So I\u2019ve been a little absent from TEGs blog-o-sphere lately but that hasn\u2019t been because I haven\u2019t been playing Magic, quite the contrary. The past few months I have been thinking about, gold-fishing, and playing more Magic than I have since I\u2019ve started traveling to tournaments. The whole push was to be as prepared as possible for the Legacy Grand Prix in Washington DC.<\/p>\n
This tournament had been on the radar the whole year. Legacy is by far my favorite format. I\u2019ll save everyone the rant on why they should be making the necessary moves to get into the format. So when I saw the GP was coming to our backyard I wanted to create and execute a plan for preparing for the event. In the months leading up the the event I had intended to blog about my testing, deck choice, lessons, etc. As it turns out I was so consumed with my preparation that any free time I had for Magic I wanted to be jamming games and testing. .<\/p>\n
In lieu of that I\u2019m going to break up my article into multiple parts to avoid writing a novel and to break up the top level topics for discussion. I\u2019m going to start by discussing how I arrived to the deck I played and touch on some of the other decks I considered and why.<\/p>\n
Working with the Team to Develop a Strategy and Pick Decks: \u201c Well maybe you and me could pool our resources, you know, trade information? Professional courtesy?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the first barriers to picking a deck was figuring out what cards I had available to me. I am the proud owner of a couple \u201cfringe\u201d Legacy decks but I wanted to make sure I had all the options available to me. So I talked with the local Legacy crew to see what decks we could possibly put together (that\u2019s one benefit of getting involved with Legacy *cough cough*). We talked about the Delver decks, Stoneblade decks, and most major contenders that weren\u2019t Show and Tell based since we couldn\u2019t build those decks. Looking at my options I had a fairly fundamental question in front of me which we kept circling back to in our discussions, \u201cWhat do I want to play?\u201d, \u201cWhat deck will I be willing to literally grind day after day to prepare for the GP?\u201d. So with roughly three months until the GP I made my plan.<\/p>\n 1) Distill the choices to 4-5 decks I\u2019m interested in,<\/p>\n 2) Test those against a variety of matchups to get a good feel for them and see how I liked them in action, and<\/p>\n 3) Then with no less than 1.5 months settle on a deck and play it as much as possible.<\/p>\n Distillation. One of the amazing things able Legacy is you have the opportunity to play archetypes that Wizards has decided to abandon and activity discourage from the newer formats, namely Prison\/Resource Denial and Combo. As an aside, I think that it\u2019s a shame this is happening. Back in my time these strategies were commonplace and generally accepted and I think playing against them offers a refreshing perspective to approaching the game. Anyways, I just so happens that these \u00a0archetypes are some of my favorite (yes the previous aside was completely biased, I ain\u2019t ashamed to admit it, you aren\u2019t my baby\u2019s daddy). So playing decks that fall into this category would surely keep me entertained which is critical when you plan to play the same decks everyday, \u00a0over and over and over for more than a month . It also happened that some of the \u201cFringe\u201d decks that I built were strong versions of these types of strategies, aka they top 8 SCG Opens from time to time. So I began testing the following decks and I\u2019ll go over my thoughts on each one after I did some testing. .<\/p>\n A) B\/G Loam Pox<\/p>\n B) MUD (Metalworker combo)<\/p>\n C) High Tide<\/p>\n So what about the other choices? Why not Delver, Stoneblade, or control? Is you having more fun playing prison or combo really a good enough reason to abandon those other decks when the goal is to do well\u201d? In short, yes. Let me explain my thought process. I think there are at least two competing approaches. Play the deck that you think is best but less comfortable with and hope the deck choice and your raw ability get you there. Or, play the deck that is less optimal but you are more comfortable with and hope your deeper understanding of the strategy and it\u2019s intricacies will help you overcome difficult match ups. I tend to support the latter approach, especially in Legacy where the most popular deck usually is only 10% of the field (in standard it can be as much as 30%). Being in tune with your deck in this kind of environment should not be underestimated.<\/p>\n I have rarely played tempo and fair midrange type strategies and to be honest I find them boring, however I freely recognize their strengths. I\u2019ve been playing prison\/resource denial strategies since Ice Age (Icy Manipulator was my jam) and when I first got into Legacy I immediately wanted to build prison decks and have been playing them ever since. I followed the same trend in the EDH formats, building prison first. I eventually transitioned my EDH decks \u00a0to combo and my tastes in Legacy followed a similar suit. I was betting that my comfort with these strategies would provide a solid foundation to start testing from. Then through exhaustive testing I would be best equipped to deal with tough or uncommon matchups \u00a0and as I mentioned earlier, in order to test exhaustively you need to be having fun. I think this is something you can\u2019t underestimate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Additionally, considering the high profile of a legacy Grand Prix I knew people would be showing up with their A game. The field would be expecting to play against RUG and Stoneblade and be prepared with sideboard plans. Picking up one of those decks last minute without the experience felt like a poor move.<\/p>\n Testing the Decks: \u201cIs this your homework, Larry? Is this your homework, Larry?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n B\/G Loam Pox<\/p>\n Creatures (1)<\/p>\n 1 Nether Spirit<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Planeswalkers (4)<\/p>\n 4 Liliana of the Veil<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Lands (26)<\/p>\n 3 Swamp<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Barren Moor<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Bayou<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Bojuka Bog<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 Marsh Flats<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Mishra’s Factory<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 Verdant Catacombs<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Wasteland<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Spells (29)<\/p>\n 2 Cursed Scroll<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Innocent Blood<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Abrupt Decay<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 Mox Diamond<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Entomb<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Hymn to Tourach<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 Inquisition of Kozilek<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Life from the Loam<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Raven’s Crime<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Sinkhole<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Smallpox<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Sideboard<\/p>\n 2 Ensnaring Bridge<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Pithing Needle<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Zuran Orb<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Engineered Plague<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Leyline of the Void<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Surgical Extraction<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Maelstrom Pulse<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Innocent Blood<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Tombstalker<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n The goal of this deck is fairly simple. Strip your opponent of all their all their lands and cards and reduce their resources to top decking. At this point your top decks are ideally better than the opponents and you slowly build card advantage with Life from the Loam and win. Now what is deceptive is executing that goal can actually be tricky. Since many of your cards are mutually destructive you have ensure that you are getting maximum value out of them or otherwise seriously screw your opponent. Case in point is Smallpox. It is almost always right to save this card until your opponent has a creature so that they lose three cards (land, creature, card from hand) and you lose three cards (land, card from hand, smallpox). The only creature you play is Nether Spirit and he comes back from the dead. This way you don\u2019t lose value. The exception is if your opponent made their first land drop in four turns, then fire that puppy off.<\/p>\n One of the things that makes this deck appealing is it has a reasonable match up against a decent number of decks which I\u2019ll generalize as anything with blue and anything trying to play fair. Since Pox decks attack fundamental resources there are not many bad matchups outside a few (Dredge, Loam). Having access to Abrupt Decay deals with troublesome permanents such as Chalice of the Void or Counterbalance. The Life from the Loam engine is nice when you are your opponent locked out and you are looking to keep a brother down and seal the deal.<\/p>\n Some of the problems with the deck are inherent to the strategy. Because you are playing cards like Smallpox, Mox Diamond, and Life from the Loam you want to have a healthy land count which sometimes leads to awful top decks after you have drained the opponent and that gives them the room they need to draw out of it. The win conditions are synergistic but don’t exactly kill quickly, again giving your opponent time. The deck can be awkward in that it can quickly and efficiently drain the opponents resources and then just lose to itself or to an opponent topdecking because of the time required to actually kill. Tombstalker out of the board sometimes helps this.<\/p>\n MUD (Metalworker Combo)<\/p>\n Creatures (22)<\/p>\n 1 Blightsteel Colossus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Kuldotha Forgemaster<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Lodestone Golem<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Metalworker<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Sundering Titan<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Wurmcoil Engine<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Goblin Welder<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Lands (20)<\/p>\n 4 Great Furnace<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Ancient Tomb<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Cavern of Souls<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 City of Traitors<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Wasteland<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Spells (18)<\/p>\n 4 Chalice of the Void<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Crucible Of Worlds<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Grim Monolith<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Lightning Greaves<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Trinisphere<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Spine of Ish Sah<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Voltaic Key<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Mox Opal<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Sideboard<\/p>\n 1 Bottled Cloister<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Trinisphere<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Duplicant<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 Phyrexian Revoker<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Steel Hellkite<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2 Faerie Macabre<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 Blood Moon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Mindslaver<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n This is an artifact deck that uses the 2 mana producing lands and the ability of Metalworker to make large amounts of mana to \u201ccheat\u201d fatties into play. In this respect the deck is a combo deck. Get the pieces to make mana and play a big scary. It has some prison elements with Trinisphere, Chalice of the Void, and Crucible of Worlds +Wasteland.<\/p>\n This deck can have some absurd draws where you have a turn 2 attacking Wurmcoil or Sundering Titan. Chalice of the Void and the other prison elements are also not to be underestimated. Resolving one or more of those can sometimes yield a concession from an opponent on their own. Goblin Welder is also amazing if he is left unchecked and offers a lot of raw power later in the game. Ripping him off the top can often be enough to pull you back in the game.<\/p>\n One of the obvious downfalls of this deck is you have a pile of fatties and a piles of ways to make mana. If you draw one without the other then you can lose quickly and there is no library manipulation to mitigate that risk. This fact also makes mulliganing with the deck very bad. You can also have some unfortunate hands that start amazing but after a Daze and a Force of Will on a key piece like Metalworker you are left a bunch of cards that you aren\u2019t casting anytime soon. If you see the trend here this deck isn\u2019t exactly consistent, especially for a Legacy deck.<\/p>\n High Tide<\/p>\n Lands (18)<\/p>\n 11 Island<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 Misty Rainforest<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Scalding Tarn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Spells (42)<\/p>\n 3 Candelabra of Tawnos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Blue Sun’s Zenith<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Brainstorm<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 Cunning Wish<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 Flusterstorm<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Force of Will<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 High Tide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Meditate<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1 Pact of Negation<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 Turnabout<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Merchant Scroll<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4 Ponder<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n