This Week in Legacy: Crawling Out Through the Fallout
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 talking all about Fallout Commander being released to Magic Online! In addition to that we've got a bunch of Challenge data to discuss.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Fallout on MTGO
We very recently last week got the release of the Fallout Commander decks on Magic Online! This set had a very short list overall of very interesting cards for it, with the biggest update being a huge bonus to Death and Taxes in the form of Pre-War Formalwear.
The power of this card in the D&T shell is incredibly high, and by far it's one of the best cards in this entire set for Legacy. In paper we've seen this show up quite a bit in D&T, and now that it's available on MTGO we can really get a great sense of the magnitude of this card's impact on the shell. What makes this card very powerful here is the fact that it works insanely well with cards like Flickerwisp. Getting back a Flickerwisp with a Pre-War Formalwear is a very strong play, as you're going to be able to flicker the PFW and use it to get back another card on an end step, something like Recruiter of the Guard or even another Stoneforge Mystic to get another PFW out of the deck. It's versatile and allows for really sweet tricks.
I expect to definitely see a nice resurgence of D&T as a deck on MTGO mainly due in part to the fact that the deck will be more 1-for-1 comparison to paper, and that is something D&T players definitely desire to have. PFW is also showing up in decks like Stoneblade, which seems super sweet there as well.
Outside of Pre-War Formalwear, as you will see by our Spice Corner today we did find at least one Curie, Emergent Intelligence, but beyond that the results sofar from some of the other notable Fallout cards has been limited. Lumbering Megasloth was certainly touted as being very interesting for Depths decks (and I myself will be streaming with it this week), and also Radstorm seemed to spur some conversation as well.
Speaking of Radstorm, I did stream with it this past week to see how I felt about the card in a High Tide shell. My estimation of the shell overall was that High Tide is still certainly a deck where you need a million reps with to be so good at it that it's second nature and that deck is tough just to pick up and play, and that the overall shell of needing to get to 4-5 lands in play before being able to go off is very difficult in current Legacy. I did make some misplays with the deck for sure.
It will be interesting going forward to see what happens with these cards now that they're on MTGO. I do expect that the best card will remain Pre-War Formalwear though. In addition to all the Fallout stuff, we did also get Clown Car on MTGO finally, but I expect that card to be a little better in Vintage than in Legacy.
Legacy Challenge 32 10/16
The first Challenge event of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 38 players in it thanks 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.
Both Eldrazi and UB Reanimator were super popular and both had strong win rates. The non-mirror win rate of Eldrazi was quite good at 56.10%. Red Stompy fell in the mdidle of the road, while Dimir Tempo fell below the 50% mark by a lot.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| UB Reanimator | 1st | _Batutinha_ |
| Eldrazi | 2nd | HermonHero |
| BR Reanimator | 3rd | Magic_Dads71522 |
| Red Stompy | 4th | Munchlax446 |
| Stiflenought | 5th | LAURI_PROTOUR |
| Eldrazi | 6th | Dr. Jon Osterman |
| Eldrazi | 7th | _J0SE_ |
| Oops! All Spells | 8th | faultedform |
Quite a bit of Eldrazi here. At the end of the event it was UB Reanimator that won.
Seems like the dust settling on Metamorphosis Fanatic has shown that the card is indeed incredibly powerful and that generally three copies is a sweet spot for the card. It's a card that you don't necessarily want to have in your opening hand (especially if you don't have something like a Psychic Frog to pitch it to the graveyard) but you do want to draw it for its Miracle, or you want to be able to Entomb it. It's a pretty common line to cycle Troll of Khazad-dum and use Entomb to find a Fanatic to Reanimate it, getting back both Troll and Fanatic at the same time. Late game, getting back a single Fanatic could swing a board state by getting back other Fanatics, chaining them.
In Second Place we had Eldrazi.
I think we've seen this deck finally settle on an appropriate stock list, with a few flex spots here or there. I really like the addition of The One Ring in these lists. It serves a few purposes, but largely the biggest is being able to draw a bunch of cards because this is a deck that isn't drawing a ton of cards normally. This deck continues to be a super strong addition to the metagame since Modern Horizons 3.
Legacy Challenge 32 10/18
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 43 players in it thanks 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.
Eldrazi and Red Stompy were tied for most popular this go around, as UB Reanimator fell down to third and also had a subpar win rate. Eldrazi's win rate looked great, but Doomsday with only three pilots converted strongly and had a solid win rate.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Doomsday | 1st | monkeyscantcry |
| Golgari Depths | 2nd | DarkDepthsAniki |
| Doomsday | 3rd | Eureka22422 |
| Dimir Tempo | 4th | JoyfulWaffle |
| Stiflenought | 5th | Villela |
| Red Stompy | 6th | SiL3nTGoaT |
| Red Painter | 7th | yapperdoodle |
| Red Stompy | 8th | Mogg_Flunkies |
Bit of Stompy, bit of Tempo, but it was Doomsday that won the event.
The power of both Frog and Tamiyo driving this shift to Doomsday says a lot about the two cards and how well they bolster Doomsday's primary game plan by also being a solid backup plan. Realistically, Doomsday being able to develop a board state with Frog and Tamiyo is several alternate game plans in one and that's just in Game 1. Frog being able to connect helps establish Doomsday's plan of casting Doomsday by drawing more cards to be able to interact with the opponent, while also threatening to just win the game on its own. Tamiyo is a monster of a backup plan, by simply threatening to ultimate, which can be extremely good at making the Doomsday player have far more cards and the ability to go off with Doomsday unimpeded, and likely win that same turn.
In Second Place we had Golgari Depths.
Wildly interesting to see Golgari Depths because frankly it's presence in the overall metagame has been quite low for a while now. Not only is this just straight Turbo Depths, but it is also very old school in its construction. Hexmage, Spirit Guides, even down to Pithing Needle for Wasteland. Even the sideboard is exceptionally old school in cosntruction. Seems quite interesting and pleasantly surprised to see a deck like this do well overall.
Legacy Challenge 32 10/19
The third Challenge of the event was the Saturday morning Challenge. This event had 49 players thanks 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.
UB Reanimator was exceptionally popular and despite a good finish in the Top 8 the overall win rate was brought down a bit. BR Reanimator looked good, as did Dimir Tempo and Red Stompy. Eldrazi also seemed to suffer this go around.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Tempo | 1st | Ark4n |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 2nd | acydcytryk |
| Red Stompy | 3rd | Munchlax446 |
| Red Painter | 4th | RingoDeathStarr |
| Riddlesmith Combo | 5th | Killabee |
| BR Reanimator | 6th | snoopy-magic |
| Sneak and Show | 7th | zhinonono |
| UB Reanimator | 8th | Bezerra_da_Silva |
Quite an interesting Top 8 here. As noted, UB Reanimator did have a finish here, but it was straight Dimir Tempo that won.
A big thing to note here is the presence of main deck Nihil Spellbomb. It is a wildly interesting shift for these kinds of decks as not only are they using it to enable more card types for Nethergoyf but also it's just a solid card versus the ongoing amount of UB Reanimator in the format overall. It simply makes a lot of sense to have. Also we're seeing some adoption of Kaito, Bane of Nightmares. This card is exceptionally interesting because it is very easy to enable its Ninjutsu ability, as cards like Tamiyo alone fly and are generally unblocked when they attack for the most part. Being able to make a clue with Tamiyo and then Ninjutsu her and recast her is pretty cool since it turns Tamiyo's normally zero damage overall into three points of damage and then you also get to surveil that turn. I like it.
In Second Place we had Mystic Forge Combo.
The biggest set of changes to this deck were both Glaring Fleshraker and Vexing Bauble for sure. While Kozilek's Command is obviously insane for the deck as well, the primary two are responsible a lot for improving the quality of this deck's openings. The big thing is that Vexing Bauble just enabling you to be able to combo off without dealing with opposing Forces is very nice and it makes those blue matchups very, very good.
Sideboard-wise, while the Karn board is absolutely present, having backup disruptive effects like Defense Grid is super strong, but the biggest addition is Argentum Masticore. This deck has a lot of ways that it loses to things like Null Rod and Collector Ouphe, and Masticore is a threat that can swing in as a 5/5 with first strike but then also can deal with those cards through its upkeep trigger.
Legacy Challenge 32 10/20
The fourth Challenge of the week was the Sunday 32-player event. This event had 41 players in it thanks 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, and UB Reanimator was actually fourth here. Red Stompy's win rate was just above 50%. Eldrazi also had a solid win rate here, as did Jeskai Control.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mystic Forge Combo | 1st | Trohck |
| Esper Stoneblade | 2nd | Maxtortion |
| Red Stompy | 3rd | oOMegaGenesis |
| UB Reanimator | 4th | Capriccioso |
| Eldrazi | 5th | _J0SE_ |
| Jeskai Control | 6th | BearClaw9 |
| Dimir Tempo | 7th | _Batutinha_ |
| Red Stompy | 8th | _INF_ |
Fairly diverse Top 8 overall. At the end of the event it was Mystic Forge Combo that won again.
One other thing to note about this deck is the fact that while the deck still does utilize Mystic Forge, the numbers of that card have slowly dwindled to around two-three copies overall in most lists. I've even seen some lists without any copies because of just how good The One Ring is at drawing cards with Paradox Engine. It will be interesting to track what this deck evolves to long term.
In Second Place we had Esper Stoneblade.
We talked about Fallout earlier here, but seeing some great results out of Pre-War Formalwear is superb. This is a solid-looking list. Getting to see cards like Jace and Snapcaster again is super cool, and Psychic Frog is a perfect threat for this kind of deck. Getting back a Snapcaster with Pre-War Formalwear seems insanely sweet, especially doing it at instant speed with Stoneforge Mystic to flashback a Brainstorm or Swords to Plowshares.
Legacy Challenge 64 10/20
The final Challenge of the week was the Sunday 64 player event. This event had 80 players in it thanks 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.
UB Reanimator was the most popular deck of the event, and it's win rate was very very good at around 58.93% non-mirror. Eldrazi didn't do too hot here, but Red Stompy did well as did Dimir Tempo. Mystic Forge also continued its streak of being very good.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mystic Forge Combo | 1st | Chris_McNasty |
| UB Reanimator | 2nd | ecobaronen |
| Riddlesmith Combo | 3rd | Killabee |
| UB Reanimator | 4th | r0cknation |
| UB Reanimator | 5th | shz1 |
| Mono Green Cloudpost | 6th | TrueFuturism |
| UB Reanimator | 7th | Bezerra_da_Silva |
| Omni-Tell | 8th | ScreenwriterNY |
It's super huge that Mystic Forge has had such a strong weekend as it won yet another Legacy Challenge.
This particular list is on a full four Mystic Forge, but it's also playing some main deck Defense Grid. I also find the addition of Talon Gates of Madara so very interesting, because the deck does generate a bunch of mana very quickly and being able to drop a Talon Gates into play at instant speed is definitely a solid play.
In the sideboard, cards like Disruptor Flute are a strong addition. Having flash and being able to shut off various spells is really nice.
In Second Place we had UB Reanimator.
One of the cards that we started to see a lot of at the tail end of the Grief metagame was copies of Dark Betrayal in decks. Well, surprise! Two more copies of Dark Betrayal are here in the sideboard, in addition to a copy of Shoot the Sheriff. These cards are very efficient at what they are targeted at, being able to hit opposing Fanatics and opposing Trolls.
My Video of the Week
I've got another edition of "What Does This Deck Do?" this week. This time we're talking about Cephalid Breakfast! I've really enjoyed these small bite-sized videos for sure.
Around the Web
- Maxtortion posted a video on Esper Stoneblade with his Challenge win. Check it out here.
- Eternal Glory Podcast has a new episode on EW Asia. Check it out here.
- JamesKisau posted a Ponder-less Ninjas video. Check it out here.
- StrassDaddy is Mavericking. Check it out here.
- Eternal Durdles had on a Doomsday expert. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
Stiflenought with Curie, Emergent Intelligence!
VERY GOYF. MUCH */*+1. MUCH WOW.
8Mulch is sweet. Haven't seen that one in a while.
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!
