Deck of the Week: Legacy U/G Eldrazi Post
The great thing about Legacy
is that you can basically do just about any silly thing you want as long as you put some time into making sure your deck can support it.
The really great thing about Legacy is that every once in a while, something comes from wayyyyyyyyy out of left field and sucker-punches a tournament. I’d say that this week’s Deck of the Week does that.
Post decks have been around Legacy for a long time, because being able to produce ridiculous amounts of mana way ahead of curve is generally a viable strategy in any format. (See: Eldrazi Winter, Tron/Eldrazi Tron, Scapeshift, High Tide).
Usually, Post strategies are colorless, and aim to ramp up into huge Eldrazi threats, which this deck does as well. The strategy allows for a lot of flexibility in deckbuilding given the amount of mana the Posts can produce. But U/G Eldrazi Post? I’m not sure anybody really saw that coming.
First, let’s take a look at the list:
U/G Eldrazi Post, by Tony Murata
6th place, SCG Tour Legacy Open, 4/08/17
The plan goes something like this: One Cloudpost by itself can only produce one mana. But two Cloudposts can produce four mana, three can produce nine, and four can produce 16. Throw Glimmerposts into the equation and things get even sillier, because you can gain a ton of life while cranking out double-digit amounts of mana.
If you play Cloudpost as your turn 1 land and Glimmerpost as your second land, you can produce three mana on turn 2 after gaining two life when the Glimmerpost came into play. And, of course, it scales up from there.
There is, to put it simply, a lot going on with this deck, so let’s break it down. We’ll start with the mana this time, because it’s the foundation of what the deck is trying to do.
Big — Really Big — Mana
Four Cloudpost and four Glimmerpost are mandatory, of course. Three copies of Vesuva give you the ability to have more Posts, which is always nice when you’re trying to get to, say, 15 mana on turn 4.
Four Misty Rainforest, four Tropical Island and the basics meet the colored mana needs; the greediest cost in the deck is the double green for Primeval Titan, but hard casting Prime Time is the back-up plan (more on that later.)
Utility lands round out the mana base; Cavern of Souls, Bojuka Bog, Eye of Ugin and Karakas are pretty self-explanatory, but Glacial Chasm is an interesting one. It can keep you alive while you develop your board position, then, when you’re ready to start turning big dumb creatures sideways, you can sacrifice it instead of paying the upkeep cost.
We’re going to throw Candelabra of Tawnos in here because of its interaction with the Posts. Candelabra costs X to untap X lands, which means you can gain mana with two Cloudposts or a Cloudpost and a Glimmerpost in play. Note that because Candelabra is a “mono artifact,” it has to be tapped to be activated even though it doesn’t say so on the card. Ah, the joys of Antiquities-era subtypes.
Two Cloudposts produce four mana; pay two to untap them both with Candelabra, then tap them again for four mana, giving you six colorless mana to play with. Cloudpost plus Glimmerpost only nets four (tap for three, use two to activate Candelabra, tap for three more), but it’s still a gain every time you activate Candelabra.
If you’re in magical Christmas land and you have four active Cloudposts, then you can tap them for 16 mana, pay four to untap them all, then enjoy your 28 colorless mana. If you have all four Cloudposts, all four Glimmerposts and all three Vesuvas in play, you can do the math yourself, because you should’ve won by that point.
Search and Destroy
The Post lands are pretty great, but finding them is too important to rely on drawing them. Brainstorm is always nice for digging, especially when you have multiple shuffle effects. Sensei’s Divining Top is a similar dig effect, and won’t cause you to get a one-way ticket to Blowoutville courtesy of Notion Thief. (Does anybody still play Notion Thief?)
In addition to the dig effects, being able to search for the exact lands you need is key. Expedition Map is a staple of Tron decks in Modern, and effectively gets you a Tron land here as well. Crop Rotation requires sacrificing a land, but being an Instant allows you to fetch up a Cloudpost at end of turn and untap with it available.
Getting Down to Business
Plan A for the deck is a turn 3 Show and Tell to put Primeval Titan in play, allowing you to search up two Cloudposts and get to rampin’ on the next turn. Oh, and you also get a 6/6 trampler that your opponent may or may not be able to deal with, depending on what removal package they’re running.
After you have all that mana, you start going over the top. When your least threatening non-Primeval Titan bomb is Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, you’re doing something right. Also, consider the ramifications of the phrase “least threatening non-Primeval Titan bomb.”
The original forms of Emrakul and Kozilek team up with Newlamog to threaten to end the game on the spot when cast. Or, Show and Tell into Emrakul is a tried and true strategy that is a pretty good backup plan.
Now consider the ramifications of Show and Tell putting an Emrakul in play being the backup plan.
Survive and Advance
You need a way to stay alive long enough to do all this silly stuff, of course, and that’s where Engineered Explosives and Repeal come into play. EE is a pretty effective sweeper in Legacy due to all the cheap threats, while Repeal can bounce an attacker and draw a card, get rid of a pesky Blood Moon, or simply take care of anything that’s threatening to mess with your plans. Pithing Needle shuts down planeswalkers, Stoneforge Mystic, Sneak Attack, or any number of other troublesome activated abilities. (Editor’s note: NRG author Justin Brickman points out that Wasteland should be called out as a specific target for Pithing Needle as well.)
Sideboard
The sideboard here is interesting, because it gives you some ways to fight against decks that would be otherwise terrible match-ups. Four Force of Will and three Flusterstorm are strong against blue decks and combo decks. Krosan Grip gets rid of Blood Moon. Surgical Extraction is good against graveyard strategies and also allows you to take out Wastelands when the first one goes into the graveyard. The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale gives creature decks fits, and Trickbind is a more expensive Stifle that can’t be countered. I would imagine that Trickbinding a Wasteland activation then Extracting Wasteland is a common play, or at least a desired common play.
Post strategies pop up every once in a while in Legacy, but usually are off the radar before long. This version offers a lot of interesting possibilities, and may be the version that causes Post to be a viable strategy as opposed to an occasional surprise finisher.
Deck of the Week is a breakdown of an interesting deck from the preceding week in Magic. Email deck suggestions to claughman@gmail.com.
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