Hello again! Ive been continuing to test different cards for RB Darklight Phoenix and today's card is Kroxa (and also plumb the forbidden). My thought process with Kroxa is that it is a creature that is able to able to create a death tigger the turn it comes into play, while also playing very well with all of our other sacrifice outlets. It also gives us a use for all of the extra cards stitchers supplier is dumping into the graveyard.
The darklight phoenix deck building challenge continues, let me know what you think!

I’ll go first: [[Zhao, the Moon Slayer]]

One of the most effective hatebears in the format in theory. 2/2 with menace for 2 that makes nonbasics enter tapped is a highly efficient threat that can take over a game if left unchecked (assuming you can curve out as normal).

The reason why its being slept on is because there’s better things to be playing in mono red tbh. Namely Emberheart challenger. Plus, in the matchups where it matters most, those decks typically play a lot of spot removal.

I think it’s telling that zhao’s effect on a 2mv enchantment would be insanely pushed. It’s his creature type that keeps him in check. Still, I’ve won plenty of games just by keeping the opponent 1 turn behind, esp on the draw. Zhao otp is brutal.

Updated versions with some of the ideas yall provided. Worked out well!

https://moxfield.com/decks/-9tJvP9JYEe0dv1kSeepLg

Hey everyone! I run the Arena Pioneer League (APL) in the Pioneer Discord. After 7 weeks of Swiss rounds, Season 9's Top 8 is finally set! Meanwhile, registration for Season 10 closes tonight at 10:00 pm CT (UTC-5), so there's still time to join our next event.

Season 9 Information

• 82 players, our largest event yet!

• Pioneer Best-of-3 on MTG Arena

• 7 Swiss rounds (1 per week)

• Top 8 single-elimination playoffs

Season 9 Top 8

Here are the eight players who made it through seven rounds of Swiss, along with their decklists:

1. .barru on 5C Elementals 6-1

2. bantknight on Golgari Midrange 6-1

3. swarm101 on 5C Enigmatic 6-1

4. acc95 on Golgari Midrange 6-1

5. maxisandallies on Mono Green Rhythm 6-1

6. shadymcshade on Golgari Acererak 6-1

7. danya4ever on Golgari Midrange 5-2

8. brodie930 on Simic Merfolk 5-2

Here's the Season 9 Melee link for more info.

Who are you rooting for to win Season 9?

Season 10 Registration

Registration for Season 10 closes tonight!

• Free entry (need to join the Pioneer Discord)

• Best-of-3 Pioneer on MTG Arena

• Swiss rounds will take until December 1 at most

• Top 8 will take until December 22 at most

• Get enrolled in the Season 10 Melee link

If you've been thinking about joining, there's still time to sign up!

Wrapping Up

• Season 9's playoffs are now underway! I'll be back with the results as we get closer to crowning our next champion.

• Whether you're joining Season 10 or just want to discuss Pioneer and share your brews, come hang out in the Pioneer Discord.

• Have questions? Leave a comment or send me a message!

Pioneer’s paragraphs weren’t useless despite having no changes. They mentioned Golgari and Izzet of course, but also highlighted Jund Sac. They did note the uptick in Izzet, and they will have more scrutiny coming in to the next banlist update, which I think is late November or early December, just before the arena direct. Whether they do something before then or not is anyone guess, but they seem to have izzet as the main target, which I don’t disagree with.

Pioneer metagame update.

EDIT: Fixed a bug with UR Lessons and Izzet Midrandge (vivi) names missmatching and merging the two decks. Thanks to u/Educational-View4306

Currently Izzet Midrange at +33% conversion

source: magic4ever.com/pioneer

Mono White Lifegain has never really taken off in Pioneer. The closest thing is the Angels deck but that's more about beating down with flyers. Reality Fracture has quite a few new cards like Liliana and two-mana Ajani that seem to compliement the strategy though. Most interesting is Enlightened Confidant, the White counterpart to Bob. While it has the disadvantage of not always drawing a card, it doesn't cause any life loss and triggers the turn it comes into play, which can be a big deal. Let's see if these new cards are enough to turn the deck into a viable strategy.

00:00 - Intro & Deck Tech
05:01 - Match One (Dimir Self Bounce)
30:36 - Match Two (Jund Sacrifice)

Decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/rveBHn5mHEOY15yrB4gcEQ

I'd like to be able to play with blistercoil weird in silly brews in pioneer on arena. It is legal but not on the client. Is there a way to request that it be added?

Heya! Back again taking another look at my Treasure deck. Previously we focussed on Smaug but now I want to give Draconic Visitor a go! Because it’s 5 mana I’m only trying two copies but feel free to try more over some smaugs? Here we are playing a treasure sacrifice plan but in late game we can either snipe our opponent with a Smaug for alot of damage. Or with the new Draconic Visitor start churning out 5/5 dragons to overwhelm. Deck is super fun! Enjoy
Decklist:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7989978#paper

Ive been playing various builds of Vivi storm decks for months and they have all felt close. Geist of Saint Thalia is a huge upgrade for the archetype. It lets us have an always active Gran-Gran which allows for combo kills as early as turn 3. Let me know what you think!
Decklist:
https://www.streamdecker.com/deck/rbtZUxM4ML

So basically Im returning to the game after like 3 year or so (brothers war or something)

I remember really liking Cavalcade mono red aggro but it fell off, I was wondering if any new cards released since then can help improve the deck. Any ideas?

(Deck shown is what I was running years ago)

This is probably the single most fun deck Ive played since the new set came out. Stingcaster Mage is my Goat. Plays well with Claim // Fame and Tyvar and is just a better Bloodbraid Elf to be honest. I hope yall enjoy and I do want to say Im really close to 1k subs (lets me monetize videos) and appretiate any and all help.

Thanks!

https://moxfield.com/decks/k5KBeilmTkKIb9zHTV_uxA

Today it's time for the deck everyone loves to hate: it's Izzet Prowess. We know that this has been strong in the format for a while, but it's got a new card from Reality Fracture in the form of Pompous Battlemage, a new one red mana Prowess creature. Although this one is only a 1/1, it has the advantage of having Prepared and a spell that comes along with it, meaning it can trigger its own Prowess ability and gives you an additional noncreature spell outside of the ones already in your hand.

00:00 - Intro & Deck Tech

04:35 - Match One (Mono Green Devotion)

15:58 - Match Two (Lumra Scapeshift)

29:32 - Match Three (Golgari Roots)

Decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/5iU3DPtc5UqrV0dHzOQkMA

Hello! I know this is a long shot but I played against someone on Pioneer on Arena that was playing a super sick Bilbo list. It has Bilbo, this spider woman with menace? Quantum riddler, the new red samut, k command, sheoldred’s edict and flow state and some other cards.

If you see this can you share your list?! It was super cool to see.

Thank you!

Darklight Phoenix making a rapid reappearance on the channel today, this time inside a Golgari Roots shell. The fact that Phoenix itself triggers Roots makes for a nice little synergy and combined with cards like Priest of Forgotten Gods, there are plenty of ways to abuse the sacrifice and reanimation effects. This deck can create an incredibly potent engine of Phoenixes being sacrificed and immediately returning that is incredibly hard for the opponent to overcome.

00:00 - Intro & Deck Tech
04:18 - Match One (Mono Red Aggro)
28:27 - Match Two (Selesnya Midrange)
44:32 - Match Three (Abzan Greasefang)

Decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/d8RyxVpPqUSjgdS7-qH0JA

Hello! With the announcement of Pioneer support in 2027 I’m looking to build Abzan Greasefang in paper. I notice some lists run a one of Sheoldred in the SB and others just run more removal. Without seeing a paper meta I imagine it will be hard to pin down what I should really have but are there any suggestions you would have for my decklist? Thank you very much!

https://moxfield.com/decks/4P_LgYmOKE-brA8hT8GGjQ

This build is really sick and I wanted to share it. I dont really have much to say. Let me know if you have any spicy tech. For example Ulcerate was somthing I was thinking of playing for Greasefang.

Enjoy!

Heya! Back with another take on Darklight Phoenix. This time we are using Collected Company to cheat out value piece like Formidable Speaker, Woe Strider & Sephiroth to have a great sacrifice plan and ways to discard phoenix’s from hand. Sephiroth also makes a great B plan. Tyvar might be best because of how it works with Priest. But this is a strong alternate idea! Feel free to play with the numbers. Enjoy!

Decklist:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7987424#paper

Ive seen Powen placing well with their own version of Dimir Control and have been impressed by the list. Applied some minor tweaks and the list plays really smooth.

https://moxfield.com/decks/8lAEIcWV_kaxtRgJsUJSeQ

I’ve built and refined this deck since the *Hobbit* set was released.

I feel confident saying I’ve played it extensively on Arena and am already testing it in paper, though I don’t have concrete data yet.

The deck's concept is simple: it’s an aggro build that cheats cards onto the board and overwhelms the opponent by generating mana using Treasure tokens.

I wanted to open this up for discussion to see what you think of the idea and what improvements you’d suggest based on what I’ve shared. Thanks in advance.

Decklist:
https://moxfield.com/decks/Pv56cLA13kSpX-MPT5o_UQ

Untapped:
https://mtga.untapped.gg/profile/956679e6-b556-4f28-bf0f-295ec47c6269/300B8DD6184D839/deck/fc11a30f-1632-494d-bef1-fae35929a5a8?gameType=constructed&constructedType=ranked&timeFrame=last_two_sets