| Legacy Madness, on-a-budget | by Paul David Jones on 21/07/2010 | Legacy is by far my favourite format, as Jules Parker once put it, “Nobody gets fed up with ridiculous decks because everybody is playing something ridiculous.” This is a very true of the format, rather than the hyper-competitiveness often found in Standard legacy, at least in my experience, hosts a much more casual environment where instead of playing against the same deck every match, you will face something interesting and new.
After discussing Green Beats in a previous article, the next deck I want to discuss is a deck I’m still currently working on, Legacy Madness. This doesn’t mean doing crazy stuff in legacy, although debatable, but refers instead to the ability originating in Torment. Madness allows cards to be played when they are discarded and for a cheaper cost, this means you can benefit from a card that’s downside is to discard a card, such as Careful Study. I’ve always loved the ability but haven’t really had much of the cards for it. After purchasing a Garruk Vs Liliana box set and getting not only Wild Mongrels but Basking Rootwallas aswell, I took it as a sign to start.
 
Its like drawing a stickman and saying “can you tell what it is yet?”
My initial idea was to combine Madness with threshold, another mechanic from Odyssey block. Threshold gives cards an addition effect once you have 7 or more cards in your graveyard. If I’m discarding all those madness cards then surely I’ll benefit from threshold.
Behold my initial build;
Creatures
2x Aquamoeba
4x Wild Mongrel
1x Brawn
1x Wonder
4x Seton’s Scout
4x Nimble Mongoose
1x Lorescale Coatl
3x Werebear
2x Squee, Goblin Nabob
Land
2x Flooded Grove
2x Forest
3x Island
2x Lonely Sandbar
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Tranquil Thicket
3x Yavimaya Coast
2x Breeding Pool
Spells
4x Brainstorm
4x Circular Logic
4x Daze
4x Careful Study
2x Deep Analysis
Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out as planned, the threshold creatures gave me no way to trigger madness leaving me with a lot of dead cards in hand, not only that but without a way to discard, with a bad hand I’d struggle to hit threshold. As you’ve probably guessed this left me swinging with a 1/1 nimble mongoose, a beat-stick this does not make. I fiddled around with the idea a while trying cards like Mental Note and Hapless Researcher before admitting defeat. Realising finally that the two didn’t work in sync aswell as I’d hoped, I got to work on just one, I chose to keep with the Madness. Now I wasn’t going for threshold I found the cycle lands done nothing but slow me down, so they were dropped first.
The deck then looked somewhat like this;
Creatures
3x Aquamoeba
4x Wild Mongrel
4x Basking Rootwalla
2x Waterfront Bouncer
3x Squee, Goblin Nabob
3x Arrogant Wurm
1x Wonder
Land
5x Forest
6x Island
2x Flooded Grove
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Yavimaya Coast
2x Breeding Pool
Spells
4x Brainstorm
4x Circular Logic
4x Daze
2x Spell Snare
3x Deep Analysis
2x Roar of the Wurm
The deck now played considerably more consistent but still has its faults. Unfortunately it has a higher mana curve than a lot of decks, I found adding the Spell Snares gave the deck something to do turn one. On the flipside however I found without cycle lands I was getting flooded with mana, hitting clump after clump of land, this needed some looking into. The deck can also struggle to get board dominance since there are very few creatures in the deck. As with the previous legacy deck, you have no doubt noticed a significant lack of Tarmogoyf, but I’m trying to keep this bad boy on a budget for all you out there who think legacy is too expensive. The budget at the moment is being pushed up only by the mana base, this is due to cards like Daze and Wonder, which require an Island in play to be of any use. The expensive mana base isn’t necessary but will help the deck run a lot smoother.
 
With artwork this similar you'll find yourself paying 1 life and sacrificing Breeding Pool
But anyway, I was discussing board management. While play testing the deck felt that it was a bit lacking, while the deck worked fine it was like there was still more power that needed to be unleashed. One key aspect is that Daze just isn’t as strong as Force of Will, but Circular Logic always gets the job done, even hard casted its worth the price. The power of Daze comes from its ability to be played for the cost of bouncing an Island rather than paying its mana cost, but as discussed earlier this deck does have a higher mana curve. Daze can, unfortunately, disrupt the flow and sometimes set you back a turn.
 
Just say NO! The kids at Grange Hill clearly played blue.
Yet again I strained from the point of board management, lets get back on track. The deck runs very few creatures and inasmuch can be overwhelmed by other aggro decks, to help deal with this I added Waterfront Bouncer. I must admit I had my doubts about this guy so I only put 2 in, but he really does the job, and impresses me more each time I see him. My doubts stemmed from the fact this dude is a 1/1 (that tends to mean he’s killed by a bad cough), against zoo he would be easily burnt out. The upside is that I do have counterspells, and not to mention he can bounce himself or his chums to avoid that nasty removal. He also seems like a bit of a game ender for the likes of resurrection.
 
Tap: Make opponent cry
The Bouncer is strong, but I wasn’t convinced he was enough to control the field. I needed something more, a couple more dudes to put the pressure on my opponent may help. I went back to work and came out with this;
Artifacts
2x Powder Keg
Creatures
3x Aquamoeba
4x Wild Mongrel
2x Looter il-Kor
4x Basking Rootwalla
3x Waterfront Bouncer
2x Arrogant Wurm
2x Wonder
3x Squee, Goblin Nabob
Land
3x Forest
4x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Yavimaya Coast
2x Breeding Pool
Spells
4x Brainstorm
4x Circular Logic
4x Daze
3x Deep Analysis
1x Roar of the Wurm
Play testing reminded me that whilst Squee is one heck of a dude to throw away, he is also one of the best chump blockers of all time, he can come back every turn to jump in front of your opponents Goyf while Wonder allows your flyers to beat face unblocked. After regretting the inability to play Squee I decided to add a singleton mountain to the deck since non-basics are brittle in this format. Its important to remember that while you may put a card into a deck for one purpose, it may also serve another, a good example being Faerie Macabre, sure it ruins graveyards but with black mana it can also beat your opponent to death.
 
Sure we see a lot of play, but nobody actually PLAYS us
Another important addition to the deck was Powder Keg, this allows strong board control, with tokens or something like chalice of the void it won’t even need counters, and then consider the devastating effect it can have on artifact land. Powder Keg isn’t a cheap card, but I managed to pick mine up for a mere £2 from magic madhouse. Powder Keg provides the board management the deck was missing originally while Arrogant Wurm and Roar of the Wurm provide large beat sticks to keep up with hefty stompies. In addition the Looter Il-Kor assists in siphoning through the library while triggering madness and nibbling at your opponents knees. 1/1 creatures are usually pretty lame when it comes to dishing out the damage, but that is generally a bi-product of Monsieur Il-Kor, he’s more of a utility dude. Fortunately, your counterspells will slow thy opponent and allow you to get away with such trickery.
 
Its commonly referred to as Pwned
The deck had improved, less clumping and more answers. There is still the question of whether Spell Snare should sneak its way back in, but, like every deck, it still needs a bit of work. Tweaking Legacy can be a long and complicated process as there are so many options open to players, choices that seem almost pointless can be tough, such as deciding between Repeal or Echoing Truth. In the long run its of little consequence, they’re both great cards and either will get the job done, its just each suit certain situations more. Due to the large expanse of cards available in legacy, its hard to predict what you’ll be playing against.
So for all you crazy cats out there to scared to give Legacy the time of day, why not try out some madness, play around and tweak it to your own tastes. There are a lot of things you can try, just find something you’ve always wanted to play and make it work. I started with a quote from Judge Jules and I’ll finish with one too, “The best thing about Legacy is that you aren’t restricted to a couple of sets, you can build anything that comes to mind and you’ll have access to cards that’ll support it”. So, happy building Rogues, I'll see you at the next Legacy event.
Russ Davies
26/07/2010 | Nice article, bit of nostalgia for me, as I used to play UG madness back when I first started playing.
Funny how similar the decklist is - but I think the Looter Il Kor would be amazing in any non-aggro matchup, allowing you to cycle through the deck, deploy cheap threats... it's essentially an unblockable ophidian. Awesomes. | Julian D Parker
23/08/2010 | Well, I think you've proved yourself absolutely on the ball here. The new 'madness vengevine' deck was the only NEW deck at Grand Prix Columbus, Caleb Durward piloting the first build to a top 8: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=34505
...and the deck was joint winner of the UK 'LEGACY 66'; my report is on http://www.manascrew.co.uk/comment.aspx?articleID=290 | Robert C Wagner
25/08/2010 | Well, yes and no. Survival of the Fittest, Fauna Shaman and Vengevine are the real reasons this deck is doing anything right now. |
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The Week Ahead
Tuesday - Casual, EDH & more at West Coast Gamers (7:15pm)
Wednesday - FNM at The Gaming Crypt (7pm)
Friday - Standard FNM at Cleator Gaming Club (7pm)
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