The Newest Way To Play Magic: The Gathering: Pioneer

[@DammitSinged]

_Let's take a last glance at the Prof's luxurious hair before it dies to removal._

[@Giga-lemesh]

DammitSinged great pun

[@zoobnash]

thank you for your contribution

[@kaseybennett7415]

Hair bad, it dies to removal

[@carriestovall8687]

@@kaseybennett7415 good thing it has regeneration

[@kaseybennett7415]

@@carriestovall8687 the worst kind of creature protection, of course. Plus it's situational, and cancer stops that completely.

[@guybrushftw]

Modern - "Pioneer?!? What the hell is that?" Legacy - "Come brother, let me buy you a beer." Vintage - *coughs up some dust*....."kill me."

[@christopherwoodbury7520]

Oh no can do vintage. You're kept alive by the power of moxen and a black lotus... too much energy endlessly reviving you so it's really not worth the effort.

[@xelic1996]

I swear vintage will either just die off completely, or purely to save the format they actually get rid of the reserve list. Tldr: Vintage is going to die, it's just a matter of when

[@starnik]

@@xelic1996 It'll live as long as MTG:O endures, which at this point seems like it will outlast Magic: Arena...

[@6packproductions710]

Check out the NA eternal weekend stream next weekend - these formats are niche but will probably never die as long as people play.

[@drm3ssivador]

Pauper - "Hey guys...I exist..."

[@bradensorensen966]

Calling it now! Summer 2019: Modern Horizons Summer 2020: Pioneer Horizons ...I mean Pioneer Frontier!

[@plaguedoctor917]

Pioneer Frontier Horizons

[@davedussault7251]

They're all Commander Masters sets in disguise.

[@fidly4]

I'd like to think part of the reason for pioneer is to have a non-rotating format where all cards truly have to go through standard now that modern can have supplemental sets. Perhaps I'm too optimistic.

[@DuckDuckGoose13]

​@@davedussault7251 you are more correct every year lol

[@rileykass1563]

One of your downsides is a potential upside: I am excited to bring back some of my favorite standard decks in a format where I can upgrade them slightly but where there still have a chance of winning

[@used2venom]

exactly my thoughts. Not all of us play since original ravnica. I've had a break kamigawa - amonkhet. It seems nice to have a non-rotating format with lower prices, where some of my new cards are viable. And calling upgraded ex-standard decks "degenerate" seems kinda petty... I mean, they are not degenerate enough to be viable in modern. My only hope is that pioneer will stay cheaper than modern.

[@Ceracio]

@@used2venom I imagine the fear is that players will get PTSD seeing devotion decks and goddamn energy decks all over the place. We'll see, maybe energy will be less stompy when put up against more variable strategies.

[@Silver_light77]

Many magic the gathering players ask: why does wizards of the coast want to sweep lorwynn/alara/kamigawa under the rug?

[@prestonrasmussen4083]

Silverslipstream time spiral, both mirrodins, Innistrad and Zendikar seem like the bigger culprits of degenerate play in modern

[@Silver_light77]

@@prestonrasmussen4083 I didn't mean from a competitive or even game mechanic standpoint, it just seems like barring innistrad, and zendikar, they want to forget about everything before rtr, like, it feels like they tried half-rebooting magic about that time, (and again at origins but that obviously fell a little flat and ended up just rebooting the jacetice league

[@ImSquiggs]

@@Silver_light77 Lmao at Jacetice League... haven't heard that one before

[@robertshashy5964]

@@Silver_light77 Kamigawa block, while having some really pedestrian cards, is unfairly considered by many the worst block ever. The sets just before and after it were really strong, and Kamigawa blocks weaker cards did not help change a degenerate metagame. Lorwynn block, while a very popular setting among the player base, is among the least favorite planes of Mark Rosewater. He is reluctant to return there, but I've heard player interest is high enough that they are strongly considering a return. Lastly, there has been bits and pieces of Alara block lore since the blocks printing, but the story left the plane is such a way that it would be hard to return. I also think that fan interest was mixed in regards to Alara, especially considering how much fans like Zendikar, Ravnica and Innistrad which all have sets from around the same time.

[@Silver_light77]

@@robertshashy5964 that's fair, those are just the ones I remember, since a lot of stuff is stuff that happens on dominaria, so some stuff that happens on other planes is up in the air. I forgot that for awhile there weren't other plane settings, so it makes sense there are some that didn't work out well and they'd want to move forward with new stuff, but we've gotten news for a third zendikar set, we have 2 "new age" ravnica blocks, and they cut original innistrad from pioneer while we have SOI and it's just a bit noticeable

[@PSroka]

Me literally five seconds ago: "Where's the professor's video on Pioneer?"

[@jacksonstein809]

Finally! No fetch lands!!!

[@liamgerdes1138]

*reprints fetch lands*

[@manweoettam]

Me after a nanosecond since the announcement: same question.

[@ProductionsPogo]

Many magic the gathering players ask, what IS the professor's opinion on Pioneer?

[@Casey-cy6ph]

Sucks fetches are banned

[@AntiTheory]

Field of the Dead: "You can't ban me! I'll just go warp my own format! With SaheeliCat! And Copters!"

[@jackhamilton3480]

AntiTheory >Field >SaheeliCat Allow me to introduce you to my friend Rakdos Charm

[@saphired02]

@@jackhamilton3480 right and that's the beauty of it. Turn 2 imposing sovereign just stops saheelicat combo easy.

[@MehrGills]

field of ruin says hello

[@bobby45825]

Field of the dead is a WEAK card with actual answers in a given number of sets. In pioneer's case, it's best to assume it just isn't fast enough nor impactful enough.

[@splinterwyatt]

As a newish player that started with Dominaria, I just want a non rotating format that's easy to get into. Those modern decks look fun, but good god the prices push me away.

[@karinawestmoreland8268]

That's what has me so excited for the format too; you definitely can build an expensive Pioneer deck if you want, but both decks I've brewed cost just under 100 dollars, so I'm satisfied by those prices

[@firestalker11]

Commander is always going to be my number one recommendation. Non rotating, great social and casual format, TONS of players and super fun. But if that isn't your style there are tons of viable budget modern decks out there. Hell the professor himself just mentioned pauper again. Give that a shot why dont you!

[@Foxpawed]

It's why I hope Historic can make it and thrive, I came back to the game at Ixalan.

[@KromeDrone]

Issue is, if modern was indicative of anything - Pioneer will have the same issues as well. Decks are already seeing prices well into the standard price tag ($150-300) and rising. I estimate that eventually, Pioneer will be in the $500-600 price tag range.

[@darkonekosuke2]

@@KromeDrone modern started at similar prices. Given enough time prices for non rotating format staples rise.

[@raynmanshorts9275]

"It's difficult to monetize history." Have we forgotten about Dominaria already?

[@shataraterevar]

"we didn't playtest it at all, so please, do it for us" format :P That's how i see only fetchlands bans. Not that i mind, data from MTGO in the first week will probably be more valuable than what R&D could do in half a year, not that they are bad at their work (well maybe, where is Oko ban?) but you can only do so much with a few people they got there.

[@blakesteinbacher4269]

Honestly I'm not sure if anyone at works at wizards, with how little they have put into arena vs blizzard putting so much effort into hearthstone and now riot has even made a card game that will probably fly past arena in development 🤦 they have cancelled adding a friend's list to arena 3-4 times now and can't even run brawl 24/7 let alone make it 4 player

[@flametitan100]

@@blakesteinbacher4269 4 player might be difficult, not only for technical issues, but more because the Arena UI already has a hard time scaling for larger boardstates, nevermind 4 players with their own developed board states. It could be done, but it'd require a lot of reworking the UI for something they're not currently interested in.

[@blakesteinbacher4269]

@@flametitan100 it seems like they aren't really interested in improving it at all though, as it is almost everyone I play paper magic with has given up on arena because with each rotation you either have to throw $200 at the game and hope you have enough wildcards to make decks or you play one single cheap deck, which is boring, if they don't change something soon it won't really get very far 🤷

[@flametitan100]

@@blakesteinbacher4269 Oh definitely. I was hoping for Historic to actually go somewhere, not the half baked disincentivized thing we got. I'm just a little more sympathetic to "I can get why the UI is not optimized for 4 player matches" than I am to every other problem arena has.

[@daracaex]

I don't think that's fair. Obviously a proper ban list will need to be formed, but keeping the metagame as open as possible in the inception of a format seems like a good policy. Wizards could not possibly come up with all the possible decks for a massive format like this. They don't have the people. It's impossible. And it's much better to give the metagame time to figure out if some cards are actually broken or not than to ban them right away when they really wouldn't be that bad.

[@kristennorth3268]

Perspective from someone playing less than a year: Cautiously interested. I keep hearing about how fun Modern is, and there are certainly lots of good cards no longer in Standard, especially if you like tribal, but Modern is also crazy expensive. Especially if you're brand new and have no back inventory. So it could work? I certainly won't deck build anything that's been banned in other formats. I had also just started looking into Modern because my sole LGS has far more recurring events for it than for Standard, so it will be interesting to see what they do with Pioneer.

[@patrickmchugh4616]

Modern is an amazing format! It can be frustrating because some decks are non-interactive for the most part (things like Gifts Storm), and there are "fair" decks that cost tons of money (like Jund currently). I play Amulet Titan and I was lucky to get into it a few years ago when the prices were somewhat manageable, but seeing the price tag for current Amulet Titan builds is really depressing. Modern is the best format for competitive magic in my opinion but the price-point barriers are ridiculous. If you are concerned about price, you might consider strong non-tier 1 decks that are pretty budget like Soul Sisters or budget Burn decks. Cheerio. :)

[@XoIoRouge]

LGSs will participate in Pioneer GP and qualifiers but they'll rarely (if ever) set up in store events. Modern will always have a bigger turn out.

[@ajsmith8799]

I'm right there with you. I've been playing standard and limited for about two years. Modern intimidates me both in price and a severe personal lack of knowledge. If decks are really going to be more affordable, this might be the nudge I need to try out older (than 2 years) cards.

[@101stumphead]

It took me about two hears to Finally finish my Jund midrange modern deck. I had it all done and then wrenn and six happened :/

[@Nr4747]

It's still much safer to invest into Modern if you are looking to get into a non-rotating format. I outlined my main reasons why in another comment on this video. Those are, imho, the same reasons why Frontier flopped.

[@NotAnEvilMastermind]

Well something that the announcement got me and a few friends thinking: -we kinda like the idea of Brawl, aside from the rotating card pool. Commander games kinda take too long. -Pioneer card pool encompasses basically everything we have aside from supplemental set cards and a few older exceptions, so it's a pretty decent cutoff point to get us all to unite on what we're using. -time to make some Pioneer-Brawl decks to beat up friends with!

[@josephkim3542]

My friends and i came up with our own brawl format. We liked the IDEA of brawl but it became quickly apparent that we like commander cause it DOESNT rotate. We start from magic origins and make 75 card brawl decks. We didnt start at RTR cause we didnt want rift in the format

[@NotAnEvilMastermind]

@@josephkim3542 That sounds reasonable and we might give it a shot. Thanks for the reply! Note however that i am very much a rifting monster of a blue player... (well, only in my Niv-Mizzet deck, because it's a flavour one restricted to Izzet cards...)

[@benrodir2]

brawl but with all cards would work, but limited to standard makes it too expensive and boring

[@MSherk26]

Every brawl game I have played lasts way longer than any commander game I've played. The finishers just aren't as strong and it's difficult to just KO all your opponents at once. Life gain is much more viable in brawl as well. That being said I still really enjoy brawl and would be interested in a pioneer brawl 100%

[@Giga-lemesh]

I also thought of that!

[@DarkBaronSengir]

This feels like a band-aid on the huge wound that is Wotc reprint policy

[@KennyViTran]

ah yes monastery swiftspear my old friend time for you to come back into the spotlight

[@adavidavis2762]

never stepped out of the spotlight, in modern it sees heavy play in burn and prowess.

[@francisconango2755]

Also one of the most popular decks right now in legacy is jeskai mentor

[@ibanezplayer8080]

I totally forgot that cards in this. Guess I'm brewing burn

[@francisconango2755]

Oof, read it too fast? My bad haha

[@radiantburrito]

Lol I think you mean SEIGE RHINO

[@GwenWynns]

This format is going to be insanely popular. Starting with ravnica is going to maximize nostalgia for many people who started playing during some of mtgs biggest growth cycles. Personally, I look forward to using my SOI cards again.

[@Skullgrin.]

Looks like Rhino's back on the menu!

[@ender3530]

*Happy Abzan noises*

[@thomascollins5622]

So's Crazy Cat Lady combo.

[@bobthegamingtaco6073]

The eldrazi winter is coming, brace yourselves

[@txag007]

All 34 of them!! B-)

[@alecazam6755]

@@bobthegamingtaco6073 no temple, no eye, no problem

[@PartisanGamer]

"Seems like Magic wants to cut ties with older cards" - as WotC/Hasbro makes money only from direct sales ofc they will heavily focus on a rotating format. The same reason they dropped MSRP, so they can more easily sell more product to Amazon, Ebay and Wallmart.

[@Turai12]

I'm looking forward to pioneer because it uses my collection as. I've only played casually for a few years. 99% of my cards are worthless in modern and staples are too expensive so the format isn't interesting at all for me. A new non-rotating format is sorely needed so those of us who hasn't played for 10+ years can keep playing with our cards.

[@Edgeof666]

I absolutely concur, good sir!

[@Giga-lemesh]

I agree

[@TwoTrueAggies]

I've been playing since 1997, and even I can't keep up with Modern. Pioneer sounds like a blast. I'm sure there will be growing pains, so I doubt I'll buy too many new items until the format stabilizes, but I'm looking forward to it.

[@argumentumadhominem3977]

@@TwoTrueAggies price spikes already started. don't worry it will still be very expensive

[@1423big]

@@XCodes the print runs return to ravnica forward were so massive that you can still buy boxes of that block for 90 bucks. And if wizards isnt absolutely mentally deficient, they will reprint cards fast enough to tank the cards that do spike. But we all know wizards hates doing that. :/ hence why modern is so expensive, they do a reprint but do a limited print run that doesnt drop the prices beyond 30%, then the price just goes back to where it was in a year. Go to mtggoldfish and look at modern staples when they get reprinted.

[@drm3ssivador]

I am very disappointed that there are so many Pioneer GPs planned when Legacy and Pauper have none. Why push a new format when some existing formats have a devoted playerbase that has been neglected ?

[@soarel325]

Because Hasbro’s plan is to kill off Legacy and turn Modern into the new Legacy as Legacy is not profitable for them.

[@tortillasboyhole]

as a broke college student, i really appreciate the chance to get back into eternal format magic without having to annihilate my wallet on the landbase. im really looking forward to pioneer developing itself

[@blam9360]

I am also a broke college student, and for this reason alone in getting into Pauper. How else can I put all my commons to use?

[@Flingsquidz]

This aged so fucking well

[@tortillasboyhole]

@@Flingsquidz like a fine cheese

[@GioPrime1]

A format for broke college students? Perhaps I shall partake

[@DoomStarRequiem]

@@GioPrime1 I'm from the future... wotc has gone mad and downshifted monastery Swiftspear into common.

[@jaronhoda]

Not sure if this is what we need. But, we really do need more pauper support in paper.

[@sstankfish]

So, there will be basically two modern formats, and again, cards that see play in both formats (and older formats) will continue to rise in price. I can't see this being a good thing.

[@MeowHoots]

Basically anything that was deem too slow land wise in modern or legacy but a ok in edh gonna go up in price. Mana Confluence, tango lands. Etc

[@TheMystcast]

Yup this is a blow to cheap cards for edh... this spiked a few cards I was looking to buy on black Friday but clearly wotc doesnt want me to play magic anymore and wants me to find cheaper hobbies

[@LedPESRule]

*Pioneer sounds great, but it's just another slap in the face for Historic and Arena overall* . Between the performance issues, the horrible UI, the lack of social features, format diversity and just general improvements, I can now say that I wouldn't be surprised if Arena ends up dying rather soon because Wizards apparently loves Arena but doesn't want to invest resources into it? I was a huge supporter of Arena thinking it was the future of digital Magic, but it's looking more obsolete by the second.

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

I feel the exact same way.

[@LedPESRule]

@@TolarianCommunityCollege Then please keep talking about it regularly and publicly, all of us whose voices won't be heard as loudly stand behind you. We really don't want Arena to be Duels 2.0...

[@argenmendon2661]

the fact that when wizards started talking about historic they asked for fan favorites for older sets leads me to believe that they will be working on adding older sets to historic until it is pioneer. it makes little sense to create 2 formats whit relatively few sets in difference. seeing the request for modern on arena but because of time and resources, it is a likely compromise to give us the potentially next best thing in pioneer

[@LedPESRule]

@@argenmendon2661 I would love for that to be true, but as of now everything points in the other direction: it seems Wizards doesn't want Arena to be anything except a bare-bones standard-only cash-cow. Thinking that they will eventually bring us Pioneer is naive optimism at best... Ffs, it took them more than a year to get Brawl to Arena, and even then we'll only be able to play once a week, lol

[@ryanhebertson7457]

This didn’t age well

[@aappaapp6627]

"Return to Ravnica going forward" Ah, so my entire history with Magic the Gathering

[@girlwiththewolves]

Same for me! :D

[@Waka817]

Adam Prueher same here friend.

[@xandercostas1190]

Same here

[@jessesmith4207]

Same here

[@JP-id7zq]

*sad 2006 noises*

[@FlashLeopard22]

I started playing standard around the og Zendikar era. If pioneer kicks off I have a bunch of stuff from RTR onwards. I may not even have to pit much money into this format.

[@dustenhostetler-vanderzee421]

I started playing around when theros was ending. So this seems like something i should check out

[@voidmaster6353]

My Eldrazi Army and I agree with you. ;)

[@RadioSilver27]

I cant wait to brew for this new format! "I'll be building my Siege Rhino deck." ...I cant wait to fight the hordes of Siege Rhinos!

[@djivoodoo1751]

I was wondering when this video was going to come out and I have to say I was right. The Professor has done the best at explaining this format and covering the topic in general. Then again, when hasn't he?

[@Mooney_the_Filthy_Casual]

“pauper says hi!” oof...

[@Teawisher]

Intentionally ruining historic and then releasing pioneer for other platforms feels like a huge slap to the face.

[@Tsuna_SoulSilver]

What's even worse is that it will never be in Arena.

[@mythiccmouse6214]

@@Tsuna_SoulSilver they said no plans that doesnt mean never buddy just an extremely low chance for it to show up in arena lol

[@havelyntherockelyn1576]

@@Tsuna_SoulSilver why the fuck would it ever be in arena

[@abr0kenman504]

@@havelyntherockelyn1576 Because people actually lile MTG on their PCs, bit hate the MTGO launcher

[@havelyntherockelyn1576]

@@abr0kenman504 Lets introduce 20 plus sets to a platform dedicated for standard ye okay

[@Mr.Plant1994]

I just want to play my modern bant spirits deck in pioneer, because it will remind me of when I played bant Spirits in standard all those years ago.

[@MidgarMerc]

Get ready for a LOT of Ramunap Red with new friends like Swiftspear and Eidolon. Fun...

[@jaywingate187]

Oh. Oh NO!

[@funnyjuk]

fuck.

[@MeowHoots]

Git gud?

[@neurotoxic6407]

Abzan and Jund would like to have a word with you

[@IvanKolyada]

Neuro Toxic do you think Jund might be a thing?

[@Daedalus8K]

I completely see the negative parallels by having pioner be so similar frontier. I saw the video title and was like "this format isn't new. I've been heard of it" but it turns out I was thinking of frontier. And that's a bad thing

[@KensanOni]

Modern was a replacement for Extended, and it’s long long past that point. We need a new starting point. I don’t know if I agree with the starting point, and I want to play with the old Haulti Tokens deck, so I am at least willing to give it a spin and then forget it. The problem is less the formats, and more the lack of rewards for not being the best. If winning long grinds for tournaments is the only external reward for play, that leads to less interesting formats. We only need to look at Mythic Chanpionship V, where the field was about 70% two decks to see this. We need reward structures for those that can not do as well in play past the gold grind in Arena. We need incentive to play risky, for that leads to more interesting games both to play and to watch.

[@unbanrofellos5786]

Thatd be interesting...makes me think of horse races and how yoy place bets on worse horses for a possibly hifher payout

[@oldestman4598]

As a budget Commander player, Pioneer is actually brutal on my wallet. A lot of cards I would have liked to slowly accrue have just shot out of my price range for ever due to this new format.

[@ShiningSpear]

Excited as I am for this, the fetchland bannings don't make me hopeful for reprints of the rest of the cycle in the upcoming Zendikar set.

[@Sheikah_Architect]

Prices on several cards, including Sahelli Rai, sky-rocketed after this announcement. Seems like this format could raise prices for everything, but also give Wizards an excuse to reprint more cards.

[@haeilsey]

Modern started back in zendikar/scars when Mirrodin block was 7 years old

[@ArgenCR]

Honestly I just want wizards to ban aetherworks marvel to see mtgfinance crying ;)

[@christoforosdrakiotis8987]

Probably after the first grand prix

[@jonathanrobinson8926]

This is perfect. Right when I got into the game, so I'm glad the new cutoff is there.

[@karinawestmoreland8268]

@@altosforteaquax5083 Same man, Core 2013 was my first set ever and has a lot of my favorite cards in it. But hey, we get Gray Merchant, so I think I will live

[@jonathanrobinson8926]

@@altosforteaquax5083 True

[@alicemoore2036]

Matthew Westmoreland yay 😀 for Gary!

[@KinGxDaviD12]

I've been waiting to bring back Gary and his rats for way too long.

[@manuelfernandeztato2185]

Gary and some rats have a very competitive deck in pauper tbh.

[@xylophone897]

@@manuelfernandeztato2185 Unfortunately not "very competitive" anymore but that's not about to stop me from jamming it.

[@TheOneTrueEfrate]

With that stupid snow artifact I will not name banned, MBC in pauper is very viable. Rat lock is still a thing. Getting an Obuliette is an issue sometimes.

[@manuelfernandeztato2185]

@@TheOneTrueEfrate I guess you don't play much pauper. Defile and the overextend of jeskay snow was the reason monoblack was back in to the scene. It can be competitive in almost every meta but astrolabe meta was very favorable.

[@akerasi]

RIP MTG Arena 2019-2019

[@O1NKery]

nahh Arena is still fun

[@ARocketsPocket]

MTGA or also knows as MTG(DO)A = MTG (Dead On) Arrival. 😅

[@TheCamoruneGaming]

Arena doesn't really seem like it will be affected too much. Arena at its core is for the standard gameplay and seeing as its much better at that than MTGO it will live.

[@yunoyukki7344]

@@O1NKery only play to test decks out.. its a good time if u have nothin to do or cant play or go to lgs other wise its shit

[@gnomersy1087]

@Lord Hosk I think it's less that and more that they're super unwilling to show complete support for Arena. If I was WotC and was bringing out a new format I'd have it on Arena not MTGO if I had brawl as a format on Arena I'd have it open 24/7 if I had a format like Commander which is wildly popular and was designing a new piece of software I'd include support for it on that format. It just feels like Arena is getting half assed support which is a pretty good way to kill it off over time though not presently. I just don't see the point.

[@hammanhouse]

Prof: "...Hurts your wallet." *Me. Staring at my fetchlands and modern deck with tears*

[@jebrooks]

_Tearful eyes glance at a commander deck with OG dual lands_

[@mesirpez]

Prices are dropping

[@jdust4]

Teferri, Time Raveler is gonna be busted in Pioneer.

[@fcliverpool6167]

There is better stuff

[@jdust4]

@@fcliverpool6167 Shuts down counterspells with it's static ability and can let you play sorceries at instant speed with his plus one. There are very powerful sorceries from RTR and forward.

[@Steamboat2016]

@@jdust4 yea, a stupid control deck and he'll have Elspeth on the top end. Sounds fun

[@seb_yt6695]

red is so strong, I doubt teferi will be much of a problem.

[@Arkanizz]

Right there with saheeli and felidar guardian

[@feylord1280]

I wish I could write papers *half* as well as you speak about this format

[@deadtotheworld00]

That book in the background that says China :O I cant stop looking at it

[@AlexGrace]

As someone who joined the Magic-playing world with Kaladesh, I love this! There is a much higher chance I will have some of what I need for decks already. I love the idea of Modern, but with a newer collection that’s almost completely irrelevant to that format I’m priced out of playing most decks I’m interested or curious about.

[@Joker22593]

I'm excited to play Maze's End with all the new "gates matter" cards. It won't be the best, but at least it's cheap.

[@DocBunnyy]

I am a yu gi oh player that just last week started to get into magic when my friend told me about modern and how it didnt have a rotation. I though that was wonderful and Magic's deck building always seemed fun to me but it was really difficult to truly jump in with that tons and tons of cards available so i was only going to stick to the core set 2020 packs and the throne of Eldraine and move up from there. This new format keeps things tighter and more manageable to new players like me that know very little about the card pool so i think its a really good new format but like i said im super new so i might be wrong.

[@johnevans6629]

Well with the banning of the fetchlands and the refusal to reprint fetchlands in standard this pretty much the nail in the coffin.

[@johnevans6629]

Also this is pretty much post modern.

[@ty_sylicus]

Fetch Lands might as well be on the stinking Reserved List.

[@cheezuschrist588]

This makes it less likely they reprint fetches, which is a real shame

[@UTUB2kholle]

Yeah it kinda means that WotC admits they can't handle the need of reprints for modern.

[@TainyaGaming]

No they can they just wont

[@iokanaangoutier5697]

They want a format with expensive cards to sell expensive boosters

[@smilesaredaggers3088]

@14:08 "Pauper says HI!" hit me right in the feels

[@ZackSparks]

I must say, I started MTG in high school during theros block, so I've almost always played pioneer in my time playing. This may actually bring a lot of value to my mostly post theros rare binder, as well as Now my atarka worldrender/dictate of twin gods wincon may actually be meta!

[@heliaxx]

"Let's create a entire format just because we don't know how to reprint cards"

[@starlx_420]

let's make a new format because we refuse to put commander in arena

[@freezin114]

"Let's create an entire format just because we don't want loosen the noose around our neck, aptly named the reserve list and reprints." Muh investors munny. Muh stocks. Muh sales. Cool frucking beans dude. Literally the ONLY reason I don't play modern is the painstakingly high entry price point. Don't already have playsets of all Fetch lands? Ha good luck, don't already have a full playsets of Snapcasters? Ha nerd. Thanks WoTC. Love it. Reprints would solve literally everything.

[@JP-id7zq]

@@freezin114 Just curious ... what formats do you play ? I play modern but rn i dont have fun with any deck / big price tag just yo play for a few months and get bored , ive been looking at commander now and pauper ill probably just play those 2 moving forward.

[@freezin114]

@@JP-id7zq I casually play EDH, if and when I have a store/playgroup to play with. Right now I've kinda become reinvigorated with standard as I love the theme and style of Throne. I've considered pauper but just didn't have the groups or any stores close enough to play.

[@RyeFields]

Let's create a new format because we can't reprint or ban cards at any reasonable rate

[@SVHSYT]

I'm actually excited for pioneer. I've always been on the outside of modern due to the cost of entry (I'm a student) , mostly the mana base. So to see I dont need the requisite scalding trans and such is encouraging. but also treasure cruise will be legal...

[@curts7801]

Steven Fowler only for a little while.

[@zelosjr]

Without fetches and with the strong graveyard hate available in this format, treasure cruise might not even see play. Dig Through Time was generally considered the better card in standard.

[@supremecourt4131]

I finally started to play Magic :)! I bought an standard azorius deck and over the time i will build a pioneer azorious control deck! It's like you said, the fetchlands were a huge problem in modern. I wanted to play Mtg for so long but it was for a beginner like me simply to expensive. Now i can finally play this awesome game for a reasonable price! Great video and greetings from Germany :)!

[@arachnon4785]

I just think its it's funny that pioneer is the name for the format that uses more modern cards while modern has a pool of cards that is more pioneer like in age

[@pvtpain66k]

4:58 to quote Rhystic Studies most recent video, "DENNNNNNNNISS!!!!" 8:30 WEEEE! I just got a playset ofAaetherworks Marvel given to me cause "It's a trash rare". I was like, "wasn't this broken in Standard", & he was like, "it rotated out and isn't worth anything any more". :D

[@xelic1996]

Honestly I feel that this is a good idea, though it will likely have a rough start. The cutoff time for when it begins is miles better than frontier and the decision to ban fetches is legendary. While doing 3+ colors still wont be too hard in this format it wont be as mind numbingly easy as it was in khans. I feel magic needs a 'new modern' to be honest. At a slightly lower power level and with less cards, every card that gets added to the game is much more important. If you're a modern player you walk away from the average set(not exceptional ones like gatewatch) with around 2-4 modern playable cards, and chances are they dont fit into what you're currently running. I love the feeling of building decks over a long period of time as new cards come out, and I feel you dont get that as much with modern just due to the sheer volume of cards

[@hallucinogenicjello5847]

Yeah I feel the same. Most of the sets not included have 1-7 outrageously OP cards in modern (Tron lands, half of Jund, Azorious’ control package, scales’ early threats, etc.) and I think pioneer is modern without the degeneracy from around Mirrodin to Zendikar (you look at Karn Lattice and Tron and tell me there’s a god). Yeah sure the prices will stay high but at worst it will just elevate the prices of some of the easier cards to get in modern anyway. When you pay $30-110 per fetch a few shocks going from $5/10 - 15/20 isn’t going to matter, plus they were reprinted a few months ago. Imo I’m excited for the format cause I can play RtR and Theros cards without having to siege Jund and Titan. Sure we will get degenerate standard decks again, and the Abzan midrange is scary, but with no fetches mana for 3-5 color decks will be pretty bad. Temples + shocks might get you 3 colors by turn 4 but having pretty much your entire mana base enter tapped or shock you isn’t always viable. We just need to see what happens and how bad devotion gets. Lol

[@420FatJack]

Always on point. Your videos are always so well thought out and articulated, pretty much vocalizing all of my hopes and hold-ups about this new format.

[@ThePhoenixPaladin]

This is the format ive been waiting for. Just need to start adding to that ban list

[@aorusaki]

I love this channel it just always keeps me updated about the latest news.

[@jaggededge11]

Honestly, I think I'm looking forward to dumping all my Pioneer cards that spiked, and then being able to afford some decent Modern/Commander cards.

[@hazelieee]

And finally, after years, Pioneer Light is coming to MTG Arena!

[@Wolfknight1994]

Well, I'm gonna finish my Pauper Dimir Artifacts deck now.

[@MetPhD]

Well said! Glad KZbin has also been pushing the suggestion to watch this video. I was going to anyway, but nice to see it didn't get buried.

[@JonathanSirico]

Arena not supporting all formats 24/7 is it's biggest misstep.

[@granthamlin8126]

Not really. It might happen eventually, but that's a fuckton of extra mechanics to program for. Arena took quite awhile to develop as it is, and adding 20 years of cards takes time.

[@Kuronosa]

Adding in all the other cards than the ones from current standard will take years....even just adding in the ones from Modern would take a few years by themselves, because they have to update with new cards every quarter.

[@Foxpawed]

@@granthamlin8126 not what they mean. It has several formats already but most of them are only available during limited time, frequently buy-in gated events. Why not have a free play queue for singleton, pauper, brawl, block constructed, etc, all the time?

[@JonathanSirico]

@@granthamlin8126 Allow me to rephrase; Arena not supporting all it's currently coded formats 24/7 (singleton, pauper, brawl, etc) is its biggest missstep.

[@granthamlin8126]

@@JonathanSirico Ah, ok, fair enough. But having played enough multiplayer games in the past, dividing queues too much can cause problems. Yes, it's great for player choice, but long queue times lead to people quitting altogether. Making the different queues limited at least gives a temporary boost to those other formats, but doesn't just completely fracture what could be a smaller player base than we realize. It does suck, and maybe that will change depending on how the player base fluctuates. But it would not surprise me if that's why they do limited events for them.

[@skynyrdjesus]

RtR was the set my introduction to Magic so I love it right off the bat. I hope it sticks around because I already have so many deck ideas that I can't wait to play

[@JarvisDiscGolf]

You read the fetches not in the order they were presented on screen and IDK why I'm so upset about it but here I am writing a comment about it. I luv you Prof but idk why that irked me.

[@Tn087]

This is reasonably exciting for someone like me with a small collection from 2015 and some 2019 cards, modern is a bit of a jump that doesn't use my cards but something like pioneer is very interesting.

[@coralinekozun7325]

Honestly, a lot of players I know started playing around rtr, so I think pioneer is very much for the players who started around then :)

[@hermodnitter3902]

This format seems to be a perfect fit for me and my friends. We started at Khans block, and we have never gone into modern due to its massive and expensive card pool. And standard didn't suit us very well. But now, we can use all of our cards in a non-rotating format! Super happy about this! :)

[@BigBidoof]

I don't see why i should ever "invest" in any more expensive formats with insider trade being such a big problem.

[@immortalsun]

What is insider trade?

[@xandercostas1190]

The sets in this new format are basically the bulk of my collection (around 90%) so this is very exciting

[@Dulatus]

I wondered why they didn't wait on historic on arena and then made it in paper aviable. They would have had a much cleaner format desgin and many arena players hooked on arena and paper.

[@notme222]

They don’t want Arena players doing anything but Standard. (And bad draft, I guess.)

[@miekamariehodson1731]

It's already on arena

[@zelosjr]

Historic is starting waaaay too few sets. It won't be an interesting format for years. I can understand, to some degree, not having kaladesh cards, but why wouldn't they bring in amonkhet/hour? They're already in the client. Starting at Ixalan doesn't make any sense. I don't think Historic is meant to be a fun or interesting format; it's just meant to exist. It's meant to make people feel more comfortable about investing in MTGA when their cards are going to rotate and become worthless and there's nothing they can do. The existence of Pioneer basically acknowledges this as truth.

[@miekamariehodson1731]

Its like mtgo where they have sets that will never get released in paper. They also hated the way standard was when amunket was legal

[@omgoblins]

You never disappoint Prof, informative and interesting. When the Teferi's popped up in the corners of the screen I busted laughing out loud.

[@galenrichter41]

I'll be honest, this potential new format is interesting to me simply because it has all the sets I've ever played with, so I get to play with all my favorite cards

[@SomeYouTubeTraveler]

Same here -- grabbed a random pack of Dragon's Maze in a return cart at Wal-Mart and cracked a Ral Zarek, haven't looked back since. Also, I never shop at Wal-Mart anymore, of course.

[@galenrichter41]

@@SomeKZbinTraveler my first cards were from theros, but only really started around the last zendikar set. got a few fun deck ideas i might make using some cards from my old standard decks, and one that me and a friend came up with but never actually built

[@progulator3207]

Yes, that's precisely why they madethis format. It's for people like us who have a bunch of cards that we want to play with but that aren't really strong enough for modern but are still really fum

[@InsomniacVampire97]

I’m a tournament organizer for a shop in Central Ohio, and Starting in November, we will be running tournaments for this format! Very excited!!!

[@davemartin8409]

I was a pioneer on the Oregon Trail on the Apple II. I got dysentery and died.

[@spiritwildfiregaming1975]

I started with M19. My second and third deck are Azorius and Rakdos, and my favorite deck is Amass. Knowing that I will be able to play these 3, and be legal forever makes me really happy. Granted, the club where I go to for Magic is too far for me to stay for events, maybe one day I'll be able to show my decks.

[@mehtheorc]

Another new format? 🤔 I'm skeptical, but at least there are no fetch lands in this format 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@christopherrue1773]

New pro tour format

[@johnkronz7562]

I got in with M19/Guilds of Ravnica. My first constructed deck was Arcades Defenders. I was sad that it rotated out and was too weak for modern, but now I might get some more play out of it.

[@ctg4818]

I see what you did there with that book above your head

[@clarknes3111]

I am so incredibly excited for Pioneer. I’ve wanted to get into modern for a long time but it’s just too pricey to play the decks I want to play (though I proxied and tried a whole group with friends). I think Pioneer will help a lot.

[@ther3aper561]

I feel like Pioneer is going to cannibalize historic

[@LedPESRule]

Lol, they don't even play in the same league, this is the final nail in the coffin for Historic.. Historic is barely a format, we can't even play Bo3 as of now, and Pioneer is officially supported and has tournaments starting next week.

[@Abrie]

I've been playing ever since theros, and what pioneer represents to me is the ability to play with pretty much all the standard cards I've accumulated over the years. For me it's won't be expensive at all, and if the gameplay is fun it'll probably become my main format to play. Please let it work, I have a plauset of siege rhinos ready!

[@doicheman]

I will wait and watch, had my wallet hurt one time too many to jump early on this steam train!

[@alicealysia]

2012 was the first year I started playing magic, so a big part of me is super nostalgic, and wants to bring my old decks back to life

[@pumkinswift8263]

I think the inclusion of theros is huge, because Thoughtseize can help police the format.

[@remkolopez8842]

How can you come with such great videos each time? Amazing work, keep it on.

[@thelunaist2014]

I'm just waiting for a deck to be called Davy Crockett or similarly named pun of that.

[@trashpanda8871]

Sounds like an Ixalan explore deck!

[@BobEllis79]

I will be playing it, and exactly for one of the reasons you stated: I can rerun recent Standard decks. Energy for the win! I restarted MTG just around RtR and while my high school collection of what would be Vintage and Legacy staples is long gone I am well equipped for Pioneer.

[@garrett1433]

A friend of mine are brewing Black Devotion 2.0 and Blue Devotion 2.0 lol

[@MeowHoots]

Your friends master of babes in blue devotion???

[@dunamoose3446]

so glad I got my Smuggler's Copter, Saheeli Rai, and Whir of Invention playsets two years ago...

[@magicguy1988]

I plan to stick to my favorite 2 MTG formats: Limited and Commander.

[@elchingon12346]

I started magic at Dominaría release weekend. It's cool to have a keyhole-width look at magics history, but for someone with a limited budget and limited time, modern and Commander have always been really overwhelming to get into and learn about. That's why I was excited for historic, but the format is too young to really support it, and having played that standard for almost two years, it would be cool to mix it up now. I want my standard decks to have new life in them, and eldraine alone wasn't enough to shake up the historic meta. So I really am looking forward this new format, especially without having to buy fetches as an entry cost to the new format

[@danimitetwitch]

WOTC: 60 card non-rotating format Me: Finally, some good f***ing formats.

[@danimitetwitch]

Pat Mgroin we’ll see

[@swiftf0x]

Thank you for this preview on this new format. I haven't played since the 90's (I played Alpha/Beta through Ice Age) but as the Gaming Track head for a local convention, I like to keep up with the leading CCG games and how they are evolving so I'm at least knowledgeable.

[@cordanding2147]

I’m interested in a year or 2 when it matures and prices settle

[@angelrivera1420]

If it doesn't die in it's infancy.

[@robertabugelis3962]

Nice ending question/homework. Thanks for another thought provoking lesson!!