It’s strange to think that just over a year ago at Grand Prix: Chicago and the following tournaments, the field was aligning itself against Counterbalance. One of the better ways to beat Counterbalance has been to play “fair” decks that avoid or play around the effect of Counterbalance in a variety of ways. Decks like Merfolk and Goblins attack Counter/Top’s manabase while utilizing Aether Vial, varied casting costs, and other measures to trump the Counterbalance / Top combo; decks like Zoo seek to slip threats in before the Counterbalance / Top soft lock is established and then finish off the opponent with burn spread across a number of casting costs, while enjoying the benefit of highly positive match-ups against other anti-Counter/Top strategies (such as the afore-mentioned Goblins and Merfolk).
That was the old Legacy world order… Counterbalance and Merfolk beat combo, while adapting a variety of win conditions (such as Natural Order into Progenitus in a Bant Counterbalance shell, or Tarmogoyf in Merfolk). Merfolk and Goblins preyed on Counterbalance; Zoo preyed on the tribal decks. Combo beat Zoo and Goblins.
Around and around the circle we went.
These are generalizations, mind you. Decks evolve, they change, match-ups can be manipulated, play skill and luck are factors, and nothing is absolute.
Still, it was pretty clear in Legacy which match-ups you wanted to see, and which ones you didn’t.
Sometimes decks from outside this pecking order would crash the party; decks like Trinistax, 43 Lands, Aggro Loam, Dredge, and Enchantress had the potential to break a field that lacked sideboard hate or player familiarity. Outside of Lands, these decks were all unable to maintain their success on a consistent basis in the way that Zoo, Merfolk, and Counter/Top did; even Lands had to evolve to stay competitive.
Thus far, 2010 has taken sledgehammer to the old order.
A number of factors have shaken up the pecking order of Legacy. The unbanning of Entomb and printing of Inkwell Leviathan, Terastodon, and Iona have created a potentially format-defining deck in Reanimator. Refinements to the Lands strategy, including the use of Mox Diamond, Intuition, and Mindslaver, have created a monster out of an old niche player in the format. The porting of a combo that defined Extended has given new life to the format’s old boogeyman. And, old favorites have found new competitive life by evolving and hybridizing into new shells.
If you’re preparing for this summer’s StarCityGames.com Legacy Open series (including the upcoming Philadelphia stop), Grand Prix: Columbus, and Legacy Champs 2010, it is absolutely essential that you frame your understanding of the format within the new order, as the format exists today. Let’s take a look at some of these decks, frame the new players in our understanding of the unfair decks in the format, and review some options the fair decks have available in their struggle to fight back.
The Unfair — The Old Guard
Going back 12-18 months, Legacy had three primary “unfair” decks, all of which sought to abuse Lion’s Eye Diamond for extremely fast kill potential: Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT), LED Dredge, and Belcher Combo. All had their strengths and weaknesses.
Belcher is designed to prey upon the most “fair” of decks, like Zoo, Goblins, and any other deck that lacks the ability to interact or disrupt on the first turn of the game. Belcher is also relatively resistant to disruption like Thoughtseize, Wasteland, and Hymn to Tourach but is exceptionally weak to Trinisphere and Chalice of the Void. Belcher is much less exciting in formats where decks like Merfolk or Trinistax are popular; that said, Belcher can beat anything provided it is drawing hot. Many people find it too all-in for a long tournament.
Ad Nauseam Tendrils is generally slower than Belcher, in exchange for greater consistency and resilience. While still having the potential for a win on the first turn of the game, ANT is set up to minimally interact with an opponent before going for a more “sure thing”; this is particularly true of versions that include a back-up option to Ad Nauseam, such as Ill-Gotten Gains. ANT often has a flexible sideboard including a variety of “bounce” effects, as well as counters or pre-emptive measures like Orim’s Chant in white or solutions to Counterbalance like Krosan Grip or Reverent Silence in green. Ad Nauseam has a worse win percentage against Zoo than Belcher (while still being a heavy favorite), but is also generally better against decks with Force of Will, Stifle, and Counterbalance due to its nominal interactivity (while still having unfavorable match-ups against those decks as a general rule).
LED Dredge is a more explosive version of Legacy Dredge that is able to leverage Lion’s Eye Diamond into a potential turn 1 win. However, many have found the additional speed to be unnecessary; while this version is better able to race against other combo decks, it can be worse against a varied field as it is less consistent and more vulnerable to cards like Force of Will and Chalice of the Void. While not always relevant, in a long tournament where Dredge already has to fight through inconsistent hands and potential sideboard hate, any additional weaknesses can be problematic.
The Unfair — The New Breed
While ANT and Belcher in particular are still popular, and have had some break-out tournaments in the face of dwindling support for Counterbalance decks, the new breed of unfair decks look quite different.
Using the word “unfair” to classify decks is perhaps a bit vague; people have different interpretations of what that word means in relation to a Magic deck. The old guard unfair decks above deserved that classification on speed alone, because they could win on the first turn of the game. Of the previously established unfair decks, ANT remains the most popular and has consistently had great success in large European events.
Speed isn’t the only metric by which a deck can be considered unfair. To me, any deck that breaks fundamental rules of Magic immediately and consistently can be considered unfair. That include the first two decks I’m going to discuss: Lands and Reanimator. Both aren’t able to win as quickly as the LED combo decks, but are able to effectively “win” games very quickly by creating lopsided game states.
I’ll then look at an updated take on Counterbalance utilizing Enlightened Tutor as a reaction to these unfair decks, as well as new versions of Survival and Threshold that are designed to thrive in the new metagame.
“She’s got huge… tracts of land!” — Lands in Legacy
Lands breaks the most fundamental rule of the game: you may play one land per turn. In addition, it also breaks the rule that you can only draw one card per turn in much the same way as Dredge, using Life from the Loam to “draw” extra cards and utilizing the Graveyard as an extra “hand” that has no size limits. Essentially the deck begins drawing an extreme number of cards per turn while lacking a hand size and playing as many lands per turn as it wants. As it does this, it is also severely cutting off the opponent’s ability to play spells by attack their manabase with Rishadan Port, Wasteland, and Ghost Quarter. Lands articles have been abundant lately, so peruse this website for additional information. Here’s an example list:
Lands (37)
Spells (23)
Despite its strengths, Lands is not an unstoppable force, even for the fair decks. Let’s ignore blatantly narrow cards (like Ankh of Mishra) for the moment, and look at some cards that are reasonable options against the field at large.
Price of Progress — I’ve been a fan of this card for some time, as many opponents completely fail to play around it until you kill them with it in game 1. There is no deck as vulnerable to Price of Progress as Lands, for obvious reasons.
Blood Moon / Magus of the Moon / Back to Basics — Any of these cards can effectively spell “game over” for Lands decks; while Merfolk has the ability to Force of Will and Daze its way to resolving a Back to Basics, the stronger Lands hands may not allow Zoo to resolve Blood Moon or Magus beyond the first few turns of the game.
Graveyard hate — Legacy is becoming more and more focused on the Graveyard, in the same way that Vintage decks are often Graveyard-centric (using Yawgmoth’s Will and Goblin Welder, for example). Lands is less vulnerable to this avenue of attack than a deck like Dredge or Reanimator, in that it can still win against Leyline of the Void or Wheel of Sun and Moon; however, if you can shut down Life from the Loam, you can prevent Lands from setting up its draw engine and stay in the game long enough to win. There are an abundance of options regardless of color, including Tormod’s Crypt, Faerie Macabre, Relic of Progenitus, and Wheel of Sun and Moon, as well as off-color options like Leyline of the Void.
Pithing Needle — Naming Maze of Ith with Pithing Needle can sometimes give you enough time to punch through for the win if Lands isn’t able to find an alternative way of holding off damage such as Zuran Orb and Glacial Chasm.
Attack the Loam engine — You can also attack Loam itself by playing Meddling Mage, or something like Pyrostatic Pillar to set up a recurring damage source that doesn’t cost any mana once it is in play.
Of course, if you’re really struggling to beat Lands with a fair deck, there’s another answer: Play combo. Lands occupies a unique position in that it is an easily beatable deck if you gun for it, but few people will because of its small position in the metagame; a metagame that becomes overly centered on Lion’s Eye Diamond-fueled combo decks will often force Lands out of the meta as it is not designed or equipped to combat other unfair decks.
Reanimator
The combination of Entomb’s unbanning and Wizards recent habit of releasing extremely good targets like Terastodon and Iona has created one of the more powerful and resilient Graveyard decks ever seen in a competitive format. Legacy Reanimator is similar to Oath in Vintage in many ways; it utilizes a number of proactive and reactive cards (including Thoughtseize, Force of Will, and Daze) to stay alive and resolve its threats, resulting in a versatile big spell deck.
Reanimator cheats the rules by quickly getting one of a number of disruptive bullet creatures into play, such as Iona (to lock out an opponent from resolving spells), Terastodon (to create an instant army or decimate an opponent’s board), or Inkwell Leviathan (to establish an unblockable creature with Shroud that control decks cannot remove from play). Reanimator’s creatures are purposefully resistant to traditional removal in the format, particularly Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile.
Here’s an example Reanimator list:
Creatures (7)
Lands (17)
Spells (36)
Regardless of its strengths (which are many), Reanimator is still a Graveyard deck, and one with unique vulnerabilities. Some cards that Reanimator hates to see:
Graveyard hate — Obvious, but worth stating; Reanimator decks are designed to expect Graveyard hate and trump it in a number of ways, including the use of Show and Tell as well as anti-hate measures. Again, this versatility is part of what makes Reanimator a more resilient choice than Dredge. Note that the use of Null Rod is especially strong as it trumps any number of Tormod’s Crypts and Relics, as well as shutting down Sensei’s Divining Top and Thopter Foundry. Many Reanimator decks are actually more vulnerable to permanent Graveyard hate spells like Wheel of Sun and Moon and Leyline of the Void than one-shot effects like Tormod’s that are vulnerable to Null Rod and Pithing Needle.
Trinisphere and mana disruption — Reanimator is one of many Legacy decks that cheats on land count by playing Brainstorm, Careful Study, and having an extremely low top-end cost in its spells; GT’s Atlanta $5K version has only 17 lands, and only 8 actual mana-producing lands. That makes it highly vulnerable to decks that attack mana via Wasteland, Stifle, or Trinisphere. It is also therefore vulnerable to Chalice of the Void as well — that example list has 22 (!) cards that cost one mana.
Attack Prevention — Cards like Ensnaring Bridge or even Propaganda supported by mana denial can keep Reanimator’s creatures at home on defense; Meekstone is an option as well, albeit an awkward one if your goal is get in with your own creatures.
Creature Swap — Effects like Gilded Drake or Juxtapose can punish Reanimator and allow you to beat them with their own creatures.
Bounce Effects — The best bounce effects against Reanimator tend to be non-targeted, so you want something like Curfew, or even non-targeted artifact removal like Hurkyl’s Recall or Rebuild (which can trump Inkwell Leviathan). Keep in mind that some Reanimator players are utilizing a Dryad Arbor to fetch into play, to combat effects like these (or those in the next category). Cards like Seal of Removal or Echoing Truth lose a lot of strength against modern Reanimator due to Shroud, as well as the ability of Terastodon to massively swing a game regardless of whether or not it remains in play; Iona can also lock you out of reactive options that are on-color.
Non-Targeted Removal — The best options here are Tariff in white and Diabolic Edict in black; these effects can be a useful second line of defense after Graveyard hate. Another option given the limited permanents played by Reanimator is Smokestack, or even Tangle Wire out of an offensive deck. The control decks can also utilize cards like Wrath of God, or Humility; another option is Runed Halo.
Counterbalance / Top — While not an option for Merfolk, Goblins, or Zoo, a prepared Counter/Top deck is a formidable opponent for Reanimator, especially one that utilizes Enlightened Tutor or some other tutor engine (like Survival of the Fittest) to guarantee access to hate.
Enlightened Control
Counterbalance/Top decks have gone through a number of changes, designed to keep the deck relevant regardless of metagame shifts. The most recent have been the use of Natural Order and Progenitus in a Bant Counterbalance shell, which gives the deck the ability to quickly win games instead of trying to grind out control of the game; it also lets the deck bypass the “War over Tarmogoyf” that seemed to define Legacy for a time.
The combination of Sword of the Meek and Thopter Foundry helped define the last Extended season; initially you might think this combo is slow for a format like Legacy, but the truth is that Thopter/Sword is likely to have a long and successful run in Legacy. It gives Counterbalance decks a source of inevitability against enemies like Merfolk, Goblins, and Zoo. This win condition can slot into the deck easily and takes up little space, and avoids vulnerability to Swords and Path; it is very good at making Tarmogoyf irrelevant. It can also be set-up with on-color tutors like Enlightened Tutor (which, conveniently, also finds Counterbalance and Top), Intuition, and Gifts Ungiven as well as Tezzeret the Seeker. In a mirror or quasi-mirror, if Thopter Foundry resolves, an opposing soft-lock can be trumped as soon as Sword of the Meek shows up as that piece never needs to resolve.
Enlightened Tutor also allows Counterbalance/Top decks to run a number of silver bullets to shore up weak match-ups; for example, most Graveyard hate cards can be found via Enlightened Tutor, as well as anti-Lands cards like Back to Basics. Anti-Merfolk and Goblins cards like Moat and Ensnaring Bridge, as well as the Counterbalance/Top combo so necessary against Zoo and combo, are all easily found using Enlightened Tutor.
While this version of Counterbalance isn’t the best in all metas, I suspect it is going to be a player for some time; AJ Sacher recent list provides us with a good starting point for future versions of this deck:
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (22)
Spells (36)
Compared to the decks we examined earlier, this is a difficult deck to “hate” against, but it still has some vulnerabilities:
Pithing Needle — Needle can shut down Top and Jace, as well as the deck’s win condition in Thopter.
Null Rod — Intimately familiar to Vintage players, Null Rod is a powerful weapon for Reanimator decks against a deck like this one in that it protects against Graveyard hate, stops Counter/Top, and prevents this deck’s win condition from firing.
Krosan Grip — Already a Zoo player’s best friend, Krosan Grip can attack this deck’s win condition in addition to Counterbalance. This is an excellent way to get ahead in a game, and can make Enlightened Tutor a serious tempo loss.
Qasali Pridemage — There’s a reason why I picked this as my favorite card from 2009; Pridemage is terrific against decks like this one.
Modern Survival
Survival of the Fittest has a long history in Legacy, but Survival decks have been absent from the higher level of competitive Legacy for some time. Emerging tech and new cards, as well as metagame changes, have merged to give Survival new life.
Loyal Retainers might be the most expensive Legacy card you’ve never heard of; this is one of the easiest ways to cheat an Emrakul into play permanently (out-reanimating Reanimator, if you will). If the Survival deck can resolve Retainers, it can then dump an Emrakul into its Graveyard and use Retainers with Emrakul’s shuffle trigger on the stack. Typically creatures like Iona, Shield of Emeria or Llawan, Cephalid Empress are more common targets.
Just as Enlightened Tutor allows the Counterbalance deck to have a maindeck toolbox against emerging threats like Reanimator, Survival uses its recurring tutor engine to attack opponents, giving it quick access to bullet targets like Ethersworn Canonist, Gaddock Teeg, and Faerie Macabre.
Two competing Survival decks have seen competitive play; one hybridizes Survival into a Bant shell:
Creatures (20)
- 1 Loyal Retainers
- 1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
- 4 Tarmogoyf
- 3 Spellstutter Sprite
- 2 Vendilion Clique
- 3 Rhox War Monk
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 1 Qasali Pridemage
- 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Lands (19)
Spells (21)
The other fuses it into a Counterbalance shell:
Creatures (14)
- 1 Loyal Retainers
- 1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
- 1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
- 1 Trygon Predator
- 4 Tarmogoyf
- 1 Sower of Temptation
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Lands (19)
Spells (27)
As with Reanimator, these decks are very good at protecting themselves and forcing their engine online via the use of Force of Will and Daze; like Reanimator, they are able to “cheat” creatures into play without playing full cost. However, Survival is more of a mid-range deck than an aggressive big spell deck like Reanimator. It still shares many weaknesses with the decks we’ve discussed to this point:
Enchantment Removal — The best Enchantment removal spells are those already mentioned, notably Krosan Grip (as it cannot be countered outside of an already-established Counterbalance with a “3” on top) and Qasali Pridemage. Attacking the Survival engine buys more time against the Counterbalance shell but leaves you vulnerable to being locked out by Counterbalance.
Graveyard Hate — Again, Graveyard hate is not as effective here as against Dredge or Reanimator, but as with Lands, you are attacking the engine that makes the deck what it is; depending on the skill level of the player, you may find that you don’t accomplish all that much by attacking this deck’s Graveyard, but trumping its ability to put Iona into play against you might be worthwhile.
Pithing Needle — Needle has a big, fat, juicy target in this match-up.
Counterbalance / Top — An opposing Counter/Top deck can attack this one by locking it out of resolving Survival of the Fittest, leaving it as a suboptimal aggro or control deck; this is often one of the potential downfalls of hybridizing decks together.
Anwar Ahmad wrote an article that is already influencing the Legacy Metagame at large by introducing the New Horizons deck to a larger audience. In many ways, this deck is an update of traditional Threshold strategies; it plays a tempo game but has creatures with serious game-stopping power: Knight of the Reliquary, Tarmogoyf, and Terravore. Like Canadian Threshold, it’s a deck that kind of does a bunch of nothing and then suddenly wins the game.
Unlike the other decks that I’ve discussed today, New Horizons is much harder to “hate” against as it is a relatively fair, tempo-oriented deck designed to have few weaknesses and not centered on any one card type or game zone; that said, its creatures are all vulnerable to targeted removal and a resolved Counterbalance / Top lock can be established by any deck with a reasonable number of three-cost spells (or easy access to said spells via Enlightened Tutor).
If you haven’t played any games with or against this deck to date, you should know two things. One, it plays a lot better than it looks on paper; two, other people are catching on to this deck. I saw a mirror match being played between two New Horizons players at the Grand Prix Columbus trial at GP DC.
The Unfairness Doctrine
I’ve come to refer to Max McCall “Legacy: Attacking is Miserable” article as the “Unfairness Doctrine,” as I believe that sums up the point of view presented; given a format beginning to tilt toward the unfair, it is logical to play a Force of Will deck or an unfair deck until the field tilts against those decks, making decks like Zoo viable again. However, there are a number of ways that the “fair” decks are fighting back and still winning tournaments.
Merfolk is actually positioned pretty well against most of the decks I discussed today; it can attack fragile manabases and runs plenty of counter-magic for control decks, along with reasonable resistance to Counter/Top. It can also utilize Back to Basics and counter proactive anti-Graveyard cards like Pithing Needle. Merfolk remains strongly positioned against Counter/Top decks although the adoption of Moat is problematic.
Coralhelm Commander is one possible solution to the Moat problem as well as a strong addition to the deck in general, albeit one easily solved by a control deck.
Goblins has become a popular choice in that it can be tuned to make life difficult for Reanimator and Dredge, and has plenty of game against Merfolk and many Counter/Top decks; it can use the full set of available Graveyard hate by way of an easy black splash, which gives it access to Warren Weirding as well. It is also one of the decks best able to utilize Blood Moon. However, Goblins has always been soft against LED-fueled combo decks, and while options like Mindbreak Trap and Chalice of the Void exist, sideboard space is precious.
Perhaps most difficultly positioned deck is Zoo.
Zoo is a pretty misunderstood deck, considering it is a simple beatdown machine. The strength of Zoo comes from its consistency and the tendency of players to seek elegant solutions to complex problems while downplaying the threat of a deck like Zoo. While Counterbalance can have a positive match-up against Zoo, at this point many CB players are more focused on beating “it” kids like Reanimator and Lands; an unprepared Counter/Top deck is often easy prey for a tuned Zoo deck.
Zoo wants to battle against Goblins and Merfolk all day, and is also fine playing against decks like Counterbalance, New Horizons, and Survival — the same “fair” (or relatively fair) decks people may turn to, based on the way the current meta is shifting. Still, that process takes time; Reanimator, ANT, and Lands seem to be swinging upwards in popularity and metagame percentage.
To keep Zoo competitive, players may have to make some uncomfortable sacrifices. For example, the Zoo list I played at the Grand Prix Columbus Trial at GP DC had literally no cards in the sideboard specifically for the mirror, and zero cards against Goblins; against Merfolk, I was bringing in two Pyroblast and a Krosan Grip simply because Price of Progress is so poor in that match-up and I had no other relevant cards. I’m a big fan of playing Zoo with Fireblast (to steal games against ANT) and Price of Progress (to have game against 43 Lands as well as maintain advantage against Counter/Top); unfortunately, there’s really no way to eke out positive game one results against ANT, Belcher, Dredge, or Reanimator unless you’re willing to really focus on those decks at the expense of your overall win percentage against the field at large.
Zoo might not be miserable, but playing it right now definitely isn’t a party — you need to assess your expected meta and balance your acceptance of weak match-ups against your ability to nearly auto-defeat Merfolk.
This is a slightly updated version of what I played in the Grand Prix Trial, for those that are interested:
Creatures (23)
- 3 Grim Lavamancer
- 4 Tarmogoyf
- 4 Wild Nacatl
- 3 Knight of the Reliquary
- 4 Qasali Pridemage
- 3 Steppe Lynx
- 2 Loam Lion
Lands (21)
Spells (16)
I beat Merfolk twice, beat Affinity, lost to Eva Green with white (Legacy Junk? Sorry if there’s an “official” name for this) that I believe should be an excellent match-up given normal draws on my part, and lost to 43 lands (drawing 0 Price of Progress in the match). I actually had strongly positive match-ups through the first four rounds until I hit Lands, so I wasn’t pleased to drop at 3-2 after 5 rounds, but in any case I still think there’s plenty of life left in this archetype…
Matt Elias
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Voltron00x on SCG, TMD, and The Source