Blind_dead
10-12-2006, 08:22 AM
Hi All,
Recently my local games store announced that they would be running a legacy tournament every Sunday for the month of October. As a fan of the format I was overjoyed. At the time I was considering putting together either Goblins or B/W Confident (the Chris Pickalu deck). However since I net deck in Standard I thought I would make an effort to be original and work on something new for legacy. Initially I came up with a deck very similar to the Red Death deck (R/B Sui) but really didn’t get a feel for it and I was also missing some key cards. In standard I had played Ghost Husk deck so I decided on B/W as my colours and began building the deck from there. Please find my deck list below;
B/W (I have yet to come up with a good title for the deck, any suggestions?)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Swords to Ploughshares
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Duress
2 Gerard’s Verdict
1 Vindicate
4 Unholy Strength
4 Dathui Slayer
4 Carnophage
3 Isamura, Hound of Konda
4 Rotting Giant
4 Withered Wretch
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
4 Scrubland
2 Plains
4 Swamps
1 Tainted Field
Sideboard
4 Phyrexian negator
2 True Believer
3 Kataki, War’s wage
3 Engineered Plague
3 Vindicate
Cards
Withered Wretch – This was originally a SB card until I realised I was boarding it in almost 75% of the time. It is solid at 2/2 and it has single handled owned any deck that values their graveyard and can also beat at the same time.
Dathui Slayer/Unholy strength – The slayer is an early drop that puts your opponent on a clock. I have often gone swamp/ritual/slayer & carnophage to put 4 power of attackers on the board first turn (or sometimes duress then slayer). Unholy strength was originally a bit of a joke. I arrived at the tournament and realised I had left some of my deck at home. The TO was going through his cards as he was lending out a deck for the tournament and I borrowed them from him to fill the hole in my deck. I thought I might give other players a bit of a giggle to see a white bordered creature enchantment. However it proved key in several match ups as a single one on a slayer creates an almost unblockable clock that often throws your opponent off their game plan.
Isamaru/Carnophage – Solid one drop that put pressure on the board and can block lackeys all day long. Early on I tried Sarcomancy but found it caused too much pain, having the hound was better and with Carnophage you can choose to avoid the pain (although if you are not attacking with him you are probably losing). One occasions I have been stuck with multiple hounds, one option I may explore is to replace one with a Savannah Lions.
Rotting Giant – He is big and his draw back is pretty negligible, I have yet to have any problem removing cards from my Graveyard when he is in play.
Duress/Hymn/Verdict – These cards are really obvious additions, early disruption followed by quick beats seals many games. I included 2 verdicts to the deck as I wasn’t happy with the amount of disruption I was drawing. It has only proved key in one game against a LD deck where one game was won due to the 3 life I had gained when my opponent discarded a mountain to the verdict.
Mana base – The original version had 22 lands and I often ended up with 5or 6 lands in play and wondered why I was losing so badly. The mana base is about as lean as I can get it. I would prefer the flooded strands were blood stained mires but I currently have none. However I have yet to have any issues with the strands. The large number of fetches really helps thin the deck and help provide good draws. The fetches also provide fuel for the rotting giant. The deck really only needs 3 lands in play to run well. One thing about my meta is that no one seems to be playing wastelands. Originally I ran a full set but often found that I was either playing budget decks with no non-basics or combo decks that were just running basics. Also it sometimes caused me to stall as having double black available on 2nd turn is vital for so many cards in this deck.
Sideboard
The sb is one thing I'm not so happy with as it’s been a bit hamstrung by card availability. The negators are for the combo match up. They ensure a very quick clock and the card is a personal favourite. True believer was put in to address the combo match up as well. However I could only lay my hands on 2 copies. This will hopefully be replaced by Gilded light. Kataki is an obvious inclusion against affinity as engineered plague for goblins. Vindicate was originally md but this deck works differently to the B/W Pickalu deck and I found it was only necessary in some games. Only 1 remains in the md
Results so far – Unfortunately my meta isn’t a true test on this deck as I would like it. The first tournament I went 3-1 in the Swiss (with 12 players). I lost to iggypop as both times it was too fast and I failed to hit any disruption or a true believer. I won against a black sui deck, Affinity (Kataki and turn 2 in both games sealed the deal) and a survival deck (one through a mix of disruption and withered wretch). They had a semi-finals were a faced a Lightning rift deck. First game I emptied his hand early and he failed to draw anything relevant. The next two games he jus gained life till he could drop multiple eternal dragons.
The second tournament I went 3-1 again. I lost against an Alluren combo deck. And then won against a LD deck (stone rain, Pillage with blastoderm), janky re-animator (he actually won one game when he reanimated Rakdos the defiler!!!), and combo deck that used future sight, sensei’s divining top and brain freeze (I was too quick and had too much disruption). Unfortunately there were no semi-finals in this tournament as after the 3rd round there were two people on 9 points (while I was still on 6) and they decided to ID and split the prize.
Unfortunately as far as testing against the tier 1 decks go I have not had much to report yet. But if any input would be appreciated.
Recently my local games store announced that they would be running a legacy tournament every Sunday for the month of October. As a fan of the format I was overjoyed. At the time I was considering putting together either Goblins or B/W Confident (the Chris Pickalu deck). However since I net deck in Standard I thought I would make an effort to be original and work on something new for legacy. Initially I came up with a deck very similar to the Red Death deck (R/B Sui) but really didn’t get a feel for it and I was also missing some key cards. In standard I had played Ghost Husk deck so I decided on B/W as my colours and began building the deck from there. Please find my deck list below;
B/W (I have yet to come up with a good title for the deck, any suggestions?)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Swords to Ploughshares
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Duress
2 Gerard’s Verdict
1 Vindicate
4 Unholy Strength
4 Dathui Slayer
4 Carnophage
3 Isamura, Hound of Konda
4 Rotting Giant
4 Withered Wretch
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
4 Scrubland
2 Plains
4 Swamps
1 Tainted Field
Sideboard
4 Phyrexian negator
2 True Believer
3 Kataki, War’s wage
3 Engineered Plague
3 Vindicate
Cards
Withered Wretch – This was originally a SB card until I realised I was boarding it in almost 75% of the time. It is solid at 2/2 and it has single handled owned any deck that values their graveyard and can also beat at the same time.
Dathui Slayer/Unholy strength – The slayer is an early drop that puts your opponent on a clock. I have often gone swamp/ritual/slayer & carnophage to put 4 power of attackers on the board first turn (or sometimes duress then slayer). Unholy strength was originally a bit of a joke. I arrived at the tournament and realised I had left some of my deck at home. The TO was going through his cards as he was lending out a deck for the tournament and I borrowed them from him to fill the hole in my deck. I thought I might give other players a bit of a giggle to see a white bordered creature enchantment. However it proved key in several match ups as a single one on a slayer creates an almost unblockable clock that often throws your opponent off their game plan.
Isamaru/Carnophage – Solid one drop that put pressure on the board and can block lackeys all day long. Early on I tried Sarcomancy but found it caused too much pain, having the hound was better and with Carnophage you can choose to avoid the pain (although if you are not attacking with him you are probably losing). One occasions I have been stuck with multiple hounds, one option I may explore is to replace one with a Savannah Lions.
Rotting Giant – He is big and his draw back is pretty negligible, I have yet to have any problem removing cards from my Graveyard when he is in play.
Duress/Hymn/Verdict – These cards are really obvious additions, early disruption followed by quick beats seals many games. I included 2 verdicts to the deck as I wasn’t happy with the amount of disruption I was drawing. It has only proved key in one game against a LD deck where one game was won due to the 3 life I had gained when my opponent discarded a mountain to the verdict.
Mana base – The original version had 22 lands and I often ended up with 5or 6 lands in play and wondered why I was losing so badly. The mana base is about as lean as I can get it. I would prefer the flooded strands were blood stained mires but I currently have none. However I have yet to have any issues with the strands. The large number of fetches really helps thin the deck and help provide good draws. The fetches also provide fuel for the rotting giant. The deck really only needs 3 lands in play to run well. One thing about my meta is that no one seems to be playing wastelands. Originally I ran a full set but often found that I was either playing budget decks with no non-basics or combo decks that were just running basics. Also it sometimes caused me to stall as having double black available on 2nd turn is vital for so many cards in this deck.
Sideboard
The sb is one thing I'm not so happy with as it’s been a bit hamstrung by card availability. The negators are for the combo match up. They ensure a very quick clock and the card is a personal favourite. True believer was put in to address the combo match up as well. However I could only lay my hands on 2 copies. This will hopefully be replaced by Gilded light. Kataki is an obvious inclusion against affinity as engineered plague for goblins. Vindicate was originally md but this deck works differently to the B/W Pickalu deck and I found it was only necessary in some games. Only 1 remains in the md
Results so far – Unfortunately my meta isn’t a true test on this deck as I would like it. The first tournament I went 3-1 in the Swiss (with 12 players). I lost to iggypop as both times it was too fast and I failed to hit any disruption or a true believer. I won against a black sui deck, Affinity (Kataki and turn 2 in both games sealed the deal) and a survival deck (one through a mix of disruption and withered wretch). They had a semi-finals were a faced a Lightning rift deck. First game I emptied his hand early and he failed to draw anything relevant. The next two games he jus gained life till he could drop multiple eternal dragons.
The second tournament I went 3-1 again. I lost against an Alluren combo deck. And then won against a LD deck (stone rain, Pillage with blastoderm), janky re-animator (he actually won one game when he reanimated Rakdos the defiler!!!), and combo deck that used future sight, sensei’s divining top and brain freeze (I was too quick and had too much disruption). Unfortunately there were no semi-finals in this tournament as after the 3rd round there were two people on 9 points (while I was still on 6) and they decided to ID and split the prize.
Unfortunately as far as testing against the tier 1 decks go I have not had much to report yet. But if any input would be appreciated.