Howdy folks! We’re here yet again for another edition of Finding Happiness the Nicol Bolas Way, or rather some spicy Legacy tidbits!
This week we’re looking at a stupendously spicy list based around As Foretold and Stasis locking your opponent out of the game! I took this list for a whirl on XMage and had a fantastic time with it!
Let’s take a look at the list!
| Planeswalkers (8)
Instants/Sorceries (15) Artifacts (8) |
Enchantments (8)
4 Stasis Lands (21) 5 Island 1 Mountain |
Sideboard (15) |
At first glance, this deck is truly a pile of cards that are both good and bad. The primary gameplan of the deck is relatively simple however: get an As Foretold on the table and eventually lock your opponent out with Stasis, while still being able to cast spells for free with the As Foretold. Eventually you’ll find a Jace, the Mind Sculptor and close the game out through the lock.
There are loads of ways to survive through the lock without having to sacrifice Stasis. Primarily, Ral Zarek can keep the lock up forever as well as keeping your opponent’s permanents in the lock. Crucible of Worlds can help by allowing you to replay fetches. Tezzeret the Seeker can untap Mox Diamonds and Seat of the Synod, and in the event that you may be in a position where you’d have to sacrifice Stasis soon, Chain of Vapor can bounce the card on your opponent’s end step to let you untap and recast it.
It’s worth noting that As Foretold lets you cast spells on both your turn and your opponent’s turn. Once it’s ratcheted up to 5 counters, hardcasting Force of Will with an As Foretold is pretty solid. The deck also includes a ton of global creature damage in the form of Pyroclasm and Kozilek’s Return to keep things swept up, and Ensnaring Bridge to handle decks like Marit Lage, Reanimator, etc.
One of the things I noticed about playing the deck however is that if your opponent has an out to the lock somehow, or if they get rid of a piece early (like Abrupt Decay on an As Foretold) then things get out of hand and you lose pretty quickly. The sideboard does include a fair number of hate cards to deal with certain matchups. In fact, one of the games I played was against 4C Loam, in which I established a Blood Moon on game 3 to wrap up the game.
Suffice to say however, the deck is a sheer pile of spice. I almost nearly want to put another planeswalker into the mixture, maybe in the sideboard and go big on maybe a Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh (for flavor reasons ofc) or a Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker (again for flavor reasons), just because it’s definitely possible to cast one through the lock with As Foretold.
The various decks I played against were decks like UR Delver, 4C Loam, various random Czech pile decks, and Lands among other things. Czech Pile certainly felt the most difficult of the matchups. Lands felt either 1-sided on their end, or I established the lock and made them unable to actually play Magic.
Regardless, I’m going to be printing and sleeving this up for my next proxy Legacy event locally, because this kind of spice is just too fun.
Wrapping Up
That’s all the time we have this week folks! Next week, I’m going off on a rant again! That’s right, I’m gonna rant about people who can’t play Surgical Extraction properly! It oughta be a fun time.
Join us next time on Cooking with Nicky B: Fried Jace Edition!
– Joseph Dyer
Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy. As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events. To follow more from Joe, check out his Twitter!