One last spin...
As most of you know, it has been a very very rough week in Legacy. Specifically towards the Miracle players, if you’ve been sleeping under a rock...
Sensei’s Divining Top has finally been banned in Legacy.
With Top banned, Miracles is finally dead in Legacy. Where many players would rejoice the passing of an oppressive deck which dominated the format for years, while many would fear that there would be no “true” Control deck to fill the void Miracles has left behind in the format.
Though this article is well passed the ban announcement, I’ll like to discuss further about why it should have been banned and what were the other potential cards Wizards R&D might have banned instead of Top.
Why did Top have to go?
In my opinion, Top was the most important card in the whole deck that would make Miracles function as a top tier deck for years to come. Before Miracles however, the interaction between Top and Counterbalance had not gone unnoticed with many players already tweaking a few interactions with the deck. It was not only until 2013, when Avacyn Restored brought a new mechanic known as Miracles. Where it would involve the player manipulating the top of their decks through shuffling, Brainstorm and most importantly with Top, Miracles was then formed. A UWx Control deck with a very small splash of Red, involving strong Miracle cards such as Terminus and Entreat the Angels. Miracles was a real control deck, utilizing strong control elements and consistent form of answers to most of the other decks in Legacy.
Top brought too much value to Miracles, where it would feel like as if a Miracles player was playing with an additional 3 cards in hand due to Top’s utility. Top was also not favored among players on the receiving end of Miracles, where there were complaints of Top taking up too much playing time in the rounds causing some games to end up in a draw.
What could’ve gone instead of Top?
The Top ban clearly affected the meta, Miracles was now gone and there was no clear deck to keep the other more rampant archetypes in check. Many still believe that Top should not have received the ban hammer. But the supporting cast of cards fueling Miracles such as Counterbalance or Terminus should’ve received the ban instead.
Another speculation circling around the legacy forum on Reddit a week before the ban was that Deathrite Shaman could’ve received the ban. Which is pretty ironic now that Deathrite Shaman is everywhere in the format with the absence of Miracles in the format.
Banning either Counterbalance or Terminus might have kept Miracles in the format, especially Terminus, a card so widely feared by many players for it’s power being casted for 1 White mana at instant speed. Top was really the final option for R&D, and they really did put the nail in the coffin this time round.
What happens now?
It’s pretty hard to see how the meta would develop in the next few months, but some decks already have an edge now that Miracles is gone. Elves would finally have an ideal field of decks to play against, BUGx archetypes-consisting of True-Name Nemesis, Leovold and most importantly Deathrite Shaman would look to be the new kingpin of the format. Smaller archetypes such as UR Delver, GB Depths, Lands and Aluren will be slightly more prominent in the meta.
As for the existing Miracle players, whether new or old, it does hurts to see a deck you’ve been playing for a long time getting banned. Miracles was not a cheap deck as well. However, many threads have popped up from existing Stoneblade players to help Miracle players to properly transit to the Stoneblade archetype. Stoneblade has been in Legacy for quite a long time, with different versions such as Bantblade, Deathblade, UWR-Blade and UW Blade. Stoneblade is a good shift for Miracle players as they already own most of the pieces required to build Stoneblade. With an unknown meta ahead, Stoneblade, BUG Midrange and Loam look to be the 3 main contenders to replace Miracle’s throne in the meta.
Will Stoneblade be able to continue Miracle’s glory? Only time will tell.
Ending it off...
It has been a hard week for Legacy, the passing of a great deck goes away once in awhile. It’s pretty hard to predict the meta at the current point of time now, but Legacy is definitely meant to shift constantly with new decks popping up every once in awhile. Though Miracles is gone, it definitely had to go at some point of time.
