A few weeks ago, the Lord of the Rings Holiday release introduced a variety of new MTG products to the community. For fans of collector boosters, there were new Special Edition collector boosters with significantly enhanced odds of opening Surge foil Realms and Relics cards. There were also new Jumpstart cards for players to build their decks with. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the Holiday release, though, was the fact that four new Scene Boxes were released.
Each of the four Scene Boxes contain six borderless cards and six art cards that, when combined together, are designed to form a unique picture directly depicting a scene from Lord of the Rings. This is an interesting concept and if you’re looking to solely make use of new and exciting Lord of the Rings cards from the Holiday release, you’re in luck as well. Each of these six borderless cards is a mechanically new and unique card for players to enjoy.
Unlike the original Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set, though, these cards specifically have the Lord of the Rings Commander expansion symbol. This means they are, in fact, not Modern legal. However, they are still legal in Legacy and Vintage in addition to Commander. Generally, this isn’t a big deal, as the bar for a card to see Legacy play is pretty high. Yet, one particular Scene Box card is seeing significant Legacy play in a multitude of archetypes. This card is none other than
Legolas’s Quick Reflexes
Legolas’s Quick Reflexes
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)
Untap target creature. Until end of turn, it gains reach, hexproof, and "Whenever this creature becomes tapped, it deals damage equal to its power to up to one target creature."
. Back when this card was initially leaked, we predicted that it would be an elite protection spell and so far, the card is living up to the hype.
Protecting Marit Lage
Up to this point, the style of decks that have best maximized Legolas’s Quick Reflexes have been combo decks built around Dark Depths and Thespian’s Stage. With both Thespian’s Stage and Dark Depths in play, you have a relatively easy path to creating a 20/20 with Flying and Indestructible. This is because Dark Depths has a triggered ability that allows you to sacrifice it and create Marit Lage as long as Dark Depths has zero ice counters on it. While Dark Depths naturally enters the battlefield with 10 of them, when you copy Dark Depths with Thespian’s Stage, the copy will have zero counters.
As a result, you can copy the Dark Depths with Stage, sacrifice the original Dark Depths via “legend rule,” then end up sacrificing the copied Dark Depths to get your 20/20. The thing is, as strong as a 20/20 with Indestructible can be, it’s not immune to all removal.
Swords to Plowshares
Swords to Plowshares
Exile target creature. Its controller gains life equal to its power.
is one of the premier removal spells of the format and it can deal with Marit Lage very efficiently. Of course, that is unless you have Legolas’s Quick Reflexes at the ready.
If your opponent cast Swords to Plowshares, you can just respond with Legolas’s Quick Reflexes. Because of Split Second, your opponent can’t simply respond once more with an additional copy of Swords to Plowshares or a
Force of Will
Force of Will
You may pay 1 life and exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target spell.
to prevent your Creature from gaining Hexproof. This by itself would be pretty strong.
Legolas’s Quick Reflexes does even more though, as it’s an extremely pushed card. You get to untap the Creature you target, and whenever that Creature becomes tapped, you can have it deal damage equal to its power to another Creature. This ability, combined with Split Second, allows you to use Legolas’s Quick Reflexes proactively as a pseudo removal spell. For instance, if you cast it targeting your Marit Lage token pre-combat, you can attack to remove a Flying blocker out of the way with no fear of getting blown out by Swords to Plowshares or
Solitude
Solitude
Flash
Lifelink
When this creature enters, exile up to one other target creature. That creature's controller gains life equal to its power.
Evoke—Exile a white card from your hand.
.
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Knight of the Reliquary Synergy
In some cases, the hard part of playing the Depths decks is actually being able to assemble Thespian’s Stage and Dark Depths together. This can be especially difficult in the face of
Wasteland
Wasteland
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target nonbasic land.
. To help with this, the Dark Depths combo decks typically play Elvish Reclaimer and
Knight of the Reliquary
Knight of the Reliquary
This creature gets +1/+1 for each land card in your graveyard.
{T}, Sacrifice a Forest or Plains: Search your library for a land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
which can help search for the requisite Lands.
Obviously, Legolas’s Quick Reflexes can help make sure you get to untap with Knight of the Reliquary to begin activating its ability, as Knight does not have Haste. Legolas’s Quick Reflexes does a lot more than that, though. Because this protection spell untaps Knight, as long as Knight isn’t summoning sick, you can activate it to find a piece of the combo, untap it, then tap it again to find the other piece. You even get to deal a bunch of damage to an opposing Creature with your large Knight in the process simply by tapping it!
If that weren’t enough, Legolas’s Quick Reflexes helps a lot at shoring up weaknesses against cheap Flying Creatures like
Dragon’s Rage Channeler
Dragon’s Rage Channeler
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card into your graveyard.)
Delirium — As long as there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, this creature gets +2/+2, has flying, and attacks each combat if able.
or a flipped
Delver of Secrets
Delver of Secrets
At the beginning of your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. You may reveal that card. If an instant or sorcery card is revealed this way, transform this creature.
. This is because the Creature you target gains Reach, allowing you to ambush a Flying attacker out of nowhere.
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Other Decks Playing Legolas’s Quick Reflexes
It’s clear that Legolas’s Quick Reflexes has made a big impact on Dark Depths combo decks. In Sunday’s Magic Online Legacy Challenge, three Depths combo decks made top 32, all of which made great use of Legolas’s Quick Reflexes. These aren’t the only decks making use of the powerful Instant, however.
Unsurprisingly, the card is an immediate staple for Legacy Infect lists that were already making use of protection spells like Vines of Vastwood. Split Second pairs exceptionally well with pump spells like Invigorate, helping ensure you can go for the kill without getting blown out.
Legolas’s Quick Reflexes is also seeing some play in Legacy Elves decks. Protecting your important Elves can be nice in a deck that relies on Gaea’s Cradle to make mana. There are also some shenanigans that can be had with cards like
Nettle Sentinel
Nettle Sentinel
This creature doesn't untap during your untap step.
Whenever you cast a green spell, you may untap this creature.
and Birchlore Rangers in play.
For example, you can cast Legolas’s Quick Reflexes targeting Nettle Sentinel, untapping it. Then, you can tap Sentinel and another Elf to make a mana, dealing two damage to an opposing Creature in the process. If you use that mana to cast an Elf, Nettle Sentinel will untap once again. Now you can tap Nettle Sentinel and the new Elf to make another mana, dealing two damage to an opposing Creature yet again. With enough Elves to cast in hand or a
Glimpse of Nature
Glimpse of Nature
Whenever you cast a creature spell this turn, draw a card.
to keep things rolling, you may be able to have Nettle Sentinel do a great Plague Wind impression. Legolas’s Quick Reflexes is simply an amazing card and is likely to remain a Legacy staple for the foreseeable future.
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