
All Explorer Articles

Diving in the Junk Tank
Anthony dives into the Junk tank to find how many playable cards Abzan really has

Explorer Meta Guide June Season
Things Have Been Bad Explorer has been in a tough spot for a couple of months. The meta has been stale and full of 300% your daily value of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. Even I, a Pioneer-and-Explorer-only player and Arena ladder grinder, fully stopped playing Explorer through the months…

Top 10 Commons / Uncommons from March of the Machine
Anthony shows off his top picks from March of the Machine that don’t cost a rare wildcard for Explorer.

Golgari Midrange “Rock” Update
Anthony Joins us this week to show us the updates to The “Rock” and prove that Rakdos isn’t the only game in town.

Brews from the Crew: Winning ONE Brews from our Community
The first edition of Brews from the Crew, where we share demonstrably successful brews from the PlayingMTG team and Patreon community!

Enigmatic Incarnation: Explorer’s Premier Toolbox Deck
Christian “Sir EPIC” hit Mythic #469 in eight days playing Enigmatic Fires this season. Here, he shares the deck, sideboard guide and tips for piloting Explorer’s premier toolbox deck.

Explorer Season Rewind: January 2023
Rose-emoji recaps the January season of Explorer Best-of-Three ranked play, just in time for All Will Be One to come shake it up (hopefully).

The Best Phyrexia: All Will Be One Planeswalkers
DarthJacen ranks the plethora of new planeswalkers in All Will Be One, with a focus on Pioneer and Explorer.

Turning Sparks to Flame
Anthony covers his initial thoughts on the first real intriguing spoiler that we got for #MTGONE, Koth, Fire of Resistance.

Old Decks, New Tech: Re-Exploring Energy
Cris “Iglooboi” Smith breaks down one of the sweetest standard decks from the last few years and how the archetype may look in Pioneer today!

The Allied Fastlands and Their Impact on Pioneer (and Explorer)
PVDDR breaks down Pioneer and Explorer decks that would be significantly improved by the printing of the Allied Fast Lands in the new set.

Sifting the Remains
Anthony covers his remaining few cards to brew around from The Brothers’ War before phyrexia drops.

Brewing Selesnya Artifacts
Anthony Dolce shares his GW Artifacts brew, which features a snowballing +1/+1 counter theme and a good matchup against Green Devotion.

Explorer Meta Guide: December 9
rose-emoji breaks down the Explorer metagame going into Explorer Anthology 2, which promises to shake up the format more than we’ve ever seen.

Nykthos Coming to Explorer Next Week
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx was just announced as an inclusion in Explorer Anthology 2. Let’s go over some of the early meta implications of that!

Reinforcements of The Army
Join Anthony Dolce returns as he updates his old Brew, UW Soldiers

Explorer Anthology 2
rose-emoji covers the newest additions to Explorer following a reveal and an Arena Cube Spoiler

Five BRO Cards To Be Excited About For Explorer
Anthony Dolce takes his pick of five newly-printed cards that have potential to make an impact in Explorer.

Explorer Meta at Worlds
Skura examines the meta game for last week’s worlds and shares his thoughts on what it means for the format as a whole.

Five Underrated Cards Missing from Explorer
Anthony reviews and discusses five underrated cards that are missing from the Explorer card pool on MTG Arena that he’d like to see printed sometime soon.

Explorer Meta Guide: Top Decks for the Week of October 21
Jaffer dives into this week’s Explorer metagame, discussing matchups and tier list updates.

Good Soldiers March On
Join Anthony Dolce as he covers his brand new Brew, UW Soldiers

Explorer Meta Guide: Top Decks for the Week of October 7
Jaffer dives into this week’s Explorer meta game, discussing matchups, and tier list updates.

The Impacts of Shadows Over Innistrad: Remastered
Anthony Dolce and rose-emoji go over some of the most impactful cards expected for printing into Explorer in the Shadows Over Innistrad: Remastered set announced today.

Explorer Meta Guide: Top Decks for the Week of September 30
Jaffer dives into this week’s Explorer meta game, discussing matchups, tier list updates and some new contenders enabled by Dominaria United.

Explorer Meta Guide: Top Decks for the Week of September 23
Jaffer dives into this week’s Explorer meta game, discussing matchups, tier list updates and some new contenders enabled by Dominaria United.

Explorer Meta Guide: Top Decks for the Week of September 16
rose-emoji and BiRDxC0Re dive into this week’s Explorer meta game, discussing matchups, tier list updates and some new contenders enabled by Dominaria United.

Explorer Tier List Update – September 8, 2022
The Best-Of-Three Explorer Tier List The Best-Of-One Explorer Tier List Legend S Tier: Decks in this tier are the most heavily played and format dominant. These decks are the core that the rest of the meta revolves around. Players should be prepared to face these decks multiple times throughout a given event.A Tier: Decks in this tier…

Explorer Tier List Update – September 1, 2022
An explanation of the movements and placements in this week’s Explorer tier lists.

Over The Horizon: Week Twelve
Tyrant of Tales dives once again into the deep end of what spicy decks posted good results in Explorer this week.

Explorer Tier List Update – August 25, 2022
An explanation of the movements and placements in this week’s Explorer tier list.

Over The Horizon: Week Eleven
Tyrant of Tales dives once again into the deep end of what spicy decks posted good results in Explorer this week.

Magic, But Cheaper : Burn in Every Medium
ServoToken cover one of magic’s oldest strategies in his “patented” budget outlook

Explorer Tier List Update – August 18, 2022
An explanation of the movements and placements in this week’s Explorer tier list.

Golgari Fight Rigging Deck Guide
Join DarthJacen for a deck tech and sideboard guide for the strongest deck that not enough people are playing.

Arena Grinding: Ranked Ladder or Constructed Events?
Tyler dives into the world of competitive grinding on MTG: Arena and evaluates the pros and cons of both ways of playing. Learn what style might work best for you.

Over The Horizon: Week Ten
Tyrant of Tales dives once again into the deep end of what spicy decks posted good results in Explorer this week.

Explorer Tier List Update – August 4, 2022
An explanation of the movements and placements in this week’s Explorer tier list.

Mono-Blue Spirits Explorer Deck Guide
Explorer Anthology’s gift of Mausoleum Wanderer has propelled Explorer’s best tempo deck to new heights. Deck tech and sideboard guide inside.

Explorer Meta Rewind: A Post-Season Breakdown (July Season)
In PlayingExplorer’s second season-reset meta breakdown, rose-emoji takes a look back at the last four weeks of tier lists and data and breaks down any major shifts, new archetypes and recurring themes that showed up over the course of the month and what it could mean for the new season.

Over The Horizon: Week Nine
Tyrant of Tales dives once again into the deep end of what spicy decks posted good results in Explorer this week.

Explorer Tier List Update – July 28, 2022
An explanation of the movements and placements in this week’s Explorer tier list.

Explorer Anthology Announcement and Analysis
A breakdown of the twenty cards being printed into Explorer tomorrow and predictions on how they will affect the meta in the near and long-terms.

Abzan Humans Deck Guide
A deck guide for Abzan Humans, one of the premier Collected Company decks in the Explorer format thus far.

Explorer Starter Guide
Tyler builds from Arena starter deck to A Tier Explorer deck and gives some tips at spending as little as possible while remaining competitive.

Over The Horizon: Week Eight
Tyrant of Tales dives once again into the deep end of what spicy decks posted good results in Explorer this week.

Explorer Tier List Update – July 21, 2022
An explanation of the movements and placements in this week’s Explorer tier list.

First Explorer Anthology Teaser Released
Wizards has released a three-card teaser of the first Explorer 20-card Anthology, which is set to release fully on July 27th. Until that day, Wizards will be spoiling cards on a schedule not yet released.

Arena, But Cheaper: Six Budget Decks
ServoToken brings his budget expertise for the first time to PlayingExplorer with 6 New Budget Explorer Decks

Over The Horizon: Week Seven
Tyrant of Tales dives once again into the deep end of what spicy decks posted good results in Explorer this week.

Explorer Tier List Update – July 14, 2022
An explanation of the movements and placements in this week’s Explorer tier list.

Over the Horizon: Week Six
Tyrant of Tales dives once again into the deep end of what spicy decks posted good results in Explorer this week.

Explorer Tier List Update – July 7, 2022
An explanation of the movements and placements in this week’s Explorer tier list.

Explorer Meta Rewind: A Post-Season Breakdown
Welcome to PlayingExplorer’s first season reset meta breakdown, where our team will take a look back at the last four weeks of tier lists and data and break down any major shifts, new archetypes and recurring themes that showed up over the course of the month and what it could mean for the new season.

Over the Horizon: Week Five
TyrantofTales dives once again into the deep end of what spicy decks posted good results in Explorer this week.

Explorer Card Wishlist: What We Want to See in the First Anthology
Here, the PlayingExplorer team shares their top-five card wishlists for the first Explorer Anthology and explains why they chose the way they did.

How to Tune your Brew: Sticking It Out Through Initial Failures
The fire of a brewer’s heart is still burning strong, and in the first part of this short series, Servotoken “Darren” goes over how to keep it not only strong but always progressing towards the perfect brew.

Casualties of War: A Story of Love and Hate
Anthony Dolce talks about his love of Casualties of War, a six-mana sorcery that he will never pull from his Golgari Rock deck.

Over the Horizon: Week Four
TyrantofTales dives once again into the deep end of what spicy decks posted good results in Explorer this week.

Explorer Tier List Update – June 23, 2022
A breakdown of the changes to this week’s Explorer Bo3 and Bo1 tier lists

Making a Choice – Explorer Mono Red
In light of the recent Arena BO3 Qualifier, IslandGoSAMe goes over his thoughts on his deck of choice, Mono-Red Burn.

Over the Horizon: Week Three
A dive down into the spicy decklists that performed well in Explorer Bo3 and Bo1 this week.

Explorer Tier List Update – June 16, 2022
A breakdown of the changes to this week’s Explorer Bo3 and Bo1 tier lists

Making the Switch to MTG Arena
Tyler goes over the pros and cons of joining MTG Arena now that Pioneer is scheduled to be available on the client.

Over the Horizon: Week Two
This starts the NEW weekly tradition of showing off all the cool decks that show up in our data sets that don’t make it in our Weekly Tier Lists.

Explorer Tier List Update – June 9, 2022
A breakdown of the changes to this week’s Explorer Bo3 and Bo1 tier lists

Over the Horizon: Week One
This starts the NEW weekly tradition of showing off all the cool decks that show up in our data sets that don’t make it in our Weekly Tier Lists.

Explorer Tier List Update – June 2, 2022
A breakdown of the changes to this week’s Explorer Bo3 and Bo1 tier lists

Explorer Tier List Update – May 26, 2022
The weekly explanation of the movements for BO1 And BO3 Movements in Explorer

Explorer Tier List Update – May 19, 2022
A breakdown of the changes to this week’s Explorer Bo3 and Bo1 tier lists

Explorer Tier List Update – May 12, 2022
Explanation of placements and movements in the Explorer Bo1 and Bo3 tier lists for the week of May 12, 2022

Winota, Tibalt’s Trickery Banned in Explorer
Wizards of the Coast’s Banned and Restricted announcement today included a ban of Winota, Joiner of Forces and Tibalt’s Trickery in Explorer. At the time of writing, Winota decks are holding up a 63% winrate in Bo3 and a 68% winrate and disproportionate play rate in Bo1. The decks were in S Tier on both the Bo1 and Bo3 Explorer tier…

Introducing the Explorer Tier List
Today, we are proud to introduce our Explorer Tier Lists in both best-of-one and best-of-three formats. Our Explorer Tier List will be updated every Thursday morning Eastern US Standard Time and will be accompanied by an article like this one or a video (or both) explaining the placements and movements within the tier list. This contextual video or article…

MTG Explorer Day One Meta Predictions
Explorer launches tomorrow, and Bradcifer and rose-emoji have some meta calls and predictions for you to look over before you step into the ranked ladder.

MTG Arena Premier Play
Amidst the announcement of Explorer, Wizards announced a restructuring of Arena competitive play that includes a de-emphasis of the ladder system in favor of events and an Arena Championship tournament similar to the new paper Pro Tour, here’s how to qualify!

The Highly-Played Pioneer Cards Missing From Explorer
Let’s talk about which Pioneer decks we can and can’t build using the existing cards available on Arena.

Introducing Explorer
If you are reading this, Wizards just announced a Pioneer analogue on Arena. Let’s talk about how this website will handle covering that format!