[Legacy] Hands down, bro! (BU Megrim/Caress)

[MisterJuzam]

Hands down, bro! (BU Megrim/Caress)

Hi, I am new to the forum. I stopped playing after the Urza's block, came back for only Khans of Tarkir and after that stopped playing Magic. Now I refreshed my old Megrim deck as I found Liliana's Caress and wanted to give it a try. I saw some quite new good cards for this deck and added them. But surely I missed some good options. Maybe you have some hints for me.

I am also interested in any suggestions how to change the deck in relation to the actual meta. As during Covid-19 I have not many options to play with other players, I am lacking the experience at this moment.
Which opponent's decks will get me into heavy trouble and which cards should I therefore add to my sideboard?

Thanks a lot!

edit: I can't find my deck using the search tool of deckstats. Do you? What am I doing wrong?

[Borg]

Hi, at first glance I would make these changes

+4 Dark Ritual ( you really want those enchantments out before you start playing your discard spells )
+4 Baleful Strix ( great defense and card draw )
+1 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Thoughtseize
+2 Recoil
+2 Nyxathid
+1 Force of Will

-1 Piracy Charm
-2 Unsummon ( SB )
-2 Inquisition of Kozilek
-2 Preordain
-2 Drown in the Loch
-1 Hypnotic Specter
-1 Urza's Guilt
-2 Liliana Vess
-3 Land

Overall :
discard is not the strongest strategy in Legacy.
Once your opponent's hand is empty and he plays every card he draws, your enchantments become largely useless.

With your strategy, Recoil is actually a perfect card.
If I were you I would start with 4 Recoils and build from there.
Add 2 Mystic Santuary to get your Recoils or Hymns back on top of your library.

[MisterJuzam]

Thanks a lot, Borg. I started now with including +1 Force of Will, +4 Dark Ritual and +4 Recoil.

Will test some other of your suggestions later.
The creatures are interesting, but I still wonder if they slow down the discard-flow. Have to test it.

What's the point of Liliana of the Veil in this deck? I have seen her in many discard decks, but don't get it. Ok, 2 less mana to spend compared to her sister.

I struggle with Piracy Charm. On the one hand, it's not the strongest card for each of its options. On the other hand: it helps with blue cards for Force of Will, has some options, but foremost it's an 1 Mana instant, so I can cast it in opponents drawing phase, so he/she must discard the drawn card before being able to play it (if it's not an instant). Fitting for exactly the purpose when my opponent has no cards in hand. How do you evaluate this?

Again, thanks a lot for your great suggestions.

Revision 32

Added/removed cards:
-2 Drown in the Loch
-2 Preordain
+4 Dark Ritual

Changed amounts:
+1 Force of Will
-2 Inquisition of Kozilek
-1 Island
-1 Piracy Charm
+4 (Main) -3 (SB) Recoil
-1 Swamp
+2 (Main) -2 (SB) Thoughtseize
-2 (Main) +2 (SB) Unsummon

[Borg]

Piracy Charm :
It's not a great 1cc card but may be useful in your Megrim/Caress strategy and you can use it to remove a Dark Confidant or Thalia as well in a pinch.
Playing it early and hitting a land may not be all that effective.
Playing it late, with a couple of your enchantments out could be nice.
If you decide to use the card, I'd suggest no more than 2 since you really don't want to play them early or get them in your opening hand.

Liliana of the Veil :
Her -2 ability can be pretty devastating if your opponent want to use 1 beatstick to grind you down and if she gets to her ultimate that usually means game over.

Regarding your deck :
The way I interpret it,
It's built around Megrim/Caress, so you want these out asap BEFORE you hit your opponent with discard spells.
That brings me to
4 Dark Ritual
4 Liliana's Caress
4 Megrim

An opposing empty hand is bad for your strategy, so you need cards that put permanents back in his hand and make him discard
4 Recoil
4 Blizzard Specter ( Ritual it out T2 if possible )

Get more use out of your Recoils and other instants/sorceries
2 Mystic Sanctuary
2 Snapcaster Mage

Put cards in your and your opponent's hand as discard fuel
1-2 Jace Beleren

Success.

[MisterJuzam]

Revision 48


Alright, got some changes for now. Next will be the sideboard, where I lack quite some experience of actual threats to this deck. Just added Wash Out and wonder if I should play it in main deck to have my opponent a full hand and clear their board.

After reading and checking some other decklists and strategies I understand now, why a Liliana's Caress / Megrim based Discard strategy is not the strongest / fastest.
Still I will test this deck for a while, because I like the playstyle.

I wonder if 1-2 Ethereal Forager could make sense to bring back some recoils. Mystic Sanctuary seems a bit slow for me. Snapcaster Mage is an interesting option. Ethereal Forager could be the better deal as an early-to-midgame threat bringing some extra cards in my hand.