Legacy Deck Tech: Beseech Storm

Greetings, Legacy friends! Ixalan is right around the corner, but it should still take a while before the new cards are added to decks. So, let's take a look at an important deck that uses the cards released in Wilds of Eldraine: Beseech the Mirror Storm!

Ad Nauseam and Tendrils of Agony decks are a constant presence in Legacy ever since the format was created, oscillating in highs and lows as new cards are added to their arsenal and answers added to their opponent's arsenals. The newest toy is the black spell that, through Gaea's Will, cosplays one of the most absurd cards that have ever shown their face in Magic: Yawgmoth's Will. The ability to play your spells a second time is practically a guarantee you'll have a lethal Storm count.

When you use this powerful four mana spell, it's interesting to have fuel to pay for its Bargain cost. This deck does this by adding Chrome Mox to what was considered its basic shell, besides a number of artifact lands as well, such as Seat of the Synod and/or Vault of Whispers. The card that opens up space for the arrival of Beseech is Wishclaw Talisman, considering both have similar workings, but the latter ends up being slower.

Otherwise, we have the usual suspects: Infernal Tutor, cantrips, discards, Veil of Summer and accelerations. The card that stands out is the lonely copy of Empty the Warrens, which provides an alternative win condition that can also be found through Beseech the Mirror.

Here, we have my old mantra: You're a Combo deck, so mulligan like a Combo deck! Your starting hand is the main resource in a deck like this. A very common mistake is to keep hands that are too careful and end up not having enough gas to close out your combo. It is, yes, very interesting to have Thoughtseize or Veil of Summer, but only when this is attached to a hand that can explode on the first or second turn.

Hand examples:

This hand only has mana, and no action. You can't keep a hand like this hoping your top deck will provide you with what you need. Verdict: Easy Mulligan.

This hand is somewhat the exact opposite of the previous one: it has a lot of action, but not enough mana to be explosive enough, play Beseech and answer it by exploding the diamond. Verdict: Mulligan.

We have Ad Nauseam on turn 1. It isn't a guaranteed win, but it is close to that. Verdict: Keep.

This hand doesn't have a way to combo directly, but it has ways to get there, ways to protect you and gain some time. It has enough acceleration to explode if you find a key card. If it had one cantrip less, this hand would easily return to the deck as we would need to look for an alternative. Verdict: Risky Keep.

Just like other decks with cantrips, this is a deck that uses a great variety of tools in the sideboard to deal with everything your opponent will bring against you, always being careful to not dilute your deck too much and end up having too many answers and not enough combo pieces.

Besides the cards listed above, it is common to find Chain of Vapor, Flusterstorm, Force of Vigor, Haywire Mite and Song of Creation in this archetype's sideboard.

Grixis Delver

Orcish Bowmasters can pressure a lot as it answers your cantrips, and counters can be problematic. In game 1, it is possible that Empty the Warrens carries the game in a situation in which a not-so-high Storm count would be unable to finish with Tendrils of Agony.

Post-side, Carpet of Flowers is excellent to create a significant amount of mana to go over their defenses.

In:

Out:

Reanimator

We have two trains that are going to collide directly with each other, discarding one another's hands and trying to survive to push something out at the end. Fortunately, even though they can wreck your hand and place a creature on board, they can still just lose to a Beseech the Mirror from the top that creates a gigantic Gaea's Will.

Against lists with Blue

In:

Out:

Against lists without Blue

In:

Out:

Stompy (Red Prison, RG, RW and W Initiative)

They have a true arsenal of answers to your plans, so you'll end up being forced to dilute your deck a lot just to not fold against a hate piece. This is the life of the combo player: you need to accept that, for each turn-1 victory, you'll have to navigate games against decks that were made to disrupt every single plan of yours.

Against Mono Red

In:

Out:

Against Boros

In:

Out:

Blue Control (UW, Bant, Jeskai, 4CC)

Though they have as many counters as decks like Grixis, they don't have the pressure Grixis puts on, so, you're a bit more at ease to try and push out your combo.

In:

Out:

UB Shadow / UB Scam

This matchup is like Grixis Delver, only worse, as the combination of Grief + Reanimate with backup counters is potentially devastating. If possible, you'll ideally leave an artifact on the board in case you topdeck and Bargain a Beseech the Mirror.

In:

Out:

With that, I conclude our meeting with the Mirror while we wait for what the Caverns of Ixalan will bring to Legacy. Cheers, and see you next time!