This Week in Legacy: GP Madrid and MKM Rome
Welcome to another This Week in Legacy! This week we’ll be running through two European events. The first, GP Madrid, a Team Trios GP held over the 10th-11th of March, of course featured Legacy, and although the data is obscured by the team-style of the event, some interesting contenders rose to the Top 16. Then, on the weekend of the 17th-18th of March, the MKM series kept trucking along with MKM Rome and Legacy featured there as always. And with that, let’s dive into where the European metagame has been going!
GP Madrid
The Top 16 Legacy decks of GP Madrid are given below:
| Deck | Player | Placing |
| Eldrazi Stompy | Charles Eliatamby | 1 |
| Czech Pile | Thomas Enevoldsen | 2 |
| Dragon Stompy | Per Nystrom | 3-4 |
| Dragon Stompy | Alessandro Lippi | 3-4 |
| BUG Delver | Javier Dominguez | 5 |
| Turbo Depths | Vladimir Arneuve | 6 |
| Jeskai Stoneblade | Jasper Grimmer | 7 |
| RUG Delver | Alessandro Manzini | 8 |
| Grixis Delver | Inigo Vallejo | 9 |
| Grixis Delver | Louis Bachaud | 10 |
| Lands | Alex Mortimer | 11 |
| Grixis Delver | Guillem Salvador Arnal | 12 |
| ANT | Rodrigo Togore | 13 |
| Dragon Stompy | Tommaso Badiali | 14 |
| BUG Control | Lukas Blohon | 15 |
| Blue-White Control | Oscar Reoyo | 16 |
Again, the Team nature of the event certainly means that the event does not necessarily reflect Legacy deck success. Some of the Legacy decks that made the Top 16 could’ve had relatively poor records but were propped up by Standard and Modern teammates’ success. Let’s first look at a rather odd choice that found two slots in the Top 4 – Dragon Stompy. I think this deck is a very reasonable choice in a long tournament like a Team Trios. It has achieved a considerable amount of consistency in recent months, and also has a strong position against Pile and Grixis Delver due to Chalice and Moons being so powerful there. It also is a strong choice for players not particularly well-acquainted with legacy. The decision trees of “lock em’, then sock em’” is relatively straightforward, and can lead to quick matches and helping of team members afterwards.
The core of the deck is the usual suspects – Chandra, Fiery Confluence, and lock pieces – but Per’s list I like a little more than the other Dragon Stompy list of Alessandro Lippi. Per made the presence of Ensnaring Bridge a consideration in his deck construction and lessened the number of Goblin Rabblemaster in his list, an aggressive card that naturally has tension with the controlly Bridge. Instead he opted for a fifth Chandra and the addition of more of my favorite Red four drop:
Pia and Kiran Nalaar does so much for Dragon Stompy, stabilizing the board, throwing useless artifacts like Chrome Mox at opposing creatures, and able to get reasonably aggressive with its four power spread across three bodies.
Nonetheless, the decision between whether to Rabble or not seems to be the primary slots under consideration in current Dragon Stompy lists, which are now becoming more and more stock. The Rabblemaster can lead to some quick wins against combo and can even be deployed as early with turn one, but can be a mediocre top deck when one is using Bridge and Confluence to keep the opponent at bay. I personally prefer a list with a consistent game plan, and hence have found room for more lock pieces (maxing Trinisphere and adding some more defensively-minded four drops like Chandra, Pyromaster and Mom and Pop. Hazoret, the Fervent is also a consideration because it flourishes with and without Bridge in play thanks to its activated ability.
Before moving to the Top 16, note that Thomas Enevoldsen – eternal poster boy of Death & Taxes – decided to pilot Czech Pile to the Top 4! Many people have been down on Death & Taxes position in the metagame, and now with Enevoldsen showing he’s not confident in the deck something certainly must be wrong…
In 6th came Turbo Depths once again touting Deathrite Shaman and Dark Confidant to really further the fair grind plan. This plan is certainly useful against Swords to Plowshares-based decks because Deathrite and Bob are both must-answers that can carve the way for Marit Lage’s approach. The deck can further its fair plan by sideboarding in Tarmogoyfs just to Jund the opponent out after a pile of discard! It seems that Turbo Depths are becoming a little less Turbo these days and more prepared to be a surprisingly flexible midrange-combo deck, especially with the land-based toolbox available to it.
Next let’s look at Jeskai Stoneblade in 7th place. And well, we were talking about the Search for the best Search for Azcanta shell and damn, Search looks quite lovely in this very tight Stoneblade deck. Unlike other Blade decks that have Deathrites or Strix, by keeping to Jeskai this list can have a very high density of hits off Search, which can even find equipment or one of the Engineered Explosives in this list.
I also really like the presence of Spell Snare in a list like this. Not only does it let a somewhat clunky list like this catch up on the draw, it also is excellent as a late-game Snapcaster target, stopping the value cards like Baleful Strix or opposing Snapcasters.
I’m sure everyone knew this was going to get a mention. Neat to see no Grixis Delver but only RUG and BUG in the Top 8, right? Nonetheless, Alessandro adopted a lot of interesting technology in his list that I’d like to highlight. Firstly, he has taken to my preferred build of the deck, utilizing Hooting Mandrills over Tarmogoyf, aiming, I imagine, to blank as much removal as possible. Secondly, he has seven removal spells in the main – or really, I would like to think that there is six-and-a-half.
Fire // Ice is a really beautiful Magic card, and my affinity with Red burn spells and tricky Blue spells makes this one of my all-time favorites. But being inefficient at everything it does, relative to the format currently, really pulls it down. It cannot kill Deathrite on turn one, and that is a huge issue; hence why I do not think of it as a “true” removal spell. But as a supplemental seventh piece of removal I can somewhat get on board.
Interestingly, Alessandro did not play Spell Snare, perhaps too wary of it being a brick against decks such as Sneak & Show, which may be popular in a large tournament. I still think the card is very well-placed, and I see it a critical piece of RUG’s disruption suite, especially helping in tough matchups like Death & Taxes where Pierce is almost useless.
Perhaps the most exciting card in this list is, however, Chart a Course.
Similar to how I have been using Predict, Chart provides a few benefits. Like Predict, it can pitch to Force as a fail-safe, something very valuable for grind cards which can otherwise be lackluster in combo matchups. Chart also fuels Threshold/Delve when not triggered, and importantly can discard cards which may be otherwise useless in the matchup (eg. Dismember vs. combo). However, Chart requires tapping out at sorcery speed, which I am quite afraid of doing in a purely reactive tempo deck like RUG. Furthermore, I feel it is a little difficult to effectively set up, because RUG has very few threats (compared to, say, Grixis). Predict is too, but at least it can be cycled at instant-speed, whereas “cycling” Chart can lead to shields down and potential death. I think each have their pros and cons and I personally look forward to more cards like these getting play and experimentation in RUG Delver.
One card I have been very wary of using in this shell is Grim Lavamancer. Not only is there incredible tension with him, Threshold and Delve, but he also doesn’t synergize very effectively with going “full shroud” either. Lavamancer is one of my all-time favourites, but I feel he is best-suited to Blue-Red Delver shells where graveyard tension is less apparent.
There were a few other interesting lists that made appearances at GP Madrid, such as the 16th-placing Blue-White Control list and BUG Control list of Lukas Blohon. You can find the rest of the GP Madrid lists at Wizards’ coverage site here.
MKM Rome
Next let’s have a look at MKM Rome. Firstly, courtesy of the MKM site, the metagame breakdown.
Interestingly, Show and Tell strategies and Lands were the most abundant! Sneak & Show has always been popular in Europe, winning many past European events. It is always a solid, albeit dull weapon of choice for many. Lands is an excellent choice in the fair field of Grixis Delver and Pile, and I can certainly see why it had strong numbers. Grixis Delver followed in 3rd, then equal 4th Death & Taxes, Miracles, Dragon Stompy (again, showing its strength as no longer a fringe deck!). Czech Pile interestingly only had six copies in the event, equaling the number of Elves and Eldrazi.
The Top 8 broke down as below:
| Deck | Player | Placing |
| Czech Pile | Nicolas Creppele | 1 |
| OmniTell | Marco Pacilio | 2 |
| Miracles | Umberto Violo | 3-4 |
| Jund | Raffaele Cefala | 3-4 |
| RUG Delver | Rafael Boog | 5-8 |
| Dredge | Iacopo Pineschi | 5-8 |
| Infect | Sylwester Struzyna | 5-8 |
| Elves | Julian Knab | 5-8 |
A relatively stock Czech Pile list won the event, though touting a main deck Sylvan Library and sideboard True-Name Nemesis is pretty neat.
More neat though is Marco Pacilio’s 2nd-placing Blue-Red OmniTell list:
This differs from most Show and Tell variants for two reasons. Firstly, this deck eschews Griselbrand to focus on the Omniscience plan, making it definitely not Sneak & Show – this is OmniTell! Secondly, it utilizes Burning Wish, rather than the more typical Cunning Wish, to access its sideboard kill condition (be it Time of Need for Emrakul, Enter the Inifinite drawing everything + Spiraling Embers). It also allows this deck to have a functional seven Show and Tells, which remedies an issue with many OmniTell lists. Since the deck does not have access to Sneak Attack as a secondary combo piece, it needs to dig very hard for Show and Tell and if the namesake sorcery meets a Surgical Extraction… The game is basically over. Also of note is the triple Boseiju, Who Shelters All in the sideboard, making slow control matchups like Miracles a cinch, and Mizzix's Mastery as a way to revive countered Show and Tells.
Interestingly, Dredge also made the Top 8. The main deck has a lot of numbers that I’m a big fan of, maxing out on looting effects along with Street Wraith for a huge amount of explosiveness. The mix of Careful Study / Street Wraith / Putrid Imp seems to be one of the main concerns in recent Dredge lists, and I personally like maxing Careful Study first, since looting effects act as both acceleration and discard outlets when needed. From there, choosing Imp or Wraith or a mix of these is all up to preference. Prized Amalgam also can be given some slots here. Note that the more Black spells used (and less Blue spells) the more the mana base may need adjusting – especially Cephalid Coliseum that should be thought more of like an extra loot spell than an actual land.
I also think this sideboard is almost exactly what I’d be utilizing. There’s obviously a bit of tension between Gravestone and the Dread Return package, but Gravestone shutting off both Deathrite and Surgical Extraction, the most popular package of fair hate Dredge has to face from both Grixis Delver and Czech Pile, is incredibly useful. The choice of Wear // Tear is also my preference, because it smashes both Leyline of the Void and Chalice of Void (or both!) common in Dragon Stompy and Eldrazi.
Another MKM, another RUG! Rafael brought a list very close to stock Mandrills lists, utilizing two Gitaxian Probe in his flex slots and having his sixth removal as a Fire // Ice (again, something I am less a fan of because six turn one removal is the critical density I feel comfortable with to “pass the Deathrite test.” Unlike Manzini, Rafael Boog did find Spell Snare worthy of a place, despite the plethora of Show and Tell strategies in Europe.
In the sideboard, Rafael has a few oddball choices; Vapor Snag fills a role somewhat similar to Submerge, but with a little more flexibility in where it can be brought it (it can be brought in against Reanimator, for example), and Price of Progress I’m sure is primarily as a closer against Lands, Eldrazi, and even matchups like 4c Control. Rough // Tumble is one of the better cards to play in a RUG sideboard and a one-sided sweeper is typically great… Except when boarding in True-Name. This tension has led me to simply add more point removal like Abrade and Forked Bolt or look to relatively inefficient sweeper effects like Electrickery or Izzet Staticaster instead.
Other shout-outs to make are Infect making a mark after a long hiatus form the top tables, another Miracle making it (with Timely Reinforcements in the sideboard!), a stocky Jund list somehow finding its way (feat. Terminate), and the eminent Julian Knab making another Elves list. Find the rest of the lists here.
Conclusion
Thank you once again for reading TWiL. As always, here’s some links to other Legacy content around the web:
- Matt Nass plays an odd brew and Mengucci plays Sneak & Show and Stax for CFB.
- Dead on Board have revived with a new podcast episode. Find that here.
- The TES website has a Matchup Mulligan article featuring Eldrazi. Find that here.
What I’m Playing This Week
I happily came second in a small event in Melbourne with my usual RUG list; the double Predicts worked like a charm. However, I’m looking to get a little Stompy with Bomberman and a new addition from Dominaria:
Could Karn, Scion of Urza find a home here? Replacing Bob or Recruiter with him as a grind card and a token engine (that makes some rather large tokens, mind you, thanks to all the trinkets) is certainly an option. It makes the mana clean and mono-White too which is very appealing, especially since a full four Ancient Den and basics can be fit in. Neat!
The Spice Corner
Bryan Hoyt found success with this interesting Esper Monarch list. Palace Jailer is the centrepiece of this deck, and the quad True-Name and Baleful Strix are both there to preserve the Monarchy as well as get it back. The rest of the deck is rounded out by a very typical Esper controlling core. You can find more about Bryan’s list in a reddit post here.
