My process for article writing varies, but I usually have an idea of what I’m going to write about on Monday. On Tuesday, I’ll either get started on the legwork, like fleshing out decklists or sideboarding guides, and I finish Wednesday night or Thursday in the early morning. Last week, I wrote about the decks I was planning on playing at SCG CON Winter, made the drive from Richmond to Roanoke Thursday night, and then sat down to build my decks.
Over the course of Thursday, I didn’t have any time to play actual matches, but while chatting with people and thinking about it, I wanted to change archetypes. When I arrived at my hotel, I laid all my cards out on the table, put a few decks together, tinkered with them, and eventually packed a couple of 75s into my bag and went to sleep.
The premise for the switch in Pioneer was that there would be a lot of aggressive decks. Based on the metagame breakdown, I was absolutely right. Over 50% of the field was playing aggro and many of them were targeting Mono-Green Devotion.
I had a great deck for the metagame.
Creatures (15)
- 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
- 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
- 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
- 3 Tireless Tracker
- 4 Gilded Goose
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (25)
Spells (14)
Oddly enough, I played against Simic Nexus twice (1-1), the mirror (1-0), and Temur Aggro (0-1). Sometimes everything about a plan works out except the execution. I’m very bad at playing well in Round 1 and lost my match as a result of it. The other loss could have been a win with stronger deck construction. For the most part, I was satisfied with my deck choice and the specifics given the information I had.
Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy was surprisingly poor. My manabase was acceptable, but there were games I couldn’t curve out effectively and Jace was left stranded in my hand. Getting to five cards in the graveyard was non-trivial. If my opponents weren’t playing things I could Fatal Push and Abrupt Decay, Jace had very little value. I didn’t want to deal myself too much damage with shocklands and Thoughtseizes, but Painful Truths might be a necessity for making Jace a reasonable card in those matchups. Additional discard spells in the sideboard could also help.
If I’ve learned anything since then, it’s that you can’t invest in a two-drop that dies to Fatal Push without providing any immediate value. Decks that start with a one-drop can afford to do it because whatever the one-drop is puts pressure on their Fatal Pushes. Decks that start on Jace simply give them a target for their otherwise dead card.
The other big disappointment was Leyline of the Void. I wanted an additional card for Simic Nexus and was somewhat worried about Izzet Phoenix and any sort of Cauldron Familiar or Prized Amalgam deck. Those didn’t really show up, but Field of the Dead did, and I could have used some copies of Unmoored Ego and Ashiok, Dream Render.
On the other hand, Tireless Tracker was my best card by far. You need some amount of velocity and a late-game. Tireless Tracker is also early pressure and something proactive to do in the early turns besides Oko, Thief of Crowns.
As it turns out, Sam Black and Autumn Burchett played a similar deck, although theirs is almost strictly better than what I registered.
Creatures (14)
Lands (25)
Spells (21)
I don’t like Gilded Goose and I want more land. Having untapped green on Turn 1 is a rarity, so Gilded Goose isn’t very good at accelerating you into a Turn 2 Tireless Tracker. You can weave it in on Turn 3 or so, which will set up for Turn 4 Hour of Promise, but that’s not exactly worth a card. Yes, you get the lifegain aspect later on, but three life for four mana isn’t a great deal. I’d much rather add a Radiant Fountain in place of a spell.
Arboreal Grazer has the benefit of putting the land directly onto the battlefield, which means your Field of the Deads will get online a turn sooner. That alone makes it a better choice than Gilded Goose, even if it means you have to add lands and decrease your spell density. If you’re creating Zombies ahead of schedule, you will likely need fewer removal spells anyway.
That said, I am intrigued by the prospect of adding Arboreal Grazer and more land. I shifted around some cards, did a bunch of goldfishing, and was relatively impressed by Arboreal Grazer. There was a PTQ in the morning, but I ended up registering Temur Emerge and handing off my 75 to Cain Rianhard instead. I even had the foresight to fill out a decklist without putting my name on it!
Temur Emerge is very cool, but as it turns out, it doesn’t have many ways to beat a Soulflayer with hexproof and indestructible. Granted, neither does Golgari Field, but you could at least stay afloat thanks to Westvale Abbey and eventually overwhelm them with Zombies.
Creatures (12)
Lands (27)
- 3 Forest
- 1 Llanowar Wastes
- 2 Swamp
- 2 Overgrown Tomb
- 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
- 1 Woodland Cemetery
- 1 Temple of Malady
- 1 Radiant Fountain
- 1 Hissing Quagmire
- 1 Westvale Abbey
- 2 Blooming Marsh
- 1 Desert of the Indomitable
- 1 Ifnir Deadlands
- 1 Hashep Oasis
- 1 Field of Ruin
- 4 Field of the Dead
- 1 Castle Locthwain
- 2 Fabled Passage
Spells (21)
How to Beat Mono-Black Aggro
Now that it’s official and Mono-Black Aggro is known to be the best deck in Pioneer, we can make more informed decisions going forward. For example, Kolaghan’s Command is incredibly well-positioned at the moment with all the Vehicles around. Walking Ballista is another incredible card, although you get massive bonus points for being able to consistently make large Ballistas, either with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Hardened Scales. For the most part, Mono-Black Aggro is adept at picking those synergy-based decks apart, so those decks need to adapt to some degree.
Any removal spell that exiles is excellent right now. Izzet Ensoul is another sizable portion of the metagame, so cards like Legion’s End are at a premium. Sam was sideboarding Unravel the Aether, which is another choice I like.
Maybe the answer is as simple as adding some of these cards to your Mono-Black Aggro deck in order to get an edge in the mirror. Red conveniently gives you access to Blood Sun, arguably the best card against the current crop of Field of the Dead decks.
If you want to smash Mono-Black Aggro and Bant Ramp while having a reasonable shot against Izzet Ensoul, Mono-Green Devotion, and Simic Nexus, try this:
Creatures (25)
- 2 Hangarback Walker
- 4 Bomat Courier
- 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
- 4 Inventor's Apprentice
- 3 Rekindling Phoenix
- 4 Goblin Chainwhirler
- 4 Bonecrusher Giant
Lands (23)
Spells (12)
Sideboard
I considered playing a deck with Smuggler’s Copter and Kolaghan’s Command at the Season Two Invitational, but I didn’t have a list I liked. Now I do!
The keys were Bonecrusher Giant instead of Goblin Rabblemaster; Rekindling Phoenix over Chandra, Torch of Defiance; and committing to Goblin Chainwhirler. Going hard on Blightbeetle also solidified the green matchups.
Some decks can’t beat Goblin Chainwhirler. There’s an emphasis on casting something on the first turn in Pioneer at the moment and that leads to many people playing one-toughness creatures. I’ve had much better Chainwhirlers in Pioneer than I ever did in Standard because it’s not on anyone’s radar at the moment.
This is a slower aggressive deck, so Simic Nexus is difficult (especially with the lack of Thoughtseize), but you have massive staying power. There isn’t a mass of recursive creatures to play with, but Bonecrusher Giant and Kolaghan’s Command give you enough things to use your mana on. With Smuggler’s Copter and Bomat Courier, one of them is likely to stick around and keep the gas coming.
I’ve also messed around with sideboard plans that contain Mutavault, Glorybringer, and Anger of the Gods, which allows you to sidestep your opponents bringing in cards that are good against your one-drops. Mono-Black Aggro would have useless Fatal Pushes in hand and Mono-Green Devotion always sideboarded in Nylea’s Disciple against me. Having that sidestep is nice, but it wasn’t really necessary.
If for some reason, you are allergic to Foreboding Ruins, you could play Spire of Industry instead. However, casting Goblin Chainwhirler becomes awkward at times. The lack of Mutavaults is sad, but if you decide you need them, you can always swap Goblin Chainwhirler for Goblin Rabblemaster.
As far as “best decks” are concerned, Mono-Black Aggro makes for a good one. Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Smuggler’s Copter, and Mutavault defend it from many angles, yet it’s still very beatable. Red cards seem to be the answer, as Magma Spray, Anger of the Gods, and Kolaghan’s Command work wonders.