Power Rankings week of February 15th
This week we are going to take a trip down memory lane and look at decks using cards legal from all of magic’s history in Legacy. As always I have awarded 6 points for 1st, 5 points for 2nd, 4 for top 4, 3 for top 8, and 2 for top 16. Then I add it all up and figure out what the best decks are performing the best.
5-Goblins 6 Points
A deck that wad once a constant contender in Legacy but has fallen out quite a bit recently; has come roaring back with a big win at the SCG Classic in Atlanta. This deck is base red but can splash any colors pretty easily depending on the meta game. This deck is much grindier and controlling that what might pop into your head when you hear the word Goblins. So don’t expect many blazing fast kills. But what you can expect is a lot of card advantage generated by Goblin Ringleader, and to an extent Gempalm Incinerator, and Goblin Sharpshooter and even direct tutoring for your favorite goblins with Goblin Matron. As well as a powerful mana disruption angle with Wasteland and Rishadan Port. This deck can attack from a variety of angles. The biggest short coming of the deck is it is guilty of Legacy’s unforgivable sin of not playing blue. Which can expose you as easy picking for the more unfair decks.
Goblins by John-Peter Reiland
1 Earwig Squad
1 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Matron
3 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Goblin Warchief
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Stingscourger
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
2 Krenko, Mob Boss
3 Mountain
4 Arid Mesa
1 Badlands
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Rishadan Port
1 Taiga
4 Wasteland
1 Wooded Foothills
4 AEther Vial
1 Warping Wail
2 Tarfire
SB: 3 Chalice of the Void
SB: 3 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 Goblin Sharpshooter
SB: 1 Tin Street Hooligan
SB: 1 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 3 Pyrokinesis
SB: 1 Warren Weirding
4-Elves 7 Points
Next up we have everyone’s favorite little green men Elves! This deck was long considered to be the best kept secret in Legacy. With the most powerful card advantage engine ever printed in Glimpse of Nature, and a couple of degenerate tutors in Natural Order and Green Sun’s Zenith, as well as unfair amounts of mana generated by Gaea’s Cradle and Heritage Druid. This deck can put boots on the ground really quickly and still have cards left in hand to show for it. Capable of combo kills on turn 3 or grinding your opponent to dust this deck can attack in so many ways that it is considered one of the hardest decks in the format to play correctly.
Elves by Andrew Tenjum
2 Birchlore Rangers
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
2 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
2 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
4 Gaea’s Cradle
1 Pendelhaven
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
4 Natural Order
SB: 1 Null Rod
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Reclamation Sage
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze
SB: 1 Sylvan Library
SB: 3 Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 Progenitus
SB: 3 Cabal Therapy
SB: 3 Thoughtseize
3-Shardless 11 Points
Do you feel like there is nothing on this Earth better than a nice 2 for 1? Because this deck is stuffed to the gills with them. Starting with the most basic 2 for 1 imaginable Hymn to Tourach, you play 1 card they lose 2 so far so good. Then on the other side we have Ancestral Visions you spend 1 card then draw 3. Even better you say? Well the hits keep coming this deck also has it’s namesake card Shardless Agent to help you hit these cards as well as its powerful other threats in the form of Tarmogoyf and Deathrite Shaman. Then to top it off we have Jace, the Mind Sculptor
and Lilliana of the Veil. All together you have almost the grindiest most midrange deck imaginable, plus for the first time in this list you get to play Brainstorm and Force of Will allowing you to beat non mana screwed combo opponents.
Shardless Bug by Collin Mullins
1 Baleful Strix
4 Shardless Agent
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Forest
1 Swamp
2 Bayou
1 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
2 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wasteland
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
3 Force of Will
3 Ancestral Vision
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Thoughtseize
1 Toxic Deluge
SB: 2 Nihil Spellbomb
SB: 3 Meddling Mage
SB: 1 Sylvan Library
SB: 3 Disfigure
SB: 1 Force of Will
SB: 1 Golgari Charm
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 Duress
SB: 1 Thoughtseize
SB: 1 Toxic Deluge
2-Miracles 20 Points
Now we’re in the heavy hitters the true control deck of the format, a deck that goes by many names; Miracles,
Countertop, That deck everyone hates that always goes to time. Regardless of what you call it the idea is the same this deck attempts to lock it’s opponents out of the game by combing Sensei’s divining top and Counterbalance to form an impenetrable barrier through which no spells will resolve. Also using Sensei’s Divining Top to set up its miracle draws to keep Terminus and Entreat the Angels near the top of the deck but not on top until you’re ready for them. This allows for very powerful interactions enabling you to cast miracles on your opponent’s turn by drawing them with the divining top. There are many ways to build this deck by either including or excluding creatures, Ponders, or Blood Moon, or older versions using a combo kill. In order to play this deck you must play very quickly and be proficient with your divining top activations, but it is very rewarding if you do master it.
Miracles by Joe Lossett
1 Monastery Mentor
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
5 Island
1 Plains
1 Arid Mesa
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
2 Karakas
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Counterbalance
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Pyroblast
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Ponder
4 Terminus
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 2 Izzet Staticaster
SB: 2 Rest in Peace
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Submerge
SB: 2 Wear
1-Delver Decks 27 Points
How many spells do you like to play against in a game? How many lands do you want your opponent to have when it’s over? What percentage of the fun do you want your opponent to have? Did you answer Zero to all or some of those questions? Then you like me are a monster and should play a Delver deck. There are more variations to the Delver decks than any other playing 2,3, or 4 colors depending on preference and meta games. But what they all have in common is that incorrigible little fly and all of the cheap disruption you can get your hands on. Delver decks play extremely low to the ground on their mana curve nearly never paying more than 2 mana for a spell and only spending any when they truly must. This allows the deck to play an insanely low land count thus drawing more spells than your opponent. Using Stifle and Wasteland to eliminate your opponents lands, using cheap countermagic to make the lands they get not matter, all backed up by a fast clock this deck is a nightmare to play against for nearly all strategies.
Rug Delver by Jacob Ross
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
2 Dismember
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Spell Pierce
4 Stifle
4 Ponder
SB: 1 Winter Orb
SB: 1 Mana Maze
SB: 1 Sulfuric Vortex
SB: 1 Ancient Grudge
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Price of Progress
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 2 Submerge
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Rough