AuthorDoug Linn

Tuesday, April 14th – This week, we consider three potentially devastating mana accelerators that see no love in Legacy. Can we find home for these powerhouses in such a strong format? Check out several ideas for putting these bargain cards into decks that could benefit from the extra mana. Also, check out the latest deck to catch Doug’s fancy – a wacky Zur deck that looks deceptively playable. Lastly, Doug concludes with great news from SCG in the wake of GP: Chicago!

Tuesday, April 7th – Doug takes a look back at his GP: Chicago Gifts Rock deck and made major adjustments. Did his improvements help his matchups in a small tournament he played last weekend? Does the deck attack an opponent from all angles or suffer from inconsistency and terminal cuteness? How has Extended influenced the build? Find out more about the “other” deck running Sensei’s Divining Top and see how it accesses some of the format’s most powerful threats and answers in this week’s Legacy’s Allure!

Tuesday, March 31st – Merfolk, one of Legacy’s newest decks, showed up on the scene in Lorwyn and quickly made an impact in tournaments around the world. Today, Doug complies the results from over two dozen winning Merfolk lists and shows the most common cards, as well as some curious outliers. Take a look at the consistently-built archetype and gather insights about why the deck has become so strong. Doug presents a composite maindeck and sideboard for Merfolk, along with new and controversial additions to the standard list!

Tuesday, March 24th – Aside from the match coverage and player interviews, we don’t find out much about how Magic players get to the final tables in a Grand Prix. What may seem like a cunning deck choice may have been luck, while a strange card selection might have been soundly chosen and proven in the field. Today, Doug interviews three Top 8 competitors from Grand Prix: Chicago for their insights about deck choices, practice time and unlikely wins. Join in for interviews with Andrew Probasco, Gabriel Nassif and Brian Six, in this week’s Legacy’s Allure!

Tuesday, March 17th – Burn, long the ignored and maligned stepchild of Legacy, gets its day in the sun (or in the fire) in this week’s Legacy’s Allure. How is a Lightning Bolt like a Tendrils of Agony? Both burn and combo rely on getting a critical mass of spells through to win the game. How can we get our lightning storm to work in Legacy? Learn more about the surprising connections between card counts in a Legacy burn deck and why Barbarian Ring might not be strictly better than Mountain. Also, find strategies for beating Counterbalance, the ubiquitous blue enchantment. Are you ready to burn?

Tuesday, March 10th – Hot off the heels of the largest Grand Prix in American history, get a first-hand account of the event! Check out the unconventional list that Doug played and see his proposed changes. Get a perspective on the Top 8 and a look at Legacy for the coming months and a look at possible changes to the banned list. Is Counterbalance simply too good? Find out inside!

Tuesday, March 3rd – This week, Doug covers four areas of sideboard construction that will elevate your deckbuilding skills and tournament success. Learn about effective sideboard cards, avoiding problems of boarding more cards than you can play, and how to utilize Legacy’s deep cardpool to pack the most effective answers to potential problems. Look at examples of proven decks with sideboard improvement suggestions and see some hot new techy lists along the way!

Tuesday, February 24th – This week, Doug tackles the emergent Natural Order combo, using the antique Visions sorcery to Tinker Progenitus into play. How can Legacy players handle this new strategy when the common tools in Legacy can’t target the monster? What decks could pack this combination, and what should you watch out for? Get this, along with a pragmatic assessment of preparing for Progenitus at Grand Prix: Chicago, in this week’s article.

Wednesday, February 18th – With Grand Prix: Chicago coming up so soon, we’ve only got a few weeks to cook our decks into tournament winners. Part of the preparation work is understanding what our decks are capable of, but a good deal of it is also understanding what we’re up against. In light of this, today we’ll be discussing three common Legacy cards and how to play with and against them.

Wednesday, January 21st – With Grand Prix: Chicago coming up in March, Legacy players will have a huge tournament to prepare for, full of its own challenges and requirements that are distinct from the smaller events that we are used to. Instead of tuning a deck to last five rounds and hopefully a playoff in the Top 8, GP players will have 15+ rounds to do battle in. In this article, we’ll identify and explore five key concepts for GP victory.

Friday, December 26th – Doug tackles two matches between Ad Nauseam and UGB Threshold this week with a thorough play-by-play article. Are you curious about how Legacy’s premiere combo deck stacks up against its toughest matchup in the format? Can Mystical Tutor and Lion’s Eye Diamond defeat Daze and Thoughtseize? How do you successfully sideboard against the opposing deck? Find out all this and more in this week’s article.

Wednesday, November 19th – In the month since Doug last wrote about this deck, it’s been gaining steam in the metagame and now players are looking at how to optimize the deck. Is Orim’s Chant worthwhile? Can we really get away with running zero maindeck win conditions? Take a look at some tournament-proven winning lists and join Doug for a look at deck options, from the sublime to the absurd, in this month’s Unlocking Legacy.

Tuesday, October 14th – No doubt, Ad Nauseam is sick. This is no mere Panglossian pronouncement – it has the potential to draw a lot of cards, fuel a storm finish, and it sits in the right mana acceleration colors. The most fundamental question regarding Ad Nauseam is not whether it’s good, but how to build the deck correctly. As such, we have to put in some serious thinking about how we want to resolve the draw spell and what we want to do with it. Join Doug and special guests for an exploration of the card.

Friday, September 19th – Is it too soon to talk about Shards of Alara? With a set this exciting, it’s hard to hold back until the release date. Join Doug for an exploration of some of the spoiled cards, sure to shake up the Legacy metagame and get Johnny minds thinking hard. Do we have an answer to the Tarmogoyf-dominant format? Also, Doug presents a tournament-tested Landstill deck with special surprise guests sharing their thoughts on the deck. Take a look at the future of Legacy…

Monday, August 18th – Doug examines the first results from the GenCon Legacy championships and discusses the importance of getting in practice over having the objectively best deck. With aggro-control again taking the world championships, we take a look at other aggressive-disruptive strategies and then finish up with one of the craziest decklists in a long line of weirdness. Not to be missed!