Thursday, April 4, 2013

Forcing Through - A Beginners Primer to Legacy

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In order for you to get into Legacy you must figure what it is as a format and what it isn’t, what it Legacy is, is a format that is defined by cheap spells, counters, creatures and a very big emphasis on efficiency. What Legacy isn’t, despite what I’m sure people have told you previous, is a slew of cheap combo decks that have essentially no interaction i.e. Cheerios, Dredge, Oops All Spells, and Belcher etc. I can assure you that these decks are built upon a very fragile house of cards and are easy enough to blow over with a few pieces of discard or a counter spell or two.




Establishing that fact allows us to move forward into the proper tenants of Legacy’s operation. With few exceptions, nothing in this format should cost more than four mana, yes you read that correctly. Besides Force of Will, and things you are going to plop unto the battlefield via Show and Tell (and similar cards) nothing in your entire library should cost anything more than four mana. This is extremely important information when it comes to brewing in this format, as you should be playing both to your outs and to maximum efficiency depending relatively on your matchup, i.e. playing around Stifle and Wasteland and Daze etc.

The Legacy format as it stands right now is a vital mix of top tier decks i.e. Merfolk, Maverick and Elves for those who like to play with creatures, Stone blade, Miracles, and BUG for the pure control enthusiast, RUG Delver, BUG Delver and Jund for the aggro control players and a myriad of combo decks not limited to High Tide, Sneak and Show, Weird Science (omni-show), and ANT just to name a few.

Merfolk (fish)
Lands: 21
11x Islands
4x Mutavault
4x Wasteland
2x Cavern of Souls

Creatures: 24
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
1x Coralhelm Commander
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Cursecatcher
4x Merrow Reejery
3x Phantasmal Image

Instants/Sorceries: 8
4x Force of Will
3x Daze
1x Counterspell

Artifacts: 4
4x Aether Vial

Enchantments: 3
3x Standstill

Sideboard: 15
2x Curfew
2x Flusterstorm
2x Submerge
2x Chalice of the Void
2x Umezawa’s Jitte
2x Kira, Great Glass Spinner
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Surgical Extraction

Merfolk is a rather self-explanatory deck in that optimally you vial turn 1, drop a Standstill or a Curse Catcher turn 2 and then never tap out again, keeping pressure via counter-spells and Wasteland until you reach a critical mass of lords and kill them. Your good match-ups game one are combo, aggro and pure control. Your bad match-ups game one are the aggro-control lists as they can run a removal suite in such a way that they can kill your important Merfolk and deal with the smaller ones via combat.

Maverick (G/W Hatebears)

Lands: 22
2x Forest
1x Plains
4x Windswept Heath
2x Wasteland
2x Verdant Catacombs
1x Cavern of Souls
4x Savannah
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Yavimaya Hallow
1x Gaea’s Cradle
1x Karakas
1x Maze of Ith
1x Bayou

Creatures: 25
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Deathrite Shaman
4x Mother of Runes
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Knight of the Reliquary
1x Eternal Witness
3x Stoneforge Mystic
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Instants/ Sorceries: 10
2x Eldamri’s Call
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Green Sun’s Zenith

Artifacts: 3
1x Batterskull
2x Umezawa’s Jitte

Sideboard: 15
1x Pithing Needle
2x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Circle of Protection: Red
1x Dueling Grounds
1x Rest in Peace
1x Oblivion Ring
2x Krosan Grip
2xEnlightened Tutor
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Gaddock Teeg

Maverick is an odd beast when you first look at it. It appears to be a strange hodgepodge of hoser creatures and utility barely held together with knight of the reliquary. While that is not entirely untrue, there are quite a few advantages to having a deck full of hate-bears in your average Legacy meta, for example being able to tutor for Thalia effectively can completely stop a burn deck from killing you pre-board, or you can Green Sun’s Zenith out a Gaddock Teeg against ANT and unless they have some way of bouncing it they lose. Maverick plays overall about average against the entire field, not that great, but not awful either. More often than not it will come down to the pilot behind it, knowing what to tutor out in order to get the job done.

Elves

Lands: 17
1x Forest
1x Wooded Foothills
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Misty Rainforest
1x Windswept Heath
2x Savannah
2x Bayou
1x Dryad Arbor
2x Gaea’s Cradle

Creatures: 32
1x Regal Force
3x Quirion Ranger
4x Heritage Druid
1x Priest of Titania
1x Llanowar Elves
3x Fyndhorn Elves
1x Birchlore Rangers
1x Viridian Shaman
4x Elvish Visionary
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Wirewood Symbiote
1x Craterhoof Behemoth
4x Deathrite Shaman

Instants/ Sorceries: 11
2x Crop Rotation
4x Green Sun’s Zenith
1x Natural Order
4x Glimpse of Nature

Sideboard: 15
1x Harmonic Sliver
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Progenitus
1x Karakas
1x Natural Order
4x Cabal Therapy

Ah elves, I’m pretty sure just about everybody’s first deck seems to be an elf deck, though this one does not contain any well-wishers and that is probably for the best. The goal of this deck is to Glimpse of Nature, and play as many elves as possible via Heritage Druid. Then spit out as many elves as possible, followed by a Natural Order to get a Craterhoof Behemoth and then SMASH! Usually it is best to go off into the infinite turn 4-5 after the coast is guaranteed to be clear. Good match-ups for Elves are pure-control, aggro, and combos decks that are slower than it, the bad match-ups are combo decks that are faster than it and aggro control as they can either out-race you or kill your important elves.

Esper Stoneblade

Lands: 22
4 x Flooded Strand
3 x Islands
1x Karakas
2x Marsh Flats
1x Plains
3x Polluted Delta
1x Scrubland
1x Swamp
3x Tundra
3x Underground Sea

Creatures: 8
3x Snapcaster Mage
4x Stoneforge Mystic
1x Vendilion Clique

Artifacts: 2
1x Batterskull
1x Umezawa’s Jitte

Instants/ Sorceries: 25
4x Brainstorm
1x Counterspell
3x Force of Will
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Intuition
4x Lingering Souls
2x Ponder
1x Spell Pierce
4x Swords to Plowshares
2x Thoughtseize
1x Vindicate

Planeswalkers: 3
3x Jace the Mind Sculptor

Sideboard: 15
1x Blue Elemental Blast
1x Darkblast
1x Disenchant
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Force of Will
1x Flusterstorm
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Perish
1x Spell Pierce
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Zealous Persecution

Stoneblade is basically card advantage .deck, you use a combination of Stoneforge Mystic with broken equipment and Jace, Snapcaster and Cheap Draw and permission spells to ensure your victory. Stoneblade overall is one of the most consistently performing decks in the format, having only bad match-ups against
RUG and BUG delver decks, as they can battle your counter-suite and deal with your threats, also Miracles can give Stoneblade headaches at times.

Miracles (Counter-top)

Lands: 22
5x Island
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
3x Tundra
2x Arid Mesa
2x Plains
1x Volcanic Island
1x Karakas

Creatures: 2
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Venser, Shaper Savant

Instants/ Sorceries: 21
4x Force of Will
4x Brainstorm
3x Swords to Plowshares
3x Terminus
2x Spell pierce
2x Enlightened Tutor
1x Entreat the Angels
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Counterspell

Artifacts: 5
4x Sensei’s Divining Top
1x Helm of Obedience

Enchantments: 7
3x Counterbalance
2x Rest in Peace
1x Detention Sphere
1x Blood Moon

Planeswalkers: 3
3x Jace the Mind Sculptor

Sideboard: 15
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Counterspell
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Ethersworn Cannonist
1x Energy Field
1x Humility
1x Disenchant
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Vendilion Clique
2x Red Elemental Blast

Miracles is generally seen as a miser’s deck as once it can properly get set up; quite often your opponents cannot do anything at all. The obvious combo here is Sensei’s top and Counterbalance to ensure that all of your opponents spells are countered. You also have Enlightened Tutor to search for Blood Moon in certain match-ups, and access to Terminus in the more aggressive match-ups in order to not die too quickly. Miracles good match-ups are control and aggro-control decks but it often falls behind in the combo match-up as they can usually go off before you set up.

BUG Control (Shardless BUG)

Lands: 22
1x Bayou
1x Forest
1x Island
2x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Tropical Island
4x Underground Sea
2x Verdant Catacombs
4x Wasteland

Creatures: 11
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Shardless Agent
3x Tarmogoyf

Instants/ Sorceries: 24
3x Abrupt Decay
4x Brainstorm
1x Dismember
4x Force of Will
4x Ancestral Vision
3x Hymn to Tourach
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Ponder
3x Thoughtseize

Planeswalkers: 3
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Sideboard: 15
2x Blue Elemental Blast
3x Engineered Plague
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Krosan Grip
1x Life from the Loam
3x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Umezawa’s Jitte
1x Flusterstorm
1x Surgical Extraction

The BUG archetype as a whole, whether control or delver versions, got a huge boost when Deathrite Shaman entered the meta-game. As it allows for both control and tempo applications, depending on the situation required. Like Stoneblade, this deck is best at sitting back and using its cheap spells and permission to control the game until you have a clear path to victory. Overall pretty resilient against the field, BUG only usually has problems against decks like Burn as you are often putting yourself at a low life-total.

RUG Delver (Punishing Delver)

Lands: 19
2x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Scalding Tarn
3x Tropical Island
3x Volcanic Island
4x Wasteland

Creatures: 11
4 x Delver of Secrets
4x Nimble Mongoose
3x Tarmogoyf

Enchantment: 1
1 Sylvan Library

Instants/ Sorceries: 29
4x Brainstorm
3x Daze
1x Dismember
4x Force of Will
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Punishing Fire
2x Spell Pierce
4x Stifle
1x Thought Scour
1x Forked Bolt
3x Ponder

Sideboard: 15
1x Flusterstorm
1x Grim Lavamancer
2x Krosan Grip
1x Life from the Loam
1x Pyroblast
2x Red Elemental Blast
1x Scavenging Ooze
4x Submerge
2x Surgical Extraction

RUG Delver is considered by many to be one of menaces of the format, mostly because it’s highly effective at disrupting what your opponent is doing long enough and well enough to beat them down with a bunch of small creatures. The most important goal when playing RUG Delver is to be patient, don’t rush any of your spells and force your opponent to play into what you are trying to accomplish. Good match-ups for this deck are essentially everything except fringe decks like Goblins and Burn.

BUG Delver (the other Delver)

Lands: 20
1x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
3x Tropical Island
3x Underground Sea
4x Wasteland

Creatures: 16
4x Dark Confidant
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Tarmogoyf

Instants/ Sorceries: 24
4x Brainstorm
4x Daze
1x Diabolic Edict
4x Force of Will
3x Ghastly Demise
3x Spell Pierce
4x Stifle
1x Unearth

Sideboard: 15
2x Deathmark
1x Diabolic Edict
2x Engineered Explosives
1x Engineered Plague
1x Ghastly Demise
1x Nature’s Claim
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Phantasmal Image
1x Spell Pierce
4x Surgical Extraction

BUG Delver is essentially the other Delver deck, although they play slightly different. In that BUG delver is usually more pro-active in tapping out for spells while keeping enough mana to stifle or spell pierce, and therefore you should only tap-out when you have Daze up in the early game, and Force of Will up late game. BUG delvers good match-ups are slightly different to its RUGy counterpart in that the fringe decks that it loses to are different, but their strong match-ups are the same.

Punishing Jund (Bloodbraid Bonanza)

Lands: 23
2x Badlands
4x Bayou
2x Bloodstained Mire
1x Forest
2x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Mountain
1x Swamp
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Wasteland
2x Wooded Foothills

Creatures: 15
3x Bloodbraid Elf
4x Dark Confidant
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Tarmogoyf

Instants/ Sorceries: 18
3x Abrupt Decay
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Punishing Fire
1x Duress
4x Hymn to Tourach
1x Maelstrom Pulse
3x Thoughtseize

Enchantment: 1
1x Sylvan Library

Planeswalkers: 3
3x Liliana of the Veil

Sideboard: 15
1x Ancient Grudge
3x Engineered Plague
1x Grim Lavamancer
1x Life from the Loam
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Pyroblast
2x Red Elemental Blast
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Tormod’s Crypt
2x Umezawa’s Jitte

Until recently, Jund as an archetype was not really considered high tier on the Legacy ladder, with the creation of Abrupt Decay and Deathrite Shaman. Jund got a big boost to fight the counter-heavy blue decks that gave Jund headaches previous to the inclusion of those new cards. The core of Jund is gaining as much card advantage as possible through cascade and Liliana and Deathrite Shaman to put your opponent far enough behind that you can grind them out. Jund’s match-ups are slightly weird, in that it’s good against a few decks from everything, but has problems with fast combo, decks like Burn and control decks like Stoneblade.

High Tide (Mono-U Solitaire)

Lands: 18
12x Island
3x Misty Rainforest
3x Scalding Tarn

Instants/ Sorceries: 39
4x Force of Will
4x Time Spiral
4x Ponder
4x Merchant Scroll
4x Brainstorm
4x High Tide
3x Turnabout
3x Preordain
3x Flusterstorm
3x Cunning Wish
1x Meditate
1x Pact of Negation
1x Blue Sun’s Zenith

Artifacts: 3
3x Candelabra of Tawnos

Sideboard: 15
1x Turnabout
1x Flusterstorm
1x Meditate
1x Pact of Negation
1x Blue Sun’s Zenith
1x Spell Pierce
2x Wipe Away
1x Brain Freeze
1x Echoing Truth
1x Hurkyl’s Recall
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Ravenous Trap
1x Snap
1x Intuition

High Tide was probably the first combo deck I ever played, it’s relatively easy to execute and depending on the pilot it is often very resilient to discard. High Tide works by essentially giving you more bang for your buck on your islands, by casting and re-casting High Tide, long with spells like Candelabra of Tawnos and Turnabout to tap and untap your lands. Along with cheap draw spells and time spiral to keep the spells flowing, eventually you either produce enough mana to kill them via Blue Sun’s Zenith or produce a high enough storm count to Brain Freeze them for lethal. Although, it is possible to combo off on turn 3, it is suggested that you go off on turn 4 or maybe even 5 depending on the clock your opponent has on you. 

High Tides good match-ups are aggro/creature decks, some combo decks like Elves, and certain control decks like miracles, the bad match-ups are most combo decks faster than High Tide and decks high in counterspell count.

Sneak and Show
Lands: 20
3x Island
1x Mountain
4x Misty Rainforest
2x City of Traitors
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Ancient Tomb
3x Volcanic Island

Creatures: 8
4x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Griselbrand

Instants/ Sorceries: 24
3x Spell Pierce
4x Force of Will
4x Brainstorm
2x Intuition
2x Misdirection
4x Show and Tell
3x Ponder
2x Pre-ordain

Artifacts: 4
4x Lotus Petal

Enchantments: 4
4x Sneak Attack

Sideboard: 15
3x Grafdigger’s Cage
1x Pithing Needle
3x Defense Grid
2x Echoing Truth
1x Red Elemental Blast
1x Pyroblast
3x Stifle
1x Karakas

Sneak and Show is a bit of an odd deck when you first look at it, I mean why would you want Sneak Attack and Show and Tell in the same deck? As it turns out actually, using Show and Tell to put an essentially uncounterable Griselbrand or Emrakul into play, (with counter back-up to keep it safe), or using it to play Sneak Attack with a hasty fatty (to devastate, if not out-right kill your opponent), can be rather effective. 

Show and Tell is generally good against control decks and most combo decks, but often has faults against decks with heavy discard and decks like RUG delver which can often compete counter for counter with you.

Weird Science (omni-show)

Lands: 20
2x Island
3x Scalding Tarn
2x City of Traitors
2x Flooded Strand
2x Misty Rainforest
3x Ancient Tomb
2x Polluted Delta
1x Tropical Island
3x Volcanic Island

Creautres: 4
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3x Griselbrand

Instants/ Sorceries: 26
4x Force of Will
3x Daze
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
1x Misdirection
3x Show and Tell
2x Gitaxian Probe
1x Personal Tutor
4x Burning Wish

Artifacts: 4
4x Lotus Petal

Enchantments: 4
4x Omniscience

Planeswalkers: 2
2x Jace the Mind Sculptor

Sideboard: 15
1x Dispel
2x Surgical Extraction
4x Mindbreak Trap
1x Karakas
1x Time of Need
1x Empty the Warrens
2x Pyroclasm
1x Show and Tell
1x Grapeshot
1x Petals of Insight

Weird Science has a very similar shell to Sneak and Show, in that they use the same creatures and the same spell but that’s about where the similarities stop. Where Sneak and Show is aiming to use Show and Tell to put a uncounterable fatty into play, this deck is using Show and Tell to put an Omniscience into play, then following it up with either a Griselbrand, or play Burning Wish to get Petals of Insight which will produce a loop to get an infinite Storm count. You can then use Burning Wish again, to get Grapeshot and kill your opponent. Because of this deck’s access to Burning Wish, it has the ability to aid in most of your match-ups, although in general its match-up strengths and weaknesses are identical to Sneak and Show’s.

ANT (Storm Combo)

Lands: 15
1x Island
1x Swamp
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Tropical Island
1x Volcanic Island
2x Underground Sea
1x Badlands

Instants/ Sorceries: 36
4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Brainstorm
1x Ad Nauseam
4x Ponder
4x Infernal Tutor
3x Duress
1x Thoughtseize
1x Tendrils of Agony
3x Gitaxian Probe
3x Burning Wish
3x Cabal Therapy

Artifacts: 9
1x Sensei’s Divining Top
4x Lotus Petal
4x Lions Eye Diamond

Sideboard: 15
3x Xantid Swarm
2x Chain of Vapour
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Karakas
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Pyroclasm
1x Past in Flames
1x Meltdown
1x Cabal Therapy
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Diminishing Returns

ANT is often considered one of the bad guys of Legacy when people are getting into the format, along with decks like Belcher (as they can theoretically win on turn one given optimal circumstances).However unlike Belcher, a good ANT player can slow down their game accordingly, and learn to use their discard both before and during a combo, (which is often to completely stop you from doing anything before they kill you). One of the easiest ways to set up a kill in ANT goes as follows, Duress/Thoughtseize, Lotus Petal, Gitaxian Probe, Lions Eye Diamond, Crack Lotus petal for black, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Crack Lion’s Eye Diamond in response for black, search your library for Ad Nauseam drawing cards until you think you cannot draw anymore cards, then cast more artifacts and cheap spells and Tendrils of Agony your opponent for lethal.

So that is a basic primer as to what Legacy has to offer, there are many other decks that I have not listed above such as Goblins, Burn, Aluren, Food Chain, etc… If you have any questions or you would like me to go into more detail about any of the decks I have listed or some of the ones I haven’t, please do so in the comment box below.

Corey Vangel

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