Natural Order for Progenitus isn’t Flash and Protean Hulk.
It won’t distort the Grand Prix or subsequent tournaments, but that said, it’s also pretty good.
While it isn’t a total game-winner by itself, Progenitus is also incredibly hard to deal with using conventional Legacy cards, so it merits awareness and discussion going into the Grand Prix. As far as dedicated combos go, this one is worse than a lot of what’s already out there, but it’s easy to pull off and can be a significant surprise in sideboarded games. We’ve already got Dreadtill, a deck that plans to get a big guy into play and protect it with counters, so Natural Order isn’t a silly or unprecedented plan for Legacy decks.
The combination is so new that we haven’t seen many results from events, but there is this list, from a tournament in New York. Forty-four players battled, and this list from Alix Hatfield split for first:
Creatures (11)
Lands (18)
Spells (31)
- 4 Sensei's Divining Top
- 4 Brainstorm
- 4 Force of Will
- 4 Swords to Plowshares
- 3 Natural Order
- 4 Daze
- 4 Counterbalance
- 4 Ponder
Sideboard
It’s got what I think is the best support structure for Natural Order to shine. We’ve got Brainstorm and Top to make sure you don’t draw the big monster when you don’t need it and can find Natural Order when you do. I like the previous-level tech of Werebear, generating extra early mana to cheat Progenitus into play. The deck can also function perfectly fine without ever seeing its combination, acting as a Counterbalance Threshold list. Note the Dryad Arbor, another little bit of tech that assures that a fetchland can turn into the green creature you need to Tinker away.
This list is just a little scary because it has a formidable counter suite to counter decks like storm combo that could traditionally ignore a large monster on the board. If you’re planning on going to the Grand Prix, I highly endorse playtesting against this list and asking what you can do to stop a third-turn Progenitus. If you’re playing a Threshold list, consider whether you can slot the combination in or what happens if the mirror-match opponent can punch it through.
There are certainly other approaches to utilizing Progenitus. The only real option is Natural Order; Show and Tell requires you to have the creature in hand, and if we’re living in Christmasland where that happens regularly, then I’d like to put Nichol Bolas, Planeswalker into play instead. Natural Order, then, requires a couple Green mana and a Green guy. What other options are available with those requirements? Green/Black Rock-style decks can incorporate the combination, but it seems like a lot of win-more at that point. Essentially, I see the combination as a way to deal with strategies you otherwise have problems with. Threshold decks are soft against dedicated aggro and can use Natural Order to gain an edge in the mirror match and near-mirror. By contrast, Rock decks usually have decent to good matchups against both of these archetypes. Where Threshold could easily use a giant monster to press their tempo advantage, Rock decks are better served with cards that can cement their lategame stranglehold. Similarly, a Survival of the Fittest-style deck is better served using that 2GG to power the engine and further their strategy, rather than throwing it into a cute trick.
Natural Order fits, naturally, into Elf Combo as well. It cheats out Regal Force to further the combo and can play fair by grabbing Heritage Druid if it needs to also. After testing a bit with and against Elf Combo, I think Natural Order would be best for the situations where the Elf deck stalls out and cannot make much out of a Regal Force on the board. It’s a very playable side strategy if you’re facing down something like Engineered Plague and need to turn a Nettle Sentinel into a win. It also solves problems against Pernicious Deeds and Engineered Explosives, two cards that can cause headaches for Elves by making them play far slower. By playing a creature and immediately casting Natural Order on it without passing priority, you can avoid spot removal like Mogg Fanatic or Darkblast. I’ve seen a lot of people thinking that Pyroclasm or other burn spells will keep green creatures off the board, and against a competent player who will retain priority, this simply doesn’t work.
I’m a little hesitant to build a deck around cheating Progenitus into play, though. You have great creatures like Xantid Swarm and Dryad Arbor to enable the combo, but without serious contortions, you’ll be casting Natural Order on turn 3 at the earliest. The opponent can Thoughtseize you by then, drop Solitary Confinement or up and win with Ad Nauseam or Goblins. By itself, the combination is too slow to dedicate a deck to, but it’s fine with something else.
If you decide not to run Natural Order in your deck, it’s wise to have answers to it. Swords to Plowshares and its upstart cousin, Path to Exile, both epic fail when it comes to Progenitus. Face it, the monster has no interests in a quiet, pastoral farming life. I suggest having a few ways to pre-emptively stop the combo or deal with it when Progenitus is on the board. Specific strategies, like discard and counters, are fine here. If you need something a little more robust, here’s a list of cards, from reasonable to narrow, that can deal with Progenitus either before or after it presents a threat.
Reasonable
Innocent Blood
Chainer’s / Diabolic Edict
Humility
Wrath of God / Damnation
Circle of Protection: Red
Warren Weirding
Earwig Squad
Extract
Runed Halo
Dystopia
Probably Unreasonable
Evacuation
Wash Out
Upheaval
Perish
Meekstone
Narrow but Hilarious
Deathgrip
Reins of Power
Clone or Clone-like effects
Arena of the Ancients
I’ve also seen a lot of thought that “my deck has X strategy, Natural Order won’t beat me.” An example of this would be a Dreadtill deck putting out Phyrexian Dreadnaught with Stifle to race or stop Progenitus. Christmas only comes once a year, and I’m sure it’s not March 7th. This works, if your opponent is only interested in putting Progenitus into play and would like to ignore you completely. Thinking of hypotheticals that your deck can come up with to stop Progenitus isn’t the same as actually testing against decks packing it, and some of your best testing time can be spent on minimizing your risk of losing to this combination. Don’t fall into the trap that Chad Ellis talks about regarding Jamie Wakefield Secret Force matchup against Pox, seen in The Danger of Cool Things. The good decks that you see in later rounds of an event that will pack Natural Order will use it alongside another strategy, hopefully in a way that protects both its combo and primary strategy. For example, a Diabolic Edict may kill Progenitus, but if the opponent has Tarmogoyf out as well, you haven’t really solved the problem. Go in with the answers instead of dealing with post-event kvetching about “then he countered my Wrath of God and beat me, how lucky.”
Natural Order is also a decent sideboard strategy with which to surprise people. It’s four or five cards and can be a significant surprise in early rounds of an event when it comes out in game 2. I suggest considering it in decks like Elves, Survival and Threshold, all of which can avoid the regular hate that comes in against the decks. That it dodges Counterbalance for the most part is terrific and should be highly rated in your analysis if your deck has problems with the enchantment regularly, to the extent that you are boarding in Krosan Grip or similar hate to solve the problem.
Is Natural Order too slow? Is it win-more? My best advice is that if you’re not sold on playing it in a deck, know for upcoming tournaments whether your deck can deal with it. I won’t be playing anything with the green sorcery in it at the Grand Prix, but seeing it so easily fit into a winning Threshold deck was a wake-up for me and an encouragement to make sure my deck can tread water against it. In the limited time before Chicago, don’t concern yourself with cooking up a Progenitus deck unless you have the time to thoroughly evaluate it, and don’t dismiss it without making sure you can handle it if you see it from dedicated Natural Order decks in the early rounds. I doubt the event will be swept by some amazing sleeper Natural Order deck, but I do predict we’ll see the card in high-placing decklists. As you’ll remember from my article on Grand Prix-level events, having some big backbreaker card or strategy can pull you through close matches and bring success in a large, long event.
Join me next week as I cover the last bits before the Grand Prix and hopefully, have a finalized list of what I’m playing to help you out. I’ll also be engaging in a long and spirited discussion regarding the best way to kill Nameless Race with Tsabo’s Decree (curse you for hindering me with your templating, Gottlieb!).