Budget Magic: Four-Rare ($40) Mono-Red Leyline (Pioneer)
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of Budget Magic! Pioneer Masters was just released on Magic Arena, and I've heard quite a few people talking about wanting to try out the Pioneer / Explorer format but being worried about the high cost of getting started in the non-rotating format. As such, my goal for today was to build a deck that's competitive enough to rank up on the ladder but also as cheap as possible! The end result is today's deck: Mono-Red Leyline, which is super fast and surprisingly competitive, and costs just four rares to put together! If you are a paper player, don't worry—the deck is super cheap there as well. Even better, many of the deck's important pieces are currently in Standard, which means you might already have them in your collection! Can a four-rare deck actually be competitive in a format like Pioneer? How busted is Leyline of Resonance outside of Standard? Let's get to the video and find out on today's Budget Magic!
Budget Magic: Mono-Red Leyline
Wrap-Up
I'm not going to do a super-huge write-up on the deck because it's pretty straightforward. It draws inspiration from some of the Mono-Red Leyline of Resonance decks from Standard. We overload on one-drops, most of which deal damage equal to their power when they die, toss a bunch of pump spells at them to grow their power, hopefully double them up with Leyline of Resonance, and then kill our opponent by Turn 3 or 4!
One thing I did want to mention is about Leyline of Resonance itself. Even though it is our namesake card and our most explosive draws involve us starting with it on the battlefield for free, we don't need to mulligan aggressively for Leyline. As you can see in the video, the deck is more than capable of winning without it, but the truly absurd draws all involve the enchantment. On the other hand, don't keep starting hands without a creature because without at least one creature on the battlefield, all of the other cards in our main deck are dead since they need a creature to target.
Oh yeah, as far as the budget, I know the decklist says six rares rather than four, which I guess is technically true. I didn't realize that Skullcrack had only been printed as a rare on Arena when I put it in the sideboard. The good news is we never actually sideboarded it in, and I'm not sure it's even any good in the deck. I'd replace it with a Shock or some other cheap removal spell.
As far as the deck's record, we cruised to a fairly quick 5-0, playing a pretty solid mixture of matchups ranging from aggro to Niv to Light to Mill, of all things. The deck is incredibly explosive and fast. And thanks to cards like Expedite, Might of the Meek, and Ancestral Anger, it generates way more card advantage than you'd think. While our sample size is small, the deck felt competitive. If you are looking for a super-cheap starter deck for Pioneer / Explorer that is also upgradable, I think this is the perfect starting point!
Upgrades
Let's say you start with Mono-Red Leyline and then want to upgrade to a tier deck. There's a pretty clear path to upgrading into Rakdos Prowess, which is currently the third-most-played deck in Pioneer. The game plan is similar—cheap creatures and pump spells—although the deck doesn't lean as hard on Leyline of Resonance as ours does. The upside of going into black is mostly in the sideboard, where you get access to cards like Fatal Push and Thoughtseize, although this comes with a high cost since you need a bunch of rare dual lands to make the mana work.
You could also build toward Gruul Prowess, which isn't a top-tier deck like Rakdos but still powerful. Green offers protection spells like Blossoming Defense and Snakeskin Veil along with some additional sideboard options, although the cost is similar since you are going to need a bunch of rare dual lands to be able to cast all of your spells.
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
