Unexpected Results is a new rare in Pioneer Masters, and I crafted it so that you don't have to! Out of all the new, powerful cards the set has brought to Arena, I decided I wanted to tackle the silliest jank rare that was clearly thrown in to pander to us casual folks still brewing around on Arena to see how big our numbers can go. Turns out, this card absolutely delivers on what it promises: inconsistent explosiveness.
Normally in these articles, I wait for the conclusion to really break down whether or not the deck is good, but I won't bury the lead on this one. This deck is inconsistent, and you will lose more games than you win if you play it, but the wins will be incredibly satisfying and unreasonably fun to pull off. If you want something goofy to jam in the play queue or against your friends, this deck is excellent, but I wouldn't register it at a local Pioneer tournament.
The Main Build Around
Unexpected Results is a silly card. It's designed to let you free cast literally any card in your deck, which can be any card in your format – in this case, Explorer – except you literally have no way to control what it hits without somehow removing every card in your deck except exactly what you want to hit. Given that we don't have some kind of mega Surgical Extraction to work with, we have to construct our deck so we're happy with nearly everything we might hit.
Lands are a non-negotiable, unfortunately, so about a third of the deck is destined to be those, which are certainly dud hits off of Unexpected Results but the other cards can be wins. Let's go through them.
The “Cheap” Spells
One way to make sure our three-drops don’t feel like a miss when you spin into them off of a four-drop is by choosing ones that probably should have cost five mana when they were first designed but, for some reason, just don’t. Fable of the Mirror Breaker provides an insane amount of advantage in card selection, ramp, and even threats on board. If you cast it on three, you’re likely to set up whatever you need on turn four or even ramp fairly into some of our big bombs.
Not to mention, if you can get a Reflection of Kiki-Jiki flipped alongside a non-legendary bomb, you're in for a treat.
Speaking of non-legendary bombs, even our three-drop ramp spells come with huge creatures attached to them. Overlord of the Hauntwoods fixes our mana and provides killer value at both three and five mana. It also can be copied by the Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, so the copy enters and attacks on the first turn. Being a six-power creature also gives it a huge benefit for the other three-drop in the deck.
Since our deck is full of gigantic creatures that we're hoping to spin into on turn four, why not set up a free cast that requires a gigantic creature on turn three? Fight Rigging and Overlord of the Hauntwoods work perfectly together, plus nearly every one of our Unexpected Results hits are large enough to trigger Fight Rigging. If we don't get our ideal hit off the Results itself, we may have hidden it away under Fight Rigging the turn before, and if we spin into Fight Rigging, it gives us another chance to dig and find our next big bomb.
The Jackpot
Our best target is Big Mamma Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant. She lets us vomit every creature from our hand into play, which will likely be a lot. Since we have a high density of big monsters, we'll probably have at least two sitting in our hand. If we're successful in spinning this right on turn four, that number could be as high as five reasonably.
Imodane's Recruiter is a potential miss for our Unexpected Results, even though its five-mana spell isn't terrible, but the upside of giving Ghalta and all our other drops haste can't be overstated. Turning some silly big-value turn into a one-shot knock-out can make a world of difference, especially if the opponent is looking at the board wipe in their hand as you do it.
Other Fine Hits
Sylvan Primordial is what happens if Assassin's Trophy came stapled onto an Avatar of Might and decided it was sick of handing the land to the opponent. Blowing up any noncreature permanent and ramping yourself is disgusting in certain matchups, and I, for one, am glad Pioneer Masters has brought this big chungus to the client. Of course, I'll probably stop saying that after it bodies me in Brawl for the eighth or ninth time, but we're the ones playing it here, so it's all good.
Another Pioneer Masters addition that can absolutely stymie many plans, Void Winnower has a couple lines of text that are just disgusting. Shutting off all even-costed spells from our opponent limits their chances to interact with our board, but more importantly, the fact that even-mana-valued creatures can't block means our Ghalta alpha strike has fewer blockers to contend with. The fact that zero is considered even in Magic for this type of effect is especially rad because that means any tokens that aren't copies of actual cards simply can't block. This is surprisingly relevant.
If you've ever seen me gush about Smuggler's Surprise (as I often do), you're probably familiar with this card and how much I love it. Vaultborn Tyrant puts a huge threat on board that replaces itself, gains you life, and is a bear to deal with. It's also a card draw engine if other creatures end up coming in after it or at the same time as it. It's insanely powerful and can even make redundant Ghaltas work because you refill your hand in between triggers. It's an amazing card that ties the room together nicely.
Conclusion
Mulligan aggressively to four mana, cast Unexpected Results and either win the game or whiff and whine. The deck is incredibly explosive and, like I said in the beginning, a lot of fun to watch go off, but inconsistent to pilot. I'd recommend checking out some of my videos here with it rather than trying to bust it out yourself. And don't worry, I've got plenty more nonsense like this coming.
Thanks for reading, and happy brewing!
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