A recent announcement of a couple unbannings affecting Modern and Legacy left Pioneer with no changes. Many players were unhappy with this decision, especially given the prevalence of mono-green Devotion and Rakdos decks featuring
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Create a 2/2 red Goblin Shaman creature token with "Whenever this token attacks, create a Treasure token."
II — You may discard up to two cards. If you do, draw that many cards.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
that have dominated the format for a long period of time. That being said, there are plenty of unique archetypes that have been popping up for players wanting to think outside the box.
Last week, we covered an interesting
Transmogrify
Transmogrify
Exile target creature. That creature's controller reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a creature card. That player puts that card onto the battlefield, then shuffles the rest into their library.
deck that won a Magic Online Pioneer Challenge utilizing
Tribute to Horobi
Tribute to Horobi
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I, II — Each opponent creates a 1/1 black Rat Rogue creature token.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
and
Atraxa, Grand Unifier
Atraxa, Grand Unifier
Flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink
When Atraxa enters, reveal the top ten cards of your library. For each card type, you may put a card of that type from among the revealed cards into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. (Artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, and sorcery are card types.)
. Over the weekend, there was an intriguing Legends deck that blended the Standard Esper Legends archetype with the Pioneer Abzan
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.
archetype to a successful finish at the NRG series $5k. Today, we are focusing on another unique Atraxa deck that dominated a large Japanese event, which also happens to mash two combo archetypes together.
Rona Combo
On the surface, this deck appears to be a rather standard Sultai
Rona, Herald of Invasion
Rona, Herald of Invasion
Whenever you cast a legendary spell, untap Rona.
{T}: Draw a card, then discard a card.
{5}{B/P}: Transform Rona. Activate only as a sorcery. ({B/P} can be paid with either {B} or 2 life.)
combo deck. After all, the deck plays Rona alongside
Mox Amber
Mox Amber
{T}: Add one mana of any color among legendary creatures and planeswalkers you control.
and
Retraction Helix
Retraction Helix
Until end of turn, target creature gains "{T}: Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand."
, allowing you to generate infinite mana. By targeting Rona (without summoning sickness) with Helix, you can cast Mox Amber, float mana, return Mox Amber to your hand with Rona, cast Mox Amber to trigger Rona to untap, and repeat.
From there, you can cast
Karn, the Great Creator
Karn, the Great Creator
Activated abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated.
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its mana value.
−2: You may reveal an artifact card you own from outside the game or choose a face-up artifact card you own in exile. Put that card into your hand.
, untapping Rona, search for
The Stone Brain
The Stone Brain
{2}, {T}, Exile The Stone Brain: Choose a card name. Search target opponent's graveyard, hand, and library for up to four cards with that name and exile them. That player shuffles, then draws a card for each card exiled from their hand this way. Activate only as a sorcery.
and use the Stone Brain to exile four cards from the opponent’s library. With Rona untapped again, you can return Karn to your hand and replay it, searching for the exiled copy of the Stone Brain. By repeating this process, you can exile your opponent’s library and win via decking.
This deck also runs some of the traditional support cards that help give the combo additional consistency. One of the most important cards in this camp is
Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler
Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler
You may activate abilities of creatures you control as though those creatures had haste.
+1: Untap up to one target creature.
−2: Mill three cards, then you may return a creature card with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
. Tyvar can return Rona from your graveyard to play, and thanks to Tyvar’s static ability, you can utilize Rona’s looting ability and ability from Retraction Helix even though Rona entered that turn. None of this seems too out of the ordinary for this style of deck, but there’s yet another element to the deck we need to take a look at.
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Lukka Combo
Alongside Rona, this deck plays a large number of mana dorks to help with mana acceleration. The most important of these Creatures is definitely
Sylvan Caryatid
Sylvan Caryatid
Defender, hexproof
{T}: Add one mana of any color.
. While Caryatid does help cast Karn and Tyvar, its primary purpose is that it synergizes exceptionally well with
Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast
Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast
+1: Exile the top three cards of your library. Creature cards exiled this way gain "You may cast this card from exile as long as you control a Lukka planeswalker."
−2: Exile target creature you control, then reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a creature card with greater mana value. Put that card onto the battlefield and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
−7: Each creature you control deals damage equal to its power to each opponent.
.
That’s right, this deck has a LOT going on. Lukka specifically lets you exile a Creature, then reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal one with higher mana value and put it into play. Caryatid not only helps cast Lukka, but because of Hexproof, Lukka’s ability targeting Caryatid can’t be broken up by basic removal spells.
Given that every Creature in the deck besides Atraxa has mana value two or less, Lukka is guaranteed to put Atraxa into play as long as you exile a two-mana Creature. With all of the mana dorks in this deck, simply casting Atraxa is not off the table either. This deck even plays
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Whenever you tap a nonland permanent for mana, add one mana of any type that permanent produced.
{5}{G}{U}: Look at the top five cards of your library. You may put a non-Human creature card from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
which not only helps cast Atraxa, but can also dig for Atraxa thanks to its activated ability. From Transmogrify to
Indomitable Creativity
Indomitable Creativity
Destroy X target artifacts and/or creatures. For each permanent destroyed this way, its controller reveals cards from the top of their library until an artifact or creature card is revealed and exiles that card. Those players put the exiled cards onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
, we’ve seen various shells built around cheating Atraxa into play have success, but why is this strategy featured alongside Rona combo? What benefits does the Rona combo deck gain by running Lukka and Atraxa?
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A Strange Symbiotic Relationship
Rona combo is a relatively streamlined strategy, but it does require a decent number of things to go right. First, you need to stick a Rona. Then, you need access to both Mox Amber and Retraction Helix to generate infinite mana. From there, you still need to have a payoff for all that mana. Because of this, the deck can take a long time to assemble all of the requisite combo pieces and can still be broken up by Instant speed removal targeting Rona.
Having access to the Lukka combo gives this deck another avenue to win the game that is not dependent on Rona. Lukka has a plus-one ability that can help you dig for Rona in a pinch. While a resolved Atraxa is often good enough to win on its own, it also helps you find missing combo pieces that can help you win quicker. Atraxa even acts as a win condition when you can generate infinite mana but don’t have immediate access to Karn. While it may seem like a strange combination, forcing your opponent to play around two different combos has its value. Of course, it also has its flaws.
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Flaws
The biggest issue a deck like this has is with consistency. While a deck that is hyper-focused on the Rona combo might play cards like
Consider
Consider
Surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.)
Draw a card.
and
Dig Through Time
Dig Through Time
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
Look at the top seven cards of your library. Put two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
to help find combo pieces and
Thoughtseize
Thoughtseize
Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life.
to make sure the coast is clear, this deck is using those extra slots for Lukka, Atraxa, and mana dorks. While this gives you the opportunity to win via Lukka or via Rona, it’s quite possible to get stuck with awkward hands with Retraction Helix and Mox Amber without a Rona in sight.
Notably, this deck does play Oath of Nissa, which helps find Rona and Lukka and also makes casting Lukka a bit easier. That being said, without Oath of Nissa or Sylvan Caryatid, actually casting Lukka can be very problematic. The rest of the deck is Sultai-based, so reliably casting Lukka forces this deck to play a playset of
Mana Confluence
Mana Confluence
{T}, Pay 1 life: Add one mana of any color.
, which is very dangerous against aggressive decks.
Still, the Lukka combo is strong, and Caryatid helps a lot against aggressive decks. Rona’s looting ability also helps pitch cards like Lukka or excess mana dorks when necessary and convert them into new cards, which helps a lot with the deck’s consistency issues. For anyone who loves out-of-the-ordinary combo strategies, definitely consider giving this deck a whirl.