Delving Deeper into Legacy
This week’s article is going to be a little different than usual. I recently recorded the first episode of the On Suspend Podcast (please, check it out!), which is focused on reviewing and analyzing decklists that performed well on Magic Online in the previous week. While the bulk of the podcast is primarily going be on Modern, due to GP Reid Duke (GP Richmond) having a Legacy component this past weekend, we thought we’d take a look at the Legacy Challenge that happened that week (8/27/18).
We ended up having a lot to say about the top 8 decks in the event and didn’t have the time to get to the rest of the Challenge, which was a huge shame! The top 32 of this Challenge had a bunch of crazy card and deck choices, as well as really interesting tuning choices that are concessions to current metagame trends. That’s why this week I want to finish the job we started on the Podcast and go through those lists.
I know that another Challenge has happened since then, as well as GP Reid Duke coming and going, but I feel compelled to finish the job we started! So let’s get right into it.
We’re starting off with the craziest list from the event, and likely the one that I will talk the most about. This deck is nothing like the Grixis Control decks that have become popular since the Deathrite/Probe ban, and has a ton of interesting things going on.
To start, this is following the traditional Landstill strategy of pairing a high land count littered with Creature Lands and Wastelands, as well as 3 Standstills and 1 Crucible. This provides a ton of card advantage and allows the pilot to keep applying pressure and disrupting the opponent without having to cast spells. Here Aylett is using the usual 4 Wastelands and 4 Mishra’s Factories, but they are also running 2 Wandering Fumarole as additional Creature Lands to find. In a Grixis deck, one might expect to find Creeping Tar Pit, which has an existing pedigree in Legacy already.
Fumarole has a few advantages over the Tar Pit here, though. It:
- Dodges Lightning Bolt and attacks for 1
- Blocks 3 or less powered creatures freely
- Pressures Planeswalkers for 4 damage
- Closes the game more quickly
- Fixes Blue and Red mana, which is more important in this particular list
While it is a little surprising to see old Tar Pit moved to the bench, Fumarole really does bring a lot to the table, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it more in the future.
This is only the mana base, though, and the hits keep coming. Not wanting to miss any of the interactions Grixis decks can play, Aylett is sporting 1 Dack Fayden, 1 Notion Thief, and 1 Stifle, all which have the potential to “get” their opponents. While this goes against my advice from a few weeks ago, the boldness of the plan is respectable. This does have a cost, though, and Aylett is only running 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, which is a high cost to pay, and one I wouldn’t recommend myself.
The removal suite is a nod to the diverse suite that Grixis decks have to play because none of the removal spells actually solve all of the problems by themselves. 1 Fatal Push, 1 Go for the Throat, 1 Kolaghan’s Command, 3 Lightning Bolt, and 2 Sudden Shock definitely looks like a mess on paper. It does keep the opponent on their toes and unable to expect what could be coming up, but I wonder if a more concise removal suite might be better.
To round it all out, the deck plays a pretty common counter suite for decks like this, as well as 3 Snapcaster Mage and 2 Baleful Strix, which are some of the most powerful cards these colors get to play. Relative to the main deck, the sideboard is relatively tame, with extra copies of Crucible and Dack Fayden where they’re necessary, and then some normal Grixis inclusions, as well as a Rakdos Charm as a weak, but versatile, hate card.
I love Standstill decks, and coming across this list made me double take, but i’m not sure i’d play this myself. It is way too messy and will certainly having some disjointed draws, but i’m happy to see some people bold enough to innovate like this.
Okay, this deck has way less going on, but there are some specifics that have drawn my attention.
First, the inclusion of Fatal Push in this deck is an excellent choice in this metagame. Not only is having access to 6 removal spells a good thing right now, considering the popularity of Delver and Death and Taxes, Fatal Push really really helps against Death’s Shadow, which can be a huge pain when it comes down. Gurmag Angler is a problem, as well, but being able to trade it with our own Gurmags make it far more manageable. I think Fatal Push should be the stock removal inclusion for the time being, and could even see adding an additional copy depending on the threat suites that continue to be the most popular in Legacy.
I really like the 3/1 Pyromancer/Bitterblossom split, and think this could be one of the best splits going forward. Having access to the Blossom in the main is great, but I don’t really ever want 2. Pyromancer continues to be a great threat, and puts the question to your opponents much more quickly, so I like being able to actually apply pressure earlier. I’m not sure about the rest of the threat base, as using 3 Gurmag and 2 True-Names to round that out does seem clunky in conjunction with 19 lands and 4 2-drops, but I think this is moving in the right direction.
Stifle, on the other hand, seems like a move in the wrong direction. I don’t think Stifle is very good at all. In a deck like this, which will often be tapping out early on, I absolutely don’t want to play a situational reactive spell. The more common use of Inquisition of Kozilek/Thoughtseize is far more consistent with this deck’s plan, and can help push through threats proactively. Even adding a supplemental cantrip or 2 can pair nicely with Pyromancer. Look, if you want to keep trying to get people, go ahead, but Stifle is not a good card in this current field so I would definitely stay away from it.
I thought this was Miracles at first because of the 5 enchantments in the main deck, but this is definitely a Stoneblade deck. I don’t think I would have made the decision to combine two parts from different decks together, but after seeing it? I kind of like it.
This version is far more suited to tapping out on turns 2 and 3, and the cards it is trying to push through are awesome. When all of your 2-drops are insane card advantage engines/threats you can pull way ahead early. The 3-drops, on the other hand, can just take over the game, or even end it on the spot. Much like Jim Davis’ Miracles deck from a few months ago, I really like the inclusion of 2 Spell Pierces and 1 Flusterstorm to push these through off-curve. While the cards might not have pure synergy, the game plan of this deck is incredibly consistent and looks excellent.
I mentioned in the Podcast that I think this deck is really well positioned at the moment. Delver, Death and Taxes, and Shadow are all huge players right now, and this deck fares well against all of them. While Grixis Control and their ever-present Kolaghan’s Command can be a problem for most versions of this deck, I think this deck could be a response to that issue. The Enchantment suite provides a new angle of card advantage against that deck, which can help alleviate the pressure of Kolaghan’s Command and Hymn to Tourach. It might even be correct to cut the whole Stoneforge package against that deck.
This is the list I am most interested in playing, and I really want to see how this type of deck can perform in the future.
As a quick aside, VCF’s 19th Place Stoneblade list has a single Moorland Haunt in the main deck, which is another direction that sounds really good to me. I’m not a huge fan of playing that with Back to Basics, but it does sound like a helpful tool to play a long game in conjunction with Stoneforge Mystic.
When I wrote about Death and Taxes last time, I mentioned that the Red Splash in the past was usually used for Imperial Recruiter. I may have had my blinders on and forgot about this version which is my mistake. However, it is exciting to see this type of list do well.
As I always mention, I love consistency and stability, especially when it comes to mana bases, but the power and tricky nature of this deck can’t be ignored. To me, this is the logical extreme of what Recruiter of the Guard allows this deck to do. Having access to 2 Magus of the Moon can end the game on the spot against some decks. At the very least, it is going to put most decks in awkward spots and wear equipment like every other creature.
Dire Fleet Daredevil has always seemed too cute for my tastes, but buying back a Kolaghan’s Command or a Brainstorm can be an insane swing in card advantage. Randomly getting access to Duress against Storm, or extra removal spells against creature decks is nothing to scoff at. I can see the logic behind the inclusion of it, but dedicating a precious slot to this in the main deck doesn’t seem like something I want to do.
Pia and Kiran, on the other hand, is exactly what I want to play. Putting a Vial on 4 and using Karakas with this is a game-ending late game play. Does blocking fliers, applying pressure, removing small creatures, and generating a ton of card advantage, all while being incredibly challenging to break up sound good to you? It definitely sounds good to me, and I love just having this in this variant, even if it makes the mana kind of ugly.
The sideboard is relatively normal, but Red does provide access to a Cunning Sparkmage, which is really cool. Killing X/1s is definitely important in Legacy, and this seems like a house in the mirror match. To that end, playing the 1 Ballista in the main deck is an interesting choice, and I could definitely see that being a good choice, depending on the metagame.
All of that being said, playing Red does come with some sacrifices, and I think they’re substantial. Playing less Revokers and Flickerwisps makes this deck less incidentally disruptive than mono-White versions. Not playing any Sanctum Prelates or Palance Jailers is definitely not something I recommend, but I might be overstating how good those cards are in the archetype (they are amazing, though). On top of this, playing Red at all comes with the costs of a less stable mana base, and that isn’t something that I love either. I think the theme of the day with this article is boldness, and I definitely appreciate the choices that were made. I can’t recommend this deck for any specific metagame, as I don’t have access to any data, but as per the last time, check out Thraben University, which always has a ton of information about the deck
We talked about the top 8 Merfolk list in the podcast, and having 2 pilots in the top 32 is interesting enough for the ancient Blue tribe. This list isn’t wildly different, but I did want to talk about just a few differences that caught my eye.
1 Mana Leak main, 1 Counterspell side. These are weird choices to me. I can see the appeal of having access to extra “hard” counters, on top of Force of Will, but the cost of 2 mana is really high. This is over any extra copies of Daze, which does make some sense since the deck has moved away from Wasteland, but i’m having a hard time thinking this is optimal. In addition, Mana Leak is not the strongest card in Legacy, although it does a fine impression of Counterspell in the early game.
1 Mistcaller:
We talked about this in the podcast, and I think it’s weaker than just playing Venser, Sower, or an additional Gilded Drake. Being a Merfolk is nice, but giving them the heads up to just find a Sneak Attack or Omniscience by having to be on board first is a big deal.
This does seem like a great grindy tool against White and Black decks, especially in conjunction with True-Name. It is incredibly slow, though, so i’m not exactly sure if it’s better than anything else in that spot.
Overall, I wonder if Merfolk is actually in a pretty good spot right now. The Creature base looks solid, and True-Name is as good as ever, but i’m still not sure this is the best direction to go to play True-Name.
We will end as we began: Non-traditional Grixis decks.
This is far closer to a normal Grixis Control list than the Landstill deck, but there are some awesome inclusions. The most eye-catching is Kess, Dissident Mage, which is an incredibly powerful card. This isn’t a common choice, but it isn’t its first rodeo. 4 mana is a lot, but a 3/4 flier is a great body in Legacy, and the effect will easily take over the game. I’m not sure I like playing 4 mana cards that need to be untapped with before they do anything, but if you are going to, you could do way worse than Kess.
True-Name Nemesis is another non-traditional inclusion in the deck, and kind of fills the void that Leovold left in this deck when Deathrite was banned. Of course, the cards are very different, but a 3-mana threat that changes the nature of the game can really go a long way in these type of decks. Having Kolaghan’s Command to make it so that True-Name will be in play more often is a nice feature, as well. I think True-Name is really well positioned with all of the Gurmag Anglers and Bitterblossoms around, so I think I would also eschew extra copies of my own Angler for a pair of True-Names.
As an additional piece of card advantage, YamadaJirou ran 1 Fact or Fiction, which is totally absurd and totally awesome. It works well with so many of the card in the deck, and pairs with the actual game plan of this deck, which is to bury them in card advantage. I actually really like this, even over extra copies of Jace, and would personally want to play a second copy of Counterspell to further promote the “draw-go” style. I don’t think the inclusion of this is random, and would not at all be surprised to see more decks running 1 of these in the future.
The final point about this deck is the mana base, and I hate that this deck is running 19 lands. That has to be too few, especially in a deck with intense mana requirements and a curve this high, and I would personally cut 1 Hymn to Tourach to get another Underground Sea in there.
Legacy Is Full of Weird Choices
One of the things I love about Legacy is how deck builders can make some really cool card inclusions, and some absurd ones, but still fall into a relatively known archetype. The Landstill deck isn’t that far off from other UR Landstill deck lists, but fusing it with other sick interactions can really put up some results. Even after 6-8 Challenges, a couple of SCG events, and some premier level events, I still feel like this format has a long way to go when it comes to being solved. I’m happy to be here, watching and experiencing it as it happens, and it continues to be a fun time to play Legacy!
Community
Related Products
Accessories
