Scapeshift
Andrew Calderon
13th Place at Grand Prix on 3/9/2014
There are a few pieces to the puzzle to help get lands into play ahead of schedule in the form of Sakura-Tribe Elder, Search for Tomorrow and two Explore. Since you need the lands in play for Scapeshift to do its magic these cards are critical and opening turns will often go turn 1 Suspend Search into turn 2 Elder which basically advances your combo by two turns. With Blue in the deck and a combo finish that needs protection we find a permission suite that consists of Remand and Cryptic Command, the latter usually the reason the deck will float four mana when going for the kill. There is also the utility player Izzet Charm which can act either as additional counter, dig to draw into answers or combo pieces, or even a way to burn small pesky creatures especially hate bears. There’s also a pair of Lightning Bolt, an Electrolyze and an Anger of the Gods to help as removal or a small amount of reach if needed to finish them off. And that Electrolyze pairs up with Peer Through Depths as the draw power of the deck with Cryptic and Explore as well. And finally what has quietly become a format all-star Snapcaster Mage is able to rebuy any of the already cast instants or sorceries and even do a little beatdown himself to work your way towards victory.
RUG Delver
Taylor Scott
1st Place at StarCityGames Legacy Open on 2/9/2014
The beatdown is centered around a trio of very mana efficient creatures with Delver of Secrets, Nimble Mongoose and Tarmogoyf. All three grow much larger then they’re costed at and can quickly decimate your opponents life total. Then with a stacked control suite of Force of Will, Daze, Spell Pierce and Spell Snare almost any threat can be suppressed before it even starts threatening. You can’t have a blue deck in Legacy without the requisite draw package with Brainstorm and Ponder helping not only to dig through your deck but also to set up the top of your deck to flip Delver. The red slips into the deck with a modest amount of burn with Lightning Bolt and Forked Bolt both working to remove small pesky creatures or dome the skull to finish off the opponent. The final piece of the puzzle is the resource denial which comes primarily with Wasteland razing their mana but also the sneaky and handy Stifle which can prevent a fetch after they’ve paid a life and sacrificed it already. And it can also be used against an Emrakul or Storm trigger just to name a few.