Legacy Weapon - 3 - Getting Wild with Wildfire

Let's start this off with a quick primer:

I was wrong.  I originally said that Inferno Titan wasn't good enough in Legacy, in the sense that if you were going to cheat him into play - he "Doesn't do enough.  Period." as I was talking about in my set review.  However, I didn't realize that if there were a shell to actually cast this guy (and protect him from the standard 1cc white removal of the format) this guy crushes creatures and people incredibly quickly.  Here's where he's castable on turn three:

Wild-four/five | The Rusty Machete

6 Creatures:  
3 Inferno Titan
2 Sundering Titan
1 Terastodon

34 Spells:  
4 Grim Monolith
4 Gruul Signet
4 Coalition Relic
4 Gilded Lotus
4 Burning Wish
3 Wildfire
3 Destructive Force
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Trinisphere

20 Lands:  
4 Sandstone Needle
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
8 Mountain

15 Sideboard:  
1 Devastation
1 All is Dust
1 Shattering Spree
1 Life from the Loam
1 Firespout
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Primal Command
1 Crater Hellion
3 Decree of Annihilation
4 Aether Flash

Look familiar?  It should - this is the Wildfire list that I posted when M11 came out, updated (for better or for worse).   There's a couple big changes:
Mana:
-4 Thran Dynamo
-4 Worn Powerstone
+4 Grim Monolith
+4 Coalition Relic

Creatures:
-1 Sundering Titan
-3 Crater Hellion
+3 Inferno Titan
+1 Terastodon

The mana worked for the previous creature base, but I really wanted to play Inferno Titan - I needed much more red mana, and I wanted more access to green mana.  Also something to note: I don't need to pay echo in the maindeck.  So this mana is a little more fragile and one-shot, but in testing, 8 or 9 out of 10 times it's fine to work on rebuilding itself.

The creature changes shouldn't be a huge surprise - creatures have gotten leaps and bounds better in the last 2 years.  People are playing a few more nonbasics that don't have land types (Karakas, Academy Ruins, Tolaria West, Seat of the Synod as an Enlightened Tutor target), or there have been a few more mono-colored decks that have been doing well (Merfolk, Goblins), so Sundering Titan doesn't always get the job done, and Terastodon is the new biggest and baddest elephant out there.  When you pay 8 mana and can threaten lethal damage from one attack - people take notice.  When you can pay 8 mana and blow up problem (non-creature)permanents, and still threaten lethal damage across two turns - I listen.

Destructive Force versus Devastation - this is kind of an availability thing, and a little because I'm trying to end the game much quicker.  All of my creatures survive Destructive Force, but it takes an especially big Tarmogoyf to make it through Destructive Force.  The previous problem was that Tarmogoyf would get to Instant, Sorcery, Creature, Land versus Wildfire, and that Wildfire would fall just one short - now we only have to worry if they have a chance to sacrifice a Qasali Pridemage prior to the Destructive Force.

An update to the Burning Wish package - if you've ever heard me talk about the Burning Wishboard in Aggro Loam, you'll find that I am very specific about what cards I'm putting there - the answers that you put there must solve the problems that your opponent or you will put yourself through.  Additionally, you want to make the package as concise as possible.  This methodology is usually specific to my personal decks, because I've found that I like having a real sideboard as well.  Don't get me wrong, there are decks where I can respect the wide (10+) wish-board (Burning Wish: TES, Cunning Wish: UWx Landstill, Living Wish: Salvagers), but it's not for me.

• Devastation - Wildfire and Wrath of God.  If you have to spend a Wish on it, you probably want this effect.

• All is Dust - Catch-all to beat creatures (and keep your Sundering Titan around), Planeswalkers, Enchantments.

• Shattering Spree - Beats artifact mana, but the biggest problem as well: Aether Vial.

• Life from the Loam - Sometimes you need help to recover.

• Firespout - Versus the faster aggro decks, need a 5 mana (Wish and cast) Wrath of God.  Especially helpful through mana denial.

• Tooth and Nail - This is wished for a lot more than people will realize.  Because there are 6 Wildfire effects in the main, there's actually a lot of times where you just need a threat after stabilizing against your opponent.  However, sometimes if you can muster 11 mana (not a huge stretch of the imagination with this one), it's almost impossible to lose the game after casting Tooth and Nail, unless there's a Humility on the table.  If there is... why are you wishing for Tooth and Nail?

• Decree of Annihilation - There are 3 Decrees, so this is kind of splash-hate for control decks in game 1, since the intention is to board them in.  Here's the big deal about it though - unless there's a Counterbalance out, they'll generally go for countering the spell you get off of Burning Wish.  This is the perfect opening to ambush them with an uncounterable Armageddon.  By putting this into your hand early, you make your artifact mana a threat to them - if you're unaffected by Armageddon, and they're crippled - this would be an issue.

• Primal Command - The most popular modes for this deck: Gain 7, shuffle your graveyard in.  

It's storytime already:  I'm playing in round 2 of a win-a-box tournament at Grand Prix: Columbus against a GWB Rock player and the board position is:
Me: Inferno Titan, 8 mana (RRR and 2 relics available), 3 lands in graveyard, at 10 life from my Ancient Tombs
Him: 7/7 Terravore, 3 lands (tapped), 4 lands in graveyard, he's at 6 from a previous swing from my Titan.

I draw a Burning Wish for my turn.  So what do you do?

.
.
.

The answer is a little more clear cut on paper, but it seemed like a pretty good one when I was there.  Wish for Primal Command, shuffle his graveyard in, Inferno Titan his Terravore, and swing in for lethal.

How does the actual deck play out?

I tell people that there is the answer to the problem and an answer to the source of the problem.  The problem sometimes is Wild Nacatl.  The source of the problem is the lands, get rid of them, and you're golden.  Let's take an opening hand:

Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, Mountain, Grim Monolith, Gilded Lotus, Trinisphere, Wildfire

There's two very divergent paths you can take with Grim Monolith with this hand:

A.  Turn 1:  Ancient Tomb, Monolith, Trinisphere
B.  Turn 1:  Ancient Tomb, Monolith, pass.

On the play, since the hand is supporting a lot of mana, I would go with A.  On the draw, definitely go with B, since it sets you up better for later.

A.  Turn 2:  City of Traitors, untap Monolith.
B.  Turn 2:  City of Traitors, tap Monolith and City for Gilded Lotus, Tap Lotus for Trinisphere.

Path B will get you your Trinisphere anyway, because of the power of Gilded Lotus, but Path A on the play will lock your opponent out of playing spells for at least 3 turns.

Storytime, again:  Some people know that my brother played this deck for Grand Prix: Columbus, and that he didn't do so hot.  He was playing against Belcher, and the board state (turn 7-8 or so):  Inferno Titan that is ready to swing for lethal, Trinisphere and Chalice of the Void at 2 in play, and Belcher player has had both his lands and goblins destroyed by a previous Wildfire.

Belcher player draws for turn, apologizes, then removes 7 spirit guides (of Elvish and Simian variety), to cast Goblin Charbelcher and activate it, with 0 lands in his deck.  Sad Trombone.

So I interrupted myself for no good reason, here's the theory behind playing the deck.

Build your artifact mana to the point where you can operate off of it (and land drops that you hold in your hand) and then cast Wildfire to solidify your mana advantage.  When your opponent is reeling from being unable to cast powerful spells, you can drop one of your threats (Inferno Titan is exceptional at cleaning up after a Wildfire, Sundering Titan continues to manascrew them, and Terastodon blows up pretty much everything).  This is the best case scenario, and sometimes you have to go with less good cases (like just casting a Sundering Titan) but that is good enough a lot of times.

If you're looking for a rogue option at your next Legacy tournament, give this one a whirl!  I've been looking for various ways to make a Grim Monolith deck, and I think this is a step in the right direction.