Written by kendiggy on January 21, 2006
Surviving in Legacyby kendiggy
Hello and welcome to my debut article for M-L!
So, this is the part where I'm supposed to butter you all up and get you all excited to read my article... *slips on rubber gloves and prepares the butter* Now, close your eyes and imagine yourself stranded on a desert island with Carmen Elektra. Imagine the two of you are playing strip poker - and you’re winning -somehow. Excited yet? Good. Here we go!
Legacy is a format that has caught my attention lately due to the stale-ness of type two, and Survival of the Fittest is my deck of choice. For those of you who don't know what the deck does (there are many variants), this one is a very powerful toolbox-based control decks in the format that seeks to stabilize through a series of main-deck silver bullets and eventually win with recurring Triskelions, Akroma, or whatever other beast/elephant/cleric/elf/should-be-an-elf you happen to have to beat with. After sideboarding, there is nothing this deck can't handle. Hence, the reason I like it and the reason you should play it. Here's my list:
//Name: Survival
//Lands:
4 Windswept Heath
4 Forest
4 Bayou
3 Swamp
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Plains
//Spells:
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Duress
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
//Creatures:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Eternal Witness
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Genesis
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Withered Wretch
1 Ravenous Baloth
1 Loxodon Heirarch
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Bone Shredder
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Viridian Zealot
1 Triskelion
//Sideboard:
SB: 4 Smother
SB: 3 Enlightened Tutor
SB: 1 Troll Ascetic
SB: 1 Sphere of Law
SB: 1 Worship
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Pernicious Deed
SB: 1 Null Rod
SB: 1 Rule of Law
SB: 1 Engineered Plague
Alright, so here's the lowdown: if you haven't figured it out already, your best draw is first turn BoP or elf and second turn survival with Squee, Goblin Nabob in hand (or another guy, it doesn't matter, they all come back eventually). Eighty-four percent of the time, the first creature you go and get is going be Squee. Fifteen percent of the time, you'll already have Squee (thank you magic workstation!). The other one percent are the rare occasions where you’re forced to stabilize much sooner and get someone else, or your opponent has played something affecting your survival and you need an Eternal Witness or Shaman. Maybe that statistic is a little higher, but you get the point. Always go get Squee first if you can. I don't think I need to explain myself here.
Genesis will most likely be the second creature you throw in the bin; he rarely ever comes out to play. After that, you'll want to build your mana base and establish board control via Wall of Roots, Ravenous Baloth, Loxodon Hierarch, and Bone Shredder (you really do go get Wall of Roots more often than you think - he is amazing in this deck).
In all honesty, if you resolve Survival with a green mana open and a creature in your hand, you will win ninety-five percent of the time.
Matchup Analysis:
Pikula / Mono black
You can't lose. Before I got a hold of the sideboard, you’d lost more often. But, after I changed a couple of cards, this matchup became a bye. Smother is amazing against them because it kills everything.
Game One:
First turn Duress/hymn to tourach is rough, so you have to hope to top-deck out of it. Duress and therapy are just as good against them. Wall of Roots slows them down, and don't be afraid to throw a BoP in front of a hippie if you've got survival in your hand and not in play. Always fetch basic lands if you can. Yavimaya Elder shines in this matchup because he puts three cards in your hand. Use him to stall as long as you can against the Hypnotic Spector or Nantuko Shade, and try to save a Swords to Plowshares for withered wretch. If they resolve him and you’re not expecting it, it can spell game over for you. You eventually win through reanimating Akroma, Angel of Wrath with Recurring Nightmare or just casting her (I forgot you could do that at first), or recurring Triskelions. If they removed your Genesis and/or squee, you have to use your creatures much more efficiently and eternal witness becomes your best friend.
Game Two/Three:
- 1bone shredder
-1 sword of fire and ice
-1 withered wretch
-1 viridian zealot
+4 smother
You can side in worship and troll here, but you can win without them.
This game plays out just like game one does, but they will have Pithing Needle this time. So always leave one green open just in case (you should already be doing that). Use your smothers wisely, and don't forget you can get witness and smother again. Just sit back and control the game and strike as you see fit. Triskelion wins this game. In fact, he wins several games. This matchup should not go to game three. If it does, you should inevitably win it.
Fish
This is a rough matchup, and game one is really tough. Use your Duresses and Cabal Therapies to break his standstills, and you have to get survival into play as early as possible or you will not win. Go for Wall of Roots, Birds of Paradise, Yavimaya Elder and Llanowar Elves early to slow them down and build your mana base. It also gives you something to sac to therapy. Once you've stabilized, Triskelion will mow his guys down and you take it from there.
Game Two/Three:
-Viridian Zealot
-Withered Wretch
-Ravenous Baloth
-Akroma, Angel of Wrath
+4 smother
This really plays out the same as game one; duress and therapy shine here, but he'll probably have pithing needle and/or Tormod's crypt. Just watch out for them,and don't over-extend yourself into it. It would be wise not to put genesis in your graveyard until you've stabilized. Another problem is that they have meddling mage and they know what your removal spells are, but they don't know about smother yet. The fact that you have three different ways to kill their guys makes it much harder for them to name something - use that to your advantage.
This will most likely make it to game three, and it'll be a nail-biter. Both players will be looking to draw first blood. Because of league rules and the fact that by the time you get to this game you'll have like five minutes to play, try to go for Hierarch first, and you might even want to put Ravenous Baloth back in. Make him use his force of wills, and try not to use your fetch lands. I know it's mean to win that way, but would you rather lose? In the unlikely situation that you actually get to play this game out, just play it the same way as game two.
Salvagers Combo/Golden Grahams
Game one is just a race. You really need to use therapy to its fullest here. If they get a gamekeeper in play, you might as well scoop it up. Go straight for withered wretch, and leave mana open all the time and keep at least two creatures in play for that innocent blood. Once you've negated their combo, they'll be looking to wish for colossus. Swords to Plowshares will take care of him as well as disrupt their combo, but they will most likely therapy for it first, so be careful. Win by beatdown with whatever you've got.
Game Two/Three:
-3 Duress
-1 Viridian Zealot
-1 Viridian Shaman
+3 Enlightened Tutor
+1 Pithing Needle
+1 Rule of Law
You must mulligan into Enlightened Tutor. You need multiple ways to stop their combo, so go for Rule of Law first, it'll be the slowest for them to break up, allowing you time to stabilize. Getting back the tools with Witness seems relevant, and if you get a Rule of Law and then a Pithing Needle naming viridian zealot in play at the same time, you'll probably win. Witness back that needle when they blow it up with their Viridian Shaman or Orangutan and you should have the game. Once you've gotten one of the lock pieces in place, therapy for living wish and the game is yours.
Game three plays out the same way.
Threshold
This is a 50/50 matchup. Wall of Roots is really good against them, so try to keep it big. Duress and Therapy shine here as well. This will be a long, slow battle back and forth. You should be able to win game one because withered wretch helps keep them off of threshold but does not win you the game. If you go with the Wretch plan, watch out for lightning bolt or fire/ice. This really comes down to negating his creatures and slowly gaining board control. Bone shredder will kill his Werebears while wall holds off the mongoose. Yavimaya Elder helps slow him down while gaining you board position. Baloth and Hierarch do the job nicely as well. Triskelion eventually wins this game, and if you draw recurring nightmare, your opponent can kiss this game goodbye.
Game Two/Three:
Sideboarding for this matchup is weird. I haven't exactly figured out what to pull out, but obviously you’re going to put in troll, worship, deed and a couple enlightened tutors. Smother isn't too shaky against them either, especially if they’re playing meddling mage. Your main goal is to get Worship and troll into play. They're going to have some combination of Naturalize/Pithing Needle/Tormod's Crypt, so just keep an eye out. If they play needle, they don't have naturalize and you’re safe to go for worship/troll. If they do have Naturalize, Eternal Witness once again becomes a good friend. Your best bet is to keep mana open and just go for whatever seems relevant. If they play first turn needle, just tutor up worship and keep as many creatures in play as possible, they won't be able to kill them all and you'll eventually win. If the match goes to game three, just remember what you saw and you'll know how to play it out. Remember, keep in mind that it's a long, slow battle, so don't let time kill you. Keeping your life total above his is very hard, and wall of roots will help, but you have to watch out for Lightning Bolt.
U/W Control
You should smash them. Duress and Therapy work well here, so just make sure survival resolves and you win. Once again, always leave a green mana open to go for witness in case of an Akroma's Vengeance. You may consider siding in Engineered Plage, but the Enlightened Tutor board definitely comes in here. Recurring Nightmare will end up winning you the game.
Goblins
I haven’t been able to do much testing against this deck. Hierarch, Baloth and Triskelion should win you the game. Remember to sideboard in Sphere of Law, Troll, Worship, Deed and Plague. Maybe smother, though I doubt it. Here you're relying on your enchantment sideboard to win. Recurring Nightmare will win the game here. Once again, watch out for disenchant or naturalize.
Other Survival Decks
Withered Wretch, Withered Wretch, Withered Wretch. Shall I say it again? Withered Wretch. There, I said it. Most other survival decks are red/green and rely on getting Anger in the graveyard. Get rid of him and their Genesis and you'll be able to play around whatever they throw at you. They will most likely have Burning Wish for Pyroclasm, but that's okay, it just lets you use your Eternal Witnesses to pick up lost parts. Once you've established control of the game, which is fairly easy, you can't lose. They don't have access to the same graveyard removal that you do. The madness deck can be slaughtered with recurring bone shredder / triskelion, and your walls hold them off while your big 4/4 guys beat up their 3/3 rootwallas. The deck is fast though, so be careful.
Random Other Rogue / Tier 2 Decks
Use your head. Like I stated at the beginning, there is nothing this deck can't handle.
Cards that deserve consideration:
Seal of Cleansing - if gobbos continue seeing as little play as they are, I'd drop plague and put in one of these. As of right now, almost should be in there to deal with a first-turn pithing needle and maybe help out with the mirror match. Or you can drop zealot and put troll to the main. I just like the idea of having more than one way to deal with artifacts in the main deck, though it’s probably unnecessary. Seal is probably the better call, though.
Meekstone - this idea came to mind as I was writing this article. Theoretically it's good against threshold, but it's really a metagame call.
Flametounge Kavu - There is no red in this deck, but you certainly could splash it. That idea just makes your mana-base more unstable though. I prefer to keep it to three colors.
Seal of Fire - As long as you’re thinking of splashing red, one of these on board to tutor for helps get rid of pesky critters.
Monk Realist – It might be out-dated, but if enchantments ever become rampant again, he will be kept in mind.
Yeah, so there you have it. Just don't forget to bring Squee back during your upkeep and have fun playing poker with Carmen. Now if only we had more legacy minis in this league...
Yours truly,
kendiggy
kendiggy on 2006-01-21 12:50 EDT Not that I really wanted to be the first to respond to my own article, but that second paragraph got kinda screwed up... it's not like that in my file...
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malkolis on 2006-01-21 13:28 EDT the only problem i see with survival in the current legacy meta is how quickly it rolls to a unanswered pithing needle
a single needle on the first or second turn shuts you down to an unpredictable beatdown deck.
just a thought to consider if you are choosing this deck.
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kendiggy on 2006-01-21 15:31 EDT That's what the enlightened tutor sideboard for seal of cleansing is for. And if you noticed, I pointed out pithing needle several times, and mentioned how to deal with it.
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malkolis on 2006-01-21 16:54 EDT yeah i did notice kendiggy, i was just bringing it to the worlds attention because you failed to mention just how much pithing needle screws you over
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Haro on 2006-01-21 20:45 EDT Just some comments.
Why didn't you put Volrath Shapeshifter in the deck and use more of a Full English Breakfast kill?
Has Akroma and Recurring Nightmare really been that good for you that you put the nightmare as a 1 of?
Why not just drop the Akroma and Nightmare and run Dark Confidants?
If you are so attacted to Recurring Nightmare and a more reanimator type theme, why no platinum angel or blazing archon?
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rwt on 2006-01-21 23:39 EDT You've left out Aluren and Stax, which are two of the top Legacy decks. Also, having only a short paragraph on Goblins as opposed to long discussions of unplayed decks such as B/W Confidant and Fish is unacceptable.
Have you tested Spore Frog? It makes your Goblins and other aggro matches much better.
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SarcasticRat on 2006-01-22 15:20 EDT RG Survival is better than this deck, plain and simple. The Burning Wish toolbox of RG Survival is valuable for its bad matchups, and it's very resilient to GY hate and Survival hate, which I can't really say about this deck.
Not to criticize the article, but with all the graveyard hate going around I can't see how it could be safe to play this deck.
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IanRobbins on 2006-01-23 15:54 EDT ON artical, not bad, the homebrew matchup is not a bye by far though. You forgot 2 metion they maideck duress and vindicate, you will have a hard time getting your survivle to say around.
Also RThomas, r u kidding me, Aluren and Stax are both total unviable in 1.5
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IanRobbins on 2006-01-23 16:48 EDT Also what is akroma doing in your deck??
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Nantuko on 2006-01-23 18:36 EDT Where is Burning Dryad?
just wondering, since the deck is nuts.
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daman4udog on 2006-01-23 22:02 EDT Hate to tell you, but this deck is NOT an autowin against blue/white control. They can stop your survival with, um, counterspell, force of will, mana leak, disenchant, meddling mage, and pithing needle. And without survival, youre just playing - gasp - a shitty creature deck!
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ruanalves on 2006-01-23 22:13 EDT dddd
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Insanerage on 2006-01-24 17:07 EDT What about High Tide?????...you totally forgot a Teir 1 deck ugggg
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clavio on 2006-01-24 17:07 EDT And solidarity just runs right over you? You didn't anylyze that matchup. Im pretty sure you get stomped. That deck is definetley still tier one, it seems that your only hate is rule of law, which is weak.
As far as goblins, test it more. You will find that you will lose quite a bit more than you win.
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clone on 2006-01-25 13:41 EDT and flame fusiald do you test vs im cuz is a really good speed combi deck whyt some controle and im not sure about the match up vs r/g survival
cuz is he morre stable cuz if he side blood moon is gg for you ??? no fecht no dual land ouch so im not sure to play it and dont forget u/w and b/w controle heat u for diner so and wtf whyt akromas in this deck play Bob so thas it
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ejv on 2006-01-26 09:11 EDT I liked the article even if a bit vague. Your list is pretty much luca verdiani's list from gp lille, even though you left out some of the best cards... Neway I really like the archetype I think it is definitely one of the best out there.
p.s.-for clone- you definitely have no clue of what you're talking about; and perhaps I can't understand what you are actually saying...
ipse dixit ->"cuz is he morre stable cuz if he side blood moon is gg for you ???"
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clone on 2006-01-27 10:01 EDT lolif rg side blood moon what he could do ????
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rwt on 2006-01-29 21:56 EDT "Also RThomas, r u kidding me, Aluren and Stax are both total unviable in 1.5"
Have you been keeping up with the format, or have you been hiding under a rock for the past three months? Consistant placings and accomplishment in GP Lille have shown that both of these decks are at the top of the format. Really, this is the same as the forums: don't bother contributing if you can't do your homework first.
"What about High Tide?????...you totally forgot a Teir 1 deck ugggg"
Including a deck that isn't played at all save for David Gearhart himself isn't necessary.
Also, grammar is probably a good idea. The thing you are typing on is a keyboard, not a cellular phone.
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NahHolmes on 2006-01-31 16:55 EDT Where did Stax place in Lille? I just checked the top 128 and there were no Stax decks not even one, Duel for Duals is Stax first REAL test. There were 2 Aluren decks in the top 128 of Lille which hardly makes it a proven deck (there were about 5 slide/rift, 3 boros, and 3or4 CALs and some of the worst POS decks I've ever seen in that list does that mean boros is a proven top deck?). Neither of these decks have shown that they are "at the top of the format" infact at this point they are just a blip on the radar. High Tide is not widely played for whatever reason, but seeing as it is still a tier 1 deck Ichneumon Druid hurts High Tide (supersecret-tech look it up), and only takes one spot in the side if it's a concern.
Also any discussion on RecSur should address why anyone should choose to play it over RG Survival Advantage which relies far less on Survival, is less fragile to graveyard hate, and is widely considered to have strong game against the top2 decks in the format.
[edit] Here's the thing about legacy, it's resistant to change... A deck has to REALLY prove itself to get accepted and widely played. Think of how long it took for Gobos to take over Landstill. If you didn't notice Rock and Gobos were always better then Landstill and Rock even enjoyed some popularity a year or so ago but was often looked over for Landstill. Now the hot jank is Gobos and Gro so expect to see like 40% of any huge tourney be some rip of those. Until another deck starts showing descent these are the #1 and #2 concerns. The way I see it unless you spend mucho amounts of time testing and tweaking this deck don't take it to a real tourny or you will blow ass with it.
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IanRobbins on 2006-02-03 01:24 EDT ^^ what NahHolmes said, High tide is not as played becuase of the large amount of red/pyro blasts going around, + in LS counter/rule of law are almost always present.
Also people hate getting resets
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Tidus- on 2006-02-05 09:45 EDT He says play this deck makes people deck against it wen the play him just for him to win a trial using Burn ^^
Using a sucky deck to cover up his real intetions :)
