Mono-Black is one of Pioneer’s oldest archetypes, and has continued to be a mainstay. It’s an aggressive strategy that utilizes cheap, resilient creatures like Bloodsoaked Champion and Dread Wanderer to get the ball rolling, while using the most powerful interaction spells in the format in Thoughtseize and Fatal Push to drive your threats home. Just in case your smaller creatures …
This past weekend was yet another showcase for Pioneer, and it did not disappoint. With the Players Tour and Grand Prix happening in Phoenix, as well as the SCG Team Open and Classic in Philadelphia, there was no shortage of the Pioneer metagame on display. Some of the big questions going into the weekend involved Inverter and Underworld Breach decks. …
When most players hear about a Stompy deck, they think ridiculously large threats. They think large power coming into the red zone against the rest of the format’s puny creatures. Stompy decks aren’t trying to play some attrition game or work their way around creature combat. They’re trying to run you over and laugh in post-combat’s wake…assuming there even is …
Theros Beyond Death is just around the corner, and all the new cards have been revealed. I’m excited to play with these cards in every format, but I’m most interested in the set’s impact on Pioneer. Pioneer is currently as healthy as it’s ever been: every color is represented well, and there are multiple archetypes within almost every color combination. …
A sideboard to your deck. A paintbrush to your canvas. A hammer to your smithing. …That’s all I got. Sideboarding is important because your maindeck can’t cover everything. Sometimes you need some fine-tuning to cover weak points against a match-up, a particular card, or even a player! Sideboard cards can vary from high impact but narrow answers — such as …
And just like that, the landscape of Pioneer has changed. Felidar Guardian, Leyline of Abundance, and Oath of Nissa are banned. According to WotC, Copycat and Green Devotion decks were the winningest decks since the format’s inception; cards from these decks needed to be banned to ensure Pioneer’s health. What’s interesting about these bans is that they sidestep cards that …
When the Pioneer format was announced last week, I was initially reserved. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as it was so sudden. Plus, I was already so neck deep in Modern and Standard, that I wasn’t sure if I could put time into another format. But after about twelve hours, I fell in love with Pioneer. All of the …
Throne of Eldraine has been a pretty awesome set so far. So many of the cards look like contenders for both Standard and Modern, and there are a few that seem Legacy-playable. I’m really excited to see what all the ca- Wait…what? Brazen Borrower Oh…Okay. So, I’m going to cut to the chase here. This is, at the time of …
For those that don’t know who I am, I’m Anthony Lowry, a former grinder on the SCG Tour. I’ve contributed to a lot of different archetypes, such as Jeskai Geist, Burning Reanimator (now R/B Reanimator) Jeskai Auras, and various monsters decks, including Chris VanMeter’s winning list from SCG Syracuse back in 2015. I don’t exactly consider myself a great deckbuilder, …
