Eternal Weekend: Is GWx Depths viable?

Eternal Weekend North America finished up this past weekend. As much as I would have liked to have got this article live before the event, sometimes things just don’t line up.

First off a few big congratulations to:

– Tom Basketball for taking it down with Forge
– Johan Larsson with the best finish with a Green Sun’s Zenith deck (Nadu)
– Jacob Murray on my player of the tournament with a Top 4 finish on GB Pox
– Duke Vitro giving me Fabiano flashbacks with their sweet BUG list that finished in 10th
– Tony Morris in 28th place (11-0-4) with GB Cradle (Sylvan Syndicate represent!)
– Jacob Woods with a 99th finish (9-1-5) on GW Depths
– Ethan McGillis with 135th (9-0-6) with GW Maverick
– Lorkac in 358th (4-4-1) with Abzan Maverick

Outside of Nadu, it’s a challenging time for Savannah aficianados. Maverick is in a bit of an identity crisis and Marit Lage isn’t the legendary flyer players are flocking to.

When you see Connery Knox (aka. Achillies27) playing Grixis Reanimator, Harry Hackett (aka Harry1232) playing Cephalid Nadu and Michael Mapson playing BANT Nadu – who can blame them?

So it wasn’t too suprising to see a lack of representation for Maverick and GWx Depths at Eternal Weekend, but there was still some surprise on my end.

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Discord user Woods who piloted Green-White Depths to a top 100 finish shared their thoughts in the GreenSunsZenith Discord.

Here’s their list from the tournament:

First up I want to shout out their attitude towards the weekend.

Here’s how their tournament went:

Day 1 I went 6-2-1 losing to Nadu Cradle Combo, Breakfast, and drawing against Esper Midrange. The Nadu Cradle deck feels like a 10% chance to win. Breakfast feels pretty bad, as they can just win out of no where. I had Flutes for them and Force of Vigors that won me game 2 but it wasn’t enough. I’m also a huge fan of Get Lost and board it in there, but it’s very awkward giving map tokens to a deck with Nadu.

Day 2 I went 3-3 taking all 3 losses to UB Reanimator. Which sounds dumb I know because it’s the most popular deck, but I found success against it with Depths in the past. I think I simply didn’t respect it enough when building the board. Only had 1 Faerie Macabre and 1 Endurance out of board, and that number should have been 2 or 3 Faeries. If you have a Faerie in hand it’s such good insurance that you’re safe you can get the ball rolling with Reclaimer.

The GSZ Discord had some questions around card choices and matchups (shout out to Vincent for starting the conversation).

Is the Ramunap Excavator still interesting in the main deck? I’m not currently playing it, and I’m not a fan of Icetill Explorer.

Woods: I came to the same conclusion on Icetill. I tested it and the games I did get it in play it was nuts however, 4 mana is a lot. As for Ramunap, I GSZ’ed for it once time all weekend. I could see it being cut but I’ve always kept it for Post matchups or decks that I need to recur Wasteland (such as Lands).

How was Maze of Ith in the main deck?

Maze actually won me 2 really close games. I could see an argument against it in the main but I didn’t want to eat up board slots with a card that is perfectly fine in the main too.

Why the third Prismatic Ending?

I added Pristmatic Endings out of respect for a flipped Tamiyo. This is also why I added a Blast Zone. The deck feels pretty good when just ignoring creature Tamiyo and developing your own plan because you have answers to it later.

I also feel great when people are going out of there way to Brainstorm flip it and they are losing value on their Brainstorm (playing it without a land drop to make and fetch or casting it on my turn). But P. Ending was great the whole event.

These were the key targets for me all weekend.

1. Dorks out of the nadu decks
2. Nomads
3. Shuko
4. Tamiyo
5. Nethergoyf
6. Pithing Needle
7. Random creature threats

This may be straight forward but I embrace the philosophy when playing the deck of just playing very slow and have answers to threats. Eventually I’ll get a Reclaimer or Knight active and can take over the game from there.

How do you play against Bant Nadu?

Bant Nadu is interesting because you can either attack their mana, and use Swords on dorks and Wasteland them a lot. Or you can ignore their mana and save swords for Nomads or Nadu only.

I did both over the weekend and it felt like when I attacked their mana, I would have them almost dead and then they eventually hit 3 mana, put a Nadu in play and the game is just about lost. After that I decided to save removal for their few payoffs and go with a game plan of landing Flute on Nomad. That worked out for me.

Post-event changes

My takeaways would likely be, turning the Deafening Silence into more Faeries out of board, and I’d like to push one more green producing land into the main. Whether it’s a 2nd Forest or just a Wooded Foothills, I’m unsure but I had many hands without a green source I had to pitch back.

A huge thank you to Woods for taking the time to share their thoughts.

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I also reached out to Michael Mapson aka. ExpeditionMap for his thoughts on Eternal Weekend (before North America weekend). He passed on a fantastic breakdown of why he piloted Nadu over Depths.

Hello you awesome Green Sun’s Zenith enjoyers. Apparently some of you are asking yourself, “why should I play Depths over Nadu?” Douges reached out to me as a long time Depths player and now a long time Nadu player to get me to share my thoughts.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t played Depths seriously in a while unfortunately and am of the opinion, given the choice you should play the bird, but I do still think Depths is a strong choice.

Reasons to play GW Depths over Nadu include the following:

– I think the games are more rewarding than Nadu ones. There’s a lot of very intricate lines. Planning something out turns in advance and getting it to work out just right is so satisfying.

– Archetype comfort and familiarity. This may sound like a copout answer, but it’s just being real. This is a long event and you will be tired by the end of it. Being able to rely on some amount of heuristics and autopiloting goes a long way towards keeping you still functioning and playing well in those later rounds.

I think GW Depths is actually pretty well positioned vs the top of the metagame right now and because the deck is not very common anymore, you will likely have more experience in your matchups than your opponents.

– The ability to reliably tutor Bojuka Bog at instant speed and play multiple Endurances gives you a strong matchup against the tempo Reanimator deck that has been so dominant lately.

– Red Stompy is also the second most popular archetype according to MTGGoldfish. This is generally considered one of Nadu’s worst matchups but was one I always felt great about with GW Depths.

– UB Tempo rounds out the top 3 most popular strategies and is in my experience, also a decent matchup for Depths. Unlike Red tempo decks, their removal is actually good against you, but their primary threats in Nethergoyf and Murktide line up poorly with Swords to Plowshares and Endurances. Orcish Bowmasters isn’t useful here either, leaving Tamiyo and Kaito as the two real problems but I think they are manageable.

So despite the praise I just gave to our beloved GW Depths deck, I still plan to register Bant Nadu and you may be wondering why.

– Nadu gets a fair number of free wins. While its way less than the similar Cephalid Breakfast decks, these are still very useful over the course of such a long event.

– Eternal Weekend is known to have a lot of “random” decks, especially in the early rounds, but you’ll also run into them later in the event as well. Having access to Force of Will and a strong proactive plan goes a long way towards escaping those.

– Nadu and Depths actually have very similar vibes to me. While I do think the games with Depths are more interesting on average, Nadu gives me a lot of the same joy while just having a better overall win rate. It’s hard for me to argue with the numbers.

– People tilt more against Nadu and I’m a monster who feeds on that.

People also asked, “How does GW Depths beat Nadu?”

Surprisingly, this is not a matchup I’ve played much of from either side, especially lately. Shoutout to Vektor27 in the Discord for hopping on MTGO to get a few fresh reps in so I could better answer this question.

Unfortunately for most of you reading this, I think Nadu is favored, especially preboard. A common strategy is to attack Nadu’s mana though I’m not sure this is actually that effective. I think you’re better off trying to use Swords, and Karakas to keep us from ever assembling the combo while using Elvish Reclaimers to set up the combo with protection. I also think Sylvan Library goes a long way in this matchup.

Postboard, I still feel favored from the Nadu side but think things improve significantly for the Depths side. Perhaps the best sideboard card is Disruptor Flute, which should name Nomads En-Kor. Playing a red splash and having access to Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast helps a lot as well.

I think the game plan should be the same as in the preboard game but is a bit easier to manage. Answers to Flutes will likely be pretty limited from the Nadu side, especially if they aren’t familiar with the matchup.

Pro tip for blue players: This ain’t it chief

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Lastly, I also reached out to Vektor from the Depths Discord to get some thoughts on Depths going into Eternal Weekend. As they haven’t been on the GSZ.com before, I thought I’d open the floor to get to know them a little more.

Magic username/Discord name: Vektor27

When did you get into magic?
I got into magic in 2017 during Aether Revolt

When did you get into Legacy?
In 2019, my friend got me into Legacy with Legacy Goblins

When did you get into Depths?
In 2021, I transitioned little by little to get the hard cards until I finally finished the deck.

Why have you moved towards a Naya build? Where do you see the current benefits vs other builds?

I transitioned to Naya during the rise of Minsc and Boo. Having access to new cards over time (such as Mawloc for tutorable removal) and having the consistent 3rd color for Prismatic Ending has been very helpful. Furthermore, having access to sideboard cards such as Red elemental blast/Pyroblast is very helpful.

It feels much stronger compared to just GW in the blue matchups we struggle in while in my opinion, maintaining a strong green core in comparison to the abzan/bant versions. Each version has their strengths, but this version feels strongest for me.

Would you take this list to a competitive event such as eternal weekend?

Of course I would. There are great benefits to playing a deck that has become rogue in the current meta.

How do you feel Depths is positioned in the current Legacy metagame?

Truthfully? I feel Legacy is a format in which if you are consistent in your practices, you can play anything proficiently with enough practice. It has a strong matchup in the midrange matchups such as UBx decks while having maindeck graveyard hate for the unfair graveyard decks. Do some matchups remain awful game 1? Of course. Can you still cheese them? Also of course. Game 2 and 3 for the unfair matchups are where the real games begin.

Any tips for players wanting to pick the deck up / enter Legacy with Depths?

Goldfish the simple lines a lot until it becomes second nature. Then, start pulling pieces out and get to a good point of control. It is always a puzzle to be solved. Mulligan with discipline and have a game plan in mind. Take time to understand the general meta as your opponents will not usually understand your deck better than you and will mess up often playing around your utility lands and creatures.

In the Mox version of Depths, it is a marathon, not a sprint to the finish. Don’t always have to pull the trigger, manipulate the situation.

Some final thoughts from Vektor:

– I prefer 2x Sylvan Library over Loams / Once upon a Time
– Nadu is not an easy matchup as Mapson and I tested, but is winnable.
– GSZ brings us all together, bird or no bird. Personally, I love resolving an Elvish Reclaimer.
– Shoutout to the DMV for keeping me practiced. The environment is one of the best for legacy practice.

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Some futher questions from Discord

Could elaborate on how meaningful Urza’s Saga is and with which artifacts it should be played best (Pithing Needle and/or Lavaspure Boots)?

Urza’s Saga does see play here and there in Depths, typically as a splash in GW builds (as colourless becomes the 3rd colour).

There’s been some fantastic printings over the years for Saga to find, Lavaspur Boots probably being the go-to addition to the maindeck alongside Mox Diamonds. Graveyard hate such as Soul-Guide Lantern has also seen MD play in specific metagames, as well as Shadowspear.

Saga is just another way to grind. If your opponent is being forced to trade their removal spells with your token creatures, you’re in a great position. What it does do however is keep you from adding to the board in a more meaningful way (holding up an activation for a Construct over casting a Knight).

I felt at times I was tunnel-visioning into getting the full value from Saga rather than assessing the board and commiting a Knight or Reclaimer over the ability to make a construct (when it was correct to cast a creature).

There are some other small upsides, like how construct tokens allow you to play around Sheoldred’s Edict for Marit Lage protection.

You can also Crop Rotation or use Knight of the Reliquary at the end of your drawstep to tutor a Saga, trigger it on entry and then have it trigger again on your first main phase. This is a great way to not only get a construct the same turn you played the Saga, but speed up its ability to tutor a full turn cycle.

I will say that even GW can have mana issues, so another colourless source can be troublesome. I’ve found a 2/2/1/1 split of Stage, Depths, Saga and Echoing Deeps has worked well.

What is your stance on Icetill Explorer?

When I think of 4 mana in Legacy there’s a few cards that come to mind.

The One Ring, Sneak Attack, Natural Order, Karn the Great Creator, Caves of Chaos Adventure. Cards that either win the game or put you in a very good position to close it out.

Is Icetill in that category? I don’t think so, but my time playing the card is also quite low.

Yes Ramunap is 3 mana, but you typcially play it on turn 4 so you can get a land (value) from the graveyard the same turn. You can also do that on turn 4 with Icetill Explorer.

I’m going to keep an eye on this card and how often it shows up in lists moving forward.

Sylvan Library vs Once Upon a Time

Yes it’s a case of card advantage vs card selection however in Depths lists they are typically fighting for the same slot.

I will also be a fan of books, as although it doesn’t do anything the turn it comes down it does give you the ability to get ahead of cards, keep creatures and lands you want as tutors in the deck and keep your draws live.

Looking at the sideboard for the expected meta game, what matchups do you want to dedicate sideboard slots towards and what matchups do you just hope to dodge? Example could be Deafening Silence.

I think most Depths players would like to try and dodge any kind of fast combo (hence why you see Deafening Silence in the board). Defening Silence does have some nice cross over with Forge which is obviously at the top of the meta right now.

You’d think you wouldn’t want to face decks with Wasteland and ways to recurr it, but I feel Depths is favoured vs Lands thanks to our creature package.

Nadu is a really challenging MU without the reps needed to understand how it typically plays out. Deafening Silence doesn’t do anything against this deck which loves to cast multiple spells in the turn they’re going off. It runs Swords to Plowshares, has flyers and blockers and just can out-value you quite consistently.

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