The Pioneer format has seen some major metagame shifts thanks to Wilds of Eldraine. The introduction of solid role-players for various archetypes, such as Sleight of Hand for Izzet Phoenix, have helped specific archetypes rise in popularity. Usually, these new cards have acted as decent upgrades for well-established archetypes. As we’ve seen with Boros Heroic, for example, even minor upgrades like Monstrous Rage can help a deck become significantly more popular.
While it’s clear that numerous decks started seeing more play thanks to a handful of Wilds of Eldraine cards, we haven’t seen a ton of relatively new archetypes arise. Well, that is until now.
Up to this point, we’ve seen Beseech the Mirror have a huge impact on Eternal formats like Legacy, but now it appears there’s a super unique shell for the powerful tutor in Pioneer. Beseech the Mirror is definitely a strong card, but even we didn’t foresee the card being used in tandem with Demonic Pact. This combination of cards was showcased in Sunday’s Magic Online Pioneer Challenge, and if you’re looking for a fun, value-focused deck in Pioneer, look no further.
A Trip to Value-Town
The main goal of this deck is to out-grind your opponent by interacting with their board and drawing lots of extra cards. This deck has plenty of ways to bury the opponent in card advantage, all while casting Pioneer all-stars like Thoughtseize and Fatal Push to keep the opponent off balance.
The first source of card advantage is Mazemind Tome. Mazemind Tome doesn’t see a ton of play these days with Reckoner Bankbuster in the mix, but for decks with very few Creatures to Crew Bankbuster, Mazemind Tome can be a bit better. Having the ability to simply tap Tome to Scry is a nice bonus, as is the life you gain when you’ve activated Tome four times.
Beyond Mazemind Tome, this deck plays a lot of other permanent cards that generate value when they enter the battlefield. Cards like Thraben Inspector and Spirited Companion are relatively unassuming, but they are actually very important because they serve a couple important roles in this deck.
First, they help with casting Rite of Oblivion. Rite of Oblivion is an efficient catch-all answer to problematic cards the opponent might play, and it even has Flashback. The downside is that it requires you to sacrifice a non-Land permanent to cast it.
That brings us to our second card: Beseech the Mirror. Similarly, Beseech the Mirror is an excellent card, but it does require you to sacrifice an Artifact, Enchantment, or token to maximize. Both Spirited Companion and Thraben Inspector provide Artifacts or Enchantments to sacrifice at very little cost. They also play quite well with Yorion, Sky Nomad, which can “blink” your non-Land permanents with enters-the-battlefield effects to generate additional value.
Read More: Wilds of Eldraine Gives Go-Wide Archetype New Life in Standard!
Abusing Beseech the Mirror
Spirited Companion and Thraben Inspector add a lot of consistency to the deck, especially with the addition of Beseech the Mirror, but the real payoff for playing this style of deck is none other than Treacherous Blessing.
Treacherous Blessing is a three-mana Enchantment that draws you three cards when it enters the battlefield. This is fantastic on rate, but there’s one major downside: you lose a life every time you cast a spell with Treacherous Blessing in play. This is where Rite of Oblivion and Beseech the Mirror come into play. Both of these cards let you sacrifice Treacherous Blessing and avoid losing a ton of life over the course of the game.
Casting Beseech the Mirror with Bargain is very reliable thanks to cards like Treacherous Blessing, and there are a number of powerful cards to tutor for. You can tutor for a board wipe such as Kaya’s Wrath to help against aggressive decks. Searching for Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is always a good choice. The coolest four-drop option to search for, though, is undoubtedly Demonic Pact.
Demonic Pact has four abilities and lets you choose one each upkeep that hasn’t been chosen. Three of them are quite strong (draw two cards, force an opponent to discard to cards, or deal four damage to a Creature or player and gain four life), but the last ability causes you to lose the game.
Here’s the thing, though: you can simply use all three beneficial abilities, then sacrifice Demonic Pact to Rite of Oblivion or Beseech the Mirror to avoid losing the game on your next upkeep. Beseech the Mirror does everything you could want in this deck, acting as a sacrifice outlet and a strong tutor all in one.
Read More: One Wilds of Eldraine Card is a Major Player in Multiple Formats
Where This Deck Shines
As an Orzhov Midrange deck with tons of card advantage and removal, this deck shines against decks with lots of Creatures. Having access to Yorion gives this deck a big edge against opposing midrange decks, too. Against control decks, the combination of Thoughtseize and Rite of Oblivion to deal with problematic threats like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria gives this deck a fighting chance, especially given all of the card advantage this deck can acquire.
The biggest area this deck struggles in by far is versus combo decks. Lotus Field combo, for example, can be a huge problem. This deck doesn’t present a lot of pressure quickly, and combo decks can largely ignore the card advantage you accumulate.
Luckily, Beseech the Mirror does help a bit in this department. Between Thoughtseize and Duress, you can potentially slow down certain combo decks enough in order to tutor for a necessary hate-piece, such as Damping Sphere or Necromentia. Being able to search for Sheoldred can help close the game a bit quicker as well.
Even if this deck isn’t foolproof, it’s super cool. Getting to effectively utilize Demonic Pact can be difficult, and we’re definitely here for it.
Read More: New Broken MTG Standard “Cascade” Combo Deck Flips Entire Format!
