Treasure Cruise is banned?
I gotta be honest with you. Ancestral Recall is beyond broken. Like, it’s not even in the zip code of okay. One mana for three cards? I would pay more for
less.
I guess that makes me a perfect candidate for Dig Through Time!
Legacy is such an awesome format. Somehow, despite Brainstorm, Force of Will, Stoneforge Mystic + Batterskull, Storm Combo, Wasteland, and Griselbrand, the
format is diverse, changes from week to week, and is constantly full of new technology, both in unexpected new decks and in unexpected new card choices.
The departure of Treasure Cruise leaves a lot of room in the format, a lot of opportunity.
My first instinct is to try to break Dig Through Time as a poor man’s Treasure Cruise. I don’t know that it’s too good for Legacy. I mean, I don’t
even know that Treasure Cruise is too good for Legacy. Legacy is a really, really powerful format. What I do know, though is
that Dig Through Time can function as a two-mana Treasure Cruise that gives us one less card, but at least both of the cards we get are pretty good.
The banned/restricted list changes did some interesting things to differentiate the feel of all of the formats (whereas prior, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage
all felt suspiciously similar).
Standard – The format where Cruise and Dig are fair.
Modern – Cruise and Dig are banned.
Legacy – The format where Dig is abusable, but Cruise is banned.
Vintage – The format where Cruise is legal and abusable, albeit restricted now.
Dig Through Time being legal in Legacy is actually really interesting. Many people felt Dig Through Time decks were already better than Treasure Cruise
decks, but those were Dig Through Time decks that used Dig Through Time to find cards that are actually powerful, like Jace, the Mind Sculptor, sweepers,
or reliable cards like Swords to Plowshares or Counterspell.
Those Dig Through Time decks also naturally preyed on the Treasure Cruise decks because of Counterbalance. With so many fewer natural victims, Dig Through
Time/Counterbalance decks have fallen a fair bit, which we’ve already seen out in the world. Of course, this is good news for someone like me, who wants to
keep playing Delver and doesn’t want to face Counterbalance + Top!
Prior to the bannings, I was on U/R Delver in Legacy, similar to my Modern list, but with Brainstorm, Ponder, Force of Will, Daze, and Volcanic Island.
When I sketched out my first draft of U/R Delver, I started with the same list, just subbing in Dig Through Time for Treasure Cruise. The thing is, the
mana is so easy, it really costs you close to nothing to have access to a third color in the sideboard. In looking for sideboard options, I stumbled upon
this list by Suzuike Fumiyasu that I absolutely adore. It’s almost the exact same list I first sketched out, so it’s not like the card choices are that
controversial, but I love the couple differences there were and am likely adopting most of them.
Creatures (13)
Lands (16)
Spells (31)
The twelve creatures are obvious, but I originally had one Snapcaster Mage, as I had in my Modern list. The one True-Name Nemesis is actually awesome
though. The use of Dig Through Time means we can trip through our deck and find one-ofs easier. A single True-Name Nemesis can solve some hard problems and
gives us a reliable way to close out games against unexpected problems. The first copy in our deck gives us a lot of options we would not have otherwise.
Why not use a Snapcaster Mage anyway? Well, you definitely could, but it was always just a filler card in both the Modern and Legacy list, the result of
only having something like 50 cards we actually want to play. Besides, a Snapcaster or two can give us extra mileage out of the one-ofs, particularly out
of the sideboard. I wouldn’t mind one if we end up with room, but I’m going to start without one and see if I miss it.
The two-one split of Forked Bolts and Pyroblasts is also smart. Elves is so popular right now, so I like the use of a card like Forked Bolt, though I think
I might actually make it one-one-one and get a Fire//Ice in there. It isn’t just the ability to “cycle” it or pitch it to Force of Will. I like that
Fire//Ice can tap a Tarmogoyf on a key turn or tap someone’s mana out of nowhere.
The other thing I love about this list is the sideboard Cabal Therapy. The use of Cabal Therapy in Legacy isn’t new, but it also isn’t universal. The card
is awesome here, since we already have Gitaxian Probe, but we also have creatures we can potentially afford to sacrifice. Obviously the dream is to combine
it with Young Pyromancer (since casting Cabal Therapy twice actually nets us tokens instead of costing us), but it’s also fine to sacrifice a one-drop if
it comes to that. Admittedly, Snapcaster Mage would also make a fine sacrifice if we end up putting one back in.
I like Suzuike’s use of the full playset of Cabal Therapies without feeling compelled to add more black cards to justify the black mana. It’s not like a
single Underground Sea is even that big of a price…
Underground Sea is $300 and Beta Underground Seas are sold out at $6000?
Side note, but there’s something darkly hilarious about Underground Sea being the second most valuable card behind only Black Lotus. Beta Underground Sea
for an Ancestral Recall and a Time Walk is basically a fair trade these days. Hell, Volcanic Island is worth more than Ancestral Recall or Time
Walk!
As for the rest of the deck, there’s not a lot different than the same busted engine from the old Legacy and Modern decks. I love all twelve of the primary
creatures. Having full playsets of Monastery Swiftspear and Delver of Secrets means we’ll open with one on turn 1 over two-thirds of the time. I wouldn’t
mind a ninth one-drop, but none of the other options is even in the ballpark of these two. Deathrite Shaman is basically the only one-drop in all of Magic
that can compare, and it’s really only worthwhile if we’re trying to cast spells that cost three or four, which would be a totally different deck.
No Dark Confidants? Well, obviously Dig Through Time is a super nombo with Dark Confidant, to say nothing of Force of Will. Besides, we’re a very
aggressive deck that wants to race and tempo people out. Dark Confidant is so strong of a card, sometimes it is just fine to throw him into decks, but
we’ve got better options, and the format is too aggressive at the moment. Dark Confidant is at its best in decks full of Thoughtseize and Inquisition of
Kozilek, decks that annihilate both players’ resources, as Dark Confidant’s extra card a turn does a ton in such a game, whereas the massive life loss is
much less dangerous if neither player has many resources to work with.
I often play two Pyroblasts in the maindeck of Legacy decks, but my intuition is that there will be a spike in non-blue decks in the first month of the new
format. The first Pyroblast goes a long way, particularly at getting rid of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, but I’d rather put the rest in the sideboard for the
time being. There’s going to be too many Elves decks, too many Zoo decks, too many Maverick decks, and too many Lands decks. People have been boxed in by
Treasure Cruise so much lately, I think there’s going to be an above average number of people that just want to play whatever they find fun.
Daze versus Stifle versus Spell Pierce is an interesting question. I like Daze quite a bit with how much pressure we can put on people. I really don’t like
holding mana up, making Stifle, Spell Pierce, and other options like Spell Snare unappealing. We want to play as many spells as possible each turn, not
slow-play our hand to keep permission up.
Besides, Stifle basically requires you to also play Wasteland alongside it. The Stifle + Wasteland plan doesn’t play into Monastery Swiftspear and Young
Pyromancer, since it generally leads you to playing less spells per turn. That sort of approach works better with Tarmogoyf and Nimble Mongoose, which
don’t require you to cast anything each turn.
Ponder is the typical cantrip of choice after Brainstorm (and Gitaxian Probe), but it is worth keeping Preordain in mind. Preordain is a bit underrated in
Legacy, but I think the spot people should play it more in is in “fair” or “normal” decks. Super low land count tempo decks with a ton of fetchlands are
still better served by Ponder, since you often just want “a land” or the best chances to find a specific card. Ponder does those things better, whereas
Preordain is better suited for slower games and just generating a modest amount of value over the course of a few turns.
To get more ideas of what we might be able to do with our Delver deck, let’s take a look at this Grixis list Jeff Mcaleer top 8’ed the Legacy Premier IQ
with:
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (17)
Spells (32)
The first thing that jumps out is the lack of Delver of Secrets!
This deck embraces the Dig Through Times and tries to get even more mileage out of them by playing a more controlling game. Jeff has cut the Monastery
Swiftspears and Delver of Secrets for more controlling options like Snapcaster Mage, True-Name Nemesis, and Baleful Strix.
Baleful Strix is pretty underrated as a “reactive” card, being basically a cantrip removal spell for Tarmogoyf. It also “cycles,” so it’s never that bad. The body does things for you too. It helps you attack planeswalkers, the damage to players adds up, and sometimes you even block and
kill Emrakul, the Aeons Torn!
Besides, once you have Cabal Therapy maindeck, you have more interest in creatures to sacrifice to it, and Baleful Strix, like Snapcaster Mage, gives you a
body to sacrifice that replaces itself. So why not play four? Good question, and maybe you should use more, but the second Baleful Strix is often worse
than the first, since it can slow you down a lot having to cast them to get to your interactive cards in matchups where the Strix doesn’t actually have
anyone to fight.
Jeff’s only other black cards maindeck are Terminates, which I am into. Murderous Cut is a sweet card, but we want to pitch our graveyard to Dig anyway. On
top of that, Gaddock Teeg is pretty popular, and it sucks to have Murderous Cut shut down by Teeg. Besides, you only have to face Golgari
Grave-Troll once to gain an appreciation for Terminate’s anti-regeneration clause!
Counterspell may seem like a funny one-of, but it really is the exact card you often want to find with Dig Through Time. Without the one-drops, this deck
is a lot less pressured to cast as many spells as possible each turn. Holding up Counterspell mana also lets you Dig Through Time.
The reactive black cards in the sideboard are much better suited to Jeff’s list than Suzuike’s. Once you are slowing the game down a bit and trying to take
some amount of control over the game, you start to get more interested in sweet blue hosers (like Notion Thief) and black removal (like Massacre).
Massacre is an old favorite, but a new Commander printing has changed up the sweeper options a bit. Massacre costing zero is absolutely incredible, of
course, but the popularity of Elves makes it undesirable to rely entirely on it. You would still board Massacre in against Elves, of course, but Sudden
Demise is a massive upgrade for beating Elves.
Sudden Demise is like a Pyroclasm that doesn’t kill our Pyromancer or any other random creatures we might have lying around. It’s kind of annoying that
this card has “sudden” in the name, as that suggests to me split second. I know, I know, Sudden Impact isn’t split second either, but that one is kind of
grandfathered in and doesn’t get played anyway.
One Preordain is obviously not a “tutor-target,” but rather just a 13th cantrip. The single copy of Dack Fayden, on the other hand, is very much a tutor
target.
A Conspiracy addition, Dack Fayden does a couple things for us. First of all, it’s a “threat” of sorts. It may not give direct card advantage from its plus
ability, but it does give us fantastic selection. That said, if you pull off the Notion Thief + Dack Fayden combo, you are going to get card advantage in a
serious hurry.
The minus ability gives us a maindeck answer to artifacts, which doesn’t come up all the time but can be game-winning when it does. Metalworker decks are
absolutely devastated by this ability, but it can also steal Swords, Jittes, and sometimes even creatures like Baleful Strix and Shardless Agent.
Dack Fayden’s ultimate comes online in three turns and may not seem that overwhelming, but can actually be surprisingly threatening. It means Lightning
Bolt is an instant speed Control Magic for Tarmogoyfs and Forked Bolt actually steals two creatures. The real technology, however, is the use of Pyroblast
and Hydroblast with Dack. Remember, you can Pyroblast or Hydroblast any permanent, regardless of color, it just only destroys it if it’s the right color.
Dack’s ultimate means if you Pyroblast your opponent’s Dark Confidant, Liliana of the Veil, or Gaea’s Cradle, you take it and keep it!
I’m not sure where Dack Fayden falls on the “sweet and fun” verus “right and deadly” spectrum, but it’s definitely a must-try that might be slipping under
the radar in some places due to people never getting a chance to explore the card in Standard.
If I was going to play in a Legacy tournament this weekend, I would play Suzuike’s list, perhaps with a single Fire//Ice. If I had time to test a bit
beforehand, I’d love to try something more controlling, but my instinct is to stay as aggressive as possible.
Of course, I’m not playing Legacy this week. Pro Tour Fate Reforged is the unveiling of a new Modern, a Modern without Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time,
or Birthing Pod. While I think the blue delve cards are far too warping for Modern, I hope Birthing Pod eventually returns. The deck is so sweet and makes
so many other cards playable. In the meantime, however, I am looking forward to exploring the first Modern format to ever exist without it. There are so
many implications, such as what this means for Wild Nacatls.
Besides, was Birthing Pod even the key card in Birthing Pod decks?
Or was is it Siege Rhino…?
Looking forward to this weekend. It should be interesting…