Best Pioneer decks in the latest meta. Learn about the best archetypes in depth. 16 archetypes with updated decklists post Outlaws of Thunder Junction release.
Discover the best Magic: The Gathering Pioneer decks and archetypes the players use to compete at the highest level and win tournaments. Our MTG Pioneer Meta Tier List regularly reviews and ranks the top decks in the format, carefully curated by Bohe, an old wizard who undoubtedly has a lot to share. We also follow up our choices based on various factors and sources, comprehensively analyzing the available data.
Tier 1: The most dominant decks of the format since the release of Outlaws at Thunder Junction. This implies the percentage of victories, presence in the meta, and favorable games.
Tier 2: These will be solid decks with relevant presence in the OTJ MTGO Challenges and RCQ meta. A good pilot will probably be able to play one of these archetypes and have good results. They usually have at least one difficult match against the Tier 1 meta archetypes.
Tier 3: In last place, we find decks with little presence, but enough to be considered. In addition to their low popularity, they are decks that present two or more complicated matchups against the meta. This prevents them from standing out until the release of new cards or a meta shift happens. However, players who dedicate themselves to mastering these archetypes usually have the opportunity to obtain good results.
🔼 – The deck has improved its position on the chart. This includes movements within the same tier. 🔽 – The deck has lost positions on the table. This includes movements within the same tier. 🆕 – First appearance in the tier list.
Tier 1
Rakdos Midrange Vampires
Rakdos Midrange – Terminus0 MTGO Challenge 1st Place
With 16 top 8s on relevant tournaments since OTJ release, Rakdos Vampires put itself as the deck to beat on Pioneer. The closest one had 9 appearances.
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 Vein Ripper without a creature on 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.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn Bring to Light
Niv-Mizzet Reborn – claudioh MTGO Challenge 1st Place
Although the archetype did not have a notable participation in the last Murders at Karlov Manor Pro Tour, many players show this deck has what it takes to be an archetype to respect in the format.
As if its appearances in the recent top 8s weren’t reason enough to consider this deck strong, the addition of Pillage the Bog makes this deck extremely consistent.
The combination of Bring to Light and Pillage the Bog makes you capable of finding any card you need when you need it. Niv-Mizzet Reborn is the archetype that gains the most with the OTJ release.
A very well-known deck on Pioneer. You might think that is weak to graveyard hate, but is not completely true. Unlike other decks focused on playing with the graveyard, Izzet Phoenix has Crackling Drake which hits like a truck, even if you exile this archetype graveyard. On the other side, Young Pyromancer can attack you with an army of elementals, making this deck feel like a Legacy one sometimes.
Temporal Trespass can be an instant win sometimes, which gives you wins from “nowhere”, something not so easy to achieve with other archetypes. The opponent cannot let their guard down for a single turn, as they can go from a stable life total to 0 in the blink of an eye playing against this deck.
UW Spirits
UW Spirits – Emman Gozon Top Rank Showdown 3rd Place
Spirits hasn’t had a win since the OTJ release. However, is one of the most popular archetypes out there and the biggest creature/tribal deck of the format.
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 second reason is the sideboard. In Emman Gozon’s list, all 15 cards are White. Skyclave Apparition and Rest in Peace can solve many problems that a Mono-U list can tackle but not in the same bold way.
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 and take a win against any other archetype of the format.
I take the chance to talk about Magebane 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 the format.
From all the tier 2 and tier 3 decks in this list, Waste Not is the archetype that is just one step behind and it just needs one or two little tweaks to become a tier 1.
If Kaervek, the Punisher became more popular and got a staple status for this archetype, it could be the first tweak this deck needs. Having a discard spell in our graveyard on turn 4 is common, just imagine the curve: Thoughtseize > 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. The archetype is also playing more new cards like Tinybones, the Pickpocket amazing for this archetype, and Deadly Cover-Up.
Lotus Field
Lotus Field – Casey Jacklyn RCQ @ Portland 1st Place
Even if this deck has some hard matchups, it’s the best combo deck of the format. Amalia Benavides Aguirre and Quintorius Kand may say otherwise, but most of the time Lotus Field had the consistency to put out better results in the competitive scene than any other combo deck.
Find 1 Peer into the Abyss is almost enough to kill your opponent in every game. The problem arises when certain archetypes, such as Amalia Combo or Selesnya Angels win huge amounts of life and win by Peer into the Abyss becomes complicated. However, Thanks to the fact it has access to its sideboard cards with Fae of Wishes and Mastermind's Acquisition, this deck can solve many situations other combo decks can’t.
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 and destroyed every UW Control on the field.
Imman’s list doesn’t have any OTJ, however, other UW Control deck lists are playing with new cards as Three Steps Aheadand 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.
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.
Amalia Combo
Amalia Combo – Andrew Sullano RCQ @ San Francisco 1st Place
Amalia Benavides Aguirre is a serious contender as the second big combo deck of the format behind Lotus Field. Going infinite with Amalia + Wildgrowth Walker is something that can kill your opponents as soon as turn 3.
One of its strengths is the high number of creatures. 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 list doesn’t feature a new card. However, many players are playing 2 copies of Aven Interrupter I like that card a lot and I think it 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.
Ascendant Spirit is the main reason for playing Mono-U Spirits instead of UW iteration. It’s hard to think it’s not worth it. This variation of Figure of Destiny can end many games on its own.
However, all the upsides of playing White like Spell Queller, and great sideboard cards like Rest in Peace make the choice between these two iterations easy for most players devoted to this creature type.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think this deck doesn’t have more upsides. Even if the UW mana base is well-rounded, playing a mono-colored deck gives you fewer chances of being color-screwed or having many kinds of mana problems that happen when you play multi-colored decks.
This archetype could surpass its UW brother if any new Blue card worth for the archetype cost 2 or 3 U mana, making it easier to play it on a Mono-U deck.
Quintorius Combo
Quintorious Combo – Quinn Kenndy RCQ @ Portland 3rd Place
Quintorius Combo is an archetype that was recently born during the release of Lost Caverns of Ixalan.
This deck has adjusted itself as time passed. Every new deck list of Quintorius from the last months has a new twist that pushes this deck a little further.
The combo is not complicated, leaving much room in the deck to improve and meta calls, allowing this archetype to adapt better to the newest meta changes than the other two big combo decks. With this in mind, I’m sure that Quintorius can get more top 8s in the long run, making this deck capable of reaching Amalia Combo or even Lotus Field as the best combo deck of the format.
Red Deck Wins
Red Deck Wins – marolanzi MTGO Challenge 4th Place
I think this deck can become the new Standard of aggressive decks if more players try this new iteration of RDW, Mono-Red Wizards.
Another one of the amazing qualities of Slickshot Show-Off is being a wizard. This let us play 4 Wizard's Lightning with the chance of casting it for R most of the time. Being the deck with Lightning Bolt of the format makes you feel good.
Monastery Swiftspear is the only non-wizard creature in this deck, however, almost everyone knows how good this creature is. Playing it is as good as always. If you haven’t played Slickshot Show-Off, give it a try, here, or in Gruul Prowess, Boros Heroic, etc. You won’t regret it.
Selesnya Angels
Selesnya Angels – Nicolas Landenberger RCQ @ MeH Games 8th P
As an almost full creature deck, Selesnya Angels is extremely sensitive to removal and wrath effects. However, it has the capability of repopulating the field with angels extremely fast with Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction.
I witnessed this deck smash tournaments without much effort. Nevertheless, this happens when Selesnya has a good matchup day. There’s no better deck in a creature vs creature matchup in the format. However, the top-tier decks of Pioneer have a lot of interaction, control tools, and ways to deal with what Selesnya can bring to the table.
Now, if you are in a field pack with Gruul Prowess, Boros Heroic, etc, Selesnya Angels is your best choice.
Abzan Greasefang
Greasefang Combo – Jeff Jao RCQ @ Brooklyn 3rd Place
Another archetype that seemed to have fallen into oblivion and that continues to be defended as a valid option is Abzan Greasefang.
I understand why many competitive players may prefer not to choose this deck as their tournament archetype. Of all the combo decks in the format, I think it is one of the most fragile, if not the most fragile. There are many ways to stop it.
Now, as a Storm player in Modern, I can say that Greasefang is this type of deck where, if it’s caught you without being even minimally prepared, it takes you two games on turn 3 and you are out in 10 minutes or less.
This reasoning makes me think that Greasefang is entering a state where he becomes a danger. It’s just when people forget about these types of decks that they start winning again. The problem is that other combos in the format can be fought with cards similar to those that would be used to eliminate Greasefang, so it is an archetype that is all about momentum.
End Step
It’s been a pleasure to revise the Pioneer metagame with you, dear readers. With our meta report and now the Tier List updated, is easy for anyone to understand the state of the competitive meta. Pioneer was all over the place during the last days. Many RCQs all over the world let us know what’s good and what’s not, and the MTGO Challenge is a great source of info, allowing us to have a full picture of this eternal format.
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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