Swift, Slick & Deadly! - Gruul Prowess - Pioneer Deck Tech & Primer

Aggro decks have been kept down for too long in Pioneer! Gruul Prowess takes the addition of Slickshot Show-Off to the format and pairs it with some powerful elements that we've learned about from the previous iterations of Aggro decks at the top of the metagame in order to make a Red/Green package that can kill as early as Turn 3!
Learn how the deck is built, what sideboard cards it looks to leverage, and learn how sometimes math IS for attackers with this video Primer on the archetype!
Deck overview done for the 2024-2025 RCQ Season Round 3, Qualifying for Regional Championships held in Q3 of 2024.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00:00 - Introdicton
00:01:16 - What kind of deck is Gruul Prowess?
00:02:12 - Companion Warning! Jegantha Deck!
00:02:53 - Maindeck - Creatures
00:06:44 - Maindeck - Spells
00:10:35 - Maindeck - Lands
00:11:33 - Sideboard Breakdown
00:14:56 - Gruul Prowess Play Patterns & Common Lines
00:18:16 - Matchup Overview
00:21:10 - Tips on Powering Up with Prowess
00:22:30 - Outro
Example Decklist (May 26th Challenge Winner): www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype...
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[@Masterkeyblade01]

Hey Tom, great video. I started to play this deck a month ago and the breakdown was on point. I'd love to see more gameplays with it!

[@paperplaneso27]

Amazing video on a new archetype! I currently working on putting this together and it’s super helpful to get a detailed breakdown on it!

[@optimustomtv]

Glad it helped!

[@user-ud5tk4oc6r]

Genuinely not trolling-- what's the reason for playing this deck over Delver? It seems that Delver gives you access to much of the same toolset, but you get to play a 1 mana 3/2 and Delver itself turns on Wizard's Lightning.

[@optimustomtv]

Delver decks in Pioneer (and even Modern) fall prey to the fact that you can't manipulate the top card of your library the same way you can in formats like Legacy, where Brainstorm basically means your Delver is flipping 100% of the time. The lack of fetchlands to randomize the top card also hurts Delver-style decks in Pioneer.
Delver decks rely heavily on spells, like almost half the nonland cards (26+) while relying on small numbers of Creatures. These decks still need Creatures to push through damage, since the format lacks anything like Lightning Bolt to push through significant amounts of damage. Wizard's Lightning is nice - but you can run it in these lists as well with 12+ Wizards.
Delver across all formats has also been powered down since Fatal Push's inception - and in Pioneer 2 toughness is a huge liability when decks are running Torch the Tower and Play with Fire as their main burn spells (and to deal with 2 toughness Amalia ASAP). You can't protect Delvers as easily in Pioneer without keeping mana up - in which case, Spirits does a lot better.
Delver also doesn't do anything against recurring 3/2 flying threats like Arclight Phoenix - which is just as strong as a flipped Delver but it can come back over and over again.
You CAN try a Delver list - but the ones that have been more successful in the past have been Tolarian Terror/Delver/Djinn lists in Standard where the spell quality is weaker in the Removal area as well.

[@user-ud5tk4oc6r]

@@optimustomtv Don't Play with Fire, Fading Hope, and Titan's Strength all let you scry 1? That's topdeck manipulation.
I guess I'm really advocating for an izzet prowess build that uses Delver, not a traditional Delver build. It makes sense that you wouldn't want a deck where Delver is the main or only threat.

[@optimustomtv]

@@user-ud5tk4oc6r what makes Delver good isn't scrying per day, but when you have a hand of 7, play Brainstorm and Draw 3, and get to put back 2 cards. You're looking at 9 cards and get to put an Instant or Sorcery from among them on top. There aren't any other spells in formats that look at what is almost 15% of your deck to ensure a flip.
Even with Scry multiple (3, 4) no great spells exist. And the card advantage from things like Consider and Opt doesn't help you flip since you draw what you keep on top. Let alone at that point you're playing cards to FLIP DELVER and not cards that are good enough to win with (and Delver alone in this format can't win games vs Phoenix, Cavalier, etc).
Yeah, and the issue with Delver is that it demands a certain number of spells to ensure that it flips, which naturally means you're playing less Creatures overall and therefore need to both protect it more, and deal damage other ways. Pioneer specifically isn't great for that ATM.
The big thing Slickshot and Prowess creatures do is turn your spells into better ones. Slickshot specifically turns Titans Strength into +5/+1, Monstrous Rage into +5/+2, etc - all while any other Creatures get +1/+1 per spell. There are Wizards that help here, like Balmor who was in the old Izzet Prowess decks as a 1-2 of you can try - they're just less consistent and require more things in play vs just the Prowess cards themselves