[Deck] Czech Pile

[supachai]

Czech Pile/4C Control

Table of Contents:
I. Introduction
II. Card Choices
III. Decklists
IV. Sideboarding and Matchup Analysis
V. Playing the Deck
VI. References and Links
VII. Closing Thoughts

I. Introduction

Overview
Czech Pile/4C Control is a UB-based midrange control deck, splashing R and G for powerful card advantage, removal, and sideboard spells. It runs a notoriously high density of individually powerful cards, a pile of good stuff if you will. The deck is heavy on disruption for both permanents and spells, and held together by Legacy’s best cantrips, Deathrite Shaman, and card-advantages spells like Baleful Strix, Snapcaster Mage, and Kolaghan’s Command. Its gameplan is to answer and disrupt each of the opponents threats while slowly gaining 2-for-1 trades to eventually out-grind them, usually winning through a combination of small creature attacks or an inevitable Jace, the Mind Sculptor ultimate.

Brief History
Czech Pile is a fairly new face to the Legacy scene, beginning its existence towards the end of 2016 after the release of Conspiracy: Take the Crown, with the printing of Leovold, Emissary of Trest. Its origins can be traced back to either Tomas Mar (who is Czech) or MTGO user pellenik, though a few pros like Oliver Tiu and Noah Walker played it to relative success as early as GP Louisville in January 2017. While the build has evolved over time (from Tarmogoyfs and Young Pyromancers), the premise of the deck remains the same: to play all the best cards in Legacy. The best creatures in DRS and Snapcaster Mage. The best spells in Brainstorm, Thoughtseize, Abrupt Decay, and Lightning Bolt. The best win condition in Jace the Mind Sculptor. The best sideboard cards like Flusterstorm and Red Elemental Blast. It turns out, to play all of these cards, you want to be in 4 colors: U, B, R, and G. Its Czech origins plus essentially being a “pile” of strong legacy staples bestowed upon it the name Czech Pile.

The deck can generate incredible card advantage and has answers for almost every situation. However, its weaknesses are its inability to end a game quickly and its color intensive, nonbasic-heavy manabase. The deck was originally overshadowed by Top-based Miracles as the premier control deck of the format but since Top’s banning in April 2017, times are a-changin. Miracles was gone for a while but has popped back, and the metagame is still trying to find its footing. But Czech Pile is currently well positioned. This deck has game against most of the decks in the format; in fact one of the greatest strengths of being in 4 colors is that you have a very flexible maindeck and sideboard in that you can pull from a wider cardpool to adjust to specific metagames.

Czech Pile really started to gain prominence after a top 8 performance by Jacob Haversat at GP Vegas in June 2017, who played a very traditional list of Czech Pile, but with Tasigur in the main. Since then, it has become very popular on the MTGO meta, with frequent 5-0’s. In the span of a few months, Czech Pile has slowly emerged as the premier blue control deck of the format, and by the end of summer had become a Deck to Beat, rivaled only in popularity by Grixis Delver. It is a deck that everyone should be prepared to face, and have a gameplan against. Conversely, as a Pile player, you need to be prepared that decks are now metagaming against you, and players will know how to play against you.

Update: July 2018
With the banning of Deathrite Shaman, the future of this deck will change. 4 colors no longer seems like a tenable option and the deck will likely pivot into Grixis or BUG colors. Enough of the existing cards can still support a grindy 2-for-1 mentality such as Snapcaster, Hymn, and Kolaghan's Command. As the meta shifts and stabilizes, we will see how to proceed with Czech Pile and this thread.

Why should I play Czech Pile?
Czech Pile is the ultimate value deck. If you enjoy out-grinding your opponent and maximizing your value, this is your deck. It is slow and methodical but powerful. Players of the old Shardless BUG archetype will enjoy this playstyle, but Czech Pile is less clunky and has stronger sideboard options. Your typical gameplan revolves around trading removal spells/counters/discard for your opponents threats. Your card advantage will slowly pull you ahead as your opponent cannot trade favorably with you. As you stabilize, your superior board position and/or a Jace in the lategame will usually seal the deal. The deck will rarely hand you free wins like Sneak and Show or Delver's mana denial can; you'll have to carefully navigate your opponents threats to come out on top.

Someone considering Czech Pile might also be considering one of the various other control decks in Legacy. The most common being Grixis Control, BUG Control (Reid Duke style), Shardless BUG, Stoneblade, and Miracles. Below is a comparison with each of these decks.

Grixis Control – Grixis Control is the most similar to Czech Pile. It runs Kolaghan’s Command, Jace, and Snapcaster Mage, and a very similar removal suite. It eschews green so no Leovold, Abrupt Decay, and usually no DRS. It also typically cuts down on Baleful Strixes, though recent builds have been seen to include them. Instead it incorporates more proactive threats like Gurmag Angler, Young Pyromancer and True-Name Nemesis. This allows the deck to switch gears between aggro and control more easily, making it more flexible and better at racing. It also provides sturdier threats vs. Punishing Fire decks. Dropping green means it has a slightly stronger manabase, but is offset by the lack of DRS, which helps our mana considerably. The disadvantage is that it has 0 maindeck answers to enchantments, fewer answers to artifacts and other nonland threats. Leovold is also a very strong hatebear against a range of strategies. In addition to helping our manabase, DRS also provides MD graveyard hate, and some lifegain for sustain. In fact, many of the more recent Grixis Control lists are starting to look more and more like Czech Pile, replacing Leovold with Gurmag Angler-here the boundaries really begin to blur.

BUG Control – Reid Duke famously won GP Louisville in January 2017 with this deck. It played 8 mana dorks and starred a playset of True Name Nemsis. This results in a much more proactive midrange strategy, running Dazes and fewer reactive/removal cards. It really is more of a midrange deck. It was certainly much better at racing and applying pressure but likely has trouble with the late-game since Daze and Noble Hierarch are both weak topdecks. We also tend to have stronger sideboard options.

Shardless BUG – This deck has really fallen out of favor lately, but it still has a lot of raw power. Ancestral Vision is a very potent CA engine. It is also more aggressive due to Tarmogoyf and is able to support a light mana denial strategy in Wasteland. However it is simply too clunky nowadays having to set up so many of its draws. Snapcaster Mage is much stronger than Shardless Agent as a card. And the fact that we get to run cheap counterspells makes us stronger against combo and better at “controlling” the game. Again, being in 4C also means stronger sideboard options.

Blade Control – There are various flavors of blue-based Stoneforge control, usually in Bant or Esper colors, sometimes splashing a fourth. These decks are strong against creature based strategies, solid against combo, and can simply nab free wins off the back of Stoneforge Mystic and True Name Nemesis. They get to run Swords to Plowshares, which is a strict upgrade to our removal suite. They often also run Wasteland to deal with problem lands. Our greatest advantage over them is how much raw card advantage we have. We both have strong, but different sideboard options. We get Red Elemental Blast and strong sweepers in Marsh Casualties and Toxic Deluge (though Zealous Persecution is very good too) while they get hatebears such as Ethersworn Canonist and Containment Priest.

Miracle Control – Lastly, we have Miracles. Once the boogeyman of the format, the new version has different strengths and weaknesses. They have a rock-solid manabase, the best removal suite of any deck in Swords + Terminus, and some builds can actually be quite proactive with a Mentor beatdown plan. However, if it doesn’t find Mentor (usually only a 2-of or sometimes 0), it is even worse than Czech Pile at ending games in a hurry. Additionally, the deck has a lot of do-nothing cards (often up to 16 cantrips), and many cards require some degree of setup, whereas our cards are more individually powerful. Us getting to play maindeck graveyard hate is also a strength that can’t be ignored.

II. Card Choices

The Core

These cards pretty much never change. Keep reading for detailed analysis of each card.

4 Deathrite Shaman
2-4 Baleful Strix
2-4 Snapcaster Mage
1-2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3-4 Force of Will
0-2 Counterspell

2 Fatal Push
0-2 Lightning Bolt
0-2 Abrupt Decay
1-2 Kolaghan’s Command

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

20 lands

This gives you somewhere between 5-10 cards that you can really tweak to suit your metagame and playstyle.

Creatures

Core Creatures

Deathrite Shaman – The glue that holds this deck together. DRS is largely accepted as one of the best creatures in legacy, and here it really pulls its weight. Being in 4 colors, our manabase can be sketchy at times and DRS works overtime in helping produce the right colors in the right quantities. It protects us from Daze and mana-denial strategies. It can accelerate out our 3- and 4- mana threats. It is a clock, sustain, graveyard hate, and holds the ground against 1/1s all rolled up into one. The benefits of DRS really don't need to be stressed any further. Often our favorite turn 1 play. Run 4.

Baleful Strix – Such a simple and elegant design. A straight-up, no-nonsense 2 for 1. Replaces itself when it comes into play and will usually require a removal spell or it will trade with one of your opponent’s creatures, from Delver to Griselbrand. Only a select few cards from your opponent can interact favorably with Strix (Forked Bolt, Thalia are examples). Strix plays a key role in the deck however. The rest of our removal suite is unable to handle any resolved threat that is larger than 3 toughness/4 CMC. Strix holds the ground (and the air) against Reanimator, Sneak and Show targets, as well as random things like Gurmag Angler and Eldrazi. It can also be a very slow clock if needed and of course, it pitches to Force. Most lists run at least 3.

Snapcaster Mage – Tiago Chan’s invitational card finds itself very at home in this deck. This deck is all about value, and Snapcaster embodies that. With 23-25 instants and sorceries, Snapcaster often has a solid target in the graveyard. Snapcaster is so much more than a 2-for-1 in that it allows you to have a greater virtual density of the cards you need. Playing against combo? Double up on your Thoughtseizes and Counterspells. Playing against a creature deck? Well now you have up to 3 extra removal spells. In a pinch, it helps cantrip to dig for land or answers. In a really tight pinch, it can ambush an attacking creature. Combine this with Kolaghan’s Command for maximum value. However, it can be clunky in multiples and in the early game. Most lists run 3-4.

Leovold, Emissary of Trest – Leovold is like a super hatebear. He has a heavy color requirement and costs 3, but completely shuts down your opponent’s ability to dig for answers and threats. It also shields all of our easy-to-remove creatures somewhat by drawing replacements and drawing initial removal spells towards himself. And when they finally do remove him, he still 2-for-1’s them. You might even draw into a counterspell to protect him. Extremely good against cantrips, Griselbrand, Elves. It interestingly also has favorable interactions against Punishing Fire (you will draw at least 2 cards if they try to kill Leovold and anything else they kill you get to replace) and Tendrils of Agony (storm for 10 means you draw 10 cards, greatly increasing the chance that you draw into a counter). He also is a 3/3, which holds the ground much better than your Deathrites and Snapcasters. 2 is a good number since multiples can get clunky.

More fringe options

True-Name Nemesis – Mini-Progenitus is great at stalling the ground and providing a fast, unblockable clock. It has no disruption or card advantage to it so it just plays the role of a beater. Good against decks where you need to race, and a sticky creature against removal-heavy decks, especially Punishing Fire. It’s also a good Planeswalker killer. Usually a 1/2-of if run at all.

Vendilion Clique – Similar to TNN in manacost and P/T put trades survivability and some evasion for Flash and pseudo-Thoughtseize. An incredible card against combo decks and Stoneforge Mystic. Provides a clock, kills planeswalkers, disrupts gameplans, and can even filter the cards in your hand in a pinch. There are so many cool plays you can do with Clique. Flash in during draw step to nab that Natural Order or Show and Tell they just topdecked. Play it in response to Vial or Stoneforge activation to take their card and disrupt their plan. Flash in EOT to surprise kill a Jace that accidentally brainstormed, or even clear the way for your own Jace. Or just flash it in to ambush an attacker. Extremely versatile card. People rarely run more than 1 in the MD though.

Tasigur, the Golden Fang – The GP Vegas T8 list ran 1 of these in the MD though it is not a common choice. It has the biggest butt of any creature we run and provides a great mana sink in the late-late game. I personally have never tried this card, but I imagine it to be great in grindy, midrange matchups where a repeated source of card advantage is useful, especially tacked on a large body. Wouldn’t run more than 1. Gurmag Angler can be a slightly larger, but dumber replacement.

Instants and Sorceries

The usual suspects

Brainstorm – Legacy is known as the Brainstorm format. Illegal in Modern and restricted in Vintage, Legacy is unique in that a full playset of Brainstorm can be played. Brainstorm is so incredibly strong due to its famous interaction with fetchlands. For a single mana, you can add three cards to your hand and put the 2 least relevant cards back on top. If you need a removal spell that turn, you have it. If you need Force of Will to counter a key card, you have it. The rest of the cards you put back will still be there if you need them in the coming turns. If they are irrelevant, you can shuffle them away. This all may seem obvious to a Legacy veteran, but Brainstorm is such a critical piece of the deck it deserves some mention. It is especially potent in this deck for two reasons. First, we are in 4 colors and being able to access all of our colors to cast our spells is of utmost importance. Cantrips like Brainstorm enable that. Second, we are a reactive deck. Our goal is to handle each of our opponents threats as they come. Brainstorm allows us to dig and filter for our strong selection of removal and countermagic at the right time. Always run 4.

Ponder – This deck is color-intensive and wants to find the right tools for the right situations. Just 4 cantrips is not enough to reliably get the cards we need so we run Ponder as well. It is far stronger than Preordain/Serum Visions since you can see more cards and stronger than Portent since you get the card this turn, and we don’t run any Miracle tricks. It even has an advantage over Brainstorm in allowing you to shuffle your deck, but you can only ever get 1 card from your deck via Ponder. Run 4 of these as well.

Force of Will – Often said to be the glue of legacy that is preventing degenerate combo decks from running rampant. Probably mostly true, and we want it here as well. In addition to combo decks, Force can help stop threats that you are unable to immediately deal with. Aether Vial, TNN are all good examples. This deck also fairly easily hits 5+ mana in the late game so it is still a great draw at any stage of the game. Run 4, unless your name is Joe Lossett (who famously often runs only 3 Forces).

Counterspell – Good old Counterspell. UU: Counter target spell. This deck needs a few more mid to late game catch-all cards. It still turns on as soon as turn 2 and getting double blue is fairly easy with this deck. Usually a 2-of. EDIT (11/2017): There has been a trend away from countermagic main deck, instead relying on more proactive disruption such as Hymn to Tourach and more removal main-deck.

Fatal Push – Part of the removal suite trifecta of Push/Bolt/Decay. I would run somewhere between 5-7 of these 3 cards. Together, they deal with 95% of the most common threats in Legacy. Fatal Push, a fairly recent addition to Legacy, excels as dealing with small to medium creatures. Hits everything in the format short of Eldrazi, reanimator targets, and Gurmag Angler. Unfortunately it can be a dead card in many matchups, since it can’t go face like Bolt can. 2-3.

Lightning Bolt – While it can’t hit larger creatures like Goyf, Lightning Bolt has an advantage over Fatal Push in that it is never completely dead. It can always go face, and when you find yourself in a race (against a TNN, for example), Bolt can help you pull ahead. Notably, it hits Mirran Crusder, which neither of the other 2 can, and hits planeswalkers. The fact that we play it will often force players to uptick Jace instead of brainstorming. And it still kills probably 70% of the creatures in Legacy. 0-2.

Abrupt Decay – Abrupt Decay was once a format staple when Top-based Miracles was king. Hitting one of the most ubiquitous enchantments uncounterably, plus almost never being a dead card means it was a staple. Times have changed though. Miracles is no longer very permanent based, Gurmag Anglers and Eldrazi are more common, and 2 mana against low-to-the ground Delver decks is often negative tempo. Still, it is a great catch-all that hits everything from creatures to equipment to planeswalkers. Being uncounterable is just gravy. I would not run more than 2 MD since it can be a clunky draw.

Kolaghan’s Command – One of the best card advantage spells in the deck. With 2 of 4 modes, the card is extremely versatile. Rarely will you have less than 2 good options. Instant-speed discard can nab sorcery-speed cards during their draw step. 2 damage still kills a huge variety of the format’s most common threats, from DRS to Delver, Flickerwisp to Dark Confidant. Plus it can nab planeswalkers that went a little too low on loyalty. Destroying artifacts is actually a surprisingly common mode. Aether Vial, Chalice of the Void, a random LED that stayed on the board, plus it can completely blow out an equipment-based attack by killing a creature plus an equipment, often resulting in more than a 2-for-1. Speaking of more than 2 for 1, being able to grab back Baleful Strix or Snapcaster, and then potentially flashing back KCommand (perhaps to get another Strix/Snap) is so much value out of 1 card it is incredible. That’s a potential 4 for 1 or even 5 for 1. Insane. Typically run as a 2 of, but some lists have gone up to 3 or down to 1.

Thoughtseize – One of the most powerful discard spells ever printed. Discard paired with countermagic is what makes this deck so strong against Combo decks. They can usually beat one of them, but when you attack high-synergy decks from multiple angles, it makes life extremely difficult. I prefer these game one against unknown decks since it rarely ever misses, but arguments for Inquisition/Duress/Therapy could be made. Thoughtseize is probably stronger than Therapy in this deck since we don’t have Young Pyromancer to take advantage of flashback. If you suspect a combo deck, or lack Force of Will protection, Thoughtseize can often be the correct turn 1 play over DRS. Most lists run 2.

Toxic Deluge – The only MD sweeper that is typically run in 4C Control. It can be giant reset button when you are falling too far behind on board-state and punishes players who overcommit. Helps greatly against decks that need to go wide, like Elves. An additional MD answer to TNN is also welcome. If you run your own TNN, it can be awkward, especially since our creatures our small and will almost surely die to your own Deluge. Usually a 1-of if run.

Hymn to Tourach – Some variants prefer a more proactive gameplan using Hymn to Tourachs in the main. A resolved Hymn in the early game can completely dispatch certain decks. This is another card that has become more common in recent lists, due its strengths vs combo decks and Cavern of Souls decks (aka Death and Taxes and Eldrazi). Flashing it back with Snapcaster can completely rip apart your opponents hand in the mid game. It certainly makes our deck more aggressive and less reactive. It fits in line with the CA theme of the deck but it can be a weak draw in the late game, where Counterspell is likely stronger to handle topdecked threats. Another note is that this card greatly increases your commitment to black. You often have to get 2x Underground Sea or Sea + Badlands as your first 2 lands.

Less common choices

Night’s Whisper/Painful Truths – Usually run as a 1-of in some decks, but not a guaranteed choice. It is a solid CA and digging spell in the mid-late game. Careful pairing these with too many Toxic Deluges and Thoughtseizes. Combined with fetchlands, the lifeloss can be difficult to manage. Although not run as often anymore, Painful Truths is a 3-mana version that can truly pull you ahead in the lategame. Unfortunately a 3-mana do-nothing (to the boardstate) is quite clunky.

Pyroblast – Secret tech that can occasionally be mainboarded if your meta is more blue-filled. With the recent performance of this deck and Grixis Delver, Pyroblast is less dead than one might think in the mai. Worst case, it can always be Brainstormed back. But the potential upside and getting people off guard can be very strong. Usually no more than a 1-of.

Murderous Cut – A slightly more fringe removal spell. This card can help solve the deck’s inability to deal with large resolved threats. Careful running it with Gurmag Angler and Tasigur, as your graveyard is a limited resource also shared by DRS and Snapcaster. The other drawback is that it is not useful in the early game, where a fast Delver or DRS can apply a lot of pressure on you.

Spell Snare/Flusterstorm/Spell Pierce - These are less often run in the maindeck since they are more narrow. Spell Snare has a few decks where it misses too often, though it is a great tempo card. Spell Pierce is great against combo decks but falls short against creature-based strategies and is a bad card in the late game. Flusterstorm is again great again combo and not as dead of a late draw, but is even more narrow than Spell Pierce.

Diabolic Edict – Sometimes seen as a 1-of MD to help deal with large creatures and TNN and usually our only out in the MD. A solid removal spell but fairly expensive at 2 mana, especially when Legacy has so many 1-mana creatures. More commonly seen as a sideboard card since there are too many situations where it is a dead card.

Punishing Fire/Grove of the Burnwillows – To play the ultimate grindy deck, some may opt for the infamous Punishing Grove combo. It can be good if your meta has a lot of small creature decks like DnT, Elves, Delver, and the mirror. Note that this requires severe tweaking of the removal suite and the manabase for it to work.

Planeswalkers

Jace, the Mind Sculptor – What is a control deck without the (arguably) best planeswalker ever printed? Jace is particularly resilient as a card advantage engine in this deck due to the high density of removal spells, sticky creatures like Baleful Strix, and backup disruption. This card should generally be saved for once you have an advantage on the board and can keep Jace alive for a turn, at which point, you can simply ride out his card advantage to victory. His brainstorm ability is very potent in this deck due to the high individual card quality. Getting a KCommand or Baleful Strix gets you a lot of extra mileage. I also want to draw attention to his bounce ability, which is not only an additional out to a resolved Griselbrand or Emrakul, but can be used on your own Snapcasters and Strixes for value. When you have a solid control of the game, Fateseal can literally seal your opponent’s fate as you filter their draws of useful cards while Jace ticks up to his ultimate. While it does cost 4 mana, DRS helps out greatly in being able to cast him. Run 2.

Liliana of the Veil – Sometimes run as a 1-of paired up with your Jaces. It usually fills one of the removal spell slots as a pseudo-Diabolic Edict. This can be quite handy as one of our few outs to TNN or a resolved Show and Tell/Reanimate. LotV is still a debated card. Some camps argue that due to our higher average quality, we will often win in a topdeck war. Additionally, many of our cards can be recurred from the graveyard using Snapcaster and Kcommand. Coming down as early as t2 off a DRS, LotV can also apply significant pressure to a combo deck. It even has merit against control decks who often lack strong Planeswalker removal, especially because LotV cannot be Red blasted. Another school of thought is that Liliana is simply a weaker 3 mana removal spell, and does not fit in well with the deck's reactive gameplan (we run almost all instants and a number of creatures with flash). The choice is up to you and I urge you to playtest with her to see if you like the playstyle.

Liliana, the Last Hope – Another Liliana that has been seen in a few lists floating around. It has become more popular in recent lists (11/2017) due to the increased popularity of Czech Pile, DnT, and Delver decks, where her +1 can take out many common creatures and threaten a game-winning ultimate. Paired up with our removal suite and Baleful Strixes, it often isn't hard to keep her alive. Usually a 1-of if run.


Manabase

Fetchlands – These are the most important part of your manabase, even more so than the dual lands. They enable the best card in the deck, Brainstorm, in what has become the most important interaction in Legacy. Seeing three new cards and putting the 2 least relevant back, then potentially shuffling them away allows you to easily sculpt your hand for each situation. Additionally, fetchlands can actually access more colors than a dual land can. Polluted Delta, for example, can fetch every single dual and basic in the deck, giving you virtual access to every color. This distribution of fetchlands is based around what dual lands we run. The fetches that can access the most types of lands are present in higher numbers.

4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
These fetch all of the duals in your deck, and Scalding Tarn only fails to find basic Swamp.
Verdant Catacombs
Misty Rainforest
Usually 1-2 more fetches for a total of 9-10 is correct. Verdant catacombs cannot find Volcanic Island or Island, but can still get every color. Misty Rainforest fails to find Badlands and Swamp, but can again access every color if need be. Bloodstained Mire is worse in this case because it can never fetch a green source. If Hymn to Tourach is in your main, you may want to consider Verdant Catacombs and even Bloodstained Mire more in your main over Misty and even the fourth Tarn.

Dual Lands – These make up most of the rest of the manabase. As mentioned before, when combined with fetchlands, they make color access close to a non-issue. The exact distribution is based around the colors we run and ones we want access to the most.

3-4 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island
1 Badlands
U and B are the main colors of the deck, followed by R. G is only used for Leovold, Decay, and DRS activations, but having 2 sources means you are less likely to be completely cutoff by a Wasteland. Again, if Hymn is in your maindeck, Bayou may be swapped in for the second Tropical. The higher number of duals combined with fetches actually makes for a surprisingly resilient manabase, even against mana denial. However, you are very weak to Price of Progress.

Basics – We still want to be able to play around Wasteland, Blood Moon, and Price of Progress when we can. Having 2 basics allows us to do so.
1 Island
1 Swamp
The two primary colors in the deck, you usually want access to at least U and B. If you get Blood Moon’d, this gives you 3 out of your 4 colors.

Wasteland – Sometimes run as a 1-3-of to deal with problematic lands like Tabernacle, Cradle, Rishadan Port, Glacial Chasm, and various manlands. In fringe cases can also make yourself slightly better against Price of Progress, which is a big problem for this deck. However the deck is extremely color-intensive and the colorless mana from Wasteland strains your manabase. A high risk, high reward card. An issue of contention is the configuration of Wasteland and basic lands. A greedier deck would forgo basics for 2 Wasteland. This makes for a more inherently powerful deck with more answers but destabilizes your manabase. There will be lost games simply because you are unable to access the correct colors or getting blown out by opposing Wastelands. Another configuration is to run both Wasteland AND the basics, instead cutting down on duals and fetches. This is stronger against Wasteland but you now have a higher chance of color-screw. The choice is yours and somewhat meta dependent, but 2 basics and 0 Wasteland seems to be the most popular option.

We typically do not run other non-basics since hitting our colored land drops is so important, and often make full use of our mana every turn.

Sideboard

Against graveyard:

Surgical Extraction – Dredge is not often seen these days but Reanimator, both BR and UR are legitimate threats and Surgical is the best tool against them. Costing only 2 life, it is active on turn 0 and can also be used to nab reanimation spells to greatly reduce their threat density. Against other combo decks, boarding in Surgical is contentious but can be used similarly to remove threat density, pairing especially well with our countermagic and discard. For example, if you manage to Extract Show and Tell, you only ever have to worry about Sneak Attack for the rest of the game. It simply reduces the number of live draws your opponent has. Not as effective versus Storm decks that have more redundancy. Against Dredge, you have to pick your targets carefully. Hit them where they are weakest. If they only have 1 dredger, that should be your target. You can target Narcomeobas on the stack to mess up an otherwise good dredge. Bridge from Below is another option if they already have an established board but you can also use removal on your own creatures to remove Bridges.
Another cool trick-if you see multiples copies of cards in their hand with a Thoughtseize, or see shared cards between their graveyard and hand, Surgical can get extra value. Playing after their draw step also slightly increases the chance of grabbing a card from their hand.

Nihil Spellbomb – If Dredge is more common in your metagame, Nihil Spellbomb is better. We do not want Relic of Progenitus since we have interactions with our own graveyard (DRS, Snapcaster, Kcommand).

Leyline of the Void – A much more fringe option, Leyline of the Void is a much more swingy graveyard hate card. In your opening hand, it can often just end games immediately; reanimator usually has no way to remove it but Dredge might board in Nature's Claim against you. But drawing into it on turn 4 is usually much to slow against the decks we want it for. Still, it is pretty easily castable in this deck with the heavy black manabase and DRS. Keep in mind it does not affect cards currently in the graveyard, so they might Entomb in response for example.

Against specific colors:

Red Elemental Blast/Pyroblast – Your best option against Blue-based control lists and one of the main reasons why we splash red. It also notably hits TNN before it comes into play, helps you win counter wars and can double as removal against common threats like Delver, Show and Tell, and Jace.

Blue Elemental Blast/Hydroblast - Not as common of an option but it can be useful if your meta has a lot of Burn/Dragon Stompy/Sneak Attack decks.

Against combo:

Flusterstorm – Your strongest option against combo decks. Nigh uncounterable and just a single mana, Flusterstorm should always be in your board. It may also be better than Force against certain Delver decks since there is no card disadvantage.

Thoughtseize/Duress – Double up on your maindeck disruption. Again, the combination of discard + countermagic is extremely strong against combo. Usually 1-2 copies in the board suffices.
Therapy is less good here since we don’t have Young Pyromancer and Gitaxian Probe synergies and run few throwaway creatures to begin with.

Invasive Surgery – An alternative to Flusterstorm. Really good against things like Show and Tell put misses on some key cards like Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, and opposing countermagic.

Mindbreak Trap – A less often played card simply because it is much more narrow and difficult to hardcast. If storm is big your meta, it may be worth some thought. Flusterstorm is still better 90% of the time.

Vendilion Clique – If not run in the MD, a singleton Clique in the board can help greatly in combo-matchups and matchups where you need to race.

Removal:

Against many matchups, you will need more removal, either for specific threats like TNN, large threats like Griselbrand, or wide strategies like elves. A removal suite of 5-6 cards in the sideboard is common. Here are the typical choices.

Diabolic Edict – A very needed card against Reanimator and Sneak and Show style decks as well as Marit Lage from Lands. Our only way of getting rid of a resolved fatty short of them attacking into Baleful Strix. Also useful against opposing True-Name Nemesis and Gurmag Anglers that normally would be difficult to remove.

Marsh Casualties – A great sideboard card against small creature-based decks. Elves, Death and Taxes, and Delver mostly. Being one-sided means it can just be a blowout, and it notably hits TNN. Double black is fairly easy to hit in this deck.

Toxic Deluge – Alternative to Marsh Casualties that is better at killing larger creatures. However, it also kills your own creatures. More effective if you have a Planeswalker out or run some number of larger creatures (Tasigur, Gurmag Angler).

Engineered Explosives – Another out to a resolved planeswalker or enchantment. It also is useful against tokens from Empty the Warrens, Entreat the Angels, and dredge. Notably, you can fairly easily generate 4 and even 5 colors of mana if needed.

Forked Bolt – An amazing card against all the 1-toughness creatures in Legacy. Can easily 2-for-1 for just 1 mana against the right decks.

Abrupt Decay – Additional copies of Abrupt Decay can sometimes be justified in the board if you are particularly worried against artifact and enchantment based strategies.

Fatal Push – Additional copies of Fatal push may be warranted when you want more targeted creature removal.

Grim Lavamancer – A less widely played sideboard card that is great versus creature-based strategies. The drawback is that is cannot get rid of a creature the turn it comes into play, is vulnerable to removal itself, and shares your graveyard with Snapcaster and Deathrite Shaman. If it stays on the board though, you will gain an insurmountable advantage against decks like Elves, Death and Taxes, and Delver.

Engineered Plague/Dread of Night - If your meta is filled with Elves and/or Death and Taxes, these can be a great option. Naming Merfolk can also stop TNN, but is awkward if you run your own-they should be sideboarded out if you plan to run these for opposing TNN. Other options like Marsh Casualties might be stronger though.

Izzet Staticaster – A less played option that is again great at dealing with lots of small creatures. Fairly expensive at 3 mana for 1 damage but it has Flash and will gain you incremental value over time. Misses a lot of important targets like DRS and Stoneforge Mystic, however.

Golgari Charm – Another less played choice, but a flexible one. It is great against Elves and TNN and hits critical enchantments like Sneak Attack, Aluren, Leyline of Sanctity that Abrupt Decay misses. Unfortunately many of your creatures also have 1 toughness.

Miscellaneous:

Pithing Needle – A great catch-all against Sneak Attack, Griselbrand, Jace, Aether Vial, Equipment. You name it (literally).

Blood Moon – It may seem counterintuitive to run Blood Moon in a deck with so many nonbasics, but you can easily fetch your 1/2 basics and then you still have access to at least three of your colors, more if you have DRS. It completely cripples the decks you would bring this in against (Lands, Eldrazi, BUG Delver), as it makes it extremely difficult for them to cast spells and is almost impossible to remove. Keep in mind your Brainstorms become immediately worse as you will no longer be able to shuffle away cards through fetching.

Umezawa’s Jitte – Can be an option in grindy midrange matchups, Jitte breaks board stalls wide open. It can also be another source of lifegain against aggressive decks like Burn and UR Delver but 4 mana is a large commitment against these fast decks.

III. Decklists

Noah Walker, SCG Team Constructed Baltimore 2017, 1st Place/822

Creatures [14]

2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Snapcaster Mage

Instants [16]

1 Abrupt Decay
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Pyroblast
2 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will

Sorceries [7]

1 Thoughtseize
2 Hymn to Tourach
4 Ponder

Planeswalkers [3]

1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands [20]

1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Volcanic Island
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta

Sideboard [15]

1 Sylvan Library
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Flusterstorm
1 Hydroblast
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Marsh Casualties
1 Thoughtseize
1 Toxic Deluge

Jacob Haversat, GP Vegas 2017, 7th Place/2656

Creatures [14]

1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Baleful Strix
4 Deathrite Shaman

Instants [17]

1 Lightning Bolt
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Counterspell
2 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will

Sorceries [7]

1 Toxic Deluge
2 Thoughtseize
4 Ponder

Planeswalkers [2]

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands [20]

1 Badlands
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Volcanic Island
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard [15]

1 Thoughtseize
3 Diabolic Edict
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Flusterstorm
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Pithing Needle
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Vendilion Clique