Pioneer Masters Is Bringing A Great Deal To MTGA

Last updated on December 10, 2024

Heartfire Hero | Illustrated by Jakub Kasper

Six top-tier preconstructed decks will come to the MTGA Store later today to celebrate the launch of Pioneer Masters on MTG Arena.

As per yesterday's official MTG Arena Announcements article, “these six Explorer decks represent some of the most competitive in the format,” and will be available for purchase with gems, MTGA's premium currency. Each deck costs a varying amount of gems, but you get a discount based on what cards are already in your collection!

Source: Wizards of the Coast

Pioneer Masters Store Decklists

Izzet Phoenix

Rakdos Aggro

Mono-Black Midrange

Mono-Green Devotion

Azorius Control

Mardu Greasefang

Quick MTG Arena Primer for Paper Players

If you're an Arena veteran, you already know how the MTG Arena economy works – but if you're coming from tabletop, there are two things to keep in mind when assembling a deck: wildcards, and the fact that each MTGA format usually has two different metagames.

Wildcards are what you use to craft cards in Magic Arena; think of it like printing your own proxies, but they happen to be perfectly legal Magic cards; the only quirk is that you need a mythic wildcard to “print” a mythic card, a rare wildcard to “print” a rare card, etc. This means that the cost of an Arena deck is tied to rarity: Sheoldred, the Apocalypse costs the exact same as any meme, trashy mythic (or any other mythic, for that matter).

You usually get wildcards from opening Arena boosters packs, and that's what's cool about these preconstructed decks: you can buy them directly with gems, which you can acquire with cash in the Arena shop.

The other thing to keep in mind is that Arena offers best-of-one and best-of-three queues for pretty much every format – and the metagame can be very different in each. A deck can be a powerhouse in Bo1 and just average (or downright bad) in Bo3.

Explorer Shopping List

So, what's the best Explorer deck to buy from these precons?

I would strongly recommend “fun” be the first factor, and that's entirely subjective (in my case it would be Izzet Phoenix, all the way down!). One great thing about these six decks is that they are all at least solid, and they do cover a lot of the different macro archetypes (aggro, midrange, control, combo, ramp), so all in all you can't go too wrong with any of them.

If you're undecided, here are a few data points you may want to consider.

These Are All 60-Card Decks

First and foremost: these are all 60-card decks. They are all good in both Bo1 and Bo3, mind you, but how good will vary. And if you plan on playing Best of Three, you'll have to add the sideboards (either by opening the cards in boosters or more likely with wildcards).

Craft the Commons & Uncommons Before Buying!!

Remember to craft all the commons and uncommons before buying a deck. The prices you see in the shop are prorated based on cards you already own. You don't pay gems for cards you already have, so if you have some common & uncommon wildcards, you can use them on some of the cards from your chosen preconstructed deck before buying it to get a discount.

Best Preconstructed Explorer Deck, Bo3: Rakdos Aggro

If you pay attention to the Pioneer tabletop meta you already know this, but just in case: as noted by Frank Karsten in his What's the Best Deck in Pioneer/Explorer MTG Right Now?, Rakdos Aggro (usually nicknamed Rakdos Prowess) is very likely the strongest of the six decks you'll find in the shop if you want to play Best of Three.

It's also in the same colors as what's arguably the best deck in Pioneer, Rakdos Demons, so by buying Rakdos Aggro you get a good chunk of the mana base for a second deck.

If Rakdos is not your thing, then Izzet Phoenix is probably the second-best precon (and still among the best Pioneer decks overall) for Bo3.

Most Popular Explorer Preconstructed Deck, Bo1: Azorius Control

This is a lot less clear because:

1. There's scarce reliable data for Explorer Bo1, and
2. We're entering uncharted waters: there's no way of knowing how Pioneer Masters will impact Bo1, since there's no paper counterpart to compare.

Having said that, Azorius Control is currently the most popular of the six precons for Bo1. And it's none too shabby for Bo3, so it's still a solid purchase.

The same applies to Mono-green Devotion: the second most popular of these precons in Bo1, which can likewise pull its weight in Bo3.

They will very likely cost more gems than Rakdos Aggro and Izzet Phoenix, though – they have quite a few more rares and mythics.

Will Explorer Be the Same as Pioneer?

Well, that's an emphatic, resounding “Who knows…?”

… but, for Best of Three, probably yes.

For starters, Pioneer Masters brings pretty much every Pioneer card that matters to MTG Arena. Since current Explorer players tend to play the Pioneer decks that were already available on Arena, it’s safe to assume they will adopt the rest of them when they can.

Tabletop and digital do have different motivations, chief among them being that MTGA's daily quests to earn gold reward speed along with win rate (and therefore decks that can finish games quickly may be preferred by players looking to farm gold). But Explorer is a true-to-paper format: if it works (and wins!) in your LGS, it will do the same on your screen.

For Best of One, definitely no – but that's because WotC seems to have no intention of making Bo1 a thing on paper, so even though you could technically play it on tabletop, for better or worse, I doubt we ever will.

A Great Selection

Yorion, Sky Nomad – Illustration by Steven Belledin

Credit where credit is due: I didn't think WotC would keep its word about releasing Pioneer Masters in 2024. PIO looks like it's going to be a blast to draft, and this selection of precons is very, very good: lots of different archetypes, all solid decks.

Here's to hoping today's launch goes smoothly!