This Week in Legacy: A Brand New 2025
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of This Week in Legacy! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're living in the futuristic world of 2025! It's our first article of the year, so we're going to take a look at what 2025 may bring us for Legacy. In addition to that, I've got a small note about Legacy Round Tables to share, Challenges from last week, and a Super Qualifier to cover!
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
The Year Ahead - 2025
We're here! It's 2025! I'm writing this in the past! Okay, now that we've got that excitement out of the way, let's talk about the year ahead. Legacy is definitely going to be interesting this year, so let's talk about the sets and things that we should be keeping an eye on.
First Half of 2025 - Aetherdrift, Tarkir, and Final Fantasy (Oh and Innistrad Remastered)
The first half of 2025 is definitely poised to be very interesting. Right off the bat we have Innistrad Remastered in January, and while this is a set with a bunch of reprints, the big thing for Legacy here is the fact that this set will have a bunch of retro frame reprints as well. One card that would probably be pretty sweet to get reprinted in retro frame? Delver of Secrets. This is very much one of the big cards that's shaped Legacy for a long time so having it a retro frame would be super sweet. Given that we've already seen a retro frame DFC in Huntmaster of the Fells, the possibility of seeing Delver is very high.
February we get to cross multiple planes with Aetherdrift. I don't know that this set will have a huge impact on Legacy, but Standard sets have been having a bit more impact than normal and there's always Commander decks coming with these sets that have the possibility to shake things up. Specifically one of those decks is focused on the Energy mechanic, which given what we got in Modern Horizons 3 could add some more support to Energy for Legacy.
March 2025 brings us the next Banned and Restricted Announcement. We're not going to be really fully understanding what this will look like until we've got a bit more data on the format.
The next big Standard set of the year is Tarkir Dragonstorm. The only thing we really know about this set at this point is that it will focus on three color wedges just like Khans of Tarkir. Tarkir also delivered some really powerful cards to Legacy originally, such as banned hits like Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise, so its possible that this set could give us something as well.
The contentious thing about the first half of 2025 is our first ever Universes Beyond set that will be Standard legal, and that is based around Final Fantasy. This is contentious simply because it's a Universes Beyond set. UB sets in general and their legality being available in Legacy has always been very contentious, due in part heavily to sets like Lord of the Rings and cards like Orcish Bowmasters and The One Ring. One thing I think will be nice about UB sets in Standard is I do feel like it will cut down heavily on these kinds of cards due to needing to go through Standard design principles. We may see the occasional card as we've noted that Standard sets have had something interesting usually, but for the most part, since UB seems like something Wizards is going to pursue then pursuing it through Standard seems like a great idea.
Second Half of 2025 - Edge of Eternities, Spider-Man
The Second Half of 2025 is a lot murkier, but I expect these are all things that we'll get more information about at Magic Con Chicago in February, since they tend to do big panels on these kinds of things. The first big set of the second half of 2025 is Edge of Eternities. This is a big space-themed set and we don't know that much more about it than other sets in this space.
I think the biggest set of the second half of 2025 is the Spider-Man set in Standard. This is the first big set for Universes Beyond with crossovers into Marvel based properties, and I expect we'll see a lot of the same design principles we'll see in Final Fantasy. My general take on UB sets is one more focused on the cards and their mechanics, not so much on their lore unless it is something I really love. Fallout was huge for me, because I'm a huge Fallout fan. Lord of the Rings was less so for me, because that property doesn't hit as hard for me as it does for others, but I still found interesting things with the cards themselves. Spider-Man is a big favorite of mine, so I'll be certainly looking forward to this set.
The final big set of 2025 is an unknown Universes Beyond set. Again, I expect we'll see more information about this in February at Magic Con Chicago.
Overall 2025 looks to be an interesting ride with our first journey into UB sets in Standard, but I think Legacy will continue to weather these changes like it always has.
Legacy Round Tables
So, I did receive some interesting feedback last week about Legacy Round Tables. Part of this feedback was centered around curating participants for these articles, so I wanted to basically address how we do these things. Generally how I set these up is that I put out a post on a social media platform asking for players/content creators, etc to participate in a Round Table article. For regular Round Table articles, I try to keep this number low to around 10 participants. For EOY Round Tables I cast a wider net than this because it has been my experience that deadlines can be difficult for some folks, and EOY is a weird rough time for a lot of people. In a lot of cases, I will post on various Discords asking for participation as well. The cases where I directly ask someone are generally ones where they had tried to participate in a previous one and couldn't for some reason or another.
I do this in order to generally keep things rather fair and to keep things spread out between both players and content creators. Not everyone who participates in these articles is a content creator. Some of them are just players who wish to express their opinions. I like this spread because it also lets people see what people who are not content creators are thinking about the format as well.
If I went in deep and curated lists of content creators for every one of these articles, I'd be accused of favoritism and not showcasing the experience of a regular player. On this end, I'm told that I'm allowing people who have unhinged opinions to share their thoughts. I'm going to be really clear here about this. The majority of the players in this format have at least one unhinged opinion about Legacy and what it means to them. Legacy means a lot of things to a lot of different players, generally based on when one started in the format. Having gone through and re-read every response (and I read every response) I don't fully believe that there were as many insane opinions among the participants from last week's Round Table, but also at the end of the day they are just opinions.
All of this is to say that yes, I've heard the feedback, and I'm not going to be 100% changing my process on how I gather participants on this, but I will be revising slightly some of rules I have for participating to try to find a sort of a happy medium. I will also be working closely with some of the people who've worked on past Round Tables to gather more feedback from those folks. There's always opportunities to grow, but I wish to keep the participation in these things fair so that many different spectrums have a chance to participate in them.
Legacy Super Qualifier 12/26/2024
Just a day after Christmas in the US, we had a Legacy Super Qualifier event on Magic Online! This is a Premier Play event where the Top 4 receives an invitation to a tabletop Regional Championship event! This event had 212 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Legacy Data Collection Project, which was a superb amount of players!
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Eldrazi was exceptionally represented here, just a bit over UR Delver. Eldrazi's win rate was very solid as well, while UR Delver had a subpar win rate despite a Top 8 finish. Of the most represented decks though, Red Stompy's win rate was a crazy 70.73% non-mirror with just 12 pilots. Of the Nadu decks (because I know people are intrigued), the Midrange versions did poorly overall while the Natural Order Combo versions did very well with a 61.11% non-mirror win rate on 10 pilots. Cephalid Breakfast also suffered a bit.
For the first big event after the bannings, the thing I'm least surprised to see here is Red Stompy climbing to the top. One big reason for that is that people gravitating to Eldrazi/Nadu, both of which have really greedy manabases. This makes them heavily susceptible to Blood Moon and friends, and Red Stompy's clock these days is no longer Goblin Rabblemaster, but heavily accelerated threats like Broadside Bombardiers and Pyrogoyf. This to me makes Red Stompy a very clear winner here in the early post-ban metagame.
UR Delver's numbers look interesting enough, but the deck (which is UR splashing two Questing Druid) didn't really seem to have the velocity in this event. To that point, even Grixis Delver looked really medium in this event. Dimir Tempo had smaller numbers but looked great still even without Psychic Frog. I think it's going to take some time for the Tempo decks to figure out who is the best at being the Tempo deck, and that's a reasonable place to be with Legacy.
Is this healthy though? I think we're going to need more time and hopefully, more events like this to tell.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
---|---|---|
Red Stompy | 1st | SiL3nTGoaT |
Eldrazi | 2nd | FranMtg |
Dimir Tempo | 3rd | Ark4n |
Nadu Natural Order Combo | 4th | MentalMisstep |
Eldrazi | 5th | Killah_SUV |
Red Stompy | 6th | _Shatun_ |
UR Delver | 7th | PierrePoilievre2025 |
Gruul Stompy | 8th | canepis16 |
Quite a Top 8 here. Lot of Ancient Tomb decks overall, with some Tempo and Nadu sprinkled in. It is worth also pointing out a Gruul Initiative Stompy at the bottom of the Top 8, for sure. At the end of the event, it was Red Stompy that won.
As previously noted, this deck's amount of haymakers now are all just big threats that end the game quickly, whether that's Bombardiers, Goyf, or Caves of Chaos Adventurer. This list also has Karn thrown in for good measure. Adding in The One Ring to this deck was also quite huge in allowing this deck to not only draw a lot of cards but also stop opposing decks from being able to hurt them for a turn while they have another turn to do some bigger damage. It's a solid game plan, and I think it will be a deck to continue to watch going forward.
In Second Place we had Eldrazi.
Eldrazi didn't have a lot of changes after the bans really. The deck's core was already pretty solid with Mycospawn and Fleshraker being the major pieces that give the deck a lot of velocity. One interesting note about this list is the presence of a single Mox Diamond, which is cool. This is certainly another deck for players to understand and keep an eye on, but I suspect that an uptick in Red Stompy may push some changes to the sideboards of this deck to try to compensate against those matchups.
Legacy Challenge 32 12/25/2024
The first Challenge event of the week was on Christmas in the US! According to the MTGO website, this event had 63 players in it.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
---|---|---|
UR Delver | 1st | _INF_ |
Jeskai Control | 2nd | GuiBonella |
Nadu Midrange Combo | 3rd | ecobaronen |
Nadu Midrange Combo | 4th | Tixis |
Eldrazi | 5th | musasabi |
UB Reanimator | 6th | Capitano_CL |
Eldrazi | 7th | Killah_SUV |
Gruul Stompy | 8th | NMT_Sco94 |
Very interesting Top 8 here. Some Nadu, some Tomb decks, and Reanimator. At the end of the event it was UR Delver that won.
One thing I like here is getting to dig deep onto sideboard cards like Price of Progress. I really like this as an option because of how prevalent Ancient Tomb decks are, but also because of Nadu decks. Again, both of these are decks that have very greedy manabases because they need to be able to cast their spells (Eldrazi with colorless, Nadu with stuff like Teferi, Nadu itself, etc.) so exploiting those manabases is a great way to beat those decks. Price is a very good way to exploit Tomb manabases for sure because more than likely their Tombs will be hurting them enough that a single Price may put them out of the game.
In Second Place we had Jeskai Control.
The three Lotus Petal sitting in the main deck immediately jumped out at me on this list. Kind of nutty, and I like it. Being able to accelerate your mana a little and cheat on that mana is one of the core tenets of Legacy really, so having that in a Control deck may seem weird, but it's not so weird to consider. Would love to be able to deploy Teferi, Time Raveler Turn 1 or 2 with Force backup. Seems kind of great.
Legacy Challenge 32 12/27/2024
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 52 players in it according to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
---|---|---|
The EPIC Gamble | 1st | TonyScapone |
Red Stompy | 2nd | AndyOver |
Oops! All Spells | 3rd | SkullClampMTG |
Red Stompy | 4th | SuperCow12653 |
Doomsday | 5th | wonderPreaux |
Red Painter | 6th | kanican |
Eldrazi | 7th | Killah_SUV |
Nadu Natural Order Combo | 8th | SoulStrong |
Again a lot of Ancient Tomb, given that 5/8 of the Top 8 are all playing it in some capacity. At the end of the event it was The EPIC Gamble that won.
As the originator of the EPIC Gamble himself, I am not super surprised to see TonyScapone doing well. This deck does a lot of powerful things with a ton of fast mana and can spin out a game like nobody's business.
In Second Place we had Red Stompy.
This version is more leaning harder on the Moon effects, with a full four each of Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon. This seems quite good to me in continuing to exploit the manabases of the top decks.
Legacy Challenge 32 12/28/2024 - 1
The third Challenge event of the week was the first Saturday event. This event had 49 players in it according to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
---|---|---|
Red Stompy | 1st | Applepies96 |
Eldrazi | 2nd | Jumba |
Eldrazi | 3rd | MatheusPonciano |
UR Delver | 4th | _INF_ |
UR Delver | 5th | ecobaronen |
Dimir Tempo | 6th | pepeteam |
Lands | 7th | alli |
Sneak and Show | 8th | 2plus2isfive |
Some Tomb decks, some Tempo, some Combo. At the end of the event it was again Red Stompy that won.
Not much to really say about this list that we haven't already said this article. This is the same list as the previous event's Second Place list. Having a stock list is great for winning, not so much for talking innovation unfortunately. But at the same time, if it's not broke, don't fix it!
In Second Place we had Eldrazi.
I like this version with The One Ring. I think most Stompy decks at least want to be playing at least two copies of this card. Having a way to draw a bunch of cards while gaining protection for a turn is severely great for a deck that plays a land that deals two damage when it taps.
Legacy Challenge 32 12/28/2024 - 2
The fourth Challenge event of the week was the second Saturday event. This event had 42 players in it according to the data collected by the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the datasheet here.
Red Stompy was the most popular deck in the event, but it's overall win rate was right on the middle line. UR Delver looked great here, while Eldrazi did not. Nadu Midrange Combo also rode the middle of the line as well.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
---|---|---|
UR Delver | 1st | Lord_Beerus |
Aluren | 2nd | otaba |
Sneak and Show | 3rd | SireOfMana |
Nadu Midrange Combo | 4th | SHAKELION |
Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 5th | BaconLettuceTomato |
Red Stompy | 6th | Munchlax446 |
UB Reanimator | 7th | Yukke |
High Tide | 8th | hughmann |
This is probably the most diverse Top 8 I've seen out of this past week's Top 8s. I like it. Shout out to High Tide in the bottom spot (you'll see that one later), but for now the winner was UR Delver.
The interesting flop here is the switch from a full four Delver to only two, and four copies of Questing Druid. This is still not enough to make this RUG Delver for me since it's very much still just a splash (with no other green cards), but it's a neat development.
In Second Place we had ALUREN?!?!
Getting to see what new cards do to decks that have not been around in a hot minute is very cool. Flare of Denial showing up here is quite sweet, but so is Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student. Having a way to win outside of your main win con is always great, and Tamiyo does sort of represent a pretty insane clock with her ultimate. I'm loving seeing Aluren at the tail end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. Let's see some more, please!
Legacy Challenge 32 12/29/2024
The final Challenge event of the week was the Sunday event. This event had 74 players in it according to the data collected by the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
UR Delver was super popular here, but it's overall win rate was quite low despite a Top 8 finish. Eldrazi also finished under the 50% mark. In fact, a number of the decks that were super popular didn't do too hot, but Sneak and Show and Oops did.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
---|---|---|
Death and Taxes (Yorion) | 1st | Cena |
Esper Control | 2nd | Iwouldliketorespond |
UR Delver | 3rd | kentaro_hokori |
Sneak and Show | 4th | SuperCow12653 |
Oops! All Spells | 5th | oskiyaa |
ANT | 6th | DemonicTutors |
UR Delver | 7th | toplop |
RUG Cascade | 8th | M_4 |
TFW you're the lone D&T player in a 74 player event and you win the whole thing? 90% win rate amirite?
One of the big additions to Yorion BW D&T lately has been Overlord of the Balemurk. The slick thing you can do with this card is put it into play for 1B as an Enchantment, get to mill four and get a creature back, and THEN you get to blink it with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd to turn it into a 5/5 creature and do the same thing. The power of this is really quite good for sure. Also, cards like Phantom Blade being blinked by Phelia is just gross. Really just about anything with Phelia is great. Good doggy.
In Second Place we had Esper Control.
Incredibly clean-looking list here. Staff of the Storyteller coming back is really cool, but also Urza's Saga in a control shell with Lorien Revealed fills me with a happy giddy. This list looks fun for sure.
Around the Web
- Infect is back and Fenruscloud is here for it. Check it out here.
- StrassDaddy is getting more value out of Fury. Check it out here.
- Ecobaronen has a video on a Top 8 Challenge with Grixis Delver. Check it out here.
- Eternal Durdles is talking about their year in review. Check it out here.
- TonyScapone is Mystic Forging. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
I did mention HIGH TIDE.
RHINOS.
Actual Factual TRON.
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for continuing to support the column and join us next week as we continue our journey into Legacy!
As always you can reach me at all my associated links via my Link Tree! In addition I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the MTGLegacy Discord Server.
Until next time!