This weekend the SCG Tour stops in Indianapolis, IN for the very first Pioneer Open! These are the decks the team is bringing to battle for the weekend. As always, you can find sideboard guides for each deck by joining our Patreon.
Andrew, Dylan, Kevin
Pioneer Dimir Inverter
| Creatures (7) 3 Thassa’s Oracle 4 Inverter of Truth Planeswalkers (6) 2 Narset, Parter of Veils 4 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries Spells (22) 4 Fatal Push 4 Opt 4 Thoughtseize 3 Thought Erasure 1 Hero’s Downfall 2 Mystical Dispute 4 Dig Through Time | Lands (25) 2 Choked Estuary 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Fabled Passage 2 Fetid Pools 6 Island 3 Swamp 4 Watery Grave Sideboard (15) 2 Damping Sphere 2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy 2 Legion’s 1 Noxious Grasp 1 Thassa’s Oracle 2 Cry of the Carnarium 1 Hero’s Downfall 2 Mystical Dispute 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet |
We are sticking to the deck to beat this weekend in Dimir Inverter. The deck has proven through several weeks now that it is very much the most powerful, consistent strategy in the format, even after giving the format time to adapt.
This list focuses on having a solid maindeck mirror plan by moving away from Censor in favor of more copies of Thought Erasure and Narset, Parter of Veils. Narset is an absolute haymaker in mirrors, as it all but turns off the four copies of Jace, Wielder of Mysteries on the other side of the table. A pair of Mystical Disputes to compliment the pair in the sideboard give you some maindeck power against other popular decks in the format as well, like Lotus Breach and Bant Spirits.
The maindeck configuration of this list is less solid against aggressive decks like Mono-Black and Mono-Red, so a powerful suite of removal and sweepers to assist a couple copies of Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet in dominating the battlefield reside in the sideboard. The fourth copy of Thassa’s Oracle comes in for these matchups also, as a 1/3 body is particularly nice against creatures like Bloodsoaked Champion, Dread Wanderer, and the prowess creatures out of Mono-Red. Don’t forget that it’s okay to use Oracle as a chump blocker and then use Inverter of Truth to get it back into your library for a quick Turn 5 win!
Ally, Chad, Dilks
Pioneer Sultai Delirium
| Creatures (20) 1 Walking Ballista 4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy 4 Satyr Wayfinder 2 Courser of Kruphix 1 Murderous Rider 2 Tireless Tracker 4 Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath 1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow 1 Emrakul, the Promised End Planeswalkers (3) 1 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales 2 Nissa, Who Shakes the World Spells (14) 4 Fatal Push 4 Thoughtseize 3 Traverse the Ulvenwald 2 Abrupt Decay 1 Eat to Extinction | Lands (23) 4 Blooming Marsh 1 Botanical Sanctum 4 Breeding Pool 3 Fabled Passage 2 Forest 1 Ipnu Rivulet 1 Island 1 Opulent Palace 4 Overgrown Tomb 1 Swamp 1 Watery Grave Sideboard (15) 2 Assassin’s Trophy 1 Cast Down 2 Damping Sphere 3 Mystical Dispute 2 Unmoored Ego 1 Hostage Taker 3 Leyline of the Void 1 Vivien Reid |
Need an answer to everything? Sultai is the way to go for this weekend at SCG Indy. The Pioneer format has been fairly stable since PT Phoenix—Inverter, Lotus Breach, and Sultai Delirium leading the pack. We (Ally and Chad) are of course obsessed with our medium midrange piles, but this delirium package has gotten the recent addition of Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath from Theros Beyond Death, bringing 6/6 titan lover, Matt Dilks, along for the ride.
Uro enables quicker gameplay and a steady flow of cards to both keep up with and disrupt your opponent no matter the matchup. In addition to having a robust game plan of your own, the sideboard options are phenomenal for the current meta. Whether that be anything from Damping Sphere to Unmoored Ego—Sultai has what it takes to get the job done and is our pick for this weekend.
Drake and Harlan
Pioneer Mono-Black Aggro
| Creatures (28) 4 Bloodsoaked Champion 4 Dread Wanderer 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion 4 Scrapheap Scrounger 3 Mogis’s Marauder 4 Murderous Rider 3 Rankle, Master of Pranks 2 Spawn of Mayhem Spells (8) 4 Fatal Push 4 Thoughtseize | Lands (24) 4 Castle Locthwain 4 Mutavault 15 Swamp 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Sideboard (15) 2 Shadowspear 2 Agonizing Remorse 1 Doom Blade 1 Grasp of Darkness 1 Legion’s End 1 Noxious Grasp 1 Ultimate Price 2 Aethersphere Harvester 4 Leyline of the Void |
Uh oh, looks like Harlan has a new victim lined up for this weekend. All joking aside, we feel that Mono-Black is being underrated after having a poor showing at the recent Players Tour events. This deck combines good pressure, good disruption, and a little bit of card advantage which has always been a recipe for success in eternal formats.
The main draw to Mono-Black is that we believe that Dimir Inverter will be the most represented archetype this weekend at SCG Indy, and while not by much, Black is a favorite in the matchup. While taking a pretty big hit in the Sultai Delirium matchup when making the switch, you do swing a few other common matchups from being fine to bad to being good, some of those being: Bant Spirits, Lotus Breach, and Mono-White Devotion.