Round 1: Elves

Round 2: Deathblade

Round 3: Reanimator

Round 4: Miracles

Zombie-Vine

Drew Levin

Test deck on 03-19-2014

Legacy

Creatures (23)

• 3 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Triskelion
• 1 Quirion Ranger
• 1 Basking Rootwalla
• 1 Phyrexian Devourer
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 3 Vengevine
• 4 Fauna Shaman
• 1 Necrotic Ooze
• 4 Deathrite Shaman

Lands (19)

• 1 Forest
• 3 Wooded Foothills
• 1 Gaea's Cradle
• 1 Swamp
• 4 Bayou
• 1 Dryad Arbor
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Verdant Catacombs

Spells (18)

• 4 Reanimate
• 4 Buried Alive
• 3 Cabal Therapy
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 3 Abrupt Decay

Sideboard

• 1 Umezawa's Jitte
• 4 Natural Order
• 4 Dark Confidant
• 1 Big Game Hunter
• 1 Progenitus
• 1 Terastodon
• 3 Surgical Extraction

First off, I want to confess that I didn’t expect to win two matches, let alone come that close against Miracles. I especially didn’t expect to do well against Reanimator or against Deathrite Shaman, but it turns out that Thoughtseize is quite powerful.

A few quick hits:

• It was really fun to do everything this deck can do. Rebuying a Vengevine that got discarded to Liliana of the Veil, casting Natural Order into Progenitus, and playing Necrotic Ooze for twenty on turn 3 via Quirion Ranger and Fauna Shaman is quite a range of kills for four matches.
• Predictably enough, the best part of the deck is the one that looks and acts the most like Jund. I wanted Dark Confidant constantly, and it was great constantly. We won a lot of games on the back of Deathrite Shaman, Dark Confidant, Tarmogoyf, Thoughtseize, and Abrupt Decay—not exactly cards you think of when you hear “Vengevine.”
• I dislike both Surgical Extraction and Pithing Needle. It’s possible that Scavenging Ooze is a decent sideboard card, but I encourage you to experiment with those slots.
• If you learn anything from my first game against Deathblade, let it be that you should always be more aggressive. Yes, Reanimate a second Dark Confidant and go to single-digit life against an active Deathrite Shaman. Play to win.
• Over the past two weeks, I’ve come away with an appreciation for very large creatures in late game situations against utility focused decks. Vengevine and Scavenging Ooze do a lot of work just by attacking for reasonably sized packets of damage. That role used to get filled by Knight of the Reliquary, and I’m starting to think that Knight of the Reliquary is underplayed in Legacy. 

I deeply enjoyed reading all of your comments on last week’s video article, as I had no idea that people legitimately miss Vengevine beatdowns. Rather than more multiple choice polls, I’m going to keep giving you all an open floor to suggest cards and interactions that you’d like to see more of. As always, I can’t promise that they’ll win lots of games, but I can promise that I’ll find some sweet things to do.

And no, of course I haven’t forgotten about Artificer’s Intuition. But since SCG Open Series: Charlotte featuring the Invitational is coming up next weekend—an event that I’ll be missing sadly due to work commitments—I want to take next week’s content as an opportunity to tell you how I’ve picked my decks for split format events. If you’re heading to Charlotte next weekend and you aren’t sure of what to play, you don’t want to miss it. 

As always, a parting question for you fine folks back at home:

If you’re going to the Invitational, are you more comfortable with your Standard deck choice or your Legacy deck choice?

I’ll leave this one a little more open than the last. Rather than just voting, I want to know why you feel more or less comfortable with one format. Let me hear you in the comments, and I’ll be back next week!