Pioneer Tier List – May 10, 2022

Happy Tier List Tuesday PlayingPioneer readers! Here’s our first weekly breakdown of all the movers and shakers from the last week of events.

S-Tier

Winota (Stable) It should come as no surprise to Pioneer players that Winota still reigns above the format. Our advice: Come prepared for this matchup, you’re gonna see a lot of it.

A-Tier

Gx Karn (Down From S) This week continued to see a downtick in the overall number of Gx Karn decks holding the top tables at events. The deck is still plenty strong, but its low deck count lead to its dethroning from S-Tier leaving Winota as “Queen of the Hill”.

Mono-Red Aggro (Stable) A quick clock for Karn  and meaningful ways to interact with Winota is a recipe for success in Pioneer. So it’s no surprise that a deck with both finds itself in the upper echelons of the format. However, a lower deck population and some tricky matchups elsewhere on the tierlist are keeping it from clinching S-tier.

Izzet Phoenix (Up From B) The format mainstay continues it’s rise back to the top. Based on popularity alone Phoenix will always be a force in pioneer, but thanks to the deck’s consistency and raw power it’s able to put up the results to support this placement. Be sure to keep an eye out on its ranking in the coming weeks as it looks to start including the potential multi-format all star Ledger Shredder.

Rakdos Midrange (Stable) Even though the amount of Rakdos Midrange decks is decreasing, the matchups for this deck seem to be getting better and better. More Mono Red, Spirits, and Izzet Prowess allow this Fatal Push-based midrange pile to take control super easily. 

B-Tier

UW Control (Stable) UW Control continues to be Pioneer classic control deck of choice thanks to Neon Dynasty providing it with The Wandering Emperor and March of Otherworldly Light. Managing to place three copies in the Top16 of Sunday’s showcase was quite a feat and shows off the deck’s staying power. We don’t expect Teferi to be leaving the spotlight any time soon.

Mono-U Spirits (Down From A) The Little Deck That Could just continues to impress us with top performances, and this week it managed to take down the 198 player showcase. There’s no doubt that from a power level stand point, this deck has what it takes to be a top contender. However, it doesn’t have enough data points for us to push it into A or S tier.

Izzet Control (Up From C) The jury still seems to be split on Collective Defiance vs Day’s Undoing, but we can all agree on the power of Thing in the Ice. Despite this deck’s game plan no longer being a surprise to the meta at large, several strong finishes this week helped build back some of its old momentum and rise back up to B-Tier.

C Tier

Izzet Prowess (Debut List) Talk about an impressive debutant weekend for this Explorer crossover! The power of Ledger Shredder continues to shine here, so I hope the readers at home ordered their playset before the sprite spike. Don’t be surprised to see this deck moving up the chart with a few more strong finishes under its belt in the coming weeks. 

Niv (Up From D) One word, Claudioh. The Dragon Master from Brazil continues to put on a clinic every time he picks up Pioneer’s premier 5-color Dragon. Unfortunately, one player’s dominant performance isn’t enough to raise the deck any higher.

Rakdos Anvil (Down From B) Anvil continues to trend downward despite its favorable matchups against plenty of the field at large. Of course, this can’t be helped when the deck struggles against what we consider to be the top-two decks in the format. Perhaps the drop-off of Karn, the Great Creator can lead to renewed performance in the near future.

D-Tier

Mono-Black Devotion (Up from Off-Meta) This AspiringSpike inspired list has captured some hearts this week, being featured in several videos and streams for its unexpected construction and performance. The ramp and disruption packages attack the format from a different angle than we’re used to, and we’re excited to see how this archetype fares in the coming weeks

Mardu Greasefang (Down From B) Mardu Greasefang is our biggest drop off this week, and it’s seemingly dropped from the top tables of the meta as well. Eyes currently seem to be shifting away from Mardu and back to Esper thanks once again to Ledger Shredder and now Tainted Indulgence. We’ll be sure to keep you all up to date as players settle in on their preferred build in this ongoing rat gang warfare.

Bant Spirits (Down From C) Spirits stalwart Remf continues to make strides with the multicolored variant of Spirits. As we’ve said before, one player’s strong results aren’t enough to move a deck up our ladder. And unlike Mono-U Spirits and Niv, the deck just couldn’t quite break into the top 8’s this week.

Lotus Field (Down From C) There’s no denying the power of Lotus Field if it goes unopposed. There’s also no denying that players are coming prepared for this matchup and its popularity and performance have once again taken a large dip.