Introduction:
Well, the holidays have come and gone, along with the end of the world, and with the shiny new year comes some shiny resolutions. One: my articles are just plain too long. Write less. Two: it is becoming increasingly difficult to produce five decks an article for my readers. Do three instead. Disclaimer: dear readers, this is a good thing! If I adhere to these resolutions, I should be able to pump out an article a month, consistently, with no problem. No one likes a three-month wait on anything, but between full-time college and a relationship it's the best I think I can do. Of course, I'm cutting back so I can spring forth; still, if you, my readers, hate this decision, let me know, and I'll do what I can to fix it. This is all for you, after all.
Also, in previous articles I have refrained from discussing sideboards. Mostly, this was because I wanted to prevent net-decking. A sideboard should be constructed based on one's personal meta, so a net-decked sideboard would more often hurt a player than help him. I don't want you wasting money on sideboard cards you don't need. That's the opposite of what I want to do here. However, demand is high, and I have decided to meet you guys in the middle. However, I will not be providing actual sideboard lists for the decks I present. I will instead be discussing sideboard strategies and options. In this way I'll highlight what your deck could be packing for games two and three, all without promoting a waste of money. Let me know what you think.
And, with all of that out of the way, we can get on to the real meat of my first article of the year! When you talk about budget Legacy decks, one of the last things you think about is the color blue. You would be very hard-pressed to find any successful Legacy deck running blue that does not require a play set of Force of Will and/or six to eight blue fetch-lands to justify the use of Brainstorm. While I will not argue that the decks I will be presenting today may be improved if Force of Will or Brainstorm + fetch-lands were added to them, they can do just fine without them. Don't believe me? Take a look at our first list!
Decks:
Deck Name: Mono-Blue Tempo
Deck Type: Midrange
Cost: 185
This mono-blue deck was piloted to a top 8 finish by Brandon Semerau at the StarCityGames Legacy Open Minneapolis on August 2nd of last year. It's a mono-blue tempo deck that uses one of my favorite new cards, Jace's Phantasm.
| Mono-blue TempoMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | ||
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Creatures [19] 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Jace's Phantasm 3 Ninja of the Deep Hours 3 Snapcaster Mage 3 Spellstutter Sprite 2 Vendilion Clique | Spells [24] 4 Daze 2 Dismember 4 Ponder 2 Preordain 4 Spell Pierce 2 Archive Trap 4 Thought Scour 2 Vapor Snag | Lands [17] 17 Island |
Key Interactions-
Jace's Phantasm + Archive Trap or Thought Scour
Delver of Secrets + Ponder or Preordain
Ninja of the Deep Hours or Snapcaster Mage or Spellstutter Sprite or Vendilion Clique + Vapor Snag
This mono-blue tempo list that is just like the one Brandon played, with a few omissions and additions. I opted out of Wasteland, because it's expensive and isn't worth it. The deck needs optimal mana to play its flash creatures and counter-spells without depleting its stores. It's easier to get away with Wasteland when your counter-spells are free (like Force of Will), but since we don't have that luxury, it is much more difficult to actually take advantage of the one-for-one trade. Coupled with the fact that it has enough bounce and counter magic to disrupt the opponent as is, without worrying about getting mana-screwed by itself, Wasteland just wasn't necessary. I could be wrong, but this list has not steered me wrong yet.
The deck plays in a pretty simple manner. Land a few early threats, of which you have plenty, and protect them with all your disruption. The majority of your deck is fliers, so it will be very difficult for your opponent to block you and very easy for you to sneak in a ninja or two. Through card advantage, disruption, and some of the most efficient beaters in the game, you should have at least a decent match-up against anything you run into.
Running 24 instants and sorceries gives you a decent chance to blind-flip your delvers, but should the need arise, Ponder and Preordain can help make it a sure thing. Delver of Secrets has been the bad guy of Legacy ever since he was printed, and we love being bad. That buggy little scientist is too good to pass up.
Finally, every creature in your deck--save for your beat sticks--can benefit from being bounced. If you see it fitting for the situation, don't miss the chance to use Vapor Snag on one of your own creatures. The life loss is pretty much always worth it when you can reuse a click or Snapcaster. I would almost suggest trying to find room for more bounce in the list. Echoing Truth is an example of a strong addition.
Sideboard Suggestions-
Speaking of bouncing your own creatures, this deck has some very cool sideboard options at its disposal. For example, Curfew does wonders in your creature match-ups. Force your opponent to bounce a Knight of the Reliquary or Tarmogoyf and you get to reuse the comes-into-play ability of one of yours! It does not target, so anything that your opponent uses Show and Tell to get into play--e.g. Emrakul--can be answered with this card. This is also comes with the added bonus that comes with using a card that my opponent has to read.
Gut Shot is another unexpectedly cool option. The card is actually just bonkers. It kills unflipped delvers, Mother of Runes (which can be a huge problem), enemy Vendilion Clique... the number of valid targets just goes on. Gut Shot can kill anything you may be uneasy countering--saving those counter spells for other, more dangerous targets.
What about Archive Trap, you ask? What's the sideboard option there? Two words: Surgical Extraction. Archive Trap and--to a lesser degree--Thought Scour both make Surgical Extraction very strong in match-ups that you may not normally bring it in for. Forcing your control opponent to mill 13 cards, thus possibly extracting Force of Will or Delver of Secrets, can give you a huge advantage.
Beyond these cool options, you can also fill your board with pretty much whatever your meta calls for. Additional grave hate, bounces, or counter magic are all fine choices as long as you can justify it.
Deck Name: Merfolk
Deck Type: Midrange
Cost: 240
It's commonplace, at least in my experience, for Merfolk to get suggested as a good budget deck for new Legacy players. I have always thought of this as lackluster advice, since the combination of Force of Will and Wasteland play sets makes the deck anything but budget. Joseph Gebhart proved that even without these so-called staples, the deck can still perform exceptionally well: he made top 8 with it at the StarCityGames Legacy Open in St. Louis on the 15th of July 2012.
| MerfolkMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | ||
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Creatures [27] 4 Coralhelm Commander 4 Cursecatcher 4 Lord of Atlantis 4 Master of the Pearl Trident 4 Merrow Reejerey 3 Phantasmal Image 4 Silvergill Adept | Spells [14] 4 AEther Vial 3 Counterspell 3 Daze 3 Spell Pierce 1 Umezawa's Jitte | Lands [19] 2 Cavern of Souls 13 Island 4 Mishra's Factory |
Key Interactions-
Phantasmal Image + Any lord in the deck
AEther Vial + Silvergill Adept or Merrow Reejerey or Cursecatcher
This is Gebhart's exact Top-8 list. It didn't need changes; the deck works, and it works well. You'd think that without the free counter magic from Force of Will or the tempo disruption provided by Wasteland that the deck would fall behind in a real match-up, but the results speak for themselves.
Besides the overtly simple "play lords and turn them sideways" strategy, there are a few neat interactions that you don't notice right away (unless you've played Legacy Merfolk before, in which case, you may know them already). One of the key inclusions of the deck is Phantasmal Image. This little doppelganger effectively gives your fishy friends a count of 19 lords if their fishy hearts desire it, but he is not a one-trick pony by any means. Copy a Silvergill Adept for card advantage or a Cursecatcher for extra control, as well as any of the specific lords for their abilities. The fact that a good majority of the decks in Legacy run blue means that having access to eight lords that give you islandwalk, as well as Phantasmal Image to keep the effect in full force, means that a good chunk of your games will be played with your soldiers unblockable.
AEther Vial is another key card. While Vial allows you to play creature threats every turn and still leave mana open for your counter magic, there are a few more tricks it can do for you. Silvergill Adept can be cheated into play to give you extra cards without requiring the extra three mana, and Cursecatcher can be Vialed in to act like a pseudo-Daze. Also, Merrow Reejerey can be used to untap your Vial after its first use of the turn, giving you some downright ridiculous creature/threat production.
Sideboard Suggestions-
As far as the sideboard goes for Merfolk, there really should be no surprises. Echoing Truth and Wipe Away can provide bounce for you, getting rid of problem artifacts and enchantments or even buying you turns in your creature match-ups. Submerge would likely be your best bet in bounce because of its power in the more troublesome creature match-ups. Four of them in your sideboard is almost never a bad idea.
Though kind of pricey, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Umezawa's Jitte can do wonders for you. Both should always be considered when constructing your board. In general, additional countermagic in Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm is a fine strategy, and one can never forget to have some graveyard hate. Relic of Progenitus and Tormod's Cypt are both fine options. The numbers are up to you, but graveyard decks will always exist in Legacy, so you should always be prepared for them.
Finally, Llawan, Cephalid Empress can be used if you expect to see other Merfolk players. Once she hits the field it is extremely difficult for any Merfolk player to come back. Llawan can also put a stop to any Progenitus you come face-to-face with, although given that experience might be rare nowadays.
Deck Name: Solidarity
Deck Type: Combo
Cost: 245
Though High Tide Combo is something most of you are familiar with, this particular flavor of High Tide is a less common animal than your typical Spiral Tide list. It is not often that you find a deck that tries to win strictly on your opponent's turn, much of the time in response to them attempting to win.
| SolidarityMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |
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Creatures [3] 3 Snapcaster Mage Spells [38] 1 Brain Freeze 4 Brainstorm 3 Cunning Wish 4 High Tide 2 Impulse 2 Peer Through Depths 4 Meditate 1 Blue Sun's Zenith 3 Opt 2 Pact of Negation 2 Remand 4 Reset 3 Snap 3 Turnabout | Lands [19] 19 Island |
Key Interactions-
High Tide + Land Untap Cards such as Reset or Turnabout or Snap or Turnabout
Snapcaster Mage + High Tide or Reset or pretty much any other spell in the deck
Remand + Brain Freeze
Solidarity is a High Tide-based combo deck, similar to a few other decks in the genre, like Spiral Tide. There is a card that sets Solidarity apart from its cousins, though, and that card is Reset. When combined with High Tide, Reset is an incredibly powerful card, able to generate insane amounts of mana and storm. It just begs to be used in High Tide Combo. It does have drawbacks, though. Because Reset can only be played on the opponent's turn, you have to construct a deck of nearly all instant speed cards; you have to kill the opponent on their own turn (often just as they are trying to land a killing blow on you).
Snapcaster Mage is the only creature in the deck. It's also the card that has changed Solidarity most in recent years. This mage-of-all-plays is insane in High Tide Combo as he allows you to re-play your High Tides, Resets, cantrips, searches and even your kill spells all at instant speed. A two-cost card that literally does whatever you need it to do at the time is the perfect addition to a combo deck that never combos out in the same way twice.
Sideboard Suggestions-
Because the deck uses Cunning Wish, most of the sideboard is going to be wish targets. These will consist of cards you may be searching for when comboing out (e.g. untap spells like Turnabout, kill spells like Brain Freeze, protection spells like Pact of Negation, or answer spells like Echoing Truth). Aaaaand that's about as complicated as the sideboard gets. Have a few of some of those and the rest is up to your meta.
Conclusion:
And there you have it, three proven competitive Blue Legacy decks, and no Jace, The Mind Sculptor or Force of Will! That's all for this month, and if I stick to my resolutions, I'll see you all again in February. Until then, let me know what you think of the changes and decks! It's great to hear from you!
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