Quest for the Golden Parmo: Part 1: Deck Overview

By Chris Mander

  

This Saturday I attended my first big Legacy tournament, at Meta Games, Middlesborough. We traveled up in my little Corsa with Dan, James, Lawrence and Alex. Much magic was discussed, sideboards were dissected, and rules questions solved. A brief stop over in a café led to our deck lists being confirmed, and we set off to find the shop. Arriving an hour and a half early we were confident we were only 5 minutes away, and the sat-nav indicated it wasn’t far. We didn’t account on the sat nav leading us into Fallout 3’s wasteland, but luckily a quick phone call to Wizbit saved us from the deathclaw assault.

The shop itself is a good venue, with several tables, lots of room, friendly staff and a hi-tech TV method of showing the matchups, which avoids the crush around the piece of paper nicely. Attempting to register we were unable to find my DCI number, (For some reason I have no country, and I can’t seem to fix it) so a new DCI number later I sat down for my first match.

Now, a little bit of history of me as a player, I am a recent convert to legacy, mainly due to watching some truly awesome games in Patriot Games Leeds and discussions with James. I am at heart a mono-white man, and I was recommended Death and Taxes by James, after proxying it up vs. Dan at the team Harrogate meet I knew it was the deck for me.

The Decklist + Rationale

The Creatues:

4x Thalia,Guardian of Thraben

3x Phyrexian Revoker

3x Mangara of Corondor

4x Mother of Runes

4x Flickerwisp

4x Stoneforge Mystic

4x Serra Avenger

The Instants:

4x Swords to Plowshares

The Artifacts:

4x Aether Vial

1x Umezawa’s Jitte

1x Sword of Fire and Ice

1x Batterskull

The Lands

4x Wasteland

3x Rishadan Port

1x Kor Haven

4x Karakas

11x Plains

Thalia: She is such a beast in many match ups  she slows combo, she carries equipment like a boss, and she has a few fun interactions with Karakas and damage.

Phyrexian Revoker: Can really hurt any strategy, the uses for this guy are so vast I’ll not go too deep. He stops Jace and the likes, can turn off equipment, and can even attack fairly well and block Etched Champions.

Mangara of Corondor: If the game goes long this is the main way to win, with it and karakas you have a reusable permanent exile effect, and if you also have an Aether Vial on 3, you’re in a real good spot.

Mother of Runes: Negates removal, blocks anything on the ground all day long, and is generally a real menace for decks looking to get rid of her. If she gets to untap she’s lived too long.

Flickerwisp: Much like Revoker, this card has several interactions, from flipping a delver back over, acting as a Karakas for Mangara, and many more uses. Also carries equipment really well.

Stoneforge Mystic: Quite bonkers as a card, its ability to drop a Batterskull on turn 3 for 1W is just broken. Also important in some matchups in fetching the utility equipment that can turn the tide against some decks.

Serra Avenger: A dumb beater, but probably one of the best, a 3/3 vigilance flier, for WW, with a drawback negated by a vial on 2. If you get a sword on this its probably already over.

Swords to Plowshares: W, get rid of almost anything. Yes please.

Aether Vial: The deck is creature heavy, the vial helps you use your lands for other uses (Mana denial through ports is common) and it helps you drop your creatures in relative safety.

Umezewa’s Jitte: Trademark Dan Hiscutt: it’s a Plainswalker on a sword. So versatile, some nifty tricks with first strike, and colourless removal. This sword is just silly.

Sword of Fire and Ice: Protection from red is very useful in the land of lightning bolts, pro blue means your creatures can smash through delver, and you get to draw a card and shock a creature (or player) . Unreal.

Batterskull: A ridiculous threat with a Stoneforge Mystic active and a very good flicker wisp target, if you’re looking to beat down, or stabilize with life gain, this is your card.

Rishadan Port: Keeping a player off a colour can be the difference between a win and a loss, unfortunately this requires you to know the format, and being fairly new I tend to miss opportunities for this card. Will get more and more useful the more I play I’m sure.

Karakas: Bounces legends, both offensive in the Mangara interaction,  and defensive in the Show and Tell matchup.

Kor Haven - It was meant to be a fourth Rishadan Port, but mine were in the post. Seemed a good white utility land, and could save me

Wasteland: Furthers the mana denial strategy, as mentioned above, keeping a player off a colour can win you the game.

So we have come to the end of part one. You've met the deck and I've explained the cards. The deck itself can be played as a control deck, looking to go long to ensure the Mangara Lock, through mana denial, taxing and timely use of removal. Some matchups you need to be the aggressor, dropping threats, and getting in the red zone. It’s a deck with many interactions, and a bit of an all rounder. Its favorable matchups are against other creature decks, and its weakness is a lack of speed, especially against combo. As I learn to play the deck my main issue is my lack of patience, sometimes my desire to win can lead to mistakes, return for part 2 to see if it gets the better of me!