Legacy: Jeskai Miracle - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening my dear Legacy community. In the last article, we did an analysis of the current Metagame and there is an old archetype that posted some good results, after going through some tough times: Azorius-based Control.

This is a difficult deck to define, because apart from the baseline of Brainstorm, Ponder, Force of Will and Swords to Plowshares, there is no consensus among players about which direction to go: we have Azorius, Bant, Jeskai, 4-Color (no Black), 4-Color (no Red) and 5-Color.

The paths to victory are varied: Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury, Forth, Eorlingas!, Stoneforge Mystic, Psychic Frog , Triumph of Saint Katherine or whatever other wincon.

The interactive spells are many, with the likes of Prismatic Ending, Spell Pierce, Teferi, Time Raveler, Supreme Verdict, Counterspell and Counterbalance among some of the options.

To keep the cards flowing, some of the options are Narset, Parter of Veils, Day’s Undoing, The One Ring, Lórien Revealed among many, many, many others.

The list we're going to examine today finished 9th on Magic Online's Challenge 64, played by user Cyriius with a relic from the good old days of UW Miracles on Sensei's Divining Top: Terminus.

With proper setup, this powerful spell obliterates a board of creatures for just one Mana and leaves no bodies in the graveyard to be Reanimated later.

Another highlight is the presence of Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, a card that gained presence in Tempo lists but also seems to be made for Control decks: a low-cost “Planeswalker” that quickly increases in Loyalty and generates resources both on the front and on the back side.

Finally, in addition to the miraculous Terminus, the list features Wrath of the Skies as a versatile answer to both a wide board of small creatures and decks with a lot of Artifacts – it's good to remember that unlike similar cards, Wrath affects Lands: bye, bye Urza's Saga, Seat of the Synod, and Great Furnace!

Cyriius really focused his win conditions: 1 Forth, Eorlingas! and that's it! (Unless you consider attacking 10x with a Snapcaster Mage to be a valid win condition). But what if the Eorlingas are countered/discarded or if the Knights are dealt with? The deck has several ways to recover the Spell for more knight summoning rounds: the aforementioned Snapcaster Mage, the Planeswalker side of Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student and Mystic Sanctuary.

The rest of the deck is made up of interactions: Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Spell Pierce, Force of Negation and Teferi, Time Raveler; and card draw: Narset, Parter of Veils, Day's Undoing (a brutal combo with Narset), Snapcaster Mage, Lórien Revealed and, another unusual inclusion, Tune the Narrative.

This inclusion serves 2 purposes: it effectively reduces the cost of Wrath of the Skies, as you can accumulate Energy to spend on the White Spell later; and it can be used to draw a card during your opponent's turn – a particularly tricky trick if you've left a Terminus resting on top of your deck.

This deck can play with almost any starting hand, since you don't need to look for any specific combination of cards, just answers and ways to cycle your deck through card draw.

Once control is established, winning becomes a mere technicality. It's getting to that control that's the problem. So what you're looking for in your starting hand is a mix of interaction, lands, and card draw.

Opening hand examples:

Even though Day's Undoing isn't a card you want to see in your starting hand, 3 Brainstorm combined with Flooded Strand is basically capable of finding what you need, as well as getting rid of cards that are not useful. It can be a bit risky against combo decks if you're on the draw.

Verdict: Safe keep, unless you know you're facing a turn 1 combo deck and aren't on the play.

This hand is a trap. It looks fine, as it has both spells and interactions, but apart from using the Fetch Land to get a Surveil Land, this hand lacks fuel. Also, as stated before, Day’s Undoing is in practice minus one card. This deck mulligans very well, so don't be afraid to send average hands like this and look for better options.

Verdict: Mulligan.

Another average hand, but with more options than the previous one. This one is worth keeping, as Ponder and Meticulous Archive via Flooded Strand helps you find more interactions and Swords to Plowshares helps you hold out threats. However, it is a vulnerable hand against combos.

Verdict: Risky keep, easily a mulligan if you know your opponent's deck will answer your interactions.

Despite having only 1 Land, this hand is one of the easiest keeps. Lórien Revealed guarantees land number 2, and 3 Cantrips should get the deck running and Force of Will guarantees protection.

Verdict: Easy keep.

As is common in Blue lists, the sideboard is made up of a plethora of options against a variety of archetypes. Decks without access to Cantrips tend to have more focused responses with generally 3 or 4 copies, but Brainstorm and Ponder allow you to increase the Swiss army knife of cards.

The list we brought has Containment Priest against giant monsters from Reanimator and Sneak & Show, Harbinger of the Seas against Eldrazi, Lands, Depths and Cloudpost. Ruination is also effective in these matchups. Monastery Mentor adds an extra win condition option against decks that can permanently eliminate your single copy of Forth, Eorlingas!. Stony Silence and Wrath of the Skies help deal with Artifact decks – Wrath also works against decks like Death & Taxes and Red Prison.

Triumph of Saint Katherine helps seal the deal against aggressive decks that put too much pressure on your Life points. Consign to Memory is a response against the Eldrazi threats, but it can surprisingly save your skin against an Initiative enabler made uncountable through Cavern of Souls. Finally, Flusterstorm is the standard answer against Storm decks.

Other cards that can be found in the archetype's sideboards are: Deafening Silence, Disruptor Flute, Hydroblast, Pyroblast and Surgical Extraction.

Frognator

Although Wrath of the Skies can be used to deal with Psychic Frog, it is not an efficient answer. Since we’re dealing with discards and possible exile effects, Monastery Mentor comes in as an alternative victory condition.

In:

Out:

Eldrazi Aggro

Your counterspells are ineffective against them, especially if Cavern of Souls comes to play. Thought-Knot Seer can end the game on the spot if he hits Forth, Eorlingas!.

Wrath of the Skies can deal with hordes of Eldrazi Spawn, but it’s not as efficient against Eldrazis with 3 or higher Mana Value, so the third one doesn't come in. Triumph of Saint Katherine helps stabilize and provides a constant threat.

In:

Out:

Red Stompy

Blood Moon doesn't hurt you so much and most lists have abandoned Chalice of the Void in favor of Vexing Bauble, which affects your Force of Will. They basically have no efficient response against Triumph of Saint Katherine coming from the side and Wrath of the Skies blows up everything – Chrome Mox, Fable of the Mirror-breaker, Treasures, Goblin Rabblemaster and tokens...

In:

Out:

Mirror

Get ready for the longest game possible. If anyone wants a textbook battle of attrition, look no further than the Control mirror in Legacy. Your most obvious way to lose the game is by taking Force of Negation on Forth, Eorlingas!.

You have to leverage every inch and get value from cards that are normally dead in the game, like Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of the Skies and Terminus. The post-side game seeks to increase the density of threats to try and gain an extra angle to win.

In:

Out:

Painter

Wrath of the Skies is a key card here, taking out their entire board. Harbinger of the Seas does to Urza’s Saga what Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon do best: erase it from existence! Stony Silence is another no-brainer against them.

In:

Out:

Time and again, the death of Control is announced in Legacy. But Control is like a cockroach. It persists, it will remain even after a nuclear cataclysm.

Looking at the results of the archetype, even in a format distorted by Psychic Frog, gives us a glimpse when the Frog leaves our community, we should have a Metagame with room for the Aggro-Control-Combo trio.

I’ll end it here, with a miraculous hug, and see you next time!