New take on casual Legacy: (self-)milling and Zombie Tokens.
BEGINNING
Draw instead of go!
You can greatly benefit from being re-active rather than pro-active. First, you have Counterspell so enemy should have initiative before you can make use those. Second, making use of Compelling Deterrences, enemy needs to play first anyways--what ever the enemy happens to be playing!
The hand to begin with should have 2-3 mana, 1 mana acceleration, and monsters(s) to cast. Good creatures to start with would be Diregraf Colossus, Crow of Dark Tidings and/or Thing in the Ice
.
Do not hesitate to sacrifice creatures for mana acceleration even early on. You get to Flip Thing in the Ice
faster if you spend your spells, and get to pick your monsters back with Exhumes nonetheless!
WIN CONS
Thing in the Ice
is your most valuable asset, and win con number 1. The deck has a lot of spells to remove Counters from the horror, to make it Flip. According to a ruling in Gatherer, the horror will Flip and the Ability resolves before the spell causing it to Flip resolves. This means many things, but especially when dropping Zombie Tokens with a Token spell, Thing in the Ice
will clear board BEFORE those Tokens hit the Battlefield, so be sure to count the Counters on Thing in the Ice
in proper manner, and you will benefit (most likely win)!
Rise from the Tides is yet another win con. The deck running a lot of spells to Flip Thing in the Ice
will also benefit from casting Rise from the Tides after Thing in the Ice
Flips.
Zombie Tokens with Empty the Pits and Army of the Damned is the third win con. For these spells, we have only-in-Legacy mana acceleration (Dark Rituals and Culling the Weaks) and you can also make use of self-milling with Crow of Dark Tidings. Army of the Damned can be casted from Graveyard even if it slips in, and Empty the Pits is even stronger more you have cards in your Graveyard. Just make sur eyou cast these and other spell just in the right order to make most of them!
Griselbrand is not so much a win con than card advantage and cannon fodder. Simply draw cards with him, attack to get the lost life back and draw even more cards. Now plan ahead what you need in near future and Discard the rest in the End of your turn. Griselbrand will draw fire, so do not worry of him getting hurt or killed. Dozens of Zombie Tokens is better win con anyways, and you can get the demon back with Exhume the moment you need him.
CARD SYNERGIES
Crow of Dark Tidings + Culling the Weak = For self-milling purposes, Crow of Dark Tidings is the best option to be sacced with Culling the Weak.
Crow of Dark Tidings + Griselbrand + Exhume = Drop Crow of Dark Tidings, self-mill Griselbrand into your Graveyard, and cast Exhume for the rescue (Adding Dark Ritual it is possible to execute this Turn 3!).
Crow of Dark Tidings + Culling the Weak + Exhume = For self-milling purposes, you can sac the bird AND bring it back with Exhume. Now you got SIX (6) additional cards in your Graveyard; these being Culling the Weak + two milled cards + Exhume + two milled cards again.
Crow of Dark Tidings + Culling the Weak + Empty the Pits + one black mana = When you cast Empty the Pits, sac birds with Culling the Weak for Delve. Now you have four (B)s in your Manapool to cast the spell + 4 extra cards - in addition to any cards there use to be - in your Graveyard, to be transformed into Zombie Tokens. Literally, you could get quite a few Zombies with just one (B).
Crow of Dark Tidings + Diregraf Colossus = You should find these two in your hand in the beginning quite a few times. Cast Diregraf Colossus first, Crow of Dark Tidings being second. This way you get a Zombie Token.
Diregraf Colossus + Culling the Weak + Exhume = If there ain't birds to be sacced, you can Sacrifice Diregraf Colossus. After paying one (B) you now have four (B)s in you Manapool. You can cast Exhume to get Diregraf Colossus back with extra Counters. After a ruling, if Diregraf Colossus comes from Graveyard, he gets one additional Counter for being a Zombie in Graveyard him self (check the Gatherer, if you do not believe me!) plus all the other extra Counters for other Zombies in Graveyard. And you still have two (B)s left. Maybe this way you removed two Counters from Thing in the Ice
, too!
Diregraf Colossus + Rancid Rats = a Zombie Token.
Diregraf Colossus + Diregraf Captain = a 3/3 Zombie Token + (at least) 3/3 Diregraf Colossus.
Diregraf Colossus + Lamplighter of Selhoff = a Zombie Token + card advantage + Discard (for example, Discard Griselbrand and play it using Exhume).
Thing in the Ice
+ Lamplighter of Selhoff = When Flipping, the horror won't blow the zombie away!
Thing in the Ice
+ Gempalm Polluter + Exhume = Cycle Gempalm Polluter for card advantage and life lose, cast Exhume to place Gemplam Polluter into Battlefield, and remove a Counter from Thing in the Ice
. Now, if the Thing should Flip, you get Gempalm Polluter back to your hand, for another Cycling. Even if you lose some zombie Tokens this way, you get more Tokens eventually, and it is worth your while!
