This Week in Legacy: Replenish the Sharks!
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of This Week in Legacy! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week I'm going to be looking at a really super sweet decklist that has been popping up on the Twitterverse as of late. It's super cool, and it has got Sharks in it. We do indeed have Challenge data this week, as well as a bit about the ManaTraders Legacy Series event this past week. As always we have our ever-present Spice Corner.
We unfortunately don't have any lists from the Legacy Showcase Qualifier this past weekend, but our good friend Daniel Goetschel (Gul_Dukat) took down the whole thing in a well-deserved win. Check out his Twitter post about it here.
Without further ado, let's dive right into it!
The Sharknado Meme Continues...
This week we are looking at a deck that has been gaining a lot of eyes on Twitter ever since being posted by Yuta Takahasi (@Vendilion). This is by far one of the sweetest decks I've written about on here and of course it features one of the coolest cards out of 2020 and a super obscure Reserved List card. Shark Typhoon and Replenish.
Feast your eyes on Shark Replenish.
The game plan of this deck is pretty simple, utilizing many of the cycling cards like Shark Typhoon and Lay Claim to not only draw cards but to also fill them into the graveyard in order to bring them back via Replenish. Standstill offers a great method of controlling the game with this plan, allowing the deck to still be able to draw extra cards under Standstill via cycling. Bringing back cards like Lay Claim and Cast Out can end up being incredibly brutal to an opponent's game plan, as Cast Out deals with problem nonlands, while Lay Claim can simply steal good cards from the opponent (such as lands).
From the point of casting Replenish, the game is turbo charged as every noncreature spell cast results in a flying Shark attacking the opponent. This accelerates the clock by an insane factor.
In addition to this game plan, the deck can operate as a fairly normaly U/W Standstill variant by simply making a bunch of flying Sharks off cycled Typhoons and forcing the opponent to have to make plays to break the Standstill lock. The deck also plays exceptionally well versus Wasteland strategies by the virtue of only playing a single Tundra. In certain metagames, it can be correct to have copies of cards like Back to Basics in the sideboard to stop nonbasic lands in their tracks while doing minimal to this deck.
This is truly an interesting and unique take on the use of Shark Typhoon, which has fast become an interesting addition to the Legacy format overall. It has been super cool seeing just how Typhoon has worked its way into these kinds of strategies, and it definitely seems to be a great thing for Legacy.
ManaTraders Legacy Series
The ManaTraders Legacy Series concluded this past weekend with the Swiss portion and the Top 8 of the event. It was taken down all the way by none other than our good friend Rich Cali, who is simply one of the best Delver players on Magic Online with the following list:
The event was thankfully live-streamed by the official ManaTraders Twitch account, and you can find VODs of the event here. Massive congrats to Rich on taking down this event!
Legacy Challenge 8/29
Our first Challenge event of the weekend was the early morning Saturday Challenge, so let's dive right into the Top 32!
Given the relative timeframe of this Challenge being early in the morning for the European and Asian player base, it's interesting to see the level of Hogaak here. Not only was there quite a bit of the putrid son, but there were also a lot of the normal foes in RUG Delver and Omni-Tell. There were quite a bit of interesting decks here, including two copies of the Turbo Muxus deck.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Hogaak | 1st | Yurai-Whitecats |
| G/B Depths | 2nd | SakuraGI21722749 |
| RUG Delver | 3rd | KingRegal |
| Omni-Tell | 4th | JPA93 |
| RUG Snow | 5th | Triosk |
| Turbo Muxus | 6th | Skuttlespike |
| U/W Stoneblade | 7th | Decoutan |
| Omni-Tell | 8th | Suyasome |
This is actually a super interesting Top 8 with a fair amount of diverse decks in it on all ends of the spectrum. However, it was the Putrid Son himself that took down the event.
This is a fairly stock BUG variant of Hogaak, as there hasn't been anything major to shake up this deck's construction since the list solidified into what we see today. There seems to be simply a personal preference between playing BUG or playing Jund, and neither seems to be better than the other at this point, simply different.
In Second Place we have G/B Depths.
This is more of a Slow Depths variant, and it is interesting that most of the Depths variants we've seen perform well have been of this kind of Depths deck and not of a Turbo variant. I think it makes a lot of sense given how good Force of Negation is across the format to simply have cards that present a lot of inherent card advantage such as Dark Confidant and inevitability in Elvish Reclaimer.
In Third Place we have RUG Delver.
We are now seeing a lot of subtle metagaming from RUG Delver for the RUG Delver mirror, case in point having cards like Spell Snare which can catch both Goyf and Dreadhorde Arcanist, and the split of Goyf/Hooting Mandrills in the main deck, as Mandrills is superb in the mirror. Very interesting choices to plan for, for sure.
In Fourth Place we have Omni-Tell and MTGO Legacy End Boss JPA93.
This is more of a Bant Omni variant, with cards like Teferi, Time Raveler playing a powerful support role to the deck's combo turns. What's really cool here is the two copies of Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse in the sideboard as well as the one-of Wish target in Sublime Epiphany. It's nice to finally see a card see play in a deck people did consider that it would eventually show up in.
In Fifth Place we have RUG Snow.
This is a slight evolution of Jeff White's "Poke Pile" in that it is a RUG Snow variant with all the usual suspects like Oko, Uro, and Coatl, and it is definitely a more midrange pile than the Stifle variants. It is quite interesting to see Narset seeing more play however.
In Sixth Place we have Turbo Muxus.
Between the fast mana and all the ways to cheat Muxus into play with this variant, it is safe to say that Goblin Lackey is most assuredly super scary to sit across from again. This deck can easily power out Muxus and end a game quickly, and that in of itself is relatively interesting.
In Seventh Place we have U/W Stoneblade.
This is a super clean U/W Stoneblade list, with all the usual suspects you'd expect out of such a list. Sword of Feast and Famine is super cool to see here, given that it protects against a myriad of things from Oko to Decay, but also is a colorless way of making the opponent discard cards.
Rounding out the Top 8 we have another Omni-Tell list.
This variant is more mono blue in nature, only leaning on the green splash for cards like Veil of Summer. Again we get to see Sublime Epiphany though, so maybe that card is finally picking up in play!
Now let's look at the 2019-2020 cards in this event. Remember that we're only looking for cards that had eight copies or more.
| Card Name | Number of Copies |
|---|---|
| Force of Vigor | 26 |
| Ice-Fang Coatl | 26 |
| Oko, Thief of Crowns | 25 |
| Once Upon a Time | 25 |
| Prismatic Vista | 25 |
| Veil of Summer | 25 |
| Arcum's Astrolabe | 21 |
| Force of Negation | 20 |
| Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis | 16 |
| Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath | 15 |
| Dreadhorde Arcanist | 14 |
| Plague Engineer | 14 |
| Muxus, Goblin Grandee | 11 |
There was definitely a lot of Snow and Snow Accessories in this event, as well as a ton of Hogaak (since there were four decks total of this archetype). Something else that's new that hasn't shown up en masse before is Muxus, Goblin Grandee as there were multiple Turbo Muxus in this event, but also because typical Goblins only run two-three copies tops.
Legacy Challenge 8/30
Our second Challenge of the event was the normal Sunday Challenge event, so let's dive right into the Top 32!
This event had a ton of RUG Delver in it, and the deck continues to be one of the best decks in the entire format. I don't know at what point we need to be worried about certain cards in RUG Delver, but we will continue to watch these developments in the format. There was also a fair number of Elves and Karn Echo here as well, which is interesting.
Now let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Snowko | 1st | Ozymandias17 |
| U/R Delver | 2nd | Earlder1 |
| RUG Delver | 3rd | BeeNew |
| Karn Echo | 4th | KBZX |
| RUG Delver | 5th | PeanutBrittle |
| Snowko | 6th | Oderus Urungus |
| G/B Depths | 7th | Yotsugi |
| Elves | 8th | Caleb_Herber |
There was a lot of Delver and Snow in this Top 8, with a smattering of other combo decks. At the end of it all, it was our good friend Matthew Vook (Ozymandias17) who took down the event on Snowko.
Matthew's list is what we've come to expect from the BUG based variants splashing into both white and red for various reasons, primarily though for Swords to Plowshares and Pyroblast. I suspect a lot of success with these kinds of lists comes from being a strong player, and Matthew certainly fits that bill.
In Second Place we have U/R Delver.
This list is pretty cool, and it's neat to see Sprite Dragon pulling some weight here as well. I have a well-known love of the card, as I think it's a lot more powerful than people believe it to be. Submerge is some great tech against things like the Depths matchup as well, which is cool to see since Depths seems to be more and more popular.
In Third Place we have RUG Delver.
This variant opted to take the Goys out entirely for the Mandrills as the primary threat, my guess is leaning on the mirror being something they'd run into more. It seems to have paid off it seems!
In Fourth Place we have Karn Echo.
This deck is super interesting and powerful all at the same time. I long consider this deck to still be a deck that should be on the radar as it can come out of nowhere and really surprise you with how fast it can win the game.
In Fifth Place we have a second RUG Delver entry.
There's not much difference outside of a few slots from the Third Place entry, but I will not the Blazing Volley in the sideboard, which can be pretty good versus decks like Elves in being able to kill cards like Allosaurus Shepherd and the like.
In Sixth Place we have Snowko.
This variant opts to not splash into red at all for Blast effects, which is fine, that is mostly preferential. The cool thing about this particular list is just the singleton copy of Shark Typhoon, obviously.
In Seventh Place we have G/B Depths.
This is more of a spot on Turbo variant, not utilizing cards like Once Upon a Time and Dark Confidant. Instead, this build is mainly going for speed and making the 20/20 as fast as possible.
Rounding out the Top 8 we have Elves.
We're definitely seeing a shift in the Elves decks back to variants with Nettle Sentinel in them over cards like Elvish Reclaimer. It is certainly possible that the very existence of Allosaurus Shepherd makes it so the deck can afford to simply be explosive in combo turns and not need to set up for grindier games like Reclaimer promoted.
Now let's take a look at the 2019-2020 cards in this event.
| Card Name | Number of Copies |
|---|---|
| Oko, Thief of Crowns | 40 |
| Dreadhorde Arcanist | 33 |
| Force of Negation | 26 |
| Veil of Summer | 24 |
| Plague Engineer | 22 |
| Ice-Fang Coatl | 19 |
| Arcum's Astrolabe | 17 |
| Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath | 16 |
| Once Upon a Time | 11 |
| Prismatic Vista | 11 |
| Force of Vigor | 8 |
Oko certainly took the proverbial cake on 2019-2020 cards in this event, and as we'll discuss below a vast majority of that play was not in Delver variants, which is certainly interesting. Whether this trend will continue is intriguing to keep an eye on for sure.
Ban Watch
We didn't have data from last week's Challenges, which kind of stinks, but we can still put together data for our charts here. This is yet another ongoing look at the cards that everyone wants to talk about in relation to bannings (Oko, Uro, Astrolabe, Veil) and where they are at in the format overall.
One big thing is clear is that while it has its occasional dips, Veil of Summer is overwhelmingly a card played heavily in fast combo over normal fair decks, and is quite often used to protect the combo player's combo turn. As I have noted before, once we're closer into Zendikar Rising I will be hosting another Legacy Round Table article to talk to people and make some determinations on the cards in this format that have been super contentious for players to discuss.
Around the Web
- Everyday Eternal had Infect afficionado Fenruscloud on the cast to talk about their favorite way to poision their enemies! Check that out here.
- Legacy Community leader and truly awesome person Anuraag Das was on the Humans of Magic podcast, hosted by our good friend James Hsu of CardboardLive. This was a great episode and a great insight into Anuraag's life. Be sure to check it out!
- 90sMTG continues the hits with Jund Lands vs RUG Delver. Check that out here!
The Spice Corner
In a rare appearance, Jegantha, the Wellspring with a 4C build.
Gaea's Cradle Steel Stompy is super cool.
In many different ways to slam down a Griselbrand, early, taking a cue from Modern is Neobrand, Legacy style.
What I'm Playing This Week
I took a bit of a break from Chalice of the Void this week to throw down with some Ninjas. This deck is insane!
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for continuing to support the column and join us next week as we continue our journey into Legacy!
As always you can reach me on Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and Patreon! In addition I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the /r/MTGLegacy Discord Server and subreddit.
Until next time!
