Pete Ingram

Alas, it’s time to start Day 2 of competition.

I have a tough pod ahead of me that consists of Edgar Magalhaes, Brandon Pascal and Logan Nettles. After snagging a quick morning breakfast and coffee at Starbucks, I made my way to the tournament area. All four of us are passing to one another. Edgar is on my right and Brandon and Logan are to my left. 

I begin the draft as anyone would like to, with a [Card]Shadowspear[/Card] as my first pick. I take it over a [Card]Gray Merchant of Asphodel[/Card] and [Card]Acolyte of Affliction[/Card], so I can assume Brandon is going to be taking one of those. Edgar passes me a relatively weak pack, but I happily take a [Card]Rise to Glory[/Card] from it hoping to move into Orzhov which is one of my favourite draft archetypes. 

Third pick I take a [Card]Chainweb Aracnir[/Card] out of yet another weak pack. Fourth pick I take a [Card]Fateful End[/Card], trying to consistently be taking the best cards out of the pack while looking for a signal. I take a few more red and green cards and I receive a last pick red card which I assume is Edgar signalling to me that I should be in red. Why else would you take a basic land over a normal card? Well… I would later find out the person to Edgar’s right took the basic land and left Edgar with two red cards and Edgar was in Izzet.

Pack Two yields me a first pick [Card]Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis[/Card] which I take, being fine with a switch to Boros for the power level. [Card]Tectonic Giant[/Card] is my second pick and I am extremely happy. Third pick I take a [Card]Gallia of the Endless Dance[/Card] because I have a few Satyrs and it’s the best card in the pack. Fourth pick I take a [Card]Dreadful Apathy[/Card], unable to commit to either colour. From there I see no white and solidify myself into Gruul. Here is the end result:

Theros Beyond Death Draft #2

Round 9 – David Olsen (Win) 6-2-1

Time for me to exact my revenge! My opponent was playing a Dimir deck with a lot of countermagic. After a long grindy game one that almost got away from me, I was able to snag the match in two games with a nice satyr draw from my deck featuring Gallia. 

Round 10 – Brandon Pascal (Win) 7-2-1

I passed Brandon his entire deck and knew that this was going to be my toughest match yet. He was Golgari with at least three Gray Merchants. Game one I was able to cheese out a victory thanks to [Card]Wings of Hubris[/Card], which allowed me to get in two large attacks followed by a [Card]Fateful End[/Card]. Game two I got Grey Merchanted a bunch and died pretty convincingly. Game three I curved two-drop, into three-drop, into [Card]Tectonic Giant[/Card] and the game pretty much ended on the spot. He was light on removal which was good for me.

Round 11- Faraz Abounorinejad (Win) 8-2-1

Faraz was on Boros Aggro. I think I was naturally favoured in this match because I’m nearly as fast but my creatures are just a bit bigger. This is generally just true about aggro mirrors in Limited. Game one we raced a bit before I fell behind and had to go on the defensive. I was able to stabilize at two life and hold him off before closing out the game with some big creatures. Game two I slow rolled [Card]Shadowspear[/Card] for as long as possible, eventually having my [Card]Nylea’s Forerunner[/Card] revoked from existence. The turn after [Card]Shadowspear[/Card] came down and the game was pretty much locked up from there.

Overall I thought my deck was solid and I was anticipating a 2-1. But with a little bit of luck and a few great rares I managed to 3-0 the pod and move forward feeling good into Pioneer!

[Deck Title= Dimir Inverter – Pete Ingram]
[Creatures]
4 Inverter of Truth
3 Thassa’s Oracle
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
2 Omen of the Sea
2 Censor
4 Dig Through Time
4 Fatal Push
1 Hero’s Downfall
2 Mystical Dispute
4 Opt
1 Thought Erasure
4 Thoughtseize
[/Spells]
[Lands]
6 Island
2 Swamp
2 Choked Estuary
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fabled Passage
2 Fetid Pools
4 Watery Grave
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Damping Sphere
1 Pack Rat
1 Hero’s Downfall
2 Mystical Dispute
1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Agonizing Remorse
2 Cry of the Carnarium
2 Legion’s End
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Pioneer with Dimir Inverter

Round 12 – Charles Wong – Sultai Inverter (Win) 9-2-1

I started out my constructed rounds in Day 2 in the feature match area. Game one I managed to pull out the win in clutch fashion. Charles went for the combo with double [Card]Thassa’s Oracle[/Card] in hand. I lead on [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card], taking one of the two Oracles. Then I cast [Card]Dig Through Time[/Card] to find another [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card] for the other Oracle and a [Card]Fatal Push[/Card] to take out the Inverter because I had used a [Card]Fabled Passage[/Card] that turn. Game two the game was long and I eventually died to an escaped [Card]Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath[/Card]. Game three went long and despite an early [Card]Deathrite Shaman[/Card] from my opponent, I was able to stick two planeswalkers in the form of [Card]Jace, Wielder of Mysteries[/Card] and [Card]Jace, Telepath Unbound[/Card]. Eventually I managed to play an [Card]Inverter of Truth[/Card] and win the match. 

Round 13 – Nathan Calvin – Mono-Black Aggro (Win) 10-2-1

Game one I managed to disrupt my opponent and kill a few things before executing the combo fairly early. Game two I was falling behind but I managed to stick [Card]Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet[/Card] and thankfully my opponent didn’t have an answer. There was a pivotal turn where my opponent decided he had to go for it even if I had a removal spell. I had a [Card]Fatal Push[/Card] and was able to kill a creature and block with a Zombie token and Kalitas and the game ended quickly after.

Round 14 – Matt Nass – Lotus Breach (Win) 11-2-1

I had made it this far without playing against the breakout deck of the tournament. I wasn’t looking forward to having to battle against the deck, but also someone who is very well known for playing these kinds of strategies. Game one I disrupt Matt’s hand a few times and he bricks on draws. I set up the combo and gave him a turn window to draw an [Card]Underworld Breach[/Card] and he did it. Game 2 I managed to stick a [Card]Damping Sphere[/Card] and win fairly easily. Game 3 I got an early [Card]Damping Sphere[/Card] in play but Matt was able to kill it. So on a turn where Matt was tapped out I pretty much had to Dig into my second [Card]Damping Sphere[/Card]. I cast Dig, looked at the top seven and hit! From there it was fairly easy to win the game after getting very lucky throughout this match.

This matchup is one where you need to mulligan aggressively and try to be as proactive as possible. This is also a rare matchup where [Card]Thassa’s Oracle[/Card] is much better than [Card]Jace, Wielder of Mysteries[/Card] because it’s a cheaper way to combo. Going forward I will likely have three copies of [Card]Damping Sphere[/Card] in my sideboard because I suspect this deck is going to be popular. 

Round 15 – Allen Wu – Lotus Breach (Loss) 11-3-1

Another Lotus Breach match against a player that I haven’t had much experience against, but seems to consistently crush tournaments. I have two win and ins for Top 8 at this point and I’m looking to lock it up immediately. Game one I die pretty fast to the combo which is how most game one’s are going to go in this matchup. Game two is very long and drawn out. I stick a [Card]Damping Sphere[/Card] but Allen answers it and I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose my first win and in for Top 8. I manage to go for the Combo in a turn and he surprisingly has nothing and we head to game three.

We had another long drawn out game where I have a [Card]Damping Sphere[/Card] in play. Allen casts Granted for [Card]Natural State[/Card] with one mana up and I respond with a [Card]Dig Through Time[/Card] with six lands in play. He then attempts to [Card]Mystical Dispute[/Card] my Dig, but I tell him that he can’t because of [Card]Damping Sphere[/Card]. So I know two of the cards in his hand and I take a [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card] and [Card]Inverter of Truth[/Card] off my Dig to join the [Card]Thassa’s Oracle[/Card] that I was holding onto. I draw for turn and quickly realize I’m dead because of the [Card]Mystical Dispute[/Card] in his hand. A heartbreaking loss after battling back game two.

Round 16 – William Jensen – Lotus Breach (Win) 12-3-1

This is it, for all the marbles. Game one I lose in typical fashion and I can just feel that sinking feeling come over me, but I snap out of it because I realize that this is my shot and that feeling certainly isn’t going to help me. Game two I mulligan and lead off with a [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card] and am able to stick a [Card]Damping Sphere[/Card] while Huey draws a bunch of air. I assemble the combo and we go off to game three. Game three goes long and comes down to a turn where I put a second [Card]Damping Sphere[/Card] in play, knowing that the only way to get around it is [Card]Blast Zone[/Card]. 

Huey draws a [Card]Sylvan Scrying[/Card] for turn and puts [Card]Blast Zone[/Card] in play but my plan is to go for the combo next turn. I play [Card]Inverter of Truth[/Card] turning my library into three cards with an [Card]Opt[/Card] and [Card]Censor[/Card] in my hand. I target myself with [Card]Jace, Wielder of Mysteries[/Card] having zero cards in my library. When Huey goes to put a counter on [Card]Blast Zone[/Card], I cycle [Card]Censor[/Card] and win the game.

I shake Huey’s hand and wish him the best of luck into making into the Top 8 despite losing which I believed to be very likely (Spoiler alert, he did). I’m still in disbelief as I stand up and am greeted by applause and high fives from many friends. I did it, I Top 8’d my first PT.

After filling out the Top 8 forms and doing my interview, I headed back to the Arrogant Butcher to join up with friends. After a nice dinner, I decided to be a great friend and pay for everyone’s dinner. And by that I mean I lost the credit card game, a loss that I took with a smile on my face. 

After dinner, I went back to the hotel with Eli Kassis. He and Edgar were gracious enough to offer to help me practice some games for my quarterfinals match against Corey. I played a few games against Edgar on Magic Online and then went to bed as I was extremely tired after a very long and stressful day. 

Top 8 – Corey Burkhart – Dimir Inverter (Loss) 12-4-1

I woke up and headed to the site to get ready for my match with Corey. I had my sideboard plans pretty much locked up as I had a pretty good idea of what Corey was going to do in the matchup. I kept a marginal hand game one that had lands, cantrips and most importantly: zero copies of [Card]Fatal Push[/Card]. I was on the play thanks to being fourth seed and lead with Island and passed. Corey lead out with [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card] which is never a good sign. The game went on for a bit but Corey pulled ahead with Jace and it was off to game two. 

Game two was similar to game one. I kept a marginal hand and got [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card]’d on turn one from Corey. There was a turn where I cast a discard spell and took a Jace over a [Card]Dig Through Time[/Card] which may have been incorrect in retrospect. I knew I was cold to the Jace, but it’s possible I could have taken Dig and left mana open going into Corey’s fourth turn which he would be hard pressed to jam Jace into. I landed an Ashiok which did virtually nothing and eventually Corey landed a Jace. Then a [Card]Pack Rat[/Card] came down on Corey’s side which was the final nail in the coffin. Congratulations to Corey for being a stand up player and for taking down the tournament!

As for me, I think I learned a valuable lesson this tournament: Never count yourself out. Now, I’m in a great spot for Rivals and I’m fully reinvested into Magic which feels good. I feel this need to prove myself further, so I’m going to put my all into the Players Tour Finals in Houston in April.

Thanks to everyone who gave me support throughout this tournament, it really meant a lot.

You can check out my updated Dimir Inverter list and sideboard guide on the Team BCW Patreon! www.patreon.com/teambcw.

When I left for Players Tour Phoenix I really had no hope to do well. 

It was Wednesday night and I was wavering on what deck to play:

*Ding* *Ding* *Ding*

In the right hand corner, coming in at 150 lbs, we have Dimir Inverter: Lean, mean and I’d tuned the deck enough to be very confident in the list. 

[Deck Title= Finalist PT Brussels, Dimir Inverter – Piotr Glogowski]
[Creatures]
4 Inverter of Truth
4 Thassa’s Oracle
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Thought Erasure
4 Thoughtseize
2 Censor
4 Dig Through Time
2 Drown in the Loch
4 Fatal Push
4 Opt
2 Omen of the Sea
3 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Choked Estuary
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fabled Passage
2 Fetid Pools
6 Island
3 Swamp
4 Watery Grave
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Cry of the Carnarium
1 Damping Sphere
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Legion’s End
3 Mystical Dispute
1 Noxious Grasp
1 The Scarab God
1 Thief of Sanity
1 Ultimate Price
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

In the left hand corner, coming in at 200 lbs, we had Sultai Delirium coming off a fresh 4-1 in a league where the only thing I learned was that I wanted a second [Card]Murderous Rider[/Card].

[Deck Title= Winner PT Brussels, Sultai Delerium – Joel Larsson]
[Creatures]
2 Courser of Kruphix
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Murderous Rider
4 Satyr Wayfinder
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Tireless Tracker
4 Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
1 Walking Ballista
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Thoughtseize
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Fatal Push
2 Grisly Salvage
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Nissa, Who Shakes the World
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Blooming Marsh
1 Botanical Sanctum
4 Breeding Pool
1 Castle Garenbrig
3 Fabled Passage
1 Forest
2 Island
1 Opulent Palace
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Vivien Reid
1 Sultai Charm
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Noxious Grasp
2 Mystical Dispute
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Hostage Taker
1 Duress
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Cast Down
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

My record with Dimir Inverter, despite winning SCG Richmond with it, was 10-6 so I wasn’t super confident in it and I also knew that it would have a huge target on its back going into the weekend. However, I knew the list I’d prepared was good and I didn’t know where to begin or end with Sultai Delirium, especially with so little time before decks were due. 

I settled on a Dimir Inverter list with Edgar Magalhaes, Jonathan Rosum and Dylan Donegan. We all registered close to one another’s list at around 1:30 am EST. The most important last minute choice I made was to add a second [Card]Damping Sphere[/Card]. 

Thursday rolls around and my Team BCW chat is popping off with several players saying their flights were delayed or canceled. I was worried because my flight was very late and basically one delay would leave me drawing dead to arrive on time. I was flying out of JFK which was lucky because the weather gods shined down upon me and all was well. I end up getting in at the hotel in Phoenix at around 1:30 am, and eventually fall asleep to wake up early the next morning to get cards and battle. 

At some point on Thursday I get a Facebook message from Edgar which leads to us making a pact where if we 0-3 Draft, we have to book a flight to play in SCG Philadelphia. I’m pretty excited by this, considering my lack of faith in this tournament and also I don’t want to fall behind in the PC race. More on this later.

Friday morning Eli Kassis, Brandon Pascal and myself grab a quick breakfast from our hotel and head to the site. Draft pods go up and I get inspired to throw my AirPods in and listen to “Neato” by Three Loco, a tradition that will now be something I do at every PT. I get to my pod, sit down and the Draft gets underway.

Pack one, pick one I am faced with a tough decision: [Card]Calix, Destiny’s Hand[/Card] or [Card]Elspeth’s Nightmare[/Card]. I chose Calix based on the fact that I have lost to this card handily before and I think pairing either colour off with black and splashing the other will lead to a great deck. Thankfully when asked, Mike Sigrist agreed with my pick. I second picked an [Card]Elspeth’s Nightmare[/Card] but see no other black cards and quickly fall into Selesnya. I end with a sweet looking GWbu deck:

I played 16 land in this deck with Labyrinth, two Dryads and an Omen, I think it was more or less fine. I thought my deck could have trouble finishing out games so I incorporated Eutropia. I absolutely love this Limited format because I think there are a large pool of playable cards which leads to very interesting deck building. 

Theros Beyond Death Draft #1

Round 1 – Nathaniel Knox (Draw) 0-0-1

Game one is super long and grindy. Nathanial has a sweet UGwb deck featuring [Card]Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath[/Card], [Card]Shatter the Skies[/Card] and a bunch of other really strong cards. I managed to narrowly win game one by running him out of cards. Game two looked like it would end in similar fashion, but his second to last card is [Card]Sweet Oblivion[/Card] which milled me out and forced a game three. With very little time on the clock I managed to get Nathaniel down to one life by turn four of turns, resulting in a draw.

Round 2 – Michael Flores (Win) 1-0-1

Flores was on an aggressive Boros deck that featured [Card]Shadowspear[/Card]. Thankfully I was able to outrace it in game one thanks to [Card]Mantle of the Wolf[/Card] and [Card]Alseid of Life’s Bounty[/Card]. I boarded-out blue going into game two because I didn’t think I would need it to win games against such an aggressive strategy. Game two I played Mantle again and it was just as great as game one against the aggro deck and I was able to take the match down.

Round 3 – Tom Ross (Win) 2-0-1

This match was extremely close. We both had similar decks although Tom was Golgari and we both had [Card]Elspeth’s Nightmare[/Card]. Game three Tom stumbled on lands and I was able to capitalize playing around both the removal spells I knew he could have on three black mana, which he did. Eventually Calix came down and that was enough to seal the deal. 

Pioneer with Dimir Inverter

Round 4 – Tyler Hill – Mono-White Heliod (Loss) 2-1-1

I won game one fairly convincingly but games two and three my opponent was able to get [Card]Gideon of the Trials[/Card] down and I couldn’t get it off the table before it and some other creatures beat me to a pulp.

Round 5 – David Olsen – Mono-White Heliod (Loss) 2-2-1

My opponent was on Mono-White Heliod again, this time with maindeck [Card]Leyline of Sanctity[/Card]. Game one a [Card]Gideon of the Trials[/Card] landed again and it was able to both lock me out of winning and beat me down. Game two I keep a [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card], [Card]Opt[/Card] and single land hand and my opponent mulligans to five and puts a Leyline in play which I completely forgot about. I boarded-in [Card]Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver[/Card] like a dope. I fail to draw lands and quickly get run over after drawing an Ashiok which is a fitting punishment for my stupidity. 

How quickly we fall. Reality had checked in at this point and my mindset was completely shattered. I messaged Cory Baumeister who sadly wasn’t able to make the event and asked him if he would like to team for SCG Philadelphia assuming I get my third loss and am eliminated. That degen flight was looking more and more appealing by the minute at that point. Like the great friend Corey is he informs me that I need to chill out and that I can still win the PT. Corey, you’re great and I’m truly thankful we’re friends. You’ve made my event experiences so much better this year. 

Round 6 – Eric Fox – Mono-Black Aggro (Win) 3-2-1

I lost game one but was able to battle back with the help of my sideboard cards. I’m having a tough time remembering what happened this match, however I do remember it being very close. 

Round 7 – John Rolf – Mono-Red Aggro (Win) 4-2-1

This match had razor thin margins and I narrowly escaped with a win. It came down to a pivotal turn in game three where I jammed [Card]Jace, Wielder of Mysteries[/Card] onto a board where I could die if his hand was good, but if he had to kill Jace I would likely win. Thankfully he had to kill Jace and from there I was able to narrowly maneuver my way into assembling [Card]Inverter of Truth[/Card] + [Card]Thassa’s Oracle[/Card] to win the game when he was hellbent. 

After this round, Eli, Edgar and I all had win and in’s for Day Two. However, we were all on the win and stay or lose and head to the airport for SCG Philadelphia plan. I sat next to Edgar as I had for a bunch of rounds because we were both in the draw bracket. Both of our final matches were against 5C Niv-Mizzet. We were both torn at which result we wanted more, to win and stay for Day Two, or to lose and have a very sweet story to make a deep run in SCG Philadelphia.

Needless to say, I’m very happy with how things ended up.

Round 8 – Adam Fronsee – 5C Niv (Win) 5-2-1

I won game one after opening on some early discard and resolving the combo a few turns later. Game two was very interesting. I had ripped my opponents hand apart with discard and was super far ahead. I could go for the combo, but I would lose to a few cards if my opponent top-decked one of their three outs. So I went for a safer play of playing Jace on an empty board and plussing.

My opponent played a [Card]Niv-Mizzet Reborn[/Card], acquiring a [Card]Slaughter Games[/Card] and a [Card]Bring to Light[/Card]. On my turn I was able to [Card]Thoughtseize[/Card] the [Card]Slaughter Games[/Card], but I was fairly certain he had a second copy. So I passed the turn and my Jace died to Niv and he [Card]Bring to Light[/Card]s for [Card]Slaughter games[/Card] on [Card]Inverter of Truth[/Card] and I go onto lose the game. I couldn’t help but feel like I threw this game away and now game three was for all the marbles. Game three he got stuck on lands and I pulled super far ahead and won by milling him out with [Card]Jace, Telepath Unbound[/Card]’s ultimate.

Eli, Edgar, and I all advanced to Day Two! So the SCG Philadelphia dream was dead, but we all had our eyes set on broader horizons. Afterwards a bunch of us went out to a lovely dinner at the Arrogant Butcher, where we would go on to runback the following day. 

That’s how my day ended. From no hope to win, to a Jace ultimate and a birth in day two. But as you know now, my work wasn’t done there. I went to bed with bigger goals in mind than jumping on a last minute flight to Philadelphia.

The story of Day 2 of Players Tour Phoenix, coming soon.

Pioneer is the talk of the town in Magic right now. With the exception of maybe how broken [Card]Oko, Thief of Crowns[/Card] is.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, it’s a format where all cards from Return to Ravnica to the latest set are legal. The one caveat is that the five fetch lands from Khans of Tarkir are banned. Also, it is very likely that there will be more cards banned before the first Player’s Tour takes place that uses this format. 

So, we’re all going to spending the next few weeks trying to find a deck to play in Pioneer. But where do you start with all these options? Well here is a tip from Sam Black that I think everyone should follow:

Related—how to build a Pioneer deck:

1: Find a card you think should be banned.

2: Prove it.

— Sam Black (@SamuelHBlack) October 22, 2019

This format has some incredibly powerful cards that have seen sweeping bannings across multiple high-powered eternal formats. So what cards are in the conversation that could potentially be banned in Pioneer? Here is my short list:

Emrakul is a card that is only going to get more obnoxious the larger the format is. Not only is it a very powerful card that many control decks can’t beat in long games, it’s also a card that is extremely really un-fun to play against. For that reason, I don’t expect it to live long in the format. 

[Card]Aetherworks Marvel[/Card] is probably the biggest offender on this list as it allows you to play a fair game, but then slam an “oops I win” card and put Ulamog or Emrakul (or whatever unfair thing you can find) into play. I suspect that [Card]Aetherworks Marvel[/Card] doesn’t live passed the first B&R announcement, but we shall see.

[Card]Rally the Ancestors[/Card] may be a lot worse now than it was before, but it is an incredibly powerful card. Rally is the type of deck that can easily play around cards like [Card]Rest in Peace[/Card] and other graveyard hate and for that reason, I could easily see this getting out of hand. 

Kethis is a card that has only been out for a short amount of time. We saw it dominate Standard alongside [Card]Mox Amber[/Card] and a slew of great planeswalkers before Dominaria rotated. I can easily see this card coming back again to dominate alongside [Card]Emery, Lurker of the Loch[/Card]. [Card]Mox Amber[/Card] is perhaps the better target as I’m sure given enough time, it will be just as unfair as it’s other Mox siblings.

The last of the super unfair cards is the great combo of [Card]Felidar Guardian[/Card] and [Card]Saheeli Rai[/Card]. This puts a strain on the format that I’m not sure is healthy as it creates this tension of the opposition always having to respect the combo when they have a piece on the board. Much like the old [Card]Splinter Twin[/Card] problem in Modern. I think it’s likely a piece of the combo should get banned to let the format prosper. That being said, I would actually ban [Card]Saheeli Rai[/Card] over [Card]Felidar Guardian[/Card] as I think the cat could see play without Saheeli and I don’t think the statement is the same vice versa.

There are also a few cards that while I think are likely appropriate power level for a format like this, could prove to be problematic at some point:

[Card]Smuggler’s Copter[/Card] is a card that we didn’t get to see much in Standard when it was legal — because it was so quickly banned. This was mainly due to the fact that it was colorless, so any deck could play it. The value you get from a card like this while also being such a proactive play is simply unheard of. While I think this card is likely fine in a more open format like this, I could still see it getting to a point where it’s slightly obnoxious. 

[Card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/Card] is the pinnacle for any mono-coloured deck that is looking to gain an advantage from having access to a ton of mana. I think that Mono-Green Devotion will likely be a top contender in a format where the above cards have been pushed out and I wouldn’t be surprised if this eventually should make its way out of the format. 

[Card]God Pharaoh’s Gift[/Card] has the ability to be cheated in play via [Card]Gate to the Afterlife[/Card]. You can do some cool things like potential combo kills with [Card]Combat Celebrant[/Card] and whatever other new toys you get in the format. I suspect that this type of deck will be kept in check by things like [Card]Rest in Peace[/Card], but perhaps it gets to a point where it can easily play around graveyard hate. Definitely something to keep an eye on going forward. 

Like I said off the top, our first goal with this format is to abuse these awesome cards in order to see just how broken some of these decks can be. Which, as you might imagine, was the framework for the decks I’ve prepared for you below.

One of the most interesting things about Pioneer is that the format looks to be slow enough that many of these decks will be able to support midrangey elements to help protect or support their combo. Saheeli combo for example can lean on [Card]Reflector Mage[/Card] to keep the board clear and [Card]Teferi, Time Raveler[/Card] to protect it’s combo. 

This kind of combo-control potential is nothing to bat an eye at if history has taught us anything.

Here are some lists that I’ve been working on:

[Deck Title= Four Colour Rally – Pete Ingram]
[Creatures]
4 Stitcher’s Supplier
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Cruel Celebrant
3 Grim Haruspex
4 Nantuko Husk
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Zulaport Cutthroat
2 Elvish Visionary
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Collected Company
4 Rally the Ancestors
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Fabled Passage
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Watery Grave
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple Garden
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Forest
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Mystical Dispute
4 Knight of Autumn
3 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Thoughtseize
1 Assassin’s Trophy
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Four Colour Saheeli Combo – Pete Ingram]
[Creatures]
4 Gilded Goose
4 Felidar Guardian
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Reflector Mage
4 Rogue Refiner
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Attune with Aether
4 Harnessed Lightning
1 Oath of Chandra
4 Oath of Nissa
3 Oko, Thief of Crowns
4 Saheeli Rai
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
2 Breeding Pool
2 Fabled Passage
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Spirebluff Canal
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Knight of Autumn
1 Natural State
2 Mystical Dispute
1 Pithing Needle
2 Rest in Peace
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Veil of Summer
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

[Deck Title= Kethis Combo – Pete Ingram]
[Creatures]
1 Alela, Artful Provocateur
4 Diligent Excavator
4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
3 Fblthp, the Lost
4 Hope of Ghirapur
4 Kethis, the Hidden Hand
1 Lazav, the Multifarious
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Mox Amber
4 Oath of Nissa
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
4 Narset, Parter of Veils
[/Spells]
[Lands]
3 Botanical Sanctum
4 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
4 Watery Grave
3 Geier Reach Sanitarium
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Overgrown Tomb
2 Drowned Catacomb
[/Lands]
[/Deck]

Pioneer is gearing up to be a very exciting format and I think once we get passed the initial brokenness of the format, I think it has the potential to be one of the best formats Magic has seen since the inception of Modern. I’m really looking forward to playing this format more once the Mythic Championship and the Invitational are over.