'Destroy target permanent.'

Three innocuous words that are far too good to print on any Standard or Modern legal card for 3 mana. It looks similar to Anguished Unmaking, but it has a lot more strategic implications than that. The ability to destroy lands alongside other Eternal Masters staples (Wasteland and likely Rishadan Port) make it a powerful weapon to have access to in any Orzhov-based disruption deck in Legacy. In fact, it has seen consistent Legacy play:

Esper Stoneblade ? Legacy | Jarvis Yu, 7-1 in SCG Invitational 4/07/13

• Creatures (8)
• 1 Vendilion Clique
• 3 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

• Spells (26)
• 1 Counterspell
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 3 Force of Will
• 4 Brainstorm
• 4 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Vindicate
• 3 Lingering Souls
• 3 Thoughtseize
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Umezawa's Jitte

• Lands (23)
• 1 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Island
• 1 Academy Ruins
• 1 Karakas
• 1 Scrubland
• 2 Marsh Flats
• 3 Tundra
• 3 Underground Sea
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Polluted Delta

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 1 Disenchant
• 1 Force of Will
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 2 Surgical Extraction
• 3 Geist of Saint Traft
• 1 Vendilion Clique
• 2 Cabal Therapy
• 1 Perish

Buy This Deck

Vindicate is an excellent catch all answer in this deck (even letting you destroy Glacial Chasm from Lands for lethal attacks)! It does cost three mana, which is why you only see a single copy in most Legacy decks that do play it, with the exception of this blast from the past:

Deadguy Ale | Chris Pikula, Grand Prix Philadelphia 2005 Top 8

• Creatures (11)
• 3 Nantuko Shade
• 4 Dark Confidant
• 4 Hypnotic Specter

• Spells (26)
• 4 Dark Ritual
• 2 Gerrard's Verdict
• 4 Duress
• 4 Hymn to Tourach
• 4 Sinkhole
• 4 Vindicate
• 2 Engineered Plague
• 2 Cursed Scroll

• Lands (23)
• 10 Swamp
• 1 Tainted Field
• 4 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Scrubland
• 4 Wasteland

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Darkblast
• 2 Engineered Plague
• 2 Phyrexian Negator
• 3 Pithing Needle
• 2 Swords to Plowshares
• 4 Withered Wretch

Buy This Deck

The Meddling Mage himself managed to make the finals of this Grand Prix playing this sweet deck. It was extremely focused on being a heavy disruption deck (both attacking your mana base with Sinkhole / Wasteland / Vindicate, and your hand with Hymn to Tourach / Duress / Gerrard's Verdict).

An interesting question to ask is how we could update this deck:

Updated ?Deadguy Ale? ? Legacy | Jarvis Yu

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Dark Confidant
• 4 Deathrite Shaman
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Liliana of the Veil

• Spells (23)
• 1 Abrupt Decay
• 4 Swords to Plowshares
• 4 Hymn to Tourach
• 4 Sinkhole
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Vindicate
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Umezawa's Jitte

• Lands (23)
• 1 Plains
• 4 Swamp
• 1 Bayou
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Marsh Flats
• 4 Scrubland
• 4 Wasteland

Buy This Deck

Deathrite Shaman enables busted starts that weren’t available when Chris Pikula first built his deck, and provides an excellent way to leverage the 3-mana spells (Liliana of the Veil and Vindicate) by casting them on turn two. Similarly, Stoneforge Mystic is a classic staple of archetypes like these, giving the deck access to an infinite supply of lifelinking Germs (which helps offset life loss from Dark Confidant).

Here’s a (somewhat short) list of annoying permanents answered by Vindicate in Legacy:

• The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• Glacial Chasm
• Sylvan Library
• Counterbalance (if they’re not floating a 3-drop on top)
• Creatures (besides Progenitus and True-Name Nemesis)
• (tapped) Wastelands
• Rishadan Port
• Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Depending on the structure of Eternal Masters Limited, I would guess Vindicate is a high pick in the draft format, given it is a guaranteed 3-mana answer to troublesome permanents (barring something with protection or True-Name Nemesis). Historically speaking, most of the ‘Masters’ (edition or Modern) Limited formats have been similar to various iterations of Cube draft. Even if Vindicate forces you into two colors immediately, it’s likely the draft format will have enough mana fixers to enable you to splash it.

I look forward to seeing what other cards are spoiled in Eternal Masters, because Modern Masters and Vintage Masters were some of my favorite formats to draft.

Thanks for reading!