Top 8 Pioneer Cards from Streets of New Capenna

Pioneer has exploded in popularity since Wizards announced that it would be the format of the returning Pro Tour. Streets of New Capenna looks to update several existing decks in the format without turning Pioneer on its head. As such, I’m not ranking these eight cards, as most of them are role-players.

Extraction Specialist

Extraction Specialist is a competitively costed Human with lifelink that has a powerful ability. There are two places I expect it to be tried out: Humans and Winota.

In Humans, reanimating a Thalia’s Lieutenant is a powerful play; by the time the Lieutenant is big enough to attack, the Specialist will have died or the game will be over. However, the Humans deck already has a crowded three-drop slot packed with Mantis Rider and Reflector Mage. For as long as Winota is a dominant deck, I doubt Specialist gets played over Reflector Mage. If the format shifts toward more interactivity, then Extraction Specialist might get a chance to shine.

Ledger Shredder

Ledger Shredder has a ton of things going for it. First off, it has three toughness, which means it dodges Flame-Blessed Bolt and a non-Spell Mastery Fiery Impulse. In UR, it's most likely home, you are almost always casting two spells a turn, which means this grows to a 2/4 almost immediately. But it also fills the graveyard, which is the other thing the UR deck wants to do in order to fuel Treasure Cruise / Dig Through Time, Temporal Trespass, and Arclight Phoenix. But it also triggers on the opponent’s turn! In a UR mirror, if only one player sticks a Shredder, that player is almost definitely winning the game.

Space is certainly tight in the UR decks, and there’s still much exploration being done with the lists. Thing in the Ice is likely too valuable against Winota and Green Devotion to be cut, which means Shredder is competing with Arclight Phoenix / Crackling Drake / Narset, Parter of Veils. I’m confident, however, that Ledger Shredder will find a home somewhere; fueling Delve, growing into a massive, evasive beater, and generating card selection all on a two-mana card is too appealing to ignore.

Tenacious Underdog

With abs like that, I’m not sure how anyone could think that this dude is an Underdog. The same could be said for its abilities; this card is fine as a vanilla beater on Turn 2, but in the late game, Tenacious Underdog is a one-card engine, generating damage, card advantage, and a mana sink. It also combines nicely with Ob Nixilis, the Adversary, providing high-power sacrifice fodder for the planeswalker. Furthermore, Ob Nixilis’s life gain offsets the life loss from the Underdog; these two cards belong together.

In Standard, something like this seems almost certain to manifest. In Pioneer, RB Midrange could be interested. The current two-drop in the deck is Bloodtithe Harvester, which similarly provides early pressure and late-game card selection (rather than advantage), and can also act as a removal spell. RB’s late-game plan has typically revolved around Kroxa, Titan of Hunger’s Death, and planeswalkers like Chandra, Torch of Defiance. There does appear to be room; the RB deck typically has around 4-5 flex spots that have been filled with mopey cards like Duress, Angrath’s Rampage, and Collective Brutality. I’m looking forward to trying out this really-not-an-Underdog!

Giada, Font of Hope

Pioneer Angels is a powerful shell that fell off with the rise of UW Control, Lotus Field, and RB Midrange. Uninterrupted, Angels can build a board unrivaled by any deck in the format, simultaneously climbing to hundreds of life. The two problems with the deck are 1) it kills more slowly than combo decks like Lotus Field and Jeskai Ascendancy and 2) it’s weak to a pile of removal and/or sweepers.

Giada supercharges the Angels shell, filling out the two-drop slot occupied by Bishop of Wings and Youthful Valkyrie. However, it seems unlikely that Giada solves any of the deck’s fundamental problems. It doesn’t speed up the kill sufficiently, nor does it deal with sweepers. The Angels deck has two options to shore up these weaknesses: Book of Exalted Deeds + Mutavault combo can insulate from opposing combos, but is likely still too slow. Alternatively, a Blue or Black splash could provide interaction to fight spell-based decks.

Giada enhances all the deck’s current strengths, but I’m skeptical it will be the missing piece that pushes Angels into playability.

Strangle

Strangle isn’t flashy, but it’s efficient. Fatal Push remains the premier one-mana removal of the format, but Strangle joins Bloodchief’s Thirst and Portable Hole as powerful sorcery-speed alternatives.

Three damage for one mana gives the ability to cleanly kill a Mayhem Devil or a Bonecrusher Giant. If there is an uptick in Mayhem Devils, then I anticipate that Strangle will become quite popular; in the absence of that, then Strangle is simply one more option for removal. It doesn’t kill Thing in the Ice, Winota, or Old-Growth Troll, which means that it’s mostly hitting the same things as Flame-Blessed Bolt and Fiery Impulse, but doing it at sorcery speed. You may see a couple of Strangles here and there, but I don’t anticipate it overtaking other removal without a rise of Devils.

Ob Nixilis, the Adversary

Ob Nixilis is absurdly powerful if you’re ahead, and absurdly disappointing if you’re behind. This feature of the planeswalker limits the decks that it can go in. RB Midrange, for example, is aggressively slanted, sure, but tends to play longer, grindier games. Ob may be decent as a two-of, but I don’t expect it to be a playset in the more midrangey build.

Anvil and aggro, on the other hand, may be more inclined to include Ob. A deck like Monoblack Aggro (the older build, not Vampires) plays 2-power one drops (Dread Wanderer, Bloodsoaked Champion) that return from the graveyard later in the game. Scrapheap Scrounger does something similar at two mana. This means the deck can play an aggressive game that pressures opposing life totals, double the Ob Nixilis by sacrificing a recurring threat, and then continue to pressure. Thoughtseize and Fatal Push keep the coast clear, and Ob might provide the reach and durability that the deck previously struggled with.

Unfortunately, we still don’t have a RB Fastland in Pioneer (fingers crossed for reprint when we inevitably return to New Phyrexia next year), which means we have to rely on Blightstep Pathway and Blood Crypt (and maybe Haunted Ridge *vomit*) for a Red splash. With tough mana requirements, the deck may need to cut Mutavault, which was previously a strong point.

Ob is powerful, and it will see play somewhere; whether that be Anvil, Aggro, or something grindier, I believe that the planeswalker will become a niche staple in Pioneer.

Tainted Indulgence

Tainted Indulgence alongside Faithful Mending gives the Esper Greasefang decks a critical mass of discard outlets for Parhelion while also digging to Greasefang. Indulgence is even better because of its ability in the late game to net you cards, finding you more Greasefangs and Parhelions. This is the most straightforward addition from SNC; will it push Greasefang into Tier 1? Probably not, as the deck is still super soft to graveyard hate and instant-speed removal. But it will make the deck stronger by improving its consistency, which was the major weakness keeping it down. Now that consistency is solved, Greasefang builders can focus more on what to do when the opponent plays a Rest in Peace or an Unlicensed Hearse.

Unlicensed Hearse

Unlicensed Hearse will be a Pioneer staple for as long as there are graveyard decks. Hearse is colorless, giving non-White colors access to strong hate, it eats the graveyard at a fast enough rate to slow Delve, and it can just kill the opponent in the late game. This card is fast, efficient, and powerful. This weekend, multiple Winota decks in the Pioneer Challenge on MTGO were already playing 3x Hearse in their sideboards, as was Monoblue Spirits. Because it leaves your graveyard untouched, I would expect Greasefang decks to also pick it up for the mirror if Greasefang rises in popularity.

Cheap, colorless, powerful. Historically, this has been a recipe for success, and I don’t anticipate this time being any different.

Ryan Normandin is a grinder from Boston who has lost at the Pro Tour, in GP & SCG Top 8's, and to 7-year-olds at FNM. Despite being described as "not funny" by his best friend and "the worst Magic player ever" by Twitch chat, he cheerfully decided to blend his lack of talents together to write funny articles about Magic.