I. Approaching Threshold Design
What we call Threshold today has a long history of evolution in Magic. It has gone through extensive development in every constructed format. It has multiple design origins and is one of the defining decks of the “Aggro-Control” name. The list of decks and designers is long, and its three years of competitive play in Legacy is a substantial part of it.
Currently, Threshold is a very open-ended design question. There are multiple good options available for both threats and removal, and this makes the construction of the deck a complex and metagame-dependent process. The different variants of the deck have their own strengths and weaknesses, and it is essential to understand why each has been successful in order to make good design decisions.
Recently the deck has experienced significant development. The success of UGB and 5-Color Threshold has changed the design of the deck considerably, and building the deck correctly in the future will require an understanding of each color’s role in the deck.
II. White Threshold
This is the oldest version of the deck, heavily influenced by Extended Decks with Swords to Plowshares and Standard Decks with Mystic Enforcer. This deck is the classic Threshold build from the beginning of the format that defined and influenced the subsequent development of Threshold. It had a very strong maindeck, but a weak sideboard and Goblins matchups, which is what inevitably led to the use of Red.
Alix Hatfield
April 2006
2 Mystic Enforcer
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Werebear
4 Force Of Will
3 Counterspell
3 Daze
3 Pithing Needle
4 Swords To Plowshares
4 Predict
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent
4 Serum Visions
1 Forest
3 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
3 Windswept Heath
Sideboard:
3 Meddling Mage
2 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Naturalize
4 Tivadar’s Crusade
3 Nantuko Monastery
Notice the clear modularity of the design. The number of spaces for disruption and draw will stay relatively constant as this deck changes colors and incorporates new cards.
III. Red Threshold
Traditionally, the Red and White three-color versions of the deck were the most popular, due to their stability and strong card choices. Red Threshold was the superior choice in any environment with a substantial Goblins presence due to the vast superiority of Pyroclasm over Tivadar’s Crusade in that matchup, and the relative equality of the maindeck removal and threat base. This build is from The Mana Leak Open II:
Jesse Hatfield
March 2007
4 Predict
4 Brainstorm
3 Portent
3 Serum Visions
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Force of Will
3 Counterspell
3 Daze
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Werebear
2 Fledgling Dragon
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Pithing Needle
4 Volcanic Island
3 Tropical Island
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Island
1 Forest
Sideboard:
4 Pyroclasm
3 Counterbalance
3 Control Magic
2 Naturalize
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
This list shows the classic anti-Goblin elements, such as Pithing Needle, Forest, and Pyroclasm. However, even a year ago, Jesse anticipates the incorporation of Counterbalance into the deck by playing maindeck Sensei’s Divining Top.
Of course, last summer was one of the most dynamic times that the Legacy metagame has experienced, and the reasons why Red Threshold was superior began to change. First, the decline of Goblins due to intense hate and the maturity of Combo decks is well documented by me in my articles from that time. Second, Tarmogoyf began to replace various cards in everyone’s decks, and the difference between Swords to Plowshares and Lightning Bolt became more pronounced. And finally, Counterbalance broke into the mainstream, which had a huge influence on the format. This build of Red Threshold is from the NOVA Legacy Draft I:
Christopher Coppola
August 2007
4 Force Of Will
4 Daze
3 Counterbalance
3 Pithing Needle
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Brainstorm
4 Portent
3 Predict
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Fledgling Dragon
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Werebear
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
4 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
1 Forest
1 Island
Sideboard:
3 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Control Magic
1 Counterbalance
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Krosan Grip
4 Pyroclasm
At the time I wasn’t sure if anyone else had played with Counterbalance maindeck, so I was taking something of a risk in doing so. I predicted that Goblins would have a reduced presence, which suggested that it could pay off. I turned out the right about that particular tournament, but the card was so good that afterwards I knew it was inevitable that the card would replace Counterspell . At Gencon, I gave Lam Phan and Peter Olszewski a demonstration of the card, and after they won the tournament, Counterbalance started to find its way into all kinds of Blue decks.
This presented another challenge in the development of the archetype. Counterbalance was very good in a format with low Goblin levels, and it wins the mirror match it if comes down early enough. My initial response to this was to just play the last Counterbalance and start sideboarding Krosan Grips for the mirror. However, Lorwyn rewrote the Threshold mirror match.
IV. Black Threshold
After the printing of Thoughseize, the Black version of the deck had a tool that was both strong against the decks tough matchups, such as Goblins and Landstill, and also allowed the deck to win the Counterbalance war in the mirror. The Black removal, Ghastly Demise, was inferior to both Swords to Plowshares and Lightning Bolt in a lot of ways, but it still performed the most important tasks like killing Goblin Lackey and Tarmogoyf. The finishers are more difficult to compare, and although I think I preferred Sea Drake to Fledgling Dragon, neither is as good as Mystic Enforcer, which also happened to be a problematic card for Black Threshold to deal with.
Christopher Coppola
November 2007
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Nimble Mongoose
3 Sea Drake
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Counterbalance
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force Of Will
4 Ghastly Demise
4 Ponder
3 Portent
4 Thoughtseize
1 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
4 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
Sideboard:
3 Dark Confidant
4 Yixlid Jailer
1 Counterbalance
4 Engineered Plague
3 Krosan Grip
Aside from its ideal application as a Counterbalance support card, Thoughtseize turned out to be yet another amazing card for Legacy. After The Mana Leak Open III, I joked that good Legacy decks played Thoughtseize or Tarmogoyf, and the best ones played both. Getting strong new cards is not a common occurrence in Eternal formats, and getting Thoughtseize right after Tarmogoyf and while Counterbalance was being discovered really jolted the format.
Just as maindeck Counterbalance had become an essential part of Threshold months before, Thoughtseize had now proved its strength and became an important part of Threshold’s disruption. But what about all those good cards in Red and White?
V. Multiple Splashes
One consistent feature of Threshold decks has been that they play three colors. I have wanted to play four colors in the deck for a while, encouraged in this idea by the success of a few players such as Helmut Summersberger, but I considered it too much of a risk. For a long time Wasteland was a serious concern in any competitive tournament, and this gave three color versions of the deck an essential stability.
However, just as playing three color Red Threshold lost much of its value due to the changes in the format, playing more than three colors became much less of a risk. Since November I have been playing with the idea of putting White back into the deck for Swords to Plowshares and Mystic Enforcer, but I knew this would weaken the manabase, and I wasn’t sure if the deck could take it. Recently, I decided it was worth taking the risk. Here is the deck I played at the NOVA Legacy Draft II:
Christopher Coppola
March 2008
4 Force of Will
4 Thoughtseize
4 Counterbalance
3 Daze
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Portent
2 Mystic Enforcer
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
Sideboard:
4 Engineered Plague
3 Krosan Grip
3 Annul
3 Dark Confidant
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Mystic Enforcer
This decklist is strikingly similar in my opinion to the one I played in Annandale last year. The slots available for draw, removal, and disruption have remained relatively constant even though the cards in them have changed, which strongly supports the idea that Threshold design is highly modular and flexible to changes in the splash color.
The benefits of playing four colors are clear — the threats, removal, and disruption are the best available. The Counterbalance engine is seamlessly incorporated into and supported by the deck. This is why I wanted to play four colors in the first place, and for the most part the deck worked. The maindeck was very good, but I was not satisfied with my sideboard. Even while I was designing this list I was constantly frustrated by the presence of all the good sideboard cards in the only color I wasn’t playing.
My anxiety about the manabase was calmed somewhat when my teammates Alix and Jesse said they were going to bring their five color Threshold deck to the tournament. Whatever skepticism I had about playing with a four color manabase was just multiplied by considering the additional strain on color fixing, and I was additionally concerned about the life loss from City of Brass.
However, I have practiced deck design for long enough to know that a four-color manabase is the worst manabase one can design, and this was apparent when I was trying to build the manabase here. There are a lot of good reasons to play with five-color lands in a four color deck, and it was difficult to weigh these against the unique characteristics of Threshold that work with a four-color manabase, such as eight fetchlands, ten cantrips, and Daze. However, the more important question was whether or not the format had few enough Wastelands to allow the deck to take advantage of the best cards from all colors. Naturally, if one is playing with a five color manabase, there is no reason not to play all the best cards, and this is something that should always be considered when designing four-color decks.
As it turns out, the four-color manabase I was using was only slightly more consistent than the five-color one, although I think four-colors would still be playable in a Wasteland-heavy environment while five-colors would probably be impossible. Under normal circumstances, some increased card power may be worth a decrease in manabase consistency, but at the moment it seems that there is little drawback to splashing additional colors. Jesse and Alix both made Top 8 with the five-color deck.
VI. Future Development
My teammates’ maindeck turned out to be identical to mine (besides the manabase), which I took as in indication that we were doing it properly. Their sideboard was mostly good Red cards, which in this case is what the splash is being weighed against. Pyroclasm, Ancient Grudge, and Red Elemental Blast are very strong and worth the hit that the deck takes from City of Brass.
I think the third Portent should return to the deck to help support five colors, and I would still like to find some way of putting an Island in the deck somewhere. There are also some spaces left in the sideboard after all the best cards are used, and I suspect those slots are going to change dynamically as the format evolves. However, five-color Threshold has a lot of advantages, and with continued refinement I suspect it is going to remain a strong option in any environment without a heavy Wasteland presence.