Welcome to Eternal Glory, the new article series on AZMagicPlayers! The theme of this series is to explore the vast format of Legacy. Sure, there are the top dogs—RUG Delver, Maverick, and Stoneblade come to mind, but in a format with over 10000 cards, there certainly has to be more than just that, right? Eternal Glory is our attempt at answering that question. We’ll try to play various Legacy decks in tournaments and reflect on the deck. Not only will it allow us to learn the format at a much deeper level than just the Maverick/Stoneblade matchup or Maverick/RUG matchup or whatever, but also YOU can see the different playable decks in Legacy, and perhaps join us at the next Legacy event :)
However, it just doesn’t end there—we want to see YOUR decks! Feel free to post decks in the comments that you would like to see us play in tournaments. If you have any wacky ideas that you think will be playable in Legacy, send it to us and we’ll try to make it work.
To kick off this article series, I took the Mighty Quinn to Pop Culture Paradise this past Sunday. Let’s see the decklist I took to battle.
| Creatures (3) 1 Eternal Dragon 2 Painter’s Servant Instants/Sorceries (17) 3 Enlightened Tutor 4 Swords to Plowshares 2 Path to Exile 2 Wrath of God 4 Orim’s Chant 2 Abeyance Artifacts/Enchantments (14) 4 Sensei’s Divining Top 1 Runed Halo 1 Pithing Needle 2 Grindstone 1 Sacred Mesa 1 Humility 1 Oblivion Ring 2 Isochron Scepter 1 Moat Planeswalkers (3) 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant 1 Gideon Jura Lands (23) 4 Scrying Sheets 1 Kor Haven 18 Plains | Sideboard (15) 4 Leyline of Sanctity 1 Circle of Protection: Red 1 Pithing Needle 1 Wheel of Sun and Moon 1 Tormod’s Crypt 1 Relic of Progenitus 1 Ghostly Prison 2 Oblivion Ring 1 Seal of Cleansing 1 Ensnaring Bridge 1 Phyrexian Metamorph |
What is the Mighty Quinn? Named after the Bob Dylan song, it is a grindy monowhite control deck that uses the Sensei’s Divining Top and Scrying Sheets engine to filter through the deck to find the relevant answers with Top and Enlightened Tutor. The main win condition is Painter’s Servant and Grindstone, but Gideon Jura and Elspeth, Knight-Errant can provide a win condition in a pinch. Isochron Scepter and Orim’s Chant can lock many opponents out of the game.
I had built this deck a couple months ago when I managed to get Painter’s Servants and Grindstones in a trade, but I had never gathered the courage to play it in a tournament. However, I had lent the Mighty Quinn out for two events prior to this and both pilots finished 2-2, which isn’t too terrible for a deck that is relatively complicated to play. To a guy like me, who usually plays decks like RUG or Stoneblade in Legacy events, it’s an odd experience playing a deck that is completely different, and hasn’t put up many results lately. However, I do play this deck casually when we are just playing Legacy for fun, so I was hoping that my limited experience with the deck would allow me to finish at least 2-2.
After arriving at Pop Culture Paradise near 1, I gathered the remaining cards I needed for my deck. I needed a playset of Leyline of Sanctity (since my brother was using them in his Maverick list) and the card that makes the Mighty Quinn expensive—Moat. I certainly think that the deck is playable without Moat, but the protection it provides can be invaluable at times.
Only nine players showed up for the event, unfortunately, but the prize was a Jace, the Mind Sculptor. For a $5 entry, that’s not too bad. Plus, I can finally finish up the playset of Jace that my brother and I have been meaning to finish up for awhile. This is, of course, assuming I can squeak out wins with this Mighty Quinn deck.
Round 1 – Matt with Combo Elves
I lent my Combo Elves deck last minute to my buddy Matt. Unfortunately, the last minute scrabbling to find the cards for Combo Elves left some glaring holes in his sideboard (which punished him game two). Matt is primarily a control player, which can pose problems to the Mighty Quinn. Since control decks run counterspells like Force of Will, it can disrupt the Scepter/Chant lock and drop Jace, of which this deck has difficulty dealing with.
Combo Elves seems like a scary matchup for a slow deck like the Mighty Quinn. Combo Elves, while equipped to win the long game with cards like Emrakul and the Elvish Visionary/Wirewood Symbiote combo, can kill on turn two. The Mighty Quinn, as I’ve discovered, is okay with just laying out a turn one Sensei’s Divining Top, and making land drops for four or five turns until it can drop a Scepter/Chant or an Elspeth. This couldn’t be the plan versus Combo Elves though. Combo Elves would just kill me before I can turn the tide.
Luckily, I didn’t have much to worry about. I open up with two Orim’s Chant in game one, and drawing into a third Orim’s Chant. I stall him out by Chanting him when he plays Glimpse of Nature, and when I Enlightened Tutor for an Isochron Scepter and play it imprinting my third Orim’s Chant, he packs it in.
Game two was a similar affair. I manage to get a turn two Scepter with an Orim’s Chant on it but with only two land. He is able to get 5 or 6 elves out, beating me for six each turn while I am just chanting him to prevent him from casting any more elves, and when I draw the third land to stop him from attacking, it’s game. We realized that putting the sideboard for the Combo Elves list together in haste caused us to forget the artifact hate! While this would have been relevant, it would have been tough to naturally draw it before I had another way to answer his Elves, so I’m not sure how big of a difference it would have made.
1-0
Round 2 – Jeff with Maverick
Maverick is a strange matchup for the Mighty Quinn. Mighty Quinn has plenty of tools to deal with the onslaught of green and white creatures, but at the same time, Maverick has plenty of tools to deal with the Mighty Quinn—namely Green Sun’s Zenith, Gaddock Teeg, Qasali Pridemage, and Dark Ascension’s new tool in Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. In playtesting versus my brother, there are times when the matches can be completely lopsided for one deck, and other times when the matches are completely lopsided for the other deck.
In game one, I take it easily after an early Scepter Chant locks him up. However, games two and three are different stories. A turn two Thalia (and protected with Mother of Runes) slows me down immensely, and when he drops a Gaddock Teeg when I am about to hit my fourth land drop for either Moat, Wrath of God, or Gideon Jura….yeah, that is a pretty good draw!
Unfortunately, game three is more similar to game two than game one. He drops a Thrun on turn three thanks to Noble Hierarch, and a turn four Sword of Light and Shadow to bring back his Qasali Pridemage spells game.
1-1
Round 3 – Chuck with Infect Stompy
Yet another match I’m worried about. As I stated before, the Mighty Quinn is a pretty slow deck, so any fast deck is poison to me. And poison he does—in response to my turn two Abeyance, he Invigorates and Berserks his Ichorclaw Myr, ending the game just like that!
Game two is much more in my favor. Since I didn’t show much in game one, he isn’t sure what to board in. I manage to Path to Exile his early creatures and he drops an Umezawa’s Jitte, but that does nothing when I play a Gideon Jura and a Humility and take down his life total by 6 each turn.
In the deciding game, I have double Swords to Plowshares to stop his first two creatures, which slows him down greatly. I also draw into three of my Orim’s Chants, which also buys me quite a bit of time. It’s a very close game. He hits me with an Invigorated Plague Myr, but I land an Elspeth the turn later and bring out a Soldier. He Rancors his Plague Myr to trample over my Soldier and giving me my seventh poison counter in the process, but luckily since they traded, he is left with no creatures, and my Elspeth starts pumping my Soldiers to end the game.
2-1
Round 4 – Jimmy with Burn
Game one ends pretty quickly. A Goblin Guide, Flame Rift, then a flurry of burn spells after that is enough to send me to my sideboard. Luckily for me, the Mighty Quinn has a pretty good sideboard plan against Burn. Leyline of Sanctity is pretty decent. It certainly doesn’t do enough though—creatures get past the Leyline pretty easily, Flame Rift deals a significant amount of damage, and Price of Progress is strangely relevant too. Of course, the sideboard Circle of Protection: Red I hear is pretty good against burn, so we’ll see how that performs!
For game two, I open with what is possibly the sketchiest hand all day: Painter’s Servant, Grindstone, Elspeth, and four lands. I am soo tempted to keep this hand since it’s a turn three win. The problem is, I have absolutely no way to deal with his onslaught of burn spells and red creatures. If he doesn’t know the combo, then I can just hope he doesn’t burn out the Painter’s Servant on turn two and I can just win on my turn three. Because I am a greedy man, I keep it. I go turn one Grindstone, pass. He has turn one Goblin Guide, swing, pass. I go turn two Painter’s Servant and I name green. He untaps and plays a Chain Lightning on my Painter’s Servant.
:(
I am depressed that the Painter’s Servant is already dead and I already start to imagine myself at 2-2, but I try to keep myself going. I topdeck like a boss, drawing a Swords to Plowshares for the Goblin Guide, a Sensei’s Divining Top, and a LEYLINE OF SANCTITY! I slam the Sanctity down but he has the perfect counter for it: Sulfuric Vortex.
:(
I am not one to give up though! I play a Gideon Jura and a Ghostly Prison. Gideon Jura gives me a hedge against his creatures, and Leyline is keeping me safe against his burn spells, but I have to find a way to deal with that darn Vortex! Luckily, I draw into two Path to Exiles which keep his creatures at bay and I jump my Gideon with Elspeth to take the game…while I’m at 1 life. He shows me the Fireblast that would have killed me if it wasn’t for the Leyline of Sanctity.
Game three is much less of a heart pounder as I actually manage to see an Enlightened Tutor, which grabs my trusty Circle of Protection: Red. I am okay with draw-go for the next bazillion turns. I make sure I have one mana for each card in his hand. After I tap four mana to cast a Leyline of Sanctity, he attempts to burn me out with a combination of creatures, Price of Progresses, and Flame Rifts, but he miscalculates and is left with just a burn card in hand. I untap, cast an Abeyance on him, play Painter’s Servant, Grindstone, and activate it, targeting him, to take the match. Phew.
3-1
Top 4 – Joe with Aggro Loam
Aggro Loam seems like a difficult matchup for the Mighty Quinn. Since the Mighty Quinn is a permanent based control deck, Maelstrom Pulse is quite possibly the best card against the Mighty Quinn—as long as I don’t have a Scepter/Chant lock. However, Joe’s build can also get around the Scepter/Chant lock by killing me slowly with Punishing Fire.
I’m pretty lucky though in game one—Joe miscalculates the cost of Painter’s Servant, and after he taps out to kill my Elspeth, I Enlightened Tutor for Painter’s Servant and have the five mana exactly to cast the Servant and activate the Grindstone I cast on turn one.
Game two is quite bad for me. He Inquisitions me, taking my Sensei’s Divining Top, and he lands a Chalice of the Void for one. I draw lands for the next billion turns and while I am able to cast a Gideon on my turn five, it is no match for Punishing Fire and once my Gideon dies, I die slowly to Punishing Fire, then Tarmogoyf. It is after this game that I realize that Leyline of Sanctity is pretty darn good against Aggro Loam; it shuts off Edict effects, Punishing Fire, discard, and Seismic Assault.
In game three I open up with a Leyline of Sanctity and a Grindstone, then a Pithing Needle naming Wasteland (which was necessary to protect the only other two lands in my hand—Scrying Sheets). He Pulses the Grindstone, but falls victim to my Gideon Jura, who is protected by my Leyline of Sanctity. After the game, he shows me a hand full of Punishing Fires and Inquisition of Kozilek. Yeah, I’d say the Leyline was a good call!
4-1
Finals – Chuck with Infect
It’s a recurring trend here that I am worried about literally every matchup, and facing Chuck in the finals is certainly something I didn’t want to see. However, I DO want that Jace, so I tell myself I should probably just suck it up and play it out.
Game one ends fairly quickly as he mulligans to five and my Sensei’s Divining Top decides to be awesome to me. It gives me two Swords to Plowshares, which buys me enough time to drop a Pithing Needle on his Inkmoth Nexus and finally, a Moat to completely halt his deck. With no maindeck ways (and no flyers other than Inkmoth Nexus) to deal with the Moat and Pithing Needle combination, he scoops it up to go to game two.
It’s weird how luck works. I mulligan down to five, but my five card hand contains the magical number of two Swords to Plowshares and a Kor Haven. Swords to Plowshares buys me a couple of turns, but he is slowly poisoning me with an Inkmoth Nexus and a Glistener Elf. A Rancor on the Nexus poisons me up to 7 counters, but the Kor Haven is buying me a ton of time. I finally Tutor for a Pithing Needle to shut the Inkmoth down, and I play an Elspeth the same turn to block his Elf. I keep pumping out Soldiers and with Kor Haven protecting me, I manage to ultimate Elspeth to protect the Pithing Needle from Nature’s Claim. Finally, I topdeck into Painter’s Servant and Grindstone to mill him out and finish up my playset of Jace.
5-1
So, what did I think of the deck? Ending the day at 5-1 was very surprising; given how many decks I played, I just felt outmatched. The Mighty Quinn feels very slow, so facing these faster decks can be quite a race.
Would I play this deck again? Certainly, but it depends on the metagame. I feel that the Mighty Quinn can just completely dominate the aggro decks of old—Goblins, Affinity, and Zoo, for example. Wrath of God, Swords to Plowshares, and other board control cards can be such a beating versus these decks. I would definitely recommend playing the Mighty Quinn in those types of metagames.
Overall, it’s a pretty fun deck to play. There are a lot of decisions to be made, especially with Sensei’s Divining Top and Enlightened Tutor, so if you like feeling in complete control over the game, check it out.
So remember, if you have a deck that you’d like for us to sling at the next Legacy event, shoot us a decklist. We’d love to feature it!
Jason
@mtgtwin1 on Twitter
Fallfromhell
Jason
If only Moat wasnt so damn expensive