This weekend the SCG Tour stops in Indianapolis, IN for the very first Pioneer Open! These are the decks the team is bringing to battle for the weekend. As always, you can find sideboard guides for each deck by joining our Patreon.

Andrew, Dylan, Kevin

Pioneer Dimir Inverter

Creatures (7)
Thassa’s Oracle
Inverter of Truth

Planeswalkers (6)
Narset, Parter of Veils
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

Spells (22)
Fatal Push
Opt
Thoughtseize
Thought Erasure
Hero’s Downfall
Mystical Dispute
Dig Through Time
Lands (25)
Choked Estuary
Drowned Catacomb
Fabled Passage
Fetid Pools
Island
Swamp
Watery Grave

Sideboard (15)
Damping Sphere
Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
Legion’s
Noxious Grasp
Thassa’s Oracle
Cry of the Carnarium
Hero’s Downfall
Mystical Dispute
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

We are sticking to the deck to beat this weekend in Dimir Inverter. The deck has proven through several weeks now that it is very much the most powerful, consistent strategy in the format, even after giving the format time to adapt.

This list focuses on having a solid maindeck mirror plan by moving away from Censor in favor of more copies of Thought Erasure and Narset, Parter of Veils. Narset is an absolute haymaker in mirrors, as it all but turns off the four copies of Jace, Wielder of Mysteries on the other side of the table. A pair of Mystical Disputes to compliment the pair in the sideboard give you some maindeck power against other popular decks in the format as well, like Lotus Breach and Bant Spirits.

The maindeck configuration of this list is less solid against aggressive decks like Mono-Black and Mono-Red, so a powerful suite of removal and sweepers to assist a couple copies of Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet in dominating the battlefield reside in the sideboard. The fourth copy of Thassa’s Oracle comes in for these matchups also, as a 1/3 body is particularly nice against creatures like Bloodsoaked Champion, Dread Wanderer, and the prowess creatures out of Mono-Red. Don’t forget that it’s okay to use Oracle as a chump blocker and then use Inverter of Truth to get it back into your library for a quick Turn 5 win!

Ally, Chad, Dilks

Pioneer Sultai Delirium

Creatures (20)
Walking Ballista
Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
Satyr Wayfinder
Courser of Kruphix
Murderous Rider
Tireless Tracker
Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
Ishkanah, Grafwidow
Emrakul, the Promised End

Planeswalkers (3)
Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
Nissa, Who Shakes the World

Spells (14)
Fatal Push
Thoughtseize
Traverse the Ulvenwald
Abrupt Decay
Eat to Extinction
Lands (23)
Blooming Marsh
Botanical Sanctum
Breeding Pool
Fabled Passage
Forest
Ipnu Rivulet
Island
Opulent Palace
Overgrown Tomb
Swamp
Watery Grave

Sideboard (15)
Assassin’s Trophy
Cast Down
Damping Sphere
Mystical Dispute
Unmoored Ego
Hostage Taker
Leyline of the Void
Vivien Reid

Need an answer to everything? Sultai is the way to go for this weekend at SCG Indy. The Pioneer format has been fairly stable since PT Phoenix—Inverter, Lotus Breach, and Sultai Delirium leading the pack. We (Ally and Chad) are of course obsessed with our medium midrange piles, but this delirium package has gotten the recent addition of Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath from Theros Beyond Death, bringing 6/6 titan lover, Matt Dilks, along for the ride.

Uro enables quicker gameplay and a steady flow of cards to both keep up with and disrupt your opponent no matter the matchup. In addition to having a robust game plan of your own, the sideboard options are phenomenal for the current meta. Whether that be anything from Damping Sphere to Unmoored Ego—Sultai has what it takes to get the job done and is our pick for this weekend.

Drake and Harlan

Pioneer Mono-Black Aggro

Creatures (28)
Bloodsoaked Champion
Dread Wanderer
Knight of the Ebon Legion
Scrapheap Scrounger
Mogis’s Marauder
Murderous Rider
Rankle, Master of Pranks
Spawn of Mayhem

Spells (8)
Fatal Push
Thoughtseize
Lands (24)
Castle Locthwain
Mutavault
15 Swamp
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sideboard (15)
Shadowspear
Agonizing Remorse
Doom Blade
Grasp of Darkness
Legion’s End
Noxious Grasp
Ultimate Price
Aethersphere Harvester
Leyline of the Void

Uh oh, looks like Harlan has a new victim lined up for this weekend. All joking aside, we feel that Mono-Black is being underrated after having a poor showing at the recent Players Tour events. This deck combines good pressure, good disruption, and a little bit of card advantage which has always been a recipe for success in eternal formats.

The main draw to Mono-Black is that we believe that Dimir Inverter will be the most represented archetype this weekend at SCG Indy, and while not by much, Black is a favorite in the matchup. While taking a pretty big hit in the Sultai Delirium matchup when making the switch, you do swing a few other common matchups from being fine to bad to being good, some of those being: Bant Spirits, Lotus Breach, and Mono-White Devotion.

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