No Lands Man (Legacy)

This deck is from our new podcast: Mull to 3, Episode 3 'Leaky Legacy' (4th of June 2017).

Building the Deck

• Inspiration

When I first decided to build a legacy deck I knew I wanted to build an unusual deck so I looked at the meta to find out what missing. I soon realised that legacy is a format of greedy mana-bases, with extremely low land counts and colourless lands a plenty. Since I've always wanted to play a land destruction deck, this made the decision on what type of deck to play easy.

• Finding the Right Cards

Once I knew I wanted to play land destruction I surveyed the available cards. The obvious clear winner was Wasteland so I knew that had to be in the deck. The second best card I could find was Sinkhole as the only straight-up two mana land destruction spell, this meant that I would be playing black. The best three colour land destruction spell that I could find (and there are many) was Vindicate due to it's awesome stopping power and versatility - this meant that I was playing white as well. From there I discovered both Encroach and Hymn to Tourach as alternative ways to remove lands (from your opponents hand), and also took a cue from the modern deck Hatebears to throw in Leonin Arbiter and Ghost Quarter.

How the Deck Plays

• Destroy all Lands!!

The goal is simple, deny your opponent any lands and then slowly kill them with synergistic creatures. On turn 1 you can accelerate into a 2 mana land denial spell with Mox Diamond, play an Encroach (which can often be devastating), or smack down a Deathrite Shaman to let you accelerate into a 3 mana land denial spell on turn 2. From there you continue to try to destroy every land that his the field, and remove permanents as needed with either Vindicate or Liliana of the Veil.

• Control the Game

After you stall your opponent you take over control of the game by either building up a gigantic Liliana of the Veil, drawing a tonne of cards with Dark Confidant, or setting up a land destruction lock with Crucible of Worlds and either Wasteland or Ghost Quarter.

• Ham-Sandwich for the Win!

Once you have control you whittle down your opponents life with the small incidental bodies attached to your creatures (otherwise known as 'ham sandwiching'). This utilises the life loss ability of Deathrite Shaman, and the 2 power of Dark Confidant, Leonin Arbiter, and Shambling Vent.

Other Tips

Mox Diamond not only ramps you, it also synergises with both Deathrite Shaman and Crucible of Worlds. Deathrite Shaman not only ramps you or wins the game, the life gain ability can be used to offset Dark Confidant, and the graveyard removal gives you main-deck game against Lands, Loam, Reanimator, and Dredge. Most cards are less than 3 mana so you don't have to worry about taking a lot of damage from Dark Confidant, but Shambling Vent can also help out here with life-link. Ghost Quarter works really well with Leonin Arbiter (who also blocks fetches, a land type that is traditionally tricky for a land destruction deck to deal with), but also works well by itself as most decks don't play many (if any) basic lands.

I hope you enjoyed this deck description, and if you decide to take the deck for a spin - look forward to playing encroach on turn one and watching your opponent start to look very worried after they read the card and realise that they kept a one land hand!

If you liked this deck (or even if you hated it), make sure you check out our podcast at:

https://www.spreaker.com/user/mullto3

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