Sideboarding in the New Legacy

Legacy recently had one of the most monumental shifts in the format: the bannings of [[Dreadhorde Arcanist]], [[Oko, Thief of Crowns]], and [[Arcum’s Astrolabe]]. The two weeks since this banning have been a flurry of brewing and seeing resurgences of older strategies that have been dormant during the height of FIRE-era Legacy. Some of these older strategies, such as Moon Stompy, seem likely to become fixtures in this new metagame, while others such as Grixis Control and Four Color Loam have not been finding much success after week one. For The EPIC Storm, this means reexamining the sideboard and mostly making changes there.

The New Metagame

The fair blue decks were blown up and have been trying different configurations to compete. Looking at the results of the March Legacy Showcase, Bant Control appears to be the successor to Snow. It still has the many [[Force of Will]] effects and plays the engine of [[Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath]] and [[Sylvan Library]]. Out of their sideboard, there is a random seeming assortment of extra counter spells and hate permanents. The previous plan of boarding in [[Carpet of Flowers]] and [[Abrupt Decay]] is still going to work against these decks. [[Carpet of Flowers]] will be more effective due to Bant Control not being able to work from strictly non island mana bases through [[Arcum’s Astrolabe]].

Delver decks rebuilt in a different way. Blue/Red and RUG Delver are still the premier strategies, but they have become more aggressive. Cards like [[Sprite Dragon]], [[Young Pyromancer]], and even [[Monastery Swiftspear]] are becoming stock. This means that [[Carpet of Flowers]], while still good in those matchups, has less time to build turn over turn mana advantage because of how fast these Delver builds are winning the game. Unfortunately, [[Stifle]] is a prominent feature of these Delver lists. [[Stifle]] is one of the more effective pieces of disruption against TES because the only way to combat it is to resolve a [[Defense Grid]] or cast [[Burning Wish]] for [[Thoughtseize]]. A play pattern to be aware of is getting a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] activation countered by [[Stifle]], especially if a [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] activation is involved in that combo turn. Resolving a [[Defense Grid]] is now more important and protecting one with [[Veil of Summer]] is a key matchup dynamic now.

Non-blue prison style decks like Death & Taxes and Maverick have both had up ticks in play rate since the banning. While these were traditionally lopsided matchups in favor of TES, the current dynamic is much more balanced. These decks can deploy lock pieces as early as turn one with the printing of [[Deafening Silence]], which allows multiple lock pieces to come down behind it. Many Death & Taxes players even play some copies of [[Mindbreak Trap]]. Most of this is not new and was common in the FIRE era, but as these matchups become more common, these situations will happen often.

A Revamped Sideboard

Many of the slots in the sideboard are still locked up in the “wishboard”. Starting from just the bare essentials and then adding cards to combat what is happening makes sense. Bryant and I played this list as the new format was being explored. It played some older tech choices such as [[Hope of Ghirapur]] to help against other combo decks and the blue decks. Fewer copies of [[Carpet of Flowers]] were a response to a guess that blue decks would feature less prominently at the beginning of the format. Since then, lots of different cards have been discussed and tested.

Anti-Blue Cards

[[Hope of Ghirapur]] — With [[Arcum’s Astrolabe]] being banned, this should have decreased the number of flying blockers that the U/W/x control decks were able to play. [[Ice-Fang Coatl]] still appears as one of the premier cards in those strategies, however. The flash blocker for [[Hope of Ghirapur]] makes the card uncomfortable. Against other combo strategies, [[Hope of Ghirapur]] does not quite do enough. Choosing between being a piece of protection or disruption puts too much pressure on the slot. [[Hope of Ghirapur]] also has a small amount of utility against nonblue decks where it can help beat a [[Mindbreak Trap]], but [[Defense Grid]] can often serve the same purpose.

[[Carpet of Flowers]] — [[Carpet of Flowers]] is still one of the best ways to beat Delver decks and Control strategies. With Delver decks picking up more mana disruption, the mana fixing provided by [[Carpet of Flowers]] is too important to leave out of the sideboard.

[[Defense Grid]] — As a response to [[Stifle]], adding more copies of this card to the sideboard is an option to help beat Delver decks. Adding additional copies to the sideboard instead of the main deck helps with mapping against nonblue decks. Being pseudo-pre-boarded for blue decks at this point in the metagame does not make a ton of sense.

Anti-Prison Cards

[[Chain of Vapor]] — More copies of [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]], [[Deafening Silence]], and [[Collector Ouphe]] make this one of the best removal spells available to TES. If [[Chalice of the Void]] on one was not a common play, [[Chain of Vapor]] would likely be the best by far. It can also act as a Storm engine through bouncing moxen and will remain a fixture in the sideboard.

[[Abrupt Decay]] — Being uncounterable is the most important part of [[Abrupt Decay]]. This means that it is almost a guaranteed way to remove lock pieces against blue decks and does double duty in the non-blue match ups removing many of the same permanents. This card has been stock in TES for over a year and nothing about the metagame changes has suggested that [[Abrupt Decay]] has gotten any worse.

[[Massacre]] — The resurgence of Death & Taxes has made [[Massacre]] more attractive as a [[Burning Wish]] target. Being able to beat a curve of [[Mother of Runes]] into [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] even in game one is incredibly valuable. Hard casting [[Massacre]] against Elves or even delver to clear a pile of [[Young Pyromancer]] tokens are niche options available to adding it as a [[Burning Wish]] target.

[[Echoing Truth]] — Being a card with converted mana cost two is the most important thing about [[Echoing Truth]]. This allows it to remove a [[Chalice of the Void]] on one. The ability to remove multiple permanents with the same name is a strict upside, thought comes up less often than one might expect. The biggest issue with [[Echoing Truth]] is against taxing effects, it becomes much harder to cast, allowing the prison player to start to snowball their lock pieces more effectively. Since [[Wishclaw Talisman]] has been introduced to TES, [[Echoing Truth]] has not seen much play. In the current meta, being able to find a single copy of [[Echoing Truth]] with [[Wishclaw Talisman]] may be valuable.

[[Thoughtseize]] — [[Thoughtseize]] exists in this odd space where it is not the best card against any deck, but is just “fine” against many of them. Against non-blue decks, it can be boarded in to try to stop a lock piece. Against blue decks, it can answer a counterspell and against other combo decks, [[Thoughtseize]] can just be disruption. One of the goals with the sideboard, however, is to have all of the cards be impactful in the matchup they are designed for. Being able to beat [[Mindbreak Trap]] after resolving an engine card at two Storm is the most compelling reason to continue to play [[Thoughtseize]].

[[Reverent Silence]] — The two enchantments that see the most play are [[Leyline of the Void]] and [[Deafening Silence]]. Unfortunately for [[Reverent Silence]], the play rate of enchantments overall is not enough to consider playing it.

[[Crash]] and other specific removal spells — The issue with this type of card is that the types of permanents that are played in Legacy are so diverse. Only being able to answer creatures, artifacts, or enchantments generally is not enough anymore. Unless the metagame contorts in some specific way, these cards likely remain out of the sideboard.

[[Witherbloom Command]] — While not available yet, this card provides a lot of exciting possibilities. Being able to remove a [[Deafening Silence]] and a [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] with one card will be impactful. The other modes on the card are not irrelevant either. Returning a land to hand effectively makes the spell cost one mana, especially relevant when answering [[Chalice of the Void]]. Despite not being able to remove [[Collector Ouphe]], it has utility unmatched by many of the cards in the current card pool.

Conclusion

Legacy is coalescing into a metagame not too different from the previous one. More [[Chalice of the Void]] and other hate bear style decks require a few more answers. Overall, watching the format evolve after the bans has been exciting and the format appears to be in a better place. Taking the where the format appears to be going into account, I would build TES to look like this: