Pioneer: Five-Color Elementals - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

The Lorwyn Eclipsed season brought important new cards to Pioneer. Although Wizards of the Coast has put the format on ice for another year, players continue to experiment with new strategies and cards in the format meant to succeed Standard in Magic's ecosystem.

One such innovation has come from testing around Elementals, an archetype that received an entire cycle of powerful creatures through the new Evokers, prompting the construction of a tribal strategy built around one of the card game's most iconic creature types.

Elementals is, in essence, a pile of the best cards of this creature type working on their own. Unlike other tribal strategies, the individual value of each card is so high and flexible that we don't need specific interactions between them—the advantage of playing them lies in unifying the mana base with lands that generate mana of any color for a specific type.

This is a Goodstuff archetype. Its early game can be slow—we try to mitigate this with Ashling, Rekindled to accelerate mana and Voice of Resurgence to hold the ground—but once we reach a certain mana threshold, every play we make will accumulate more value until we bury the opponent in card advantage.

Maindeck

The ideal early game involves casting Ashling, Rekindled to set up a sequence with Omnath, Locus of Creation or double Evoke the following turn. Lacking that script, Voice of Resurgence and Explosive Prodigy work well together, turning Prodigy into three damage for two mana attached to a 1/1 body, while Voice forces two-for-one trades against most spot removal.

The follow-up involves Risen Reef, which turns every Elemental into card advantage or ramp, followed by Omnath, Locus of Creation. Omnath does a little of everything and significantly improves other cards—the Landfall mana ensures smoother casting of Evoke Elementals, the four colors turn Explosive Prodigy into respectable removal, and the extra life buys more time.

The Evokers are why this archetype is on the rise. Each offers a distinct effect when cast with specific mana colors—an easy task when we have 20 lands that produce mana of any color.

Early game, we prioritize the removal modes from Emptiness and Vibrance or the discard mode from Deceit. As the game progresses, we can hardcast them and use both ETB effects simultaneously.

Twenty lands that produce mana of any color ensure the consistency and flexibility to handle the many different two-color costs on Evoke cards, while also providing the mana for to cast Voice of Resurgence, for Risen Reef, and the next turn to resolve Omnath, Locus of Creation.

The Shock Lands offer more flexibility and less long-term damage than running a set of Mana Confluence. Our choice of which shocks to include is based on the Evoke costs we might need, combined with the mana colors of our two-drops and the requirement for for Deceit / Emptiness, for Wistfulness, and / for Vibrance.

Sideboard

Our list is full of Elementals, making Kaheera, the Orphanguard not just a free inclusion but a beneficial one for the archetype, serving as a "lord" we can access at any point during the game.

Healer of the Glade is far from the best answer against Aggro, but there are trade-offs to running so many lands that only produce mana for creatures, and it's the best cheap Elemental to hold the ground.

We round out the "Aggro insurance" package with Beza, the Bounding Spring. Four life and extra bodies on board are its main role in most games, but the extra draw and cost reduction for Sunderflock also matter against Midrange.

Sunderflock, meanwhile, doesn't deserve maindeck slots because it's a terrible topdeck without other creatures in play. On the other hand, it can be devastating in matchups against Selesnya Company or even the new Golgari Midrange.

Given the inconsistency of generating colored mana for generic spells, we opt for colorless spot answers.

Ghost Vacuum remains essential in Pioneer and gained more relevance with the rise of Abzan Greasefang. The card also matters against Izzet Phoenix, Golgari Ygra, and Jund Sacrifice.

Damping Sphere, on the other hand, matters in the current Metagame because Izzet Prowess and Izzet Phoenix are popular archetypes. Strategies like Nykthos Ramp might lose a turn or two with a copy on board, but the artifact is less reliable hate in those matchups.

Izzet Prowess

IN

OUT

Abzan Greasefang

IN

OUT

Mono Red Aggro

IN

OUT

Selesnya Company

IN

OUT

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Golgari Midrange

IN

OUT

Nykthos Ramp

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!