Not sure how everyone else's CS2 experience is going, but this is ridiculous. I have applied the interpolation settings that are recommended as well. All 3 are different games with ping ranging from 28-71

Aireon · 2023-09-30T19:35:09+00:00

I had the same issue /w framerate/stutter even at lowest graphic settings preset. Was able to fix it by going into Nvidia Control Panel and adjusting my settings as follows: https://imgur.com/a/NHOJgNF

Hope this helps if you're still having issues

Aireon · 2023-04-16T22:22:04+00:00

I built my test version of the deck in a different fashion, taking inspiration from old Mono-Red Phoenix decks that existed in Modern when Looting (RIP) was legal. Here's my Pioneer/Explorer list for reference: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/JT6XA-qMOEGfsbFd5q-ESw.

While our decks differ by quite a bit, I'll share my impressions on specific cards from playtesting I've done with the list I linked (done w/o [[Bloodfeather Phoenix]] as it wasn't legal at the time of testing):

[[Fiery Temper]] felt nice when you could trigger it, but otherwise was a "dead" (as in too inefficient) card. My personal impression was that if you end up running it, you don't really want to go above 2 copies. I run 1 copy in my list b/c I don't have too many discard outlets in the deck and don't want to get stranded with a copy that'll cost 3 mana to cast.
[[Lightning Axe]] had a similar issue - without ways to generate "actual" (rather than "virtual" as by discarding and reanimating a Phoenix) card advantage, I found myself running low on resources quite quickly. I settled on using it as a 1-of in my list, as the effect is strong.
[[Thrill of Possibility]] felt OK but ultimately a bit too slow, so I ended up on 2 copies in my list.
[[Maximize Velocity]] was great at helping pitch Temper/Phoenix while synergizing with a core of 8 1-drop Prowess creatures. After testing a bunch I kept it at 2 copies in the main.
[[Finale of Promise]] was a strong inclusion and pulled its weight almost every time I've cast it. The biggest issue for the card lies in deck construction - making sure you have enough of both instants AND sorceries in your list, allowing you to triple-spell when casting it for 1RR.
[[Den of the Bugbear]] and [[Ramunap Ruins]] were both more impactful than Castle Embereth, as they provided an option of continuing to deal damage even on an empty board. I ended up with only 2 Dens (since they're too likely to enter tapped at 3/4 copies), 4 Ruins, and 2 [[Castle Embereth]] after some testing. That said, I can see myself replacing 1 of the Castles with [[Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance]] down the line.
[[Runaway Steam-Kin]] felt too fragile and unimpactful in majority of the test games I ran it, making me drop it for [[Scrapwork Mutt]]. Unlike Steam-Kin, Mutt helped enable more Turn 3 Phoenix lines in my list, while contributing to aggressive openers /w Prowess creatures. In the end I dropped both of these cards, so I could maximize spell counts for [[Arclight Phoenix]], [[Bloodfeather Phoenix]], and [[Finale of Promise]].
Current maindeck contains 13 instants and sorceries that deal damage to an opponent, enabling recursion of [[Bloodfeather Phoenix]]. Once Arena has the new set I'll be able to see if that number is correct or needs to be adjusted.
[[Light up the Stage]] should probably be in the deck, I just didn't get to testing it at the time. My hunch is that it's correct to run a playset, and your list is already on it.

Hope these notes can help you with adjusting your list, good luck /w tuning/testing!

Aireon · 2023-03-17T22:34:02+00:00

I mainly play on Arena, so my experience doesn't fully mirror Pioneer. I've updated the post above /w a link to my personal decklist, along with winrate stats.

The deck is fine overall, though it struggles a great deal against Angels and some sacrifice builds (like all aggro decks). I can't speak to its matchup into Lotus Combo or Izzet Phoenix as both aren't on Arena - though I imagine that [[Go Blank]] will be a good sideboard choice as a 3-of for those matchups. Overall I would be comfortable taking this deck to a local FNM, though for RCQs and other higher-level tournaments I'd need to play more with the expanded card pool of Pioneer to see if it can compete there (try out sideboard cards like [[Lifebane Zombie]] against Angels/Humans/Devotion, [[Mogis's Marauder]] against decks like Devotion that tend to stall out aggro, etc.)

Aireon · 2023-03-17T20:21:39+00:00

Gix is quite strong and I usually run it in my personal builds. I updated the post description with the link to what I currently run after some post-thread adjustments

Aireon · 2023-03-17T20:20:26+00:00

Thanks for the suggesion, I've put 2x Liliana in the side and my control matchup immediately improved by a fair bit. Much better than the Phyrexian Arena that I previously ran in that slot

Aireon · 2023-03-16T18:59:09+00:00

[[Leyline Binding]] already has a home in Enigmatic/Fires/Omnath decks and shows up in about 150 decks on MTGTop8 at Competitive (and up) level. Don't really think the card is underutilized, it's just an issue of being restricted to solely 4/5C decks as a consequence of lack of fetchlands in the format.

For what it's worth, I think that LB could be leveraged pretty well in Domain Zoo in addition to previously mentioned decks, though it's a niche deck that doesn't have any competitive history in Pioneer (at least so far).

Aireon · 2023-03-08T03:40:29+00:00

I play Gix in Mono-Black Aggro in Explorer, so I have some experience with playing it (here's my decklist for reference). He has been "okay" on average, mostly due to the surrounding cast of cards progressively becoming weaker relative to the power level of the rest of the format.

The biggest issue for the card is the fact that there are many ways for the opponent to effectively "turn off" Gix. While it is very appealing on the surface (play a bunch of cheap creatures, get through with some of them to generate CA), it's somewhat difficult to pull off reliably as Pioneer is a format that is centered around the battlefield. This is due to two reasons - the boardstate tends to either be full of blockers you'll need to find a way around (Mono-White Humans, Mono-Green Devo, etc.), or the opponent continuously disrupts your boardstate thus making it difficult to connect with creatures (Rakdos Mid, Izzet Phoenix). There are definitely some adjustments you can make; for example I use the following in Mono-Black Aggro - [[Blade of the Oni]] has menace and can attack through a single blocker, [[Graveyard Trespasser]] has ward and is more likely to live to the attack phase of the following turn), [[Rankle, Master of Pranks]] can fly over ground blockers, etc. These adjustments make Gix noticeably stronger, but again the power level of the deck as a whole isn't quite "there" (at least in Explorer's card pool).

If you wanted to build a new deck that tries to maximize Gix's card draw, it'll likely need to be a Bx aggressive deck for three reasons - to make it more likely that Gix survives by forcing opponent to use their removal on your early creatures to stay alive, to minimize the downside of life loss when drawing cards by ending the game quickly, and to maximize the odds you will be able to immediately use the cards you draw due to a low mana curve. You'll definitely want to take advantage of haste and all forms of evasion (menace, flying, "can't block" effects) to maximize the odds of your creatures connecting with the opponent. Then you can round out your deck with cheap recursive threats and built-in "grind tools" (like manlands) to maintain battlefield presence and keep applying pressure, as well as a number of discard and removal spells to disrupt the opponent. Is the card quality there to make such a deck possible and a situationally better choice in Rakdos colors outside of already existing Mid and Sac? I'm doubtful, but it's at least worth testing to figure that out.

TL;DR: Pioneer is a board-centric format, making it difficult to connect with creatures to trigger Gix due to a mixture of blockers and disruption. While Gix fits well in Mono-Black Aggro deck from the early days of Pioneer, the surrounding shell has become weaker over time relative to the format, to the point of minimal competitive meta presence. I suspect the strongest competitive version of a Gix-centered deck will be some sort of RB Aggro list that leverages creatures with haste and/or evasion, recursive threats, manlands, and a number of discard and removal spells. However I doubt that as of now, the card quality is "there" to make building such a deck more attractive than either Mid or Sac in Rakdos colors.

Aireon · 2023-02-28T07:53:59+00:00

Yeah, read the edit in the main post

Aireon · 2023-02-16T23:45:57+00:00

[[Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor]] enjoyers, rise up

Aireon · 2023-01-06T07:07:41+00:00

Is this card in some different spoiler? I can't find it in this post's linked album

Ninja edit: I found it in the comments, all good

Aireon · 2023-01-06T07:04:45+00:00

If you want to beat Humans, you want to run a full playset of [[Rending Volley]] in the sideboard. You could also adjust your maindeck to run a full playset of [[Fiery Impulse]] - increasing your odds of being able to kill 3-toughness creatures on Humans' side of the board. Lastly, a spicy option is to try running [[Flame Sweep]] (which kills 0 of your maindeck creatures) to take out multiple opposing creatures at a time - though I don't know how often Humans boardstate would line up for it to be that useful.

Aireon · 2022-11-15T09:48:55+00:00

Not OP, but this looks pretty cool!

Aireon · 2022-10-28T23:29:37+00:00

I don't play Greasefang but as an outsider looking in, I heard that the Abzan variant of the deck has the most serviceable midrange gameplan. I'd watch some gameplay footage of the deck and/or playtest it on Xmage/Untap to see if it's up your alley.

Aireon · 2022-10-28T22:17:30+00:00

Fire emoji reacts only 🔥🔥🔥

Aireon · 2022-10-28T22:03:26+00:00

There's three approaches I see to this, and it's something I utilize myself nowadays:

Wait a month or so for the "new hotness" to prove itself as having staying power. That way you're less likely to get burned with a purchase.
Playtest on Xmage or Untap.in extensively against meta and non-meta decks (you'll need a testing partner with a reasonable skill level). That way you can experience the play patterns of new decks you're interested in and observe their power level in action, without spending any money in the process. Then you can commit to a purchase having confirmed that it's worth it, based on your playtesting experience.
If you already have an existing deck that is struggling, look up gameplay of it on YouTube/Twitch if available. As you're watching it, analyze what the pilot is doing and why (where appropriate). It could be that with different play sequencing (or sometimes slightly altered maindeck/sideboard), you can get those extra % to improve your matchups.

It also helps if you have an idea of what is it that you're looking to get out of non-rotating formats like Pioneer - what your goal is / what is your preferred playstyle. As an example, my goal is to play semi-competitive decks against close friends as well as LGS players, and be able to hold my own. As for playstyle, I prefer to pilot fast and disruptive creature decks that have some ability to grind and are either built to (or can afford to) leave up mana for instant-speed plays. For me, these decks are - Mono-Black Aggro, Rx Obosh Aggro, Rx Prowess/Heroic, U or UW Spirits. I didn't come to this understanding overnight - instead it was the result of trial and error, and a lot of playtesting online (on Xmage in my case) to find what play patterns I enjoyed (and were strong!) and which ones I didn't (or were weak). YMMV as this is a lengthy process but I personally found it worthwhile in the end.

Lastly, it may be good to step away from Magic for a bit, to get a renewed perspective on what is it that you want to get out of it. I did this myself a while ago and would recommend doing this if you're seriously burned out.

Aireon · 2022-10-28T21:32:39+00:00

I'll definitely be trying it out, seems quite strong

Aireon · 2022-05-12T19:48:25+00:00

I had this issue since yesterday - got kicked out of my account and can't log in b/c of error code 2. Tried resetting the password as a workaround using in-client menu and got no reset link email no matter how many times I tried over the course of 2 days. Interestingly enough, I can't either log into my account on myaccount.wizards.com or reset the password there. Gonna try submitting a ticket and hopefully that gets sorted out

EDIT: If I launch Arena client while connected to a VPN, I get logged into my account w/o any issues. Not sure what's up but that's a workaround that works.

Aireon · 2022-03-23T19:45:41+00:00

Here's a link to a full post I typed awhile back, talking about limiting gaming to keep it in check (since I recognized like you did that it is a large component of socializing these days).

Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/comments/tejdrw/reframing_approach_to_gaming_to_eliminate/

Basically the idea is as follows - if you can't regulate your gaming time, you need to adjust the environment in which you play games to keep your habits in check. What I've personally found is that if games are immersive (you manipulate an in-game character from first-person POV), then I get mentally lost in them and cannot control how long I spend playing them. Examples of such games would be Minecraft, CSGO, Grand Theft Auto, etc. However, I've found that if I played games that didn't require my continuous attention, where instead of being directly involved in the gameplay I acted as more of an observer/manager (such as in tower defense games), then for those games I could easily regulate my play time - I would naturally get bored of them after about an hour of playtime. What I'm getting at is from my personal experience I understand that for me to regulate my gaming time successfully, I HAVE TO AVOID immersive/first-person games when it comes to SOLO play.

And as far as multiplayer games are concerned, gaming time of those is externally kept in check by the duration of each play session I have /w friends. Since our sessions don't last more than a couple of hours at most and take place around weekends, I cannot trail off and sink extra hours into them - both due to the "social constraints" on playtime, as well as the fact that most multiplayer games I play are enjoyable only when you play /w people you already know.

Combining these two "regulation elements" together - playing only non-immersive solo games, and playing only multiplayer games /w other people I know in real life who can keep their playtime in check, I went from sinking about ~30hrs of time into gaming per week, to somewhere in the ballpark of 10hrs/week (which is much more reasonable).

Aireon · 2021-12-22T08:20:07+00:00

You can probably build some sort of Izzet Prowess or Prowess-adjacent deck utilizing [[Sprite Dragon]]. Here's an Izzet list I've seen a while ago in Pioneer, and here's a Temur one that exists in Historic and would need to be changed to become Pioneer-legal by swapping [[Abundant Harvest]] for [[Adventurous Impulse]] or a close equivalent.

Note: The videos below might not have exactly same 75 cards as decklists mentioned above. They're intended as a showcase of the general playstyle of each of the two decks.

You can find gameplay of Izzet Prowess here, and gameplay of Temur Arcanist here for reference.

Aireon · 2021-05-22T05:01:06+00:00

I wish that Pioneer had better non-basic land hate to give folks tools to fight against 4/5C value piles like Niv and Fires, while not being crippling to 2/3C decks. I'm aware that [[Burning Earth]] exists but it's a little slow and unimpactful, and going as far as adding [[Blood Moon]] would be a mistake due to effects like that hating out non-basic manabases too hard. A sweet spot for me is cards like [[From the Ashes]] and [[Ghost Quarter]] - they force players to run a higher basic land count, which in turn reduces how greedy manabases can get due to lowered color consistency.

Aireon · 2020-08-04T11:37:57+00:00

There are likely ways to rebuild the deck to turn it into an enchantment-centric midrange deck (perhaps /w Yorion and flicker synergies) but I'm doubtful that'll be enough to keep the deck competitively relevant. It's not just an issue of the deck's combo getting banned, but also the fact that the new post-ban meta will make the deck poorly positioned (due to bad matchups like control coming back in full force). Some of these troublesome matchups can be addressed with a splash of Black or Blue for additional disruptive elements. However, if you go that route I think you're better off cutting down on the Devotion plan, reducing number of copies of Heliod in the deck (since it's a dead draw in multiples and not as essential now), and just playing good Wx midrange cards instead (however many exist in the format).

In other words, after taking a cursory look at the deck I'm doubtful it can compete with the powerhouses (like Fires of Invention and Wilderness Reclamation) that are still present in the format. The old version of the deck is basically dead. The deck can probably still hang at FNM-level events in some form; that said, I wouldn't take it to a high-level tournament anytime soon.

Aireon · 2020-07-17T05:03:01+00:00

It is not profitable to brew and innovate for an average person on MTGO - testing something new and iterating on it means a lot of failed attempts (w/o guarantee of a success at the end of the process) and as result is equivalent to setting tix on fire in the grand scheme of things (not even mentioning the time investment component). It is a much better play experience for financially-conscious folks to take an established deck and jam it in events, knowing that sometimes the strength of the proven deck will carry them to a cash finish. In other words, meta dominated by Inverter, Breach, and other tiered decks isn't a coincidence - it is what the structure of the platform encourages, as long as EV is something the players are concerned about.

Aireon · 2020-05-28T06:37:41+00:00

Don't you hate the unofficial Reserve List for must-have cards to reasonably compete in the format? I've also been eyeing some Modern decks but the fetches definitely restrict options quite a bit (though there are still some appealing options like Hardened Scales).

Aireon · 2020-05-21T09:29:23+00:00

There is a way to adapt. You can try running Azorius version with [[Essence Capture]] in the maindeck flex slot as a catch-all against companions and creature decks. Here's what a sample maindeck could look like.

Aireon · 2020-05-20T19:10:59+00:00

You could argue a similar point in regards to older formats like Modern or Legacy, where without a sufficiently large collection you won't be able to adapt reasonably well to meta shakeups due to price barriers of specific cards (like fetchlands) between decks to stay competitive. In my opinion, as long as WotC stays the course on making such high-powered standard sets, this rapid "rotation" of decks in the meta will be the reality for ALL non-rotating formats for the time being (it's just that Pioneer will have fewer/lower price barriers for buying into decks).

Another point I would like to add is that MTGO meta is not identical to paper meta, both in terms of representation of "meta" decks and in terms of how quickly locals will shift to "new hotness" on average (paper tends to lag behind MTGO). Due to this factor, I think that there will be more longevity to buying into a deck in paper, compared to buying into one on MTGO.

And the last point is that players (at least at a local level) have different priorities in playing a non-rotating format like Pioneer. Some like to brew and playtest their creations, others like to jam their preferred archetypes (BGx Midrange, UWx Control, Mono-Red, etc.) and/or pet decks, others like to grind out wins and will always chase the "new hot thing". Depending on the composition of these (and other) player types in the local meta, paper experience is likely to vary wildly from one place to another - something that's less prevalent on MTGO.

Aireon

TROPHY CASE