And just like that, we see that another Legacy Series City Championships is on the horizon, and for many Phoenix players, I mean it quite literally – the AZMagicPlayers.com 2016 Legacy Series is going to Tucson, baby! Amazing Discoveries is a fantastic store, and I’m very excited to be going back down to Tucson to host our next City Championships.
In March, we saw Bryan Rockenbach take down the Avondale City Championships with his trusty old Shardless BUG, a long line in blue deck dominance. In fact, the last time a non-blue deck won a Legacy Series event was a year ago, at the Spring Championships, when Kyle Fader took down a Top 8 that included four Shardless BUG decks!
So, when is a non-blue deck due to take down a Legacy Series City Championship? Over the past couple weeks, we’ve seen an influx of non-blue Legacy decks finish at the top tables, so if there is a perfect time, one could argue that it is now!
For example, the rise of the Eldrazi in the past couple months is a great contender for a title. This list placed first at a Japanese “Legacy God Challenger” tournament, with 300 players in attendance:
Creatures (23)
4 Eldrazi Mimic
1 Endbringer
4 Endless One
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Reality Smasher
2 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Thought-Knot Seer
Spells (13)
1 Dismember
3 Warping Wail
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
Lands (24)
4 Ancient Tomb
3 Cavern of Souls
3 City of Traitors
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Eye of Ugin
1 Karakas
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 WastelandSideboard (15)
1 Dismember
2 Faerie Macabre
3 Helm of Obedience
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Sphere of Resistance
This deck had a great performance at Avondale City Championships, with two players piloting Eldrazi lists. One finished in the Top 8 and the other finished in the Top 16 – and they even had to play each other in round one!
We also saw a couple Jund lists make Top 8 – a full half of the decks were non-blue.
Creatures (15)
2 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
Spells (22)
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Hymn to Tourach
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Punishing Fire
3 Thoughtseize
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Sylvan Library
Lands (23)
3 Badlands
3 Bayou
1 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Marsh Flats
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 WastelandSideboard (15)
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Duress
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Extirpate
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Golgari Charm
1 Maze of Ith
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Slaughter Games
1 Toxic Deluge
Bonus decklist from this tournament – it’s a sweet one!
Creatures (11)
4 Deceiver Exarch
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
3 Pestermite
Spells (28)
4 Force of Will
3 Impulse
1 Intuition
3 Izzet Charm
2 Misdirection
4 Blood Moon
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Chrome Mox
4 Splinter Twin
Lands (21)
4 Ancient Tomb
1 Cascade Bluffs
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Taiga
4 Volcanic IslandSideboard (15)
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Echoing Truth
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Krosan Grip
1 Pact of Negation
3 Pyroclasm
2 Sulfur Elemental
2 Vendilion Clique
View the Top 8 decklists here.
SCG Classics
The SCG Classics always provide a constant stream of decklists every week for us to peruse. At the time of posting, we have three tournaments to check out, so let’s take a look!
At SCG Indianapolis, we see a Miracles list take the trophy. I’m hesitant to say that it is “stock”, as there are so many different variations of Miracles these days (Legend/Lossett Miracles, Mentor Miracles, Creature-less Miracles, etc), but it’s nothing too drastically different than other Miracles decklists.
However, in second place, we see an Abzan/Junk deck that is modeled similarly to the Jund/Junk dichotomy in Modern:
Creatures (17)
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Tarmogoyf
Spells (21)
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sylvan Library
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
3 Lingering Souls
1 Painful Truths
4 Thoughtseize
2 Liliana of the Veil
Lands (22)
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Bayou
2 Savannah
1 Scrubland
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
1 KarakasSideboard (15)
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Pithing Needle
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Containment Priest
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
2 Choke
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Gaddock Teeg
If you don’t know what I mean – in Modern, Jund and Junk have a good GBx core that is shared among the two (Thoughtseize, Liliana of the Veil, Tarmogoyf, Abrupt Decay, etc.), but the singular color difference can change how the deck operates – Lightning Bolt vs Path to Exile, Kolaghan’s Command vs Lingering Souls, etc.
In Legacy, Junk can take several forms. For example, Maverick, Junk Depths, or even Nic Fit. But those decks aren’t nearly as straightforward – Maverick has cute tricks with Knight of the Reliquary, Junk Depths has a giant toolbox of answers with Living Wish and a combo kill, and Nic Fit is well, casting Standard-legal cards in Legacy.
We often don’t see a Junk list like this that often. But the ability to combine a disruption plan in discard and hatebears and straightforward big beaters is a role that Junk can do extremely well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this around more.
Onto the next event, we see a whopping 4.5 non-blue decks in the Top 8 of SCG Baltimore. And by .5, I mean the 12 Post deck. Yes, it technically plays Brainstorm (and a couple of Force of Will in the sideboard), but it’s not really a blue deck in the same sense that Miracles, Shardless BUG, or Storm are. Many 12 Post decks choose to eschew blue anyway, going a straight monogreen or even straight colorless route, but this version so happens to be the blue-green version. You can’t really take blue out of Miracles or Shardless BUG and it still be the same deck. Anyway, I disgress.
Usually we are used to multiple Miracles or Delver decks making the Top 8, but now we see two 4 Color Loam decks make the Top 8! Well, to SCG, it’s “Punishing Abzan”.
This deck is very reminiscent of the Junk Depths decks that used to see play back in the day, but favors a Punishing Fire engine over the Living Wish toolbox. If you want to read more on this deck, I would definitely recommend this article.
We also see a Nic Fit deck make the single-elimination rounds, and it looks pretty similar to the Nic Fit list that Daniel Sharpy piloted to a Top 8 finish at the Gilbert City Championships:
Glissa is a nice addition to a deck to help fight the Eldrazi menace – seriously, first strike and deathtouch is no joke!
Finally, we take a look at the results of SCG Columbus. We see yet another 4 Color Loam deck in the Top 8 – yes the deck is good – but really, the highlight of this tournament is Belcher making the finals:
| Creatures (12) 4 Elvish Spirit Guide 4 Simian Spirit Guide 4 Tinder Wall Spells (47) 3 Chrome Mox 4 Goblin Charbelcher 4 Lion’s Eye Diamond 4 Lotus Petal 4 Desperate Ritual 3 Manamorphose 2 Pyretic Ritual 4 Seething Song 4 Burning Wish 3 Empty the Warrens 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Land Grant 4 Rite of Flame Lands (1) 1 Taiga | Sideboard (15) 4 Xantid Swarm 2 Carpet of Flowers 2 Pyroblast 1 Diminishing Returns 1 Empty the Warrens 1 Goblin War Strike 1 Infernal Tutor 1 Reanimate 1 Reforge the Soul 1 Tendrils of Agony |
So much for not playing blue. At least, if you don’t want to lose to a turn one Charbelcher or 14 Goblins.
What’s a player to do? Well, that’s up to you.
See you all May 14th!
Join us on May 14th as we visit Amazing Discoveries for the Tucson City Championships!
- Date: May 14, 2016
- Location: Amazing Discoveries, 2410 E. Broadway Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85719
- Format: Legacy
- REL: Regular
- Entry Fee: $30
This event is open to all participants! No need to qualify.
- Decklists required
- Swiss rounds based on attendance with a cut to Top 8
- Prizes are based on attendance
- Registration starts at 10am with Round 1 starting at 11am.
Qualify for 2016 Legacy Series Masters by winning Avondale City Champs or by being at the top of the Leaderboard at the end of the Legacy Series. See below for the point distribution for this event and see our Tournament Overview for the full details.
Legacy Series Points Awarded
- 1st Place: Qualification for 2016 Legacy Series Masters
- 2nd Place: 20 Legacy Series Points
- 3rd-4th Place: 15 Legacy Series Points
- 5th-8th Place: 10 Legacy Series Points
- 9th-16th Place: 5 Legacy Series Points
- 17th+ Place: 2 Legacy Series Points
Links: