Once players have some time to adjust to bans, they can really revolutionize an MTG format. Before Grief left Legacy, the card ruled an entire format with an iron fist. While Eldrazi Stompy began to rise as a competitor to the dreaded Rescaminator menace, it remained the best deck in the format for far too long.
Now that Grief is gone, the Legacy format has adjusted significantly. Reanimator and Eldrazi are still top competitors, but the lack of Grief has allowed for a larger variety of deck choices to be playable.
Want proof? A deck that was considered dead for months has reappeared out of the blue, taking down the Legacy Showcase Challenge, one of the biggest events on Magic Online. For Aether Vial fans, this is a massive opportunity.
Jeskai Yorion Vial
Death and Taxes are back (sort of), but this time, we have a Jeskai variant of the deck making waves. This allows for a bunch of one-off answers to various situations that players can use Recruiter of the Guard to tutor for.
Adding red is particularly deadly in this strategy. Granting access to cards like Magus of the Moon and Broadside Bombadiers can put opponents in very difficult situations. Magus of the Moon can shut down manabases if players aren’t careful, and Broadside Bombadiers can create a gigantic swing in damage.
While Red grants some strong options, the blue inclusion in this deck is a much bigger deal. Interestingly, this deck plays four Gilded Drake, a great tool for beating up on Reanimator strategies. Not only can this creature deal with even the largest reanimated lads, but you get to control them! Charming Prince can also Flicker Gildred Drake on your opponent’s board, allowing you to continue stealing your opponent’s creatures.
As big of an inclusion as Gilded Drake is, the obvious reason to go into blue is the Legacy format staple Force of Will. As long as you can consistently cast this card for its free cost, there is little reason not to play it. I do wonder, however, if this deck needs more blue cards to pitch to the card. There are only 18 blue cards in the deck, including the Force of Wills themselves. Considering that this is an 80-card deck, this might be a bit less than expected. That said, you can add Yorion, Sky Nomad to your hand for three mana, which can pitch to Force of Will.
Considerations
While this deck is structured like a Death and Taxes deck, there are surprisingly few Flicker effects to take advantage of ETB abilities. Besides Charming Prince and Yorion, Sky Nomad, nothing can reset your ETB effects. We’re tempted to try Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, but we’re far from Legacy experts.
Otherwise, the sideboard comes equipped with pieces to deal with the most common decks in the format. Faerie Macabre can deal with Reanimation decks and is tutorable via Recruiter of the Guard.
Four Consign to Memory articulates how problematic the Eldrazi Stompy matchup can be. While you have the tools to keep up with the deck, Eldrazi Stompy can have blistering fast starts. Thanks to Sowing Mycospawn finding Wastelands, once they have a mana advantage, they can keep it. Four Consign to Memory almost seems mandatory as a result.
Despite having two Deafening Silence and a playset of Force of Will, the Storm matchup seems bleak for this deck. There isn’t a ton of interaction in the 80-card deck to deal with blistering fast combo decks. The good news is that these sorts of decks do not seem too popular at the moment, at least judging from the results of the Legacy Showcase Challenge. Painter and Doomsday can pull off quick wins, but they rarely win on turn one.
Thanks to seeing tons of play historically, Aether Vial has some nostalgic vibes attached to it. Sadly, as the pace of Modern and Legacy accelerates, the card is becoming less and less viable. So, if you want to play a creature-centric deck to give your Aether Vials another spin, consider trying this ingenious list that took down one of Magic Online’s biggest Legacy events.
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