Tag: starcitygames-cincinnati

comments
Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - May 7, 2014

Death and Taxes Legacy by Per Nystrom (1st at SCG Cincinnati on May 4t...

Champion’s Deck

Mother of Runes - Death and Taxes Legacy

Death and Taxes Legacy by Per Nystrom

1st Place at StarCityGames Legacy Open on 5/4/2014

Here is another great victory for a deck which has been coming and going with success over the past year. It is a very strong package of disruption which comes in the form of aggro beatdown allowing the deck to operate on a very powerful axis.  For those of you unfamiliar with Death and Taxes it is at its core The White Weenie deck. It has evolved from a deck which worked to exile the opponents permanents for value into a mash up of hate bears and resource oppression. It has a pile of the best white creatures ever printed.

 

The journey up the mana curve is very important for this deck as it relies heavily upon Æther Vial to ‘cheat out’ it’s creatures around counter magic and as disruption. The ideal turn one play involves either Æther Vial or Mother of Runes to let the games begin. Once ‘mom’ is out it becomes increasingly more difficult for your opponent to use spot removal on your creatures. A great turn two play would be a follow up of either Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to actively disrupt the opponents plans or even Stoneforge Mystic to start  building offensive to bring the beats. And while Thalia will affect your spells as well it is a minor cost as the spells we cast are one cost and the equipment is going to be cheated in with the Mystic. Speaking of equipment the Stoneforge package in the deck is rather robust including not only a Batterskull and an Umezawa’s Jitte but also a Sword of Fire and Ice, all of which are efficient tools to boost any of your creatures into lean and mean fighting machines. As for some straight-up beatsticks the deck packs a Brimaz, King of Oreskos for value and a trio of Serra Avenger which are able to skirt the turn it can be played restriction with an Æther Vial activation. Then for disruption we find a variety of answers with Phyrexian Revoker to shut down a pesky permanent especially in response to casting a planeswalker, Spirit of the Labyrinth which absolutely ruins players hands in response to a Brainstorm, and Aven Mindcensor that can come in response to a fetchland or Stoneforge trigger to try and force the opponent to whiff. The final creature in the deck is a trio of Flickerwisp which can be vialed into play in response to removal to save a permanent or used to reset a Revoker, rebuy a Mystic and even regerm a Batterskull, not to mention suit up with a Sword or Jitte to bring the beats. There is a heavy resource denial package within the manabase with not only a full set of Wasteland but also a full set of Rishadan Port to lockdown any hope of the opponent to have a fighting chance. Also, for spot removal we find Swords to Plowshares to rid the board of any nuisance creatures trying to stand in the way.

 

And there we have it the first Legacy winner is a deck that is rapidly becoming a staple deck at the top tables. Of course as Legacy is a huge wide open field there is always a brick wall that every deck will run into eventually, but this deck look not only to be resilient but also a great deal of fun. I would be not only happy but confident as well to sleeve up this deck for the next Legacy tournament.

Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer
ejseltzer@hotmail.com
comments
Eric Jeffrey Seltzer - May 5, 2014

Golgari Devotion by Andrew Tenjum (1st at SCG Cincinnati Standard Open...

Vraska the Unseen - Golgari Devotion

Golgari Devotion by Andrew Tenjum

1st Place at StarCityGames Standard Open on 5/3/2014
Here comes the first of the post Journey Into Nyx Standard metagame and while there’s a little tweak to the Mono-Black Devotion it is basically the same old deck that took the first prize. The only Journey Into Nyx addition to the deck is Temple of Malady which is perhaps why the decision was made to dip into Green. And while we do get a couple new weapons in the arsenal it is basically just the same old Pack Rat rush or Gray Merchant Control plans.

Nothing has really changed in the creature department with the requisite Pack Rat followed by Lifebane Zombie, Desecration Demon and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. The manabase also allows for the full set of Mutavault which have the added benefit of being rats as well to pump up the pack. This new version runs a one of planeswalker that hasn’t been seen for a while, Vraska the Unseen as a part of the dabble into Green. She is super versatile as she is able to remove almost any non-land permanent, and will often take down creatures trying to destroy her. Vraska compliments an already very strong removal package, which is extremely common for this style of deck. We start with Hero’s Downfall to rid the board of both creature and planeswalker threats, a trio of Devour Flesh which can skirt protection or hexproof, and with the foray into Green we find the other card added to the list Abrupt Decay which is just a good all around answer to a plethora of problem permanents. In order for the deck to keep ahead we have Underworld Connections for draw which also doubles as additional devotion count when you are draining with a Gray Merchant. The final piece of the puzzle comes with the discard powerhouse Thoughtseize that will not only strip your opponent of the most relevant card but also provide you invaluable information about his game plan.

I’m not entirely surprised by this deck as the printing of a crucial dual land, in this case the Scry land, is often enough to push a good strategy to be great. And while there is really just a bare minimum splash into Green from this deck that little bit could be what keeps this ahead of the simple Mono-Black Devotion deck this evolved from. There is very little risked here as there was usually a suite of Scry lands added to the deck that weren’t really being used for the off color. It remains to be seen though if this deck continues to show dominance, maybe the Control or Midrange decks will find a way to usurp its fetid crown.
Eric J Seltzer
@ejseltzer
ejseltzer@hotmail.com