Pilfering Pioneer: The Prowess Promise

Hello, internet, my name is Blue, and in today’s Pilfering Pioneer, I’ll be going over a powerful deck in the format. It’s nothing new, but I’ve noticed a lot of more casual players or players that have been out of the game for a while may not know about it, so I wanted to talk about it. I’m confident this deck can at least put up solid results at the FNM level and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it do well at the competitive scene either. This one will be a little different though. Normally, I talk about my specific card choices, but since this deck is relatively open-ended, I’m going to instead go over multiple options in each section. Without holding it up any longer, let’s get started.

The Creatures

So to start, we need to decide if we’re going to run mono-red or Izzet. The creature base for both builds are fairly similar but have one key difference we’ll talk about. Both get access to Monastery Swiftspear and Soul-Scar Mage for 1-drops, but then it branches for the 2-drops. I tend to prefer the Izzet build because that gives you Stormchaser Mage, a powerful hasty flyer. Mono-red has a couple of different options though if you prefer the budget mana. For starters, there’s Abbot of Keral Keep for a literal prowess creature that provides a minor amount of card advantage, and there’s Young Pyromancer for a pseudo-prowess creature if you want to go wide instead of tall. Technically you could play either one in the Izzet version, but I much prefer Stormchaser if you have access to it. It can just end games on its own being able to come down in the air for a massive, evasive attack.

1-drops

2-drops

Burn

The burn spells in both versions are going to be almost identical. The best options available are Wild Slash and Shock since they both cost only a single mana. Moving up the curve, Lightning Strike is a good option at two mana, in addition to Stomp from Bonecrusher Giant. If you decide to play Young Pyromancer, Collateral Damage and Heartfire are also available as they let you sacrifice extra tokens, turning them into Lightning Bolt and a cheaper Flame Javelin respectively. Additionally, if you’re on the Stormchaser Mage plan, Wizard’s Lightning is an option. With eight total wizards in the deck, it’ll often be a Lightning Bolt.

1-drops

Young Pyromancer Plan

Wizard Plan

Card Draw

The inherent problem with any aggro deck is it runs out of cards way too quickly. Lately, mono-red aggro has been able to mitigate this with things like Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Experimental Frenzy, but since we’re on the Prowess plan, we get some incredible options. Both versions have access to Crash Through and Warlord’s Fury for cycling and Bedlam Reveler for raw card draw. Crash Through also has the added benefit of giving your team trample, which can help punch through a board of chump blockers. In blue, however, you get access to Opt and the broken Treasure Cruise. Though Reveler and Cruise are both insane in a deck like this, I wouldn’t recommend playing both together. While they both want cards in your graveyard, you have a really hard time following up a Cruise with a Reveler and the chances of it getting stranded in your hand because you delved your whole grave away is a real possibility. I’d personally only play Reveler in the mono-red version, opting for Cruise in the Izzet version.

Cycling Spells

Refueling Spells

The Lands

As is tradition with most aggro decks, you want your lands to always enter untapped and to draw as few as possible. I’d recommend about 18-20 lands regardless of which version you’re playing, but those lands differ heavily based on which version you play. For the mono-red version, this is simple. A bunch of mountains and four copies of one of two different utility land options. I’d recommend Ramunap Ruins as a little extra reach to close out the game, but you could also play Castle Embereth for pumping your creatures. Either will work fine, it’s just up to user preference. The Izzet version is a bit different. You want dual lands, and this is where a lot of your budget will go if you play the Izzet version. Steam Vents is the best option as its always untapped when you need it to be and won’t always deal damage to you for when your life total matters. Next is Shivan Reef; another dual that’s always untapped but you might find yourself hurting yourself a lot more than you may want to. Lastly, Spirebluff Canal is a pain-free dual unlike the others, but it isn’t always untapped. The good news is, it’s 100% untapped during the most important turns of the game.

Mono-Red Lands

Izzet Lands

This deck wants to be as fast as possible so I don’t suggest playing any tap lands. Temple of Epiphany and Swiftwater Cliffs are good budget options if you can’t afford untapped lands. Sulfur Falls is also an option but it’s the opposite of Spirebluff. It’s only untapped about 50% of the time and never untapped on turn one, the most important turn of the game. It’s not strong enough for the non-budget iteration of the deck, but it’s certainly the best of the budget alternatives. You should try to get the expensive lands when you can though. Your win percentages will go up significantly.

Budget Alternatives

Sideboard

I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot here. The sideboard will, once again, differ based on which version you play. The mono-red version gets to play more threats and card draw, like Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Hazoret the Fervent to fight control, where Izzet gets countermagic like Mystical Dispute and Negate to force through its preexisting threats. Aside from that, both get access to cards like Smash to Smithereens, Lava Coil, and Abrade as artifact hate and additional removal. I would advise some kind of sweeper as well in case things get too out of hand. If you want to play graveyard hate, there’s a lot of options in the format, but I’d recommend Tormod’s Crypt because it’s a free spell for Prowess or Soul-Guide Lantern since it’s the Relic of Progenitus of the format. Lastly, I’d like to mention that some decks like Azorius Control have a really difficult time dealing with a resolved Planeswalker, so something like Saheeli, Sublime Artificer or The Royal Scions should run away with the game, even if they kill or counter everything else you play.

Some Control Options

Some Aggro Options

Some Graveyard Options

Wrap-Up

I know this deck tech was a little different from how I normally do it, but what did you think of the different formatting? Do you like me running down multiple deck variants and ideas at the same time, or do you want me to stick to the regular style like with Bant Bogles a few weeks ago? Is there anything in the archetype as a whole I should’ve covered? Do you have any of your own ideas for prowess you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @TheRealBlueMTG! Remember to follow the site as well @MTGOracle! While I’m here, go check out the MTGOracle YouTube channel! it’s been up for a few weeks now and we’re working on a lot of upcoming content for you guys so stay tuned to keep up with everything Magic! This is Blue, signing out!