Round 1: U/R Delver
Round 2: U/W/R Landstill
Round 3: Jund
Round 4: Dredge
Creatures (16)
- 1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
- 4 Veteran Explorer
- 4 Hunted Phantasm
- 1 Pestermite
- 2 Massacre Wurm
- 4 Deathrite Shaman
Lands (22)
Spells (22)
- 4 Brainstorm
- 4 Cabal Therapy
- 4 Defense of the Heart
- 2 Thoughtseize
- 4 Gitaxian Probe
- 4 Commune with the Gods
Sideboard
I can’t say I wasn’t expecting results like these. Unlike many of the other rogue decks that I’ve written about, this deck doesn’t really attack the format from a unique angle so much as it tries to do something entertaining but ultimately weaker than other similar things in the format.
The closest that Defense of the Heart gets to doing something that comes at the format from a weird angle is casting and attacking with Massacre Wurm, and hard casting six-drop creatures isn’t likely to revolutionize Legacy any time soon. Still, we checked a good number of things off of the bucket list:
- Hard cast Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Pestermite (both one-ofs) in a deck with no dedicated red sources
- Hard cast and then kill them with Massacre Wurm
- Kill them with double Wurm
- Win game 1 against Dredge (thanks, Deathrite Shaman!)
If that’s not a good outing for you, I would recommend a new hobby, like Dazeing other people’s Dazes for instance. Alternatively, perhaps you just want something a little more . . . proactive. If that’s the case, you’re going to love this week’s poll. All of the choices lend themselves to having an excellent beatdown plan along with a pretty sweet plan A. But first I want to have a word about last week’s poll.
Last week saw no shortage of write-in candidates, which I loved. What saddened me though is that some of y’all don’t know about my archives! For instance, I saw multiple suggestions of “write about Veteran Explorer.”
If you want to read an article that is all about pushing Veteran Explorer really hard, head on over to my article about Planeswalker Control in Legacy—it’s only six months old, and a lot of the ideas are still valid. Want proof?
Compare the following lists:
Creatures (4)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (24)
Spells (24)
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (9)
Lands (19)
Spells (27)
- 4 Brainstorm
- 3 Hymn to Tourach
- 1 Forest
- 2 Island
- 4 Cabal Therapy
- 4 Pernicious Deed
- 4 Innocent Blood
- 1 Ponder
- 4 Gitaxian Probe
Sideboard
The former is my list from October, and the second is David McDarby’s Legacy deck from the SCG Season One Invitational, where he clocked in at a cool 7-1. I like his changes—he tightened up the mana base, added some more disruption, and modified the deck to be able to beat True-Name Nemesis.
Still, I don’t think anyone else was building decks with Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Therapy, Veteran Explorer, Innocent Blood, and Karn Liberated. So please feel free to take a stroll through my archives. I’ve been around the block.
For those of you who suggested Opposition, I give you an article and videos about how to build a deck with Opposition in Legacy.
For those of you who suggested Phyrexian Dreadnought, I’m definitely interested in updating my 2011 Legacy Open finals list:
Creatures (9)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (21)
Spells (28)
For the rest of you, I’ll be introducing your ideas to the masses one by one, so don’t fret!
And with that here’s your poll for the week! I’ll be bringing back the second- and third-place finishers from each previous week’s poll and giving you two fresh looks in case you start noticing some repetition. Of course there will always be a write-in slot for you to provide more suggestions. Enjoy!