I certainly do. But the kind of Miracles I believe in is not the divine kind. No, the Miracles I believe in is the premier control archetype in Legacy. In a time where it seems that everyone and their neighbors are playing UR Delver (or some other Delver variant), I truly believe that Miracles can flourish despite some ‘experts’ predicting the opposite. With GP:NJ coming up next week, I thought I would dedicate a post to this archetype even though I won’t participate.
As most followers of Legacy know, there are different ‘schools’ of Miracles. I adhere to the Joe Lossett version and have played it since I began playing Legacy a couple of years ago.
However, unlike Godfather Lossett, I believe that Kharns of Tarkir gave the Legendary build of Miracles new toys. More on that later.
I participated in my first SCG Open last week in Oakland, and went 4-3-1. On paper, that is not a particularly good finish, but I was in contention for Top 8 until my second loss, which came in round 7 and that game could easily have turned out in my favor and then who knows what would have happened? This is the list I played there:
The list felt good and none of my matches felt unwinnable . So as mentioned earlier I believe that KTK gave us some new toys. Most notably is my inclusion of Dig Through Time in the main. Throughout the tournament in Oakland I was never sad to see a DTT and I never had a problem casting one when needed. However, I feel that my list can be optimized further to exploit the undeniable power of the card. As good as the card is, it doesn’t play well with Miracles since you almost never want those in your hand and getting a Brainstorm + a Miracle can be clunky. With this in mind my first change would be this: + 1 Supreme Verdict -1 Terminus
Supreme Verdict play a whole lot better with DTT than Terminus as explained above and the uncounterablity clause is not irrelevant in a world dominated by Delver decks filled with cheap and efficient counterspells. However, this is the only change I am certain of and I am not sure you should change anything else from the main. However, another possible change I am considering is the following and I hope you will share you opinions about this one in the comment section below.
+1 Snapcaster Mage, – 1 Vendilion Clique
As the meta evolves around Insectile Aberrations and Treasure Cruises, cards like Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast are MVPs, but I am not sure going up to 3 in the main is the right thing to do, so by adding another Snapcaster Mage you are getting more milage out of the ones you already have. Also, having access to early blockers are not a bad thing either. This means that the third Vendilion Clique has to go to the sideboard for now.
Finally, the last change I will be doing to my main is -1 Tundra, +1 Arid Mesa
By adding another fetch will help me filling my graveyard to fuel DTT and has the added effect of being fantastic with Brainstorm, Sensei’s Diving Top and Jace, while also giving me another red fetch support the basic mountain.
Moving on to the sideboard. I am pretty sure most of you had to make sure that you did actually se Pearl Lake Ancient in a legacy sideboard. This bad guy won me 2 games in Oakland.
Yes, it might seems as an odd and controversial choice. I wanted a card that I could bring in against the mirror and against other control decks. In these matches both players are removing most of their removal and bringing in counterspells. These games usually evolves around big counterwars over Jace’s, Counterbalances and Entreat’s and the one losing the counterwar end up being in trouble. So by adding another treat, that cannot be countered, I never have to fear ending up on the losing side of a counterwar. Also, I am testing this guy against the various BUG variants, being uncounterable and immune to Abrupt Decay mean that BUG have very few ways of getting rid of this guy and he blocks Tarmogoyf like a boss. I will admit that I am not 100% sold on this card yet, but so far I have been pleased with its performance and I will continue testing him.
The next card I want to talk about is Blood Moon. Blood Moon has the ability to single handily win you games agains the greedy 3-color manabases out there and acts as false hope against the pure evil that is 12-post. However, I am not sure this card is good enough. I am a strong proponent for making Abrupt Decay a completely dead card by siding out all non-creature targets against decks that rely on it. And it does absolutely nothing against UR Delver, which as mentioned is everywhere at the moment, so I don’t think it deserves a place in the sideboard at the moment.
In its place I wan’t to try a copy of Red Element Blast’s odd cousin: Blue Elemental Blast.
With everyone trying to fit in Red Elemental Blasts and Pyroblasts in their 75 and Burn growing more popular, this card goes up in value. Cards like Young Pyromancer, Sulfuric Vortex and Fireblast are seeing more and more play and having answers to them both on the stack and in play can’t be underestimated.
Another card I wan’t to talk about is Council’s Judgment. When Council’s Judgment was release I played 1 copy in the main and 1 copy in my sideboard, but I soon removed it from the main and I haven’t missed it since. And currently, I am not sure it is needed in my sideboard either. However, with DTT now in my deck, I like the idea of having access to powerfull silverbullets I can bring in.
The next card to face the axe is one of my all-time favorite cards (in Miracles), so it saddens me he has to go: Venser, Shaper Savant
With Sneak & Show being at an all-time low I believe that one in the main is enough and this spot could be used better.
Finally, I will try to replace a copy of Rest in Peace with the newest edition of “WotC hates combo-card”: Containment Priest
I like diversifying my silverbullets, and now with the extra copy of Venser gone I believe this has a place in the sideboard since it hoses almost every combo deck in legacy besides Storm (Which is a good matchup already).
So after these changes the list looks like this:
I would love to hear your thoughts about my changes and post in general.
J
Delirious Obsessions 
It’s basically Lossett’s list with Digs. However, the 2 Snaps compete against the 2 Digs for your graveyard resources. If you cannot deal with DRS fast enough, those 4 cards will become crappy very quickly.
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In my (very limited) testing Snapcaster and Dig has been fine together, but you definitely got a point. As mentioned in the post I am not sure that adding another Snapcaster is the right call, it is however something I want to test out.
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