Sideboard


This deck is based on an old standard list I made 10 years ago when Spell Queller and Ulamog's Nullifier were both legal and I had an obsession with negating Spell Queller's downside by putting the exiled cards into my opponent's graveyard. Now in the last few sets, enough cheap and redundant cards that exile have come out to warrant giving it another shot. With the right draw, we will be able to prevent our opponents from resolving a single spell while we dictate the tempo of each turn via potent disruption and permission.

Beating Aggro:

We're going to have to lean heavily on our one and two drops to keep up in the early game, but once we are able to stabilize and reclaim the tempo of the board with our 2-for-1 interaction - it won't be too difficult to turn the corner as long as we play smart. Dreams of Steel and Oil into Deep-Cavern Bat into Wasteland Strangler is usually going to be all that it takes to get us most of the way there. The sideboard has some lovely goodies like Temporary Lockdown, Elspeth's Smite, and another Strangler to ensure the early game is covered post-board.

Beating Midrange:

This should be a great matchup as this deck is designed to strip our opponent's resources early and then deny every relevant spell afterwards, so we actively want our opponent to take their time and attempt to curve out in the midgame. The only times that we'll run into trouble is when they draw too many instant speed removal spells for us to protect against so they can sneak something valuable through our shields. Sideboard however you think will be best, but don't sleep on Assemble the Players to provide crucial late game value.

Beating Control:

This will be our hardest matchup simply because our opponent will most likely not give us any sorcery speed targets to counter with our stack interaction creatures. Our early game hand disruption will be great against them to take out key removal spells and sweepers, but we will have to just play out Spell Quellers and Aven Interrupters as normal flash threats if we are going to put any kind of clock on the opponent. Our sideboard has some better hand control in Thoughtseize, Assemble the Players, and some Dovin's Veto as an un-counterable answer for their only threats.

Beating Combo:

This is the matchup of our dreams and will feel laughably easy to defeat since pretty much all of our cards are interacting with the opponent's hand, stack, graveyard and board. The odds of them combo-ing off on game one are just so incredibly low while we will be pecking them to death in the air as the hope fades from their eyes. Add in any of the good sideboard options to REALLY stop them from combo-ing off and this matchup will be a sinch.

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Casual

93% Competitive

Top Ranked
  • Achieved #2 position in Pioneer 5 months ago
Date added 6 months
Last updated 5 months
Legality

This deck is Pioneer legal.

Rarity (main - side)

0 - 1 Mythic Rares

45 - 6 Rares

14 - 6 Uncommons

Cards 60
Avg. CMC 2.25
Tokens Map, Plot
Folders Pioneer Decks
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