17th at SCG Philly - Miracles [Legacy]

I know that TMD primarily focuses on Vintage but thought I would post this here for anyone that is interested. If you don't like Legacy feel free to skip it.

I played Miracles at SCG: Philly this past weekend after not running it in a tournament in a while. I am trying to find a deck that I like for the Invitational and trying out decks. I ended up finishing 17th after starting 5-0 before taking losses from Deathblade and 4c Cascade. I took Joel Lossett’s list as the base as he is the Miracle master and added 2 Enlightened Tutor and a Blood Moon along with a few other tweaks. Below is the list I played.

5 Island
2 Plains
2 Mystic Gate
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tundra
1 Karakas

2 Vendilion Clique
1 Venser, Shaper Savant

4 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Rest in Peace
3 Counterbalance
1 Detention Sphere
1 Blood Moon

2 Enlightened Tutor
4 Brainstorm
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Spell Pierce
1 Counterspell
1 Entreat the Angels
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Misdirection
3 Force of Will
3 Terminus

Sideboard
2 Rest in Peace
1 Entreat the Angels
1 Sulfur Elemental
1 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Disenchant
1 Misdirection
1 Moat
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Counterbalance

I didn’t run the Helm RIP combo despite running E. Tutor because I didn’t want to run multiple RIP’s in the main. I don’t see it being that great vs. Deathblade and a lot of the current popular combo decks like Mono-U Show, Sneak & Show, Storm variants.

As for the changes that I made the Blood Moon in the main was just ok for me as I did not face that many Deathblade and BUG decks, it is a bit of a gamble because the card can be fairly low impact in other matchups. In the future I will play it in the sideboard. The E. Tutor’s are just ok, I like having some number especially after board when you have more silver bullets but the card disadvantage does suck. Winning in time with my list was also difficult, the Entreat was a mix of awful and awesome depending on the game but a necessity as a 2-of I think if you aren’t on Helm RIP.

One thing I noticed also is that I never wanted Venser in just about any matchup, I’m not sure if I just don’t understand this card but the Remand and bounce sides are both so poor when every deck in legacy has extremely efficient mana costs, the only strong card to Remand is Ancestral Vision.

The changes I am going make before more testing is:

MD
-1 E. Tutor
-1 Blood Moon
-1 Venser
+1 Counterbalance
+1 Entreat the Angels
+1 Spell Pierce // I could easily see this being anything else

SB
-1 Disenchant
-1 Counterbalance // in MD
+1 Blood Moon
+1 Wear/Tear //forgot this card existed

The first couple rounds of the tournament weren’t that interesting but got better as the day went on.

R1: Mono-Red Stax with Welder 2-0
R2: UWb control 2-0[/U]
His deck was pretty similar to Miarcles as he had Enlightened Tutors, RIP-Helm, Tops. The black was for discard and he did not have Counterbalances which made it a pretty easy matchup for me.

R3: UWr Miracles (Amin Younes) 2-0
I’ve played the mirror match quite a bit and feel very comfortable in it. Game 1 I waited to drop my Counterbalance on turn 4 with Misdirection backup to play around Spell Pierce. It resolved but he had Top in play since turn 1 vs. my only having CB. It was an awkward game but I was able to blind reveal a couple times and use Brainstorm to counter key spells before eventually sealing it with Top and Jace.

-3 Swords
-2 Terminus
-1 RIP
-1 Blood Moon

+1 CB
+1 Misd
+3 REB
+1 Entreat
+1 EE

My hand game 2 was soft to an early Counterbalance but playing it early in the matchup is very risky between Spell Pierce and REB. He Spell Pierced an Enlightened Tutor on turn 2 which I didn’t mind and then tapped a bit low for RIP after topping on upkeep and I was able to push through a Jace. It went unmolested for many turns leading into the win.

Especially in post-board games being patient and hitting land drops is of the utmost importance, if your opponent has Top and you don’t then I believe you need to force the action as their card quality will be stronger as the game progresses.

R4: Aggro Loam 2-0
He started the Loam engine going with Wasteland, a cycler, and fetch but couldn’t do much damage before I assembled Counter/Top. I made a mistake of playing Arid Mesa t1 which led to me needing to get Tundra when I wanted to get a basic, I was lucky that I didn’t get punished for the mistake. I was a bit surprised he conceded very early to the combo because after the match I spoke with him and he mentioned having 3 Abrupt Decay’s in the MD.

-1 Supreme Verdict
-1 Enlightened Tutor
-1 Venser

+1 Rest in Peace
+1 Counterbalance
+1 Misdirection

Game 2 he started with a turn 2 Chalice @ 1 which is very brutal for my deck, in response I cast Enlightened Tutor but I’m not sure what do get, my hand is Vendilion Clique, Jace, Misdirection and a few lands. In the end I decide to get Counterbalance hoping he will try to destroy it with Abrupt Decay and I will be able to kill the Chalice w/ MisD. This might have been a little ambitious as CB without Top is not that threatening from the other side. We go draw go for a while when lands a couple Bobs, I’m able to ambush one of them with Vendilion Clique seeing Abrupt Decay. I was surprised he didn’t kill Vendilion with the trigger on the stack but he might not have known the interaction but this worked in his favor as I couldn’t MisD it. I see his hand has 2 Punishing Fire, Decay, Knight of Reliquary, and 2 Devasting Dreams but is lacking the 2nd Red and let him keep. I fateseal him with Jace to try and avoid him hitting 2nd red source and bottom Taiga and then use Jace to brainstorm next turn putting Entreat on top and miracle it the next turn. Despite drawing 2 cards a turn for almost the entire game he never found the 2nd red source and I luckily won a game that I felt like I had no business winning.

R5: TES (Matt Bevenour) 2-1
I knew what Matt was playing before the match having him near me which is great because certain parts of Miaracles are insane and other parts trash in this matchup so it makes mulliganing into a strong hand much easier. I did not have to try hard though as my opening 7 was Spell Pierce x 2, 2 Lands, Counterbalance, Force, and Vendilion. Just a Top shy from being nearly perfect. Matt is on the mull to 5 and passes turn 1 with no play. On turn 2 he plays Lotus Petal into Ponder which I Spell Pierce. I nail down t2 CB and decide to Vendilion Clique myself on t3 to get rid of Terminus and dig into more business. With Matt on 0 lands and me having CBI didn’t think seeing his hand was that necessary. The game goes on a bit longer but Venser + Vendilion beatdown wins as Matt continues to stumble on mana only seeing 1 the entire game which was awkwardly a Gemstone Mine.

-2 Terminus
-1 Blood Moon
-1 Rest in Peace
-1 Supreme Verdict
-1 Swords to Plowshares // I left two in out of respect of Xantid Swarm and possibly Bob

+1 Counterbalance
+1 Misdirection
+2 REB
+1 EE
+1 Entreat

I once again am able to get an early Counterbalance without Top he tests the waters on turn 3-4 with a Gitaxian Probe to which CB showed a land, from this he was able to cast Burning Wish for Empty and pass. He kept hitting land drops and then eventually pulled the trigger on casting Empty for 8 goblins. I was able to Brainstorm and put Jace on top to make it 6 Goblins. Vendilion Clique traded with one of the goblin tokens and 2 Jaces were used to minimize their numbers and save me two damage until I could get an answer as he used all his resources on Empty. At around 6 life I brainstorm looking for removal to the remaining 3 tokens but don’t see one, a bit frustrated I make the terrible play of not putting Entreat on top and proceed to die in two turns.

I mulligan and lead with turn 1 Plains, Matt thinking the coast is clear from a turn 2 CB plays a cantrip. I E. Tutor for CB and then drop it turn 2 courtesy of Mystic Gate. This game plays out similarly to g2 where he is once again able to B. Wish for Empty but this time after he goes all in I am able to Brainstorm into EE and finally assemble CB/Top.
This match was interesting because I had early Counterbalances every game but never actually had it along with Top.

R6: Deathblade (Brad Nelson) 1-2
Brad leads off with a Deathrite Shaman and goes for a turn 2 Stoneforge Mystic which I decide to Force, I’m still not sure if this is a good play because Stoneforge is a very slow clock that I could have likely played around. I play a CB on turn 2 which doesn’t have much luck blind revealing. He develops his board some more but I am able to setup a Terminus to kill 3-4 creatures and then find my MD Blood Moon which resolves and he doesn’t have the Decay. He concedes a couple turns later once I deal with his Batterskull in the form of Swords the token and then hitting it with Vendilion Clique.

I don’t really have any idea how to board in this MU as I haven’t tested against it yet.

-1 Venser
-1 Rest in Peace
-2 Enlightened Tutors //couldn’t find anything else to cut
-1 Swords to Plowshares
-2 Force of Will

+1 Misdrection // I think boarding this was wrong as he only have 3 Abrupt Decays and not cards like Vision/Hymn vs. Shardless BUG.
+3 REBs
+1 CB
+1 Moat
+1 Entreat

I don’t remember that much about this game except that I was able to resolve Moat vs a huge board and when he had already used a D. Sphere on my Counterbalance. He was slowly killing me with Deathrite Shaman until I found a Terminus to kill it and all the other creatures. Also during this time he had a Jace brainstorming away and I couldn’t find a REB or my own Jace to kill it so he was to dig until he found another Deathrite which killed me before I could find a removal spell for it.

Game 3 he has Deathrite into Geist of Saint Traft vs my turn 1 Top. I have Supreme Verdict and two lands in play but only 1 more in my hand. I brick on hitting my 4th land for a turns why Geist + Deathrite quickly make work of my life. At the last possible turn I am able to Brainstorm + Top EOT into the 4th land and wrath his board. Brad takes the opportunity to nail down a Jace. A couple turns later I am able to get an Entreat for 2 Angels which I send both at Jace in case he has an Abrupt Decay. He had a Stoneforge which he used to grab Batterskull and passes the turn to me, I find a Vendilion Clique and attack with my two angel tokens. On my endstep he goes to activate Stoneforge which I respond by casting Vendilion Clique. I see a hand of Thoughtseize, Abrupt Decay, Batterskull, and Force of Will. I take the Batterskull and on end step he kills my Vendilion with Decay. I’m feeling pretty good right now since my board is 2 Angels, 6ish life vs. Seize, Force, unknown and 16 life. Unfortunately for me his next two draws were Snapcaster -> Abrupt Decay and another Abrupt Decay halting my offense. I had very few resources at this time and he was able to whittle me away.

After the match I was a little bit frustrated because Brad had turn 1 Deathrite every single game and kept seeing many more Jaces than myself despite Miarcles having more library manipulation. I also didn’t see a single REB in the post-board games which seems very critical at stopping Geist and winning the Jace war. With that said I still need to play the matchup to really understand which cards matter to construct a better boarding plan and how to play the MU.

R7: Punishing RUGb (Matthew Szabo) 1-2
He plays a turn 1 Deathrite off a Forest which I kill with Swords. Then he plays a Tarmogofy and uses a Wasteland on me. At this point I don’t really know what deck he is playing but assume BUG with a few basics. I am able to setup CB/Top but am taking serious damage from the 4/5 Tarmogofy. I finally find a Swords for it but it brought me down to 5 life. Matt was bricking on lands for many turns but finally hits two in a row and has Bloodbraid Elf into Punishing Fire. I have a 4cc on top to counter Bloodbraid but not the Fire and go to 3 life. Next turn he has another Bloodbraid this time into Shardless Agent into another Tarmogofy, I only have a 4cc and can only stop the Bloodbraid and the other two guys make it into play. I’m not able to find a Terminus/Supreme and die the next turn.
I had never seen this kind of deck so I was pretty confused going into boarding.

-1 Spell Pierce
-1 Enlightened Tutor
-1 Force of Will

+1 Rest in Peace
+1 Counterbalance
+1 Entreat the Angels

I don’t remember game 2 that well except that I got Wastelanded a bunch while beatdown by a motley crew of Deathrite and Shardless Agent while I had a Rest in Peace in play. He had a Sylvan Library which was giving him a lot of cards and it was looking pretty grim for me. I kept missing on lands, Brainstorm, or Top but found an Entreat which I cast for 1 angel miracled and somehow despite Matt having a full grip and many lands it somehow went the distance.

For game 3 I saw that he had Ancestral Vision from our game 2 and boarded in the 2nd Misdirection. My opening hand was a little awkward with 2 lands, 2 Misdirection, Jace, Vendilion, and CB but I thought it seemed good enough. I went for turn 2 CB which he Forced and I Misdirected pitching my Jace as I hadn’t drawn anymore lands since my opener. He suspended a Vision around turn 3 which got me excited since I could get some value from my 2nd MisD. By the time Vision comes off I have hit a 3rd land but no other blue spells than Vendilion so I pitch that steal his Recall drawing 3. Before his draw step I kill the Gofy in play with a swords that I drew off the three cards. I was feeling pretty good since he only had a couple cards in hand vs 5 but my life was fairly low at 4. He is able to draw running Bloodbraid Elfs off the top but I have Top plus Terminus to deal with it but a CB lying around is killed by a revealed Maelstrom Pulse. The 2nd Bloodbraid revels something low impact but I have to Force the Bloodbraid going to 3 life. After this I draw Enlightened Tutor which I hold planning on getting Counterbalance on his endstep or perhaps Detention Sphere if he hits a creature I need to stop,at this point I also have a RIP in hand to deal with Goyf and Deathrite so things are looking good. He draws for the turn and casually points a Bolt at my head for the last points. I could have mainphases the E. Tutor for CB and draw it with Top but that only plays around him drawing Bolt and he could always just wait until my draw step and roll the dice to see if a 1 drop is on top.

R8: Elves 2-0
I swords his turn 1 Deathrite after he fetches for a Bayou, I was thinking he was on a BUG variant. After that he drops 4 Elves over the next two turns after I Forced a Glimpse. A BS setup Terminus wraths most of his board. He played a couple more creatures before I was able to get CB/Top going and went for Natural Order but I had Supreme Verdict on top to counter it and he conceded shortly after with no creatures left.

-1 Rest in Peace
-1 Blood Moon
-1 Venser
+1 EE
+1 Counterbalance
+1 Moat

For game 2 we both mulligan and he leads with a Fynhorn Elf vs my Top. On turn 2-3 he nails down a Pithing Needle naming Top, I make the mistake of not tapping to draw. There is basically no reason not to because he’s almost 100% to name Top and this way I can shuffle it away in the future to a Brainstorm especially since I didn’t board in Disenchant and only have 1 D. Sphere to kill the Needle. On his turn 4 I draw step Vendilion taking away Glimpse but he is starting to build a critical mass of card drawing with Symbiote plus Visionary. I Brainstorm on turn 4 into Counterbalance and E. Tutor. I play the CB but it is only blind revealing due to Pithing Needle. I use the E. Tutor on his endstep to find Moat hoping he has no answers all the while attacking with Vendilion Clique. I kill a few Deathrite Shamans which are doing work with Querion Ranger and eventually setup an Entreat for lethal before he was able to Krosan Grip my Moat.

I really enjoy the deck and I think with some tweaking I can improve the MD to a place I like in the current metagame. Also the skill ceiling for playing this and most decks in Legacy is much higher than my current ability so hopefully with further playtesting I'll be able to improve in that regard as well.