Legacy: Sultai Flow Doomsday - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Greetings, Legacy community! Here we are, once again, discussing a deck that plays Flow State! We weren't joking when we said that this card would change the format forever.

We've talked about Tempo (Izzet) and Control (Jeskai), so now it's time to talk about Combo: Doomsday! This powerful black sorcery has been part of Legacy for a while now, but it has had its ups and downs. Well, Flow State has opened some space for this archetype, and since this card was released, it has been a bit stronger.

There are many ways to play Doomsday: Dimir, Sultai, Esper, 4-Color. Today, we'll explore a Sultai list that got to the top 8 of a Magic Online Challenge 32, competing against 34 other lists. It was piloted by a player called boryas.

The great thing about playing green in this list is that we can play several incredible cards. Veil of Summer is amazing against counters and discards. Carpet of Flowers usually gets you ahead in mana against other blue decks. Witherbloom Charm, one of the new cards, is a flexible answer against several problematic cards, like Chalice of the Void and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, can save your skin because it gives you life, and you can use it to draw cards. You can even keep it in play after playing Doomsday.

As a bonus, playing green also allows us to use Edge of Autumn eventually to get a land.

Let's go back to our foundation. The secret behind this list is playing the sorcery that names it (Doomsday!) as soon as possible and winning in the following turn with Thassa's Oracle.

You'll usually do this by stacking cards with cycling, like Edge of Autumn and Street Wraith, on top of your deck and playing Oracle with 2 or less cards in your deck. If you something to draw cards, you can even win on the same turn you play Doomsday.

Furthermore, you can do this in many ways to play around enemy answers. For instance, you can stack Cavern of Souls to go over counterspells or Chalice of the Void for 2, or stack Thoughtseize to get Consign to Memory or Mindbreak Trap out of your way. You can also stack Lion's Eye Diamond to play around Blood Moon.

The possibilities are endless. What makes this one of the hardest decks in Legacy is precisely the fact that you'll have to master the art of setting all of this up with the right cards, though Thassa's Oracle made things a lot simpler.

So, this list starts with 4 Brainstorm, 4 Ponder, and 4 Force of Will, like nearly all blue lists. Then, the core of the combo: 4 Doomsday, 4 Dark Ritual, 3 Lotus Petal, 2 Thassa's Oracle (some lists only play 1, but the second copy makes your exile effects, like your own Force of Will, a bit more redundant), 2 Edge of Autumn, 1 Street Wraith, 1 Lion's Eye Diamond, 1 Consider, and 1 Cavern of Souls.

Then, this list plays, besides the Force of Wills, a few other cards to protect the combo. The best thing about playing black mana is that you can use Thoughtseize / Duress, which are very efficient when you need to carve a path for your strategies and to prevent the opponent from progressing their own game plan. This list also plays Daze, which can be quite useful even though this isn't a tempo deck. Finally, the aforementioned Veil of Summer.

Alongside this well-oiled engine that has seen play in Legacy together for years, this list plays the new star of the format. Flow State performs really well in this deck because you can use it to go after your key cards and get back into the game when you take discards or when your Doomsday is met with more counterspells than you expected. Against a few opponents, you're forced to play a bit more passively, hoarding resources before you go for the throat, and Flow State is perfect in these cases.

"The hardest deck in Legacy". Whether you agree with this or not, you can't deny that mastering a deck that takes a lot of time and effort to play well is somewhat appealing. It's like finally understanding how a really complex puzzle works, and that is attractive to many players.

But, if that were its only appeal, it would only be another curio in Legacy. Besides one of the hardest lists to master, it is also one of the hardest to stop, and it has performed increasingly well ever since Flow State came along.

In Legacy, some people believe that there are only a few things scarier than an experienced Doomsday player.

As with any great combo list, you need to go after your combo straight away. In this case in particular, that doesn't mean you should only keep hands with your key cards. You can keep hands that can go after what you need as well. A common mistake is keeping hands that have a lot of disruption but only a few cantrips. Remember: this is not a control list!

Let's see a few examples:

This hand can't put Doomsday in play by itself before turn 3, but it has basically everything you need: protection, card draw, and Doomsday. Verdict: you should keep it.

This hand is nearly unusable, but it can find you what you need and activate Flow State as early as turn 2. All you have to do is play Petal, Brainstorm to return the Charm and another dead card, and Delta into Thoughtseize. Verdict: you should keep it.

This hand is also nearly unusable, but it can win on turn 2 with Force of Will as backup. There are a few ways you can stack your cards, depending on whether you need to use Force of Will or not. You can put a land on top, play Charm and sacrifice Bayou, and draw 2 cards - Lion's Eye Diamond and Street Wraith. Then, cycle Wraith and, as an answer, use Diamond to get 3 blue mana. Finally, you can draw and play Thassa's Oracle.

This is one way to set it up, but you can do it in other ways, like putting a blue card on top of your deck to pay for Force of Will while you play Thoughtseize on turn 2. On turn 3, you may draw a blue land, play Brainstorm into Lion's Eye Diamond, and play Street Wraith. Verdict: you should keep it.

This hand doesn't have the combo but has lots of ways to find it. Verdict: you should keep it.

The sideboard we'll see follows a popular game plan for Doomsday lists: with 4 Barrowgoyfs and 2 Dauthi Voidwalkers, you'll turn this list into a sort of Dimir Midrange. Often, your opponents will send their creature removals to their sideboards because they're useless against Doomsday's maindeck and often get trampled by a horde of black Lhurgoyfs. We all know how Barrowgoyf is usually a nightmare to aggressive decks, particularly those that don't play direct removals, like Swords to Plowshares and Fatal Push. Dauthi can also deal with graveyard decks.

We mentioned how Carpet of Flowers is usually a problem for other blue decks, as it easily creates an absurd amount of mana. With it, you'll be able to hoard resources and push anything through the opponent's defenses.

Consign to Memory is still the most popular card for Legacy sideboards, and it's easy to see why: it's useful against several combos (Storm, Oops, Doomsday) and the many colorless decks in the format (Forge, Tron, Eldrazi).

Force of Negation stops other combo decks or decks with lock pieces that can disrupt your plans, like Trinisphere or Blood Moon. Please remember that, unlike Force of Will, you can't use Force of Negation as backup to push your own combo through. You can't pay its alternative cost in your turn.

Fatal Push and Bitter Triumph will buy time against aggressive decks that can put a lot of pressure on you quite quickly and deal with hatebears like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Anointed Peacekeeper, for instance.

Finally, the card that most stands out in this sideboard is Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. It is an alternative win condition that replaces Thassa's Oracle, which is relevant when she is met with a Surgical Extraction. Jace's win condition is also immune to Consign to Memory.

Other cards that show up in these sideboards are Duress, Flusterstorm, Hydroblast, Long Goodbye, Orcish Bowmasters, Sheoldred's Edict, and Thoughtseize.

Dimir Tempo

The fact that Dimir lists are a bit less popular now could explain why Doomsday lists have been performing a bit better too. After all, Dimir lists play 3 types of cards that disrupt Doomsday considerably: counters, discards, and lots of pressure.

You almost certainly won't be able to play your combo freely, so Flow State is critical. You'll need it to recover a few lost cards.

You shouldn't go for the aggro game plan in this case because they'll be a better Dimir Tempo than you, even if you get all 4 Barrowgoyfs.

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Show and Tell

The fact that Show and Tell decks have become more popular also explains why Doomsday has grown. They're both combo decks that play counterspells, but one of them plays discards as well. Furthermore, Veil of Summer is also great in the maindeck.

Post-side, you should get cards that stop their combos and Carpet of Flowers, which is a giant threat when you're both fighting for resources.

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Boros Aggro

The worst that can happen in this matchup is not playing the combo fast enough. In this case, they might end up simply killing you with Ajani, Nacatl Pariah and Goblin Bombardment when you give up half your life with Doomsday.

Unlike other aggro lists, they have efficient answers against Barrowgoyf, but you'll force them to keep a card that is usually dead in their hand this way, and this will end up buying you time and a few life points. That's why it is worth it.

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Oops

This matchup always plays out the same way: if you win on the dice, you'll have more options. Besides Force of Will, you have discards and even Veil of Summer to stop their combo. If you lose on the dice, you'll need Force of Will or they'll have to mulligan pretty badly.

Force of Negation doesn't counter their main combo, but it is a turn-0 answer that can stop even a Dark Ritual if needed. While you have ways to stop their combo, you can set up your own combo. And they can't interact with it all that well, as they only have discards to do it.

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Trini Tron

They can't counter Doomsday, but they can delay it with Disruptor Flute. Karn, the Great Creator disables your mana artifacts. Furthermore, when you stack cards with Doomsday, please keep an eye on Trinisphere's effect on your combo turn.

You must also know that if you can't play the combo fast and if you do end up giving them time, they'll play several cards in a row and destroy your game plan completely. Witherbloom Charm can buy you a lot of time if it hits a Grim Monolith.

Post side, you'll have more answers to their threats.

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Doomsday always brings out a lot of emotions from people. Those who play it love solving its big puzzle and those who face it always get frustrated because it wastes a lot of time. It also tends to give them false hope when they can't find an answer.

Still, this list is vulnerable to some interactions and often loses to the right answer after investing everything on a particular stack of cards that can't deal with it. In any case, you should be careful, because Doomsday is coming!

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!