WOE: Top 32 Cards for Pioneer

An exciting return to Eldraine

Eldraine’s the best. I am a huge fan of FIRE design and Eldraine embodies it. It is a set with mechanics that are full of two for ones, either through Adventures or cards that create and/or utilize game objects (i.e. food). WOE does not disappoint on that front with Roles and Bargain on top of Adventures and Food.

Bargain in particular is a mechanic I am excited for as a number of my most successful decks have been built around cheap game object creators and getting value off sacrificing those game objects. However, I suspect Bargain will prove trickier to enable and will require more dedicated deck building than it may seem at first glance.

All of that is to say, there are a ton of cards in Wilds with Pioneer brewing implications, so lets hop into the list!

(Note the email was mistakenly titled Part 1, but I ended up writing the whole thing, so this is the full list of 32 cards)

32. Virtue of Persistence

A lot of what I wrote about Vorinclex and Sheoldred here applies to Virtue of Persistence. Specifically, you need ways to win the game, so if you can figure out a way to add a small marginal cost way to win the game into your deck you should pay attention.

Here, you’ve got a close to on rate removal spell with a way to win the game attached. The rates of neither are great, but could definitely see this as a one of in a lot of black decks that provides them a meaningfully different late game texture, which is not something you usually see from the two mana removal slot. At the same time, neither Vorinclex or Sheoldred see play (MOM Sheoldred!), so it is not a given you need this kind of inevitability threat, especially when Sheoldred the Apocalypse provides plenty of efficient inevitability.

31. Extraordinary Journey

I wrote this very long post on Blue Devotion, so of course I’m going to be interested in the weird blue bounce spell, plus engine, that also adds devotion pips. I do wonder if there is some UW exile interaction and/or flicker deck with this.

30. Restless Cottage

On the whole this cycle seems a bit too weak. They come in tapped and the creatures are similar power level to the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms manlands (i.e. Den of the Bugbear) which can come in untapped making the D&D ones overall clearly better.

Restless Cottage has a lot of stuff I do like. First, 4 is a good activation cost for manlands. Most decks top out at 4 mana value, so this land can act as your effective 5 drop by activating when you hit your fifth land drop after playing out your hand.

And then the effects are good: 4/4 is solid size to attack and block. It has added utility of graveyard hate and life gain, both of which can be huge in the low resource grindy games where manlands tend to matter the most.

Still, I would mostly expect to see this as a one of.

29. Werefox Bodyguard

This is mostly here out of respect for Mono-Green and how good this type of effect tends to be against them.

28. Rankle’s Prank

This can be a four mana 4 for 1, so it feels like it has a chance to be something. Something like 4x this, 4x Kroxa, 4x Bankbuster doesn’t seem like a crazy attrition core that is also putting solid pressure on your opponents life total.

27. Rowan’s Grim Search

This is good with Delve right? Like use this to find and fuel Treasure Cruise. The two life loss worries me and Bargain’s desire for cards on the battlefield does not play well with Delve’s desire for cards in the graveyard, so there is some tension. But the rate is definitely there when Bargained.

26. Gadwick’s First Duel

I am a little worried that I’m being biased because Gadwick is one of my favorite cards. I’m thinking about this in the Dimir Oracle list. Stage 2 scry a Demonic Bargain to the top and then double case it on Stage 3 and win the game the next turn.

Given that use case I suspect there are others, maybe with cards that involve additional cost like sacrificing to get extra value from the copy effect. We have also seen in Founding the Third Path that this play pattern of casting instant or sorcery on third stage after you’ve had a chance to set up can play well in combo decks.

25. Ruby, Daring Tracker

Bard Class

24. Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator

This is here for combos with Aetherflux Resevoir in Yorion decks. Karn can grab Resevoir and Wishclaw Talisman from the board to fully, if a bit slowly, enable the combo. Feels like there’s a build here for a control deck that does not have to dilute its card quality much to enable this combo.

23. Return from the Wilds

For Creativity decks, with the added benefit of enabling the hard casting route depending on the texture of the game.

22. The Goose Mother

I’ve talked a few times about the importance of being 3+ power in Pioneer. Looking at this as a 3 mana 3/3 flier that creates a food and has some additional food synergies, seems interesting on its own. Add in the Hydra flexibility and this is definitely an intriguing option.

It, however, has the normal Simic problem, where the lack of relevant creature interaction mean we are only seeing base UG in combo decks these days.

21. Back for Seconds

Sheoldred the Apocalypse at 4 mana is already one of the strongest plays in the format. 3 mana Sheoldred that also draws a card seems amazing! Set up for that is not trivial, but the upside is worth trying. And some matchups your fine with playing this as a divination.

20. Goddric, Cloaked Reveler

This card is good right? The key thing is 3/3 haste isn’t awful. 3 mana 4/4 haste flier isn’t necessarily game winning, but is definitely well above rate which is what we’re looking for.

19. Likeness Looter

The final ability here is an extremely exciting one, especially given the synergies with the loot ability. The obvious combo is with a Kroxa in the yard. But, I’m thinking of the slightly more modest flying Graveyard Trespasser or Flying Sheoldred being where this will actually shine.

Something I am unclear on is if looters are any good in general. Like, how good are they even in the best case when they are not removed for a couple turns. I’m really not sure and a lot of this card’s success will hinge on this.

18. Monstrous Rage

I don’t play many decks that run pump spells, so I am not an expert here, but the rate seems very good. Serious burst damage and then ongoing damage from the monster role, so you won’t feel bad playing it turn 3 to use all your mana. You’re also getting a game object with it if there’s anything you can do there.

17. Tough Cookie

Two mana, two game objects, and the ability to take over the game in the late game. That seems like a recipe for success. My biggest concern is that it is only two power and my rule of thumb that you want to play 3+ power creatures.

16. Lord Skitter, Sewer King

I’ve been building a bunch of rat decks and deciding they are not quite there. Lord Skitter certainly helps push them closer to playable. However, Lord Skitter’s home will most likely be Graveyard Trespassers number 5 and 6.

15. Royal Treatment

The effect here is good and close to playable without any enchantment synergies. But green or gw auras have a lot of potential enchantment synergies. Seems like a card where you can get a lot more than one mana worth of value out of, which is what we’re always looking for.

14. Mosswood Dreadknight

Golgari Midrange is a total trap. All the other black based color pairs give you something better. Rakdos, higher card quality. Dimir, counterspells. Orzhov, exile removal.

But this card really makes me want to play Golgari Midrange. It provides the critical 3 power two drop, but one that also plays well late.

13. Toadstool Admirer

I’ve never played GW Auras/bogles, but I assume this is a big add for it. The difference in games that open with Gladcover vs those without is huge. Ward 2 is far from Hexproof so not a sure thing and may require some reconfiguring of the deck. But at the same time would not shock me if suddenly pushed the deck to being a top tier deck.

The Faerie Package:

12. Spell Stutter

Make Disappear is quite good, which points to Spell Stutter being a reason to play Faeries. Like with all the rest of the cards in this package, it is all about pairing with one mana faeries for max value.

11. Ego Drain

Thoughtseize is one of the what, 5 best cards in the format? Certainly top 10. In a Faerie build this seems like it could be powerful as a Thoughtseize 5-6.

10. Faerie Fencing

Similar logic, Fatal Push is arguably the best card in the format. So even if you have to jump through some hoops, getting something that looks like a rough approximation of Push 5 and 6 can be quite valuable.

9. Faerie Dreamthief

The above Faerie cards really want or need one mana faeries. Fortunately, there are two good ones. Dreamthief just does so much for one mana that it has huge potential to be glue in so many decks: Faeries, self-discard, sac decks, stitcher supplier decks, surveil decks. You will need to figure out a way to win the game in these decks, but Dreamthief provides consistency.

8. Sleep-Cursed Faerie

Probably my favorite card in the set. 3/3 flier, with ward, and two relevant creature types for one mana. Also, adds blue devotion. Obvious value in Faerie decks where you really want one mana faeries and can play more at instant speed, but I could see this finding a home in a variety of decks.

Obviously, this is a different design than we are used to so could turn out to be a dud by not matching the speed of the format and being a dead card for too long, but I’m going to try and make it work because the upside is there.

7. The Irencrag

Pioneer’s first two mana mana rock. Seems like it has to be playable. Legendary will hold it back some since you likely don’t want to run 4 and that means you aren’t brewing counting on ramping from two to four. But I like to run low curve midrange decks with ways to use extra mana, so could definitely see one or two of these becoming a regular in my decks.

6. Torch the Tower

Remember when we used to play Magma Spray in Pioneer? This is a great add to the arsenal of one mana red removal. It is unclear to me which will be better in general between this and Voltage Surge, but having the flexibility for artifact decks to adjust based on the meta is great. This can also help if there is a red deck that is more enchantment or token based.

5. Regal Bunnicorn

Yes, we finally have a Tarmogoyf type creature in Pioneer! Is Thraben Inspector, into Regal Bunnicorn, into Skyclave Apparition, into Esika’s Chariot a thing? There is a tension with this card, where “game object” decks can struggle to pressure opponent, so a huge cheap creature sounds great. But Bunnicorn doesn’t advance the game object gameplan. Tons to learn trying to brew with this card.

4. Elusive Otter

No great insights here. The current one mana prowess creatures see a ton of play and the evasion here seems like a big plus, so I expect this to also similarly see play. The big question is will it always be in an Izzet prowess shell with the other one mana prowess cards or is there something else out there for the Otter?

3. The End

Test of Talents is one of my favorite cards in Pioneer and, I suspect, still quite underrated. For similar reasons, I am very excited for The End, especially as it is more maindeckable than Test of Talents. The key advantage of these lobotomy effects is that decks are built to be extremely efficient, which can mean that they do not have many cards that can go fully over the top to win the game. If you can remove the “win the game” threats, you have way more time to control and win the game.

But really, I can’t wait for the game against Mono-Green, where I will The End Karn, Old-Growth, Cavalier and Test of Talents Storm the Festival. After all the times they have Stone Brained me out of the game it is time for revenge!

2. Beseech the Mirror

We have seen with Bring to Light that a tutor that casts whatever it finds is powerful. However, Bring to Light has the critical problems that five mana is for the most part too slow in Pioneer and 5 color manabases are tough. Here we’ve got the effect at 4 in a single color (and arguably the strongest color at that).

This can be used to grab Sheoldred or a toolbox of high impact removal and wraths. It can also be used in combo applications. An added synergy is these kind of toolbox decks play well with Yorion, who also plays well with Bargain in wanting ETB artifacts and enchantments.

1. Hopeless Nightmare

The Experimental Synthesizer of this set! Just like with Synthesizer if you build around this right it has the potential to be a 2.5 for 1 for one mana and that is winning Magic math right there.

Discard and lose 2 life on a sorcery is something that I would consider being close to playable. Then you make it on a permanent, so it works with Yorion and sacrifice synergy like Rite of Oblivion. And then even better you get scry in the sacrifice scenario. There is also the small but real value of a permanent sitting there ready to enable Revolt for Fatal Push in the late game.

Magic is increasingly becoming a game about game objects, so we need to take note of any good rate one mana game object producer.