Welcome to What We’d Play! With SCG Baltimore right around the corner,
many are unsure what they’d play in such a high-profile tournament.
That’s where we come in and let you know what we’d play this weekend
and why we’d play it. Hopefully this last-minute advice aids in your
decision making! Be sure to vote for who you agree with in the poll at
the end!
Jadine Klomparens – Temur Delver
Creatures (12)
Lands (18)
Spells (30)
Temur Delver failed to live up to the expectations set for it by the
banning of Deathrite Shaman, but I still believe in the deck. It certainly
isn’t the “one true way to play Delver of Secrets” in this post-ban world,
but it’s still a respectable choice nonetheless. Alexander Chen’s Top 8 at
Grand Prix Richmond with the deck was no fluke.
With the rise of Death’s Shadow in Legacy and the fall of Lightning Bolt as
a Legacy fair deck staple (seriously, Grixis Control isn’t even playing the
full playset of Bolt), it’s time to accept that the stock of Tarmogoyf has
fallen. When Tarmogoyf is difficult to remove, it’s great. When everyone
has Fatal Push and Snuff Out, not so much. The 2-2 split with True-Name
Nemesis gives the deck enough untargetable creatures to have a reliable
shroud plan against removal-heavy matchups while still having enough speed
to effectively race combo.
Even beyond the Tarmogoyf /True-Name Nemesis split, my build is skewed
pretty heavily towards the fair decks. Two copies of Dismember screams that
you’re looking to get some Gurmag Anglers off the table, something I think
is critically important at the moment in Legacy. Grixis Control is on the
rise right now, and despite looking awful on paper, that matchup can be
favorable if you’re prepared. Your mana denial is effective against them,
but a Gurmag Angler will often slip through the cracks. Have an answer.
Todd Anderson – Dimir Death’s Shadow
Creatures (14)
Lands (18)
Spells (28)
Dimir Death’s Shadow is right up my alley, and I’m assuming all old-school
Delver pilots will be doing something similar. I’ve already gotten a lot of
questions about my Death’s Shadow decklist, so hopefully this answers some
of those. If you want a detailed version about the changes I’ve made and
the iterations the deck has gone through, you can check out my article from
yesterday
here
.
Tempo strategy? Check. Disruption? Check. Punishes all the combo decks in a
severe way? Check check check. The major changes to the deck include
cutting some of the niche cards like Reanimate and Stubborn Denial in favor
of consistency. An extra Ponder here, an extra Fatal Push there, all leads
to having more consistent draws and doing mostly the same stuff every game.
And when that “same stuff” is casting a gigantic Death’s Shadow and riding
it to victory, well you’re gonna have a good time.
While control decks could pose problems, the games always feel pretty
close, so I’ve added a few copies of Bitterblossom in the sideboard to help
push us over the edge. Alongside a few copies of Hymn to Tourach maindeck,
as well as a third in the sideboard, we have plenty of hard-hitting
disruption to keep them off balance while our mish-mash of creatures gets
the job done. And while Legacy is a diverse format and you can basically
play whatever you want, it’s important to remember that a mastery of any
given archetype is more important than ever trying to metagame.
Learn your deck, play it well, and figure out how to change it to be
competitive.
Emma Handy – Burn
Creatures (14)
Lands (10)
Spells (36)
Burn is great and not just as a budget option.
The surge of Delver and Death and Taxes in today’s metagame has made Grim
Lavamancer and co. fantastic, particularly with the work they’ve done to
push combo out of the format. The premier Chalice of the Void deck of the
format, Eldrazi Post, is also incredibly weak to Price of Progress if they
don’t have a quick kill to back up their disruption. Don’t forget that
Death’s Shadow does most of the work for you, and the format’s most common
source of lifegain, Deathrite Shaman, doesn’t even exist anymore.
If you’re thinking of playing the deck this weekend, there are a few things
that are fairly customizable about the deck, but let me go ahead and shut
down some of the things that people are still arguing about-
-
Don’t leave home without Ensnaring Bridges. They’re also good
against non-black Tarmogoyf decks. -
Barbarian Ring looks horrible when over half the field is expected
to have copies of Wasteland. -
Scalding Tarn is the best fetchland to lead on and should be a
four-of. People have forgotten about Burn and leading on a blue
fetch is a nice bluff that can cause players to sequence their
spells poorly and make them more likely to lead on a dual land,
rather than a basic, increasing the efficacy of Price of Progress. - Smash to Smithereens is better than Abrade.
-
Volcanic Fallout is not a good sweeper right now, as the deck it’s
best against, Death and Taxes, makes it difficult to cast.
Happy burning!
Jim Davis – Goblins
Creatures (33)
- 4 Goblin Matron
- 4 Goblin Lackey
- 4 Goblin Warchief
- 1 Goblin Sharpshooter
- 4 Goblin Piledriver
- 4 Gempalm Incinerator
- 1 Siege-Gang Commander
- 4 Goblin Ringleader
- 1 Skirk Prospector
- 1 Tin Street Hooligan
- 3 Mogg War Marshal
- 1 Stingscourger
- 1 Goblin Trashmaster
Lands (23)
Spells (4)
When I said I was bringing the boys back, I meant it.
No Deathrite Shaman means our fair matchups all start to look real good
again, and combo decks have been on the downswing and are tough but
winnable with sideboard cards. Sure, we probably aren’t ever beating Rakdos
Reanimator, but we have good tools against most other combo decks and with
aggressive mulligans, even those matchups are winnable.
I played this list at the #SCGNY Classic last weekend, and while I didn’t
do great, two of my losses were complete pilot error – I sideboarded
incorrectly against Azorius Stoneblade (Pyrokinesis doesn’t even kill
anything!) and should have made a very heads up turn 4 chump block that
ended up losing me the race many turns later against a Sultai True-Name
Nemesis deck. Otherwise the deck felt very solid, with new additions like
Goblin Trashmaster really making their presence felt.
Make no mistake, Goblins is deceptively difficult to play. But if you’ve
got the gusto and the stomach for understanding your role in each matchup
and grinding your opponent into dust with card advantage, the boys are back
in town!
Danny West – Maverick
Creatures (24)
- 4 Mother of Runes
- 1 Scryb Ranger
- 2 Gaddock Teeg
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Knight of the Reliquary
- 1 Qasali Pridemage
- 2 Stoneforge Mystic
- 1 Scavenging Ooze
- 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 1 Ramunap Excavator
Lands (22)
Spells (14)
Lucky you!
Lola the English Bulldog is going to a hospital this weekend for her last
therapist dog certification visit! So unfortunately, I won’t be at SCG
Baltimore smashing stuff with my Legacy weapon for well over a decade now.
Look, everyone knows I adore this deck. And honestly, it’s not just pet;
I’ve played it long enough to legitimately gain an edge, even if I’m
playing some cards that are kind of clownish on their own. Metagaming in
Legacy is kind of irrelevant since most of the room is going to play the
deck they have access to, but the archetype can still be tuned quite a bit
off the last list I played at the home court at SCG Philadelphia earlier
this year. The above list is my best guess toward the format’s leanings as
a whole, with Death’s Shadow being the massive new factor to consider.
If you’d like the general ropes of how to play, I suggest
watching a little of this action.
The maindeck is close to the deck I played then because I still like where
it landed enough to leave it alone. The Abrupt Decay slot can be pretty
much whatever at this point, but I will say I wouldn’t want to be facing
down Street Wraiths and Gurmag Anglers and holding it. Speaking of which,
here’s the extremely quick and filthy:
-
Swampwalk can matter when you’re facing Street Wraith, so think
about your Wastelands carefully. Games 2 and 3, it’s way more
important to think about Massacre. Legacy games have a habit of one
creature sort of coming out of the scrum and taking the ball all
the way. Don’t underestimate a random threat just because it seems
dopey. Legacy has a lot of good cards to protect those threats. -
Death’s Shadow as it exists right now has zero basic lands. Path to
Exiles were added to my sideboard for these types of
considerations. -
There are more important black threats now than there have been in
a while. For that reason, I put a protection from black sword in
the sideboard. It’s been a year or two since Sword of War and Peace
was in the sideboard, and I haven’t missed it since the last time
Miracles was definitively the best deck. -
Speaking of which, Miracles is still as tough as it ever was. I
tend to bring in a lot against it and get most match wins with
fortunate situational Chokes or Surgical Extraction on the right
removal they happened to be holding two-of. Play tight and hope for
the best. -
I’m roughly 2-7 lifetime in sanctioned events versus Infect. You’ve
got to throw something, so may as well not bother with this one. -
Temur Delver is the same theme park ride it’s always been. Other
Delver decks can be trickier (especially the thankfully rare Sultai
iterations), but it’s great that this is the main one that got to
come back and that losing Deathrite Shaman hurt the popularity of
the others. Make sure you can race a True-Name Nemesis and don’t
let them put you to seven before you do anything relevant, and
you’ll be fine. -
Some Elves players are going back to Progenitus. If you Stoneforge
for Jitte to keep them off life itself and they have the Natural
Order, don’t hate the Gaddock Teeg in your hand. It’s not his fault
you’re a real Previous Level Charles. -
Don’t bring in Dark Depths and Thespian’s Stage if you expect a lot
of graveyard hate or you don’t believe you’re favored by the “real
life Magic” plan. This probably needs to start coming in against
Miracles, though I haven’t played the matchup since I started
sideboarding the combo at all. It’s much closer to being a
half-court shot than a free throw; don’t feel like you’re supposed
to rely on it with regularity. -
Your Lands matchup should be pretty okay. You’re welcome to find
space for Bojuka Bog if you don’t think what you have is enough.
Between the extra Paths, the Surgical Extractions, and the
Armageddon, I’ve always felt like it was a lot less of a crazy good
deck against me than the rest of the room. And I’m rarely
delusional about such matters. -
Play a Sylvan Library somewhere. I don’t like setting up turns and
optimizing interactions with fetches because I tend to play much
more to the battlefield than other zones. I just know I win more
games playing another geeky creature than I would playing Magic
properly with tools like this over the course of a given
tournament. By all means, play with this card. -
Someone test Tireless Tracker and tell me what happens. I can’t be
asked.
Sam Black – Zombie Bombardment
Creatures (19)
Lands (19)
Spells (22)
Stitcher’s Supplier and the banning of Deathrite Shaman have breathed new
life into Zombie Bombardment, and Stitcher’s Supplier offers enough milling
to justify adding the package of Bridge from Below and Insolent Neonate,
which makes the deck both more explosive and much better at blocking. This
deck is well positioned against Grixis type decks because their removal
lines up so badly. After sideboarding, they rely very heavily on Surgical
Extraction, Snapcaster Mage, and Liliana, the Last Hope, and Silent
Gravestone turns off all of that without impacting any of your graveyard
action.
Against combo decks, you have pressure backed by eight discard spells and
four Surgical Extractions after sideboarding. Against creatures, you have
Goblin Bombardment maindeck combined with Zealous Persecution, Malicious
Affliction, and Swords to Plowshares in the sideboard.
This deck is extremely fun, attacks from a lot of angles, which combines
well with being a rough deck choice, because it means opponents will have a
lot of trouble figuring out how to play against it, has game against
everyone, and a lot of counterplay to other decks’ plans against it.
Cedric Phillips – Humans
Creatures (34)
- 4 Mother of Runes
- 2 Imperial Recruiter
- 4 Meddling Mage
- 1 Orzhov Pontiff
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Phantasmal Image
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 1 Reclamation Sage
- 1 Reflector Mage
- 4 Thalia's Lieutenant
- 1 Palace Jailer
Lands (22)
Spells (4)
This is the list of Humans that I went 10-5 at Grand Prix Richmond with a
few weeks ago, losing an unfortunate game 3 against Storm in round 15 to
miss out on a money finish. Simply put, this deck is a lot better than even
I thought it was going to be, as finding a way to fit in not only Wasteland
but also a maindeck copy of Reclamation Sage made a huge difference.
Sequencing with this deck is oddly difficult because there are certain
lands you don’t mind having hit by Wasteland depending on what your draw
looks like, but you should be operating under the guideline (in most
instances) that your first land is going to die. Ultimately, Aether Vial is
your best card and while that’s a non-bo with Ancient Ziggurat, it hasn’t
stopped Humans in Modern from being the best deck, and it certainly doesn’t
stop this deck from being powerful either.
The biggest thing I haven’t figured out yet is how to fit Swords to
Plowshares into the deck. Perhaps Dismember is better because of the
awkward manabase but having an early answer to Stoneforge Mystic and/or
Gurmag Angler is a hole that certainly needs fixing.
Naturally, this deck is still a work in progress, but the power level is
undeniable, and it exploits something that few other decks do – because
Legacy decks are so streamlined, Meddling Mage can win games all on its own
by naming the right card. Toss in the power of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
in a cantrip format along with a neat tutor package via Imperial Recruiter
(it finds Reflector Mage, whereas Recruiter of the Guard does not!) and
you’ve got a deck that can do way more than it should be able to.