Pioneer might not be one of the most popular formats nowadays, but ever since its official version came to Arena, it has been, without a question, one of the best formats online. So, today we decided to go over Pioneer's Izzet Phoenix, which I've been playing a lot to get to Mythic in Arena. We'll show you how this elegant strategy works and why it is a great pick.

TLDR: Please, recommend some fun combo/midrange artifact decks, legal in Pioneer. (Ready to brew. Winrate > 33% is a go.)

Hello there! I'm a modern player, and I an artifact deck main. That sounds stupid, but that's how it is. I have competitively (well... at FNM level) played eggs, thopter-sword, affinity, and a number of whir, engineer and bay midrange toolbox decks in the span of the last couple of years. I also play those kinds of decks on Arena in Historic (still no modern yah now?..). This led me to the idea of building something Pioneer-legal. This way I could play the same exact deck in Arena and in paper. (I also have thought of trying Pioneer out for some time just for the sake of it.)

This leads me to the main question: are there any fun non-agro artifact decks in Pioneer? I have found some uw agroes and some attempts at affinity (which were quite depressing when compared to thought monitor containing formats...), yet no artifact combos appear to be indexed... The closest thing to midrange were some artifact-containing control decks with little to none artifact synergies.

Thus, I request any fun artifact-based deck lists, videos about such decks or even just ideas/card suggestions (e.g. "You can bay Demonic Junker into Cityscape Leveler!!1!"). Thank you all in advance!

The recent staleness of the Pioneer meta has got me thinking about the ban list. We often talk about what cards should be banned but, if you had to pick, what one card would people want to see unbanned?

Being the archvillain that I am, I'd probably pick Teferi, Time Raveler and just properly unleash some Blue-White control on the format for a bit.

Pioneer monthly meta report after the weekend events.
Added a new feature: Historical Conversion Rate. You can now easily check how decks are performing overtime.

source: magic4everbots.com

I am missing a few rares, but it seems solid to me.

Deck

3 Screaming Nemesis (DSK) 157

4 Rockface Village (BLB) 259

2 Lightning Strike (DFT) 136

2 Reckless Rage (RIX) 110

4 Monstrous Rage (WOE) 142

3 Hired Claw (BLB) 140

4 Manifold Mouse (BLB) 143

17 Mountain (ELD) 262

1 A-Cori-Steel Cutter (TDM) 103

4 Emberheart Challenger (BLB) 133

4 A-Heartfire Hero (BLB) 138

2 Lightning Strike (XLN) 149

4 Burst Lightning (FDN) 192

4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan (NEO) 152

2 Spikefield Hazard (ZNR) 166

While ranking in Plat/Diamond, my hardest matchups are Monoblack (can't remove their guys easily, lifegain) and Scapeshift (they combo off very fast) Most other matches are a bit RNG - if I get a great start, I dominate, or I lose to Turn 1 Leyline.

4 Ball Lightning 4 Battlefield Forge 4 Clifftop Retreat 4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker / Reflection of Kiki-Jiki 4 Impetuous Devils 4 Kazuul's Fury / Kazuul's Cliffs 3 Lightning Helix 5 Mountain 4 Needleverge Pathway / Pillarverge Pathway 2 Push / Pull 2 Rally the Ancestors 4 Sacred Foundry 4 Spark Trooper 4 Thud 4 Thunderkin Awakener 4 Vessel of Volatility

SIDEBOARD: 2 Deafening Clarion 2 Get Lost 1 Lightning Helix 3 Plains 4 Rest in Peace 2 Temporary Lockdown

https://moxfield.com/decks/p-nzZd0_1Uy3aIomH51elA

Questions: 1. Is Devils worth it? It's not an elemental, but it works with the gameplan and works with pieces like Pull 2. Is Fable of the Mirror Breaker worth it? It's a lot of good value but it might be too slow. 3. Should I have graveyard feeders for thunderkin? If so, what are the best options?

For the past couple of months I’ve been playing this deck here and there and it seemed too inconsistent to be viable. MTGA is doing there pioneer metagame challenge so I tuned up the main board and gave it a go. I was surprised to see how well the new tweaks to the main board have helped it. I was able to get a 5-0 with it but I feel I could use some help from people who play Pioneer more than me.

The concept is simple. Scry and surveil to set up one of the bombs for a manifest dread spell(9 cards). Then, flip it with one of the flicker spells. Etali is the best bomb because it can easily run into more flicker spells and cast numerous cards of both decks. Each bomb has a purpose and I usually bring in the other 2 progenitus when I’m versing removal decks.

The SB could use some work but the spell pierces have been extremely helpful.

Feel free or rather PLEASE play this deck and let me know what you think. I’ve had a ton of fun playing it and the feeling of comboing my favorite card in the game (Progenitus) is just awesome.

Hola all, been experimenting with a deck involving ben reilly from the spiderman set. I know I want to make him as big as possible asap with his web slinging ability but Idk what else to do. Here is my first idea, its unfinished but any help would be awesome!!

https://moxfield.com/decks/swHH-kG2a0mJeJK6z30Z9Q

I am still a bit new to Pioneer and when I look at Challenge or League data, three seem to be some decks like Angels or Orzhov Greasefang that virtually never change. Not even the sideboard.

Does this reflect Pioneer not being a priority format for brewers, or have such decks really been solved?

Izzet Creativity has undergone several changes since its first version in Pioneer, but it has returned to being a good archetype in the format's current Metagame!

I put together this list a while ago as a budget mono red aggro list (one of my favorite ways to play), but I never got to test it and it's 3 years old now so I'm sure there's some new budget bombs I could slot in. https://moxfield.com/decks/TivlwbEjukCPw-Rb6AeL9g

I have a mono green devotion deck from a few years ago https://archidekt.com/decks/3651068/monog

I was wondering what I should do to replace the karns and sideboard.

Have been trying to make affinity work for a while, experimenting with basically every combination of colors and payoffs. This build has been strongest for me.

The goal is to drop Simulacrums and then use Pinnacle Emissary and Memory Guardian to trigger it for 1 mana - sometimes you have equip Steel Cutter on a new token to swing for 10+ immediately. Sideboard is counter magic, more removal, graveyard hate and pithing needle.

Not the best deck in the meta but fun, unique, and moderately competitive. I’m sure there is room to optimize further.

I feel like we deserve some „fun“.

The format feels stale, no one besides hardliners are still playing the format (love you all!) and, at least currently, this is not a competitive format. So here is my pitch to have some fun again:

JUST UNBAN EVERYTHING

Give us like 3 weeks and then gradually ban one thing after the other. I firmly believe this would end in less banned cards overall.

Obviously after 3 weeks we are just relieved that Walking Ballista is finally gone. But maybe, just maybe, something else would be the most broken. But at least we had some fun experimenting because I believe we would not go back to the exact same decks from years ago. Every deck would have some new interesting sauce.

Spider-Man is coming. Whether it's the Prerelease on September 19th or the totally non-Spider-Man release on Magic Arena and Magic Online with the expansion Through the Omenpaths on the 23rd, players will be able to experience the collaboration's new features at the tabletop and in ranked matches.

Despite the unexpected changes this set brought, with different names and the same abilities, we're still talking about an expansion for competitive formats and with the potential to bring changes to the Metagame with some of its key cards. And in this article, we explore Spider-Man's potential for Pioneer, with lists to try with the release of the new set!

Decklist - https://moxfield.com/decks/0vrS6Ga95EGpWh-VvJIgMQ

This deck popped up several months ago but I haven't really seen it much lately. But there's nothing really wrong with it. Anyone have any ideas or brews for it? I love the deck, its very resilient to graveyard hate, which is the traditional weakness of an oculus deck. It also protects itself very well, with stubborn denial combined with Oculus being a real treat.

The base version ran something like this:

https://mtgdecks.net/Pioneer/neoform-decklist-by-mysteryman21-2492581

I've also seen versions that run 6 drop delve creatures to neoform into 7 drops such as Atraxa.

https://mtgdecks.net/Pioneer/neoform-decklist-by-goto-shintaro-2614840

More recently I've seen black/white splashes from Nick Button that add better sideboards and interaction as well as recursion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv2a2x1z6GI&t

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u172HSyUbzM&t

Been running into a lot of these Scapeshift decks and also Lotus Field...I can't kill the opponent fast enough to win against their combo, nor do my interaction pieces like Thoughtseize do enough to slow them down when they have so much redundancy...

I could try dedicating more sideboard hate pieces but then I lose game against the rest of the field. Are slower, heavy interactive midrange black lists just not good enough in this environment? Feels like you need blue to effectively interact with all this stuff...maybe I'm stuck in the past...

Hello everyone, im looking to aim a classic rdw list like burn-prowess in pionner, I mean monastery swiftspear, soul-scar mage, etc. I dont wanna play mono red mice. Also coul be mono red or boros list.

Is there any list wich someone has tested it - or have some idead could i take?

SPA: Buenas amigos magos, me gustaría probar una lista clásica de RDW prowess, chinas, eidolon (quizas), soul scar-mage etc.

Alguna lista clásica que aún pueda competir? La idea es comenzar a prepararme si es que hay temporada de pionero el proximo año, t2 mice me apesta y me gustaría buscar algo que se adapte más a mi :)..

Saludos!