At the moment, there are too many problems for U/W/x decks to function smoothly. The spells are definitely good, but finding the right mix to combat the combination of aggro, midrange, and control decks is just too difficult. Some weekends counterspells are just absurd, while they can be unplayable the next. On top of that, the aggressive decks have a ton of weapons at their disposal that can be absurdly difficult to beat. If you’re too reliant on one part of your deck to get the job done, such as Supreme Verdict, you might just find yourself on the wrong side of a Boros Charm.

Control decks have been my "thing" for a few years now, but that wasn’t always the case. I sort of developed a taste for control after winning with it so much. Big shocker, I know. But I’ve always had a soft spot for aggro decks in my heart. I’m not going to quit playing a format just because control isn’t quite as good as I want it to be. On the contrary, when control decks are bad, finding the best aggressive deck among the field is a fun challenge. The same can be said for midrange decks, though Thragtusk mirrors are just the worst.

Standard has a lot of powerful cards and strategies but not a lot of ways to replicate the better draws. The good draws are far too powerful for a lot of decks to keep up with, while the bad draws are easily outclassed. It is impossible to replicate something like a Burning-Tree Emissary draw in a R/G mirror, and we also don’t have the tools at our disposal to catch up. This is untrue for older formats that had access to card selection or redundancy when it comes to a steady stream of powerful cards. The decks that win the most consistently are the ones that are full of "good cards" rather than "good synergy." Why do you think Jund "midrange" won the last Standard Open?

Of course, the occasional Junk Aristocrats type of deck pops up and gives us something new to talk about and another reason to give Standard a chance. That’s what I decided to do this past weekend, but then I just got smashed over and over again by Bonfire of the Damned and Thundermaw Hellkite. Again, cards that are inherently powerful and don’t really have a lot of synergy with the rest of the deck.

Maybe I’m a bit old school, but I want all of my cards to work together. This is one of the reasons why I thought Junk Aristocrats was the real deal. In fact, it might actually be the best deck in the format, but it seems far too complicated for me to play it. That isn’t to say that I can’t play complicated decks but that there is just too much going on all at once for me not to make a mistake—where the smallest mistake could lead to failure.

While some of the aggressive decks are tribal based or loosely abusesome of the mechanics like battalion, I would not say that any of these decks has much synergy. Other than Champion of the Parish and Mayor of Avabruck, there aren’t any real reasons for your creatures to have the word "Human" printed on them. These types of decks are also high risk, high reward. This is why you will see one or two out of 50 or so aggro decks make it into the Top 8; the other 48 players will usually have a pretty mediocre record.

This isn’t to say that all aggressive decks are the same. Not by a long shot. You can build your aggressive deck a multitude of ways. Naya Blitz floods the board in the early game to apply maximum pressure before the opponent can get their bearings. Then there are some Naya decks that "get big" with Thundermaw Hellkite and the like. Unlike the Naya Blitz decks, these bigger Naya decks can actually utilize their mana in the late game to great effect, but they are much slower than Blitz as a result. Neither deck likes to flood out, and neither can really capitalize on a significant mana advantage like a Sphinx’s Revelation deck. 

As you can see, there is a tradeoff for every option, and it really all just depends on what you want to be doing. I have no clue whatsoever as to what I want to be doing, unless what I’m doing involves drawing a bunch of cards and killing all of my opponent’s creatures. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to do at the moment, with so many creatures that are resilient to Supreme Verdict. Of course, Terminus is an answer, but it’s probably too slow in the grand scheme of things. You can’t always expect to miracle it, and six mana is a lot.

And don’t even get me started on the "midrange" decks. First of all, I’ve played with The Rock before. It was just a B/G deck that played four Duresses and four Cabal Therapys alongside Sakura-Tribe Elder and a bunch of other reasonable green and black creatures. It gained marginal value over the course of the game with enters-the-battlefield effects alongside a slew of removal. Of course, the original deck differed significantly from its future forms. I can’t even tell you how easy it was to cut Phyrexian Plaguelord. My point is that "midrange" is nothing new. Now we just need to put labels on everything.

Junk Reanimator is a "midrange" deck. Prime Speaker Bant is a "midrange" deck. The problem here is that they are basically nothing alike. One focuses on the graveyard, while the other tries to curve up the mana chain and top it off with a bang. They both have Avacyn’s Pilgrim. Big deal. Even Bant Hexproof plays Avacyn’s Pilgrim. I hate that we have to classify everything.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner. [Editor’s Note: Except Fall Out Boy, Todd.]

To be fair, they play out in a lot of similar ways, but the way they execute is usually pretty different. Even their endgames generally revolve around Angel of Serenity. When you have the ability to play a card as good as that, I can’t really blame you. So I digress. Midrange will suffice as a classification as far as I’m concerned, but it is a terrible descriptor as to what the deck actually does. At the moment, any Thragtusk strategy can usually be classified as midrange, so why not just call it Bant Tusk, Naya Tusk, etc.?

But enough of that tangent. Midrange decks are generally positioned in Standard based on how they are built. They are midrange because they are flexible. They are flexible because that’s how they are designed. You can alter their makeup basically any way you like in order to fight off whatever is most popular. Adding more cheap removal to handle Voice of Resurgence is easy. Adding more meat on the top end to stave off control is also pretty easy. It’s finding the right mix that’s the hard part. And when midrange is popular, finding the best solution to those matchups is also fairly difficult, as they can be made up of entirely different cards and strategies as to what you are used to facing (see Acidic Slime).

So there you have it. That was a lot of sentences to basically tell you that I have no idea what to play in Standard because I’m not sure there is a "right deck" to play in Standard.

The Legacy Report

Before we get started with what actually happened in the tournament, here’s the decklist I ended up playing with a short explanation of the changes.

Esper Deathblade

Todd Anderson

1st Place at Star City Games Legacy Open on 06-16-2013

Legacy

Creatures (14)

• 4 Dark Confidant
• 1 Vendilion Clique
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic
• 1 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Deathrite Shaman

Planeswalkers (3)

• 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands (24)

• 3 Wasteland
• 3 Underground Sea
• 2 Tundra
• 1 Tropical Island
• 1 Scrubland
• 1 Bayou
• 1 Karakas
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 2 Marsh Flats
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Creeping Tar Pit

Spells (19)

• 4 Brainstorm
• 1 Umezawa's Jitte
• 3 Force of Will
• 4 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Ponder
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 1 Batterskull
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Detention Sphere

Sideboard

• 1 Force of Will
• 1 Disenchant
• 2 Meddling Mage
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 2 Relic of Progenitus
• 3 Geist of Saint Traft
• 2 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Detention Sphere
• 1 Notion Thief

For starters, I figured out pretty quickly how mediocre the discard spells are in Legacy. This is for multiple reasons, but the most glaring one is pretty obvious when you think about it. Every single deck in Legacy is built around having redundant pieces of their strategy. They are all reliant on synergy to function, but they have so many copies of whatever card they are trying to play that it’s basically impossible for them not to draw out of whatever predicament you put them in by stripping their hand of a card or two.

You sacrifice time and mana to trade resources evenly with them.

In addition to this problem, Ponder and Brainstorm are both legal and both help players dig out of their respective jams. Everything in Legacy revolves around two specific concepts: power and redundancy.

Force of Will is better than discard effects against combo decks because they can very easily draw out of it. While Force costs you a card in the process, you gain time. Time can be invaluable.

Don’t get me wrong here. I know that Thoughtseize is a great card against combo in a vacuum. I also know that Delver of Secrets is very often a Merfolk of the Pearl Trident when you build your deck incorrectly. It’s all about context. As you can see, I still played a few copies of Thoughtseize in the maindeck and even had additional ones in the sideboard. The problem is that when you overload your deck with these types of cards it gives your opponent an easy solution in Leyline of Sanctity.

My sweetest addition to the deck was Detention Sphere. While vulnerable to Abrupt Decay and the like, I thought D-Sphere was awesome against any sort of Show and Tell shenanigans. It also has the added benefit of being a generic removal spell for various planeswalkers, artifacts, and enchantments (but usually just creatures). It is also blue, which means you have another card to pitch to Force of Will.

This card did some work! Killing anything from an opposing Umezawa’s Jitte all the way up to a flipped Garruk Relentless, Abrupt Decay was excellent. RUG Delver and variants are all pretty annoying with their Dazes, Spell Pierces, and Force of Wills, but Abrupt Decay is just like a honey badger. Having the extra few removal spells really helped out in some matchups like Shardless BUG and gave me a bit of reach against "lockout" decks that ran Chalice of the Void or something similar.

Surgical Extraction was pretty mediocre, so I decided to try a card that would be a great anti-graveyard tool. I also wanted it to help fight against opposing decks that rely on the graveyard too much, like Shardless BUG and RUG Delver. This card singlehandedly gave me new life in the semifinals and was a strong weapon against Reanimator and Dredge.

But let’s talk about the actual tournament before I spoil anything!

Round 1: Ad Nauseam Tendrils

This round was quite strange. Game 1 began with me keeping a reasonable hand featuring a Force of Will without a blue card. After he cast a Gitaxian Probe, the jig was up, but an early Dark Confidant proved troublesome and forced him to combo off too quickly. This resulted in his Ad Nauseam killing him.

Game 2 was a little bit awkward as well, seeing as he played a turn 1 Dark Confidant off Lotus Petal and Underground Sea. Along with Force of Will for the Dark Confidant, a Wasteland on his only land was followed by draw-go while I landed a Deathrite Shaman into Geist of Saint Traft.

1-0

Round 2: Reanimator

The version of Reanimator I faced used Griselbrand along with Goryo’s Vengeance and Children of Korlis to draw the whole deck. Unlike most Reanimator decks, it doesn’t have a good Plan B, so I knew I didn’t have to worry about anything like Show and Tell. In the first game, I drew an early Deathrite Shaman after he Thoughtseized, but he was unable to get Griselbrand into play before I set up the soft lock.

In the second game, he killed me on turn 2 even though I was able to play a turn one Deathrite Shaman. I kept a reasonable hand, but he used Thoughtseize on turn 1 to take away my Force of Will, and it just wasn’t good enough on the draw.

The third game saw me keeping a one-land hand with Relic of Progenitus, Brainstorm, and Deathrite Shaman. I opted for the Relic first since Underground Sea was the land I was stuck with. This meant Deathrite Shaman wasn’t going to pull nearly as much weight as it should. Luckily, he didn’t try to combo off through Relic, and I was able to Brainstorm into some more lands over the next few turns and just protect myself from losing to his combo.

Round 3: Maverick

This was a very grindy, 30-ish minute game 1. Maverick is a deck that can’t win very fast but is incredibly hard to beat on fair ground. I was able to luckily draw a few Wastelands to take care of his Karakas and Maze of Ith, allowing my removal spells to take care of his Thalia as well as my Jitte to get some counters. After killing almost every creature he played and vice versa, we finally settled on a topdeck war. Brainstorm and Jace usually win that one.

Game 2 went much faster and was even on camera for a few minutes! I had a play early in the game that involved baiting a Qasali Pridemage activation on my Batterskull, thus allowing me to Detention Sphere three Noble Hierarchs and Wasteland one of his two lands away. This left him with just a Forest in play against my Stoneforge Mystic and multiple lands. I eventually drew some Deathrite Shamans, and he wasn’t able to catch back up in time since Thalia was his only threat and I had my Karakas in play.

Round 4: Omni-Tell

Game 1 went smoothly, as I used Thoughtseize to take away his Show and Tell on turn 1. He never drew another Show and Tell, and I eventually killed him with Batterskull. Game 2 was over as quickly as it began, with a turn 2 Show and Tell into Omniscience into Enter the Infinite that got Cunning Wish. Well, that’s how you get ants.

In the third game, I had a tough decision to make. I had a Meddling Mage in play naming Show and Tell. He had been stumbling on mana pretty badly and missing land drops. However, my second Meddling Mage named Cunning Wish, as I knew it was one of his only ways to actually get rid of the first Meddling Mage. Unfortunately, I should have named Dream Halls, and he drew the land he needed to combo me out the next turn. I had a few lines that were difficult to see in that game, and I think I chose the worst of them to end up on the losing side of things.

3-1

Round 5: Esper Deathblade

This mirror match is all about patience. You need to be patient with Stoneforge Mystic because a post-Stoneforge Thoughtseize could result in losing your best card: Batterskull. Fighting against Batterskull without your own is pretty miserable. It is best to just get Jitte or wait until you have enough mana to Brainstorm on top of casting Stoneforge Mystic. Of course, there are always situations that warrant aggression, but patience is important in control mirrors.

In the first game, I stumbled on lands after he used multiple discard spells to take away my Brainstorm. Instead, I drew off-color removal spells and four-drops while missing land drops.

The second game was a bit easier. An early Geist of Saint Traft met virtually no resistance and basically took the game by itself, while the third game was a flurry of blows that ultimately ended with me resolving another turn two Geist of Saint Traft into turn 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

Is that good?

4-1

Round 6: Shardless BUG

This matchup was featured on camera and was fairly close. Hymn to Tourach did a number on my hand in most of the games, but this is another prime example of why Geist of Saint Traft is so good. If you cast it early and follow it up with a few removal spells on key blockers, there really isn’t much people can do outside of Liliana of the Veil and Supreme Verdict / Terminus. The first game I drew four lands in a row after getting my Brainstorm taken away from me and just died to anything.

Game 2 had the aforementioned Geist of Saint Traft on turn 2 followed by a Thoughtseize and Jace, the Mind Sculptor on subsequent turns. My draw was…"ok."

The third game was quite the grind, and I can’t remember exactly what happened. All I know is that he resolved an Ancestral Vision and Jace, the Mind Sculptor and I won the game. It was pretty sweet!

5-1

Round 7: Shardless BUG

This matchup is quite fun; I’ve had good experiences playing against Shardless BUG. This one was no different! In the first game, I was able to use Wasteland and Swords to Plowshares to great effect. By the time his Ancestral Vision came off suspend, I had a dominating board presence, and he had one land. Thanks Wasteland!

In the second game, I used Notion Thief to steal his Ancestral Vision. Instead of actually stealing it, my opponent decided to target me with Ancestral Vision for value. Justin Uppal and Lauren Nolen were in the vicinity but not watching. I was quite sad.

6-1

Round 8: Dredge

This round I got to play against Andrew Shrout, who is now a Pro Tour Top 8 competitor yet has never won a match against my wife in a Magic tournament. The current count is 0-3. In the first game, he ended up running out of dredgers thanks to Ichorid and some bricks but was able to use Bridge from Below to make a lot of Zombies. On the next to last turn, he decided to put me to two life instead of killing my Jace and allowed me to draw into my Detention Sphere and kill all his Zombies. Wasteland took away his land and kept him from drawing a not Lion’s Eye Diamond discard outlet.

Game 2 he kept a sketchy hand that had Pithing Needle for my Deathrite Shaman, but his only gasoline was Cabal Therapy on himself, which allowed me to get perfect information. I used Force of Will to protect my Deathrite Shaman, and he conceded shortly after he was unable to do anything for about four turns in a row.

Round 9: ID

All of my matches were on camera in the Top 8, and the coverage should be in the archives on twitch.tv/scglive soon.

Top 8: BUG Control

This was one of the biggest grind fests I’ve ever played. His Life from the Loam package featuring Cabal Pit was quite strong against my creatures with one or two toughness. Luckily for him, none of my creatures were ever able to survive, and he killed me after about twenty minutes. I did get to use Snapcaster Mage and Abrupt Decay to kill Garruk, the Veil-Cursed!

Games 2 and 3 were almost singlehandedly won by the capable hands of Geist of Saint Traft. Obviously, there were some other factors involved, but Geist woke up every morning at 6 AM to go to work and brought home the bacon.

Top 4: RUG Delver

This game 1 was another sweat that saw me lose due to a glut of lands. His second Delver went all the way without any resistance from me.

For game 2, I decided to cut all of my big blue cards in Jace and Force of Will, streamlining my deck to take over the early game. Relic of Progenitus would hopefully play a big part in this plan. His early game was not very aggressive, and I drew plenty of lands to beat his Stifles and Wastelands. A Vendilion Clique went almost all the way by itself, as his hand was just full of blanks for the majority of the game.

In game 3, I played a little poorly to allow him to kill my first Relic of Progenitus. This forced me into a topdecking situation that saw me peeling Brainstorm into another Relic of Progenitus, turning off both of his Tarmogoyfs. This allowed my Geist of Saint Traft to attack freely without much fear of a return swing. I knew the last card in his hand was a Stifle, but he was tapped out. Relic drew into Stoneforge Mystic, which unlocked Batterskull. The Geist attacked into two Tarmogoyfs that were 0/1s, and I knew he would Stifle the Angel trigger and double block. This led to the blowout of Swords to Plowshares since it exiles the Tarmogoyf and keeps the other a 1/2 (thanks to Stifle and Swords both being instants).

Brad Nelson made a seriously ridiculous face when I Brainstormed into the actual nuts.

Finals: U/W/R Delver

I have played against this deck before, and I still don’t know whether it is good or not. Geist of Saint Traft and Grim Lavamancer both feel pretty rough for me, but I do have a lot of removal for the latter. Delver of Secrets is fine but not on my top list of problems. They have similar plans to RUG Delver in Wasteland, Stifle, Daze, etc., so anything can happen.

In the first game of the finals, my opponent didn’t cast a relevant spell for a while, likely sitting on a hand of countermagic. Eventually, he went for a Geist of Saint Traft, but my hand was pretty solid at this point. I countered it with a Force of Will, and he didn’t put up much of a fight after that.

The second game felt like a complete blowout, but I had to play around a lot of stuff. There were Stifles, Spell Pierces, and Dazes running around everywhere! I used fetches at opportune times to give me access to Supreme Verdict for his Geist and followed that up with a Thoughtseize to take away his Disenchant, leaving him with two Stifles in hand. His Stifle slowed down my progress with Stoneforge Mystic, but he didn’t know that Batterskull was secretly hiding from a Brainstorm! A turn or two later, I baited him with a fetchland, as I was lacking a few colored sources. This led to his last Stifle but allowed me to untap and put Batterskull into play as well as brick his offense with Abrupt Decay on his Deathrite Shaman. In just a few turns, the game was mine, along with the trophy.

The Aftermath

I love Legacy. I have loved it for quite some time. We had a rough start with Goblins in a world full of Mystical Tutors, but you grow. You learn to forgive. The guys over at The Source had a few choice words to say about me when I wrote my very first Legacy article. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was right. But all that is in the past. Today, we are celebrating.

After just a few short years, I can safely say that I love Legacy more than any other Magic format. I get to play with all of my favorite cards, and it actually feels good to try out new things. Every tournament I attend, I try out a few new things, even if I’m playing the same deck. There are so many different, viable Legacy strategies that it is hard to figure out just what to plan for.

You just have to make your best guess, play your best, and hope for something good to happen. Luckily, when you’re playing Legacy, something good has already happened.

Thanks for reading.

Todd Anderson
@strong_sad on Twitter
strong sad on Magic Online