Legacy

Playing Unfair

With last month’s banning of [Card]Mental Misstep[/Card] in Legacy, there was a large shift that took place as in many people’s mind: one drops once again became playable. GP Amsterdam was the first large tournament to feature this metagame and it may surprise people but European and North American Legacy metagames are not the same, though they share some similarities.

Prior to Amsterdam I was expecting to see a lot of RUG and Bant decks or some off-shoot of those decks a la G/W Maverick or U/W Stoneblade. Asides from those decks though, I was hoping to see a resurgence of the unfair decks. [Card]Mental Misstep[/Card] had been banned and that card alone was supposedly the reason for the huge drop off in Storm decks, though in reality the deck was still quite good, the pilot just had to be conscious of another piece of disruption.

Today’s article will focus on those unfair storm decks. To make it slightly more manageable I won’t be including expensive cards that not everyone has access to, such as [Card]Candelabra of Tawnos[/Card] and [Card]Grim Tutor[/Card].

First is a deck that I did not see at all in Amsterdam: [Card]High Tide[/Card]. The best version of this deck is the Hatfield’s Candelabra version which can be found here. Without the Candelabras, some cards need to be shifted around with one of the main changes being [Card]Cloud of Faeries[/Card].

[Deck Title=Cloud of High Faeries by William Blondon]
[Lands]
10 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Tropical Island
[/Lands][Creatures]
4 Cloud of Faeries
[/Creatures][Spells]
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish
4 Force of Will
4 High Tide
3 Meditate
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Ponder
2 Preordain
4 Time Spiral
4 Turnabout
[/Spells][Sideboard]
1 Blue Suns Zenith
3 Bound//Determined
1 Brain Freeze
3 Echoing Truth
1 Intuition
1 Meditate
1 Rebuild
1 Repeal
2 Snap
1 Wipe Away
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

Regardless of the version of High Tide you may be playing, every deck will start off with the same core. One of the biggest changes is the increase in lands. Without [Card]Candelabra of Tawnos[/Card] the deck loses some of the explosiveness it had from being able to go off with only three lands. It now focuses its game plan on longer matchups where missing land drops can be brutal.

The other way this deck can be taken would be to play the [Card]Reset[/Card] version which would mean you need to eschew the [Card]Time Spiral[/Card]s and cantrips in favour of cards like [Card]Accumulated Knowledge[/Card] and [Card]Flash of Insight[/Card] which can be played at instant speed.

For the moment I’ll stick with this version of the deck because the complexity is lower than the [Card]Reset[/Card] version. In order to pilot the [Card]Cloud of Faeries[/Card]’ version it may require four main deck [Card]Snap[/Card] to generate more mana and storm count. Outside of that I wanted to maintain the [Card]Cunning Wish[/Card] package.

With this package it allows access to your entire sideboard at any moment and answers to anything you may need. The main game plan is to continuously make your land drops while sculpting your hand with cantrips and [Card]Merchant Scroll[/Card] until you can go off. The biggest drawback of this version is that it relies more on [Card]Time Spiral[/Card] than other versions of the deck, which means that there is a higher likelihood of missing. For this reason it is important to know the matchups of each deck and how fast a clock they may have. The one bad matchup for the deck is Dredge, which even with Candelabras is still difficult.

Next up is Ad Nauseam Tendrils.

[Deck Title= AuNT by William Blondon]
[Lands]
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
[/Lands][Spells]
1 Ad Nauseam
4 Brainstorm
4 Cabal Ritual
1 Chain of Vapor
3 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Ponder
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Tendrils of Agony
[/Spells][Sideboard]
1 Brain Freeze
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Confidant
1 Echoing Truth
1 Extirpate
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
3 Reverent Silence
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Thoughtseize
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

While I’d like to take credit for this list, most of it goes to Mr. Saito as this is a very close facsimile to his GP Madrid list from last year. The goal of the Tendrils deck is to sculpt your hand/destroy your opponent’s hand with card like [Card]Brainstorm[/Card] and [Card]Duress[/Card] so that you may be able to “go off” unimpeded.

The original list is from before [Card]Mystical Tutor[/Card] was banned, an era which had [Card]Sensei’s Divining Top[/Card] seeing a lot more play. Using the Top provides you access to more cards by allowing you to filter your draws and with eight fetch lands in the deck, there are ways to shuffle away unwanted cards you may find from the Top.

The singleton version of [Card]Chain of Vapor[/Card] is an answer to the increase in the amount of [Card]Gaddock Teeg[/Card]s that are being played between the Maverick and Bant decks. [Card]Hurkyl’s Recall[/Card] is not in fact an answer to Affinity but instead a cheap way to increase your storm count as you aim it at yourself to bounce back your Petals and Diamonds.

The deck list is rather stock as your goal is to reach a lethal storm count with three main game plans to be found in the deck to reach this goal. The first way is to naturally draw the cards you need which is also the least likely. The second is the most common as you cast [Card]Ad Nauseam[/Card] to fill you hand with the cards you need to go off, though remember to practice with your Nauseam strings to know how many cards you can see without killing yourself. The last method is a last resort and is the method to employ if you are low on life, using [Card]Ill-Gotten Gains[/Card]. This method allows you to spend your rituals to up your storm count and then cast the Gains to rebuy your rituals to again cast them before casting Tendrils while saving your life total.

In the sideboard, there are three copies of [Card]Reverent Silence[/Card] to go with your one main deck [Card]Tropical Island[/Card] to answer Leyline. [Card]Dark Confidant[/Card] is for the combo mirrors and could potentially be used for the slower control decks as it provides card advantage in the same form as Ad Naumseam though only one card a turn plus two damage if it can hit, which reduces the needed Storm count for Tendrils. Otherwise the sideboard represents more answer cards for various threats in the form of discard, bounce or removal.

The one card that doesn’t fit that is [Card]Brain Freeze[/Card], which represents a separate win condition should you need one. While it may not have the same advantage that [Card]Empty the Warrens[/Card] has in getting around Leyline, it does represent an advantage in the form of a second win condition that allows it to avoid cards like [Card]Extirpate[/Card] and [Card]Surgical Extraction[/Card].

The last deck is another take on Tendrils, though this one packs in so many colors it needed an EPIC name. Sorry for the pun but the deck I am referring to is TES or The Epic Storm (because its better)!

[Deck Title=TES by Abel Planting]
[Lands]
3 City of Brass
4 Flooded Strand
4 Gemstone Mine
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
[/Lands][Spells]
1 Ad Nauseam
4 Brainstorm
3 Burning Wish
3 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
1 Empty the Warrens
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
3 Orim’s Chant
4 Ponder
4 Rite of Flame
[/Spells][Sideboard]
3 Chain of Vapor
1 Diminishing Returns
2 Empty the Warrens
1 Grapeshot
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Shattering Spree
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Thoughtseize
4 Xantid Swarm
[/Sideboard][/Deck]

This is the deck that took 23rd place in Amsterdam. I highlight it because not only does it have a sketchy mana base, which is something I’ve always loved about Magic, but it also cuts down on lands to make room for some great spells. And while those are two great incentives it also happens to play all five colors, so what’s not to love?

Aside from the addition of more colours, how does this deck differ from the ANT decks?

Generally TES is looking to be slightly more cautious but more importantly they are looking to be certain. While all the discard in the world may be nice, by shifting to different colors, the deck gains certain advantages while losing some stability. White allows the deck to play [Card]Orim’s Chant[/Card] which removes the worry that may be caused due to counter spells as the Chant allows you to play solitaire against your opponent.

In red you gain additional cheap rituals in the form of [Card]Rite of Flame[/Card], allowing you to cut down on lands. You also gain a secondary win condition in the form of [Card]Empty the Warrens[/Card]. And last, and what I believe you be most important, you gain answers thanks to the presence of [Card]Burning Wish[/Card] which allows you to fetch most of your sideboard to disrupt your opponent’s game plan.

The one change that I would make to the main deck is I believe you should be playing a green source, whether in the form of [Card]Savannah[/Card], as a land that can be fetched for the Chant or [Card]Tropical Island[/Card] so that you can find a [Card]Reverent Silence[/Card] which should probably be in the board. Otherwise the main deck cards are similar to the ANT deck, although this version has the addition of [Card]Gitaxian Probe[/Card] which provides for a free addition to the storm count, while providing a cantrip and checking if the coast is clear.

There are only two cards that can be sideboarded in, with this particular version. Similar to ANT, [Card]Chain of Vapors[/Card] is an answer card that can be brought in to deal with [Card]Gaddock Teeg[/Card], Leyline or any other nuisance your opponent may have. The second card and another reason the deck should have a “fetchable” green source is [Card]Xantid Swarm[/Card]. The small creature provides the same effect as [Card]Orim’s Chant[/Card] while not contorting your mana by needing white on the same turn you go off. Now beware, swapping the Chant for the Swarm is not always the correct play, though it may seem like the natural thing to do. Instead make sure to assess what you believe will be the greatest problem from your opponent and sideboard accordingly as it’s better to have more hate cards against your opponent’s plan than not enough.

With that I would like to thank you for reading. Hopefully some of you will consider Storm decks for your next Legacy tournament as they are on a power level all on their own. Enjoy your weekend and hopefully Amsterdam has inspired some of you to play Legacy.

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