Lately it’s become an almost nightly ritual for me to unwind by watching ancient Legacy matches on Youtube. And while the Saturday Challenge does start at 5am my time, I was not about to skip this important activity. So late on Friday night, I was curled up watching GP Prague 2016, round 7, Death & Taxes against Shardless BUG. Watching Enevoldson duck and dodge, weaving circles around these BUG value decks inspired me to take my own dumb no-cantrip toolboxy pile of cards and see if I couldn’t destroy some blue mages myself. Since you’re reading this and no one writes reports for 0-3… you can probably imagine that I was somewhat successful.

Decklist

The Lands community has been sort of torn lately on how many Sagas to play. Some are on just 1 for utility, some on 4 and a pile of artifacts. Personally I’m not on the full 4 since you can quickly run out of meaningful targets and your mana gets unstable as they kill themselves. But still, the upside of producing blockers/threats and having access to a whole new toolbox has been very powerful. When you consider that via Expedition Map each Saga is essentially a very slow crop rotation, then you could say this build is running a virtual 8 land-tutoring effects. That makes assembling Lage against Delver very easy, and on top of that you get access to Needle which can stop opposing Wastelands or Vials or Knights. So I landed on 3 Saga as my final number.

The downside of Saga is that you have to commit a lot of slots to it, and that usually means you end up playing less Rishadan Port, which is very sad because the card is super cool. But it’s also not at its best right now in my opinion. In this list the singleton Port is essentially Wasteland #5, could be something else if need be.

As for other notes, the spells are pretty much just all the normal spells you’d play – perhaps 4 Valakut Exploration is a bit more than some but the card is an absolute powerhouse against everything non-combo, so I was sold on it. 3 Maze is a concession to the fact that you want t1 answers to Ragavan, as well as answers to Murktide Regent. If I were making any changes to the list, I might cut the Spellbomb for a Retrofitter Foundry since an extra Maze covers creatures well and it would be nice to have a more real threat to get with Saga. I’m not playing Reclaimer because although the card is amazing, without it I can trade up against all creature interaction and still have a ton of blockers, threats, and selection thanks to Saga.

The sideboard is also pretty stock at this point. You got your Blasts, your artifact and enchantment hate, your GY hate, and your Spheres. Choke is taking up the 2 flex spots and that’s because, well, the card wins games. Given how little combo there is lately, however, it may make sense to just not play all those Spheres and find some more interesting or flexible tools.

With all that said, let’s get to it!

Tournament

ROUND 1 – Jeskai Delver

G1

I mull to 6 OTD and my opening hand has Diamond, Exploration, Valakut Exploration, Stage, Depths, and Karakas. Against Delver this hand is just a slam dunk; can make Lage on turn 2, has Karakas for Ragavan, and can follow up with Valakut Exploration if those plans fall apart. It just needs to draw a land and it should be good to go.

I draw the land, and my Karakas draws out their Wasteland since they want to make their monkey work. I make Lage pretty soon thereafter and the monkey doesn’t get to do anything.

G2

In the second game my hand is a bit slower but we’ve got Diamond, Punishing Fire, Grove, Endurance, Stage, Wasteland, and Pyrite Spellbomb. Lots of interaction on all fronts, and this hand sets up a lot of great topdecks since Loam can wastelock them and any of our virtual 11 Dark Depths can help call Marit Lage.

Should be great but my opponent shows me white mana for the first time when they Prismatic Ending my Diamond and then Waste my Grove. Suddenly I’m on just a Wasteland as my mana source, not feeling too good.

So I Waste them back but a few turns later they drop a giant dragon on my face. Still, I’m able to play a Map and find a Maze to stem the bleeding, and Punishing Fire helps deal with a little baby DRC as I buy enough turns to get my mana under me. Their next DRC gets ambushed by my Endurance and now it’s Dragon vs Maze & Endurance, but I’m the one with a Valakut Exploration on the table.

Valakut Exploration leads to OG Exploration leads to Choke leads to Crop Rotation for Marit Lage and the game is over.

1-0

ROUND 2 – UR Delver

My last opponent I was able to look up and know they were on Delver from the get-go. This time, however, my opponent is more inscrutable, and it looks like they usually play Aluren? Which is not an ideal matchup for me.

But it turns out they’re actually playing Delver so that’s great.

G1

Keep a 6 on OTD that is pretty slow, with just Saga, Blast Zone, Waterlogged Grove, Punishing Fire, Crop Rotation, and Pyrite Spellbomb. I can’t even use 2 of my spells and the only green source I have will cost me life but it’s more or less ok I guess…

My opponent leads on Ragavan, I lead on the Exploration I just drew, but it gets Dazed. The next few turns see my opponent get a lot of treasures and play out a Delver against my motley collection of lands like Saga. Lucky for me, Delver decks are super soft to Blast Zone these days so I rotate for Zone, saccing the Saga with its final chapter on the stack. Blast Zone mops up their board and next turn they scoop to my Life from the Loam since they see I’m about to get back Saga and Blast Zone. Seems slightly hasty but I’m not complaining. Delver has been low on Force of Negation these days and that leave them with zero answers to the Loam engine MD. Without any threats on the table maybe they felt it just wasn’t worth the time.

G2

My opening hand has the combo, a forest, Loam, Map, and two red cards (Punishing Fire and Pyroblast). Forest is good since it’s basic, bad since it means I can’t cast these spells.

I lead on map and figure I’ll just sorta assemble the combo and try to go from there. My opponent plays DRC and a Wasteland to make my life difficult, so I figure I should be more defensive. I tutor up Grove and start going to work on their threats. Murktide takes off Delirium for DRC so I tag it with Pfire and then Pyroblast the dragon. When the dust settles it’s their two Volcs and an Island to my Taiga, Grove, Stage, and Forest, me with Loam, Saga, and Depths in hand, though they did Surgical my Pfires.

They find another threat in Delver, while I’m doing silly things like copying their Wasteland to bait it out. Soon their board is full again with two Delvers and a Channeler. But I manage to fade the lethal Delver flip and trade a construct for a baby Delver when it attacks. Next turn I make Lage (baiting Wasteland may have been silly but it did the job). They can’t find the Bolt they need to finish the job and Lage takes us home to the icy depths.

2-0

ROUND 3 – Jeskai Standstill

These games were long slog fests, since that’s the kind of game Standstill generates. That said, Standstill the card is probably at its absolute worst against Lands, so I can’t complain too much.

G1

OTD again, keep a 6 with no acceleration. It does have Crop Rotation, Saga, Loam, and Blast Zone, along with the mana to make these things work, though.

My opponent just slams a turn 2 Standstill and I’m internally quite happy, especially since they don’t immediately follow it up with Saga. Instead, my Saga is able to do some work and I make a couple constructs.

They do eventually find their Saga though, and theirs is slightly better since it can find Retrofitter Foundry and crack open the Saga mirror. I find Map with mine since I didn’t want to Needle something that wasn’t even in play, but in retrospect needling Foundry probably the better play. I follow up this misplay with another when I refuse to pop my Blast Zone to kill their Foundry, instead using my mana to go find Dark Depths with my Map.

That enables me to make Lage the next turn, but Foundry is a pretty good answer to Lage and I’m bleeding life against a big construct and some servos.

Eventually I do get around to breaking my Blast Zone, and they break their own Standstill to Stifle the ability. Things are looking pretty dire as their army just keeps growing; I Rotate for the Maze that will save my life… but my opponent, who hasn’t cast a spell for several turns, has some countermagic. Go figure.

G2

It’s ok, I tell myself. Let’s just slam some Chokes and make this easy. My opener doesn’t have Choke but it does have Field, Saga, and Wasteland, along with all my colors, a Pyroblast, and a Crop Rotation. Seems solid, let’s do this.

We trade resources a bit in the early game and I get a Saga going and even do the Stage thing where you copy it and make an eternal robot factory. There’s also a Depths in my hand, though they have Karakas to hold it back.

A few turns pass (making a robot factory takes a long time) and eventually they get their own Saga and drop a Standstill on me. I’m a little surprised, since I have Blast Zone for any Foundry, an eternal Saga, and a Field that is close to making Zombies. They can Needle one of those things but not all of them…

Soon enough they’re forced to pop their own Standstill and draw me into Choke. While they can apply pressure at that moment, I am able to stabilize thanks to Choke and my own robot factory (though my dumb butt made it a Volcanic Island earlier so now it gets hosed by my own Choke).

With Choke in play they are very low on resources and my Field is coming online. Things are dicey for a second when they play a Murktide, but I have the Waste for their Karakas, Rotation for a Maze, and the Depths to make a Lage.

G3

My hand is Stage, green lands, Endurance, Map, Exploration, and Blast Zone (which is kind of becoming the MVP of this tournament now that I think about it). Seems fine – we can accelerate and find whatever land we need to shore up the situation until we draw a real engine piece.

My opponent starts off a bit slow and takes the aggressive line of Forcing my Map. They do follow that up with a Saga, so I guess they just didn’t want to get Wasted. I’ve drawn a Force of Vigor, however, so I copy their Saga with my Stage and let them do their construct thing while I just develop my mana.

Force of Vigor ends up tagging the Needle they got and one of their robots, and I’m sitting on my stage-saga and a pile of lands, with Endurance and Punishing Fire in hand. Meanwhile they’ve got a 1/1 construct and a couple Jeskai duals on their side of things. Things are looking good.

But then I get a bit greedy and toss my Endurance into a Daze. Then they Stifle my Stage when I try to turn it into a regular land. THEN they play True-Name Nemesis. In Magic, as in life, things sure can change fast.

That Blast Zone from the opener trades with their Nemesis and I find another Saga, a regular one this time. My opponent Stifles its ability to make robots. Stifle put in a lot of work for them, kind of impressive. But I draw into Choke and then a second Saga, and then finally find Loam.

With Loam and two Explorations, and my opponent with only three forever-tapped lands, the party is over before Lage even shows up.

3-0

ROUND 4 – GW Depths

GW Depths is a matchup I used to be very scared of. Now, having played it a lot more and with 4 Valakut Exploration in the deck, I think it’s pretty manageable. I’m hesitant to say either side is truly favored, but it no longer feels like I’m always fighting to survive. Saga also helps a lot since Needle is an ace in this matchup.

That said, the matchup can be massively complicated and your gameplan can change frequently based on the boardstate. My opponent was no slouch either so I did not have an easy time of it.

G1

We’re on the play, and our opener is just a massive slam dunk for this matchup. Mox Diamond, Exploration, Valakut Exploration, and then Stage, Saga, Wasteland, and Grove. Give me a Loam and the game may as well already be over.

I slam VE on turn two and just start dropping lands all over the place while roaring through my deck. Add a few constructs to the mix and suddenly the chip damage from VE is starting to look pretty real. My opponent is gaining a little traction with a Knight and their Reclaimer. But their life total is quite low at this point and I’m able to make 3 landfall triggers in one turn to wrap things up.

Ok, let’s just do that again please!

G2

My hand this time is a little slower, but it has good tools. Diamond can get us on the table fast enough, and we have Loam, Stage, and Maze so we shouldn’t just die too fast.

My opponent, however, has a turn 2 Knight thanks to GSZ for Dryad Arbor. Knight is probably the best creature against Lands and I can’t find my Valakut Exploration (or even just regular Exploration). They use their Knight to get together the combo pieces, and while I have a Maze, a Ghost Quarter, and a lot of Stages, I don’t have much else.

Here’s a Depths puzzle for you. You’re my opponent – win next turn without casting a spell.

My opponent saw the line and masterfully maneuvered through several layers of interaction where they Waste my Ghost Quarter, so I Ghost Quarter their Stage, so they Fetch a Depths and copy it, so I copy their Depths, so they copy their Depths with the second Stage…

Well played, opponent. I lose.

G3

Force of Vigor is a very mean card that only Lands players should be allowed to play, that was my big takeaway from this game. My hand is solid but my opponent has an early Force of Vigor to hit my Valakut Exploration and Diamond. Then they have Endurance for my Loam and follow it up with Sylvan Library. I struggle for a while but the game is essentially over.

3-1

ROUND 5 – UR Delver

Ok, Delver again. Thank god, this time I won’t have to think so much.

G1

My opener is another greatest hit – Exploration, Loam, Valakut Exploration, plus Grove, Stage, Wasteland, and Tabernacle. I snap it off, regretting only that I’m on the draw so their Daze is live against my Exploration.

They lead on DRC and do in fact Daze my Exploration. Next turn they replay the land and cast Ponder. I draw a Crop Rotation for my turn and take a pretty risky line where I rotate my land for a Wasteland. This line is pretty bad against any countermagic, but if it resolves I get to Waste their land and play Tabernacle to kill their lil’ angry person.

We dodge the countermagic and DRC is too angry to pay their tithe so it dies. They don’t seem to have much in the way of further creatures so I just cast my Loam, figure I’ll get things going a bit. They Force of Will it, and I’m a bit confused until they follow up with Wasteland on my only green source. Nice move opponent.

But they don’t have any threats to follow it up, and another green source shows up pretty soon thereafter. From there it’s only a couple turns until we resolve Valakut Exploration against their empty board and they scoop.

G2

On the draw and both players mull to 5. Usually this favors the Lands player since they have a lot of catchup mechanisms like Loam and they can also win with just a pair of the right pair of lands.

In this case, my final 5 is Endurance, Exploration, Saga, Forest, and Wasteland. They have the t1 DRC, and the Daze for my Exploration (maybe jamming it early wasn’t right in this context). Then they land a second DRC and things are looking a little shaky. But I find a second green source and a second Endurance. My first one gets hit with Unholy Heat, but it still makes their girls into 1/1s. The second eats a force and now my opponent is on no cards.

Meanwhile, I’ve still been playing lands, including a Depths and a Saga, which is now creating a blocker. They attack into it and bolt me in combat, trying to surveil their way into lethal delirium, but they can’t get there and my construct eats a Channeler.

Next turn, my Saga dies into a Map which dies into a Stage which dies into Marit Lage. My opponent has zero cards in hand and I’m at 2 life. Their first draw finds them Expressive Iteration which turns on Delirium, but doesn’t find a burn spell. DRC has to attack into my 20/20 and it dies. My opponent follows her into the underworld, like poor Orpheus pursuing his lost Eurydice.

4-1

ROUND 6 – Moon Stompy

Moon stompy is a weird matchup. Lands is basically just dead to a Blood Moon in g1, especially a build like mine without Reclaimers. Games 2 and 3, however, seem to be all about getting your opponent to help you make Marit Lage. Or, if they don’t play a moon, you can almost always just outvalue them since they will spew a ton of cards to set up an early threat, and we have the acceleration to keep up (plus we can always just make Lage the normal way).

G1

Fairly confident my opponent knew what I was on (pretty easy to find out if you have the patience to type my incomprehensible screenname into Google). They mull to 5, make a t1 Moon, and while I make a show of trying to burn them out with Valakut Exploration, we both knew it wasn’t gonna happen.

G2

My hand has Diamond, Exploration, Loam, Valakut Exploration, Stage, Wasteland, and Saga. My opponent is on 5 cards again. I can’t answer a moon effect but the hand is so good if they don’t have a moon that I keep it anyway.

They don’t have a moon. I Waste every land they play for a few turns (the new Den of the Bugbear they play means they have a lot of nonbasics) and am about to make Marit Lage.

Unfortunately, they land a Magus of the Moon just in the nick of time. Fortunately, I draw Punishing Fire myself. I kill their Magus and Lage emerges from the moon this time instead of her usual icy prison.

G3

My opener once again cannot answer Blood Moon. Their opener can do nothing except make a Blood Moon as they go from 6 cards to 0 on turn one just moon me. Rude.

But the game isn’t over and I have a ton of turns to dig through my deck for Force of Vigor and, hopefully, Dark Depths. That’s essentially what happens as they keep playing lands and lock pieces while I find a Depths and a Force of Vigor to go with it a few turns later.

5-1

ROUND 7 – Elves

Elves is a very interesting matchup. It usually ends up being a race to the combo, and we have a lot more tutors for our pieces than theirs, at least in my experience. The matchup is a lot easier if you have Glacial Chasm and to be honest I almost registered one (I lost a win-and-in to Elves in the last Challenge and was feeling sour). I was kicking myself a little for that, and was also a bit nervous since I knew my opponent was a master of the archetype and had actually tested the matchup with him before where he stomped me thoroughly. But there was nothing to do about it now, so I just took a deep breath and said a little prayer to Mama Lage for luck.

G1

I’m on the play and my hand has Exploration, Stage, and a green source, among other things. That puts me at 7 topdecks that can make a t2 20/20. Lage answers my prayers – the top card of my deck is Dark Depths.

G2

My hand is an interesting one and I almost mulligan. It’s Loam, Waterlogged Grove, Map, Saga, Diamond, Valakut Exploration, and Tabernacle. Tabernacle is a monster in this matchup, but we have no combo pieces and the engines we have are slow. If my opponent has even just a Cradle, they can blank Tabernacle and go nuts on us. Still, I keep, reasoning that Tabernacle will buy us some time and we do have Map so that is sort of a combo piece in a way.

I get a little lucky and my opponent does not have Cradle. They develop slowly, and though they are able to start applying a little pressure, I’m also able to draw a Stage. Unfortunately, there’s a Collector Ouphe jamming up my colored mana and my Map, so I can’t really do much with all this.

They’re chipping in, and eventually I find Blast Zone to kill their Ouphe (told you that card was the MVP). They have white mana, but they have to use it to pay the tithe, so I can go for Lage pretty safely.

6-1 and locked for top 8

QUARTERFINALS – GW Depths

I had never top 8’d a Challenge before and it’s been a goal of mine for a while now, so this was a dream come true. Still, I didn’t want to get into the whole ‘happy to be here’ mindset – why stop at top 8 when we could win the whole thing? So I focused in and resolved to make more Marit Lages than anyone has ever even dreamed of.

In the quarters I came across the same opponent that had given me my loss in the Swiss. A little spooky but it also gave me a chance to redeem myself.

G1

I’m on the draw with 6 cards: Diamond, Pfire, Tabernacle, Map, VE, and Bog. Not amazing but if we can find some lands maybe we can set up VE and go from there.

My opponent seems to be moving slow, with nothing but a t2 Library. They pay 8, cast Reclaimer. I kill it with fire. They pay another 4, cast Sylvan Safekeeper. I play VE, and have another in hand.

At this point my opponent is low enough (7) and has little enough pressure that my plan is just to burn them out with my Valakut Explorations. I need to avoid dying to the combo and try to get as much landfall as possible but also my deck is a giant pile of answers to the combo and ways to get landfall triggers so… we get there.

G2

My opponent is on a mull to 5 and I’m on a medium 7 with Grove, Saga, Spellbomb, Force of Vigor, Exploration, Pfire, and Endurance. Not exciting but more or less fine I guess.

We trade resources a bit and they go to 0 cards to play Ramunap Excavator, a card I truly do not like to play against. Luckily I’m able to kill it with my two burn spells together, but not before I get wasted into oblivion. So now my only mana sources are a Diamond and a Saga with 2 chapters on it. I draw a land for the turn, float mana with Saga, find Diamond, and cast my Endurance just to have a creature to pressure them and hopefully take the game home in a few turns.

Unfortunately they draw PE to kill and then a Sylvan Library to get them back in this. I’ve got just a Crop Rotation and a dinky little Rishadan Port.

Another brain teaser – we just sacced Port, what would you get?

I thought that since they’re at 15 with only 1 card, I don’t want to let them go hard with Library. So I rotated for Saga in their end step, figuring I could make a couple robots that would be quite large and kill them pretty quick. The other play was to hope to find a land or else pitch my whole hand to cast Force of Vigor on their Library.

I’m not sure I did the right thing, but I did it. Unfortunately, their 1 card was a Crop Rotation too, and they Wasted my Saga before it could even make mana. From there I was too far away from casting Force of Vigor in time and they took over the game with an army of Elvish Reclaimers.

G3

So we’re on to game 3, but at least I’m on the play this time. My hand is Diamond, Exploration, Loam, Needle, Map, Karakas, and Bog. Needs to draw some lands but we have Loam and Exploration, that’s what we play this deck to do. Let’s go!

My opponent hits my Diamond with Prismatic Ending and I have no colored mana. I end up having to crack my Map for a fetchland but a few turns later we’re under way again, and they’ve done nothing but make land drops and End my Exploration in the meantime.

Unfortunately, when I finally go to Loam back my fetch so I can get red and cast the Valakut Exploration I drew… they have an evoked Endurance for my graveyard. And then they rotate for Bog to tag the Loam as well! That’s a lot of resources from them though and when all is said and done they’re on three lands and two cards, while I’m on 4 lands (Waste, Karakas, Forest, and Bog), staring at the two VE in my hand and dreaming of red mana.

We play draw-go for a while but I eventually do find red mana. They find an elf, but I Needle it. I play out both my Valakut Explorations and get to enough mana to cast double Punishing Fire. Since Endurance has mopped up their graveyard, this means they can’t really land a creature that’ll stick.

While they have FoV for my Valakuts, I’m able to keep the board clear. They’re 6 minutes below me on clock and getting into the red as the turns tick by and I keep killing the creatures they play. Their only way to win from here seems to be finding the Depths to go with their Stage. I port their Stage each turn to hold it off, and like I said, my deck is a pile of answers to that combo. They concede with 30 seconds on their clock after I’ve found more Valakut Explorations and am pretty firmly in the drivers seat.

7-1

SEMIFINALS – Eldrazi Post

G1

With no idea what my opponent is on, I mull to 6 and keep a reasonable Loam, Diamond, Stage, Needle, Depths, Grove. Needs a land to make a turn 3 Lage, and can do it through Wasteland thanks to Needle. If you’re wondering why there are so many mulligans in this report, Lands mulls a lot but it also mulls pretty well, as this hand shows.

My opponent leads on Eldrazi Temple and I am ecstatic. Anything can happen, of course, but Eldrazi is usually quite easy for Lands. I summon the Witch on schedule and win.

G2

Another 6, this time with Pfire, Grove, Maze, Diamond, Stage, and Valakut Exploration. This is a hand that should do fine against Eldrazi Stompy. Turns out my opponent was on Eldrazi Post (didn’t see any of those posts in g1, though maybe the Cascading Cataracts should have clued me in?).

They have a Chalice on 1, and TKS follows soon after. I’m trying to set up the combo here but it’s taking some time as I have to wait for a Saga to get a Map and then sac that and the whole thing. By the time I get there it’s been telegraphed for ages. My opponent plays a Karakas and their Chalice stops my Crop Rotation from answering it. I lose to TKS beats.

G3

On the play my opener has Exploration, Force of Vigor, Depths, Blast Zone, Maze, and Saga. Another hand that will Saga into the combo if you want it to. I play Exploration and Saga, getting myself set up. My opponent plays multiple ancient tombs and a Grim Monolith over the next turn, which leads to Karn and an Ensaring Bridge. I am too vigorous for Bridges, however. What’s more, a strange twist of fate causes the baddest robot in the multiverse to be murdered by one of Urza’s lil’ ol’ constructs.

At this point I’ve got two 3/3 constructs and my opponent is at 14 from their own Tombs. They go to 12 to cast a Spyglass naming Stage (there is a Depths and a Map on the table, after all). But even if Marit Lage isn’t invited, the constructs know how to party without her, and take the game home in a couple attacks.

8-1

FINALS – Jeskai Delverless

I knew I’d be playing against either this or Doomsday in the finals and was really hoping it wouldn’t be Doomsday. I’m essentially never going to win against a practiced Doomsday pilot and Kai is much more than just practiced. So when it was another fair blue deck that got through to me, I figured I might actually have a shot.

That said, I must confess that I often feel a little lost playing against these Jeskai piles. I don’t really know what to expect – are they on DRC? Do they play Swords or is it just Prismatic Endings and Bolts? Do they have Force of Negation? Wasteland? Who knows anymore?? If you have any advice on this please let me know.

G1

I’m on the play and I mull to 6 keeping three lands, Exploration, and two Valakut Exploration. I feel like I just cannot lose, if even one of these VEs sticks I will just run away with it.

My Exploration resolves, and on turn 2 I jam VE into a possible Daze, thinking I have a second one anyway and I want to get on the table. They have the Daze. Next turn I can’t really play around Daze because I only have 3 mana available. And they can’t have the second Daze, can they?

They do. I’m dead in the water after that and don’t draw anything particularly relevant while some monkeys and a True Name kill me.

G2

My hand is Ghost Quarter, Port, Wasteland, Saga, Taiga, Diamond, Needle. Not super exciting but the mana denial can buy us a lot of turns and we have Saga for a threat and selection.

My opponent, however, has an early monkey that I can’t really interact with right away. Saga promises to make some blockers, but they have Alpine Moon to get rid of it.

When True Name joins the unanswered monkey, I fall to the JMML plan – Just Make Marit Lage. I’m doing ok on that front – I have all the combo pieces and just need the turns to play them and activate. Unfortunately, my opponent flips a Crop Rotation with their Ragavan and rotates for a Wasteland. That’s one more turn it’s gonna take me, and probably the last turn I can afford, even if they don’t have any burn spells. Next turn their monkey steals a Loam, so they get back their Wasteland and do it again. I can’t make Lage in time now and I die as my old Nemesis and a new one join forces to crush me. Feels a bit bad to go out on a monkey-stealing story but so it goes, the card is good.

8-2 for 2nd place

As someone who just picked up Lands in January last year, I was overjoyed to have made it as far as the finals of a Legacy Challenge. I’ve done well at local events, but up to now had only middling results in these Challenges, and to finally break the top 8 and even make the finals felt like a vindication of all the time I spent on this silly deck. Big ups to the whole Legacy and Lands community and in particular to Jarvis Yu, whose coaching helped me a lot and made me realize that I actually do want to do well in these events.

If you’re looking to pick up the deck, be assured that while you may lose in the finals of an event to some bad monkey beats, you will crush fair blue decks most of the time. In fact given the current meta, with there being only one real combo deck in Doomsday, Lands feels very well-positioned. It’s a prison-control-combo-aggro deck that can kill on turn 2 and plays several tutors and insane value engines in Loam and Valakut Exploration. What’s not to like?

I hope you enjoyed this report as much as I enjoyed the event. Until next time, may Lage preserve us.