Bridging the gap between paper and digitalMagic: The Gatheringformats is Pioneer Masters, a set dedicated to bringing you the best cards of one of Magic’s most popular formats. While the entire set is comprised of reprints, plenty of cards have never been seen on Arena before.
While not a direct one-to-one comparison, Arena’s Explorer format is pretty close to the paper Pioneer format, and Pioneer Masters is here to bring the two even closer. If you’re looking for the best cards to craft to add to your Explorer decks or want to spice up a few Brawl decks, these are some of the best you can find in Pioneer Masters.
10Gladecover Scout
Lots Of Damage In A Little Package
The Gladecover Scout has the potential to dish out a ton of damage while leaving very little room for your opponents to do much of anything.This one-mana Elfhas just one ability and a 1/1 stat line, but even so, Hexproof has a strong effect on its own.
The goal with Gladecover Scout is to load it up with plenty of auras and equipment to power it up, turning the little Elf into an unstoppable killing machine that can take down an opponent in a swing or two.
9Master Of Waves
You’re All Wet
While the days of Mono-Blue Devotion have fallen by the wayside, Master of Waves remains a very strong card in the right build. This four-mana Merfolk gives you a ton of Wave tokens when it comes into play, though they are just little 1/0s that can’t stick around once Master of Waves leaves.
See, this card gives all your Elemental creatures, including your Waves, +1/+1, turning them all into 2/1s. you may then swing out for a few turns with only your Waves to push past your opponent’s board. Oh, and it also has Protection From Red, which is a weird effect but very good at dodging plenty of removal spells.
8The Chain Veil
There’s rarely been an artifact of such power discussed in Magic’s lore than The Chain Veil. This little demonic accessory has been the source of Liliana’s power for ages, turning her into one of the most powerful post-Mending planeswalkers in the game.
As a card, The Chain Veil lets youdouble up in your planeswalker activations, at the slight cost of losing a little life if you don’t use a planeswalker loyalty power. While definitely more of a Brawl card than an Explorer one, you can still have a ton of fun with it.
7Purphoros, God Of The Forge
Get Those ETBs
The Gods of Theros are pretty darn strong, and Purphoros, God of the Forge is one of the more impressive ones. Anytime a creature enters the battlefield under your control, this red God deals two damage to each opponent.
Purphoros rewards you for continuously pumping creatures out, letting you sneak out damage turn after turn without even attacking. While he is a little expensive to cast in a pure aggro deck, it isn’t the worst and has enough of an upside that he’ll probably be a solid choice to run in a deck.
6Enter The Infinite
Hope You Like Drawing Cards
Spending twelve mana isn’t always the easiest feat to achieve in Magic but if you’re running Enter the Infinite you probably have some way to cheat this bad boy out. No matter how you choose to cast this spell, you better win the game quickly cause the clock is ticking.
Enter the Infinite has you draw your entire deckhand then put a single card from your hand and put it back on top of your deck. Sure, you have just one turn to win, but with a solid 30+ cards in your hand, you’ll probably have the answer to whatever situation you’re in.
5Xenagos, God Of Revels
Time To Party
Another God from Theros, Xenagos, God of Revels takes partying to the extreme with a very powerful ability you can use to overwhelm your opponents in just a few turns. At the start of combat on your turn, you can pick another creature you control and give it haste and +X/+X, effectively doubling its stats.
Since you’re in red and green when running Xenagos, you likely will have a ramp spell or two, letting you the God a turn or two early and start swinging away earlier than your opponents might be ready for.
4Chained To The Rocks
Ain’t Going Nowhere
The slightly confusing card Chained to the Rocks is a card that can trip you up if you’re not paying attention, but because of that, it is very powerful in the right deck. This one-mana enchantment can only enchant a Mountain even though costs one white to cast, exiling a creature one of your opponent’s control until the end of the turn.
The perfect way to play Chained to the Rocks is with a Sacred Foundry as your first land drop, since it counts as both a Plains and a Mountain. This means you can disrupt your opponent’s entire first turn with the right setup
3Athreos, God Of Passage
Bring A Coin
The last God to come to Pioneer Masters on this list is Athreos, God of Passage, and goodness does this God put in the work. For three mana you get a never-ending engine of returnable creatures or lifeloss, both of which are just fine in a game.
Anytime a creature you own dies, you’re able to bring it back to your hand unless an opponent of your choice spends three life to stop it. Sure, early on in a game they will likely block you, but once you get a few effects to start draining your opponent’s life total, they’ll quickly run out of life to spend, giving you an all-but-guaranteed return on your sacrifices.
2Bring To Light
Whatever You Need
A fascinating little card, Bring To Light is alimited tutor spell with styleand one that you can ramp into pretty easily. With Bring To Light, you search your library for a creature, instant, or sorcery with a mana value equal to or less than the total number of colors of mana you spend to cast this spell. You then get to cast that spell for free.
There are so many options available to you with Bring To Light, everything from a board wipe like Wrath of God to The One Ring if you want ultimate value. Sure, you need to be able to generate all five colors of mana to make the most of it, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem given Explorer’s excellent mana base.
1Urborg, Tomb Of Yawgmoth
You Get A Swamp
Do you need to have all the Swamps in the world? Probably not. Are you going to take all the Swamps by leaving the rotting corpse of a multidimensional eldritch machine god to spread out and consume everything it can? Absolutely.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a land that does just one thing, turn all lands into play into Swamps, including itself. While out, all lands retain their original abilities and types, they’re just also Swamps, which is so darn good.
