The second regional Players Tour of Series 1 kicked off today in Nagoya, Japan, hours after the conclusion of Day 1 of Players Tour Brussels. The three events that make up Series 1 of the Players Tour—Phoenix will conclude the series next week—are first major tournaments to showcase the new Pioneer format. While Mono-Black Aggro was the most popular deck in Brussels, Pioneer’s newest deck, UB Inverter of Truth, rose to the top of Magic’s newest format in Nagoya.
Don’t miss our coverage of Day 1, Day 2, and the Top 8 of PT Brussels, the Top 8 of PT Nagoya, or Day 1, Day 2, and the Top 8 of PT Phoenix.
Out of the 193 players at Players Tour Nagoya, 19% registered UB Inverter of Truth, compared to 12% of the field at Players Tour Brussels. Pioneer’s second most popular deck, Mono-Black Aggro, had a nearly identical share of the metagame in both Nagoya and Brussels at 13.4% vs 13.8%, respectively.
The Day 1 Pioneer metagame at Players Tour Nagoya.
Outside of the large increase in the representation of UB Inverter of Truth in Nagoya, competitors in both of this weekend’s Players Tours had similar takes on the Pioneer metagame. Niv to Light, UW Control, UW Spirits, and Izzet Ensoul round out the top tier of Pioneer decks and all had over 5% of the metagame at both events.
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 a week ago. Its has seen a dramatic rise in popularity over the last week, jumping from 12% of the metagame at Players Tour Brussels to 19% at Players Tour Nagoya one day later.
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 on the spot. 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.
UB Invert of Truth by Christian Calcano
| Lands (25) 5 Island 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Swamp 4 Watery Grave 3 Choked Estuary 2 Fabled Passage 2 Fetid Pools 1 Ipnu Rivulet Creatures (8) 4 Thassa’s Oracle 4 Inverter of Truth Planeswalkers (3) 3 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries Spells (24) 4 Fatal Push 4 Opt 4 Thoughtseize 4 Omen of the Sea 3 Censor 1 Drown in the Loch 1 Tyrant’s Scorn 3 Dig Through Time | Sideboard (11) 1 Duress 1 Drown in the Loch 1 Grasp of Darkness 1 Noxious Grasp 1 Thought Erasure 1 Treasure Map 1 Coax from the Blind Eternities 1 Cry of the Carnarium 1 Hero’s Downfall 1 Mystical Dispute 1 Languish |