Charting a Course – A Brave New World
Welcome to week one of our post-ban format! With Winota and Expressive iteration gone Arinceo goes over what did well in last week's events as well as what they expect to do well in the upcoming weekend challenges challenges
Welcome to week one of our post-ban format!
With the shock announcement banning of Winota, Joiner of Forces and Expressive Iteration last week (thanks for the notice WotC…), many were quick to:
- a) question the validity of the decision
- b) ask which deck they should now be playing
This week’s article examines both of those points. All data referenced below can be found in my SNC MTGO Events Spreadsheet.
Pre-Ban Data
Since the release of Streets of New Capenna there was a solid tier of top decks in terms of MTGO Challenge Data:
Pre-Ban SNC Season Challenge Results*
| Deck | Top 32s | Top 16s | Top 8s |
| Naya Winota | 52 | 25 | 12 |
| Izzet Prowess | 38 | 16 | 7 |
| Rakdos Midrange | 35 | 18 | 7 |
| Izzet Phoenix | 34 | 19 | 7 |
| Azorius Control | 27 | 13 | 12 |
| Mono Red Burn | 26 | 9 | 7 |
| Mono Green Devotion | 22 | 13 | 6 |
| Lotus Field Combo | 21 | 11 | 6 |
| Izzet Control | 19 | 12 | 7 |
| Izzet Base | 91 | 47 | 21 |
*Next highest number of Top 32 finishes was Boros Heroic and Bant Spirits with 10 each.
From a single deck perspective, Winota possessed the highest number of Top 32/16/8 finishes of all decks – tied with Azorius Control for Top 8 finishes but it’s arguable that the deck’s strength in Top 8 finishes was leveraged by a strong Winota matchup. Considering this data in spite of large portions of sideboards and mains dedicated or adjusted for the Winota matchup, one can see how the deck suffered a banning.
Looking at this top tier of decks, three of them sat on an Izzet base centred around Expressive Iteration while all the others had distinctly different color identities. With a genuine concern that the best control, aggro (Prowess) and tempo/combo (Phoenix) decks of the format could all become Izzet, it was perhaps understandable that WotC looked to take this colour pairing down a notch.
Post-Ban Data
Individual Event Results
Saturday Pioneer Challenge (116 players) – June 11, 2022
Sunday Pioneer Showcase Challenge (380 players) – June 12, 2022
Post-Ban SNC Challenge Results*
| Deck | Top 32s | Top 16s | Top 8s |
| Mono Green Devotion | 13 | 8 | 5 |
| Rakdos Midrange | 11 | 6 | 1 |
| Izzet Phoenix | 8 | 3 | 1 |
| Azorius Control | 4 | 1 | 11 |
| Mono Blue Spirits | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Mono Red Burn | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Niv to Light | 3 | 2 | 1 |
*Decks with 3 or more Top 32s. 15 more decks achieved 1 or 2 Top 32 finishes.
Note: there was a large paper Pioneer 5k event on this weekend as well run by Nerd Rage Gaming, but given the freshness of the ban I would assess these results with caution as participants may not have been able to obtain new cards to switch decks at such short notice.
So, is Mono Green left to feast on what’s left of the metagame for the foreseeable future? Perhaps not. I do think the deck was a good choice for the first week post-ban, being relatively linear in gameplan and not requiring tuning to specific matchups unlike most control/midrange decks. The format has show an ability to adapt to a ‘tier zero’ deck each week as well:
‘Most Dominant’ Decks of the Week
| Week | Most Top 32s | Most Top 16s | Most Top 8s |
| May 14-15 | Winota (7) | Prowess (5) | Winota, Heroic (3) |
| May 21-22 | Prowess (14) | Phoenix (6) | Prowess, Lotus (3) |
| May 28-29 | Rakdos Mid (12) | Rakdos Mid (6) | Rakdos Mid, Izzet Control (3) |
| June 4-5 | Winota, Phoenix, Azorius Control (8) | Azorius Control (5) | Azorius Control (5) |
| June 11-12 | Mono Green (13) | Mono Green (8) | Mono Green (5) |
Deck to Watch
There’s plenty of brewing going on in the format right now and with Winota now gone as the premier creature deck of the format, I think there’s a Collected Company shell out there that will rise into the higher tiers. Humans tribal is an option, but this Selesnya Company build that plays the likes of Archon of Emeriaand Voice of Resurgence in the main alongside other interactive creatures seems like it could be the best if tuned correctly to the new meta.
Until Next Time
We’ll be back in two weeks to see how the format continues to evolve following the bans. Our format Tier List will continue its Tuesday updates and our Meta Data page will be updated each week as new event data becomes available.
If there’s anything you’d like to see me examine further in these articles, you can reach me on Twitter and Reddit, or on our PlayingPioneer Discord if you are signed up to our Patreon.
