Welcome back to another week of Pioneer data from Magic Online! This week, we have the release of Outlaws of Thunder Junction and the set certainly made waves during its first full week of legality. From Slickshot Show-Off to Jace Reawakened to Pillage the Bog and Kaervek, tons of top archetypes have gotten new toys and some seemingly dead archetypes have risen from the grave. So, let’s dive right into the data and see exactly what happened last week in Pioneer!

Looking at the data

The overall metagame data for this week had seven-hundred and forty-five results this week including all Pioneer events with data released on Magic Online. We see that there was a bit more diversity at the top with Phoenix and Vampires maintaining their stranglehold of position, but each deck fell a few percentages overall. With Phoenix taking the number one spot this week with fifteen percent down from eighteen percent in the prior period and Vampires in second dropping from nineteen percent to fourteen percent, there were plenty of people looking to explore newer archetypes this week as opposed to staying with the top decks.

The next tier of decks all seemed to hold their percentages from the prior period with Amalia Combo, Mono Black Discard, Niv to Light, Izzet Ensoul, and Lotus Field keeping above five percent each. However, other than Amalia, which went up from seven percent to eight percent, the other decks each lost a few points as well, showing the further expansion of archetypes played thanks to the new set.

Once we look at the remaining clump of decks that all had at least two percent of the overall metagame, you start to see that in effect. With Gruul Aggro as the big winner this week along with Red Aggro and Heroic, each taking four percent of the overall metagame, a stark increase from the two percent of Heroic and the one percent of Mono Red in the previous period. However, like in week’s past, will we see these decks hold up once we shift to the more challenging events?

Here you can see that Phoenix and Vampires hold their top spots with Phoenix even gaining a percent from the overall metagame. Discard also gained a percent from the overall metagame along with Lotus Field, whereas Niv held at seven percent. Amalia took a small hit from eight percent overall down to seven percent here along with Ensoul dropping one percent. The notable thing here is that the aggressive decks such as Heroic and Gruul Aggro held their percentages, while Red Aggro dropped one percent, showing that these newly revitalized aggressive decks made the leap from leagues to prelims and challenges.

We also see that Rakdos Sacrifice managed to make it into the competitive metagame after seemingly disappearing with five finishes and one percent of the competitive metagame. While it’s certainly too early to call it a comeback, I always like to keep an eye out for decks that have previously dominated the metagame when they start finding their footing again.

Next up, let’s move from overall competitive to the winner’s metagame and really get a picture of what decks found strong success this past week:

To no one’s surprise, Phoenix and Vampires once again lead the field, but as opposed to the prior period where Phoenix held eighteen percent of the winner’s metagame and Vampires held sixteen percent, we see that the overall trend of these decks losing a few percent continues even into the winner’s metagame.

Unlike the prior period where we had a few decks sneak above ten percent alongside Phoenix and Vampires, this past week, we saw a more collective clump of decks anywhere from seven percent to four percent, with Niv just above them at nine percent.

Within the collection of decks including Amalia, Discard, Quintorius Combo, Lotus Field, and Ensoul, some of the same decks from before Outlaws of Thunder Junction are holding onto their place in the metagame. However, this collection also includes Humans, Gruul Aggro, Azorius Spirits, and Heroic. Some of these decks were present previously, but not nearly to this degree and certainly not in the winner’s metagame. For a while, it felt like Phoenix, Vampires, Amalia, and Niv were really pushing aggressive strategies out of the metagame, but with Outlaws of Thunder Junction, it appears that we have a much more open metagame forming just below the top tier of decks.

Now that we’ve seen what’s winning overall, let’s take a second to just look at the challenge top 8s for this past week:

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Phoenix and Vampires continue their streak as the top decks, but this week we see Vampires with the nine top 8s and Phoenix with eight as opposed to the previous period where they were switched.

Lotus Field took a steep drop-off from six top 8s down to only two, which makes sense given the higher presence of aggressive decks we weren’t seeing previously. Niv also took a jump up from four top 8s to six with the printing of Pillage the Bog and the deck’s ability to attack aggressive strategies. Discard also made a leap up to five top 8s from three previously and Spirits really leapt up from only one top 8 previously to five this week!

It’s also reassuring to see that Humans, Red Aggro, and Gruul Aggro managed to convert their higher percentages of play into some top 8s, including two top 8s for Gruul Aggro where it won both of those appearances. It’s also nice to see such a variety of decks managing a top 8 this week as there were nineteen distinct archetypes as opposed to the thirteen in the previous period – showing once again that Outlaws of Thunder Junction had a real effect in opening up the metagame a bit.

While it’s clear that Vampires and Phoenix remain king with Niv starting to work its way into that discussion, the format is much more open and healthier than it was previously, and I can’t wait to see what next week looks like with all these new decks and cards becoming more prevalent online.

Deck Highlights

Given the release of Outlaws of Thunder Junction this week, I’m going to focus less on wild and crazy decks from the leagues and instead highlight some of the decks that put up top finishes in the competitive metagame with new cards.

Slickshot Show-Off

First off, we have Gruul Aggro:

This version of Gruul took down two challenges this week and the main upgrade was Slickshot Show-off. If you have been watching streams this week, you have surely seen that Slickshot Show-Off is seemingly the hottest addition to Pioneer for aggro in quite some time. In every deck from Mono Red Aggro to Heroic to Gruul and even Phoenix, we are seeing this card as a perennial format staple already. With the ability to plot it away to protect from discard and force the opponent to always have cheap instant speed interaction open, it puts massive pressure on the opponent and slows down their gameplan. It also pairs so well with Monstrous Rage and Blossoming Defense to help shield it from that interaction. I wouldn’t be shocked if we see this card continue to make waves throughout the RCQ season.

In that same vein, we can look quickly at Heroic:

Thanks to Slickshot Show-Off, the deck adds in a second incredibly powerful one-shot threat to Illuminator Virtuoso. Given the difficulty for opponents to have enough removal to kill off your threats through protection previously, adding in a second must-kill threat makes Heroic even more explosive and even more challenging for non-interactive decks to beat.

One-Off Upgrades from Outlaws of Thunder Junction

The first new card to take down a challenge was Kaervek, the Punisher in Mono Black Discard. While a 3/3 for three-mana might seem underwhelming, the ability to rebuy black cards from your graveyard in exchange for some life every time you commit a crime is incredibly powerful. Once you have enough mana to cast multiple spells in a turn that targets your opponent or their things, you can just chain spells and easily take over the midgame. In addition, Kaervek’s trigger allows you to resolve the spell regardless of timing restrictions, so if you cast a Fatal Push during draw-step, you can then use the trigger to Duress your opponent’s draw. Things like this are a major reason this card can easily win the game by itself and is worth considering in your black midrange shells.

I’ve mentioned it several times already but Pillage the Bog in Niv to Light is just a monstrous new addition. Given the deck’s main issue is finding the right cards to answer the opponent when you don’t have Bring to Light, Pillage easily allows you to see four to eight cards early and even see twelve to twenty cards the midgame. Even though you only get one of those cards, it borders on Demonic Tutor at a point and reminds me of Assemble the Team in Timeless. This is an incredibly powerful card for a midrange shell that needs to find the right answers in the right matchups and can easily work as a bait spell against controlling decks, since finding uncounterable threats with this can leave them vulnerable if they allow it to resolve. This was an obvious upgrade from the start, and it certainly delivered.

Dimir Control once upon a time was split between Narset, Parter of Veils with Day’s Undoing and a more traditional version that leveraged only removal and very few means to close out the game. We continue to see the more traditional version, but now we have Jace Reawakened paired with Valki, God of Lies as a two-card combo that allows you to play a seven-mana Planeswalker for free on turn five. While getting a two-turn discount on a threat doesn’t seem too powerful, the key is that it is free, which enables you to protect it with access to all your mana and cards in hand that turn. Unlike in other decks like Niv to Light that often have to tap out to land Valki, I cannot stress enough how powerful it is to cast Valki with multiple pieces of interaction open.

Much like Dimir Control, we also saw some players find new cards helpful in Azorius Control with perennial control player _VFS_ taking High Noon to a fourth-place finish in the Pioneer Challenge. As a main deck  Rule of Law, it has solid splash damage against Lotus Field, Phoenix, Slickshot Show-Off, and more. Being able to reduce the number of spells thrown at you early can easily help Azorius Control get off the ground and establish its much-needed control behind wraths, counterspells, and Planeswalkers.

Rise from the Grave

Mono White Humans started to show up slightly in the previous period, but its matchup against Amalia really hurt its ability to gain back metagame share. However, with Amalia losing a little ground this week and lots of other aggressive decks showing up to play, Humans had the room to explode back onto the scene with plenty of strong finishes including this second-place finish from Neb12r. While the archetype didn’t get any new toys outside of a single copy of Requisition Raid in the sideboard, it is a solid metagame call heading into a world where Amalia may not be able to handle the speed and interaction of Slickshot Show-Off as the aggro card of choice.

One Piece of Spice

We featured a different version of Blue Jewel previously and it finally managed to put up a top finish this past week. Franticore has been spamming this deck in various leagues, prelims, and challenges, and it finally paid off thanks to the addition of White for some sideboard cards. While the deck didn’t get much new outside of Assimilation Aegis and Harrier Strix, it seems to have found some degree of footing thanks to the tireless efforts of Franticore. That being said, I’d love to see if the archetype can continue to evolve and develop throughout the RCQ season and what degree of legs it has outside of its creator’s hands.

Wrapping Up

With that, we wrap up this week’s look at the past week in Pioneer. There were endless shakeups and new strategies making their way into Pioneer and Outlaws of Thunder Junction seems to have had a massive impact on the Pioneer metagame and I’m sure we haven’t seen it all quite yet. Expect more spicy shells and powerful cards to make their way into the results next week as cards continue to become more readily available. Good luck in your local RCQs and online this week!