My Deck Choice: “Classic” RG LANDS in 2023

I play a lot of Lands online and offline in my local meta in Baden-Württemberg. With Alexander and Tobi I have some excellent Lands players here,  who almost always enter tournaments with a different variant of Lands. We talk a lot about versions and new cards, and I would say that I am the classic enthusiast among us.

I have a preference for consistency and especially for the classic Punishing Fire in Lands. I believe that Punishing Fire is still very strong in the current meta and serves as an additional card advantage engine of RG Lands. While playing a lot on MTGO, I noticed that Lands often encounters a kind of “business problem.” You have an explosive start, both you and your opponent trade resources, and now you need business from the top to win the game. But what are our business spells? Life from the Loam, Crop Rotation, Urza’s Saga, and then there’s Punishing Fire. For me, Punishing Fire is not just a removal spell. It is an engine that almost every fair deck must respect and, if possible, prevent. If I give up Punishing Fire in my deck, it must be clear that I am giving up a winning engine and also my chance to draw “business” from the top.

Why then why double Bolt?

Where Punishing Fire fails, Bolt wins

I have come to the conclusion that I need 3-4 removal spells in the current meta. The increased use of Stoneforge Mystic in combination with the more aggressive play of UR Delver AND the increased occurrence of Minsc & Boo has led me to desire more removal. It provides early interaction with the opponent, and in my local meta, there is a relatively high amount of Opposition Agent and Dauthi being played. The additional removal spells also come in handy against the increased presence of Magus of the Moon. After testing with 3 Punishing Fire, I ultimately decided to include double Bolt in the main deck. The two removal spells complement each other very well. The disadvantage of Punishing Fire is higher mana cost and UR Delver’s Dragon Rage Channeler, but it is still the winning engine mentioned earlier that I definitely want to keep. Hence the split of 2/2. Depending on the meta, 1 Bolt and 2 Punishing Fire could also be a great option at any time.

The Tournament

Round 1: Free Win

My opponent did not enter the game after 15 minutes, and I automatically won.

Round 2: Mystic Forge

I had played against this opponent several times in leagues, and I was hoping that he would play UR Delver. Unfortunately, it turned out to be Mystic Forge, a terrible matchup for me.

Game 1 on the draw:

Great hand, fast token and reactive play possible. I decided to put my opponent in a Wasteland/Boseiju lock, and I succeeded. 

 Game 2 on the draw:

Normally, in this match, I would be looking for a Force of Vigor, but my hand seemed so strong that I kept it. Unfortunately, I was punished with a turn 3 win by my opponent, going through various Wastelands.

Game 3 on the play:

A super strong dream hand. However, it was a very dangerous game. I managed to take away my opponent’s Urza’s Saga and The Key on turn 2, but the opponent managed to cast Echo of Eons twice. Luckily for me, those were not particularly good for them, and with two big Constructs and an open Pyroblast, I won through the last Echo of eons.

Round 3 against RUG Delver (only Minsc Splash):

I didn’t know anything about this opponent, so I went into the game blind.

Game 1 on the play:

After two mulligans, I ended up with the following starting hand. Not a particularly strong hand, but sometimes you have to have it work. After my opponent flipped a Delver relatively quickly, I was out of the game after two blank draws and a Wasteland on Urza’s Saga.

Game 2 on the play:

This hand was great, and the game went perfectly. All my spells resolved, and after my opponent started with a basic Island, I decided to Ghost Quarter them and then play Loam. The Surgical Extraction played on my Loam afterwards turned this game into a grind. After I took out some of my opponent’s creatures with Blast Zone, Urza’s Saga from the top won the game with two big tokens plus Shadowspear. On to game 3 =)

Game 3 on the draw:

Again, in game 3, I kept a solid hand against Delver. I drew Loam directly from the top and after the first Wasteland + Ghost Quarter play, my opponent had 1 land and a Delver on the field. I drew a second Mox Diamond and played a Loam on Ghost Quarter, Wasteland, and Boseiju. It got dazed, and then I could play my Tabernacle, and the Delver was sacrificed. After that, my opponent couldn’t really get back into the game, and I won my Round 3.

Round 4 against Reanimator:

Another unknown opponent, as MTGGoldfish didn’t show any previous Legacy tournaments for them.

Game 1 on the draw:

I kept this hand, which is great against any fair deck but bad against unfair decks. Unfortunately, it was Reanimator this time. I won the game after my opponent couldn’t put any creatures into the graveyard with two Faithless Lootings. I simply played a Crop Rotation on Urza’s Saga (unfortunately, I had drawn Bojuka Bog naturally and had it in my hand) and followed it up with Soul-Guide Lantern. Winning game 1 against Reanimator is always nice =)

Game 2 on the draw:

Great hand against Reanimator, and the game played out accordingly. After a turn 1 discard on my Surgical Extraction, I was able to play Saga and Thran Foundry on my turn 1. I prayed that my opponent wouldn’t reanimate on turn 2. He didn’t and I won shortly after.

Round 5 Grixis Delver

Great opponent, their MTGGoldfish entries indicated a lot of Magic experience in general, and particularly with Delver in Legacy.

Game 1 on the play:

Great hand. Loam, Mox, Exploration, 3 lands. What more could you ask for? On my first turn, I played almost my entire hand and decided to put the Needle on Wasteland. On turn 2, instead of playing my Loam, I chose to make an Urza’s Saga token. Then, during my main phase with the second token and all the Urza’s Saga artifacts, it became a 6/6 and I easily won the game.

Game 2 on the draw:

With an unexciting hand, I decided to play it out. After an early Daze on my Punishing Fire and a turn 2 Meltdown on my Mox, the game was already on the edge. My drawn Loam got countered with a Force of Negation which put me in a tighter spot. My hand consisted of Crop Rotation and Bolt. I topdecked Depths and, with a Crop on Yavimaya, I created a 20/20 token. My opponent couldn’t deal with it, and I won. In hindsight, I should have searched for my Ancient Tomb instead, as it would have protected me from Submerge. You live and learn. On to round 6!

Round 6 against 8Cast

Arriving at round 6, my opponent’s MTGGoldfish entries already hinted at 8Cast. So I mentally prepared for it, and MTGGoldfish turned out to be right. It was going to be the best Bo3 of the evening.

Game 1 on the play:

Great hand against 8Cast. Karakas for Emry, Pithing Needle, and Pfire Engine. The only thing missing would be Mox or Exploration, but you can’t have everything. After handling my opponent’s Emry with Pithing Needle and ghost quartering their Urza’s Saga, unfortunately, the hand fell to a turn 2 Kappa. No problem, on to sideboarding.

Game 2 on the play:

Another solid hand without fast mana but strong nonetheless, especially with Karakas. After dealing with his turn 1 Emry using Karakas, I blasted his Thoughtcast, and the game was over thanks to my Wasteland lock and the Forge of Vigor from the top.

Game 3 on the draw:

Great hand, everything a heart desires. Especially the game-winning Tower, as we’ll see soon. After some back and forth and resource trading, I put myself in a position to create a token and swung for 20. However, I had to be cautious and play around Aether Spellbomb. In the first turn I could’ve created the token, he drew and played it immediately. But now, my MVP of the game, the Tower of the Magistrate, came into play. In my turn, I created the token , protected it with the Tower and just swung for lethal, simply wonderful.

Round 7 against Thalai on UWR Control

Thalai was an unknown name to me on Mtgo until this evening. Afterwards, I found out that it was Javier Domínguez, our 2018 World Champion. It was an honor to play against him, for sure.

Game 1 on the play:

I had no idea what I was playing against, so I kept the hand. It wasn’t particularly strong, but I didn’t want to mulligan it either. Thankfully, he forced my first Exploration, which instantly made my hand better. I won Game 1 by wastelanding all his white resources and then attacking with a 20/20 Marit Lage token.

Game 2 on the draw:

I kept a greedy hand that relied on early Urza’s Saga tokens, which surprisingly played out well. I brought in the Tower because I didn’t see much in Game 1 and thought he might be on Stoneblade.

I created the promised early tokens, which effectively controlled his planeswalkers. Towards the end, I cast Minsc and Boo, but unfortunately, they were all countered, and I lost the game to a late-game Ruination.

Game 3 on the play:

Here’s my hand for Game 3. I side out 2 Depths against Control, but somehow they always haunt me in this matchup. Even without an early token, the hand was rather average, and I had to rely on topdecking business. Luckily it came instantly in the form of Urza’s Saga, which would be the game-changer. I copied my Saga with Thespian’s Stage, which later became a token-producing Mountain. My game plan was to create a token every turn and always keep enough lands in hand to ensure that even a Ruination wouldn’t disrupt my token factory. The plan worked, and my Mountain won the game!

Round 8 against alli with Sphere Lands

I want to take this opportunity to thank alli and his content. My basic knowledge of Lands is based on a combination of alli’s content on YouTube and some other articles on the webpage. For starting with the deck and building knowledge around Lands, alli’s YouTube channel is definitely recommended, along with other content. Please check him out and support him, so we can force him to deliver more content soon!

As an old alli fanboy, I now had the opportunity to play against my “Jedi Master” AlliVanLindblomi. Let’s go into the match:

Game 1 on the draw:

Another great hand, Exploration, Wasteland, Saga, Mox, only missing Loam, right? I started with an early Wasteland on his Saga, in combination with Exploration and Wasteland. However, he still managed to make two tokens from his second Saga. But I could deal with one using Bolt. Alli played two Spheres, which are unfortunately not that great in this matchup. The game was decided when I took his Loam with my Crop Rotation and drew and played my own. I had Exploration, Loam, Wasteland, and Urza’s Saga, everything needed to win the matchup. Alli managed to take my Loam targets, but it was too late, the damage was done, and my Loam stayed in the graveyard. With an overwhelming number of Urza’s Saga tokens, I won game 1.

Game 2 on the draw:

I kept this hand for Game 2. It was somewhat vulnerable to Force of Vigor, but overall a strong keep. After some consideration, I decided not to play around Force of Vigor since I considered the upside, if he didn’t have it, to be too high. However, alli had it and took away my Mox and Saga right at the end of turn 1. I had previously played Loam on my Boseiju to ensure having a green source for turn 2. But it looked bad. Alli took my Loam with Surgical Extraction during my draw step, which put me in an even worse spot. My friend in Discord even suggested that I concede and go to Game 3 since I was already four minutes behind in terms of time. I decided against it and managed to take alli’s Urza’s Saga with a Crop Rotation, sacrificing my last green source to Wasteland. The good thing was, I had Exploration, Endurance, Crop Rotation, and Urza’s Saga in hand. All the right cards to win the game. I just needed to draw lands from the top. And that’s what I did, drawing a Forest, and since my Urza’s Saga ticked up one turn earlier than alli’s, I was able to fetch a Map for Wasteland earlier. Additionally, thanks to Crop Rotation, I rotated my Urza’s Saga with its trigger on the stack and fetched my next Urza’s Saga. I then topdecked a Force of Vigor, which removed a token and alli’s Urza’s Saga. After that, my token and Endurance sealed the game, and it was done. 8-0, securing a spot in the top 8, regardless of what happens in the last round. GGWP alli!

Round 9: Reanimator

What can I say, I was happy, full of endorphins, and not really willing to play and win the 9th round anymore. My opponent was playing Reanimator, which I knew. I mull to four and unfortunately didn’t have a good hand against the deck. Consequently I got brutally beaten. In Game 2, my opponent managed to take all my graveyard hate cards before killing me. GG WP, on to the top 8.

Top 8 Round 1: WR Initiative

This matchup is generally quite rough for me. I didn’t know what my opponent was playing, so I couldn’t properly adjust to their strategy.

Game 1 on the draw:

I held a relatively okay hand but unfortunately got wrecked by a turn 1 Seasoned Dungeoneer. This is Magic, sometimes^^.

Game 2 on the play:

After a mulligan to six, I kept a relatively solid hand with a good chance of an early token or early Minsc. However, I also got hit by my opponent on turn 1 with a Caves of Chaos Avenger, and I had to rely on Marit Lage to apply pressure. Marit Lage was dealt with Solitude, and I lost my quarterfinal.

Conclusion

It was a fantastic run, and I was extremely happy with my matchups in the nine rounds. The deck worked great, and I’m very satisfied with the current list. The only thing I wish for is a better matchup against Initiative, and that’s something I’ll work on in the future. I had the opportunity to play against incredibly strong opponents, had an incredible amount of fun, and learned a lot. I’m truly grateful for the experience and look forward to the Showcase Qualifier. 

Once again, I would like to thank my two buddies motr3d and norinTW, who supported me during this run. Simply, thank you.

Thank you for reading and stay loamy,
Max Eichler / theMutz