The time is upon us for one of my favorite events of all time: the StarCityGames.com Invitational! I have been lucky enough to be able to participate in the last two Invitational events. I remember when the tournament was yet another big Standard tournament. But now those of us who are Legacy fans are lucky enough to be participating in a split tournament of Legacy/Standard, causing the event to become one of the best paying Legacy events you can attend!
Playing in the Charlotte Invitational means we will lead things off with Legacy for four rounds and then back to Standard for four rounds, and finally the cut is made for Day Two. Day Two begins with three rounds of Legacy, followed by three rounds of Standard, culminating in the single-elimination Top 8. When the transitions take place, changing from one format to another, you will have the opportunity to switch cards between your decks. You won’t need to worry about having two sets of particular cards just because your Legacy and Standard deck share them. It was entertaining at the last Invitational in Indianapolis where everyone was switching Jace, the Mind Sculptor from their Standard deck to their Legacy deck. I have a feeling we will see the same thing happen with Snapcaster Mages this time around!
The event is filled with top-level grinders and accomplished Magic players, causing it to have that extra excitement when playing in a tournament that you seldom find elsewhere (other than the Pro Tour, of course!).
As we prepare for the Invitational, it’s important to consider how you want to approach this event. Certain players will be praying to just get through the Legacy rounds, and others will be hoping to survive the Standard portion. This makes me automatically assume decks like Merfolk and Zoo will be picked up in the Legacy portion and Wolf Run Ramp and aggressive decks will be out in force for the Standard portion.
Don’t spend too much time making bold assumptions! I remember playing in the last Invitational. I was prepared to play nothing but Caw-Blade. In doing so, I over-prepared for a matchup that I would only face once. I have fallen into the trap of trying to out-maneuver the field, when all I ended up accomplishing was setting myself up for disaster. People are going to play what they want regardless; so remember to play what you’re good at and what you’re comfortable with. You will be far more rewarded doing that than you will by playing some ‘hot’ random tech that you’re not intimately familiar with.
When preparing for a tournament like this, it’s important to keep in mind how long the tournament actually is. The Invitational will be a lot of rounds, and it’s important to keep a level head throughout the day. The number of rounds in the tournament is something to consider when making a deck choice. The longer the tournament, the more consistent you want your deck to be.
With five-hundred dollars going to Top 32, it’s important not to tilt yourself even after tough losses. This event is paying out some serious cash and will only have a few hundred entrants. I can’t wait! I hope this gave you some insight on how to approach the Invitational or a reason to go out and try to grind in. Now, on to some Legacy talk!
Legacy is an interesting animal. I remember when people were talking about banning Mental Misstep; I was completely against it. I never felt the card was that bad, to be honest. I was still able to play just about any strategy I wanted. If anything, it opened the field for certain aggro decks because there was less combo. With the printing of Snapcaster Mage, thank God they banned Mental Misstep! Could you imagine a world with Snapcaster Mage and Mental Misstep in the Legacy? That would be a nightmare!
To be honest, Snapcaster Mage is already ridiculous, and I really think Snapcaster Mage is where you want to be right now in Legacy. You can make a case for him being too good. The ability to re-buy all the amazing spells in your deck in the form of a 2/1 creature with flash in a format filled with cheap removal and cantrips makes him too good to pass up. I know you’re sick of hearing about how broken Snapcaster Mage is, so let’s dig into the current Snapcaster deck my team and I have been playing lately to great success:
Creatures (12)
Lands (22)
Spells (26)
Michael Hawthorn and Alex Krenik are the local MN champions of the archetype, with a great deal of deck design input coming from Benjamin Stepka. I have also been a fan of the deck for some time, and it’s been great learning from their experience. One of the main reasons I love the deck so much is it takes full advantage of the Snapcaster Mage, without taking anything away from your general game plan. Snapcaster is the center point of the deck, but if you don’t draw any Snapcaster Mages, you’re far from losing. Every card in the deck is amazing on its own and can be a blowout in certain matchups. The deck is enhanced by Snapcaster Mage, who works well at protecting your win conditions.
Knight of the Reliquary is the reason I am so adamant about playing a New Horizons shell. You have the ability to find answers in the form of lands that act as spells and through thinning your deck of non-business cards (lands). Or just play Knight of the Reliquary and aggressively swing away! She gives you plenty of options. An uncontested Knight is almost a sure thing when it comes to winning and must be respected. KotR also gives you more options to react to your opponent’s strategy with lands, giving you access to cards like Karakas, Horizon Canopy, Dryad Arbor, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Maze of Ith, Tower of the Magistrate, etc.
Stoneforge Mystic into Batterskull is obviously powerful, gives inevitability to your deck, and ends games.
The one card I am not sure about in the deck is Sword of Body and Mind. As strange as the choice of equipment may be, every time I want to take the card out, I keep winning games with it! I hate the idea of giving my opponent’s Snapcasters more value, but at the same time I keep killing people with a never-ending stream of Wolf tokens! I have been finding that Sword of Body of Mind has been giving the deck more gas and hasn’t lost me a game yet because of the mill. I am still not 100% sold on the card, but I can’t deny how good it has been for me as of late. Alex credits Sword of Body and Mind to his recent winning of a couple of local events, even when I was 100% against the card choice. Only time will tell I guess.
I have been also testing a Green Sun’s Zenith version of the deck, which has had some success as well. I love jamming Green Sun’s Zenith in decks because of the versatility it brings. If you’re not sold on the Stoneforge game plan or your meta is hostile to equipment, this isn’t a bad option.
Zenith-Horizons
Creatures (14)
Lands (23)
Spells (25)
I have a love affair with Noble Hierarch, and one-drops are currently better than two-drops in my eyes. Spell Snare is the format’s new Mental Misstep. The ability to blank Spell Snare with Green Sun’s Zenith, with Daze back up, when Zenithing for a Knight on turn three rocks. I have won a fair amount of games with nothing but Noble Hierarchs for mana sources, thanks to Wasteland Wars with my opponent.
Green Sun’s Zenith lets you play singleton bullets, like Scavenging Ooze, main—which is one of the best hosers you can be playing in the Realm of the Snapcaster! Taking away opposing Snapcaster decks’ potency with Scavenging Ooze gives you a huge edge, and probably the game, if they don’t deal with him.
Another huge plus this deck has is the ability to easily run basics, since you run Noble Hierarch and can turn Green Sun’s Zenith into a pseudo-Rampant Growth. Being able to fetch basics against a tempo deck trying to Stifle-Waste you out of the game on the first few turns is a big deal. Being able to play your entire deck off of said basics is an even bigger deal! It also doesn’t hurt to have the option of Zenithing for a Dryad Arbor on turn 1 to give you a huge lead in resources right off the bat.
On a side note: Tarmogoyf has really lost his appeal to me. It’s really interesting how much better creatures have gotten in the last couple years. Tarmogoyf was an automatic four-of in every deck that could remotely think about running green. I remember a few in the Legacy community who were up in arms trying to get the card banned. I know I personally blamed Tarmogoyf for not letting me play Troll Ascetic anymore! And Troll Ascetic is still my favorite creature! Now, more times than not, I am playing fewer Tarmogoyfs.
The sideboard changes from tournament to tournament, but here are a couple cards that I would strongly consider including in your sideboard if you play this deck:
Path to Exile – Playing 4 Swords to Plowshares and 4 Path to Exile is borderline cheating when playing against an aggro strategy. The U/W Stoneforge decks do this, which is the very reason why I have been moving farther away from decks like Zoo, just because of how frustrating this can be.
Surgical Extraction – After watching Snapcaster decks continue to frustrate Reanimator and Dredge opponents with this card paired with Snapcaster, it’s hard for me not to play this in my sideboard. Graveyard-based strategies will always be in the meta one way or another, so it’s always great to come prepared.
Nature’s Claim – You rarely care about the life gain your opponents get from this card, especially when you’re swinging with a big, fat Knight of the Reliquary. Plus, the affordability with Snapcaster Mage flashback is something you will have a hard time achieving if you run Krosan Grip.
These are just a few options. A lot of sideboard decisions depend on your local meta. I know right now my local meta is all over the place, but that’s Legacy for you. In an unknown meta, you can’t really go wrong with the cards I listed above.
This SCG season has been an absolute blast! I am looking forward to St. Louis this weekend and the SCG Invitational the weekend after. I will be a make-believe grinder for the next couple weeks, so I purposely let my wife spend too much money on Black Friday; she can’t be upset with me for being gone two weekends in a row now!
Thanks for reading. Make sure you say ‘hi’ in St. Louis and Charlotte. Hope to see you there!