Best Explorer and Pioneer Decks: Outlaws of Thunder Junction Meta Report – April 27, 2024
Discover with Bohe the impact of recent weeks on MTG Pioneer and Explorer Meta. Prepare for your next tournament or ranked queue and get to know in depth what the end of April bring to us!
Now is the turn to check if the Wild West also has some impact on eternal formats. I can assure some cards surely bring new twists to already established archetypes, and at the same time, some others incentivize players to build around them.
In the present article, I’m going to tackle Explorer and Pioneer. It would be an interesting thing to do. First, because there haven’t been any relevant Explorer tournaments since the OTJ release. And secondly, there are a TON of Pioneer ones during the last week, and many of them already have OTJ featuring the highest spots in the top 8s.
What we would do will be review the the Pioneer results, check if the deck is playable on MTG Arena, and then, comment on whether the archetype has some relevance for the Explorer MTG Arena queues. In this first part, we are going to tackle all the archetypes that had 3 or more appearances in the top 8s of the last 7 days. Are you ready, cowgirls and cowboys? 🤠
Meta Overview
After reviewing 11 tournaments from the last 6 days, I’m happy to see the Pioneer metagame has many good options for every playstyle. Also, many of them had already incorporated new OTJ cards into their strategy.
In the same way, MTG Arena has been doing a great job implementing Pioneer cards to Explorer. Of every single archetype of the 23 different ones, just 5 are not fully playable on Explorer Lotus Field, Gruul Eldrazi, Training Grounds, Niv-Mizzet Reborn, and Jeskai Ascendancy because of missing cards. Hope those cards arrive at Arena soon. Or maybe not? Is clear that bringing the Lotus Field combo to Arena is a risky move.
The remaining 19 share the spots in the top 8 in a fairly equal form. Those are signs of a healthy format. I hope the Pioneer and Explorer season in the Pro Tour will be with us soon, as it will be very interesting to see the format in the hands of the best players in the world.
Let’s look closely at the data and lists of all these archetypes to present a clearer picture of what happened this week.
Wow, that’s 25 different archetypes with a top 8 of a relevant tournament in less than a week. Is clear how Rakdos Vampires aka Midrange from Chicago MagicCon became the boogieman of the format. However, just like I said, even if it’s the most popular archetype, many of the analyzed tournaments don’t have more than 1 copy of Rakdos in the top 8, and also not as the winner.
Let’s take a closer look.
Rakdos Midrange
Rakdos Midrange – Terminus0 MTGO Challenge 1st Place
Let’s start from the top. Rakdos was already one of the big decks in Pioneer before Chicago MagicCon. What makes this deck what it is today is how team Channel Fireball introduced Vein Ripper + Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord to the equation.
UW Control it’s a fierce enemy. However, if they can’t counter Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord on turn 3, fighting against a Vein Ripper without a creature in the board puts a lot of pressure. You better have a wrath effect or the game is going to finish quickly.
Rakdos is one of the few decks without new cards. Shoot the Sheriff could be an addition if you want to diversify your removal spells. Also, this deck is 100% playable in Explorer. You just have to notice that Damping Sphere is a common sideboard card in Pioneer because Lotus Field is an archetype non-existent in Explorer.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Niv-Mizzet Reborn – claudioh MTGO Challenge 1st Place
This is one of those decks that are not playable in Explorer. The main reason is Bring to Light, a card that is the heart of this deck. I understand why WotC may not want Lotus Field combo on Explorer. However, why they haven’t added Bring to Light yet?
Leaving this behind, this archetype has found a new card in OTJ that is one of the best upgrades for a strategy in Pioneer/Explorer. Pillage the Bog works amazingly in this toolbox deck letting you find Bringh to Light and cards Bring to Light can’t like Sunfall. Almost every list of this deck has 3 or 4 copies of this new sorcery; something logical in 36 lands decks.
It looks like Izzet Phoenix is very popular in NY, or at least in the Brooklyn area. 3 copies of this archetype reached the top 8 in The Brooklyn Strategist RCQ last weekend.
It is a very well-known deck, both in Pioneer and Explorer. You might think that is weak to graveyard hate, but is not completely true. Crackling Drake can hit hard, even if you exile this archetype graveyard, and Young Pyromancer can attack you with an army of elementals, making this deck feel like a Legacy one sometimes.
Temporal Trespass is the only card that is not yet in Arena. I also understand that adding extra turns is now something they may not like. In any case, this deck only plays 1 or 2 copies in Pioneer. Using something else in Explorer doesn’t make this deck weak. Even if it’s not considered the best deck, is an archetype you have to respect.
UW Spirits
UW Spirits – Emman Gozon Top Rank Showdown 3rd Place
This creature type didn’t win any of the 11 tournaments. However, it was the fourth-most popular archetype in the meta. 8 copies of UW and 2 copies of Mono-U were in the Top8s this last week.
There are 2 powerful reasons for playing UW over Mono-U. Spell Queller is one of the best creatures in the format. If this creature stops one key card from your opponent at the right moment, that could be the difference between winning and losing. The card is also playable in Explorer, making this deck fully traversable to Arena.
The second reason is the sideboard. In Emman Gozon’s list, all 15 cards are White. Skyclave Apparition and Rest in Peace can resolve many problems that a Mono-U list can tackle but not so frontally.
Gruul Prowess
Gruul Prowess – DookieTrouserMD MTGO Challenge 1st Place
I couldn’t be more happy! As a wizard with a Gruul heart, seeing a new flavor of Gruul fight at the top tables brings me joy.
We already stated that Slickshot Show-Off is the best rare of OTJ. This bird is seeing play in almost every format, and with good reason. It is the push this type of deck needed and now is not only competitive, but it’s also a deck that could be called tier 1 in 4th place with 7 appearances.
Atarka's Command was Explorer legal many months ago. This makes this deck fully playable in Explorer. Don’t hesitate to give it a try.
I take the chance to talk about Megabane Lizard. This new uncommon from OTJ can put many decks against the ropes. If you’re playing Red, 2 copies in your sideboard are not going to hurt and it will help you against many archetypes in Pioneer and Explorer alike.
The runner-up of the week. 5 appearances in the top 8s and 2 of them were in 2nd place and one in 3rd place.
Kaervek, the Punisher gives this deck a new twist. Having a discard spell in our graveyard on turn 4 is common, just imagine the curve: Thoughseize > Waste Not > Kaervek, the Punisher. If your opponent doesn’t have an immediate answer to Kaervek, destroying their hand on turn 4 could easily finish many games.
This is not easy against aggressive decks. Nevertheless, this deck has many removal spells ready for them, and winning battles of attrition is something this archetype is ready for.
Is not a popular deck in the Explorer queues. But is 100% playable, and it also has more new cards like Tinybones, the Pickpocketgreat in this archetype, and Deadly Cover-Up. I will surely give it a try.
Lotus Field
Lotus Field – Casey Jacklyn RCQ @ Portland 1st Place
I understand that there’s a probable reason why Wizards haven’t included this deck in Explorer yet. This kind of combo deck is not very interactive, and most of the time it feels like you’re playing solitary.
Or at least that is what many people feel while they play against this deck. As a Storm player in Modern, I understand that playing this kind of combo need to be very aware of what are the ways your opponents have to stop you. Also, games 2 and 3 could become an exchange of interaction until you have a way to start combing.
In any case, the multitude of triggers could be something annoying if they get to Arena. Who knows… maybe they will never release Hidden Strings there, in the meanwhile, this is the prime combo deck of Pioneer and a force that has to be reckoned as a threat. The Damping Sphere is on many sideboards because of this deck.
UW Control
UW Control – Imman Van Valerio Top Rank Showdown 1st Place
It’s interesting to see how UW Control has developed in a way that the fight against Vein Ripper is not that hard. Is a creature you don’t want to face and have it in front of you on turn 3. However, No More Lies is an effective counter against Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord, even if you go second, and that counter wasn’t around during Chicago MagicCon, a place where Rakdos Midrange adopted the vampire form.
The deck is also playable in Explorer, and it has good tools to fight against every archetype out there. Imman’s list doesn’t have any OTJ, however, other UW Control deck lists are playing with new cards as Three Steps Ahead and High Noon. Both seem interesting, one of them giving more flexibility to the archetype, and the other one destroys decks like the aforementioned Lotus Field Combo.
Ensoul Artifact
Izzet Ensoul Artifact – Amy James RCQ @ MeH Games 5th Place
Ensoul Artifact was one of the budget options for Pioneer or Explorer. Nowadays is still affordable, costing half than almost any other tier 1 deck. For Explorer, if you already have the dual lands you don’t need that many rares.
I said “was” because the deck has had serious upgrades during the last months, many of them making the deck strong enough to compete in big tournaments and be in contention for the top frequently.
With Spyglass Siren the archetype now has 8 one-mana creatures that make an artifact token during turn 1, and Gleaming Geardrake works perfectly for turn two if you don’t have Inti, Seneschal of the Sun. This legendary knight helps us push more damage with our 5/5 artifacts putting +1/+1 counters on them while giving us virtual card draws.
Case of the Filched Falcon is another recent card that helps this archetype. The most important part is how it animates our artifact tokens giving them flying. This gives us consistency when we don’t find Ensoul Artifact or we need a flyer.
This archetype was viable, but during this year it became a real contender thanks to Lost Caverns of Ixalan and Murders at Karlov Manor.
Amalia Combo
Amalia Combo – Andrew Sullano RCQ @ San Francisco 1st Place
This is one of the most popular decks in Explorer. If we talk about Pioneer, Amalia Benavides Aguirre is a serious contender as the second big combo deck of the format behind Lotus Field.
I think it’s popularity on Arena it’s because of the absence of Hidden Strings. If you are a combo player and the biggest combo deck on Pioneer is not playable on Arena, you are going to try the best option after that.
Also, having that many creatures lets you play a fair game of attacking and dealing 20 damage in case your opponent stops the combo, something not that easy with Lotus Field.
This week Pioneer list doesn’t feature a new card. However, there are many players on Explorer playing 2 copies of Aven Interrupter I like that card a lot and I think is a good idea to give it a try if you are going to play this deck on Pioneer.
Boros Heroic
Boros Heroic – Jonathan Dolor Top Rank Showdown 2nd Place
I will not get tired of saying it; Slickshot Show-Off is the best rare of Outlaws at Thunder Junction. This bird not only pushes Gruul Prowess but also Boros Heroic, giving this deck a tool to let them compete against any other tier 1 deck and emerge victorious.
Don’t get me wrong, Boros Heroic was on the finals of MagicCon Chicago and is a very well-known deck in the format, but most of the time this kind of deck feels like “something is missing” when you draw a hand without a creature. You can’t play a high number of creatures because you need the spells, and you can’t play a low number because you have to mulligan aggressively to find a creature to exert pressure during the first two turns of the game.
There have been no Explorer tournaments since the Outlaws at Thunder Junction release. However, Pioneer was all over the place during the last days. Many RCQs all over the world let us know the state of the meta, and the MTGO Challenge is a great source of info, allowing us to have a full picture of this eternal format.
There are just 5 decks of all the 25 different archetypes that are not playable in Explorer, however, Lotus Field and Niv-Mizzet are the only meta-relevant archetypes out of the picture. Studying and gathering data about Pioneer will help us to approach Explorer in a more educated way, and I have now many new ideas to try thanks to this article.
I hope it was also useful for you. Keep an eye open because I will upload a second part of this work with all the lists of the archetypes with 2 or fewer appearances in these top 8s. Until then, let us know your thoughts on this and any other MTG-related topics in the MTG Arena Community Discord, on my Twitter, and in the comment section of this article.
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A full time MTG content creator. Started playing Magic in 99’ with the release of Urza’s Destiny, 3 times Grand Prix attendant (1 as a player ending #78 and 2 as a judge). Mexican, lover of coffee, Korean culture, languages and ex-LoL coach.
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