What Next for Legacy? Those Nasty Spikes

[Finn]

This thread is for the discussion of my latest article, What Next for Legacy? Those Nasty Spikes. We would be grateful if you would let us know what you think, but please keep your comments on topic.

[Lejay]

The hard part about Legacy deck-building is that remaining margin, where you can find very cool interactions like Task Force, Shaman En-Kor and Starlit Sanctum.

I wonder what this "cool interaction" is.
(task force is not a cleric)

[bateleur]

I guess Andy Warhol was right and everyone gets their fifteen minutes of fame at some point in their life. I only wish my fame wasn’t in connection with just about the least popular format of a freaking fantasy-themed collectible card game.

I have to hand it to the man, he knows how to make me instantly dislike him.

[Wood_Sage]

Originally Posted by Lejay

I wonder what this "cool interaction" is.
(task force is not a cleric)

That was not a good example, but it's called Life.dec, it works by infinitely (arbitrarily large) pumping a Task Force or Daru Spiritualist (that would have been the right example) with an en-Kor creature like Nomads en-Kor or Shaman en-Kor by targeting them for 0 mana, then sacrificing the large-toughness creature to a Starlit Sanctum or Worthy Cause or some other old card in Legacy to gain arbitrarely large amounts of life. After that you can win at leisure with Test of Endurance or About Face & Fling or Unspeakable Symbol (usually fetched with Academy Rector by sacrificing him to the Sanctum.)

It's basically the best deck ever vs creatures (I think I'm 20-1 vs Goblins, that one loss was due to a turn 2 Sulfuric Vortex with them on the play), incredibly consistent because it has 8+ of each piece, but it relies heavily on Aether Vial to win vs Control (bad matchup) and basically loses to Combo.

[Belgareth]

Originally Posted by bateleur

I have to hand it to the man, he knows how to make me instantly dislike him.

That's just Dan's humour Read some of his articles and you will see what I mean.
I've been waiting for this one, as Bardo is probably my favourite legacy author.

Well done Finn (and Dan) , it was great However I still think your wrong on loaming shaman vs grunt but maybe I've been playing Fish too much.

[Mr. Nightmare]

I got name dropped. Awesome!

[Bardo]

Originally Posted by bateleur

I have to hand it to the man, he knows how to make me instantly dislike him.

Well, let's be honest with ourselves, eh?

I wonder what this "cool interaction" is.

Yikes. Pretend I said Worthy Cause.

[reddening]

Tarmogoyf was going to be my local metagame bomb! Oh well, I think people would realize how good it is very soon anyway. I think Predict has such a good interaction with syrum vision/brainstorm that if u drop predict, you should replace syrum visions with another draw spell as well. anyway,
Good article!

[Lejay]

Originally Posted by Wood_Sage

That was not a good example, but it's called Life.dec, it works by infinitely (arbitrarily large) pumping a Task Force or Daru Spiritualist (that would have been the right example) with an en-Kor creature like Nomads en-Kor or Shaman en-Kor by targeting them for 0 mana, then sacrificing the large-toughness creature to a Starlit Sanctum or Worthy Cause or some other old card in Legacy to gain arbitrarely large amounts of life. After that you can win at leisure with Test of Endurance or About Face & Fling or Unspeakable Symbol (usually fetched with Academy Rector by sacrificing him to the Sanctum.)

It's basically the best deck ever vs creatures (I think I'm 20-1 vs Goblins, that one loss was due to a turn 2 Sulfuric Vortex with them on the play), incredibly consistent because it has 8+ of each piece, but it relies heavily on Aether Vial to win vs Control (bad matchup) and basically loses to Combo.

Thank you, but I know what life.dec is.
Really.

[Lyracian]

I enjoyed that article.

I may be a cheap skate but it is "the steep cost of building a competitive" T2 deck that keeps me playing Legacy. I got most of the staples straight from Boosters, back in the day, so now I just pick up odd cards to improve my existing decks.

[Pringlesman]

Originally Posted by Lyracian

I enjoyed that article.

I may be a cheap skate but it is "the steep cost of building a competitive" T2 deck that keeps me playing Legacy. I got most of the staples straight from Boosters, back in the day, so now I just pick up odd cards to improve my existing decks.

Yeah thats the nice thing about legacy. If you don't trade off your old deck it becomes increasingly easier to build new decks. You only need to pick up a few random cards. To quote Evin Erwin, you will never use any card more than that playset of Force of Will.

I really enjoyed this article, and the gearhart one also. I like hearing some sort of insight on some of the better deck builders/players. It would be great if we could get Kai and Finkel to do an interview on this site.

[Avatar of Kokusho]

Very good article...let's keep punishing those blue mages for crimes of unspeakable evil, shall we?

On a serious note, I'd probably continue with Werebear, rather than Tarmogoyf. There seeme to be few situations where it would actually be better.
Then again, maybe I'm wrong. I don't play Threshold- I generally beat it. (Echoes ftw.)

[Mr. Nightmare]

Originally Posted by Avatar of Kokusho

Very good article...let's keep punishing those blue mages for crimes of unspeakable evil, shall we?

On a serious note, I'd probably continue with Werebear, rather than Tarmogoyf. There seeme to be few situations where it would actually be better.
Then again, maybe I'm wrong. I don't play Threshold- I generally beat it. (Echoes ftw.)

When you cast echoes, Goyf is a 1/2. If you played any spells this game, he's automatically bigger than Werebear would have been. Seems ok.

[Avatar of Kokusho]

I'll give you that much. He'll have one point higher toughness, assuming I don't have any other card types in my yard (instants and artifacts are probably your best bet, here).

Still, there are times where that green mana Werebear taps for on occasion can be really useful.

[Bardo]

Still, there are times where that green mana Werebear taps for on occasion can be really useful.

No doubt. The argument is whether the loss of the Bear's tap ability is compensated by the advatanges of Tarmogoyf. I hate to link to other sites, but I'm too lazy to cut and paste all of the relevant content.

See my arguments under posts #80, #82 and #89 here:

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=32225.80

Basically, he's amazingly resilient GY hate, is never an x/1 (vs. Fanatic, etc.) and is usually a 2/3 - 3/4 on turn 2 or 3. Testing vs B/W Confidant this past weekend, I won the game with double 5/6 goyfs and still handn't reached threshold. (I won with five cards in my yard).