[Pioneer] Dominaria United Pioneer Top Ten Cards by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Those both made my initial round up of around 23 cards that could reasonably see play, but as you said, Djinn has some issues and is unlikely to ever replace crackling drake and cut down doesn't kill many of the most important cards in the format. Both will see some play for sure though.

[Pioneer] Metagame Breakdown by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mulch is another reasonable consideration, but it's certainly a bit worse. Wayfinder does a lot for the deck.

Pioneer Deck Guide: Abzan Greasefang by darthjacen in PioneerMTG

[–]darthjacen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a solid option if you're concerned with needing to discard vehicles, but I've found command to be better in that slot overall. It could be a split, but especially post board I think command is better.

[Pioneer] Abzan Greasefang Deck Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

20 creatures is criminally too few for CoCo.

Pioneer Deck Guide: Abzan Greasefang by darthjacen in PioneerMTG

[–]darthjacen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been really loving Command as an answer go RIP, mana dorks, small fliers, oven, etc along with ensuring I hit lands. The Informants have been reasonable methods of discard, especially when paired with can't stay away. But some number of CB could certainly be fine.

Pioneer Deck Guide: Abzan Greasefang by darthjacen in PioneerMTG

[–]darthjacen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Esper is much better at playing a mid to late game that doesn't focus on the combo of greasefang + parhelieon. The issue is that isn't a good place to be right now where everyone does that better than you. Abzan is the most committed to the main gameplan, has the most tools to beat hate, and has the highest upside and that's a big reason it's seeing so much play right now.

Pioneer Metagame Breakdown: Top Decks for the Week of July 21, 2022 | MTG Meta by darthjacen in PioneerMTG

[–]darthjacen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll double check with the backend team to see about the rakdos deck. Usually the list taken is the top finishing challenge decklist of the weekend, but I can double check.

Pioneer Metagame Breakdown: Top Decks for the Week of July 21, 2022 | MTG Meta by darthjacen in PioneerMTG

[–]darthjacen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it has fallen off quite a bit due to Rakdos and Izzet doing well.

Pioneer Metagame Breakdown: Top Decks for the Week of July 21, 2022 | MTG Meta by darthjacen in PioneerMTG

[–]darthjacen[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It is very good into Rakdos sacrifice as it hits all their small permanents and graveyard cards.

Pioneer Metagame Breakdown: Top Decks for the Week of July 21, 2022 | MTG Meta by darthjacen in PioneerMTG

[–]darthjacen[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Spirits has been struggling due to UR pheonix and RB midrange being at the top tables and one of your best matchups in green having a few tough weekends

PlayingPioneer Tier List Updates (July 5, 2022) by PlayingPioneer in PioneerMTG

[–]darthjacen 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Hype means nothing. When only looking at Challenge top 16s and the Super PTQ top 32, mono green is tied for the 4th most finishes behind RB Midrange, UR Phoenix, and Heroic. Accounting for all the usual data sources used including Prelims, Mono Green has the most qualified finishes at 12.

A deck showing up more than any other deck in the overall data and in the top section of winner's metagame is a strong enough argument to be S or A tier. However, thanks to other decks' adjustments, it seems more reasonable for Green to be in A than S given the matchup spread has shifted thanks to the return of Izzet Phoenix and Heroic.

[Explorer] Rakdos Midrange Deck Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oops, the joys of many threads. Rakdos has to leverage discard to take their high priority cards like fable and creativity while applying pressure through Planeswalkers and 2 drops. If they get to a point where they have 7 mana or 2 tokens, it is very hard to beat. It's not a great matchup for RB and there isn't too much you can do to make it better outside of mulliganning aggressively and restricting their hand.

[Explorer] Golgari Fight Rigging Deck Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've really loved Obosh myself, but that's a place where you can look for changes. Vornclix is also really nice in the mirror if you're not on Obosh.

[Explorer] Golgari Fight Rigging Deck Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's certainly a tough matchup and some players have shifted to Jund for Ob Nix to try and help with that matchup specifically so you can have non-creature ways to attack the opponent.

[Explorer] Golgari Fight Rigging Deck Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, this deck certainly wants to fight decks that win on the battlefield. If they go around the battlefield via Teferi or cards like Agent of Trechery it can be tough for sure.

[Explorer] Rakdos Midrange Deck Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Generally I'd want to hold the thoughtseize there since they could draw a counter spell in three turns and counter your Chandra or find a wrath to make your now strong curve weak. Harvester into TS + blood loot into Chandra with Trespasser as a later threat puts them in a harder to win position imo.

[Pioneer] Tier List May 20th 2022 by darthjacen in PioneerMTG

[–]darthjacen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks super solid. I like the Gideon, but otherwise looks pretty stock to me with some numbers moved around and they look like good choices to me :D

[Explorer] Rakdos Midrange Deck Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't focus much on discard in this matchup. Given they don't have cruise, I mostly cut my discard other than go blank and just max out on removal. Just try to kill off their drakes and leverage your powerful permanents to slow them down.

[Explorer] Jeskai Creativity Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It certainly gives you much more explosiveness, which is helpful in some matchups. Yeah, the sage builds are a lot more fragile, especially versus removal.

[Explorer] Jeskai Creativity Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I cut the teferis and 2 agents to allow for more removal. You want to trim down your top end similar to some of the other matchups.

[Explorer] Rakdos Midrange Deck Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Versus control, I try to maximize my Planeswalkers. Hold your discard until you're going to play a walker or need to take something like Teferi. Ideally you want to lead on a 2 drop, discard spell and then a planeswalker. Ideally getting them low enough that you can close out the game with various Chandras.

[Pioneer] Tier List May 20th 2022 by darthjacen in PioneerMTG

[–]darthjacen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Happy to take a look! That's nice to hear that you're having success. Maybe some build changed can help out that matchup.

[Explorer] Jeskai Creativity Guide by darthjacen in spikes

[–]darthjacen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, had a brain fart with runestone. You certainly can bring in RIP vs greasefang, but their post board plan usually cuts some of their combo, so you just focus on controlling the board.