Running through the early Theros Beyond Death-empowered Pioneer deck lists... I gotta say, I saw some hot ones. Mono-White enchantments combo. Mono-Red Patrick Sullivan-style post-Standard Red Decks... But nothing caught my eye better than this beaut:

Gruul Burn | Pioneer | quikidk, 5-0 MTGO League
Creatures (16)
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Klothys, God of Destiny
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Soul-Scar Mage
Instants (16)
4 Atarka's Command
4 Searing Blood
4 Shock
4 Wild Slash
Sorceries (8)
4 Light Up the Stage
4 Skewer the Critics
Lands (20)
8 Mountain
4 Game Trail
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
Sideboard (15)
3 Chandra's Defeat
4 Cindervines
2 Experimental Frenzy
4 Mindsparker
2 Smash to Smithereens

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A solid 5-0 outing gave this build all the credibility I would need to want to play it (especially since twenty-four hours earlier I had not realized I would be attending the Grand Prix Magic Fest). The plan was to play in Pioneer events to gear up for my upcoming return to the PT, and fit in drafts as time allowed.

I ended up playing in let's-call-them-PTQs on Friday and Saturday... And by Sunday I was actually kind of Magicked out. But I learned a lot; from my deck, from the new cards, and hopefully some of those things will be useful to you as well!

I have been getting requests for work on Pioneer Red Decks for some time, but had never actually played a tournament game of Pioneer prior to the PTQ on Friday. Test games, sure, but not a tournament game.

Quikidk's deck, as you can probably imagine, scratched a lot of itches for me. Structurally, it is very similar to the Modern deck I had been winning with all last month.


Well, maybe "structurally" is the wrong word. My Modern decks are all one mana, with the full eight Horizon Canopy lands to escape mana flood in the middle turns. Quikidk's deck had some solid card crossover... The full eight pack of Soul-Scar Mage and Monastery Swiftspear at the one, just like Modern.

Eidolon of the Great Revel returned to the main deck in the Pioneer build, but you'll get no complaint from Yours Truly on that one. The threat that really had my mental gears turning, though? This card!


Klothys, God of Destiny
I had previously devoted [most of] an episode of Top Level Podcast to Klothys, and didn't appreciate how good it was until receiving some well-positioned persuasion from a certain Hall of Famer / Pro Tour Champion co-host. To say that Klothys is merely a Sulfuric Vortex that gains you two life instead of costing you two per turn cycle really doesn't do her justice.

In context, Klothys is far better than that... And we're talking about a card that compares favorably to a Legacy - LEGACY - staple in Red Decks.

You'll notice that quikidk played the full eight-pack of Spectacles. A mage after my own heart, clearly... But those cards have new meaning when played alongside Klothys.

YT: ... Still first main phase... Light Up the Stage?

Various Opponents: I'm sorry, I think that costs three mana unless you've damaged me already.

YT: I did! Remember when Klothys ate your [INSERT CARD NAME HERE]?

VOs: LEMME READ THAT AGAIN?

Awesome, right?

There are a lot of different ways you can describe this God... I like the Sulfuric Vortex analogy because it's easy to understand... But it doesn't tell the whole tale. When paired with Spectacles, Klothys is kind of an indestructible Lotus Cobra... A creature (or at least sometimes-creature) that gives you a mana boost. Sure, you can get a literal mana boost by eating the occasional land, but eating a spell and triggering the small two-point Drain Life will contextually set you up with 2 mana, not one.

Another way to think about Klothys is that - so long as the game isn't decided yet - it will act like a Lightning Helix every turn. Sure, Lightning Helix does (and gains) three life and Klothys only two... But after your initial investment, you're paying zero mana per turn. Contextually, Klothys goes a long way in ensuring that you simply win games that are not yet completely lost. If you have a chance (and by definition they have a chance) and you both draw at about the same rate a free "Lightning Helix" per turn will generally tip the scales in your favor. The opponent will usually have to have something similar (but bigger) unopposed, like Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet or Dream Trawler to go over the top of this outstanding, Godly, grinder. I mean MY opponents usually did, but I don't know that you can expect that-expect that every round :)

Sometimes Klothys even turns on! In two tournaments, I only attacked (or blocked) with Klothys once. It was against a Mono-White lifegain deck, and it was glorious. Klothys was riding the pips of Rampaging Ferocidon and Experimental Frenzy... So was doing different work, but still work.

Did I just say "Rampaging Ferocidon"?

I made a couple of changes to quikidk's deck. Mindsparker seemed all right, but I figured given the potential emergence of life gain decks with Heliod, Sun-Crowned (or life gain in general, like Dream Trawler or even Approach of the Second Sun) the once-banned Ferocidon might be the superior 3-drop.

I won some really lopsided games thanks to having once of the best Gnarled Masses ever in my sideboard... It both acts like an Eidolon of the Great Revel and a strategy invalidator when you have it in.

The other main card I changed was Searing Blood. I had already switched allegiances in Modern, and Pioneer is a lower power format. Stomp does the same amount of damage on the front side, and will often deal more overall. In addition, I figured having a few more on-the-battlefield Red pips in my deck might turn on Klothys more regularly. Bonecrusher Giant over-performed, per usual.

My final deck:

Gruul Burn | Pioneer | Michael Flores
Creatures (20)
4 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Klothys, God of Destiny
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Soul-Scar Mage
Instants (12)
4 Atarka's Command
4 Shock
4 Wild Slash
Sorceries (8)
4 Light Up the Stage
4 Skewer the Critics
Lands (20)
8 Mountain
4 Game Trail
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
Sideboard (15)
4 Cindervines
2 Destructive Revelry
3 Chandra's Defeat
2 Experimental Frenzy
4 Rampaging Ferocidon

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There are any number of reasons - excuses really - I could give for not doing better over two PTQs. I did not perform up to recent expectations for a local / amateur even at all! Some mistakes were made, and I do think I was on the wrong side of Fortuna more than once. So let's not focus on my individual performance at all, but rather what I learned about Gruul.

The Good
Autumn Burchett recently posed a very interesting question on Twitter:


Autumn Burchett
@AutumnLilyMTG
I find it curious that every Pioneer Mono-Red deck I’ve ever seen runs exactly 4 Wild Slash, even though Shock being legal and largely the same means they could run more than 4 copies of that effect (and if they’re not interested in more than 4 copies, why not less than 4?)

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5:35 AM - Jan 27, 2020
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Why indeed?

The answer has to be that many of the Red Decks they are referencing are simply mis-built. That said... quikidk's wasn't.

Quikidk played all eight copies of the 1 mana Shock, to the exclusion of Lightning Strike or some other options. I obviously futzed this up a little with my Bonecrusher Giants but I didn't actually take any of them out.

Cheap Prowess triggers and other catalyst plays can help you steal games with this deck. Double-spell into a Sylvan Caryatid is deadly for the Niv-to-Light deck; and a third turn Shock + Light Up the Stage will catch you back up... Well, often enough that you'll be glad you just read that sentence.

While most small creature Red Decks are soft to the card Siege Rhino, I think Niv-to-Light is a good matchup; and various uw Control builds are great matchups.

If you're going first, and have multiple Prowess creatures, there will often be nothing a Control player can do before turn three... Or even turn four! Just take a ton of damage (especially when you can go wide and drop an Atarka's Command).

If you think uw Control is going to be popular, look no further for your Weapon of Choice.

Klothys in particular is exceptional against uw. You can stick it when the opponent is tapped for Supreme Verdict or Settle the Wreckage, and even more than a damage source, the God of Destiny can invalidate the uw game plan. Good luck trying to load up for Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin against Klothys. It's doable... But it's not easy. I even had one opponent burn his own graveyard main phase on a Dig Through Time trying to get ahead of Klothys... Not realizing I could eat spells out of my own graveyard!

The Bad
If instead Mono-Black is the opponent across the table...

Your fortunes will not be so rosy.

I don't think Mono-Black is a favorable matchup, and it is indeed common. It's not unwinnable, but it's not really where you want to be.

If you're up against Chonky Red, cards like Chandra's Defeat can eliminate large threats like a Chandra Planeswalker, or Glorybringer. If Mono-Black plays a large threat... You basically have to spend multiple cards on it. Swift End taking down one of your creatures, followed by a 2/3 - two-THREE - Murderous Rider that you kind of have to spend double Shock on (due to lifelink) is quite frustrating.

Not great.

Not un-solve-able (you can try cards like Exquisite Firecraft or Roast, I suppose)... But not great.

The Ugly
Rootbound Crag
Game Trail
I love quikidk's shell. I love the Green addition to the Prowess guys. I love the Cindervines.

That mana can be trouble.

Remember when I said Fortuna didn't quite smile on me last weekend? I lost multiple matches to no-Mountains / Rootbound Crag or Game Trail draws.

At the same time... These are clearly mana draws the deck can be stuck with... And of a sort that Mono-Black or Mono-White will never be stuck with.

Ugly is a good word for it.

The Future
I'd still consider this deck for Phoenix, despite a disappointing run at the amateur tables.

But I'd have to really believe the opponents were going to be casting Dream Trawlers and big Teferis. For smaller, lower to the ground, decks? I think that there are just structural problems, like clunky mana draws or a difficulty dealing with multiple large creatures that would scare me off.

But combo?

Can't wait to mulligan into a Cindervines, am I right?