Despite the fact that the Pioneer metagame has remained relatively stable recently, that hasn’t stopped some unique brews from occasionally popping up. For instance, this past weekend at the 60-player God of Pioneer Tournament in Japan, an unusual Mardu Self-Bounce shell made top 16. This is the ultimate value deck, and even has some tricks up its sleeve with a permanent-donating subtheme.
Dominating the Resource Battle
At its core, what this deck piloted by Funayama Reona is looking to do is out-grind the opponent by controlling their board while simultaneously pulling ahead on resources. This is made possible by this deck’s combination of enchantments with strong enters effects and cards that bounce them at little cost.
To help keep creatures in check, Nowhere to Run and Momentum Breaker serve as efficient removal spells, while Hopeless Nightmare whittles away your opponent’s hand. Although none of these effects are backbreaking on their own, they let Nurturing Pixie and Sunpearl Kirin replay them over and over to pull ahead.
With access to lots of enchantments that generate value on entry but do little while in play, this deck also gets to maximize Doom Foretold
Doom ForetoldAt the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player sacrifices a nonland, nontoken permanent of their choice. If that player can't, they discard a card, they lose 2 life, you draw a card, you gain 2 life, you create a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance, then you sacrifice this enchantment. and Rite of Oblivion, sacrificing cards for value. You can even use these tools to get rid of Treacherous Blessing, thus evading the card’s downside after drawing three cards.
After cementing your advantage, you then need a way to put the nail in the coffin and close things out, which Greed’s Gambit and Iroh, Tea Master help accomplish. The goal is to cast Greed’s Gambit, then use Iroh to “gift” the enchantment to the opponent. This way, you get a bunch of cards and tokens to start attacking with, and your opponent is stuck with an enchantment that slowly demolishes them.
If this path to victory weren’t enough, you’ll also find singleton copies of Harmless Offering
Harmless OfferingTarget opponent gains control of target permanent you control. and Demonic Pact
Demonic PactAt the beginning of your upkeep, choose one that hasn't been chosen —
• This enchantment deals 4 damage to any target and you gain 4 life.
• Target opponent discards two cards.
• Draw two cards.
• You lose the game. in the decklist that can serve as an alternate win condition. With a playset of Beseech the Mirror
Beseech the MirrorBargain (You may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token as you cast this spell.)
Search your library for a card, exile it face down, then shuffle. If this spell was bargained, you may cast the exiled card without paying its mana cost if that spell's mana value is 4 or less. Put the exiled card into your hand if it wasn't cast this way. in the mix, you should have no problem finding these tools in a timely manner.
Matchup Variance
Overall, this deck provides a streamlined game plan that some strategies, especially creature decks, will struggle to overcome. Both Izzet and Mono-Red Prowess, the format’s two strongest aggro decks, have no way to remove problematic enchantments like Doom Foretold and Temporary Lockdown. With cards like Torch the Tower keeping you ahead early, you should have no trouble reaching the late game, where your win conditions remain unbeatable.
At the same time, slower decks like Golgari Midrange that struggle to apply pressure risk getting buried by Treacherous Blessing and Hopeless Nightmare. Doom Foretold even has the upside of outsizing Abrupt Decay
Abrupt DecayThis spell can't be countered.
Destroy target nonland permanent with mana value 3 or less. and giving you an answer to Planeswalkers and Unholy Annex.
Interestingly, thanks to the Beseech the Mirror package, you even have the luxury of tutoring up prominent hate pieces. For example, this deck utilizes a one-of Rest in Peace
Rest in PeaceWhen this enchantment enters, exile all graveyards.
If a card or token would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead. in the main deck, which can single-handedly beat Greasefang decks.
This deck does run into issues, though, against strategies that punish you for not pressuring the opponent’s life total. Boros Land Destruction, for example, can easily answer your enchantments with Get Lost and Emergency Eject, then make your card advantage useless by running you out of lands. Even the Azorius Control matchup can be a struggle due to the sheer number of counterspells you have to fight through.
Because of these weaknesses, this deck is more fun than it is competitive. Still, if you’re tired of losing to creature decks at FNM and enjoy winning the game in unorthodox ways, this deck certainly delivers.
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