Explorer

Pioneer finally coming to MTG Arena

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

Wizards of the Coast this week announced what many had expected for some time now: Pioneer is coming to  Magic: The Gathering Arena later this week. On Saturday, May 10, the Explorer format will bow out and Pioneer will take its place with the introduction of 11 new cards.

We knew that, one day, we would retire Explorer and replace it with Pioneer, a change we would implement once we got all the relevant cards onto MTG Arena. We have closely watching Pioneer and believe that we have achieved this goal. Out of 411 distinct competitive Magic Online decklists played in March, Explorer was only missing seven cards found in those decklists.

Pioneer launched back in late 2019, about a year after MTG Arena launched in beta. Whereas the Modern format includes cards from Eighth Edition onwards, Pioneer limits itself to sets released since Return to Ravnica. Wizards launched Explorer in 2022 as a digital-only format that was very similar to Pioneer but lacked many of the key cards of the latter format. The gap narrowed gradually with new set releases, including the recent Pioneer Masters.

To be accurate, it should be noted that Arena’s Pioneer format does not include all Pioneer-standard cards – There are a number missing (about 2,000 in fact) but none of these appear in more competitive decks. According to WOTC, they did ask their Arena Championship players about any missing cards and were told by most that there were no “major misses.”

The new cards to be launched to turn Explorer into Pioneer are:

  • Battle at the Bridge
  • Borborygmos Enraged
  • Encroaching Wastes
  • Kazuul’s Toll Collector
  • Magmatic Insight
  • Nissa’s Defeat
  • Rakdos Charm
  • Roast
  • Sanctum of Ugin
  • Triton Shorestalker
  • Warping Wail

I’m all for this move. It eliminates a digital-only format and improves parity between digital and physical formats. While the absence of some 2,000 cards is bound to upset some deck brewers,

I don’t play a lot of Explorer on MTG Arena but have been steadily playing more and do have a ExplorerPioneer version of my Orzhov Cleric deck in Arena. There are about 40 Cleric cards in those cards still missing in Arena but I’m not sure that they would materially impact my deck.

Read more: Announcing Pioneer

Is May 10th marked on your calendars? Drop us a note if it is.

Exploring Explore in Explorer

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

I’ve been a big fan of the Explore mechanic ever since it was first revealed in Ixalan back in 2017 (as well as the whole set as I like the lore – What’s not to like about dinosaurs, merfolk, vampires and pirates?). Needless to say, I was pretty happy when we returned to this plane a few months back, and even more so when I learned that Explore was making a comeback.

I decided pretty much then and there that I would try to make a deck leveraging the mechanic. Not only did it mean the return of some cool cards like Wildgrowth Walker and Jadelight Ranger, but that there new ones to experiment with as well. Of those, Nicanzil, Current Conductor, feels like the strongest addition.

I finally got around to building that deck. Here is its first iteration. I built it in about 15 minutes.

Deck:

  • 2 Nicanzil, Current Conductor (LCI)
  • 4 Jadelight Ranger (RIX)
  • 4 Wildgrowth Walker (XLN)
  • 4 Cancel (M21)
  • 4 Pathfinding Axejaw (LCI)
  • 2 Path of Discovery (RIX)
  • 2 Merfolk Branchwalker (XLN)
  • 3 Over the Edge (LCI)
  • 2 Jadelight Spelunker (LCI)
  • 2 Twists and Turns (LCI)
  • 1 Mist-Cloaked Herald (RIX)
  • 2 Opt (STA)
  • 2 Brineborn Cutthroat (M20)
  • 2 Essence Scatter (DMU)
  • 2 Hadana’s Climb (RIX)
  • 8 Forest (THB)
  • 6 Island (THB)
  • 2 Temple of Mystery (M21)
  • 2 Dreamroot Cascade (VOW)
  • 4 Barkchannel Pathway (KHM)

Ten Explorer Play B01 games in, it’s clear that I will need to tweak it to make it a bit more competitive. As it stands, the deck stands at 3-7. It clearly suffers from a lack of removal and Cancel is just to expensive in this deck. The other change worth taking a look at would be to add some Black to the deck to open up removal but also more Explore cards.

More to come as I continue to build this deck out.

Revisiting a good Boros Exile Synergy deck

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

There was a period of time back in 2021 where Mono-White was a strong contender in B01 Arena with a deck that relied heavily on the Exile mechanic to control your opponent. I played the the deck quite a bit as it was fun to play and did quite well. It had a nice mana curve with Stonebinder’s Familiar able to kick things off on turn one, followed by Sungold Sentinel and then a number of options depending on the board state. 

Stonebinder's Familiar [STX]
Brutal Cathar
Brutal Cathar

Standard rotation came and the deck faded into obscurity. Almost. I still remember enjoying playing with this deck and have since tried a few things to make it relevant in Explorer B01. It has since morphed into a Boros deck that leverages Exile to keep my opponent on the back foot. I dusted the deck off today and took it for a spin.

Sadly, it did not fare very well. As it stands, its heydays are well and truly behind it. But I’m still toying with different cards to see if we can bring some of those glory days back. To be honest, I can’t recall why I moved it from mono-white to Boros but the additional colour does give some additional options.

The Wandering Emperor

Here is what the deck looks like right now with a 5-7 record in Explorer Play.

Deck
2 Ixalan’s Binding (XLN) 17
4 Stonebinder’s Familiar (STX) 31
4 Sungold Sentinel (MID) 37
4 Brutal Cathar (MID) 7
4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan (NEO) 152
2 The Wandering Emperor (NEO) 42
2 Robber of the Rich (ELD) 138
2 Reckless Impulse (VOW) 174
4 Obliterating Bolt (BRO) 145
2 Borrowed Time (MID) 6
2 Ossification (ONE) 26
2 Elspeth’s Smite (MOM) 13
2 Mentor of the Meek (M19) 27
8 Mountain (SIR) 288
10 Plains (SIR) 279
4 Needleverge Pathway (ZNR) 263
2 Sundown Pass (VOW) 266

Sideboard
2 Expel (STX) 18
2 Seal from Existence (MOM) 35
2 Lay Down Arms (BRO) 11
2 Nahiri’s Resolve (MAT) 37

I’ll keep everyone posted on any major breakthroughs with the deck!