One of the great aspects of Legacy is the diversity of viable decks. It is not uncommon to play a nine round event and only face the same deck twice. This can be daunting to new players who are trying to get into the format. Thankfully many decks operate with similar strategies which make it more manageable to prepare for so many matchups. My experience in legacy is with playing Miracles so I’ll breakdown how to play and prepare against the more popular decks.
Before I start going into the matchups here are some general tips and interactions to be aware of:
- Although Abrupt Decay on Counterbalance cannot be countered you still have the option of triggering Counterbalance. This play acts as a pseudo scry 1 with fetchlands in play.
- With Sensei’s Divining Top you can activate a look at the top 3 and in response tap to draw, this is useful when you want the top card of your library but do not want to draw Top. I recommend making this play when you have extra Tops in hand but not in play and want to swap it for another card.
- When casting Ponder it is often correct to take the 2nd best card in your hand and leave the best spell as your next draw. Against hand disruption and Gitaxian Probe you are giving the opponent worse options and less information.
- Be patient with casting your Brainstorms. Brainstorm’s power is known by all Legacy players but in Miracles it has a more important role than just smoothing out draws. When you have the soft-lock of Counterbalance + Top it is better to hold onto your Brainstorms to counter a converted mana cost that you may not have on the top of your deck.
- It is often correct to Jace’s Brainstorm ability over the Fateseal/Scry ability. A common mistake players make with Jace is that after resolving him on a safe board to try and control the opponent’s draws step by Fatesealing. There is no hard rule with choosing what mode to use but as a default you want to be using the Brainstorm mode. This supplies card advantage, card selection, and progresses your plan further. If you use the Fateseal mode for many turns and your opponent finds a way to answer Jace, instead of being ahead on card advantage you’re only on parity. Protecting Jace from Lightning Bolt is nice but don’t get carried away with the +2 ability.
For reference below is my current list of Miracles. The maindeck is close to Brian Demars’ 3rd place list from GP Seattle with a larger divergence in the sideboard. The deck can be configured in many ways and comes down to personal play style. For a more controlling version increase the land count, cut Ponders, reduce the creature count, and add more removal/counters. Another option is to be tempo oriented with a lower land count, Ponder, more creatures including 2+ Monastery Mentor, and potentially Daze.
Miracles
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Arid Mesa
4 Island
2 Plains
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Counterbalance
2 Counterspell
1 Council’s Judgment
1 Entreat the Angels
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of Will
4 Terminus
Sideboard
2 Meddling Mage
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Monastery Mentor
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Rest in Peace
2 Blood Moon
2 Flusterstorm
1 Wear // Tear
1 Supreme Verdict
Tempo
The primary tempo decks of legacy are all Delver variants. Each version have a similar plan of playing efficient threats, free counter magic, and mana denial. Due to their average converted mana cost being lower than Miracles they will be advantaged in the early game. It is important to play around their mana denial as best you can by fetching when they are tapped out and prioritizing basics over dual lands, even if it can hinder the options of spells you can cast. Many of their spells such as Daze, Spell Pierce, and Wasteland become much worse as the game progresses.
When trying to play around Daze, figure out if the hand you have can afford to. If you are tight on mana then it may not be an option or if you have redundant threats then running one into Daze is fine. This is also dependent on how much pressure your opponent is applying. If you are on a fast clock then trying to play around Daze only to die to early creatures is not a good proposition. There is also a seesaw effect with Delver decks; if they are drawing a lot of creatures to apply pressure then this means they will have less disruption. Alternately if you are not under much pressure from creatures then expect your opponent to have more disruption.
From the Delver players perspective you need to balance not over-committing to the board and then losing to a well-timed Terminus. However playing just a single threat to have it die to targeted removal or simply allow Miracles to develop into the late game is also not ideal. Spacing two threats at a time and then protecting by Stifling mana or miracle triggers is a good plan in the matchup. Also single cards that present multiple threats such as Young Pyromancer and Dark Confidant also allow you to not over-commit while applying pressure.
BUG Delver
-2 Counterspell
-2 Force of Will
-2 Snapcaster Mage
-1 Entreat the Angels
+2 Blood Moon
+2 Rest in Peace
+1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Mentor
+1 Pyroblast
Grixis Delver
-2 Counterspell
-1 Force of Will
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Supreme Verdict
+2 Blood Moon
+1 Izzet Staticaster
+1 Monastery Mentor
Against the delver decks that care about the graveyard you want to bring in Rest in Peace and while shaving on Snapcaster Mage. Against all Delver variants Blood Moon can be a KO as they have little to no basic lands. Cutting a 1-2 Force of Will is fine because post-board the red Delver decks will have REB effects and expending 2 cards for 1 against a deck with higher threat density is a bad plan. Force of Will would be good against BUG Delver as it cannot get hit by Pyroblast/REB but most builds have Hymn to Tourach which is already card disadvantage. Jace is much better against BUG as they cannot kill it with Bolt or REBs so once it is in play enjoy as your opponent shake their head staring at a hand of Abrupt Decays.
Control and Midrange
For the mirror match the most important cards are Top, Counterbalance, and Jace. Everything is about setting up Counterbalance/Top while stopping your opponent from assembling the combo. In game 1 the matchup is more luck dependent as the player that draws less removal and more controlling cards will be favored. The controlling builds of Miracles have an edge, hitting their land drops and not having dead creatures but will have a bit less control on their draws due to the lack of Ponder.
Post-board there is more room to try and outmaneuver your opponent with efficient answers to the two most important threats. Having creatures is a liability in pre-board games however they perform admirably after sideboarding as both players will be trimming removal. Swords gets cut before Terminus as it answers Entreat and the tokens generated from potential Mentors.
Miracles
-4 Swords
-1 Terminus
+1 Wear // Tear
+1 Mentor
+3 Pyroblast/REB
Shardless BUG is the grindiest deck in Legacy and one of Miracles few poor matchups. The reason for this is that they attack from multiple angles with card advantage from Ancestral Visions and Shardless Agent; troublesome disruption in Hymn to Tourach and Abrupt Decay and efficient threats. We still have some advantages though with more Jace and library manipulation from Top.
After sideboarding there will be many difficult to deal with permanents to overload their Abrupt Decays. Most builds only play two basics so if Blood Moon can come down when there is only one in play then you just need to deal with Deathrite Shaman and can try and win a quick game. Not all Swords are required because Rest in Peace acts as an answer to both Goyf and Deathrite. If you expect to face this deck frequently consider playing 1 Misdirection in the board.
Shardless BUG
-2 Swords
-1 Terminus
-2 Snapcaster Mage
-2 Force of Will
+2 Blood Moon
+2 Rest in Peace
+2 Pyroblast
+1 Monastery Mentor
Combo
There are two types of combo decks the one where you creature removal is strong and those where it is dead. Elves is a nice matchup because both the controlling half of your deck and the removal half both line up well against their plan. Respect the Glimpse combo, Elvish Visionary + Symbiote, and Natural Order and you should be fine. If you see your opponent has cards like Pithing Needle, Null Rod, and Choke then bring in Wear // Tear.
Elves
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-1 Monastery Mentor
-1 Ponder
+1 Izzet Staticaster
+1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Flusterstorm
For the combo decks where the creature removal is dead you will have a harder time with pre-board games. This is similar to the Miracles mirror where if you draw the wrong half it will be an uphill battle. Against ANT and TES the CB/Top interaction is very difficult for them to defeat before getting access to Abrupt Decay in the board. Sneak and Show’s main threats are difficult converted mana costs to reveal so they are better are powering through Counterbalance.
Meddling Mage is a strong option against both combo decks naming the main threats of Sneak and Show or Infernal Tutor against ANT. Meddling Mage should be considered a stopgap rather than a serious lock as both builds can answer the card. Against S&S resolving a Meddling after assembling CB/Top is much more meaningful as their main answer is Red Blasts. Naming Sneak Attack with Meddling Mage is generally better as after board you have 3 Red Blasts and 2 Flusterstorm to stop Show and Tell but only 2 Counterspell and 4 Force for Sneak Attack. Containment Priest is a more powerful option against Sneak and Show than Meddling Mage since it can’t be stopped by REB but not being able to come in against storm combo and Infect is a big sacrifice.
Sneak and Show
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-4 Terminus
+2 Meddling Mage
+2 Flusterstorm
+3 Pryoblast/REB
+1 Wear // Tear
ANT
-2 Swords
-2 Terminus
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
-2 Snapcaster Mage
+2 Meddling Mage
+2 Flusterstorm
+2 Pyroblast
+1 Rest in Peace
Wear // Tear is not amazing against Sneak and Show as it is rarely a clean answer to Sneak Attack but some builds have Defense Grid which is an otherwise a difficult card. Against storm combo you will want to leave in a mix of Swords and Terminus. The Swords are for Xantid Swarm and Dark Confidant; the Terminus for potential Empty the Warrens. Having Ponder is great against combo decks as it allows you to find the high impact sideboard cards.
Mana Denial
Death and Taxes and Lands both have a heavy mana denial plan with the combination of Wasteland + Rishadan Port so I have grouped them together. Death and Taxes operates as a denial + aggro deck and Lands as denial + combo. Hitting land drops and basics against both builds is important so hands that are lighter on action but have strong mana development are fine as both decks will rarely be killing you quickly. Both of these matchups are slightly favorable but there are draws from both decks than can heavily tax the resources of Miracles. The easiest way to lose is not having enough mana to and dying as they execute their plan. This is one area where the more controlling builds with a higher land count excel.
Against Death and Taxes the counter magic and Counterbalance itself are not at their best due to Aether Vial and Cavern of Souls. The removal spells are all great and punish the Death and Taxes player from overcommitting and unlike against Delver decks they cannot stop you from casting the powerful Miracle spells aside from attacking your mana. The printing of Monastery Mentor improved this matchup as before Death and Taxes could easily side out all of their Swords but now Mentor can take over the game very easily if it is not kept in check.
Death and Taxes
-2 Counterbalance
-1 Force of Will
-1 Counterspell
+1 Supreme Verdict
+1 Monastery Mentor
+1 Wear // Tear
+1 Izzet Staticaster
Against Lands they can have controlling hands with the Life from the Loam engine propelling them into the late game or quick hands by dumping their hand with Exploration and Mana Bond, often threatening a quick 20/20. The Lands player does not want to lose their Marit Lege token to a Swords or Terminus. To avoid this they will try and shut down all of the Miracle players white mana sources to kill in one shot. To play around this it is important not to crack fetch lands unless you really need the mana. This forces the Lands player to try and tap fetch lands with Rishadan Port buying you a turn. Getting Counterbalance in play quickly with a 2 CMC on top to shut down Life from the Loam should be the first priority in the game. After that establish control and win with either Entreat or Jace.
Post board you bring in two awesome enchantments that Lands does not want to see. They only have 4 Krosan Grip so they cannot answer all of your permanents. Watch out for Choke which can be back breaking and come down as early as turn 1.
Lands
-4 Terminus
-1 Snapcaster Mage
+2 Blood Moon
+2 Rest in Peace
+1 Wear // Tear
Miracles continues to be one of the top decks in the format which rewards players who have a strong grasp on the format and how to play each matchup. Hopefully this article has given you some insight on how to prepare for many of the popular decks in the format. I appreciate any thoughts on the article or different approaches to matchups. Feel free to post any comments you have.
Jeff Folinus MTG 