Pioneer: 5 Decks under 15 tix to play on Magic Online

There are several ways to play Magic, but the main sources of competitive or even casual games of one of the card games are divided into three fronts: Tabletop Magic, with colored cardboard cards placed on the table, preferably with sleeves and playmats; Magic Arena, an intuitive digital platform with a wide variety of formats and ranked matches that can go as far as qualifying a player for the Pro Tour; and Magic Online - a platform born in 2001 that brings the tabletop Magic experience to computers, with a much simpler interface than Arena in exchange for a greater variety of formats, and also the possibility of playing competitive events such as Challenges, or even independent tournaments organized by third parties.

As unattractive as it may be when compared to MTGArena, Magic Online has advantages: because all controls are manual, for example, it makes players pay more attention to triggers, which considerably improves their memory when the time comes to participate in an RCQ.

In addition, the platform has its own currency system (dubbed Tix) and third-party deck rental services, making it much easier to acquire cards for a specific event without necessarily having to buy all the cards or open hundreds of booster packs like Magic Arena requires. In terms of financial quality, MTGO is light years ahead.

In this article, we present another category of budget decks made possible by the platform, with Pioneer archetypes worth less than 15 tix to play Leagues and other events on Magic Online.

Designed by player CrusherBotBG, Cat-Hammer Time combines the classic combo of Colossus Hammer with Sigarda’s Aid and a Cat-type archetype, mixing in typal interactions with Kemba, Kha Enduring to equip Colossus Hammer on any creature that comes into play.

Ideally, you want Adorned Pouncer as the creature that carries both the Hammer and Shadowspear, turning it into an 12/11 with Trample, Lifelink, and Double Strike. Add Lavaspur Boots to the mix, and it’s capable of winning the game the same turn it enters.

If this plan doesn't work, Arahbo, The First Fang takes advantage of the low cost of the Cats and abilities like Embalm from the Sacred Cat to fill the board with tokens, which also amplify the power of Skyknight Squire.

Azorius Bunnicorn takes the already known Azorius Ensoul setup and mixes it with the “combo” between Regal Bunnicorn and Leyline Axe, where, with a considerable number of permanents in play, the rabbit can attack for lethal damage in one or two combats.

By using an axe set, we can have an Ensoul Artifact active from the second turn onwards with more consistency, and, in addition, it counts as another permanent that we can tap to put counters on Warden of the Inner Sky while filtering the top.

The initial plan here involves the same classic plays that we see in artifact decks today: a one-mana creature that puts a token on the board, accompanied by Warden or Ensoul to start applying pressure. From the third turn onwards, the lines can vary between needing to pressure the opponent more with our cards or saving some interaction like Spell Pierce or Metallic Rebuke to delay their turns, or with Sheltered by Ghosts to protect our main threat while removing a blocker from the path.

Selesnya Enchantments follows a similar mold to Azorius Ensoul, but shifting the focus from artifacts to enchantments in the colors.

Here, the plan involves using Optimistic Scavenger, Generous Visitor and Calix, Guided by Fate to increase the power of your creatures whenever an enchantment comes into play. Since Calix, Jukai Naturalist and Spirited Companion are enchantments, they make it much easier to be proactive while extending the clock.

From there, we want a combination of creature enchantments involving Audacity and/or Ethereal Armor to win the game, while Sheltered by Ghosts makes it impossible for Aggro to win games without Screaming Nemesis. For protection, we have Shardmage’s Rescue and Royal Treatment, both of which can be used for proactive purposes by turning Optimistic Scavenger triggers into combat tricks.

Still on the protection side, Shapers' Sanctuary and Heroic Intervention allow us to keep the game flowing and avoid unwanted sweepers, while the other choices are mainly used to deal with some of the main decks in the current Metagame.

Nykthos Stompy takes advantage of one of the most powerful lands in Pioneer to create a versatile Aggro deck with ample capacity to take over the match as the game goes on.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx generates mana for each symbol of green mana among the permanents you control. With almost all of them costing or , it's easy to generate ten or more mana per turn, which can be used to fill the board with more creatures, either with Collected Company or Storm the Festival.

Once the board has been established, Tyvar, the Pummeler becomes a massive pump that will often activate two or more times and lead your opponent to defeat. Additionally, to keep the cards flowing, Tribute to the World Tree guarantees an extra draw for each creature with power four or higher that comes into play, while increasing the power of mana dorks that would otherwise be poor topdecks.

Using one of the most popular creature types in Magic, Boros Goblins is an Aggro-Combo around the interaction between three cards: Skirk Prospector, Rundvelt Hordemaster and Raise the Past.

This list only features creatures with a mana value of two or less, so it is possible to return all of them from the graveyard with Raise the Past. From there, Skirk Prospector can be used to sacrifice Goblins and generate , and with Rundvelt Hordemaster in play, each sacrificed Goblin will exile a card from the top of the deck, allowing more Goblins to be played.

With the mana from the sacrificed creatures, we want to cast more Goblins that will be sacrificed to pull more Goblins and thus have enough creatures in the graveyard to play a gigantic Raise the Past that will create a potentially unbeatable board position, and the remaining mana should be used with Battle Cry Goblin to amplify the power of all creatures several times while giving them Haste, allowing for a lethal attack.

That's all for today!

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Thanks for reading!