It is a bright and sunny day for the Legacy meta game… oh wait. No, it isn’t! This is Groundhog Day and Legacy looks like it did yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. Each day has looked like the one that came before for almost a year. UR Delver has the power and consistency to do battle against all challengers. While the meta underneath this S-Tier monster does shift and change as new tech comes into the light, the pressure of the best deck still looms over everyone. Hopefully, with either new printings or changes to the Banned & Restricted list, Legacy can stop looking like a Standard format and more like the format with the widest archetype mix available to Constructed players.
There are many decks to choose from when you play Legacy. Only a handful of them are actually competitively viable. The choices made in deck selection are either play UR Delver or come with a serious plan to beat UR Delver. Pet decks are perfectly acceptable to build and enjoy, but if your desire is to win a large event like the recent MTGO Showcase Challenge, deck selection plays a key part in setting yourself up for success. Decks that try to make the boogieman sweat include Lands, Naya Depths, various Control piles (Jeskai, Grixis, Four-Color), Death & Taxes, Moon Stompy, and Elves. These decks rely on accessing a weak spot in UR Delver’s plan. Lands and Naya Depths tend to be able to ignore counter magic. Control decks seek to create card-advantageous exchanges over a long period of time. Elves can create incredible board states while ignoring counter magic as well. Each plan is a balancing act of planning for the best deck while not sacrificing too much game against the other decks of the format.
As we have opted to not play UR Delver here, we also need to have significant reasons backing our choice. Either our UR Delver matchup needs to be good, or we need to prey upon the decks that are hoping to beat up the best deck. Luckily for The EPIC Storm, we can plan to do both! Like many writers for this website have said before, The EPIC Storm v12.9 is tailor made to beat up on Blue decks in general, and specifically UR Delver. [[Galvanic Relay]] is a source of significant card advantage that we are uniquely situated to exploit. Paired with the best stack interaction/protection in the format ([[Veil of Summer]]), we can plan to grind Blue decks into the dirt. For all of the other decks that sit below UR Delver, many of them are not Blue decks. Focusing instead to play against fair decks, many of these strategies plan to have a poor Combo matchup. Lands, Elves, and Depths decks all have tools to beat The EPIC Storm, but not enough to make it a favorable pairing for them. The best thing these decks have against us is typically [[Collector Ouphe]]. Certainly a card that has the power to shut down a game all on its own, but our opponents need to survive long enough to deploy one and then dodge copies of [[Abrupt Decay]] and [[Chain of Vapor]] we bring in to counteract their plans. Moon Stompy and Death & Taxes are decks that see play at higher numbers too. These decks can be difficult for Storm to beat. [[Deafening Silence]] and [[Trinisphere]] put the brakes on our plans and they are backed up with fast clocks. Hopefully, being able to answer the first hate piece followed by a quick combo will be all you need for a win.
Special Guest
DRAKE SASSER
(Twitter: Viral_Drake)
My name is Drake Sasser. I am tournament grinder, commentator, podcaster, and member of Playing With Power.
Deck List
the epic Storm
Main Deck
- 4 [[Burning Wish]]
- 4 [[Wishclaw Talisman]]
- 4 [[Brainstorm]]
- 4 [[Ponder]]
- 1 [[Galvanic Relay]]
- 1 [[Tendrils of Agony]]
- 1 [[Ad Nauseam]]
- 1 [[Echo of Eons]]
- 4 [[Veil of Summer]]
- 1 [[Defense Grid]]
- 4 [[Rite of Flame]]
- 4 [[Dark Ritual]]
- 4 [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]
- 4 [[Lotus Petal]]
- 3 [[Chrome Mox]]
- 3 [[Mox Opal]]
- 3 [[Verdant Catacombs]]
- 2 [[Bloodstained Mire]]
- 2 [[Polluted Delta]]
- 1 [[Tropical Island]]
- 1 [[Badlands]]
- 1 [[Underground Sea]]
- 1 [[Volcanic Island]]
- 1 [[Taiga]]
- 1 [[Swamp]]
Sideboard
- 3 [[Carpet of Flowers]]
- 3 [[Galvanic Relay]]
- 2 [[Abrupt Decay]]
- 2 [[Chain of Vapor]]
- 1 [[Empty the Warrens]]
- 1 [[Tendrils of Agony]]
- 1 [[Echo of Eons]]
- 1 [[Pulverize]]
- 1 [[Peer into the Abyss]]
SITUATION No. 1 — Mono-R Stompy
Right off the bat, we are introduced to one of the best meta choices that have been made to fight the UR Delver menace recently. Mono-R Stompy is an explosive, Prison-style deck that seeks to lock opponents under [[Chalice of the Void]], [[Blood Moon]], and [[Trinisphere]] while clocking their opponents with effects like [[Goblin Rabblemaster]]. There have been many iterations of this deck over the years, typically along an axis of having greater or fewer numbers of prison elements. [[Ensnaring Bridge]] was once a mainstay in the deck. Hiding behind its protection while slowly ticking up [[Chandra, Torch of Defiance]] was a sure way to victory. With the advent of [[Prismatic Ending]] being in main decks and [[Meltdown]] in the sideboard of several archetypes, this plan has seen less success. More aggressive builds have emerged to counteract this trend. This aggression seems to be the default setting for Mono-R Stompy decks at the moment, but all flavors of the deck exist out there. Never underestimate a Prison player’s ability to bring the spice.
As it pertains to The EPIC Storm, Prison decks have always been difficult. Packing main-deck copies of cards like [[Trinisphere]] and [[Chalice of the Void]] that can turn off our entire deck, we have to find a specific window in which to go off. That window usually follows the adage of “the earlier the better”. Sometimes an opponent will keep a starting hand and our disruption lines up perfectly. Other times we just need to goldfish a quick kill on the play. Whatever the position is, quick evaluations of when actions need to be taken or delayed is key.
SIDEBOARDING:
-1 [[Defense Grid]], -3 [[Veil of Summer]]; +2 [[Chain of Vapor]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]]
The first situation is deep into an unfortunate [[Ad Nauseam]]. It is turn four, we have not played a land for turn, and Storm is three. While flippinng cards, we revealed an [[Echo of Eons]] and multiple cantrips. The rough part is that we do not yet have Metlcraft for our copies of [[Mox Opal]]. If we did, this would be a trivial task. But we just revealed a [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]! At the very least, our back-up plan is to Flashback our [[Echo of Eons]]. But that leaves us at the whim of our fresh seven cards. Is there a more reasonable line to victory?
SITUATION No. 2 — UR Delver
Groundhog Day. You wake up and the board state looks like it has every day for the past season. This article’s introduction serves as a primer for UR Delver, but a few extra things can be said here about the matchup itself. Games against the tempo menace when playing The EPIC Storm look very different than they have in the past. We are no longer the deck that tries to makes 10-12 [[Goblin Token]]s on turn one and hope to sneak across the finish line. We can take a little more time and get our feet under us before trying to combo. Seemingly contrary to this plan, we board out a key engine piece that our deck is known for: [[Ad Nauseam]]. This is because of the absolute power [[Galvanic Relay]] has in the matchup.
With the full playset of “Red Necro” in our 75, we morph into a card advantage fiend that is uniquely poised to take advantage of the permanent mana sources our deck has to offer. No other deck (save potentially The EPIC Gamble) can utilize [[Galvanic Relay]] so well. UR Delver players have difficult decisions in how to approach our spells. Do you counter a [[Rite of Flame]]? Probably not, it just leaves the more useful [[Burning Wish]] in my hand to be used later. Because of this, Storm can increase for our three-mana card advantage engine. Outside of [[Flusterstorm]] – a decidedly narrow card in the world of [[Teferi, Time Raveler]] and [[Narset, Parter of Veils]] – it is not easy to stop [[Galvanic Relay]]. The best part is the snowball potential of revealing another copy of [[Galvanic Relay]] to the first. Against UR Delver, as well as most Blue control decks, repeated turns spent on [[Galvanic Relay]] can end with an overabundance of resources with which to win the game. At that point, winning is almost inconsequential.
Many words have been written about how UR Delver is the best deck. They are true. It is easy to think of one’s matchup against UR Delver as positive, only to be reminded of the Legacy pecking order. Games against UR Delver are not easy as The EPIC Storm. They take skill to navigate. Even with correct play, [[Murktide Regent]] and a grip full of interaction can be impossible to beat, so the best way forward is through. Practicing the matchup and getting to a point where we are familiar with our role is key. There’s no better way to do it than playing the games and running through scenarios.
SIDEBOARDING:
-4 [[Ponder]], -1 [[Chrome Mox]], -1 [[Mox Opal]], -1 [[Ad Nauseam]]; +3 [[Carpet of Flowers]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]], +2 [[Galvanic Relay]]
[[Galvanic Relay]] is the name of the game here. It is our turn three, and we have ten total cards available to us. On our opponent’s board there are two copies of [[Dragon’s Rage Channeler]] and a [[Counterbalance]]. Of note, our opponent is Hellbent and they do not know the top card of their library. Can we afford to “get lucky” against the [[Counterbalance]] or is there a more robust way of playing this turn out?
SITUATION No. 3 — GB Depths
Strategies involving [[Dark Depths]] have been popular ever since the printing of the card in Coldsnap. Various builds have been used over the years, with the best performing versions currently being in Green and White – often with a Red splash for [[Pyroblast]] effects. The tried and true GB Depths will always be plugging along! Typically a more “turbo” build, the goal is to use [[Thespian Stage]] or [[Vampire Hexmage]] to remove the counters from [[Dark Depths]] and summon [[Marit Lage]] – the game-winning 20/20. This is backed up with an extensive discard suite in [[Thoughtseize]] and [[Duress]], protection in the form of [[Sejiri Steppe]] and [[Not of This World]], and redundancy with [[Crop Rotation]] or other tutor effects. [[Elvish Reclaimer]] has ushered in a minor renaissance for the deck, operating as both tutor and [[Delver of Secrets]]-like threat. Although GB Depths has not seen as much play since trophy leader Negator77 played and popularized Rainbow Depths (with rainbow lands to dodge [[Submerge]] and cast [[Stifle]]), the archetype still presents their opponents with a threatening clock and powerful disruption.
As it pertains to The EPIC Storm, GB Depths can sometimes be a difficult matchup. While our [[Veil of Summer]] lines up excellently against discard spells, their fast clock puts pressure on us to combo before they can assemble their win. Out of the sideboard, [[Force of Vigor]] can also disrupt some of our plans to deploy permanents like [[Wishclaw Talisman]] underneath potential copies of [[Thoughtseize]]. While we do have [[Chain of Vapor]] that comes in as simple removal for [[Marit Lage]], this is really a function of two ships passing in the night. While our ship is built for speed, GB Depths can match our speed while also presenting disruption. The matchup tends to be in their favor because of this.
It is not often that we come across [[Thoughtseize]] decks. When we do, the best feeling in the world is to top-deck the exact same card that was discarded the turn prior. We just drew a copy of [[Burning Wish]] and have a relatively unassuming board state from our opponent. [[Crop Rotation]] can certainly change that in an instant. For now, we just have to contend with an [[Elvish Reclaimer]] – a decidedly slower tutor. Of note, this is game one and we still have [[Galvanic Relay]] in our deck. Without the ability to win this turn, we could set up a [[Galvanic Relay]], plan for a [[Peer into the Abyss]], or do something else. What option would you choose to balance disruption avoidance and trying to combo before our opponent can get set up?
Want to see your play?
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Disclaimer: Regarding the details of the scenarios, we do not want what the outcome of the situation is. For example, if the question is, “Do I go for it here?” do not tell the team if your opponent had [[Force of Will]] or not. This information honestly doesn’t matter for our purposes and it doesn’t change the answer if it’s correct or not to cast the business spell. Thank you for your understanding.
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