In preparation for SCG Syracuse and SCG Philly to finish off the opens I will be attending this year, I have been trying a bunch of different legacy decks in search of a way to solve this wide-open format. I have been feeling like the format is adjusted some of my tried and true strategies and wanted to potentially switch it up. Starting with a pet deck of sorts for me.
BUG Nic Fit
This is the evolution of a deck Matt Sperling was playing about a year ago. It is nothing if not fun to play. I think Ice-Fang Coatl is a massive upgrade for this deck, as the two-drops previously were lacking. Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze were the only targets for Green Sun’s Zenith at that mana cost. Now at the minimum you can put a Coatl in play and cycle.
Coatl also gives you more game against the aggressive decks and blocks well against Delver of Secrets. It’s another speed bump for Dark Depths decks to fight through so you can bridge the gap to Jace.
Unfortunately, Bug Nic Fit falls just under the mark for a good deck in Legacy in my opinion. The combo and Dark Depths matchups are not very good. The blue midrange deck still have ways to grind, and most have Wrenn and Six to demand pressure starting on turn two.
Four-Color Delver, by Brian Coval
| Creatures (12) 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Tarmogoyf 2 True-name Nemesis 2 Gurmag Angler Spells (29) 3 Wrenn and Six 4 Brainstorm 4 Ponder 2 Preordain 2 Spell Pierce 4 Lightning Bolt 2 Abrupt Decay 4 Daze 4 Force of Will | Lands (19) 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Polluted Delta 3 Tropical Island 2 Volcanic Island 1 Badlands 1 Underground Sea 4 Wasteland Sideboard (15) 1 Blue Elemental Blast 1 Force of Negation 1 Red Elemental Blast 1 Pyroblast 1 Ancient Grudge 1 Sylvan Library 2 Tyrant's Scorn 3 Thoughtseize 2 Surgical Extraction 2 Plague Engineer |
I decided to give Delver a shot next. No surprise—I thought this deck was very solid. The Badlands/Daze combo is a problem, but all the cards in the deck are good. I also think the black cards offer a lot of power over three-color versions. To beat combo decks in Legacy consistently, you need to have access to a mix of discard and counter-magic.
I still think Wrenn and Six is an odd card in Delver. It doesn’t pressure combo decks enough, but it’s such a good card that you need to play it. Tyrant’s Scorn over edicts is probably a good call as the Dark Depths decks become more creature-heavy. But I was really unimpressed with Sylvan Library and would look to some other card for white-based control decks.
Temur Delver
| Creatures (13) 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Tarmogoyf 2 True-Name Nemesis 3 Dreadhorde Arcanist Spells (28) 3 Wrenn and Six 4 Brainstorm 4 Ponder 2 Preordain 2 Spell Pierce 4 Lightning Bolt 1 Chain Lightning 4 Daze 4 Force of Will | Lands (20) 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Polluted Delta 3 Tropical Island 4 Volcanic Island 1 Fiery Islet 4 Wasteland Sideboard (15) 1 Blue Elemental Blast 2 Force of Negation 1 Red Elemental Blast 1 Pyroblast 1 Ancient Grudge 1 Abrade 1 Sylvan Library 2 Submerge 3 Surgical Extraction 2 Winter Orb |
I haven’t had enough time to give this deck a fair shake, but to me it was underpowered and exploitable. The combo decks are so good in Legacy that you really need to hit them with both targeted discard and counters to have a great matchup, as I mentioned about the Four-Color deck above. That’s what made Grixis Delver so good with Deathrite Shaman: it had everything from graveyard hate in the shaman, discard in Probe/Therapy, and the free counters Delver is known to play. Combo decks will struggle to poke a hole in your defenses when you have all three, but RUG only has counters.
Even so, Temur did well in the Magic Online events this past weekend. It was all over the decklist dump from the event. I might have slept on Hexdrinker, similar to the other cards that seemed innocuous but might be the mana sink and finisher after Wrenn and Six has established your mana.
BG Depths
| Creatures (11) 4 Vampire Hexmage 2 Dark Confidant 1 Sylvan Safekeeper 4 Elvish Reclaimer Spells (22) 4 Mox Diamond 4 Abrupt Decay 4 Thoughtseize 3 Duress 4 Crop Rotation 3 Sylvan Scrying | Lands (27) 4 Dark Depths 4 Thespian’s Stage 4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 4 Verdant Catacombs 3 Bayou 1 Forest 1 Swamp 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Karakas 1 Sejiri Steppe 1 Ghost Quarter 2 Wasteland Sideboard (13) 3 Pithing Needle 3 Surgical Extraction 2 Rite of Consumption 2 Plague Engineer 2 Liliana, the Last Hope 1 Sylvan Library |
I was pretty committed to playing Delver up until the night before the Legacy Trial, then went on a cold streak while testing on Magic Online. I decided to throw together my Depths deck anyway just in case and ultimately audibled the day of the trial. I ended up losing the first round and couldn’t help but thinking I made a mistake and should have registered a Brainstorm deck. The event ended up turning around, and I walked away with my first bye for Eternal Weekend in late October.
The main deck is fairly close to what I would play—not much to change. This sideboard is fairly teched out for the Toronto metagame. It would not be too bad to play in an event, but I would want another Plague Engineer. I would also steer away from Rite of Consumption and look to some threats that attack from a different angle, like Bitterblossom.
At this point, BG Depths is an obvious front-runner for me going into this weekend. I do think it’s in much worse of a spot than the deck was last year, but the alternatives I am presented with all seem lackluster. The fair decks in Legacy seem stretched thin between all the different Chalice of the Void decks, combo decks, and having to be tuned to beat other fair decks. They are still pretty week to good Depths builds, so I’m hoping that stays true and I can work my way towards my tenth Top 8.