Hello Legacy Storm Players! Since our last article, the Legacy metagame has been combating a new menace (thanks to the printing of [[Underworld Breach]])! Instead of doing a deep dive on Jeskai Breach in this article, I am going to highly recommend Alex Poling’s latest article in which Alex goes into great detail on the matchup. As far as the EPIC Storm goes, the TES team has started experimenting with bringing [[Thoughtseize]] back into the main deck, in place of [[Defense Grid]]. This seems very solid in the current metagame, but we will see how things continue to shake out. Enough small talk though, let’s jump into our three scenarios!
Special Guest
Allen Yee
(Twitter: @RockmanMTG | MTGO: Rockman000)
Allen is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from New York City. He started playing Magic: The Gathering in 2011 when Innistrad was first released. Persuaded by a friend, Allen soon made the shift to Legacy and quickly gravitated towards unfair strategies and decks, such as The EPIC Storm and [[Doomsday]] Fetchland Tendrils (RIP). In recent years, Allen has enjoyed mild success playing 4-Color Loam and Stryfo Pile at Legacy events. The printing of [[Wishclaw Talisman]], however, brought Allen’s attention back to TES. When not indulging in cardboard crack, Allen likes to rock climb and play board games with friends. You can catch Allen on 90sMTG videos.
Deck List
Main Deck
- 4 [[Burning Wish]]
- 4 [[Wishclaw Talisman]]
- 4 [[Brainstorm]]
- 4 [[Ponder]]
- 4 [[Veil of Summer]]
- 2 [[Defense Grid]]
- 1 [[Chain of Vapor]]
- 1 [[Ad Nauseam]]
- 1 [[Echo of Eons]]
- 3 [[Rite of Flame]]
- 4 [[Dark Ritual]]
- 4 [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]
- 4 [[Lotus Petal]]
- 4 [[Mox Opal]]
- 3 [[Chrome Mox]]
- 4 [[Polluted Delta]]
- 4 [[Bloodstained Mire]]
- 1 [[Underground Sea]]
- 1 [[Volcanic Island]]
- 1 [[Badlands]]
- 1 [[Bayou]]
- 1 [[Swamp]]
Sideboard
- 3 [[Hope of Ghirapur]]
- 2 [[Crash]]
- 1 [[Abrupt Decay]]
- 1 [[Echoing Truth]]
- 1 [[Chain of Vapor]]
- 1 [[Rite of Flame]]
- 1 [[Infernal Tutor]]
- 1 [[Grapeshot]]
- 1 [[Empty the Warrens]]
- 1 [[Tendrils of Agony]]
- 1 [[Echo of Eons]]
- 1 [[Pulverize]]
SITUATION No. 1 – Death & Taxes
Death & Taxes has been making a huge comeback on Magic Online ever since the banning of [[Wrenn and Six]]. While Death & Taxes has traditionally been a favorable matchup for The EPIC Storm, they have recently added cards such as [[Deafening Silence]] and [[Chalice of the Void]], making the matchup way more challenging after game one. Against Death & Taxes, we would normally just need to win through creature and land-based hate — whereas now they are attacking combo on a whole different axis with artifact and enchantment “hate” cards.
We are currently in game one on the draw. Our opponent decided to activate [[Wasteland]] on their turn two instead of possibly playing a [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]]. In response to the [[Wasteland]], we floated blue mana and eventually played a [[Brainstorm]]. Our [[Brainstorm]] drew [[Burning Wish]], [[Wishclaw Talisman]], and a [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]. How would you resolve this [[Brainstorm]] and why?
SITUATION No. 2 – Mono-Black Reanimator
Mono-Black Reanimator is a deck that has been a part of Legacy since the unbanning of [[Entomb]]. While the deck is largely overshadowed by B/R Reanimator, the decks are looking to do the same thing; get a giant creature onto the battlefield on the first turn, preferably while fighting though countermagic with discard spells. While Mono-Black can be extremely explosive with cards like [[Lake of the Dead]], B/R Reanimator brings a higher level of consistency with [[Faithless Looting]].
We are currently in game one and starring down a tough situation. Our opponent has put [[Ilharg, the Raze-Boar]] into play using [[Animate Dead]], which doesn’t seem that frightening at all — given our current circumstances. On our turn, we cast [[Ad Nauseam]] from our hand, sacrificing [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] for . Our [[Ad Nauseam]] reveals: [[Ponder]], [[Ponder]], [[Burning Wish]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Burning Wish]], [[Chain of Vapor]], [[Defense Grid]], [[Bloodstained Mire]], [[Burning Wish]], [[Veil of Summer]], and [[Echo of Eons]]. We are now at two life, but have the option to keep going. How do you play out this turn to either win or put yourself in a winning situation?
SITUATION No. 3 – Mono-Red Painter
Mono-Red Painter looks to play a [[Grindstone]] and [[Painter’s Servant]] together to create a combo that mills (puts the library into their graveyard) their opponent out in a single turn. In addition to being a combo piece, [[Painter’s Servant]] also offers great synergy with cards like [[Pyroblast]]. If [[Painter’s Servant]] names blue, [[Pyroblast]] can counter any spell or destroy any permanent. Since this is an [[Ancient Tomb]]/[[City of Traitors]] deck, it can often struggle with consistency. The printing of [[Karn, The Great Creator]] has brought Mono-Red Painter a level of consistency that has not been seen or felt since the banning of [[Sensei’s Divining Top]]. Mono-Red Painter can be a pretty fast deck, but good news for us, this deck can not play [[Chalice of the Void]]. If you can avoid a turn-two [[Karn, The Great Creator]], or sculpt a hand that is not reliant on artifacts, this matchup should be no problem.
While it was a huge bummer that our opponent blindly named [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] with their [[Phyrexian Revoker]] on turn one in game one, things could have been much worse for us. Over the course of four turns, we managed to play out two copies of [[Wishclaw Talisman]] while the opponent played a [[Grindstone]], and a [[Chandra, Awakened Inferno]]. While we aren’t under a ton of pressure, but we are getting to the point in the game where we need to take action or the opponent will combo off on us. How would you play out this turn to either win, or put yourself in a winning situation?
While it is easy to get excited and hyped about new cards, it is has been impressive to see how consistent The EPIC Storm has been through all of these metagame changes. Regardless of what list you are running, it seems like the deck has been in a great spot over the last few months! Keep Storming on!