When choosing a deck for an event, the formula is fairly simple:

Deck that is fundamentally good + Deck that is well positioned = Success

One deck that has been surprisingly good in Pioneer lately is the Waste Not deck.

It's easy to overlook because Waste Not has been a meme card for so long, but there's a lot of good things happening here.

Time Stamps:

03:19 - Match 1

29:37 - Match 2

47:03 - Match 3

Waste Not | Pioneer | Uegjo, MTGO League 5-0

• Creatures (4)
• 1 Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead
• 3 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Liliana of the Veil

• Instants (12)
• 1 Cling to Dust
• 2 Bitter Triumph
• 2 Sheoldred's Edict
• 3 Go Blank
• 4 Fatal Push

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Rankle's Prank
• 2 Duress
• 4 Thoughtseize

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 The Meathook Massacre
• 1 Virtue of Persistence
• 4 Waste Not

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Mazemind Tome

• Lands (26)
• 9 Swamp
• 1 Drownyard Temple
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 2 Sunken Citadel
• 3 Field of Ruin
• 3 Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 4 Castle Locthwain

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
• 2 Duress
• 2 Invoke Despair
• 1 Languish
• 3 Leyline of the Void
• 1 Path of Peril
• 2 Pithing Needle
• 1 The Meathook Massacre
• 1 The Raven Man

Buy This Deck Export text

There's obviously a lot of good discard in Black, as Thoughtseize is a key part of the format and Liliana of the Veil is also a top tier planeswalker, but getting to play maindeck cards like Go Blank is excellent in a world of Izzet Phoenix and friends.

However, it goes deeper than that.

Geier Reach Sanitarium is the card that puts this deck over the top, allowing you to utilize Waste Not after your opponent's hand is already empty, which was one of the major problems with the card. It also works great with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. There isn't really a card in the deck that you'd be unhappy playing in a more "normal" midrange deck except for Geier Reach Sanitarium, which has a super low opportunity cost as a land.

However, the great part about this deck is how well it lines up against a Smuggler's Copter metagame. The loot on cards like Smuggler's Copter and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki is optional, but you're turning off a huge part of the card if your opponent declines. And as for things like Ledger Shredder, blood tokens, and more, you're just getting free value from your Waste Nots.

This is the deck I played last weekend at the Regional Championship (although maybe not the exact list, this is being written/recorded before I leave), so hopefully I did well!