MTG Salvation

I've been away from Magic for the past year or so, and am trying to get into Legacy, since it seems like such a dynamic format. This deck is my starting point. The theme of the deck is rather obvious: utilize Astral Slide and cycling cards like Renewed Growth and Decree of Justice, and creatures with CiP abilities to perfrom various shenanigans involving the graveyard, life gain, and mana ramping. The deck gets much better as the game goes on, and I try to survive the early game using Swords to Plowshares and Wrath of God, recurring them as needed.

As for the sideboard, I was thinking of spashing red for some anti-blue spells like Red Elemental Blast, etc. Since I'm not all that familiar with the Legacy format, I would appreciate any thoughtful comments about whether a deck involving this theme is even viable, and what additions would improve it. Thanks!

you're gonna be in a heap of trouble with that list with some of your card selections.....

mirari's wake is too slow for legacy. I like the novablast, but fail to see how it's better than say, exalted angel. renewed faith is good, and I'd play the full 4 in an aggro metagame. if it's combo, though, you're in BIG trouble. gilded light md as a 2 to 4 of is always good. if less than 4, then put the remainder in the sb. rampant growth<<<the cycling one from futuresight, though I remember it's name not. IF you pay attention to none of those,t hough, there is one you should NOT ignore. the card is called life from the loam, and it breaks your deck in half in a slower meta.

Thanks for your suggestions, weltkrieg. Very, very helpful.

You ain't kidding about Life from the Loam, I don't know why I didn't think of it before. That would be crazy returning my cycling lands and fetch lands to my hand.

I wanted to try out the Novablast Wurm, simply because I got it in a pack, and it seems pretty solid, especially if I can slide out a few of my creatures before the attack. If it doesn't work out, I'll probably throw in the Exalted Angel or other large white flying fatty (possibly Twilight Shepherd)?.

Edge of Autumn! "Free" cycling would be a great addition to the deck. It would definetly allow for more tricks when tapped out. I will definetly replace the Rampant Growths with them.

I like Gilded Light. Actually, I think I used to have it in this deck, long, long ago in a previous iteration, and totally forgot about it since then. I'll try to throw some in there.

Thanks again for your suggestions. What would be good to include in case I end up facing a bunch of combo? In my previous metagame (I've moved recently) I never really faced it, so don't have much experience with it. Would a card like Orim's Chant be a good sideboard addition? Obviously, Gilded Light would be good, too.

well, in my own versions, I usually maindeck 4 gilded light, as I find them more useful than the renewed faith (kitchen finks sorta obsoleted this, at least as a md option). they are useful against a variety of combo decks, as well as various burn spells..gilded light in response to a burn deck's critical turn can really slow them down. otherwise, yes, orim's chant is generally pretty solid, or silence, or even abeyance. I'd still consider one more eternal dragon and potentially keep the full 4 decree between md and sb....it's certainly going to be your only real way to beat a permission deck.

--welt

Flagstones of Trokair interacts very nicely with Edge of Autumn as well. Wasteland is useless against it too, so it doesn't even hurt your mana base. Living Wish is slow sometimes, but it can be great too.

Thanks for the replies. I'm still thinking about the possibility of a red splash for the inclusion of cards like Lightning Rift and Red Elemental Blast. My experience with Lightning Rift is that that 1 extra mana ends up getting spent less than expected, it seems like I always need the mana for something else. If I don't have Lightning Rift, it seems hard to justify splashing red.

Has Lightning Rift been a decent card in playtesting for this format?

I like Flagstones of Trokair, I'll have to see about getting a few of those.

The sideboard is just a rough draft, and most of the choices should seem pretty obvious. I really like Solitary Confinement in there. It seems like it would have good synergy with cycling lands and Life from the Loam.

actually, that's pretty much how the deck used to work. they cut the red splash and just went with loam+dragon+decree as finishers. I think it's weak to black discard strategies, though it can recover quickly if they don't put you on a fast clock, and blue permission if you don't resolve a cycled decree.

Is gilded light really good enough? Mayb replace that

idk your deck seems a bit creature heavy, the last version i've seen that I liked was more of a toolbox, splashing black somethin like this..

Lands:
1 Bayou
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Forest
1 Karakas
1 Nantuko Monastery
2 Plains
2 Savannah
1 Scrubland
4 Secluded Steppe
4 Tranquil Thicket
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Wasteland
2 Windswept Heath

Creatures:
2 Eternal Dragon
4 Eternal Witness
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Knight of the Reliquary

Non-Creature:
2 Akroma's Vengeance
3 Astral Slide
2 Diabolic Edict
3 Edge of Autumn
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Life from the Loam
2 Orim's Chant
2 Pernicious Deed
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Sylvan Scrying

Side:
4 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Extirpate
3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Krosan Grip
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
2 Tormod's Crypt

heh, gilded like over and over from a reccuring witness says gg to many a deck, if it gets to that point. try a black splash for vindicate and thoughtsieze or mainboard tegg since this deck and its types usually roll over to any combo decks.