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Another Big Magic: The Gathering Tournament Just Changed From Standard Format to Pioneer


Last week, Wizards of the Coast announced the new non-rotating Magic: The Gathering format called Pioneer, which features cards from Return to Ravnica and forwarrd. Now it seems that players are loving the new format, even more than the controversial Standard format right now, and just days after the upcoming $5000 tournament from NRG series was changed from Standard format to Pioneer, another major tournament just did the same switch.

On Wednesday, lead Star City Games broadcaster Cedric Phillips announced that the SCG Tour team decided to make an emergency change to one of SCG Season Two Invitational's formats: "Instead of being a tournament with a Standard and Modern split culiminating in a Modern Top 8 on Sunday, the Season Two Invitational will now be a tournament with a Pioneer and Modern split culiminating in a Pioneer Top 8 on Sunday," Philipps said.

The reason that less players want to play the current Throne of Eldraine Standard format is clear: "Oko, Thief of Crowns", and Phillips explained that only did the SCG Tour team took the health of the Standard format into account, they also weighed heavily the thoughts and the feedback of the fans. "Simply put, Oko is a card that has warped Throne of Eldraine Standard around itself and that is undeniable. So much, in fact, that maindecking cards that are typically seen as sideboard cards (Noxious Grasp, Aether Gust, and Veil of Summer) is becoming commonplace," Philipps wrote. "Unfortunately, Oko's dominance in Throne of Eldraine Standard has led many to not only find the format unfun to play, but our attendance numbers have shown that more and more players are actually electing to not participate in the Throne of Eldraine Standard tournaments we're holding at events altogether."

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Credit: Wizards of the Coast

This looks like a disaster for the Standard format, and Wizards of the Coast already confirmed that they're not making any ban and restricted changes in Standard before Mythic Championship VI, so fans will have to wait for the next scheduled B&R announcement on Nov. 18.

Just in case you haven't heard of the new Pioneer format, it's a non-rotating format that's mean to bridge the gap between Standard and Modern just like how Modern bridged the gap between Standard and Legacy. Here are legal sets in the Pioneer format now:

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Credit: Wizards of the Coast

I'm excited to see what Pioneer decks players will bring to the Season Two Invitational.

The SCG Season Two Invitational will take place at SCG Con on Nov. 15-17, and qualified players will compete for a $100,000 prize pool.

Magic: The Gathering Pioneer Players Private group · 2,695 members Join Group A group for Magic: The Gathering Pioneer Format discussion, news, deck tips, strategy, rules help, memes and more! For general MTG discussion, post he...

If you love the new Pioneer format, we invite you to join the most active Pioneer Facebook group:

Related: MTG Hall-of-Famer Ben Stark Explains Why Oko is Overpowered

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