After watching the last two StarCityGames.com Open Series, I am very disappointed in the lack of absorption of the new Avacyn Restored expansion into the standard metagame. Okay, Cavern of Souls is seeing tons of play, but aside from my least favourite land ever printed, AVR has been largely untouched.
Stepping down from the amount of Caverns being played, we see Wolfir Avenger and Zealous Conscripts being played in Naya style aggro lists and a few Silverblade Paladins in RW Humans, along with Caverns, obviously.
Then there are the Delver decks, most of which don't play any Avacyn Restored cards. This isn't quite as big of a deal as other decks not trying cards because Delver requires very specific cards to make the list. With that in mind, I am playing one Favorable Winds in place of a Mana Leak. I believe that Tamiyo may also have a place in the deck as well as one or possibly two Temporal Mastery.
Wolf Run Ramp retains its title of most autopilot deck in format by jamming four Caverns and now not having to worry about trying to bait a counter. Play Caverns, name Giant, cram a Primeval Titan down your throat. I dislike ramp decks. At least Valakut had room for misplays, they've basically been erased in WRR.
Aside: I like Magic when it's a test of skill and severely dislike decks like Wolf Run Ramp, Jund, and Valakut. Unfortunately to say, Jund is the most skill intensive of those three decks. Losing to a deck that is as easy to play as Wolf Run Ramp is something that always bugs me mostly because I play as tight as possible and just watching them make a ton of technical mistakes and still wrecking me is infuriating. If you ever see me at a standard event, I will probably be playing the most difficult deck to play in the format at the time. I can take loses very well when we're locked in a battle of wits and cunning, but when I lose because you jammed a fatty that can hardly be interacted with I get a little salty. /Aside
New set releases are four of my favourite times in the year. As Magic players we are blessed by having four extra holidays a year, but it seems as though only a few players take advantage of their new toys and play with them. I understand that a lot of them are chaff and should be relegated to the Island of Misfit Toys, but there are quite the number of playables beneath the layer of "I'll play it in Limited, *shrug*".
We live in an age of netdecking and hive mind, where there are few deck builders anymore. Most competitive players wait for a named player to play with some new cards or a new deck before picking them up. This needs to stop. This is one of the best reasons to play this game, you can make your deck how you want it.
I'm not saying that netdeckers are bad players or something like that, but they're not as good as they could be. By just picking up a deck with out scrutiny on its contents you are weakening yourself in how well you can play it. If all you do is netdeck and loose playtesting with only the obviously super strong cards in a new set, you will never be as good as Zvi, Chapin, GerryT, or Luis Scott-Vargas. By just netdecking you are more like Edgar Flores, yeah you might have a good run like he did with Caw-Blade for a awhile, but once you lose a piece of that you won't know what to do (did you notice that once Jace and Stoneforge got banned he dropped off the face of SCG before he got banned?).
This what I've been playing at FNM these last two weeks since Restored became legal. I wanted to play Pillar of Flame since I saw it on the spoiler and I also knew that giving it flashback would be amazing, so now that I was in blue and red I needed to build the rest of the deck.
Pillar of Flame is too slow for a Delver based deck in my opinion as it weakens their Snapcasters, but in a very sorcery speed deck it is perfect removal for almost everything. If you're playing U/R Delver stick to Galvanic Blast or Shock and if you really want to play Pillar, I suggest it in the sideboard.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is my favourite angel in this set. She is an amazing control finisher, especially since no one is playing Dismember right now. Gisela is a two turn kill and helps you stay alive. If you're on Blue/White, splash red for this chick. She kills as fast as the Sun Titan chain usually does unhampered, but she is much harder to block and will kill whatever is blocking her. If you're playing Frites you should also play her, Gisela loves getting reanimated on turn 4.
I'm sure you don't need to be told how good Miracle Whip is, that is Bonfire of the Damned. Its the best Whipflare ever and it has Miracle (I'm determined to make this nickname stick!). If you're playing red, play at least one of these. Please.
Tamiyo is getting some attention, and it is well deserved. I may be publically flayed for this, but I believe Tamiyo is the closest to the second coming of Jace, the Mind Sculptor we're going to have for a long time. Tamiyo's +1 is the middle ground between Jace's +2 and -1 abilities. it doesn't really make them spend another turn recasting a threat but it can punish greedy mana bases and set them back a turn that way. It, of course, also protects her and you while ticking up. The -2 is obviously the least used ability on her, but if you have her combined with Lingering Souls tokens you can draw a ton of cards.
You have no maximum hand size. Whenever a card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may return it to your hand.
That is an ultimate ability. Just like the Wallet Sculptor's ultimate won the game without technically winning the game, so does this. Is it possible to lose after using it? Yes, but it won't happen. If they attack you block, get your guys back and recast them. Infinite Mana Leaks? Yeah, they won't resolve a single spell unless its off Cavern of Souls. So now you can move onto actually winning the game. Well, how does milling two and drawing a card for every blue mana you can produce sound? Personally, I just Pillar of Flame people out of the game.
So my next favourite card for type 2? Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded.
Okay well first off, Tibalt is the very first two mana planeswalker in four years. This makes him very hard to compare to other planeswalkers and evaluate correctly. I do believe however that his closest comparison is Jace Beleren (man, this Jace guy seems good all the time). Jace started out as one of the most unpopular of the original walkers, and I think that like good ol' Beleren, Tibalt will eventually see a strong amount of play.
+1: Draw a card, then discard a card at random.
Sure, no one actively enjoys discarding at random, but when you build a deck that doesn't mind doing it, the amount of value you can get from this is astronomical. If I were playing either Mono-Red or a BWR Reanimator deck, I'd be playing at least three of this guy. In Mono-Red you get to play cards like Chandra's Phoenix and Grim Lavamancer, both LOVE this guy. And with a Faithless Looting/Flashback fueled reanimator deck, how can you possibly say no to Tibalt?
"But guys, what if you only have good cards in your hand?" Then don't activate him! If you only have good cards in your hand, Tibalt is still doing his job. When the average quality of the card on the top of your library is higher than that in your hand, then you use him. If you discard a good card, that sucks but you're still at the same place you were before you activated him and you're at least gaining 1 virtual point of life.
This ability does not protect him in any way other than a point of loyalty, but you're usually the aggro deck when you have Tibalt in your deck.
-4: Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded deals damage equal to the number of cards in target player's hand to that player.
This ability is alright, and is going to be the primary ability you're going after in Mono-Red. In a Reanimation-style deck this ability can be very strong as well if Gisela is one of your Rites targets, especially if you're playing a version of the deck with Reforge the Soul (I would be).
-6: Gain control of all creatures until end of turn. Untap them. They gain haste until end of turn.
Insurrection is sweet, especially at a cost of RR and some time, but this ability is by far going to be the least used. Granted people don't play around this ability because they'd rather play around his -4. Whereas his first ability doesn't mesh well with his negative abilities, both his negative abilities work very well together. Your opponents know that they can't play their big guys once you have Tibalt at 6+ loyalty without first dealing with him or they will just lose, so Tibalt creates some nice tension when he is in play.
There are plenty of other cards that you should be playing from AVR, but I will discuss more at a later date. Until then, get out there and get brewing!
Hello everyone, today I'd like to talk about that diverse format that almost everyone loves: Legacy. Discounting the new-ish Modern Format, Legacy is by far the most popular Eternal format and it has been growing since StarCityGames made it a staple of their Open Series a couple of years ago.
This isn't going to be an article on its history or future, today I'm focusing on how I've decided to take it on in its current form. For first time in Legacy's rich history (periods of Survival of the Fittest's unbanning notwithstanding), it is ruled by creature based decks. Creature based decks that are actively good against combo decks. The main deck I'm referring to is, of course, RUG Delver/Tempo. Delver is a savagely efficient deck that eats combo decks alive, especially those of the Tendrils of Agony variety. Combining cheap, big creatures in Delver of Secrets, Nimble Mongoose, and the obvious Tarmogoyf, along side some of the best counterspells ever printed (Spell Pierce, Daze, and Force of Will) with a side helping of burn. Merfolk was the best tempo deck for a long time, then Delver of Secrets saw its way into Legacy and this atrocity was born.
This past weekend at the StarCityGames.com Open Series in Providence, RI, there were ten (10!) Delver decks in the top 32. Legacy is not a format where there are often more than four copies of the same deck in the top 32, let alone 10. I am including the UR Delver lists in this analysis, and the reasoning is that they're basically the same cutting Mongoose and 'Goyf for more burn spells.
My friend Mitchell (the one holding the camera in the Alpha Deck video) and I foresaw this about the first week that RUG Delver became a deck. Along side RUG gaining momentum, UW Stoneblade was tearing up legacy, boasting a strong matchup against Zoo and having a reasonable chance against combo decks because of its large suite of counters and the raw power of Stoneforge Mystic. Creatures were becoming the new face of legacy.So we sat down and started brewing a deck to tackle this changing format.
We knew we wanted to play a strong removal suite as both RUG and Stoneblade's only win conditions were with creatures and we also wanted strong disruption which quickly brought us to a red, black, and white deck. The original list looked very similar to Gerard Fabiano's Team Italia list from last year except with a bit more removal in place of creatures like Figure of Destiny.
The original list was quite loose but after testing it against RUG Delver a couple of games, it won rather convincingly. Mitchell left the project to chase his dream of playing Ad Nauseum shortly after, but I continued to tweak it after testing a few games against a couple of other decks like Zoo and Reanimator.
The list I am playing now is a bit different but retains its incredibly strong grip on the Delver decks and similar.
I honestly have only just come up with the name of the deck while typing it out, but it has a rather decent meaning. I've had a lot of people say that its very similar to Deadguy Ale, thus the whiskey part and since all the non-land cards aside from Hymn can be obtained in the new frame it has a very modern look. That and I'm listening to Black Veil Brides.
Hymn to Tourach If you ever play black in legacy and you're not playing combo, you usually are packing these bad boys. Arguably one of the best discard spells ever printed, if you need any justification as to why I'm including this in the deck, you need to stop playing Magic and play Pokemon instead. Inquisition of Kozilek I was originally playing Thoughtseize in this slot but I never really ran into a point where being able to take a card costing more than 3 mana ever mattered. However, losing 2 life against Delver and Burn decks has mattered, so I give Inquisition the nod. Lingering Souls I took out Stoneforge Mystic for these bad asses. One of the reasons is that I usually found myself never needing to use SFM to put a 'Skull into play and was often attacking with it if there was an opening. Stoneforge also has incredibly diminishing returns where the second one is usually 'meh' at best and the third you're literally being time walked its so bad. I also had a tendency to discard Batterskull to Liliana's +1 because I did not need it. I literally have not lost a game where I discarded Batterskull to a turn 3/4 Liliana. Discarding Loitering Souls to Lily is pretty much a free loyalty counter on her. Souls is also a massive roadblock against creature decks. Path to Exile I choose Path over Swords to Plowshares because I like being aggressive as soon as I am slightly ahead on board and Plow does the same thing as Path except they gain life which is counter-productive when on the attack. Also some decks (particularly RUG Delver) don't even play basics! One mana removal with no drawbacks? Sign me up. Lightning Helix Helix is an excellent removal spell that also messes up math. There's nothing quite like killing a Delver of Secrets and reversing their last attack or sandbagging a Healing Salve when your opponent is digging for the bolt to kill you and then having them tilt. Still got all deez healing salves. Terminate Few spells in Magic's history kill with quite the prejudice that Terminate does. If you can target it, it's dead. Perfect removal to compliment Path to Exile in our awesome removal suite. Lightning Bolt It's the original. You're playing red? Yeah, you're either playing combo a deck with Lightning Bolt. Snuff Out This is something I'm trying right now in place of the third Terminate. It's Dismember that costs 0 that always kills the 'Goyf. Phyrexian Arena The one problem that I run into with this deck is that its very easy to gas your hand. I wanted to play some way to draw cards but with the high curve of the deck Bob (Dark Confidant) is out of the question. Phyrexian Arena does the same thing but at the consistent cost of 1 life a turn. It also helps in making Liliana's +1 hurt much less if you have good cards and need to up her loyalty to edict again or just build to her ultimate. I was considering Sign in Blood but for Sign to be better I'd have to play more copies and this list is surprisingly tight. Grim Lavamancer Grim has been excellent and is a long game threat because of the amount of kill spells you cast on average giving you so much fuel along with the fetch lands. Lavamancer is one of the other ways to punish the newer lists of Stoneblade that play their own Lingering Souls. Abyssal Persecutor This card always turns heads and is rarely countered because... I actually don't know. If I cast this against you and you don't have your own removal for it but have a counter, for the love of Garfield counter it. Persecutor is one of the most massive creatures you can play in Legacy without needing to cheat it into play. This guy rules the battlefield and nine times out of 10 it can tangle with Tarmogoyf and come out on top. I was originally playing three, but I cut it down to one as having more than one in play can get awkward when you want to win the game. Hero of Bladehold "This is Legacy, right?" I've been asked that at least three times after playing this. Oh it's Legacy alright, and Hero is going to curb stomp you. Rich Hillegas had me test this in place of two of the Persecutors on a whim and they have been incredible. I can't recall ever losing a game after I resolve a Hero of Bladehold. This guy is just so massive, especially if you have some spirit tokens from Lingering Souls, that it kills in two turns 98% of the time. I have considered playing three Bladeholds in place of the last Persecutor but the only thing holding me back is how good Percy is at eating Insectile Aberrations and Goyfs. Liliana of the Veil I love me some planeswalkers. I'm surprised that Liliana here has seen as little legacy play as she has. Liliana of the Veil is an absolute house in this deck. She provides an out in game 1 to Nimble Mongoose, Delvers' strongest card against our deck. Lily also gives a lot of decks problems because of her +1 applying pressure while not hurting us very much because we can ditch removal spells when there are no opposing creatures fueling Lavamancer, or be essentially free by discarding Lingering Souls or discarding duplicate planeswalkers. Her ultimate is also rather strong, and it becomes hard to lose after doing it. Ajani Vengeant Vengeant is my favourite planeswalker so far, with Jace of the mind sculpting variety and Liliana of the Veil trailing right behind. While Ajani doesn't seem inherently powerful enough to be played in a format like Legacy, he has a lot of virtual card advantage by being able to take advantage of an opponent's greedy mana bases, killing a creature and sticking around, or just being a massive distraction. Oh and his ultimate is a one-sided Armageddon. As a two-of when you draw him you usually want to try and play to his ultimate because of its sheer devastation and also no one plays around it by sandbagging lands until its too late. Elspeth, Knight-Errant Elspeth is a good win condition on top of Percy and Hero that also works well with them. However, by itself, Elspeth is one of the weakest 'walkers in the deck and if I needed to cut any card from the deck, my first choice would be Elspeth. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad Sorin is a lot like Elspeth in this deck. However, the fact that his token has lifelink can often be relevant. His emblem is also very strong with Hero of Bladehold and Souls. I have never achieved his ultimate but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as it usually means the opponent has to semi-suicide their guys into him so that I just don't take them. If there was a second card after Elspeth to cut, Sorin is most likely it, but I am still rather happy with him. Sideboard The sideboard is set up to give me some outs to combo decks, which are often very difficult to beat with this deck. Leyline and Thalia throw very large monkey wrenches into combo, while Thalia also provides a clock as well. The Kor Firewalkers are a concession to large amount of burn in my local meta and can very easily be changed to suit your own meta. Diabolic Edicts are an auto side in against Nimble Mongoose and Show and Tell style decks along with Reanimator. Surgical Extraction and Extirpate are my main outs against Dredge. All you need to do is Extract their Narcomoebas while their graveyard triggers are on the stack and Dredge becomes incredibly hampered and need to rely on Ichorid which you can use a second extraction on or Path. However, my main plan agaisnt Dredge is just to dodge it. Loose, but it has worked very well so far.
I highly recommend this deck if your meta has a high population of RUG Delver, Stoneblade, Maverick, or other creature decks such as Merfolk. The board is very customizable thanks to white being a large portion of the mana base because white grants some of the best sideboard cards ever printed. You can also easily play Leyline of the Void if you wish to combat Dredge decks as you can actually cast them making them somewhat superior to Crypts and other one-shot graveyard hate.
My friend, Exodus, and I open a vintage Magic starter deck from Limited Edition Alpha. Also a quick look through the rule booklet, and various interesting wordings on the cards.
Welcome everyone to my blog!
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