Hey readers! Back again this week with an actual article instead of some videos, hopefully though the videos I posted you enjoyed them a ton. This week I want to talk about something that I have wanted to talk about for a while now, and that is legacy. The ever eternal format of legacy is in my opinion the best format in the game hands down. For the short time I have played the format I have come to fall head over heels with it. The format is just a ton of fun and there is so much you can do with it, like use almost any card from any block! You can also make an unlimited amount of decks and deck combination. Now of course there the powerful decks people have come up with and there are staples (cards that are used in almost any deck) cards that you would have to have to play competitively, but if you buy them once you never have to buy them again and that is what is so great about legacy, it is a one-time investment. One last reason why I think legacy is great is because it lets you be you, you are not restricted to what cards you will play in your tier one deck, sure there may be disputes about this, but if you feel that one card is better than the other than you can do it because you have that ability. ANY card is at your disposal to make your tier one deck or whatever it may be, your deck. I am here though today to talk about only one deck, a deck that has carried me to multiple top 8 appearances at star city opens, and hopefully to a Legacy World Championship at GenCon, that deck of course is RUG Delver.
RUG Delver is a deck I have been piloting since delver was released and haven’t turned back and why would I? The deck is insane and super powerful; it has the ability to kill quickly and swiftly without anyone putting a stop to you. The deck can also grind out games if need be and just win in an instant or one wrong mistake made by the opponent and the game is over. This deck punishes people for making mistakes and does not look back. Now yes the deck is not unbeatable, but I would like to say, it’s near unbeatable. Given the right look into the Meta and being prepared correctly, via the sideboard, it can and will take down an entire tournament and it has many times in the past.
Now there are of course with many legacy decks the question of which list of this particular archetype are you running? With esper blade there are the people who need and want lingering souls and then there is the deck that uses black for hand disruption and parish for their only argument to black, like fellow writer Matt Hoey has done. With this deck there are many different variants you could put into it, like are and do you want to run snap caster mage? If so why? Well there could be many answers to that, like snapcaster can give late game reach if need be with a bolt or a brainstorm or ponder to get the extra edge in the end to seal a victory, or he could be used a double edge sword, by using him as an ambush viper and getting a spell back that same turn to use as well. Or there could be the question are you using any 3 or 4 tarmogoyfs and why, because you put in a scavenging ooze, or a green sun’s zenith. For this reason I absolutely love this deck, and also of course because of its sheer power , but it has the ability to mold so many ways to adapt to the environment and take down a tourney, and I am sure this isn’t the only format where you have seen delver mold or evolve to beat its hate bear. A couple of weekends ago at star city D.C. a guy put in grim lavamancer to take down the tourney.
I love this deck for all its implications, being able to take down an opponent swiftly, or able to grind a game, and the most favorite adaptability. That’s why I am taking this archetype with me to Indianapolis, Indiana for gencon’s Legacy World Tournament. I will be going over a few lists in the past I have won with and why it would be and or would not be good to take. I also will be giving my new list that I am pretty set on taking, given I won’t be coaxed into taking something else.
To start off I will be giving the list from star city’s open Des Moines Iowa. This list I was pretty happy with all day during that day and just kept on trucking, I had one loss that day and it was to dredge which I was not as prepared for as I would like and I will be showing you why that was right now with the list:
Artifacts
1 Sensei's Divining Top
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tarmogoyf
Instants
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
1 Fire / Ice
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
3 Stifle
Sorceries
2 Forked Bolt
1 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Ponder
Basic Lands
1 Island
Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
3 Wasteland
Sideboard:
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Sulfur Elemental
3 Counterbalance
2 Ancient Grudge
4 Submerge
As you can see I was light on graveyard hate more than I wanted to be and I wish I had put more in my sideboard than I did. With this list it was almost a shot in the dark to win against dredge and I feared it all day. I mean honestly who really like playing against dredge anyways; they aren’t even playing magic with you. To quote Todd Anderson while speaking with, “it’s like I told Gerry, we have to bend space and time just to play magic with you,” and how true that is. You literally have to make sure they can do nothing or they can just go off. There is this one time where I surgically extracted all of the dredgers main cards that I thought he could win with and he still won, because after getting the narcomebas and the bridge from below’s, I had a choice to get the ichorids and the dread return and I chose the ichorids and he was still able to dread return a Grislebrand and kill me, boy was I frustrated. So ever since then I have changed the sideboard to have three grafdigger’s cage and will be taking this still current change with me to worlds. The list other than that was solid all day and performed beautifully. The snapcasters came in huge when they needed to spell pierce and or spell snare a certain spell when unexpected. The one of island was huge all day as well letting me have a protected land on the field for me to be able to cast, ponder, and brainstorm, delver, which are all key components to the deck. The one of green sun’s zenith I am still on the fence about and the reason is because every time I had it my hand I already had a board presence that was fine and did not need another body to bash in with. So I believe that will stay cut and not used when I could be using that spot as another removal spell or cantrip spell, or even maybe a counterspell. I am a huge fan of stifle and there are a lot of people out there who would disagree with me right now and say it is a terrible card but it can do a lot of things to help you secure and win a match. For some examples you can stifle storm triggers, you can stifle fetch lands, wastelands, and many other activated abilities, so I think I will keep some of them in and I think that number is 2. Another thing I would change about this list is how many counter spells I am running, I have put more in since then and maybe change the numbers around a bit, but you want to see all of these counters at some point so I would run some number more than I am in this list here, later I will show you what I went to. The counterbalance package I took completely out and do not get me wrong I loved every bit of that boarding style, it stopped elves, burn, mirror, combo of any sort, but it was weak against maverick, dredge and reanimator, so I have cut that from the board and added more as I would say affective cards to the board to help me with the meta. The reason I went over a little board there is because I have a singleton sensei’s divining top in the main that I would also cut to make room for another spell. I have although thought about going back to that boarding strategy, but that will be some testing down the road later and not for this world’s tournament. I was more than okay with only having 3 wastelands as well because, I know I am supposed to be tempoing out my opponent by keeping them off their land, but you have to look at that land as a spell that does not flip delver, and the reason I call it a spell is because it is very rare that I will ever have it on my board for more than a turn mainly because I will play it and wasteland my opponent right away. I although as you will see from my second list I will show you that I went back to 4 and I have a reason for that, but I hated it every time I saw more than I needed to, because it is colorless and I already only run 7 lands that produce color. Nimble mongoose is a house ever time and no matter what list I play I will never cut him because he is just that good, he gets around swords of plowshares, Jace, and any other spell that would target. Mongoose has single handedly changed how people kill creatures in this format, going from single target removal to board wipers, that is how good that card is. Of course this deck would be nothing without delver alongside it, so those will never come out as well.
To the sideboard a bit since I have gone over some of it already. The ancient grudge and submerge are a necessity in the board, if you were to change any cut one and or add one (ancient grudge of course), but this number should be an auto correct for the board and the rest is up in the air and is always changing to confront the meta head on. The RUG sideboard wants to play so many cards that I have found out, but there is only so much room so you got to work with what you got. The second list did change from this list a lot, but I will show you then talk about it, so here it is:
Main deck:
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
Instants
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
3 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Spell Pierce
3 Spell Snare
2 Thought Scour
Sorceries
3 Forked Bolt
4 Ponder
Basic Lands
1 Island
Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Taiga
3 Tropical Island
2 Volcanic Island
3 Wasteland
Sideboard:
2 Sulfur Elemental
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Hydroblast
2 Pyroblast
4 Submerge
3 Surgical Extraction
To start with the main, I did cut the snapcaster mages because I felt like I wanted more tarmogoys for the mirror match, because I think the mirror match is basically who can see their goyfs first and protect it and then keep your opponent off theirs. I also added another ponder for a spell count really and also because its consistency in this deck is retarded, the card is too good, and I cannot believe they did not ban it in standard honestly. I cut a force of will because the Meta I thought called for it with all of the fair decks topping and I think at this time it was a great call and a call I am considering as I am typing right now. I cut a green sun because of the simple fact that I was just unhappy with its performance and did not think the deck needed it. I added 2 thought scour because it was huge I found out when I could attack with a goyf and combat trick it or do the same with the mongoose and it was good for those reasons and those reasons only, as a cantrip I think it is a terrible cantrip and I would rather have a ponder or brainstorm in my hand any of those times. I added another spell snare because that card is great in the mirror as well and during this time stoneforge decks were a thing with Tom Martel winning with it at Gran Prix Indianapolis, that card also stops what I believe to be the bane of this deck if it lands and sticks and never gets removed, that card is umazawa’s jitte, that card is bonkers in general and especially against RUG I do believe. I also upped the forked bolt by one because of the lingering souls running around and it is also great against maverick when trying to kill multiple one drops of theirs. I also upped the spell pierce count by two because, right now in legacy that card is simply just good, it has helped me win so many games in the past, that I felt like I needed more and I was right and I think that number for now is a staple number is this deck. There is one other thing I changed because I found this out moments before the tourney that people were wastelanding tropical islands and surgically extracting them, so I put in a one of taiga, which I thought was a perfect call, because people were doing that and it did happen to me, but I was able to fall back on the taiga to save my life. Those are the only changes I made to the main since Des Moines and as you can probably see so far, just how much this deck evolves and adapts to win.
The sideboard is what really went through the overhaul; I changed the whole sideboard and gave it a different edge with putting in more versatile cards than just falling back on counterbalance. I felt vulnerable to burn with taking that out and put in two hydroblast (which come to find out now is not necessary), two pyro blasts for other peoples counters and or delver or counterbalances, three surgical extractions because I could still taste that nasty taste that dredge left me back in Iowa, and because I could also surgical trick the mirror. The grudges stayed the same as well as the submerges, because like I said those cards are just too important for this deck to not have them in the sideboard. I did however put in two sulfur elementals to help me out with lingering souls, because I found out in testing those are just annoying and at sometimes hard for me to deal with, the elemental also works against maverick in some cases by killing a Thalia and or a mother of runes.
I liked this a lot and felt it was a really tight list I thought would never change; Enter: Tribal Decks and Show and Tell, with these two archetypes coming to the front of the scene us delver players had to make some changes yet again. The list changed a bit with some minor changes at first like putting gilded drake in to deal with show and tell decks and no real changes made for tribal decks up until now and taking out hydroblast from the board and cutting thought scours for more counterspells. I thought I had the tribal decks on a lock until I kept getting beat by them match after match. Then I really started to think on a list that would have everything I want and deal with everything I need to and here is what I got:
Main deck:
Creatures
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
Instants
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Spell Pierce
1 Dismember
2 Spell Snare
Sorceries
2 Forked Bolt
4 Ponder
Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
3 Wasteland
Sideboard:
1 Sulfur Elemental
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Rough and Tumble
2 Mind Harness
2 Pyroblast
3 Submerge
3 Grafdiggers Cage
I kept the same creature package as in the list before this because I really think that is the correct creature package to use, although I do want to maybe try and incorporate snapcaster into the deck somehow and make my deck have an even better long game if need be. I also added a singleton dismember to the deck because it is a removal spell that is good in the mirror and against many other decks, so a one of had to go into the deck. I cut the island to go to 17 lands and add another spell which would have been the extra daze and cut a spell snare to add another force of will to have my counters heavy. I might although going into the rest of the week cut a force of will to add another spell snare because that card is really good right now with the stoneforge archetype coming back. I went down two forked bolts because I felt it underwhelming in some matchups where I wish I had instances instead of sorceries. I am brewing right now with the idea of fire/ice, because of the instant speed and the fact that it can be pitched to force of will, there is some draw back to playing fire and ice though like it cost one more which can be huge if a Thalia was played against you or if you are stuck on one land and want to clear a path for a creature. Everything else main pretty much stayed the same as those things that did not change are the guts of the deck.
The side board had another yet major overhaul because of the changing Meta. I chose to keep one sulfur elemental in the side just in case of lingering souls making a comeback. I had to put rough and tumble in the side just because of the tribal decks, goblins and merfolk for the most part are the reason I chose that card to go in the side. Mind Harness is a card I have thought about in the past, but every time I was going to use it I would just tell myself I can just submerge the creature, but lately with some influence of friends and testing I chosen to run two in my side because the card is really good in the mirror and great against maverick, because once you mind harness something and start swinging in with two powerful creatures they tend to just lose the game. I kept the two same pyroblasts in the side because I think you just need them when you do because they can be hard counter against any blue spell (which there are a ton of in legacy), and be a one mana vindicate against a blue permanent. As I said earlier I went to grafdiggers cage because it just hoses every deck that wants to cast creatures from the graveyard and or their deck (i.e. green sun). I went down to three submerge because I am now playing with two mind harness and I don’t want my whole side board dedicated to just taking out green decks.
That’s the new list with some ideas still rolling around in my head on a few minor things, but I am pretty sure this is the list I will be running with. I will post the list I actually took to worlds if I do make any changes to the deck that is different from what I have posted here. One of the minor changes is going up to 3 spell snares again with the way the Meta is going and then just thinking of how I can fit 2 snapcaster mages into a RUG list. I really like where I am headed with this list and very confident in it, if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be playing it. If you guys are interested in getting into legacy and you like playing delver in standard I would say this archetype is the way you should go because it definitely has a lot of power (over 9000) and adaptability. Also if you guys have any ideas on what you would do with the deck comment below and we will chat about it.
I hope you guys enjoyed the read and hope to see any of you at gencon the best convention of the year!!!
Thanks for reading
Jeff Rasmussen
Latest posts by Jeff Rasmussen (see all)
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