While I was out playing around with Food Chain, a bunch of other people did notable things with D&T. I wanted to highlight some results from the past few days and discuss some of the lists in detail; while I’m constantly gathering data from The Source and MtG:Salvation, I realize that most people probably aren’t keeping tabs on things as closely as I am. The Legacy metagame is in flux at the moment, with 4 Color Control being the “new” contender. It’s just a pile of good, value-oriented cards. It doesn’t have a fast clock, but it outgrinds and outdraws most of the format. So, how do we approach this menace? I’m going to look at the decklists of a handful of MtG:Salvation and The Source users from this weekend to show off the various approaches you can take to D&T in the current metagame.
Mad Mat, 1st at a 26 person event
Here’s his brief write up.
I don’t like a few of the choices here. Judge’s Familiar has always seemed a little anemic to me. Yes, sometimes you will get a disgustingly sick surprise off an Aether Vial and completely blow out your opponent. More often, it’s a tax spell that can just be played around that doesn’t have a super-relevant body. It’s likely to snag a Ponder quality card at some point, but you rarely get something juicy like a Natural Order or Infernal Tutor. I don’t like it in the face of the Baleful Strix decks that are floating around. It does, however, synergize well with Thalia, Heretic Cathar to further put the pressure on the opponent’s mana.
I, personally, would have run two Kambal, Consul of Allocation over the two THC. If you’re already going to splash black, going a card or two deeper probably doesn’t hurt too much. Wasteland is at a relative low at the moment, so the splash is likely somewhat safe. Kambal seems brutal against 4 Color Control, as well as serving an annoying, protect-able threat for the Miracles matchup.
I do *really* like Orzhov Pontiff. It’s a mirror-breaker, and it has random upside in a ton of matchups. It can clear out Young Pyromancer tokens, sweep away opposing idiots like Baleful Strix, remove a True-Name Nemesis, give you a glimmer of hope against Elves…
Iatee, 11th Legacy Open
Iatee has been a very active member on The Source for years, and I frequently check up on how he’s doing at events. In the pre-Recruiter of the Guard era, he argued strongly for the red splash, primarily citing the power of Magus of the Moon as a blowout card and the excellent toolbox the red splash gives you. In a feature match against Miracles in this event, he Vialed it in, temporarily cutting his opponent off white mana and putting a huge strain on his opponent’s mana. That card isn’t even supposed to be good against Miracles! Just imagine what that card would do against the 4 Color Control deck or Lands! I’m not usually a fan of splashing, but I think it was a great weekend to splash.
His sideboard deviates from the traditional norm a bit, but I think that’s a good thing. I’ve posted previously about how I think the sideboard can use some work, and this shores up many of my concerns. With this configuration, it’s very easy to pull out the weaker spells in most matchups and replace them with more relevant cards. I’m not very hot on Faerie Macabre, as I prefer the more flexible Surgical Extraction, but I like all of the other tutor targets quite a bit. Pia and Kiran Nalaar serves as both a recursive threat and removal, which is very good in the face of the other grindy decks of the format. If the metagame stays where it is currently after the release of the next set, I think this is a very solid list to bring to a big event.
Neckbird, 1st, Legacy Classic
Here’s his report. There isn’t any spice here. This is just generic, mono-white taxes. It’s quite similar to what I’ve been running, though he didn’t take the plunge and move SoWaP to the main. There is no need to warp your deck to beat the new meta; the tried and true mono-white version is still great.
Stephen Dupal, 32nd, Legacy Open
Again, there isn’t anything fancy here. Palace Jailer is a reasonable inclusion in the deck, though one I’m not a huge fan of personally. There are some games where it is the most insane card in your deck, and others where it single-handedly loses you the game when your Miracles opponent manages to steal the crown. I’m also not a fan of Horizon Canopy, but I don’t fault people for playing it. I don’t think there is any matchup where we *need* this card, so I don’t run it. I like it a little bit better in Iatee’s list, since he has another four drop in Pia and Kiran Nalaar, so ticking Vial up to four doesn’t just mean your Vial is now 100% worthless.
AntiquatedNotion, Top 64, Legacy Open
I’ve been meeting up with Louis for years at events, and I frequently bounce ideas off him before I go and make some big changes to the deck or try something crazy. His list is almost identical to mine, though he opted to run another Avenger over the second Recruiter. In making that change, it also makes sense to trim one Cavern of Souls for another more stable white source. He is running a second Containment Priest over a second Surgical, a change that I think I can get behind. R/B Reanimator is certainly still a deck, but it’s not quite at GP Louisville levels of popularity anymore.
While not a touranment report, Reddit user Douges took the time to discuss Dryad Militant as a legitimate maindeck option. You can read about it here. While I don’t think I can get behind Dryad Militant in the deck, I do absolutely understand where he’s coming from in wanting some maindeck graveyard hate. I’ve been toying around with the idea of running some number of Relic of Progenitus in the main for the past week. It’s something that I tested before, and it was relatively respectable. After Brainstorm, Deathrite Shaman is likely one of the better and most popular cards in the format. I don’t mind hating on it a bit more than we are now. Running a couple of Relics in the main could free up some sideboard slots too, and I’m all about tinkering with the sideboard at the moment…
