Spearmint & Taxes (Legacy MTG Deck)

Spearmint & Taxes

Legacy Competitive Control Death and Taxes GW (Selesnya) Hatebears Stoneblade

ManWearingHat

Creature (25)

Land (23)

Enchantment (1)

1x Sylvan Library

Artifact (7)

Instant (4)

4x Swords to Plowshares

Sideboard

Creature (6)

Enchantment (5)

Artifact (2)

Sorcery (2)

2x Council's Judgment

"... but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

So here is my Legacy deck that's a long time in the making and soon to be sleeved up, completed, and ready to start pimping out! It's my green-splash take on Legacy Death & Taxes, which I am assuredly not the first person to build, but this is the variation I've arrived at and am looking to try out. Particular credits to Medea, AntiquatedNotion, and Frenadol over on MTGSalvation for educating me on the archetype and inspiring my brewing!

If you want more in-depth details than I can provide about the history and playstyle of the deck, definitely go check out its long-running thread on MTGS. Given that, I'll go over all the card choices and try to section them out for people unfamiliar with the deck archetype.

Death & Taxes at a Glance:

At a glance, D&T looks sort of like a white weenie deck with some hatebears in it. However, intended playstyle and proper execution are something more akin to a midrange-y control deck. At it's heart, the D&T modus operandi is to disrupt your opponent's mana with Wasteland and Rishadan Port , make it difficult for them to use their tools with things like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Phyrexian Revoker, and then close the game out with a piece of equipment tutored by a Stoneforge Mystic and carried by a flying or evasive creature.

Your goal is to make it so the other deck can't play the game they built their deck to play; make them play your game. And your game is one of slow, gradual beats and the gradual advantage grind. Usually you'll only have one or two creatures on the board, but in certain matchups you go wide and aggressive. Cautious play, staying in control, and knowing your enemy are all key to playing D&T well.

Core Cards:

This is the "see it in every other D&T list" core of my build, very standard with a couple exceptions. Four vials and four StP maindeck are mandatory, but do get sideboarded out sometimes. There are the core creatures of Mom, Thalia, Flickerwisp (which can do so many shenanigans with Vial), Serra Avenger, and SFM. SFM's got the classic equipment suite to draw from depending on what the matchup needs. The land denial suite of Wastes and Ports are there, and lastly three Karakas top it off for combat tricks and rescues for Thalia, and to hose Griselbrand and spaghetti monsters.

Supplementary Slots:

Mirran Crusaders can be run as anywhere from 0-3 copies, and it serves as a finisher and equipment-carrier in a lot of matchups. I love the creature, so I've got one in case of Elves, Maverick, BUG, etc. The big difference here is the Revokers. Usually this is a 3 or 4-of in D&T, but I'm actually cutting down all the way to 2 right now, to make room for other cards described below. I might consider bumping it to more after playtesting, but with Needle and other hate in the side, I think I can get by without it. It can cause a hard lock for Sneak n' Show and other combo decks though, so if the meta calls for it, going all the way to 4 maindeck and shifting to a meta-tailored mono-white version of D&T is certainly worthwhile.

Maindeck Splash:

Here's the Spearmint portion of the title. I cannot in words express my love for QPM, and while I'd love to run four in the maindeck, I'm splitting 2 for 2 with Revokers for now. Pridemage is so versatile, shores up so many of the weaknesses inherent to D&T (MD enchantment and artifact hate), has 2 toughness, and beefs up attackers. On top of that, the green splash lets me run Sylvan Library, which only gets more value out of the fetches in the list. The manabase handles the green splash well, and the fetches are split so that the opponent can't just needle Windswept Heath in g2.

In addition to the long-game grind added from Sylvan library, there's the extremely spicy Yisan, which lets you perform uncounterable instant-speed tutor chains that, if they let you get started, can be tough to stop. First tutor can get Mom, which then protects for the second tutor which can get Thalia, Pridemage, SFM, or Revoker, and then third you can get a Flickerwisp or the Crusader, and fourth can be a Resto to save a target or reset Yisan for chain #2.

Super Secret Sideboard Tech:

D&T is a deck that thrives on meta adaptation and its sideboard, so here's where any splashes or tweaking can really shine. The green splash lets me run Choke and Teeg to hose blue control, and Carpet of Flowers, which was suggested by MTGSalvation user Frenadol and which I am very excited to try out as a side-in alternative to Vial to dodge needles. The rest of the SB is pretty standard fare to hose out anything troublesome, packing a little extra heavy duty removal with Council's Judgment, some beefy Wilt-Leaf Lieges for Eldrazi matchups, RIPs, Canonists, and an extra sword are fairly standard.

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Date added	8 years
Last updated	8 years
Legality	This deck is Legacy legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 1 Mythic Rares 31 - 11 Rares 22 - 3 Uncommons 2 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.00
Tokens	Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B
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Based on	Death & Taxes ManWearingHat LEG
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