Hey all, Strickles here and today I am going to be talking about the set releasing tomorrow on MTG Arena, Pioneer Masters. The goal of this set is to move the Explorer format significantly closer to “Tournament Pioneer.” What that means is that they are trying to put all of the competitive staples from Pioneer onto Arena so that they could host competitive Pioneer on Arena if need be.
What this means though, is that there are still a lot of cards from Pioneer that will be missing from Arena. Now, most of those cards are not super competitive cards and have a very little chance of being missed, but there are some very fun and interesting cards that I’m sad didn’t make the cut for Pioneer Masters.
So today, I want to review the hits from the set, the cards that are competitively viable as well as other inclusions that I’m excited to play with, and then give my personal grievances of misses, or cards that weren’t included in the set that I wish were purely for my own enjoyment.
Let’s start with the hits.
Hits
Chained to the Rocks
Chained to the Rocks might read like a weird card to a new player, as they question why you would have mountains in your white deck, but to experienced players they will realize how easy this is to use.
A turn one Sacred Foundry can cast this card, as Sacred Foundry is both a plains and mountain. This also works with various triomes such as Raugrin Triome or Jetmir’s Garden. This makes Chained to the Rocks a very efficient removal spell for decks that have a lot of mountains and a lot of white sources.
This finds a home in competitive Pioneer in Bring to Light decks and Enigmatic Incarnation decks, which are usually four-five colors, and easily able to meet all the requirements for this card.
Hallowed Moonlight
Hallowed Moonlight is just a good sideboard card. Stops Arclight Phoenix from coming back from the graveyard, can be cast in response to a Collected Company or Indomitable Creativity to essentially Negate them. It is just a good option for slower White decks that don’t want Containment Priest.
Kytheon, Hero of Akros
Mono-White Humans is complete! This was really the only card missing from it, and Kytheon, Hero of Akros is a powerful one drop to help fill in the deck. It can flip as early as turn three, and flips into a powerful planeswalker that can keep the beat down coming, or force a creature to attack it that might have otherwise wanted to stay back on defence.
Kytheon isn’t going to make Mono-White Humans jump up several tiers, but it does make it just a little bit better, so keep it on your radar.
Hidden Strings
Hidden Strings was the missing piece from completing the Lotus Field combo deck that is the premiere combo deck in Pioneer. It is hard to explain quickly, but imagine having two copies of Lotus Field in play, tapping them for eight mana and then using Hidden Strings to untap both of them, leaving you with a net of four mana. This card helps the deck go off as it just generates so much mana.
If you don’t know what this deck does, I recommend searching it on Youtube, because otherwise you are not going to know how to fight against it once it starts popping up on the ladder Tuesday.
Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
Alright, I know that Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy ain’t what it used to be back in Standard when it held a $100 price tag, and I know that it sees no competitive play in Pioneer right now, mostly because it dies to every commonly played removal spell, but I just wanted to give it a shout out, because it is still a very powerful card if not removed.
Getting to loot a couple of times and then flip and flashback a spell or two, that is powerful stuff. I think the problem is, besides him dying to every removal spell in the format, there just aren’t any decks that want to make use of that.
So call me a fool for talking about Jace, but I’m going to try him out again.
Dark Betrayal
Dark Betrayal gets a shoutout just because Rakdos decks are so popular in the format right now and being able to kill an Archfiend of the Dross, Unstoppable Slasher, or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse for one mana at instant speed is going to feel really good in post-sideboard games.
Painful Truths
Painful Truths is another card from Standard past that doesn’t have a place in Pioneer currently. I think the biggest problem is that there isn’t a three color midrange deck in the format. But I am a die hard fan of Mardu Midrange (you can look at my previous Explorer articles to see me talk about the deck) and can’t wait to sideboard this card in against midrange and control opponents for some great three-for-one value.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
I am kind of surprised that Tasigur, the Golden Fang doesn’t see any play in Pioneer, but I guess it is just another case of him not having a deck to hang out in. Rakdos decks can’t play him because they don’t have the Green/Blue mana to make use of his activated ability. He can’t even go into my beloved Mardu Midrange.
That said, if you are playing Jund, or Sultai, or Dimir, or Golgari, you should consider Tasigur as a great midgame threat, that if left unanswered can generate a ton of value. Just be very diligent with your delving, to clear out any spells you don’t want, to make it more likely that your opponent has to give the spells you do want back to you when you activate his ability.
Reckless Bushwhacker
Reckless Bushwhacker is very similar to Imodane’s Recruiter for you standard players, but it costs one less when paying its surge cost. Now, it is a worse top deck when you are out of cards since it requires the surge cost to be paid to give the +1/+0 and haste, but if you were trying to make a convoke or token deck work, Reckless Bushwhacker can help add that extra oomph to it.
Gladecover Scout
Gladecover Scout seems like a simple card, a 1/1 Hexproof for one mana, big whoop. However, any Modern players of old will remember dying to this card and its cousin Slippery Bogle time and time again.
Basically, Gladecover Scout wears auras really well thanks to hexproof preventing you from being on the receiving end of a two-for-one when your opponent just used Fatal Push on whatever creature you’ve tried to enchant.. So if you like stacking a creature high with auras or equipment, Gladecover Scout is your new best friend.
Sylvan Caryatid
Continuing with the hexproof creatures, Sylvan Caryatid is a great mana creature thanks to hexproof keeping it safe from opposing removal. While not as explosive as Llanowar Elves or Elvish Mystic, for slower decks trying to ramp up to four or five mana spells, Sylvan Caryatid is the safest option.
It also taps for mana of any color, making it perfect for the Bring to Light decks that are looking to ramp to Bring to Light and cast it using four or five colors. However, any slower green deck that is looking for safe ramp could consider playing Sylvan Caryatid.
Bring to Light
Bring to Light itself is the big payoff for the Niv to Light deck in the format. This deck came about by using Bring to Light to put Niv-Mizzet, Reborn into play to refill your hand with powerful multicolor spells. Bring to Light is great in slower control decks because of how flexible it is.
When you need a sweeper it can be a sweeper, and when you need card advantage it can be a Niv-Mizzet, Reborn, and when you need to remove a problematic permanent it can be Maelstrom Pulse, etc. etc.
As I’ve talked about before in various articles, control decks do best when they have access to flexible cards or cards that grant them flexibility, because those cards let them answer the opponent’s strategy when they have to or advance their own strategy when they don’t have to, meaning they never have too many answers or not enough threats.
Destructive Revelry
If you are playing any sort of Gruul aggro deck you should start packing Destructive Revelry in your sideboard. Your Naturalize effect also dealing two damage to the opponent is going to be a big game, as it lets your answer card also help whittle down their life total to try to finish them off.
Speaking of Gruul aggro, I used to love jamming Ghor-Clan Rampager in Naya Zoo in Modern back in the day. I’ve giving Ghor-Clan Rampager a shoutout because of both nostalgia and because I think it is just a sweet card that might be underutilized.
+4/+4 and trample for just two mana is pretty powerful, and as Bloodrush is an activated ability, it can’t be countered by counterspells. If you are a fan of how Monstrous Rage plays in Standard or Pioneer, consider giving Ghor-Clan Rampager a look next time you are building an aggro deck.
Creature Lands from Zendikar
All five of the enemy colored creatures lands from Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch are here in Pioneer Masters, and they are just solid creature lands that you should consider including in your two color decks.
Shambling Vent was always the best of the bunch, thanks to its ability to activate for cheap and then attack or block and gain life. Hissing Quagmire is also pretty sweet, as deathtouch makes it a great blocker and attacker.
The other three are all fine in their own right, so consider them the next time you build a two color deck!
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth might seem like a confusing card to new players, because it looks like a land that doesn’t tap for mana. But, it does turn itself into a swamp, along with all other lands, so it does tap for black mana.
Urborg is played in Mono-Black and Rakdos decks, as a way to make use of utility lands while still being able to cast your color intensive spells. Nothing is worse than when you are playing a Mono-Black deck but thanks to drawing one swamp, a Mutavault, a Field of Ruin, and a Fountainport, you can’t cast your Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.
Misses
The misses section is a lot shorter, and it just includes a few cards that I loved playing in various formats that I wish had been added to Arena with Pioneer Masters so I could brew with them again.
Soulfire Grand Master
Soulfire Grand Master has two parts: the first part is the ability to give your spells lifelink, turning Lightning Strike into Lightning Helix, but we are really here for the second part, which is to return our spells to our hand with its activated ability.
Back in the day I used Soulfire Grand Master to return a Thoughtseize to my hand to double Thoughtseize my opponent, or Kolaghan’s Command to make the opponent discard during their draw step every turn, preventing them from casting any non-instant spells for the rest of the game.
I have so many good memories with Soulfire Grand Master, and while it is certainly far too slow for Pioneer these days, I would have loved the chance to activate it one more time.
Retreat to Coralhelm
Retreat to Coralhelm is not a card for Pioneer, but for Historic or Timeless thanks to its synergy with Knight of the Reliquary. Basically, you activate Knight of the Reliquary to sacrifice a land and find a land from your deck. This land entering will trigger Retreat to Coralhelm which you will use to untap your Knight. You can then rinse and repeat this, as long as you have plains or forests to sacrifice, making a huge Knight of the Reliquary to attack with.
This combo is pretty tame by modern day standards, but it would have been fun if it had been included.
Den Protector
Den Protector is another card that I have very fond memories of but it is probably just way too slow and fragile for modern day magic. In theory, Den Protector gets played face down on turn three, and then flips up later in the game to return a card from your graveyard to your hand and then start beating down as a 3 power attacker.
These days, a 3 mana 2/2 is just not it in a format like Pioneer where you are dying on turn four or five. This is another card that I used to loop Kolaghan’s Command back in the day, making my opponent discard a card and returning another Den Protector from my graveyard to my hand, and using that Den Protector to bring back the Kolaghan’s Command and keep the loop going.
Alas, Den Protector just doesn’t have a home these days, but I still wish it had been included so I could lose with it.
Sylvan Advocate
Sylvan Advocate is a fine creature on rate as a 2/3 Vigilance for two mana is fine at attacking and blocking, and then later on it grows to a 4/5 and buffs up your lands. I was hoping this card would be included in the set so I could throw into a deck with cards like Blossoming Tortoise to go all in on the creature land plan.
I think that Sylvan Advocate could be Pioneer playable since it is fine on rate, but there are so many other options that unless you are going all in on creature lands or some sort of ramp, it just makes sense to use other two drops.
Still, I would have loved to have it in the set.
Wrapping Up
Pioneer Masters is an awesome set for the Explorer format on Arena. With this set, all of the top competitive decks in the format are playable and the format will much more closely mirror competitive Pioneer.
I hope that they continue to add more cards from Pioneer legal sets via Anthology drops or other means so that some of these cards that I bemoaned missing from the set could become fun options in a variety of formats, as well as many cards that I didn’t mention that I’m sure you wish were included in the set.
I hope this article helps you gear up to play some Explorer tomorrow when Pioneer Masters drops, clueing you into the new competitive decks that will pop up as well as powerful cards to brew around. There were plenty of other cards included in the set that I didn’t have a chance to mention, so take a look at the set yourself!
As always, best of luck in all of your matches and have a great week!
