Pioneer: The 10 Best Cards of 2025

Despite criticism, the state of Pioneer in 2025 was a mix of the consequences of a format lacking sufficient competitive motivation throughout the year—which motivates fewer players to seek ways to innovate in the format—combined with several new cards from the released sets that brought relevant changes both to already established archetypes, such as Izzet Phoenix and Greasefang, Okiba Boss, and archetypes that emerged during the year, such as Hammer Time.

In this article, we list the ten cards released in 2025 that had the greatest competitive relevance in Pioneer, based on their contribution to the Metagame.

10 - Cosmogrand Zenith

For much of the year, Boros Convoke was a forgotten archetype in the Metagame. In part, it wasn't as fast as Mono Red Mice while also being more vulnerable to the core interactions needed to hold off the initial beatdown of those archetypes.

With the release of Cosmogrand Zenith, however, Convoke lists gained more resilience and permanent power, as well as the potential to recover from sweepers more easily and protect their tokens from Mayhem Devil.

9 - Boomerang Basics

Boomerang Basics is slowly becoming a staple in distinct decks and offers promising potential for the future. The card has appeared in Prowess lists that have used the Lessons package, in variants of Jeskai Ascendancy running it alongside Stormchaser’s Talent for infinite draw once enough mana is available, and even in the famous Bounce lists that complemented This Town Ain’t Big Enough with another modal spell that can be used both offensively and to stall the opponent's clock.

8 - Heroes’ Hangout

Heroes’ Hangout offered a pseudo-Sleight of Hand for Prowess decks without blue, ensuring more consistency in Gruul lists that, today, compete with Izzet variants for the title of best variant of Cori-Steel Cutter.

The pump mode was also relevant during the time that Heartfire Hero was legal in Pioneer and remains a way to trigger the Valiant of Emberheart Challenger at the lowest possible cost while triggering abilities of other creatures with Prowess, making it a staple as long as Red Aggro remains relevant in the competitive environment.

7 - Stock Up

Despite existing in a shared environment with Dig Through Time, Stock Up found space and a home in the competitive Metagame by trading cost reduction and flexibility for ease of casting in archetypes less dependent on the graveyard, becoming a staple in Scapeshift decks and also in Rona, Herald of Invasion lists.

6 - Cecil, Dark Knight

Cecil, Dark Knight may seem like a small addition in terms of competitive impact, but it was one of the biggest contributors to establishing new archetypes and/or adding consistency to lists that already naturally ran Mox Amber.

From Mardu Legends to the new Five-Color lists using the Web-Slinging combo, Cecil became an essential tool for enabling Amber on the first turn, as well as being a decent threat in Dimir Ninjas.

5 - Cloud, Midgar Mercenary

Cloud, Midgar Mercenary was the closest Pioneer ever got to Stoneforge Mystic, and finally gave a reason and means to make Hammer Time a real archetype, where besides serving to search for the key piece of the combo, it can fetch Cori-Steel Cutter, which complements the deck's "go big" plan with a go wide line that allows you to always have a creature to play Colossus Hammer after having a Sigarda's Aid in play — with the bonus of also granting Trample to the equipped creature.

4 - Starting Town & Multiversal Passage

Starting Town and Multiversal Passage contributed considerably to improving Pioneer's mana base in 2025, sometimes even serving as substitutes for cards like Mana Confluence or complementing it in aggressive archetypes with a greedy mana base.

3 - Monument to Endurance

Monument to Endurance changed the way Greasefang, Okiba Boss decks were built, making the Orzhov variant the most popular in the competitive environment for practically the entire year, thus avoiding the punitive effects of Sunspine Lynx lists that were very popular for most of the year.

The artifact from Aetherdrift offered an alternative gameplay, concise and consistent enough with the original plan to reanimate Parhelion II, while generating value through the discard effects of Seasoned Hallowblade.

2- Badgermole Cub

Newly released, Badgermole Cub was the driving force behind the rise of Selesnya Company last month, where it joined forces with Llanowar Elves and Elvish Mystic to expand the archetype's explosive potential and grant access to another 2025 novelty for the format: Ouroboroid.

Despite its short time in the format, its potential and impact on the Metagame cannot be denied, and while today it's with Collected Company, other decks like Nykthos Ramp and Jeskai Ascendancy have found ways to return to the spotlight of the competitive environment by taking advantage of the new Avatar staple.

1 - Cori-Steel Cutter

Possibly the most powerful card released in 2025 for competitive Magic, Cori-Steel Cutter was also the most relevant new card of the year for Pioneer.

Initially, the card was used as a complementary threat in Izzet Phoenix, already considered one of the best decks in the format, where it offered an alternative win line that wasn't dependent on the graveyard and played well around spot removals. However, the banning of Heartfire Hero also boosted Prowess decks, which now have the artifact as one of their main cores and payoffs against removals.

Furthermore, Hammer Time, which, as we mentioned earlier, finally had its moment to shine in Pioneer, wouldn't have been possible without this equipment, given that the "go big" playstyle with Colossus Hammer wouldn't have been enough to sustain the archetype on its own.

It wouldn't be surprising if, in 2026, Cori-Steel ends up being considered too strong for Pioneer, especially since the spellslinger decks it fits into have been getting progressively more powerful with each new release, with recent versions of Izzet adopting the Lessons package with Boomerang Basics and Academic Dispute.

That's all for today!

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Thank you for reading!