Pioneer Peak: The Answer to Pioneer is Grixis
Gameplan
If you've followed me on my socials or tuned into my Twitch streams, you'll know my love for Kaito Shizuki has spiked. Naturally, I would try Kaito in every format so I wanted to see how he'd do in Pioneer!
On the surface, the card doesn't seem like it does much, but I've noticed that the card is so much better than most people are giving it credit for. First off, Kaito phasing himself out is a much better protection plan than any of us could ask for. His +1 helps us filter our draws or can be a way to just straight up draw cards. The -2 creating an unblockable threat seems like nothing, but the token is in an awkward place for opponents as it's not a big enough threat to answer, but it turns on the +1's card advantage engine, forcing our opponents to make more decisions which is a win for us. The ultimate is irrelevant to us but maybe we go grab a Nicol Bolas, the Ravager if we get there. The main thing for Kaito are his first two abilities!
A few other toys we're trying out is March of Wretched Sorrow. The card is a sweet way for us to answer a creature or planeswalker while gaining us life lost from shock lands or Thoughtseize. The March cycle of cards has been underestimated but as I play with more of them, their versatility and efficiency for their cost continues to impress. Also, Grixis has been pretty rough with life gain and it feels good to have even more versatile lifegain. Another card that has been finding a home in more of my decks is Kotose, the Silent Spider. Originally, it was my love for the art that made me jam the card, but it does work in Standard and is so much better than something like Unmoored Ego. It comes with a threat while forcing unfair/linear decks to find alternative ways to win. If we ever untap with the card, we get even more value as old cards like Infinite Obliteration always put us down a card and didn't really do anything to the board. This is obviously still a clunky spell but Kotose being brought in for the right match ups could be all the difference between us and winning.
Conclusion
The deck is most certainly the classic "Crim's Grixis Binder," but I think there's a lot of fight in the deck if built right. We've also got Xander's Lounge coming so maybe our mana base won't be a meme anymore. Also, Pioneer was a format I went hard into upon it's inception, and I'm glad to see it return to life. Let me know if you want to see more Pioneer content through commenting on the video or of course, reaching out on Social Media!
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-Your Friendly Neighborhood AsianAvenger
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