For years now, Pioneer has become MTG’s forgotten format, shunned from competitive play and seeing no real support. That, however, appears to be changing in 2027, with the format finally set to have an RCQ season. If you, like many others, are looking to dip your toes into this format, you’ll find the best MTG Pioneer decks here.
7 | Jund Sacrifice
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Much like the Standard version of the deck, Pioneer Jund Sacrifice is designed to maximize
Biotech Specialist
Biotech Specialist
When this creature enters, create a Lander token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.")
Whenever you sacrifice an artifact, this creature deals 2 damage to target opponent.
and
The Sackville-Bagginses
The Sackville-Bagginses
When The Sackville-Bagginses enter, you may sacrifice another creature or artifact. If you do, draw a card and create a Treasure token.
Whenever you sacrifice a token, target opponent loses 1 life.
as payoffs. When combined with efficient, trinket-generating creatures like Greedy Freebooter and
Shambling Ghast
Shambling Ghast
When this creature dies, choose one —
• Target creature an opponent controls gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
• Create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.")
, you can quickly drain the opponent of all their life.
Where this deck gets a huge edge, however, is with the addition of
Witch’s Oven
Witch’s Oven
{T}, Sacrifice a creature: Create a Food token. If the sacrificed creature's toughness was 4 or greater, create two Food tokens instead. (They're artifacts with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
and
Cauldron Familiar
Cauldron Familiar
When this creature enters, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Sacrifice a Food: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
. These cards provide a steady engine for your sacrifice synergies, letting
Mayhem Devil
Mayhem Devil
Whenever a player sacrifices a permanent, this creature deals 1 damage to any target.
consistently ping down opposing creatures. You can even loop multiple Cauldron Familiars with
Ygra, Eater of All
Ygra, Eater of All
Ward—Sacrifice a Food.
Other creatures are Food artifacts in addition to their other types and have "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this permanent: You gain 3 life."
Whenever a Food is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, put two +1/+1 counters on Ygra.
, creating an infinite life-loss combo.
Naturally, all the life gain and pinging elements make your creature-based matchups extremely strong. The presence of
Lively Dirge
Lively Dirge
Spree (Choose one or more additional costs.)
+ {1} — Search your library for a card, put it into your graveyard, then shuffle.
+ {2} — Return up to two creature cards with total mana value 4 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
also gives you a great chance to out-grind midrange decks. Unfortunately, your reliance on small permanents and your graveyard leaves you vulnerable to
Temporary Lockdown
Temporary Lockdown
When this enchantment enters, exile each nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less until this enchantment leaves the battlefield.
and
Rest in Peace
Rest in Peace
When this enchantment enters, exile all graveyards.
If a card or token would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead.
from Azorius Control. As such, this deck isn’t perfect, but it can certainly compete.
6 | Mono-Red
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With many of Standard’s banned red cards sticking around, Mono-Red Aggro is extremely strong in Pioneer. In fact, for quite some time, the deck absolutely dominated the format, warping all of the other decks around it. This led to
Heartfire Hero
Heartfire Hero
Valiant — Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability you control for the first time each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
When this creature dies, it deals damage equal to its power to each opponent.
being banned in Pioneer, but despite that, Mono-Red has kept up.
Nowadays, the deck runs a sort of aggressive Prowess build, using
Monastery Swiftspear
Monastery Swiftspear
Haste
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
and
Soul-Scar Mage
Soul-Scar Mage
Prowess
If a source you control would deal noncombat damage to a creature an opponent controls, put that many -1/-1 counters on that creature instead.
for fast starts. These are easily buffed up with direct-damage spells like Burst Lightning and the infamous
Monstrous Rage
Monstrous Rage
Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Create a Monster Role token attached to it. (If you control another Role on it, put that one into the graveyard. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has trample.)
, crashing in for tons of damage. Then, higher-cost aggressive bombs like
Screaming Nemesis
Screaming Nemesis
Haste
Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to any other target. If a player is dealt damage this way, they can't gain life for the rest of the game.
and
Sunspine Lynx
Sunspine Lynx
Players can't gain life.
Damage can't be prevented.
When this creature enters, it deals damage to each player equal to the number of nonbasic lands that player controls.
can close the game, making lifegain useless.
Despite having weaker results in recent days, Mono-Red remains one of the most popular decks in MTG Pioneer. The deck excels at beating up brews in particular, which are all over Pioneer right now, but can struggle against more established decks. Thanks to this, as the meta develops, this deck might get pushed out of the top spots.
5 | Izzet Phoenix
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While the classic Pioneer deck isn’t seeing as much play right now, Izzet Phoenix remains one of the strongest archetypes in the format. The goal is to get copies of Arclight Phoenix into the graveyard as quickly as possible, reanimating them after casting a flurry of spells. With tons of cantrips and removal, this is the most consistent deck that Pioneer has to offer.
Despite primarily functioning as a tempo deck, Izzet Phoenix can pull off combo-esque finishes with
Proft’s Eidetic Memory
Proft’s Eidetic Memory
When Proft's Eidetic Memory enters, draw a card.
You have no maximum hand size.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you've drawn more than one card this turn, put X +1/+1 counters on target creature you control, where X is the number of cards you've drawn this turn minus one.
. After drawing tons of cards with
Treasure Cruise
Treasure Cruise
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
Draw three cards.
and your other cantrips, this enchantment can buff one of your fliers, swinging out for tons of damage. This allows Izzet Phoenix decks to turn the corner extremely quickly, punishing lists that can’t outspeed it.
Thanks to a nice balance of consistency and power, Izzet Phoenix has game against any deck, absolutely dominating opposing midrange decks. Shells that rely heavily on establishing specific cards, like
Greasefang, Okiba Boss
Greasefang, Okiba Boss
At the beginning of combat on your turn, return target Vehicle card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Return it to its owner's hand at the beginning of your next end step.
, can also struggle against Phoenix’s onslaught of removal. In exchange, Izzet Phoenix struggles with creatureless combo decks like Lotus Field combo, and is also hurt by Pioneer’s high amounts of graveyard hate.
4 | Abzan Greasefang
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Greasefang, Okiba Boss
Greasefang, Okiba Boss
At the beginning of combat on your turn, return target Vehicle card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Return it to its owner's hand at the beginning of your next end step.
has been a part of Pioneer for a really long time, and it remains one of the best decks in the format. This deck offers a midrange pile with a combo finish, whose main priority is to get vehicles like
Parhelion II
Parhelion II
Flying, first strike, vigilance
Whenever Parhelion II attacks, create two 4/4 white Angel creature tokens with flying and vigilance that are attacking.
Crew 4 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 4 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
or
Esika’s Chariot
Esika’s Chariot
When Esika's Chariot enters, create two 2/2 green Cat creature tokens.
Whenever Esika's Chariot attacks, create a token that's a copy of target token you control.
Crew 4
into the graveyard. Greasefang can then reanimate the Vehicle, and swing for 13 Flying Damage with Parhelion in particular.
To find Greasefang and Parhelion quickly, this deck runs both
Overlord of the Balemurk
Overlord of the Balemurk
Impending 5—{1}{B} (If you cast this spell for its impending cost, it enters with five time counters and isn't a creature until the last is removed. At the beginning of your end step, remove a time counter from it.)
Whenever this permanent enters or attacks, mill four cards, then you may return a non-Avatar creature card or a planeswalker card from your graveyard to your hand.
and
Cache Grab
Cache Grab
Mill four cards. You may put a permanent card from among the cards milled this way into your hand. If you control a Squirrel or returned a Squirrel card to your hand this way, create a Food token. (To mill four cards, put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard. A Food token is an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
, getting your Vehicles into the graveyard. If Parhelion gets stuck in your hand,
Formidable Speaker
Formidable Speaker
When this creature enters, you may discard a card. If you do, search your library for a creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
{1}, {T}: Untap another target permanent.
can discard it for the perfect creature, or
Professor of Symbology
Professor of Symbology
When this creature enters, learn. (You may reveal a Lesson card you own from outside the game and put it into your hand, or discard a card to draw a card.)
can grab a Lesson from your sideboard.
With an absurd amount of tutoring and an aggressive combo plan, Abzan Greasefang has an incredible matchup into straightforward creature decks like Mono-Red. Slower decks that give Greasefang time to find the perfect answers, like Lessons and Azorius Control, are also quite strong. In exchange, the deck really struggles against Vivi Cauldron, whose combo can race Greasefang while naturally packing graveyard hate.
3 | Izzet Vivi Cauldron
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While
Vivi Ornitier
Vivi Ornitier
{0}: Add X mana in any combination of {U} and/or {R}, where X is Vivi Ornitier's power. Activate only during your turn and only once each turn.
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, put a +1/+1 counter on Vivi Ornitier and it deals 1 damage to each opponent.
has long been banned in Standard, it still makes a splash in Pioneer alongside
Agatha’s Soul Cauldron
Agatha’s Soul Cauldron
You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to activate abilities of creatures you control.
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have all activated abilities of all creature cards exiled with Agatha's Soul Cauldron.
{T}: Exile target card from a graveyard. When a creature card is exiled this way, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
. This deck aims to use a low-cost discard outlet like
Fear of Missing Out
Fear of Missing Out
When this creature enters, discard a card, then draw a card.
Delirium — Whenever this creature attacks for the first time each turn, if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, untap target creature. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
to get Vivi into the graveyard, then exile it under Cauldron. This way, any of your creatures that get counters will provide a big burst of mana.
Once you add
Proft’s Eidetic Memory
Proft’s Eidetic Memory
When Proft's Eidetic Memory enters, draw a card.
You have no maximum hand size.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you've drawn more than one card this turn, put X +1/+1 counters on target creature you control, where X is the number of cards you've drawn this turn minus one.
into the mix, it becomes trivial to grow your creatures significantly while getting a massive mana boost. Between Leveling Up
Stormchaser’s Talent
Stormchaser’s Talent
(Gain the next level as a sorcery to add its ability.)
When this Class enters, create a 1/1 blue and red Otter creature token with prowess.
{3}{U}: Level 2
When this Class becomes level 2, return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
{5}{U}: Level 3
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, create a 1/1 blue and red Otter creature token with prowess.
, hard-casting
Quantum Riddler
Quantum Riddler
Flying
When this creature enters, draw a card.
As long as you have one or fewer cards in hand, if you would draw one or more cards, you draw that many cards plus one instead.
Warp {1}{U}
, or maximizing
Jadzi, Steward of Fate
Jadzi, Steward of Fate
Jadzi enters prepared. (While it's prepared, you may cast a copy of its spell. Doing so unprepares it.)
When Jadzi enters, draw two cards, then discard two cards.
’s prepared spell, you have tons of places to sink excess mana. Your card draw also helps you dig for
Voldaren Thrillseeker
Voldaren Thrillseeker
Backup 2 (When this creature enters, put two +1/+1 counters on target creature. If that's another creature, it gains the following ability until end of turn.)
{1}, Sacrifice this creature: It deals damage equal to its power to any target.
, which, alongside Cauldron, enables wins entirely outside of combat.
Even though this deck is nothing new,
Seasoned Cryomancer
Seasoned Cryomancer
When this creature enters, draw two cards, then discard two cards. When you discard one or more nonland cards this way, tap up to that many target creatures and put a stun counter on each of them.
{3}{U}{U}, Exile this card from your graveyard: Draw two cards.
has proven to be a significant upgrade. Beyond just its natural synergy with Cauldron and Memory, its stun ability buys you a lot of time against Mono-Red Aggro and Izzet Prowess. While this tool doesn’t solve every weakness, like this deck’s vulnerability to graveyard hate, it makes the strategy more robust than ever.
2 | Golgari Midrange
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Pioneer is one of the few formats where Magic’s traditional Midrange archetype still thrives. Thanks primarily to
Badgermole Cub
Badgermole Cub
When this creature enters, earthbend 1. (Target land you control becomes a 0/0 creature with haste that's still a land. Put a +1/+1 counter on it. When it dies or is exiled, return it to the battlefield tapped.)
Whenever you tap a creature for mana, add an additional {G}.
and
Professor Dellian Fel
Professor Dellian Fel
+2: You gain 3 life.
0: You draw a card and lose 1 life.
−3: Destroy target creature.
−6: You get an emblem with "Whenever you gain life, target opponent loses that much life."
, Pioneer’s current flavor has migrated from Rakdos to Golgari. Not only has this sped the midrange deck up, but it also gives the deck access to removal like
Abrupt Decay
Abrupt Decay
This spell can't be countered.
Destroy target nonland permanent with mana value 3 or less.
and
Tear Asunder
Tear Asunder
Kicker {1}{B} (You may pay an additional {1}{B} as you cast this spell.)
Exile target artifact or enchantment. If this spell was kicked, exile target nonland permanent instead.
that can deal with more than just creatures.
After slowing your opponent down with removal and hand disruption, Golgari Midrange aims to pull ahead by using draw engines like
Unholy Annex
Unholy Annex
At the beginning of your end step, draw a card. If you control a Demon, each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life. Otherwise, you lose 2 life.
(You may cast either half. That door unlocks on the battlefield. As a sorcery, you may pay the mana cost of a locked door to unlock it.)
. Eventually, your opponent will run out of resources, allowing your resilient suite of creatures like
Graveyard Trespasser
Graveyard Trespasser
Ward—Discard a card.
Whenever this creature enters or attacks, exile up to one target card from a graveyard. If a creature card was exiled this way, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn.)
to take over the game.
With lots of creature removal and incremental lifegain, Golgari Midrange prays on all the creature decks of the format. In exchange, however, Golgari Midrange loses to slower, value-based matchups like Izzet Lessons, and combo decks like Scapeshift.
1 | Izzet Prowess
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Despite the ban of Cori-Steel Cutter, Izzet Prowess remains the most popular deck in Pioneer, and for good reason. On top of offering Mono-Red’s explosiveness, Izzet gets to run interactive elements like Boomerang Basics and
Reckless Rage
Reckless Rage
Reckless Rage deals 4 damage to target creature you don't control and 2 damage to target creature you control.
, to remove opposing threats. All of these cheap spells will rack up Prowess triggers for your various threats like
Emberheart Challenger
Emberheart Challenger
Haste
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
Valiant — Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability you control for the first time each turn, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card.
, blitzing the opponent.
The most powerful thing about Pioneer Prowess, however, is its access to
Academic Dispute
Academic Dispute
Target creature blocks this turn if able. You may have it gain reach until end of turn.
Learn. (You may reveal a Lesson card you own from outside the game and put it into your hand, or discard a card to draw a card.)
, functioning as two Prowess triggers, removal, and a tutor. With the Learn mechanic capable of finding
Accumulate Wisdom
Accumulate Wisdom
Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. Put each of those cards into your hand instead if there are three or more Lesson cards in your graveyard.
for card draw,
Octopus Form
Octopus Form
Target creature you control gets +1/+1 and gains hexproof until end of turn. Untap it. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.)
for protection, or
Firebending Lesson
Firebending Lesson
Kicker {4} (You may pay an additional {4} as you cast this spell.)
Firebending Lesson deals 2 damage to target creature. If this spell was kicked, it deals 5 damage to that creature instead.
to kill something, Academic Dispute does it all.
With a game plan that’s both flexible and extremely aggressive, Izzet Prowess beats down on slower value decks, like Izzet Cauldron, Lessons, and Phoenix. The deck otherwise boasts relatively even matchups against the rest of the field, only losing to niche removal-heavy decks like Azorius Control. With the recent printing of
Pompous Battlemage
Pompous Battlemage
Prowess
This creature enters prepared. (While it's prepared, you may cast a copy of its spell. Doing so unprepares it.)
making this deck better than ever, you’ll need to prepare for Izzet Prowess to win in MTG Pioneer.
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