Hello, and welcome back to Metagame Mentor, your weekly guide to the top decks and latest Constructed developments on the path to the Pro Tour. For this path, the most important recent tournaments were the Pioneer Regional Championships in Canada and Mexico/Central America/Caribbean, which closed out the seventh Regional Championship cycle. Across the two events, a grand total of 519 players gathered, each competing fiercely for one of the sixteen coveted Pro Tour invitations in total.

Pioneer has been showing remarkable health and diversity, which is especially exciting as tournament Pioneer is poised to be unlocked on MTG Arena with the release of Pioneer Masters on December 10. In this article, I'll break down the latest Regional Championship metagame, highlight the standout Pioneer decks that rose to the top, and analyze the impact of Magic: The Gathering Foundations.

Randall Litman Triumphs in Canada with Rakdos Demons

Congratulations to Randall Litman, who claimed victory at the F2F Tour Championship (the Regional Championship for Canada) with his Rakdos Demons deck. In an intense final match, he bested Julian David, piloting Izzet Phoenix. Both finalists secured coveted invitations to Magic World Championship 31 set for 2025. In addition, the Top 12 players who had not yet qualified for Pro Tour Aetherdrift, slated for MagicCon: Chicago in February 2025, earned their spots for that event.

4 Haunted Ridge 4 Blood Crypt 4 Blazemire Verge 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 2 Swamp 4 Mutavault 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant 4 Thoughtseize 4 Fatal Push 2 Torch the Tower 3 Heartless Act 4 Bloodtithe Harvester 4 Unstoppable Slasher 4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker 4 Archfiend of the Dross 4 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber 2 Duress 2 Duress 2 The Meathook Massacre 2 Anger of the Gods 3 Unlicensed Hearse 1 Go Blank 3 Invoke Despair 2 Hidetsugu Consumes All

For Randall Litman, who qualified via RCQ at Ogre's Den in Calgary, Rakdos Demons was a clear deck choice: "I felt like it was well positioned and had to continue my streak of registering four copies of Archfiend of the Dross in all of the Pioneer Regional Championships I play."

As Litman said, Archfiend of the Dross is big, flies, and is not afraid of anything. In previous Pioneer Regional Championships, he combined the 6/6 Demon with Metamorphic Alteration, but the release of Unholy Annex swayed him toward a Rakdos Demons build. That version has become far more popular over the course of the Regional Championship cycle. Litman's deck choice proved successful, rewarding him with the winner's trophy.

4 Arclight Phoenix 3 Fiery Impulse 4 Consider 2 Into the Flood Maw 1 Shivan Reef 4 Sleight of Hand 1 Otawara, Soaring City 4 Riverglide Pathway 4 Opt 3 Island 4 Treasure Cruise 3 Lightning Axe 4 Picklock Prankster 4 Steam Vents 1 Stormcarved Coast 1 Proft's Eidetic Memory 4 Artist's Talent 2 Spell Pierce 1 Torch the Tower 4 Spirebluff Canal 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance 1 Annul 2 Mystical Dispute 2 Prismari Command 2 Brazen Borrower 1 Annul 2 Third Path Iconoclast 1 Negate 1 Crackling Drake 1 Proft's Eidetic Memory 2 Anger of the Gods 1 Fiery Impulse

Experience was also a big factor in the deck choice of finalist Julian David, who qualified through an RCQ at Hairy Tarantula in Toronto: "I've played [Izzet Phoenix] a lot over the past three years, and Artist's Talent seemed like it might be broken, so I locked it in."

His best card of the weekend was a single copy of Annul in the main deck. You can discard it to Artist's Talent in matchups without any relevant targets, but most decks in the metagame have several artifacts or enchantments, making it a very efficient piece of interaction. Flexibly countering anything from Fable of the Mirror-Breaker to Unholy Annex, Kumano Faces Kakkazan, Artist's Talent, Witch's Oven, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, and more, the main-deck inclusion of Annul worked out perfectly for David.

"Glad I stuck with that call!" remarked David.

Joaquín Roberto Soto Castillo Wins in Mexico with Rakdos Demons

Congratulations to Joaquín Roberto Soto Castillo, who claimed victory at the Central America Magic Series Championship (the Regional Championship for Mexico/Central America/Caribbean) with a "Demonless" Rakdos Demons deck. His win earned him a place at Magic World Championship 31, while the Top 4 eligible players also qualified for Pro Tour Aetherdrift.

3 Swamp 4 Blazemire Verge 4 Blightstep Pathway 3 Duress 4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker 4 Haunted Ridge 1 Anoint with Affliction 4 Mutavault 4 Fatal Push 4 Blood Crypt 2 Blackcleave Cliffs 2 Torch the Tower 4 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber 4 Thoughtseize 4 Graveyard Trespasser 2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse 4 Bloodtithe Harvester 1 Go for the Throat 2 Heartless Act 1 Damping Sphere 2 Hidetsugu Consumes All 1 Unlicensed Hearse 1 Feed the Swarm 1 Dreams of Steel and Oil 1 Extinction Event 3 Invoke Despair 1 Weathered Runestone 1 Torch the Tower 1 Reckoner Bankbuster 1 Withering Torment 1 Anger of the Gods

Given that the last two Regional Championships were won by Rakdos decks featuring both Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Unholy Annex, there's a clear strategy atop the Pioneer metagame. Interestingly, Soto Castillo's list has a major difference from the prior iteration: there are zero Demon creature cards! Indeed, Archfiend of the Dross, Blade of the Oni, and Bloodletter of Aclazotz are nowhere to be found. Joaquín Roberto Soto Castillo described his deck as "Demonless Demons", running four copies of Graveyard Trespasser and two copies of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse alongside additional spot-removal spells.

Nevertheless, the four copies of Unholy Annex can still be turned into life-draining engines with Ritual Chamber and Mutavault. While this variety in builds shows that the debate on the optimal card choices has not yet settled, the Room is undeniably a linchpin, and thus, I've labelled every such Rakdos deck as Rakdos Demons rather than Rakdos Midrange. As 3rd-place finisher Edgar Emmanuel Rangel Páez aptly explained: "Unholy Annex makes it possible to win against aggressive decks due to the life gain and in grindy matches due to the card draw. It simply does everything you want in a midrange deck."

The Metagame and Win Rates

In total, 519 decklists were submitted across the two Regional Championships. At both events, Magic: The Gathering Foundations was legal for play. After standardizing archetype names and correcting discrepancies, I calculated each archetype's combined metagame share and match win rates (excluding mirror matches, byes, and draws) for the Swiss rounds. In the table below, each archetype name links to a top-performing decklist that closely represents the archetype's aggregate build.

The "Other" category encompasses a broad range of archetypes, including Esper Control, Boros Convoke, Abzan Greasefang, Dimir Ninjas, Mono-Green Devotion, Gruul Prowess, Rakdos Tree, Selesnya Angels, Golgari Demons, Mono-White Humans, Mono-Red Wizards, Esper Greasefang, Orzhov Demons, Orzhov Tokens, Izzet Creativity, Azorius Colossus, Azorius Spirits, Waste Not, Five-Color Landfall, Simic Ramp, Jeskai Creativity, and many more. The sheer diversity of viable strategies in Pioneer is impressive.

Compared to the metagame in the preceding two Regional Championships, Izzet Phoenix saw a small drop in representation while Jund Sacrifice soared ahead in popularity after an impressive performance at Europe's Regional Championship. The rise in Cauldron Familiar decks is the most significant metagame development over the past few weeks, and it has resulted in Yasharn, Implacable Earth becoming a more prominent sideboard card in successful Pioneer decklists. However, these shakeups are minor, and the metagame has remained relatively steady overall.

Here are a few observations from analyzing the decklists:

• Following an amazing 60.2% win rate across Regional Championships in Europe and Australia, Acererak Combo posted an even stronger 64.1% win rate against the field in Mexico and Canada. Considering the sample sizes, this exceeds 50% in a statistically significant sense. Even though Acererak Combo was brought by only a small number of players, both Dustyn Nogueira and Simon Scrutton reached Top 4 in Canada with the deck. While it's difficult to play the deck online due to the amount of clicking required, the combo of Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea; Relic of Legends; and Acererak the Archlich is one of the best things you can be doing in tabletop Pioneer right now. Plus, the deck can deploy an early Atraxa, Grand Unifier.
• Golgari Food, the deck that won the Regional Championship in Europe kept up its momentum. Based on these results, it appears particularly strong against Rakdos Demons. Erick Manuel Lopez Basulto reached Top 4 in Mexico with an updated version of Golgari Food, replacing Vinereap Mentor with Llanowar Elves to boost the deck's explosive potential.
• Noah Mannholland made Top 8 in Canada with a Selesnya Company list featuring Eldrazi Displacer. "It makes the Demons matchup winnable and is a lock with Aven Interrupter and Archon of Emeria," he explained. "Displacer shreds tokens, taps blockers, and is generally incredibly synergistic with the deck."
• George Ren made Top 8 in Canada with Orzhov Demons. Compared to the more popular Rakdos Demons variant, Ren gave up Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Bloodtithe Harvester but felt that the two-drop was weak in the first place. White unlocks Vanishing Verse as a potent removal spell, adding variety to the various ways to build Unholy Annex decks.

The newly released Magic: The Gathering Foundations set also made its impact known. Let's take a closer look at the most important new-to-Pioneer additions from that set.

Boltwave in Boros Burn

4 Boros Charm 4 Lightning Helix 4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan 4 Play with Fire 4 Skewer the Critics 4 Boltwave 4 Eidolon of the Great Revel 4 Monastery Swiftspear 4 Hired Claw 4 Screaming Nemesis 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance 1 Mountain 2 Needleverge Pathway 4 Sacred Foundry 4 Inspiring Vantage 4 Ramunap Ruins 4 Battlefield Forge 2 Get Lost 3 Searing Blood 2 Rest in Peace 1 Twisted Fealty 1 Chandra's Defeat 1 Deflecting Palm 3 Strict Proctor 2 Skullcrack

The most played new card from Foundations was Boltwave, with four percent of the field using the card, mostly in Boros Burn strategies. Marcelino Freeman, for example, finished 13th at the Regional Championship in Mexico with a 6-2 record. His deck is a traditional Burn strategy, flinging Boros Charm and Lightning Helix. Every noncreature spell in the deck, and even most of the creatures, can damage the opponent directly. This means that almost every topdeck has the chance to close out the game.

While there were also Boros Burn decks exploiting Burst Lightning as a new-to-Pioneer reprint from Foundations, Boltwave has an unmatched efficiency, firing off three damage for a single mana. Another reason for the archetype's recent rise to prominence is Screaming Nemesis. Life-gain cards such as Unholy Annex or Enduring Innocence are the most common lines of defense against burn, but Screaming Nemesis shuts that down. Thanks to these new additions, Boros Burn reached an impressive 57% win rate, indicating that it now holds true competitive merit in Pioneer.

Expedition Map in Lotus Field Combo

1 Island 4 Lotus Field 2 Otawara, Soaring City 4 Riverglide Pathway 4 Spirebluff Canal 2 Steam Vents 3 Thespian's Stage 2 Anger of the Gods 4 Artist's Talent 1 Bond of Insight 4 Consider 3 Dig Through Time 4 Expedition Map 4 Hidden Strings 2 Into the Flood Maw 1 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned 2 Lightning Strike 4 Pore Over the Pages 2 Sleight of Hand 2 Valakut Awakening 4 Vizier of Tumbling Sands 1 Wish 1 Anger of the Gods 3 Fiery Impulse 2 Filter Out 2 Into the Flood Maw 1 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned 3 Mystical Dispute 1 Narset's Reversal 1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun 1 Thassa's Oracle

Expedition Map is another new-to-Pioneer reprint in Foundations. At Canada's Regional Championship, Shawn Yang went 9-4 by incorporating the card in Lotus Field Combo. Thanks to this artifact, Yang's build no longer needs Sylvan Scrying or Archdruid's Charm to fetch Lotus Field. Expedition Map does all that heavy lifting. By limiting the colors to blue and red, there's more room for interactive cards like Anger of the Gods to buy time.

For its big combo turns, the goal is to fill the graveyard with Artist's Talent and Consider then chain together copies of Dig Through Time. If you dig up Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages, you can untap Lotus Field and keep going. Meanwhile, you're sifting through your deck at breakneck pace with Artist's Talent, getting you closer to more copies of Hidden Strings. Eventually, a Wish for Thassa's Oracle will seal the game. This new build of Lotus Field Combo is quickly becoming the norm.

Genesis Wave in Simic Ramp

4 Arboreal Grazer 4 Arid Archway 4 Barkchannel Pathway 3 Blue Sun's Twilight 2 Boseiju, Who Endures 2 Botanical Sanctum 4 Breeding Pool 4 Clifftop Lookout 4 Conduit Pylons 4 Dreamdew Entrancer 2 Dreamroot Cascade 3 Fading Hope 4 Fecund Greenshell 3 Forest 4 Genesis Wave 4 Glasspool Mimic 4 Insidious Fungus 2 Ipnu Rivulet 1 Island 2 Lair of the Hydra 2 Lush Oasis 1 Otawara, Soaring City 4 Outcaster Greenblade 3 Pawpatch Formation 1 Samut, Tyrant Smasher 2 Spelunking 3 Spinewoods Armadillo 3 Aether Gust 2 Back to Nature 2 Bouncer's Beatdown 2 Ghost Vacuum 3 Mystical Dispute 2 The Stone Brain 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad

Foundations also reprinted Genesis Wave, making the card legal in Pioneer for the first time. Although there was only one Regional Championship competitor who registered the card, it led to solid results. Willam Niwinski took this spicy Simic Ramp deck to a 9-4 record at Canada's Regional Championship, and Genesis Wave surely played a big role.

This spicy brew is filled with creatures that allow you to reach high mana counts early. Arboreal Grazer ramps you ahead alongside Arid Archway, while Clifftop Lookout increases your land count further. If you blink these creatures with the deck's companion, Yorion, Sky Nomad, you unlock even more mana. Before you know it, you'll cast Genesis Wave for absurd value, get even more resources, and overwhelm the opponent with Fecund Greenshell. When it works, it works beautifully, and this deck looks like a lot of fun to play.

Kiora, the Rising Tide in Esper Greasefang

1 Bitter Triumph 1 Caves of Koilos 1 Collective Brutality 1 Concealed Courtyard 4 Consider 4 Darkslick Shores 2 Dig Through Time 1 Elenda, Saint of Dusk 1 Extinction Event 4 Faithful Mending 2 Godless Shrine 4 Greasefang, Okiba Boss 4 Hallowed Fountain 1 Island 2 Kiora, the Rising Tide 2 Lively Dirge 4 Parhelion II 3 Raffine's Tower 2 Seachrome Coast 1 Shattered Sanctum 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse 1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship 2 Stubborn Denial 4 Tainted Indulgence 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire 2 Thoughtseize 2 Vanishing Verse 2 Watery Grave 1 Ashiok, Dream Render 1 Deafening Silence 1 Dovin's Veto 2 Fatal Push 1 Narset, Parter of Veils 1 Pithing Needle 1 Silence 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria 2 Temporary Lockdown 1 Unlicensed Hearse 1 Vanishing Verse 2 Void Rend

Four players brought Kiora, the Rising Tide to the Regional Championships, and Michael Knie went 8-5 in Canada with this Esper Greasefang build. Kiora can discard Parhelion II when she enters, setting up a devastating Greasefang, Okiba Boss trigger. She also doubles as a formidable threat on her own, with the number of draw-and-discard effects in the deck making it possible to reach threshold by turn four. Do that, and she'll create a massive 8/8 Octopus creature token.

Kiora can also be a decent card to fetch with Lively Dirge, and the same holds for another new introduction from Foundations: Elenda, Saint of Dusk. Elenda can bolster your life total against the new Boros Burn decks, potentially saving you from a lethal Boltwave. With these new additions, Esper Greasefang is back on the menu.

Leyline Axe in Azorius Colossus

4 Adarkar Wastes 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire 4 Hallowed Fountain 1 Hengegate Pathway 2 Inventors' Fair 1 Island 1 Otawara, Soaring City 1 Plains 4 Sanctum of Ugin 4 Seachrome Coast 4 Portable Hole 4 Moonsnare Prototype 1 Lavaspur Boots 4 Fabrication Foundry 4 Ingenious Smith 1 The Irencrag 4 Simulacrum Synthesizer 4 Brass Knuckles 4 Leyline Axe 4 Metalwork Colossus 3 Wedding Invitation 4 Rest in Peace 4 Knockout Blow 3 Metallic Rebuke 2 Damping Sphere 1 Mystic Forge 1 Karn, Scion of Urza

Only two players brought Leyline Axe to the Regional Championships, but they had the potential for the most busted openings in the tournament. Imagine it: an opening hand with triple Leyline Axe and double Metalwork Colossus. On turn two, you'd be rumbling in for lethal with two 10/10 Constructs!

Using these cards, Francis Toussaint went 7-6 in Canada. While I love the deck, its biggest challenge is its consistency. There's only a 39.1% probability of drawing at least one Leyline Axe in your opening hand, and the jackpot probability of finding three or four is no greater than 0.4%. You also have to draw Metalwork Colossus, which is not a guarantee either. Nevertheless, the deck has Simulacrum Synthesizer as a backup plan, and it can use Brass Knuckles to power out a fast Metalwork Colossus in games where you don't start with Leyline Axe. Overall, it's a sweet new competitive option for players who are looking for some excitement.

The decks I showcased were the highlights, but Foundations added many other relevant cards to Pioneer. For inspiration, here are a few more examples:

• Five players used Abyssal Harvester in Mono-Black Demons.
• Four players used Spinner of Souls in Selesnya Company.
• Three players used Zombify in various decks, including Orzhov Reanimator.
• Two players used Joust Through in their sideboard, for instance in Four-Color Zur.
• One player added Searslicer Goblin to Gruul Goblins.

With a diverse and balanced metagame, Pioneer is in great shape right now. On December 10, Pioneer Masters arrives on MTG Arena, bringing some of the top cards from competitive Pioneer to Explorer. With powerhouses from today's article like Hidden Strings; Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth; and Bring to Light coming to the client, it's a deck builder's paradise. So, bring over your favorite decks to play and try out some new ones!