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Viewing revision 17. There is a more recent version of this deck.
I really love midrange decks, so since Pioneer started, I have been trying to find one that I feel comfortable playing.
In my experience, a deck needs to be either very fast or play hate cards with an impact on a broad range of decks (and preferrably counterspells) in order to compete in the Pioneer meta
(or in other words: have the tools to have as few non-games due to the individual matchup as possible).
Also, I feel that any midrange deck in the current meta needs to have access to mainboard graveyard hate,
as well as a strong suite of earlygame creatures and removal to not die to the very fast aggro decks that are rampant due to the high density of combo decks in the meta.
So, which colors do I play?
Black has the early game removal and the discard along with Gifted Aetherborn, which is probably the best 2drop you could want against fast aggro (I have won matches against Bant Spirits with a precursor to this deck because I resolved one Gifted Aetherborn).
Green has the ability to interact with any permanent and the graveyard. Apart from Rest in Peace, it accomplishes these tasks better than White.
Green + Black opens up a lot of options for lategame Planeswalkers.
The question for me was: splash for White or for Blue?
Since I "grew up" during the Khans block, I decided to play Siege Rhino, and did so for quite some matches, but
OK, let's try Blue!
What does Blue do for You?
What do you miss out on?
So, gameplan for this deck:
Step 1: Remove (from battlefield or from hand) the first 1-2 threats played
Step 2: Play a good blocker/attacker that keeps you alive for at least one additional turn, in which you hopefully play a card drawing spell, and have removal ready
Step 3: In that turn, get Kalitas/Scarab God/Questing Beast (against Planeswalkers) down, or draw some cards
Step 4: Get to the point of turning the tide against aggro, or building up pressure against combo/control
The deck plays reactively most of the time, and more slowly than the traditional "Abzan Midrange of Khans Standard" midrange deck. It's more on the grindy than on the fast side (which midrange can also be, e.g. Gruul, which plays mana acceleration, which this deck does not). Going with a playset of Gifted Aetherborn definitvely slows the deck, but it does wonders against aggro. This card plus removal makes it very hard for all those fast decks to overrun us, plus it "excuses" the use of 8 shocklands.
If the meta is very combo-heavy, this deck struggles (unless graveyard hate can disrupt the combo), as it is not fast enough to outrace combo, and without any try counterspells cannot stop combo from happening most of the time.
If, though, the meta features many "fair" decks or ones relying on the graveyard, or combo decks disruptible by removal (Ensoul Artifact comes to mind), then this deck has the tools in the maindeck to beat them. Plus, it is highly interactive and versatile, which for me is the gold standard for decks I truly enjoy playing.
Sideboard is still evolving. One thing to note, here: the sideboard is very blue-heavy, which means that post-sideboard, you will need to favor hands that have blue mana and/or use Fabled Passage for blue.
One Uro would be nice mainboard, but I have avoided that particular investment yet. It is such a good value engine, and a respectable finisher if the board is clear.
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Name | Hand | Turn 1 | Turn 2 | Turn 3 | Turn 4 | Turn 5 | Turn 6 | Turn 7 | Turn 8 | Turn 9 | Turn 10 | |
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Compare | Revision | Created | By | |||
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Revision 26 | June 3, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 25 | June 3, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 24 | June 2, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 23 | June 2, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 22 | June 2, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 21 | June 2, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 20 | May 16, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 19 | April 15, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 18 | March 29, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
» | Revision 17 | March 24, 2020 | schuppius | |||
Revision 16 | March 23, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 15 | March 23, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 14 | March 19, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 13 | March 18, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 12 | March 18, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 11 | March 17, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 10 | March 17, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 9 | March 13, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 8 | March 10, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 7 | March 9, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 6 | March 9, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 5 | March 7, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 4 | March 5, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 3 | March 4, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 2 | January 4, 2020 | schuppius | ||||
Revision 1 | November 30, 2019 | schuppius |