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ETB’s Legacy 5k Tournament Report
Drake Honess, April 2nd 2025
I can write ten thousand words on how interesting the Painter deck is, but instead you’ll get this. Talk to me in person about it, and if you’re a Painter regular who doesn’t sleeve up Painter, you’ll be branded a “coward” like fellow Painter homie/traitor Jeffery Chiu (who opted to play Mono Black Helm/Leyline combo instead of sweet sweet Goblin Welder). I took a hiatus from Magic during COVID to pursue other hobbies, and with the return of paper play and Kieran Macduff bringing Legacy of the North to North Bay, Ontario, I had to return and support the scene. When I first returned, I was frequently playing Lands, but that deck fell victim to FIRE design philosophy, and while the North Bay metagame was originally soft to Marit Lage, the southern Ontario metagame told a much different story and I took my lickings at the season four invitational.
Enter the current North Bay metagame of 2024/2025, where thanks to the community growth and Legacy of the North, we can now consistently get 10+ players out most Sundays. Unfortunately for people who like playing more than three turns of Magic, the metagame in North Bay has turned into 80% combo, and one or two guys doing fair things and getting rinsed. I decided to get into Painter because it had game versus other combo decks while still being able to grind versus fair decks. I had played a handful of tournaments back in 2011-2013 at World’s Collide in Oshawa with Countertop Painter, and enjoyed the deck enough to want to pick it up full time in 2024. It threads the needle of busted hands that your opponent couldn’t beat if they tried, and this midrange value deck that will draw 12 cards with Phyrexian Dragon Engine over the course of a couple turns. It also has ways to lock/prison your opponent out under Ensnaring Bridge/Karn/Moon effects. All of these play patterns make any matchup more dynamic than the standard “two ships passing in the night” patterns that the top decks in the format offer. Painter is a combo/midrange deck that oftentimes has to play the control role in specific matchups. Notable Legacy players often mention that people get too cute with their Painter lists, and this deck tries to cut all the cute stuff, with the exception of Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, because even without Devourer, the card is great. As a general rule, the primary game plan is to activate Grindstone. The games I lose are often because the first Urza’s Saga fetched something too cute, like Lavaspur Boots or Soul-Guide Lantern, and I should have just fetched the Grindstone because I know there are only two copies in the main, and four Painter’s Servant. “HaVe YoU tRiEd AcTiVaTiNg GrInDsToNe?” Here is the 75 that I sleeved up for the tournament:
Mainboard:
4 Ancient Tomb
1 Arena of Glory
2 City of Traitors
2 Great Furnace
8 Mountain
4 Urza’s Saga
2 Agatha’s Soul Cauldron
4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
4 Goblin Engineer
4 Goblin Welder
2 Grindstone
3 Karn, the Great Creator
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Painter’s Servant
4 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Soul-Guide Lantern
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Lavaspur Boots
1 Phyrexian Dragon Engine
1 Lotus Petal
SIDEBOARD:
2 Abrade
1 Blood Moon
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Grindstone
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Liquimetal Coating
2 Magus of the Moon
1 Pithing Needle
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Tormod’s Crypt
Let’s talk about some individual card choices and how I arrived at this list. Since I picked up Painter again, Grief, Psychic Frog, and Vexing Bauble, and now as of March 31st, 2025, Sowing Mycospawn and Troll of Khazad-Dum have entered and/or left the format. During this time I was playing a healthy amount of leagues on Magic Online. The deck was best positioned in a metagame where the UB Reanimator deck relied heavily on Psychic Frog (Eternal Weekend 2024), and while we may not return to that level of positioning, it’s still a solid choice to take down any tournament.
Karn, the Great Creator. Real Painter heads know Jack Kitchen has been playing 2 Karns main for years, but if Strawberry Shortcake isn’t your forte (lol Plateau, but more importantly Enlightened Tutor is laughable in 2025 unless your name is literally Jack Kitchen, multiple EW Top8s playing the same pile that I can’t win with if I tried), then Painter Discord contributor, known Grindstone activator, Robert “Light_Walker” R’s decklists were more up my alley. He has been championing Mono Red Karn Painter decks on MTGO for years at this point, and his decks are sweet. He wins on his own terms, and is an absolute blast to watch and learn from.
Karn does everything that the deck actively wants to be doing. Similar to Fable of the Mirror-Breaker in doing everything that we want, this card consistently exceeds expectations. Against the decks where you will single-handedly win with Bridge, it acts as Ensnaring Bridge 6-7-8 (assuming the one-of Bridge and 4 Engineers are 1 through 5), making sure that you can consistently lock out your opponent. Against Swords to Plowshares/Prismatic Ending decks, it rebuys Painter’s Servants/Phyrexian Dragon Engines/Grindstones that are exiled. It finds all of the silver bullet one-ofs in the sideboard to weasel yourself out of rough situations, all while providing an asymmetrical Null Rod effect that is hard to take off the table. The Null Rod effect is something that is far more powerful than I had originally expected. Many decks now rely entirely on artifacts, so Karn is lights out in those matchups. But there are other decks and problematic cards; Tamiyo based decks, Engineered Explosives/Ratchet Bombs/Powder Kegs out of tempo decks, equipment, Aether Vial, Mox Diamonds, Chrome Mox, The One Ring, Grim (JIM?) Monolith, Shuko, Forge decks, the list goes on and on for playable artifacts that are stonewalled by this card.
Historically, the blue based Painter decks were worse in every way than the red based decks, but since Aetherdrift’s release and Stock Up becoming a widely accepted Legacy card, I’ve changed opinions on the deck. I expected the Mono Blue Painter deck to be highly played in this tournament, but it wasn’t anywhere but at the bottom of the tournament in the hands of Joshua “DJ” Cronk. I made a metagame call to play red with 6 blasts main, and 3 Karns to try and hedge against that deck, because they have good counterspells and draw spells (including The One Ring), and I have weird toolbox cards and blasts. I played about 15 leagues in the month leading up to the 5K, and tried a few different versions of Rakdos Painter that played Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf main, but to mixed results. I also took a look at the Mono Red Stompy hybrid Callum Smith (CJBS/Whitefaces on MTGO) version, but wasn’t too fond of it, mainly because I hate The One Ring. The deck has game versus most non-Emrakul decks where you can’t necessarily combo kill them without having your first Saga go find Grindstone, and your second Saga finding Soul-Guide Lantern. Then there are some matchups that are borderline unloseable (8-cast, Eldrazi Stompy, etc.), coupled with the fact that your deck has the required “I WIN” button (see turn 2 kills, turn 1 Blood Moons, turn 1 other prison pieces, etc.), and it’s a fine contender for the legacy format.
Making room for 3 Karns, you cut all the cute stuff that Painter players are doing. Devourer is a weird combo that can win games with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, but it seems like win-more, and the deck already has some issues of playing these situational/one-of cards that are good but clog up your opening hand. Once per match I typically open hands containing my tutorable one-ofs and situationally, they’re fine, but often they never get cast and it’s the equivalent of a mulligan anyway. Trimming a Lightning Bolt is a bit risky, because I think 3 really is correct, but room had to be made. Plus, who is playing creatures this weekend? Pfft, it’s the combo metagame of a lifetime. Lastly, I cut a mana source in Mox Opal for the third Karn. Mox Opal is consistently the best worst card in the deck, oftentimes just being “something to weld out”, but seldom do you get it off of Saga. It may seem weird to cut a mana source for a four drop, but I’m a terrible deck designer and an even worse player. The rest is stock red Painter, nothing flashy. All the standard one-ofs that you can find off of Saga or Engineer.
Other card considerations on my short list are Mishra’s Research Desk as a value engine (similar to Ichor Wellspring of previous years), Fury (which has been underperforming and if it goes anywhere in the deck it should be in the sideboard), additional copies of Lightning Bolt, 7th blast main (I opted to play this in the board instead), Chaos Defiler (training wheels, highest of highs, lowest of lows, most of the time just being able to Engineer-Entomb Dragon Engine with and welding it back into play will win most games), Thorn of Amethyst, and Mycosynth Lattice for the Karn board (6 drop, you’ve got to be kidding me, non-bo with Painter’s Servant barring time-stamps and doing some welding).
You convince yourself and all of the homies that: “I’m the dog, and you’re the ball” is funny, print out a sideboard guide that is just a photo of my dog with a ball in its mouth, consulting it mid-match is a funny bit, and you’re off to the races. Here’s how the tournament went:
Round 1 – Chris D (From Buffalo) on Eldrazi (Karn MVP count: 1)
I win the die roll, and take a mulligan on a hand that doesn’t really do much. I keep Welder, Engineer, Mountain, a Sol land, and some other stuff that doesn’t really matter. Opponent leads on Chalice for 1 off of an Eldrazi Temple and a Lotus Petal, a turn too late for my Goblin Welder. On the following turns I deploy Engineer for Bridge, get Thought-Knot Seer’d losing a blast, but sit under Bridge until I can combo him. The one attempt to answer Ensnaring Bridge with Wastescape Battlemage is met by me welding his Chalice of the Void on 1 out for a Lotus Petal that he binned on turn 1 to Pyroblast it.
There’s interesting interactions in this match, but it heavily favours the Painter player. Painter’s Servant turns all cards in libraries, graveyards, hands, and in play whatever colour is named. This stops Eldrazi Temple from tapping for two colourless, because that mana can only be spent on colourless spells. It also stops the late game Eye of Ugin nonsense, because Eye of Ugin can only find colourless cards. The other important Painter’s Servant interaction is that if they have something like Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors, they can cast Devourer of Destiny and exile an Ensnaring Bridge because it now has a colour. This matters in game 2. Overall, one of the main appeals behind playing Painter is that this matchup feels like a bye, and is common enough in the metagame to expect to play it once or twice during any given tournament.
Sideboarding is based strictly on vibes and what I see. Bad cards out, good cards in. Enough said.
Game 2, I’m on the play, and I mulligan to 5. I keep a turn 2 Blood Moon, not wanting to go to 4. My opponent snaps off a Devourer, and then a Chalice for 1, and I play Mountain pass, he follows it up with land pass, and then a Kozilek’s Command for 2 Scions and a draw in response to my Blood Moon. From here, he has access to colourless mana, and Wastescape Battlemage cast from a Lotus Petal for the kicker exiles my Blood Moon. I make a Construct with Urza’s Saga that blocks his Wastescape Battlemage, and a turn later deploy a Karn, the Great Creator, uptick to 6 eating his Chalice of the Void, and plan on next turn downticking and getting Ensnaring Bridge. He has some medium pressure with a Thought-Knot that would’ve taken the Ensnaring Bridge had I have downticked Karn, and has a Glaring Fleshraker. Over the next few turns, I drain for a bit while hiding under Bridge, and the Painter’s Servant + Devourer of Destiny non-bo comes up, where I can’t kill him in time. Eventually I scoop at 2 life, knowing I’m on the draw with an excellent matchup. Sometimes, your opponent’s spells just line up better than yours.
Game 3, back on the play in the best matchup that my deck has. I am the dog, my opponent is the ball. I keep a turn 1 Goblin Welder, turn 2 Painter’s Servant with Pyroblast backup. He follows my Welder play up with a Chalice of the Void. He plays land pass, I follow up with Engineer for Grindstone, and with him being locked out of two colourless with his Eldrazi Temple he packs it in.
Round 2 – Nathan K (Also Buffalo) on Mono Red Stompy (Karn MVP count: 2, 1-0)
Game 1, I lose the die roll, and mulligan the worst hands that Painter can produce going to 5. I ultimately settle on: Red Elemental Blast, City of Traitors, Urza’s Saga, Goblin Engineer, and some other garbage card that is in my deck. My opponent leads on turn 1 Chrome Mox imprinting Sundering Eruption, City of Traitors, Blood Moon. Instant concede. I’ve seen enough, I know what he’s on, he doesn’t know what I’m on.
Game 2, I keep a turn 3 kill with protection. I go off and he doesn’t do much.
Game 3, I’m on the draw, he plays Chalice for 1, I jam a Painter’s Servant, but he doesn’t have any pressure. Eventually I land a Karn, eat his Chalice, cast some cool 1 mana spells, downtick Karn and get Liquimetal Coating, upkeep tap it on his Sol land to act as the world’s worst 6 mana Rishadan Port, and then start eating all of his lands while attacking with some 1/3s and 1/2s.
Round 3 – Dustin S (Rochester Royals) on TES (Karn MVP count: 3, 2-0)
Game 1, I lose the die roll, opponent plays Polluted Delta pass, I play a turn 1 Agatha’s Soul Cauldron off of an Ancient Tomb. His second land was Verdant Catacombs, fetch for Commercial District, and it all started to add up to TES. My opponent lived 1 hour 30 minutes away from Syracuse, home of the king of the Grapeshot. We trade some light combat damage off of me just hardcasting two Simian Spirit Guides and eating non-critical spells with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, and he hits me with a Relay for 6. I topdeck Karn and cast it onto his board of Chrome Mox, Mox Opal, and Lion’s Eye Diamond, and eat the LED. At that point I add Soul-Guide Lantern to the battlefield and he packs it up.
Game 2 he keeps a slower hand that started with apparently had only one Thoughtseize in it, but by turn 3 he had Thoughtseized me three times. I made a Construct, had a Painter’s Servant, jammed a Karn that I was able to protect with Red Elemental Blast for his bounce spell, and he Tendrils’d me for 18 life, putting me at 2, and him at 24. At that point, I had established a board presence and Grindstone was entering off Saga to seal the deal.
Round 4 – Elliott R (itter) on Mono Red Stompy (Karn MVP count: 4, 3-0)
Game 1, I’m on the draw again. I’m partaking in my usual banter, because Elliott had skunked me in my excellent 0-3 drop of the LotN season 5 invitational. I put him on Mono Red Stompy because that’s what he was on last time, and Elliott is the man that played Magic at “Face to Face Games” and loses to “Painter” enough to “want to” put a “Kozilek, Butcher of Truths” in his sideboard. I got destroyed at the invitational, but this time I knew he was a true degenerate and can plan accordingly. Plus, I was playing Karn in my deck today, a card that is pretty good in this matchup instead of more cards that lose to Chalice for 1. It’s worth noting in all of these games, Elliott doesn’t see any Broadside Bombadiers or Pyrogoyfs, but does see lots of Furys. Fuzzy memory on this one, pretty sure Karn locks him out and eats his Chalice and then Liquimetal Coating eats all of his lands.
Game 2, I know he has Kozilek in his sideboard because he boasted about getting his Show and Tell opponent last round with it, so the Grindstone plan is rough because I need to either downtick Karn, get Tormod’s Crypt, or have an additional Saga go off and get Soul-Guide Lantern. I’m locked in, I’ve assigned Elliott to the role of ball, and Karn as the dog that eats all of the things that make his deck work (Chalice, Chrome Mox, shuts off The One Ring, maybe some sideboard stuff). Another non-explosive start from Elliott with a Chalice for 1 into a Blood Moon. Long enough to let me set up another Karn lock, which the game ends similarly to game 1, with him having no mana sources in play and packing it in. Redemption. We chat for a bit about how Magic needs more heel characters and banter.
Round 5 – Jard B on Nadu Breakfast (Karn not in sight, 4-0)
This entire match is streamed and if you want to watch it, here is the VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2418576648?t=4h10m4s
Big shoutout to King of the North runner-up #2 man Adam Robinson here, who has championed this Nadu deck in North Bay, helping me learn and understand the matchup. It is one of those decks that sees less play on MTGO because it’s very click intensive, especially with the lag that’s been happening in the past few months. Being able to consistently “always have it” against Adam was paramount in my successful “having it” moment in game 3.
Game 1, I knew I was paired against Breakfast because my friend had played against him in round 1. Game 1 I keep a Welder, Saga, Mountain, Fable, Blast hand, with the intention of trying to make a quick game with Construct tokens. Lavaspur Boots can turn a 3 turn clock into a two turn clock, and this game showcased that power. I chose to not make a Construct copy to avoid a Swords to Plowshares blowout, and to hold up Red Elemental Blast on my next turn for a potential combo, and my opponent scooped.
Game 2, I mulligan to a Leyline of the Void hand that has some action, and he ends up getting lots of value with Nadu and Nomads En-Kor. He flips a bunch of cards, has some countermagic and seals the game with a double Shuko-equipped Nadu. I’m not entirely sure if there was much else I could’ve done, I was the absolute ball.
Game 3, on the play, I play a turn 1 Welder. He unfortunately only has a Meticulous Archive off a fetch and TWO Urza’s Sagas. Archive flips a Narcomoeba, which goes into play, and One of the worst parts of the Nadu Breakfast deck is the mana base. This game showcases that fatal flaw, but instead of Blood Moon, he was lacking the green mana to cast Memory’s Journey after he had his library milled with Grindstone. I deploy Painter and name white while he plays Urza’s Saga. White was named in this particular instance because I didn’t want him to be able to pitch lands or non-blue cards to Force while I’m setting up the combo, and I planned on dancing around Swords to Plowshares with the Welder anyway, and can reset on blue later. I cast Grindstone, which meets a Force of Will, putting half the combo in my yard. From there, he attempts Swords to Plowshares on my Painter’s Servant, but I weld it out to the previously cast Grindstone. Sequencing matters and I can combo him next turn. On my turn, I activate Grindstone, holding priority exchange for Painter’s Servant, name blue, counter his removal spell with Pyroblast and take the match. Opponent was great, the rest of his day tapered off after our match, but the games were great.
Round 6 – Chris Ha, ID (Karn MVP count: 5, really solidified this ID, 5-0-1)
Chris and I chat for a bit, congratulate each other on top8, and I just chill knowing it’s going to be a long day.
Round 7 – Kyle Christensen, ID (5-0-2)
Same deal.
Top 8 – Sia Y on UB Tempo
I have mixed feelings about the UB Tempo deck as a matchup. They have all of the tools to beat the Painter deck, especially with maindeck Nihil Spellbombs, if they show up when it’s inconvenient to me. They have permission, Consigns, Hydroblasts, reasonable non-Murktide threats, and bounce pieces like 2-3 Brazen Borrowers to stop me from bring a troll hiding under Ensnaring Bridge. This is also one of those matchups where Karn isn’t the best, and while it doesn’t have no text, it’s just not very strong.
Game 1, I’m on the draw. I led on Arena of Glory tapped after he played Underground Sea into Ponder keep. He Wastelands me. I follow it up with Urza’s Saga, he Wastelands me. I draw no more lands for 3 draw steps while he plays land pass, he end steps an Orcish Bowmaster, I draw once or twice more, no lands, and I pack it in. Quick game. It took longer to get the right decklist. I assured Sia that he was in fact the ball, and I am the dog, and I will win this match. We look at decklists, I tell him “Go for the Throat” is really good versus Painter’s Servant, he chuckles, and I don’t think that he thinks he’s the ball, despite my affirmations.
Game 2, I’m on the play, keep a hand that at least has basic Mountain in it (we’re learning folks), and some stuff. If I remember, I had Blast, Welder, Urza’s Saga, Phyrexian Dragon Engine, Ancient Tomb. I play Welder, and next turn go to 18 to cast Phyrexian Dragon Engine. My Goblin Welder falls to Orcish Bowmaster, and the Dragon Engine dies after getting in for 4, and then he plays a 8/8 Murktide Regent after fighting over my Red Elemental Blast. I drop Ensnaring Bridge, and then Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, while he deploys a Kaito. Kaito gets blasted when it doesn’t have hexproof. My Bridge gets bounced by Brazen Borrower 1 of 2, I replay it, and hide under Bridge for a while. Sia casts Null Rod, which is strong, but at this point I have Painter’s Servant naming blue in play, and I’m waiting on a Grindstone and a blast to take out the Null Rod. Sia deploys Engineered Explosives for 0, but can’t pop it to get rid of my treasure and Goblin Shaman token thanks to the Null Rod, and we sit staring at each other for a few draws. I draw Karn, but can’t cast it because I have 3 Mountains, a treasure and a Great Furnace. Eventually he finds the second Brazen Borrower before I have a blast, and I lose.
Top 8, good for $250, the tournament was great. Good to be a part of the largest Canadian Legacy event with 104 (107?) players. Went to Hamilton, got some good Shawarma, went and saw “Hamilton’s Iggy Pop”, BA Johnston in Brantford to close out the night.
What’s next with Painter?
Where do I see Painter going forward in a post-ban world? I think it’ll still be a strong choice for tournaments. Your best matchup loses metagame share but will still be a deck, but Painter has the tools to beat up on any deck depending on how you configure it. Maybe the future of Painter is mono blue with Stock Up and The One Ring (less high on Tamiyo in that deck), as it seems to be the most performing Painter deck online, but with the short term “Delver rises to the top in a new metagame”, I know I’d rather play the mono red version that doesn’t lose as hard to Meltdown games 2 and 3, and has 7 ways to deal with Delver and Murktide, making Dragon’s Rage Channeler to only problematic threat out of Delver, but you can leverage that rise in popularity by playing more Lightning Bolts. Additionally, I expect to see a slight rise in control decks, before people realize that there are still too many combo variants attacking on different axis that stretch their main decks and boards too thin, but in the next coming months, Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon sure does a good job hosing these greedy Beans control manabases. Probably another reason to stick with the red. I’ll likely play Painter at the April Invitational in some form or another unless something wild happens.
Props: Karn, the Great Creator. Kieran Macduff, Connery Knox for talking trash non-stop all weekend after missing on Saturday and then finishing second in the 285 player Showcase Challenge on MTGO the next day with the same list, Caleb Arsenault for hosting, Joshua “DJ/Ball” Cronk, Jacob Murray for playing the Sprouts Turbo Lands deck and losing his win and in, the coverage team, the Enter the Battlefield team, Chris Ha for agreeing with me to not split up until the finals and then immediately losing in the top 8 alongside me (NO SPLITS KILL EM ALL, WE CAME TO GAME), Wednesday night Legacy testing squad, Kai Sawatari’s sick tokens, and all of my friends who showed up and barked for me.
Slops: No top 8 picture/announcement except for Chris Ha doing it entirely off the top of his head? Razvan Trufasiu not being present… I was going to have him sign my Life from the Loams.
