The SCG Tour® is coming to Worcester this weekend for the second Legacy Open of the year. So far in 2016 on the SCG Tour®, there has been one StarCityGames.com Legacy Open and thirteen Legacy Classics. With thirteen Legacy classics in the books, this is the perfect time to discuss the thirteen most popular Legacy archetypes of 2016.
Thirteen Classics plus one Open adds up to a total of 112 Top 8 decks. There have been 36 distinct archetypes to make Top 8. 36! You could play in two StarCityGames Opens and face a different deck every round of each of them and compete against 30 different decks that are all very competitive. That’s amazing!
Here is the total breakdown of those 112 decks:
|
Number |
Archetype |
|
17 |
Miracles |
|
11 |
Grixis Delver |
|
8 |
Storm |
|
8 |
Death and Taxes |
|
6 |
Colorless Eldrazi |
|
5 |
Temur Delver |
|
5 |
U/R Delver |
|
4 |
Sneak and Show |
|
4 |
Elves |
|
4 |
Shardless Sultai |
|
4 |
Infect |
|
3 |
Lands |
|
3 |
Belcher |
|
3 |
Punishing Abzan |
|
3 |
Sultai Delver |
|
2 |
Goblins |
|
2 |
Burn |
|
2 |
B/G Midrange |
|
2 |
Reanimator |
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
MUD |
|
1 |
Sultai Depths |
|
1 |
Maverick |
|
1 |
Abzan Stoneblade |
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
Esper Stoneblade |
|
1 |
Slivers |
|
1 |
Abzan |
|
1 |
Esper Tezzeret |
|
1 |
Imperial Painter |
|
1 |
Imperial Taxes |
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
Tin Fins |
|
1 |
Dredge |
Creatures (9)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (22)
Spells (26)
The most successful Legacy deck on the SCG Tour® in 2016 by a wide margin is Miracles with seventeen top 8 appearances, which is over 50% more than second place.
What is Miracles? Miracles is a control deck that uses the two-card combination of Sensei’s Divining Top and Counterbalance to counter most spells that their opponents play in the mid- to late-game. The deck relies on Terminus to be a one-mana instant-speed Wrath effect to remove early-game creatures.
How to beat Miracles: Colorless Eldrazi has emerged as a difficult matchup for Miracles. Cavern of Souls trumps the various countermagic from the Miracles decks, which makes them rely on removal alone. Pair this with Chalice of the Void set on one and large Eldrazi creatures, and Miracles will have a tough time winning.
Creatures (14)
Lands (18)
Spells (28)
Next up on the list is Grixis Delver, which is the most popular of the various Delver decks. All of the Delver decks are similar in how they play the most efficient cheap spells in the game.
What is Grixis Delver? Grixis Delver is all about limiting its opponent’s resources through discard, removal, and counterspells. Combined with under-costed creatures that finish the game quickly, many games can end seemingly before they start. The combination of Young Pyromancer and Cabal Therapy can be especially devastating, which is why the Grixis version of Delver is the most popular.
How to beat Grixis Delver: Grixis Delver plays few lands and has many different color requirements, so restricting their mana sources is a good place to start. Wasteland and Rishadan Port from Death and Taxes can do the job, and Aether Vial is also a wonderful way to invalidate the countermagic from Grixis Delver.
Lands (14)
Spells (46)
What is Storm? Storm is one of the fastest combo decks in Legacy and can win on turn 1 while still being able to play cantrips for consistency and counter magic for protection. The goal for Storm decks is to play as many spells as possible in a single turn and then cast Tendrils of Agony, which will kill the opponent on the spot.
How to beat Storm: You need to be able to disrupt their hand with either countermagic or discard as well as have a quick clock to end the game. The various Delver decks could be a way to do this. Storm has the ability to win games through an obscene amount of hate if they have enough time, so something like Leyline of Sanctity won’t be enough on its own.
Creatures (26)
- 4 Mother of Runes
- 1 Mangara of Corondor
- 2 Serra Avenger
- 4 Flickerwisp
- 4 Stoneforge Mystic
- 2 Mirran Crusader
- 4 Phyrexian Revoker
- 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Lands (23)
Spells (11)
What is Death and Taxes? While Death and Taxes looks like a pile of aggressive creatures, it is actually one of the control decks of the format in many matchups. Aether Vial is the all-star of the deck, allowing the disruptive creatures to enter the battlefield without being cast. This also frees up the manabase of Death and Taxes to control the game by disrupting the opponent’s manabase.
How to beat Death and Taxes: Without Force of Will, the most popular non-blue deck can struggle against combo decks that can win on the first turn of the game, such as Storm or Belcher. Large mana decks, such as Elves or Cloudpost, can generate enough mana to overcome the disruption from Death and Taxes. Overall, if you want your favorite deck to have a better chance against Death and Taxes, playing another land or two can’t hurt your chances.
Creatures (21)
Lands (25)
Spells (14)
Sideboard
What is Colorless Eldrazi? Legacy’s newest archetype, Colorless Eldrazi is one of the stompiest decks around. With fifteen lands that can produce multiple mana, Colorless Eldrazi is looking to cast their large creatures at a reduced cost. Chalice of the Void may be the most important card in the deck, as the card can cripple many Legacy decks.
How to beat Colorless Eldrazi: With an expensive curve, the Delver decks or Death and Taxes may disrupt the mana sources of Colorless Eldrazi to get ahead. Storm and Belcher can ignore the creatures with their combo kills if Colorless Eldrazi does not have an early Chalice of the Void or Thought-Knot Seer. The Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale and Maze of Ith from Lands can also form quite the duo to fight the Eldrazi Menace.
Creatures (12)
Lands (18)
Spells (30)
Sideboard
Creatures (12)
Lands (16)
Spells (32)
What are Temur Delver and U/R Delver? I am placing Temur Delver and U/R Delver together because the two decks are so incredibly similar. The main difference is that Temur Delver adds green to the deck in order to play Tarmogoyf and Nimble Mongoose as their creatures to pair with Delver of Secrets. Being only two colors, U/R Delver is able to play Price of Progress for extra reach against opponents who have stabilized. Otherwise these two decks are similar to Grixis Delver with a low land count and cheap, efficient spells.
How to beat Temur Delver and U/R Delver: Playing patiently against either of these two Delver decks is a must. Stifle and Wasteland can punish you for playing recklessly, so do your best to reasonably play around them when developing your mana. Chalice of the Void set on one as well as Counterbalance are two haymakers that can severely restrict the number of cards the Delver decks can cast.
Creatures (6)
Lands (19)
Spells (35)
What is Sneak and Show? The goal of Sneak and Show is to get either Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or Griselbrand on the battlefield as quickly as possible and allow the two best creatures in the history of Magic to win the game from there. My personal favorite way is by using Show and Tell to put an Omniscience onto the battlefield and following that up by casting Emrakul, the Aeons Torn without having to pay its mana cost.
How to beat Sneak and Show: In order to beat Sneak and Show, you have to be able to beat Griselbrand and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, which is no small task. The most popular way is by using Karakas to return either of the legendary creatures back from where they came. Another popular answer, most commonly found in Burn sideboards, is Ashen Rider, which can exile either creature when it enters the battlefield from an opponent’s Show and Tell.
Creatures (28)
- 4 Wirewood Symbiote
- 4 Quirion Ranger
- 2 Birchlore Rangers
- 4 Heritage Druid
- 4 Nettle Sentinel
- 4 Elvish Visionary
- 2 Craterhoof Behemoth
- 4 Deathrite Shaman
Lands (20)
Spells (12)
What is Elves? Elves is a creature-combo deck that uses an insane amount of small creatures in order to generate large amounts of mana, draw large amounts of cards, and use Craterhoof Behemoth to attack their opponent for lethal in one turn. Glimpse of Nature allows each creature cast to turn itself into a cantrip, and Heritage Druid allows the creatures to produce mana the turn they enter the battlefield. Elves is frequently able to kill their opponents on turn 2 while also being able to whittle opponents down with small creatures.
How to beat Elves: By heavily relying on its own creatures to generate an advantage, Elves has a hard time overcoming any sort of early Wrath effect, most notably Terminus from Miracles. Both Counterbalance and Chalice of the Void are also effective against the deck with the most one-mana spells in Legacy. Elves also has minimal disruption spells, which can make the Storm and Belcher matchups an unfavorable race.
Creatures (15)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (22)
Spells (20)
What is Shardless Sultai? Shardless Sultai is the premier midrange deck in Legacy. Built around the interaction between Shardless Agent and Ancestral Vision, Shardless Sultai is about playing as many cards that can gain small advantages as possible, which can be leveraged into victories. Shardless Agent demands that your one- and two-cost cards must be proactive instead of reactive, which is why Hymn to Tourach and Abrupt Decay are played over cards like Spell Pierce and Daze from similar Delver decks.
How to Beat Shardless Sultai: With only four Force of Will for permission spells and many dead removal spells and slow creatures, the all-in combo decks such as Storm and Belcher can present a huge problem for Shardless Sultai. Burn is also a good option as Shardless Sultai can have a difficult time finishing the game before a critical amount of burn spells are acquired.
Creatures (12)
Lands (20)
Spells (28)
What is Infect? You may be familiar with its Modern counterpart, but if not, Infect is an aggressive deck that is looking to pump small creatures with Infect in order to deal ten poison damage to their opponent, ending the game as early as turn 2. The creature suite is the same as it is in Modern, but the protection and pump spells available in Legacy are on another level. Invigorate is abused to its full potential, as it is literally a zero-mana instant-speed Monstrous Growth in a deck using poison counters to end the game. Pair this with Force of Will and Daze as potential zero-cost protection spells, and Infect has the ability to win extremely quickly through disruption from the opponent.
How to beat Infect: The actual threat count of Infect can be low, so killing all of their threats is a viable strategy. Temur Delver does a good job of this while supplying threats that are hard for infect to deal with, such as Nimble Mongoose and Tarmogoyf. Chalice of the Void and Blood Moon are also very good hate cards against Infect.
Lands (34)
Spells (26)
What is Lands? The gameplan of Lands is to use their namesake card type to gain card advantage, most notably with Life from the Loam. Thespian’s Stage has the ability to become a copy of Dark Depths without any ice counters, which will allow Marit Lage to join the party. Grove of the Burnwillows and Punishing Fire combine for a never-ending repeatable source of two damage given enough mana and time, and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and Maze of Ith are two of the best lands ever printed against creature strategies.
How to beat Lands: The main thing holding back Lands, besides the cost of the deck, is the weak Miracles matchup. Swords to Plowshares is a great answer to Marit Lage, and Counterbalance can handle Punishing Fire. Sneak and Show is also a poor matchup for Lands because of Blood Moon, which can completely shut down the deck, and Maze of Ith matches up poorly against Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.
Spells (47)
What is Belcher? The quintessential Legacy deck, Belcher is an all-in combo deck that is looking to end the game on turn 1. This is accomplished by having enough mana accelerants in hand to both cast and activate Goblin Charbelcher. The backup plan is to cast as many spells as possible and use Empty the Warrens to make a horde of Goblins.
How do I beat Belcher? Play blue! Belcher needs their entire opening hand to win, and a single Force of Will cast at the right time will put an end to their shenanigans. Blue decks are the bane of Belcher, and if Force of Will was ever banned for some reason, this deck would be very scary.
Comments from Last Week
Continuing from last week, I will be ending each one of my articles by highlighting a couple of the questions from last week’s comment section. They may be questions about the decks or cards in the article, suggestions for new cards to try, or other topics of competitive play.
Want to be featured in Comments from Last Week? Just leave a question in the comments section below. Clear, concise, one or two-part questions are preferred. And don’t forget to check back next week to see if you made the cut!
Hanweir Garrison is a brutal card. I think it will be a Standard staple. In many ways it’s the new Goblin Rabblemaster. Boros Humans is going to be a thing for sure.
– Laya Monarez
I agree, Hanweir Garrison will absolutely be a Standard staple. Besides the obvious aggressive decks, it could fit nicely as a sideboard card for control decks against ramp.
I really like those brews. In the first one, you could have more Traverse the Ulvenwald and less Emrakul, the Promised End. In the Humans list I think Tireless Tracker proved to be better than Thopter Engineer, so I would prefer that, but the list looks good.
– Gustavo Affonso
Looking at it again, I like your suggestion of another Traverse the Ulvenwald over the fourth Emrakul, the Promised End. I’ve played a decent amount with Traverse and it can be very underwhelming in the early-game without delirium, but I can’t imagine Emrakul being better in that spot.
As far as Thopter Engineer is concerned, I touched briefly on the advantage over Tireless Tracker in the article, which was the evasion and multiple bodies for Atarka’s Command. The other reason why I want to try the card first is because we know exactly how good Tireless Tracker is right now, and I would like to see how Thopter Engineer fares in a Collected Company deck. There’s a very strong chance that you are right and Tireless Tracker is ultimately better though.
I’ll be making the short drive from Dallas, TX up to #SCGWOR this week, ready to battle against a different Legacy deck every round!