Deck-
4 3sphere
4 chalice
3 crucible
4 bridge
4 smoke
4 wire
3 powder keg
2 batterskull
4 serum powder
4 mox
4 tomb
4 traitors
4 waste
4 factory
3 b-ring
5 mountain
Sb-
3 devastating dreams
4 pithing needle
4 boil
4 leyline void
Deck choice-
-format mostly defined by attacking to win
-many combos lose to chalice or trinisphere
-favorable dredge matchup
- survey of top decks in legacy on deckcheck showed virtually no maindeck artifact removal, sideboard removal was 1 to 2 cards at most
I originally had a much different list, but playtested the night before and felt like quitting magic when I was done. I went 1 and 29...my opponent kept a 1 land hand to my turn 1 trinisphere in the only game I won...it was bad. I tried to build RUG at 3am, but didn't like it. So at 5am, I started attempting to fix an extremely disfunctional stax deck. I dropped a barbarian ring and a crucible for trinisphere #4 and powder keg #3. Then, I dropped firespout and wurmcoil for serum powder and batterskull.
Notable choices-
-serum powder, only 3 crucible, and 4th trinisphere: the deck needed to be extremely proactive. Playing crucible early does not do enough in legacy to lock the opponent. Most legacy decks run too many basic lands and sac lands for crucible waste to be truly effective. Most of the decks in legacy also do not run 3+ mana spells. Every game with a turn 1 or turn 2 trinisphere in testing was better than most other plays (the others being early chalices and smokestacks). 24 lands and 4 moxes makes the deck have some really bad draws...ie- mostly 3-4 Cmc spells and no 2lands or moxen or all mana. The powder free mulligan was fantastic all day long. Another point on powder is that this deck faces some challenges unique to the legacy format. Extreme pressure on your life total means finding non-damaging mana sources is important at times. Also, the manabase cannot support sphere of resistance and runs 4 trinisphere: trinisphere doesn't effect this card. This card was actually not bad when drawn and needing a 4th mana. Many times, Had I drawn a land I would have lost my city of traitors. Opponents will wait to wasteland you until you lose your traitors to drop anyother land. When casting sideboard devastating dreams...this dodges it.
- powder keg. I went back and forth on this card for weeks. Powder keg is an out against zoo, delver, mongoose etc. I was worried about pithing needle, null rod, and phyrexian revoker. The alternatives were firespout(must be played reactively, doesn't kill man lands, can't kill goyf, kotr, mom beats it...), rolling earthquake($ cost prohibitive, damage to me is supposed to be okay...in reality it is not), ratchet bomb(doesn't beat affinity like keg or manlands). I went back and forth on the number of slots as well...3 ended up being my magic number after running 4 spout and 2 keg at one point. Keg killed 1 Cmc mana creatures like hierarch, mom, vexing devil, goblin guide...0 Cmc zombies (it is proactive against dredge, slowing them down similar to crypt), and even 2 mana oozes all day. It did exactly what it needed to do all day long. Also, it gave me 7 turn 1 plays off only a 2land. I think I only had 1 game all day where I didn't play anything on turn one other than a land. In that game (burn match), I dropped trinisphere turn 2 with no pain lands and the proceeded to drop the following in order, one per turn- smokestack, crucible, bridge(no hand), topdeck chalice@1.
-batterskull, no creatures, 4 factory, 3 barbarian ring- I wanted to run wurmcoil...but the deck does not consistently ramp to 6 mana due to 4 city of traitors. However, I noticed that the deck hit 5 mana with extreme consistency and was hitting 5 mana on turn 2 often (1st turn mox+2land, turn 2 2land). I and several games where a turn 2 batterskull hit for 3 or 4 swings when cast on turn 2 after a turn 1 chalice or trinisphere. It is hard to lose the game when your opponent plays their first or second spell on turn 3 or 4 and the life totals are 12(them) 26(you). There were no creatures in the deck because bridge is too good not to run and the deck had to have an alternative win. Enter barbarian ring-this card killed half of my opponents on the day (crucible recursion). Similarly, once the opponent is land locked under trinisphere, you can sac bridge and swing factory. Factory blocks...super important. Only three rings because threshold is hard to achieve at times, they ping you, and shooting their creatures doesn't happen early enough for me to want to see ring every game.
- tangle wire. People have said that wire is bad in legacy. I believe that this statement is extremely dependant on your build and on the metagame. In a metagame with no removal, all you have to do is live long enough to drop a lock component that nullifies the opponents win condition (bridge 90% of the time). In a deck that serum powders into turn 1 trinisphere or chalice very consistently, subsequent wires buy you time to find the finishers: smokestack and ensnaring bridge. 2x timewalk for 3 colorless is fantastic. The card is really a draw spell because you see 3 more cards off the top of your deck when you slow the opponent like this.
Sideboard choices-
- Devastating dreams. This card owns any mindless aggro deck that doesn't run blue. On the day, here were some examples-
--destroying ooze, teeg, hierach, and 3 lands with dreams at 3 against maverick.
--destroying ooze, 2 grave titan zombie tokens, and 4 lands against Nic fit while emptying my hand with bridge in play.(although he got me with deed)
--destroying vexing devil, goblin guide, and 3 lands versus burn
--even blowing up 2 lands against high tide
Dreams comes in against stupid aggro lists and is x-rated.
-leyline. Serum powder, dredge, obvious. Fun fact- legacy dredge has no maindeck artifact removal. Bridge wins the game. Chalice slows them by 2-3 turns when set at 1 unless they are very lucky. In the board, dredge has 4 natures claims and 1 angel of despair/terastodon/woodfall primus with your name on it. Leyline + chalice@1 or trinisphere is generally the end of the game. You win game 1 80% of the time. Nail in coffin.
-boil. Rug delver is this decks worst matchup. They run grudge in the board and have force of will paired with a fast clock which can include price of progress. While boil isn't a catch all against them...and I do fear hurkyl's (no one runs it) and energy flux (again, not present in meta)...I think boil provides a one-sided Armageddon effect stopping decks like stoneblade, rug, merfolk, etc from playing another spell for several turns. Other stax lists splash green for choke. I am not interested in having a mana base for this deck that is 100% wastelandable.
- needle. Against maverick, this deck stops the only removal spell they have for bridge in their 75- pridemage. Against dredge, it stops cephalid coliseum (their only chalice/trinisphere dodging bazaar effect). Good against stoneblade, good against manlands...it even stopped pernicious deed in the tourney. Also, stops sneak attack should your opponent be fortunate enough to reach 4 mana during a mainphase. This deck can also have issues with jace or the blue/black tezzeret once bridge is in play.
The round by round-
Round 1: Tony with High Tide
Spoiler alert, this round is a heartbreaker.
Opponent wins the die roll and leads with a beta island. I thought, "well, this got real quickly." Opponent passed the turn and cast brainstorm and force of will in response to my turn 1 chalice@1. Importantly, he pitched meditate. Now I know he is on high tide. On his turn, he taps down to cast ponder and preordain(I think, I also didn't take notes). I try for a turn 2 chalice@1 not knowing if he is on reset-tide or if he is on candelabra tide...I halfway expect reset due to nature of local collections and price on candelabra. He forces this chalice also. I cast powder keg and pass turn. He plays draw, land #3, go...I go for trinisphere on my turn, which is met with meditate and force #3. My extra turn doesn't see any business and he storms out on turn 4. I take notes while he plays solitaire...scalding tarn is the only sac land I see. I also see 2x candelabra.
Board-
-4 ensnaring bridge
-1 smokestack
-3 powder keg
-1 crucible
-2 wire
+4 boil
+4 needle
+3 devastating dreams
I normally wouldn't bring in dreams vs blue...but i had to limit his lands ASAP.
Game2: I lead with city of traitors an double needle naming tarn and candelabra. Resolve...he plays land and brainstorm then passes. I drop chalice@1. Force, pitching high tide. He plays land #2 (all basic islands) and merchant scrolls for meditate. I figure I have a turn to build mana while he draws...so I drop crucible and replay a land. He drops island #3 and says go. I play a land and pass. He plays meditate at end of turn. I repond with boil...he forces it.(yes 5 FoW in 6 turns so far this round). On my extra turn, I play boil #2 out of my hand...resolves. After that the game gets fuzzy, I drop wire and attempt a trinisphere after a few turns. It also gets forces. Here is the best part- he plays basic islands every turn (no fetches) for 9 straight turns this game and finally drops a delta for an island on turn ten. Over the course of this excruciating game I would dreams for 1 and 2(both resolve) and he would win on the back of 3 basic islands on turn 10. I destroyed 6 basic islands this game and had needle on tarn. He told me afte the match that he runs 4 tarn and 2 delta. Also, he cut the singleton rebuild before the tournament...sometimes opponents draw the nutz and there is nothing you can do!
0-1
Round 2: Adam with dredge.
I win the roll. Opponent remarks that he likes going second anyway and gives away the fact that he is on dredge by showing his hand to his buddy and snickering. I say "draw, discard, dredge.". He gets stern quickly. I mulligan to 5 and drop- mox(pitch a land), tomb, ensnaring bridge. He runs no maindeck removal and I kill him after a gazillion turns by shooting with a barbarian ring until he decided to concede via cephalid coliseum activation with 2 cards in library. Note to readers- he drew all 60 cards in his deck...dredge runs exactly 0 maideck artifact removal, bridge wins the game 100% of game ones. After the game, snickering friend asks how I activated barbarian ring with 6 cards in the yard...to be honest, if there were six cards in the yard, I would be amazed. At least 15 turns each had passed... We were already shuffling our libraries when he said it, so I moved on without saying anything and so did opponent.
Board-
-4 smokestack
-4 wire
+4 needle
+4 leyline void
I mulligan, then serum twice @6, then once at 5...my 5 hand is 5 lands, my 4 hand is no lands, I mull to three on the hopes of leyline, tomb, chalice(all their boarded removal is angel of despair + natures claim)...but it was not to be. I concede game 2 without playing it out.
Game 3: I drop turn 1 mox, tomb, needle(cephalid coliseum), chalice@1. Opponent misplays and drops land, led, and casts a pointless breakthrough into chalice. I tell him it is countered. From there I drop bridge and drop rest of hand. He scoops.
1-1
Round 3: Nic Fit. Nice opponent, I can't remember the name.
Game one: I drop snow covered mountain on my turn and pass. Hilariously, he remarks that he really didn't want to play burn again and cabal therapies me on his opening turn naming lightning bolt...swing and a miss there as I reveal 2x chalice, trinisphere, tomb, tomb, smokestack. On my turn I rip another mountain and drop chalice@1. He plays veteran explorer into chalice...this was a really nice player, but he was a standard player and had to read every card in my deck. He didn't do anything else on turn 2 and I dropped
chalice@2...nothing from him(no land drop). I drop wire, crucible, smoke in that order on my next turns...he scoops with no permanents eventually.
Game 2 went long, I don't know what happened. All I remember is him playing pernicious deed(I didn't see it game 1 and didn't board in needle). He pointlessly blows deed for 1 and tries to do it again for 4 onthe same deed. I don't let this go. 2 turns later he gets it back with eternal witness, then pops it the following turn for 5. That, friends, is a game loss.
Game 3: I don't remember exactly how this happened, but i end up with needle on deed, crucible, smoke@3, trinisphere, and 2 batterskull in play. Seems like i dropped 3sphere followed by batterskull, then smoke or somethingkke that. He cracks me up by having the same board for 3 straight turns under smoke@3- land, land, veteran explorer. He loses his board, gets 2 lands, drops a land from hand, then plays explorer...3 times. I am okay with this gamestate as explorer lets me look for lands also, so I never really lose a permanent.
2-1
Round 4: maverick piloted by guy with PTQ top 8 pin on playmat.
Game 1: mental fatigue sets in and I lose a pretty humiliating game to Thalia by blocking with a factory and then realizing she has first strike...I needed her dead, or an extra mana to drop anything in my hand. I scoop to knight of the reliquary and the thought of being wastelanded the next 4 straight turns.
Game 2: I play chalice@1 on turn one after seruming away 2 7-card hands full of trash. The rest of my hand is nutz and he plays maybe 2 spells this whole game. I dreams his whole board away. He scoops to factory beatz with no permanents under chalice@1 while i have smoke@0, bridge, and crucible.
Game 3: He opens with hierarch. I open with needle on qasali and chalice@1. He drops teeg!!! I drop bridge, He drops pridemage and destroys bridge. I crucible. He drops ooze. I dreams for 3, then lay a factory. He has 0 permanents. He wastes my land, then hits me with sideboard tech-tormod's crypt. The game still in my favor because he has no board...but then suddenly...he decides to ??check his sideboard?? I ask him to verify 15 cards in the board...he says "you can't look at my sideboard"...sketchy. I ask him to place them face down and count them...he reluctantly does and has 17 cards in his board. Nearby judge gives him a gameloss for presenting a 58 card deck.
3-1
Round 5: Burn, nice kid, he played White stax piloted by my teammate in round 4 and got owned...he runs 0 removal in his 75.
I win the die roll. I don't have exact notes, but I serum twice then mull. I drop mountain. He drops goblin guide...I rip land, then drop trinisphere. He takes me down to 1 before I finally choke out his lands with smoke. 4 turns later after he drops a lands and I am freaking out about the idea of him running barbarian ring...i drop batterskull and begin the beatz. He scoops to me going back to 5 life.
Game 2: I facepalm his deck by dropping chalice@1, trinisphere(stopping a rift bolt), chalice@2, smoke, smoke in that order...I rip no less than 4 lands off goblin guide this game. I he scoops with no permanents because I am at 12 life when factory starts to take him from 20 to 0. Opponent buys a playset of smash to smithereens after the tournamen and shows them to me!
4-1
Round 6: ID
Top 4: split prize 4 ways
Overall, the deck functioned very well. Mulliganing with serum powder into the balls over and over again isn't luck when you run so many four ofs...the deck is super consistent. Thanks to my friends for not helping me build RUG. Friends don't let friends play blue...
Props-
-3 people from our team in top 4
-5am tweaks to the deck
-ensnaring bridge, for shutting off shiny modern creature cards
-a format devoid of all artifact destruction(herp-derp, swords and bolt are better vs creatures...lol)
-reuniting with friends to form a team. Maybe next time it won't take 8 years to get the group back together.
Slops-
-avacyn restored boosters as a prize...
-the fact that legacy gets 30% more players than a draft or standard here, but we get one eternal event per year.
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