​WASTING NO(T) TIME FINDING A GOOD MIDRANGE DECK IN PIONEER

WASTING NO(T) TIME FINDING A GOOD MIDRANGE DECK IN PIONEER

Hello again everyone! After a brutally embarrassing showing in pioneer at the PT I decided it was time to put Rakdos midrange down for a while. I decided after the PT that I really want to focus on playing more MTGO events this season, after making top 4 in a standard showcase Challenge last year. This past weekend there was a Pioneer Showcase challenge and I was kind of lost as to what to play. I thought the Nassif UB control list from the PT was going to be a really good option, but unfortunately I am not fast enough on the MTGO client to play the deck.

The second deck I was considering was a variation of Rakdos vampires, because it is just the best version of Rakdos at the moment. It still has a great midrange game while also having an oops I win factor. I joined a league with the following version of Vampires on arena, going 1-2 losing to UB control and a deck I have a bit of experience with: Mono black Waste Not.

I have played mono black Waste Not in two challenges in the past to very mediocre finishes. 4-4 losing to mono green Devotion three times and the challenge before champs going 4-3 with a bye. The deck is an interesting one because it is extremely powerful and has really good matchups but it lacks some levels of consistency not being able to play cards like Bloodtithe Harvester and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. Fortunately, Harvester is about as bad as it's ever been in Pioneer because it doesn't line up particularly well into phoenix. Fable is still insane but honestly so is Waste Not. Waste not is particularly good vs spell based decks, and even better vs decks that can't get it off the table such as UB Control and Phoenix. Due to losing to one of the Trophy leaders Uejo on MTGO during the week and losing to the deck on arena I decided to try it out myself. I copied Uejo's most recent 5-0 list at the time which was the following:

I played two tight matches my first two matches testing and lost them both which had me a bit concerned but they were to some brutal top decks from fringe decks, mono red Aggro and Gruul Vehicles. I played six more and won them all, dominating most decks I played including vampires and UW control. I was a believer in the deck and decided to let some friends know I was on this archetype again. I told Trevor Dalton about the fact I was going to play the deck and he added me to a Waste Not discord which was helpful in regards to some side boarding choices.

The event started incredibly well, going 8-0 in two matches vs Phoenix and once each vs Vampires and Amalia. Unfortunately, things then got shaky. I lost to the eventual winner of the event in round five on Amalia pretty handily. Then I had a really tough loss to vampires in round six where game three I couldn't find a card advantage source until I was 30 cards deep with my second Extinction Event buried in the bottom ten cards of my deck. Round seven I got really fired up in game three vs UW Spirits because they drew roughly ten creatures in a row with an active Tocashia's welcome after I got greedy on a Sheoldred attack early running into a Wandering Emperor minus. Fortunately, my opponent held up a queller rather than buying back a Katilda which allowed me to eat it with Hive of the Eye Tyrant and steal the game later with Sheoldred. The next two rounds I beat Phoenix again and snuck into top 8 on breakers. In top 8, I came up with a better sb plan and won the match. In the semis I likely was greedy allowing two Shredders to live with double Waste Not and got double Phoenixed on turn four by Corey Burkheart.

All in all, I would highly recommend this deck if you enjoy midrange strategies in Pioneer because I think it has very real game against the top decks. There is a very real chance I will play it in next weekend's Showcase qualifier with some updates!