Dack Fayden has always been a card I’ve been interested in seeing more of. We see it in Vintage as a common means of fighting against Mishra's Workshop decks while also having utility of filtering through cards against Blue decks. We don’t often see Dack Fayden make the jump from Vintage to Legacy though, largely due to the reduced presence of Artifacts in the format. But that doesn’t mean that Dack doesn’t have what it takes to keep up in Legacy — just that we haven’t figured it out yet. Clashed may be about to change that:

Four-Color Midrange ? Legacy | Clashed, 5-0 Legacy League

• Creatures (11)
• 1 Snapcaster Mage
• 2 Notion Thief
• 4 Baleful Strix
• 4 Deathrite Shaman

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 3 Dack Fayden
• 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

• Instants (21)
• 1 Murderous Cut
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 3 Fire // Ice
• 3 Punishing Fire
• 4 Brainstorm
• 4 Force of Will
• 4 Lightning Bolt

• Lands (22)
• 2 Island
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Badlands
• 1 Bayou
• 1 Tropical Island
• 2 Bloodstained Mire
• 2 Misty Rainforest
• 2 Underground Sea
• 3 Grove of the Burnwillows
• 3 Volcanic Island
• 4 Polluted Delta

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Murderous Cut
• 1 Damnation
• 3 Duress
• 2 Echoing Truth
• 3 Pulse of Murasa
• 2 Red Elemental Blast
• 3 Surgical Extraction

Buy This Deck

On the surface, this is a pretty typical U/R midrange deck. You’ve got Baleful Strix as a great way to generate value, backed up with the core of Brainstorm, Lightning Bolt, Force of Will, and Deathrite Shaman to maximize your efficient interaction. The key difference is in how this deck pulls ahead in the midgame when there are no copies of Shardless Agent, Ancestral Vision, or Counterbalance to be found.

The key is Dack Fayden. Dack Fayden turns dead cards into real spells, and gives you extra utility for Punishing Fire and Grove of the Burnwillows in control and midrange matchups where Punishing Fire is typically lackluster. The Punishing Fire Engine also gives you the ability to pressure opposing Planeswalkers to ensure that your Dack Faydens and Jaces outlast your opponent’s Jaces and Lilianas.

In addition, Dack Fayden gives you a way to lock your opponent out of the game in conjunction with Notion Thief. Notion Thief is already a great way to fight over your opponent’s Brainstorms and Ponders, and gives you opportunities to just steal games against other Blue decks, but the addition of Dack to let you use Notion Thief more proactively is a huge boon.

Also, don’t forget that there are still Stoneforge Mystic decks running around in this format. Dack is a great incidental answer to the likes of Batterskull and Umezawa's Jitte, as well as Grindstone and other utility artifacts. If you’re looking for something that can crush opposing creature decks with Punishing Fire while using Notion Thief to beat up on other midrange and control decks, this seems like an interesting place to start.