I look at a lot of decklists. Ever since I started doing these Digests, I look at even more. And every so often there is a deck that defies my expectations enough that I end up scouring it for five minutes or more just to make sure I haven’t started losing my senses. This is one of those lists.
I spent more time than I care to admit looking for Sensei’s Divining Top and Counterbalance because the Rest in Peace – Helm of Obedience combo has made its name in Legacy as the win condition in a variant of Miracles. Energy Field comes along for the ride, since, along with Rest in Peace, it means your opponents cannot deal damage to you. Control decks tend to like that sort of thing.
The card that really tips you off that this is more than a strange Miracles deck is Enlightened Tutor. There are only two copies, but it signifies the desire to set up your combos as quickly as possible and allows you to play a small toolbox of answers, from the versatile Detention Sphere and Pithing Needle to the powerful Humility. Luminarch Ascension gives you a means to close out games once you’ve assembled a soft lock, while Back to Basics can soft-lock opponents all by itself.
All of these are powerful options for a deck that wants to play long games and thus has to concern itself with a wide range of angles of attack from its opponents. There are going to be plenty of games where you execute your combo or simply land an Energy Field that your opponent is unprepared for, but once your opponent understands the matchup and reaches into their sideboard, you have to be prepared, and that means being flexible.
Luminarch Ascension and Jace, the Mind Sculptor are reasonable ways to do so in the maindeck, but after sideboarding you need a more aggressive option. Even without Sensei’s Divining Top, Monastery Mentor is the best option, since it is cheap and ends the game quickly. Even if it’s answered, the Monk tokens it leaves behind can end the game in a hurry with a deck that is so creature-light.
The one point of contention I have with the list is only maindecking two copies of Swords to Plowshares. The Energy Fields do a lot against creature decks, but Swords is too efficient to not run more of them, especially when you don’t have access to Terminus. With a toolbox, the numbers are always tough to optimize, but at a certain point the power of a given card cannot be ignored.
As Miracles becomes more popular in Legacy, the assault on Sensei’s Divining Top is only going to become more extreme, which makes this deck an easy way to sidestep that hate while still maintaining the core advantages Miracles has over the rest of the format. That said, you’re never going to have a better Helm of Obedience than Kennen Haas. (Sorry, Dan!)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (22)
Spells (35)
