Legacy

Tech City Miracles

Hello Internet. My name is Michael Whyte. I’m a regular around the Toronto Legacy scene. I’m also the co-host to Level Up Legacy, a podcast dedicated to covering competitive Legacy. This past weekend brought Toronto another great event as part of the ManaDeprived Super Series. A $2500 Legacy tournament is something I am not going to miss plus MDSS events are always a good hang.

I’ve been playing Miracles since April and haven’t looked back. The consistency and power of the deck are addictive. Before [card]Dig Through Time[/card] was banned I had what I considered one of the most tuned 75 card lists I had ever sleeved up. Then the inevitable happened. Bye bye [card]Dig Through Time[/card]. ‘That’s fine’ I thought. ‘I only play 2 copies and the core of my deck still functions without it.’ While this may be true I forgot that other decks would be leaving the meta and others would be returning.

Shardless came back with a vengeance. Stupid Shardless BUG. Legacy isn’t about card advantage it’s about card selection. Stop cheating. Shardless has consistently shown up in top 8’s and made up the highest percentage by archetype at a multitude of Legacy events including GP SeaTac. It’s also not the greatest matchup for Miracles. With this in mind I began tweaking my list more and more to combat the BUG menace. It started with adding [card]Council’s Judgment[/card] back in. Then finally acknowledging that I should be playing [card]Entreat the Angels[/card]. Then the second Entreat (that one took some convincing.) On and on it went until I felt that I would not need to fear Shardless anymore!

Then I played some games against Infect and Delver and realized how much of a clunker my deck had become. Sure, it could go over the top of any deck in the format but it was an inelegant, slow moving behemoth. I like my decks sleek, well tuned, and able to play the short and the long game. So coming into the MDSS I said ‘Screw It. I’ll beat all the blue decks and just mise vs Shardless.

Tech City Miracles

[deck]
[Lands]
1 Arid Mesa
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
1 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterbalance
1 Counterspell
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Ponder
1 Pyroblast
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Terminus
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
3 Monastery Mentor
2 Snapcaster Mage
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
2 Pyroblast
2 Flusterstorm
2 Rest in Peace
2 Wear // Tear
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Surgical Extraction
1 From the Ashes
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Containment Priest
1 Vendilion Clique
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Some brief notes about the 75.

Mentor is the best because he is a one man army. He can be deployed early in the game if need be and closes out games in the blink of an eye. Having some 3 cmc spells to flip to Counterbalance also doesn’t hurt. Running Mentor means playing more [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card] than Terminus. Swords also requires less setup than Terminus and is better for flashing back with [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card]. [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] helps us cast Mentor to beat up other Miracles players and the basic Mountain lets us [card]Pyroblast[/card] Wasteland decks with impunity.

On to the big one: Daze. I’ve been on The Daze Hype Train since GP Lille. Daze does so much for a deck like Miracles. Having more free countermagic lets you be very efficient in the early game, a place where the archetype had struggled previously. The free part of Daze also plays into the tap out nature of Miracles, typically playing a cantrip or Top turn 1, a Counterbalance on turn 2 and/or a Mentor on turn 3. Lastly with so much card selection you have a lot of ways to keep Daze out of your hand once it has outlived its usefulness.

Daze lets me beat up the blue decks. It’s trash vs Shardless but that’s where the sideboard comes in. We have a couple of spicy ones. [card]From the Ashes[/card] is a little number from Commander 2013 that reads “target Delver/Shardless/Lands player scoops em up.” I decided to play a Gideon because it can’t be Pyroblasted, allows you to beat [card]Sulfur Elemental[/card], is a great tool vs Shardless and breaks the mirror. I was confidant enough about Gideon that I convinced Derek Lansche to play one ten minutes before round one started. We both agreed at the end of the day that the card is nuts.

Round 1 – Anton Ziegler on Miracles

I was hanging out with Anton before the tournament so we both knew what the other was playing when we sat down. The day began as poorly as possible with a mulligan to five leaving me with two Jace and three lands. Even more unfortunate was the Daze I drew that let me resolve said Jace. I was convinced I could win the game. Twenty five minutes later I scooped in order to try and salvage games two and three.

Out

[sbplan]
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Terminus
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Plains
[/sbplan]

In

[sbplan]
2 Pyroblast
2 Wear // Tear
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Engineered Explosives
[/sbplan]

A few notes about boarding. Jace is bad vs Pyroblast. Don’t be afraid to board him out. Don’t be afraid to board out lands either. If I was playing vs Wasteland the Cavern came out. If I was boarding in the Cavern a basic usually came out.

Game two was over very quickly thanks to our good friend variance. I had Top/Balance on turn two with Force/REB backup followed by a Mentor off of Cavern. Good luck beating that.

Game three was not the same level of godlike but I did have an early Top/Balance while Anton struggled to find action. I wished Anton luck and counted my blessings that I was neither 0-1 nor 0-0-1.

1-0 (2-1)

Round 2 – MDSS Champion Chris Ha playing Jeskai Delver

Chris had just won the Modern MDSS the day before and was looking to run it back with Jeskai Delver. It was a lower to the ground version of the deck sporting a full playset of Stifle. This may or may not have been a factor in game 1. Chris may have also had Delver on the play with lots of permission. Who knows.

Out

[sbplan]
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Daze
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Cavern of Souls
[/sbplan]

In

[sbplan]
2 Pyroblast
2 Wear // Tear
1 From the Ashes
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Vendilion Clique
[/sbplan]

*I sided out Daze a lot on the draw, although not all the time

There isn’t a game where my Delver opponent goes turn 1 Ponder that I don’t smile a little on the inside. Chris had a slower draw that I was able to keep pace with. I had a Top out but no Balance. Eventually I found [card]From the Ashes[/card] when there were 6 duals across the table from me.

Out

[sbplan]
1 Counterspell
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Daze
[/sbplan]

In

[sbplan]
3 Daze
[/sbplan]

Game three was over quickly when a Delver wouldn’t flip and I resolved Balance/Top.

2-0 (4-2)

Round 3 – Mr. Deadguy Ale, Wilkin Chau

Another known matchup. I bet 75% of the room knew what Wilkin was on. This is the guy that took Deadguy to a 12-3 finish at GP NJ in a [card]Treasure Cruise[/card] meta. Is this a good matchup for Miracles? Yes. Is this a free roll? Nope.

I’m on the play so my hand with double Daze looks appealing. No turn one Deathrite from Wilkin makes it even better. I get to Daze a Hymn then hard cast Daze to counter [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card]. Balance/Top shortly after closes things out.

Out

[sbplan]
3 Daze
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Pyroblast
1 Counterbalance
[/sbplan]

In

[sbplan]
2 Wear // Tear
2 Rest in Peace
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
[/sbplan]

Wilkin is unable to apply any pressure while he his deck is uncooperative. JTMS and his new best friend Gideon close things out.

3-0 (6-2)

The RIPs are for [card]Lingering Souls[/card], [card]Cabal Therapy[/card] and [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card]. Talking after the match we both agreed I should just bring in the one [card]Rest in Peace[/card] and leave in [card]Counterbalance[/card] #4.

Tangent time. Drink lots of water, use the bathroom frequently, and have something to snack on. Denys Robinson swears by a bag of bulk almonds. Speaking of which…

Round 4 – Denys Robinson on Shardless BUG

The best part about playing your friends is that you help them build their sideboards the morning of so you know what’s across the table from you.

Here it is. The matchup I’ve been obsessing over. The thing is, even while Miracles is unfavoured, the nature of the matchup is that games are very grindy, long, and skill intensive. I’ve played a lot of reps and Denys is less versed in the format so I’m feeling ok about my chances.

I get pecked at by a Baleful strix and a small [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] in the beginning of game 1. The creatures are eventually dealt with as are the 2 [card]Ancestral Vision[/card]s Denys suspends. The first gets Pyroblasted. The second meets an island revealed off of [card]Counterbalance[/card]. [card]Monastery Mentor[/card] and his army of Jacob Wilson tokens clean things up.

In

[sbplan]
3 Daze
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Ponder
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Force of Will
1 Counterbalance
[/sbplan]

Out

[sbplan]
2 Rest in Peace
1 Pyroblast
1 From the Ashes
1 Wear // Tear
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Engineered Explosives
[/sbplan]

Shardless only has 4 [card]Brainstorm[/card]s to fix their draws. Don’t they know that Ponder/Preordain/Top are legal in this format? Kidding aside this is one of the few downsides to playing the deck. The power level of [card]Shardless Agent[/card] is through the roof but the hoop you have to jump through in order to maximize it involves trimming on the cards that let you play a consistent game of Magic. Denys flooded game two while I got a Gideon out. Sweet play of the day: revealing [card]From the Ashes[/card] to [card]Counterbalance[/card] your opponent’s JTMS.

4-0 (8-2)

Round 5 – Joel Repta on Infect

Finally! Someone who I don’t know. Even though this match is essentially a win and in, I refuse to think of it that way. I have a friend (who shall remain nameless) who has lost a notorious amount of win and ins. Don’t think about anything besides winning the current match.

Infect vs Miracles is a matchup that is super deep. So much comes down to reading the player across from you. Infect needs to know when to jam and Miracles needs to know when to fight. This was easily the most interesting match I had played so far.

Joel has a slow opening with just a [card]Tropical Island[/card]. A [card]Crop Rotation[/card] at the end of my turn gives him away as Infect, and I Force. [card]Crop Rotation[/card] = Inkmoth and I want nothing to do with that card. The game progresses and Joel gets a [card]Sylvan Library[/card] down. In this matchup it ends up being somewhere between [card]Mirri’s Guile[/card] and a green Necro. Miracles has a very hard time pressuring life totals and Joel drew 4 cards off the Sylvan over the course of the game. Card’s good. A [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card] does his best [card]Ambush Viper[/card] impression and kills a [card]Glistener Elf[/card]. I don’t remember the rest but it involved killing all his dudes and Jace. Got there.

Out

[sbplan]
2 Daze
2 Monastery Mentor
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Counterspell
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Ponder
[/sbplan]

In

[sbplan]
2 Pyroblast
2 Wear // Tear
2 Flusterstorm
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Engineered Explosives
1 From the Ashes
[/sbplan]

Full disclaimer: After Joel goes turn 1 [card]Glistener Elf[/card] the fear of dying on turn 2 was very real. I Ponder and pass the turn back. He politely declines to kill me and plays a Blighted Agent. I intentionally run a Top into a Daze that I suspected Joel had on my turn, then Swords the Agent. I’m still not sure this line was optimal. I didn’t have [card]Counterbalance[/card] but did have Ponder and [card]Brainstorm[/card] so I’m not too attached to the Top. Setting him back a land drop definitely makes it less likely that he jams next turn. I don’t know. Magic is hard. The game enters a long period of cantripping, playing lands and passing the turn back and forth. I’m okay with this. Even though I don’t have a [card]Counterbalance[/card] yet my hand is stacked and I have eight lands in play. We eventually start a big fight over an [card]Inkmoth Nexus[/card] trying to [card]Become Immense[/card]. I Swords, he Vines, I Brainstorm then Fluster his Vines, he Vines again, then I snap the other Swords in my yard. Phew. I untap and cast [card]From the Ashes[/card]. The aftermath? I have a Top, Tiago Chan, 4 [card]Island[/card], 2 [card]Plains[/card] and a [card]Mountain[/card]. Joel has a [card]Forest[/card] and a [card]Noble Hierarch[/card] and the crowd is passing around [card]From the Ashes[/card] to understand what it does. Top/Balance floating a Ponder on top cleans things up.

5-0 (10-2)

Quarterfinals – Derek Lansche on Miracles

We’re in Top 8 baby! I intentionally draw round 6 and get some food. Wilkin has beat everyone but me and proceeds to do me and the 19 other Miracles players out there a solid by beating Cloudpost. Round 7 comes around and I promise Denys I would block for him. Unfortunately I get paired with the only other 5-0-1 player so beating him doesn’t help Denys. I intentionally draw again and continue to take it easy. I’m very happy that I had such a break before top 8. Playing Miracles all day takes a toll on you.

5-0-2 (10-2)

After top 8 is announced I am second seed. Who’s in seventh but Derek Lansche, also on Miracles, also on Gideon, also on [card]Cavern of Souls[/card]. Coincidence? I think not. Many people make jokes about the fact we have an untimed Miracles mirror in top eight. None of them are funny.

Being the higher seed I get to go first. Being the luckier player I get to go turn one Top turn two [card]Counterbalance[/card]. I eventually get Mentor down via [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] and many comments are made about how skill intensive the game was.

Out

[sbplan]
1 Daze
1 Plains
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Terminus
2 Swords to Plowshares
[/sbplan]

In

[sbplan]
2 Pyroblast
2 Wear // Tear
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
[/sbplan]

I still like Daze here due to the importance of [card]Counterbalance[/card] and fighting over both yours and theirs in the opening turns.

I keep a perfectly good hand that gets even better when I draw a Top. [card]Counterbalance[/card] comes down on my side shortly after and I’m feeling good. A Cavern on the other side of the table followed by a Mentor and company begin to rain on my parade. I keep digging for answers while Derek runs spells into my [card]Counterbalance[/card] to keep making/pumping his tokens. Jacob Wilson has betrayed me! I fail to find anything and lose the mirror with the lock in play. How annoying.

Out

[sbplan]
1 Counterspell
1 Ponder
[/sbplan]

In

[sbplan]
1 Daze
1 Surgical Extraction
[/sbplan]

The idea here is that on the play Daze gets even better and the ability to get either Top or [card]Counterbalance[/card] with Surgical is very appealing. It can also mess up the top of their deck, eat whatever they’re trying to Snapcaster and it’s a free spell to cast when you have a Mentor in play.

Here’s the thing. I don’t remember as much of this match as I would like to. It was a very crazy game and I sadly won’t be able to do it justice. Some of the highlights involve Derek Wastelanding a Tundra which was my only white source and me trying to Snapcaster and fuse Wear // Tear (hint: you can’t.)

The last turn was a doozy. I’m at 2, Derek is at 5. He has a tapped Clique and an untapped Mentor with no cards in hand. I have a Top, Mentor, and one Jacob Wilson. I spin in my upkeep to see Daze, Force, Cavern. I leave the Daze on top and flip the Top during my upkeep. My draw for turn puts the Top back in my hand. I play it, Daze it, pay for daze. I spin. If I hit any one mana spell I win, if not I lose.

Force.

Cavern.

Scalding Tarn.

Sigh. My first loss of the day. I shake hands and wish Derek good luck. I played well but I know I left percentage points on the table. Next time!

Overall the deck felt fantastic. I would happily run back the same 75. [card]Monastery Mentor[/card] is the win condition I want right now. It ends games fast and can be deployed in a variety of situations. Gideon was even better than I thought he would be. He beat up midrange decks, was never in fear of being Pyroblasted, and the +1 in Legacy turns into a very fast clock. [card]From the Ashes[/card] acted as a great trump versus the greedy manabases of many Legacy decks.

One change I am going to make is swapping the second Cavern in the board for a [card]Bonfire of the Damned[/card]. Grixis Delver and [card]Young Pyromancer[/card] are back and every Miracles player is playing 2+ [card]Monastery Mentor[/card] in either their maindeck or their board.

Thanks again to Face to Face Games for putting on an awesome event! I look forward to the new yet-to-be-announced tournament series that’s starting in 2016 and all the other Legacy tournaments that they’ll be hosting.

If you enjoyed what I’ve written here or want more Legacy in your life check out my podcast at LevelUpLegacy.com!

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