Leyline of Resonance was one of the most controversial Duskmourn cards in Standard, to the point of being banned from Best-of-One on Magic Arena due to the card's interaction with cheap pumps like Monstrous Rage and creatures like Cacophony Scamp, making it possible to win the game as early as the second turn.
Now, the deck returns to another format: Pioneer, where a version of Boros Leyline has recently been performing well in Magic Online Challenges!
The Decklist
This is the deck used by shoktroopa in the Pioneer Challenge on August 17th. Unlike the Heroic versions, this deck focuses on the interaction of Leyline of Resonance with creatures like Cacophony Scamp and pumps like Monstrous Rage to end the game, being able to do so even on the second turn with a simple combination of these two cards and any other pump spell that increases the target creature's power by three, or two copies of Monstrous Rage.
This lineup makes us much more explosive but also more vulnerable—not necessarily to interaction, at least not compared to Boros Heroic, but to the deck itself: Leyline of Resonance is excellent in the opening hand and the worst top draw you could hope for most turns.
On the other hand, it counts as four slots out of 60. If we include lands, there are approximately 22 cards in the list that, ideally, we don't want to draw many copies of. In other words, it's about average for what we expect even from other Aggro decks these days. Additionally, we have cheap cantrips with Ancestral Anger and Honor to speed up draws, and we can also count on Inti, Seneschal of the Sun to recycle the extra Leylines we can't cast.
An important lesson from this list is not to be afraid to mulligan more aggressively, even if it means having four cards in hand with a Leyline of Resonance in play. Furthermore, it's important to have some faith in the top of your deck. There are hands that will be perfect, terrible, and hands that look good but are missing something. The third scenario requires a bit of confidence that you'll find what's missing among your draws this turn or the ability to use cantrips to find what you need.
Maindeck
The heart of this list. Leyline of Resonance doubles, for free, the effect of any spell we have that targets a creature we control. With it, this deck explodes, and quick and timely answers are needed to hold it. Without it, we're just a Boros Heroic opting for potentially less effective creatures.
Cacophony Scamp is our "free-win" button. Combined with our pumps, Trample, and the ability to sacrifice itself to deal damage after combat, it's common for it to deal ten or more damage in a single combat. Heartfire Hero grows when we cast a pump on it and punishes timely removal with the same ability as Cacophony Scamp to deal damage to the opponent if it's destroyed.
Together, these two allow for lines where we can play around with the possibility of interaction in various ways, such as saving some cards for the right timing or trying to play a spell as "bait" to respond with a bigger pump later.
Monastery Swiftspear is still one of the most efficient red one-drops in the format, and it's the best option to complement our one-drops. It becomes a common side-out in my guide since it's the card that's easiest to trade, chump blocks, or interacts least effectively with our game plan.
Dreadhorde Arcanist is half-threat due to its inherent Trample and half-source of card advantage by allowing us to cast a spell from the graveyard when it attacks. It's worth remembering that the spell cast with this ability is also copied by Leyline of Resonance.
Illuminator Virtuoso has Double Strike and is especially lethal with Monstrous Rage and Ancestral Anger. The fact that it filters the hand when targeted by a spell offers another way to get rid of Leylines we've drawn or to find the pump we need to end the game.
Inti, Seneschal of the Sun doesn't directly interact with the list, but it offers Trample to a creature while increasing its power and becoming a recurring means of filtering the hand.
The main pumps.
Monstrous Rage is the best one-mana pump spell released for aggressive decks in recent years. In addition to the power boost, it creates a token that gives the creature permanent Trample, working almost as well as a Lava Spike, or even better than it targets Heartfire Hero or Illuminator Virtuoso.
Turn Inside Out serves a dual function as an effective pump and protection. You can always use it in response to an opponent's removal to put a 2/2 on the board, while you can also sequence it with Monstrous Rage and Leyline of Resonance into Cacophony Scamp for a quick win on the second turn.
Wild Ride offers Haste and three power for a creature. One copy seems enough, as it doesn't have any added value for the creatures we already have in play.
The "cantrips." Each is a pump spell that draws a card in addition to its effects.
Ancestral Anger is the most important of these because it guarantees Trample for an explosive turn while replenishing itself in its owner's hand. Honor permanently increases the creature's power, but at sorcery speed, while Defiant Strike increases power only for the turn, but as an instant.
If the turn-three win plan doesn't work, we need resilience. Den of the Bugbear and Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance offer more threats on matchups against a lot of removal, especially against sweepers like Temporary Lockdown or Supreme Verdict.
Twelve duals for eighteen lands is enough to maintain consistency between 
and 
in our list, considering we rarely need more than one white mana per turn and rarely want more than three lands in play.
Sideboard
Magebane Lizard is our complementary threat against Izzet Phoenix and Lotus Combo, offering more reach in exchange for speed, but it can also punish Phoenix's excessive interaction or "lock" Lotus Combo from winning the game on a specific turn.
Apostle of Purifying Light's main function is having protection from Fatal Push and Bloodtithe Harvester and bypassing Mono Black Midrange's blockers. It's essential for games where we expect a lot of removal. The graveyard hate is good against Greasefang, Okiba Boss, but not that great against Phoenix as we don't want to save mana during our turns.
Complementing the resilience package, Urabrask's Forge puts a token into play each turn and punishes opponents for taking too long to finish the game and relying solely on sweepers to deal with our creatures. Great against Azorius Control.
Tethmos High Priest was far less impressive than I expected, and I, personally, would trade it for more Apostles and/or extra copies of Urabrask's Forge. Its main function is to bring back impactful cards like Dreadhorde Arcanist, Cacophony Scamp, and Inti, Seneschal of the Sun with our pumps.
Lightning Helix is our tool against Mono Red Aggro, hoping to slow their clock and deal with important threats. This is a matchup where they typically focus their damage spells on our creatures, leaving us vulnerable to many one-for-one interactions.
Wear // Tear deals with troublesome artifacts and enchantments like Parhelion II, Monument to Endurance, or Temporary Lockdown. While it's a tool against Unholy Annex, we don't want to dilute our game plan too much with cards that don't interact with our strategy.
Sideboard Guide
Mono Red Aggro
IN
OUT
Rakdos Midrange
IN
OUT
Azorius Control
IN
OUT
Orzhov Greasefang
IN
OUT
Izzet Phoenix
IN
OUT
Selesnya Angels
No changes. This is a matchup where you need to race and win before your opponent overwhelms you with life gain and blockers.
Lotus Combo
IN
OUT
Wrapping Up
That's all for today!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!
Thanks for reading!
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