After testing last week, we eventually cut the Burning Wish package. It simply slowed the deck down a little too much. We've also moved all alternate win conditions to the board, and left game 1 as a completely Valakut based win condition. In other words, we've gotten more reliable at actually winning with Valakut, which I think is a plus.
Here is the decklist that she played in the first tournament.
Legacy Valakut v2.0Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | ||
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Enchantments (7) 4x Exploration 3x Prismatic Omen Instants (15) 4x Intuition 4x Force of Will 4x Brainstorm 2x Repeal 1x Noxious Revival Sorceries (5) 2x Scapeshift 2x Ponder 1x Life from the Loam Planeswalkers (2) 2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor | Land (31) 4x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle 4x Maze of Ith 4x Taiga 4x Volcanic Island 1x Tropical Island 1x Stomping Ground 1x Steam Vents 1x Forgotten Cave 2x Wasteland 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale 4x Scalding Tarn 4x Misty Rainforest | Sideboard (15) 4x Hydroblast 3x Pyroblast 3x Slagstorm 2x Koth of the Hammer 1x Bojuka Bog 1x Karakas 1x Mindbreak Trap |
- By cutting the burning wishes and seismic assaults, we've gotten more reliable, but lost our backup win condition. Jace could conceivably win, but it's unlikely.
- Repeal should allow us to win through problem permanents like Runed Halo or Leyline of Sanctity
- Koth of the Hammer is ridiculously good against U/W control, which is very popular. Less good against anything aggressive, but he's absolutely got the ability to win. Highlight of the tournament, at least from the outside, was watching Maze of Ith attack with a Prismatic Omen on the field.
-Mindbreak Trap was a last minute addition for the storm matchup, basically acting like the 5th force. Not sure if it's worth it.
Post Tournament Thoughts:
- Jace simply isn't any good here. We can't protect him and he just dilutes our win condition.
- A 3rd Scapeshift is necessary so we can more reliably intuition for it after dredging (revival helps, but the 3rd scapeshift would be nicer)
- Two wastelands is an awkward number. We legitimately aren't wasting anyone off of mana, so why two? One is important to be able to tutor for and set up repeated wastelanding, but we don't need a second one.
- Boseiju, who Shelters all should have a home here. Probably in the spot the 2nd Wasteland took
We took some of the notes from that tournament and played again the next night (with no testing, because these were on back to back weeknights and there wasn't really time.
Legacy Valakut v2.1Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |
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Enchantments (7) 4x Exploration 3x Prismatic Omen Instants (15) 4x Intuition 4x Force of Will 4x Brainstorm 2x Repeal 1x Noxious Revival Sorceries (7) 3x Scapeshift 3x Ponder 1x Life from the Loam Land (31) 4x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle 4x Maze of Ith 4x Taiga 4x Volcanic Island 1x Tropical Island 1x Stomping Ground 1x Steam Vents 1x Forgotten Cave 1x Wasteland 1x Boseiju, who Shelters All 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale 4x Scalding Tarn 4x Misty Rainforest | Sideboard (15) 4x Hydroblast 4x Pyroblast 3x Slagstorm 2x Koth of the Hammer 1x Bojuka Bog 1x Karakas |
- Mostly self explanatory after the notes from the last tournament, but the 3rd ponder is an attempt to get to Exploration more often. Digging further faster is important.
Post Tournament Thoughts:
- Repeal just isn't worth it. Instead of trying to slow down our opponents, we really need to be trying to win ourselves. The two repeals need to become something more useful.
- Boseiju is awesome. The U/W matchup gets so much better with it, because the life really isn't all that relevant there.
Given those two tournaments, we've tested some more, and have a new build that focuses on being a combo deck. Here's where we are right now, although I expect there will be a few changes before our next tournament, this coming Wednesday.
Legacy Valakut v2.2Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |
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Enchantments (7) 4x Exploration 3x Prismatic Omen Instants (15) 4x Intuition 4x Force of Will 4x Brainstorm 1x Noxious Revival Sorceries (9) 3x Scapeshift 4x Ponder 2x Life from the Loam Land (31) 4x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle 4x Maze of Ith 4x Taiga 4x Volcanic Island 1x Tropical Island 1x Stomping Ground 1x Steam Vents 1x Forgotten Cave 1x Wasteland 1x Boseiju, who Shelters All 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale 4x Scalding Tarn 4x Misty Rainforest | Sideboard (15) 4x Hydroblast 4x Pyroblast 3x Slagstorm 2x Koth of the Hammer 1x Bojuka Bog 1x Karakas |
- The final sideboard will need to feature two ways to handle Choke or Leyline of Sanctity. Most likely this will be Into the Roil, but it's possible it'll just end up being Nature's Claim. I don't know what will get cut, but I expect one of the Pyroblasts is first on the list to go, because I think we can get away with 3. 4 is very nice though, so we'll have to see. Karakas and Bojuka Bog may just not be worth it.
- The second Life from the Loam has been decently nice so far. I'm far more likely to just draw loam and start the engine without an Intuition. However, sometimes Loam by itself isn't any good or just takes too long to get useful.
- Worm Harvest may find it's way into the deck as a one-of, replacing the second loam. It's a way to win games that valakut just won't win. I don't know if it's necessary main or not, but it could be worth having around.
- I think we may need to cut a fetchland for an 11th mountain either, probably another Stomping Ground. The increased focus on Scapeshift from our earlier builds has left us far more likely to need additional mountains in the deck.
I hope you're enjoying watching the brewing process for this, I know I'm having fun documenting it and trying to make it work.
Jeff