Recently found out I’m moving to Rhode Island for work. I know MA has some shops that run legacy, any nearby events to Providence or do I need to drive into Boston to make it happen? Hope to sling some cards vs y’all!

I am just curious if people prefer a higher volume of consistent content or prefer to consume higher quality content. I'm also wondering what really drives everyone to engage with content creators?

Monolith Trophy? 🏆
https://i.imgur.com/3wKu0cD.jpeg
Here’s a look at our Legacy of the North league championship trophy for Toronto and Southern Ontario! Like an Oscar these are called Jimmys!

Follow up video to a brew I made and streamed back when white plume was still legal and initiative was everywhere. I tried to update it to reflect the new meta being more blue/black based.

Legacy Jund Infect

Hey there, I’m new to legacy and just finished Mono-R prison as my first real deck. I went to my locals and got totally crushed by 2x Rescaminator decks and an 80 card Yorion pile with the new leyline. Any advice on sideboarding or what I should be aiming for vs these decks? Is there a resource or primer that I can look for online? Maybe even a current sideboarding guide?

Decklist: https://archidekt.com/decks/7127533/red_prison

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Looking for general advice for this style of deck, but for me specifically, I've been playing Sultai Beans and my current land spread is:

4 Polluted Delta 3 Misty Rainforest 3 Wasteland 2 Underground Sea 2 Tropical Island 1 Undercity sewers 1 Hedge Maze 1 Mystic Sanctuary 1 Island 1 Swamp

As far as the fetches, I know most lists are running 8 fetches, and I'd like to play 8 or more as well but am struggling to find a cut to the manabase. Any recommendations? Or do you think 7 fetches is enough?

Regarding surveil lands, I've really liked having two, though I have run into a few instances where I got mana screwed because of it (for example, top decking an Undercity Sewers when I really needed an untapped black source to cast my removal spells). Does two seem reasonable or is it too much?

I recently added a Swamp in place of a Bayou in the main because I found that more often than I'd like, I'd get Wasted off of Black, but rarely felt like I was hurting for Green.

Hi Everyone, lots of people asked for a written version of my video "Every Scam Deck in Legacy" so here it is!

My original character count was more than double what Reddit allows in a post so I've done a bunch of editing to fit it all in. Edits included removing the sections for RB Rescaminator, Orzhov Scam, Grixis Delver Scam, Hogaak Scam, and Rakdos Scam.

Please let me know your thoughts and I hope you enjoy the read.

(Almost) Every Scam Deck in Legacy

What is Scam?

In Magic the Gathering, Scam refers to a strategy of exploiting the Modern Horizons 2 Pitch Elementals, specifically by cheating them into play for one mana and getting their ETB trigger twice.

Fury, Grief, and to a lesser extent Solitude are the creatures used for this strategy. In Modern this was achieved with an effect like Undying Evil or Not Dead After All in response to the sacrifice trigger on Grief or Fury. In Legacy we have a much more potent tool, Reanimate.

The play pattern of this synergy begins by evoking Grief by pitching a black card from hand, then Reanimating the Grief. This results in a 3/2 menace, and double Thoughtseize the opponent for a total investment of three cards, one mana, and four life.

The Scam effect isn’t oppressively powerful for Legacy, but is highly mana efficient, and each of these cards are powerful enough to play in a stand-alone fashion.

Reanimate also opens up the door to an additional synergy with Troll of Khazad-Dûm.The Basic Land-Type Cyclers from Lord of the Rings are playable in their own right, with both Lorien Revealed and Troll of Khazad Dûm seeing play. Troll in combination with Reanimate enables us to present a card neutral 6/5 with super menace for 2 mana and 6 life by swampcycling and then reanimating it.

Reanimate, Grief, and Troll, make up the core of what we call the Scam package in Legacy. I typically consider Orcish Bowmasters and Wasteland to be components of the core when it is found in fair and hybrid decks. The Grief, Reanimate, Troll core can be found in many decks that fall into one of three categories.

Dimir Scam decks that play a fair midrange/tempo gameplan, Black based aggressive stompy/prison decks, and dedicated reanimator decks with big creature pay-offs.

Dedicated Reanimator

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6273365

Reanimator has been around forever in MTG and shares the fewest commonalities with other Legacy Scam decks.

Reanimator is a deck that attempts to put a large creature like Griselbrand, Archon of Cruelty, or Atraxa, Grand Unifier into the graveyard. This is done with cards like Careful Study, Entomb, or Faithless Looting. Once step one is complete, a reanimation effect like Reanimate, Exhume, or Animate Dead is used to put the creature into play.

For much of the history of Legacy, Dimir was the primary color combination among Reanimator players, this provided interaction via counter magic and added stability from cantrips. In the more recent past, most Reanimator lists have shifted from being a fully two color Dimir deck to being primarily mono-black with a very light red splash for Faithless Looting. Compared to their Dimir counterparts, these decks are more explosive and proactive.

It’s important to examine the role of the scam package in the deck

Grief is similar but distinctly different from Unmask, a card already played in Reanimator. Unmask disrupts the opponent but can also be used to target yourself, discarding a threat to reanimate. When Grief was printed it was quickly included in Reanimator. Grief can only discard your opponent to remove their counter spell or interaction but has additional utility with Reanimate and can apply on-board pressure.

Dedicated Reanimator has been the most played deck with the Scam package in it over the past year or so due to being a powerful but relatively affordable for new legacy entrants.

Reanimator is a great choice for if you are looking for a compact fast combo with the redundancy to attempt reanimation multiple times in a single game. 

The primary reason to avoid the deck is vulnerability to graveyard hate, another downside is that sometimes the reanimation effect is not game-ending. Control decks can grind through an Atraxa or Archon even once it hits play, and combo decks can sometimes fully ignore the threat and assemble a kill anyways.

Reanimator is possibly the fastest and most consistent deck in the format during pre-board games. Entomb>Reanimate is one of the most card and mana compact combos available. To present a turn one reanimation we need: Entomb, Reanimate, a land or Lotus Petal, and a piece of acceleration. We can present Reanimate and still have 3 cards remaining from our 7 card hand to disrupt or rebuild.

This is where Grief and Unmask shine, having a 0-mana discard spell allows the deck to play through a single Force of Will easily. Thoughtseize functions as an additional piece of interaction here, allowing for the same kind of aggressive lines off an extra piece of fast mana or a leftover mana from a dark ritual. Land, Dark Ritual, Thoughtseize, Entomb, Reanimate is one of the spookiest things that can happen in Legacy.

Unlike other Grief decks, the Scam package here is simply included due to synergy instead of adding a dimension. The Scam package improves the post-board beatdown plan, if that’s the sideboard plan used.

Depending on card choices, Reanimator typically has strong combo mirror matchups due to being more compact and efficient. Dimir versions have especially strong combo matchups due to being both fast and having access to counter magic.

Stompy style decks are also often strong matchups as well. It’s very difficult to race a reanimator player, so these matches often revolve around mulliganning to, and then sticking a lock piece like Unlicensed Hearse, or Leyline of the Void. 

Tempo decks are a tough matchup for Reanimator, the fast clock backed by Daze and Force is a good way to beat combo. Life total matters, resolving Reanimate can often cost 6-8 life, so being pressured and casting reanimate can lead to being burned out with Lightning Bolts. In tempo matchups, even though Reanimator can assemble the combo multiple times in a game, they may not have time to present it more times than the opponent can interact.

Control decks can also be poor matchups. They don’t have the ability to pressure as quickly as tempo can, but they have many tools to prevent reanimation and their long-game engines and removal spells allow them to grind through multiple successful reanimation attempts, attacking the deck on multiple non-tempo axes. This is especially true for Swords to Plowshares control decks as exile removal prevents reanimating the target once removed.

Tempo and control decks have counter magic to protect a permanent piece of graveyard hate like Hearse or Leyline of the Void, which can be exceedingly difficult to win through. Non-Blue Midrange and Lands based strategies are typically strong matchups as well, they are typically too slow to race and do not have counter magic to interact with.

The primary deck building decision in the main deck is anchored on the axis of speed vs resiliency and what trade-offs are made to achieve the balance between these that you prefer. I think the clearest example of this is Chancellor of the Annex, which makes explosive lines much harder to interact with but comes at the cost of being much lower impact as the game continues, another example is Unmask being faster but Thoughtseize having more utility outside of turn one.

Deciding to play a Blue version with Ponder and Brainstorm provides the ability to play a much more stable long game but require mana investment, slowing the deck down. Blue versions typically include Force and Daze providing resiliency vs opposing graveyard hate but are reactive cards that reduce explosiveness.

Some players have recently been experimenting with Worldly Tutor+Surveil Lands, this choice also falls on the speed vs resiliency spectrum. This allows you to put a surveil trigger on the stack and respond with Worldly Tutor put the payoff on top to surveil away. It’s a less efficient version of the best card in the deck, Entomb. This is additional redundancy but effectively costs 2 mana, one for Tutor and one for the opportunity cost of putting a land into play tapped.

Reanimator has one of the widest ranges in sideboard cards played of almost any deck and sideboard construction is one of the most meaningful decisions to make when playing reanimator. Beyond the expected interaction for opponents game-plans we have an additional dynamic to consider. The most pressing issue to solve in post-board games is not, how do we prevent our opponent from executing their game-plan. Instead, it’s how will our opponent try to stop us from enacting OUR gameplan.

Beating graveyard hate is a balance between being proactive and reactive. Reactive plans include cards like Serenity, Boseiju, and Prismatic Ending, to sideboard cards like Grafdigger’s Cage. Removal spells are often a supporting piece that can both buy time and remove creatures that interact with the graveyard, creatures like Dauthi Voidwalker. Proactive plans are usually a transformative non-graveyard strategy to beat hate by ignoring it. Transformative sideboard plans include Witherbloom Apprentice Combo, Show and Tell, Scam Beatdown, and Doomsday.

Reanimator is great if you like playing something fast and powerful, but don’t mind dealing with powerful sideboard cards and enjoy the transformative sideboard sub-game.

The deck likely isn’t for you if interaction and grind games are your preference and blowout sideboard cards put you on tilt.

Black Based Aggressive Decks

There are many iterations of an aggressive fair Grief deck, these lists are the closest relatives we have of the Modern Scam deck from last fall. Mono Black-Aggro/Scam has been the most popular of these decks before Rescaminator.

The core of these decks is the Scam package of Grief, Reanimate, and Troll of Khazad-Dûm, with Orcish Bowmasters, Dauthi Voidwalkers and Opposition Agent to support aggro. In the remaining core slots we usually see Thoughtseizes, removal spells, and a Wasteland manabase.

How the rest of the deck delineates the sub-categories of black based Scam. On the fair end of the spectrum the package is found in Mono Black Aggro and Rakdos Scam, on the unfair end it can be found in Mono-Black Helm.

Mono-Black Aggro/Scam

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6259035

Mono-Black Aggro is the purest form of the black-based Scam deck, trading long-game resiliency for more aggression.

The deck applies pressure quickly combining discard with disruptive threats to keep the opponent off balance and attack their chokepoints. Most of the threats double as lock pieces, Bowmasters imposes a cost on cantrips, Dauthi Voidwalker is Leyline of the Void with upside, and Opposition Agent prevents the opponent from searching their library with Fetches or Tutors.

The deck is very proactive as every non-land card is either a threat or a removal spell. Dark Ritual and Reanimate are both tools that enable playing ahead of the curve. Reanimating a Troll/Grief or ritualing out a 2-3 drop like Opposition Agent or Orcish Bowmasters are all mana efficient plays. As a mono-color deck, the mana base is stable and resilient to wasteland and other non-basic hate cards. Lacking Cantrips, the deck is dense, with nearly half of the 60 being threats.

These upsides come at a cost though. Primary downside is being reliant on the composition of cards drawn, lacking cantrips or other selection elements, the deck is prone to flood or screw. As a mono- color, non-blue deck the options for interaction are limited. Lacking blue means that there is a minimal amount of Turn 0 interaction that can be played against combo. There are more powerful sideboard cards available in other  colors like Meltdown, Pyroblast, and Collector Ouphe.

Mono Black Aggro/Scam is aggressive and disruptive but requires strong sequencing. The Scam package provides info regarding threat sequencing, as each card in the primary threat suite has a passive ability that can encumber the opponent. Each creature creates friction for different cards and decks, discard gives information to leverage the correct tool at the right time. 

The deck is weak to opponents stabilizing and pulling ahead with card advantage or selection, the creatures are weak if their static ability does not impact the opponent so some decks have excellent matchups, Turbo Goblins and Rhinos come to mind.

The main deck is pretty set at this point, but many players have explored different mana base options and we still see them from time to time. Sometimes we see Ancient Tomb and Urza’s Saga lists, this increases power level significantly but at the cost of the mana base being less able to produce black mana, resulting in mono- colored  color screw. 

I’ve seen lists with Lotus Petal or Chrome Mox, this gives the deck more explosive power at the cost of long-game stability. Dark Ritual is better because it can represent Opposition Agent or Orcish Bowmasters at instant speed off one mana, but playing out a Chrome Mox telegraphs the threat.

The removal suite has the most flexibility here, efficient removal like Fatal Push or Snuff Out balanced with broader answers like Sheoldred’s Edict is my preference when looking at these decks.

Mono-Black Aggro Scam is a powerful and affordable legacy deck that has a great track record. It’s a good choice for players who like aggression, and sequencing. You likely should avoid this deck if you want tools to answer any situation, enjoy cantrips and counter spells, or lean towards go-big decks.

Dimir Based Scam Decks

Now that we’ve examined Reanimator and Black based Aggressive Scam decks let’s examine the final category of Scam based decks.

Dimir Based Scam Decks all combine the proactive Scam package with a reactive and stable blue shell composed of Force of Will, Daze, Ponder, and Brainstorm. Compared to the Mono-Black or heavy black lists, Dimir Scam typically trades threat density and acceleration for a variety of interaction spells and stability via card selection.

One of the biggest weaknesses of discard spells is that they can’t interact with the top of the opponent's deck. Force of Will and Daze provide ways to interact with the opponent drawing a must answer threat. 

Brainstorm and Ponder allow the deck to find the right number of spells and lands as the game progresses, mitigating the possibility of drawing too many or too few lands. These decks can function as a Tempo or Control deck depending on the situation and draw texture. 

There are a couple offshoots of this deck, Delver Scam, Dimir Rescaminator, and Sultai Scam. Classic

Dimir Scam

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6185263

I usually think of Classic Dimir Scam as the parent of the category, with the variations evolving from it.

The classic version relies primarily on Grief, Orcish Bowmasters, Troll of Khazad-Dûm, and Murktide Regent as win-cons/threats.

The core of the deck contains playsets of Troll, Grief, and Reanimate, with Orcish Bowmasters, and Murktide Regent. Brazen Borrower and Dauthi Voidwalker are threats with additional utility. Ponder, Brainstorm, Force, and Daze are typically 4-ofs. Stifle, Down in the Loch, Force of Negation, Fatal Push and Snuff Out are all options as interactive spells.

Other main deck cards I’ve seen from time to time include, Sheoldred’s Edict, Dismember, Wail of the Forgotten, Animate Dead, Thoughtseize. Traditionally these lists also played some form of card advantage like Sauron’s Ransom to pull ahead in a long game.

The manabase ranges from 16-18 lands with playsets of Underground Sea and Wasteland, 6-8 fetchlands, a couple basics and often a Mystic Sanctuary and/or Undercity Sewers

With a wide range of interactive tools and threats the deck can pivot between proactive and reactive plans as required by the situation. Many lists, in a similar dynamic to Sultai Beans, have a wide range of options that forces opponents to decide what to play into vs around. Unlike Sultai Beans there is no way to completely out-card the opponent like Up the Beanstalk can. 

This means that control matchups are poor, we see the deck underperform against Sultai and Bantx Beans due to their ability to answer all the threats and then outcard Classic Scam in the late-game.

Combo decks struggle against Grief, Reanimate, and countermagic supported with Wastelands. Reanimator is an especially good matchup due to the interaction of letting the entomb effect happen, countering the Reanimate, then reanimating their payoff.

Classic Scam can struggle with Moon Stompy and Goblins because their lock pieces like Chalice hit many relevant cards and the smaller scam creatures don’t match up well.

The Scam deck can’t always force the opponent into situations where Daze is effective. Sometimes players trim them for Stifle or Drown in the Loch.

In the Classic Scam lists, our options are wide-ranging in what threats and answers to play. Historically the deck played Sauron’s Ransom allowing them to have some ability to grind, some lists still play Ransom. The interaction suite is flexible with lots of options. Some players opt to play a 3rd color for red or green sideboard cards like Meltdown, Collector Ouphe, or Pyroblast.

Variations of Scam Decks

With the base versions of the Dimir and black based decks explored, there are some variants to look at.

Each of these decks builds on the core concepts and strengths of the underlying archetype but add an additional angle of attack, focus on a specific dynamic to increase consistency and power, or try to shore up a weakness of the category.

Hybrid versions that add an additional dimension are Mono-Black Helm and Dimir Rescaminator, which is also a hybrid deck but is almost its own entire category.

The versions that hone in on a specific focus to improve consistency are the Delver Scam and Sultai Scam.

Dimir Rescaminator

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6261022

This deck has exploded in popularity and success in the past few weeks. It’s a combination of Dimir Scam and Reanimator, with a tempo plan and a small reanimation package.

We have playsets of Brainstorm, Ponder, Force, and Daze as our expected blue package of cantrips and interaction. Playsets of Entomb, Reanimate, and Animate Dead are the centre of the reanimation plan with Animate adding consistency for Grief or Troll plays.

The creature suite consists of Grief, and Troll, with Orcish Bowmasters. Entomb and reanimation spells are paired with  Archon of Cruelty and Atraxa, Grand Unifier. 

There isn’t much space for removal and lists typically only have 2-3 flex slots. Brazen Borrower and Wail of the Forgotten typically fill the flex slots, they have synergy with Grief, bouncing a non-land permanent then discarding it from their hand.

With 14-17 lands, the deck often trims a few fetches, one Sea, and a Wasteland, compared to Classic Scam.

The sideboard contains the beatdown plan we would expect from a Classic Scam deck with Dauthi and Murktide, with interaction like Hydroblast and Null Rod for specific matchups.

The addition of the Reanimation package allows the deck to attack on multiple axes while still playing a strong fair game with Disruption, Wastelands, and Bowmasters.

Being able to threaten Entomb > Reanimate can be difficult for fair decks to play around especially when sideboarding. This can often result in the opponent overbearing or under boarding depending on what they saw in Game 1.

Typically in fair Blue mirrors, players board out Force of Will as there aren’t opposing threats worth spending two cards to answer and card advantage is a higher priority, but Reanimating Archon or Atraxa is definitely worth stopping with Force of Will, this is in tension with this desire to board out Forces. Often how this plays out is that the opponent is forced to keep them in and often board in additional graveyard hate while the Rescaminator player boards them out. This dilutes the opponent's deck and improves the fair plan.

In fair or pseudo fair mirrors this can often become a leveling game where the opponent has to guess which plan is going to be utilized in each post board game. In paper play, this is definitely a deck where I shuffle my entire sideboard into the deck during side boarding to mask the number of cards boarded in and out.

Due to the addition of the reanimation package this deck has increased exposure to graveyard hate like Leyline or Hearse, but isn’t cold to it in the same way that something like Oops! All Spells! or Reanimator would be. 

If you can blank their duplicate Reanimation spells with Swords to Plowshares, Solitude or Leyline Binding, that can go a long way to reduce pressure. Being able to recoup card advantage is traditionally one of the best ways to beat discard effects. There is probably a version of UGWx Beans that is likely quite favored in the matchup. 

I think the biggest dynamic when playing with or against Dimir Rescaminator is to play the player across from you. Because the deck has such a high degree of flexibility, there is no correct sideboard plan or one key card to break the matchup open.

Play this deck if you want to play what is likely the best Hybrid deck in Legacy right now. It might even be the best deck in legacy right now, full stop. Don’t play this deck if you don’t like the sideboard mind-games or want to rely on simple heuristics when making decisions.

Mono-Black Helm 

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6088248

The central combo of this deck is combining Helm of Obedience with either Leyline of the Void or Dauthi Voidwalker to mill out the opponent. Currently the deck plays Karn as extra copies of Helm, and these combo pieces are supported by the disruptive threats we see from Mono-Black Aggro Scam.

Mono-Black Helm looks pretty similar to the Mono-Black aggro decks with a creature package including the scam package of Grief, Reanimate, and Troll. Orcish Bowmasters and Opposition Agent disrupt and apply pressure. Dauthi Voidwalkers along with Helm of Obedience, Karn, the Great Creator and Leyline of the Void represent the combo elements of this deck. 

Chrome Mox and Dark Ritual provide acceleration to power out threats and combo pieces. The mana base is based on Sol Lands to play cards ahead of curve, supported by Urborg, and Swamps. Agadeem’s Awakening is a functionally a swamp that can be pitched to Chrome Mox. 

The sideboard has a copy of Helm and a wide range of silver bullets to wish for with Karn.

Mono Black Helm has the advantage of being a redundant combo deck with lots of main deck graveyard hate, while having proactive threats that encumber the opponent. The downsides are that it is reliant on draw texture, and does not have access to removal spells or selection, and is one of the least mana efficient combos in legacy. 

Life total management is really important with this deck; between Agadeem’s Awakening, Ancient Tomb, and Reanimate, players need to maximize the use of each point of life to cast spells without dying.

Obviously the main deck contains playsets of Leyline and Dauthi, providing a high degree of disruption for opposing graveyard decks. This is incidental but is effective against opposing Scam decks, Rescaminator, Reanimator, Dredge, and to a lesser extent, Beseech Storm decks with Gaea’s Will, and Lands with Life from the Loam. 

There is a dynamic where the deck is always threatening a kill when a Leyline or Dauthi is in play. This can lead to opponents being incentivized to interact with the A+B combo instead of the on-board pressure in the form of Bowmasters, and Opposition Agent. It lacks meaningful interaction outside of the creature lock pieces and the Karn wishboard, which leads to weakness decks like Delver and Turbo Goblins.

If you want to play a scam deck with a wish-board and a combo package, this might be the deck for you. It’s also great if you want to destroy graveyard decks with 8 main deck leyline effects. 

Delver Scam 

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6239129

I first saw Delver Scam in mid-January and at the time lumped it in with Classic Scam. This is a deck that focuses on one dynamic of the Classic Scam deck and attempts to be much better on that angle. It only has 6-8 different cards than Classic Scam but feels like a drastically different deck.

We start with the same core cards and make a small number of swaps to drastically change the play patterns and matchup dynamics. The Scam package contributes to the deck on multiple angles, with Troll enabling a lower land count while Grief and Reanimate provide disruption and aggression. Delver, Stalactite Stalker, and Orcish Bowmasters provide aggressive mana efficient threats. Murktide Regent rounds out the threat suite.

We see the standard blue package of Brainstorm, Ponder, Force and Daze to provide selection and interaction. The removal suite is on the lighter end, with 2 copies of Snuff Out and 2 copies of Fatal Push being the norm. Due to the lower curve and Troll of Khazad-Dûm, the deck is able to play a lower land count, while still fitting in a pair of basics and a playset of Wastelands.

The sideboard remains mostly the same as in Classic Scam with narrow and powerful tools for specific matchups

The addition of Delver and or Stalactite Stalker makes the deck much more consistent in its aggressive draws, compared to Classic Scam. Mana efficiency is the name of the game here, with every card in the main deck costing 0-1 mana except for Orcish Bowmasters, Murktide, and hard-cast Grief, Troll is likely uncastable.

Push, Snuff Out, Force, and Daze are the most mana efficient interactive spells available. As a result of lowering the curve and including these additional cheap threats, Delver Scam is a much better Wasteland, Daze deck than many of it’s other Dimir Scam counterparts, possibly with the exception of Dimir Rescaminator. 

The cost of lowering the curve and increasing threat density means that the deck is no longer able to operate on multiple angles effectively. Delver Scam does not have the same optionality of deciding on which role to play as Classic Scam, due to the aggressive texture and low land count. It still can decide to be the control deck or the Beatdown deck but is much more likely to take on the role of beatdown.

Having access to an additional eight proactive turn one plays gives the deck a lot more game against Combo decks and Ancient Tomb decks. Initiative is less popular than it once was but being able to contest the board and trade damage goes a long way here. Presenting a clock is important to beat Turbo Goblins and Moon Stompy.

The deckbuilding choices to be made consist of which interaction to play, and which threats to play. Deciding what split of Delver, Stalker, and Dauthi to play is one of the big decisions. Recently players have moved away from Stalactite Stalker and Dauthi, opting for more removal and interaction in the maindeck. Some players opt to play other cards like Spell Pierce, Wail of the Forgotten, Force of Negation, or Drown in the Loch instead of some amount of removal. This deck is great if you like the aggressive play patterns of scam. It’s not great if you prefer to take on the control role.

Sultai Scam

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6255693

Speaking of the control role, this Sultai Scam Deck trades away some of the early game for longer game engines in Uro, and Witherbloom Command in addition to more interaction.

The deck cuts a few copies of Troll for a pair of Uro, plays the rest of the Scam package and a playset of Bowmasters. Uro provides a powerful long-game engine and win-condition.

Witherbloom command is a core component of this deck, with 2-3 copies played. Playsets of Brainstorm, Ponder and Force are standard. There are roughly 8-10 slots for interaction, a normal composition is 2 Daze, 2 Stifle, 2 Fatal Push, and 2 Sheoldred’s Edict. Lorien Revealed and sometimes Sauron’s Ransom are included as well.

The mana base is similar to Classic Scam but with 2 Tropical Islands and a Bayou as Green sources.

In the sideboard we see some of the same cards that we would see in a Classic Scam list, but with the addition of powerful green cards like Carpet of Flowers, Veil of Summer, Leovold, and Force of Vigor.

This deck takes the opposite approach that the Delver Scam deck does, it’s extremely powerful in the long-game. Uro and Witherbloom Command in addition to Lorien and Ransom provide a significant amount of card advantage as the game progresses. There’s a high degree of synergy here, with Witherbloom Command filling the graveyard for Uro and potentially reanimation targets. 

Witherbloom Command is a powerful and versatile card. It’s a “Choose Two” card with four modes, the first mode mills a player for three and then you return a land from graveyard to hand, the 2nd mode destroys a non-land, non-creature with mana value 2 or less, the third mode gives a creature -3/-1, and the fourth mode drains the opponent for two life. The combination of two of these effects is typically worth 1.5-2 cards, meaning that Witherbloom Command is basically 2 mana divination. It answers a wide range of cards from Orcish Bowmasters to Chalice of the Void all in one while providing card advantage.

This list also has a wide array of interactive options to ensure that these card advantage engines have time to come online. Having access to green increases the power level of available sideboard cards, shoring up many of the poor matchups.

The downsides of this list are primarily a result of being a more controlling 3  color deck. Being three  colors means that the mana base is slightly less stable in producing all the  colored mana needed and that Blood Moon might be highly effective. The other downside is that a shift towards a more controlling style comes at the cost of being less threat dense and having fewer aggressive draws.

As with the other Scam decks there is a degree of vulnerability to graveyard interaction, this is especially true here as Uro almost always has to spend a turn in the graveyard before being escaped.

This deck has a real engine and is likely favored in many fair blue mirrors, it is able to interact with and disrupt the opponent on almost every axis. Removing the faster threats means that the deck doesn’t really have a nut-draw and so every victory will be grindy and skill testing.

In terms of card choices and flex slots, I don't think there’s a lot to play around with. In the main deck you could probably play around with the quantities of Stifle, Daze, Fatal Push and Sheoldred’s Edict, but I do like how well rounded that selection is. In the sideboard there are a wealth of options to attack any specific matchup.

This is ideal for disciplined blue midrange/control players. It may not be the right choice if you enjoy jamming.

Scam Recap

No matter what flavor you encounter or play, there are some key components to remember.

Grief is not that powerful on its own, it is not really worth evoking without Reanimate/Animate Dead. If you end up in a situation where you have a Grief in hand and no Reanimate, consider if waiting to cast it for four mana might be better. 

On the opposing side of the table, prior to the use of a “Scam” effect, evoking Grief is card disadvantage. Because of this, it’s usually not correct to Force of Will Grief when evoked, unless there is a specific card in hand that must be protected for a combo and either you have a different answer for the Reanimate or you have to dodge it in order to win.

Reanimate is actually the glue that holds these decks together, and is quietly the most important card. Reanimate is an extremely potent card in fair decks, both by enabling powerful plays with Grief and Troll but also by being redundant copies of cards already in the graveyard.

Orcish Bowmasters mirror matches have a dynamic where the person with the last Bowmasters standing often wins the game. Bowmasters kill opposing Bowmasters which means there is a bit of a sub-game around resolving the final Bowmasters. Reanimate breaks this tension in an important way. If playing against Sultai Beans or Grixis Delver, the opponent has a playset of Bowmasters but a Scam deck functionally has 8 or more Bowmasters due to the Reanimates and Animate Deads. 

Scam will often have an advantage in the early game but may not be able to compete effectively in a longer game if the opponent can pull ahead with card advantage. If Beans, especially of the Bant/x variety, stabilize, they are very favored as the game progresses.

I don’t think Scam is going anywhere, it’s a powerful engine that supports many distinct decks. Dimir Rescaminator might be the best deck in legacy right now, especially with the newer white splash to mitigate graveyard hate. I definitely think it’s beatable, Grixis Delver and BantX Beans are both likely favored in the matchup. Beating Rescaminator is a leveling game where each player tries to guess how the other one will sideboard and then board accordingly to blank that plan.

The other versions I personally like the most are Dimir Delver Scam, and Sultai Scam, these decks focus on being great at one gameplan, and truly succeed at it. I think Classic Scam is outdated, and does not have the same power-level as some of the other versions.

Mono Black Aggro is great if you want the power of Dark Ritual into an Opposition Agent. 

Dedicated reanimator has fallen off in popularity as Dimir Rescaminator is basically doing everything it can do but better, especially after sideboards.

Hopefully this has helped you to be able to identify what flavor of Scam your opponent is playing or which one you want to play.

Hey! As the title says, I'm looking to get into legacy as a mainly pauper player. I've played Jeskai Ephemerate quite a bit, so I'm looking for a deck that will give the same kind of feel in game play. I like the grindy, recourse-loop game plan with a combo-ish wincon

Hi all,

I'm trying to get into legacy and the only thing I'm struggling to understand is the reason to Westland someone with your first land drop. I get its use as part of a pressure/denial plan in something like delver/ubresaminator but if you wastland t1 on an empty board you are just re setting the game to turn 1. Are you just fishing to see if you can mana screw the other player/ reduce the total number of lands the other deck has access to in the game, or is ther more to it?

What decks does Delver try to board this in against? I imagine decks with a lot of one mana cards, but I could be wrong.

Check it out below!

https://youtu.be/5Yjxc5kmODo

Just recently started to grind legacy for the first time after being a Modern player since MH2. I have been having a decent win rate so far despite being new at legacy since its a very knowledge based format but I don’t know what to do vs two archetypes. Beans control and stompy decks? For the record I’m playing UB reanimator and just wondering a few questions. 1. Should I mulligan more aggressively vs stompy since they don’t have force of will (except 8 cast) 2. Should I always wasteland ancient tomb and city of traitors when possible? 3. What should I side out vs them as UB reanimator? 4. What do 8 cast, goblins, mono red prison, and white initiative all have in common and the major differences between them?

Just a reminder that our Legacy 1k is happening tomorrow so if you are in the Newmarket Ontario Area and want to participate we are happy to have you!

https://enterthebattlefield.ca/products/etb-newmarket-legacy-of-the-north-1k-event-mar-23

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Had 4 players again! Still quite a diverse metagame.

• 8 Cast / Patchwork Stompy
• Dimir Rescaminator
• Yorion D&T
• Abzan Maverick

If you’re ever in the neighbourhood feel free to drop by! We try to play every Friday :) Proxy friendly as well!

Also next Friday we’re going to try a Vintage FNM. Hopefully we get enough people :) should be a good time!

Thanks!

What are people's thoughts on the sloth?

In case you missed it, since [[Lumbering Megasloth]] is not out on magic online:

• Turn 1 [[yavamaya, cradle of growth]],
• Turn 2 [[dark depths]] + lumbering megasloth
• Turn 3 mountain + [[broadside bombardiers]] (total 24 damage)

Fits into turbo or depths shells along Thespian Stage, and others are also pairing the megasloth with [[scion of draco]] it appears.

Hi all, a long time ago, I built this very insane combo deck when I was 13

I was wondering what kind of changes I could make if I were to rebuild this, but have it be more legacy playable. Please let me know, thanks.

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https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4558435#paper

Or maybe just fast dual, odyssey? Thanks!

I wanted to share my big news.

I have been selected as one of ten recipients of Wizards of the Coast’s New Perspectives Grant Program for MagicCon: Amsterdam 2024. It aims to support the inclusion of Magic enthusiasts who belong to historically underrepresented groups by providing assistance to attend MagicCon events. I will be receiving the Black Lotus Badge VIP Package plus a stipend for the trip.

Legacy was front and centre of my application in my continued commitment to showcasing why Legacy is great through democratising the format and celebrating greater diversity in the game.

I genuinely can't believe it and I'm excited to share my love of eternal magic with you all.

Messing around with the new Soul Cauldron combo deck and playing with Chaos Defiler

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https://youtu.be/jiGJPVOqG2M