Pioneer Artifact Aggro: Where's Ensoul?
Pioneer forum
Posted on Feb. 25, 2023, 2:05 p.m. by Icbrgr
Ever since the beginning of Frontier/Pioneer Ensoul Artifact aggro has had a presence in the competitive meta.
Ive seen the deck evolve over time to be less and now be more for the sideboard answer cards/removal and Ingenious Smith/Michiko's Reign of Truth Flip... which makes sense and all...but why has Ensoul Artifact fallen out of favor in these decks?
I always thought that the main appeal to the deck was making an Ornithopter a 5/5 flyer or slapping it onto Darksteel Citadel for 5/5 indestructible and just close out the game quickly with an obnoxious early beater that either was harder to remove or had evasion... combined with whatever artifact synergy the decks running.
Is Ensoul Artifact suffering the same fate as Kird Ape/Loam Lion/Wild Nacatl where although aggressively costed it just isnt enough anymore? I see some lists still running the card on some Youtube lists but they are starting to be over 6 months old now.
I personally still run Ensoul Artifact in a list featuring Patchwork Automaton with Reinforced Ronin/Network Disruptor... I feel like I have a moderate/acceptable success/winrate with the decklist; but admittedly I dont play Pioneer very seriously and just attend the LGS that hosts Pioneer ever once in awhile because its a bit of a drive to get there as opposed to other shops that play EDH/Modern far more conveniently for me.
The color flip came about because white gained a ton of artifact/enchantment synergy that red just couldn't keep up. I splash it in my own list.
With the printing of Michiko's Reign of Truth Flip it started to get outvauled where you can pump a creature twice with it, not be worried about a 2 for 1, and get a big body later. I personally also run an Ensoul list, Jeskai, and have never thought of cutting it but as additional copies of enabler cards for more consistency.
Grubbernaut says... #2
Doesn't seem worth the investment anymore, imo. It's essentially 2 cards for a 5/5 (with upside, generally, but still), and it doesn't otherwise feed its own strategy - whereas the threats other decks are playing usually synergize with the rest of the deck passively.
I wouldn't say it's terrible or unplayable, I think it's just been out-valued.
February 25, 2023 2:43 p.m.