So, I was messing around with Magic: The Gathering Arena the other day, trying to get into this new format called Explorer. It’s basically like Pioneer, but just on Arena, you know? I heard it was cool because it’s supposed to eventually become exactly like Pioneer, which is a format I’ve always wanted to try but never really got around to in paper Magic.
First, I jumped into the client to see what I could brew. I started by looking at my collection to figure out what I could build. I have a decent collection, but it’s not like I have every card in the game. Anyway, I quickly realized I was missing a lot of the key cards for the top decks.
Then, I figured I’d look up some decklists online. Maybe there’s something I could put together without spending a ton of wildcards. I browsed around, and there were tons of different decks – Mono-Red Aggro, Izzet Phoenix, Rakdos Midrange, you name it.
- Mono-Red Aggro seemed like the easiest to build, but honestly, it’s not really my style.
- Izzet Phoenix looked fun but super complicated, and I didn’t have any Arclight Phoenixes.
- Rakdos Midrange was tempting, but I was missing some of the key cards.
After that, I decided to filter the search results to only show budget decks. I found a few that looked interesting, mostly Mono-Red or some kind of White Weenie strategy. Those are cool but I’m more of a control player at heart, I enjoy slow, grindy games.
I kept digging, and eventually, I stumbled upon a Mono-Black Control deck that seemed pretty sweet. It had some removal, some hand disruption, and some big creatures to finish the game. Plus, I actually had most of the cards! I think I only had to craft a couple of rares and a few uncommons. I love playing black so this was an exciting discovery.
So, I spent some of my precious wildcards, built the deck, and took it for a spin. The first few games were rough, I will not lie. I was still learning the deck and making a lot of mistakes. But, I stuck with it, and eventually, I started to get the hang of it.
I started winning a few games here and there, and it felt pretty good. The deck was actually really fun to play, and it was satisfying to see my opponents get frustrated when I countered their spells or destroyed their creatures. And I didn’t even have to sell a kidney to build this thing.
Now I am still working on it, fine-tuning the decklist, and trying to improve my play. But, overall, I’m pretty happy with how it’s turned out. Explorer is a fun format, and I’m glad I finally gave it a shot. This Mono-Black Control deck has been a blast to play, even though it’s not exactly a top-tier strategy.
My takeaway from this experience:
If you’re thinking about getting into Explorer, I’d definitely recommend it. It’s a great way to play some older cards without having to buy them in paper. Plus it is a nice change of pace from Standard. Don’t be afraid to try out some budget decks, even if they’re not the best decks in the format. You might be surprised at how much fun you can have, and how well you can do on a budget.
