Legacy UW(x) Control Deck Spotlight


With the recent banning of Sensei’s Divining Top in Legacy, many players were troubled that there would be no more hard control decks in the format. Some even gave up hope entirely that Legacy would fix itself. However there is now a new deck on the forefront of Legacy’s new meta game that is gaining traction quite quickly. This deck has slid its way into countless top 8’s in various events and has been strongly developed by many members of the original Miracles community. This deck has gone through many changes throughout its development (and many names as well), but whatever you want to title it, this deck is beginning to look like it is definitely here to stay. Many are even claiming it is almost as good as the original Miracles deck, just with a couple worse matchup’s overall, but a very solid showing.


So without further ado, let’s get into the list! This list is MzFroste’s list from a recent MTGO Competitive Legacy League tournament. It, like many other lists, managed to steal a spot in not only the top 8 but the top 4, overall finishing in second place. With another UW(x) control deck finishing in third for the same tournament as well.

Legacy UW(x) Control

Lands (20)
Flooded Strand
Island
Karakas
Misty Rainforest
Plains
Polluted Delta
Tundra
Sideboard (15)
Vendilion Clique
Swords to Plowshares
Containment Priest
Disenchant
Ethersworn Canonist
Flusterstorm
Monastery Mentor
Surgical Extraction

The deck plays very similarly to original CB-Top miracles. However it relies more heavily on traditional counterspells to get the job done. In fact many iterations have even entirely dropped the Counterbalance package because without Top it just simply isn’t as effective anymore.

However the deck still heavily relies on miracles cards, boasting a play-set of Terminus and generally one to two copies of Entreat the Angels. It has been said by many that the CB-Top combo was not the most powerful facet of original Miracles, but rather the actual miracles cards were, and these new lists definitely showcase how powerful such a mechanic can be.

Instead of using Top for library filtering and manipulation, pilots have opted for many replacements. It seems that the cards that have come on “top” for these filtration slots are: Brainstorm, Ponder, Portent, and Predict. In all UW(x) control typically runs around twelve to sixteen library filtering effects, which allow a pilot to dig for their win conditions and board wipes in an efficient amount of time.

Jace, the Mindsculpter is still heavily played in many of these new control lists, and as one would expect has become a vital piece in keeping the deck in functioning order. Providing a free Brainstorm effect every turn is just too good to pass up. Similarly to this list, many others have begun running at least two, and sometimes even three Jace’s, as its filtering and other abilities are absolutely amazing (especially for a hard control deck).


Many pieces in this list are still heavily up for debate, and to be completely honest there probably won’t be an entirely established list until the meta sorts itself out more. However for now it seems like this new UW(x) control list will most likely be the control deck to play, and may even rise up once again to be one of the top dogs in the Legacy format. It already has around a 3-5% meta share in win percentages and has been very quickly gaining traction among the community. Only time will tell for sure what will happen to the Legacy meta game, but for now it is very likely that hard control decks will still be around for a long time to come.

But what do you think? Is this new list just an exploitation of the unstable meta, and it is actually not here to stay or is all the hype warranted? Feel free to leave any questions, comments, or concerns in the section below.

And as always, happy gaming!

zebotc

zebotc

Sylvan Studies Team
- A swords a day keeps the goyfs away.

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