Pioneer right now is the best it's ever been since Uro was printed. The combo season was a lot worse than this, not to mention the Companion month.
I'm not saying there are no problems: All Spells is a ridicolous deck, Uro and Omnath are busted, whatever. But you can definitely have fun, especially in small / local tournaments.
Man it really sucks that this site shuts down. Maybe i'm a little old, but i feel that a forum is perfect for this kind of content, since we can check it out every other day, read new info and eventually reply to the thread.
FWIK (correct me if i'm wrong) Discord is more like a chat, if so it looks less useful to me
I believe Shoktroopa was correct in not opting for the sort of hard control that overloads on answers - the way UW attempts to play in Modern or the way Esper is now in Standard. The card quality is just not there in modern in Mono U + Colorless + Phyrexian mana, which is what we have at our disposal.
You can play it of course, just like you can play anything else in Modern, but I don't believe it is the all around best version of the deck. I have watched Pierakor and Shoktroopa play their lists for dozens upon dozens of hours and Shok's deck is just more consistently flexible. He is the better player of course, but that is besides the point - with Pie I find that he either wins hard or loses hard, which is how I envision his deck working in the first place, based on the card choices he makes.
I see you did a lot of research here, so you are probably right, but man i hate tapping out on turn 2 to cast Talisman of Dominance! Opp is probably going to make a huge play on their turn (after all, many Modern games are decided in turn 2 or 3) and then i can't react to it.
Anyway, new version of the deck featuring Karn, the Great Creator will probably be more similar to Shoktroopa's, so I better get accustomed to those talismans
Btw I like this Shoktroopa's vs Pierakor's version of the deck debate, keep it going
Mission Briefing costs UU, and you'll often add another U to that for the spell you're trying to flashback. This means you'll need to have three Islands in play, which often you won't.
That's an all-in list: 4-of the strongest things and screw the rest I kinda like that, after all Wurmcoil Engine and Walking Ballista win most of the games. I would have kept a 1-of Mindslaver, just for the fun of it.
I don't like Karn Liberated in the side either, i don't really like any 5+ CMC in the side, Tron is more difficult to assemble in sideboard games. Also, 3-of Engineered Explosives? What matchups is it for? How many times you can actually cast it on 2?
Just one question to the veterans. How do we win against Dredge on game 1?
With the "stock" list, we just don't Lately I have seen people maindeck Surgicals, Paths, even the new Kaya... those can help, but it's still very hard.
On the other hand, we usually bring in A LOT of stuff from the sideboard, and that sometimes turns the match around
Congrats on the good result. Glad to see another person using Glorybringer, I'm also using it because it's ability to get rid of a threat while dealing damage has been useful lately. Very few PTE users right now in my meta, so the pro white of Stormbreath is not as useful as it was before.
Was the Shaman able to hit your opponent? Or did you just use it for the counters / card draw ability? My testings with Shaman ended not so good, but seeing your list made me decide to try it out again.
Yep, Shaman hit some people and buffed himself and Trackers
Definitely i'd not run a playset of it, but as a one-of i think it's a viable option: it's a fast clock on an empty board, and still has relevant abilities if it can't attack
Infect: i already knew what deck he was on, so i mulled a 7 with no interaction and kept a 6 with a bolt, a Chandra and some ramp. I bolted the first creature, did Chandra -3 on the second one, then killed him with Tracker and Shaman. Boarded in more removal (roast, dismember, anger), mulled again, kept 5 with a Dismember, then same as game 1 but with an Inferno Titan clearing the board then finishing him. Have to say he mulled to 6 both games too, and didn't probably find the best 6.
Spirits: i remember less about this, it involved a Blood Moon and some beasts in game 1, and a 7/7 Stormbreath Dragon in game 2. I drew some removal in both games, he didn't hit a critical mass of creatures and then my creatures were just bigger. Guess he also didn't get the most explosive Bant Spirits hands. After all, it takes some luck to win all the matches
Sultai Midrange (2-1, lost one to land screw + discard on my ramp)
Infect (2-0)
Bant Spirits (2-0)
As you can see, i went to the dark side and cut all copies of Bloodbraid Elf. I played BBE Ponza for months, and BBE was actually great sometimes (a hasty 3/2 + Blood Moon / Stone Rain on turn 3 can win the game) but most of the time it was just meh. Many times you cascade into something almost-or-completely-useless in that moment of the game, and then you just spent an entire turn casting a vanilla 3/2.
There are many great options at the 4 or 5 mana slot:
more Planeswalkers besides Chandra (i tried Arlinn Kord here)
I'm not saying there are no problems: All Spells is a ridicolous deck, Uro and Omnath are busted, whatever. But you can definitely have fun, especially in small / local tournaments.
P.S.: Thoughtseize is great!
For starters, you can look here https://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/pioneer#paper to see which decks are being played and what their cost is. There is also a dedicated budget section down below.
Cheers
FWIK (correct me if i'm wrong) Discord is more like a chat, if so it looks less useful to me
I see you did a lot of research here, so you are probably right, but man i hate tapping out on turn 2 to cast Talisman of Dominance! Opp is probably going to make a huge play on their turn (after all, many Modern games are decided in turn 2 or 3) and then i can't react to it.
Anyway, new version of the deck featuring Karn, the Great Creator will probably be more similar to Shoktroopa's, so I better get accustomed to those talismans
Btw I like this Shoktroopa's vs Pierakor's version of the deck debate, keep it going
Mission Briefing costs UU, and you'll often add another U to that for the spell you're trying to flashback. This means you'll need to have three Islands in play, which often you won't.
I don't like Karn Liberated in the side either, i don't really like any 5+ CMC in the side, Tron is more difficult to assemble in sideboard games. Also, 3-of Engineered Explosives? What matchups is it for? How many times you can actually cast it on 2?
Congrats to kiwy, btw
With the "stock" list, we just don't Lately I have seen people maindeck Surgicals, Paths, even the new Kaya... those can help, but it's still very hard.
On the other hand, we usually bring in A LOT of stuff from the sideboard, and that sometimes turns the match around
Yeah, many Bant Spirits and some Mardu Pyromancer. Also, 5 hasty damage can kill most planeswalkers even after a +1/+2
For now, I just ordered a couple Abrades, a Ricochet Trap and especially a Thundermaw Hellkite, so i'll have more tools to test
Yep, Shaman hit some people and buffed himself and Trackers
Definitely i'd not run a playset of it, but as a one-of i think it's a viable option: it's a fast clock on an empty board, and still has relevant abilities if it can't attack
Spirits: i remember less about this, it involved a Blood Moon and some beasts in game 1, and a 7/7 Stormbreath Dragon in game 2. I drew some removal in both games, he didn't hit a critical mass of creatures and then my creatures were just bigger. Guess he also didn't get the most explosive Bant Spirits hands. After all, it takes some luck to win all the matches
Went 4-0 with this list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/970917#paper
Matchups were:
As you can see, i went to the dark side and cut all copies of Bloodbraid Elf. I played BBE Ponza for months, and BBE was actually great sometimes (a hasty 3/2 + Blood Moon / Stone Rain on turn 3 can win the game) but most of the time it was just meh. Many times you cascade into something almost-or-completely-useless in that moment of the game, and then you just spent an entire turn casting a vanilla 3/2.
There are many great options at the 4 or 5 mana slot:
Don't get me wrong, Bloodbraid Elf is a great card, just maybe not for this deck. If only we had Kolaghan's Command or Liliana of the Veil
Looks like we got a 5-0:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1451015#paper
List looks a little weird to me: 4 Night's Whisper, no fetchlands with 4 Push, only 2 PtE, 2 Nixilis and no Sorins...
Any thoughts?