[Article] Unlocking Legacy - Tapping Into M10

[Pltnmngl]

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/17715_Legacys_Allure_Tapping_Into_M10.html

I'm tempted to make a MBC build with 4 Night's Whisper and 4 Sign in Blood, but I'm trying to figure out what else would make it worth it...

Can't say I agree with much of anything else, though...

[Wrath_Of_Houlding]

I think it's absolutely correct in that the new Lords will see play, probably all three of them to one degree or another.

[beastman]

The elf lord for sure, I dont really think that the merfolk lord will see that much play, maybe the goblin guy will see a bit of play, but he kinda screws with their curve.

[(nameless one)]

The elf lord for sure, I dont really think that the merfolk lord will see that much play, maybe the goblin guy will see a bit of play, but he kinda screws with their curve.

I think with the new goblin lord, goblin decks will have a slightly new face...

[beastman]

He's meant to make the deck more aggressive, but the thing is, I can only see him making it slower, as he will be the third 3 drop.

[Tacosnape]

This article ignored the only cards worth a damn in M10 and focused on the garbage hype.

The new Merfolk and new Goblin lords aren't as overpowered as everyone thinks. They might make the cut in some builds, but they aren't going to provide any significant boost to the power level. Illusionary Servant sucks, just so people are aware. So does Mold Adder. So does Sign in Blood. And Harm's Way isn't the second coming of white. It's going to be competing with STP/Path and losing.

I didn't see the new Elf lord mentioned much. Or Baneslayer Angel. Or Solemn Offering. Even the new Zombie's kind of underrated, too. My Survival deck is not wanting to see that guy hit play at all.

[Elfrago]

Usually I dislike Linn's articles but this...

...this was even worse than usual, it's utter crap.

Most of the cards mentioned have zero chances of seeing legacy play, while he spend only a few words on the lords, probably the only cards worth mention.

Harm's Way?? In a format dominated by Tarmogoyf two damage are not enough, especially when you can play 4 StP and 4 Path.

Tome Scour is garbage, like every other mill card.

In writing this article he completely ignored the Legacy design constraints presented by Anwar Ahmad in a previus Unloking Legacy article. And, you know, that was a good article.

[Maveric78f]

I believe Harm's Way is far better than you think. Apart from that, I agree with you.

The best M10 card is probably the Elf lord. It raises high survival elves.

[Nekrataal]

The analysis of the cards itself I share. I think it is good to also mentioned cards that stand out but probably do not cross the border by an inch tio be playable in legacy. On the other hand I miss some cards that I definitely would have expected and that are:

Silence W
Instant
Your opponents can't cast spells this turn. (Spells cast before this resolves are unaffected.)

Gargoyle Castle
Land
{1}: Add to your mana pool.
{5}, {T}, Sacrifice Gargoyle Castle: Put a 3/4 colorless Gargoyle artifact creature token with flying onto the battlefield.

Silence could be Chant 5 and 6 for Combo if necessary.

Gargoyle Castle is the most interesting of the new lands and can produce a stream of 3/4 flying creatures in the right deck as Stax, 42-Lands, Loam or CoW based decks that have some kind of (land) recursion. Actually for me this is the most exciting card from M10 because it can be added to quite a number of decks and I am not sure if it is decent or just fucking amazing.

[Skeggi]

Silence could be Chant 5 and 6 for Combo if necessary.
That's the point: it isn't necessary. So there's no use in covering it. Besides, we all know what Orim's Chant does.

[Maveric78f]

That's the point: it isn't necessary. So there's no use in covering it. Besides, we all know what Orim's Chant does.

Yeah but you can silence when your opponent is untargettable. Isn't that awesome?

[Skeggi]

That is super duper anti True-Believer tech! Wait... why does ANT want to use Orim's Chant/Silence against Angel Stompy again?

[LostButSeeking]

That is super duper anti True-Believer tech! Wait... why does ANT want to use Orim's Chant/Silence against Angel Stompy again?

To stop them from using Orim's Chant/Silence in mid combo :tongue:

[emidln]

Silence is pretty good at not letting Landstill players wreck combo with Runed Halo naming Chant.

[mujadaddy]

Sign in Blood (sucks)Completely agree. I also chuckled at the article for mentioning that Pox might play it, when you'd be hard pressed to find ANY Pox list that runs Night's Whisper currently.

[Tacosnape]

Completely agree. I also chuckled at the article for mentioning that Pox might play it, when you'd be hard pressed to find ANY Pox list that runs Night's Whisper currently.

Agreed. The large problem with this is that there's too many other things Black wants to spend it's life total doing (Thoughtseize, Confidant, hell, I'd even play the underrated Phyrexian Arena over this) to run something that's -worse- than Night's Whisper, which admittedly isn't all that bad.

Even our team's super secret Magnivore and 5C Black Control decks won't run Sign in Blood. It's awful in Legacy.

[hi-val]

I'll readily admit that a lot of the cards I discussed are proposed for theoretical use. As I explained in the article, Legacy is in many ways defined by mistakes and as sets are better-designed, they benefit Legacy less directly.

Sign in Blood is the sort of critical mass card that Legacy decks sometimes make use of. For example, Burn can't reliably play on the back of only Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, but with several other 1-cost 3-damage spells, it has a fighting chance. Merfolk was basically unplayed before when it only had Lord of Atlantis, but now with Merrow Reejerey and some other stronger cards, it is consistently better. There may be a deck that wants 8 draw-2 cards where it did not want 4. Storm 10 in Vintage, for example, would have loved this card, since it makes a consistent, good effect very accessible. I don't see Sign anywhere that I wouldn't also see Night's Whisper alongside it, which I made pretty clear in the article anyway.

I didn't mention some cards that I didn't think would see play because I tire of set reviews that have forty cards where half say "this isn't good enough". I wanted to write something more positive and suggest uses. Silence isn't as good as Chant, which doesn't see much play. Recursive Gargoyle Castle is pretty cool, but we can be recurring Mishra's Factory instead or, in the case of 43 Lands, Worm Harvesting.

I've been thinking about milling decks since Mind Funeral came out and the topic has consistently produced a lot of email response, so it's naturally a good subject to touch on. Tome Scour is probably the strongest milling effect we've seen in awhile.



I didn't see the new Elf lord mentioned much. Or Baneslayer Angel. Or Solemn Offering. Even the new Zombie's kind of underrated, too. My Survival deck is not wanting to see that guy hit play at all.

I'd thought about all of these, but they didn't feel worth mentioning. The new Elf Lord suffers from doing two cool things, but not doing two cool things that we haven't seen before together in the same card and wanted. The new Goblin Lord, however, has two abilities that add to what Goblins wants to do. I'd look at it over Matron in lists to see if I would be reliably hitting harder, faster or more resiliently.

How do you see Baneslayer Angel doing much? I'm only asking out of curiosity and not trying to bait; I'd probably go for Elspeth or Exalted Angel over it. I'm not seeing Baneslayer opening up new territory. Solemn Offering is a sorcery and the lifegain doesn't seem as relevant to me as the kicker for Dismantling Blow. The new Zombie is pretty cool, but if I am hating on graveyards, I'd run Withered Wretch, an equal-opportunity consumer that nails creatures for 1BB where the Zombie needs 2BB and a turn to do it (though the 3/3 it pops out is kinda nice).

Tacosnape, I'm also curious about how you read my articles. Again, this isn't meant as a barb. I bring it up because in my evaluation of Mold Adder, I explain the barrier to entry for a creature like it in Legacy and then end by saying essentially that it's unlikely to see play. From your post, it seems as if you think I'm advocating that it'll be played and that I wasn't clear that it was mediocre. I am trying to solve the problem of "misunderstanding articles due to skimming" and I'd like to know if you glanced over my article for cards mentioned or read the full analysis I wrote for each one. Since a lot of people couldn't differentiate between the "safe to unban" and "kind of risky but not completely foolish to unban" lists in my unbanning article, I've had this on my mind recently as an area for my own growth as a writer. I could certainly see someone reading, seeing "Mold Adder" and thinking I am advocating it if they don't read the full paragraph.

[Maveric78f]

The Elf lord is exactly what survival elves needed. The best card for legacy imo.