I Build the Most UNKILLABLE Monster Ever on Turn 2 | 8 Flayer | Pioneer Against the Odds | MTG

[@PeteDoesGames]

I want to play this on Arena but with the rate we’re getting older cards it feels like it’ll be an eternity before we get to Tarkir let alone original Theros or RTR

[@Icameron259]

I don't think anothr [X Remastered] set is even in the works right now, so it's going to be Explorer Anthologies for the forseeable future. They could put basically any relevant Pioneer cards they feel like into those, so maybe you get lucky and put in your favourite missing card. Personally I want to get Bring to Light and play 5C NIV!

[@antoniomendes7171]

@@Icameron259 we dont need a lot more soulflayer bring to light and dreadbore and yagwmoth ( usually and anthologies is 25 cards i think) the rest of the lotus combo which is a lot and here is the problem ascendancy from jeskai and oath of nissa and soulflayer

[@cruetusnex]

I've given up with Arena. They just aren't supporting Pioneer. Paper magic is so much more fun anyways.

[@Drezha3]

The closest to chromanticor right now is fleetfoot dancer in new capena. But I get what you mean

[@servantofcygnus]

@@Icameron259 Yeah, don't count on even getting relevant Pioneer cards in EAs. They dedicated a slot in an Explorer Anthology clearly themed around Theros/BFZ to Sliver Hivelord when neither Sylvan Caryatid nor Bring to Light are on the client. They do not give a single damn.

[@danielquigley2695]

25:14 "oh, just a Fable" thats when you know you're in a winning position 😅

[@benistoneman9737]

Dude you totally need some haste for scavengers a fleet foot dancer is awesome haste and lifelink gets you back in the game quick. Or a questing beast to stay in color to pull two cards in one turn and get you a four four and gain life quicker

[@cloaking111]

Samut would also be fine I think, just because it adds double strike.

[@Freezingfist1]

With the Mana Confluence, it's not impossible to hard cast Fleetfoot, and could offset the damage

[@Audentior_Ito]

I like adult gold dragon, from forgotten realms; lifelink, flying, haste

[@polyowl4799]

This deck looks neat, so I looked up the cost, and it showed me that it was more than 400$. I looked closer, and literary no card cost more than 4$, except for the mana base, which was something like 70% of the cost. Having expensive lands is so fun, really makes you want to brew and play some against-the-odds decks!

[@danielquigley2695]

There's a Golgari budget version out there that literally can't cast some of your big creatures. It's almost as playable 😅

[@danielquigley2695]

4 Soulflayer 4 Urborg Scavengers 4 Stitcher's Supplier 4 Satyr Wayfinder 4 Grisly Salvage 2 Chromanticore 4 Zetalpa, Primal Dawn 2 Hazoret the Fervent 2 Samut, Voice of Dissent 6 Forest 6 Swamp 4 Llanowar Wastes 2 Woodland Cemetery 2 Bomat Courier 2 Sylvan Caryatid 2 Mountain 2 Lotleth Troll 1 Terror of Mount Velus 1 Bontu the Glorified 1 Gather the Pack 1 Blood for Bones

[@danielquigley2695]

It's not the true list, couldn't find it online. 😅

[@stevenpoche6988]

You could shave a lot of the price by replacing the mana confluences with pain lands.

[@as95ms98]

This is the biggest reason that I don't play magic competitively in person at an LGS or whatnot. There's a lot of decks like this where the actual deck itself is cheap, but the mana base makes it prohibitively expensive. If I were to ever play in person I would only ever play mono red (or another mono coloured deck) because that's the only way to have a cheap mana base. I really like Bryan from TCC's suggestion that one of the best ways to get players to actually want to play eternal formats and actually play in person at their LGS is to reprint untapped dual lands (shock, fetch, pain, pathways, etc.) at uncommon. Yes you can build a budget mana base, but a land coming in tapped is so much more of a disadvantage in eternal formats where games are so much faster. If you want to actually have a deck that you can compete with and not always be a turn behind (which that alone will lose you games), you're shelling out at least $300 on just the mana base right now. This is probably one of the reasons why commander is so much more popular than competitive 60 card formats, cause in commander having a land come into play tapped is a slight inconvenience cause of the nature of the game and the length of the game.

[@yoadzephyr6660]

Seth: sweating that creativity got their combo Soul flare, who has double-strike deathtouch and vigilance: am I a joke to you?

[@astuteanansi4935]

Serra's Emissary, protection from creatures, game

[@FreshLeafyVegetables]

Sylvan Caryatid will help your mana pain woes while also supplying an alt for Hexproof. Flayers can't get Defender, so it's not a problem.

[@LadyMapi]

I feel like Scavengers wants you to run some creatures with Haste so that you can play it and swing in one turn. There's even a single creature with both Hexproof and Haste in the form of Cragplate Baloth! I also wonder if this deck wants more discard outlets.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Ohh, yeah, haste does sound good. We do have Lotleth Troll as a discard outlet, but more could be good, especially if they have keywords to steal.

[@daddywrx1234]

This is actually a really sick build

[@MTGGoldfish]

Thanks!

[@stefungi]

Been building this deck slowly ever since your first video on the deck. Can’t wait to play this against my friends!

[@babelfish666]

Im pretty sure game 2 against Dimir we werent dead? Block the big shark take 3, kill them on the backswing?

[@21skulls]

i agree unless i am missing something seems like we would go to 1

[@ShadowOfNocturne]

It was a punt for sure.

[@rpglover5955]

Assuming opponent had a untapped land (or drew one in the 2 draws before their mainphase, which as a control deck they were somewhat likely to do), they could just activate hall of the storm giants and swing for lethal through blockers (albeit Seth should definitely have waited to see if they did have the land before scooping)

[@babelfish666]

@RPGLover he has the untapped Scavengers to block the Hall. It was definitely an early scoop

[@rpglover5955]

@@babelfish666 Reread the card, it doesn't have flying as i thought it did, Seth probably forgot his Dimir card had flying I guess (which wouldn't really surprise me considering he often forgets the texts on some of the cards of the decks he plays in the videos, even some of the simpler ones)

[@GryphonicDesign]

52:05 Oh Lost in the Woods. I played that deck at a draft event once. I don't think I won a match, but it was still fun.

[@jertlemiah]

I know they have different creature types, but I feel like the addition of Cavern of Souls (or something similar) to make your flayers or scavs uncounterable would go a LONG way during the matches against blue

[@patloboyko1164]

Love this deck! And every time someone beats the toxic trash that is mono green it brings a smile to my face.

[@malakimphoros2164]

I have found a pretty brew in Pioneer. An youtuber has made a Selesnya double strike aggro deck in Modern. Most things that deck uses are legal in Pioneer. A list would be something like this, but a 30$ budget version could be made: 3 Fateful Absence 4 Fabled Hero 1 Scavenger Grounds 3 Dromoka's Command 1 Become Immense 4 Illuminator Virtuoso 4 Combat Thresher 3 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit 4 Solemn Recruit 4 Brave the Elements 4 Blossoming Defense 2 Shefet Dunes 4 Razorverge Thicket 4 Gods Willing 4 Temple Garden 4 Branchloft Pathway 1 Lair of the Hydra 1 Forest 1 Boseiju, Who Endures 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire 3 Plains // Sideboard 3 Declaration in Stone 3 Portable Hole 3 Rest in Peace 2 Damping Sphere 1 Bow of Nylea 3 Prowling Serpopard

[@BrandoCliftDean]

Seth throwing shade at Pascal's deck. I love it. Seth plays for us jank brewers (which emphasizes creativity, but is not necessarily a top percentile deck), while Pascal Maynard represents the "efficient and correct" meta answer. Pascal is the jock. Seth is the nerd. Go nerds!

[@thathungryguy2617]

Im surprised to see chromanticore over fleetfoot dancer (i think thats the name). Haste seems more useful than flying first strike and vigilance, particularly given both your hexproof and your indestructible have flying

[@dementievatz]

I agree. Chromanticore has a lot of keywords, but other cards just have better keywords. Haste on a double striker makes your clock way faster.

[@LadyMapi]

Yeah, I was wondering why Seth wasn't running any creatures with haste, if only because haste works so well with the scavengers.

[@stoephil]

Vigilance is huge though. It really helps in midrange matchup, and just makes you win against any creature deck combined with lifelink.

[@thathungryguy2617]

@@stoephil zetalpa already has vigilance. I don't think doubling up on sources of vigilance is worth losing out on haste, though there is surely something that has vigilance and haste, such as questing beast, but then you lose the lifelink from fleetfoot.

[@defro125]

I would go with Samut, which has vigilance, haste, and double strike.

[@rainmaker709]

Note about the Lost In The Woods, that was the deck but what made it good was something specific. Game one would be your normal deck and if you noticed that Lost was something that they could not beat, you would sideboard into it. Locking up the game 2 win or force a match draw if you lost game one. And the only thing this costed you was the single draft pick for Lost.

[@anaphysik]

Correct. I once had an opponent sideboard into Lost in the Woods+forests despite seeing that my deck had multiple "return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand" effects in game 1, and that is, uh, NOT a winning strategy. Card wasn't healthy, but it did require good judgment to know when to use it.

[@jpankhurst82]

Oh man, I built Pioneer Soulflayer in paper back when Pioneer was new and it was a popular deck. Then Covid happened and Pioneer got forgotten about 😢 good to see its still being played

[@RLKC8]

Holy, match 5 game 1, nothin can stop the flaying

[@Nicc11221]

Really nice video. I am a really big fan :) Most say Soulflayer is just a nice card. Not sure Urborg is better than just Traverse, but I can respect it 100%, Fun to try out new cards.

[@camfunme]

33:19 Not sure I would've scooped yet. You're not dead on board. If they don't draw a land then you survive no matter how they attack, or if they do but don't attack with the man-land. Then you can grisly salvage, possibly hit Zetalpa or Chromaticore and exile it with Scavengers on crack-back. If they draw a land and attack with the man-land, or bounce the Scavengers, then it's possibly impossible, but I'd have waited to see.

[@bblivid]

you can run some vehicles or lands to add some threats while also adding keywords. haste vehicles/indestructible lands for example.

[@Dsmky117]

48:07 true against the odds moment

[@FreshLeafyVegetables]

I played this in Tarkir Game Day and stomped out all the Jeskai Ascendancy lists. Won the tournament off it. But as soon as the Ojutai meta started everyone was main decking Disdainful Stroke, so it was unplayable. I'm glad to see Soulflayer getting another chance in Pioneer. Might make Pioneer for me.

[@Thalugor]

This deck is missing the uncommon dog from War of the Spark, B for 1/1 with haste and lifelink. SOOOO good with Urborg scavengers

[@SparkDragon42]

3:51 i would have played gaze before because i think there's no world where they crack crypt in response so we could have gotten a better soulflayer :)

[@mythictank5817]

Yes... I've been waiting for this! But no haste?

[@danielquigley2695]

There's a list with haste that is black, green, and red

[@beesbeesingtonvi614]

Fella in my lgs played this deck before Aftermath. Was always strong, just a little inconsistent and overshadowed by greesefang combo

[@saiconjr]

I'm a simple man, I see Soulflayer, I click like and share :)

[@ZSAITOSEI]

I actually did once run the Lost In The Woods/Forests fog deck at an FNM event back when Dark Ascension was standard block, for the funnies. My opponents hated me and I got to sit back and sip sodas while they struggled 😂 I didn't win any games but definitely worth.

[@magnus24112]

I was waiting for this :-)

[@poetro2567]

What about Rankle? Flying and haste, and can always be played on 4 with a discard outlet, card advantage and making opp sacrifice?

[@breakingthewall2112]

This deck is so fun!

[@michaelcollins4534]

25:45 good to see the arena suffler has made it into mtgo 😂

[@dementievatz]

I was playing 8-Flayer in Modern years ago with Netherborn Phalanx as the second 4 copies. Super cheap deck too. 😊

[@snakeman830]

In game 2 of match 5, wouldn't you survive a worldspine attack with your double-strike deathtouch creature? The Worldspine wouldn't get to trample over because it would die to first strike damage.

[@toasteroven8259]

i think some haste would be good

[@biggymiggy6408]

Super sweet deck!

[@wldnrkls]

4:15 they may have had the answer but you also fired the grapple early so if everyone was playing optimally, you still would have ended up with this scenario

[@demarge1065]

did I hear correctly the first game that soul flayer had first strike, deathtouch, and trample? that thing could attack whatever it wanted

[@wpmer]

8 flayer bean dip would be a great name.

[@alfredosaint-jean9660]

What is the name of the black Ravnica dog with lifelink and haste?

[@Dhips.]

I feel a 1 drop haste goblin would do well here. Not to play, but to discard.

[@joshuafornelli8673]

This deck, white spurit tokens, rhinos, these are the things Ibwatch for!

[@Belena711]

Stick in Gurmag Swiftwing for the haste, methinks could be good.

[@nightbringerswatch3468]

Wait... where is the intro? o.O

[@huantian]

Just like old times :)

[@nightbringerswatch3468]

@@huantian Close to at least. For me, Seths old times are without camera, and I remember trying to imagine how he would look like :D

[@Atmapalazzo]

@@nightbringerswatch3468 and not imagining that he looks like a lumberjack

[@nightbringerswatch3468]

@@Atmapalazzo with the best beard in the MTG community 👍 to be honest I imagined him being a skinny dude, back then. I was somewhat shocked and pleasantly surprised. Made me want to watch the videos even more :D

[@MTGGoldfish]

I ran out of time because of spoiler season.

[@chips8623]

Seth forgot in that last game that he doesnt need lifelink so muchwhen he has deathtouch/doublestrike.

[@elou3853]

at 51:02 you say you die to creativity, but actually the double strike deathtouch soulflayer reminds you alive, or i am missing something

[@ildathet]

soulfayer + chromanticore + caryatid sylvan + becoming immense was my standard deck at the time !

[@LadyMorrigan]

i remember that deck haha, i played it so much lol

[@williamdixon9508]

26:14 lol wonder what was said there 😂😂

[@Kazooieandbanjo]

In game 2 of match 3 weren't you not dead to the third Shark because you could block the biggest one with the Nightveil Predator?

[@hardythomasj]

Creativity match - weren't you out of range with the wurm anyway, being over 30 life? Love this idea. Soulflayer never quite fit in the Neoform deck, this has more room to grow, love it

[@dementievatz]

Depends which Creativity build. They used to be Wurm/Xenagos decks like the one he played against at the end, but now a lot of them are Torrential Gearhulk/Magma Opus or other variants.

[@benjaminkonikoff2026]

In match 1 I don’t think there was much your opponent could do. While I don’t know much about mono G devo. I do know 2 Double Strike, vigilance, lifelink, Deathtouch creatures are pretty hard to beat. Because it’s a two turn clock and it’s 16 life per combat.

[@Sxcheschka]

That first game is insane

[@ecastello]

Why do you always Gaze on your Upkeep instead of your Opponents End Step?

[@mondeorquiza143]

Can you build 8 young pyro on budget?

[@thevaultwalrus]

i love Urborg Scavenger

[@jackelope6134]

Would you consider putting atraxa in there? As a really good card too hard cast if you need

[@MTGGoldfish]

I don't think we get to seven mana enough, although I've seen people using Neoform to sacrifice delve creature to get it. That could work, but we'd have to sacrifice Soulflayer :(

[@jackelope6134]

@@MTGGoldfish that makes sense, and I guess she doesn't have any protective keywords either which hurts. Neoform delve is a cool deck idea though, I could see a mashup of the two being pretty fun but you would lose the unbeatable soulflayer. Thanks for the reply, love your videos!

[@provostparkpass]

So much graveyard. If you don't like this video that would be a GRAVE mistake :D

[@Axelf83]

Pascalmaynard sounds familiar for match 3

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, Pascal's been a pro forever.

[@virtueofabsolution7641]

I literally only clicked on this video for the thumbnail- a riff on the meme shot from Predator.

[@Deddyroze]

I got super into pioneer but ive been waiting to play at my lgs until the dumbass mono green deck is nerfed its so boring and easy i hate it. Love the soulflayer deck also love the podcast!

[@theBestInvertebrate]

Yay, pioneer.

[@JEDWOLFF]

Can you please make a budget version?

[@Will-ew8db]

Every single card in the main deck outside of the lands is under a dollar, so its already pretty budget. Making this into budget is basically just going to be picking worse lands and swapping thoughtseizes for duress in the sideboard and a few other sideboard changes.

[@MTGGoldfish]

The big challenge is how to make the mana work. I think the non-lands are already very budget friends, so if you can figure out a way to cast them you should be good.

[@soul94evisceration]

why do you wear headphones while playing? you like the mtgo sound effects that much?

[@houseplant.mp4]

Ugh i was just brewing this up last night beat me to it

[@CodyGottman-wr6jn]

I don’t know if you realize this or not……. But I bought a $80 gandelf costume for next Friday and it’s going to be a great time.. that is all

[@Atmapalazzo]

not sure why izzet creativity would go the combo route and not use sage of falls + locust god

[@poiri]

30 damage is usually enough and it’s far more resistant to removal after the creativity since you’re left with the tokens from Worldspine which still work great with Xenagos instead of sitting there with a sage of the falls. There’re also the clock and possibly of milling out issues of sage + locust but that’s not too important. Also the combo piece that doesn’t go back into the library on death is indestructible which helps.

[@yeahokay1051]

Magic aids did this deck a while ago... pretty close to it...

[@JohnSmith-yx4gf]

Sick as fuck deck man

[@paulonor9410]

lotus field should have shroud

[@voxolotl6894]

Seth and Crim constantly complaining about mono green but never adding strategies against it in their deck or sideboards has real "I hate control" energy.

[@shatzinorris1417]

Scary Scavengers IS the deck name come on !

[@MTGGoldfish]

Ha, I like it.

[@shatzinorris1417]

@@MTGGoldfish You coined it in game two!

[@Sey318]

*orc voice : why you no put soulflayer in explorer, wotc, why!

[@MTGGoldfish]

Seriously! I'm pretty sure they are just too lazy to program the delve mechanic since a lot of the biggest Pioneer cards missing from Arena are delve cards (Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, Tasigur, Soulflayer, etc).

[@Sey318]

@@MTGGoldfish escape is a thing tho. Is there really no delve card at all? I think it's more them constantly filling their release windows with things like alchemy and lotr. Hoping khans remastered comes soon.

[@bixlorious]

This is so bad without a haste dude. Seriously something simple like samut or banehound. Being able to atack right away with scavengers or flayer is a game changer. Otherwise you die way more often

[@superdimentiobrolyX]

dude lifelink vigilance indestructible, why arent you attacking into blockers just to gain the life

[@danielquigley2695]

YES!!!! YES!!! 😅😂😊

[@germanyjones2700]

Unkillable? But will he be my friend?

[@finedecision5639]

Soulflayer cant gain menace so its not as strong as urborg scavengers

[@MTGGoldfish]

That's an upside for sure, although Soulflayer coming down on turn two is pretty sweet.

[@dervakommtvonhinten517]

why would scavenger be better than flayer?

[@patloboyko1164]

Seriously, Lotus Field and Mono Green need to get the hell out of this format. So torturous to watch, ruins fun content like this.

[@MTGGoldfish]

We beat them though!

[@patloboyko1164]

@@MTGGoldfish it doesn’t matter. Just playing against those decks or even watching them is a heinous experience. Such. unfun, broken gameplay. Really glad soulflayer/scavengers beat them, and happy this deck has a decent chance in the format. I’m playing a couple versions of this right now and having some luck. But mono green and lotus contribute nothing good at all to the format and are examples of degenerate gameplay at its worst.

[@suNn.K.O]

Aw man. Excel Magic. Seems like a neat deck though.

[@AutumnReel4444]

Brings in Stubby D against mono green and cut Soulflayers for it, that's a huuuge yikes lol

[@mtg_synergizer6022]

The plan for today was copy pasted others people's deck, gave zero credit, makes million and never gave out any fan any thing free not even 1 chest lol

[@MetaPixeI]

My god mtgo is terrible

[@michaelp5712]

Seriously? I've been playing MTGO (modo) since 2002, you can chat with your opponents and play almost any card in Magic's history vs Arena (which I assume is your comparison)

[@MetaPixeI]

@@michaelp5712 after I commented this I went and looked and compared some of the views from mtgo formats vs. arena formats and there's obviously an audience here.. I just never watch mtgo videos but happened to click on this one and yes.. coming from arena it just looks like poop and it's very difficult (for me) to follow wtf is going on.

[@MetaPixeI]

@@edwarddavidson868 sorry what? I literally said "coming from arena" at what point do you think I'm making a declarative statement?

[@MTGGoldfish]

But older formats are awesome! That's the paradox of digital Magic at the moment, MTGO looks super old and doesn't make for as appealing of content, but you get to play Magic's best formats like Modern, Pioneer and Legacy. For me it's worth the cost (plus personally I like MTGO because I'm a MTGO boomer that's been playing it forever, so I'm used to it).

[@MetaPixeI]

@@MTGGoldfish You'd think with how much money they're presumably making from MTGA that they would be able to add old sets faster and also make the client an overall better experience. I'm looking forward to when those sets are finally available, however I'm not looking forward to paying an arm and a leg for it all 😑

[@antonisashitteragain6993]

"I BUILD" sure thing copy paste netdeck warrior

[@aristokrat91]

Bot detected

[@antonisashitteragain6993]

@@aristokrat91 yo momma detected