Pioneer deck guides and writeups
All decklists containing writeups or guides from users and content creators
Esper Control V3.0
Pioneer
23 Jan by Haythem
Esper Control FEB 2021 Overview: Spells: Thoughtseize This continues to be one of the best spells in the game. 2 life is a small price to pay for taking the best thing out of their hand (or the thing you are least equipped to deal with based on your hand). Opening wit...
Sliver Pioneers
Pioneer
18 Oct by SpuzzumIRL
Slivers. You either love them, or hate them. There really isnt an in-between. Designed to shove a bunch of creatures on the board and turn them sideways. Game one will almost always go to the opponents with interactive cards. The Temur Slivers pack the most punch in the Format. White and Black have ...
Rainbow Lich Pioneer
Pioneer
21 Sep by BulletTime000
August 2020 edit: I've tweaked the deck a little based on recent pulls/trades I've acquired. But the general idea described below is the same. Enjoy! The deck works better than you might think! Hey, y'all. Thanks for checking out this deck. I love Rainbow Lich - kudos to Ali Eldrazi for the original...
Izzet Prowess
Pioneer
30 Jul by SasquatchSenpai
I have enjoyed the Izzet Prowess in standard to a great deal, so I looked into a form for Pioneer. There are a few more tools available to us, though the deeper pool of cards means the tools to deal with them as well from our opponents. We are living in a Dimir Inverter and Lotus Breach landscape, s...
Eldrazi Control
Pioneer
08 Jul by eddietheintern
There are a couple directions I think Grixis can go in Pioneer. One is a version meant to take advantage of the extremely powerful Draconic Roar, which I'm workshopping over at Grixis Dragons v2. Another is this hard control list, sort of a version of Legacy Grixis control in Pioneer - aft...
ARTISAN(Pioneer)_BOROS Legion
Pioneer
31 May by ChrizzlyBear
INTRO We take their own formats and break down the costs and still have fun. That's what we do. These ARTISAN(Pioneer) decks are meant for being payed with friends who are fed up with a game of magic being decided on turn 4, because they missed their land drop or there opponent is playing the most p...
Tamiyo Spirits
Pioneer
26 May by eddietheintern
I tend to prefer building decks that are mostly or entirely my idea, or something original I come up with with a friend. That being said, when I see one card that I think would be super sick in an established archetype (a la my Crag Cycle list), it's almost even more fun to see how it can ...
3 Scales (Defunct)
Pioneer
08 May by Coorow
(Now that Walking Ballista has been purged from pioneer this deck is essentially dead, I'm leaving it available to access but just know it is a defunct deck.) As a lover of Artifacts I've found Hardened Scales Affinity decks to be an incredibly fun experience, it is one of the few archetypes that do...
Yorion Blue
Pioneer
19 Apr by eddietheintern
OVERVIEW: This is my attempt at a mono-blue aggro-tempo list that wants to take advantage of Yorion, Sky Nomad in Pioneer! I admit, my first reaction when I saw the card was skeptical, but after thinking it over I actually think it slots pretty well into my favorite archetype in Pioneer, blue tempo....
golgari stompy
Pioneer
01 Apr by reskar
Build idea: This is a tweak of the pioneer golgari stompy deck that has some influence from my historic play and I'm eager to get some feedback on. The primary focus of the deck is to ramp on turn 1 and start dropping threats on turn 2 that just keep hitting. I have found it's very important to mull...
Anti-Aggro Burn
Pioneer
28 Mar by eddietheintern
This is a refinement of the first deck I ever built for Pioneer, just a week or so after the format was originally announced (which, coincidentally, was right when I was getting back into Magic for the first time in a few years). I vaguely remembered pulling Soulfire Grandmaster in a random pack of ...
Gitrog Presence
Pioneer
25 Mar by eddietheintern
This is a really nice example of an archetype I like to call "soft combo." A hard combo deck will try to win in only one or two explosive turns with an alternate win-con, an infinite combo, or overwhelming damage, but a soft combo deck is fine with spreading the hurt out over time, as long as it sti...
Jeskai Sigarda's Combo
Pioneer
11 Mar by Accipitrade
Not sure why my hover links didn't work, but I'm not going to remove them so you'll just have to pretend they're there. Sorry, and thanks! A flexible combo deck that plays aggro-ish, attempting to stick a creature (or multiple) that can eventually swing at the opponent for big chunks of damage by ex...
Affinity Blade 2.0
Pioneer
04 Mar by Coorow
I love Artifact centric decks in all their often broken glory, but I have a special place in my heart for Equipment decks. Generally Equipment are played as an extra rather than being the main theme of the deck, Stoneforge Mystic, Batterskull, and the Swords are a pretty good example of an equipment...
Flash Blink Blue
Pioneer
25 Feb by eddietheintern
Who you are constantly runs toward who you will be. Mirror Mockery is on one level just another bulk rare with great art from one of Magic's best (relatively) recent blocks. It's an adaptable two-drop - at once an answer to attackers, a removal option against aggressive decks, and an engine to...
Jeskai Creativity
Pioneer
24 Feb by Atramhasis
So this is a bit of a weird one, but it is building off a 5-0 list I saw recently trying to use Birth of Meletis and Pirate's Pillage as ways to play Indomitable Creativity and win the game with it. I've tweaked the list to make it Jeskai for a number of reasons. First, I decided I like the combo of...
Feather Pioneer 1k 1/12/2020
Pioneer
12 Jan by kit
I placed 4th at a local 1k event with this list. Proof here: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=24362&d=370164&f=PI 19 players, went 4-1 in the Swiss and 1-1 in the top 8. The two games I lost were to the same UW control deck that was played by 3 different people (they were on a team, and there...
$40 Dredgeless Dredge
Pioneer
29 Dec by unicornturtle
Dredgeless Dredge Grisly SalvagePrized AmalgamNarcomoeba Today, we are looking at a really good deck. Recently, this deck has been preforming pretty good at tourneys. I would say that some of the most important cards are Grisly Salvage, Gurmag Angler, and Prized Amalgam. ----------------------------...
Thassa, God of Value
Pioneer
23 Dec by eddietheintern
VALUE! VALUE! VALUE! They oughtta start calling this game "Versatility: The Gathering," what with all the variety the cards here bring to the table. Siren Stormtamer, Merfolk Trickster, Thassa, God of the Sea, and Master of Waves can, with a little luck, come out perfectly on curve, and with a Caval...
BG - Soulflayer
Pioneer
17 Dec by gidralabs
Black / Green Soulflayer Soulflayer Soulflayer - The main wincon in the deck. Uses Delve mechanic to exile cards from graveyard to pay for 1 colorless mana in its casting cost. You will always need, at minimum: 2 black mana and 4 cards in the graveyard to play this using Delve. You can also cast th...