This Week in Legacy: Boom Baby! Legacy's Back!
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 going to be talking all about the post ban Legacy world and how much fun it is! In addition to that, we've got the first two Challenge events in this brave new world to talk about, as well as our Spice Corner!
Let's get right to it!
Everything is Awesome! Everything is Cool When Oko is Gone!
We're a week into the new world of Legacy, and the responses I've seen from the community has been highly positive. A lot of people who have been away from the format this year are starting to come back and getting their feet wet in the new world of Legacy. Things are looking on the up and up, so let's dive right into some of the early hits of this post-ban format.
Uro is Still Powerful, but Feels More Like a Choice
Uro has still proven to be an exceptionally powerful card in this early format, primarily in both BUG and Bant Control/Midrange variants. Uro is definitely a very powerful threat, but at this point, it feels more like a choice to play it as there are other color combinations outside of UGx that are available, which is fantastic. If you're in either of these colors (BUG or Bant) it is definitely a thing to be playing. What is great about these decks is that they're treating Uro more as a finisher+ramp option, which is cool.
It is also interesting to consider that Uro could see places in decks like Lands (given the number of lands the deck runs on average it seems like a good thing) and 4C Loam decks because of the number of lands + the fact that it works so well with their Turn one Mox Diamond + Chalice plans.
I do expect we'll continue to see Uro be a more dominant force in the metagame going forward, and I do think it does end up being one of the premier threats of the format, but I also expect that the fact that there are other color combinations worth playing will help temper it.
Other Control Archetypes are Viable
This past week also saw a lot of people trying out various color combinations for control/midrange decks such as Grixis, Jeskai, and even Esper Control variants. This is great, as diversity within the control archetypes is a beautiful thing. Let's take a look at how some of these lists are shaking out.
Grixis Control being back is very powerful and fun, with cards like Kolaghan's Command being around yet again. I am loving the concept of bringing in cards like Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger into these lists and I would love to see a further evolution of utilizing this card as Grixis' similar finisher to Uro.
Stoneblade! Legitimate Esper Stoneblade! This deck also got some newer cards in both Kaya and Teferi as well as stuff like Cling to Dust. I expect we can now see a greater return of Stoneblade decks in general without seeing Stoneforge become an Elk.
Jeskai Mentor Miracles! This is a deck that somewhat existed for a small while utilizing Dreadhorde Arcanist with Mentor, but now we can play the Mentor plan with the Miracles plan as well. Also Counterbalance and Predict is pretty wildly interesting.
It is cool to see how we've seen some of these control lists diversify yet again and I expect to continue to see more of this in the future of this format.
Delver Still Good News at 14
Delver is obviously still going to be a good strategy because the playstyle is popular with a lot of people and it has a very high set of skill associated with it. Losing Arcanist however was definitely a big blow to the deck, which creates a great opportunity for counterplay versus the deck as well. As far as variants are concerned both Grixis Delver and U/R Delver are good, but not exceptionally overpowering. This is exciting overall because we kind of see Delver return to an era of how it existed prior to War of the Spark where Delver was popular but not the best deck in the format, which is a fantastic place to be.
I also think that RUG Delver has a possible ability to still be played because of cards like Hooting Mandrills and majorly Klothys, God of Destiny (and has shown up in some of the events this past week as well). BUG Delver also has shown up as well, presenting a solid diversity in the Delver shells overall which is beautiful.
Let's take a look at some Grixis Delver.
I'm really very excited to see how Delver continues to function but I don't believe it will be the best deck in this new format. It will be good for sure, but it won't be actually absurd (at least until the next FIRE card comes along!).
Combo Combo Combo!
As obviously noted last week combo is definitely a big winner of this particular set of bannings simply because the combo decks didn't take a hit in the banning on any cards. One thing I didn't quite expect however was a real resurgence of decks like Ad Nauseam Tendrils (ANT).
It's super cool to see ANT back in some capacity and not only that, but doing well too. I have a real soft spot for ANT as a deck, so I'm real excited to try and get back to Storming again soon.
In addition to ANT, Doomsday continues to be exceptionally good, and I think time will tell on decks like Oops All Spells as to how it fares in the current metagame.
Other combo decks like Elves are also continuing to show up in this past weekend, in the hands of solid pilots like EronRelentless.
Also, of course, there's Sneak and Show, because Sneak and Show.
Chalice Decks are back!
ELDRAZI IS BACK BABY. Yeah, the spaghetti monsters of olden times are definitely back on the menu in regards to the straightforward Eldrazi Stompy variant.
Eldrazi is a solid linear deck that is great aggro, and I think it's great that it is back in some capacity. It's also cool to see decks like Red Prison/Moon Stompy continue to be good as well. It is great to see both Chalice and Blood Moon as a great counterpoint to greedy color pile decks, and definitely exciting.
Fair Decks w/o Cantrip Suites
This for me is one of the biggest things about the recent banning is that fair decks that don't typically use cantrip suites are definitely showing up, such as Maverick.
Maverick got a fair amount of newer cards from the 2019-2020 year from Collector Ouphe to Klothys, God of Destiny so I expect to continue to see more of the deck going forward. In addition to Maverick, decks like Death and Taxes are going to be seen more and more as we go on.
Being able to have a diverse set of options for fair non cantrip decks is great though, and I definitely hope to see more and more of these in the future.
Legacy is GREAT
The biggest thing that I've heard from people thus far even just a week in is that the gameplay of the format is so much better and interesting. People are enjoying the format, and I think that is one of the best things about the format now. There's so much fun to be had with the format, and I am looking ever forward to continuing to cover the format.
Legacy Challenge 2/20
We had our first Challenge of the new post ban world, which thanks to the efforts of the Legacy Data Collection project we had 93 players for this particular Challenge. This is the early morning Saturday event, so this is a fantastic turnout for this event. As always, you can find all of the Top 32 lists for this event right here. Let's dive right into the charts!
This meta looks FANTASTIC. Really just a fun and interesting not to mention a diverse set of decks here. We saw a big return of decks like Stoneblade, BUG Control, Jeskai Control, and the Top 8 of this event legitimately had eight different decks in the Top 8. Let's take a look.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Esper Control | 1st | WhiteFaces |
| Death's Shadow | 2nd | TrueHero |
| U/R Delver | 3rd | kohei1202 |
| ANT | 4th | mac121711 |
| Hogaak | 5th | Ryan100495 |
| Grixis Control | 6th | MomsBasementStreams |
| Jeskai Control | 7th | Baby |
| Doomsday | 8th | SwwampySwamp |
This is exciting stuff for sure and is a super interesting Top 8 with a lot of neat decks. In the end, however, it was our good friend Callum Smith (WhiteFaces, co-host of the Everyday Eternal Podcast) who took down the entire event on Esper Control!
This list is incredibly sweet. Callum has been a big fan of Of One Mind for a very long time, and it's super cool to see how good the card is in this shell. It is enabled very easily between Snapcaster + Strix, but also between Mentor and a Monk token. There's a lot to love about this list and I am definitely digging it. Singleton Vindicate!!
The Second Place finalist was TrueHero on Death's Shadow.
This is definitely a powerful list, and Ethereal Forager is really interesting as a Delve threat for this deck. One piece of tech I really like is the sideboard copy of Contentious Plan to be used against Chalice decks (by proliferating the Chalice counters to two).
Also in the Top 8 we had a Top 4 showing by ANT!
This is a solid list and really well built. Usually, we see some number of Wishclaw Talisman, but I don't think it's heavily needed. This is super old school and I dig it.
Also in the Top 8 we had Grixis Control!
Hymn! Kommand! Liliana! Yeah, all the hits are here from this type of deck, and it's very powerful still. Also it's great to get used to seeing Jace, the Mind Sculptor again in the format.
Outside of the Top 8 we had a solid showing by Jeskai Standstill featuring Kaheera, the Orphanguard!
This is a super clean cut list and really interesting. Kaheera is merely just a free 3/2 with vigilance and that's super amusing in general. Moat in this deck is superb though for all the flying Sharks. Excited to see this deck continuing to do well, as Shark Typhoon is one of my favorite cards of the past year.
Further down the Top 32 we had a showing by BUG Stiflenought.
This deck is neat as an Uro deck because both Stifle and Torpor Orb let you cast Uro on curve without having to sacrifice it, which is as absurd as putting a 12/12 Trample into play for two mana. Scroll of Fate is also a super cool card that can also manifest an Uro and flip it. Neat deck all around for sure.
Legacy Challenge 2/21
Our second Challenge event of the weekend had 118 players in it, which is pretty great overall! Definitely a lot of people interested in checking out the new Legacy format for sure. You can find all of the Top 32 lists from this event right here. Let's take a look at the charts.
U/R Delver ate up a bit of metagame space here at a little over 10% of the overall metagame, but honestly looking at everything showing up in this event this is a great look. Delver is always going to be popular to a lot of people, but the deck doesn't look insane or look like it has no counterplay to it. There's a lot you can do versus it again and that is a great space for Delver to be in.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Sneak and Show | 1st | JPA93 |
| BUG Delver | 2nd | silviawataru |
| Doomsday | 3rd | monkeyscantcry |
| Sneak and Show | 4th | mizu1015 |
| Death and Taxes | 5th | shiromuni |
| Elves | 6th | EronRelentless |
| Death and Taxes | 7th | IsolatedSystem |
| ANT | 8th | damatoexp |
What a really interesting Top 8 here. A few combo decks, a few fair decks and some police decks in D&T. Really interesting stuff overall. At the end of the event however, it was the crushing power of the one and only JPA93 to take it all down, going 10-0 overall in the event and never dropping a single match. What a machine!
Not only is this list just super clean, but it's also a very early pre-FIRE Sneak and Show list as admitted by JPA93 on Twitter. Just run back an oldie but goodie and go with that! Insane!
The Second Place finalist was BUG Delver!
BUG Delver seems like a good place to put Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath as the deck always has been a little more midrangey in the past with its threats. Creeping Tar Pit in the main is a pretty cool inclusion.
Also in the Top 8 we had a showing by Doomsday. This is a deck that had a slight hit from the bannings due to the fact that many of the lists were including sideboard plans of boarding into Dreadhorde Arcanist. But, one can never keep a good Doomsday down and now it's back to kick some butt.
I was advised that I should point out the Demonic Lore in the sideboard here. Seems like a super interesting card for sure.
Also in the Top 8 we had a showing by Reclaimer Elves!
This list looks really powerful and clean. I know for a fact that our good friend Newton Hang of Elves fame was involved in the creation of this, and it certainly seems to have done well. EronRelentless is also a really solid Elves player, so it's cool to see them continue to do well with the deck!
Outside of the Top 8 we had a showing by a very interesting BUG Collected Company deck.
A few of these lists I've seen around also have a copy of Maralen of the Mornsong in it as well which I'm a little surprised to not see here given how powerfully ridiculous that is with Opposition Agent. Still, an opponent playing CoCo into both Hullbreacher and Agent seems incredibly powerful and fun.
Also down the Top 32 we had a Painter build running the Day's Undoing combo.
Having basically a second two-card combo seems rather strong for sure. This is a neat list and looks like a lot of fun.
Even further down the Top 32 we had a showing by a deck we can only call Giant Stompy. It's a take on Mono Red Prison, but it has a bunch of Giants in it!
Calamity Bearer seems absolutely insane with all the other stuff running around this deck. Really just a sweet list all around!
Around the Web
- I did a video! Last week I took the opportunity to stream in post ban Legacy world a really sweet deck in 5C Warrior Tribal w/ the deck's creator Colron Chambers (@Paragon249). Be sure to check it out over here!
- It's the Eldrazi Showdown!
- 90sMTG had on two powerful wizards, masters of their craft in Bryant Cook and Thomas Hepp. Check out this Legendary matchup here.
- Phil Gallagher had a sweet Bant Ephemerate list that looks really sweet. Check that out here.
- The Party on Endor, But About Oko - by the one and only Eternal Durdles (this episode is grand, and the opening song is even moreso)
- Max Gilmore had a great article over on MinMaxBlog about why Dreadhorde Arcanist had to go (for those that were still wondering). Check that out here.
- THE KINGS ARE DEAD, LONG LIVE LEGACY!
The Spice Corner
We're starting off this week with a little Grixis Phoenix! This deck is pretty cool and got a new toy in the form of Sprite Dragon.
ICE STATION ZEBRA!
This Esper RIP/Helm list is sweet, even going so far to include Court of Cunning as a backup win condition. Also, Humility! What year is it?!
APEX DEVASTATOR.
This list is super sweet. Sort of like a Bant Loam + Control variant. Really cool list all around.
What I'm Playing This Week
I'm still on the Karn Echo train until something else piques my interest. This deck has been a lot of fun for me and seems really interesting and strong post ban, so I'm going to keep at it!
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 Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and Patreon! In addition I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the /r/MTGLegacy Discord Server and subreddit.
Until next time!
