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By: JustSin, Dave
Mar 17 2010 2:51am
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A Look At Legacy Rogues

Hey everyone welcome back to this special edition look at Legacy.  For those who may have missed it I had recently put together an article (found here) that takes a look at the different deck types that are available for the player who is interested in the Legacy format.  When putting together this article I took a look at the decks played in paper Legacy and created a list that was ordered from most popular deck type to the least popular deck type.  Then in order to kind of reduce the length of what was already a rather long article I narrowed that to a top 24 and combined the rest of the decks into an "Other" category to make 25.

While I think this was a fair thing to do for the sake of the article it did skew the numbers a little.  The "Other" category I created made up 21% of all the decks I inventoried.  The second most popular would have been Threshold decks that only made up 9%, not even half of the first place showing.  Now this is easily understood when you consider the fact that, with some exceptions, Legacy takes cards from the entire card pool available.  So therefore everything and anything a player can think up can be (and often is) played in Legacy tournaments.  Now this doesn't mean that they all have good showings, but some of the underplayed decks are considered rogues.  A rogue deck is typically a deck that is created with the singular purpose of being able to take down the playing environment.

So through comments left by people who took the time to read through the long article they were curious as to what was really contained in the "Other" section of that pie chart.  Well I've decided to do my best to provide a bit more insight into what decks make up that 21% of the format.  However, before we get into the real meat of the article let's cover a few things first.


Legalities

Ok I'll make this quick, but I like to make this clear up front.  As a bit of a disclaimer I would like to again remind people that these numbers aren't exact and some of these decks have been categorized as a matter of personal opinion.  I'm not an expert player in the format, but instead am a curious soul who wanted to venture out in search of what decks were being played in the Legacy environment.  What I write here are my findings about these decks.

I'll apologize upfront for any errors that might occur, sometimes when writing up these long articles you'll find a slip of the mind.  I would like to note a few corrections for the previous article that were thankfully pointed out in comments.  At several points I addressed the power of Krosan Grip in the battle against Standstill, but this was in error.  The ability from Standstill is activated when Krosan Grip is played and the split second ability does not get around it.  Also I mentioned a plus to Banefire was that it couldn't be redirected when in fact it can be redirected, just not countered or prevented.


Additional Reading

I'd just like to take a minute to point out some additional reading for those interested in the Legacy format.  The first being a series of articles put together by Raddman.  These articles take a look at the popularity and price of popular cards in the format as well as much more.

In addition to these articles another must read has to be by dangerlinto.  This article, Embracing Legacy Online, takes a look at the price of Legacy decks from an online projection and even goes as far as to compare it to the price of Legacy in paper.  This is done in order to examine certain mindsets that say that Legacy cannot survive online due to a high cost of entry.  I made mention of this in the other article, but I really has to be mentioned again because of how great it is.  There were also comments made asking about the cost of entry for Legacy decks and I couldn't answer any better than to direct people to this article.

Also through my searches I've found this article at StarCityGames (I apologize for the off-site name drop) that does a similar thing and looks at the top showings from their recent Legacy tournaments.


Ok now that we've got all that out of the way let's get back on point.  So this time around I'm taking that "Other" piece of our pie chart and adding into it a number of rogue decks I found.  Now just to clarify I'm not just grabbing every deck that's ever been played in Legacy and that doesn't fit a larger category.  If I did so then we'd be here forever.  The rogue decks that I'm including are ones that have been played by multiple people and have more then just a single showing.  I've also eliminated decks that consistently have put up bad placings.  Again I'll try not to bog you down with the details, but hope to at least give a little understanding into where I'm heading.  Now again some of these decks maybe classified in another deck type, but I've personally decided to keep them this way so you'll just have to make the decision for yourself.  Now let's take a look at the new chart shall we?

Ouch.

Now take a look at this graph.  This chart shows just how massive the variation of different Legacy Rogue decks is.  In total I found 62 different decks that make up this graph.  Take those 62 types in addition to the 24 decks that I've already shown you and you have 86 different decks available to you.  The bottom line that this continues to illustrate is that with such a large card pool there are tons of different options available for deck building possibilities.  Because there are so many different decks the chart can't even fit all of the labels needed to really give you an idea as to what is what.  Ok so now you're thinking "point made dude, but now what?"  Well that is a very good question.  Here is what I decided to do.  Due to the length of an article containing 62 different deck types including some that have several variations within that type I'm going to break this into two parts.  In order to keep you coming back for more I'm going to start from the back and work my way forward, showing the most popular... unpopular... decks in part 2.

However, I won't force you to search through a long article in hopes of finding a deck that isn't here.  I know I've been there before so here is a list of what decks can be found in this article!

Ok there you have it, the 33 decks that I'll show you this time while the remaining 29 will come in a second part.  Now because I'm doing this differently and in order to make up for the fact that I can't fit the names onto the pie chart I'm going to include a little extra information in each break down.  In addition to the deck list and summary you'll get a quick idea at the percent as well as the number of showings.  So we've got a lot to cover let's jump right into it.


Wizards

One of the interesting things you may notice about Legacy is the number of different tribal based decks.  In the first article we've already taken a look at those tribes that are strong enough to be played in larger quantities.  The ever eternal Goblins and Elves continue to make a showing that one might expect from these constant competitors.  In addition to those we also had a showing from Faeries, which became relevant through the addition of the Lorwyn block.  Now if you take a look at the additional tribes played we get small showings from Clerics, Wizards, and even Zombies.  What better place to abuse the few restrictions of the Tribal Classic format then through an open ended format with a different banned list like this one?

 

 

This is one example of what Wizards can bring to the table.  I have to be honest this deck has a few odd choices in my opinion such as the multiple Sage of Epityr, but with some cheap creature options you can up the power of Patron Wizard or Voidmage Prodigy.  Another nice feature of the Patron Wizard is it's ability to tap your Puresight Merrow and create an option for using it's untap ability.  Then the synergy continues with Judge of Currents in order to give you some life gain since you're tapping those merfolk any ways.  Personally I'm not a big fan of this particular deck and I think that better things could possibly be done with Wizards, but who am I to talk when I've never played it and learned for myself?  The one thing I can really appreciate about this deck is the toolbox it offers.  I personally never would have thought that Trinket Mage could offer a toolbox, but here they managed to pool together a number of trinket artifacts in order to cover the basis on many different things you'd face.

By Number: Decks of the Wizard sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Oona Mill

Now I'll start by saying I almost expected a couple more people to try and put together a mill strategy.  Wizards offered us several alternative win conditions for this game, but perhaps 99% of the top tournament decks are focused on the traditional, beat your opponent to 0 life, strategy.  This deck was one of two I saw that utilized the mill strategy to win the game (obviously with the exception being the typical Painter's Servant Grindstone or Leyline of the Void Helm of Obedience combo).

Oona Mill
A Deck By: Sven Gotze
Creatures
4 Hypnotic Specter
3 Nyxathid
2 Oona, Queen of the Fae
4 Painter's Servant
13 cards

Other Spells
1 Plaguebearer
4 Dark Ritual
3 Smother
2 Tainted Pact
4 Beseech the Queen
1 Decree of Pain
3 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Deathgrip
2 Grindstone
1 Liliana Vess
24 cards
Lands
4 Polluted Delta
12 Swamp
4 Wasteland
20 cards

Oona, Queen of the Fae

 

Just a quick note I've changed the deck name due so that it's in English.  Ok, ok I know what you're thinking.  "Dude this is just another Painter Grindstone type".  Well ok you're partially right, but this does it in a whole different way.  In most decks that are focused on Painter's Servant and Grindstone they use things in order to focus on that strategy.  The most popular out is blue, which get's a tutor in Trinket Mage and the second most popular is the red version that uses Imperial Recruiter as its tutor.  This deck does include those tutors, but uses black in a creative way to disrupt an opponent through discard.  I think the tutor for this deck, Beseech the Queen, is a little weak considering all the tutors that are available to you through Legacy, but it brings a bit of flare to it.  What I like about this is the even when you're Grindstone plan gets shut down you can do all kinds of fun things with Painter's Servant + Oona, Queen of the Fae.  Since all cards are the same color the ability basically lets you remove X cards and put X tokens into play.  This is the kind of creativity is what makes Legacy, and it's large card pool, lots of fun in my opinion.

By Number: Decks of the Oona Mill sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Well Deck

 

Who said Kaleidoscope was dead??  This deck looks just really awesome to play and its almost completely doable with the current selection of cards that we have online.  This deck, named after the guy running it, has to be just a blast to play.  The deck seems to be your typical aggro with a twist.  Almost the entire deck's creature base is made up of multicolored creatures that then get a great pump from Knight of New Alara.  If you can put together the mana base to run something like this then why not attempt it??  Take a look at what makes this deck up.. first you have some of the best removal you can find in multicolor spells through Terminate and Maelstrom Pulse.  Then you have a creature base that is made of creatures that have great size/ability in a cheap casting cost due to the fact that they are harder to play since they require all these different colors to get out there.  Then you add onto that the strong armed control of Meddling Mage and finally put a few Knight of New Alara into play to make that control stick a beater as well!  On top of that?  Well it's a creature heavy deck so of course it has three Umezawa's Jitte, perhaps the strongest equipment to ever be made by Wizards.  Now if I was the one playing this deck there are definitely a few changes I could see making to this deck.  In the land base I would opt to replace City of Brass for Pillar of the Paruns since we're looking at a deck where 67.5% of the non-land cards are multicolored.  I'm also not totally sold on the 4 Mox Diamond.  The deck is already 62 cards, 22 lands... is 4 mox really needed?  Fine I'd run like 24 lands, dropping 2 Mox Diamond for lands and then cut the other two in order to hit 60 cards so you can find stuff faster.  Perhaps this isn't a real contender for the top levels of Legacy, but with a little cleaning I think it could be a lot of fun.

By Number: Decks of the Well Deck sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Vampires

Ok so now before you go getting excited let me tell you that I'm sorry I have to include this deck, but I didn't want to skip anything.  This deck is pretty much a Standard (*shudder*) Vampire deck before the release of Worldwake.

Vampires
A Deck By: Christian Moser
Creatures
4 Blood Seeker
4 Child of Night
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Guul Draz Vampire
2 Vampire Hexmage
4 Vampire Lacerator
2 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Vampire Nocturnus
26 cards

Other Spells
4 Dark Ritual
4 Smother
4 Snuff Out
4 Duress
12 cards
Lands
18 Swamp
18 cards

Vampire Nocturnus

 

I really don't want to waste a lot of time trying to break this deck down because this kind of thing is seen quite often in our current Standard environment.  The deck looks to use Vampire Nocturnus in order to pump the quick tribe to great sizes.  In addition to these the deck packs a couple of quick creature kills and basically becomes a black weenie deck that just happens to be tribal as well.  Personally I think the sideboard is a little weak, but it really sticks well to the aggressive theme by giving a tempo advantage in the early game through Hymn to Tourach.  I just think that for this kind of deck to survive in a playing environment that is pack full of so many powerful combos and creatures it's going to need a bit more sideboard help and even then it just may not have what it takes.

By Number: Decks of the Vampire sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


UW Tempo/Control

 

As you can see this deck takes several different elements of common blue and white strategies then combines them to form a deck that can both put on aggro pressure and maintain control over your opponent's play tempo.  Like most decks that use creatures with big power and low cc this deck uses AEther Vial in order to sneak in creatures and they are some nice ones.  Serra Avenger and Jotun Grunt really bring in the bulk of the deck, while the others provide utility.  The one of Baneslayer Angel is something that can be replaced with Exalted Angel based on playing preference and works as a big finisher once you get towards the mid-game.  When you look at the utility creatures you get land fetch from Knight of the White Orchid and Weathered Wayfarer while the Fathom Seer provides card draw and the Samurai of the Pale Curtain provides perhaps the best main deck answer to graveyard dependent decks.  This is important to the rogue idea because there is such a large quantity of decks at the top of the Legacy food chain that are grave dependent and this is put together in hopes of foiling those plans pre-boarding.  Then outside of the creatures the deck holds the typical counter grouping with Force of Will and Brainstorm in addition to Spell Pierce though it is sometimes replaced with Spell Snare.  The Path to Exile are in main deck so that you can remove early blockers and get that fast damage in.  The struggling point for these decks lies within enchantment or artifact heavy opponents.  There are some answers in the sideboard, but it can be customized more depending on what one is expecting to face in the playing environment.

By Number: Decks of the UW Tempo sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Trinket Stalker

Now this deck here is quite the interesting hodge-podge of control options with Trinket Mage as a bit of an answer finder.  The deck made a short appearance online as a fringe deck for Classic (talked about in brief here), but doesn't hold much popularity in Legacy, at least in 2009.  The deck did have 7 showings in 2008, but it's a drop off from there.

 

As you can see the deck really takes advantage of Trinket Mage and Enlightened Tutor to grab what it needs to control the game from the start.  Then it brings in Tombstalker as a potentially cheap way to bring the beats.  In addition to the tool box of artifacts the deck is running very heavy discard to control the early game.  Duress, Thoughtseize, and Hymn to Tourach can really pick apart an opponent's hand in order to destroy his strategy.  The deck has potential because of all of the main deck answers to the meta environment.  The deck has Tormod's Crypt for grave dependent decks, Moat to stop Zoo and other aggro decks, and a board wipe in the form of Engineered Explosives.  Not to mention the recursion through Academy Ruins.  The sideboard of the deck is packed a bunch of single cards in order to, again, maximize the options available to you in countering your opponent's deck.  They are also mostly found in enchantment form so that they can be tutored out through Enlightened Tutor (for example the deck uses Seal of Cleansing instead of something like Disenchant).  Also the deck brings in Exalted Angel for added life gain and beats over the Moat.  If you take a chance to read the article I mentioned above, that shows the Classic version you can see that the deck can be modified with any other enchantment or artifact deemed necessary.  Things like Oblivion Ring, Umezawa's Jitte, Bitterblossom, and extra tutors can be added in order to modify the toolbox to fit any need.

By Number: Decks of the TrinketStalker sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Train Wreck

 

Now here is a deck that looks like a lot of fun to me, but not my first choice for competitive play.  This deck almost seems like a Rock deck, but Train Wreck focuses only on one creature, Helldozer.  With Helldozer and Staff of Domination this deck can really power out the land destruction.  The one thing this deck really needs to run is the Cabal Coffers because it relies so much on heavy mana spells.  Things like Decree of Pain and Haunting Echoes are great, but require big mana in order to operate.  The same goes for Staff of Domination, in order to really get the most out of it you need to have enough mana open to untap.  This deck also offers early game disruption in the form of discard spells and can bring everything and anything back thanks to Regrowth (a card that I think we definitely need to see in the next Master's Edition set).  Again this is a deck that can struggle against enchantment or artifact heavy decks, but it can use Pernicious Deed to take care of it in most cases.  The weakness really is the lands because if you lose a Cabal Coffers to Wasteland or any of the many other non-basic hate in the format then you're really going to struggle to get things going early.

By Number: Decks of the Train Wreck sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Terragedon

I think from the start the name pretty much describes the idea behind this deck.  Can you make a guess???

 

Terravore + Armageddon.  Did you guess it correct?  I sure hope so.... If you take a look at this deck it basically is a GW Aggro deck that relies on a different kind of strategy.  Sure it has some of the basic components, Tarmogoyf and Swords to Plowshares for example, but it also uses mana elves and Birds of Paradise so Armageddon can be cast without worry.  This also works to help pump Terravore making him a biggie for only 3 mana.  The addition of four Wastelands can help pump the Terravore in the early game while you're waiting to get your hands on Armageddon.  The rest of the deck is pretty self explanatory as you're goal is to get things going quick and then be able to destroy all your opponent's options for getting mana while still being able to cast thanks to those mana creatures.  Now I think the idea here is a nice one, but the packaging is perhaps a little clunky.  The one of Sword of Light and Shadow may have its place, but I think it could be better used as Oblivion Ring or something else that would round the deck a bit better.  Between the main deck and the side I think the deck is also a bit weak in opposition to grave decks.

By Number: Decks of the Terragedon sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Show and Tell

Show and Tell Eureka Hypergenesis


What do these three things have in common?  Well two things actually.  First they all have decks that use them as the main strategy.  Second they all allow you to put some big nasty creature in play without paying its actual casting cost.  Here's an example of what the Show and Tell version looks like...

Show and Tell
A Deck By: Sylvain Aubry
Creatures
4 Empyrial Archangel
4 Progenitus
4 Sower of Temptation
12 cards

Other Spells
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Show and Tell
4 Control Magic
20 cards
Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Flooded Strand
8 Island
4 Tundra
20 cards

Show and Tell

 

Now like Oath, Eureka, (Hypergenesus), etc. you start by putting in some of the biggest, baddest creatures out there.  In this case the builder chose Progenitus and Empyrial Archangel to fill that role.  The construction is incredibly simple when you look at it.  You add the key card (Show and Tell) and the creatures it will fetch.  Then they added the big 12 (Daze, Force of Will, Brainstorm) as the strong counter base to the deck that will help protect not only your combo, but your creatures as well.  Then on the chance that you're opponent gets a creature out there that is an issue the deck has not only Sower of Temptation, but Control Magic as well in order to take that threat and use it against it's original owner.  Then you add in a tutor to find Show and Tell so that you can get it off as early as possible.  Now the white splash is there entirely for the Meddling Mages in the sideboard, which I guess is a nice addition to the deck.  The Leyline of the Voids in the sideboard can work well to stop the grave decks because you don't need black mana to cast it in this deck.  If you don't get it in an opening hand then you can put it into play with Show and Tell.  The only important thing is that you have to make sure you have the counter support to back it when you play because once those four are out of action the deck struggles.

By Number: Decks of the Show and Tell sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Mike Lewis Special

Mike Lewis Special
A Deck By: Jeff Darran
Creatures
4 Dark Confidant
4 Keldon Marauders
8 cards

Other Spells
2 Fireblast
3 Incinerate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Terminate
4 Blightning
4 Chain Lightning
4 Chrome Mox
3 Sensei's Divining Top
32 cards
Lands
4 Badlands
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Great Furnace
4 Mountain
4 Wasteland
3 Wooded Foothills
20 cards

Sideboard
2 Pyroblast
2 Volcanic Fallout
3 Blood Moon
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Pyroblast
3 Price of Progress
2 Tormod's Crypt
15 cards
Blightning

 

This deck runs basically like a Red burn deck, but has an added black splash for some really great stuff.  Dark Confidant helps out with the common problem in burn decks of running out of gas because of an empty hand.  Then you get Blightning, which is just fantastic because it acts as Incinerate with hand destruction.  This can be important because it helps slow down an opponent, buying you those precious extra turns to do the final damage.  Now I put this deck together to give it a try and here's what I found.  You can get an ideal start that wins turn one...

Badlands Chrome Mox Dark Confidant
Great Furnace Incinerate Lightning Bolt
Mountain Shrapnel Blast Shrapnel Blast

Sure this relied on being able to attack with Dark Confidant, but against most decks that maybe possible.  There's a reason why this is an ideal start and not a typical one.  What I did also notice was that if there was any life gain, even in small amounts, slows this deck to a stop.  So while it seems like a well intentioned strategy I'd be surprised to see it make a top 8.

By Number: Decks of the Mike Lewis Special sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Life.dec

Life.dec relies on a very simple two card combo, Daru Spiritualist + Nomads en-Kor (or any other en-Kor), to do some pretty crazy things.  One of the most common, and the reason for the deck name, is to pump it and sacrifice it using Diamond Valley or Worthy Cause in order to gain an infinite amount of life.

 

This deck uses the Diamond Valley out for the life gain which is the safest since it cannot be countered.  Yes it is a little vulnerable to land destruction, but I think its easier to find a Counterspell then it is Wasteland.  It's a gamble, but what part of Magic isn't?  When researching this I looked at some other versions that weren't in the 09 data set and this was perhaps the best version of it I found.  This deck uses green in order to bring in Living Wish.  This allows you to grab the pieces of your combo from the sideboard when you need them.  Also in addition to the life combination through Diamond Valley this deck brings in an alternative, About Face.  With this you can pump the defense of the key creatures and swing for the win.  In another attempt to focus on the win condition of the deck it brings in Task Force as an alternative to Daru Spiritualist.  For those who aren't familiar with it Task Force is a 1/3 rebel that costs 2W and has the same ability... "Whenever Task Force becomes the target of a spell or ability, it gets +0/+3 until end of turn".  Between these two creatures you have easy options to pull off the combo.  In MTGO terms it becomes a little weaker because you physically have to continue clicking the ability from the en-Kor to the pumper, but you can still gain like 1000 life and just F6 the rest of the game hoping to time out your opponent.  (False Cure anyone??)  Unfortunately this deck won't really be able to be competitive until we get MM online or if the Task Force gets printed in some other set or precon.

By Number: Decks of the Life.dec sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Infinite Combos

Infinite Combos
A Deck By: Bjorn Birk
Creatures
3 Metalworker
3 Wake Thrasher
6 cards

Other Spells
2 Stroke of Genius
2 Fabricate
2 Transmute Artifact
4 Power Artifact
4 Basalt Monolith
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Mox Diamond
4 Staff of Domination
4 Trinisphere
1 Whetstone
4 City of Traitors
21 cards
Lands
1 Academy Ruins
4 Ancient Tomb
10 Island
4 Seat of the Synod
19 cards

Whetstone

 

Now this is a crazy interesting deck.  You'll notice right away that several of the key cards in this deck aren't linking.  Well that's because Transmute Artifact, Power Artifact, and Basalt Monolith are probably cards that will need to see release through Master's Edition sets.  For those unfamiliar here's how they work.

Transmute Artifact: As an additional cost, sacrifice an artifact.  Search your library for an artifact card.  If that artifact's cmc is less than or equal to the one sacrificed put it onto the battlefield.  If the cost is greater you pay X where X is the difference.
Power Artifact: Enchant target artifact.  Enchanted artifact's activated abilities cast 2 less to activate to a minimum of 1.
Basalt Monolith: Doesn't untap during your untap step.  Pay 3, untap Basalt Monolith.  Tap to add 3 to your mana pool.

Now there are a couple of things that can happen here.  Obviously a lot of the deck is focused around bringing out artifacts and then reducing the cost of their abilities so that you can use them more then you would be able to otherwise.  The coolest thing here, in my opinion, is the combination between the Basalt Monolith and Wake ThrasherBasalt Monolith has the ability to untap itself an infinite number of times.  Now the average person would wonder why you'd waste the 3 mana continuously untapping the same thing and retapping it, but the creative player would see the interaction this can have with the newer merfolk.  Here they use Wake Thrasher to create a huge creature that can swing for the win.  Now this may seem like a bit of a fragile, but this deck can do other fun things such as milling out your opponent with Stroke of Genius and/or Whetstone.  Because of all the reductions to activation costs this deck has the ability to pump out some really big mana and then you can use it in a bunch of creative ways including some more craziness with Staff of Domination.
 

By Number: Decks of the Infinite Combos sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Homebrew

Now this deck is exactly what it says it is.  Homebrewed.  If you're looking around at decks you'll find several that are called "Homebrew" and will maybe find two that look kind of similar.  The act of the matter is these are decks that someone built out of their own assessment of the current playing environment.  There aren't a lot of showings from these decks because most people going into a tournament usually tries to use a deck type that is already proven.  So that leaves me wondering what to show case here, but I did finally decide on one that I liked.

 

This deck was very interesting to me for a few reasons.  First off the deck works in an interesting amount of life gain in addition to cycling as a card draw engine.  Then you have it running Rude Awakening, which can be used in a number of ways.  It can be used as a means for land destruction once you've got a safe lead or as a win condition with a bunch of 2/2 land creatures swinging for the win.  The deck uses quite a bit of wrath effects, which leads me to believe they were expecting an aggro heavy meta.  The next interesting piece to this deck is the sideboard.  All of the answers that this deck has in the sideboard are in the form of enchantments.  Then in order to pick out those one of enchantments from the deck you have three Enlightened Tutors you add in so that you can find them fast.  That's not something you see every day.

By Number: Decks of the Homebrew sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Fog

Turbo Fog decks have seen some recent play in the Standard meta, but they haven't had much play time probably since the release of Zendikar.  This doesn't mean that they aren't worth playing, just that they'll take a bit more rework to be successful in an environment with a wider and varied card pool.  In Legacy you can occasionally find someone running a version of the Fog decks, but through 2009 there was only one showing.  Here it is...

 

Now this is the only Fog deck that showed up in 2009 (that I've found) and I have to admit... it has me a little stupefied.  Now I get where it's leading, but it seems a little lighter on "fog" effects then I've seen.  Granted I'm not real familiar with the deck type, but it's the one-ofs that really bother me, but I guess it could be helpful for keeping things from being named by Meddling Mages, etc.  You do have to note that the great thing about playing it in Legacy is that it has a wider card selection and you can put in things like Worship and Ethereal Haze.  The last thing that really has me stumped, and maybe someone in comments can help me on this, but I'm totally not getting why the deck is running 4 Mountains in the sideboard for an entirely white deck.

By Number: Decks of the Fog sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Coatl/Dryad Grow

I was very excited to see this deck because I had always wanted to see what could be done with Lorescale Coatl and I think that I found a great way to put it together.  After looking at a couple deck lists this is the version I would probably play.

Coatl/Dryad Grow
A Deck Suggestion By: JustSin
Creatures
4 Lorescale Coatl
2 Merfolk Looter
4 Quirion Dryad
2 Thought Courier
12 cards

Other Spells
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Snare
4 Path to Exile
4 Ponder
4 Serum Visions
4 Winter Orb
32 cards
Lands
4 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Island
4 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
16 cards

Sideboard
2 Hydroblast
4 Propaganda
3 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Blue Elemental Blast
4 Relic of Progenitus
15 cards
Lorescale Coatl

 

This deck is mainly a blue/green deck with a splash of white for Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares as a great removal option.  Now this deck takes the idea of pumping Lorescale Coatl and doubles it through the use of Quirion Dryad.  Then it has a whole bunch of fun tricks up its sleeve.  First off there are all kinds of tricky ways to pump the Lorescale Coatl through the Merfolk Looter, Thought Courier, and Brainstorm.  On top of that it brings in Winter Orb and uses that as a crazy awesome control mechanism.  Who cares if all the lands are locked down?  You have ways to be bouncing land back to your hand through Daze, not to mention the fact that the whole deck is created with small cc in mind.  Another addition that could be made to this deck is Thwart, a Counterspell from MM that counters a spell for free by returning 3 Islands to your hand.  The same can be said for Gush, which also bounces lands in exchange for a free spell.  The key is getting a growing creature into play and then keeping it locked down through Winter Orb as well as using the Counterspells to protect that creature.  This is a deck that would take quite a bit of playing to really get the hang of playing it to its most effective, but it has a lot of potential.  The win condition can be a little fragile so you really have to work to keep those creatures on the table.

By Number: Decks of the Coatl/Dryad Grow sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


BIG MAGIC

Now when I saw this deck it was too fantastic not to mention.

 

Who would have thought to see Myojin in a competitive deck??  This deck is very creature heavy for mana producers and card draw in order to get Opposition online in order to shut down you're opponent real fast.  The deck also uses Food Chain in order to really get the mana together to put the big Myojin into play.  With a hand destroyed through Myojin of Night's Reach and everything tapped out with Opposition you can slowly beat down an opponent with the large number of creatures.  The damage from any one creature isn't spectacular until, maybe; you get Myojin of Infinite Rage who can swing for 7.  So supposedly this deck came in first in a Legacy tournament over things like Bant Control, BW Control, and Counterbalance.  I'd really have to see how this worked in order to believe that, but anyone hoping to run this deck will be waiting for awhile since we're missing MM (Food Chain) and the Urza block (Deranged Hermit).

By Number: Decks of the BIG MAGIC sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Angelfire

 

This is a pretty cool deck that brings in some of the best stuff in the RWU colors.  The deck has quite a lot in the way of shut down mechanics to make up for the fact that it's beats come from only 4 creatures.  With this deck you are able to keep your opponent's play under control through the Counterspells, Wrath of God effects, and especially Isochron Scepter + Orim's Chant.  Once you get the ScepterChant online then you have almost complete control over your opponent's turn.  Draw comes easily to this deck thanks to Fact or Fiction or Thirst for Knowledge and there are other small burn options out there to control early game creatures.  Between Firemane Angel and Lightning Helix you'll be able to keep yourself alive longer by creating a small barrier of extra life that an opponent has to go through.  The deck also makes up for the fact that it only has 4 creatures for damage purposes by the fact that those creatures recurr from the graveyard.  Firemane Angel and Eternal Dragon are able to be brought back to your hand, but you'll have to keep an eye out for grave hate because it is easily found in Legacy decks.  Other then that the only trouble you'll run into could come from non-basic land hate.  The deck only has three basic lands to give you a chance to save the rest of your lands from being shut down.  The mana base on this version may not be fantastic, but what it was originally was such a mess I had to make a suggestion to try and clean it up.  A couple of changes can be made to this deck by using Swords to Plowshares instead of Path to Exile (though with such a slow damage base I think Path to Exile could work better) and maybe even replace the Tormod's Crypts for Relic of Progenitus if you really wanted to.  Like most of these rogue decks I'm not sure it can be constantly competitive, but it looks like a lot of fun to play.

By Number: Decks of the Angelfire sub-type had 1 appearance in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.18% share of the rouge deck pool.


Wildfire

Wildfire
A Deck By: Alfredo Merida
Creatures
3 Crater Hellion
3 Sundering Titan
6 cards

Other Spells
4 Burning Wish
3 Devastation
3 Wildfire
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Gilded Lotus
4 Gruul Signet
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Trinisphere
4 Worn Powerstone
31 cards
Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
8 Mountain
4 City of Traitors
4 Sandstone Needle
20 cards

Wildfire

 

Wildfire is another deck that is put together with hopes of using a single card to its best advantage.  This deck is really great, it's a mono red deck that uses Gruul Signet in order to compensate for a couple of green spells that you get from the sideboard.  Oh and you don't even have to wait for game 2 to bring them in.  That's right because this deck is running four Burning Wishes, allowing you to get that Tooth and Nail or Hull Breach in game 1.  This deck uses a ton of artifact mana producers and even Sandstone Needles in order to put out a ton of mana early in order to get off all of the big spells it's running.  For those not familiar with Sandstone Needle it's a land from MM that gets depletion counters and when you tap and remove one it adds two red mana to your mana pool.  When those depletion counters are gone then you sacrifice the land.  Land destruction comes in many ways other than Wildfire.. you have Sundering Titan, Devastation, and even Decree of Annihilation in the sideboard.  These all get powered out early and the deck can even deal with aggro decks increddibly well.  In addition to all those land destruction spells you get Wildfire and Crater Hellion to deal with all of that.  But it doesn't stop there, this deck even brings in a bunch of control through artifacts almost like a Stax deck would.  Trinisphere really works well to shut down cheaty Counterspells and you have four Chalice of the Voids in the main deck to really shut down the main cards in your opponent's deck.  Again, however, we've run into a deck that is slowed by a lack of MM.

By Number: Decks of the Wildfire sub-type had 2 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.37% share of the rouge deck pool.


Order

Now I know, before people start up, that there are several decks mentioned before or otherwise that do look to use Natural Order.  So what makes this section rogue?  Well frankly it's just the fact that there are some less focused versions.  This is like a reminder that you'll face some decks that have the focus on Natural Order, but they may not be as focused as others.  Here's an example..

 

Now as you can see this deck works as a toolbox of different creatures.  Some of them are used as kills to Natural Order and some are fetch points.  Obviously bringing about Progenitus is the ultimate goal because once he hits play it'll be hard to get rid of him.  However, this deck goes further then that.  There is good and bad in the fact that the deck only runs a single Progenitus.  The good thing is that you open up card space for other creatures and can use the toolbox and Natural Order so that you can find what you need fast.  The bad thing is that you only have one Progenitus and anything happens to it you're SoL.  This really speaks to the fact that it's a rogue version if you take a look at some of the odd card choices such as a single Brainstorm and some of the creature choices.  It's not all bad though.  With the addition of Academy Rector you give yourself yet another toolbox, but this time its enchantments as opposed to creatures.  Between the two you should be able to come up with answers for whatever you come across.

By Number: Decks of the Order sub-type had 2 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.37% share of the rouge deck pool.


Leyline Helm

Leyline Helm decks were kind of a new thing to MTGO players that came along with the release of Master's Edition, but in reality the deck has been around since the combo was realized with the release of Ravnica Block.  Let's take a look at Leyline Helm decks in Legacy...

 

Now this is a lot different then what is usually seen in Leyline Helm decks.  A lot of decks that look to use Leyline of the Void and Helm of Obedience use blue instead of red so that they can bring in a lot of Counterspells in order to protect the combo.  However, I think the red splash is really the right choice for your expected meta.  By adding red you get access to Pyroblast and Shattering Spree in the sideboard as well as Lightning Bolts in the main deck to deal with those early game Tarmogoyfs and other creatures.  The base of the deck is really heavy black because it looks to use hand control in a big way.  It has Hymn to Tourach, Thoughtseize, Duress, and Nyxathid in there to really work on gaining advantage of an opponent's ever shrinking hand size.  Add in a couple Dark Rituals and you get a bit of mana ramp that will allow you to drop your combo in one turn if you're trying to hide the turn 1 (Leyline of the Helm).  Sure it's great to play it early for free, but in reality if that goes out early it's an easy target and a dead give away.  Holding it isn't easy either, however, because it costs so much mana to get online.  To drop it all in one turn will take 8 mana so the Dark Rituals are really important in getting that moving faster.  In order to track down the important pieces to the combo the deck uses Dark Confidant and Sensei's Divining Top, but one has to be careful when running Dark Confidants and spells with a 4 mana cc (not to mention the two Tombstalkers).  If you hit too many of those in a row you're likely to put yourself in burn range or just finish yourself off for your opponent.

By Number: Decks of the Leyline Helm sub-type had 2 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.37% share of the rouge deck pool.


Hulk

Now I know what you're thinking... Hulk?  How do you play Hulk without Flash??  Well some people are defying the Flash ban and still playing Hulk decks in new ways.  Now Flashless Hulk decks come really in two flavors.  The first uses Through the Breach or Sneak Attack in order to replicate the Flash effect.

Breach Hulk
A Deck Suggestion By: JustSin
Creatures
1 Bile Urchin
2 Body Double
2 Carrion Feeder
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Mogg Fanatic
4 Protean Hulk
2 Reveillark
4 Simian Spirit Guide
20 cards

Other Spells
4 Pact of Negation
4 Seething Song
4 Summoner's Pact
4 Through the Breach
4 Sneak Attack
20 cards
Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
8 Mountain
4 Taiga
20 cards

Through the Breach

 

And still others use Footsteps of the Goryo.

 

No matter how you choose to get hulk in play, these decks show that it can still be done.  Both decks have a lot of differences, but let's take a quick look at the similarities first.  You'll notice both decks have two options for getting Hulk into play.  In the first they use Sneak Attack and Through the Breach whereas the second one uses Through the Breach and Footsteps of the Goryo.  By running two means of playing Hulk you increase your odds of finding one, thus allowing you to get the combo off.  In addition to the double inablers the decks also both run pacts.  Things like Summoner's Pact and Pact of Negation are not a big deal because when you're using these spells you're expecting to win that turn and won't have to worry about paying that cost on your next turn.  One big difference between the two is the four Living Wishes in the second deck.  By having Living Wish in his deck this player has allowed for a toolbox of creatures in his sideboard.  As I've said before being able to grab answers in game 1 can be the determining factor over whether or not there is a game 3.  Also instead of using Pact of Negation, the second deck uses Boseiju, Who Shelters All in order to protect the deck against other decks that run a heavy number of Counterspells.

By Number: Decks of the Hulk sub-type had 2 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.37% share of the rouge deck pool.


Eureka

So with Eureka we come to deck number two that allows you to put nasty stuff into play without paying for it.  We've already taken a look at Show and Tell so let's see what Eureka decks offer..

 

Now as you can see the deck relies heavily on these cheating effects and uses Mystical Tutor in order to make sure they can get to their spells in order to get Progenitus or Iona, Shield of Emeria, which both work to shut down an opponent incredibly well.  On top of those killer creatures the deck also has Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker who acts almost like Vindicate on a stick.  Things don't stop there.  This deck knows that the basic goal is to bring out these creatures and because the mana base is so focused you can't hard cast these creatures.  This means that you have to not only protect what Eurekas you have, but to also get to them more often.  Tutors help you achieve this goal, but what this deck does is go even further by adding in Natural Order and Show and Tell.  While these two spells aren't as powerful as Eureka they can help out by eating Counterspells or getting around other control cards.  What the deck offers as far as protecting its key cards is basically hand destruction in the early game.  For extra help you have to go to the sideboard.  There are some versions out there that use counters to protect Eureka, but I think those tend to lose a lot of power because they fill so many deck slots with Counterspells.

Now in addition to Eureka we have it's little brother, Hypergenesis.  I've decided to group the two together since the one spawned the other.  Take a look...

 

Now I want to start by saying that I'm not endorsing this deck, but simply offering it up as an example.  Hypergenesis decks play very well and this deck has a few things that are worth mentioning.  First off you can see the difference between these two decks, most importantly in the creature base.  In the Eureka deck the focus is on a few powerful creatures, whereas in the Hypergenesis deck they are running a number of different and powerful creatures.  This may just be a result of the construction level, but I prefer the decks that are a bit more creature heavy.  When you lose a couple of creatures to discard or removal you can find something else that is just as big and bad.  This deck could use quite a few changes starting with the slapped together mana-base and mana artifacts.  There is a big focus on Hypergenesis because of the number of crappy cards in there just for the cascade effect.  Since Hypergenesis is the only spell with a smaller cmc you'll hit it every time, so why not increase your odds of drawing a cascade spell?  With some cleaning up this deck could be a contender, in its current state it pulled in a second place showing.

By Number: Decks of the Eureka sub-type had 2 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.37% share of the rouge deck pool.


Dream Halls

I mentioned this in my first article so I'm going to just show you what I had previously said about it.

 

With this deck the goal is first and foremost to get Dream Halls into play so you can cheat other spell into play.  You can pitch a Brainstorm and be able to cast Conflux, which in turn searches out things such as Cruel Ultimatum.  You can even cheat out Progenitus.  One thing that we are currently missing for this deck is Show and Tell, a Urza's Saga card that helps cheat Dream Halls into play by eating Counterspells.  The bottom line is that when running this deck you want to be able to continue to fill your hand through the spells you cast using Dream Halls.  Other cards that have been added to the deck's shell include Searing Wind, Bogardan Hellkite, and Intuition.

By Number: Decks of the Dream Halls sub-type had 2 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.37% share of the rouge deck pool.


Clerics

Well we revisit some of the tribal decks, this time using Clerics.  While not as popular as Goblins or Elves we're starting to see a bit more frequency in the showings of these decks.

 

This is pretty much your typical Clerics deck with the focus being on Doubtless One.  One thing that Clerics offer to a deck is some customizable options.  The big complaint over tribal decks is the lack of a sideboard and therefore the loss of a chance to even out the playing field.  This is why tribal decks tend to shine a bit more in a format that allows them to open up into a sideboard.  In this case the deck is able to get some of the protection creatures such as Crimson Acolyte and Obsidian Acolyte.  Also the deck can get a big hit from Vile Deacon when you get a number of Clerics onto the field.  With weenie casting costs, more casting cost reduction in Edgewalker, protection in many forms including Benevolent Bodyguard, and more this deck can bring about a lot of irritation for an opponent.  Perhaps not a contender, but troublesome none-the-less.

By Number: Decks of the Clerics sub-type had 2 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.37% share of the rouge deck pool.


Bomberman

Now some people reading this maybe familiar with the Bomberman deck type already from its Vintage play.  In Vintage the deck uses Auriok Salvagers and Black Lotus in order to generate infinite mana and takes it from there.  The Legacy version runs a bit differently.

 

As you can see the Legacy version of the deck does have the infinite mana cycle available, but it isn't quite as strong as with Black Lotus.  Here the deck has to use Lion's Eye Diamond to replicate the same mana cycle.  Create an infinite amount of mana and you can use Pyrite Spellbomb over and over to burn the opponent down.  Online this gets a bit messy because of time restraints, but it's still effective.  Any number of things can be tutored up by Trinket Mage or even Tezzeret the Seeker and used to control the game.  Then you throw in the trademark Auriok Salvagers and you can bring anything and everything back from the grave.  This makes the spellbombs that are included that much better because you can use them in quick instances and then bring them back over and over again.  On top of that with Tezzeret the Seeker you have a good chance of being able to create a bunch of 5/5 artifacts that can swing for the win as well.  One thing I liked about this version of a Bomberman deck is the sideboard choices.  Much like has been done with LeylineHelm decks, this deck can be changed into a Painter's Servant and Grindstone deck through the sideboard.  This means an opponent sits there after game one and starts to sideboard to protect himself against repeated burn through Pyrite Spellbomb and instead finds himself facing a PainterStone deck making his sideboard choices probably useless.  Having that kind of flexibility is a big plus for any deck.

By Number: Decks of the Bomberman sub-type had 2 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.37% share of the rouge deck pool.


10 Land Stompy

Ok now how can you not love a deck that only runs 10 lands?  We had a deck already that ran 39 lands successfully so why can't a deck with only 10 work?  I know that at first I was a bit skeptical about the idea, but it's just something you have to see for yourself.

10 Land Stompy
A Deck By: Robert Krautwald
Creatures
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Kavu Predator
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Skyshroud Elite
4 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
4 Talara's Battalion
32 cards

Other Spells
2 Bounty of the Hunt
4 Invigorate
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Land Grant
4 Rancor
18 cards
Lands
10 Snow-Covered Forest
10 cards

Might of Old Krosa

 

Now what really makes this deck run is perhaps the Land Grants that we get in MM.  With this card you can fetch a Forest for free without paying the mana cost.  This lets you get another land in play and be able to have all that mana open in order to cast your array of creatures.  This deck really thrives off of the cards in green like Giant Growth, where you make a creature really big for really cheap.  This deck uses cheap creatures that can be used in creative ways.  Elvish Spirit Guide can get you extra mana when you're running short because of the 10 lands, Kavu Predator can be used with Invigorate to get huge (Invigorate allows you to give your opponent 3 life in order to play the spell for free and then gives target creature +4/+4 until end of turn), Silhana Ledgewalker and Skarrgan Pit-Skulk give you evasion, and finally Talara's Battalion is a big creature for cheap.  Using these in combination with the cheap pumps like Rancor and Might of Old Krosa can make this deck quite brutal and probably a lot of fun to play.  Again, however, we lose a lot for this deck because of the lack of MM (though we did get Invigorate in Garruk vs. Liliana).  We got some recent instant speed spells in Zendikar and Worldwake that may get some use in this kind of deck, but until you're able to give it a test run you can't really tell what works and what doesn't.

By Number: Decks of the 10 Land Stompy sub-type had 2 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.37% share of the rouge deck pool.


Zombies

We venture back into tribal decks, this time with Zombies.  Now there are several versions of Zombie decks you could find and it just so happens that all three decks that showed up in 2009 were different variations on the Zombie theme.

 

Of the three this deck was the most like a traditional Zombie deck.  Thanks to excessive use of lords (Lord of the Undead and Death Baron) each of these Zombie creatures gets an added burst of strength.  Not to mention the sometimes unknown Zombie lord, Zombie Master (a hopeful candidate for Master's Edition that gives all Zombies swampwalk and B: Regenerate), which makes each creature even more troublesome.  The focus of this deck really is on the creatures and the non-creature cards are there to enhance the power of those creatures.  The deck splashes a little bit of green and red for sideboard options and the added burn you get from Anathemancer in a non-basic heavy environment.

 

If we take these in order based on closest to original Zombie decks then this comes in second in my mind.  This deck stays to the traditional creature base of a Zombie deck, but makes a great splash in white.  This gives the deck a lot more in the way of control options.  For creature heavy decks you get Swords to Plowshares, for any deck you get Vindicate, and then you get Tidehollow Sculler, which let's you control your opponent's hand.

Zombies of the Forest
A Deck By: Teva Nierding
Creatures
4 Carnophage
2 Creakwood Liege
3 Death Baron
1 Lord of the Undead
4 Putrid Leech
4 Withered Wretch
18 cards

Other Spells
4 Putrefy
4 Smother
4 Terror
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Pernicious Deed
22 cards
Lands
4 Bayou
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Forest
8 Swamp
20 cards

Putrid Leech

 

This third version brings in a color you really wouldn't have expected, green.  All the times I've played with Putrid Leech and I couldn't have told you that it was a Zombie.  This, in my opinion, is some of the fun you get from playing tribal because all of these creatures that you've been using for years all of a sudden go together and you didn't even realize it.  More then the addition of Putrid Leech this deck gains a bunch of the same control options that the white splash gets.  Pernicious Deed adds a wrath effect and Putrefy gives you direct kill.  The creature base is much less then the other two decks, but it gets quality over quantity.  One thing that I feel could easily be brought into this is Maelstrom Pulses because of its sheer power and perhaps the quantity of Pernicious Deed can be adjusted to desire.

By Number: Decks of the Zombie sub-type had 3 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.55% share of the rouge deck pool.


From the Reliquary

 

Now these numbers are a bit off just for the fact that the three showings this deck had in 2009 were all from the same person.  It is kind of a neat thing because you get to see how the deck evolved as the player started to collect more expensive cards, etc.  It's also interesting to see how the deck moved up in the rankings as the player gets more familiar not just with the meta game, but with the deck and how to play it.  A lesson that can be learned for every deck and every format.  The focus of this deck is really on Knight of the Reliquary, but it has several other powerful creatures.  Tarmogoyf is just the ultimate creature in green and Troll Ascetic, which can be quite the hassle for an opponent.  Sure it all comes down to pretty much a GW Aggro deck with a bit of added trouble with the land destruction.  This deck holds the potential to be as successful as some of the GW Aggro decks mentioned in the previous article, but it won't have success in every meta.

By Number: Decks of the From the Reliquary sub-type had 3 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.55% share of the rouge deck pool.


Tendrils

This grouping covers several different decks that all have the same end game, Tendrils of Agony.  We've already taken a look at some decks that use the storm mechanic to win the game, but there can actually be a bunch of variations in how you come to that conclusion.  The three showings in 2009 were all different, but perhaps the most well known is this...

 

A lot of the early storm decks in Classic online looked something like this before the release of Ad Nauseam.  Now a great primer for Iggy Pop can be found at this link, but I'll do my best to sum it all up for you.  Now this deck is your typical storm deck and it uses a bunch of the free artifacts, mana pumps, and small draw spells in order to get the spell count up for the win.  As put in that article this deck can't just draw into the combo it needs, but instead you have to have the right pieces and a little bit of math.  This gets a little sketchier when you have Cabal Ritual and need to track threshold.  The main deck Orim's Chant is really the best option the deck has for protecting the combo once it starts.  The bottom line on this deck is really that if you're inexperienced then this is not the deck for you.  So let's take a look at a little friendlier version.

 

Now this is a deck that is a little more forgiving to the average, math-stupid player like myself.  The storm count in this deck is fueled by many different small cost artifacts and doesn't necessarily need the perfect pieces in hand.  This is because of two things.  The first is that the deck runs the maximum four Tendrils of Agony in order to increase your odds of drawing it.  The second thing is that the deck runs 12 different mana fixing artifacts that allow you to draw cards.  The mana can run a little dry if you're not careful, but by constantly siphoning mana through Chromatic Spheres, Chromatic Stars, and Darkwater Eggs you can draw into the spells you need and increase the spell count.  Now before people complain I know the sideboard here is all kinds of stupid and wrong, but it's just an example.  What the deck would look for in a sideboard choice is free or cheap protection from your opponent's potentially faster combo and protection for your win condition.  With the constant color changing through the Chromatic Spheres and Chromatic Stars you can easily get red mana and be able to cast Empty the Warrens as an alternative win.

Now the third deck maybe familiar to some, but to me I hadn't ever heard of it so hopefully I can enlighten those who aren't familiar.

Spanish Inquisition
A Deck By: Juan Carlos Caballero
Creatures
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
8 cards

Other Spells
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Cruel Bargain
4 Ill-Gotten Gains
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Land Grant
3 Tendrils of Agony
4 Chrome Mox
1 Goblin Charbelcher
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
36 cards
Lands
4 Bayou
4 cards

Goblin Charbelcher

 

This deck has had a couple of different showings in the past year or two and really brings some creative things to the table outside of Tendrils of Agony.  The green splash is an interesting addition and brings most of its importance to the sideboard not to mention how powerful Land Grant is when you're only running 4 lands.  To this deck a no land hand has the potential to be a keeper.  Also in addition to the Tendrils of Agony win condition the deck can also run Goblin Charbelcher as an alternative.  Most charbelcher decks only run 2 lands, but this one can pull off that win as well.

The bottom line on all of these Tendrils of Agony decks is that in order to play them well consistently these decks really need practice so you can learn the ideal hands and what pieces are necessary in order for you to go off.  One little trick I've noticed is that a lot of times people concede the game when you start going off so if you make a mistake they don't sit around to see if you really have it or not.  This can cover a few misplays, but the majority of the time you will need to know what you're doing with these decks.

By Number: Decks of the Tendrils sub-type had 3 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.55% share of the rouge deck pool.


Madness

Now Madness was not a mechanic that I expected to see as a specialized feature in Legacy, but I guess in a format where anything is used, everything is possible.  The Madness decks that showed up can be basically broken down into two types.

 

This deck type is pretty much the generic Madness deck.  Since the release of Wild Mongrel we've been familiar with its power as a madness engine and the decks built around it were like this one, using blue for Aquamoeba as a second discard option.  These blue green tempo decks look to control the pace of the game through a number of Counterspells and then do damage through pumped Wild Mongrels, Roar of the Wurm tokens, or even Arrogant Wurms.  In addition to the madness cards these decks also take advantage of flashback, a mechanic that wants to be in the grave, in the form of Deep Analysis.  For those who don't care to play counter control there is still hope for playing madness...

 

I love this deck because it really has some fun things.  With Survival of the Fittest the deck can not only drop out madness pieces, but it also grabs creatures out of the toolbox (or you can use Squee every turn).  Now in addition to the creature toolbox this deck is very hard against most decks in Legacy because it runs quite a bit of non-basic hate through (Devastating Flow) and Magus of the Moon.  As you can see the deck features a full set of Wild Mongrels and isn't using blue for Aquamoeba so it has to find discard elsewhere.  We already mentioned survival, but we also have Zombie Infestation that allows the deck to become a fast aggro deck.  For discard fodder we get some great creatures.. not only Arrogant Wurm, but it's reincarnation Reckless Wurm as well!  Throw in a couple creatures who want to be dead (Anger & Genesis) and we've got a great collection of options.  The one thing the deck can struggle with is lands.  You really want at least 4 to 5 mana and even with the three Chrome Mox the land still will struggle a little at 16 lands thanks to our shuffler.  You often find a land count that works well in paper doesn't translate online.

By Number: Decks of the Madness sub-type had 3 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.55% share of the rouge deck pool.


UBx Control

Now as expected there are a lot of options out there for UBx control for the fact that x is anything up to a 2 color splash.  So how do you really focus on this category?  Well there is one well known front runner in this category by the name of Psychatog

 

This is what a typical Tog deck looks like, splashing green for Tarmogoyf is really a must.  A deck like this brings about a ton of Counterspell control as you can see here.  In addition to all that counter control you often times need something extra for stuff that sneaks past you, especially in an environment that is heavy on the AEther Vials... to cover this the deck easily brings in Pernicious Deed.  Now one thing I like about this particular version is the addition of Cunning Wish because of the access it gives you into the sideboard.  Another nice piece to this deck is Life from the Loam because it allows you to reuse Wasteland, counter land destruction, and even fill your grave in order to pump Psychatog faster.  These decks bring a lot of powerful control options, but the deck has evolved into something like this...

 

Yes it is a Togless Tog deck!  While the original version used the grave to pump Psychatog this deck uses those same cards to ramp up to a quicker Tombstalker.  There are a few key differences between these two decks.  First the lack of Cunning Wish means a more focused sideboard and a lack of accessibility.  Also this deck is really on the look out for permanent heavy decks because it's running a full set of Pernicious Deeds and an Engineered Explosives as well.

Now beyond Tog decks there are options for UBx Control ranging from UBw/UBr/UBg to a four color control deck.  This here is an example of one of these...

 

This UB Control deck uses relatively weak creatures to do damage, but because of their draw abilities they become much more valuable despite that fault.  Another attempt to make up for the small creatures is the addition of Umezawa's Jitte, which can easily make any creature troublesome.  The deck holds the tradition Counterspell control line in addition to the hand destruction control that black brings along.  Another plus to this particular deck is the fact that is brings in the Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top combination to really keep the pressure on an opponent.

By Number: Decks of the UBx Control sub-type had 5 appearances in 2009.  This showing results in a 0.92% share of the rouge deck pool.


So didn't see your favorite underdog here?? Well don't worry because I'll be back with part two and we'll take a look at the remaining 29 deck types in the second and final part to this special edition look at the decks found in Legacy.  As always there will be more decks then you can imagine so you have to come back to find out more!

-JustSin

21 Comments

Where's the inside out in the by Anonymous (not verified) at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 07:11
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Where's the inside out in the life.dek for an infinite damage slap to the face?

*facepalm* it's called inside by Anonymous (not verified) at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 07:12
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*facepalm* it's called inside out, and is cheaper.

Never mind.

..* about face. I really by Anonymous (not verified) at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 07:12
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..* about face.

I really need some coffee.

actually it is triggered not by abdallah (not verified) at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 11:00
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actually it is triggered not activated (standstill)

replace all "rouge" -> "rogue" by onefinemess (not verified) at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 11:39
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Sorry to pick, but that drives me crazy.

Otherwise, informative article.

lol well that was a number of by JustSin at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 11:58
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lol well that was a number of different comments i cant tell which are different individuals lol so about the inside out, its there, but yes you're right about face is a much better choice, the deck lists (for the most part) aren't put together by me, though I could have mentioned that

standstill.. my mistake once again I often confuse triggered and activated and passive abilities

onefinremess... yep typo, sorry, I spell checked, but stuff like that gets missed esp in such a long article

thanks all for reading and commenting

I am curious as to the by Raddman at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 17:44
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I am curious as to the placement of some of these list. It's one thing to do well in bigger tournaments, but if your deck places in a 12 man is it really that big of a deal? Some of them just appear to be full of crap. I know they are supposed to be rogue, but Vampires, seriously.

I know you are just doing the research and this is exactly what makes rogue decks rogue. When I wrote my articles I decided on only including 2 rogue lists simply because at some point you must stop researching.

TrinketStalker list is interesting, there was a version running around in classic that did pretty good for awhile. I believe Whiffy created the classic list.

Show and Tell and Dream Halls, I realize they are different, but I'd say they belong in the same category.

Rector Order looks like something I'd be willing to tinker with. Leyline Helm looks like a shoot off of Red death type decks which seem like they have a legitimate place in the right meta. I've already seen Hypergenesis running around the practice room.

I am mostly excited for Dream Halls and can't wait to mess around with Show and Tell

I am anticipating your next article to include some better decklists, I'm looking at you Team America!

Keep up the excellent work!

I know this is definitely the by JustSin at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 18:29
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I know this is definitely the worst and most minimal of the "rogues" and perhaps it stretches the definition (and yes I was just as much laughing at vampires as you were) but I did try to narrow them down a little and thought some were at least worth mentioning on that chance someone could find a gem out of the dirt

the decks in my pt2 are much more a group of "competent" underdogs, but there is merit in some of these.. as we've already seen there is a group looking at Dream Halls already cuz of the price increases

it's funny in pt2 I show the pie chart with these decks removed so you can see what part of the "rogues" they made up, the result is interesting

ill say it the egg deck looks by ShardFenix at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 20:33
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ill say it the egg deck looks awesome, not to mention it only costs 52 tickets

lol yea and I'm sure 10 land by JustSin at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 21:00
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lol yea and I'm sure 10 land stompy is pretty cheap too, for Legacy that kind of entrance price is shocking and tempting

im definitely going to try to by ShardFenix at Wed, 03/17/2010 - 23:27
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im definitely going to try to pick up the egg deck..i haven't priced the 10 land stompy, though i dont see a need too for a year since we dont have land grant. Unless of course Wizards is smart and puts legacy staples from masques into MED4. Because honestly I think Masques block will sell less than exodus did.

10 Land stompy isn't by Raddman at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 10:32
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10 Land stompy isn't expensive either. I was a little surprised to not see berserk in the list. I bet you can buy this deck for under $52. Actually I am curious so let me figure it out

4 Elvish Spirit Guide - 1.40
4 Kavu Predator - .20
4 nettle Sentinel - .48
4 Quirion Ranger - 5
4 Skyshroud Elite - 2.60
4 Silhana Ledgewalker - .20
4 Skarrgan Pit_Skulk - .08
4 Talara's Battalion - 6
2 Bounty of the Hunt - .24
4 Invigorate - 12
4 Might of Old Krosa - .16
4 Land Grant - Non Mtgo
4 Rancor - 18 (about to become cheaper with urzas)

SB
4 Krosan Grip - .60
4 Leyline of Lifeforce - .40
3 Root Maze - .36
4 Thorn of Amethyst - .48

Total Cost: $48.20

It's fun to play, but I wouldn't waste 48 bucks anytime soon.

yeah seems cheap, but by ShardFenix at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 11:08
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yeah seems cheap, but mono-green aggro..is just so boring to me lol. i like the risk in combo decks

Skip the rancors and the by Paul Leicht at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 15:17
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Skip the rancors and the rangers and its even cheaper.

Or better yet, just skip the by Raddman at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 18:24
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Or better yet, just skip the entire deck because it sucks lol.

If you are going to spend 50 on this pile of trash, just stop being cheap and invest another 50 and buy yourself a Enchantress list. At least that requires some skill level to play and it isn't MonoGreen. Mono colored decks seem to get rocked by Iona, or so I've heard 80)~

Get that 2nd article out asap, all this fringe stuff is making me sick to my stomach lol!

there is a similar mono-green by JustSin at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 20:01
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there is a similar mono-green deck going by "Berserk Stompy".. some 10lands do run berserk, but not all of em... working on pt 2 lol it should be submitted in time to go up next week

Raddman, as another main by ShardFenix at Thu, 03/18/2010 - 22:04
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Raddman, as another main voice on the upcoming legacy format, what are opinions on the U/B Egg/Tendrils deck that was posted. Both in competitive and casual context...

First of all, let me say I am by Raddman at Fri, 03/19/2010 - 11:16
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First of all, let me say I am not an authority figure on storm based decks. They rank just below Dredge on decks I have distain for.

That being said, I don't see why one would run this version over the far superior ADN lists other than budget restraints.

If budget restraints are the main issue than this format or game for that matter isn't for you. Aside from pauper this game is expensive, as I'm sure you know.

Right now Mindbreak Trap is a nice answer to storm, this deck has no answer to it. No discard in sb or md. It's only answer is Pact of Negation which doesn't get there vs. a good player. The other problem is Helm seems to be one of the key cards for the deck and it falls victim to spell snare.

It looks like it might be a fun casual deck, probably won't get to many concedes since most ppl won't have a clue what you're playing until you go off.

Good idea, just not good enough imo. Then again these are Rogue lists, given the right meta, who knows.

Just not good enough by TW_REB (not verified) at Fri, 03/19/2010 - 15:03
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I can see you put a lot of work into this, but to be honest, that's about the only thing this breakdown has going on for it. You lack any real insight in the format and almost every deck in the article is god-awful and often outdated. I mean Clerics? Come on, it has three placings on deckcheck, the latest being close to a year old. Furthermore all three are from what looks like underdeveloped metagames. Yet you have this comment: "While not as popular as Goblins or Elves we're starting to see a bit more frequency in the showings of these decks.". The article is riddled with these sort of comments and decks.

These aren't rogue decks, they are the fringe of the fringe of the legacy format. I hope no one takes this article seriously and use it as a primer for Legacy rogue decks.

You've made one error in your by JustSin at Fri, 03/19/2010 - 16:24
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You've made one error in your look at this article, it isn't a primer... a primer is filled to the brim with information like card choice and match ups, but that isn't the purpose of this article.. I'm not sure if you read the first one, but there idea is better stated there.. these articles were meant as a brief showing of deck lists for those who knew nothing about the format.. also you're misunderstanding that these are showing the showings of the decks, not how they place or how strong they are, the quote you highlighted is taken a little out of context, the frequency in the showings I'm referring to isn't a look at the years of Legacy and other tribes showing up more as the years progress, but as a look at the deck lists.. the ones shown in the first article vs. these fringe/rogue decks.. you are correct this particular article isn't really rogues and I've been told that by a couple of people and that is simply a naming error on my part, it probably was better named fringe decks instead since the second part contains decks that are better considered under the "rogue" title.. I think I made mention to the bottom line here in comments and even in the article that these aren't based on how strong a deck performs, but simply focusing on what people are bringing, not everything written about Magic/a format of Magic has to be about how to win, sometimes (at least in my case) it's nice to know some general information as well, I apologize if this is not the case for most people

I appreciate your honesty and I hope I've better clarified my intention for you, but it does sound like you haven't seen/read the first one and having done so it might provide you a better insight as to where I was coming from

I'm sorry for the double by JustSin at Fri, 03/19/2010 - 16:29
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I'm sorry for the double posting here, but I wanted to add one more thing.. there are several instances (for the stronger decks) where if there is a primer out there that I have found I have tried to link it (maybe more so in Pt.2 then this part, but I have).. my hopes is someone casually reading these articles may see a deck list that stick out to them, read my generalizations about the deck, and continue on to research it more and read some of the more indepth primers on them.. if I took the time to put together a primer for each deck in Legacy then it would take forever, I'm simply trying to draw in a little interest in Legacy in anticipation of it's online start