Welcome back for March’s (slightly belated) London Legacy Monthly report!

This month we finally sold out and broke 50 players at the new venue! Thank you so much to everyone who has supported this community event so far, it is extremely satisfying putting on an event for so many of you and I hope we can keep doing it for as long as possible!

As you can see, when we sell out we can really put on great prizes for the event. 1st place won a Tropical Island, Dark Depths AND TOKEN!. 2nd a Bayou, 3rd and 4th both got Mox Diamonds and the rest of the top 8 Academy Rectors. The winner of the Top16 received two more Dark Depths.

March Meta

On the surface the decks played this month seem pretty standard, typical of a big event. Grixis Pheonix/ANT is also one of the top decks depending how you weigh up the mashing of those decks together to make PANTs. Either 4 Phoenix players or 3 ANT players?

Deck No. of Players Deck No. of Players Death and Taxes 4 Dead Guy Ale 1 Grixis Delver 4 Doomsday 1 Death's Shadow 3 Eldrazi 1 Eldrazi Post 3 Goblins 1 UW Stoneblade 3 Humans 1 BR Reanimator 2 Infect 1 Grixis Phoenix 2 Manaless Dredge 1 Lands 2 Miracles 1 Maverick 2 MUD 1 Moon Stompy 2 Omnishow 1 PANTs (Phoenix ANT) 2 Strawberry Shortcake 1 UR Delver 2 Slivers 1 ANT 1 Slow Depths 1 Bant Miracles 1 Show and Tell 1 BG Depths 1 Tin Fins 1 BUG Landstill 1 UG Enchantress 1

However, its when this list of decks is broken down into broader archetypes we see that there were hardly any people playing Control at this event. Nine in the room. Considering Grixis Control and Miracles are seen as some of the top decks in Legacy right now it is surprising how few players decided to bring these to LLM. We have seen a steady decline in Control players since the peak last November. Perhaps players thought more proactive decks like Delver were better at combating the wide range of combo decks we saw dominate the room last month?

Other than this month’s distinct lack of control decks it is starting to look like LLM is becoming more in sync with the Legacy metagame generally. A good chuck of Delver and Stoneforge based decks with a smattering of Dark Depths seems to be the trend. Where are the 5 Goblin players!? This move towards homogeneity across the globe is down to increased online play on MTGO and more and more Legacy streamers popping up on Twitch all the time. (Quick shout out to Ethan, who has been doing GREAT work. Go and follow him!) I think this has been a reaction to Wizards stepping back from supporting Legacy and Vintage over the last few years. Luckily the community is stepping in to fill the void with content and events of their own.

I hope that we will see a resurgence in Legacy play brought on by people seeing all this content just as I and many other LLM regulars were inspired by the Legacy events of the SCG tour in the early 2010s.

Pictures

The Tournament

Two players managed to go undefeated during the 6 Swiss rounds, Tom Brown (5-0-1) one of the Founders of LLM all the way back in 2017! and Thibaut (4-0-2). Three players went 5-1, Jay Richardson, Steven Wilson and Stuart Schaum, and Top 8 mainstays Francis Cowper and Claude Schmit both drew in after their fourth win. Rounding out the finalists and straight out of Dublin, Phil Richman was top of the 12 pointers stopping Patrick Schoener from making his first LLM Top8.

Congratulations to Neil Rigby for winning the Top 16 playoff!

Top 8 Matches

First seed Tom was quickly dispatched by Phil as Show and Tell beat Reanimator while our second Reanimator pilot, Claude, fell to Jay in two games. On the other side of the bracket Thibaut, playing Death and Taxes beat Stuart and his Eldrazi post deck in three games. The other honest Vial, Thalia deck also won as Steven playing Humans beat Francis and his Miracles deck 2-0.

Semifinals

The semi finals saw the two flavours of Griselbrand deck face off against the two flavours of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben decks. Steve beat Claude in two quick games. The first ended on turn four as a turn one Karakas was followed up with a Thalia and Wasteland. Being on the play due to seeding certainly helps against the fast decks. Game two was again very fast as Steven had two bits of graveyard hate in his opening hand. Faerie Macabre and Grafdigger’s Cage. Crucially the Macabre interacts favourably with Chancellor of the Annex before the game effects and the Humans deck can end the game very quickly once it gets ahead.

In the second semifinal Death and Taxes face Show and Tell in a generally positive matchup for the white deck. In the first game Phil managed to resolve two Show and Tells only to see his Griselbrand dealt with a Swords to Plowshares both times. He was very unlucky not to find a Force of WIll in response.

The players sideboarded like this:

Game two started with an early Thalia to slow Phil down while a Dark Confidant (in the deck after Thibaut won a Scrubland at a previous LLM!) provided Thibaut with card advantage. Phil finally resolved his decks namesake card and put an Omniscience into play. Thibaut put in a Flickerwisp which targeted the enchantment. In response Phil played a Wipe Away for free to bounce the Thalia. Thibaut attacked and Phil was on a precarious 4 life. Thibaut then dealt with the enchantment permanently by using a Council’s Judgement. On Phils last turn he Pondered into a Sneak Attack but couldn’t find a second red source or a way to deal with the opposing Karakas. Thibaut was into the finals!

Finals

In the Finals we saw Steven face down Thibaut in the battle of the honest Mother of Runes decks. Game one started as both players resolved their early spells, a Stoneforge Mystic for Thibaut and a Kitesail Freebooter for Steven which took a Sword of Fire and Ice from his opponent, leaving a Batterskull. Steven likely realising that he can easily out race a 4/4 but not beat the card advantage and removal combined in the sword. Two Thalia’s Lieutenants hit the board for the humans player followed up by a Meddling Mage naming Flickerwisp. As the humans board grew his flier, Thibaut put his Batterskull into play hoping to race. However, Steve used his Karakas to bounce his Thalia after it had been declared as the blocker for the Germ token, thus keeping himself ahead. Replaying the Thalia grew his board further with the two Lieutenant triggers. A follow up Orzhov Pontiff cleared away some of the Mother of Runes on the Death and Taxes side and finally a Palace Jailer for Steven forced Thibaut to concede.

The players sideboarded like this:

Game two was much quicker than the first game. Thibaut was immediately ahead after Steven mulliganed. His turn one Aether Vial into quick Serra Avenger was followed up with a Swords to Plowshares on Noble Hierarch and a Wasteland on Ancient Ziggurat which kept Steve behind. Finally the game was over with an end of turn Flickerwisp on the second land Steven had just found.

Game three and both players started with a Mother of Runes and the game continued to be even. Steven had a slight misstep when he tried to Reflector Mage a mom, which promptly gave itself pro white. The game turned however when Thibaut resolved a Cataclysm clearing the board of those pesky humans and leaving himself with a Flickerwisp and recently found Jitte (with 2 counters) to Steven’s Meddling mage, Aether Vial and Land. His next turn play of just a land was not looking good for the Humans player. Thibaut swung with the equipped Jitte, killed the Mage and won London Legacy Monthly March!

Congratulations to our Finalist and Winner Steven Wilson and Thibaut Wohrer!

After the finals we had a little chat and came to the conclusion that the Humans deck is probably better staying aggressive against Death and Taxes and keeping the Champion of the Parishs in. Also, don’t forget to bring in your Knight of Autumns against the equipment decks if you are playing this matchup!

Top8 Deck Lists

1st – Thibaut Wohrer

Death and Taxes

2nd – Steven Wilson

Humans

3rd/4th – Claude Schmit

Reanimator

3rd/4th – Phil Richman

Show and Tell

5th – 8th – Jay Richardson

Grixis Delver

5th – 8th – Francis Cowper – Miracles

Miracles

5th – 8th – Tom Brown

Reanimator

5th – 8th – Stuart Schaum

Eldrazi Post

League Standings March

Player Name 1st 2nd 3rd-4th 5th-8th Number of Top8s Total Points 1 Francis Cowper 2 1 1 4 15 2 Niklas Ek 1 1 2 4 13 3 Juan Carlos Jara 1 1 1 3 10 4 Jay Richardson 1 3 4 9 5 Thibaut Wohrer 1 1 2 8 6 Callum Brownson-Smith 1 1 2 7 6 Claude Schmit 1 1 2 7 8 Alex Rea 1 1 2 6 9 Michael Woodleigh 1 1 5 9 Charlie Bridger 1 1 2 5 9 Deng Pan 1 1 2 5 9 George Moulton 1 1 2 5 13 Enrico Selis 1 1 4 13 Mario Espinosa 1 1 4 13 Amar Dattani 1 1 4 13 James Mills 2 2 4 13 Diego Massone 2 2 4 13 Thomas Kellock 2 2 4 13 Marcelo Scantena 2 2 4 13 Josh Brass 1 1 4 13 Steve Wilson 1 1 4 22 Stavros Denaxas 1 1 3 22 Nic Genieis 1 1 3 22 Aston Ramsden 1 1 3 22 Joe Baddeley 1 1 3 22 Artur Malimonov 1 1 3 22 Levi Heinz 1 1 3 22 Will Patey 1 1 3 22 Phil Richman 1 1 3 30 Matthew Johnson 1 1 2 30 Michael Yearby 1 1 2 30 Lauri Achte 1 1 2 30 Rory Smith 1 1 2 30 Tom Hooker 1 1 2 30 Hannah Lissaman 1 1 2 30 Charles Seccombe 1 1 2 30 Tommaso de Michele 1 1 2 30 Ross McKenzie 1 1 2 30 Liam Harvey 1 1 2 30 Tom Brown 1 1 2 30 Stuart Schaum 1 1 2

Francis takes the lead!

Patricks’s Spice Corner

This month I’m featuring Jasper’s Goblin Welder, Painter’s Servant, Grindstone deck. It has a quick combo kill with the Painter and Grindstone effectively milling your opponent for all the cards in their deck as they are the same colour, even off the battlefield. However, it is the numerous synergies and ability to grind that I like even more.

Goblin Welder is a favourite card of mine but due to its fragility in the face of Lighting Bolt and Chalice of the Void, decks built relying on it rarely work. (See Caleb Durwards ‘Daretti Spaghetti’ deck that reanimates artifact fatties like Sundering Titan but really is a turbo Blood Moon deck with a cuter wincon.) Strawberry Shortcake (named after the Red and White cards in the deck) however, forces your opponent to deal with the combo or lose and so Welder has a chance to accrue value throughout the game. The deck also runs two tutor packages, Imperial Recruiter (thankfully a lot cheaper after Eternal Masters) and Enlightened Tutor, both able to find parts of your combo and different answers to the top decks out there. Finally, and possibly my favourite part, is Painter turning all cards Blue and using Pyroblast to create one mana split card Counterspell/Vindicate. Even without the Painter, 6 maindeck blasts is pretty good in a format where 50% of the decks are blue!

Strawberry Shortcake

I asked Jasper for some thoughts on his deck, what he would change and what new cards from War of the Spark are exciting him!

‘One of the nice things about Strawberry Shortcake is that, being a toolbox deck, you get to choose silver bullets to be fetched with Imperial Recruiter and Enlightened Tutor depending on the decks you expect to be facing. For instance, with the current rise of UW Stoneblade, I like having access to a maindeck copy of Phyrexian Revoker. It also helps against Sneak and Show, where your gameplan before sideboarding consists of trying to hold them off getting fatties into play for long enough to beat them down with copters and assorted other dorks. (You can’t combo if they have Emrakul in their deck because of the shuffle clause, although you can exile their graveyard in response to the triggers.) I’ve also been playing with four copies of Goblin Welder—it’s a very powerful card and frequently your best turn 1 play because it insulates you both against discard and Chalice of the Void. It does a lot for the deck beyond just protecting the combo, combining powerfully with Smuggler’s Copter and letting you perform all kinds of tricky manoeuvres.

Speaking of toolboxes, the upcoming printing of Karn, the Great Creator will likely influence how the deck is built. He fetches both parts of the combo, lets you utilise a wishboard including silver bullets like Mycosynth Lattice (a one-card combo with his static ability) and deals with Chalice of the Void by ticking up. He even crews Smuggler’s Copter by himself! I foresee both Strawberry Shortcake and mono-red versions of the deck making extensive use of Karn due to the utility and consistency he adds to the deck.’

Thanks to everyone who came to our event in March.

Then next London Legacy Monthly will be on Sunday the 12th of May. You can get tickets here.

Thomas Kellock

Like and Follow The Library at Pendrell Vale: