Maze’s End and other gate pay-off cards as a win condition in Pioneer.
THE GAME-PLAN
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Ramp our gates with cards like Arboreal Grazer, Growth Spiral and Circuitous Route.
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Use gate / land pay-off cards for card advantage (e.g. Guild Summit), or to stabilise (e.g.Gates Ablaze).
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Assemble 10 gates and win!
RAMP
Spelunking is a new addition from LCI and feels perfect for this deck! Untapped lands mean e.g. we get to play more cards after our ramp spells as well as activate Maze’s End the turn it comes down.
We play very few creatures in the main deck - they are simply there to push us closer to our end goal of getting the win with Maze’s End.
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim can get us a Maze’s End on ETB or a final gate.
REMOVAL
We play some instant removal spells to deal with Planeswalkers and other threats that can run away with the game - a mix of Get Lost and Otherworldly Light.
4x sweepers in Gates Ablaze are crucial for ruining the fun for creature decks - both large and small. Gatebreaker Ram out of the sideboard (there to either pressure planeswalkers or keep aggro decks at bay) can survive a Gates Ablaze.
VALUE & FLEXIBILITY
Guild Summit is an incredible value engine and is great both early game and as a late draw - as we get cards from lands entering the battlefield or by tapping gates when it comes down. When in play it turns our Maze’s End activations into ‘get a gate, draw a card’ and Circuitous Route nets us four cards instead of two.
Bring to light is amazing in this deck as it acts as additional copies of any of our key spells - sweepers, targeted removal, fetching multiple gates or Maze’s End, or drawing cards. The sideboard takes advantage of this and we can bring in some situational cards as needed!
SIDE-BOARDING
In the sideboard we play a few flexible BTL targets that we can bring in against decks once they take out removal. The most fun one is Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines as it allows us to gain more life or draw more cards from our Omnath, Plaza’s and Guild Summits!
As a very rough sideboard plan:
AGGRO - bring in Gatebreaker Ram and Deafening Clarion.
CONTROL - bring in Dovin’s Veto and Gatebreaker Ram, as well as Kutzil’s Flanker and Omnath, Locus of Creation to help diversify our threats in the face of Field of Ruin, if needed.
MIDRANGE & COMBO - bring in the additional BTL and targets, including Unmoored Ego as needed for combo pieces.
OTHER IDEAS FOR GATES?
There are a couple of deck iterations I have played with - including this more toolbox orientated version here: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mazes-end-bring-to-light-combo-edition-1/
Overall I just love playing Maze’s End as it was the second constructed deck I ever played - when the Return to Ravnica block was in Standard!
I would welcome any advice and suggestions for synergies, tweaks and inclusions. Thank you!
