Legacy Brew: A Selesnya Depths Build with Abundant Growth
Legacy brews thrive when a neglected card becomes the centre of a precise plan. Selesnya Depths combines Rootbound Depths with a white-green creature base, turning creature power into both mana access and card selection. The deck is not defined by huge lords or one mandatory combo; it is a measured midrange shell that treats thresholds, timing and one-card bursts as resources.
Abundant Growth is the bridge. For two mana it adds a +1/+1 counter and draws a card when its target is a permanent; its buyback allows another casting for three more. That flexibility lets one card fix mana, satisfy a power requirement and reward a player who can keep a threat. It can also clog a hand, so the build needs creatures and mana support rather than four copies of everything.
Why Rootbound Depths changes the plan
Rootbound Depths is a colorless land that adds green or white. It enters tapped unless you control a creature with power 4 or greater. With a power 5 creature available, it gains surge, revealing a creature card with mana value 5 or less from the top three cards of your library.
That threshold turns creature power into a second resource. Loxodon Hierarch and Knight of Autumn are natural 4-power bodies, while Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves supplies a 3/3 and a 2/2 Wolf. Abundant Growth can push one body over a threshold without committing the deck to expensive lords or a permanent combo.
Depths consequently asks when to deploy a threat, not merely whether one is good. An early Hierarch can make a land untapped; a pumped 5-power creature can turn that land into a card-selection spell. The plan rewards players who sequence threats before locations and keep one useful body in reserve.
Making Abundant Growth earn its slots
Growth can behave like a cantrip by targeting a mana creature such as Llanowar Elves: the permanent remains, so the spell draws a card. That is better when the Elf can pay for a later threat, and worse when the player spends a turn drawing cards the deck cannot cast.
Buying Growth back costs three mana on top of its two-mana casting cost. Recast it before blocks to improve a race, move a creature over 4 or 5 power, or generate another card. The extra mana must be counted honestly; a nominal buyback is often too expensive without a matching payoff.
Elite Vanguard rewards that investment by creating a Spirit for each buyback spell cast that turn. Overwhelmed Archivist offers another angle: Growth is a noncreature spell, allowing Archivist to pay one for another counter and card. Both belong in tested flex slots rather than automatic four-copy packages.
Choosing creatures and protecting the plan
The creature base should mix easy bodies with genuine thresholds. Small mana creatures buy turns, 3-power creatures can become attackers after one Growth, and 4-power creatures immediately improve Rootbound Depths. Avoid a curve made entirely of lords, since their static bonuses do little when the deck needs action before mana is online.
Card selection should help creatures as well as lands. Omen of the Sun provides a Soldier and draws, and its instant nature can trigger Overwhelmed Archivist. Welcoming Spirit can enter as an attacker or tap an opposing land or artifact, giving the midrange shell ways to operate when a normal creature would be removed first.
Matchup planning matters because Legacy punishes a creature deck that only attacks. Against Death’s Shadow, limit hand overflow and keep cheap interaction; against Innistrad, retain a threat that can return; against Faerie, include ways to race or push through flyers. Rootbound is strongest when the board can develop, not when a game is decided before turn four.
Sequencing the engine in a real game
A seventeen-land base needs both stable colours and speed. Yavimaya Cradle of Growth, Temple of Plenty and basic lands help establish green and white, while colour-changing sources protect coloured Growth. Count Rootbound as a late-game mana source because its condition may not be met before the third land.
A clean line begins with a mana creature, uses Growth to draw, then casts Hierarch or another 4-power threat. Once that creature is on the battlefield, a second Growth can make it 5, and Rootbound can enter untapped with surge. Casting the creature a turn late changes both the land and the clock.
Keep one card for a potential 5-power body and another for the turn Rootbound can be deployed. Do not spend both merely to draw cards if the opponent is assembling an early threat. Sideboard decisions should improve the first three turns while preserving the late-game engine.
A practical brewing and local play checklist
The following priorities keep the brew coherent while leaving room for the cards and meta choices that change each season:
- Fix around seventeen lands, including several untapped colour sources, then test every coloured source against the opening hand.
- Prioritise creatures that reach power 4 naturally, with one or two clear routes to power 5.
- Use two to four Abundant Growth copies; every extra copy demands a precise early or late-game payoff.
- Include light interaction and at least one answer to opposing creatures, flyers or token pressure.
- Record untapped lands, Growth targets and win conditions across at least fifteen league games.
For local play, Australian conditions and consumer rules deserve their own checklist:
- Melbourne and Sydney offer dense networks of game stores, while Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth have active scenes that may centre on regional specialist events.
- Friday evenings and weekends are common gathering times, so a city trip can combine league play, a larger event and testing sessions.
- Prices are usually quoted in Australian dollars, and GST, freight and currency conversion can make imported singles dearer than the sticker price.
- Under the Australian Consumer Law, overseen by the ACCC, faulty or damaged cards generally carry replacement, repair or refund rights; keep the listing and delivery evidence.
- Melbourne and Sydney change time during daylight saving, while Brisbane and Perth remain on fixed time zones, so check Twitch and event start times carefully.
When a local group runs Speed Roulette beside Legacy, the site’s Australian roulette tactics provides a useful companion for testing a different decision tree. Pack cards in a rigid mailer or binder and protect sleeves from summer heat.
Compare the pivots, then put the deck in play
Three practical versions define the most useful choices:
| Version | Primary plan | Best use | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Threshold creatures | Develop Hierarch, Knight of Autumn or Archivist, then deploy Rootbound | Games with time and opposing friction | A slow start or awkward early draw |
| Growth engine | Buy Growth back, then use Archivist and light Elite Vanguard support | Tuned creature matchups | Mana and hand pressure |
| Tournament stream | Streamline the shell, cut fragile synergy and keep flexible sideboard slots | Local leagues and short tournaments | Less explosive than the full brew |
The threshold line is the cleanest starting point. Add the engine pieces only after real games show that the deck can cast enough threats and use Rootbound before hand disruption takes over. Check the current Legacy banned list and event policies before locking the exact sixty.
Take the next step by opening The Legacy Pit hub, where tournament coverage, Twitch streams, podcasts and the prebuilt deck library support both testing and community play. Choose one version, record the changes after each event and bring the tuned list back to the next local session.