#162 - Pioneer on a Budget

The First Pioneers

This week we're shifting gears to focus more on the financial side of Pioneer as we discuss how people can play the format competitively while not spending an arm and a leg. The recent Pro Tour catapulted the Pioneer format to new heights but with that popularity some cards reached new heights in price as well. In the past we've focused on a few decks and tried to make budget versions of them in the $50 and $100 range, but we believe that has become unsustainable and unrealistic. Prices are going up, and people want to have fun playing Pioneer but also want to win. So this time around instead of building an inconsistent budget deck around a few pricey cards, we decided to do the opposite: replace the pricey cards of the deck with cards that can work with the strategy but are also a fraction of the deck's original cost.

If you want to know which expensive cards you can prune from the top decks in Pioneer and still be competitive, you'll definitely want to give this episode a listen. It could save you hundreds of dollars before you invest in a deck for your next event, and also enable you to build a very useful gauntlet of decks that emulate the Pioneer metagame.

Don't let your wallet dictate what decks you can or can't play and get creative with your builds of Pioneer metagame all-stars! If you have any other ideas for budget versions of decks be sure to join our discord and share them!
Our Discord: https://discord.gg/SBRF8DH

Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/MtgPioneer

You can find our other episodes on the Untap Leagues website as well! https://untapleagues.com/author/the-first-pioneers/