Explorer Anthologies
Explorer Anthologies should mostly contain Pioneer playable cards. An inspirational list is attached:

-
ILIJILILI#28871 commented
Very happy to see some crucial pieces of popular decks (e.g. the Creativity combo creatures), but agree with everyone here that many slots are being wasted on cards that don't see play competitively.
Yes, it's important that powerful cards from outside the top tier of decks make their way into the format *eventually* so people can brew with them, but there's no logic to adding these cards over those that are commonly played in Pioneer already. Please prioritize catching up with the current meta first.
-
robbierojek#26149 commented
I appreciate your effort but you can do better. We as devoted fans want to play pioneer in mtg arena not explorer anymore. Please try meet our expectations faster.
-
Antcrafter#57881 commented
Some decks are still unplayable... If you want to make more money release all these cards as a super expensive bundle/in a special "pioneer masters set", just get them on the client
-
Cygnus#57003 commented
Calling this a Anthology is disrespectful.
-
Pelucatos#03213 commented
Now we can all agree that you don't really want to bring Pioneer to MTGA.
-
SibaSt#36896 commented
Make up your mind WotC: either MTGA Explorer is supposed to converge towards Pioneer or it's not. Don't tell us it is, then act the other way...
-
probablyjulian#68261 commented
I know you're doing your best under financial constraints but it's hard to make sense of the cards being added to Arena in Anthologies when they feel so random and do not help Arena come closer to being like paper magic with formats like Pioneer.
-
Staroson#58054 commented
A moneygrab of trickling Pioneer staples out over countless anthologies only works if people are buying. I for one will be avoiding these anthologies (just like I have the last 2) like the plague they are. Please, if you're going to say you're working on getting toward playable Pioneer then give us playable staples and not this bulk that no one wants outside Historic Brawl. Or at least temper our expectations and roll back your original statement and say you're not actually working on Pioneer in the near future.
-
JackalMain#65119 commented
This for me, same as many other people, is making me lose interest in Arena. I want to play Pioneer on Arena, but when the company insists on adding nonsense cards nobody asked for and missing so many obvious inclusions, nobody is going to buy this.
Give your customers what they are asking for, and they will buy it. I don't know how this is a difficult concept to understand.
-
anakinsdad#01349 commented
I want to play Pioneer on Arena, so I can figure out what decks to build in paper, so I can give my LGS and WOTC more money. This anthology leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and is actively disincentivizing me from playing Pioneer.
-
Josh_Dunville#04746 commented
Is the person who came up with this list of cards ignorant of the Pioneer meta? Whatever happened to "our priority on card implementation will be driven by what we see in the Pioneer Constructed meta"?
We got 10 cards that see little to no Pioneer play (Canopy Vista, Cinder Glade, Smoldering Marsh, Sunken Hollow, Orzhov, Charm, Accorder's Shield, Obzedat, Ghost Council and Omnath, Locus of Rage). These could have been left for later anthologies or remastered sets.
Thespian's Stage, Sylvan Scrying and Prairie Stream are the only worthwhile cards. Creativity has been off Xenagos Wurm for a while now. The other 10 are fringe cards that should have been replaced by cards that see a lot more play.
How did you not include Oath of Nissa, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Chained to the Rocks, Hidden Strings, Dreadbore, Reckless Bushwhacker, Bring to Light, Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, Dark Petition, Radiant Flames, The Chain Veil, Sylvan Caryatid, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Voyaging Satyr, Dragonlord Dromoka, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Stubborn Denial, Retraction Helix, and/or Silence? These are cards that are played more than all the cards in this Anthology besides Thespian's Stage, Sylvan Scrying and Prairie Stream.
Please fast track Explorer Anthology 4 with highly played Pioneer cards. Please stop trickling out a few staples with the majority of the cards in these Anthologies being unplayable garbage. Actually do what you intended. Talk is cheap and so is this Anthology
-
Negativeskew#81119 commented
Very misguided from what the community wants with supporting Pioneer. Maybe card inclusion for the next Anthology should be driven by community voting/request.
-
Zeulberg#79181 commented
This anthology was extremely underwhelming and it just shows to us that bringing Pioneer to Arena to cultivate the competitive Magic community is not something WOTC is interested in. This looks like a cash grab of 4 playable cards and more absolutely random inclusions. At the very least we deserve an article explaining every inclusion.
-
Meroving#20417 commented
I won't be purchasing the anthology. Pls, make EA4 better
-
oldemodave#98049 commented
Shadow of a doubt this was a big swing and the miss and the bat landed in the second tier behind home plate. Even if delve is too hard to program, where is reckless bushwhacker/glavecover scout?? These plus others are just standard cards using already existing mechanics
-
MasterNeo#16728 commented
Seems like a case of trying to please everyone and winding up not pleasing anyone. While there's probably no chance of increasing how often we get anthologies, or the power level at the choices, at least if there's a theme or an understanding of powerlevel it would help. Simply put if you're gonna drop jank in, make it quantity over quality. This thought of Accorder's Shield REPLACING a better pick is this idea that they are limited, but if for example you dropped a 50 card anthology including a bunch of Janky fun cards that casual players enjoy, and would fit well in cube you could include messaging that the theme is "Jank decks" or "We are focusing on this anthology to try to add diversity to the explorer metagame at the more casual levels. Many of these cards will not impact the higher level meta but will hopefully bolster some of the less powerful decks". When there was no expectation set players took it upon themselves to set the expectation based on the frequency of releases.
-
Tswizzle#92783 commented
This anthology is missing many cards. Why state the intention to bring pioneer to mtga without following through?
-
dandalicious#55933 commented
Please add cards that are actually seeing play in pioneer, instead of a random assortment of garbage. This anthology has made me want to stop playing arena altogether
-
totodile98#50592 commented
The objective of Pioneer in MTGA was clearly set and gven by WOTC. There have been no real actions towards this goal.
And it's unacceptable to keep waiting for something that will not happen. -
Noraa#23335 commented
Explorer Anthologies should have the singular goal of achieving the full pioneer experience on Arena. Until this is done there should not be cards that are unplayable in pioneer in these anthologies. Nobody wants explorer to be its own unique format; Explorer players just want Pioneer and we’re currently being forced to settle for less.