Van Phanel
04-07-2008, 07:12 PM
Intro:
When I had first seen Bitterblossom (http://magiccards.info/mt/en/58.html), I was sure that it could (and should) affect Legacy. It produces a 1/1 flyer every turn thus forcing your opponent to answer both the fliers and the enchantment itself. It combines in a great way with Spellstutter Sprite (http://magiccards.info/lw/en/89.html) (which is already decent on its own) to counter more or less any spell. It also works pretty well with Ninjas and Jittes. Add the usual blue aggrocontrol-tools and you get the following deck.
Decklist:
4 Underground Sea
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Chrome Mox
4 Spellstutter Sprite (http://magiccards.info/lw/en/89.html)
4 Cloud of Faeries
2 Vendilion Clique (http://magiccards.info/mt/en/55.html)
2 Ninja of the Deep Hours
2 Mistblade Shinobi (http://magiccards.info/bok/en/43.html)
4 Bitterblossom (http://magiccards.info/mt/en/58.html)
4 Standstill
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Smother
2 Stifle
Card By Card Analysis:
Manabase:
16 Land + 3 Moxen could be to few but drawing to much mana sucks as well and so far the manabase has been working for me. The Factories make sure that you can play a Standstill when the table is empty and they are also an out to Nimble Mongoose which would otherwise be nearly unkillable. If you draw a Mox when it isn't needed it can also be cycled away with a Vendilion Clique.
Creatures:
4 Cloud of Faeries:
Cloud was an auto-include. It can be cycled, it is a great Jitte-bearer and it is a Faerie for Spellstutter Sprite. Cloud also provides a great outlet for ninjutsuing as it can be cycled or replayed for free.
4 Spellstutter Sprite:
Even alone, Spellstutter Sprite can counter a lot of spells in Legacy, namely half of ******** decks, swords to plowshares, acceleration of a combodeck and often countering a Brainstorm or another Cantrip produces cardadvantage as Sprite is the best attacker to get ninjutsued. Combine Sprite with Bitterblossom and you get a hardcounter for :1: :u: that leaves a 1/1 flying body behind and can be reused.
2 Vendilion Clique:
Often played in an opponents drawstep it cycles their most annoying card away and it also is a 3/1 flyer that tends to be only rarely blocked and can end a game pretty fast. It also provides an additional out to Nimble Mongoose. Don't underestimate the ability to target yourself for improved cardquality. As it's legendary you don't want to see too many that's why it is only a two-of.
2 Ninja of the Deep Hours:
A source of cardadvantage that allows you to reuse your Faeries as well but it makes you return a creature and in testing i never wanted to draw a second one and I didn't leave in more than two in any single game postboard.
2 Mistblade Shinobi:
Shinobi answers Goyfs and many other creatures pretty well as it will give you a tempoboost at the very worst and a removal at best when you can counter their replayed threat. Even when you can't, it can slow down the game by a lot as it can bounce a single opposing creature every second turn if they attack. With a Bitterblossom in play that is already enough to win against a single threat.
Noncreature spells:
4 Bitterblossom:
Bitterblossom is the very core of the deck. It produces a stream of threats on its own and combines in a great way with Spellstutter Sprite (Bitterblossom itself also is a Faerie and counts for Sprite), Umezawa's Jitte and the Ninjas. Finally it can deal with most single threats for 1 life per turn.
4 Standstill:
Your Factories and cheap threats most often make it possible to play a Standstill and draw three cards.
3 Umezawa's Jitte:
Many cheap creatures with evasion that are really small on their own? Jitte is in.
4 Brainstorm, 4 Daze, 4 Force of Will:
Those cards are the core of most blue aggrocontrol decks and there is a reason for that: They are just that good.
2 Smother:
I did not play these at first but the deck needs an answer to both Dark Confidant and Tarmogoyf and Smother is the best answer that works for both.
2 Stifle:
The deck really needs to make sure that Pernicious Deed doesn't do its job, Engineered Explosives hurt as well and of course stifling a fetchie is as great as ever.
Tested cards that did not make the maindeck in no particular order:
Sower of Temptation: Four mana and only 2 toughness wasn't good enough even though the temposwing is huge if it goes unanswered. Could be played as a one-of.
Disrupting Shoal: Whenever I think of a deck with Forces I think about possible Disrupting Shoals as additional Forces and in here 2 Shoals could easily be played. They'd have to replace the Smothers however and thus would leave you with only Mistblade Shinobi as an answer to resolved creatures.
Cloud Sprite/ Mothdust Changeling: They just don't do enough.
Wasteland: The ability to screw opponents combined with Stifle wins some games but them being colorless loses some games as well.
Cards still to test (in no particular order):
CB/ SDT: The majority of the deck consists of cards with CMC 2 so even a random activation of CB could hit dangerous spells and the fact that the deck already has Moxen helps as well.
Spell Snare: I had until yesterday forgotten that Spell Snare exists, that's why it isn't tested yet.
Possible sideboard cards:
Annul: I think Annul is a little bit underplayed in the current legacy format and it could really shine in here. It counters: Chalice, Survival, CB, EE, Deed, Crucible, Humility (even though you can play through Humility with Jitte/ Blossom), Engineered Plague (!!), Blood Moon, Vial (on the play), Seismic Assault, opposing equipment and probably some more things I forgot to name (Edit: Like 30+ cards Stax plays). I'd always include at least three unless your meta is really aggroheavy and then your probably playing the wrong deck.
Engineered Plague: The deck can basically only win against goblins with Jitte + Bitterblossom preboard so something is needed here.
Blue Elemental Blast: This is the other possible choice for the goblin matchup that also happens to be good against Dragon Stompy/ random aggro.
Pithing Needle: your best out to Vial and an additional Stop-sign for Deeds, EE and and also SDT.
Tormod's Crypt: Possible Graveyardhate.
Extirpate: More flexible graveyardhate. However against dredge a single Extirpate rarely is enough while a Crypt can sometimes buy enough time.
Perish: Bitterblossoms and Mistblade Shinobis force your Goyf-playing opponents to overcommit and Perish sometimes outrights wins those games.
Matchupanalysis:
I can't provide a full matchup analysis including numbers, because I don't have enough time and also lack competent testing partners living close to me and flawed numbers wouldn't help anybody. If somebody would test against this deck on MWS, PM me please.
I can just sum up that Goblins is rather bad and more or less only winable with two cards out of Bitterblossom, Jitte and Plague going unanswered and our manabase working through Wastelands and possible Ports (unlikely).
Treshhold is about 50-50 preboard and improves postboard as they can't really answer Perish.
Stormcombo should be ok with all the counters + Ninjas to reuse Sprites. Graveyardcombo is pretty hard, we need an active Jitte or lots of counters preboard but postboard it should improve as well depending on the hate we have in our board.
Landstill is pretty good as a Bitterblossom spells doom for them on its own and they can't stop our attackers with Factories.
Any Aggro is extremly depending on the dieroll as Dazes more often than not make the difference here. But better pray they don't get that Lavamancer into play. Bitterblossom can be bad here as the lifeloss makes it more likely to get burned out.
I can't say anything about the dragonstompy matchup so far.
Against Stax the matchup comes down to them having any Prison/Tabernacle effect online versus your counters. You can also try to just counter all their Armageddons and kill them with a Clique through Prison/Tabernacle effects.
Summed up this deck has good chances against most of the top tier and can be really fun to play. Bouncing their Goyf with a Shinobi while returning the Sprite to counter it when it comes back down always makes me smile. :cool: However the deck still has some serious issues: Winning through a resolved Engineered Plague is entirely impossible (maybe some bounce could help here) and aggro is hard to deal with. You can't always rely on drawing a Jitte at the right moment after all. Another point is the shaky manabase that needs some improvement as well. Any help is appreciated very much, thank you all in advance.
- Van
PS: If somebody has a good idea for the name of the deck please post it.
When I had first seen Bitterblossom (http://magiccards.info/mt/en/58.html), I was sure that it could (and should) affect Legacy. It produces a 1/1 flyer every turn thus forcing your opponent to answer both the fliers and the enchantment itself. It combines in a great way with Spellstutter Sprite (http://magiccards.info/lw/en/89.html) (which is already decent on its own) to counter more or less any spell. It also works pretty well with Ninjas and Jittes. Add the usual blue aggrocontrol-tools and you get the following deck.
Decklist:
4 Underground Sea
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Chrome Mox
4 Spellstutter Sprite (http://magiccards.info/lw/en/89.html)
4 Cloud of Faeries
2 Vendilion Clique (http://magiccards.info/mt/en/55.html)
2 Ninja of the Deep Hours
2 Mistblade Shinobi (http://magiccards.info/bok/en/43.html)
4 Bitterblossom (http://magiccards.info/mt/en/58.html)
4 Standstill
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Smother
2 Stifle
Card By Card Analysis:
Manabase:
16 Land + 3 Moxen could be to few but drawing to much mana sucks as well and so far the manabase has been working for me. The Factories make sure that you can play a Standstill when the table is empty and they are also an out to Nimble Mongoose which would otherwise be nearly unkillable. If you draw a Mox when it isn't needed it can also be cycled away with a Vendilion Clique.
Creatures:
4 Cloud of Faeries:
Cloud was an auto-include. It can be cycled, it is a great Jitte-bearer and it is a Faerie for Spellstutter Sprite. Cloud also provides a great outlet for ninjutsuing as it can be cycled or replayed for free.
4 Spellstutter Sprite:
Even alone, Spellstutter Sprite can counter a lot of spells in Legacy, namely half of ******** decks, swords to plowshares, acceleration of a combodeck and often countering a Brainstorm or another Cantrip produces cardadvantage as Sprite is the best attacker to get ninjutsued. Combine Sprite with Bitterblossom and you get a hardcounter for :1: :u: that leaves a 1/1 flying body behind and can be reused.
2 Vendilion Clique:
Often played in an opponents drawstep it cycles their most annoying card away and it also is a 3/1 flyer that tends to be only rarely blocked and can end a game pretty fast. It also provides an additional out to Nimble Mongoose. Don't underestimate the ability to target yourself for improved cardquality. As it's legendary you don't want to see too many that's why it is only a two-of.
2 Ninja of the Deep Hours:
A source of cardadvantage that allows you to reuse your Faeries as well but it makes you return a creature and in testing i never wanted to draw a second one and I didn't leave in more than two in any single game postboard.
2 Mistblade Shinobi:
Shinobi answers Goyfs and many other creatures pretty well as it will give you a tempoboost at the very worst and a removal at best when you can counter their replayed threat. Even when you can't, it can slow down the game by a lot as it can bounce a single opposing creature every second turn if they attack. With a Bitterblossom in play that is already enough to win against a single threat.
Noncreature spells:
4 Bitterblossom:
Bitterblossom is the very core of the deck. It produces a stream of threats on its own and combines in a great way with Spellstutter Sprite (Bitterblossom itself also is a Faerie and counts for Sprite), Umezawa's Jitte and the Ninjas. Finally it can deal with most single threats for 1 life per turn.
4 Standstill:
Your Factories and cheap threats most often make it possible to play a Standstill and draw three cards.
3 Umezawa's Jitte:
Many cheap creatures with evasion that are really small on their own? Jitte is in.
4 Brainstorm, 4 Daze, 4 Force of Will:
Those cards are the core of most blue aggrocontrol decks and there is a reason for that: They are just that good.
2 Smother:
I did not play these at first but the deck needs an answer to both Dark Confidant and Tarmogoyf and Smother is the best answer that works for both.
2 Stifle:
The deck really needs to make sure that Pernicious Deed doesn't do its job, Engineered Explosives hurt as well and of course stifling a fetchie is as great as ever.
Tested cards that did not make the maindeck in no particular order:
Sower of Temptation: Four mana and only 2 toughness wasn't good enough even though the temposwing is huge if it goes unanswered. Could be played as a one-of.
Disrupting Shoal: Whenever I think of a deck with Forces I think about possible Disrupting Shoals as additional Forces and in here 2 Shoals could easily be played. They'd have to replace the Smothers however and thus would leave you with only Mistblade Shinobi as an answer to resolved creatures.
Cloud Sprite/ Mothdust Changeling: They just don't do enough.
Wasteland: The ability to screw opponents combined with Stifle wins some games but them being colorless loses some games as well.
Cards still to test (in no particular order):
CB/ SDT: The majority of the deck consists of cards with CMC 2 so even a random activation of CB could hit dangerous spells and the fact that the deck already has Moxen helps as well.
Spell Snare: I had until yesterday forgotten that Spell Snare exists, that's why it isn't tested yet.
Possible sideboard cards:
Annul: I think Annul is a little bit underplayed in the current legacy format and it could really shine in here. It counters: Chalice, Survival, CB, EE, Deed, Crucible, Humility (even though you can play through Humility with Jitte/ Blossom), Engineered Plague (!!), Blood Moon, Vial (on the play), Seismic Assault, opposing equipment and probably some more things I forgot to name (Edit: Like 30+ cards Stax plays). I'd always include at least three unless your meta is really aggroheavy and then your probably playing the wrong deck.
Engineered Plague: The deck can basically only win against goblins with Jitte + Bitterblossom preboard so something is needed here.
Blue Elemental Blast: This is the other possible choice for the goblin matchup that also happens to be good against Dragon Stompy/ random aggro.
Pithing Needle: your best out to Vial and an additional Stop-sign for Deeds, EE and and also SDT.
Tormod's Crypt: Possible Graveyardhate.
Extirpate: More flexible graveyardhate. However against dredge a single Extirpate rarely is enough while a Crypt can sometimes buy enough time.
Perish: Bitterblossoms and Mistblade Shinobis force your Goyf-playing opponents to overcommit and Perish sometimes outrights wins those games.
Matchupanalysis:
I can't provide a full matchup analysis including numbers, because I don't have enough time and also lack competent testing partners living close to me and flawed numbers wouldn't help anybody. If somebody would test against this deck on MWS, PM me please.
I can just sum up that Goblins is rather bad and more or less only winable with two cards out of Bitterblossom, Jitte and Plague going unanswered and our manabase working through Wastelands and possible Ports (unlikely).
Treshhold is about 50-50 preboard and improves postboard as they can't really answer Perish.
Stormcombo should be ok with all the counters + Ninjas to reuse Sprites. Graveyardcombo is pretty hard, we need an active Jitte or lots of counters preboard but postboard it should improve as well depending on the hate we have in our board.
Landstill is pretty good as a Bitterblossom spells doom for them on its own and they can't stop our attackers with Factories.
Any Aggro is extremly depending on the dieroll as Dazes more often than not make the difference here. But better pray they don't get that Lavamancer into play. Bitterblossom can be bad here as the lifeloss makes it more likely to get burned out.
I can't say anything about the dragonstompy matchup so far.
Against Stax the matchup comes down to them having any Prison/Tabernacle effect online versus your counters. You can also try to just counter all their Armageddons and kill them with a Clique through Prison/Tabernacle effects.
Summed up this deck has good chances against most of the top tier and can be really fun to play. Bouncing their Goyf with a Shinobi while returning the Sprite to counter it when it comes back down always makes me smile. :cool: However the deck still has some serious issues: Winning through a resolved Engineered Plague is entirely impossible (maybe some bounce could help here) and aggro is hard to deal with. You can't always rely on drawing a Jitte at the right moment after all. Another point is the shaky manabase that needs some improvement as well. Any help is appreciated very much, thank you all in advance.
- Van
PS: If somebody has a good idea for the name of the deck please post it.