I'll search for Pauper tournament entries in the past 3 weeks that run Balustrade Spy but not Saruli Caretaker.
Now I'll query the database to find Pauper tournament entries from the past 3 weeks (since 2025-11-17) that include Balustrade Spy but exclude Saruli Caretaker.
Yes! There are 6 tournament entries from the past 3 weeks running Balustrade Spy without Saruli Caretaker. All are classified as "Spy Combo" archetype:
Recent Lists:
⢠teasdale - 1-3 at Pauper Challenge 32 (Dec 6)
⢠Automud - 3-4 at Nacional Pauper 2025 (Nov 29)
⢠elGuggo - 5-3 at Paupergeddon EW EU (Nov 28)
⢠Auax - 4-3 at Paupergeddon EW EU (Nov 28)
⢠Andrea Cassini - 2-4-1 at Paupergeddon EW EU (Nov 28)
⢠MatA51 - 1-5-2 at Paupergeddon EW EU (Nov 28)
Most of these appeared at the Paupergeddon - Eternal Weekend 2025 EU event, suggesting some players are testing Spy Combo variants that don't include the typical Saruli Caretaker mana dork package.
Sources:
Data from 3 tournaments: 33% MTGO, 67% Melee.
⢠Pauper Challenge 32
⢠Paupergeddon - Eternal Weekend 2025 EU
⢠Nacional Pauper 2025