Om nom nom Format

Merfolk seems to be the linchpin around which everything hinges in Legacy right now. It keeps Counterbalance in check while getting hosed by Zoo, and you'd better be ready for all three when you sleeve up. The CounterTop combo will never fall too far off the radar in a format where almost everything has to be fast, cheap, and therefore vulnerable to a vexing CB soft-lock, but Qasali Pridemage has made his own indelible mark on the format as well. Let's get to the lists:

To improve their game against aggro, Merfolk players are turning to a splash color. Often this is green for Tarmogoyf, but white remains a fair option as well, given Swords to Plowshares and the lifelinking Sejiri Merfolk, a playset of which took 2/178 in Italy.

There are a couple of cute decks out there running full sets of Counter/Top, and eventually killing you with Enlightened Tutor for the Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek combo. If you're not familiar, those last two cards have wrecked extended, because together they read "X: Gain X life. Produce X 1/1 flying artifact tokens. Go nuts. Seriously. Run wild with that shit."

One Thopter-combo build is grafted over a Landstill shell, (1st and 8th of 36 in Europe) and sports Diabolic Edict as an apparent out against Progenitus, as well as Iona naming white. That unfortunate situation sometimes occurs against not just Reanimator but also Survival and even Ichorid match-ups. Two things worth noting on that build: it can tutor for Humility, and packs zero copies of Counterspell.

Anyway, the other list seems more determined to get its combo online quickly, and sports Chrome Mox and Thirst for Knowledge to prove it. It took 1/178. Both builds are more than glad to work under Humility, though the latter reserves that option for the sideboard. A public service announcement: Humility could give a good goddamn about Qasali Pridemage, and is hilarious against Inkwell Leviathan. Picture that.

While I'm thinking about it, Cousin Chelsea has plans to proxy up an Enchantress list. This is about how the modern incarnation of the deck looks, but I have 20 Pegasus tokens if she ever misses the ponies from Sacred Mesa. And in case you wonder, Karakas is another answer for Iona on white. Shoo.

I think it's always helpful to have an Ad Nauseam/Tendrils of Agony list on hand, especially one that doesn't rock Lion's Eye Diamond or ridiculous Doomsday stacks and is therefore semi-possible for mediocre players to win with. All the better if said list can place 6/178.

People have been talking about breaking Metalworker for months, but this is the first list I've noticed that's come anywhere close; it still looks janky as all hell. Power Artifact this Staff of Domination, go ape-shit with Metalworker, draw my deck, tap your field, swing for infinite with Wake Thrasher and Stroke of Genius you beyond oblivion? Truly the work of a mad scientist.

What else? Loves me some mono-red Goblins. 5/62.

Oh, and in case you missed the memo: Stoneforge Mystic is in a lot of decks. It gears up hate bears you can't counter and goes 4/62, it makes persisting Kitchen Finks and fresh Bitterblossom tokens good and scary after a big sweep at 5/40, and is goddamn hilarious when you Lightning Greaves up an exalted Cold-Eyed Selkie and get the fuck in for three -- cards. Yeah, that seems like it'll get you 2/98.

Happy hunting!