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Recapping the Regional Championship in Brazil

PioneerBest of 3CompetitiveMetagame
by Numbskull
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Explore the top meta decks from the Regional Championship in Brazil. Discover the evolving Pioneer metagame and key strategies in Magic: The Gathering.

As we ramp up for The MTG World Championships, we also have a few major events before. Right now, the biggest events are the Regional Championships, where the format is Pioneer. This past weekend, and this upcoming weekend, we have competitions from Brazil and Washington D.C. Today we will go over the results from the past weekend, and my favorite deck from the event. We have been waiting for events such as this one to see what decks emerge as the best so that we can work closer towards having a "solved" meta both after bans and a new set that came out. The meta from this event was certainly interesting compared to events before bans. I think one of the most noteworthy things was the fact that we didn't see any Phoenix in the top 8, or even the top 16. I will review a few of the top 8 decks for you, and we will have a brief analysis of the finals matchup. Then I'll go over my favorite deck from the top 8.

Top 8 Results

Let's take a good look at the overall breakdown from the top 8 in regards to meta share for each deck. Rakdos Prowess had three decks in the top 16, and it was the most well-represented archetype in the elimination rounds. It also had two decks in the top 4, but they were unable to beat Enigmatic Fires and Azorius Control, who ultimately ended up playing in the finals. Jund Sacrifice also made it into the top 8. That was a result that was expected to a degree. Another deck that is emerging is Rakdos Transmogrify, and that also found its way into the top 8. The deck that I was most happy to see in this top 8 was Rakdos Midrange. It basically is a Mono Black deck that runs Fable and Bloodtithe Harvester. 

Something that was really noteworthy is that there was another deck in the top 8 that finished 5th, and the list has somehow been wiped from the internet. I haven't actually seen this before, and I am not sure if it pertains to a disqualification (usually they would still tell you what the deck was), or if somehow they accepted a request to not have this deck listed anywhere. There is conjecture that the deck is definitely spicy, and it was so broken that they didn't want other people to know about it. I've looked far and wide, and I cannot find that deck anywhere. If I do come across it, I'll be sure to share. For now, let's take a look at the finals!

Azorius Control vs Enigmatic Fires

Enigmatic Fires is a deck that is slowly taking over the new meta that we have in Pioneer. It appeared to have finally met its match in Azorius Control in the finals of the RC. The main reason that it is so tough to defeat Azorius is due to the premium removal that the deck has. Enigmatic Fires relies on keeping a lot of enchantments on the board, and the Azorius Deck has so many different ways to either remove these enchantments or counter them. The deck also has plenty of board wipes, and it is able to follow up with multiple points of pressure once the board is clear and the opponent has no cards in hand. I do believe that Fires has the best opportunity to high roll, but if the tempo is stifled, it isn't too difficult for Azorius to stabilize, because Fires doesn't exactly kill the opponent quickly. They are both grindy decks, but it was evident that Azorius was able to win this weekend simply due to having access to the best removal available. Both of these decks have a high power level, and are very capable of top finishes in high-leverage events. I don't want to dwell on them too much, as they are not quite my style - so let's now take a look at another deck from the top 8 that I thoroughly enjoy: Rakdos Midrange.

Total Cards:

Like I stated above, it is basically a Mono Black Midrange deck that adds some good red cards. One of the really fun tricks in this list is being able to copy Archfiend of the Dross with Reflection of Kiki-Jiki in order to have two 6/6 flyers able to swing on one turn. The deck has great access to removal, as it can also deal with artifacts. It does a great job of amassing extra value each turn, and can grind out many of the different decks in the format.

Rakdos Midrange Loss in Quarterfinals

It looks like the deck finally met its match in the quarterfinals against a Rakdos Prowess deck. One of the things that stuck out to me was the fact that the deck does have plenty of removal, but wasn't taking advantage of one of the better red removal spells. 

Magic the Gathering Card - Torch the Tower - MTG Circle

I believe that the deck could have benefited from using more copies of this, because it exiles the Heartfire Hero so that it cannot deal damage equal to its power to face. I think that having two or three copies could have made that a better matchup. Notably, the Rakdos Midrange deck does not run any copies of that in the sideboard, so it likely made it tough in a post-sideboard situation. The aggro deck ended up defeating midrange 2-0 in the quarterfinals, so it unfortunately did not get any better even when on the play. When we are talking about winning games on turn three, it is difficult for anyone to really get set up, and it is likely the reason why these aggro decks had such a strong performance. Both of the decks in this matchup were undefeated in the swiss rounds, so we know that they were both piloted well, and that they got hot at the right times. Even though they both ultimately got defeated in the elimination rounds, making the top 8, however, is nothing to sneeze at, and we love to see a midrange deck represented within that field. 

What's the Next Major Event?

Next up we have the Regional Championship in DC on October 5th, and I will be competing in that one! You can expect there to be a very diverse meta, and I personally expect to see Phoenix represented more in this field. We will see how things go, and you can surely expect a recap of that from me as well!

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I am a Magic The Gathering competitive player, and streamer. I specialize in homebrew decks. My favorite formats are: Standard, Pioneer (Explorer on Arena), and EDH. I first started playing MTG in 2001, and have played on and off since then.
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