Metagaming for the Master

RThomas · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 380

The master is coming, and that means many of you are most likely looking for a good deck to play. Though you may be concerned about the tier structure of Legacy, and you may think the following decks are not what everyone says they are, I beg to differ. Because Legacy is such a new format, and because there have been so few high-level tournaments, definition of a tier structure is very hard to become conclusive on. I'm going to share a couple of decklists and mention why I think they're the most underestimated decks in Legacy.

The first should be an obvious one:

Artifacts
4 Aether Vial

Creatures
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Goblin Tinkerer
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Siege-gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector

Basic Lands
6 Mountain

Lands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard:
4 Pithing Needle
1 Goblin Tinkerer
1 Siege-gang Commander
3 Price Of Progress
2 Patron Of The Akki
4 Pyrokinesis

This is Jonathon Sonne's list that took the first legacy GP by storm. It won because it has a strong manabase and redundant threats, not running crap like Lightning Bolt and Umezawa's Jitte in the main. For this reason, I do not think the deck warrants a splash, simply because of the strength of one color. This deck is able to rebuild so quickly after mass removal and is so resilient to hate, I believe it may be the deck to beat in today's master.

I also want to take some time to address how good RG Beats is in Legacy. For reference:

4 Wooded Foothills
6 Mountain
6 Forest
4 Taiga

4 Troll Ascetic
4 Skyshroud Elite
4 Iwamori of the Open Fist
4 Kird Ape
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Llanowar Elves

4 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Rancor
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Bolt

Sideboard
4 Winter Orb
4 Pithing Needle
3 Tormod's Crypt
4 Pyrostatic Pillar

This may be one of the decks to beat simply because of what it does: quick, good-sized threats, with supplimental burn and Jitte for the beats. I feel that this could use an extra disruption component, perhaps Cursed Scroll. Overall though, it's quick, and it beats most of the other aggro-control decks thus far, as shown with 2 top 4 appearances in recent trials. Skyshroud Elite was inserted after a lot of testing and careful consideration, mainly because of Skyshroud's lower mana cost, and Shaman's horrible, horrible synergy with Jitte.

The top decks to play at this point in my opinion, are Goblins, Burn, and RG Beats. I strongly believe red to be the most powerful color in the format, simply because of the depth and sheer aggro power.

GRAH · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 602

Burn, of course, is also a major contender, I'd say. It beats Goblins and Pikula (which, btw, is still a terrible deck that only won because Pikula is a good player).

Burn:

20 Mountain

4 Mogg Fanatic

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
4 Chain Lightning
4 Magma Jet
4 Fireblast
3 Browbeat
2 Fork
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Pyroclasm
4 Lava Spike
3 Price of Progress

Shyft- · Joined: 06 Nov 2004 Posts: 105 Location: Your Mom

G/w aggro is also very good. Pretty much, anything that plays Iwamori in this format is fantastic. It's just bigger than everything else, with almost no drawback.

Stryfe- · Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 72

yeah the best deck in the format is r/g, it has no bad matches

MarkTwainIII · Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 100

wheres the palinchron love? <3 hightide in all forms. also grah, why do ou not run chainofplasma?

ant900 · Joined: 11 Oct 2004 Posts: 2449 Location: somewhere

there will probably a plus of angel stompys cuz it won the last 1.5 trial

Anti-Christ · Joined: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 46

I will laugh if people netdeck my deck lol
R/G is quite popular though since it does have a decent match against any deck in the field.
Rifter? Winter Orb
Combo? Pyrostatic Pillar, Tormod's Crypt
Stax? Rancor tech, Naturalize
Random Crap? Pithing Needle etc.

Red has excellent sideboard options.

GRAH · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 602

I wouldn't play RG Beats (Zilla Stompy) myself. I've always found it to be a sub-par deck.