Art by Volkan BaǵaThis is a Pioneer Cube jam-packed with showcase / secret lair / promo cards with the goal of showcasing the best of the Pioneer format while also showing off some SPICY bling! The card pool is highly-interactive with a low mana-value, averaging out at a Mana Value of 3, that supports a variety of archetypes. Cube classics, and Pioneer meta decks, like White Weenies, UW Control, Red Deck Wins, Rakdos Midrange are just some of the popular drafted decks.
This cube is generally updated along with changes to the Pioneer meta, and typically delayed a set in updates so I have time to test new cards in both constructed and limited!
In this cube you can find...
Mono-White Humans
Red Deck Wins
Izzet Spells
Azorious Control
Rakdos Midrange
Format Banned Cards
With a fair amount of testing, these cards are not as easy to 'break' in a limited environment.
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No textless / Difficult to decipher cards / Universes Beyond variants or cards. I will not be adding in UB cards from mainstay standard releases like Final Fantasy or Avatar the Last Airbender, even if they are tier 1 decks in the pioneer format.
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No major identified power outliers that lead to feels-bad beats. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Oko, Thief of Crowns are just insanely strong and are perma-banned from this environment.
Trial and Error Bans
- The Gitrog, Ravenous RideYgra, Eater of All
- Amalia Benavides AguirreVanishing Verse
- Wolfwillow HavenUp the Beanstalk
- Leyline BindingHigh Noon
- Cast OutSoul Partition
- Teferi, Temporal PilgrimJace, the Perfected Mind
- Adanto VanguardSheltered by Ghosts
- Stroke of MidnightArchon of Emeria
- Thassa, Deep-DwellingOverlord of the Floodpits
- Phyrexian ArenaUnholy Annex // Ritual Chamber
- Phyrexian Dragon EngineScreaming Nemesis
- Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender
- Stalactite Stalker
- Bladecoil Serpent
Following the CubeCon decklist / draft dump and the development of the Pioneer format across the recent Regional Championships, I have figured out some swaps that I am excited to test!
A majority of these cards were huge underperformers based on player feedback, observation, and play percentages. Additionally, a handful of these cards stopped seeing constructed play and there were better options that, at a glance, really seemed to be good 1 for 1 replacements!
I am really excited to add in Jace, the Perfected mind, as I've been struggling to find a nicely balanced Mono-Blue planeswalker. JTPM is seeing a lot of constructed play, and has some solid finishing patterns that I want to see in this cube.
There have been a handful of color pairs that have not had meaningful multi-colored cards (Like Gruul), and I have been adding in support for the constructed adjacent decks (i.e. Gruul Prowess). I'm definitely on the cusp of breaking away from the spreadsheet aesthetic cube list, but I'm quite there yet! I'm expecting to cut cards from Gruul, Orzhov, and Selesnya, because the constructed counterpart-like decks are carried by mono-color cards.
Lastly, I'm in a weird place with my artifact pool. Cards like Syr Ginger and Bladecoil Serpent really aren't doing much, are often last picks, and just have not done much. It's just more fuel to the fire for me needing to get away from the spreadsheet aesthetic.
I'm absolutely open to any suggestions and feedback! Feel free to post either here or in the MTG Cube Talk Discord in the Pioneer Showcase cube-changelog!