“This is it, folks. Ain’t no denying, things have gotten out of hand. Way I figure, we got ‘rselves one last line of defense. This don’t work, reckon time has come to nuke ’em entirely.”
Captain’s log, stardate -312417.6536339421:
Our trek into the new format has proven fruitful. The banning of Mystical Tutor has slain Reanimator as expected, as well as having the secondary side effect of nerfing most fast combo decks. The result is a Legacy format that’s just better than the old one, with far fewer games ending by turn 3. Merfolk, Counterbalance, Ad Nauseam, Zoo, Sneak Attack, Junk, the meta seems wide open. Even a Madness deck made the Top 8, as Caleb Durward used Survival of the Fittest as an added discard outlet, as well as the cute Vengevine combo. Additionally, the Magic Online Championship Series saw a Survival deck, and even Chapin managed to put down Jace, the Mind Sculptor, using Survival with Loyal Retainer plus Emrakul and Iona. We’re all geniuses! The format is perfect!
Everyone starts out relatively poor at Magic, but some persist in their weaknesses, limiting themselves with self-imposed restrictions. These “scrubs” can become much better than they once were, perhaps even better than the majority of opponents, but they’ll never be as good as they could be if they don’t let go of the added restrictions that hold them back, such as “I only play decks that win on turn 1 or have Force of Will,” “I don’t play netdecks,” “Mythics are cheesy,” “I always play control,” and “I want my rusty tin can to beat that star destroyer.” Even the best in the world can be guilty of scrubby behavior from time to time, but for many, it is a way of life.
Remember earlier this year when some called for the banning of Bloodbraid Elf? Then just a few weeks later it seemed that it might be only Bloodbraid Elf that was keeping U/W and Mythic in check… The scrub has a way of always wanting any card or combo that always beats him to be “banned,” considering the card or combo “too cheesy.” At the end of the day, though, very few cards ever actually need to be banned, especially now that we have the Urza block out of our system.
“How does one know if a bug destroys the game or even if a legitimate tactic destroys it? The rule of thumb is to assume it doesn’t and keep playing, because 99% of the time, as good as the tactic may be, there will either be a way to counter it or other even better tactics. Prematurely banning something is the scrub’s way. It prevents the scrub from ever discovering the counter… It also creates artificial rules that alter the game, when it’s entirely possible that the game was just fine the way it was. It also usually leads to an avalanche of bans in order to be consistent with the first. When players think they have found a game-breaking tactic, I advise them to go win some tournaments with it. If they can prove that the game really is reduced to just that tactic, then perhaps a ban is warranted.”
-Sirlin,
Playing to Win
I am generally a vocal advocate for unrestricting cards in powered formats, as well as a champion against bannings in Standard and Extended. I most
recently fought against Bloodbraid Elf’s banning that never took place,
here,
among other places.
Naturally, when I began getting asked about banning Survival, my response has been initially anti-banning, as banning should generally be a last resort. Survival of the Fittest is a bit of a different animal from Bloodbraid, though. Aside from being even more dominant, despite how many more cards are legal in the format, Survival is also the strategy that I thought was the absolute best four months ago. So while it was easy to fight against Bloodbraid Elf when I didn’t even think it was a part of the two best strategies, Survival is the best strategy by a mile in my eyes. As such, it’s very easy for me to imagine a world where it turns out it needs to be banned.
Still, I don’t think we ought to be too quick to ban Survival, as we’re still only talking about three months’ worth of data. There is a very good chance that, come next month, there will be little choice. Anyone that wants to play the hell out of Survival, I don’t blame you one bit. In fact, if you’re playing in Legacy events with anything other than Survival of the Fittest, then you really don’t have any room to talk about banning the card. Still, there are some that aren’t content to let Survival win the moral victory. There’s no question I’d be Survival-ing in a Legacy event, tomorrow. That said, there is another way. The Good Fight…
Captain’s log, stardate -312398.4755517504:
It has been three weeks, and time has proven our brilliance. The format is just as rich and diverse as expected. We really ought to give ourselves a hand. Denver featured Goblins, Merfolk, Counterbalance, Ad Nauseam, burn, and another copy of Survival. We’ve finally developed the perfect format! Perhaps we now have time to answer other big questions, like why we are counting Stardates in the negatives and what exactly it is that we’re counting down to.
U/G Survival (often involving splashes of other colors) is the evolution of Madness, using a variety of permission to back up the Survival engine. This style has generally been the most successful and potentially poses the greatest risk to fast combo players, as it has a highly variable countermagic package, but always four Force of Wills. The move towards Intuition helps shore up the deck’s biggest weakness; it’s a very mediocre deck when it doesn’t have Survival. If Survival decks always looked like this, it wouldn’t be that hard to defend against them, as this deck is surprisingly narrow on account of so much space being taken up by permission and random beatdown guys.
Creatures (18)
- 1 Waterfront Bouncer
- 3 Wild Mongrel
- 3 Basking Rootwalla
- 1 Wonder
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 1 Qasali Pridemage
- 4 Vengevine
- 1 Memnite
Lands (19)
Spells (23)
The most recent StarCityGames.com Open winner’s list is remarkably versatile, featuring a ton of permission, the revolutionary Brainstorm in addition to Intuition to find Survivals, and a killer sideboard that transforms into Natural Order combo, includes an excellent toolbox, and has plenty of anti-Survival technology to win the mirror. This is certainly the deck to beat.
Survival can be attacked a very of ways, but the unlimited tutor action that goes along with it makes basically every reactive solution inherently flawed. You may figure out how to beat them this week, but next week they adapt. Survival of the Fittest, indeed. It’s possible that the meta will stretch in so many directions they won’t be able to keep up and beat everything. If the last few months are any indicator, though, this seems unlikely.
If you cannot defend against Survival effectively, then it would stand to reason that perhaps the best defense is a good offense. In fact, it would seem that the only reasonable way to beat a Survival deck is to beat them before they beat you. Some use cards like Pithing Needle to buy themselves time to overwhelm the opponent with Merfolk or Goblins, but this seems to quickly fall apart against a properly prepared opponent. Instead, it would seem that the best way to defeat a Survival deck is to mostly ignore their game plan and just plan on winning by turn 1, 2, or 3…
Captain’s log, stardate -312340.8404680365:
Just a week later and Minneapolis continues to prove the health of the format. Painter’s Servant, Aggro Loam, 37 Land, Faeries, and more. Only Survival put multiple people into the Top 8, so diversity is top notch. It’s starting to look as though Survival could be considered a Tier 1 deck, which is certainly fun, as who doesn’t love a good toolbox style of deck?
G/W Survival is a strange sort of animal that often seems much more like a white weenie or stompy deck that happens to feature the Survival engine. Even stranger is the lack of agreement among G/W players in tactics. Whether or not they use Enlightened Tutor can radically alter their game plan. A single Tropical Island enabling Wonder is another major decision point. The Loyal Retainer combo is very powerful but not universal either. These lists tend to do better against other aggressive decks but fare much worse against combo, relying on their sideboard to have much of a shot. On the upside, they do play a much better B Game than U/G decks.
Creatures (30)
- 4 Mother of Runes
- 2 Basking Rootwalla
- 1 Loyal Retainers
- 4 Tarmogoyf
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Knight of the Reliquary
- 3 Qasali Pridemage
- 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
- 3 Vengevine
- 3 Fauna Shaman
- 1 Memnite
Lands (21)
Spells (9)
Sideboard
A fast combo deck is particularly well positioned against these lists, as you generally get the first one easy, then have relatively minimal resistance to fight through post-board. The most dangerous weapon in the G/W arsenal for a combo player is usually the turn 3 Iona. If your combo kills turn 2, fights through Iona, or has a little bit of permission/discard to try to keep them off a Survival, this shouldn’t be the biggest problem in the world. On the flipside, U/G doesn’t generally have Iona but has Force of Wills, as well as other countermagic, but not every combo is vulnerable to permission…
Captain’s log, stardate -312284.1053082191:
Three more weeks have passed, bringing us what is sure to be an outlier for StarCityGames.com Open events. With three Merfolk and three Survival decks in the Top 8 some are claiming the format is not as diverse as advertised. Nonsense! Clearly these people have no idea what the word
“variance” means. When randomness is involved, occasionally you’re going to observe things that look like order. Those that claim to
know
what randomization looks like have clearly never stared into the cold, lonely eyes of chaos, hell itself. The arrogance of some that would pick up a stack of cards and
know
whether it is chaotic randomness or intelligent design is comical. One may see a highly ordered pattern, but is it not possible that the universe arrived though sheer random chance in this exact, highly ordered design? Hell, one could even be right about there being a pattern, but totally in the dark as to the true nature of the design. Conversely, one may see the universe as chaos, with no intelligent design behind it, but to claim to
know
it is random seems a rather dubious boast at best.
If U/G Survival is the control deck in Legacy, and G/W Survival is the beatdown deck, Ooze Survival is the combo deck. The newest style of Survival, Necrotic Ooze combo actually features the Vengevine plan as a backup, instead aiming to put a Necrotic Ooze into play with both Phyrexian Devourer and Triskelion in the graveyard. The Phyrexian Devourer’s ability lets you mill cards to gain a massive supply of +1/+1 counters and without the Phyrexian Devourer’s fatal drawback. In fact, even without Triskelion, Phyrexian Devourer assures that your Necrotic Ooze is generally better than a 20/20. Once you add Triskelion to the combo, the result is instant death.
Ooze Survival doesn’t have a good non-Survival game at all, so it uses Fauna Shaman and Enlightened Tutor to help ensure that it actually gets to Survival. Without the ability to run enough blue to Force of Will, most pilots play a little bit of Thoughtseize action (Thoughtseize, Duress, Cabal Therapy).
Creatures (29)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Triskelion
- 4 Quirion Ranger
- 2 Basking Rootwalla
- 1 Phyrexian Devourer
- 1 Shield Sphere
- 1 Shriekmaw
- 1 Wispmare
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Vengevine
- 4 Fauna Shaman
- 2 Necrotic Ooze
Lands (18)
Spells (13)
This style is the fastest killing version of Survival, without question, often making it superior in the mirror, but is more vulnerable to defenses that pick apart its ability to use its namesake, as well as to true, fast combo. With all these different forms of Survival to combat, what kind of combos might we look at…?
Captain’s log, stardate -312206.3535641805:
A month has passed, and the crew is starting to grow concerned. The Nashville SCG Open has produced a Top 8 containing three blue decks, a Junk deck, and four Survival decks. We tried pointing out that Survival, Merfolk, and Blue Control is a definitely a different format from Zoo, Reanimator, and Blue Control, but they’re claiming this isn’t the change they wanted. Besides, if it’s diversity they want, what about the diversity among Survival decks? The Survival decks have begun mutating, with Madness, Loyal Retainer, and newly printed Ooze combo all showing up.
If you’re going to bother showing up with combo, you best show up with a combo that actually beats Survival. Show up with a secondhand combo deck, and you may find yourself discovering firsthand why if you go to the trouble of learning to tie a tourniquet, you ought to learn to do it with one hand tied behind your back. Generally, the only difference between “good” combo and “bad” combo is context.
Aluren may have been this spring’s darling, but its time has passed. It’s just too easy for a Survival player to fetch up enchantment removal that they can then play for free, not to mention cards like Ethersworn Canonist, Mesmeric Fiend, or Bone Shredder. Instead, let’s start by looking at some of the fast combo decks that are seeing a little play in today’s world.
Lands (14)
Spells (46)
Last week, I mentioned
Matt Sperling Helm-Line
deck,
here.
Ad Nauseam is a bit more traditional and needs little preamble. This list is hardly groundbreaking, but I think it important to note that Ad Nauseam has often been a bit of a tough matchup for many Survival decks on account of its ability to produce turn 2 kills.
Creatures (28)
- 4 Tireless Tribe
- 4 Putrid Imp
- 3 Ichorid
- 1 Flame-Kin Zealot
- 4 Golgari Grave-Troll
- 3 Golgari Thug
- 4 Stinkweed Imp
- 4 Narcomoeba
- 1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
Lands (15)
Spells (17)
Sideboard
Dredge is another strategy that needs little introduction, but it’s interesting to note that with so many players focused on winning Survival mirrors, it’s that much less directed at Dredge itself. Dredge may be one of the few strategies with as much inherent power as Survival, but it suffers a little from the splash damage caused by so many Extirpates and Pithing Needles. Still, straight up against a Survival opponent, you often have quite good chances on account of speed.
I wonder why no one seems to play Brainstorm in Dredge. Maybe the fact that it only works when you have another discard outlet hurts it too much, but the ability to get as much dredge as Ancestral Recall seems very exciting. I just picture a turn 1 Putrid Imp, turn 2 Brainstorm + Careful Study, or some other such. Additionally, it would really help you find your sideboard cards, particularly if you used a fetchland mana base instead of Tarnished Citadel.
Creatures (8)
Lands (21)
Spells (31)
- 4 Brainstorm
- 4 Show and Tell
- 2 Enlightened Tutor
- 4 Force of Will
- 1 Red Elemental Blast
- 1 Personal Tutor
- 3 Intuition
- 2 Daze
- 1 Echoing Truth
- 1 Pyroblast
- 4 Sneak Attack
- 2 Lotus Petal
- 2 Ponder
Sideboard
This style of combo deck is one that requires careful attention paid to the sorts of Survival decks being played, as it loses a ton of value if people show up with Bone Shredder or Big Game Hunter, let alone their own Emrakul (all of which are easily found with Survival). That said, this strategy definitely kills quick, and often a Sneak Attacked Emrakul on turn 3 will obliterate any counter-play from the Survival player.
Creatures (16)
- 1 Platinum Angel
- 2 Sundering Titan
- 4 Goblin Welder
- 4 Hapless Researcher
- 1 Inkwell Leviathan
- 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
- 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
- 1 Steel Hellkite
- 1 Platinum Emperion
Lands (18)
Spells (26)
The banning of Mystical Tutor has had a number of consequences, including a morphing of Reanimator. Goblin Welder reanimating fatties is nothing new, though both Steel Hellkite and Platinum Emperion do offer exciting new weapons. It’s also cute that Darkslick Shores is a “better Underground Sea,” where past players may have resorted to Underground River.
What I don’t understand is why one would possibly want to play a deck like this without Brainstorm. With only sixteen blue cards, it seems highly probable this was an oversight or a decklist error. If not, perhaps it’s best to pretend it was. I’m certainly open to the possibility that this is mysteriously a place where Brainstorm doesn’t belong; it sure looks like it not only belongs but is above average on account of the utility of shuffling away unwanted fatties, as well as finding the right reanimation spell for the job.
When trying to overcome a format defining strategy, it’s often a good rule of thumb to err on the side of being greedy and fitting as much power into a deck as possible, even at some risk to the deck’s strategy. You have to aim really, really high to knock off The Best Deck…
Captain’s log, stardate -312167.42985794006:
It’s Halloween in Charlotte, and the mood is full-on crisis. With five Survival decks making Top 8 of the SCG Open, calls for the banning of the card have been on the rise. While many are quick to jump and ban anything good, five in the Top 8 is serious, especially in a field containing as many cards as Legacy. They promised us a rich and diverse format. What is going on? It’s almost as if the format was just like every other format in the history of Magic, good until it was solved, then not so good.
Nothing starts the day off like:
Creatures (15)
- 1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
- 1 Shaman en-Kor
- 4 Nomads en-Kor
- 1 Karmic Guide
- 4 Cephalid Illusionist
- 3 Narcomoeba
- 1 Pestermite
Lands (17)
Spells (30)
- 4 Brainstorm
- 4 Force of Will
- 3 Abeyance
- 4 Aether Vial
- 4 Daze
- 2 Cabal Therapy
- 4 Lim-Dul's Vault
- 1 Dread Return
- 4 Ponder
Sideboard
Now we’re talking! This is a combo deck that I’d strongly consider exploring if Worlds had a Legacy portion. The Cephalid Illusionist + Nomads en-Kor combo is brutally fast, easy to assemble, and comes loaded with disruption. The problem? Matt Sperling explained it to me like this,
“All of their hate is good against you. Graveyard hate, creature removal, permission, discard, all of it.”
–Matt Sperling
This is certainly an issue, but if you notice, the Survival decks feature a remarkably small amount of hate, compared to Zoo with Grim Lavamancer, Bolts, Paths, Faerie Macabre in the board, etc., or Countertop, with Counterbalance, Plow, Force of Will, graveyard hate, and so on. Every random creature is just another card that doesn’t stop your combo. Additionally, the use of Abeyance slows the deck down a little but provides so much help when it comes to ensuring that Faerie Macabre, Swords to Plowshares, and Force of Will don’t stop you.
Spells (45)
Personally, I don’t think that Mono-Red Burn is the ticket, in Legacy, but it’s a relatively fast combo deck that’s quite consistent. I tend to think it’s too close to the turn 4 kill side of the spectrum, though it’s interesting to see the Legacy Precon BoltSlinger on Magic Online and what the potential future implications for paper Legacy are if such a practice is carried over into the real world.
Creatures (31)
- 4 Elvish Spirit Guide
- 4 Ornithopter
- 4 Phyrexian Walker
- 4 Crimson Kobolds
- 4 Crookshank Kobolds
- 3 Kobolds of Kher Keep
- 4 Street Wraith
- 4 Memnite
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (16)
Spells (11)
Sideboard
The Kobold deck is a time-honored curiosity that has recently gained some new weapons in Memnite and Beastmaster Ascension. A fast turn 2 or 3 kill is very sexy, but the massive number of blanks in the deck leaves it respected by few. As currently built, the strategy is probably not quite there yet, but if another piece or two can be added, this strategy has the possibility of being ruthlessly effective at ending the game on turn 2 like a Dredge deck, which also features countless dead cards.
Belcher by Patrick Chapin
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (2)
Spells (43)
- 4 Land Grant
- 4 Desperate Ritual
- 4 Burning Wish
- 4 Goblin Charbelcher
- 4 Seething Song
- 4 Lotus Petal
- 4 Lion's Eye Diamond
- 4 Chrome Mox
- 4 Rite of Flame
- 3 Empty the Warrens
- 4 Pyretic Ritual
Sideboard
Two-Land Belcher, or Two-Land Empty the Warrens as it’s joking referred to by some pilots, is hardly a new deck, but it may have renewed opportunity on position. The archetypal turn 1, turn 2 kill deck, I sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t be better to draw with Belcher. The land drop means nothing to you, and so often it seems that you end up killing on turn 2, despite making no play on turn 1. I’m not sure who would write such a thing, but I’d certainly be interested in reading an article by a Legacy player that tests:
1) Goldfish of 100 games on the play vs. 100 games on the draw.
2) Playtesting results involving measuring results on the draw vs. on the play.
I’m certainly not claiming that drawing first is better, by any stretch of the imagination. This is especially true when Thoughtseize-type cards are added to the mix, and likewise Counterbalance. Still, there have to be a number of matchups where drawing might be worth it…
Captain’s log, stardate -312149.5174403856:
Well, on the bright side, at least only half of the Top 8 in Boston was Survival of the Fittest. It would appear that the banning of Mystical Tutor along with the printing of Vengevine has had unforeseen consequences. If only someone had warned us of the potential complications involved in attempting to manipulate complex systems! It has now been over two full months of Survival averaging half of the Top 8. Not even Brainstorm puts up those numbers, consistently. Remember when some people used to think that Tarmogoyf was the best card to fantasy draft for Legacy? What is next for the format? The illuminated position would seem to be Survival, as it continues to outperform its popularity. Should this progression, continue, however, fast combo may be all we have left.
Is Survival broken? Yeah, and probably in the real sense of the word. The green Necropotence, Survival of the Fittest, is all the worst parts of a tutor and a degenerate card-draw engine. Some speculate that Vengevine should get the axe, but I suspect that wouldn’t be enough, between Loyal Retainer, Squee, Basking Rootwalla, and more. I don’t think it’s time to throw in the towel yet, but we cannot retreat any further. Our backs are against a cliff and behind us lies certain death. Our only weapon left would seem to be fast combo, so let’s nuke these scoundrels!
One thing is for sure, if this doesn’t work, you can bet what is getting banned next month, stardate -312038.3561326737…
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”