Amalia and Sorin Are Now Banned in Pioneer, so What Decks Round Out the Top Tier?
Wizards brought out the hammer this past Monday, and we are absolutely feeling the effects across multiple formats. For today, I would like to go over how the metagame of Pioneer is starting to sort itself out, what we can expect going forward, and maybe even see if we can reach a consensus on what the best deck currently is. Even if you aren't sold on there being a "best" deck yet, it is safe to say that creature-based decks are currently dominating all of the challenges that we are seeing so far from MTGO. From the most recent two challenges that we have available, one to eight metagame saw all of the decks be creature-based, while the other had four of eight decks centered around creatures for their win conditions. Not all of them were aggro - although a good bit of the better performing decks are - but even when they weren't aggro, the decks still used a combination that in some way puts a ton of creatures on the board and swings for a ton of damage. It is evident that decks with twenty or more creatures are currently thriving, and the only thing they really have to worry about right now is board wipes. We are even seeing a new archetype come into play in Selesnya Aggro. I personally think that right now, Izzet Phoenix is the best deck. It is always present in top finishes currently, and it often still performed well before the bans. We will take a look at that deck, and then I will tell you about another one that I think will be cracked wide open pretty soon. No matter what way you slice it, however, creature decks are claiming a large metashare.
Izzet Phoenix
This list is your standard good Phoenix build. It was played pretty heavily before bans, and it will see even more play now. The play patterns in the deck become a little more straightforward now because we are, at least for now, a little bit more narrowed down in what the best decks are. Phoenix has been around long enough that we know what the good cards are, and what it does. I'll spare you a full breakdown of the deck that you've likely heard plenty of times. Just know that Arclight Phoenix does a lot of work, and cards like Crackling Drake come in from the sideboard to also get in for tons of damage, and the format often doesn't allow it to be easily removed. We can check on a newer addition to the sideboard that we are seeing now, as the deck becomes more prevalent.