This past weekend was the Season Three Invitational in New Jersey. There are two ways I could tell this story. One would be that Tom Ross secretly wanted
to thin out his competition so he tricked one of his closest friends into playing Mono-Red Sneak Attack. I don’t think we can go with that one since the
victors often are those who get to tell the stories. So that just leaves us with the story I have for you today.
Tom Ross and Gerry Thompson both flew into Washington D.C. for the Open Series weekend. One came to battle, while the other went to commentate. Both would
end up in Roanoke the week leading up to the Invitational. The storyline of the event was Mono-Red Sneak Attack. Not for any of you at home but for anyone
that knew Stephen Horn. Most know him as “The Mountain Who Drives.” Stephen ended up doing exceptionally well with the deck and Tom became intrigued. The
entire ride back to Roanoke was “The Boss” researching Gatherer trying to see if there was any way to improve on the archetype. He ended up not finding a
single card, but he did think the deck was amazing. We quickly built it on Magic Online and began battling.
I was sold that this was the deck I wanted to play. Not because Tom said so but because the logic was sound. The deck operated much differently than most
decks in Legacy. Instead of a small percentage of high impact cards with manipulation, the deck focused on playing as many cards that can theoretically win
the game on their own. These cards were Chalice of the Void, Blood Moon, Inferno Titan, Goblin Rabblemaster, Through the Breach, and Sneak Attack. Instead
of dancing around our opponents counter magic like Sneak and Show has to, we would just simply jam spell after spell as long as we had the mana and spells
to do so. The rules of the deck were simple.
“Act as if they never have it, and the top of the deck is perfect.”
“It is better to jam than not to jam.”
“YOLO.”
Long story short, the deck did not perform as well as hoped. I hit some rough variance, but it was the deck producing those results. With no manipulation,
I found myself not being able to muster up an offense even in games where I had eight-twelve turns to do anything before my opponent drew themselves out of
Blood Moon, Chalice of the Void, or an annihilation trigger. All in all, I would not play the deck again, but that does not mean I think it is a bad deck.
I can easily say I will never play it again, but I would never want to play against it either. It is capable of winning any matchup and is especially good
against any fair deck. I just didn’t play against too many of them.
If your field is littered with Delver of Secrets, Deathrite Shaman, Shardless Agent, and True-Name Nemesis then this deck is perfect for your local
metagame. I would highly suggest this deck over any other Blood Moon or Chalice of the Void deck. I just can’t see myself ever not playing Brainstorm or
Force of Will again. I just need to feel like I have some control!
Legacy Video 1
Legacy Video 2
Legacy Video 3
Creatures (16)
Lands (20)
Spells (24)
Sideboard
Prior to the Invitational I found myself trying to play Voice of Resurgence and Goblin Rabblemaster in conjunction with each other. The theory was that Voice of Resurgence was a powerful creature that interacted with Goblin Rabblemaster in a positive way. An opponent couldn’t simply kill the Goblin Rabblemaster when it entered play due to either wasting time killing the Voice of Resurgence or allowing you to get an Evan Erwin token. It never once crossed my mind that Young Pyromancer was exactly what I was looking for but in the same color.
Trust me when I say this deck is the real deal! I will be playing this deck in Atlanta for the Standard Open unless something else jumps out at me, but the odds of that happening are roughly the same as someone winning back-to-back Invitationals. More importantly I’m here to tell you that this is the deck you will have to get past or pick up to win your last WMCQ. I don’t care what country you live in. This deck is very real. Here are some matches to prove it.
Standard Video 1
Standard Video 2
Standard Video 3
Creatures (24)
- 3 Chandra's Phoenix
- 4 Rakdos Cackler
- 3 Legion Loyalist
- 4 Foundry Street Denizen
- 4 Young Pyromancer
- 2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
Lands (21)
Spells (15)