Last month, Wizards of the Coast announced Pioneer, a brand new Magic: The Gathering constructed format featuring a card pool that begins with 2012's Return to Ravnica set. Due to the scope of the cards that can be played in Pioneer, this new format has hitherto only been available on Magic: The Gathering Online and in paper. However, a recent announcement indicates that this will not be the case forever, as Pioneer is coming to Magic: The Gathering Arena.
This information comes as part of yesterday's MTG Arena: State of the Game, in which Wizards of the Coast detailed its plans to add "remastered sets" to the new digital platform. These "remastered sets" will be condensed versions of old Magic: The Gathering sets, and they will include only "the most relevant cards" from these sets. This implies that MTGA's "remastered sets" will contain all of a set's constructed playables, and Wizards states that this will "eventually lead to additional format support."
The additional format that WotC specifically points to is Pioneer, indicating that supporting it on Arena is something that the developer is "working towards." Indeed, this phrasing suggests that it may be a while before fans can play a game of Pioneer on Magic Arena, and Wizards addresses this head on, saying, "it'll be a longer journey before [it] can talk specifics." WotC goes on to emphasize that it will be "focusing on delivering the best play experiences that these iconic card sets can offer" as it works towards full support of MTG's Pioneer format.
While some fans may be disappointed to learn that Pioneer will not be available on Magic: The Gathering Arena in very short order, others will simply be happy to have confirmation that it is coming down the line. Without question, Pioneer is already gaining a great deal of traction, and many fans would love to see it available on MTG Arena. However, until Arena can offer Pioneer, MTGA-exclusive players that are looking for an alternative to Standard may wish to try their hand at the Historic format, which will be getting a batch of "new" cards next week.
Magic: The Gathering Arena is available on PC.
Source: Wizards of the Coast