Legacy: 4-Color Natural Order Control Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, Legacy folks! We're back with what we know how to do best: Deck Tech with Atraxa!

And the choice this time, along with Atraxa, Grand Unifier, is one of the strongest cards available in Legacy: Natural Order – affectionately called NO.

Although its main use is to turn hordes of Elves into gigantic tramplers via Craterhoof Behemoth, it is undeniable that being able to tutor any Green threat for just 4 mana can lead to irreversible situations for the opponent, such as a Progenitus.

But unlike the other monster-cheating decks like Reanimator and Sneak n'Show, Natural Order couldn't look for a buddy capable of playing both offense and defense and refueling its gas at the same time, like Griselbrand. Now, Atraxa, Grand Unifier not only does all that, it's also Green.

In this article, we are going to discuss a variation of the traditional Bant Control, this time with 4 colors, with the old acquaintances Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, Ice-fang Coatl and Sylvan Library, but with the addition of this potent green spell and Green Sun's Zenith, which adds a veritable toolbox to the deck.

At its core, we have here the Blue White Control structure: Force of Will, Swords to Plowshares, Brainstorm, Ponder and Teferi, Time Raveler, but the deck cuts the amount Prismatic Ending to make room for the creature toolbox tutored by the two green spells mentioned above.

Atraxa is the basic target of Natural Order, but Zenith has more options available: Dryad Arbor is the most common target on the first turn, accelerating its mana; Grist, the Hunger Tide offers both removal for troublesome permanents and a stream of Tokens to defend your life.

Also, Undermountain Adventurer makes you take Initiative against decks that don't have efficient ways to take it back, and Endurance helps with graveyards. We also have Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, a real pressure and Card Advantage machine.

To fuel NO's hunger, the deck enlists the services of Noble Hierarch, as well as having the options of Ice-fang Coatl or a Fetch Land for Dryad Arbor as sacrifices to bring the Atraxa for only 4 mana.

In addition to the creatures on the list, there are also options that appear in this archetype, such as Birds of Paradise or Ignoble Hierarch to offer more ramp; Progenitus or Tyrranax Rex as extra monsters for Natural Order; and Leovold, Emissary of Trest, Collector Ouphe, Scavenging Ooze and/or Toxicrene as additional Tech Cards.

Decklist

While it's possible to win a game or two with an early Natural Order, this is fundamentally a Control deck. Your hands have to be playable for the first few turns.

It's ideal to have some turn 1 play, whether it's a cantrip like Brainstorm or Ponder, or a ramp like Noble Hierarch or Green Sun's Zenith. Interesting cards to have for the sequel are Ice-Fang Coatl, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, Sylvan Library, and Green Sun's Zenith.

As the deck has a high combination of Cantrips and Ramp, it is quite common to keep hands with few lands, as long as you have access to these cards.

And of course, don't risk hands without Force of Will if you know you're up against a fast combo deck.

The proposed sideboard is composed of 3 types of cards:

a) Creatures with specific abilities to be found with Green spells – Progenitus, Collector Ouphe;

b) Cards to complement some already present in the main deck – Endurance, Force of Negation;

c) Answers against archetype groups – Carpet of Flowers and Veil of Summer against Control, Surgical Extraction against Graveyard decks, Deafening Silence and Flusterstorm against Combos and Force of Vigor and Energy Flux against Artifact-heavy decks.

Blue Blasts (Hydroblast and Blue Elemental Blast), Containment Priest, Gaea's Blessing, Mystical Dispute, Reclamation Sage and Spell Pierce are also commonplace on this deck's sideboard.

UR Delver

While resolving a Natural Order is mostly game over, the problem is getting a 4 mana spell over Daze, Wasteland and Force of Will, so this path ends up being a secondary alternative.

In this game, it's essential to go after the basic lands, both to protect yourself from Wasteland and to ensure that Ice-fang Coatl is active to get in the way of their threats.

After the sideboard, Veil of Summer and Carpet of Flowers improve the plan of casting NO and the extra Endurance form a barricade against Delver of Secrets and Dragon's Rage Channeler which also serves to delay Murktide Regent. As you seek to win at attrition, Force of Will ends up losing value.

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Reanimator

Their many discards hamper your ability to use Force of Will to defend yourself, and even if you have ways to resolve their reanimated threats with Swords to Plowshares or Ice-fang Coatl, damage is ultimately done by the number of cards Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Griselbrand recover.

Here is a game where having the Natural Order option stands out over regular Bant lists, as it can guarantee a quick win where a pure Control variant would give Reanimator time to assemble a second wave. Post-side, you remove most of your attrition cards for graveyard hate, and Veil of Summer to protect yourself from discards.

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Blue Control

Against the UWx Control, the game becomes a battle in the trenches, where whoever manages to accumulate the most resources has the advantage. Green Sun’s Zenith can find some very useful cards for this proposal, like Grist, the Hunger Tide and Undermountain Adventurer. In general, in this matchup, Card Advantage is gained in small increments, so resolving a Natural Order makes all the difference due to the absurd number of cards Atraxa offers.

On post-sideboard games, Progenitus coming from NO can only be responded by Dress Down. Endurance offers pressure on opposing Planeswalkers and a way to protect/regain control of Undercity.

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8-Cast

Chalice of the Void for 1 is much more problematic for this version, as it runs less Prismatic Ending to deal with this Artifact.

This is a tough opponent for this version, as there's not much you can do against their explosive starts, so try to fit in an Atraxa quickly and hope it carries the game by itself - a problem against a deck that can simply find an Aether Spellbomb via Urza's Saga.

In the following games, things improve, as we have access to some of their worst nightmares: Collector Ouphe and Energy Flux.

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Stompy (Red Prison, RG Initiative, RW Initiative)

Another difficult opponent due to Chalice of the Void and the Initiative cards, but the lists without White have practically nothing to do in response to a Natural Order for Atraxa.

Against the Red-based versions, prioritize using your Fetch Lands to fetch basic lands, so you don't get busted by a Blood Moon or a Magus of the Moon.

Undermountain Adventurer is not a card you intend to play into the void, but it is an answer to getting the Intitiative back without having to resort to the combat phase. Progenitus ends the game in two turns, so it becomes the main target of Natural Order if our life total isn't too far behind.

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We finished this review of this different version of Bant Control, now with much more Atraxa for your enjoyment!

See you next time!