|
|||
|
|
|||
.gif)
.gif)
.gif)
.gif)
|
The Avacyn Restored Legacy Compendium
Colin Chilbert
4/24/2012 10:40:00 AM Remember that time roughly a month ago, when I described how Legacy players act when we're in the middle of spoiler season? How the entire community goes into a frenzy of ill-advised forum posts featuring outrageous claims, theoretical decklists and combos? Yeah, we're in the middle of said season, and it's absolutely awesome. And like any other Legacy player, I'm right there with them bouncing off the wall with them, and with good reason. This is because Avacyn Restored looks to be an incredible set. Not just for Legacy standards, but for all formats. It has opened the Floodgates for some crazy things with a particularly ridiculous new mechanic, and I haven't been this excited for a new set in a long time. It really expands the possibilities for deck design, and as a brewer this makes me really excited. I recently gushed about the potential of Dark Ascension in Legacy in an article, but in comparison to Avacyn Restored that set seems rather modest. And that was a great one too! It's rather funny how these things end up coming about. In that same article highlighting Dark Ascension, I said this: “If Avacyn Restored can produce anything close to what the first two sets of the block has, Legacy will be in for a wild year! Line em' up, knock em' down. Judging by what Avacyn Restored has in store for us, we will likely be on a roller coaster ride by mid-May. It's incredible to think how this block has given us so many new toys to play with, as that really hasn't ever been the case with Legacy since, well, forever. I also mentioned previously that the average block produces 8-10 highly playable cards for Legacy. Innistrad block has greatly exceeded this, and is likely one of the best blocks the format has ever seen. We already had a number of awesome cards from Innistrad and Dark Ascension, but to have Avacyn Restored add it to with this degree is mind-blowing. So let's take a look at all these great new cards! Now, I don't intend to cover the entire set, because in reality that just isn't necessary. Unlike with other formats, there is a much more obvious sense of what belongs and what doesn't in Legacy, and likewise with their playability. So instead of going through the exhaustive 244 card list, I'm just going to discuss a healthy handful (handfuls? Probably more than a single hand) of cards from the set that have the “possibility” of Legacy play. I stress that word because the format is so open that really anything can happen, and the list of cards I am covering simply falls into what I consider within the realm of possible playability. This doesn't mean I will get them all right and a few gems can slip through the cracks, nor does it mean some of the cards I list actually will see play. But for the most part we can tell what can be a big player, what will be a fringe player, and what will be reserved for a junk binder. White
Angel of Jubilation This won't likely see play, but I felt it was worth mentioning because of the interesting ability it comes with. Stopping players from paying life halts them of using fetchlands, Force of Will, the new monster Griselbrand, Sylvan Library, Horizon Canopy, Lim-Dul's Vault, etc. These applications are limited obviously, but it does present a unique angle of attack that hasn't really been seen before. The anthem effect isn't too shabby either. This could possibly find a home in Death and Taxes or even GW Maverick.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope There's really only one use for her: reanimation, either through traditional exhumation, or the Fauna Shaman-Loyal Retainers trick. Personally, I don't think it's better than the existing cards for these roles, nor do I believe an indestructible board is really necessary for any of the decks that will use these methods of getting creatures on the battlefield. But that doesn't mean someone won't stick it in their deck anyway.
Banishing Stroke I know. I finally got around to mentioning the Miracle mechanic. Odds are you've already heard enough about miracles Ad Nauseam. But rightfully so! The mechanic is absolutely bonkers, especially for Legacy. In a format with so much library manipulation, these cards are far stronger here than other constructed formats. But I'll get to the implications of Miracle in the format in a long-winded diatribe later on. Anyway, back to Banishing Stroke. For the sake of discussion, let's assume you can properly set Miracle cards up through some means. Makes talking about them much easier. This is a Swords to Plowshares and Disenchant all in one. But then again, you can just run Swords to Plowshares for the same cost. Besides, why run this when we can run a Wrath of God for the same cost with yet another Miracle spell?
Entreat the Angels It's like the new age Decree of Justice! Decree was a staple win condition for control decks of yesteryears, and this can be a Decree on steroids. With the Miracle cost, you can easily churn out a few 4/4 angels. That's pretty awesome given most creatures in this format are rather small currently. Entreat the Angels could be the card to help put decks like UW/x Control back on the map, but it's still a stretch to believe slow board control decks will be able to come back in the format without some additional weapons (like Terminus..?).
Silverblade Paladin I'm actually a pretty huge fan of this guy. For once I'm happy discussing it outside of spoiling my day by pairing with a Hellrider and making my Block testing sessions miserable, but I think this could be a solid addition in a deck like GW Maverick. It gives the deck a much quicker clock when paired with things like Knight of the Reliquary or Scavenging Ooze. I don't know if it's better than what the deck currently has, but the option is intriguing for sure.
Terminus This is one of my favorite cards from the set, and I believe it can be a great addition to Legacy. In a properly built deck, this will be an insane card for control and aggro-control decks to combat things like GW Maverick. Wrath effects have died down in popularity, but when they cost a measly one mana, it raises some eyebrows. I fully expect this card to see play and have a role in strengthening decks like Stone-blade against aggro. Blue
Misthollow Griffin Many moons ago, Food Chain was a card. It was a good card, but hasn't seen play in a long time. Now enter Misthollow Griffin, which single-handedly provides infinite mana in conjunction with it. Granted the mana needs to be used for creatures, but I'm sure you don't need to think very hard to realize a particular flying spaghetti monster would work well with that. The last dedicated Food Chain lists that I saw were UG, taking advantage of cards like Mulldrifter and Raven Familiar to chain mana and generate cards into an Eldrazi. Misthollow Griffin is an awesome addition to a deck like this, although it remains to be seen if it's viable or not. At least you can pitch it to Force of Will for value though! Also note that it isn't as good with Chrome Mox as it seems. Once you cast the Griffin, the Mox is no longer imprinted and will not add mana.
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage This isn't really a Legacy card, but it's a planeswalker so it deserves some mention. Tamiyo's abilities are decent, especially her ultimate, but her casting cost is far too prohibitive for Legacy. At five, spells need to be absolutely game winning, which she does not do very well (at least in this format). Sadly her uses lie elsewhere, which is a shame because I'd love to get her ultimate in a High Tide deck.
Temporal Mastery Mother of God, it's Time Walk. We've heard it talked about to death; how it'll warp Legacy, it'll cause bannings, and it'll be the end of times. I'm here to tell you, simply put, that is completely incorrect. Don't get me wrong, the card can be good. But it is not going to be as good as the hype makes it seem to be (which is often the case). It's a much different monster than in Vintage. Unless you're in a decent board position, such as sitting with a Jace or Batterskull in play, this likely won't have much of an impact. Given the setup required for Temporal Mastery, I believe it will be difficult to capitalize on the extra turn a lot of the time, and if you do have a solid board position, I question if it isn't win-more at that point. It will require precious slots to play with in the first place removing other typically needed cards, and other prerequisites to take advantage of it, so I don't know if that will present the power that is perceived there. On the other hand and negativity aside, a well-built deck that can take advantage of the extra turn well is something I greatly look forward to seeing. The potential is there for sure. It just requires a bit of investment to make happen, which is something that I don't see out of the current crop of blue-based decks. But that's what brewing is for, isn't it? I suppose it's time to go back to the drawing board with those Brainstorms, Jaces, Sensei's Divining Tops, Scroll Racks, Lim-Dul's Vaults, and whatever else you want to stack the top of your deck. Likewise, it makes Predict an awesome answer against them! Black
Demonic Taskmaster Once upon a time, Chalice of the Void decks existed. For some reason that escapes me, they don't anymore. “Chalice Stompy” decks as they were affectionately dubbed, took advantage of Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors and a high curve to conveniently run Chalice of the Void with a number of 3-4cc creatures. These decks ranged in every monocolor strategy, with red (Dragon Stompy), green (Elephant Stompy), blue (Faerie Stompy), white (Angel Stompy), and black (Demon Stompy). Black was easily the weakest of this crop, mostly because of their lack of decent creatures to fit the curve. Demonic Taskmaster is the best creature to fit the bill for the deck in a long time. It isn't enough to necessarily make the deck good, or better than another color, but it open the possibility for it to be played.
Griselbrand In my last article, I talked about Show and Tell decks and mentioned a certain Avacyn Restored monster that I believe would have a tremendous impact on the archetype. This guy is the real deal, and makes those decks much better. In most cases, it's a strict upgrade to Progenitus in these decks. Drawing a whopping seven cards at a whim gives the deck the ability to protect it easily through a plethora of counters, stops the opponent from resolving other threats, and also increases the likelihood of drawing another Show and Tell or Sneak Attack. Lifelink is incredibly relevant at racing aggro decks, and most cannot win through a flying 7/7 with a 14-point life swing every turn. Overall, this makes those decks that much better. Show and Tell was already banging on the tier one ceiling, and I believe this is the card to help push it into that next tier. Red
Dangerous Wager This is basically the first decent draw spell for red, and it's well costed at two mana. It allows Burn decks to refuel their empty hands really easily, something they sorely lacked until now. This is a huge help for a deck that generally hits hellbent by turn three, giving them that extra push to hit the last few damage to win.
Reforge the Soul This card is quite good, not only because of the Miracle ability, but because its casting cost is actually attainable. This is huge for combo decks that can also cast it beyond the alternate cost, and will open a lot of things up for red-based storm decks. It remains to be seen whether it will actually have an impact in storm decks deviating away from their Ad Nauseam roots (it's unlikely), but it does seem like a great option given it can also be a Burning Wish target. This is another card that I really look forward to seeing the brews for.
Thunderous Wrath A five damage Bolt is pretty nifty, right? Well, maybe. It might see play in Burn decks, but is a complete waste if they open the card as they won't likely hit six lands. UR Delver decks could run it, but even then I don't think they can allot the space for both this and more library manipulation to take advantage of it. People will try it, and likely be disappointed when they can't consistently get it to work out.
Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded Again, here's my obligatory planeswalker mentioning. And that's really all Tibalt deserves. Even at the low price of two, he isn't getting us anywhere. The +1 ability isn't bad, but there really isn't a deck that can take advantage of it well that doesn't already have a better card. The other abilities aren't going to do much in this format, and that's if Tibalt even survives that far. At two mana, he also will get hit by Spell Snare. Or maybe he won't, because it's probably a waste of a Spell Snare. Moving on.
Vexing Devil Conventional wisdom dictates that providing the opponent a choice is bad. But then again, conventional wisdom only had stuff like Browbeat to use an example. As an early play it will likely be a four damage bolt, as the opponent won't let it stick unless they can kill it. But if they let it stick and can't kill it, that's still a decent value for the cost. The only issue is they will give you the worse choice when you need it, so that puts a Burn deck in a tough spot. The jury is out on this one until it sees play, because it could either be spectacular or it will be another Browbeat. Green
Descendants' Path People are apparently having dreams where they drop an Eldrazi into play off this for the price of having a Mutavault in play. And that's really where that idea should stay: in dreams. There are far too many things that need to happen for this card, and all of the pieces are weak on their own. But like so many other cards, it's possible someone will try it anyway.
Ulvenwald Tracker I really like this card as a Green Sun's Zenith target for GW Maverick. It's tutorable creature removal! It's really cheap and has great synergy with Mother of Runes and Scryb Ranger. With a growing Knight of the Reliquary or Scavenging Ooze this can dominate the mirror match. It seems like it can be worth a single slot for sure. Gold
Sigarda, Host of Herons The only deck that can really run this is GW Maverick, and even then they have Thrun, who is also uncounterable. But the ability that comes with it could have some relevance (surviving annihilator maybe?), so it's possible it could pop up in some decks. Artifact None! I'll be leaving my Avacyn Restored artifacts out of my Legacy collection. You should too. Land
Alchemist's Refuge It's unlikely this land will really see play, but it does give UG/x decks an option to do some silly things outside of their turn. Maybe someone can surprise me with this one?
Cavern of Souls Just when GW Maverick is taking over and consistently doing well against blue, they print this to make sure it stays that way. This land is incredible! Most of their creatures are humans, so it allows them to easily resolve Noble Hierarch, Mother of Runes, Knight of the Reliquary, and others. Cavern of Souls also breathes new life into decks like Goblins, giving Goblin Lackey a much better shot at taking over a game. I'm really excited to give creature decks a tool like this, and make things like Counterbalance even more unplayable (which is good for us High Tide players).
Desolate Lighthouse I really want this land to be good in Legacy. It essentially competes with other utility lands like Tower of the Magistrate or Riptide Laboratory for a slot, but the prospect of card selection from the land itself makes me think it can be worthwhile in a UR/x deck over at least Riptide Laboratory. At the very least it should be tested.
Slayers' Stronghold Again with the cards for Maverick! This land would really only show up in red versions with Punishing Fire, but at a glance it has to be worth a slot. Hasted Mother of Runes or Knight of the Reliquary seems really good, right? Especially when those creatures have vigilance? I can just envision some hardcore tricks involving people walking into unsuspecting situations where you use Knight of the Reliquary to get this land make your fresh Mother of Runes hasted and thus blow out the opponent with it. This can also be used in red aggro decks like Goblins or Boros to make their creatures better too. This land almost makes me want to drop the combo decks to play it. Almost. Set Conclusions So that's what we have in Avacyn Restored that can see Legacy play. Quite a long list, I know. In being realistic, all of these cards won't see the Light of Day in the format, but some will have some sort of impact on it. At the very least though, the set will have an impact on how people design decks, and will possibly make control decks sneak back into the picture. I greatly look forward to seeing the new things Avacyn Restored comes out with, and am excited for the format in going on this roller coaster ride. Here are what I believe will be the top five cards for Legacy out of the set (not in any order): Terminus Cavern of Souls Griselbrand Slayers' Stronghold Temporal Mastery This doesn't mean all of these cards will actually be really good, but they'll most likely get the most exposure and play. Maybe there will be a surprise out of the set, we'll have to wait and see! Of Miracles and Legacy Before I go, I want to address the onslaught of debates that have arisen since Miracles cards were first spoiled. There's been a ton of talk on their impact on the format and if they'll cause the banning of Brainstorm. Honestly, I don't believe we will see anything banned, and we will not see a profound shift in the format from these spells. There are a few things to keep in mind here. For starters, these spells require significant investment to work properly, both in deck design and during the game. This takes a lot away from the rest of a deck to accommodate this. Legacy is not the kind of format that wants to take time to set things up unless it'll just win the game, and punishes decks that stutter on setting up potential plays. It's similar to a Show and Tell deck really. They have two combo pieces that are pretty much dead without the other, but win the game when paired. I don't think this is the case with Miracles paired with Brainstorm or other similar effects. Most of the Miracle cards are dead cards outside of the alternate cost, but when they do work with their “combo,” even then they don't have near the chance at winning the game compared to any other pairing of two cards like with Show and Tell or something else. With the exception of Reforge the Soul in a combo deck, none of the Miracle spells really scream to have that potential to outright win a game. Temporal Mastery has had all the exposure, but I've yet to see a decklist that can abuse it to the extreme of banning a card like Brainstorm. It can swing a game, sure, but that will not be the case most of the time. None of the others really have those game winning qualities for a Legacy deck either. Something like Terminus can be amazing for a deck that needs it, but it most likely isn't going to outright win a game. I like the card and think it'll be solid, but it is not a combo that's on par with other game breaking plays. Simply put, I don't think we will see the impact of these that many are predicting. For the most part, the requirements to fulfill the abuse of these cards will mostly lead to a disadvantage to get it in the first place (like running Personal Tutor), and I question if that's really something that is worthwhile in Legacy. I eagerly await the decklist that changes my mind here, but until then I'll be happy playing my Brainstorms as I always have for value without needing to fill my deck with a handful of cards that are dead without it. And I will continue to enjoy playing with Brainstorm, because this likely isn't what will push it over the edge. Now, I fully believe these cards can be great in the format, so I'm not going to drill on them forever. I like their design and think they have a place somewhere. But the price it takes to abuse them needs to be evaluated to determine if they're worth it. I suggest you take a hard look at them as well to see if they'll be as good as the hype makes them appear to be. Thanks for reading! Colin |
 Tarmogoyf - as low as $96.00Dark Confidant - as low as $53.01Vendilion Clique - as low as $37.00Sword of Fire and Ice - as low as $26.72Sword of Light and Sh. - as low as $21.74Elspeth, Knight Errant - as low as $20.00Cryptic Command - as low as $18.75Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - as low as $17.25Doubling Season - as low as $14.00Arcbound Ravager - as low as $13.00
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home Cards Return to Ravnica Magic 2013 Avacyn Restored Dark Ascension Innistrad New Phyrexia Mirrodin Besieged Scars of Mirrodin Card Search Standard Hot 100 |
Decks Standard Extended Legacy Vintage Deck Search Articles Standard Extended Legacy Limited News Archive Article Search
|
Forums Deck Discussion Fantasy Card Creation Casual Decks Rules Q&A News and Issues Forum Log in Forum Log Out Draft Team Members Store
|
 RSS Feed Facebook Twitter
|
TCGplayer and MaxPoint are trademarks of Ascension Gaming Network, Inc.
No portion of this web site may be used in any way without expressed written consent. All rights reserved.
Magic the Gathering and it's respective properties are copyright Wizards of the Coast.
Privacy Policy