Legacy: Hatchery Smallpox - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Greetings, Legacy community!

Our beloved format is quite peculiar, isn't it? It is home to a seemingly infinite array of decks, far beyond just the ones sitting at the highest tiers. Yes, archetypes like Dimir Reanimator, Red Stompy, Dimir Tempo, Forge Combo, Cephalid Breakfast, and similar are still dominating Legacy, but all you need to do is play a tournament, particularly in person, to see all types of different lists: Merfolk, Zombies, Ruby Storm, Slivers, Nic Fit, Initiative, Goblins, Belcher, and many others that fall outside the regular scope.

And, sometimes, all we need to put these unusual archetypes back under the spotlight is a new card. That's what happened with today's list!

The Smallpox list is a Midrange strategy that intentionally tries to break the "symmetry" in the sorcery that names it. The best way to do this is by losing cards that don't make a difference to you, that is, by making sure you don't have any creatures to sacrifice and by discarding a card you already wanted in your graveyard. The only problem was the third part, sacrificing a land. We couldn't figure out an easy way to turn this into an advantage or at least make it neutral. The most we could do was create value from it with Life from the Loam.

Well, that was before! Now that Eumidian Hatchery is here, we have a land that creates value when we sacrifice it. It is another win condition as well, considering this list is all about exhausting resources, and a horde of flying Insects after a Smallpox is definitely difficult to answer.

This simple addition put this deck back on our radar, and it became an interesting option for anyone who enjoys battles of attrition.

The list above took Logan Ome to the top of the podium in San Carlos, California. At this same tournament, this same list put another player among the top 8 players!

Besides its key sorcery, some of its main cards also show up in other Golgari Midrange lists: Thoughtseize, Orcish Bowmasters, Witherbloom Command, Fatal Push, and Grist, the Hunger Tide.

This deck also plays the same type of engine Lands plays: Life from the Loam, Mox Diamond, Urza's Saga (and an accompanying Artifact kit), and a card that has been showing up in Legacy decks more and more lately: Malevolent Rumble.

Because of this base, this deck plays a decent number of lands, but it can also create value from the ones you don't use, either with Mox Diamond or Life from the Loam. Furthermore, it plays lands like Wasteland, Boseiju, Who Endures, and Ghost Quarter, which do more than just create mana.

This card definitely deserves a paragraph. Whenever it goes to your graveyard, it's as if you had just drawn a card, so you should, ideally, discard it with Smallpox or mill it with Life from the Loam, Grist, the Hunger Tide, or Malevolent Rumble. You can get its 2 black mana very easily with Eumidian Hatchery's tokens through Convoke or with Orcish Bowmasters. If your opponent doesn't exile it, you can easily bring it back for another round.

Midrange decks that don't play blue have struggled in Legacy lately, but they have many fans, considering how popular Maverick, Jund, and even, to a point, Cradle Control are. Eumidian Hatchery will make this archetype a true competitor, as well as a lot more viable.

This deck plays an absurd amount of mana, so what you want early on is action. You can easily get flooded if you keep too much mana. You don't have cantrips, but Malevolent Rumble and Life from the Loam play that role.

Hands that can play Smallpox early against creature lists are interesting. Overall, this deck can potentially keep a good variety of lands.

Let's see a few examples:

This hand is slow but has resources. If you believe Pithing Needle can be useful against your opponent, keeping it early on is definitely wise. You can also open with Marsh Flats into Underground Mortuary. When you're drawing first, it's actually not that great. Verdict: you should keep it if you're playing first or against decks that are vulnerable to Pithing Needle.

This hand is quite similar to the one above, but this time it has a specific answer that hits more decks: Nihil Spellbomb. Verdict: the same as above. Keep it if you're playing first or are against decks that are vulnerable to Nihil Spellbomb.

Despite how much mana this hand has (5), it is actually quite versatile. You can go for Mox and Saga on turn 1 into Boseiju or Life from the Loam, use the Saga on turn 2, Witherbloom Command on turn 1 to remove something if you're drawing first, or open with Wasteland and Life from the Loam. Verdict: Keep.

This hand is similar to the one above. Verdict: Keep.

This sideboard is quite straightforward: Leyline of the Void is a turn zero answer against graveyard decks, Fatal Push and Toxic Deluge (an extremely powerful card that sees less play than it should) are answers to aggro decks, as is Barrowgoyf. This black Lhurgoyf is particularly interesting against decks that try to win by dealing damage to you directly after you resolve their creatures.

Void Mirror is particularly efficient against combo decks like Storm or Forge. Speaking of Forge, you can play Haywire Mite (which you can tutor with Urza's Saga) and Force of Vigor against it. These cards are also particularly strong against Red Stompy - Blood Moon can be quite problematic.

Dimir Reanimator

The main issue with them reanimating Atraxa, Grand Unifier is not even the fact it is a 7/7 (you can even deal with it with Smallpox), but rather the fact it gives them a lot of cards. Remember, you want to exhaust their resources, so you can't let them get that so easily.

But overall they struggle with full boards, and that's something Eumidian Hatchery is great at. They also struggle with Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, unless they already play graveyard hate in their main deck.

Post-side, use your Leylines to stop their reanimating. Witherbloom Command can't target much, so you'll have to remove it. Pithing Needle stays so you can deal with a Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar later on.

In:

Out:

Dimir Aggro

Smallpox usually shines in this matchup because they don't play that many resources, and it attacks on multiple sides. Post-side, you'll just get more ways to answer their creatures.

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Out:

Forge

Their deck centers around creating resources, and yours is all about exhausting them. They can be quite explosive, but Smallpox has tools to stop them: Thoughtseize to break their lines, Orcish Bowmasters to stop The One Ring, and Wasteland's recursion to stop Planar Nexus. A well-timed Witherbloom Command on a Grim Monolith or Manifold Key could change the game.

Post-side, you will get even more ways to put pressure on them.

In:

Out:

Red Stompy

Blood Moon might be problematic, but you can play around it with Mox Diamond. Nonetheless, you should get your basic lands as soon as possible. Smallpox is usually quite destructive, as they often spend more resources than usual to progress their game plan faster.

Post-side, Barrowgoyf is one of their biggest issues, and, as most lists use Urza's Saga nowadays, Force of Vigor is particularly brutal.

In:

Out:

Cephalid Breakfast

They'll have to play the combo all at once. If they leave one of their creatures exposed to play the rest of the combo on the following turn, you can just ruin their day with Smallpox. Pithing Needle is better with Thoughtseize. Post-side, you'll remove Grist because you'd rather not invest in cards that tap your mana on your turn.

In:

Out:

Isn't it curious that a deck that was all but forgotten got a new chance to shine just because of a single, simple card? We've seen how Midrange lists have been struggling in the current meta, but that doesn't mean they can't perform well. And we must also keep an eye out for these decks in case WotC interferes and the format changes once again.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!