WotC FINALLY Brings Beloved Format to MTG: Arena

Last updated on May 6, 2025

Tibalt's Trickery – art by Anna Podedworna

Wizards of the Coast announced yesterday the official transition from Explorer to Pioneer in Magic: The Gathering Arena. The transition marks the culmination of a three-year initiative that began with the launch of the Explorer format back in 2022. According to the Announcing Pioneer on MTG Arena article published last Monday, MTGA will officially flip the Explorer to Pioneer switch on Saturday, May 10, and introduce 11 new-to-Arena cards.

Source: WotC's official announcement

With this update, the formerly-known-as-Explorer format will be renamed to Pioneer on MTG Arena, and its banned list will align with that of the tabletop version. Notably, this change will result in the unbanning of Tibalt's Trickery.

To support the transition, eleven cards not previously available on MTG Arena will be added, including Rakdos Charm, Roast, Sanctum of Ugin, and Borborygmos Enraged. 

Top-Tier MTGO Pioneer

Rakdos Charm – art by Zoltan Boros

The Pioneer format was announced almost six years ago, back in October 2019. It's a non-rotating format that includes every Standard MTG set since Return to Ravnica, although the fetch lands were preemptively banned.

Although Pioneer is a year younger than MTG Arena – the video game went into Open Beta on September 2018 – MTGA launched only with the sets that were Standard-legal at the time. In 2022, WotC introduced Explorer on MTG Arena as a “true to tabletop” format, consisting of all the Pioneer-legal cards on MTG Arena, but there were enough Pioneer staples missing to make Explorer's metagame quite different from Pioneer's.

Source: WotC's “Announcing the Pioneer Format” article, Oct 2019

MTGA's Pioneer does not mirror its tabletop counterpart 1:1, hence why Finseth calls it “competitive Pioneer” – the whole Pioneer cardpool has about 12,600 cards, and only about 10,300 of them are available on MTG Arena. But, according to Finseth, all Pioneer cards that matter competitively will be available when they flip the switch this Saturday.

In other words, MTGA's Pioneer will be “All the Pioneer cards that pack a punch on MTGO's Pioneer,” rather than truly “All the Pioneer cards.”

On Saturday 10, MTGA will add those seven cards, plus some key sideboard cards that Arena Championship players brought up when WotC asked them about missing cards. WotC's article does not specify the legality of these cards in other MTGA formats, but it's very likely they will all be playable in Historic, Timeless, and Brawl.

Going forward, WotC will keep monitoring the Pioneer metagame on tabletop and MTGO, to introduce relevant cards to MTGA's Pioneer about once or twice per year.

Seeing the Glass 80% Full

Magic players seem overall very happy with this Explorer-to-Pioneer transition. “For me, this helps cement Arena as my true ‘go to' for MTG,” notes u/rblaz007 in a highly-upvoted comment. “Nothing can really replace table top EDH because it’s just more fun in person. But this is big for me as a long time player. I’m excited.”

Several players do take issue with MTGA Pioneer only having about 85% of tabletop's card pool.

“Big announcement!” jokes u/dingobongus. “We aren't adding the rest of the cards, but we are changing the name 😉”

All in all, though, the majority of MTG players seem okay with the compromise of Arena having a “Top-Tier MTGO Pioneer” format, even if not all the jank and chaff is available, and as long as WotC keeps their promise of adding more cards if they become MTGO-relevant later one.

Tibalt's Free!

One other significant change is that, since MTGA's Pioneer will mirror the tabletop's ban list, Tibalt's Trickery (which is currently banned in Explorer) will be unbanned on Saturday 10.

The article doesn't mention other MTGA formats, so Tibalt's Trickery will very likely remain banned in Historic, and restricted in Timeless. It should remain perfectly playable in Brawl, though. And will make Explorer the only MTG format in which you can can play four copies of this red instant!

Pioneer Showcase Event

Borborygmos Enraged – Art by Aleksi Briclot

To commemorate the switch-flipping, MTGA will hold a Pioneer Showcase Event from May 10 to May 13. The event will follow a Best-of-Three Pioneer Constructed format, with an entry fee of 5,000 Gold or 1,000 Gems. All entries will get one of the 11 new-to-Arena cards, plus rewards based on how well you do.

Source: WotC's official announcement

The event will have duplicate protection for the 11 new cards you get as entry reward. That's to say, when you enter the event, the game will make sure you get a card you don't already have (once you have all 11 cards, then you get one of those cards at random). So there's one neat little trick that WotC's Jay has confirmed on Reddit: If, before signing in, you craft all the uncommon cards with wildcards, you'll ensure that the event gives you only the higher-rarity cards.

MTG Arena is also adding a new title, “Prominent Pioneer,” for anyone who plays 450 games of Pioneer on MTG Arena, and players with Explorer titles will get to keep theirs – but, after they make the switch, you won't be able to get new Explorer titles.

So if you really want to be a “Veteran Explorer”, better start exploring before pioneers arrive!