Welcome to another installment of Budget Legacy. Over the last couple of weeks I analyzed two innovative Aggro-Control decks with impressive results. This week I will be talking about a Combo deck of similar caliber.
I. Introduction
Two months ago, I wrote an article where I made some predictions about upcoming format developments, and this combo deck was one that I expected to see results from that weekend. Three days later, this deck and its creator Bryant Cook won Day 1 of TMLO2.
Creatures (7)
Lands (11)
Spells (42)
Tendrils decks have been constantly in development since the beginning of Legacy. Several solid engines exist, built around Ill-Gotten Gains, Helm of Awakening, and other cards, but overall they suffer from having significant vulnerabilities to permission and hand disruption, which are common in the format. Over the past year a couple of cards have been printed that have given multicolor Tendrils decks some strong boots. The most important of these is Empty the Warrens. After Empty the Warrens entered the format, the deck became much stronger against disruption due to threat diversity, and the ability to beat the opponent with much less than ten storm.
II. Deck Construction
Looking at this deck, you may be confused about some of the card choices. When I first looked at it, I saw the idea behind the deck but I was not convinced about a few of the interactions. Let’s take a look at how this deck works. (Before I continue, let me suggest that you read the much lengthier discussion of this deck in these threads.)
The most expensive cards in this deck are the Chrome Moxes and the Dark Confidants. There are some other medium-price cards such as Burning Wish and Lions Eye Diamond, but overall this deck is not very expensive to build.
Like all storm Combo decks, this deck relies on the use of mana accelerants, tutors, and powerful draw spells that enable the deck to find one of the kill conditions. This deck also runs a small amount of disruption, and has access to a sideboard of answers.
The mana acceleration package is the strongest of any deck in the format:
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
3 Simian Spirit Guide
That’s 38% of the deck devoted to nonland mana sources. The Rituals generate both Black and Red mana, and the artifacts can make any color. This powerful amount of acceleration enables the deck to play all of its cards on turn 1 or 2 with the right hand. This lets the deck race Combo and Aggro, and go off before Aggro-Control and Control have drawn enough disruption.
The manabase is one aspect of the deck I was skeptical of, because Wasteland and secondary land disruption methods are prevalent in Legacy, and being vulnerable to them creates a serious disadvantage against a large number of decks. However, due to the support of the artifact mana sources and the speed of the deck, the weakness was not as significant as I suspected:
4 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
2 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Tomb of Urami
Running the five-color manabase allows the deck to play any card in the card pool, which means better answers to hate cards, but it makes playing the deck more complicated. Typically the deck will only have to balance Black and Red mana, but Brainstorm and Diminishing Returns are key parts of the deck so it is necessary to plan the use of your mana ahead of time. One of the strengths of the deck is that it has many different paths to going off, but this also makes it much more important to have experience with the deck.
Another addition to the deck that was initial cause for concern was Xantid Swarm. This is an amazing combo enabler for very fast decks, but I didn’t see why it was necessary to have it maindeck, since there is a ton of removal in Legacy, and Aggro and Combo decks also comprise a significant portion of a typical environment.
It turns out that Xantid Swarm is good in almost every matchup. Obviously it is amazing against Control and Aggro-Control, but it has uses against other decks. The other main use of the card is to enable Plunge into Darkness. It allows you to look at an additional three cards, which goes a long way to finding the card you need when you cast it. Xantid Swarm also happens to buy you one turn by blocking Goblin Lackey.
The tutoring and draw spells are some of the strongest available in the format:
4 Brainstorm
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Burning Wish
4 Plunge Into Darkness
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
Here is where the main strength of the deck lies. Previous storm combo decks in Legacy were built around one plan, which left them vulnerable to a lot of disruption. For example, Ill-Gotten Gains is a strong engine for going off against Aggro, and with the help of Leyline of the Void has a good strategy against Aggro-Control and Control, but it is still vulnerable to all the graveyard hate in the format, and doesn’t have versatile answers to the myriad combo hate cards that are being used currently. This deck can use the Ill-Gotten Gains plan when it is convenient, but it has access to other methods of going off. In the face of graveyard hate, the deck can generate mana, cast Diminishing Returns, and find a kill without use of the graveyard.
So what are the kill conditions?
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Empty the Warrens
Another very important strength this deck has is the use of Empty the Warrens. The typical motions of storm Combo involve trading resources back and forth between mana and cards. Often, there is too little of one of these, and it is not possible to reach ten storm to kill with Tendrils of Agony. However, Empty the Warrens is still very good even below ten storm. If the deck casts only four spells and then Empty the Warrens on turn 1, it can still kill the opponent on turn 3. As an additional kill mechanism, it provides much-needed versatility, and gives the deck a way to apply some pressure very early in the game. If the initial threat is answered, the deck will still be in a strong position to go off again, as the opponent is at a lower life total and has spent resources answering the Goblin tokens.
Finally, the sideboard provides answers to most problematic cards, and plans to answer the hate cards that work best against this deck. Dark Confidant comes in against many decks, because he can deal a few points of damage while fueling the deck with more threats. Dark Confidant helps against Control and Aggro-Control decks, and he is also better than Xantid Swarm in matchups where there is no permission, so he will come in frequently.
Shattering Spree is the other set in the sideboard. The main use for this card is to destroy Chalice of the Void, and one very neat interaction is that replicate can get past Chalice of the Void for one, which is a critical use of the card. Other artifacts that can be relevant are Tormod’s Crypt, Pithing Needle, or even Trinisphere.
The rest of the board is singletons with specific applications. Tranquility and Hull Breach are necessary to answer Enchantment-based locks such as Solitary Confinement or Worship. Earthquake answers quick creature offenses, or Meddling Mages, and can also function as a burn spell if necessary. Duress can push through the combo when facing permission, and is generally an answer for hate cards or disruption. The last four cards are just combo pieces that are also in the maindeck.
III. Playing the Deck
One of the best reasons to play this deck is that it has a very strong game against Goblins. Their best weapons are Wasteland and whatever combo hate they have in the sideboard, but this deck has speed and plenty of answers for those cards. Ill-Gotten Gains is an effective way of beating Goblins, and it might be the easiest engine to use in that matchup. Empty the Warrens is also effective against Goblins, as they wont be able to make as many creatures early in the game. This matchup is not very complicated, as the disruption only attacks your manabase, and does not stop you from going off if you have a good combo early. After sideboarding, you will have access to Shattering Spree to destroy Chalice of the Void. The worst situation is where they have resolved an early Pyrostatic Pillar and you have not already cast Empty the Warrens, because you have to tutor for Hull Breach in the sideboard before going off.
Threshold is harder to beat, as they have many ways to disrupt you. All Threshold builds have cheap removal for Xantid Swarm, so even if it resolves there is no guarantee that you are going to be able to use it. Threshold also typically runs at least ten counterspells, and many builds run additional disruption such as Pithing Needle, Engineered Explosives, or even Stifle. These cards are all good at attacking some part of your strategy, and combined with the cheap permission can be problematic. Using Xantid Swarm is one of the best ways to bypass this disruption, but if that is option is not available the deck has to try to win as early as possible. This is where Empty the Warrens is at its best, as they are not likely to be able to answer the early tokens, even if the storm count is not very high. Dark Confidants come in from the sideboard, and you might want to also side in the third Empty the Warrens due to its strength in the early game.
The matchup against other combo decks varies significantly. High Tide has both Force of Will and Remand, and if you do not have Xantid Swarm those cards can buy enough time for them to go off in response to your combo and kill you instead. To beat that deck it is essential to go off before they have this capability, or at least before they can stop all of your threats in one turn. Ill-Gotten Gains will go off immediately, so this matchup is basically a race to see which deck can draw the kill first as neither deck can stop the other. After sideboarding they will have Orim’s Chant, which is a big problem for you. They have the advantage simply because they can either stop your combo or go off, both on turn 1.
Against other Aggro-Control decks, you may face land destruction, hand disruption, and difficult permanents such as Chalice of the Void or Solitary Confinement. Control decks will have Force of Will, Stifle, and other cheap disruption spells for the beginning of the game. This deck can go off on the first or second turn, so it is essential to practice and know when it is able to kill. If you think you can go off right away, it is better to try to win immediately, because there are many common cards that are effective at answering combo pieces. This deck is 57% mana, so topdecking is a very dangerous position to be in.
This deck requires practice in mana management, tutor targets, and mulliganing. If you are interested in playing this deck, goldfishing is a valuable exercise as often your strategy is to go off before your opponent’s disruption comes online. There is more detailed discussion of all of these issues at the threats linked above, so if you have questions, read the threads and participate in the discussion.
Join me next week for a look at another Budget Legacy deck.
Christopher Coppola
Machinus @ various websites and email servers