Ever since its creation in 2022, Explorer has been in a bit of a weird place on MTG Arena. Sure, it may be fun on its own, however, it shouldn’t be around for long. Rather than standing on its own laurels, Explorer is, or was, all about the path to Pioneer. In 2024, it seems that Wizards of the Coast may finally realize this goal, however, that may be too little too late.
Despite the format having been around for a year and a half, progress in implementing Pioneer has been slow going. With a number of key cards and even decks still missing after so long, some MTG players are losing their patience. Exacerbating this problem, past Explorer Anthologies have had significant room for improvement, as if Pioneer’s implantation was being purposefully delayed.
Thankfully, later this year, Wizards of the Coast is releasing Pioneer Masters exclusively on MTG Arena. Designed as a reprint-filled Draftable set, this set should complete Explorer’s path to tournament-ready Pioneer. If Wizards want to achieve this goal, there are still plenty of key cards that can’t be missed. In order to make sure that doesn’t happen, MTG players have created a handy dandy list of everything Explorer needs.
Everything Explorer Needs
Comprised of just 24 MTG cards, the list created by u/8huddy is surprisingly short considering the differences between Explorer and Pioneer. Despite its length, however, this list stands up to scrutiny. 24 cards are all that stand between Explorer and the current Pioneer metagame.
Within this short list, a handful of cards are keeping back entire decks due to their importance. The fairly potent Rakdos Copter deck, for instance, isn’t viable on Explorer since
Smuggler’s Copter
Smuggler’s Copter
Flying
Whenever this Vehicle attacks or blocks, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
is missing. Alongside this, one of the deck’s best lands,
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Each land is a Swamp in addition to its other land types.
has yet to arrive on Arena.
Unfortunately, Rakdos Copter is far from the only Pioneer deck that Explorer doesn’t have yet. Niv to Light, Lotus Field Combo, and the 4 Color Rona deck are all missing key components. Each lacking between three and four cards, getting these decks on Arena thankfully isn’t an insurmountable task.
Alongside the decks completely missing from Explorer, plenty of already viable decks have some missing upgrades. The Atraxa Neoform decks, for instance, could definitely do with
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
{2}{G/U}{G/U}: Mill two cards, then return a nonland card of an opponent's choice from your graveyard to your hand.
being included. Similarly, the dominant Izzet Pheonix deck is missing
Temporal Trespass
Temporal Trespass
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
Take an extra turn after this one. Exile Temporal Trespass.
from Fate Reforged.
Everything Explorer Needs… As a list
While we could go on and on about every single card Explorer needs and why, that’s probably a bit much. So, instead, we’re simply going to hand over the all-encompassing list in alphabetical order. If you want to know where each card goes, check out u/8huddy’s post which details what deck needs what.
-
Abrupt Decay
Abrupt Decay
This spell can't be countered.
Destroy target nonland permanent with mana value 3 or less. -
Behold the beyond
Behold the beyond
Discard your hand. Search your library for three cards, put them into your hand, then shuffle.
-
Boros charm
Boros charm
Choose one —
• Boros Charm deals 4 damage to target player or planeswalker.
• Permanents you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
• Target creature gains double strike until end of turn. - Bring to light
-
Chained to the rocks
Chained to the rocks
Enchant Mountain you control
When this Aura enters, exile target creature an opponent controls until this Aura leaves the battlefield. (That creature returns under its owner's control.) -
Dark petition
Dark petition
Search your library for a card, put that card into your hand, then shuffle.
Spell mastery — If there are two or more instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, add {B}{B}{B}. -
Experiment One
Experiment One
Evolve (Whenever a creature you control enters, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Remove two +1/+1 counters from this creature: Regenerate it. (The next time this creature would be destroyed this turn, instead tap it, remove it from combat, and heal all damage on it.) - Gladecover Scout
-
Hidden strings
Hidden strings
You may tap or untap target permanent, then you may tap or untap another target permanent.
Cipher (Then you may exile this spell card encoded on a creature you control. Whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of the encoded card without paying its mana cost.) - Kytheon, Hero of Akros
-
Legion Loyalist
Legion Loyalist
Haste
Battalion — Whenever this creature and at least two other creatures attack, creatures you control gain first strike and trample until end of turn and can't be blocked by creature tokens this turn. - Oath of Nissa
-
Radiant Flames
Radiant Flames
Converge — Radiant Flames deals X damage to each creature, where X is the number of colors of mana spent to cast this spell.
-
Retraction Helix
Retraction Helix
Until end of turn, target creature gains "{T}: Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand."
-
Roast
Roast
Roast deals 5 damage to target creature without flying.
-
Sin Collector
Sin Collector
When this creature enters, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose an instant or sorcery card from it and exile that card.
-
Smuggler’s Copter
Smuggler’s Copter
Flying
Whenever this Vehicle attacks or blocks, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.) -
Soulflayer
Soulflayer
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
If a creature card with flying was exiled with this creature's delve ability, this creature has flying. The same is true for first strike, double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, reach, trample, and vigilance. -
Sylvan Caryatid
Sylvan Caryatid
Defender, hexproof
{T}: Add one mana of any color. -
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
{2}{G/U}{G/U}: Mill two cards, then return a nonland card of an opponent's choice from your graveyard to your hand. -
Temporal Trespass
Temporal Trespass
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
Take an extra turn after this one. Exile Temporal Trespass. -
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Each land is a Swamp in addition to its other land types.
-
Voyaging Satyr
Voyaging Satyr
{T}: Untap target land.
Too Much and Not Enough
Considering the above 24 cards can easily be identified as Explorer’s missing cards, each one should be included in Pioneer Masters. While this is a positive development to look forward to, this upcoming set is still a ways away. Slated for a Q4 release, MTG Arena players still have a long while to wait before getting these much-needed cards.
Annoyingly, while Pioneer Masters will certainly get the job done, a simple Anthology set would do the same. Admittedly, within each 25-card Anthology set Wizards has never been so on point with needed reprints. Nevertheless, since 24 is less than 25, Wizards could knock things out with a simple Anthology release and nothing more.
If Wizards’ goal was to get Pioneer on Arena as quickly as possible, an Anthology release is the sensible choice. For better or worse, however, it seems we’re being made to wait, as no future Explorer Anthologies have been confirmed. If you ask us, this is a major mistake on multiple fronts.
Between now and the expected release of Pioneer Masters, at least three, if not four, Pioneer-legal sets will be released. While none of these is a hypothetical Pioneer Horizons set, each one nonetheless has meta-warping potential. Due to this, the above list of needed staples may become outdated, which could make Pioneer Masters miss the mark.
To mitigate this problem, Wizards of the Coast needs to be expedient in getting Pioneer on Arena before anything changes. After this, the supposedly tournament-ready format will need to be kept up to date at every opportunity. Hopefully, Pioneer Masters being an entire set can provide some future proofing for this problem. Unfortunately, however, there’s no telling how much this will help in the long run.
Explorer Needs Everything
Ultimately, MTG Arena will need a lot more than just Pioneer Masters to make the format complete. This will only happen once every single Pioneer playable card is on Arena. This may seem like a lot, and it is, but ultimately, this is what MTG Arena needs. Without it, players won’t truly trust that Arena’s Pioneer will be one-to-one with its paper counterpart.
Considering that Explorer is currently the least popular format on MTG Arena, this trust is sorely needed. Without it, Pioneer players can easily look elsewhere to Magic Online and even to paper. Here, there’s no end of competitive support in which players can participate, allowing for compelling competitive gameplay.
If MTG Arena is to keep up, Wizards need to ensure the format’s best chance at survival. Unfortunately, however, putting all 2,721 missing Pioneer cards on Arena is a monumental task that will take literal years. Should Wizards release a remastered set each year, it’d take a literal decade for Pioneer to arrive in earnest.
For better or worse, it’s unclear what Wizards plans are with Explorer after Pioneer Masters. Hopefully, the format will continue to get additional and much-needed cards however, there’s no guarantee of this. Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens in 2025 and beyond…
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