Can we take a minute to appreciate the smoothness with which Phil played chalice while trinisphere was on the field. It’s famously difficult for non-regulars to struggle, but Phil just cast that chalice like it was normal. Much respect
Hey deck donator here! Yeah i was expecting this to be a bit of a challenge and i like the direction you have taken it to lean into control. Was fun to see what you came uo with lets see if it stands any chance aginst delver now lol edit: first game round 4 ladies and gentlemen we did it
Phil went full prison mode, but I wonder if a control shell would also work where your top-end is a Stax lock that you're still able to play under effectively with some form of repeated token generators.
43:00 Round 2 vs 8 cast I actually wonder if the play was to be attacking with 1/1 snakes that whole time. Even tho they had infinite blockers, forcing them to keep killing thopters might have kept them from reaching the lethal threshold they needed. That was a wild game tho! great to watch
Yeah that's definitely the play, especially since the snakes are free and that wins faster than decking - granted, the opponent can still block/sac with Sai to draw cards, so it takes a while for it to actually start generating value
Not sold on Ophiomancer. It doesn't actually work that well with Smokestack compared to other options (Jadar is cheaper), although the deathtouch is nice. Also surprised to not see Nether Spirit in the deck, as a solid combo with Smokestack
love the video and love the snakes! ophiomancer is one of my favorite cards. in round 2 game 1, you could have been attacking with the snake token to kill a thopter per turn and slow down the otawara bounce plan that your opponent was going for, unless i'm missing something (haven't finished the video yet, so maybe you mention this later)
A few videos ago, someone made a comment on one of these videos about carcinization: nature's tendency to take marine arthropods and turn them into crabs. They compared this with Phil's tendency to take semi-viable strategies and turn them into Urza's Saga decks. Carcinization has struck again.
Urza's Saga is the glue that holds together non-blue brews just like Brainstorm et al. hold together blue brews. If you want sweet spice, you do need some raw power to go with it.
@@ThrabenUniversity Remember the old pillars of Legacy? What would you say the current ones are? Brainstorm still. Urza's Saga. Loam? Vial? Ritual or LED?
Well, algorithm is really kicking in if I'm getting recommended this video from two years ago. Funny to see a young Phill trying to make smoke stacks work
The Dryad Arbor fetch in game 1 kinda made sense to me, allows for double block and kill the trampler while chumping the other one. You drawing monolith kinda made that moat though
I think the most interesting things you can do with smokestacks have to happen in commander where you have the life total and the extra opponents to absorb some heat until you can get some goofy 7+ card combo going that adds and removes counters on the smokestack at will.
It's also a fun one in Vintage Cube. The fast mana can power it out super early. Though even that format has gotten powerful / fast enough to make it a bit slow. Also depends how a particular Vintage Cube is built, I'm mostly familiar with it on MTGO
Sweet deck! Seems worthwhile to grab expedition map when you have crucible (e.g. 8:45), since that means that you can get wasteland and make crucible play its role in the lock-em-out plan.
R3 opponent couldn't stand being on the draw and instead demanded to be on the loot (draw& discard). Alternative nomenclature is the Phyrexian entomb, instead of paying mana your opponent gets a zero mana time walk.
@@ThrabenUniversity I want you to know that I think it is amazing how many decks you are able to pilot and pilot pretty well. Thank you for allowing me to play amazing formats by proxy through watching you play.
Specifically, Mox Diamond replace its "entering the battlefield" even with "Discard a card. If you do, it enters the battlefield. Otherwise, it goes to the graveyard". It will never hit the field in the first place if you don't discard.
In game 1 of round 2 I think you 100% should've swung into the thopters with your snake token before playing your land since they were so low, and you would get a token on their upkeep anyway
Yeah im tempted to submit the other option being mono black zombies now champion of the perished is a card that exists. Probably more consistant than this deck but a fun watch anyway
@@ThrabenUniversity either that or i was wondering how viable a parfait deck would be nowadays. The ones i brewed around was mono white used RIP and helm as main wincons and wandering emperor as removal and as a back up wincon (and lets face it. Urzas saga would work as a wincon too. It always does)
In Rounde 2 game 3 you could play diamond responde to the discard trigger tap opal zu play Monolith and the Bridge. Which could safe you since you only would take 5. But Ithink oponent had a 2th recal/fow in hand which would explain theire hastey recal the turn bevor
Match one I prefer to not keep in Trinisphere over chalice in matchups where your opponent can win through Trinisphere and it's mostly a minor annoyance.
Couldn't you have equipped shadowspear to the snakes from ophiomancer in round 2 and attacked with your one card in hand on a few turns before playing that? Probs would've gained enough incremental life to at least stay alive from the thopters on a first attack
@ around 42min - you could have been healing off shadowspear attacks with snakes and gaining 1 life a turn. would have made it a lot harder for them to time the Ottawara win
@@Dr._Kenneth_Noisewater good catch, yea, always forget it actually augments base numbers that tiny bit. *Needed to be attacking on the asymmetric ensnaring opportunities anyway
Can we take a minute to appreciate the smoothness with which Phil played chalice while trinisphere was on the field. It’s famously difficult for non-regulars to struggle, but Phil just cast that chalice like it was normal. Much respect
Phil's a long-time fan of red prison. He's played his fair share of that interaction.
So you cast it with x = 1 and pay an additional 1, right?
Hey deck donator here! Yeah i was expecting this to be a bit of a challenge and i like the direction you have taken it to lean into control. Was fun to see what you came uo with lets see if it stands any chance aginst delver now lol edit: first game round 4 ladies and gentlemen we did it
Phil went full prison mode, but I wonder if a control shell would also work where your top-end is a Stax lock that you're still able to play under effectively with some form of repeated token generators.
I used to run Contamination and Ophiomancer in my Stax decks.. Back in ye olde days :)
Those do indeed sound like ye olde days. Smokestacks in your deck, or Smokeless Stax?
This deck is so sweet to watch, but yeah not having an active game plan to win no longer cuts it in Legacy. On a side note, I adore Urza's Saga
"Holy sheet, this is each upkeep?"
Ah, a true magic player I see XD
43:00 Round 2 vs 8 cast I actually wonder if the play was to be attacking with 1/1 snakes that whole time. Even tho they had infinite blockers, forcing them to keep killing thopters might have kept them from reaching the lethal threshold they needed. That was a wild game tho! great to watch
Yeah that's definitely the play, especially since the snakes are free and that wins faster than decking - granted, the opponent can still block/sac with Sai to draw cards, so it takes a while for it to actually start generating value
Yeah, I like it.
you could equip the spear too
@@peterrasmussen4428 can't equip the spear because it gives your snakes +1/+1
Could equip spear once if wait to pop expedition map until after you draw no land card, then drop land after and play the drawn card. Then gain 2 life
Bro says really lucky draw after keeping the greediest hand ever
gosh i just enjoyed this video so much thank you Phil and thank you deck donator for giving us the lock-down experience :)
Man, I wish there was room for Braids, Cabal Minion in here; having eight Smokestack effects in a viable deck is my dream.
I am ecstatic for this video! I miss playing smoke stack soo much! It’s genuinely one of my fave cards in magic
Not sold on Ophiomancer. It doesn't actually work that well with Smokestack compared to other options (Jadar is cheaper), although the deathtouch is nice. Also surprised to not see Nether Spirit in the deck, as a solid combo with Smokestack
love the video and love the snakes! ophiomancer is one of my favorite cards. in round 2 game 1, you could have been attacking with the snake token to kill a thopter per turn and slow down the otawara bounce plan that your opponent was going for, unless i'm missing something (haven't finished the video yet, so maybe you mention this later)
43:19. Should you have been attacking with the snake token?
A few videos ago, someone made a comment on one of these videos about carcinization: nature's tendency to take marine arthropods and turn them into crabs. They compared this with Phil's tendency to take semi-viable strategies and turn them into Urza's Saga decks.
Carcinization has struck again.
Similar to adding Blood Fountain and Deadly Dispute in Pauper lol.
Urza's Saga is the glue that holds together non-blue brews just like Brainstorm et al. hold together blue brews. If you want sweet spice, you do need some raw power to go with it.
@@ThrabenUniversity Remember the old pillars of Legacy?
What would you say the current ones are? Brainstorm still. Urza's Saga. Loam? Vial? Ritual or LED?
@@ThrabenUniversity Those crabs are working hard holding the spice together with their little claws.
@@thehegemon1024 you got a literal lol for that one.
Phil and Stax, name a more iconic combo.
Phill and DnT
Well, algorithm is really kicking in if I'm getting recommended this video from two years ago. Funny to see a young Phill trying to make smoke stacks work
*salutes algorithm*
The Dryad Arbor fetch in game 1 kinda made sense to me, allows for double block and kill the trampler while chumping the other one. You drawing monolith kinda made that moat though
9:00 after equip at least one token has dress down protection ;)
41:09 Shouldn’t you be crashing in with your completely disposable snake every turn? If anything, it eats a thopter token.
I think the most interesting things you can do with smokestacks have to happen in commander where you have the life total and the extra opponents to absorb some heat until you can get some goofy 7+ card combo going that adds and removes counters on the smokestack at will.
It's also a fun one in Vintage Cube. The fast mana can power it out super early. Though even that format has gotten powerful / fast enough to make it a bit slow. Also depends how a particular Vintage Cube is built, I'm mostly familiar with it on MTGO
Game 2 against Red Prison was absolutely hilarious
Sweet deck! Seems worthwhile to grab expedition map when you have crucible (e.g. 8:45), since that means that you can get wasteland and make crucible play its role in the lock-em-out plan.
I think that spot is about killing the opponent in 2 turns, not grinding for another 5.
1:08:30 opponent could of won on the spot by vialing in cephalid in response to the oracle trigger.
Actually lol'ed multiple times at round 4 game 2.
Here is the snakeman. We are the beatdown. Next deck? Bronze Walrus!
R3 opponent couldn't stand being on the draw and instead demanded to be on the loot (draw& discard). Alternative nomenclature is the Phyrexian entomb, instead of paying mana your opponent gets a zero mana time walk.
anyone remembers which video Phil said at the start that we should watch match 3?
that's a lot of --damage-- GOBLINS
Round two shouldn't you have been attacking for one to lower their life total and eventually their thopter total?
Yeah, I like it.
@@ThrabenUniversity I want you to know that I think it is amazing how many decks you are able to pilot and pilot pretty well. Thank you for allowing me to play amazing formats by proxy through watching you play.
At 56:00
Couldnt you play the mox diamond use opal to make a mana.
Play the second grim and them use the mana to play your hand?
You sacrifice Mox Diamond if you don't discard a land, so that doesn't work.
Specifically, Mox Diamond replace its "entering the battlefield" even with "Discard a card. If you do, it enters the battlefield. Otherwise, it goes to the graveyard". It will never hit the field in the first place if you don't discard.
What if we added 4x Scrubland and some number of Damn?
In game 1 of round 2 I think you 100% should've swung into the thopters with your snake token before playing your land since they were so low, and you would get a token on their upkeep anyway
Yeah im tempted to submit the other option being mono black zombies now champion of the perished is a card that exists. Probably more consistant than this deck but a fun watch anyway
Champion of the Perished is sick. I played a league with it and was super impressed,
@@ThrabenUniversity either that or i was wondering how viable a parfait deck would be nowadays. The ones i brewed around was mono white used RIP and helm as main wincons and wandering emperor as removal and as a back up wincon (and lets face it. Urzas saga would work as a wincon too. It always does)
1:04:00 why not play the monolith to stop attacks? you have the mana to play it with liquimetal
liquimetal coating does not generate mana. liquimetal torque is the one that does that
Using key to untap monolith gives him enough mana to play both the monolith in his hand and crucible+wasteland, I think Phil just missed it that turn.
In Rounde 2 game 3 you could play diamond responde to the discard trigger tap opal zu play Monolith and the Bridge. Which could safe you since you only would take 5. But Ithink oponent had a 2th recal/fow in hand which would explain theire hastey recal the turn bevor
Reread Mox Diamond. It doesn't work like that.
@@ThrabenUniversity uuu yeah your right. Sorry 🫣
@41:01 why not attacking for one with snake each turn to limit thopters?
Keep giving it lifelink via shadowspear to stop the swing that happens for 10 to kill him
Match one I prefer to not keep in Trinisphere over chalice in matchups where your opponent can win through Trinisphere and it's mostly a minor annoyance.
No dark ritual? I figured that dark ritual would be the reason to be black (otherwise white seems like a better color)
It's a dead draw late game and doesn't play well with Chalice on 1.
Hey guys, is it possible to make professor onyx playable in legacy? I think it is cool and powerful card, but that mana cost is kinda yuck.
It's powerful but expensive. Black already has lots of good expensive cards, so it is a tough sell.
Maybe with Arena Rector and Chain of Smog. I don't see it being playable unless you can cheat it out and threaten to win the game immediately.
@@L_O_V_E_L_A_I_N Yeah, that plus the Chain of Smog combo might make it passable.
Would Martyr for the Cause work with the Smokestack strategy?
It's off color and a little niche, so I don't like it.
STAAAAX
spicy!
Mono black Phil is best Phil
Sneaky Snek
obligatory algorithmic contribution
Couldn't you have equipped shadowspear to the snakes from ophiomancer in round 2 and attacked with your one card in hand on a few turns before playing that? Probs would've gained enough incremental life to at least stay alive from the thopters on a first attack
spear gives +1/+1, making the snake a 2/2, meaning he would need 2 cards in hand, which is obviously a lot riskier
@@zountack right yeah I'm an idiot lol, forgot about the +1/+1 from shadowspear
I was thinking the same, he could block with a thopter and sac. But obviously the +1/+1 is the deal breaker
@@asdad54 even if he blocked and sacced, trample would've gained lifelink, but it's impossible in the +1/+1 anyway
@ around 42min - you could have been healing off shadowspear attacks with snakes and gaining 1 life a turn. would have made it a lot harder for them to time the Ottawara win
Shadow spear adds to 2 power
@@Dr._Kenneth_Noisewater good catch, yea, always forget it actually augments base numbers that tiny bit. *Needed to be attacking on the asymmetric ensnaring opportunities anyway
Will smokestack actually be cast? last 3 videos ive seen smokestack never even hits the stack.
It was...for a change!
It took a good hour and twenty minutes into this video, but eventually it did show up. :)
How long has it been since there's been a deck that didn't have Urza's Saga on this channel?
Yesterday.
@@ThrabenUniversity You are correct my apologies. I missed your last 2 uploads and saw like 3 or 4 Urza's Saga decks before then.
@@mahavemann Yeah, Urza's Saga is the glue that holds together janky non-blue decks.
why no braids?
Hmm. It’s very weird that neither murktide or saga haven’t seen a ban yet. Especially with the play stats.
agreed
I have no input on play, but I do like commenting
Tangle wire might be better than smokestack. Comes down earlier and is great tempo.
Umu