The first regional Players Tour of Series 1 kicked off today in Brussels, Belgium and is the first major tournament to showcase the new Pioneer format. After months of significant bans, Mono-Black Aggro and UB Inverter of Truth rose to the top of Magic’s newest format.
Don’t miss our coverage of Day 2 and the Top 8 of PT Brussels, Day 1 and the Top 8 of PT Nagoya, or Day 1, Day 2, and the Top 8 of PT Phoenix.
Despite that fact that Mono-Black and UB Inverter of Truth were the clear favorites in Brussels—at 13.8% and 12.2% of the field of 384 players, respectively—the entire Pioneer metagame at the event proved to very diverse. The next seven most-played archetypes all made up more than 3% of the field: Azorius Control at 9.6%, Niv to Light at 9.1%, Azorius Spirits at 6.0%, Izzet Ensoul at 5.5%, Mono-White Devotion (Heliod Combo) at 3.6%, Simic Ramp at 3.6%, and Mono-Red Aggro at 3.1%. Though you’d get a more accurate representation of Mono-Red’s popularity if you combine Mono-Red Aggro with Big Red (2.9%).
The Top 10 Pioneer archetypes at Players Tour Brussels.
Note: The exact number of copies of each card in the sideboards will not be known until later in the weekend.
Mono-Black Aggro
Mono-Black was the most popular deck heading into Players Tour Series 1 and it retained its spot atop the metagame in Brussels. The deck leverages two of the best one-mana spells in Pioneer, Thoughtseize and Fatal Push, to clear the way for its hordes of cheap, aggressive creatures, topping out at Rankle, Master of Pranks.
Pioneer Mono-Black Aggro by Marcio Carvalho
| Creatures (25) 4 Bloodsoaked Champion 4 Dread Wanderer 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion 4 Murderous Rider 3 Rankle, Master of Pranks 4 Scrapheap Scrounger 2 Spawn of Mayhem Spells (11) 4 Thoughtseize 1 Drag to the Underworld 4 Fatal Push 2 Grasp of Darkness | Lands (24) 4 Castle Locthwain 4 Mutavault 15 Swamp 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Sideboard (7) 1 Aethersphere Harvester 1 Agonizing Remorse 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 1 Legion’s End 1 Lost Legacy 1 Noxious Grasp 1 Self-Inflicted Wound |
UB Inverter of Truth
UB Inverter of Truth was late entrant to the Pioneer metagame thanks to the printing of Thassa’s Oracle in Theros Beyond Death—which released exactly one week ago.
The deck is based on a two-card “win the game” combo, earning it the “Dimir Twin” nickname. Its goal is to exile its entire library with Inverter of Truth and then play Thassa’s Oracle to win the game. It’s a powerful combo and the deck packs enough Blue and Black disruption and card draw to make sure that it can put it all together very consistently.
Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Kai Budde
| Creatures (7) 3 Inverter of Truth 4 Thassa’s Oracle Planeswalkers (3) 3 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries Spells (25) 3 Coax from the Blind Eternities 1 Thought Erasure 4 Thoughtseize 2 Censor 3 Dig Through Time 1 Drown in the Loch 4 Fatal Push 1 Mystical Dispute 4 Opt 2 Tyrant’s Scorn | Lands (25) 3 Choked Estuary 4 Drowned Catacomb 3 Fabled Passage 2 Fetid Pools 7 Island 2 Swamp 4 Watery Grave Sideboard (9) 1 Inverter of Truth 1 Mystical Dispute 1 Tyrant’s Scorn 1 Cast Down 1 Cry of the Carnarium 1 Duress 1 Legion’s End 1 Noxious Grasp 1 Thief of Sanity |
PVDDR and Raphael Levy Lead the MPL at Day 1 of PT Brussels
Day 1 standings at PT Brussels.
Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (playing Niv to Light) and Raphael Levy (UW Spirits) led the Magic Pro League after Day 1 at Players Tour Brussels at 7-1. Thoralf Severin (Niv to Light) led the Magic RIvals League at 6-1-1, while Last Chance Qualifier winners Jeff Jao (Mono-Red Aggro) and Elad Stettner (UW Control) also ended the day at 6-1-1.