A Deeper Look at Gilbert City Championships

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While the first major Legacy Series event of the year has come and gone, that doesn’t mean we have to be done analyzing it! A whopping sixty-four players showed up to battle some Legacy at Desert Sky Games. Of course, in those sixty-four decklists is some spice. Let’s take a look at some of the brews and fringe decks that showed up this month.

5th-8th Place: Matt Vennard, UR Painter

Creatures (8)
Painter's Servant
Goblin Welder

Spells (32)
Mox Opal
Grindstone
Force of Will
Pyroblast
Red Elemental Blast
Brainstorm
Intuition
Tormod's Crypt
Lion's Eye Diamond
Ratchet Bomb
Sensei's Divining Top

Lands (20)
Ancient Tomb
City of Traitors
Volcanic Island
Scalding Tarn
Mountain
Island
Great Furnace
Seat of the Synod
Sideboard (15)
Ensnaring Bridge
Ratchet Bomb
Red Elemental Blast
Pyroblast
Tormod's Crypt
Keranos, God of Storms
Pyroclasm
Pithing Needle

Imperial Painter is the more common variant of the Painter’s Servant/Grindstone combo deck, so seeing this deck in the Top 8 was quite a surprise. Intuition is such a great card with Goblin Welder, allowing you to pretty much tutor for the combo. Unlike Imperial Painter, it can’t lock the game out with Blood Moon, but it trades the lock for Brainstorms and Force of Will – not exactly a bad trade off!

5th-8th Place: Daniel Sharpy, Junk Nic Fit

Creatures (16)
Veteran Explorer
Siege Rhino
Deathrite Shaman
Eternal Witness
Gaddock Teeg
Thragtusk
Scavenging Ooze
Meren of Clan Nel Toth
Sigarda, Host of Herons

Spells (22)
Cabal Therapy
Green Sun's Zenith
Abrupt Decay
Painful Truths
Pernicious Deed
Sensei's Divining Top
Garruk Relentless
Vindicate
Maelstrom Pulse

Lands (22)
Verdant Catacombs
Windswept Heath
Forest
Plains
Bayou
Savannah
Scrubland
Karakas
Taiga
Phyrexian Tower
Swamp
Sideboard (15)
Vraska the Unseen
Leyline of Sanctity
Slaughter Games
Thoughtseize
Surgical Extraction
Choke
Ethersworn Canonist
Carpet of Flowers

Four Siege Rhino? In Legacy? You better believe it! Nic Fit is always home to the cards whose textbox is powerful enough for Legacy, but typically costs way too much to cast.  This version of Nic Fit is much less toolbox oriented than some other Nic Fit decks I’ve seen, but trading the versatility for consistency is probably a good thing.

Also, Ancestral Visions look-a-like Painful Truths makes an appearance here. I fully expect to see more of that card in Legacy in the coming months – it’s the real deal.

12th: PJ Melies, Human Stompy

Creatures (20)
Avalanche Riders
Phyrexian Revoker
Scab-Clan Berserker
Prophetic Flamespeaker
Magus of the Moon
Simian Spirit Guide

Spells (20)
Magma Jet
Blood Moon
Umezawa's Jitte
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of War and Peace
Chalice of the Void
Chrome Mox

Lands (20)
Mountain
Cavern of Souls
City of Traitors
Ancient Tomb
Sideboard (15)
Faerie Macabre
Stingscourger
Smash to Smithereens
Boil
Sudden Demise
Sudden Shock
Koth of the Hammer

How many times have you heard “swing, renown my guy” in Legacy before? Because you probably haven’t. I know I hadn’t!

Yet another variant of the Blood Moon Stompy style decks, this version abuses the creature type “Human”. Prophetic Flamespeaker is a great source of card advantage, and is also fantastic with equipment. The deck can also create uncounterable Blood Moons with Magus of the Moon + Cavern of Souls. And if you want to play around Blood Moon by fetching basics? Good luck with that – Avalanche Riders is here to crash the basic land party!

Overall Archetype Analysis

Thanks to lordofthepit from MTGTheSource, we also have a full overview of how each archetype performed at this tournament. Take a look:

Gilbert City Champs Archetype Analysis

 

Until next time…

It’ll be awhile until our next Legacy Series Championships – March 19th at Play or Draw – but we have a bunch of Legacy Series Trials until then! Be sure to check out the schedule here.

Jason