Episodes
Monday Jan 09, 2023
#153 - For Better or Worse: Historic Cards in Pioneer
Monday Jan 09, 2023
Monday Jan 09, 2023
While everybody is currently focused on the future and what the next set will bring for Pioneer this February, we thought it would be a good idea to look back. We did a few episodes on Explorer last year and how it inches ever so closer to a normal Pioneer format, but before Explorer was a thing everybody was playing Historic. I was one of those people and while everybody was out there trying to win, I was out there trying to collect cards that would be playable in Pioneer in the future when it came to the MTG Arena platform. I remember being excited by each Historic Anthology and looking for cards that I could make a "Pioneer lite" deck with, but now that Explorer is a thing I've kind of forgotten about many of those Historic cards.
But maybe we shouldn't have. Did you know that there are a good number of cards in Historic that came with Historic Horizons and Jumpstart that are legal in Pioneer such as Slivers? Or maybe you've always wanted to try and make Goblin Dark Dwellers work. Unfortunately, finding these Pioneer/Explorer legal cards on Arena can be a chore, especially if your parameters are set to only include Explorer legal sets. While some of these cards will show up if you type in the card type in a general search, if you don't know exactly what cards to look for you could be missing on on some neat tech your deck is missing.
But why stop there? While researching these cards in Historic, The First Pioneers thought it would be fun to see which other cards not in Explorer, such as the Modern Horizon or Alchemy Cards, might also make great additions to the Pioneer format in the future. And while you're listening, feel free to make a list of your own cards you think aren't too powerful for Pioneer from older sets and be sure to share them with us on Discord our Twitter!
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer
You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/
Monday Dec 26, 2022
#152 - The 2022 Pioneer Wrap Up
Monday Dec 26, 2022
Monday Dec 26, 2022
The year 2022 started very unassuming for Pioneer but it ended up being one of the most eventful years since the format's inception. We had tons of break out cards, new decks appeared, some old ones returned to the metagame, there were bannings, and through it all The First Pioneers were there cover it. There was so much going on in Magic the Gathering you might have confused what did and did happen this year in Pioneer, so with this week's episode we want to set the record straight and help everybody understand how we got to where we were so we can look forward to next year.
What better way to wrap things up for the year then than to have one of the best competitive Pioneer guests on to talk about what happened both competitively and digitally in Pioneer than Harry13SCO. He found himself in the thick of things in 2022, going from frustration to elation as he battled through various metagames, sometimes finding himself at the bottom but near the end of the year, coming out on top. He offers us valuable insight on not only the metagame but also the decks he played, why some cards did better than others, and why some were a big let down.
Make sure to listen to this episode before the new year so you can start Pioneer with a fresh slate in 2023! We'd also like to wish all our listeners out there happy holidays!
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer
You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/
Monday Dec 19, 2022
#151 -The First Pioneer’s 2022 Holiday Wishlist
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Monday Dec 19, 2022
She's making a list, and checking it twice,
going to find out who's naughty or nice,
She-oldred is coming to town.
She knows when you are drawing,
She gains life while she's awake,
She know if your removal is goodorbad so
be good for goodness sake.
- Phyrexian Holiday Song
It's that time of year again, and I don't mean me trying to write horrible music lyrics related to Magic the Gathering. No, the holiday's are just around the corner and instead of asking for presents this year the First Pioneers are asking for some things for the Pioneer format in 2023. But does every deck deserve presents? We beg to differ. Some decks were very naughty this year and think they shouldn't get any presents, while other decks tried really hard to be good but just couldn't cut it. But which ones? And what kind of presents should they get?
In this week's episode we talk not only about what we want for each of those decks, but also what we want for the Pioneer format as a whole. If you think some decks deserve some different presents than what we talked about, be sure to pop into our discord and share your own holiday wishlist!
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer
You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/
Sunday Dec 11, 2022
#150 - Is Pioneer Playable on Arena with Explorer Anthology 2?
Sunday Dec 11, 2022
Sunday Dec 11, 2022
While our 150th episode probably deserves more pomp and celebration, there is simply too much going on in the world of Pioneer to take a week off! With the Explorer Anthology 2 dropping on MTG Arena this week, we're guessing there are more than a few of you wondering if you can finally play your favorite Pioneer decks on the client. The new anthology drops 24 new cards into Explorer, and while some of them are obvious inclusions for the Arena only Brawl or Historic formats, we feel like the majority of cards will find homes and totally change the "Pioneer-lite" format.
The real question is, after we add all of these cards, how much closer does that bring us to having Pioneer available to the masses for free (grinding included)? Will the Explorer metagame finally mirror the Pioneer one? Will you be able to test out new decks on the client before your next paper Pioneer event? We're hoping you will, and Ryan also tries to convince Kevin to finally drop MTGO and open up Arena on his computer. Whether he succeeds or not ... well you'll just have to listen.
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer
You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/
Monday Dec 05, 2022
#149 - A look back at our Top 5 Pioneer picks in 2022: What we Got Wrong
Monday Dec 05, 2022
Monday Dec 05, 2022
Continuing our tradition from last year, Kevin and I over at The First Pioneers own up to the mistakes we made on our Top 5 picks during our Pioneer set reviews (and also gloat about the picks we DID get right in 2022). While The Innistrad Double Feature set released in January, this years set reviews only included:
- Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
- The Streets of New Capenna
- Dominaria United
- The Brother's War
While the Brother's War set only recently came out, we've seen enough results to remake our previous top 5s into new ones, and did the same for the other sets that came out in 2022. Listen to find out what our new top 5 cards from each set this year was, why we got our original Top 5's wrong, and what cards might still have a chance to shine in the coming year!
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer
You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/
Monday Nov 28, 2022
#148 - Pioneer 101: Bard Class and the Case for Combo
Monday Nov 28, 2022
Monday Nov 28, 2022
The Bard Class deck in Pioneer has been on everybody's radar for a while now, but it's yet to be played in large numbers. Part of this is probably because many people don't understand how the deck works and how to play it, so in this week's episode The First Pioneers invited ClaudiohMTG on to talk about it and to explain why it joins a larger family of combo decks in Pioneer.
While Bard Class is more of a storm deck that goes off and creates an overwhelming advantage on board for the win, the other combo decks in Pioneer have different ways of winning. After defining what we believe being a combo deck means, we break down every combo deck in the format, starting with the mainstays like Lotus Field and Parhelion, and then introducing some newer ones such as the Acererak Infinite Dungeons combo and the Storm Herald Combo that broke out at recent Pioneer events during the Regional Championship season.
Whether you're a combo player looking to try something new, or somebody trying to understand all of these combo decks in Pioneer so you're not 'caught with your pants down' in the next tournament, you don't want to miss this episode!
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer
You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
#147 - Pioneer in Action at the Regional Championships
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
We had a huge weekend for the Pioneer format last week as hundreds of players from all over the world gathered in their countries and other central areas for their Regional Championships. To make sense of it all, we invited Dreams of Ashiok onto the show again to talk about the top 8s, the meta break downs, interesting decks, and what the future holds as other countries plan to hold their events in the coming weeks. We also covered a number of smaller events that took place last Saturday and Sunday such as the God of Pioneer 9 in Tokyo, and the 10K events that took place on the second day of the regionals.
If you're interested in seeing what Brother's War cards made it in this new Pioneer format, want to see how the metagame shifted, or want to understand all those new and interesting decks, you don't want to miss this episode!
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer
You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/
Monday Nov 14, 2022
#146 - Brother’s Brews for Pioneer
Monday Nov 14, 2022
Monday Nov 14, 2022
Not going to lie, brewing Pioneer decks with Brother's War cards has been some of most fun I've had in a long time. Don't listen to the people saying that the Brother's War set won't have an impact on the format. Sure, your top tier decks like Rakdos Midrange or mono white humans might not get a lot of new toys to play with, but the sheer amount of enablers for previously fringe decks is mind-boggling. Wizards of the Coast continues to fill Pioneer with more and more strategy specific cards and the result will breathe a lot of life into the format. The top 8 and top 16 deck lists on Magic Online or at a weekend open might not change much, but I expect a lot of people to try out new stuff at their local game stores or at smaller tournaments.
Today's brews focus on: Mono Black Aggro, Colorless Aggro, Mono White Blink, Green/White Scales, Blue/White Soldiers, and Green/Red Elemental Ramp. We also featured some listener made decks as well! If you're looking for some fun new decks to play with, try out our brews and then pop into our Discord and let us know how they were. You're also more than welcome to share your own brews in our decklist channel!
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer
You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/
Monday Nov 07, 2022
#145 - The Brother’s War Pioneer Set Review
Monday Nov 07, 2022
Monday Nov 07, 2022
I for one welcome our robot overlords to Pioneer and hope they have a good time. Following up our last episode on Artifacts in Pioneer, we finally got a look at all of the new artifacts and have found quite a few that could find a home in the format. But that's not all. The First Pioneers go over every card in each color worthy of seeing play and talk about all their implications. Some people playing the popular decks in the metagame might be a little disappointed in the set but we believe that the decks in the fringes are going to get a lot more playable cards and that this could really shake up the Pioneer format. Stop in to see which decks we think are going to be the winners and losers from this set, and be sure to check out our Top 5 as well!
If we missed one of the cards you really liked from Brother's War, stop in to our discord and let us know!
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer
You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/
Monday Oct 31, 2022
# 144 - Artifacts in Pioneer: Toys or Tools of Destruction?
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Monday Oct 31, 2022
With many people expecting the new Brother's War set to bring a number of playable artifact cards to Pioneer, we thought now would be a good time to look into the format and see just how many playable artifacts there are. Look at any eternal format in Magic the Gathering, and you can find some iconic artifacts: Sol Ring in EDH, Metalworker in Legacy, Aether Vial in Modern, but what comes to mind when you think of Pioneer?
In this week's episode we go over which artifacts in Pioneer are vying for that recognition, talk about what kind of artifacts the format is missing, and also make a wishlist for the rest of the Brother's War set and what artifacts we'd like to be reprinted into Pioneer from older sets. If you're wondering what more artifacts means for Pioneer, don't miss this episode!
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer
You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/