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Thread: Calibrated Blast

  1. #1

    Calibrated Blast

    Hey all,

    Looking to have some fun in legacy and was thinking about trying to build a calibrated blast deck.. I can post my modern list for reference, but I was wondering if anybody has a shell for legacy? Obviously Draco is an upgrade at the creature spot, but looking for other ideas.

    4 Autochthon Wurm
    4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
    4 Emrakul, the Promised End
    4 Shadow of Mortality
    4 Calibrated Blast
    2 Throes of Chaos
    1 Through the Breach
    4 Arid Mesa
    2 Blood Crypt
    2 Boseiju, Who Endures
    2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
    3 Desert
    4 Gemstone Caverns
    2 Mountain
    4 Ramunap Ruins
    4 Scalding Tarn
    4 Sunscorched Desert
    3 Wooded Foothills
    3 Ziatora's Proving Ground

    Sideboard
    4 Leyline of Sanctity
    4 Leyline of the Void
    4 Rough // Tumble
    3 Through the Breach



    Thanks!

  2. #2
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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    Calibrated Blast has to get lucky in Modern.

    In Legacy you can manipulate the top card of your library via cards like
    Brainstorm
    Worldly Tutor
    Preordain
    Personal Tutor

    Therefore you can use an entirely different mechanic. Instead of playing a billion expensive cards and hoping to get lucky with Blast, you can actually set up your top card to be 15-16 before casting Blast!

    Legacy also has mana acceleration to play Blast before turn 3.
    Ancient Tomb
    City of traitors
    Chrome mox
    Lotus petal
    Rite of flame

    These are all cards that are not legal in Modern but legal in Legacy.

    You don't need to play all the listed cards. They are meant as ideas for how the deck could change from Modern to Legacy, with the extra mechanics and cards available.

  3. #3

    Re: Calibrated Blast

    In modern you use the swamp+witches cottage tech

  4. #4
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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    Example shell:


    //Library Manipulation: 12
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder
    4 Preordain

    //Engines: 10
    4 Calibrated Blast
    4 Show and Tell
    2 Sneak Attack

    //Big Creatures: 8
    4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
    4 Blightsteel Colossus

    //Protection: 8
    4 Force of Will
    2 Spell Pierce
    2 Daze

    //Mana: 22
    4 Lotus Petal
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 Scalding Tarn
    4 Polluted Delta
    4 Volcanic Island
    2 Island


    Instead of Blightsteel you could pick some other high CMC creature like Ulamog, Kozilek, Emrakul the Promised End, Progenitus, Darksteel Colossus, Worldspine Wurm

  5. #5

    Re: Calibrated Blast

    I was thinking something like this, you don't really want to have any low mana value spells due to blast.

    4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
    4 Shadow of Mortality
    4 Calibrated Blast
    2 Throes of Chaos
    1 Through the Breach
    4 Arid Mesa
    2 Boseiju, Who Endures
    3 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
    4 Gemstone Caverns
    2 Mountain
    4 Ramunap Ruins
    4 Scalding Tarn
    4 Sunscorched Desert
    2 Wooded Foothills
    4 Ancient Tomb
    2 City of Traitors
    2 Badlands
    4 Draco
    4 Earthquake Dragon


    Sideboard

    Needs work

    4 Leyline of Sanctity
    4 Leyline of the Void
    4 Rough // Tumble
    3 Through the Breach

  6. #6

    Re: Calibrated Blast

    That said, I do think you're probably right that you could just control the blast instead of just running a lot of high mana value creatures. Sneak and show pieces are pretty cool also. I like that!

  7. #7
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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    It's up to you.

    In Modern you have to rely more on the randomness, so you need high CMC.

    Legacy has more cards to control the top card, so you don't need to have only expensive spells.

    You could even just play 4x Worldly Tutor and then 1 Draco and a couple Emrakuls.

    The Sneak/Show plan is a proven shell. Ancient Tomb & Lotus Petal speed it up. Blue cantrips set up the combo. Blue counters protect it. Show & Tell is a great plan B for the same mana cost when you're already running 4 Emrakul and other big stuff.

    The shell you posted is possible but will struggle in Legacy. The closest analog is the Creative Technique deck, but that has more explosive lands & casting 1 Technique wins the game (1 Blast doesn't) and beats 1 Force of Will.

  8. #8

    Re: Calibrated Blast

    Appreciate the info!

    I have never seen creative technique before and that deck looks insane!

  9. #9
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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    Yeah the Creative Technique deck is very powerful. It is also a high land count, 4 Creative Technique, and a bunch of high mana creatures. The big difference is resolving 1 Creative Technique is enough to win the game, and it can beat counterspells (Demonstrate mechanic). It's quite resilient.

    If you want to play the same shell as you have in Modern (only expensive creatures & high land count), then you should look at the additional set of lands available in Legacy. They may help you interact with opponents early without having low mana nonland cards.


    Maze of Ith
    Rishadan Port
    Wasteland
    Karakas
    Mishra's Factory
    Barbarian Ring
    City of Traitors
    Crystal Vein
    Ancient Tomb
    Sandstone Needle
    Dwarven Ruins

    Sneak Attack is also a good plan B for all those expensive creatures even if you stay mainly in red and don't play the blue stuff.

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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    UR Sneak and Show does sound like the most competitive shell for this (topdeck manipulation is mostly blue, Calibrated Blast is red, and SnS is a natural home for all these expensive creatures). If you wish to go that route, Vesuvan Drifter is another card for that shell that benefits from having a fatty on top. The problem is that Calibrated Blast gets outshined by most of the default SnS cards (which more or less win on the spot, while Blast is usually not enough) so it will be a niche SB card (for Containment Priest/Humility matchups or to overload your opponent's countermagic) rather than a build-around.
    You could also go all in on topdeck manipulation and go grixis for Keen Duelist and my absolute favourite, Lim-Dûl's Vault (though your mana base will be much weaker and won't support Ancient Tomb/City of Traitors).

  11. #11
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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    Vesuvan Drifter letting you peek at your top card is useful. Maybe you could build a version that either cuts Show and Tell (no backfiring by giving opponent a free permanent) or cuts Sneak Attack (no enablers costing more than 3 mana).

  12. #12

    Re: Calibrated Blast

    What about something like this?

    4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
    4 Calibrated Blast
    4 Scalding Tarn
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 Draco
    2 Sneak Attack
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder
    4 Preordain
    4 Volcanic Island
    4 Lotus Petal
    4 Misty Rainforest
    4 Force of Will
    2 Daze
    2 Spell Pierce
    2 Island
    4 Vesuvan Drifter

    Sideboard
    Help? New to Legacy


    Also, not sure about Draco, it is the biggest blast hit but not great otherwise.

  13. #13
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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    It looks good.

    If you're on Vesuvan Drifter and Sneak Attack but not Show and Tell, then your big creatures are never surviving to upkeep so it doesn't matter as much that Draco is bad.

    Personally I would not run Draco. Anything from 12-16 damage is basically the same: nonlethal, needs 2 hits to win. Sometimes you'll get lucky if opponent dealt themselves exactly 4 damage, allowing a 1-shot kill, but that's less common in Legacy than in Modern (shocklands). On the other hand, 2 Dracos could be nonlethal off Sneak Attack / Drifter (9/9). Most decks run fetches or Ancient Tomb, dropping to at least 18, but it would be awful if you needed a 3rd hit to win. Kozilek or 2nd Emrakul might be more consistent.

    For sideboard you want some cards like:
    Defense Grid - fight counters from opponents
    Surgical Extraction - fight graveyard decks like Reanimator
    Force of Negation/Flusterstorm - fight combo decks
    Brotherhood's End - fight artifact decks and creature swarm decks
    Last edited by FTW; 08-01-2023 at 10:17 AM.

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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    There's also ancient tech from monored sneak: Worldspine Wurm. Hits for 15 when sneaked in and leaves 15 power behind (all with trample), domes for 11 with blast.

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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    Why wouldn’t you just play green tron with a red splash? Aggro with a combo finish is strong.
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  16. #16

    Re: Calibrated Blast

    Quote Originally Posted by Weapon X View Post
    Why wouldn’t you just play green tron with a red splash? Aggro with a combo finish is strong.


    Tron in legacy? I guess I never thought about it.

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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    Quote Originally Posted by Weapon X View Post
    Why wouldn’t you just play green tron with a red splash? Aggro with a combo finish is strong.
    Tron needs a bunch of low CMC cards to assemble (Expedition Map, Ancient Stirrings, Sylvan Scrying, Crop Rotation, Once Upon A Time, Elvish Reclaimer).

    So either you dilute the deck with bad reveals for Blast (without blue cantrips to control the top card), or you keep it high CMC but have no Tron tutors so you have 4 mana on turn 4 and can't cast anything. Would that work?

    Tron in Legacy is technically called Cloudpost, but the same design limitations apply. The mana engine needs many land tutors.

  18. #18

    Re: Calibrated Blast

    Played one game so far and used Worldspine instead of Draco. Lost 1-2 to R/W painter but definitely punted. So I count that as a learning lesson. Could have won.

  19. #19
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    Re: Calibrated Blast

    1-4 worldly tutor
    1-3 calibrated blast

    Seems easy to fit that in. It’s like shoot I don’t have candelabras… insert combo


    …and yes I forgot the name 12 post, but that is what was meant.
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