Howdy Partners! This week the First Pioneers put on our cowboy boots, holster our six-shooters, and straighten the brim of our Stetson hats to bring you the Pioneer set review for Outlaws of Thunder Junction! We go over what cards are going to make a splash in the format, which ones will be fun to brew with, and which will ones could end up being role players. After listening be sure to stop by our Discord or Twitter to share your top 5 or to talk about what cards you're most excited to play...

It's been quite a while since we talked about one drops in the Pioneer format (almost 3 years to be exact. Strixhaven had just come out!), but with the recent influx of powerful and useful one drops in Pioneer we felt it was time to revisit the topic! The First Pioneers talk about what used to be good, what new one drops have joined the previous ones, what one drops have potential, and which one drops are stuck in limbo with no decks to go into. If you're looking for some cards to brew with,...

Vampires had been counted out of Pioneer for a while. It was a fun deck and one of people's favorite typal strategies, but it hadn't been relevant for a while. That all changed last weekend during Pro Tour Murder at Karlov Manor. Seth Manfield and a team of other players brought resurrected the archetype with Black/Red vampires, backed by the new card Vein Ripper. This new blood proved to be too strong for his competitors and he took down the event. The following week more and more people...

Welcome to a new Pioneer Metagame! Or is it? While a few new cards have snuck their way into Pioneer this season from the newest set, most of the other cards seem to be biding their time and waiting for the right moment to make their move from the shadows. This week the First Pioneers talk about some new brews and updates they have with the cards from Murders at Karlov Manor, and take a look at the early online results before the next major event in Chicago. If you have some cool brews of...

There seems to be a lot of killing going on in Ravnica, but does the Murders at Karlov Manor set have any killer cards for Pioneer? This week the First Pioneers team once again breaks down all of the cards in the newest set and talks about their potential impact in Pioneer before making our top 5. As you listen, make your own top 5 and if you think we missed any cards in our review be sure to let us know on Twitter or Discord afterwards!   Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH Our...

After a slow winter vacation for The First Pioneers and the Pioneer format, both of us are ready to get back into the swing of things. Murder is afoot in Ravnica and a group of magical gumshoes are on the case. While that's about the extent of my knowledge of the story for the next set, what we DO know is that Murders at Karlov Manor is bringing back some older mechanics as well as introducing some brand new ones. Since we'll be devoting our next episode entirely to the full spoiler of cards,...

Pioneer has had some good and bad things happen in 2023, so in this final episode of the year we go over what we think had positive impacts on the format, as well as what things hurt it. We also go over our hopes for Pioneer in 2024, our favorite cards of 2023, and our favorite decks of 2023! See if your favorite things made the list and if they didn't, stop in to your Discord or Twitter and let us know!   Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer You...

"Welcome backYour ban was your ticket outWelcome back to that same old placeThat you hovered aboutWell, the card names have all changedSince you flew aroundBut those decks have remainedAnd they've turned aroundWho'd have thought they'd need you(Who'd have thought they'd need you)Back here where we loot with you(Back here where we loot with you)Yeah, we squeeze him in a lotCause we got him in the 2 slotWelcome backWelcome backWelcome backWelcome backWelcome backWelcome back"   Johhann...

It's been an exciting time in Pioneer since Lost Caverns of Ixalan was released. The format has seen new decks, new cards, and new strategies pop up all over the place. Aside from doing our usual brew episode, we added in a deep discussion on two of the best new decks this season: Explore Combo and Discover Combo. The decks seem like they are here to stay and we wanted to talk about the current iterations and where they go from here. We also talked about which cards from our set review panned...

There was quite a bit of apprehension about the newest Magic the Gathering set after recent misfires, but to say that people aren't excited about the Lost Caverns of Ixalan set would be an understatement. While people expected a number of typal strategies to get better (such as Merfolk, Vampires, etc), I think people didn't expect the sheer number of cards that would compliment existing strategies in Pioneer. There are also a number of cards that could spawn their own decks themselves, and a...

This week's special bonus episode wraps up the Wilds of Eldraine Pioneer metagame and goes over the mechanics of the Lost Caverns of Ixalan. A lot has changed in Pioneer since the start of October and in this episode we take a macro look at the format to see how it's changed, why it changed, and also discuss the difference between the paper and digital metagames. We dive deep into the combo and midrange decks that made a splash this season, and also talk about control's downfall (even before...

With the Boros Pia, Boros Convoke, and even Boros Burn (way back in the day), the only Boros (red/white) deck we hadn't covered yet on The First Pioneer's podcast was Boros Heroic. It was never really a player in the Pioneer format, just showing up from time to time when the metagame conditions were right. But with the printing of Monstrous Rage in Wilds of Eldraine, the deck seems to have reached a tipping point and has put up some interesting results. While the deck probably won't ever be...

No, you didn't read that episode title wrong. This week we did our first ever "draft" of the best cards, our favorite cards, or cards we just straight up "vibe" with in the Pioneer format. But it's not a draft in the essence of how people in Magic the Gathering usually draft. This episode is probably more closely related to a sports draft where we can pick any card we want from a card type as long as nobody else has already chosen it. We're also not drafting these to play them together in a...

After all the talk players made about which Wilds of Eldraine cards would break out in the new season of Pioneer, we finally have some initial results and they are quite promising! Join the First Pioneers as we take a look at some recent events and talk about how the newest cards to the Pioneer format are making some waves in the metagame! If you're gearing up for a big tournament and want a snapshot of the new meta or are putting together some decks and want to know what's good, be sure to...

Updates, upgrades, and new decks galore in this episode of The First Pioneers! We go over no less than 10 Pioneer decks total this week and showcase a variety of archetypes such as combo, aggro, and midrange that have added in new Wilds of Eldraine cards (Sorry, no control brews this time). In no particular order, we go over: GR Bard Class RW Shrapnel Blast RW Convoke Jund Adventures GB Knights UG Manlands Enchanties 5 color Beanstalk GB Fight Club Doom Foretold Pact Be sure to listen how the...

The next set has finally dropped and The First Pioneers are ready to head deep into the woods with the Wilds of Eldraine! As always we focus on the cards we think will have the biggest impact on the Pioneer format, talk about which archetypes will get a boost, and give our Top 5 picks we think will make a splash. After listening, if you want to drop your own Top 5 picks from Wilds of Eldraine, be sure to visit our Discord or let us know on Twitter!   Our...

Gen Con in Indianapolis dropped A LOT of information about the future of Magic the Gathering, or at least one heck of a timeline of new sets that will be affecting the Pioneer format when they release. Before we jump into the Wilds of Eldraine next show, we want to invite you to go over all the new sets that were announced and talk about their potential impact on our favorite eternal format. In this episode we talked about what these new sets are going to be about, what kind of themes we can...

Pioneer players were met with the news that there would be NO cards banned or restricted in Wizards of the Coast's annual ban announcement this week, deflating a lot of people's hope that the format would have some new life breathed into it after a draining season of qualifiers against Mono Green devotion, Rakdos, and various combo and control decks. We at The First Pioneers had been taking it easy this summer making content so we could focus on self care and enjoying a slower pace of life...

One of the great things about Pioneer is that new decks are still being discovered every season. While it might now be at the same frequency as the format's early years, you can still count on things to be shaken up from time to time. Color combinations of all types have found strategies to play, and since we finished most of the land cycles, mana bases have never been better. But not all color combinations have been so fortunate. For every Rakdos or Azorious archetype, color combinations...

As the end of the Pioneer regional qualifier season draws to a close, The First Pioneers go over the most recent results from the last 2 weeks of events and talk about the future of the Pioneer format. While the majority of Pioneer players probably think that the format is fine, many people would be happy to see it change too. But what are the problems that Wizards of Coast needs to fix in Pioneer and how should they fix them? There's always room for improvement and we give Wizards of the...

The First Pioneers aren't some group of jive turkeys. We're cooler than cool, hipper than hip, and if you want to play a card nobody else plays in Pioneer, we can dig it. In fact, we love to dig up new things to do in the format. After our last show's topic on Boros Convoke, we wanted to expand on Knight Errant of Eos' ability to "dig" for cards. Were there any other cards that could do the same type of thing in Pioneer? What kind of ways can you "dig" through your deck? After discussing the...

The Boros Convoke deck has made big waves in Pioneer over the last few weeks but not everybody has been able to wrap their heads around it. As with every other new deck that breaks onto the scene, at first it seems broken and unstoppable. But is it? Does it have any bad match ups? And what about its good ones? What are the main cards of the deck and what is the best deck list? This week The First Pioneers give you the total run down on this new strategy and talk about its place in the new...

This week The First Pioneers hop into the way back machine to revisit some of the best decks the Pioneer format has ever seen to talk about what made them tick, what the format lost when the decks disappeared, and what happened to the deck's cards when the deck was forgotten. We believe it's time to take another look at some of those past strategies and cards to see if they could have life once more in the Pioneer format in some other shape or form. While we were on the topic of cards that...

This Mother's Day, skip out on the flowers and candies and get her something special, like a break down of the Pioneer metagame leading up to March of the Machines Aftermath. She'll be grateful for your thoughtfulness and happy that you care (about Magic the Gathering). While short, the MOM metagame created a lot of innovation and added a lot of new lines of play to a wide variety of decks. But will the new decks and cards stick around as the Aftermath cards shake things up yet again? Will we...