The First Pioneers

"Gotta find a card that 2 for 1s for meeee, Card to keep me drawin, drawin and keeping my synergyyyy   Won't you take me to, Value Town? Won't you take me to, Value Town??" - Icatian Moneychanger bedtime song You can't blame those moneychangers for knowing value when they see it. When a effect gives you a board advantage, draws you a lot of resources, or is able to be used again and again, we call...

We all have our pet decks, our favorite colors, or our favorite cards. We love them so much that sometimes we just can't see that they are bad. Blinded by our affection, sometimes the only way we can be made to see how we went wrong is with some tough love. Personally, I'm too much of a Timmy player to deal out that kind of pain, but luckily resident MTGO grinder and voice of reason Harry13SCO has...

As more and more people flock to Pioneer, prices are heating up and inventory is going down. So where does that leave people wanting to get into the format? When the popularity of Modern hit a fever pitch a few years back, prices in the format got a little out of control as stock dried up. Wizards knew they had to do something to address the lack of inventory and get cards into the hands of player...

MTGO Grinder and Pioneer Twitch all-star Conorman11 joins us on The First Pioneers this week to talk about what's been happening in the format since Streets of New Capenna came out. We go over recent results, new cards making waves, resurrected archtypes, and how it will all fit together when Pioneer organized play finally starts next month. Listen for some valuable insight on deck selection and w...

One different card, one different line, and the entire way of playing a deck can change. If I told you that there were various versions of decks within the same colors with the same cards, would you believe me?   What started as an idea to help new players evolved into what I'd like to call, "metashifting". Have you ever found your deck hated out of the format or your local meta? Do you only have...

Pioneer is one of the most fun (and affordable) eternal Magic the Gathering formats out there, and while the number of players grows daily it still hasn't reached its full potential. Wizards of the Coast's Arena team released a new format last week called "Explorer", which eventually will turn into the Pioneer format we know and love on this somewhat 'free' platform. But should you play it?   In t...

Demon, Cats, and Angels oh my! EkerossMTG joins us again after a long break to talk about Streets of New Capenna Pioneer brews (and the people who love them). We go over a variety of archetypes, both new and old, and discuss if some of these new cards finally give some decks what they needed to win. Listen and choose which brew you think is the best, and then join us on Twitter or Discord to share...

Is Streets of New Capenna good for Pioneer? Is it bad? Which cards will probably see play and which cards could start a new archetype? MTGO grinder and recent Face to Face games event winner Dreams of Ashiok (@DreamsofAshiok on Twitter) joins Ryan and Kevin on The First Pioneers to walk these "streets" and to recruit some hired muscle for our favorite Magic the Gathering format. Find out if your f...

Or at least I'd like to think that we know what cards you need for Pioneer if you're getting into the format. We've been doing Pioneer set reviews for longer than I care to remember, and we also went over every plane in Pioneer before Eldraine came out, breaking down all of the mechanics, staples, and playable cards in each. That, coupled with our constant contact with MTGO greats like Harry13SCO,...

We prayed so hard for Wizards to give some relevancy to Pioneer over the last two years and after some teasing (the challenger decks) and some hiccups (never getting Pioneer on Arena), finally our prayers were answered in the form of the new Organized Play system. If you're a new player you're probably not sure what organized play is and wondering what this means for you. If you're a Pioneer playe...

Before 5 Color Humans could run in Pioneer, they had ClaudiohMTG holding their hands to help them walk. He was an early supporter of the archetype and along with his and a few others' efforts, a new deck was born. The deck isn't quite fully optimized just yet but it's close and with a few missing lands and one or two key cards it should be able to take down any kind of event! Whether you're a fan...

Competitive Pioneer made its return to Paper Magic in the USA at the Star City Games Open and 5k and The First Pioneers wanted to have a good look at all the decks that were being played at the event. While it was part of a team event, Pioneer fans should still get a lot of great data and information about the format from the results. We also took a look at the 5K event the following day as well....

We had originally planned to have Harry13SCO on last weekend for another topic but when the Lurrus ban in Pioneer was announced we dropped everything to record our take on it. Aside from the obvious discussion on what decks will be getting worse without our favorite ethereal feline, we also talked about what decks would get better, which 3 drops might see play in aggro decks now that there's no lo...

The closer Pioneer moves to the mainstream the higher the price of decks are going to become, but that doesn't mean you still can't play some of the best decks in the format. While the $300 average price tag of Pioneer decks are relatively cheap compared to other eternal formats like Modern and Legacy, it's still a hefty amount for some people which is why we at The First Pioneers like to make che...

It's been a while since we had our good friend and MTGO grinder Harry13SCO (Martin Porter) on so we thought we'd ask him to stop by and give us his thoughts on how the Kamigawa Neon Dynasty Pioneer metagame is shaping up. Well he had some thoughts, and then had some more. Martin gives us a great in-depth look at how the metagame started when Kamigawa was released, as well as how it has continued t...

The Kamigawa Neon Dynasty metagame is starting to heat up so The First Pioneers thought we should talk about some of the fun new decks everybody is playing as well as how our picks did in our set review episode. We also thought it was a good time to talk about making a Pioneer Gauntlet. Many of the decks in the current metagame have been around for more than a few seasons so it would make sense to...

With a set leaning heavily on technology and the futuristic, you can be sure that there will upgrades galore in the Pioneer format. But technology also brings changes. Old tech becomes obsolete and things that used to work very well in the past are now thrown away. In this week's episode MTGO grinder and streamer ClaudiohMTG joins us again to talk about what cards he's excited to brew with, how he...

The Pioneer format continues to grow and draw in new players. Decks are being optimized and new strategies are being made viable every week. Even with all this remarkable growth there is still a lot of exploring yet to be done and with Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty the format is set to expand once more. Twitch streamer and MTGO grinder EkerossMTG joins us this time to talk about what cards he's excited f...

With Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty just around the corner, the First Pioneers wanted to get a jump on some of the new cards and mechanics and talk about what kind of impact the newest Magic the Gathering set will have on the Pioneer format. We're happy to welcome back returning guest ClaudiohMTG to talk about his recent experiences in Pioneer, his thoughts on the Pioneer Mana Traders invitational, as wel...

No, we're not remaking the classic Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah rom com, this week we're discussing "splashing" a color into Pioneer decks. We want to explore what it means to splash a 2nd or 3rd color into an existing deck, what impact a splash of color can make, which cards are worth adding another color for, and which deck could improve with another color. If your brew hasn't been doing as well a...

The Pioneer format is heating up and with more events firing online and more events being held in Paper, there's a good chance you're going to be doing some tournaments this year. While the format is diverse and there are various builds of individual archetypes out there, every once in a while you will face the dreaded mirror match. If you're joining the metagame, and not attacking it, then you be...

ClaudiohMTG, streamer and S-tier MTGO player, joins us to wind down the Crimson Vow Pioneer season and to talk about what the future holds for the format. In this week's episode we go over how the format has evolved since the most recent set was released, the latest results from large events like the Pioneer PTQ at the start of January, how the SCG event announcement will affect paper Pioneer, as...

In our last episode of 2021, the First Pioneers thought we'd wrap up the year with another look at the mechanics of Pioneer. Having already finished talking about the Planes of Pioneer, we thought it would be a good idea to talk about how the newer mechanics fit into the format from Ikoria forward. New mechanics mean new opportunities and we don't want to miss a chance. So which of the newer mecha...

We've been putting together Pioneer 101 shows for a while now to help new players and curious ones who want to know more about the decks of the Pioneer format, so it seemed like a perfect idea for our 101st episode. This also coincided with one of the most prestigious Vampire players making their comeback to Pioneer so of course we had to ask EkerossMTG to come on two weeks in a row to tell us whe...

The were many ups and downs in 2021 for Magic the Gathering but after some shaky footing in 2000, the Pioneer format hit the ground running and never looked back. We had some bans, some new decks, some brave new strategies, but most of all we had a record number of players turn to the format. Just what lies in store for Pioneer in the future? Special guest EkerossMTG makes his triumphant return to...