While the first major Legacy Series event of the year has come and gone, that doesn’t mean we have to be done analyzing it! A whopping sixty-four players showed up to battle some Legacy at Desert Sky Games. Of course, in those sixty-four decklists is some spice. Let’s take a look at some of the brews and fringe decks that showed up this month.
5th-8th Place: Matt Vennard, UR Painter
| Creatures (8) 4 Painter's Servant 4 Goblin Welder Spells (32) 4 Mox Opal 4 Grindstone 4 Force of Will 3 Pyroblast 2 Red Elemental Blast 4 Brainstorm 4 Intuition 1 Tormod's Crypt 1 Lion's Eye Diamond 1 Ratchet Bomb 4 Sensei's Divining Top Lands (20) 4 Ancient Tomb 1 City of Traitors 3 Volcanic Island 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Mountain 1 Island 3 Great Furnace 3 Seat of the Synod | Sideboard (15) 4 Ensnaring Bridge 1 Ratchet Bomb 2 Red Elemental Blast 1 Pyroblast 2 Tormod's Crypt 2 Keranos, God of Storms 2 Pyroclasm 1 Pithing Needle |
Imperial Painter is the more common variant of the Painter’s Servant/Grindstone combo deck, so seeing this deck in the Top 8 was quite a surprise. Intuition is such a great card with Goblin Welder, allowing you to pretty much tutor for the combo. Unlike Imperial Painter, it can’t lock the game out with Blood Moon, but it trades the lock for Brainstorms and Force of Will – not exactly a bad trade off!
5th-8th Place: Daniel Sharpy, Junk Nic Fit
Four Siege Rhino? In Legacy? You better believe it! Nic Fit is always home to the cards whose textbox is powerful enough for Legacy, but typically costs way too much to cast. This version of Nic Fit is much less toolbox oriented than some other Nic Fit decks I’ve seen, but trading the versatility for consistency is probably a good thing.
Also, Ancestral Visions look-a-like Painful Truths makes an appearance here. I fully expect to see more of that card in Legacy in the coming months – it’s the real deal.
12th: PJ Melies, Human Stompy
| Creatures (20) 2 Avalanche Riders 3 Phyrexian Revoker 3 Scab-Clan Berserker 4 Prophetic Flamespeaker 4 Magus of the Moon 4 Simian Spirit Guide Spells (20) 4 Magma Jet 4 Blood Moon 2 Umezawa's Jitte 1 Sword of Fire and Ice 1 Sword of War and Peace 4 Chalice of the Void 4 Chrome Mox Lands (20) 8 Mountain 4 Cavern of Souls 4 City of Traitors 4 Ancient Tomb | Sideboard (15) 4 Faerie Macabre 2 Stingscourger 2 Smash to Smithereens 2 Boil 2 Sudden Demise 1 Sudden Shock 2 Koth of the Hammer |
How many times have you heard “swing, renown my guy” in Legacy before? Because you probably haven’t. I know I hadn’t!
Yet another variant of the Blood Moon Stompy style decks, this version abuses the creature type “Human”. Prophetic Flamespeaker is a great source of card advantage, and is also fantastic with equipment. The deck can also create uncounterable Blood Moons with Magus of the Moon + Cavern of Souls. And if you want to play around Blood Moon by fetching basics? Good luck with that – Avalanche Riders is here to crash the basic land party!
Overall Archetype Analysis
Thanks to lordofthepit from MTGTheSource, we also have a full overview of how each archetype performed at this tournament. Take a look:
Until next time…
It’ll be awhile until our next Legacy Series Championships – March 19th at Play or Draw – but we have a bunch of Legacy Series Trials until then! Be sure to check out the schedule here.
Jason