It seems that since forever I'm trying to come up with a deck I'd like to play (Zoo is not one of them certainly) and I still haven't discovered it. The type of deck I'd like to play or the cards I'd like to play simply don't really work nowadays (unless I would play Vintage). But hell there should be something I'd like to play and have some fun with in non-Vintage formats? I like control decks, I like certain combo decks and I certainly don't like attacking with creatures and I hate burn decks. That is why you won't see me play Merfolk or White Weenie nor any kind of red aggressive deck. If I could I'd play (reactive/draw go) control no matter the format. But WotC seems to dislike the kind of control I have in mind something I would call 'instant' control - it's called draw-go I guess^_^. The tap out control is nothing I want to play though since it is way more proactive and I would like to avoid that. It seems to me that there is only one control deck in Legacy - Miracles. I quite like the deck but it lacks something that I need in a deck. Stoneblade/Esper Control is what had it but the deck got weaker with time and more midrangy version replaced it. That's a direction I did not wish to pursue (I tried and rather chose a different deck to try and play - Miracles). Anyway some time later I realized that the deck was not the only problem I had. I started to dislike the idea of playing against certain people and certain matchups. I stopped coming regularly to Legacy tournaments to avoid that and came there only when I really felt like playing and was capable of enduring insults and people's complaints.
One day I knew that there would be a day I would most probably be 'forced' to play. Some time ago there was a weekend during which World Magic Cup Qualifier and PTQ was being held in Brno. It was quite probable that there wouldn't be too many players coming for Legacy and Highlander and that is why I decided to build a deck for those formats and play with it if the number of players would be wrong (less then eight or odd).
For Highlander I had Reanimator, Bant Aggro-control and Zoo ready and Zoo was the winner in the end. As for Legacy I thought I would go with either Show and Tell (rather Sneak and Show variant), Reanimator or simply Burn (not really sure if I even have cards for that. People usually make fun of me because I can build almost any deck except the cheapest ones - usually burn decks). As for Show and Tell I don't really like the deck and cheating Emrakul or Griselbrand into play via Show and Tell or Sneak Attack is not really what I would want to do. But it seemed as the best deck to go with if I would not want to spend too much time 'playing' and win. Reanimator is more or less the same but it requires a bit more thinking and the deck is more variable than Sneak and Show. I actually like this way more but it is much worse choice against the decks people run here. Burn deck is something I never wanted to play...but is also a viable option for short games since I needed to be behind the counter selling stuff rather than spend majority of time playing^^. Honestly this is the very first time I actually thought about actually sleeving a mono red deck and playing it. It did not come to that though and I'm glad for it^_^.
On my way home I met a player that regularly plays Legacy and we started discussing Legacy decks (taking in account the field we play in) and a Zoo deck was brought up several times.
When I came back home I started thinking about it a bit more and then grabbed my binders and took out some cards. The ones I used to play in Legacy zoo years back...It might seem weird to some people, but I used to play all kinds of Zoo for several years. Thanks to this deck type I was able to get my hands on all those blue cards I did not have at that time^_^.
I put the cards on the table and stared at them for while...
- 4 Wild Nacatl
- 4 Kird Ape
- 2 Qasali Pridemage
- 3 Price of Progress
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 2 Path to Exile
- 4 Chain Lightning
- 2 Sylvan Library
I had the impression that something (green and big^_^) important is missing. So I grabbed my modern Jund deck and took out a playset of Tarmogoyfs, spent some time looking at them for a while wondering why this card costs 180 bucks. I was certain that seeing too many of these during my future games will mean a rather bad hand...No matter what I put them on the pile of previous cards.
Then I was wondering what else I would want to play. I was certain that I don't want to play anything white unless I would have to. I'm not sure where this idea came from...but only thinking of playing Loam Lion in the deck seemed really scary to me because Taiga is something I would want the most on t1 and the second land should produce red as well and should not definitely be Savannah. It could actually work if I would play Plateau t1 and Taiga t2 but still fom some reason I have the feeling that this card would mess my game (I haven't tried it so Ican't say how it works in reality). Since I did not like the Loam Lion idea I decided to run Goblin Guide instead, it swings for the same amount of damage, has Haste and can be easily payed for. At this point I did not know that Goblin Guide would prove a way better creature than I thought at first and I might reconsider Loam Lion as well but so far the deck seems solid enough.
I still did not reach 60 so I was thinking about the current decks and tried to think about cards that actually do something in the 'new Legacy'. I realized that Grim Lavamancer is actually something that solves many of my problems and is not a bad one drop (ok maybe the best one drop I could get in this deck. DRS does not help much here^_^). So I put that in.
And then the last four slots were taken by Ghor-Clan Rampager. That is not a card I would consider playable in Legacy but I already thought about that some time ago and came to a different conclusion so I had to put it in - 4 mana cost cards are really difficult to deal with, Bloodrush ability is SUPER COOL, and the worst it can happen is that would get Stifle'ed. My creature can terribly die to Bolt or Sword to Plowshares but well that is something that I can worked with. At first I did not want to play a full set of Rampagers but in the end it ended up that way. I put 4 of these in because of a card named True-Name Nemesis at first but after seeing what the card does at the first tournament I went I now know that I would never play less than 4. The card is just too good for that.
As for the lands that was pretty straightforward. All the good fetches + some that are a bit worse, 3/2/1 dual lands as I usually run and Horizon Canopy and Karakas. I'm not sure if any of those is needed but I did not want more fetchlands nor dual lands. Drawing a card seemed a good idea and occasional help from Karakas seemed worth it but I'm not really convinced about that being a good idea. Nevertheless if someone destroys this land instead of a dual land it is good for me...
Figuring out a sideboard was a bit more difficult and I wasn't really sure if I would even use it because so far everything was just a theory. And when I don't really know how a deck works in a certain environment it's usually better for me not to sideboard (except the obvious matchups in which I would simply (mostly) die without sideboarding). I knew that I would need some cards against Storm decks (there were three ANT decks last time) and Elves. So I put in Ethersworn Canonist, Gaddock Teeg, Mindbreak Trap and Grafdigger's Cage. Artifact removal is a must have so I put in Destructive Revelry to see what the card does and Ancient Grudge that I usually run in decks that have access to green and red. I put Thruns in against Miracles and Oblivion Ring against Show and Tell. Not sure if that would help at all but well...I had no idea what to put in those 15 cards anyway. The last card I added was Null Rod. I was thinking that this card can deal with both Sensei's Divining Top and all equipments unlike Pithing Needle that can deal with one equipment. Jace TMS did not seem too scary nor Liliana of the Veil...so no need for Pithing Needle there. The Needle might be enough though...paying one mana less can actually make a difference sometimes (especially in a deck that is light on mana). But I had not really too many chances to try that out.
By STsung
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Goblin Guide
Instant [9]
3 Price of Progress
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Path to Exile
Sorcery [4]
4 Chain Lightning
Enchantment [2]
2 Sylvan Library
Land [20]
4 Arid Mesa
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
1 Karakas
1 Mountain
1 Forest
3 Taiga
2 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Horizon Canopy
Sideboard:
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Destructive Revelery
2 Gaddock Teeg
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Path to Exile
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Null Rod
2 Oblivion Ring
I sleeved this deck and went to sleep. In the morning I opened the store and waited for some people to come in. 7 players showed up so I entered my DCI number in the Event Reporter and started the tournament. In the first round I played against 4 color good stuff deck. I won because my opponent drew too many lands but I could see that the deck I held in my hands was actually good enough to beat it under certain circumstances. After a lucky Bloodrush and few swings with Goblin Guide I won. In this game I actually realized how Goblin Guide's ability can actually be good for me. The information I got from it helped me a lot in the game. This deck being actually really aggressive means that my creatures need to die quite early otherwise my opponent gets into burn range. That's something that makes Ghor-Clan Rampager even better and makes Price of Progress even more viable. I wasn't sure about this card but from my experience from Modern I really needed something like this. It is something I really missed in the deck and that is why I put it in the Legacy version. It showed to be a good decision. Even though many people disagree with me.
In the next round I played agaisnt Infect. I lost one game but I won the other two. I had enough removal to get rid of creatures with infect and I could attack for quite a lot. Next I played against merfolk and I was a bit unfortunate and lost. But the game was close even though I had to deal with two TNNs that I couldn't really deal with much^^. In the last round I played against UWR delver. I killed both of us in the first game so I had to play more games than usual. I had the feeling that after sideboarding it should be more favorable for me. I tried to avoid Batterskull and Jitte and eventually won.
I do not regret sleeving this deck up. I might play more tournaments with it actually. I have to say that it was the first time I realized how strong Stoneforge Mystic and Batterskull is (very annoying for an aggro deck). Now I understand why many people hate it and whine about it. I spend 5 turns staring at Batterskull unable to destroy it and felt hopeless (I still had a chance to win so that is why I still continued playing). Yeah, looking at these cards from the aggressive deck perspective is certainly different^_^. Having at least one removal and a one drop (two ideally) is something I wanted to see in my opener...unlike hands I usually keep that don't usually contain many creatures but rather cantrips and counterspells^_^.
If there would be anything to change for me it would most probably be the number of Price of Progress and Sylvan Libraries. There are match ups in which I want a different ratio of these cards and I can't decide how good Sylvan Library is. The card is insane ofcourse in some matchups but in some I don't have the time to even play it to stay alive. So what's the right number? 1,2 or 3? As for Price of Progress I'm not sure if I want to run 3 main or 2 main and 1 in SB. But those are things I can figure out while playing. Next time I'll take a look at Qasali Pridemage and what it does. It is a card I considered auto-include. But after few tournaments with this deck I'm not that convinced about the card. On the other hand I can't think of anything better that could replace it.
No comments:
Post a Comment