Sideboarding in Pioneer

Anthony LowryPioneer

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 …

Gang of Gideons: A Pioneer Deck Tech

Tom AndersonPioneer

The unexpected announcement of the Pioneer format is shaping up to be a Magic highlight of 2019. We’ve seen a ton of unique decks emerge in the weeks since, many featuring cards and strategies which were banned or crowded out of Modern. As Michael Rapp observed in his metagame update, the Big Three decks right now seem to be Mono-Black, …

Modern and Pioneer Metagame Update

Michael RappModern, Pioneer

As the end of 2019 approaches, we’ve seen a lot in Magic over the year in Modern, and a brand-new format emerge in Pioneer. We were lucky enough to get a bevy of events this last weekend to pull data from: the StarCityGames Invitational, a Modern MTGO PTQ, a Modern MTGO Challenge, two Modern PTQs at GP Sao Paulo, a …

Sultai Pioneer Deck Guide

Michael RappPioneer

By now, you’re probably familiar with Magic’s newest format, Pioneer. (If you haven’t heard of it or need a refresher, check out our intro article.) We’re here today to talk about one of my favorite decks to emerge in Pioneer thus far: Sultai Midrange. Sultai is your classic midrange deck, featuring a suite of interaction, flush with versatile and adaptable …

Post-Ban Pioneer Watch List

Anthony LowryPioneer

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 …

Three Casual Pioneer Decklists

Alex KatzPioneer

The recent announcement of Pioneer has gotten a lot of Magic players excited. It’s a chance to rebuild beloved Standard decks that weren’t powerful enough for Modern, and to update them for a new non-rotating environment. Here are a couple of brews based on my favorite casual decks from past Standard formats. The Locust God The Locust God, which makes …

Brewing for Pioneer

Anthony LowryPioneer

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 …

Pioneer: Cards to Watch

Hallie SantoPioneer

Pioneer is Magic’s newest Constructed format, and it’s been the talk of the Magic community this week. It’s a non-rotating format whose card pool extends back through Return to Ravnica, one of the first sets released after the creation of the Modern format. Return to Ravnica also came out during a time of unprecedented player growth in Magic (I myself …

An Intro to Pioneer

Card KingdomPioneer

Magic players were bracing for the latest Banned and Restricted list announcement today (more on that later this week), but they weren’t prepared for Wizards of the Coast to reveal a brand-new Magic format. Pioneer is coming to Magic Online and tabletop tournaments near you this fall, so here’s the low-down. What is Pioneer? Pioneer is a non-rotating Magic format …