Legacy deck names sure are weird, but Legacy deck lists sure are sweet. This one combines a couple of Legacy’s best combos for a deck that can do crazy things and threaten plenty of turn-2 kills.
Plan A is to get a quick Griselbrand into play. Griselbrand is one of the premier threats in Legacy, as it’s not only massive and has lifelink, but it just so happens to draw a ton of cards. Attacking into a Griselbrand is a losing proposition, and a single hit typically ends the game in a flurry of card advantage.
Getting Griselbrand onto the battlefield is the name of the game, and the best way to do so is by cheating out the 8-drop. Getting him into the graveyard via Entomb allows you to use a reanimation spell to bring him back.
Exhume is a nice and pain-free way to immediately return Griselbrand to the battlefield and start drawing cards, but it’s not your first option in this deck. Instead, you turn to Shallow Grave to get Griselbrand out and swinging immediately. This lets you draw tons of cards and set up for phase 2 of your plan.
Children of Korlis combos extremely well with Griselbrand’s activated ability. Paying 14-21 life to draw 14-21 cards is awesome, but it’s even more awesome to spend a single mana to gain all of that life back and draw some more!
Going the reanimation route isn’t the only way that this deck can win a quick game. Dark Depths and Thespian’s Stage are both here to put out a quick 20/20 Marit Lage token and end the game that way. You also have three copies of Vampire Hexmage to combo with your Dark Depths and remove all the counters for an instant-speed 20/20.
So why do you only have three copies of Griselbrand, Vampire Hexmage, Dark Depths, and Thespian’s Stage? You’re playing a combo deck, so doesn’t maxing out on your combo cards make you more consistent? The answer is a resounding “yes.” With each of the aforementioned cards in your sideboard to go fetch with Living Wish, you have even more access to your combo pieces! You can also go get a Children of Korlis to go off by gaining more life or a Laboratory Maniac to win the game immediately if Griselbrand is going to draw your entire deck.
The Dark Depths combo requires a fair bit of mana to either cast Hexmage or activate Stage. Griselbrand can get Entombed for cheap, but your reanimation spells both cost 2 mana. You need a way to accelerate, and you have a ton of them in this deck. The full playset of Lotus Petals give you a nice early burst of mana, and you can use that on your playset of Dark Rituals to set up to Entomb and Shallow Grave or Exhume on turn 1. Ritualing out a Hexmage off a Petal with a turn-1 Dark Depths also threatens to make a Marit Lage during your opponent’s end step and win the game.
Lion’s Eye Diamond gives you some turbo fast mana, but it does even more than that in a deck looking to utilize its graveyard like this one. You can cast a reanimation spell, and respond by discarding your hand with Lion’s Eye Diamond to put Griselbrand into the graveyard since neither spell targets. You can also use the Diamond’s mana to activate an early Stage on Depths since you don’t need a hand for that combo. You even have a copy of Unburial Rites to give you the option of playing turn-1 land, LED, sacrifice LED for white, discard Griselbrand, then flash back Unburial Rites!
You’re playing a black deck without access to countermagic, but you have some nice discard spells to make sure the coast is clear. Thoughtseize, Cabal Therapy, and Unmask can all make sure the opponent doesn’t have a key Force of Will or Surgical Extraction to ruin your day. In a pinch, these discard spells can even target yourself, let you discard Griselbrand, and go off that way!
Tin Fins is a pretty sweet combo deck that can go off on turn 1. Even if you aren’t dealing lethal, drawing a million cards and making your opponent discard their entire hand is a nice place to be!
Tin Fins Depths
CLONE103, 5-0 in an MTGO Legacy League
