#i’d also like to mention that i am in love with how you draw carapace. it all flows very smoothly and feels correct in an indescribable-

[polycrews]

ddcds. for u (hopefully ur day will b a bit better!)

had to take a second to respond to this because dear GOD this made me lose coherent thoughts. ahem

[pancakecakes]

AU Yeah August- 15 Life Swap

One-shot. 

Summary: Adrien is in love with the school’s queen, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Ladybug is in love with Chat Noir. Everyone is swapped, but everyone is cool. 

Tags: Life swap, Marinette, Alya, Adrien, Nino, Chloé, Cararouge  (Carapace x Rena Rouge) .

Notes: I wanted to do a quick drawing but I didn’t finish it (｡•́︿•̀｡) I’ll post the sketch and I’ll upload the finished version when I upload it to AO3. This is for  @auyeahaugust

Everybody knew who Marinette Dupain Cheng was. But why wouldn’t they know? She was the only daughter of the best patisseries in all of Paris. Maybe the best in the world.

Dressing in black and white formal clothing and delicate black earrings, with her beautiful hair in a high bun, red eyeliner and pink lips, Marinette walked in the hallways fully confident. By her side, Alya Cesaire with an orange fashionable dress and long white heeled boots. She was the daughter of the best chef of Paris, they were destined to be best friends.

They were not the kind of popular people that made others feel inferior, but they sure were the ones that were trapped in their own world, and didn’t let anyone in. Marinette was a famous young designer and Alya had a successful web page as a reporter, and the creator of the Ladyblog. They both had the highest grades in every class and were the class president and vice-president.

Even when the school was the most prestigious one in Paris, everybody knew both girls were out of everyone’s league. Everyone respected them, admired them and loved them, but always from afar.

But Adrien couldn’t take it anymore. With messy hair in a black cap, white sweater, black t-shirt and old jeans and tennies, Adrien sat in the school’s garden with his best friend Nino.

“I really want to talk to her.” Adrien’s voice was desperate “But I’m just a scholarship student with no special talent. She’ll never be interested in me.” He sighed.

Adrien was the sweetest guy in school. He won a full scholarship because he was smart. Something very special because College Francoise Dupont only accepted the kids of only the most successful and influent people around the world. And occasionally a couple of people won full scholarships, but they really had to be very intelligent. The exam was almost impossible.

“Come on Adrien, wining a scholarship here isn’t nothing.” Nino’s family were important people. Adrien didn’t know much about his family because they traveled a lot, but he got in because of their connections. They meet the first day of school and they were best friends since. “But ok, I have to admit you aiming for the school’s queen is also kind of…” Nino dressed in a formal-casual style in his daily life. He had a simple V-neck dark green sweeter over a white shirt, persimmon dress pants and brown shoes. In his face he only wore those elegant glasses he loved. Sometimes he would use his contacts and bring sun glasses of different colors.

 “Stupid.” Chloé said before Nino could finish. “Why would you want to be with someone like Marinette? The girl must be very superficial, just look at her. You deserve someone who appreciates you the way you are, not someone who will change you.” Chloé sat beside Adrien, pouting.

Chloé’s and Adrien’s families were best friends, so they grew up together as if they were siblings. Chloé had always been in love with Adrien. She knew he only saw her as nothing more than a sister, so she always bottled up her feelings. But she couldn’t help being jealous of other girls.

With her long blonde hair loose, a fluffy white jacket over a yellow and black stripped shirt, black shorts and long heeled boots, Chloé took off her white sunglasses as she stared at Adrien waiting for his reaction. She got in because her mother was an important fashion critique and her father had something to do with politics. Chloé loved fashion and dressed only in the best clothes. This caused many people judge her before meeting her, thinking she was a bratty girl, when in fact she was very sweet, smart and cute.

“You both are judging her for what you can see in the outside,” Adrien added “but in the inside she is really soft, and her smile is the most amazing of them all.”

“Marinette? Smile? As if that pretty statue knew how to smile.” Chloé said, letting her jealousy talk. She sighed “I’m sorry, I just think you shouldn’t aim too high or you could get hurt, Adrien.”

“Chloé is right. We both support you, but neither of us want to see you hurt.” Nino put a hand in Adrien’s shoulder.

“Look, I know you said she acted really sweet and smiled to you when you gave her your umbrella the first day at school, but I don’t know, maybe you imagined it? If that really happened then why she never gave the umbrella back, or why never smiles or talk to you when you say hello?”

“I know it sounds like a lie, but it really happened, I swear!”

“And we believe you, Adrien.” Nino gave a cold stare to Chloé as he slowly said it “But we need you, we can’t protect Paris if you’re distracted.”

Adrien covered his face in hands and let a pained sound out “I know we have to protect Paris and have a normal life but I caaaaaaaan’t stop thinking about Marinette.”

Nino laughed and Chloé pouted again.

“I mean, if you ever dated Marinette you would talk good about me when Alya is present, right?”

“NI-NOO!” Chloé hit Nino in the arm with all her strength, which wasn’t much.

“Hey, Alya is amazing. If she ever looked at my direction I’d go directly to heaven.”

“What would your girlfriend say if she knew you said that?” Adrien smirked.

Nino blushed “I already told you me and Rena aren’t together!”

“Are you sure? You’re always pretty close and you always flirt instead of actually fighting the akumas” Chloé smirked and then giggled.

“I’m pretty sure Rena is in love with you, I saw her blush when she saw you last fight.” Adrien added.

“We don’t even know each other’s identities.” Nino’s face was red.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were directly chosen by Master Fu. Master Fu gave Ladybug the fox and peacock miraculous, and she entrusted someone with the fox miraculous. Both of their identities remained a secret even up until that day.

Master Fu gave Adrien the Bee and Turtle miraculous to choose the next heroes, and even when they were supposed to keep their real identities as a secret, Adrien choose to ignore the rule. The three of them didn’t know who Ladybug or Rena Rouge were in real life, nor the whereabouts of the peacock miraculous.

“If in other reality I was in love with Ladybug, I think I wouldn’t care who was beneath that mask, I’d still love her.”

Nino and Chloé looked at each other, face full of resignation. They knew Ladybug was crushing on Chat Noir since day one. It was painfully obvious, and the worst part of it was Adrien didn’t even notice.

“Oh, Adrien…”

‘Why am I in love with such an oblivious moron’ Chloé’s thoughts made her sigh.

They heard an explosion coming from inside the school and shortly afterwards tons of students running towards the exit.

“An Akuma!” The three of them said at unison and quickly transformed.

They helped the other students scape as they waited for Ladybug and Rena Rouge to arrive. With the most elegant movements, Rena Rouge fell from the sky, looking fabulous as always.

“Hey there turtle, I missed you, babe.” Rena said with a flirtatious voice.

Carapace blushed, because of the conversation they had earlier “I missed you too, d-darling.”

“What, seeing me made you this nervous? Are you finally falling in love with me, my love?” Rena smirked.

“Please stop flirting, there’s an actual Akuma in this school. Where’s Ladybug?” Queen B asked.

Ladybug fell from the sky in the same elegant way Rena did. “The Akuma is near the music classroom, let’s move everyone!” Ladybug always looked so professional and strong. Well, at least when Chat Noir wasn’t there.

“Glad you made it Bug!” Chat Noir petted Ladybug’s shoulder and then he started running to the direction she mentioned.

Ladybug turned red and suddenly her legs stopped working properly.

“For God’s sake,” B whispered, “I’m going with Chat, catch up when you can.”

“Seems like you have a job to do. See you there, beautiful. I’ll be waiting.” Carapace followed Chat and B, leaving the pair behind.

“Oh, baby, what am I going to do with you.” Rena sighed.

“I can’t help it,” Ladybug covered her mouth with both hands “he touched my shoulder…”

“We need to go, we have to fight the Akuma.” Rena gave Ladybug a hand “You’re always so clumsy around him, no wonder why he can’t figure out your identity. Nobody would guess you’re the school’s queen.”

Master Fu did tell them they were both attending to the same school, but that was the only clue he told them.

“Shut up Rena, you wouldn’t flirt like you do with Carapace if you weren’t transformed.”

“Who knows, I really like him.”

“Do you think Chat knows I have a crush on him?”

“That oblivious piece of -?”

“Rena, language, please…”

“No, I’m sure he doesn’t know. Now please let’s go back to battle.”

Ladybug blushed and smiled “Yeah, let’s go.”

[canidae-dyke]

I decide to post some of that story I mentioned before. It’s not exactly at a good stopping point but it’s just where I am. I’m very open to critique. I’m new to writing this genre and I know that there’s a lot I could improve.

The salt burned in the lacerations around my wrists. I’d been bound the the rock since Astraios had coursed the sky, and Eos now marched toward the horizon with grim determination. She marked the hour of my doom. Soon I would be part of this world no longer, but instead a shade in the world below. And what had I done to merit such a demise? Nothing. I simply existed. It was the jealousy of some god that caused my plight. One could count one a single hand the number of problems for which the gods are blameless. My punishment was a case of misinterpreted hyperbole. It all happened one night at a feast. We were loose on unmixed wine. Upon our table there lay injera, with spreads of lentils, beans and chicken. Our guests of honor were Pharaoh Ramesses II of Upper and Lower Egypt and King Piyama-radu of the Hattian Kingdom of Wilusa. My father, Cepheus, had invited them to our court on the coast of Ethiopia in order to secure peace between their nations.

“My dear Cepheus,” Ramesses proclaimed in a swaggering boom of a voice, “not even my own beloved Nefertari can compare to your daughter’s beauty! The way her tightly curled locks are deftly bound behind her head puts all the women of Kemet and Kush to shame!” Declarations like this were in vogue in dimplomatic speech at the time, though very few scribes bothered to write this kind of exchange down. It was simple procedural flattery, and no one needed to see this kind of filler on a peace treaty etched in bronze.

Piyama-Radu chimed in with, “She must get it from you Cassiopeia!” though his words were interrupted by hiccups, “Truly she is more lovely than the Sun Goddess of Arinna herself.”

My mother responded to their praise in jest, “Oh without a doubt, she even outstrips the Nereids!” A chorus of laughter came up from around the table, though I laughed nervously. I’d never relished in the way men praised me. Their eyes would wander and their lips would curl into a smirk that revealed the crude thoughts dancing behind their eyes. Still, it was my role to accept the praise that was afforded to me. My name had practically anticipated the constant adoration. “Andromeda,” they had named me. Protector of men. Such a name imposed expectations upon its owner.

None of us expected what came of my mother’s boast. The gods do not always consider nuance. They are far more likely to fly into a rage at the slightest provocation. That’s what happened to practically every “lover” of Zeus. They leave a trail of bodies in their debaucherous wake. I suppose my mother should have known better than to compare me to Poseidon’s beloved Nereids. Whether or not he even considered them beautiful was irrelevant to him, for they were his possessions, and nothing mortal was permitted to surpass that which he owned. Thus he threw his tantrum. He called upon his creature, Cetus, to raze our coastline. Every day villagers came to us, begging for a way to put an end to the destruction. We had no answer. Yet my father knew. Even when the oracle told him that the only solution was my sacrifice, his face did not move. He knew but must be done but he would not accept it until the gods held the knife to his throat.Yet still for him it was just another dipomatic formality. Instead of a treaty between kings it was a treaty between a mortal and a god. Instead of sealing it with a marriage, he sealed it with a sacrifice. The two were hardly different to him.

So, there I lay, fixed upon the rock. The ropes dug into my wrists and ankles, drawing blood, and the breakers crashed barely a ten yards ahead of me, spraying salt water upon my exposed form. I had pulled my mind out of my body, as much from the humiliation as the fear. I lay bare and helpless as our kingdom watched. A sudden thud snapped me back into the moment. I could feel the vibrations through my body as another blow shook the earth. Minutes passed in that manner, feeling Cetus’ approach but never seeing it. Then finally it crested the horizon. First all I could see was its writhing mass of eyes. Some stood on short stalks like those of a crab, soulless eyes with no color to them. Some oozed on longer tendrils, like those of a snail. Finally, there were those that stood fixed in place, immense compound eyes, like those of a shrimp. All of them fixed their gaze upon me. As it grew closer I saw its mandibles. I would say there were twenty sets, but one could not tell from the way they chittered and interlocked in anticipation. It had a crab’s carapace for its body, but a slimy squid’s mantle hung limply out of the back. It walked upon what looked like crab’s legs, but they were strange and wrong. They didn’t stay stiff when they came down, but bent like cooked asparagus, causing it to bob in seemingly random directions. It had one enormous pincer on its right but a tentacle on its left, with two claws fixed to the end. It stood as tall as a mountain, yet it moved three times as fast as a ship. As it grew even nearer, some of the rocks around me began to shake to pieces, yet sadly mine held. I thought I heard my mother weep, but I must have imagined it, for the stomping drowned out all sound. When it grew so close that I could feel its slaver strike my face, I closed my eyes and prepared myself for my fate.

I expected to be whisked down to the Underworld. I wasn’t sure how it was supposed to feel, but I knew it felt like something. Yet I felt nothing. Not even its spit flying at my face. I opened my eyes. Cetus stood there, still. Too still. Its color was different, its texture smoother. Its shell glistered in the morning sun. It was stone. Its eyes were no longer fixed upon me, but rather upon a point above its head. I tracked up and saw her. The Protector. My protector. A woman, riding a winged horse. She wore a hoplite’s armor, but no helmet sat upon her head. Instead her hair blew free. Yet it did not blow. Rather, it writhed. Dozens of asps hissed and squirmed on her head. She whispered to them and they calmed, pulling back to form a slicked back look. Then she gently clicked, and the horse began to descend in circles. I knew who she was now. The Gorgon. We had heard tales of her, even as far as we lay from the Achaeans. She turned men to stone and despised all life. I shuddered as she came closer. Yet when she pulled out her knife, she used it not to slit my throat but to sever the ropes that held me.

“Im so sorry for what they’ve done to you,” she said in a comforting tone, “I can return you to them if you’d like. I know how some people love their families no matter what. I shook my head. Words stuck in my throat. “Okay, I can help you if you’ll accept. You can come with me and I’ll protect you.” Protect. It was in her name. Medusa, the Protector. From the same word as my name. I nodded. “Alright, first things first let’s get you some clothes.” She pulled a cloak from her riding pack and wrapped it gently around me. I pulled it tight and felt its soft silk embrace me. “Climb on.” She offered me her hand and I accepted, clambering onto her horse. She clicked her tongue again and he took off,beating his wings until we reached the clouds, and then gliding softly. I didn’t look back at the shores of Ethiopia.

We didn’t talk for the rest of our journey through the sky. She knew I wasn’t ready to and she didn’t mind. She understood. Whenever she looked back to check on me I could see in her eyes that she’d endured something far worse. Even if I could have asked, I wouldn’t have. By the time we landed it was nearly nightfall.We alit upon a rocky hill with a cave opening on its side. I hadn’t felt my hunger until that moment, and I began to ask, but before I even had time to speak she said, “I’ll get a fire going and make us some food. I’m sure you’re starving.” I nodded again.

I sat in the cave watching her, her face lit by the fire as she cooked a stew of beans and vegetables with goat’s milk. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a face like hers before. It was soft in some of the ways I’d seen in women’s faces before, yet also rough and solid. I could see a good part of the fear behind her name. Even without her gaze of stone, her face still projected control and betrayed no emotion. Yet I could feel the pain she had suffered. This changed when she brought a bowl over to me with a crust of bread to dip in it. I grinned as I began to slurp my soup and pick up the beans using the bread. It wasn’t until I’d finished eating that I looked up and saw that her expression had changed. Now she had a tender smile from cheek to cheek.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t stare,” she said, looking away.

“Please,” I said, “don’t worry. You’ve done so much for me, I don’t mind.” She looked back at my and smiled again, shyly this time. Her cheeks flushed and she looked away once more.

I laughed, “So you’re Medusa? I always heard that you were more monster than woman. So why am I sharing a meal with you instead of frozen in stone?”

“Oh that?” she laughed as well, “that only works on men. I guess the rumors spread because they’re afraid of a woman who can defend herself.” I laughed again, but more so because it was true than because of any humor. It was the same fear of a bold woman that had annihilated so many other women before her. Zeus feared Metis and so he devoured her, as if it weren’t enough that men like him are so often wont to leech a women’s life forces. Kreon executed Antigone because she defied him. It gave me comfort to know that at least Medusa had the power to fend off attackers.

“It’s a gift from Athena,” she continued, “She’s my patron goddess, she’s always looked out for me, and I’ve always honored her.”

“So why did she-”

“I don’t talk about it,” she snapped. Her face turned cold and she turned away, her snakes hissing as she did. I had never seen a woman as powerful as her before, so what could be too much for her? I didn’t really want to know. I wanted to ease her pain, but it was too dangerous, and if it was a subject she’d rather not touch, I’d respect her wishes. She sat off in the back of the cave, stroking her snakes back into place and looking down into her lap. They resisted at first but eventually calmed while I lay myself down upon the floor.

As the fire died down and I closed my eyes, I tried to fall asleep. But every time my eyes shut, an image of Poseidon’s beast flashed before and I jolted. Even with my eyes open, I couldn’t help but shiver. There was a cold breeze flowing into the cave, and my thoughts still dwelled on the helplessness I’d felt just that morning. I was so wrapped up in these thoughts that I didn’t hear her tread gently over to me. I didn’t notice anyhting until she draped over my body the linen blanket she had been carrying. I felt warmed inside, but still I jolted and shivered. She must have seen that I did so, because she began to sing to me. It was a simple verse that I’d heard Achaean merchants sing down at the docks, but never in a voice like hers. The way she spoke was rough and guarded, but now as she sang, her voiced poured out like a nightengale.

“While you live, be radient!

 Don’t worry your sweet soul

 For life is short for all of us

 And time requests its toll.”

The theme was harsh, yet somehow comforting. I may have had a brush with death today, but so must everyone eventually. While I could live I should live to my fullest and be thankful that I was alive. I don’t know when I drifted off, but when I woke up, Medusa was cooking a dish of rabbit and egg, seasoned with herbs she’d found outside. She boiled four eggs, two for each of us, and lay out the poached rabbit meat in strips on the wicker plates. As she cooked she fed a whole raw egg to one of her snakes. It unhinged its jaw and swallowed it whole, hitching its mouth along, inch by inch, until it had gone down its throat.

“Do they need to eat separately from you?” I asked.

“Good morning to you too,” she retorted, not taking her eyes off the iron pot. I supposed I had been a bit rude to lead with that but I couldn’t really help my curiosity. “And no, they don’t need to eat, I just find it helps calm them. Sometimes they seem to forget they’re a part of me.

“So they have minds of their own?”

“Honestly even after all this time I’m not quite sure. They seem to respond to my emotions but I can never control them when I’m keen to.” She fished the eggs out of the pot with a wooden spoon and brought the two plates over, handing me mine and sitting down to eat hers. It was a plain meal but the rabbit was tender, the eggs were just soft enough and everything was enhanced by her presence. She wore a light tan colored man’s chiton and a chlamys cloak over that. Her smoothed her snakes back again and I stared at her longer than I should have. I still couldn’t get over it. I’d never seen a woman like her before. The way she wore men’s clothes, the way she did up her short hair--albeit hair made of snakes. She presented herself like a man, but she was not like any man I had ever seen either. Even men who dressed exactly the same didn’t have the same influence that she had on me now. I was sure it must be her enchantment. That must factor into it somehow.

[pauperpedia]

What’s the future for Aggro?

Pauper will never be the same after Commander Legends. This has been the set everyone wanted, but at the same time it seems everyone is fearful of it, and rightfully so. We've gotten access to some very powerful cards in regard to control, midrange, and tron strategies which will shape the format for a long time to come. Aggro decks, however, did not get any new toys or bigger creatures with which to counteract all these new cards. So which cards am I framing here that could make aggro a less than viable option when figuring out a deck to play in the future?

Well, Pauper finally got the sweeper that people have talked about for years in the form of Fiery Cannonade. Now, if you look at the sweepers we had before, they mostly did one damage or gave -1/-1 to each creature until the end of turn, which was fine because most of the time these were sideboard cards you would bring in against token decks or go wide strategies. One could argue we already had Pestilence, Crypt Rats, and Evincar's Justice. My argument would be is that Fiery Cannonade is not only one mana cheaper, but a heck of a lot easier to cast when it comes to color requirements. It's also instant speed which is a huge deal when it comes to control decks or anything that runs Mystical Teachings. Some decks already run Suffocating Fumes in the mainboard, in part due to its cycle ability when it's dead, so I'm curious to see if any decks would run this mainboard as well. This set also opened up the playable color pie when it comes to Monarch cards. Monarch is a mechanic that was created primarily for multi-player formats. It is an effect that cannot be permanently removed from the game state once it's introduced. If a player controls the monarch, they draw a card at the beginning of their end step. The only way to lose or gain the monarch is to deal or have combat damage dealt to you via creatures. In multiplayer formats this is a fun mechanic that encourages people to attack in the face of any in game politics. The player holding the monarch becomes a target for other players to come after them. In a 1v1 scenario, however, this means that the main focus once the Monarch once has been introduced to the game state is to protect it. I think we can all agree protecting something against one assailant is a lot easier than protecting something from multiple. The main goal is to amass more resources than your opponent and eventually kill them in the long game. In order to protect the monarch, decks utilize fog tacticts to delay the game in the monarch's favor. This leads to long, drawn out, and uninteresting games for the aggro player once this situation presents itself. Commander Legends gave blue two very powerful monarch cards, Fall from Favor & Azure Fleet Admiral. Fall from Favor is an unprecedented enchantment-aura spell which can give a player the monarch for three mana. Being able to lock down a creature that would threaten to take the monarch away and give you the monarch at the same time doesn't bode well for any aggressive decks not holding up targeted protection. Then you have the Admiral, which not only gives you the monarch, but also makes it so that you can take it back relatively easy allowing you to set up situtations to lock your opponent out from getting the monarch back in the future. I guess Azure Fleet Admiral dies to Lightning Bolt and Savage Swipe, but any decent player running monarch cards will most likely have resources at hand to deal with that outcome.

So how will aggro decks adapt to overcome these hurdles? I've had the great plasure to chat with some of our formats well known players. A common concern regarding aggro decks is their ability to recover from board wipes now that Fiery Cannon is a thing. Stompy is the biggest deck that could suffer. Most of Stompy's creatures are 2/2s so they can take full advantage of Savage Swipe. As the deck stands now, it will hinge on whether or not they can represent lethal by turn three or have a creature big enough by casting Hunger of the Howlpack. The problem with that is that even a really good hand, presenting lethal by turn three is highly unlikely. Even having one big creature puts a Stompy player in a bad position due in part to Skred, Cast Down, Defile, and Snuff out to name a few removal cards that could be run alongside Fiery Cannonade.

Calpine, a notable Tortured Existence player and daily Pauper Twitch streamer, told me he thinks aggro decks will have two paths moving forward. One path relies on going even harder on faster kills, and ignoring midrange stuff like Elephant Guide, in favor of Groundswell. I wonder if perhaps Stompy will go back to its roots and focus more on one drops that go in for a quick kill? Calpine said another path is for aggro players is to build a deck with more resilient threats or rely on burn more. Calpine noted that creatures like Mogg War Marshall, Safehold Elite, Young Wolf, etc. will become more popular. He also said that red decks will lean more heavily on burn them out strategies. I think creatures like Viashino Pyromancer & Orcish Hellraiser are decent candidates that could see more play. Goblin decks could also run pirates which dodge Fiery Cannonade, so I think creatures like Fanatical Firebrand & Goblin Trailblazer have a chance at seeing more play as well.

Zimplfy aka NotGood on MTGO, host of the UnFamiliar Territory podcast & all around good guy, went on to say that Elves is definetely going to get hurt by Fiery Cannonade. There was some discussion floating around that Wrap in Vigor could be an option, but both Zimplfy and I don't think that would be good enough. So, like all good investigative reporters, I sought out an Elves expert to find out how Elves could adapt. Thankfully Walker735 was willing to give their insight. Walker735 went on to say that Elves already has a lot of answers. Hydroblast, Prohibit, Negate, Dispel, and previously mentioned Wrap in Vigor are the best examples. It's just a matter of which ones will end as the best answers moving forward as it pertains to the metagame. Walker735 said this about what they want from their protection spell suite: 1) 2-3 protection spells in the main that are useful more or less in every matchup. 2) A combination of 4-6 protection spells in the 75 for every relevant matchup. 3) The protection spells used in the matchups have to not only be effective, but also efficient. Post Fiery Cannonade, Elves will probably have to give up on some sideboard slots that used to be dedicated to other things. This is a shame because it will weaken the overall deck, but hopefully not too much. Walker735 said it's difficult to theorycraft a specific protection spell suite already, beacause we dont have the data for what the metagame will look like. They're confident, however, that with all the good options available, Elves will be able to come up with a suite of protection spells that meet the requirements.

As someone who loves playing the white slice of magic's color pie, there are only two options when it comes to aggro decks. You have Heroic, a deck focused on buffing your creatures and holding up protection, or you have White Weenie which can either go wide or try and play like Stompy albeit not as efficiently. I think its pretty safe to assume any White Weenie strategy is now most likely dead, if it was even alive to begin with. In order to combat an efficient sweeper like Fiery Cannonade, White Weenie decks would have to run mainboard protection spells like Hallow or creatures like Loyal Cathar and Doomed Traveler. The main thing holding White Weenie and Heroic back, is the lack of card draw playing white has to offer. There's no coming back from early removal followed by a boardwipe, there's no Winding Way or Lead the Stampede. Until pauper gets downshifts or new relevant white cards in the format that not only combat sweepers more efficiently, but spells that can bring you back from the brink, white will continue being a support color in pauper strategies. Moving Forward now that we have an interesting downshift in Champion of the Flame and a new card in Benevolent Blessing (a more efficient Cho-Manno's Blessing), Heroic could become a Boros deck. This could change could give Heroic more reach, but at the same time you run the risk of losing early tempo now that you run two colors. Hexproof is already a really good deck that often loses to its own manabase, and I think running Boros Heroic just makes the deck a worse attempt at what Hexproof already does.

I think early on in the Post Commander Legends era, aggressive decks will find it hard to grab a decent foothold in the metagame. I think the most viable aggro decks moving forward will be Hexproof, Affinity, and I think you might see a resurgance in Tireless Tribe if you could classify that as an aggro deck. All three of these decks have ways of killing an opponent early, dodge Fiery Cannonade, and have answers when it comes to fighting monarch style decks. Deluxeicoff, original deck designer & host of Pauperganda, stated that Benevolent Blessing will be a house in Hexproof. It will be hard to measure how many feel right in the deck, but the deck will just "feel better/more consistent. In addition to that, I’d like to add that Hexproof also has access to cards like Essence Harvest which it brings in against decks that try to fog combat or prevent damage with Prismatic Strands. The two paired up do sound nice. Affinity is already a strong deck that has been on a recent trend of playing Jeskai Colors. I think the new addition of Fiery Cannonade will force Affinity to go back to playing Myr Enforcer and Carapace Forger and forgo the white splash in Glint Hawk, Thraben Inspector, and Kor Skyfisher. Tireless Tribe is a fun deck that could see a rise in success. Benevolent Blessing is definitely a card that can give this deck a boost. The built in ability for Tribe to dodge sweepers and mainboard counters to beat fogs, could make Tireless Tribe a sleeper deck that could spike a tournament or burn through a league with good results.

Of course, all of the above is heavily reliant on Fiery Cannonade being the major factor when it comes to aggro's demise. It will most likely be an abundance of factors that combine the influx of newer and cheaper monarch cards as well as the new sweeper. Keep in mind, the sweeper hits non pirates only and the new relevant monarch creatures are both pirates. I actually had a dream where a new UR Pirates deck was running amok and was the new deck to beat. While this nightmare scenario is just that, a fictional nightmare, it's not that crazy. I think you will see UR Faeries try to make a comeback. You started to see the deck deploy a more robust land selection so that it could reliably cast Crown-Hunter Hireling. Let's be honest, while it did put up results briefly, Crown-Hunter Hireling is a horrible card. Now, you can have the monarch on turn three with Fall from Favor if you need it, and can continue to get the monarch back if you lost it thanks to Azure Fleet-Admiral. This kind of tempo and card advantage will spell disaster for opposing aggro decks. Only time will tell which will be worse for aggro decks; the introduction of an easy to cast three mana "sweeper" at instant speed, or the new monarch cards in blue which was already a strong color to begin with.