Gibbie_X
12-02-2008, 12:41 PM
I would like to first welcome you to the Fold...
Let's begin:
Lands
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
4 Forest
1 Plains
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Temple Garden
4 Savannah
Creatures
4 Argothian Enchantress
Spells
1 Ground Seal
1 Pandemonium
1 Saproling Burst
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Karmic Justice
4 Exploration
4 Sterling Grove
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Enchantress's Presence
4 Elephant Grass
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Aura of Silence
1 Moat
1 Ivory Mask
2 Solitary Confinement
3 Replenish
1 Oblivion Ring
1 City of Solitude
Sideboard
SB: 1 Aura of Silence
SB: 1 Conversion
SB: 2 Porphyry Nodes
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Cleansing Meditation
SB: 1 Sacred Ground
SB: 2 Second Sunrise
SB: 1 Seal of Primordium
SB: 1 Seal of Cleansing
SB: 1 Runed Halo
SB: 1 Eyes of the Wisent
Breakdown:
Lands:
I tried to keep land to a minimum, utilizing more basics for fear of Wasteland, Back to Basics, and Blood Moon / Magus of the Moon. I don't feel I require more than one Serra's Sanctum. It's a card I can hold, in case of emergency, or a quick Moat even with Wasteland out. The sac lands work wonders with Top, and keep white mana available. The plains became necessary after Moon with not Utopia Sprawl available.
Spells:
Acceleration - 4 Utopia Sprawls, 4 Exploration
I tested a version with four Wild Growth's, but where it helped drop a second turn Presence a little more consistently, due to the low land count, in the long game, Exploration was a better card to have, especially with Sanctum. Exploration gave a better diversity of mana than Wild Growth. Utopia Sprawl is what really runs this deck, and makes it possible. It can assure a second turn card draw, barring counter magic, but that's later in the discussion.
Card Draw and Filter - Argothian Enchantress, Enchantress's Presence, Sensei's Divining Top
The gears of this machine, enabling the user to out draw any blue engine. A Second turn drop is optimal, and is about a 85% chance, even without acceleration. Both require the user to draw, so decking oneself is highly unlikely with an experienced user. I have run down to the last card, and was still won. You have to be careful.
I find Top to be more versatile, reliable, and indestructible, than either Sylvan Library or Mirri's guile. Granted, copies of any of these cards are better Solitary Confinement bait then card drawing, except a spare Top can be easily shuffled back into your library. If you discard one, it won't come back. Granted, with City out early, you lose a chance to stack as well as you want. Later in the game, Top outlasts both other enchantments, tapping to draw that last needed piece.
Defense - 4 Elephant Grass, 1 Moat, 1 Ivory Mask, 2 Solitary Confinement
The Elephant Grass is the power house here, stopping aggro decks cold for a turn or more. Hitting the turf third turn is common and well appreciated against most critter decks. I usually wait against a Tarmagoyf, since they take time to grow with most decks. This card is great for late game card draw as well. Having four allows you to let one die in order to free up mana, allowing you to draw once again.
Moat speaks for itself, and it stops game with one shout. Coupled with Mask, its as powerful as Confinement. From what I have seen, most mainstream aggro decks lack flying capabilities.
Solitary Confinement rounds out the protection, not only allowing you to stay relatively untouchable, you don't want to be a such a low life with the possibility of un-targeted life loss. Granted, those cards are few and far between in the competitive metagame, Legacy is a wide open field, so keep your life total about five. Confinement also gives you both the discard you need for the combo and the protection from the combo. Helping you not draw is a great relief come late game. With the skipping of the draw step, it nulls Sylvan Library, and making Guile not worth it either.
Search and Rescue - 4 Sterling Grove, 3 Replenish
When it comes to the searching and stacking of enchantments, I really think Sterling Grove and Enlightened Tutor are pretty neck and neck. The Tutor gives you not only a surprise factor, but a safety net against targeted discard. Grove, on the other hand, protects you enchantments, protects itself if you have two, searches and shuffles your deck, and takes one for the team against targeted removal.
When Replenish became unbanned, I wanted to break it wide open. With this deck and kill engine, it's possible. This card is even good early game against mass removal like Pernicious Deed or Burning Wish to any number of spells. With and expense at 3W, it can get past Trinisphere, but open to Teeg.
Kill Mechanism - 1 Pandemonium, 1 Saproling Burst, 1 Sacred Mesa
With the chance to bring back both Pandemonium and Burst in one shot, you can deal 21 points of damage. With a Replenish, most likely you will have cards to protect the combo pieces as well as a spare Confinement.
With the extra mana provided, dropping them is as possible as resurrecting them. With the right Sprawl and the Sanctum, it can be an early counter burner, or a deal with me now threat.
Sacred Mesa has unspeakable power with Serra's Sanctum fueling it. I really like Hoofprints of the Stag, but the limitation to your turn and the 2W activation cost brings Mesa to the pile. With a Pandemonium in play, double the damage.
Holiest of Holies - 1 Karmic Justice, 1 Ground Seal, 1 City of Solitude, 1 Aura of Silence, 1 Oblivion Ring
Each card has its own story to tell and a function against almost every competitive deck.
City of Solitude is, I feel, a swift kick in the nuts for Force of Will, a card I have never been a fan of. City can also take a early turn counter out of there hand, and be golden when you Replenish. Freezing them at the right time helps.
Karmic Justice helps protect as much as Sterling Grove, more in some cases. True sacrificing still trumps, this card evens the playing field against an Armageddon, a Deed, or Engineered Explosives. I've met a few people trying to argue the stacking of Justice, they get it wrong every time.
Ground Seal is a cork for Dread Return as well as Academy Ruins recursion. The drawing a card helps early game, assuring the card is never dead when drawn.
Aura of Silence pays for itself hand over fist. The mirror is near impossible with this out. Drop one of these second turn against Stax or Affinity and you most likely won't lose.
Oblivion Ring is a better removal spell than any for this deck. It can answer so many problems the metagame can throw. It's turn restraint is annoying, but not as annoying as Trinisphere or Chalice of the Void.
Sideboard - This Varies, will take suggestions...
Match-Ups:
Aggro - Goblins, Affinity, etc.
These opponents have weaknesses requiring one card to exploit. With Goblins, dropping Grass can slow goblins turn three and four. Moat usually ends Game 1. Some will hold of for burn of Siege catapulting. Ivory Mask or Confinement ends that as well. Post sideboard removal becomes there weapon, needing you to get more protective spells than defense spells.
Affinity can be slowed by both Grass and Aura, allowing you to set up in time.
Aggro-Control - Sligh, Goyf Sligh, Dead Guy Ale, AggroLoam, Dragon Stompy, etc.
Early Elephant Grass helps hold the critters at bay while you build. Discard is a pain, especially if they get Replenish.
Control - Mono Blue Variants, Stax, etc.
These are long and good matches. The skill level required to play these decks properly and against them is very high. Early Chalice and Trinisphere hurts almost any deck. Drawing first against Stax is bad.
With Landstill, breaking the Standstill and dropping and Enchantress
Combo- ANT, T.E.S., Iggy Pop, etc.
Ad Nausem is going to do to Chicago what Flash did to Columbus if it is not stopped. The deck goes off turn one and two so well I only have one answer, Rune Halo. If something isn't printed to counter it, it will run amok.
Let's begin:
Lands
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
4 Forest
1 Plains
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Temple Garden
4 Savannah
Creatures
4 Argothian Enchantress
Spells
1 Ground Seal
1 Pandemonium
1 Saproling Burst
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Karmic Justice
4 Exploration
4 Sterling Grove
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Enchantress's Presence
4 Elephant Grass
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Aura of Silence
1 Moat
1 Ivory Mask
2 Solitary Confinement
3 Replenish
1 Oblivion Ring
1 City of Solitude
Sideboard
SB: 1 Aura of Silence
SB: 1 Conversion
SB: 2 Porphyry Nodes
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Cleansing Meditation
SB: 1 Sacred Ground
SB: 2 Second Sunrise
SB: 1 Seal of Primordium
SB: 1 Seal of Cleansing
SB: 1 Runed Halo
SB: 1 Eyes of the Wisent
Breakdown:
Lands:
I tried to keep land to a minimum, utilizing more basics for fear of Wasteland, Back to Basics, and Blood Moon / Magus of the Moon. I don't feel I require more than one Serra's Sanctum. It's a card I can hold, in case of emergency, or a quick Moat even with Wasteland out. The sac lands work wonders with Top, and keep white mana available. The plains became necessary after Moon with not Utopia Sprawl available.
Spells:
Acceleration - 4 Utopia Sprawls, 4 Exploration
I tested a version with four Wild Growth's, but where it helped drop a second turn Presence a little more consistently, due to the low land count, in the long game, Exploration was a better card to have, especially with Sanctum. Exploration gave a better diversity of mana than Wild Growth. Utopia Sprawl is what really runs this deck, and makes it possible. It can assure a second turn card draw, barring counter magic, but that's later in the discussion.
Card Draw and Filter - Argothian Enchantress, Enchantress's Presence, Sensei's Divining Top
The gears of this machine, enabling the user to out draw any blue engine. A Second turn drop is optimal, and is about a 85% chance, even without acceleration. Both require the user to draw, so decking oneself is highly unlikely with an experienced user. I have run down to the last card, and was still won. You have to be careful.
I find Top to be more versatile, reliable, and indestructible, than either Sylvan Library or Mirri's guile. Granted, copies of any of these cards are better Solitary Confinement bait then card drawing, except a spare Top can be easily shuffled back into your library. If you discard one, it won't come back. Granted, with City out early, you lose a chance to stack as well as you want. Later in the game, Top outlasts both other enchantments, tapping to draw that last needed piece.
Defense - 4 Elephant Grass, 1 Moat, 1 Ivory Mask, 2 Solitary Confinement
The Elephant Grass is the power house here, stopping aggro decks cold for a turn or more. Hitting the turf third turn is common and well appreciated against most critter decks. I usually wait against a Tarmagoyf, since they take time to grow with most decks. This card is great for late game card draw as well. Having four allows you to let one die in order to free up mana, allowing you to draw once again.
Moat speaks for itself, and it stops game with one shout. Coupled with Mask, its as powerful as Confinement. From what I have seen, most mainstream aggro decks lack flying capabilities.
Solitary Confinement rounds out the protection, not only allowing you to stay relatively untouchable, you don't want to be a such a low life with the possibility of un-targeted life loss. Granted, those cards are few and far between in the competitive metagame, Legacy is a wide open field, so keep your life total about five. Confinement also gives you both the discard you need for the combo and the protection from the combo. Helping you not draw is a great relief come late game. With the skipping of the draw step, it nulls Sylvan Library, and making Guile not worth it either.
Search and Rescue - 4 Sterling Grove, 3 Replenish
When it comes to the searching and stacking of enchantments, I really think Sterling Grove and Enlightened Tutor are pretty neck and neck. The Tutor gives you not only a surprise factor, but a safety net against targeted discard. Grove, on the other hand, protects you enchantments, protects itself if you have two, searches and shuffles your deck, and takes one for the team against targeted removal.
When Replenish became unbanned, I wanted to break it wide open. With this deck and kill engine, it's possible. This card is even good early game against mass removal like Pernicious Deed or Burning Wish to any number of spells. With and expense at 3W, it can get past Trinisphere, but open to Teeg.
Kill Mechanism - 1 Pandemonium, 1 Saproling Burst, 1 Sacred Mesa
With the chance to bring back both Pandemonium and Burst in one shot, you can deal 21 points of damage. With a Replenish, most likely you will have cards to protect the combo pieces as well as a spare Confinement.
With the extra mana provided, dropping them is as possible as resurrecting them. With the right Sprawl and the Sanctum, it can be an early counter burner, or a deal with me now threat.
Sacred Mesa has unspeakable power with Serra's Sanctum fueling it. I really like Hoofprints of the Stag, but the limitation to your turn and the 2W activation cost brings Mesa to the pile. With a Pandemonium in play, double the damage.
Holiest of Holies - 1 Karmic Justice, 1 Ground Seal, 1 City of Solitude, 1 Aura of Silence, 1 Oblivion Ring
Each card has its own story to tell and a function against almost every competitive deck.
City of Solitude is, I feel, a swift kick in the nuts for Force of Will, a card I have never been a fan of. City can also take a early turn counter out of there hand, and be golden when you Replenish. Freezing them at the right time helps.
Karmic Justice helps protect as much as Sterling Grove, more in some cases. True sacrificing still trumps, this card evens the playing field against an Armageddon, a Deed, or Engineered Explosives. I've met a few people trying to argue the stacking of Justice, they get it wrong every time.
Ground Seal is a cork for Dread Return as well as Academy Ruins recursion. The drawing a card helps early game, assuring the card is never dead when drawn.
Aura of Silence pays for itself hand over fist. The mirror is near impossible with this out. Drop one of these second turn against Stax or Affinity and you most likely won't lose.
Oblivion Ring is a better removal spell than any for this deck. It can answer so many problems the metagame can throw. It's turn restraint is annoying, but not as annoying as Trinisphere or Chalice of the Void.
Sideboard - This Varies, will take suggestions...
Match-Ups:
Aggro - Goblins, Affinity, etc.
These opponents have weaknesses requiring one card to exploit. With Goblins, dropping Grass can slow goblins turn three and four. Moat usually ends Game 1. Some will hold of for burn of Siege catapulting. Ivory Mask or Confinement ends that as well. Post sideboard removal becomes there weapon, needing you to get more protective spells than defense spells.
Affinity can be slowed by both Grass and Aura, allowing you to set up in time.
Aggro-Control - Sligh, Goyf Sligh, Dead Guy Ale, AggroLoam, Dragon Stompy, etc.
Early Elephant Grass helps hold the critters at bay while you build. Discard is a pain, especially if they get Replenish.
Control - Mono Blue Variants, Stax, etc.
These are long and good matches. The skill level required to play these decks properly and against them is very high. Early Chalice and Trinisphere hurts almost any deck. Drawing first against Stax is bad.
With Landstill, breaking the Standstill and dropping and Enchantress
Combo- ANT, T.E.S., Iggy Pop, etc.
Ad Nausem is going to do to Chicago what Flash did to Columbus if it is not stopped. The deck goes off turn one and two so well I only have one answer, Rune Halo. If something isn't printed to counter it, it will run amok.