Artifact decks have been a tough pickle in Pioneer.

Without a unifying constant like Mox Opal or Arcum's Astrolabe, they have lacked the cheap early game artifacts necessary to really get rolling. There's tons of awesome payoffs like Emry, Lurker of the Loch, Ensoul Artifact, Steel Overseer, Toolcraft Exemplar, and more, but finding the right mix has been very difficult. There have been some aggressive Izzet Ensoul decks floating around across the life of the format but they've never reached tier one.

Well Magic Online user myst_teachings recently 5-0ed with a very interesting and aggressive looking Ensoul Artifact list, utilizing the rainbow lands like Spire of Industry to open up a wide array of great options.

Time Stamps:

Match 1 - 00:04:13

Match 2 - 00:19:27

Match 3 - 00:38:59

Match 4 - 00:52:51

Match 5 - 01:14:55

All-In Ensoul | Pioneer | myst_teachings, 5-0 Magic Online League

• Creatures (21)
• 1 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
• 2 Hope of Ghirapur
• 2 Steel Overseer
• 4 Bomat Courier
• 4 Gingerbrute
• 4 Ornithopter
• 4 Stonecoil Serpent

• Instants (6)
• 2 Metallic Rebuke
• 4 Shrapnel Blast

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 All That Glitters
• 4 Ensoul Artifact

• Artifacts (8)
• 4 Ghostfire Blade
• 4 Springleaf Drum

• Lands (18)
• 2 Mutavault
• 4 Aether Hub
• 4 Darksteel Citadel
• 4 Mana Confluence
• 4 Spire of Industry

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Damping Sphere
• 4 Fatal Push
• 2 Hangarback Walker
• 2 Metallic Rebuke
• 1 Mystical Dispute
• 1 Shadowspear
• 4 Thoughtseize

Buy This Deck Export text format

There's no doubt this list is very all in.

We've got some very powerful payoff cards and can have unbelievably fast draws with Ensoul Artifact or All that Glitters on turn two, but the risk level is high. If our opponent has the proper answer we can get two for one'd, or as you saw in many of the games if we manage to draw more Orinthopters than payoffs things can get ugly.

However, the quick clock plus disruption was very nice. Being able to apply early pressure and then back it up with a timely counterspell or discard spell was a sweet plan, and focusing the deck more on that may be the path to take. The Black sideboard cards were awesome in general, as there's no doubting the power of Thoughtseize and Fatal Push in Pioneer.

While we didn't have the best run and it feels like we're a little soft to high removal control, there's certainly something here. If you love shoving your cards in your opponent's face and making them have it, this deck certainly has that in spades!