“Dropping Bombs in Legacy” – A Legacy Tournament Report by Keith McLaughlin

Monday, March 1st – Keith continues his monthly column with The Game Academy and reports on his recent revisions to his “Life Combo” deck. Look out for more articles from Keith on MTG’s hottest format: Legacy.  

*Editor’s Note* – The Game Academy will host Legacy tournaments every Thursday; signups begin @ 6 PM and tournament entry is $7. All entry will be given back to top finishers in store credit to use towards anything in the store. Keith will always be in attendance, so if you have any questions or need deck advice don’t hesitate to ask! =)

Since the last time you’ve all heard from me, I made some significant changes to the Life deck, now incorporating Black in the main deck, replacing Meddling Mage and Pithing Needle with Thoughtseize and Tidehollow Sculler. I’m a big fan of the new changes, as being able to know exactly what your opponent can do to stop you from going-off is extremely valuable information. That’s not to mention some of the cute tricks you can do with a Tidehollow Sculler with Vial [1] or Diamond Valley [2]. Additionally, Doran becomes much easier to cast, and we can now easily support multiple copies in the main deck, greatly strengthening the deck against strategies that can win without having to deal damage, i.e. Grindstone, Academy Ruins [3] and Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

[1] Using Vial to make a Tidehollow on an opponent’s draw step allows you to deny the opponent their top deck for a turn.
[2] Put Tidehollow’s ability on the stack, then sacrifice him to Valley to permanently exile a card from your opponent’s hand.
[3] The presence of Academy Ruins in 38-Land allows them to easily deck the Life player.

As many of the true innovators out there know, making drastic changes to a deck requires much time and effort; it’s not unusual for the theory behind certain card choices and strategies to prove itself invalid. Nevertheless, it’s important to learn as much as possible for such experiments. In the case with Life, we did not immediately think that Black was a stronger choice than Blue, rather it was the product of a failed experiment.

Due to the popularity of those troublesome strategies mentioned above, myself and some non-local players [4] decided it may be worthwhile to combine Life with Cephalid Breakfast [5], adding to the deck’s flexibility, while also adding a possible turn 2 nut-draw kill. This is exactly the same sort of reasoning used recently by Yurchick’s GP Oakland 2nd-place Thopter-Depths, and as far back as Kai Budde’s Oath of Trix, which combined the aggro-stomping Oath of Druids engine with the popular Illusions-Donate kill. As it turned out, two problems plagued our hybrid deck. First, the presence of Dread Return, Sutured Ghoul, 3x Narcomoeba, Dragon’s Breath and Lord of Extinction made the deck mulligan at least 80% more often. In many testing sessions, I’d be ecstatic to only mulligan to six, but even then, those hands would commonly include a Narcomoeba or the like, effectively making them five-card hands. Second, many games you’d be forced to choose whether to go for the cephalid kill or infinite life. The two are completely mutually-exclusive since the using the cephalid reduces your library to only a few cards at most. If the opponent had a Sensei’s Divining Top in play, there was some probability that there is a Swords to Plowshares just waiting on top of the library for the Ghoul to hit play, complicating the decision to some degree.

[4] Doug Azzano, in particular.
[5] The combo involves targetting Cephalid Illusionist a large number of times with Shuko, or Nomads en-Kor to deck oneself. Several Narcomoebas come into play, which are sacrificed to Dread Return targetting a very large Sutured Ghoul (removing Lord of Extinction or Terravore). Dragon’s Breath gives the Sutured Ghoul haste.
[6] Turn 1 Shuko or Nomads en-Kor, turn 2 Cephalid Illusionist.

Though we had a lot of problems with consistency, we found that a few of the matchups had vastly improved (at the expense of others). We were nearly beating Merfolk every game as we could determine the exact number of Stifles and FoW’s we needed to fight though before committing thanks to Cabal Therapy and Thoughtseize.

After giving up on Cephalid-Life, it became clear that we could strengthen some matchups by making the blue-for-black swap, while also slightly shoring up our weak manabase [7]. Here is the list:

Dark Life
4 Aether Vial
4 Shuko
3 Nomads en-Kor
3 Daru Spiritualist
3 Task Force
4 Thoughtseize
3 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Doran the Siege Tower
4 Eladamri’s Call
4 Living Wish

3 Diamond Valley
2 Starlit Sanctum
4 Windswept Heath
4 Marsh Flats
3 Horizon Canopy
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
2 Scrubland
3 Plains
1 Forest

Sideboard
1 Diamond Valley
1 Nomads en-Kor
1 Daru Spiritualist
1 Doran the Siege Tower
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Progenitus [8]
3 Nature’s Claim
3 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Gaea’s Blessing

[7] We were already playing a couple sources of black mana in the main deck for Doran and sideboarded cards.
[8] To prevent being decked. Build up to a full hand, then discard Progenitus whenever you draw it.

I was prepped and ready to run a very similar list in a local tournament, but I figured it’d be more exciting if I wrote about something new. I convinced Nolan Blackwelder to switch decks with me prior to the tournament so I could talk, instead, about his interesting concoction, Bomberman [9].

[9] Nolan lost in the top 8 with the Life list, though he was winning both games prior to receiving a game-loss, and the unfortunate mistake of forgetting to board in the Progenitus against Stax.

Here is the list I piloted.

UWr Bomberman
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Fire/Ice
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Trinket Mage
3 Auriok Salvagers
2 Intuition
1 Painter’s Servant
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Grindstone
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Pithing Needle

1 Tolaria West
1 Academy Ruins
1 Dust Bowl
4 Flooded Strand
3 Arid Mesa
4 Volcanic Island
4 Tundra
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den

Sideboard
2 Shattering Spree
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Meddling Mage
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
2 Painter’s Servant

I don’t agree with all the card choices, but I decided to play the deck as-is. With around twenty players, the tournament structure was annouced to be four rounds, with a cut to the top-eight. Here we go:

Round 1, Robert Cone (U/G Natural Order)
Robert started on the play, and after a mulligan, ran out a Llanowar Elf on an Elvish Spirit Guide (no land). I untapped and played a Swords to Plowshares, practically ending the game on the spot. Robert found a City of Brass on the next turn and played a Concordant Crossroads, and on the following turn played a Birds of Paradise before passing. I ran out a Trinket Mage fetching Lion’s Eye Diamond and beat in for two. Robert didn’t do much on his following turn before passing back, where I resolved an Auriok Salvagers and generated infinite mana with Lion’s Eye Diamond [10], before drawing my deck with an Aether Spellbomb and going for the kill with Pyrite.

[10] Sacrifice the Lion’s Eye Diamond for three mana, then return it to your hand with Salvagers for two. Replay, rinse, repeat.

I sideboarded in the extra Painter’s Servants, Engineered Explosives and 2x Meddling Mage for the Tormod’s Crypt, Pithing Needle and 4x Accumulated Knowledge. This time Robert led off with a turn one Verdant Catacombs and City of Brass before playing a Vexing Shusher, while I played a Painter’s Servant. Robert resolved a main phase Mystical Tutor fetching Natural Order, and passed back before I ran out a Trinket Mage, fetching Grindstone. Robert, untapped and went for his Progenitus, I played out my 4th land drop along with the Grindstone. Robert scooped immediately, though I actually tried to stop him to ask if he had a second Progenitus in his deck. He hadn’t realized at the time, but Grinding into a Progenitus with Painter’s Servant ends the game in a draw, as the Progenitus keeps replacing itself only to be hit by the Grindstone again, creating an infinite loop [11].

[11] This is only the case because Progenitus’s ability is a replacement effect. If it were a triggered ability, the game would continue leaving the player with only Progenitus in his library.

Round 2, Todd Palmer (Merfolk)
I played first, but Todd started with an Aether Vial before getting first blood by beating in with a Mutavault. I played a Trinket Mage fetching Engineered Explosives. Todd attacked again with the Mutavault, but I opted against blocking, and Todd Vial’d a Lord of Atlantis into play to add a point of damage, before adding a second Mutavault. I untapped and used Engineered Explosives to dispatch the Lord, before attacking with Trinket Mage. Todd stayed aggressive by sending both his Mutavaults, sending me to 11 life. A turn later, Todd came in again with both Vaults, and I decided to throw the Mage in front of one, but Todd Vial’d a Merrow Reejerey to pump his Vault. I attempted a Swords to Plowshares, but he has Force of Will, sending me to 8 life. On my following turn, I cycled an Aether Spellbomb, but didn’t have much action, with only a Swords to Plowshares, a Lion’s Eye Diamond and a bunch of lands, and had to send the turn back. Todd ran out a Jitte, and hooked up his Reejerey, but I send it to the farm, and dropped to 3 from the Vaults. He passed the turn back, and I was all dead-on-board, until… I peeked at the top card of my library… Auriok Salvagers. I ran him out, into Todd’s two card hand, but he had no Force of Will. The Lion’s Eye Diamond hit the board next, and Todd scooped it up.

I sideboarded out all the copies of AK, the Tormod’s Crypt and the Intuitions for 2 Red Elemental Blast, 2 Engineered Explosives, a Pyroblast and 2 Painter’s Servant.

In game two, Todd started out with a Silvergill Adept, followed by a Lord of Atlantis and got in for a few points before an Stp dispatched the Lord. An Engineered Explosives on two was met by Force of Will, and a Mutavault joined Todd’s team. A Red Blast took out the Adept and a Trinket Mage hit play, but a Jitte came online for Todd, and the game ended soon after.

In game three, Todd led off with Wasteland and Pithing Needle on Grindstone. I had a Pithing Needle of my own, but opted to hit up his Wastelands. A Standstill came down, which was met by my Force of Will. Todd ran out an Aether Vial and a second Standstill along with a Force for my Counterspell. We passed the turn back and forth several times, with Vial moving up to three counters, but without ever putting a guy into play. Finally, a Rejeerey hit play along with a Mutavault, and I was forced to break the Standstill with a Swords to Plowshares. I tried a Painter’s Servant but Todd had another Force of Will. A Dust Bowl hit play, and I was started taking out the Mutavaults, while using various removal on Todd’s remaining creatures. This went on for several turns before time was called, with the board being my Pithing Needle and Academy Ruins against Todd’s Aether Vial, Pithing Needle and three turned-off Wastelands. On turn one of the final five, Todd peeled a Tormod’s Crypt but I put the Servant on top with Ruins in response, and followed with a turn two Trinket Mage fetching Grindstone and played an Explosives on one (to deal with the Pithing Needle on Stone). Todd could only add a Reejerey to his army on turn three, while I had enough mana up to Grind him out of cards on the fourth, forcing him to deck on the final turn. Phew!

With only four rounds before the cut, I was safe to draw into the top eight.

Quarterfinals
Natalie Scott (Dredge)
With Natalie on the play, the first spell she attempted was a turn two Putrid Imp. I went for the Force of Will, hoping to lock her out of discard outlets, but she had a Careful Study, discarding a few dredgers. On the following turn, I was able to counter a Breakthrough, but the damage had been done, and within three turns I was facing down six Bridge from Below tokens and a Bloodghast. I managed to peel an Engineered Explosives (which I called ahead of time, as it was my only out), and put an end to the tokens, but was already down to three life. The Bloodghasts cleaned things up fairly quickly.

I cut a Fire/Ice, three Swords to Plowshares, the AK’s, Intuitions and the Pithing Needle for 4 Red Blasts, 2 Tormod’s Crypt, 1 Relic of Progenitus, 2 Meddling Mage and 2 Painter’s Servants.

I elected to play, but my opening seven was just a bunch of Counterspells, Salvagers and lands. Without a winning gameplan here [12] I sent it back and received a similar six. The five wasn’t much better, and finally I wound up keeping the following four: Tormod’s Crypt, Red Blast, Painter’s Servant and Counterspell. Notice the lack of lands. Natalie came out the gates with a Pithing Needle on Crypt, followed by a turn two Tireless Tribe pitching Golgari-Grave Troll. She managed to dredge for three turns, without card drawing, her draw wasn’t very explosive. Not to mention, she didn’t hit a single Narcomoeba and only a single Bridge from Below. A Therapy came down, and missed on Trinket Mage. Finally, I peeled a second land, and ran out my Painter’s Servant naming blue. Natalie, still not hitting much action on her Dredges, continued to dig before passing back the turn, not realizing that her Pithing Needle was about to succumb to my Red Blast. And with that, the Red Blast knocked off the Needle and the Crypt took out her bin. A pair of Fire/Ices locked the land-light dredge deck out of blue mana for a couple turns before a Meddling Mage shut off Dread Return entirely. Natalie finally was able to hit a few Narcomoebas a few turns later, but it was too late. A Trinket Mage found Grindstone, and Natalie entered her scoop phase.

[12] I need to be able to lock her out of discard outlets, or have access to an early Tormod’s Crypt.

Being on the draw makes Counterspell much worse, so I cut two copies for a pair of Intuitions.

After such an epic game two, game three was quite anti-climactic. Natalie started with a Putrid Imp, to which I answered with a Tormod’s Crypt and Relic of Progenitus. Natalie was in no position to try to dredge and was forced to just hardcast a bunch of crappy guys. Between a pair of Trinket Mages and seven self-inflicted damage points from a Coliseum and City of Brass, the game ended in a hurry.

Semifinals
Carrena (Stax)
I kept my opening hand, with a Painter’s Servant, Trinket Mage, Force of Will, Intuition and three lands, and was pretty sure this game would be easy. That was, until Carrena resolved a Trinisphere on turn two. I figured that since I was going for the Grindstone kill, I should save my FoW for something more important, like Armageddon. That was until I realized that I couldn’t cast Force without paying three mana! On the following turn, I burned the FoW on morphed Exalted Angel, as I simply didn’t have anything better to do. When I tapped down for a Trinket Mage on the following turn, Armageddon hit the stack, my lands hit the bin, and I packed it up.

I boarded out the narrow removal spells (StP and Fire/Ice) along with two Intuition and a Tormod’s Crypt for Relic of Progenitus, 2 Shattering Spree, the pair of Painter’s Servants, 2 Meddling Mages and 2 Engineered Explosives.

We played land-go for a few turns before Carrena attempted a Crucible of Worlds, which was met by Force of Will (as she had Wasteland). A turn later, she tried a Trinisphere, which resolved, but was met by my Shattering Spree. Unfortunately, this left me tapped out, giving Carrena an opening to resolve Choke. Within a few turns, Carrena added a Smokestack, and fairly soon I was completely out of land. I started to build back, and was able to resolve a Painter’s Servant, and could Trinket Mage for a Grindstone as soon as I drew a mountain to Red Blast the Choke. Unfortunately, Carrena found an Armageddon before I could pull that off, ending my presence in the top eight.

3-1

After playing in the short tournament, I feel like I got a pretty good feel of what the deck wants to do, and how to play it fairly well. I noticed that it typically felt it was easier to go for the Painter’s Grindstone kill than Salvagers combo, particular post-board, although on paper it seems that the latter should be easier to set up.

Here are a few comments on the deck:
1. The Intuition/Accumulated Knowledge engine felt especially bad, as one doesn’t typically have that kind of time to invest, and drawing three cards is not necessarily better than using the Intuition as a tutor. Honestly though, if I was able, I almost always pitched AK or Intuition to Force of Will when given the opportunity. Perhaps I’m doing it wrong, but I don’t really think so.
2. I was very unhappy with the Tolaria West. I think it makes more sense if the deck had Pact of Negation. As is, I never found myself in a situation when I would rather transmute for a spell, than just play a land. That could also just mean that the deck is too land light.
3. The lack of Plateau put me in several situations where I had to choose between having access to red or white mana. The presence of Wasteland in the format, makes this come up more often than one might think.
4. Thirst for Knowledge seems very good in a deck with this many artifacts, particularly since most of those artifacts don’t mind being deposited directly into the graveyard.
5. Though Meddling Mage is a nice trick out of the sideboard, I think Counterbalance would be even stronger, and has the obvious synergy with the fetchable Sensei’s Divining Top.
6. There isn’t enough red mana in the deck to support Shattering Spree and I’m not sure if there is enough board space to worry about blowing up artifacts in a metagame that isn’t heavily shifted towards Stax.

And an updated list,

UWr Bomberman
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Fire/Ice
3 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Trinket Mage
3 Auriok Salvagers
2 Intuition
1 Painter’s Servant
1 Lion’s Eye Diamond
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Grindstone
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Pithing Needle

2 Tolaria West
1 Academy Ruins
1 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
3 Arid Mesa
3 Volcanic Island
3 Tundra
2 Plateau
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den

Sideboard
3 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Counterbalance
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
2 Painter’s Servant

That’s all for now. Don’t forget to leave me some nice comments!

Keith McLaughlin