Decklists and impressions from the first Pioneer Challenge

The results of the first official Pioneer championship is here now. Sunday, Wizards of the Coast published all the decklists from our first Pioneer Challenge. There were 32 decklists. What did we see?

TOP 10 most played cards in Pioneer Challenge

(without counting basic lands) 1. Oath of Nissa (43 copies) 2. Botanical Sanctum (40 copies) 3. Veil of Summer (40 copies) 4. Breeding Pool (39 copies) 5. Saheeli Rai (36 copies) 6. Felidar Guardian (36 copies) 7. Oko, Thief of Crowns (35 copies) 8. Llanowar Elves (34 copies) 9. Elvish Mystic (32 copies) 10. Teferi, Time Raveler (32 copies) This Top 10 cards most played represents most of the cards played in "Saheeli Cat" deck. The deck was the big bet in this tournament.

METAGAME

1. Saheeli Cat - 9 copies (27%) 2. Sultai Midrange - 5 copies (17%) 3. UG Okrasis - 3 copies (10%) 4. UR Phoenix - 3 copies (10%) 5. Burn - 2 copies (6%) 6. Mono-green Stompy - 2 copies (3%) 7. Mono-black vampires - 1 copy (3%) 8. UW control - 1 copy (3%) 9. Mono-u Devotion - 1 copy (3%) 10. GB Midrange - 1 copy (3%) 11. White Winnie - 1 copy (3%) 12. Boros Feather - 1 copy (3%) 13. Auras Hexproof - 1 copy (3%) 14. Bant Company - 1 copy (3%)

TOP 5 DECKLISTS

1º place - Sultai Midrange 2º place - UR Phoenix 3º place - Sultai Midrange 4º place - Mono-u Devotion 5º place - Saheeli Cat

IS SAHEELI DOMINANT?

No. Because it was the first Challenger, many came up with the decks they liked best on Standard or believed to be the best deck. Saheeli was dominant in the field, but appeared poorly in the Top 8. The decks we must need to watch are UR Phoenix and Mono-U Devotion. All participating copies went to the Top 8. Sultai Midrange also appeared with a good percentage of wins. See you tomorrow with more data from the 5-0 Pioneer MTGO tournaments!