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.
Happy RUG Slaying
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