Pioneer Tier List
The Gathering’s MTG BO3 Pioneer tier list is data-driven, which looks at the past two weeks’ worth of MTG event results, top finishes, and overall entries to determine which Pioneer decks are currently the most popular and powerful. The list is tiered first on Meta share, and outliers within winrate are moved up or down a tier as needed.
Updated Every Tuesday
S Tier
A Tier
A Consistent Tempo Aggro Spells Deck: Draw cards, discard cards, and kill creatures with low cost spells while filling the graveyard. Izzet Phoenix is packed full of cantrips and cheap interaction, delve spells to keep cards flowing, and recursive threats that count the number of spells played per turn. Phoenix can always dig up what it needs while applying pressure.
A Consistent Disruptive Midrange Deck: Rakdos Midrange runs cards with looser synergy, each strong on their own. It has returned with a more dedicated approach to disrupting the opposing hand and game plan with minimal bad topdecks compared to other midrange Pioneer decklists. Consistent attackers will kill an opponent before they can stabilize or reassemble.
A Traditional Hard Control Deck: Answer threats, generate value, lock down the game, and win at your leisure. Azorius Control runs the best removal and sweepers available in Pioneer, with counterspells tuned to the meta as needed and strict instant-speed card advantage. A few planeswalkers, tokens, and lands are the only threats. This is the deck for simply telling your opponent “No”.
A Midrange Graveyard Combo Deck: Put vehicles into the graveyard and bring them back for a big attack. Greasefang has been reanimating Parhelion II for years in a powerful but fragile combo, but Aetherdrift introduced better payoffs for discarding cards. The Orzhov version is truly midrange, applying resilient pressure until value artifacts can generate lethal value.
B Tier
An Interactive Value Tempo Deck: Kaito and Moon-Circuit Hacker keep cards flowing and turn into real threats with a few emblems, with numerous other creatures that generate value or clear the board every time they return to play via ninjutsu. Cheap interaction spells keep the game plan safe, and Mutavault is a strong finisher with a few ninja-pumping emblems around.
An Aggressive Resilient Prowess Deck: Get creatures into play as quickly as possible to increase the damage of every burn spell. Compared to other aggro decks, Gruul can push damage for longer with Cori-Steel Cutter and additional draw spells. Green opens up better sideboard options and protection spells without a major sacrifice of mana.
C Tier
D Tier
An Aggressive Explosive Rectangles Deck: Boros Convoke seeks to put as many creatures and artifacts into play as soon as possible. These rectangles can then be used to power out convoke creatures like Venerated Loxodon, grow Warden of the Inner Sky to attack in the air, or simply grow as a team to attack wider than can be blocked.
A Consistent Disruptive Midrange Deck: Gain life, disrupt hands, kill creatures, and generate value. As long as it can interact with what the other deck is doing, Mono-Black applies consistent pressure while killing every threat that sticks. This is an excellent deck for changing gears, attacking the graveyard, and grinding out opposing resources.
A Resilient Stompy Ramp Deck: The word “ramp” doesn’t really describe how much mana this deck can quickly make. Put permanents with green mana symbols onto the battlefield, some of which start the game in play and many of which attack, in devotion to Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Untap it, generate huge amounts of mana, draw, and deploy huge creatures.
