Pioneer: The "New Frontier" or the new Frontier?

Pioneer: Magic's Newest Non-Rotating format

Memory Lane

I have been playing M:tG for about 6 years now, which may not seem like long, but there are some things that feel like ancient history to me in terms of the time I've spent cracking packs and slinging spells. I still remember the hype and pure excitement garnered in my LGS the moment Wizards announced the Zendikar Expeditions via live stream, a room full of players and collectors screaming and yelling about the shiniest cardboard yet. I still remember the feeling of facing down a Siege Rhino with some of my first FNM brews and realizing I had to play with it. There have been many memories and stories indeed. 

As I look back upon these memories, I often recall the excitement as the newest and greatest format took the community by storm. I remember when everyone was scrambling to find the best Tiny Leaders commander, and everyone believed we'd be casting 3cmc spells for a long time. I recall the bizarre fad Flip it or Rip it (if you can consider it a format), where players would purchase packs, shuffle them face down, and rip half of the cards. Never got the point of that one. Most importantly to our story today, I remember Frontier, the exciting non-rotating format which consisted of every set from Magic 2015-forward. Frontier took my LGS by storm at the time. At the turn of rotation, many players were eager to continue playing with the cards and archetypes they had grown fond of over the past few years. You couldn't go into the store or take a look online without hearing some kind of buzz about it. Hell, my LGS even made space in the glass display for "Frontier Staples." Of all the new formats coming out during that era, Frontier seemed to me like the most solid one. The original proponents of the format, Hareruya stores, were even holding tournaments for the format right off the bat. 

Despite the hype and the push by many stores to move into this format, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone with a Frontier deck these days besides the last online bastions of the format. Many in the LGS scene would consider the Format essentially dead. 

So what happened? Frontier, while the subject of many a Youtube video and reddit post, was never supported officially by the DCI, nor did it ever benefit from any format oversight or banning. Without a committee stopping cards or archetypes from taking too much a share of the meta, the format essential became solved. Many consider the aggro archetypes to be too powerful, and others say the Fetch lands from Khans of Tarkir to make multicolored decks of various goals too consistent. Many problems that have plagued both standards and modern were solved by strategic data collection and banning by the DCI, a special protection not available to the Frontier format. However, people did like the format, this is undeniable. So why did Wizards never step in and help the fledgling format?

The answer now is abundantly clear. Often, WOTC will step back and collect information before making key decisions about the game. New sets for example, are made many years in advance, and are playtested by R&D to ensure quality of draft and standard formats. Format bans are generally made after large tournaments to ensure the format isn't able to self-correct itself. Ever the careful planner, Wizards has come back to revisit the idea of a new non-rotating format, while this time spending time to consider what sets should be included, and what cards should be included to create a healthy format. 

Pioneer

October 21st, 2019, Wizards of the Coast has announced its newest format. Pioneer consists of every set from Return to Ravnica forward, and currently has only the Khans Fetches banned (however more cards could be banned in the future). Personally, I am excited for this format for many reasons. First of all, I can never pass up the chance to dust off the Siege Rhinos. Second, I believe this format to have a much greater chance of withstanding the test of time. Three years of observing the pros and cons of Frontier, Wizards chose not to support that format but instead returned and submitted to us a revised version, one they undoubtedly have more confidence in. The reasoning behind starting from RtR is currently unknown to me, but undoubtedly is a calculated point for creating the start of a self-correcting eternal format. The decision to ban fetch lands also helps address some of the problems that Frontier suffered from, and at this point many other cards are at risk of being banned as the format archetypes begin to form. The careful observation of the DCI and the willingness to step in and prevent any archetypes from becoming too dominant bode well for magic's newest endeavor.

While I won't pretend I know this format is here to stay, I will say that I hope it does. I'm always excited to get the deck building juices flowing and to experience the thrill of discovery in Magic. We here at MMMtg will be delving into Frontier and its many possibilities in our next Podcast, something you can look forward to sometime in the next week. 

Decklists

For now though, I've prepared some deck lists for this new and exciting format. While I have won a few Game Days (R.I.P.) in my time, I won't claim to be a deck-building pro analyst. The decks I'm presenting today are based on my initial ideas for the format, and are undoubtedly biased by the decks I've loved to play over the years. But hey, that's what makes this format fun! 

Abzan Midrange

Creatures

x4 Siege Rhino

x4 Deathrite Shaman

x2 Anafenza the Foremost

x4 Warden of the First Tree

x4 Scavenging Ooze

x2 Wingmate Roc

Planeswalkers

x2 Vivien Ried

x2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

x2 Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Spells

x2 Thoughtseize

x4 Abzan Charm

x2 Hero's Downfall

x2 Assassin's Trophy

Lands

x4 Sandsteppe Citadel

x4 Overgrown Tomb

x3 Godless Shrine

x2 Temple Garden

x3 Woodland Cemetary

x2 Sunpetal Grove

x2 Isolated Chapel

x1 Arch of Orazca

x1 Forest

x1 Swamp

x1 Plains

You haven't lived until you've felt the thrill of being beat down by a 4/5 Lightning Helix for 4 mana. Or maybe you have. I don't know, I was usually the one playing the Rhino. In a format where the combo decks and aggro decks are under threat of key bannings, there are no issues with investing in the classics. Abzan Midrange and all it's flavors dominated standard for its tenure before rotation, and could be poised to dominate this new format with a few new tools. I didn't play back then, but I do know of the powerhouse that is Scavenging Ooze. Liliana, Dreadhorde General is a cut above most black planeswalkers printed in recent memory, and provides the key power and efficiency needed in such a deck. I personally can't wait to sleeve a list like this up and feel the power of the Abzan yet again.

Grixis Energy

Creatures

x4 Torrential Gearhulk

x4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner

x4 Whirler Virtuoso

Planeswalkers

x3 Narset, Parter of Veils

Spells

x4 Harnessed Lightning

x4 Glimmer of Genius

x2 Commit // Memory

x3 Hero's Downfall

x2 Fatal Push

x4 Thoughseize

x2 Search for Azcanta

Lands

x4 Watery Grave

x4 Steam Vents

x4 Blood Crypt

x4 Drowned Catacomb

x4 Aether Hub

x2 Swamp

x1 Mountain

x1 Island

When the tried and true Abzan Midrange deck finally rotated, I was at a loss and did not know what to play. After bouncing around doing a few rounds with some of the new format's different decks, I found the most interest in the Grixis energy shell, and played it out to its own rotation as well. It obviously isn't the same type of deck, but somehow managed to capture the same feeling I had while playing Abzan. Torrential Gearhulk is really big game, and of the parasitic energy decks I always believed Siphoner and Virtuoso were some of the best on their own without support. While i'm not too sure what extra tools this deck could use besides the one I put in this list, but there definitely a lot of potential with this deck with some testing. 

Jeskai Tokens

Creatures

x4 Monastery Mentor

Spells

x4 Jeskai Ascendancy

x4 Dragon Fodder

x4 Raise the Alarm

x4 Stoke the Flames

x2 Jeskai Charm

x4 Treasure Cruise

x4 Opt

x4 Defiant Strike

x2 Wild Slash

Lands

x4 Mystic Monastery

x4 Steam Vents

x4 Hallowed Fountain

x2 Sacred Foundry

x2 Sulfur Falls

x2 Clifftop Retreat

x2 Mountain

x2 Plains

x2 Island

This deck is one near and dear to my heart. One of the first competitive decks I ever played, this deck really comes out of nowhere. It doesn't seem to do much during its setup phase, which can be a huge advantage against an unsuspecting opponent. This deck excels and efficiently cycling through itself and bringing your opponent from 20 to 0 in one turn. It's hard to explain the feeling of drawing and discarding off one mana spells, chaining them together with cards like Treasure Cruise. There aren't too many cards printed before or after this deck was prevalent that would go into it, but if you find any feel free to try it out.

I have a lot of other brews cooking up, but i'd like to save a lot of them for our upcoming podcast and perhaps a follow-up article or two on the format. So if you are as excited about Pioneer as I am, look out for that!

- Miles