Pioneer Masters: Spoilers and Set Information

Last updated on December 26, 2024

Dig Through Time | Illustration by Ryan Yee

MTG Arena is a huge part of the Magic ecosystem. It’s nearly impossible to avoid it since the premier format (Standard) has all but completely shifted to the digital sphere. Pioneer is in a unique spot as a non-rotating format, with a relatively equal card pool to Explorer and a lower cost than Magic’s sweetheart, Modern.

Wizards looked to Pioneer Regional Championships for the key cards that see play and traveled back to the start of Magic Online (the now-aged digital game used to play Modern, Legacy, and such) to implement cards from the Pioneer card pool into Arena and make a draftable set.

Enter Pioneer Masters! I give you the 411 where Pioneer is headed with this set. So, let’s begin!

Pioneer Masters Basic Information

Set Details

Set Symbol
Set Code	PIO
Number of cards	398
Rarities	Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythic
Mechanics	Awaken, Battalion, Bestow, Cipher, Delve, Devoid, Devotion, Gates, Heroic, Monstrosity, Spell mastery, and more

Important Dates

About the Set: The Story

The masters sets generally don't have a deep history other than what exists for the individual cards. Among the well-represented planes are Ravnica, Theros, and Zendikar.

Set Mechanics

Like previous masters sets, there is a lot of variety. Many mechanics may appear only on a card or two, here we have mechanics that are not evergreen, show up on multiple cards, and are notable for discussion:

Awaken

Part the Waterveil is a big time spell and awaken adds the option of a bigger version that permanently animates a land with +1/+1 counters equal to the awaken number. So you can cast Part the Waterveil for to get the extra turn and turn a land into a 6/6 elemental.

Battalion

Legion Loyalist is one you have to stick to your guns with because battalion needs you to commit creatures to the board and the faster they can attack the better.

Bestow

Chromanticore has one of the craziest bestow costs around, and keyword soup is a great reason for this. Truly a payoff for access to all five colors.

Cipher

Hidden Strings is a creative and tricky card that has the all important “untap” which opens up the eyes of combo players all the time. Cipher is a rare ability that lets you cast a copy of the card as a reward for dealing saboteur damage. Difficult to achieve, but very good card advantage in a Curiosity sort of way.

Delve

Delve is a devious mechanic that uses the graveyard as a resource, and exiles cards to help pay for a mana cost. Kind of similar to collect evidence. Tasigur, the Golden Fang does a decent job and offers you self-mill which is a prime enabler for delve.

Devoid

Devoid simply lets Void Shatter count as a colorless card, and a Cancel that exiles is important to be aware of.

Devotion

Several gods in Pioneer Masters require devotion, and Purphoros, God of the Forge is joined by Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx which are already on Arena and help the mechanic bring its impact to more formats than Pioneer, and its no wonder because there are many angles to make use of the pips on cards, just look at on Old-Growth Troll in mono green decks.

Gates

Maze's End and the existence of the full cycle of 10 guild gates are a huge signal to a gate-themed strategy, though plenty of two and three-color decks are happy to include a couple gates.

Heroic

You don't need to look far beyond Slickshot Show-Off, and Heartfire Hero to understand how powerful heroic can be. Phalanx Leader is a good example of a go-wide version, and one that low-curve decks can play with.

Monstrosity

A Polukranos, World Eater, is good on rate, and though the monstrosity cost is not, it's among the most useful versions of this mechanic.

Spell mastery

Dark Petition adds a Dark Ritual as the payoff for having spell mastery, as in playing instants and sorceries. The benefits vary by color, and lots of decks want a couple spells in the graveyard so this mechanic is a welcome one.

Full Card Gallery

White

Blue

Black

Red

Green

Multicolored

Colorless

Lands

Notable Cards

Hidden Strings is notable because it plays an important role in Lotus Field combo decks. Lotus Field provides three mana, and if you untap it for two or less, your mana possibilities expand exponentially.

The dual faced planeswalkers are popular, and Liliana, Heretical Healer / Liliana, Defiant Necromancer is sure to turn some heads. It's nearly trivial to do the death trigger on Lili the Healer and get to the powerful planeswalker side that adds loyalty counters faster than Liliana of the Veil.

Rarity Shifts

Bile Blight is a powerful tool against aggro decks, Ash Zealot fights back against graveyard abusers while Anax and Cymede offer a lot of firepower to heroes. What these each have in common is their downshift of one level in rarity. There are 89 cards in Pioneer Masters that shifted rarity, and some of them became more rare, so look closely!

Bonus Sheets of Planeswalkers, Spells and Devotion

The bonus sheets focus on planeswalkers and thier signature spells, spells like non-permanent instants and sorceries, and devotion are cards that ask you to count pips, or have multiple pips in their cost.

Inside the drafts of Pioneer Masters you find cards that fit one of the themes, so for example the Planeswalker bonus sheet means you could find Garruk, Caller of Beasts, Xenagos, the Reveler or Smash to Smithereens in your pack.

Available Products

Arena Packs

To get Pioneer Masters spend gold or gems on Arena's booster packs in the Arena Store, and craft them with wildcards.

Arena Limited Events

The best way to get Pioneer Masters is to draft through Arena events, or play Sealed, traditional best of 3 as a close-to-paper equivalent.

What's the Purpose of Pioneer Masters?

Gurmag Angler | Illustration by Yw Tang

Pioneer Masters is meant to complete the journey that Explorer set before players. As in, bring Pioneer to Arena. Expect to see Explorer retired as a format.

Pioneer Masters opens up the Pioneer format to a lot of players on the flagship platform, which increases the player count. It also adds interest in digital Pioneer events, which means that Wizards may attempt to make it the successor to Modern.

This set is really important for the growth of both Pioneer and Arena. Count on the Arena subreddit to discuss any divisions among the player bases.

Wrap Up

Jungleborn Pioneer | Illustration by Scott Murphy

Some final thoughts on this frontier, Pioneer does have the best piece of hand-hate (Thoughtseize) as well as an amazing removal suite, and Pioneer Masters brings in a host of new players. What do you think: is Arena a good home for Pioneer? Let me know in the comments. If you enjoyed this read, make sure to check out some of our other content for more goodies.

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Thank you for reading and since you've expressed interest in Magic Arena, you might like Arena Tutor, a free tool to help you, no matter which format you play on MTGA. Have a good one!