The Complete Guide to MTGA’s Explorer Format

Last updated on December 16, 2024

Selvala, Explorer Returned | Illustration by Tyler Jacobson

Explorer is WotC’s pathway format to Pioneer and continues to work towards that goal with the introduction of cards to Arena that haven't already been introduced through either Standard or Historic. Between what was already on Arena, three Explorer Anthologies, Remastered sets, and Pioneer Masters, Explorer is effectively Pioneer on Arena. Let’s take a look at where the format is right now, and what’s coming for it in the near future.

What Is Explorer?

Veteran Explorer | Illustration by Steven Belledin

Explorer is a Constructed format on Magic Arena that uses all Pioneer-legal cards on Arena as a basis for the format. Explorer will eventually become Pioneer once all of the relevant Pioneer-legal cards have been added to Arena. This means that although some draft bulk may not be on there, the decks actually seeing play will be identical between the two formats.

Who Is Explorer for?

Explorer is the on-ramp for Arena-only players to wade into the waters of Pioneer. Many players flock to Magic Online queues to test the format. Explorer enables as close a replication of Pioneer as is possible on Arena. While not a perfect replication, Explorer looks more and more like Pioneer every set as all the cards make their way to Arena.

Competitive players want to play Explorer to work on their understanding of Pioneer, and the benefit of the analogous format to Pioneer on Arena is that a whole new swath of players can experience and enjoy Pioneer-like gameplay.

What is the Difference Between Pioneer and Explorer MTGA?

For the most part, there's little difference between Pioneer and Explorer. Explorer exists on MTG Arena and has a few missing cards that are part of the Pioneer card pool and not yet found in MTGA. Otherwise, they follow the same rules and have the same ban list, so the next remaining difference is how you get the cards. Outside of regular boosters, there are Pioneer challenger decks for tabletop, while on Arena you can use wildcards to craft the best cards for Explorer.

Explorer-Legal Sets

All Pioneer-legal sets are legal in Explorer:

• Foundations
• Duskmourn: House of Horror
• Bloomburrow
• Outlaws of Thunder Junction
• Murders at Karlov Manor
• The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
• Wilds of Eldraine
• March of the Machine: The Aftermath
• March of the Machine
• Phyrexia: All Will Be One
• The Brothers' War
• Dominaria United
• Streets of New Capenna
• Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
• Innistrad: Crimson Vow
• Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
• Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
• Strixhaven: School of Mages
• Kaldheim
• Zendikar Rising
• Core Set 2021
• Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
• Theros: Beyond Death
• Throne of Eldraine
• Core Set 2020
• War of the Spark
• Ravnica Allegiance
• Guilds of Ravnica
• Core Set 2019
• Dominaria
• Rivals of Ixalan
• Ixalan
• Hour of Devastation
• Amonkhet
• Aether Revolt
• Kaladesh
• Eldritch Moon
• Shadows over Innistrad
• Oath of the Gatewatch
• Battle for Zendikar
• Magic Origins
• Dragons of Tarkir
• Fate Reforged
• Khans of Tarkir
• Magic 2015
• Journey into Nyx
• Born of the Gods
• Theros
• Magic 2014
• Dragon's Maze
• Gatecrash
• Return to Ravnica

Explorer Banlist

The Explorer banned list on MTGA by default aligns with the Pioneer banlist. The following is a current list of all cards banned in Pioneer. Cards with ** next to their name are not yet available on Arena and will be presumably banned in Explorer as well if added to the client:

• Amalia Benavides Aguirre
• Balustrade Spy
• Bloodstained Mire
• Expressive Iteration
• **Felidar Guardian
• Field of the Dead
• Flooded Strand
• Geological Appraiser
• **Inverter of Truth
• Jegantha, the Wellspring
• Karn, the Great Creator
• Kethis, the Hidden Hand
• Leyline of Abundance
• Lurrus of the Dream-Den
• Nexus of Fate
• Oko, Thief of Crowns
• Once Upon a Time
• Polluted Delta
• Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord
• Teferi, Time Raveler
• **Undercity Informer
• Underworld Breach
• Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
• Veil of Summer
• Walking Ballista
• Wilderness Reclamation
• Windswept Heath
• Winota, Joiner of Forces
• Wooded Foothills

Where to Play Explorer

Currently, the only place to play Explorer is on Magic Arena. You could technically play this format in paper, but at that point, you're just playing Pioneer with limitations.

Explorer Decks

Explorer closes the gap on Pioneer as more cards are added to the format. This means that the Explorer meta gets closer to the Pioneer meta. Here are the current top contenders:

Azorius Control

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria | Illustration by Chris Rallis

One of the premier control decks of Pioneer, Azorius () control packs some strong planeswalkers like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and The Wandering Emperor, as well as removal and board wipes with Supreme Verdict and Farewell. Any good format needs a control deck to keep things from getting out of hand, and this is the premier one in Historic.

Rakdos Midrange

Graveyard Trespasser | Illustration by Chris Rallis

A really solid deck, Rakdos () midrange didn’t lose anything from its Pioneer version when Explorer first debuted, and it was powerful out of the gate. The other decks have caught up since then and it isn’t quite as far-and-away powerful in the Pioneer meta as it was a few months ago, but it’s still a powerful and popular deck.

Chock full of really powerful individual cards like Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Graveyard Trespasser, it often feels like everything in this deck is a threat.

Rakdos Sacrifice

Cauldron Familiar | Illustration by Milivoj Ceran

Another Rakdos deck that's popular in Pioneer, Rakdos Sac comes in a couple of different flavors.

It's usually either built around Oni-Cult Anvil and artifacts, or Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven. Either one is difficult to deal with if you’re running a deck that wants to attack on the ground since they have chump blockers that they actually want to die (with or without a sacrifice outlet) for days.

Mono White Humans

Thalia's Lieutenant | Illustration by Johannes Voss

Making the most of an aggressive shell alongside disruptive/tempo cards like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, mono white humans showcases all that white does well in a single deck. Sideboard slots help cover holes against individual decks, and Brave the Elements is a finisher that can be pretty difficult to counter play.

Mono Green Devotion

Steel Leaf Champion | Illustration by Chris Rahn

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a powerful card, one that’s best used in this mono green deck. Whilst the ban of Karn, the Great Creator is a huge blow to the deck, there’s still potential to simply pivot into a green beaters deck. Taking up to three copies of Llanowar Elves and four Paradise Druid, you have big stompy creatures like Polukranos Reborn, which also give a lot of devotion.

Mono Blue Spirits

Mausoleum Wanderer | Illustration by Kieran Yanner

Chock full of small fliers, flash threats, and counterspells, mono blue spirits is the tempo deck of the format. More popular than the Azorius and Bant () versions that we see in Pioneer, this version still follows similar play patterns as the full Pioneer decklists.

It tends to have some great matchups (Greasefang or any combo deck) and some difficult ones (mono red or angels), but generally it’s a deck that can use fast aggro starts to keep your opponent on the back foot, or keep them at bay with those counters.

Mardu Greasefang

Greasefang, Okiba Boss | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez

While Greasefang, Okiba Boss comes in pretty much any color combination that has both white and black in it, Mardu () is the version that’s most popular for now.

A potentially quick combo deck, this can attack with Parhelion II as soon as turn 3 with the right opener. It can also disrupt your opponent's plan, playing removal and, of course, Thoughtseize to help ensure you get to win after comboing off.

Izzet Creativity

Indomitable Creativity | Illustration by Deruchenko Alexander

The premier combo deck of the format, Izzet Creativity uses Indomitable Creativity with Xenagos, God of Revels and Worldspine Wurm to one-shot your opponent, whilst a control shell keeps you alive until you can get there, as well as protecting your combo when needed too. Cards like Fable of the Mirror-Breaker provide targets for Creativity, whilst also helping find combo pieces. This is a deck you’ll want to be prepared against.

CoCo Angels

Collected Company | Illustration by Franz Vohwinkel

I don’t think it’s possible to have a format on Arena that doesn’t have some kind of lifegain deck. Selesnya () angels is the premier deck currently playing this in Explorer, running a mono white angels package and splashing green for Collected Company to up the tempo.

This basically auto wins against most of the aggro decks in the format, but it can be controlled to prevent it from getting too out of hand.

Mono Red Aggro

Robber of the Rich | Illustration by Paul Scott Canavan

Are you even playing a real Magic format if a mono red burn variant isn’t viable? This does what you expect: cheap hasty creatures like Robber of the Rich and direct damage spells like Lightning Strike.

Some versions of the deck also run Burning-Tree Emissary which can allow for some explosive turn 2s, especially following Kumano Faces Kakkazan.

Getting Started with Explorer

If you play Standard, there’s likely a similar deck that exists in Explorer. My advice to start out in any format if you don’t have something similar to start from is to slap together an aggro deck and learn the format with that. Mono red is pretty cheap on the rare and mythic wildcards, so that would be my suggestion.

Explorer Products

So far we have had three Explorer Anthologies to help close the gap with Pioneer. The first of these introduced 20 cards to the format, and the second and third brought another 24 and 25 respectively. While not every card in these anthologies was a smash hit for the format, each one brought at least some important cards for the format.

Outside of anthologies, we also have supplemental Arena sets like Shadows over Innistrad Remastered. Ready up for a Pioneer Masters Sealed or draft on Arena, to celebrate the masters set that brings ‘Tournament Pioneer' to Arena.

Will Explorer Have Rebalances Like Historic and Alchemy?

Explorer does not have digital rebalances and instead bans cards that become problematic due to the card pool differences between Explorer and Pioneer.

Does Explorer Rotate Like Standard?

Explorer is an Eternal format that doesn’t rotate and instead only changes with the printing of new Standard sets or if cards are banned.

What Events and Play Modes Are There for Explorer?

Explorer is available in BO1 and BO3 matches for both ranked and unranked play, Constructed events, and specialty events like the Explorer Metagame Challenge.

How Will Cards Be Added to Explorer?

Cards are added to Explorer in the same fashion as in Pioneer, through Standard set releases. There may be additional methods like Historic Anthologies to introduce cards to the client.

How Does the Explorer Banlist Work?

Wizards bans cards as needed in Explorer. The banlist for Explorer started identical to Pioneer and evolved from there and may differ from the Pioneer banlist.

Is Smuggler's Copter Banned in Explorer?

No, Smuggler's Copter is not banned in Explorer, and is now available on Magic Arena. The incredible vehicle was unbanned in Pioneer on December 4, 2023.

What Will Happen to Explorer in the Future?

The long-term goal for Explorer is to retire the format once all the cards legal in Pioneer are on Arena. Explorer was created with the express purpose of being a temporary solution to bridge the gap between the current state of Arena and the future version of Arena with more cards fully integrated into the client.

Wrap Up

Dramatic Finale | Illustration by Steve Argyle

You saw some big meta changes to Explorer mainly due to the anthology sets and Pioneer Masters. Eventually, Explorer can be more and more popular in the competitive scene.

What do you think of the Explorer format? What decks are you most excited to play? Let me know in the comments down below or over on the Draftsim Twitter. And don't forget to grab Arena Tutor before you foray into this format. It's free, helps you track your games and stats, and you can work towards some fun achievements if you like having goals.

Thanks so much for reading, and stay safe!