Hey Thoughtseize? GO F*CK YOURSELF! (Pioneer MTG Deck)

"Okay, I'll go first. I'll play a Swamp, and tap it to cast Thoughtsieze."
"Okay, I'll cast Collective Brutality choosing the top effect and no others."
Okay, okay, just one more turn, then I can finally cast my Chandra, Awakened Inferno, sweep the board, and start chipping away at his- "I'll just cast Thoughtseize to check out your hand."

I'M SO SICK OF THOUGHTSEIZE! I played my first FNM Pioneer tourney last Friday (and actually my venue's first-ever FNM Pioneer Tournament, so woo-hoo!), 3 out of the 7 games I played were Thoughtseize, Thoughtseize, Thoughtseize, with just a hint of Thoughtseize. Yes mister, please look at my entire hand and tell me exactly what I won't be allowed to cast this game. Oh, that card? The one that was the entire reason I kept this opening hand? Sure WHY NOT!?

So after losing 5 of my 7 matches and 2 of my 3 matchups, I decided to make this little gem, and oh boy! It's good. Now a T1 Thoughtseize, if you go second, is still bad, but T2 or god forbid 3? Oh, man! Just layout that hand and stare at your opponent with a smile. That's right sir, you just paid and 2 life to allow to me cast your choice of a 3cmc B-Wipe, Doomblade, or a freaking Bolt! That's right guys, Bolt is legal in this format, it's disguised as Fiery Temper. Who knew? There are literally 7 cards in this entire deck that we don't want to be discarded (outside of the card draw effects and Agonizing Remorse), and if they do get lost, it'll suck, but so be it. This deck is 77% Thoughtseize proof, and still functional, so it's worth it to me to have a few cards that are vulnerable if they synergize with the deck well.

The deck in a nutshell

This deck is pretty simple. Use cards like Thrill of Possibility to churn through your deck, ditching cards like Fiery Temper for value. There are also four copies of Glint-Horn Buccaneer to synergize with all of the discards, slowly chipping your opponent's life total away. It's amazing! On top of all of that, there's a playset of Reassembling Skeleton as a way to basically pump out infinite chump blockers, as a great way to stop any Titan decks.

Rakdos Tormentor? Yes, yes if dos.

Along with all of the burning effects in the deck, we have three copies of Elusive Tormentor as a nice finisher. It's a 4/4 that can turn into a 0/1 unblockable, Hexproof, Indestructible at instant speed, and a super cheap discard outlet, all for just 4 mana! Four damage every turn is a lot to deal with, on top of all of the burning effects.

SB Swaps

Angrath's Fury in place of the Murderous Compulsion to deal with any Bogles decks.
By Force is a great way to deal with any kind of artifacts matter decks, but I'm yet to see one in my local meta, so I only have one.
Rakdos Charm is a great way to stop Inverter decks, so I'd swap that in over Agonizing Remorses if you find yourself up against one. (Actually considering putting it in the MB because it's so versatile).
Erebos's Intervention against reanimator, dredge, and the accursed Invertor decks. (can also help against Titan decks, but there's a better solution for them, you'll see).
From Under the Floorboards in place of a Skeleton or two when you're up against a go-wide/curve out strategy, and in some cases against burn because the life gain from Floorboards is so good.
Field of Ruin to deal with pesky Field of the Dead decks and the likes.
Slaughter Games to deal with Elder Giant decks (and similar bombs if you see the need). In my first playtest this thing had nothing against a 6/6 that wouldn't stay dead (and life gain is so good against burn), so being able to cast this out early on T4, and uncounterable!!! just name Uro, and boom, all your troubles go away. (Also great against combo decks, name piece, and it's basically gg).
Nahiri's Wrath in the case of Go-Wide decks, and it can also double as Walker removal.

Always alter SB as you see fit to deal with your local meta, however, I feel that Slaughter Games and Nahiri's Wrath are too good for what they do. The permanent removal of nearly any bomb (with no possibility of it getting countered) for just 4 mana is just too good to give up, and a one-sided B-Wipe that can even deal with Super Friends decks (which run rampant at my LGS) is an incredible amount of value.

This deck used to be pretty slow, but after some fine-tuning, it is fast! Considering renaming it to "Sale! 50% Off Throughout!" because it's basically a discount deck now, but I hate Thoughtseize so much, it needs to understand my fury.

Upgrades

Most of the cards in the maybe board are set as upgrades, and this is what I (personally) would swap them for.

If you find the Elusive Tormentor to be a little inconsistent, well then Rotting Regisaur is the thing for you! It is a massive 7/6 for just 3 mana with the small "downside" of discarding at each of your upkeeps. All in all, it's a massive beater with a free discard outlet stapled onto it, but it's bad against Fatal Push, so, just keep that in mind when upgrading, and always consider your own local meta.
Now, I'm still experimenting with Underworld Breach (mass recursion in Red is very dope and very new), but I think it has potential. Might need to shuffle around the fodder in the deck though, and maybe add in 2 Olivia's Dragoons as a nice, free discard outlet.
Lands, lands, lands! This deck needs to be fast and wants enough mana open at any time to cast a madness card should someone Thoughtseize you. Because of that, I recommend slotting in a few copies of Blood Crypt (3-4) in place of some of the basics.
Finally, in the sideboard, I'd probably swap out 2-3 of the Slaughter Games for a few copies of Leyline of the Void, which can shut down a Titan/Dredge deck before the game even begins.

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Revision 2 See all

(4 years ago)

-1	Agonizing Remorse	main
+3	Avacyn's Judgment	main
+1	Elusive Tormentor ^Flip	main
+2	Mountain	main
-1	Reassembling Skeleton	main
-2	Swamp	main
+1	Thrill of Possibility	main
-3	Twins of Maurer Estate	main

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Pioneer legal.
Rarity (main - side)	0 - 1 Mythic Rares 17 - 8 Rares 12 - 6 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.92
Tokens	Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Frontierbreaker, PIONEER, Pioneer, Other People's, Pioneer, Pioneer, Interesting Decks, Rakdos R/B Pioneer, Pioneer Deck Ideas
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