Hello Pojo fans!

I am mostly a casual Magic: the Gathering player (so I still have a lot to learn) and I would like to tell you a little about my personal development of the blockbuster blue-green madness deck now that Legions has been released.

First, I would like to point out all of the cool cards from Legions that really help make this deck more powerful, efficient or reliable – oh yeah, there aren’t any.

However, as Legions is being released, there are many new decks coming out, as well as some old ones still hanging around. I would like to show you the way my deck deals with all these decks.

My Current Blue-Green Madness Build:

3 Grand Coliseum

1 Plains

7 Forest

7 Island

1 Flooded Strand

2 Windswept Heath

1 Centaur Garden

4 Circular Logic

3 Wonder

2 Merfolk Looter

4 AEther Burst

2 Quiet Speculation

3 Careful Study

3 Aquamoeba

2 Deep Analysis

4 Arrogant Wurm

4 Basking Rootwalla

4 Wild Mongrel

3 Roar of the Wurm

SB:

3 Ray of Revelation

3 Phantom Centaur

2 Krosan Reclamation

3 Moment’s Peace

3 Compost

1 Wonder

There you have it. Here are some specific things I would like to point out:

#1- The mana base- it looks somewhat different. First of all, I do the whole fetch a plains deal for 2 reasons. First, it lets me sideboard Ray of Revelation and use it twice. Second, it thins out the deck. In this kind of deck, I feel that you want to keep producing threats in the mid-game. And the life loss isn’t so bad. There aren’t many double-color costs in the deck, so the single Plains doesn’t really cause significant problems. You may also notice that I run Grand Coliseum over City of Brass. I do this mainly because I don’t want to be taking too much damage, especially in a deck where I don’t block too often. Also, first-turn plays are not as crucial as second-turn plays, so a first turn Coliseum is actually a decent play. This deck seems to have fewer mana problems than many other builds.

#2- I choose to run 2 copies of Quiet Speculation. In this deck, it’s a really good tutor / card drawing trick. It allows easy access to Roars by turn 4, as well as the occasional Deep Analysis. Plays involving this card have a huge impact on the game. The usual play is a Spec for 2 Roars and a single Deep Analysis on turn 2 or 3, which really helps, especially when you hand is sub-optimal.

#3- I run 4 Arrogant Wurms, but only 3 Roars. Personally, I find that a 4/4 trampler out on turn 3 is quite often more beneficial than a 6/6 without trample on turn 4. Drawing land #4 can sometimes take a while, while you should rarely miss your third land drop. Also, you can just fetch Roars with Spec. Lastly, 5 mana is a LOT less that 7 mana. You will hardly ever get to hard-cast Roars, but hard-casting Arrogant Wurms isn’t totally out of the question if you are struggling with the madness outlets, especially vs. black removal. Smother is really potent against Mongrel, Moeba and Looter. Also, you can’t smother Arrogant Wurms, but it still works on Roar tokens.

Now, here is how the deck deals with the other decks currently being played:

Ray of Revelation- This card is soooo good against anything with enchantments. It can be searched for with Quiet Speculation, discarded then flashed back, or hard-casted with the Coliseums / fetching of the single Plains for 2-for-1 card advantage, which is great vs. slide (take out a Slide and a Rift). This works mostly against slide, opposition, and basically anything else with enchantments.

Phantom Centaur- A lot of people are playing black. I like 4-turn clocks. Only Edict stops it most of the time, but you’ll usually have other stuff to sac instead.

Krosan Reclamation- It’s great against reanimator, anything with incarnations (mostly mirror-match and green/white beats), or some flashback cards. It can really change you chance of winning drastically in the right situation. Plus, it has flashback, so it likes Spec, and can cause 2-for-1 card advantage scenarios.

Moment’s Peace- I would not play Fog. However, since this has flashback, you can buy yourself 3 turns with one Spec, or 2 turns for 1 card, which is amazing card advantage. It really works against other aggressive decks. For example, you can Spec for 2 Roars and one of these to get ahead in a damage race.

Compost- Black kills your madness outlets and big threats really efficiently, so why not just draw more of them?

Wonder- This card works well against weenie decks, which seem to stall you with creature with protection, and similar things. Just fly over them! Also, it’s good in the mirror match, where Wonder can win games for you.

So, that’s how I prepare to deal with the other decks people are playing these days. However, I still have a lot to learn about this deck, and the game in general. So if you have any questions or tips, just write me an e-mail.

By Brendan Rollinson-Lorimer

gamechampionx@hotmail.com