Hey d00mwake, thats a pretty good and standard list to start with. The pieces that I would consider tweaking first are:Originally Posted by d00mwake
a) The Into the North / Snow covered package - oftentimes you really want a sylvan scrying to look for a ghost quarter or thespian stage when you can only get basics and the depths.. also as a side note: SC lands immediately give away what you are playing, since no other deck in legacy runs these.
b) I prefer to run 3 bayous, but if two work for you or are a budget option .. then by all means..
depending heavily on the meta:
c) dryad arbor is good, but obviously if your meta doesnt have too much edict effects you could move it to the SB or remove alltogether
d) 3 safekeeper are a lot, but if you see a lot of edicts, dnt, etc. then it might be just what you need
e) needles: I often run 4, but if your meta doesnt have too many Wastelands, 3 is fine
f) SB: I've never had to use Toxic Deluge or Maelstrom Pulse in this deck - what were you planning to use them for? Since the slots are tight in Turbo Depth, consider using the rite of consumption/boseju combo if you have miracles in your meta. You've already got decays, so I don't think pulse is necessary.
All these suggestions are pretty much nitpicking, the list is very good as is and any potential changes are mainly meta calls. So have fun with the deck!
I played one league with that 75 and went 3-2. Losses being to Sultai Death's Shadow and Merfolk(vomit). Wins were against Eldrazi, Lands, and D&T. Winning against Lands and D&T felt pretty great since they feel like 2 of the worst matchups for Depths. As far as Into the North vs 4th Scrying, i did like the ability for ItN to "Explore" you in a way, leading on 2 non combo lands and a Scrying just means your Stage/Depths line is way too slow in a lot of matchups. The Dryad Arbor should almost certainly be a 3rd Bayou, I've played 15 or so leagues in the past 2 weeks and have not played against very many, if any Diabolic Edicts. I have been impressed enough with Safekeeper to consider going up to 4, although that's probably just nonsense. Tons of D&T and Miracles in the MODO metagame so Karakas is everywhere, maybe that means I should just have the 4th Needle or potentially a second GQ. Pulse came up against Eldrazi being able to KO a TkS since it's trigger was forced to take a Hexmage, but maybe it's just too slow in most matchups to have that much impact. I wanted Deluge mainly for D&T/Delver but maybe that's not the way I should be approaching those matchups. I ended up finding a legacy veeedio from Mengucci on this deck from a few months back and changed the list a bit to mostly what he had:
-1 Safekeeper
-1 Sylvan
-1 Dryad
+1 Scrying
+1 Into the North
+1 Bayou
SB changes
-3 Sphere
-2 Pulse
+1 Decay
+1 Sylvan
+1 Mishra's Factory
+1 Dryad
+1 Faerie Macabre
Currently 2-0 in this second league beating RB Reanimator and Lands so far. I think after I finish this league I'm gonna swap either the 4th Scrying or 2nd ItN for the 4th Needle main.
It had been nearly a year since I got to compete in an individual paper tournament (EE7). Most of my play happens online which is great for what it is, but can't begin to replace an IRL tournament atmosphere and everything else that comes along with competing in person. The new meta has had that wide open feel similar to how it was in the immediate weeks after the Terminus Top ban. My take was that Depths decks in general were about to enter a much worse place in the meta. Two match-ups that were very favorable (4c Pile) and favorable (Grixis Delver) that happened to occupy the top two spots in the meta were either killed or weakened. The obvious decks that improved mostly seemed to be worse mu's, especially STP & Wasteland/Loam decks. It's not that those are unwinnable match-ups, but it's certainly worse if those decks show up in higher numbers. After complaining to some friends leading up the tournament including seriously considering running SnS, I decided to stick with my trusty BUG Depths list. One piece of oft repeated legacy wisdom is some version of play what you know best or play what you are most comfortable with. That seems particularly true in a new meta where others are experimenting or switching to decks that they may not be as experienced with. So off to SCG King of Prussia (Philly not Philly) for the Legacy Classic which happened to be in a casino to help maximize the life destruction any tilt could cause..... wait, I mean help maximize the enjoyment of players who may partake in both.
My List: BUG Depths - http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/122552
Recent changes include cutting Dryad Arbor from the SB and rearranging the fetch lands. Diabolic Edict seems like it will be much less prevalent now and plow much more… So the some edict protection got cut in exchange for some additional STP protection in the form of Sylvan Safekeeper. This change makes it possible to exchange the Verdant Catacombs for Polluted Deltas since the fetches don't all need to grab specifically Forest. This enables starts like Delta into fetch Underground Sea into Thoughtseize or Duress. This can give the deck a Storm look early in game 1 now that most ANT & TES lists are running both Seize + Duress and can hopefully lead to the occasional funky Ponder or Brainstorm from opponents. Little edges right?
Legacy Classic – 170 players – 8 Rounds Swiss
Round 1 – Michael Chang (Canadian/RUG)
This is a mu that on the surface would appear to be harder than Grixis Delver due to the presence of Stifles that mess with hexmages/fetches/maps/etc. In practice though, their clock is often much slower. Mongoose hitting for 1 damage once or twice is basically no clock. Bog gets to mess with both Goose and Goyf. A resolved Pithing Needle on Wasteland in game 1 is basically game over. Post board, Submerge is much worse than Edict. Depths deck often run only 7-8 green cards, 4 of which are crop rotations that can remove the Forest from play. Depths can just naturally combo without needing a forest a good amount as well.
G1: They got three Goose hits in before Marit Lage made her first appearance of the day.
SB: Normal delver strategy is maxing out on Needles, adding decays, and the stray Ghost Quarter. It may hurt to read this, but I board out Brainstorms fairly often including here. I cut a Mox on the Play, a land on the draw since part of the value of mox in the mu is making playing around Daze easier.
G2: An IOK showed a Submerge in hand which would be stranded there while they were getting hit with a 20/20 against a board of Lage, Urborg, and Polluted Delta.
W (2-0) 1-0
Round 2 – Lloyd Kurth (Canadian/RUG)
Some early pairings luck is always nice. More of the same here in game 1. SB same as above.
G2: Was close as an early Delver on the play flipped and got the tempo game going. The final turn had me at 3 life where bolt off the top would have killed me, but they missed. Sejiri Steppe pushed Marit Lage past a Delver.
W (2-0) 2-0
Round 3 – Robin Mehta (Omnitell)
G1: An early discard spell took a Show and Tell and Hexmage + Depths on turn 3 was enough before they could piece things together.
SB: Karakas, Flusters, and Surgicals come in. 3 Mox Diamonds, 2 maps, and Bog come out
G2: Things started slowly and then he wished for Rushing River on my end step and held it up with 4 mana untapped. I had the combo + the ability to Flusterstorm. I also had a crop rot in hand, so waiting until he took an action or I found land #5 couldn't be beat by force + pay for a copy. I found land #5 two or three turns later and passed. He found Show and Tell, cast it planning on putting Omniscience in. I cropped for fetch into Underground Sea to build the storm count and Flustered. He couldn't pay for Fluster and didn't have enough for Rushing River to answer the eot 20/20.
W (2-0) 3-0
Round 4 – Allison Warfield (Eldrazi Post) http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/122567
G1: I wasn't 100% sure early based on the cards I saw that the list wasn't just regular Eldrazi so I made a main phase 20/20 directly into an All is Dust like a champ (thinking I was playing around Wasteland). This was very bad for a bunch of reasons, especially because even if it was that version they often run 1-2 copies of Karakas main deck. The second combo fortunately got there.
SB: Boarding out Brainstorm continues. I really dislike how 1 drop heavy the list is against Chalice decks. Even accounting for the Hexmages that can also answer Chalice (or just killling them), one of the few ways to lose here is to keep a 1 drop heavy hand and get hit with a turn 1 Chalice. Some 1 drops have to go to balance out the curve and make room for the Decays and Grips which are great here. Useless utility lands in the mu like Bog and Steppe also get swapped out for Ghost Quarter and Karakas just because it comes into play untapped.
G2: A T1 Spyglass probed my hand which included Hexmage, a tutor, discard, Krosan Grip, and the necessary lands to play those spells. The Hexmage got named, but the discard took Grim Monolith slowing things down on her end. That was followed by Grip on Spyglass and Hexmage to finish things.
W(2-0) 4-0
Round 5 – Chad Harney (Grixis Delver)
G1: Opponent kept a risky 6 that just didn't get there. Lage came around turn 3 or 4. They were on the Bomat Courier (Noah Walker) version
SB: Normal delver strategy along with cutting Bog which stays in vs RUG, but is fairly mediocre here when it really only stalls angler at best.
G2: It took some time to assemble after being hit with Wasteland twice. A Gurmag Angler joined the party for a fast clock. On the last possible turn before Gurmag drug me to the bottom of the bog, I was able to finally make a 20/20… Sadly, by that point he found edict and I became fish food. I had a fetch up at the time and was punished for the first time for cutting Dryad Arbor from the SB.
G3 - A Needle named Wasteland immediately and put them on pretty much needing exactly edict to not die. A discard spell looked at their hand on the combo turn, so they had three looks (a draw step and two cards under Bomat) but couldn't find an edict.
W (2-1) 5-0
Round 6 – Kenneth Rodriguez (Elves) http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/122547
G1: He had the unfortunate luck of being on the receiving end of my first turn 2 token of the tournament when a board of Urborg/Depths/Mox cropped into Marit Lage on their 2nd end step.
SB: This is basically a race mu where Depths is often a little faster and has more disruption. I bring in 2 of the Flusters to pair up with the heavy discard package to fight almost all of the main ways Elves can win a game in the first 2-4 turns. A Map gets shaved along with a Bog. Oh, I swap in a GQ for Steppe too just because it doesn't come into play tapped and sometimes transforming a Cradle into a Forest matters.
G2: A Ranger got decayed and some random elf hits got me to 14 before a 20/20 showed up.
W (2-0) 6-0
Round 7 – Jeffrey White (U/W RIP/Helm)
At this point, we were the only X-0's left with one X-0-1, so it was a lock for both of us to make it even if we both lost in rd 8… So ID it is. We played two loose games for fun before checking out the other matches. Wasteland on Karakas pushed through a 20/20 in one game and crop protected from plow in the other.
ID 6-0-1
Round 8 - Joseph Cockrell – (Eldrazi Post) http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/122560
Knew the mu going in was favorable and should have played it out for seeding purposes since a draw would almost certainly make me the 5th seed where a loss would likely make it the 5th or 6th seed. A win would have locked in the 1st seed. Some combination of wanting to relax before the top 8, putting a decent mu in the top8, and not wanting to dream crush won out though.
ID 6-0-2
Quarterfinals - Jonathan Sukenik (Grixis Delver) http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/122549
Jonathan's list is really sweet. The 4 TNN's probably annoyed the crap out of his opponents throughout this tournament. His list has a lot more play in the mu than some of the other Delver lists out there including three main deck Thoughtseizes. Post board, he gets the standard 2 Diabolic Edicts, but also has Echoing Truth and the 4th seize. The list also has Thought Scour. Between the random mills and Wastelands, Surgical Extractions become a very real threat to just end the game by extracting Depths.
G1: A fun moment where he needed to Spell Pierce a Stifle (off Mox Diamond) on one of his fetches got quite a reaction him from the people birding the match. It's not every day you get Stifled out of the Turbo Depths deck. A Needle naming Wasteland hit and made it nearly impossible game 1 to stop a 20/20 from arriving. There was a key turn where he needed me to not draw a land and he may have been able to race, but running 28 of those has upsides and it was there.
SB: Same as before vs Grixis
G2: An early discard spell showed a really good hand for the mu of Pierce, Angler, Edict, Surigcal, Misty, and Echoing Truth. Took the Edict since theoretically Crop/Steppe could get through the bounce spell. Along the way, a Scrying gets hit with Surgical (hitting a second one in hand) and a Gurmag gets a couple of hits in. I never find a discard spell, but set up a sequence where I main phase a Hexmage activation on Depths and immediately play a second Depths without giving a window to get hit with a potential 2nd Surgical. Stage was already in play, so I think this gets me through the E-Truth, but he found the 2nd edict to answer both tokens and Angler finishes me off. Two game losses so far, both at the hands of the Zombie Fish + edict combination. Who cuts Dryad Arbor anyway? Current score – Dryad Arbor 2, Sylvan Safekeeper 0.
G3: After game 2, I broke from my traditional boarding strategy vs Delver and boarded in Flusterstorms. He was playing more spells that I cared about than usual that Fluster can hit, so it seemed like they would be worth it. The game developed to a point where I had the land combo plus a tropical island out w/Fluster and crop in hand. He had three lands untapped and a bunch of cards in hand and kept passing with no clock, so force + felt like it had to be there. He preordained a card to the top, so I waited a couple of extra turns trying to find the 5th land for crop + Fluster. He eventually tapped a land and I went for it. He didn't have an answer. I definitely gave him extra looks at Wasteland which may have opened up his hand and opened the door for a combeback, but the line felt right when I made it. :/ I do have the habit of playing conservatively at times which has its pluses and minuses. He played very well and did a good job of making me believe he had it.
These games were amongst the most fun I've ever had playing magic. Jonathan was an awesome opponent and the back and forth banter had one judge cracking up and the head judge wearing a look that I interpreted as “please don't let this go completely off the rails.”
W (2-1) 7-0-2 matches
Semifinals - Samuel Lawrence (Miracles) http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/122540
Opponents list features a couple of Back to Basics in the main which can be backbreaking at times.
G1: He kept a one land hand (Tundra) and then got brainstorm locked. However, my 6 after a mull was pretty weak too and my discard spells were forced to take two plows he had in hand. A few turns later when I cobbled together the combo, he had the 3rd plow which Brainstorm found and/or protected. Jace took over the game a few turns later. While boarding and serenading my opponent and anyone in the vicinity with my tale of woe regarding the timely plow #3, Sam dropped a “Brainstorm is a hell of a magic card.” Truer words about Legacy may never be spoken.
SB: Out go the Moxes, Map, a land for some sweet Flusterstorms & Surgicals. Normally, Surgical is boarded in way too often by a lot of players and is often trash vs control decks… but with their answers being so limited and Depths being chock full of discard, it serves an important role here. Everything from the obvious removing plows, to shuffling an obvious Terminus line, to messing with Snapcaster, to shuffling their deck after they cast a Brainstorm to protect cards from a discard spell are solid. It also provides occasional emergency valve lines like protecting an exposed Depths in your yard from a Surgical from their side and shuffling your own deck post Brainstorm if your top card(s) aren't going to get there.
G2: Made land drops and resolved a Safekeeper. When I eot combo'd be scooped. He either had absolutely nothing that mattered, or more likely….his plow(s) or snap/plow were useless against Safekeeper, Lage, and 3 lands. Current score – Dryad Arbor 2, Sylvan Safekeeper 1.
G3: Opponent left up an obvious Brainstorm early, so I passed on casting IOK. A couple of plays got countered and a counterbalance came down. There was an interesting spot where he set up predict and I passed on using a surgical that would have targeted Force of Will and gave him the extra card. It may have been greedy, and I'm still not sure if it was right, but the decision got rewarded later. The blind flip wasn't kind on a key turn and I was able to push through a bunch of spells hitting their hand with IOK, resolving Hexmage, and exiling all of their plows with Surgical. No answer to the 20/20 came off the top.
W (2-1) 8-0-2
Finals - Jeffrey White (U/W RIP/Helm) http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/122554
This deck has some really annoying cards main in the mu including Karakas, Humility, plus the RIP/Energy Field combo. Game 1 I legit have 0 answers to a resolved Humility besides the laughable plan of attacking with 1/1's. RIP + Energy Field is also game over game 1.
G1: He got to a spot on turn 3 where he had to cast a desperation Energy Field to not die to Marit Lage. This is amazing, because he could no longer interact with me at all without killing the Energy Field (and himself) that turn. I Scrying for Wasteland, Wasteland his Tundra and get the sweet 2 for 1 killing Field too. The card advantage was short lived though since he died on the spot.
SB: Some answers to the enchantments in Decays and Grips came in along with Flusterstorms. Vs decks like this, I board out Moxen, map, and a land.
G2: A turn 1 discard spell revealed Couterbalance x2, Fluster, Preordain, Jace, Tarn, Disenchant. Welp, guess it's time to play the counterbalance lottery for the next few turns. My hand was discard and tutor heavy, so this seems sorta OK. I took the preordain and hoped the blind flips were kind. They were not as I get clocked on blind flips on three straight turns and eventually Jace came down. After pecking at Jace with a Safekeeper, they played a Moat... err.... Mentor. I attack Jace into the untapped Mentor with a Safekeeper just because I wasn't beating Jace + Counterbalance from that spot. After appearing very confused and saying so out loud, he blocks and I scoop soon after bowing to the most powerful of walkers.
G3: After ripping a ponder from their hand with discard, they fetch out a couple of early basic Islands prepping for a possible BTB and playing around my amazing one of Wasteland. A second discard spell ran face first into a Brainstorm. Nothing in my opponents hand mattered at that moment and I could combo on the next turn. He untapped and played Pithing Needle off the top naming Thespian Stage. Unfortunately for him, I had the tools to combo both ways and Hexmage/Depths courtesy of Urborg hit the table on my turn. Stage was almost certainly the correct name either way since there are way more ways to find Stage than Hexmage. I passed the turn with my favorite triple land Tropical Island + Flusterstorm and the combo up. They drew the last unknown that was hidden with Brainstorm and had three lands, so it wasn't a lock until they pondered twice during their turn and passed with 1 mana up. I made Marit Lage eot, they plowed, I flustered, we shook hands. Good Games. The remaining 8 people in the room were super pumped that they could leave soon since we were the last event running.
W (2-1) 9-0-2
Overall I still think the deck (and Depths in general) is in a worse spot post ban. I was fortunate to dodge DnT entirely and avoided white decks in non ID rounds until the semis and finals. If 3/5 top decks become something like DnT, Miracles, and Blade variants, it will be time to make some changes. Most of that will involve adding narrow cards that I personally hate like extra Sylvan Safekeepers, NOTW, etc to go along with a solid engine to leverage the additional life like Sylvan Library.
My opponents were all nice and I chatted with almost all of them for decent amounts of time after each match. The legacy community really is the best and makes going to events whenever possible worthwhile regardless of the results. My previous event was a team event where the team did not do well, but the players, opponents, and matches made the event enjoyable. Hopefully the pro tour this weekend will show how great legacy is and draw even more players into the community. If anyone has any thoughts or questions about the list, fire away. I'll generally respond faster on the Lands/Depths discord channel. I plan on streaming the deck about once a week or so starting next week.
Just got a 5-0 with this:
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Vampire Hexmage
2 Sylvan Safekeeper
2 Expedition Map
4 Lotus Petal
3 Pithing Needle
4 Crop Rotation
4 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
4 Sylvan Scrying
2 Into the North
3 Bayou
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Dark Depths
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 SC Forest
1 SC Swamp
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
SB:
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Karakas
1 Krosan Grip
1 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Sylvan Library
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Faerie Macabre
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Mishra's Factory
Essentially just what I posted at first with the changes I mentioned in the last post. Beat RB Reanimator, Lands, UW Landstill, UB Faeries(not really sure what was going on here), and Sneak and Show. The main felt near perfect, I did bring in the Needle 4 out of 5 rounds so maybe I should just make that swap in the MD. I did not bring in the Factory or the Deluge in any of the matches. I'm not entirely sure what the Factory is even supposed to be for, especially if you have the Dryad Arbor to fade Edict already. Maybe just a way to Rotate EOT and pressure a Jace? Either way seems fairly subpar. The Deluge is something I probably don't need in this MODO metagame of mostly Sneak and SHow and Reanimator with a smattering of Miracles. Any suggestions for those last 2 SB slots if I were to cut the Needle and the Deluge?
Man, thank you a lot for this very precise and nice report!
It is really nice to have access to such material, especially when it's so well summed up.
Side question: if I understood your conclusion, you feel like your UBG version might not be the best against D&T, Miracle and Blade. But why do you think that is? Against D&T I guess that playing 3 colors is hard against their manadenial, but against all thoses UW(x) controls, I would have thought that flusterstorm and Brainstorm would have been very useful. Are they not?
(I ask this because you said you'd need to change your list if thoses decks were going to rise up significantly)
Envoyé de mon Blackphone 2 en utilisant Tapatalk
I would certainly cut either Mirsha or Dryad befor the 4th Needle. And if you really don't use the Deluge, maybe one more discard card coule do it? It's never wrong against combo decks.
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I appreciate the kind words. My take is that those mu's are just difficult for Depths in general against skilled pilots. Blade is fine, but Miracles and especially DnT can be difficult. The Depths lists that bend themselves to significantly improve the plow mu's by running narrow cards are often doing so at the expense of slots vs the combo mu's... which is a compromise I've always tried to avoid making. Flusterstorm represents the middle ground that heavily impacts both control and combo mu's. It attacks combo while simultaneously being an answer to a lot of our opponents answers to Marit Lage (often in the same mu). The downside is that Flusterstorms are basically unplayable against DnT and similar strategies.
Hey there. Depths player and been playing it for about a year now. Just started the Source. Does anyone know the invite for the Discord Server for Depths?
https://discordapp.com/invite/WsJs2tf
I have decided to go with
Protection:
4x Thoughtseize
4x Duress
3x Sylvan Safekeeper
4x Pithing Needle
Ramp:
4x Elvish Spirit-Guide
4x Lotus Petal
Dig:
4x Crop Rotation
4x Sylvan Scrying
2x Ground Seal
Combo:
4x Dark Depths
4x Thespian's Stage
4x Vampire Hexmage
4x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Mana:
2x Llanowar Wastes
4x Blooming Marsh
1x Swamp
1x Forest
Tool Box:
1x Sejiri Steppe
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Ghost Quarter
Sideboard:
1x Reverent Silence
1x Mishra's Factory
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Choke
1x Karakas
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Maze of Ith
2x Rite of Consumption
2x Sylvan Library
Before the ban I was playing DRS + Confidant, and now I am just going back to turbo to see where my meta is.
I believe my flex slots are 1x Urborg, 1x Safekeerp, 2x Ground Seal, and the GQ Main. I will have to do some testing to see how these numbers feel. I have always liked the 4 Needle main, I have never liked Expedition Map. Also a note for those who don't want to play Into the North: I have played many games where I drop an Urborg and a Hexmage and Sylvan Scrying, and people still thought I was on R/G lands. I also had this happen at least once when I was still running Into the North. Not everyone knows all the lands variants, and they are going to know once they get hit with a 20/20 in the first couple of turns, so how valuable do you all think hiding this information for a turn will be? There are certainly arguments to be had about not being able to fetch any land, but as far as trying to bluff your opponent? I think we can do more testing.
Now Playing:
Dark depths
Reanimator
MUD
Disclaimer: The above person does not claim to have knowledge pertaining to the following subject: anything. Thus, said person may not be held liable for any mishaps/explosions that his advice incurs.
1) I really think that Ground Seal MD is not optimal: it's a good sideboard card, but that's it in this meta. Yes, it hits Snapcaster Mage, and it's a good card against reanimator and land pre-side. But you don't fear surgical G1, and in a lot of match-up, you will just use the card as a drawspell for 1G, which sucks. If you don't wanna play expedition map, I would consider going for 1 or 2 more discard spells, going up to 9-10. It's a bit a lot, but imho it's way better than 2 Ground Seal MD. (We used to play 12 discard outlets and that was definitely too much, but 9-10 can still be fine).
In resumee: I don't see what Ground Seal would do g1 that Inquisition of Kozilek wouldn't.
2) Also, don't cut the GQ (or wasteland) MD. I can't count the games I won by fetching it to play around Wasteland or Karakas.
3) If your opponent still think you are on RG Land after seeing Hexmage, you should be fine anyway! ^^
No seriously, that's definitely a lack of knowledge of the Legacy metagame: the deck is really not an underdog anymore.
And yes, beeing able to hide your archetype 1 more turn can be huge.
I agree with you on Groundseal, I drove 13 hours home, sat down and messed around with my deck and ended up with them in it. I will swap them with Sylvan Library for now. I have tried to think of the deck in the segments that I posted them in, Combo, protection, dig etc, I think the closer those numbers are to even, the more consistent the deck could be. Minus tool box unless you increase the deck count drastically. 9-10 discard spells is appealing to me but I will have to see what I run into first. I would be torn, however, between Inquisition and Encroach.
Now Playing:
Dark depths
Reanimator
MUD
Disclaimer: The above person does not claim to have knowledge pertaining to the following subject: anything. Thus, said person may not be held liable for any mishaps/explosions that his advice incurs.
Was thinking of throwing together this deck since my favorite part of playing Maverick was getting to Merit Lage people. I read the OP and checked out a few decklists, came up with
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
4x Vampire Hexmage
2x Sylvan Safekeeper
4x Crop Rotation
4x Sylvan Scrying
4x Thoughtseize
4x Duress
2x Into the North
4x Lotus Petal
3x Pithing Needle
2x Expedition Map
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Snow-Covered Forest
1x Snow-Covered Swamp
3x Overgrown Tomb (can't afford Bayous RIP, I can probably pick at least 1 up as time goes by, preferably 2)
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Sejiri Steppe
4x Thespian's Stage
4x Dark Depths
Also threw together a tentative sideboard
1x Dryad Arbor
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Krosan Grip
2x Sylvan Library
2x Ground Seal
1x Pernicious Deed
1x Pithing Needle
1x Karakas
The main thing I was wondering is if its better to run 2x Map 2x North or just drop the maps and add a third North and fourth Pithing Needle. Adding the fourth Needle to the main would give me room for another Pernicious Deed or a Dread of Night (there's a fair amount of taxes players at my locals).
I have about 170 in store credit to play around with if there's any sideboard options or maindeck changes I should consider.
Last edited by SellaNona; 08-12-2018 at 12:45 AM.
Since no one bothered to link it yet, DNSolver got 4th in the last legacy challenge:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/article...8-13#decklists
With a really streamlined 3 of sideboard slots and no anti-storm rocks. Notably, ANT won the challenge.
The only changes here really are that he cut an ESG to allow the 3rd Safekeeper into the main.
Thanks, I missed that. GG to DNSolver!
Yeah, it's interesting that he prefers the 3rd expedition map over the 4th ESG.
Maybe it's because I am not a huge fan of Map, but am I the only one to side all of them out in almost every MU?
The sideboard is also worth a note, with 3 Rite and 1 Boseiju. I would gladly hear from you, DNSolver: how did this work for you? And if you do, how many Rite do you side in against D&T and what do you cut?
EDIT: Actually, another Dark Depths made it to the 6th place of the same challenge. Noteworthy in the Maindeck are: +3 Decay +1 Karakas (I personally don't like Karakas MD), -4 Lotus Petal. Otherwise, stock list. In the sideboard, notably 3 anti-storm cards + 2 Rite + 1 Boseiju + 3 Dread of Night.
Last edited by Darkgobs; 08-14-2018 at 07:10 AM.
I didn't play vs D+T with this configuration yet. I'm guessing the boarding would look like:
-7 fast mana
-1 Bog
-3 Duress - probably needed less. These miss a lot of the time anyway because it only hits StP/Path and equipment. Probably prioritize taking equipment with the remaining discard?
+3 Library
+3 Rite
+4 Decay
+1 Karakas
Notably, you have to keep hands with more lands post-board because you are going down so many mana sources. However, if Library lands you should be in good shape. I tested 3 Dread of Night vs Negator77 and he seemed to think that it was annoying but not game-breaking due to equipment on Revokers. Could consider a 1-of Darkblast over one of the Rites for D+T only.
I played no anti-storm cards in the board in order to play Rite. Boseiju was a necessary inclusion to make Rite have text against Miracles and Stoneblade. Unfortunately that takes a lot of slots. The last slot was filled by the 3rd Surgical. Rite made some games easier to win right away, but perhaps they were already locked up anyway due to Library / Safekeeper.
I've been on seven fast mana for awhile now, more recently preferring 4th Petal over 4th ESG.
Generally, don't side out Map or Scrying. Never cut Crop Rot. Scrying is more vulnerable to soft counters than Map due to costing 2 and getting hit by Flusterstorm. Trimming one land search to make space, maybe. But you have to be able to kill people, and you can't do that playing draw-go.
If you're wondering how I produce blue mana, I copy my opponent's Island with Thespian's Stage
My Youtube and Twitch usernames are DNSolver.
I am the Legacy metagame:
-2016 Eternal Weekend Europe won by BR Reanimator (I wrote the primer)
-2016 Eternal Weekend North America won by Turbo Dark Depths (I write about and develop the winning version specifically)
-Refiner of Hogaak Depths.
Rattled off a 5-0 with the 3 ESG list just now, facing a lot of Grixis Control and Delver. The Death's Shadow list seems very good against all types of combo and I was not pleased to run into one in my 5th match, but stole game 1 and then narrowly got game 3 through a fast double Delver clock and secured another 5-0 finish for Depths. I ran into 0 Swords the entire league which is likely why I did so well, but the deck is tuned to fight Tundra regardless and I don't feel uncomfortable in Swords matchups. I did dodge D&T and BR Reanimator entirely though so that was nice.
i max out maps and scrying in my builds on the regular. i think if you are trying to choose if want search or fast mana, your starting hands are gonna generally be much better overall with more search than fast, especially if no other cards are search or combo and you hit multiple fast mana. i am testing ancient stirrings in place of duress slot salong the same idea.
I wouldn't go under 8 discard spell. We need not only the protection but also the information so hard!
Hey guys,
I am really interested in Dark Depths and thinking about of buying and building up the deck. But I have a few questions... First of how does Thespian's Stage work? Is it right that I have to have a Marit Lage with the counters on it in play, than play the Stage, activate it and just getting a Marit Lage copy with zero counters on it, sacrificing it and bring the monster out of the ice into play? Further is it possible ot play 2 Sylvan Library over the map main? And do you think Dark Depths would a good long term investment or would it become outdated in the near future? Thank you for your answers
Greetz
Sinkhole
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