Legacy: Jeskai Wizards - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Greetings, dear Legacy community! Today, we'll revisit the most alive dead archetype in Legacy: Control!

It's impressive how we've been hearing for years that Control isn't a valid strategy in this Combo-dominated format and that its time has passed... But still the same old cantrip, Force of Will, Swords to Plowshares shell with something to keep it stable keeps getting results, even though it still needs updating from time to time.

The most recent update resulted in what we now call Jeskai Wizards. Two crucial cards were the inspiration for this name: Thundertrap Trainer and Flame of Anor.

One of the many things I always say about Legacy is that, despite the wide pool of cards we can use to build our decks in this format, we actually don't have many low-cost card advantage tools to play. After all, most of these cards end up broken and eventually banned.

Flame of Anor is one of the few cards like this that is still free to roam the format. It could potentially give you 3 cards for 1, as its card draw mode is the most common one, and all its other modes hit a lot in this format. In fact, having a way to destroy artifacts in the main deck is particularly interesting right now. However, this card relies on other factors, like having enough Wizards in play to use two of its modes at the same time.

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is a Wizard, so she's already a lot of help in that sense. Snapcaster Mage, besides a common figure for this type of deck, interacts particularly well with Flame: if you use it to Flashback this Lord of the Rings instant, you'll already meet your Wizard goal. All we needed then was another engine.

Enters Thundertrap Trainer. At first, this card might not seem that different from Augur of Bolas, which practically doesn't exist in Legacy, despite both being Wizards. There is a small difference between them: Thundertrap Trainer can also find artifacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers, but it also digs through 4 instead of 3 cards, so it is less likely to fail. That's what makes it a lot more reliable. It is also a nice way to drain mana in stretched-out games thanks to its Offspring ability.

This unsuspecting Otter has been conquering more and more space in many formats, including Vintage! So, it's not surprising to see it performing well in Legacy too.

Not that it needed it, but a player named jankyb won two Magic Online Challenge 32s in the same week with the list above and one very similar to it (the second has 2 Sanctifier en-Vec instead of 1 Minor Misstep and 1 Red Elemental Blast in the sideboard). Performing this well in two competitive tournaments really close together is no coincidence, and it has been gaining traction in the format ever since.

As we mentioned above, its core is Brainstorm, Ponder, Force of Will, and Swords to Plowshares. As it isn't a tempo list, it doesn't play Daze or Wasteland. What it does play is the universal 1-mana "Planeswalker", Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, and more control elements, like Force of Negation, Spell Pierce, Minor Misstep, Dress Down, and Prismatic Ending.

It also plays the Wizards kit that names it: Flame of Anor, Thundertrap Trainer, and Snapcaster Mage.

To close it off, it plays two finishers that perform quite well when your opponent gets distracted: Jace, the Mind Sculptor might not own the format as he once did, but he is still problematic for distracted opponents. As for Forth Eorlingas!, it can end the game on the spot or slowly give you valuable resources in attrition games.

Some versions of this list also take advantage of how Magus of the Moon and Back to Basics lock down opponents in this format.

A good portion of Legacy players are Control players at heart. Seeing such a list performing well is always tempting if you enjoy dictating the rhythm of the game every step of the way.

Thundertrap Trainer makes this list a bit more proactive than it usually is, but don't be mistaken: this is a control list.

As it so often happens with this type of deck, it not only mulligans really well but can also keep a wide variety of hands precisely because it doesn't need any specific combination of cards to work.

Basically, unless you know you're facing a turn-1 combo list (which means you need a counterspell), any hand with enough lands to play your first spells and ways to draw cards is keepable.

Let's see a few examples:

You can easily keep this type of hand, except against decks like Oops All Spells. You'll create value as early as turn 1 and ride this wave in the following turns.

Verdict: Keep, except if you know you need a counter on turn 1.

Despite the many lands, Brainstorm definitely carries this hand on its back, particularly as you'll also have fetch lands to shuffle the excess cards.

Verdict: Keep.

Another standard hand. Nothing to see here.

Verdict: Keep.

Didn't I say this deck can keep nearly anything?

Verdict: Keep.

Like any deck full of cantrips, Jeskai Wizards needs a varied sideboard to hit different decks and relies on its cards to find the right answers.

Surgical Extraction is still one of the best answers against graveyards and is even more valuable with Snapcaster Mage. Consign to Memory is super-efficient against the colorless threats in the format, much in the same way Blasts are efficient against the colors they hit.

Minor Misstep makes this strategy more redundant against fast lists, and Null Rod is still a threat to Forge Combo.

Finally, we have Back to Basics and Ruination, which can ruin the day of decks that focus too much on their nonbasic lands.

Dimir Reanimator

The main deck in the format is no easy opponent because both our list and this one play a similar number of counterspells, but they also play Thoughtseize. On the other side, Wizards doesn't lose on the spot to an Atraxa, Grand Unifier like other decks do, but Atraxa can give them enough fuel to push the game out of our reach. Archon of Cruelty is way less problematic.

A well-timed Dress Down can win the game. Their aggro game plan is much less efficient against us. Our goal is relying on attrition because then we'll have the advantage.

In:

Out:

Dimir Aggro

You won't have to worry about a big reanimated monster, but you'll have to deal with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares. They usually play one or no basic lands at all, so the Back to Basics // Ruination plan could end the game on the spot.

In:

Out:

Forge

Their deck basically includes two types of cards: ways to create mana and payoffs and cards that benefit from this extra mana. These are the cards you must not let resolve: The One Ring, Karn, the Great Creator, Mystic Forge, and Ugin, Eye of the Storms. But, of course, this is easier said than done. On the other side, you can use Flame of Anor to buy a lot of time if you destroy a Grim Monolith with it. This will make it easier for you to defend yourself against Karn or the Ring.

Post-side, be careful with Defense Grid.

In:

Out:

Red Stompy

Other versions of Jeskai Control struggled more against this deck, but Wizards is naturally resilient to Blood Moon and main deck answers against Chalice of the Void. The biggest danger here is The One Ring, which can give them enough resources to escape from your grasp. Consign to Memory has enough targets to be quite destructive.

In:

Out:

Cephalid Breakfast

You'll have to play defense throughout the entire match because they only need a 3-mana window to play their combo, and often less if they use Urza's Saga to find Shuko. On the other side, a well-timed Dress Down could be lethal. Overall, you have the tools to stop their combo, so just take care.

In:

Out:

Hogwarts, Strixhaven, Nevermore. Wherever you are, magic schools are pumping out great students, and they in turn are making quite some noise in Legacy. With these Wizards, one of the most beloved archetypes in the format has shown us it is still relevant.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!