Winota, Joiner of Forces has been banned from Magic Arena’s newest format Explorer. The deck completely dominated the format and warped the meta to meet it. Now that the threat of a turn three kill isn’t looming over everyone’s heads, other strategies are crawling out of the woodwork. Here are some of the biggest winners in MTG’s newest format following the Winota ban:
Yorion Fires
Based on an old standard titan, this deck roared out of the gate when Explorer was first released. This deck’s goal is to cheat out an
Agent of Treachery
Agent of Treachery
When this creature enters, gain control of target permanent.
At the beginning of your end step, if you control three or more permanents you don't own, draw three cards.
and start stealing your opponent’s permanents. Flicker it with Yorion, or copy it with
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Create a 2/2 red Goblin Shaman creature token with "Whenever this token attacks, create a Treasure token."
II — You may discard up to two cards. If you do, draw that many cards.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
to take everything they have and refill your hand. Generally, this strategy isn’t quick enough to keep up with the pressure that Winota offers.
Transmogrify
Transmogrify
Exile target creature. That creature's controller reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a creature card. That player puts that card onto the battlefield, then shuffles the rest into their library.
effects also fizzle when its targets are removed, so the deck was getting caught in the crossfire with cards meant to take Winota out. Now that the format should slow down, expect to see a lot more Agents coming out of nowhere and stealing your lands before you can cast your spells to compete with it.
Mono Blue Spirits
This deck is excellent at taking apart strategies that are a step slower than it. Winota forced this deck into situations that it couldn’t properly answer, but spirits were still able to keep up. Now that Winota’s gone, spirits get to play the same role of creating situations that the opponent can’t answer. The ban allows for this deck to play more efficient cards over what it was running to deal with Winota. The list above considers that notion.
The biggest thing going for this deck is that everything flies. It may seem like a small point, but having the ability to fly over cards like
Cauldron Familiar
Cauldron Familiar
When this creature enters, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Sacrifice a Food: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
ensures that current strategies don’t have a great way to keep up with it. Only time will tell, but this archetype is already dominant in Pioneer.
Greasefang Combo
The other combo deck in the format now has the fastest kill available in Explorer. This means that the deck can care less about what the opponent is doing and focus more on what Greasefang wants to do.
Use Greasefang to resurrect
Parhelion II
Parhelion II
Flying, first strike, vigilance
Whenever Parhelion II attacks, create two 4/4 white Angel creature tokens with flying and vigilance that are attacking.
Crew 4 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 4 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
as early as turn three. Swing for 13, leave a bunch of angels on the board, and demand for your opponent to get out of it. This strategy has two different builds to it, but the Mardu version has more to gain from the recent ban. If this deck becomes too dominant, cards that were present for Winota in the sideboard may turn into graveyard hate. If that happens, this deck will still be strong, but possibly kept in check.
The biggest strength of this deck is that the combo only takes up eight slots. The rest of the deck can be used to help execute Greasefang’s plan.
Portable Hole
Portable Hole
When this artifact enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls with mana value 2 or less until this artifact leaves the battlefield.
and
Thoughtseize
Thoughtseize
Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life.
can deal with any hate that might start seeing play against this deck while milling creatures like
Stitcher’s Supplier
Stitcher’s Supplier
When this creature enters or dies, mill three cards. (Put the top three cards of your library into your graveyard.)
help find your combo pieces and prepare you to bring them back.
Omnath Adventures
Another deck that had a decent Winota matchup, Omnath Adventures is by far the spiciest take on this list. This deck was so powerful in pre-Innistrad standard that it single-handedly added two cards to the standard ban list. Adventure lists excel when they can interact with their opponents and outvalue them by turning each card in the deck into three or four different spells with
Lucky Clover
Lucky Clover
Whenever you cast an Adventure instant or sorcery spell, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy.
. This deck has the tools to deal with everything else on this list and can do so rather easily.
Like the Yorion Fires deck, Omnath was being taken out by cards intended to deal with Winota. The meta will likely shift away from
Redcap Melee
Redcap Melee
Redcap Melee deals 4 damage to target creature or planeswalker. If a nonred permanent is dealt damage this way, you sacrifice a land.
now that Winota is gone, making Omnath harder to kill.
Ray of Enfeeblement
Ray of Enfeeblement
Target creature gets -4/-1 until end of turn. If that creature is white, it gets -4/-4 until end of turn instead.
will be a card that this deck continues to watch out for.
The biggest appeal for this deck is the Mono Blue matchup. Adventures was created in a time when Flash and Control strategies excelled in standard. Tempo synergies that rely on counterspells to keep tempo do not deal well with a deck that copies each of their spells multiple times.
To make things even more exciting, this deck has some fringe success in Pioneer too. That version is rather different, focusing on
Possibility Storm
Possibility Storm
Whenever a player casts a spell from their hand, that player exiles it, then exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a card that shares a card type with it. That player may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then they put all cards exiled with this enchantment on the bottom of their library in a random order.
and
Enter the Infinite
Enter the Infinite
Draw cards equal to the number of cards in your library, then put a card from your hand on top of your library. You have no maximum hand size until your next turn.
, but if it can hang in Pioneer, it can hang in Explorer.
Strategies that scare this deck come from tempo swings that the deck can’t keep up with like
Nissa, who Shakes the World
Nissa, who Shakes the World
Whenever you tap a Forest for mana, add an additional {G}.
+1: Put three +1/+1 counters on up to one target noncreature land you control. Untap it. It becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with vigilance and haste that's still a land.
−8: You get an emblem with "Lands you control have indestructible." Search your library for any number of Forest cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
or things they can’t interact with like
Lotus Field
Lotus Field
Hexproof
This land enters tapped.
When this land enters, sacrifice two lands.
{T}: Add three mana of any one color.
. Those cards don’t have a big impact in Explorer yet, so now is this deck’s time to shine! I recommend playing some copies of
Yasharn, Implacable Earth
Yasharn, Implacable Earth
When Yasharn enters, search your library for a basic Forest card and a basic Plains card, reveal those cards, put them into your hand, then shuffle.
Players can't pay life or sacrifice nonland permanents to cast spells or activate abilities.
in the sideboard to help deal with sacrifice.
The Future
There are other powerful strategies that are very viable in Explorer, but these are some of the best. There is now a big, but temporary, difference between Explorer and Pioneer’s ban lists. Is that going to affect the community’s opinion of Explorer? Hopefully, it really is temporary, and the formats become one and the same sooner than we think.