with all tickets selling out in just four hours. In the end, 247 players attended the main tournament.
It was the first time we had organized an event anywhere near this size. We had experience running local tournaments, but a 247-player event was obviously a very different challenge.
Overall, we are really happy with how the weekend went. The event included Spanish-language coverage, artists, stores, side activities and, of course, a lot of Pauper.
We collaborated with a local charity supporting children with cancer and their families. We created a special set of charity tokens for the event, and all 150 sets sold out very quickly, with all proceeds going to the charity. It was another reminder of just how great the Pauper community can be.
We also had to deal with an unprecedented heatwave during the weekend, which created some problems we definitely had not expected. Between that and our lack of experience with an event of this scale, there are plenty of things we know we can do better.
We have received a lot of feedback from players, judges and staff, and we already have a long list of things to improve for the future.
For those interested in the competitive side of the event, we have published all the data from the main tournament:
https://campeonatopauper.es/metagame/
You can explore the full metagame, archetype presence and performance, matchup results, how the field evolved throughout the tournament, the most played cards and more. The stats section is also available in English.
As a curious bit of Pauper history, the event also took place just before Monday's ban. A deck built around the Hawkeye's Bow + Seeker of Skybreak combo made it all the way to the final — but did not win the tournament.
Overall, it was a great first experience for us, and this is only the beginning. We have other Pauper-related projects in mind, but we will share more about those when the time comes.
For now, we just wanted to share the event with the Pauper community.
Here's a picture from the weekend!
P.S. We also had a 109-player side event on Day 2, and we hope to publish the data from that tournament soon as well!