Raphael Levy
6/27/2012 10:02:00 AM
I haven't been playing much Magic since PT Avacyn Restored in Barcelona, except for the draft video I tried to record for you guys but that crashed when I tried to extract it (I lost the file, no way to retrieve it, gg … ☹). But honestly, I hate Avacyn draft so much that I'll just wait for a more interesting set to come out to make these videos, if that's ok with you! Anyway, I've been enjoying my break from the game but with GP Gent in Legacy coming up next month, I had to get back into it, at least a little.
Last weekend in Toulouse, two legacy tournaments were held: one on Saturday, one on Sunday. The first one offered to the winner a 90€ travel package to the GP in Belgium, the second one offered 4 white-bordered Tundras.
I had planned to play the first one where only 10 players were pre-registered and wasn't sure about the second one. I would decide after the first tournament was completed. About 60 players were pre-registered for the second tournament which was also a qualifier tournament for the French Legacy Championship later this year.
I don't have much experience in Legacy; I follow the results, read a little bit, but only play very occasionally. So I needed to make up for the lost time.
The last article I read about Legacy was
Adam Yurchick's about his UW Full Miracle deck. It looked fun and I didn't want to play one of the “classics”, so without changing the deck, I asked around for the cards and showed up at the tournament on Saturday with it.
Maybe it is good, maybe I just didn't play it right, but it just seemed subpar when I played it.
Since the point of my article is not to write a rebuttal article about my good friend Adam's deck, I'll just point out a few things I didn't like with the deck:
-
Chrome Mox doesn't do enough. It finds a use for the miracles you won't be able to play, but the extra mana early is never useful, so you end up wasting two cards (where a land could have just been better).
-
Temporal Mastery is just a bad card. You try to set it up so badly, and when you manage to cast it…it doesn't do anything. You don't have any pressure on the board unless you have Angels out, but if that's the case, you probably win already.
-
Counterbalance isn't used to its full potential in this deck.
- The deck doesn't run enough countermagics to control the game long enough to wait for your
Entreat the Angels which is your only reliable and fast kill,
Jace, the Mind Sculptor being number two. Also, the deck is way too vulnerable to Daze/Spell Pierce. These counters are really hard to play around, and since you'll often be tapped out (to make at least two angels), you can't keep mana up to deny them.
- I wasn't convinced by the sideboard plan.
The good thing is, by playing Adam's deck and ending up 2-2, I learned some valuable lessons:
-
Terminus is really, really good. No secret here,
Sensei's Divining Top is a great card and works way too well with
Terminus not to abuse it. While
Wrath of God was just not an optimal card in the format – a 4-mana sorcery speed sweeper that doesn't "remove" creatures from the game (read “exile” or “put on bottom of the deck”) just isn't good enough. I'm pretty sure I don't have to write too long about it since you probably have read it everywhere already, and we'll get back to it in details a bit later.
- It would be too bad to play a blue deck with
Sensei's Divining Top and not abuse
Counterbalance. I love the card and I know it's not optimal in all matchups, so maybe keep it as a sideboard option. In any case, I wanted a deck that would use that combo to its full potential.
- I really liked
Entreat the Angels. When you manage to have it online at the right time, it's the game winner UW has been waiting for. You don't want to play that many of them though since you don't want them to clutter your hand.
With that said, I knew more or less what I was looking for. So I started to think about it and browsed decks online. Until I found exactly what I was looking for:
The deck was played by Shawn French (that's a sign…) at the SCG Legacy Open in Orlando on May 20
th to a 4
th place finish. I have never met Shawn (at least I don't think I have), and haven't contacted him either. Therefore I have no idea who rightfully deserves the credit for the deck. If Shawn is reading this, please, help me with that! If it's you who built the deck…well, thanks and good job!
I found different versions of the UW Miracle deck, some with
Temporal Mastery, some with an
Enlightened Tutor Package, most without
Counterbalance.
Shawn's deck had:
- The
Terminus + Top package.
- An effective Counterbalance-Top package after board
- An efficient plan to control the game: Counterspells, Snapcaster Mages,
Swords to Plowshares.
- More kill conditions with Snapcaster Mages,
Vendilion Clique,
Elspeth, Knight-Errant and…
- …Entreat the Angels. The “I win in two turns” card.
- More Card manipulation with Ponders.
Chrome Mox doesn't quite make up for the lands UW needs. With only twenty lands, including Fetch Lands, you need ways to get your second and third land consistently at the right time.
There was one thing in his list that I changed, and it was adding the 4th Top and cutting the
Oblivion Ring. I understand
Oblivion Ring is a powerful card, but I really want that 4th Top badly, and as often as possible in my starting hand. Oh, and I also switched some fetch lands, nothing extremely relevant here, but you never know…
So here is the list I played at the tournament:
The Manabase:
5 Island
1
Polluted Delta
2
Scalding Tarn
1
Misty Rainforest
4
Flooded Strand
3
Tundra
2 Plains
1
Marsh Flats
1
Karakas
- The seven basic lands are necessary to stay away from the
Wasteland threat.
-
Karakas is mandatory in decks running white in Legacy. You can bounce your own
Vendilion Clique to either protect it or control your opponent's draws. As for the relevant Legendary Creature you will face: Thalia,
Griselbrand (at least it won't be attacking), Jin-Gitaxias, Emrakul,
Gaddock Teeg, Iona and I'm probably missing a couple…
- You need the eight fetch lands to manipulate your library enough to find the right card at the right time. The life paid might be an issue against decks running burn. The deck might need a way to gain life…
Library Manipulation:
4
Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4
Sensei's Divining Top
Along with fetch lands, the library manipulation arsenal works great, but this is no news. At the end of the tournament, I was really happy about that 4th top. One of the problems with the deck is that it takes a while to know how to play. Which spell to play first, on which turn. Ponder? Brainstorm? Top? Sometimes it's better not to play Ponder or
Brainstorm on turn 1, If your hand is good enough, with enough lands, you might want to keep them to see how you want to set up your game and see what your opponent is playing. It would take a whole article to explain how to play these cards (I don't know if anyone actually wrote about it, but it would need a Legacy expert...).
Counterspell Suite:
4
Force of Will
2
Counterspell
2
Spell Pierce
2
Spell Snare
The four
Force of Will seem to be a must have in such a wide format. I'm not a big fan of this card against aggro decks, but I wouldn't play the deck without the full set in my starting 60.
The mix between
Counterspell,
Spell Pierce and
Spell Snare gives you more options, especially in a game that is going to last a bit, your
Snapcaster Mages will just be better.
Removals:
3
Terminus
4
Swords to Plowshares
With
Delver of Secrets,
Tarmogoyf and creatures that can deal a ton of damage early, you want to be able to deal with them fast with
Swords to Plowshares without having to wait for your
Terminus. You also need to deal with Thalia and
Gaddock Teeg quickly.
Terminus as a three-of is questionable. I played three but I could definitely see myself playing four in the next tournament. Decks relying on creatures in this format are extremely vulnerable to this card. While it was possible to play around a
Wrath of God (especially since there weren't that many), it's almost impossible to play around an instant-speed
Terminus. They will either commit too much or hold back too much…pretty much like against
Wrath of God, but a lot, lot worse; except you will play it for one mana, on their turn, and have your mana open the whole time.
The Kill Conditions:
1
Entreat the Angels
2
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3
Snapcaster Mage
2
Vendilion Clique
-
Entreat the Angels is a very quick way to win games, and sometimes, it will be your only way to win. I might want a second one somewhere in the 75.
- Elspeth is a great winning condition as well. It almost single-handedly deals with Maverick. Maverick doesn't really have a way to kill it except for attacking. Most of the time, the game is going to be about them trying to kill her, while you dig for your
Terminus or your
Entreat the Angels to seal the deal.
-
Vendilion Clique is a flexible creature, working as disruption and beating, it DOES (…) deal with
Batterskull when they're fetched with Mystic (after a
Terminus for example), just as well as a
Counterspell would.
-
Snapcaster Mage isn't exactly part of the killing mechanic, but it supports the Cliques just fine. Gaining a turn or two while attacking could be crucial. It also trades with Gaddock as a surprise blocker against an unwary opponent.
I also kept Shawn's sideboard which was adapted to my local metagame as well. Legacy is a very wide format, but here are the decks I expected:
Dredge
Maverick
RUG
UW Stoneforge
Canadian Threshold
ANT
Sneak Attack
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Matchups and Sideboard plans:
Vs. Dredge:
Like against most matchups, Dredge will have an edge in Game 1. You won't be able to kill him fast enough to disrupt his strategy.
Terminus will protect you and set him back a long way, giving you a couple of extra turns, but you won't be able to win the game quickly enough. Once you have some graveyard hate and an extra
Vendilion Clique for the beating, you'll usually get the time you need to win the game.
+3
Tormod's Crypt
+1
Relic of Progenitus
+1
Terminus
+1
Vendilion Clique
-4
Swords to Plowshares
-2
Spell Snare
Vs. Maverick:
Maverick's strategy relies exclusively on creatures and therefore is extremely vulnerable to
Terminus. Thalia and Gaddock aren't resilient enough to protect their team from the sweeper. After sideboard, you add even more removals so the matchup is even more in your favor.
+1
Terminus
+2
Path to Exile
+1
Relic of Progenitus
+1
Vendilion Clique
-3
Force of Will
-2
Spell Pierce
Force of Will isn't exactly a great card against Maverick. You can deal with most of its threat with 1-mana white instants. The problem comes when they sideboard in Chokes. Since you take out hard counters, and don't have any way to deal with it when it's on the board, it usually means game. A good solution would be to add a couple of
Banishing Strokes in the Sideboard to deal with the nasty enchantment, in case they have it.
Vs. RUG/Canadian Threshold:
The reach they have with burn spells gives them a better chance against you than Maverick. If you manage to deal with the early threats and stabilize at a safe amount of life, this shouldn't be a problem.
+1
Terminus
+1
Path to Exile
+4
Counterbalance
+1
Relic of Progenitus
-4
Force of Will
-2
Spell Snare
-1
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Counterbalance is so good against these decks. It will keep you safe from about any threats they have if you manage to stabilize the board.
Vs. ANT:
I haven't played against ANT, but you're probably an underdog in game 1 and favorite after board.
+3
Ethersworn Canonist
+1
Relic of Progenitus
+2
Tormod's Crypt
+1
Vendilion Clique
+4
Counterbalance
-4
Swords to Plowshares
-2
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
-3
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-1
Entreat the Angels
-1
Terminus
Take out the expensive spells since your plan is going to be locking the game with either
Counterbalance or
Ethersworn Canonist. Keep at least two
Terminus to deal with
Empty the Warrens.
Vs. UW Stone-Blade:
The deck will usually have a hard time killing you. You'll have to deal with the
Batterskull some way, either by blocking the equipped creature with an Elspeth Token, sweeping the board and then countering (or sending to the bottom) the equipment…you will have a better control of the game and will eventually win with any of your threats.
+4
Counterbalance
+1
Relic of Progenitus
-1 Ponder
-1
Swords to Plowshares
-2
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
-1
Terminus
UW Stone-Blade doesn't have many ways (if any?) to deal with
Counterbalance once it gets online.
Vs. Sneak Attack:
Sneak Attack is probably the toughest matchup. You don't have enough
Counterspells to reliably counter
Sneak Attack or
Show and Tell and your removals don't do much against a
Griselbrand or an attacking Emrakul. You'd need to play a fast Clique or a
Snapcaster Mage to start the beating fast before they gather enough denial to achieve their game plan.
+1
Vendilion Clique
+4
Counterbalance
-2
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
-3
Swords to Plowshares
Your sideboard is far from optimal in that matchup.
Counterbalance isn't going to do as much as against RUG or Canadian Threshold, but could help in a battle of
Counterspells or to deny they library manipulation.
Before you move on and try the deck, there are a couple of things you should know:
Maybe you haven't been playing Magic long enough to know everything you can do with
Sensei's Divining Top. Remember that you can pay 1 mana, activate the “rearrange ability” and draw in response. That way, you can put the Top further away on the top of your deck.
I won a game on Sunday by:
- Paying one, activating the rearrange ability,
- Tap to draw,
- Played
Terminus at the end of my opponent's turn,
- Put the Top second from the top,
- Had all my mana available during my draw step to play a full throttled
Entreat the Angels
Miracle is a triggered ability, meaning that if you only control a fetch land and no white lands, you can reveal a
Terminus, put Miracle on the stack and fetch a Plains or a
Tundra to cast it. Your opponent can also cast a Vendiliion Clique to Take your
Terminus out of your hand before you cast it…
You may have noticed that I bring in
Relic of Progenitus quite often. Remember that It's an excellent card, not only against the obvious Dredge and Reanimator,
Tarmogoyf and
Snapcaster Mage (nullifies yours as well…), but also against
Surgical Extraction: remove the target of the Extraction to counter the spell.
As mentioned above when I talked about library manipulation, the deck is really hard to play. A card at the wrong place after a Top might cost you the game, and it's hard to figure it all out on the spot if you have no training with it. It wouldn't be “that much” of a problem if rounds weren't timed…but they are. 50-minute round won't allow you to tank every time you cast a Ponder/Brainstorm/Activate top. Time is a real issue.
58 players took part in the tournament with 6 rounds and a cut to Top 8. I won the first four rounds 2-0; not just a brag, an important detail because I finished 3 matches out of 4 right when time was called. I too needed some time of adaptation to rearrange my library properly. I could then ID twice into the top 8.
I faced:
Round 1: Esper Stone-Blade
Not the best matchup,
Lingering Souls is extremely annoying…
Round 2: Jund
Had to battle hard in game one to find my one
Entreat the Angels to take the match against
Punishing Fire. Except for the white miracle, you don't really have a way to deal with that card. Beware of
Maelstrom Pulse though…
Round 3: Maverick
Round 4: Shallowgrave Reanimator
Round 5 and 6: ID
Quarterfinals: Bant
With timed rounds even in the final matches, I managed to pull out a 2-1 win with 2 minutes left on the clock…
Semifinals: RWU Aggro
Same as in the quarters, 2-1 with 2 minutes left.
Finals: Maverick
This time I won 2-1 but I had more time left...
I took the 4
Tundras and was quite happy with both my performance and how the deck played. While my opponents may not have been the best players you could face in a big tournament, what I learned about Legacy is that everyone has a tested deck and that you won't win unless yours is very competitive as well. UW “Miracle” is really hard to play against and you'll have a lot of opportunities to outplay your opponent.
I haven't thought enough about
Land Tax in Legacy, but I don't think it's going to have such a big Impact. I don't think it can really integrate the deck at all (no room for it). But time will tell if I'm wrong…
I hope you'll enjoy playing it as much as I did, and thanks again to whoever built that version!
-Raph
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