After years of waiting, the Pioneer format is finally coming to MTG Arena with the release of Pioneer Masters. The Streamer Event for the set is currently underway, and the full release is slated for next Tuesday, December 10th. It’s an exciting time for digital Magic, to be sure. Beyond the excellent reprints themselves, Pioneer Masters is also noteworthy for its approach to Bonus Sheets. This being a digital product, Wizards has more room to experiment in this regard. They’ve used that room to create three distinct Bonus Sheets, which will have a significant impact on your pack opening experience.
What Are The Pioneer Masters Bonus Sheets?
Before we take a look at the cards they contain, it’s worth going over exactly how the different Pioneer Masters Bonus Sheets work. There are three of them in total, each based on a different theme: Planeswalkers, Spells, and Devotion. The way these sheets will manifest varies depending on how you experience the set.
If you’re just buying packs from the store for Constructed play, they’ll essentially function as one big Bonus Sheet. Like in Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered, you’ll get a guaranteed Bonus Sheet card in each pack bought this way. With 120 cards in total across all three sheets, there’s a wide range of cards you can open in this slot.
If you’re playing Pioneer Masters Limited, things will be a little different. Each of the three bonus sheets will have a two-week window after release, during which all draft and sealed packs will feature cards from that sheet. Planeswalkers will have this role from the 10th to 24th of December, Spells will run from the 24th of December to January 7th, and Devotion will go from the 7th to 21st of January. Splitting the sheets up this way ensures that each of these two-week periods will have its own flavor of Limited play.
Bonus Sheet 1 – Planeswalkers
The first of the three Bonus Sheets here is Planeswalkers. While it does indeed feature plenty of Planeswalker cards, interestingly the good stuff is all non-Planeswalker related. Take Hidden Strings, for example. This is one of the most important reprints in the whole set, and it’s found on the Planeswalkers Bonus Sheet. According to Senior Wizards Game Designer Ben Weitz, the card was included as a way of tapping down blockers so you can deal with opposing planeswalkers. In Limited, Bonus Sheets need to be somewhat self-regulatory, of course.
The same is true for cards like Hushwing Gryff and Reckless Bushwhacker. Both are great reprints that will slot into multiple decks, and both are also great cards for dealing with Planeswalkers in Limited. The full Planeswalkers sheet also contains other staples like Fog, Ovalchase Daredevil, and Smash to Smithereens. Overall, this is probably the most exciting of the three Bonus Sheets. However, the fact that little of that excitement comes from actual Planeswalkers is quite funny.
That’s not to say there are no Planeswalker highlights here, of course. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion is a classic Control piece that will likely see some play in Arena Pioneer. The Chain Veil is also a fantastic support piece for Superfriends decks in Brawl, and a potential combo enabler in other formats, like Pioneer. Overall, while the flavor of this sheet feels a bit muddled, it’s still an excellent addition to the set. Pioneer Masters Limited will be well worth playing from the 10th to 24th of December as a result.
Bonus Sheet 2 – Spells
After the highly specific Planeswalkers, the next of the Pioneer Masters Bonus Sheets is the incredibly vague Spells. Technically, almost every card in Magic falls under this umbrella, but this sheet is really about instants and sorceries. There are plenty of cards with Spell Mastery here, and plenty of essential cards that will impact multiple Arena formats.
Enter the Infinite is probably the most prolific card here. Though the lack of Borborygmos Enraged on Arena means it loses one of its regular combo homes, it’s still a very powerful card with a lot of potential. Timeless, in particular, should find some use for the card. Running close behind is Dark Petition, an unconditional tutor effect for five mana. If you have Spell Mastery active, it becomes a combination of Demonic Tutor and Dark Ritual. Brawl should have a field day with this one.
Gather the Pack is probably the next most exciting card, offering selection, card draw, and filling your graveyard all for two mana. Most creature-based green decks will enjoy having this in their toolbelt from here on out. The rest of the Spells sheet includes some nice additions, including the full cycle of Dragon’s Maze split cards, but not a huge amount to really write home about. That said, Tome Scour is a big addition to Underworld Breach decks in older MTG Arena formats, and Wear/Tear is a popular sideboard option that will likely see play in multiple formats. Overall this sheet is a step down from Planeswalkers, but should still make Limited games fairly interesting from December 24th to January 7th.
Bonus Sheet 3 – Devotion
If the Planeswalkers Bonus Sheet is the best one for Constructed, then Devotion is the best one for Limited. This sheet brings all 15 of the original Theros block Gods to Arena. I don’t think I need to tell you how good these cards are in Limited. Not only are they Indestructible and overstatted, but they can often take over games with their abilities alone. January 7th-21st should be a very intense season of Limited for that reason.
On top of the Gods themselves, this Bonus Sheet also includes color-intensive cards that can help enable them. Avatar of the Resolute is the most exciting of these, pairing nicely with Experiment One in the main set for a solid Mono-Green Stompy curve. The likes of Ash Zealot and Nightveil Specter are also welcome additions. Eidolon of Rhetoric is a popular sideboard option in Death and Taxes, as well as multi-colored midrange lists. This Bonus Sheet is pretty excellent overall, but still comes in below Planeswalkers in terms of Constructed impact. Plan your Limited games accordingly if you’re aiming to build meta decks in the near future.
