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legacy
Miracles
Jasper Grimmer
About Jasper Grimmer
Jasper is a player from Germany who can be found at almost every European Grand Prix and prepares a lot for them. Being on the GP circuit since 2011, he has had a number of good finishes:
Top 8 GP Malmö 2012
Top 8 GP Paris 2015
Top 4 Team GP Florence 2015 (with Amit Cohen & Robin Steinborn)
How to Beat Miracles
Aloha!
So for today we got ourselves a Legacy edition of 2 Steps Ahead, since Grand Prix Prague and Grand Prix Columbus take place in a few days. I feel like, although Legacy is as wide open as it has ever been, one deck really stands out from the crowd for being the number one deck-to-beat. I am speaking of Miracles of course, so while I will be running it myself, today I will discuss how to best prepare for that matchup.
When you go on a trip and plan to play in a Grand Prix, deck construction is one of the most important things to think about. A lot of the time, the main deck configuration is set in stone, but what is up in the air are the last sideboard slots. While awaiting the next weekend, and with it the next Grand Prix, I am jamming league after league to give myself the best shot at getting there in Prague. In most matches the opponents play some cards, I play some Counterbalances, and they will lose the game in frustrating fashion, with me being on close to one minute on the clock. But every other match, there is one card that really bothers the hell out of the Miracles player. I came to the conclusion that Miracles is a very strict prison deck that locks people completely out of the game, but as a result can get locked out of it just as well - you just need the right card for this job. All of these cards are going to be permanents. You see, you won't defeat Miracles with a spell of some sort. Sure, Abrupt Decay is nice and all, but if you want to put them in a position where they feel just as miserable as the one in front of a Counterbalance, then watch closely, and maybe you will get some inspiration for your last sideboard slots.
Winter Orb
Coming fresh from one of my matches today is Winter Orb. This is a hot contender for the best card a tempo deck can have against Miracles. In a matchup where the Miracles player does not want to have Force of Will, and likely will board it out, Winter Orb is bound to stick when being cast. There are not a lot of spells that counter this artifact, as Red Elemental Blast is not going to cut it, and Counterbalance is hardly online in these first couple of turns. Counterspell maybe gets it, but is so clunky and ineffective against Flusterstorm, your own Pyroblasts, or just any Daze effect.
What Winter Orb does is just making Sensei's Divining Top completely worthless (and as a side effect, Counterbalance as well) and favor the player who has just 1-mana spells in the deck and not the one with 3- or 4-drops. You don't even need that much pressure, because the Miracles deck just can't progress its game plan without tapping a lot of mana every turn. Again, Top is doing nothing without eating a land every turn, and Monastery Mentor will not trigger a lot under these circumstances. Now that Miracles is so tight on mana, all the soft counters like Daze or Spell Pierce go live again and can counter all the things that will bother the tempo player.
Versions:
Coldsnap (Foil)
Choke
If you somehow are mad enough to stray away from the blue spells (in Legacy nonetheless, what are you doing!), then Choke is your way to victory. I already told you how Winter Orb strangles a Miracles player. Choke does everything Winter Orb does, but better and also one-sided.
It still is not as good as Winter Orb in their respective decks, because you will put Choke in your sideboard when you are a running a deck against which Miracles will bring in as many counterspells as they can. So if you start your game and have this powerful enchantment in your hand, try to force their counterspells early and then land this monster. Also, if you happen to pilot a list where they don't want to have Force of Will after boarding - like for instance Maverick - then Choke becomes substantially better.
Sylvan Library
Sylvan Library is not as backbreaking as the other cards on this list, but it does one job really well - it finds all the other cards on this list. This is a permanent, just like the previous entries, and as such, it does not get touched by many of the things Miracles could muster. There is one copy of Council's Judgment most of the time, and then that's it. So while the Miracles player digs with Sensei's Divining Top, Ponder, Brainstorm and fetchland shuffle action to try and find said one copy, your Library sits in play, generating card advantage.
Even if you don't have one of the other hosers to dig for - and I would strongly recommend playing at least some number of the cards on this list - sometimes you can just bury them in card advantage. Miracles as a deck does not play any card advantage spell itself, besides Jace, the Mind Sculptor (with some lists playing a small number of Predict). So if you can trade with their cards one-for-one while Sylvan Library is active, you will overcome them eventually.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Basically the same goes for Jace. There are two major differences between the man in the blue cape and your favorite book store.
First, Jace can act as a win condition as well as lock down the Miracles player if they do not happen to have a Top in play. There are not a lot of things that can handle a planeswalker, especially not in the Miracles deck, so if you can fateseal them a couple of times, it will be over quite soon. Second though, is that Jace is much weaker to interaction than Sylvan Library is. He costs four instead of two, so the chance that Counter-Top is established is much greater. Also, the Miracles player has it much easier to leave up mana for Counterspell or, out of the sideboard, Red Elemental Blast. This one even deals with the problem they have when Jace has already resolved and you have to watch out for not getting enough value off your Jace. Sometimes you have to take a risk if there is a good chance you won't win without the planeswalker. In this case, you could start the +2 action right away and try to prevent the opponent from ever finding a Red Elemental Blast or the Council's Judgment.
Versions:
Innistrad (Foil)
Liliana of the Veil
The other playable planeswalker in Legacy is equally annoying but more manageable than Jace. Liliana puts the Miracles player practically Hellbent very quickly, but with Counter-Top out, this does not bother them too much. What does bother them is the Ultimate, which will snap the combination in half, as well as bin some of their lands, and that is what makes her so good. She is kind of a stinker against a Monastery Mentor, so that is one of the ways Miracles has to combat her.
Sulfuric Vortex
If you happen to play red in your Delver deck, or just anywhere practically, play this card. Besides countering it or having the aforementioned singleton Council's Judgment, there is nothing Miracles can do to fight this. They will never race it and even Swords on their own guys is not going to cut it.
This forces them sometimes to bring in something like Wear / Tear against lists that do not have any other targets, and while Miracles can handle some situational cards, it will still annoy them, as you are probably a faster deck if you are playing Sulfuric Vortex and any stumble on their side whatsoever is a great deal for you.
Chalice of the Void
Last, but certainly not least, comes one of the most powerful cards in the whole format. When there is a deck that can support this prison card, then it is one of the top contenders, but for a long time now, there was just Aggro Loam and MUD, and both these decks have their respective weaknesses. Now there seems to be the perfect shell for it in the Eldrazi list.
Chalice of the Void does not only stop Brainstorm and Swords to Plowshares, but it also forbids any Sensei's Divining Top action, which is the most important card in Miracles by a lot. When Chalice hits play, Miracles is forced into some very awkward plays. This is also a card which forces the Miracles player to board in artifact hate, even in matchups where this kind of effect is completely dead otherwise, so you can think about putting this into your deck even if you are not a dedicated Ancient Tomb deck. This is a colorless artifact, remember. I have seen Merfolk lists with Chalice of the Void in the main deck, where it actually fits perfectly. Force of Will is horrendous against Merfolk, but Miracles has to keep it in just to be able to prevent the Chalice from hitting the table.
Well, that's it for today.
I will be playing Miracles myself, so hopefully I will face as few copies of these cards as possible.
Until then,
Jasper
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