Hello guys,
Because Pro Tours are never played using Legacy, I am not exactly a specialist on the subject matter. However, I had to test for [GP Prague] & after trying a lot of decks, including Eldrazi, Shardless BUG, Reanimator etc. I settled on UW Miracles. This deck is great to play. I really started enjoying Legacy once I found myself playing this deck. Every game is interesting and you can fight against everything. You have a thousand choices and decisions to make during the games, such as when to fetch? What to counter? How should I order the top cards of my library? It is incredibly hard (impossible?) to play a game perfectly. Also it’s not rare for the deck to win 1/0 and not play sideboarded games, it usually happens when your opponent doesn’t want to concede game one even though you locked him down. It happened to me a total of three times in Prague.
How does UW Miracles work?
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A lot of articles have already been written about this deck, so I just write a short reminder about the basics.
Miracles is the only true control deck being played in Legacy. You’re in no rush to end the game because you know that the longer the game goes the more likely you are to win. There’s the interaction between [Counterbalance] and [Sensei’s Divining Top] to lock them out of the game. The vast majority of Legacy decks rely on cards with converted mana costs of 1-3; there are so many strong cards available in this format and people will always try to keep their curves low and deploy their strategies early.
In Miracles, [Sensei’s Divining Top] also allows you to choose the draws or keep cards in your deck until you actually need them. For good measure, you can also use the Top to put a [Terminus] on top of your deck and draw it during your opponent’s turn for an instant-speed [Terminus].
You need a lot of fetchlands to manipulate your library enough to find the right card at the right time with this deck and the life paid might be an issue against decks running burn spells. I only played two [Tundra] and a lot of islands and plains to make sure the mana works even with [Back to Basics].
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6 [Island] 2 [Plains] 2 [Tundra] 4 [Flooded Strand] 3 [Scalding Tarn] 2 [Misty Rainforest] 1 [Polluted Delta] 1 [Arid Mesa] -Lands (21)- 1 [Snapcaster Mage] 2 [Vendilion Clique] -Creatures (3)- |
4 [Brainstorm] 4 [Swords to Plowshares] 3 [Ponder] 1 [Counterspell] 1 [Council’s Judgment] 1 [Entreat the Angels] 4 [Force of Will] 4 [Terminus] 1 [Banishing Stroke] 4 [Counterbalance] 2 [Back to Basics] 4 [Sensei’s Divining Top] 3 [Jace, the Mind Sculptor] -Spells (36)- |
3 [Flusterstorm] 2 [Moat] 1 [Ethersworn Canonist] 1 [Vendilion Clique] 1 [Sower of Temptation] 1 [Mindbreak Trap] 1 [Banishing Stroke] 1 [Rest in Peace] 1 [Back to Basics] 1 [Humility] 1 [Pithing Needle] 1 [Karakas] -Sideboards (15)- |
What does UW Miracles do in the current Legacy meta?
With the rise of Eldrazi decks in Legacy, people said that Miracles would be in a lot of trouble, I don’t agree with that and I think the deck can evolve and it has the weapons to fight against the Eldrazi.
One of the reasons why you would think Miracles isn’t great against Eldrazi is because the core of the deck comes from the combination of [Sensei’s Divining Top] and [Counterbalance]: it is not working all that well against their high mana costs and [Cavern of Souls]. Also, they play some annoying artifacts to shut down low CMC spells.
[Chalice of the Void] and [Thorn of Amethyst]
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In general UW Miracles plays 16 one drops (4 [Brainstorm], 4 [Sensei’s Divining Top], 4 [Ponder], 4 [Swords to Plowshares]). Because of this, [Chalice of the Void] can be a problem. It is definitely the main card to counter with a [Force of Will] because it’s not certain you can counter their Eldrazi if they play a [Cavern of Souls] any way.
They could also sideboard more of these artifacts to try and slow your down deck by shutting down your Top:
[Null Rod] and [Pithing Needle]
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Against all of this you have 2 cards:
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What I did is I removed a [Ponder] and added a maindeck [Banishing Stroke] (and one in the side). It will remove [Chalice of the Void], [Thorn of Amethyst] and also any Eldrazi creature they may play. This is not a card like [Disenchant] that is dead in a lot of match-ups. It’s actually fine in the main deck, because it’s just an additional removal spell like [Swords to Plowshares] and it is good to know you have outs ([Council’s Judgment] is another one) in your deck if your opponent resolves one of these artifacts when you don’t have a [Force of Will].
When you play games without Chalices, it is a fine matchup for you, you can [Sensei’s Divining Top], [Ponder], [Brainstorm], Fetch and find your [Terminus] and [Swords to Plowshares] to deal with their threats.
What I also did is play a couple of [Back to Basics] in the maindeck (+1 in the side) and two [Moats] in the sideboard, which effectively lock the Eldrazi player down completely. With these two enchantments in play, the only thing you have to take care of is their [Ratchet Bomb] (answered by [Banishing Stroke], [Council’s Judgment] & [Force of Will]).
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[Back to Basics] is really good against Eldrazi but also against all Delver decks (Grixis, BUG, RUG, UWR). I had great results with the card and opponents never expect it. This is why I’m playing just 2 colors and only 2 [Tundra]. This is also excellent when your opponent tries to fight you with [Wasteland] & [Blood Moon]. [Humility] is not as crucial as [Moat], but you can also side it in against decks like Elves, Reanimator or Show and Tell.
Your main win condition is [Jace, the Mind Sculptor]. He also serves as a card advantage engine up until that point. If you untap with Jace in play, you’re all but guaranteed to have won the game. The -12 Ultimate on Jace is how you will finish most games.
What are the bad matchups for this deck?
Unfortunately, I only went 9/4/1 in Prague with the deck. I lost to Jund, a mirror match and twice against Shardless BUG.
I feel Shardless BUG is the worst matchup for the deck. They have very good threats like [Liliana of the Veil] and [Jace, the Mind Sculptor], but also very good disruption with [Hymn to Tourach] and [Abrupt Decay] to destroy your top & [Counterbalance]. They also have great value with [Shardless Agent] and [Ancestral Vision].
The best card in your deck is probably [Entreat the Angels], maybe adding a 2nd in the sideboard is a good choice if you expect a lot of Shardless BUG for your next tournament. Because the deck is also good against Eldrazi, it is fairly well positioned at the moment.
Jund plays kind of similar to BUG and is also a problematic matchup for UW Miracles.
I like all other matchups for the deck.
Epic game moments in PRAGUE
Round 3: BUG Delver
I played a 45min epic game 1 where I won with Jace’s ultimate at 1 life and my opponent conceded to my mulligan in game 2, since there was no time left to play. We shook hands as if it were the finals of a big event because we both played as fast as we could, considering how complicated the game had gotten. In the end, the only misplay we could tell was that, I had a Top on the top of my library at one point and he played Jace and chose to [Brainstorm] rather than put my top on the bottom. He probably lost the game at that moment.
Round 8: Elves
Game 1: I took a mulligan to 6, then to 5 but with 6 cards in hand. I called the judge and he told me I have 2 choices: either your opponent looks at your hand and discards a card, OR I mulligan to 4. I chose to mulligan to 4 because I didn’t want my opponent to know what I was playing. My plan was to play fetchlands, wait for information about what my opponent is playing, concede, have a perfect deck for game 2 and 3 and win 2/1. So I didn’t play my top on turn 1. He played a lot of elves and on turn 4 I brainstormed and miracle a [Terminus] the turn after, then played [Back to Basics] (elves has only 2 basic forests in the deck). I managed to win this game at 1 life at 50 mins again. So 1/0 with a mulligan to 4. Never surrender!
Round 11 GP PRAGUE: VS Eldrazi
Game 3: I put [Back to Basics] in play and he used [Ratchet Bomb] +3 turns to destroy it. The turn after, he fully tapped his mana to play creatures. I miracle a [Terminus] followed by [Back to Basics] and a couple of turns after that [Moat] and [Humility]. He never conceded and tried to go for the draw. I had to find a Jace, use his +2 for 5 turns, ultimate my opponent, and use +2 again for 7 more turns to kill him, at this point all I did was draw, +2 Jace not even looking at my opponent’s deck, say you can keep, go, discard and finished the last 13 turns in less than 5 minutes.
How I sideboarded.
Eldrazi
IN
1 [Back to Basics]
1 [Sower of temptation]
2 [Moat]
1 [Humility]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
OUT
1 [Counterspell]
1 [Vendilion Clique]
4 [Counterbalance]
IN
1 [Back to Basics]
1 [Sower of temptation]
2 [Moat]
1 [Humility]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
OUT
1 [Counterspell]
1 [Vendilion Clique]
4 [Counterbalance]
UW Miracles
IN
1 [Vendilion Clique]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
1 [Pithing Needle]
3 [Flusterstorm]
OUT
4 [Swords to Plowshares]
2 [Back to Basics]
IN
1 [Vendilion Clique]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
1 [Pithing Needle]
3 [Flusterstorm]
OUT
4 [Swords to Plowshares]
2 [Back to Basics]
Grixis / BUG / UWR Delver
IN
1 [Back to Basics]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
1 [Rest in Peace]
3 [Flusterstorm]
OUT
1 [Counterspell]
2 [Vendilion Clique]
3 [Force of Will]
IN
1 [Back to Basics]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
1 [Rest in Peace]
3 [Flusterstorm]
OUT
1 [Counterspell]
2 [Vendilion Clique]
3 [Force of Will]
Show and Tell
IN
1 [Vendilion Clique]
1 [Sower of Temptation]
1 [Humility]
1 [Ethersworn Canonist]
1 [Karakas]
1 [Pithing Needle]
3 [Flusterstorm]
OUT
2 [Swords to Plowshares]
2 [Back to Basics]
1 [Arid Mesa]
1 [Council’s Judgment]
1 [Entreat the Angels]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
1 [Counterbalance]
IN
1 [Vendilion Clique]
1 [Sower of Temptation]
1 [Humility]
1 [Ethersworn Canonist]
1 [Karakas]
1 [Pithing Needle]
3 [Flusterstorm]
OUT
2 [Swords to Plowshares]
2 [Back to Basics]
1 [Arid Mesa]
1 [Council’s Judgment]
1 [Entreat the Angels]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
1 [Counterbalance]
Reanimator
IN
1 [Vendilion Clique]
1 [Sower of Temptation]
1 [Humility]
1 [Ethersworn Canonist]
1 [Rest in Peace]
1 [Karakas]
1 [Pithing Needle]
3 [Flusterstorm]
OUT
4 [Swords to Plowshares]
2 [Back to Basics]
1 [Arid Mesa]
1 [Council’s Judgment]
1 [Entreat the Angels]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
IN
1 [Vendilion Clique]
1 [Sower of Temptation]
1 [Humility]
1 [Ethersworn Canonist]
1 [Rest in Peace]
1 [Karakas]
1 [Pithing Needle]
3 [Flusterstorm]
OUT
4 [Swords to Plowshares]
2 [Back to Basics]
1 [Arid Mesa]
1 [Council’s Judgment]
1 [Entreat the Angels]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
Elves
IN
2 [Moat]
1 [Humility]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
OUT
1 [Counterspell]
2 [Vendilion Clique]
1 [Council’s Judgment]
IN
2 [Moat]
1 [Humility]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
OUT
1 [Counterspell]
2 [Vendilion Clique]
1 [Council’s Judgment]
Lands
IN
1 [Back to Basics]
1 [Rest in Peace]
1 [Karakas]
1 [Pithing Needle]
OUT
1 [Counterspell]
1 [Council’s Judgment]
1 [Tundra]
1 [Terminus]
IN
1 [Back to Basics]
1 [Rest in Peace]
1 [Karakas]
1 [Pithing Needle]
OUT
1 [Counterspell]
1 [Council’s Judgment]
1 [Tundra]
1 [Terminus]
Storm
IN
1 [Vendilion Clique]
1 [Mindbreak Trap]
1 [Ethersworn Canonist]
1 [Rest in Peace]
3 [Flusterstorm]
OUT
4 [Swords to Plowshares]
1 [Back to Basics]
1 [Council’s Judgment]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
IN
1 [Vendilion Clique]
1 [Mindbreak Trap]
1 [Ethersworn Canonist]
1 [Rest in Peace]
3 [Flusterstorm]
OUT
4 [Swords to Plowshares]
1 [Back to Basics]
1 [Council’s Judgment]
1 [Banishing Stroke]
I hope you will play this deck and enjoy it as much as I did. But remember, you need to practice a lot to master this deck. As for myself, there is no doubt that in the future, when I next have to play Legacy, Miracles is the deck for me.
Jeremy Dezani,
HARERUYA PRO PLAYER
Cards found in the Article
[Sensei’s Divining Top]
[Counterbalance]
[Back to Basics]
[Moat]
He was the 2013-14 Player of the Year with his crowning achievement taking place at Pro Tour Theros where he won in spectacular fashion with Blue Devotion back in 2013.
He has a stunning 10 Grand Prix Top 8s to his name including 2 wins and Runner-up twice.
He will also be the first Non-Japanese player to join the ranks of the Hareruya Pros.
