Monday brought the first changes to the Pioneer Banned List, changing the ravenously appreciated and wholly unexplored format. Various takes on Copy Cat as well as Mono-Green Devotion featuring Turn 2 Nissa, Who Shakes the World were at the top of Magic Online League trophies, prompting swift action at the format’s first weekly Banned List update, something that Wizards of the Coast plans to continue doing until they’re happy with the format’s stability.
Information travels fast in this new age of Magic. For my first Pro Tour in 2001, I got my information from Sideboard and Duelist magazines, both of which had a month or more delay from writing to hitting the shelves. Now metagames seem to change on a weekly basis, and oftentimes in only a matter of days.
Pioneer is one of the formats for the Season Two Invitational at SCG CON Winter, quickly approaching in a week, replacing Standard to give competitors a fresh chance at showcasing their brewing skills on the big stage. However, there’s a fear that more bannings will come to Pioneer this Monday morning. So today, I’d like to highlight some successful strategies that have a low chance of being affected by any potential action Wizards of the Coast may take.
Creatures (22)
- 4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
- 1 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
- 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
- 1 Asylum Visitor
- 2 Stromkirk Condemned
- 4 Gifted Aetherborn
- 4 Champion of Dusk
- 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (25)
Spells (8)
Mono-Black Devotion was regarded as the best deck during its tenure in Standard. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx was originally regarded as an important tool, but later cut from the manabase as the deck became more tuned.
While Nykthos was an important part of the now-defunct Mono-Green Devotion in Pioneer and is a strong option for other colors of Devotion, it’s not completely necessary in Mono-Black; that is, if history is going to repeat.
Thoughtseize is one of the strongest cards to have access to in a format as new and broad as Pioneer. With Copy Cat and Mono-Green Devotion being nerfed, the combo decks have to stretch farther for their pieces and are more susceptible to being picked apart. Thoughtseize protects your synergistic elements, mostly ensuring that Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord gets to do its thing and live.
In the absence of Lightning Bolt or Path to Exile, Fatal Push is the best removal spell in Pioneer, as it will tend to trade up on mana for whatever you kill. Even with slim ways to enable revolt, Fatal Push is one of the best cards in Pioneer and one of the biggest reasons to play black.
Sorin is a powerful planeswalker from Core Set 2020 that combos perfectly with Champion of Dusk. The Standard version of Vampires typically played white to fill out the requisite Vampire numbers while playing a manabase that often led to mana problems. Pioneer offers a deeper card pool of Vampires to choose from, which allows for a more streamlined Mono-Black build.
Gifted Aetherborn is a perfect complement to Champion of Dusk to keep your life total high before converting life points into cards. It’s also a nice defender for Sorin, though the deathtouch and lifelink are redundant with Sorin’s plus.
Stromkirk Condemned is a payoff for your Vampire density. Often the threat of pumping is enough without having to commit a card to it, making it as strong as Legion Lieutenant and conditionally stronger. Once in a while, you’ll get to madness an Asylum Visitor, which is pretty sweet, and it’s also an outlet for extra copies of Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
Speaking of Kalitas, it’s a huge addition to this Vampire deck. It’s already a touch underpriced for its effect and now we can get it onto the battlefield on Turn 3 with Sorin. You’re happy to sacrifice every creature in the deck since they’re either a Vampire or a Zombie (including Mutavault).
Grey Merchant of Asphodel is as good as it was in Theros Standard many years ago, draining for huge amounts to swing the game back in your favor or close it out entirely. If you think Siege Rhino was good, y’all might’ve forgotten about ol’ Gary.
Castle Locthwain acts as a card drawing engine along with Champion of Dusk to also convert life into other resources. Underworld Connections was the go-to spell in this realm before and is now thankfully unnecessary, since it was quite clunky and outright unplayable against hyper-aggressive decks.
Speaking of hyper-aggressive decks, Mono-Red Aggro will always be an option in any Constructed format. In Pioneer, the speed and consistency of Mono-Red punish unwieldy draws from the opponent while having disruptive elements like Eidolon of the Great Revel and removal spells for opposing creatures. There are a lot of options for Mono-Red in Pioneer, but this is the build I like the most.
Creatures (21)
- 1 Ash Zealot
- 4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
- 4 Monastery Swiftspear
- 4 Bomat Courier
- 4 Soul-Scar Mage
- 4 Ghitu Lavarunner
Lands (19)
Spells (20)
There’s a slight Wizards subtheme going on here with Ghitu Lavarunner, Soul-Scar Mage, and Wizard’s Lightning. They’re all cards that work well individually and are quite potent when you can convert Wizard’s Lightning into Lightning Bolt.
Smuggler’s Copter isn’t making too many waves in Pioneer; it’s simply a strong card in the format. It’s good here since you have so many one-power creatures lying around to help crew it. The Vehicle is also a spell to trigger prowess while acting as a threat the opponent must deal with. It can pitch extra lands to find more gas or load up your graveyard slightly faster with spells to enable Ghitu Lavarunner.
Good enough to be banned in Standard, Ramunap Ruins is largely a freebie in the Pioneer build of Mono-Red Aggro. It’s not a necessary component to the deck’s success but it adds extra percentage points in long games when your creatures become neutralized. I could believe fewer than four Ramunap Ruins to be a more correct number if mirror matches are popping up.
Bomat Courier is a great way to crew Smuggler’s Copter and a great way to recoup card advantage. I like keeping the curve low to enable Bomat Courier’s potential, completely avoiding cards that cost three or more mana without an alternate casting cost.
Monastery Swiftspear and Soul-Scar Mage are the core of your deck. Prowess is a heck of a keyword when combined with Smuggler’s Copter and burn spells. One of the above three will be your optimal first-turn play. Ghitu Lavarunner is fine, of course, if the other options aren’t available, but is quite better to cast and attack with after you have two instants and/or sorceries in your graveyard.
Eidolon of the Great Revel is often the best card in your deck against combo or control decks. When your life total is irrelevant, you want to trade damage in any way possible, similar to Ramunap Ruins dinging you for a later payoff that closes the game. However, the Eidolon will sometimes be a weak card in your deck and get sideboarded out.
Searing Blood replaces Eidolon of the Great Revel in opposing aggro matchups. When the opponent is looking to be extra-defensive with lifegain and removal spells, cards like Skullcrack spike in value. Rampaging Ferecidon does a similar job preventing lifegain while punishing go-wide strategies aiming to block your creatures continuously.
Be Aggressive
With Pioneer being fairly volatile, there’s little consumer confidence in investing into a deck with lynchpin elements that risk getting banned. Mono-Black Vampires and Mono-Red Aggro are safe bets that have already put up decent results during the Copy Cat/Mono-Green Devotion era of Pioneer. Even if Smuggler’s Copter or Ramunap Ruins somehow find their way out the door, their exit won’t destroy either of these archetypes. However, I do believe they are very far down the queue for possible cards on the chopping block.
For the Season Two Invitational at SCG CON Winter, I’m looking to play something consistent and powerful (and that I’ve had previous experience with). Currently Mono-Black Vampires is on the top of my list since it’s the sweetest of my options. In a week, we’ll see just how sweet it truly is.