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. This past weekend, hundreds of competitors entered the Regional Championships in Japan and Australia.The weekend was full of fascinating gameplay, so let's take a closer look at the Pioneer metagame and the spiciest decks from these events.

Congratulations to the Regional Champions!

Congratulations to Alexander von Stange! 🏆

After crossing the ocean and moving to South Korea, he emerged victorious at the Regional Championship for Japan and South Korea, playing Mono-Green Devotion.

See you at the Pro Tour and the World Championship, @AVS54356! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/vOiJuvekJY

— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) June 25, 2023

Alexander von Strange from South Korea won the Champions Cup Final (i.e., the Regional Championship for Japan and South Korea) with a stock Mono-Green Devotion deck. In the finals, he defeated Tomoaki Ogasawara, playing Enigmatic Fires with Yorion, Sky Nomad as the companion. Both finalists earned an invitation to World Championship XXIX, and the top 18 players who were not yet qualified for Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings earned an invitation this upcoming Pro Tour.

Mono-Green Devotion is one of the most popular decks in Pioneer. It features mana ramp, powerful spells, and a sideboard that is fully dedicated towards Karn, the Great Creator. Nevertheless, von Stange would often bring in two or three cards from his sideboard, such as Haywire Mite or Transmogrifying Wand against Enigmatic Incarnation in the finals, which impressed the commentators on the Japanese livestream.

"A lot of people think you have to keep all the cards in your sideboard because they're wish targets," von Stange explained. "But a lot of times, [those cards are] like the third most important. If I activate Karn, the Great Creator three times, I've won the game." In order to make room, he'd often shave Invasion of Ixalan, but the exact cuts really depend on the matchup.

He was thankful for all the help he had received to get this far. "Shoutout to the Mono-Green cabal, who gave me all the resources," he said. "Bobby Fortanely has great sideboard guides! But they play a main deck Cityscape Leveler; I think that's terrible—you'll never cast the card." He preferred Invasion of Ixalan in the flex slot, and it worked out perfectly for him, if only to have an easy card to board out.

Congratulations to Ben Kemp (@GoodFriendMTG) for winning the ANZ Super Series final here in Sydney, piloting Mono-White Humans!
Ben will join Anthony Lee (@mtgbentcard) and Zen Takahashi (@mtgzen) as the players from the ANZ region at the World Championships in Las Vegas! 🇦🇺🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/MDDYXZ1SbB

— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) June 25, 2023

Ben Kemp won the ANZ Super Series Final (i.e., the Regional Championship for Australia and New Zealand) with Mono-White Humans, earning an invitation to World Championship XXIX. In addition, the top 12 players earned an invite to Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings.

In the finals, Ben Kemp defeated Willow Moon in a Mono-White Humans mirror match, a sign of how prevalent the deck has become. Moreover, one-third of the Top 12 slots were taken by Mono-White Humans players.

Mono-White Humans is the premier aggro deck in Pioneer, and Coppercoat Vanguard has been an important addition from March of the Machine: The Aftermath. It grants a layer of protection to Brutal Cathar, makes the tokens created by Adeline, Resplendent Cathar twice as relevant, and adds more immediate power to the battlefield than Luminarch Aspirant. The top competitors at the ANZ Super Series Final surely managed to put it to good use in well-tuned versions of the archetype.

The Metagame and Win Rates

In total, 409 decklists were submitted across the two Regional Championships. I determined the combined metagame share and the match win rates (non-mirror, non-bye, non-draw) of every archetype this past weekend. In the following table, each archetype name hyperlinks to a well-performing decklist close to the aggregate of that archetype.

Although there were small regional differences, there were no major metagame swings. If you consider the sample sizes, then there was no archetype that performed significantly better or worse than 50% against the field. So, from a broad metagame perspective, this last weekend didn't uproot the metgame in any major way. My primer on the decks to beat remains a good introduction to newcomers for the Pioneer format, as well as for those preparing for Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings. Nevertheless, last weekend's events did show that Pioneer is wide open with room for exploration..

The "Other" category included such deck archetypes as Jeskai Transmogrify, Jund Citadel, Storm Herald Combo, Bant Spirits, Goblins, Omnath to Light, Atarka Red, Orzhov Humans, Bant Auras, Niv to Light, Jund Transmogrify, Mono-Red Aggro, Dimir Control, Azorius Flash, Izzet Lutri, Mardu Midrange, Golgari Toxic, Elves, Dimir Rogues, Rakdos Transmogrify, Gruul Company, Dimir Oracle, Mono-Black Midrange, Boros Prowess, Waste Not, Izzet Drakes, Grixis Yorion, Temur Vehicles, Grixis Transmogrify, Four-Color Greasefang, Mono-Red Creativity, Mardu Greasefang, Paradox Engine, Mardu Sacrifice, and more. Let’s take a closer look at some standouts.

The Spice of Pioneer

Although the top tables at Pioneer tournaments will largely be populated by Rakdos Midrange, Mono-Green Devotion, and Mono-White Humans, the format is deep, with many spicy brews finding success. To showcase this, I selected ten off-meta decks that earned more wins than losses at past weekend's Regional Championships.

Hisamichi Yoshigoe made Top 8 in Japan with Temur Vehicles, earning a Pro Tour invite. His deck is basically Gruul Vehicles with a splash for Stubborn Denial. It's an excellent piece of interaction, especially against combo decks. The abundance of creatures with power 4 or greater in classic Gruul Vehicles makes it easy to unlock ferocious. Yoshigoe previously unveiled his innovative splash at Pro Tour Phyrexia, but he didn't fare well there. Yet he kept faith in the deck, tweaked it further, and showed this weekend that his deck, or at least his mastery with it, is the real deal in Pioneer.

Matthew Anderson made Top 8 in Australia with Dimir Control, earning a Pro Tour invite. While white-blue is the more prominent color combination for Pioneer control decks, black offers more efficient removal spells like Fatal Push and Baleful Mastery, which becomes a clean two-mana answer when you control Narset, Parter of Veils. Leyline of the Void in the sideboard is also one of the best answers to graveyard decks. After that, it's the classic control plan, using tokens from Shark Typhoon or Mirrex can close it out.

Jeongwoo "Malseman" Cho finished 22nd in Japan with an 8-4 record. In the final Swiss round, Cho lost the win-and-in for Top 8 to eventual second-place finisher Tomoaki Ogasawara. Cho's deck was a unique variation on Rakdos Midrange, featuring a blue splash for Treasure Cruise and Invasion of Amonkhet. The main deck also went up to 80 cards for Yorion, Sky Nomad, which can blink Invasion of Amonkhet for ultimate value.

Ian Cormick went 6-2 in Australia. At 21st place, Cormick was the highest-placing finisher with the novel Archfiend Alteration deck, which Rei Zhang showed at the U.S. Regional Championship. Wrapped in a Grixis Midrange shell, the deck features the two-card combo of Archfiend of the Dross and Metamorphic Alteration. If you control the Archfiend, then you can turn one of your opponent's creatures into a copy, pass the turn, and win the game. Indeed, their creature won't have any oil counters on it, so they will lose the game on their upkeep.

Shunichi Nakashima went 7-5 in Japan with Jeskai Transmogrify. While Indomitable Creativity decks have become a mainstay in Pioneer, casting it for larger values of X is not as appealing when the payoff is the legendary Atraxa, Grand Unifier. Transmogrify is easier on the mana base, making it possible to add cards like Supreme Verdict. And between Mirrex, Shark Typhoon, Wedding Announcement, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and The Wandering Emperor, Nakashima's build can create more than enough creatures to Transmogrify, even in an 80-card deck.

John Kim went 5-3 with Atarka Red in Australia. The strategy has loss popularity in favor of Gruul Vehicles, but it shouldn't be underestimated. Indeed, Jianwei Liang won the Regional Championship in China with Atarka Red just a few weeks ago! Kim's build is a fascinating take on the archetype that features fewer burn spells,instead relying on Anax, Hardened in the Forge and Embercleave to set up massive bursts of damage. I always believe in the ‘Cleave, so I like the idea.

Hall of Famer Lee Shi Tian finished 6-4-1 in Japan. His Elves deck generates fast mana, boosts all Elves with Leaf-Crowned Visionary, and deals lethal with Shaman of the Pack. Thanks to Chord of Calling and Collected Company, all important creatures can be found with startling consistency. Looking ahead, Lee Shi Tian will use his Hall of Fame invite for Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings. The Constructed format for that Pro Tour is Modern, and because Lee Shi Tian made the Top 8 at three different Modern Pro Tours in the past, I'm excited to see what will bring. Perhaps something even spicier than Elves in Pioneer?

Satoshi Kuroiwa went 4-3 in Japan with Izzet Lutri. Although I've seen such decks before, I believe this marks the first time that Lutri, the Spellchaser posts a positive record at the Regional Championship level as a companion. Indeed, each nonland card in Kuroiwa's deck has a different name. As someone who has taken Singleton decks to Pro Tours in the past as a challenge, I absolutely love it. Singleton decks are incredibly enjoyable because you have more options during the game, your opponents don't know what to expect, and every game features different card interactions. Never forget to have fun!

Luke "Mulch" Mulcahy went 4-3-1 in Australia, playing a wild four-color Paradox Engine brew.

It features Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy and Meria, Scholar of Antiquity alongside a ton of cheap artifacts to tap and untap for tons of mana. When you find two copies of Mox Amber, then Emry, Lurker of the Loch can trigger Paradox Engine over and over, yielding infinite mana and infinite untaps. Then, Kinnan and Meria can look at your entire library, and Secret Door will win the game.

Shinya Saito went 4-3 in Japan, playing a Boros Prowess deck with exile synergies. The prowess element is found of Soul-Scar Mage and Monastery Swiftspear, providing quick pressure when you're casting noncreature spells. The exile part is spearheaded by Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival, a new addition from March of the Machine: The Aftermath. Bridging the two strategies are Reckless Impulse, Wrenn's Resolve, and Showdown of the Skalds, which allow you to grow your prowess creatures, create an army of Thopter tokens, and keep the gas flowing. It all makes for a sweet brew, and a nearly identical version won last weekend's Showcase Challenge on Magic Online!

Looking Ahead

As this article showed, Pioneer features a large diversity of archetypes that are capable of yielding positive records or even Pro Tour qualifications at the highly competitive Regional Championships. With the right in-game decisions, any player and any deck can qualify. This weekend, July 1-2, the current cycle of Regional Championships concludes with events in Brazil and South America.

Due to the Fourth of July (a federal holiday commemorating the Declaration of Independence in the United States) there will be no Metagame Mentor article next week. Publication of my column will return the week after, on July 13, with a summary of the Pioneer developments from the Regional Championships in Brazil and South America, as well as an overview of the top Pioneer archetypes across the whole cycle.

Afterwards, the current Regional Championship Qualifier season continues in the Pioneer format, but we'll also start to look forward to Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings. This exciting event, held during MagicCon: Barcelona on July 28–30, will be the first Modern Pro Tour in years. At the last Modern Pro Tour (Mythic Championship IV in July 2019, also held in Barcelona) Thoralf Severin clinched the trophy with Mono-Green Tron. Since then, Modern Horizons II was released, shaking up the format completely. Moreover, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth, which is legal in Modern, added exciting new cards like The One Ring. I can't wait to see what the metagame in Barcelona will be like!

At MagicCon: Barcelona, you can come to see the Pro Tour in person or celebrate Magic: The Gathering in many other ways. There's something for everyone—awesome cosplay, incredible artists, fascinating panels, direct Pro Tour Qualifiers, the Secret Lair Showdown, and more. Tickets are on sale, so don't miss out!