Pioneer has finally come to MTG Arena! After releasing three Explorer Anthologies, seven Historic Anthologies, and the draftable Pioneer Masters set, we finally completed our three-year journey of growing Explorer into competitive Pioneer. We are officially flipping the switch on Saturday, May 10, and we're throwing a party on MTG Arena to celebrate!

How We Got Here

In 2022, we introduced Explorer on MTG Arena as a "true to tabletop" format, consisting of all the Pioneer-legal cards on MTG Arena. We knew that, one day, we would retire Explorer and replace it with Pioneer, a change we would implement once we got all the relevant cards onto MTG Arena. We have closely watching Pioneer and believe that we have achieved this goal. Out of 411 distinct competitive Magic Online decklists played in March, Explorer was only missing seven cards found in those decklists.

Viewers of Arena Championship 8 saw that the 50 Explorer decklists at that event were nearly identical to their Pioneer counterparts. We asked our Arena Championship players about any missing cards, and the vast majority didn't feel there were any major misses. A few did mention some key sideboard cards, so we wanted to be sure and implement those into the game. Given the current Pioneer metagame, we are confident we have reached our goal and are ready to make this change.

Going Forward

On May 10, we will change the name of Explorer to Pioneer on MTG Arena. Going forward, the format's ban list will match tabletop Pioneer's, meaning Tibalt's Trickery will be unbanned.

We are also adding a new title, "Prominent Pioneer," for anyone who plays 450 games of Pioneer on MTG Arena. Players who previously completed this achievement and obtained the title "Veteran Explorer" will keep their old title and be granted the new one.

To finalize this change, we are also adding eleven new-to-MTG Arena cards to the game. These choices were informed by the top decks from Magic Online and our Arena Championship players. These cards will be available for crafting and as rewards from our limited time Pioneer Showcase Event. The new cards include:

  • Battle at the Bridge
  • Borborygmos Enraged
  • Encroaching Wastes
  • Kazuul's Toll Collector
  • Magmatic Insight
  • Nissa's Defeat
  • Rakdos Charm
  • Roast
  • Sanctum of Ugin
  • Triton Shorestalker
  • Warping Wail

We will continue to monitor the developing competitive Pioneer metagame. As new cards become relevant, we will bring them to MTG Arena at a sustainable cadence. We expect this to happen about once or twice a year.

Pioneer Showcase Event

From May 10–13, we will run a special competitive Pioneer event on MTG Arena to celebrate the release. Each entry into the event will reward participants with one of the eleven new-to-MTG Arena cards in addition to any other rewards earned in the event.

Event Details

  • Event Start: May 10, 2025, at 2 p.m. Pacific (21:00 UTC)
  • Signups End: May 13, 2025, at 2 p.m. Pacific (21:00 UTC)
    • You'll still have 3 hours to complete your current run, but you won't be able to join after this deadline. Matches in progress will be allowed to finish.
  • Event Ends: March 13, 2025, at 5 p.m. Pacific (00:00 UTC)
    • No new matches begin after this time, but matches in progress will be allowed to finish.

Entry Cost:

  • 5,000 Gold
  • 1,000 Gems

Format: Best-of-Three Pioneer Constructed

Rewards:

  • Entry: 1 of 11 New-to-MTG Arena Pioneer cards listed above
  • 1 Win: No rewards
  • 2 Wins: 2 Pioneer-legal packs*
  • 3 Wins: 250 Gems and 4 Pioneer-legal packs
  • 4 Wins: 450 Gems and 4 Pioneer-legal packs
  • 5 Wins: 900 Gems and 8 Pioneer-legal packs
  • 6 Wins: 1,350 Gems and 16 Pioneer-legal packs
  • 7 Wins: 1,800 Gems and 24 Pioneer-legal packs

*Players will receive a randomly selected pack from among the following: Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Aetherdrift, Magic: The Gathering Foundations, Duskmourn: House of Horror, Bloomburrow, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Murders at Karlov Manor, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Wilds of Eldraine, March of the Machine: The Aftermath, March of the Machine, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, The Brothers' War, Dominaria United, Streets of New Capenna, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Strixhaven: School of Mages, Kaldheim, Zendikar Rising, Core Set 2021, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, Theros Beyond Death, Throne of Eldraine, Core Set 2020, War of the Spark, Ravnica Allegiance, Guilds of Ravnica, Core Set 2019, Dominaria, Rivals of Ixalan, Ixalan, Khans of Tarkir, and Pioneer Masters.