looking to upgrade a standard deck into pioneer

Pioneer Deck Help forum

Posted on May 12, 2023, 3:21 a.m. by Pickles_of_DOOM

I've been wanting to get into pioneer for a while now but I've kinda lacked the funds/time to start building a deck from scratch, I've tried brewing a simple golgari aggro list, but I don't own many of those cards irl nor do I know how a deck like that would even fair in the pioneer meta.

But the other day I saw my LGS were selling old challenger decks for cheap so I got Mono-Red Aggro from 2021! I figured mono R should be easy make into smth at least playable yknow? So I ask you, humbly, oh wise men of pioneer! How would I turn this mono red aggro list that used to be a standard deck, into pioneer playable!

It doesn't have to be tier 1 ofc, but smth that I can bring to the LGS and be proud of <3 it might be alot to ask for but I'd appreciate any help I can get!

Mono R aggro I'd like to make pioneer

Edit! I've updated the mainboard into something I think could work! Thank you everyone kindly <3 <3 <3

Mono R aggro I'd like to make pioneer V1.1

now's just to tweak the sideboard (and keep an eye how it plays if it needs some changes) but I think I've got that under control, gonna slot in some Rending Volley's, Fry and we'll see what else! it looks like other decks have a one-off Kari Zev's Expertise and some Goblin Chainwhirler's so I might look into that!

plakjekaas says... #2

The best thing to do is probably to lower the curve a bit:

Kumano Faces Kakkazan  Flip is a cheap card that works wonders for the strategy

Play with Fire is a better Shock, and Lightning Strike is a better Roil Eruption

Monastery Swiftspear is probably one of the best red 1-drops ever, and pretty cheap with the BRO reprint. Soul-Scar Mage is pretty similar, no haste, but a chance to progressively kill problematic creatures or mess up combat math with the -1/-1 counters is great.

Den of the Bugbear and Ramunap Ruins can be considered to have some utility in your lands without giving up any colored sources.

Eidolon of the Great Revel is the most expensive card that mono red plays in pioneer right now, that might be a step too far if you're worrying about the budget. But that's probably where you'd want to end up being serious about the deck. In the meantime you could consider cards like Khenra Spellspear  Flip, Kari Zev, Skyship Raider or Bloodfeather Phoenix to make sure chapter 2 of Kumano Faces Kakkazan  Flip goes to use.

You could look up some lists on MTGGoldfish or MTGTop8 to see what's generally played in the mono red decks, and work your way there bit by bit. I think my suggestions should give you plenty inspiration to get started though.

May 12, 2023 6:19 a.m.

Caerwyn says... #3

This thread was moved to a more appropriate forum (auto-generated comment)

May 12, 2023 8:42 a.m.

One of my favorite cards today is Roiling Vortex. I use it in my speed red decks, and I’ll put it in any deck I can that allows red. The one damage per turn is nice, but the ability to turn off life gain is HUGE. Then, as of those weren’t enough, the “5 damage if your opponent casts something without paying mana for it” is wonderful. Battles, cheats, and copies will spontaneously blow your opponent out of the water, seemingly out of nowhere. I can’t recommend this card enough, if you can swing it.

May 12, 2023 12:44 p.m.

Sorry - I didn’t see you had RV in the sideboard. Good call on that, though (as I said) I would be inclined to load four in there in the main loool

May 12, 2023 1:43 p.m.

plakjekaas thank you a ton!! oh gods ramunap ruins that brings back memories of standards long past, might even have one or two! and that khenra damn! Double prowess?? just Kumano faces kakkazan into it is an excellent early game curve :0

May 13, 2023 12:58 a.m.

FormOverFunction I'll be honest I always forget the 5 damage mode on RV x33 it came with the deck, but maybe it's an idea to have one or two in the main and the rest in the side! thank you for the tip <3

May 13, 2023 1:01 a.m.

Stbo says... #8

Can i mix cards from a commander deck with a pioneer deck?

May 31, 2023 3:17 p.m.

legendofa says... #9

Stbo As long as the cards you add are legal in the Pioneer format, then you can use cards from a Commander set in a Pioneer deck.

May 31, 2023 4:44 p.m.

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