Boros Token Control Emerges in Pioneer, Drawing Inspiration from Standard

Every now and again, a popular deck in Standard will start to creep into other, more powerful formats. If a specific shell proves to be strong in Standard

Every now and then, a top deck in Standard will begin to creep into other, more powerful formats. If a particular shell proves to be strong in Standard, it often encourages players to give the deck a shot in Pioneer, usually with a handful of upgrades.

For example, when Bloomburrow was released, Heartfire Hero and Emberheart Challenger quickly helped form the basis for red aggro decks in Standard. Over the last couple weeks, a Rakdos aggro deck with many similarities started popping up more and more in Pioneer, utilizing potent support pieces like Titan’s Strength not available in Standard.

Well, earlier this weekend, an unusual Pioneer deck that clearly drew inspiration from Boros token control in Standard managed to make top four of a Magic Online Pioneer Challenge. This Boros Pioneer deck builds upon the ideas present in the Standard version with high-powered super staples and prison elements. There’s even a way to completely lock all players out of resolving spells, which can end the game if you’re ahead on board! The deck’s breakout performance definitely deserves a shout-out.

Standard’s Influence

To begin with, it’s worth showcasing just how much influence the Standard Boros token control archetype had on this deck’s emergence. The biggest draw to crafting your deck in a similar manner certainly lies with the power of Caretaker’s Talent. Caretaker’s Talent is an absolutely incredible card.

At its base, you get a consistent card advantage machine, so long as you have ways to generate tokens. This is already strong, but Caretaker’s Talent comes with the additional upside of letting you copy your best token for one measly mana. Later on, you have the luxury of pumping all your creature tokens, which can help you close the game quicker.

Just like in Standard, most of the rest of the deck is filled with interaction and token producers. The goal is to keep the opponent off-balance while you continue to pull ahead on cards. For token production, Carrot Cake makes an appearance once more. This unassuming card provides a lot of value with Caretaker’s Talent. It produces multiple tokens on its own, the second of which can be made at instant speed to help get around the fact that Caretaker’s Talent’s main ability triggers “only once each turn.”

Carrot Cake also helps fuel Torch the Tower. Torch the Tower is a great removal spell. Permanently answering Greasefang, Okiba Boss or Arclight Phoenix in such an efficient manner is an amazing deal. Other common forms of disruption that overlap between Standard and Pioneer include Get Lost and Temporary Lockdown. Temporary Lockdown makes its appearance in the sideboard in this Pioneer deck, but it plays an essential role against aggro and Boros Convoke all the same.

Where Things Get Interesting

As you might expect, though, there are some key inclusions that separate this variant of the Boros token control archetype and the one that’s popular in Standard. First of all, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and The Wandering Emperor are elite additions that are not Standard legal. Both cards do everything this deck wants.

Fable makes a token for Caretaker’s Talent, and the Goblin Shaman token can then make Treasures on top of that. Getting to rummage away dead removal spells in certain matchups and excess lands is awesome. Of course, if Fable goes unchecked, you’ll get to start copying your tokens every turn. As for The Wandering Emperor, it cleans up even the biggest threats on the opponent’s side, while serving as a token-producing engine in its own right.

Where things get even more interesting is with the inclusion of High Noon and Possibility Storm. By itself, High Noon can be a real nuisance for a lot of decks in Pioneer. It’s excellent against Izzet Phoenix, preventing Arclight Phoenix from ever being returned. It also shines against Prowess strategies and decks with Burning-Tree Emissary as a way to slow the opponent down. Once you factor in Possibility Storm, High Noon becomes even scarier.

With both of these enchantments on the battlefield, neither player is able to resolve spells. If any player goes to cast a spell, Possibility Storm will trigger, and their initial spell will get exiled. Any spell that gets revealed from Possibility Storm’s trigger will not be castable, since High Noon limits everyone to only playing one spell a turn.

この効果は左右対称なので注意が必要です。 「放浪の皇帝」か「噴水港」にアクセスできる場合を除いて、ボードにクリーチャーがいない場所に到達できれば、このコンボを有利に利用して、平凡なトークンビートでゲームに勝つことができます。ポッシビリティ・ストームは、ほとんどの場合、それ自体ではあまり機能しないため、デッキには 2 枚しかありません。幸いなことに、このデッキは寓話、世話人の才能、そして噴水港の間で大量のカードを引くことができます。

長所と短所

最終的には、スタンダードの対応物と同様に、パイオニアのボロストークンコントロールは相対的に見えるようです

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