Pioneer Banned & Restricted Announcement December 2nd, 2019

Hello, internet, my name is Blue, and today we had another B&R announcement specifically for the pioneer format. If you’re unaware, Wizards has announced that for a while, there will be weekly B&R updates to the pioneer format until they feel comfortable with where it is at. Before we analyze today’s update, a friendly reminder to follow me on Twitter @TwoBlueUntapped and the site @MTGOracle to keep up with everything Magic. Let’s get started!

In today’s banned and restricted announcement for Pioneer, three cards bit the dust, and to the surprise of absolutely nobody, they were all part of at least one of the best decks in the format. Smuggler’s Copter, Field of the Dead, and Once Upon a Time were all hit with the dreaded ban hammer today. Interestingly enough, all three are either currently banned or once were banned in standard, and that’s definitely a recurring theme to the format. A few weeks ago, Veil of Summer and Felidar Guardian were also banned, and of course, they were or are currently banned in standard as well. I don’t anticipate this pattern to change any time soon. regardless, let’s discuss today’s bannings.

Like I said, today’s bannings were all pretty well anticipated. Mono-black aggro recently had a massive spike in popularity, easily becoming the best deck in the format by miles, so there was no doubt in anyone’s mind it was going to get something banned from it, though I had hoped it wouldn’t be Copter. This is mostly because Copter was banned in standard only a month into its existence and it isn’t good enough for modern or legacy, so I had hoped for it to be able to live on in Pioneer and have a chance to shine. I was kind of wanting Castle Locthwain to be the hit because the opportunity cost is nearly nonexistent to play and it provides raw card advantage built into the mana base, where Copter requires a card to discard to it to get real value from it and you need a creature to crew it. In addition to that, there are far more answers to Copter than Castle. I didn’t really expect that to be the case, but one can be hopeful, right? In the end, everyone’s favorite Looter Scooter joins the increasingly growing list of cards banned in Pioneer.

The next best deck in the format behind mono-black is easily Hour of the Dead ramp (I stole the name from someone on Facebook. If you see this, feel free to claim the name in the comments or on Twitter.) Sometimes mono-green, other times Golgari, Field of the Dead was the centerpiece of both builds resulting in horrendous games where they could be creating absurd amounts of zombies by turn four. If you think that sounds like an exaggeration, it isn’t. With access to several one-mana and three-mana ramp spells, Field of the Dead could be online as early as turn three and getting out of hand on turn four. The deck was made even scarier and consistent by the existence of our final banned card, Once Upon a Time, since it could ensure a turn one Arboreal Grazer to start the crazy ramping. I’m very happy to see Field of the Dead banned, but we have more to talk about with Once Upon a Time.

Once Upon a Time did more than make Hour of the Dead more consistent. It also helped green-based aggro decks hold a top spot by digging for lands or mana dorks in the early game and powerhouse threats in the late game. Once Upon a Time had so much potential to be a fair card if it was three or four mana, but being two mana leaves too much room for card selection at a small cost. It’s almost comparable to Ancient Stirrings‘ power level for creatures instead of colorless cards. I’m glad to see this one gone in hopes of powering down green. The color has been way too pushed in recent sets and it is very clearly shown by Veil of Summer, Oko, Thief of Crowns , Once Upon a Time, Questing Beast, and many others.

What do you guys think about today’s banning announcement? Do you agree with Wizards or do you think they made the wrong call? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @TwoBlueUntapped. That’s all from me for now. This is Blue, signing out!