I'm crying with happiness right now. After 5 years of agony, I feel like justice has finally been served. What's coming is the Legacy I know and love, and I'll thoroughly enjoy every single minute of it until WotC inevitably ****s it up again.
I'm expremely interested in trying out these two. They're both legendary so they can be protected with Karakas, and they're tutorable with Sisay if you run her. Shalai in particular is a huge addition to the deck, giving hexproof against most removal and discard in the format. Even if her activated ability is wasted she's still a huge bomb.
They're also both 3W so they don't require a big colored mana investment.
Hey guys, longtime Legacy player here, decided to build a UWR deck now that JTMS got unbanned so I could play some Modern. Went 4-0 this weekend with this list I threw together.
Decided to go the Pyro route instead of hard control because I sold my Cryptics years ago when I stopped playing UWR Control, and honestly, with how tight the manabase is I don't even feel like I need them that much. Scepter synergyzes well with Pyro, especially now that the format has access to Opt. Don't have any of the newer cards like Search for Azcanta, although with JTMS I don't feel it's needed anyways. Suggestions welcome!
Hi, interesting take on the deck! How is it working? I've been messing around with Young Pyromancer + Jace lately too. In my experience it works best when I maximize the number of 1-drop instants and sorceries. I see you have 10, perhaps try to push it up a bit. Path is important and good with Peezy so I'd play 4. Sometimes it's even nice to have the option to path an elemental token to get a basic (like against Ponza or when manascrewed for other reasons) Did you consider some Serum Visions? It's stronger than Opt at digging for what you need (lands etc.) Scepter is spicy and can be very strong in the right matchups, but I'd be scared to play it maindeck because of all the Kolaghans Commands, Abrupt Decays, Maelstrom Pulses and other things around now. It's also a bit too slow and clunky sometimes (3 Jace might be enough clunk already) Perhaps move it to the sideboard.
Hey, sorry for the late answer, been really busy overall these past few days.
I did another event (3-1) with this above list with -2 Glacial Fortress +2 Hallowed Fountain and -2 Swan Song +2 Path to Exile as my shocks arrived and nobody in my LGS plays Storm or Ad Nauseam so sideboard permission wasn't really needed.
Pyromancer is really great as a tool for protecting Jace, and that's one of the main goals of the deck if you can't aggro the opponent out in the first few turns. The list runs enough burn that I didn't think 4 Paths is really needed, so I'm splitting 2/2 between main and side, and it's worked well so far. Rarely you need all 4 in game 1.
Scepter isn't really a 1-2 if they destroy it as long as you treat the card for what it really is: a 4 drop. You basically never play it with less than 4 mana open if the opponent has ways to get rid of it, and if they destroy it with 2 mana open after casting you still get an activation out if it so it's still a 1 for 1. I personally think it's a great card that can get opponents out of the blue in game 1 and if they're bringing all the artifact removal for game 2 you simply take them down and make them waste multiple slots in their deck. Scepter isn't a great sideboard card, it's one of those cards that really shine in the maindeck.
I like Opt much more than Serum Visions because of its Instant speed, and the deck tries to maximize the amount of EOT actions to make it as much of a draw go playstyle as possible. I've just never been much of a fan of Serum Visions.
Hey guys, longtime Legacy player here, decided to build a UWR deck now that JTMS got unbanned so I could play some Modern. Went 4-0 this weekend with this list I threw together.
Decided to go the Pyro route instead of hard control because I sold my Cryptics years ago when I stopped playing UWR Control, and honestly, with how tight the manabase is I don't even feel like I need them that much. Scepter synergyzes well with Pyro, especially now that the format has access to Opt. Don't have any of the newer cards like Search for Azcanta, although with JTMS I don't feel it's needed anyways. Suggestions welcome!
Hey, it's been a while. Seeing a lot of discussion about the Mardu builds or just splashing Caverns for Magus, Confidant and Pontiff. While I don't think they're bad, and in fact can work with enough support, I think one thing to consider especially post Miracles ban is that Recruiter is just plain bad in the current meta. Card is slow and takes space, without a Vial in play you basically Timewalk yourself fetching something to play for next turn.
Just a heads up. I've seen people go down to 1 lately but I think 0 is the number to go unless you go full Mardu toolbox with a ton of 1-ofs.
GW Taxes is probaly dead as it doesn't do well against endless Goyf spam, I guess it will depend on how much Delver is being played now.
I think I'll go back to my 24 land Resto list as that deck has lots of game against Shardless and more importantly Food Chain.
We need to do something vs Elves though.
Also something needs to be done about DRS, it's getting absurd when random decks like ******* Esperblade and Maverick splash green and black just to get access to that guy and become top tier decks because of it. I completely expect the next GP Top8 to have 24+ copies of DRS with the only exceptions being UR Delver and Sneak. The format was fine before RTR, even with Miracles running around.
Of 55 Death and Taxes, one got to top 8 in the GP, which is kinda to be expected given the natural variance of the deck by virtue of nor running blue for the Brainstorms and Ponders.
The list has Palace Jailer and a somewhat ambitious 22 land manabase. Also surprised he ran a tutorboard given the already cramped space available. Otherwise pretty standard.
@Frenadol: that list is hilarious, and lord do I want to try it at GP Denver next weekend; my addiction to foils, however, will likely render that impossible.
On another note, have you/anyone else given any thought (in light of everyone and their mums packing Dread of Nights/Massacres/G. Charms) to running back the 24-land Resto/Moat build that had been getting tossed around a while back? I've got it sleeved up for a local event next week, seems like it might be a solid choice (with some of the new hotness built in, if at all possible).
One problem I've found when revisiting that build is that both Resto and Avenger are non tutorable, making Recruiter a subpar option as the deck shines with lots of copies of those fliers (preferably 4 Wisp 3 Avenger 3 Resto). The old version without Recruiter is still fine imo, but yeah. it doesn't make that good use of the new cards that have come out lately than other builds. THC and Prelate should still be good since there's not that much competition for the CMC3 slot, so I was thinking on trying something like 3x Prelate and cut down on the number of Moms to 2-3x as the deck has plenty of redundancy and Resto is inherently already hard to kill. Prelate in particular has been a card I'm very impressed with how well she performs, so I'm definitely looking for ways to fit more in the deck.
ANother thing is that there's potential for lots of value with 7 bounce effects for the Recruiters but Resto isn't usually used this way (I rarely bounce SFM for an extra equipment for example) and you could try to fit something like a Mangara as a tutor target, but space considerations become real and the deck isn't really designed to do that kind of stuff anyways. I believe the deck's lategame is already good enough to not need tutorable durdle.
@Frenadol That list looks way too ambitious, especially on the manabase. I get the feeling you are going to see a very high number of downright unplayable off colour hands that can't go anywhere, even if you don't get Wastelanded and Stifled into oblivion. Recruiter of the Guard is already fairly slow and durdly as a 3 drop, I don't think any self respecting opponent is going to let you twiddle your thumbs for 3 consecutive turns starting a Captain Sisay tutor chain that has no immediate board impact before you assemble everything. If you're trying for a toolbox approach, I believe building it around the Recruiter who can immediately get you your silver bullet at T3 the earliest, compared to Sisay who needs to survive till earliest T5 barring any Gaea's Cradle explosive starts, which I believe that shell is unable to accomplish. I think GW Maverick does what you're trying to do, and better.
Yes, but your argument also applies to every single "new" build that is chock full of 3-drops. The reality is that the format right now simply just isn't that fast to begin with, and the vast majority of games will go to turns 6 or 7 without much happening. Of course the opponent is not going to sit there doing nothing while you assmeble the pieces of the combo, but what can they do? You literally get to tutor for free each turn, even if they kill Sisay after one or two activations you are still massively ahead, and the rest of the deck, being GW, already has a huge advantage over mono white in the mid to lategame. The deck is just insanely consistent when it comes to its ability to close games, and you don't even sacrifice that much in the early game in order to get there. The manabase is basically the same than that of the regular GW builds I've played for a year, with a Gaea's Cradle tackled in as a 24th "non-land". And the old GW builds I made had no problems whatsoever going toe to toe against Delver and combo, just look at the sideboard to see what you can do with green mana. I've tested the manabase long enough to know there's no issue against Wasteland and Stifle decks at any stage of the round. RUG Delver is still a free matchup and you walk all over mono-W D&T especially now that you can Recruiter for Qasali Pridemage.
I simply think this is the best version of the green variant I've made so far, and it takes the color combination in a new direction and provides something unique the monowhite version lacks, which is consistency and inevitability. Also the cheese alone already makes it worth trying, literally nobody expects how this deck finishes games.
Of course the deck has some "weaknesses" that I'm not even sure need addressing since I don't even think they're that much of a downside at all (63 card deck for the extra not-quite-a-land and 2 tutor targets just like in Elves) but the purists in this thread will give me hell for daring to play more than 60 cards despite my 24 land Resto Moat builds have always had 61 cards on it and it's well known to give good results.
Hey guys, it's been a while since I last played Legacy (or any Magic at all, since I've spent the summer traveling and then moved to a place with no Legacy within a 300km radius) but this weekend I was visiting a fairly large city and there was a Legacy event yesterday so I couldn't pass up on the opportunity. Was very pleased to end 3-0 on first place with a list that I put together with the goal to maximize the fun I was going to have because I wanted to make the most out of the few hours I had of playing Magic in a very long time.
So, you must be asking what the hell is happening here, and the answer is: I added a combo finish to the deck (multiple in fact), and nearly everything in the deck is tutorable in some way or another. Captain Sisay has been a project of mine for a very, very long time, and in fact one of my original goals for developing the green builds is to add said card to the kit, but her costing 4 and overreliance on drawing a copy of her in order for the deck to work properly held it back. Until now. Thanks to the printing of Recuiter I was able to revisit the the blueprints I had for the deck, and so far I'm very, very happy with the end result. The combo is very consistent without being dead at any stage of the game, and it's a blast to play.
The Sisay toolkit and combo has very different options depending on the boardstate and what you want to do, aside from providing a ton of utility to close the game with, without any of it being overbearing. If you have a Vial in your starting hand and get a Recruiter, you can 3 counter drop Recruiter and up to 4 to drop Sisay all on curve, which is pretty devastating. So what can you do with Sisay once she's in play?
- Get a Karakas to protect herself. So one of the thing I like the most is that she not only can assemble multiple combos all by herself, but she can also get a Karakas to protect herself in the process, so getting rid of her isn't easy at all once you can untap with her in play.
- Get Mangara to assemble the Karakas + Mangara combo.
- Get Gaea's Cradle and Oviya Pashiri for the huge tokens and plenty of mana to power Equipment with.
- Get Jitte. No need for SFM there, she can find any legendary card, including artifacts.
- Get and extra white source in Flagstones of Trokair.
- Get sideboard bullets on demand, like Gaddock Teeg and Gisela, the Broken Blade. Gisela is there as a tutorable WLL for those grindy matchups like Jund and especially BUG, since she steamrolls Baleful Strix and can race through a Goyf thanks to lifelink while being unkillable.
There's a lot more that can be done with Sisay, this is just the first build I've taken to a real life setting to test out. The matchups I won against were Lands, Shardless BUG and Jund. It's quite an experience to play a competitive 60 card EDH deck!
Surprised that Eldrazi guy got to top 8 the event without being disqualified for failing to maintain game state and casting stuff through his own Chalices multiple times. But then again, I'm not that surprised because of that.
Happy to see DnT post such good results though! Wizards has been giving the deck a lot of love lately. Now I worry about getting hit by all the hate now that other players realize DnT is a serious contender for Top 3 decks to beat.
I'm expremely interested in trying out these two. They're both legendary so they can be protected with Karakas, and they're tutorable with Sisay if you run her. Shalai in particular is a huge addition to the deck, giving hexproof against most removal and discard in the format. Even if her activated ability is wasted she's still a huge bomb.
They're also both 3W so they don't require a big colored mana investment.
Hey, sorry for the late answer, been really busy overall these past few days.
I did another event (3-1) with this above list with -2 Glacial Fortress +2 Hallowed Fountain and -2 Swan Song +2 Path to Exile as my shocks arrived and nobody in my LGS plays Storm or Ad Nauseam so sideboard permission wasn't really needed.
Pyromancer is really great as a tool for protecting Jace, and that's one of the main goals of the deck if you can't aggro the opponent out in the first few turns. The list runs enough burn that I didn't think 4 Paths is really needed, so I'm splitting 2/2 between main and side, and it's worked well so far. Rarely you need all 4 in game 1.
Scepter isn't really a 1-2 if they destroy it as long as you treat the card for what it really is: a 4 drop. You basically never play it with less than 4 mana open if the opponent has ways to get rid of it, and if they destroy it with 2 mana open after casting you still get an activation out if it so it's still a 1 for 1. I personally think it's a great card that can get opponents out of the blue in game 1 and if they're bringing all the artifact removal for game 2 you simply take them down and make them waste multiple slots in their deck. Scepter isn't a great sideboard card, it's one of those cards that really shine in the maindeck.
I like Opt much more than Serum Visions because of its Instant speed, and the deck tries to maximize the amount of EOT actions to make it as much of a draw go playstyle as possible. I've just never been much of a fan of Serum Visions.
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
2 Glacial Fortress
1 Plains
2 Steam Vents
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Isochron Scepter
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Restoration Angel
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Electrolyze
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
2 Mana Leak
4 Opt
2 Path to Exile
2 Remand
2 Blood Moon
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Kor Firewalker
3 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
2 Swan Song
Decided to go the Pyro route instead of hard control because I sold my Cryptics years ago when I stopped playing UWR Control, and honestly, with how tight the manabase is I don't even feel like I need them that much. Scepter synergyzes well with Pyro, especially now that the format has access to Opt. Don't have any of the newer cards like Search for Azcanta, although with JTMS I don't feel it's needed anyways. Suggestions welcome!
Guy did draw pretty well every time he was on camera though.
Congrats anyways! Love seeing the deck get some recognition.
Just a heads up. I've seen people go down to 1 lately but I think 0 is the number to go unless you go full Mardu toolbox with a ton of 1-ofs.
I think I'll go back to my 24 land Resto list as that deck has lots of game against Shardless and more importantly Food Chain.
We need to do something vs Elves though.
Also something needs to be done about DRS, it's getting absurd when random decks like ******* Esperblade and Maverick splash green and black just to get access to that guy and become top tier decks because of it. I completely expect the next GP Top8 to have 24+ copies of DRS with the only exceptions being UR Delver and Sneak. The format was fine before RTR, even with Miracles running around.
The list has Palace Jailer and a somewhat ambitious 22 land manabase. Also surprised he ran a tutorboard given the already cramped space available. Otherwise pretty standard.
One problem I've found when revisiting that build is that both Resto and Avenger are non tutorable, making Recruiter a subpar option as the deck shines with lots of copies of those fliers (preferably 4 Wisp 3 Avenger 3 Resto). The old version without Recruiter is still fine imo, but yeah. it doesn't make that good use of the new cards that have come out lately than other builds. THC and Prelate should still be good since there's not that much competition for the CMC3 slot, so I was thinking on trying something like 3x Prelate and cut down on the number of Moms to 2-3x as the deck has plenty of redundancy and Resto is inherently already hard to kill. Prelate in particular has been a card I'm very impressed with how well she performs, so I'm definitely looking for ways to fit more in the deck.
ANother thing is that there's potential for lots of value with 7 bounce effects for the Recruiters but Resto isn't usually used this way (I rarely bounce SFM for an extra equipment for example) and you could try to fit something like a Mangara as a tutor target, but space considerations become real and the deck isn't really designed to do that kind of stuff anyways. I believe the deck's lategame is already good enough to not need tutorable durdle.
Yes, but your argument also applies to every single "new" build that is chock full of 3-drops. The reality is that the format right now simply just isn't that fast to begin with, and the vast majority of games will go to turns 6 or 7 without much happening. Of course the opponent is not going to sit there doing nothing while you assmeble the pieces of the combo, but what can they do? You literally get to tutor for free each turn, even if they kill Sisay after one or two activations you are still massively ahead, and the rest of the deck, being GW, already has a huge advantage over mono white in the mid to lategame. The deck is just insanely consistent when it comes to its ability to close games, and you don't even sacrifice that much in the early game in order to get there. The manabase is basically the same than that of the regular GW builds I've played for a year, with a Gaea's Cradle tackled in as a 24th "non-land". And the old GW builds I made had no problems whatsoever going toe to toe against Delver and combo, just look at the sideboard to see what you can do with green mana. I've tested the manabase long enough to know there's no issue against Wasteland and Stifle decks at any stage of the round. RUG Delver is still a free matchup and you walk all over mono-W D&T especially now that you can Recruiter for Qasali Pridemage.
I simply think this is the best version of the green variant I've made so far, and it takes the color combination in a new direction and provides something unique the monowhite version lacks, which is consistency and inevitability. Also the cheese alone already makes it worth trying, literally nobody expects how this deck finishes games.
Of course the deck has some "weaknesses" that I'm not even sure need addressing since I don't even think they're that much of a downside at all (63 card deck for the extra not-quite-a-land and 2 tutor targets just like in Elves) but the purists in this thread will give me hell for daring to play more than 60 cards despite my 24 land Resto Moat builds have always had 61 cards on it and it's well known to give good results.
A friend told me to add Bruna to the sideboard and cast her with the help of Gaea's Cradle for that spicy hot Brisela action.
Here's the list:
4 Windswept Heath
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
3 Karakas
3 Savannah
3 Plains
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Gaea's Cradle
Spells
4 Aether Vial
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sylvan Library
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Mother of Runes
3 Serra Avenger
4 Flickerwisp
3 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Captain Sisay
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
2 Council's Judgment
1 Banisher Priest
3 Rest in Peace
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Choke
2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Sylvan Library
1 Gisela, the Broken Blade
So, you must be asking what the hell is happening here, and the answer is: I added a combo finish to the deck (multiple in fact), and nearly everything in the deck is tutorable in some way or another. Captain Sisay has been a project of mine for a very, very long time, and in fact one of my original goals for developing the green builds is to add said card to the kit, but her costing 4 and overreliance on drawing a copy of her in order for the deck to work properly held it back. Until now. Thanks to the printing of Recuiter I was able to revisit the the blueprints I had for the deck, and so far I'm very, very happy with the end result. The combo is very consistent without being dead at any stage of the game, and it's a blast to play.
The Sisay toolkit and combo has very different options depending on the boardstate and what you want to do, aside from providing a ton of utility to close the game with, without any of it being overbearing. If you have a Vial in your starting hand and get a Recruiter, you can 3 counter drop Recruiter and up to 4 to drop Sisay all on curve, which is pretty devastating. So what can you do with Sisay once she's in play?
- Get a Karakas to protect herself. So one of the thing I like the most is that she not only can assemble multiple combos all by herself, but she can also get a Karakas to protect herself in the process, so getting rid of her isn't easy at all once you can untap with her in play.
- Get Mangara to assemble the Karakas + Mangara combo.
- Get Gaea's Cradle and Oviya Pashiri for the huge tokens and plenty of mana to power Equipment with.
- Get Jitte. No need for SFM there, she can find any legendary card, including artifacts.
- Get and extra white source in Flagstones of Trokair.
- Get sideboard bullets on demand, like Gaddock Teeg and Gisela, the Broken Blade. Gisela is there as a tutorable WLL for those grindy matchups like Jund and especially BUG, since she steamrolls Baleful Strix and can race through a Goyf thanks to lifelink while being unkillable.
There's a lot more that can be done with Sisay, this is just the first build I've taken to a real life setting to test out. The matchups I won against were Lands, Shardless BUG and Jund. It's quite an experience to play a competitive 60 card EDH deck!
Happy to see DnT post such good results though! Wizards has been giving the deck a lot of love lately. Now I worry about getting hit by all the hate now that other players realize DnT is a serious contender for Top 3 decks to beat.