Charting a Course: Bro Season Wrap up
Arinceo breaks down the week of Pioneer data to provide a glimpse into the future of the format.
Back End Note: Sorry to all the fans of this series this article was postponed due to some unexpected back end issues”
Welcome to the latest edition of Charting a Course!
Pre-release weekend has come and gone and we’re now ready to start slamming ONE cards into new brews and existing archetypes.
Before we step into the new season, we’re going to look back on The Brother’s War and the changes in the meta over the past three months.
‘Most Dominant’ Decks of the Week (MTGO Challenges)
| Week | Most Top 32s | Most Top 16s | Most Top 8s |
| Dec 31/Jan1 | Gruul Vehicles (11) | Mono-Green Devotion,Gruul Vehicles (5) | Lotus Field Combo, Gruul Vehicles (3) |
| Jan 7-8 | Mono-Green Devotion (9) | Lotus Field Combo (6) | Lotus Field Combo (4) |
| Jan 14-15 | Azorius Control (9) | Angels, Azorius Control (5) | 5 decks (2)* |
| Jan 21-22 | Rakdos Midrange (10) | Rakdos Midrange, Lotus Field Combo (5) | Rakdos Midrange (4) |
| Jan 28-29 | Rakdos Midrange (9) | Green Devotion, Lotus Field Combo (5) | Lotus Field Combo, Rakdos Midrange, Green Devotion (3) |
| Feb 4-5 | Green Devotion (10) | Green Devotion (5) | Green Devotion (3) |
MTGO Challenges Top 32s Breakdown since December 31 (Full BRO season)
| Deck | Top 32s | Top 16s | Top 8s |
| Green Devotion | 43 (75) | 21 (39) | 11 (17) |
| Rakdos Midrange | 40 (127) | 20 (72) | 11 (39) |
| Lotus Field Combo | 39 (75) | 24 (43) | 14 (27) |
| Azorius Control | 38 (72) | 19 (34) | 7 (14) |
| Angels | 26 (49) | 12 (22) | 4 (6) |
| Gruul Vehicles | 25 (61) | 9 (29) | 5 (17) |
| Mono-White Humans | 22 (46) | 7 (17) | 5 (10) |
| Izzet Phoenix | 15 (51) | 9 (23) | 5 (14) |
| Other | 104 (244) | 55 (121) | 26 (56) |
New Year, New Meta
Across the 25 MTGO Challenges during the BRO season, there was a distinct difference in results from the turn of the year (11 events) compared to the entirety of the season. With a downtick in Rakdos Midrange we also saw a reduction in finishes for Gruul Vehicles, which enjoyed its best matchup against the deck.
Another deck that has experienced a fall in representation is Izzet Phoenix, while we’ve seen linear strategies such as Lotus Field and Angels come to the forefront with lower rates of interactive midrange decks.
In terms of new set tech, Angels has greatly benefitted from the addition of Kayla’s Reconstruction, which has seen it become one of the strongest creature decks in the metagame. Azorius Control has also adapted its build in order to take advantage of Lay Down Arms as a new efficient removal spell, while also having the ability to interact on the stack to keep Lotus Field in check.
On the fringes
Similar to the Mono-Black Midrange deck profiled in my previous article, I want to highlight a deck that has been rising in the results of late to the edges of the competitive tier of decks.
Azorius Spirits by RearrangedAS (4th in Pioneer Challenge)
0 mythic
40 rare
12 uncommon
8 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (26)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$210.6
Sideboard
15 Cards
$12.23
Since the start of the year we’ve seen an adaptation to the traditional Mono-Blue Spirits deck, eschewing the snow-lands and Ascendant Spiritin favor of a white splash for Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit in the main, plus Portable Hole in the sideboard.
We’ve seen eight Challenge Top 32 finishes for the deck since the start of January, including a 4th place finish in the January 29th Pioneer Challenge. With Seachrome coast becoming legal in the format with the release of ONE, the deck may gain some extra win percentage with a further optimized manabase.
Around the Tables
To finish off this week’s article we’re gonna take a look at a rogue brew that secured a solid result over the past fortnight:
Selesnya Hatebears by albertoSD (League 5-0)
0 mythic
58 rare
0 uncommon
2 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (32)
Instants (4)
Sorceries (2)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$298.78
Sideboard
15 Cards
$25.95
We’ve seen an 80-card Yorion version of this tech from Brazilain player Tulio Jaudy, but this version is a focussed 60-card list featuring complete playsets of the creature base and Collected Company, plus two copies of Kayla’s Reconstruction as an additional effect. Again, with the addition of the new fastland to the format (Razorverge Thicket), this deck looks set to receive a boost from ONE.
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this week’s article! We’ll be back in a fortnight to look over the first fortnight of results and the breakdown of the Pioneer Pro Tour event!
The Pro Tour will take place on February 17–19 in Philadelphia, and you can watch live via the Magic Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/magic.
For more information: https://mcphiladelphia.mtgfestivals.com/en-us.html
If there’s anything you’d like to see me examine further in these articles, you can reach me on Twitter and Reddit, or on our PlayingPioneer Discord if you are signed up to our Patreon.
