Pioneer Tier List

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 Pure Combo Deck: Search up, copy, and untap the namesake Lotus Field to generate absurd amounts of mana. As a true dedicated combo deck, Lotus Field requires a lot of moving pieces to tap Lotus Field many times in one turn and cast a massive threat or Emergent Ultimatum to win the game all at once, as early as turn three.

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 Proactive Goldfish Lifegain Deck: Play angels, gain life, and attack with angels- yes each of those angels gained you 36 life. Angels only struggle against infinite combos and board wipes, flying over and ignoring everything else. Kayla’s Reconstruction and Collected Company deploy fliers that enter at the same time, triggering each other’s effects.

A Controlling Kindred Tempo Deck: Flash Spirits plays the game on the opposing turn, granting all of its creatures flash and utilizing timely cheap counterspells. Spirits is all about timing, winning with virtual card advantage and ignoring as many cards as possible. Every creature flies and spells generate value over time, with limited removal once a permanent is in play.

A Controlling Interactive Token Deck: A new style of control deck, using Caretaker’s Talent and other value-generating token producers. Being a single color allows for more colorless lands, making the most out of Fountainport, Sunken Citadel, and Field of Ruin effects. Compared to other control decks, Tokens make excellent blockers and finishers.

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.

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 Synergistic Tempo Drain Deck: Jund Sac’s spells are rarely powerful on their own, but together they generate a myriad of different engines for dealing damage, drawing cards, and draining the opponent. Jund Sac runs creatures that sacrifice themselves, generate sacrificial permanents, and ultimately provide a lethal burst of damage or slowly bleed an opponent to death.