Mail bag column are among my favorite kind of Magic reading material, so it gives me a lot of pleasure to write Legacy’s first ever Mail Bag column. If this flops, and it just might do that, let’s consider this an experiment gone awry. If it works, I might give this a shot again or pass the Mail Bag torch to one of my fellow columnists. Onward!
Greyfell asks: “Where do you consider the various Survival builds to be in the ‘tier’ system, Bardo?”
Remember that it’s entirely possible to enter a tournament and make it to the finals without once getting paired against Goblins, Threshold, Solidarity, IGGy Pop, etc. So, when we say something is “tier one” we really mean: “Relatively speaking, these decks have the strongest tournament performance in the format at the moment.” But even taken together, the “Big Three” rarely account for more than 40% of any particular field. So I wouldn’t place that much stock in the tier structure. It is, however, useful as a testing tool.
Without continuing much deeper along this line of thought, let’s see how Survival has done at tournaments in Legacy’s past:
5th Place: Big Arse 2 (July 16, 2005), G/R Survival
6th Place: Big Arse 2 (July 16, 2005), G/R Survival
3rd Place: SCG Duel for Duals I (September 25, 2005), G/R Survival
5th Place: SCG Duel for Duals I (September 25, 2005), G/R Survival
4th Place: GP Lille (December 18, 2005), G/B/w RecSur
4th Place: GP Barcelona, Legacy Side Event (April 9, 2006), G/B/r/w RecSur
8th Place: Kadilak’s DLD II (Aug 5, 2006), G/R Survival
8th Place: SCG Duel for Duals IV, Day 2 (Oct 8, 2006), G/R/b Survival
4th Place: The Mana Leak Open, Day 1 (Mar 3, 2007), G/R/b Survival
8th Place: The Mana Leak Open, Day 2 (Mar 4, 2007), G/R/w/b Survival
Out of the last 17 (50+ player U.S. & GP-level) major tournaments, Survival variants took 10 out of 136 Top 8 slots (7%) and half of those were in 2005. Compare Survival’s success with Goblins (21%) or Threshold (16%) and you can see that it’s not exactly tier one material. Furthermore, at those 17 major tournaments, Survival survived the quarterfinal rounds only four times and has never once made it to the finals, let along Took Home the Prize.
So, where would I rank it? Somewhere in the Tier 2 range, which is to say that you should have a solid grasp of what a typical list looks like as well as an understanding of what matters in the match-up and how to beat it with your deck; however, I wouldn’t go that far out of your way to make sure you can beat it.
Why is this, you wonder…
Jaynel asks: “Why hasn’t Survival been making a better showings at large events? To my knowledge, it hasn’t made Top 8 at a major event in a while.”
Convenient, indeed! First off, note that Survival made the Top 8 on both Days 1 and 2 at Ray Robillard’s Mana Leak Open Two (TMLO2) a couple of weeks ago (March 3 and 4, 2007), so it hasn’t been that long ago since it’s placed well. To your point, what accounts for Survival’s mediocre performance overall? Let’s come back to that after we understand why it’s worth playing in the first place.
From very early on Survival of the Fittest was recognized to be one of the most powerful cards in the format, with the prison-esque Angry Tradewind Survival (ATS) being an early star in Legacy. Its namesake engine card, aggressively cost at two mana, does some truly awesome/annoying things once active (depending on which side of the table you’re on), not the least of which includes generating enormous long-term card advantage and placing an impressive suite of utility creatures at your fingertips.
But decks built around Survival of the Fittest have several downsides, which, when taken together, account for its modest success. For one, Survival forces a heavy commitment in the weakest color of the game: Green. Secondly, playing and activating Survival painfully affects the deck’s early tempo, which forces it to run the largely sub-par mana creatures for support. Unfortunately, those Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elves make poor topdecks as the game transitions into the mid- to late-game if Survival is not active.
Next, its suite of one-of utility creatures make Survival’s opening draws and topdecks unpredictable and inconsistent since you don’t want something like Tin Street Hooligan in your hand when you don’t need it. Lastly, Survival of Fittest tempts players to get too “techy” for their own good, which can have the effect of making these decks over-reliant on their engine card, which further makes something as sundry as Pithing Needle or Meddling Mage a game-breaker if one isn’t careful.
Summing this up, in trying to do everything, Survival ends up doing nothing superbly.
Importantly, I think that Survival of the Fittest, the card, has yet to find its proper role and home in the format, as evidenced by the wildly different decks and strategies the card finds itself in. The G/R aggro-control variants are the most popular and have had reasonable success, as have the Black-splash versions that use Recurring Nightmare as a coup de grace – a resurrection of the RecSur decks from days of yore. The card can also work as a serviceable combo-engine as well. While critical to the future of the Survival brand decks, this is largely a matter of intensive testing and development.
If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend Doug Linn article on Legacy Survival. Maindeck Aether Vial and Chalice of the Void, along with Price of Progress in the sideboard seems like a step in the right direction. But I’ll be honest, I still have a hard time imagining Survival taking first place at any premier Legacy tournament.
Nihil asks: (A). (Short version) “Is Legacy the ideal format for playing Glass Cannons?”
For those wondering what on earth a “Glass Cannon” is, see Richard Feldman article of the same name. From that article (reprinted with permission):
[Bringing a Glass Cannon Deck to a tournament] is where you launch yourself head-on at a tournament with a deck whose only chance is to avoid your few nightmare match-ups the whole way through. Encountering that match-up more than once – a possibility you can neither avoid nor control – will likely end your tournament on the spot. … And as long as you don’t draw the nightmare match-up, you will not lose.
It’s going to depend on where you’re playing which should suggest if a Glass Cannon is the right weapon for the job. Local events that are smaller, more predictable and have a tendency to be somewhat inbred are the safest places to take a Glass Cannon deck. But at a large and highly random event like a Grand Prix, you’re dealing with a lot more risk, especially now.
So, what does a Legacy Glass Cannon look like anyway?
“W/R Rifter” by Martin Johannes Brenner
GP: Lille, 7th Place
December 18, 2005
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Renewed Faith
3 Slice and Dice
3 Decree of Justice
3 Humility
3 Lightning Rift
3 Pyroclasm
2 Akroma’s Vengeance
2 Rune of Protection: Red
2 Disenchant
2 Abeyance
9 Plains
7 Mountain
4 Secluded Steppe
4 Forgotten Cave
2 Plateau
Sideboard
3 Rule of Law
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pulse of the Fields
2 Boil
2 Disenchant
2 Abeyance
1 Pyroclasm
1 Pyroblast
Having its roots in Odyssey-Onslaught Standard, Rifter, as its called in Legacy, is one of the most elegant and sadistic board control decks in the format. When fired, this Glass Cannon blasts through creature-based decks like they were rotten bologna. However, most forms of combo steamroll Rifter like an awful Limited deck. Vicious, ugly beatings. If you’re playing Rifter and you happen to get paired against IGGy Pop or Solidarity, you might as well just concede and get some pizza or something. But note that Brenner made it to the semifinals of the 937-player Grand Prix: Lille on account of the high percentage of aggro and aggro-control players at the event. Peering deeper, note the breakdown of the decks making the cut to Day 2:
Grand Prix: Lille, Day 2
Top 128 Breakdown
Threshold: 36
Goblins: 32
Red Deck Wins: 7
Affinity: 7
B/W Pikula: 6
Rifter / W/R Control: 5
Zoo: 5
Boros Deck Wins (R/W): 3
Landstill: 3
Flame Vault: 2
Golden Grahams / Gamekeeper-Salvagers Combo: 2
Solidarity / Reset High Tide: 2
2-Land Belcher: 2
Solitary Confinement: 2
Aluren: 2
Rock: 2
Burning Tog (Roar!): 1
Trix / Illusions/Donate: 1
U/W Control: 1
Enchantress: 1
U/G Control: 1
Survival: 1
Life: 1
CAL: 1
White Weenie: 1
Dumptruck: 1
TOTAL: 128
Further breaking the field into archetypal classes:
Aggro: 55 (43%)
Aggro-Control: 44 (34%)
Control: 16 (13%)
Combo: 13 (10%)
With the aggro and aggro-control decks, Rifter’s best match-up, comprising a full 77% of GP: Lille’s Day 2 deck composition, it’s no wonder that one out of the five Rifter decks made the cut to the Top 8. But a single, albeit unlikely, pairing against the Tide decks or Oystein Hasnes’s lone Trix deck could have ended Brenner’s run right there.
More than a year later, the format is significantly more sophisticated and diverse, a format where heartless combo decks are now an active force in the format and which will comprise more than 10% of GP: Columbus’s breakdown. But in certain local settings, you can often take a Glass Cannon, such as Rifter, and walk away with some prizes.
So, after the very long answer to the “short version” of the question, I shall say “It depends.”
(B). (Long version) “There are two kinds of decks to prepare against: the Big Three, which warrant specific hate (at the height of this phenomenon, there were sideboards filled with Tivadar’s Crusade, Tsabo’s Web, and Sirocco); and randomness, which requires generic answers. So, is this the best time to throw caution out of the window and focus all your 75 cards on speed and consistency?”
Unless you’ve come up with some Secret Weapon that’s about to tip the format over like a slumbering cow, I think the good decks are too good to be simply ignored. Though, and this is important, how you choose to address the Big Three probably matters most. For instance, will you run sideboard cards that react to your opponent’s plan – hoping to draw them when you need them? Cards that fall into this category would be Tivadar’s Crusade, Tormod’s Crypt and the like.
Personally, I think your best bet is to be proactive. Chalice of the Void and/or Trinisphere, for instance, is a b*tch against Threshold and is a pain for IGGy Pop and Solidarity to negotiate as well. Finding a proactive weapon against Goblins is a bit more difficult, unless generating a high storm count and dumping 14 Goblins onto the board on turn 2 or 3 counts. Otherwise, you’re back to Engineered Plague, which is sort of proactive in that it forces decision-making on Goblins’ part and can be played when a Goblin isn’t even on the board and still be good.
In general though, broad and interactive sideboard cards like Engineered Explosives, Pithing Needle, Stifle, Red/Blue Elemental Blast, and Duress still have a place in most sideboards, since they’re all useful against a broad range of decks.
Peter Rotten asks: (A). “I have always been curious about the drastic differences between the Northeast, West Coast (particularly San Diego), and European meta. Sometimes the Top 8s in these three areas are so completely different from each other that one can wonder if they’re playing the same format. In your opinion, what causes these pronounced differences?”
This is mostly a sign of the immaturity of the format, where, because of the small size of the playing community, the “Legacy Metagame” is largely an array of dissociated regional metagames which are defined by the ideas, opinions and biases shared by the active players of those scenes. This is still a phenomenon in a more evolved format like Vintage where the same sorts of arguments arise; witness the preponderance of Mana Drain decks in New England, the Workshop heavy Midwest states and the bickering that ensues.
In the States the larger centers of Legacy activity are in Northern Virginia, Upstate New York and Southern California and they’re all a bit different, with the strongest differences being between the East and West Coasts, since the East Coast players intermingle their technology and ideas due to the pull of the higher payout tournaments.
If the format were more popular, I think this phenomenon would be less pronounced.
(B). “Does Europe have less Solidarity Top 8s simply because of a lack of Resets?”
Europe has gobbled up enough power to tell us that they have the means of acquiring rare, out-of-print cards if and when they demand them. From my brief chats with European players, many are just not that keen on Solidarity, but the results from morphling.de testify that the deck had a respectable run in Germany late in 2005 into early 2006, and then it just sort of died out.
(C). “Why does America have a clear lack of TerraGeddon?”
Ah, good question. For reference:
“TerraGeddon” by Hugo van Dijke
Nijmegen Top 8
January 14, 2007
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Werebear
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Terravore
3 Eternal Witness
1 Genesis
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Armageddon
4 Life from the Loam
3 Solitary Confinement
4 Savannah
2 Secluded Steppe
4 Tranquil Thicket
3 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Forest
1 Nantuko Monastery
1 Plains
Sideboard
4 Orim’s Chant
3 Krosan Grip
2 Last Breath
3 Null Rod
3 Tivadar’s Crusade
Consider this a Legacy update on the ErnieGeddon decks from long ago. Instead of speculating idly, I thought I’d go right to source for the answer to this question: Hugo van Dijke, creator of TerraGeddon.
Bardo: “So, Hugo, why do you think the Americans haven’t caught onto TerraGeddon?”
49 Cents: “I think the Americans haven’t caught onto TerraGeddon because they look at the list and think ‘There is no way in hell this thing could beat combo.’ Therefore, they don’t even test the deck. I think this is a mistake, because the deck is solid against almost everything other deck, and the sideboard contains the tools to beat combo as well.
“Also, I think people aren’t innovative enough. There are lots of cards that make certain match-ups better, and the deck can be easily fine-tuned to beat certain metagames. Lots of aggro? Vengeful Dreams might be your card. Randoms that play Extirpate? Splash Burning Wish. Cabal Therapy is a great card against Solidarity. You could try Nimble Mongoose over the mana elves if you expect to battle through a sea of Swords to Plowshares, etc. The deck has lots of space which you can tweak and work with.”
And there you go. I’ve noticed a rise of TerraGeddon on the MWS network and wonder if this will translate into people taking the deck to real tournaments in the States. Time will tell.
Bongo asks: (A). “When importing decks from other formats, what are the most important points to consider, Legacy-wise?”
There is so much unexplored area in the format that I don’t want to give any hard and fast rules here, nor do I honestly think I could. Generally though, the first thing is to determine what advantages a particular import would have over similar extant decks in Legacy. If you plan on importing a combo deck that reliably goes off on turn 5 or 6, it’s probably not good enough. If it caves to Wasteland or the slightest mana disruption, it will not fly in Legacy. But if the import does something unique and you can capture the element of surprise against your opponents, it might be worth testing, unless it’s clearly out-competed by something else in the format.
Once you’ve determined that a deck could work in Legacy, you’ll next need to adjust your imported deck list to the scale of the Legacy card pool. This would mean converting Condemns to Swords to Plowshares, Hallowed Fountains to Tundras and Flooded Strands, Distress to Duress and / or Hymns, etc. Basically, you’ll need to adjust the imported deck to the appropriate power-level of this format and reconcile any cards that may be banned in Legacy (e.g. Mind’s Desire).
Finally test the imported deck against a rough gauntlet of Legacy decks. Does it get completely overwhelmed by Goblins, over and over? Is the new deck just a pile of pinochle cards when opposing Solidarity or High Tide? Does Force of Will and Daze make the deck crumble like a house of cards? How does it fare in the face of Hymn to Tourach, Duress and Wasteland?
One of my recent imports is a Legacy version of the Extended Boros/Green decks that were popular a few months back. After I did all of the steps above, I ended up with this list:
Creatures (20)
Lands (21)
Spells (19)
Sideboard
The creature roster is still a little up in the air, but I love to take this deck out for a spin when I find my bad control decks are getting mauled. Wasteland is rough, but the deck comes out of the gates swinging and few decks can afford the hit to their tempo to trade with Zoo’s duals in the first few turns.
Ideally, you lead with a two-power one-drop, Rancor it up and swing for four on turn 2; then deploy another critter, post-combat. Turn 3, swing for six, followed up with Bolt, Bolt, Fireblast. It rarely plays out as cleanly since you’ll almost always encounter some disruption to your plan. In this case, you have to squeeze in whatever damage you can with your creatures and topdeck into your burn spells for the win.
I would say that Extended is a very good place to look for new decks that might make suitable imports to Legacy as Extended has two impressive features that this format does not: the attention of the pros and an enormous player-base to innovate, test and tweak novel ideas.
(B). “In a metagame as diverse as Legacy’s, do you think toolbox approaches are the way to go?”
From experience, toolbox strategies always look much better on paper than they do in actual performance. I mean, there’s a certain allure in being able to handle every situation that might arise, but decks that incorporate a hefty toolbox complement too often run afoul of “Danger of Cool Things” design.
A lot of what I said about Survival earlier is true here as well, in that narrow maindeck answers are wasted draws when you don’t need them. How good is maindeck Tormod’s Crypt against Goblins? Awful. How about Engineered Explosives against High Tide? Ugh. Again, in trying to do too much, a toolbox approach may spread you too thin and have you drawing awful cards in the worst situation. I think this partly explains why Survival builds are resoundingly mediocre outside the hands of a few experts with the deck.
To answer this succinctly, I say “No,” and would suggest Legacy deck designers focus on consistency of an active strategy. In passing, I’ll note that the most successful “toolbox approaches” are done with Cunning, Burning and Living Wishes (with a focused toolbox in the sideboard) which have the advantage of never being wasted draws.
From lowguppy: “My ‘Casual’ 1.5 deck is a mono-Red burn deck, which might not have all the tricks of the top tier decks, but is both brutally and elegantly effective at what it does. Will pure burn decks ever be tournament viable in this format?”
With rare exception, Burn decks consistently do poorly in this format, rarely even making Top 24 in the larger events. Basically, Burn is a slow combo deck that spreads its storm over several turns, but too often winning comes down to “Fireblast or not?” With the “not” meaning you lose.
As a combo deck its pieces aren’t particularly efficient, when, by comparison, every time IGGy Pop drops an LED or casts Brainstorm or Orim’s Chant each card is effectively a Vampiric Touch and some other useful effect. In Burninator, each burn spell is just a burn spell and nothing more.
As a board control deck, the deck is really at odds with itself since each burn spell not aimed at your opponent is another turn you must survive to reach another draw step. And, in the long run, creatures are a better mana to damage investment. For the cost of a Lava Spike, a lone Nimble Mongoose can inflict nine points of damage over four turns and be used to block the turn it comes into a play. Again, a bolt is just a bolt.
This said, here’s a recent successful list:
“Burninator” by Mark Trogdon
Third Place, Meandeck Open
December 17, 2006
Columbus, Ohio
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Chain Lightning
4 Rift Bolt
3 Seal of Fire
4 Flame Rift
4 Incinerate
4 Magma Jet
3 Thunderbolt
2 Cave-in
3 Browbeat
4 Fireblast
17 Mountain
Sideboard
4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Pyroblast
4 Price of Progress
3 Anarchy
3 Meltdown
When you get your pick from fourteen years of R&D’s best artillery, you can make some pretty sick things. Players might also want to consider Flamebreak in the event they get locked out by Nimble Mongoose + Worship; but I still can’t see Burn ever being a tier one deck, despite its popularity.
Dirge asks: “A lot of players turn to Legacy to play their rogue combo decks. I would say that Legacy is the format most like Casual in this sense. This being said, what do you think of the future of Rogue Combo in Legacy?”
Simply put, “Rogue Combo” will be a defining aspect of the future of this format. All of our best combo decks were “rogue” at one point or another and had to survive the crucible of online criticism and the swiss rounds of many tournaments to become accepted, and I can’t see that formula changing, ever. Some examples of past rogue combo decks include Golden Grahams, The Epic Storm (“TES,” which just took first place on Day One of TMLO2) and IGGy Pop (which placed two people into the Top 8 of GenCon 2006).
Any new combo deck has a lot of obstacles to overcome in any format, not the least of which includes having competent and crafty pilots. In Legacy, you also have to overcome the resistance of many Legacy players to new, unproven ideas. Some of this resistance is just a sluggish and close-minded kind of inertia, but some of it is entirely valid: is some new combo deck as fast as IGGy Pop or as consistent as Solidarity, etc.? Does it curl up and die to Meddling Mage, Pithing Needle, etc.? I mean, there are already several excellent combo decks in the format, so people need a compelling reason to try something unproven, barring a spirit of adventure or fondness for something quirky and quixotic.
Looking to the past to see how new combo decks achieve notoriety, popularity and respect, the best thing players can do is place well with the deck in a large tournament. And if you can convince your teammates to run the same deck, as the Epic Syndicate recently did at TMLO2 when four people played TES on Day One (three of which lost to Joe Cahill’s (a.k.a. Bruenor) BHWC Landstill), you can generally speed the process of having your “rogue deck” become mainstream.
IndyTerminator asks: “There seems to be a large lack of control decks in Legacy. I can’t help but think that we may be missing some fundamental concept that is keeping these decks from being competitive. The only recent control deck that I have seen be competitive is BHWC Landstill.”
As I discussed at length in Part Two of my three-part Legacy Metagame miniseries, there is a tendency for Legacy decks to strategically hybridize to retain their viability in a highly unpredictable format where the aggro, aggro-control and combo decks are very strong. Consequently, “pure strategies” are at a disadvantage due to the intrinsic nature of the format. Combo decks are forced to run interactive stack or hand control cards (Remand and Force of Will in Solidarity, Duress and Cabal Therapy in Golden Grahams, etc.); Aggro decks run mana disruption or stack control (Rishadan Port, Wasteland and Chalice of the Void in Goblins); Control decks opt for a combo finish (Psychatog with Cunning Wish for Berserk and/or dredge/Wonder) or a potent aggro component (e.g. Threshold).
In any event, this is a topic that seems to be on a lot of people’s minds and was addressed by Kevin Binswanger (Anusien) in his article last week. My own take on this phenomenon is, despite the format exerting pressure on decks to hybridize, control decks also suffer from being underplayed and underdeveloped. Furthermore, control decks don’t exist in a vacuum, they need to be built with a known environment in mind to gain leverage over the things they’re supposed to control and the modern Legacy metagame is really too random and unpredictable for such deck construction.
Finally, it doesn’t help Blue-based control’s case that the most dangerous threats in the format are cheaper than the cost of Counterspell (AEther Vial, Goblin Lackey, Nimble Mongoose, etc.) or are otherwise uncounterable (Brain Freeze, Tendrils of Agony, Empty the Warrens).
Finn asks: “Which one card from the Legacy Banned List would you like to see unbanned? Why?"
The Legacy Banned List is the one area of the format that I actively avoid. Nothing seems to breed as much outright contempt and bitterness as to what should be banned and what should be removed from the list. And, at the end of the day, the DCI is going to do whatever they’re going to do, so even a bloody forum brawl is neither productive, nor satisfying.
The most vocal pundits of the list come in two general varieties: those who feel the list should be used to neuter a deck or strategy that is overpowering and negatively distorting the format and those who feel that more cards should be removed from the list to tame over-powering decks. To the first crowd, banning cards would weaken some powerful and overbearing decks, in turn allowing other decks to compete and become tournament viable. Kill off Lackey, some will say, and other aggro decks have a shot at reaching viability.
The other camp would like to see more cards removed from the list, increasing the overall power level of the format; thereby allowing other decks to emerge and diversify the format. My fellow columnist, Chris Coppola (Machinus) articulates this point of view in one of his articles, stating “[One] positive choice for the future of Legacy is for the DCI to remove several cards from the Banned List, thus allowing the format to advance.”
Both groups want the same thing, a healthy format, but they’re arriving at this end from diametrically opposed sets of reasoning. So, you can see how things turn ugly.
But this is all somewhat beside the point and doesn’t have much to do with Finn’s question. If I’m going to be pinned down on this, I’ll say that Land Tax came safely come off the Banned List. I find it curious that it’s even banned in the first place.
Land Tax’s current Oracle wording: “At the beginning of your upkeep, if an opponent controls more lands than you, you may search your library for up to three basic land cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.”
Land Tax could no doubt have a home in many decks, but it takes some peculiar contortions of the imagination to see a Land Tax deck breaking the format in half. Land Tax would have a home in Parfait and have powerful interactions with Scroll Rack, Seismic Assault, Solitary Confinement and Life from the Loam. It might even be good, but I have no doubt the format will survive and become a little more interesting.
Shortly after the March 1 B/R Announcement, Aaron Forsythe suggested that the DCI intends to review the Legacy Banned List for June 1 revisions, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Land Tax, Mind Over Matter and a few other lower-threat cards become legal. We shall see.
That’s it for today. Join me next time when I peer into my vault of homemade decks and offer cautionary tales on how not to build your Legacy decks.
Ciao.
Dan Spero
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