First, apologies all around for my lateness this week, but I was fortunate enough to attend Grand Prix: Chicago this past weekend and have a lot of information to impart, probably more than I can discuss fully in one article. This Grand Prix has cemented my opinion that Legacy is the healthiest and most diverse format in Magic, and one that is desperately in need of additional attention from Wizards of the Coast.
Heading into the Grand Prix, it became clear that due to the lack of large tournaments over the past 12 months, the metagame was wide open. Many excellent articles have been posted all over the Internet over the past several months, including excellent recaps of the format here on SCG by Stephen Menendian and Josh Silvestri. Briefly, in my opinion the format hinges on these decks:
• Aggro-Control decks running Counterbalance and Force of Will (Threshold, Counterbalance-Top)
• Aggro-Lock decks running Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, Trinisphere, and Chalice of the Void (Dragon Stompy, Faerie Stompy)
• Goblins, the “Gold Standard” of Legacy Aggro decks
• Lightning-fast disruptive Combo decks (Dredge and Ad Nauseam / Tendrils, or ANT)
• Control decks running Standstill (Dreadtill, Standstill)
As wide-open as Legacy is, the decks above are the limiting factors of the format, and set the rules that you must abide by. Whatever you should decide to play, you need to be able to interact and function within the parameters set by the decks and archetypes listed above. Everything else in your decision-making process should be secondary. A potential addition to the list is going to be Natural Order, and I will provide a decklist later as a starting point for where this new archetype could be headed.
I arrived in Chicago still undecided as far as my deck choice. I was down to three options: Belcher, Dredge, and a home-brewed Painter’s Servant deck. Belcher had the benefit of familiarity and had tested well against most of the decks in the format. However, I had several concerns with running the deck for eight rounds (I had one Bye based on my Eternal rating), which were greatly increased once I walked the tables where the Grand Prix Trials were taking place. I saw quite a bit of Dredge and ANT, both of which are dangerous match-ups for Belcher. Dredge, in its Legacy Lion’s Eye Diamond form, is one of the few decks that can match Belcher on speed, and has the advantage of Cabal Therapy to disrupt Belcher in a race where one turn could make the difference. ANT, while slightly slower than Belcher on average (but still capable of turn-one kills), runs disruption like Thoughtseize and Orim’s Chant. If these two decks were going to be played in numbers, in addition to the expected Counterbalance-based Control and Aggro-Control decks, the path to day 2 would be extremely difficult for a Belcher pilot. I decided against Belcher and loaned out my build to my friend Jason, who ended up 6-3 with no byes despite never having played the deck before Saturday. The list was exactly identical to the one I posted a few weeks back, and I believe that this is about as strong a Belcher list as you can build.
The Dredge list I put together was similar in many ways to the list posted by Richard Feldman last week in that I chose not to run Lion’s Eye Diamond, opting for stability over explosiveness. However, I chose to run 3 Ichorids, 4 Cabal Therapies, and River Kelpie as a reanimation target. A note on this: I am relatively certain that choosing Cephalid Sage over River Kelpie is a mistake. If Ichorid is able to Dread Return a River Kelpie into play, it is nearly impossible to lose, as each Narcomoeba trigger, every Ichorid returned to play, every Dread Return, and every flashed-back Cabal Therapy results in additional opportunities to Dredge. Similarly, Woodfall Primus is an outstanding reanimation target, which allows you to destroy two lands AND play a Cabal Therapy and still end up with a 5/5 Trampling beater on the other side, and I think it deserves inclusion over either Angel of Despair or Akroma. Despite the power level of Ichorid, it seemed likely that the combination of visibility from Richard’s article and a strong presence at the GP Trials, as well as splash-damage from Relic of Progenitus to combat Threshold, made Ichorid a dodgy choice. If I were going to run Ichorid in the future, the list would probably look something like this:
Creatures (27)
- 2 Tireless Tribe
- 4 Putrid Imp
- 3 Ichorid
- 1 Flame-Kin Zealot
- 4 Golgari Grave-Troll
- 3 Golgari Thug
- 4 Stinkweed Imp
- 4 Narcomoeba
- 1 River Kelpie
- 1 Woodfall Primus
Lands (15)
Spells (18)
Sideboard
My final option was the Painter’s Servant combo deck I first posted a few weeks ago, in a primitive form, which you can see here. Many hours of play testing later, the deck was becoming quite competitive against the field. I finally decided that I would run the Painter’s Servant deck in the first GP Trial I could enter, and depending on how the deck performed, I would make a final deck choice and if necessary, attempt to win two additional byes in a second trial playing Belcher (as a five-round Single Elimination tournament is an ideal setting for that deck).
U.S. Air, however, had different plans for me. Although our plane was on-time, once aboard the Navigation System wouldn’t load the data correctly. After two hours of waiting on the plane, we finally were cleared to take-off. The first GPT I could enter began around 6 PM and became the only trial I’d have a chance to participate in.
During the first round, I was paired up against ANT, and lost the first game very quickly due to Orim’s Chant. I won the second and third games by side-boarding into my Counterbalance configuration, which greatly improves my match-up. One of my favorite plays of the weekend happened during this round. My opponent moved all-in on his turn as I had just set up the Painter + Grindstone combo to win the next turn. He tapped his Island to Mystical Tutor for Ad Nauseam, then dropped two Lion’s Eye Diamonds, activated Top to draw the Ad Nauseam, and then cracked his LEDs in response. I Stifled the Top, resulting in him discarding his hand and having only an Island in play with an Ad Nauseam on top of his Library.
For the second round, I was again paired against ANT, this time the build that plays Red for Rite of Flame and Burning Wish. I won game one quickly using Grindstone and Servant, lost game two due to mana screw, and won game three on the back of Counterbalance with Top.
Round 3 saw me paired against Merfolk. I won game 1 using Servant and Grindstone, lost game 2 very quickly due to Wake Thrasher beating my face (good Lord that guy is a HOUSE in Legacy Merfolk), and squeaked out a very close game 3 by finding a Grindstone while on three life. However, I was relatively safe at the end of this game because I had recurring Explosives set up using Academy Ruins. Merfolk is one of the specific match-ups that caused me to add in the one Tropical Island so I could EE for three.
In round four I was paired against Dredge. I lost a surprisingly close game 1, had an easy time game 2 as I set up Tormod’s Crypt recursion with Academy Ruins, and lost a heartbreaker game 3 due to a terrific set of Dredges that revealed a Narcomoeba, Angel of Despair, and Dread Return in 11 cards. The Angel took out my Ancient Tomb and prevented me from having the mana I needed to drop Painter and activate Grindstone.
Although I failed to win the two additional byes, I was pretty happy with the performance of the deck and had determined a few final changes that I thought could get the deck at the level I needed. The final list I ran in the GP looked like this:
Creatures (10)
Lands (21)
Spells (29)
This list has many significant upgrades over the initial decklist I posted a few weeks ago. Firstly, the inclusion of a full play-set of Daze significantly strengthened the deck’s overall performance. The addition of three Wastelands gave the deck a surprising percentage of free wins via Stifle and Wasteland disruption. The Tropical Island allows Engineered Explosives to hit for 3 if needed, and ironically enough seemed to be an irresistible Wasteland target for my opponents despite the fact that I run no Green spells. I had trouble deciding between running a 3rd Wasteland versus a 3rd Intuition, but finally chose the 21st mana source for consistency purposes. Finally, the Llawan, Cephalid Empress (also the inspiration for the deck name) was a great touch suggested by Fred Chang and Chas Hinkle. Not only is it a solution for Progenitus and Merfolk, it is an awesome option to have out of the Sideboard in combination with a Servant in play. Many decks in the format will fold to the combo of Llawan and Painter’s Servant with Force of Will or Counterbalance back-up.
GP: Chicago Tournament Report
Round 1: Bye (1-0)
Round 2: Win 2-0 vs. Goblins (2-0)
I hadn’t tested this match-up at all because none of my friends had any intention of playing Goblins. Although I thought I would be strong enough to win this match-up, especially after Sideboard, I wasn’t completely sure. I won the die roll, and won game one on turn 4. I had turn 1 Top, turn 2 Ancient Tomb, Painter’s Servant, turn 3 Trinket Mage for Grindstone, and then turn 4 activate for the win. Some furious side boarding on the other side made me a little nervous, but I had the turn 2 Dreadnought plus Stifle and won again on turn 4. I have to say the look on my opponent’s face was pretty priceless. Again, running non-standard lists can have definitely advantages.
Round 3: Win 2-0 vs. ANT (3-0)
These games were both similar to those from the GP Trial the night before. After a mulligan to six on the other side, I played the mana denial game, Stifling a Delta and using Wasteland on an Underground Sea. From there I used Intuition to tutor up Force of Will and set up Painter + Grindstone. In game two, a Mulligan to 5 by my opponent left me in great shape. I set up Counterbalance with Top and then won using Dreadnought.
Round 4: Win 2-0 vs. Enchantress (4-0)
This was a very interesting match-up, as my opponent had a main deck Gaea’s Blessing along with Wheel of Sun and Moon. I was able to set up the combo game 1 and use Stifle on the Gaea’s Blessing trigger. Game 2 veered back and forth wildly. At one point, I was facing down Wheel of Sun and Moon on both me and my opponent (who also had Energy Field in play), Trade Routes and Solitary Confinement, and so on. I was finally able to use Engineered Explosives to sweep away the three-mana enchantments followed by the two-mana enchantments, and won just before time expired.
Round 5: Lose 0-2 vs. Merfolk (4-1)
I was totally blown out this round. I only drew two lands in each game, and three of the four were hit with Wasteland and the fetch was Stifled. This is an interesting match-up to play out as these decks are well-balanced, so I wasn’t happy that my deck failed me so badly.
Round 6: Lose 0-2 vs. Dreadtill (4-2)
I had actually tested this match-up and again felt it was pretty balanced. Unfortunately my opponent drew better than me the first game, and had Pithing Needle in his sideboard for what would’ve been a turn three win game 2. I was able to beat down to 7 before he got Counterbalance plus Top active and he pulled out the game from there.
Round 7: Win 2-0 vs. Threshold (5-2)
I’m not really clear on what my opponent was playing, but it was definitely some kind of Threshold list with Vials, Force of Will, Brainstorm, and Goyf. I denied him his mana the first game using Stifle and Wasteland (and a REB on a land as well). The second game I took a Mulligan to six but my hand was excellent, and I got Counterbalance and Top active and locked out the game.
Round 8: Win 2-1 vs. Mono-Green Aggro (6-2)
I hadn’t tested this match-up at all, and his hand was much too fast for me the first game. I felt pretty good after sideboard as I had those Pyroclasms, plus Llawan. I won the second game using a quick Painter’s Servant plus Grindstone. Game three I used Pyroclasm to sweep his board, then played turn three Servant, turn four Llawan. This bounced all of his creatures and prevented them from coming back into play. He had side-boarded in Krosan Grip, but only had 1 land in play and looked to be locked out for the foreseeable future… which ended up being one turn, as I drew Grindstone off the top.
Round 9: Lose 0-2 vs. Threshold (6-3)
So here I was, playing for day 2 in round 9. I was never really in the first game as he had initiative almost immediately and kept me backpedaling. Game two looked to turn in my favor after I had taken early beats from a Tarmogoyf and Mongoose. I swept the board using Engineered Explosives, and had Academy Ruins in play, along with a Trinket Mage and Pyrexian Dreadnought, and my opponent had only one card in hand. When I moved to combat, he played Fire/Ice, tapping my Dreadnought and drawing a Brainstorm. He then played Brainstorm, untapped, and dropped two Tarmogoyfs into play. Because I was at only two life, I had no outs left as my Ancient Tomb was dead. I never drew Painter’s Servant OR Grindstone in either of these games, so he actually had no idea what I was playing.
Obviously I’m tremendously disappointed that I lost in the last round to miss Day 2, but in spite of this I was relatively happy with the performance of the deck. Between the Grand Prix Trial and the Grand Prix itself, I went 8-4 (9-4 if you include the Bye in the GP) with a deck that was self-designed and which I am, honestly, still learning to play. This Painter list has the immense benefit of being a non-standard list that is capable of winning in multiple ways. Painter’s Servant is not “supposed” to run Daze, making that already excellent card that much better. Similarly, Painter does not normally run Counterbalance-Top, which also leaves opponents unprepared. The combination of Stifles, Wastelands, and REB and Pyroblast with Painter can completely shut an opponent down by denying their mana-base. Finally, it became obvious to me over the course of the two days that many people hadn’t actually played against Painter’s Servant and didn’t fully understand the lines of play that open up once he resolves (such as enabling Force of Will off any card, making Llawan the best 50-cent rare of all time, and so on).
There are a few changes that I’d make if I could run the deck again. I had included the Pyroclasms as a defense against Goblins, Merfolk, and Elves. In hindsight, I think I was too worried about Goblins, and I only saw one Elves combo deck being played during the entire day. Additionally, Pyroclasm isn’t actually that good against Merfolk due to its ability to “flash” in Lord of Atlantis and Merrow Reejerey using Aether Vial. I would cut one Pyroclasm for a second Pyroblast. I would flip the numbers on Relic of Progenitus and Tormod’s Crypt to strengthen the Threshold match-up while still having five Sideboard cards against Dredge (including that third Explosives). I’d also consider cutting the Engineered Explosives for a second Tormod’s Crypt – I’m still unclear which is better. The last question mark is those Intuitions. Now that I’m down to running two, I’m considering whether Fact or Fiction might not be the stronger card. I also need to test with just one Dreadnought and see how much that impacts the deck. This cut would allow either a main-deck Relic of Progenitus or room for another Intuition or Fact or Fiction.
Of the six of us who traveled to the Grand Prix together, three made day two. Mykie Noble did the best from my group, running his Natural Rock deck to a 12-3 record with no Byes, ending up in 17th due to breakers. His third loss came against Nassif in round 13, in a match he could have won had he not drawn his Progenitus. Given how well he did, I thought I’d share his list:
Creatures (20)
- 1 Wall of Blossoms
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Eternal Witness
- 4 Wall of Roots
- 4 Kitchen Finks
- 1 Wickerbough Elder
- 1 Hellkite Overlord
- 1 Progenitus
Lands (21)
Spells (19)
Sideboard
I also participated in a Vintage event on Sunday that had 81 players, running a slightly updated version of Progenitus Oath. I started out 4-1, and then lost a somewhat ridiculous match against Tezzeret in round 6 that involved me losing game 1 after he top-decked a Mana Drain and then a Force of Will from an empty hand to counter my two consecutive Oaths. Despite this, I’m actually quite happy with the most updated list and will continue to run it. I took my previous list, and cut Merchant Scroll for an Echoing Truth and Crop Rotation for a second Lim-Dul’s Vault, which has been nothing but outstanding. In the sideboard, I added Pithing Needle (cutting Arcane Laboratory as I’ve yet to play against any version of Storm in my last 18 rounds of tournament Vintage) to combat Greater Gargadon, which is popping up in Sideboards. Oath seems to be growing in popularity due to its strength against Fish and relatively solid match-up against most of the rest of the field.
All in all, it was a great weekend of Eternal Magic, even though my 12-6 record in three events was only good enough to win 6 Conflux packs. I’m only 6 months into playing Eternal formats in any serious capacity, but I am definitely enjoying both Vintage and Legacy. I wish WoTC would give more respect and attention to Legacy in particular, as it is obviously a popular format and, notably, a balanced and open format that is worthy of more tournaments.
Finally, I need to share my favorite take-away from the weekend. On the way to the airport Monday morning, we drove past a Strip Mall that had a Barber Shop. The name? You guessed it: “Best Head”. I am not making that up.
I have only a few days to shift gears back to Extended and prep for this weekend’s PTQ. For those of us still grinding, I’ll get the most info I can for you for next week. I’m expecting to play Faeries this weekend – seems I’ve caught a bit of the “Blue” bug from all this Eternal play…
Matt