This Week in Legacy: Five Decks to Play for All Access
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 about five Legacy decks to try out during the next two weeks for the Magic Online All Access period. In addition to that we've got some Challenge data and some paper Magic news.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Five Legacy Decks for All Access Week
As indicated in last week's MTGO announcements we're getting another round of MTGO All Access for two weeks starting on the 23rd of March and running until the 6th of April. To get in on this action, you need a Magic Online account and $25 for one of the Mythic Event Tokens in the MTGO store. This token gives you access to almost every card on Magic Online to play with! There are some Super Qualifiers to go with this two week set, and there's even a Legacy one on Thursday, March 31st at 7:00 AM PST. Keep in mind, you need two of the Mythic Event tokens to enter a Super Qualifier if you want to enter that way (or you can enter with QPs or Play Points as normal).
It's also worth noting that there are certain cards these tokens do not give you access to, primarily Secret Lair product, which means no Stranger Things or Walking Dead cards. In addition to that just some things like certain promos and certain printings of cards (like the old border Power 9) are not available.
I love All Access periods, because they are great ways for players to get to play formats they typically wouldn't get to or decks they wouldn't normally get to play with either for an extremely low buy-in price. As such I thought it would be a great idea to talk about five decks that are great to pick up and try out during this time by buying one of the tokens.
#1 - 8-Cast / Blastoise Stompy
This is a great big deck to try out namely because of how the card Kappa Cannoneer is typically distributed on MTGO, which is via Treasure Chests. Because of this, the Turtle is a bit pricy online, with three of them ranging about close to 300 event tickets (i.e. $300). Being able to access them without paying $300 is a real treat, and it's a good way to get a feel for one of Legacy's newest predominant artifact strategies. Given that this one of the format's more expensive tier decks it's a solid opportunity to play and learn its matchups.
If you aren't convinced yet, the fact that this deck has won several high end events on Magic Online should say something about its power level.
Also because you know, turtle power.
#2 - Jeskai Hullbreacher
This deck has been steadily making itself part of the overall metagame for a bit now, playing off the synergy between Hullbreacher and Day's Undoing to trap the opponent into not having cards and resources to handle the rest of the deck's power. This is a good deck to play to get a feel for where it fails so that one can understand how best to interact with this deck, as it's definitely very popular. There's also few feelings like casting a Hullbreacher and then casting Day's Undoing on your opponent's draw step after having activated Teferi, Time Raveler.
# 3 - UR Delver
The so called King of the Format, it's definitely my firm belief that if you're interested in getting into Legacy then you should play Delver at least once in your career as a Legacy player, if only to further understand the deck and the shell's power level. It is one of the more powerful things to be doing in the format and it also can serve as a great tool to learning the format's interactions because the deck is incredibly interactive with its opponents.
This deck does quite a bit and is solid way to learn a lot about Legacy.
#4 - Lands
On the reverse side of things, Lands is one of the more technical decks of the format and one of the decks best suited to teaching the difference in matchups for your role as either prison, aggression, or combo. There are many deep lines with the deck, and it's definitely worth learning if only again to learn how best to interact with it from the other side of the table. Lands is definitely a difficult deck to pick up, but it is exceptionally rewarding to play games with, and it's certainly a ton of fun as well.
#5 - Grixis Control
One of the old decks made new to the format, Grixis Control has evolved quite a bit from its heyday of casting cards like Kolaghan's Command and Snapcaster Mage. The new kid on the block Hidetsugu Consumes All from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is a super interesting card from a gameplay perspective, and has allowed the deck to also abuse the synergy between Hullbreacher and Day's Undoing as well. Despite these synergistic similarities to the Jeskai Breacher deck, the deck plays out very differently thanks to the power level of the Saga card and removal spells like Fatal Push and Sudden Edict.
Get Out There and Play!
As I said before, All Access weeks provide a lot of opportunity for people to try Legacy and learn the format, and that in of itself makes them greatly worth it even if you never plan to actually play in any of the Super Qualifier events. There is a lot of decks out there to try, and these five aren't the only ones out there, so if you plan on playing then definitely make a trip over to the Legacy metagame page and check out all the decks there!
Paper Event News
First off, we had some paper this past weekend with a Team Constructed event at SCG Con in Indy with Pioneer/Modern/Legacy as well as a Legacy 5K event. I want to give a big shoutout to my pal David Lance, who alongside his teammates Amin Ebady and Joshua Shields took 4th in the Team Constructed event. David is a well known master of Death and Taxes, and you can check out his record and decklist photo over here. Congrats to David, Amin, and Joshua on their finish!
Our second bit of news is regarding a Legacy 1K at Mox Boarding House in Bellevue, WA known as Marchesa 2022 on March 26th-27th. This is a charity event raising money for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Check out all the details for this here.
SCG Con Indy Legacy 5K 3/20
We had a solidly large event this past weekend in one of the SCG Con 5K events from SCG Con Indianapolis. This event had 162 players in it, thanks to the compilation of data by the Legacy Data Collection and the data being available via MTGMelee.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the datasheet here.
Both Delver and 8Cast were solidly represented and had some incredibly strong results. While we did have a bunch of decks we didn't know what they were (likely paper decklists at the event), we have more than enough to get a good picture of the event for sure. Plenty of things did really well, but UR Delver continues to be the deck with a steady strong win rate and the population to boot.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| UR Delver | 1st | Theodore Jung |
| Grixis Control | 2nd | Stephen Lichtenwalter |
| Elves | 3rd | Brandon Carpenter |
| 8Cast | 4th | Rajarshi Kolaventy |
| Burn | 5th | Indomitable |
| 8Cast | 6th | Heath Vance |
| UR Delver | 7th | Alex Rubin |
| UR Delver | 8th | Brady Munroe |
UR Delver put up a fair amount in this Top 8, as did 8Cast and even a Burn list! At the end of the event though it was Theodore Jung, a well-known Delver player on well... UR Delver!
Definitely a solid Delver list by a really powerful player on the deck. Having Mystic Sanctuary in the list is really cool as well. Congrats to Theodore on their finish! You can check out the rest of the decklists using the link above.
Legacy Challenge 3/19
Our first Challenge of the weekend was the early morning Saturday event, which had 45 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.
UR Delver had a strong presence and a solid win rate, but the real conversion rate winner here was ANT with only two copies in the entire event and both copies ending up in the Top 8 of the event, which we will now take a look at.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| ANT | 1st | DemonicTutors |
| UR Delver | 2nd | Baku_91 |
| Painter | 3rd | Ark4n |
| Sneak and Show | 4th | snoopy-magic |
| UR Delver | 5th | Lord_Beerus |
| Mono Green Cloudpost | 6th | into_play |
| ANT | 7th | Pietrone10 |
| Lands | 8th | matyo804 |
Lot going on in this Top 8, and as noted both ANT players ended in the Top 8, with one of those players taking down the entire event!
This is pretty much the list that DemonicTutors has been pushing for some time now and they have been having tons of great success with it for sure. There is a lot of power in the sideboard copies of Malevolent Hermit giving the deck a lot of strong games post-board versus Control and Delver. Definitely a solid list!
In Second Place we had UR Delver.
Seeing Gut Shot come back around made me wonder if we secretly unbanned Ragavan, but the card has a lot of uses versus things like DRC and Delver itself in mirror matches while also having a fairly clean method of answering a card like Thalia. The big hit for me here is the sideboard Counterbalance which is incredibly interesting given the spread of mana values in this kind of deck.
Also in this Top 8 we had some Painter/8Cast build action.
This seems like a solid list. Kappa Cannoneer continues to be pretty powerful, but being able to have very quick games off Painter + Grindstone seems really strong as well.
Moving down the list we have the veritable Tony Murata (into_play) in the Top 8 on Mono Green Cloudpost.
Post definitely can surprise people with how resilient it can be. The biggest reason this deck is as resilient as it is now is primarily due to the existence of Elvish Reclaimer. This is definitely one of Legacy's most powerful creatures in general at the moment, as its flexibility and raw power cannot be denied.
Legacy Challenge 3/20
The second Challenge of the weekend was the Sunday event, which had 88 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.
As expected, UR Delver had the popular vote and a solid performance to boot, while 8Cast came in second and had a solid win rate as well. 4C Control did exceedingly well, as did Death and Taxes.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| 8Cast | 1st | 2jjm |
| Death and Taxes | 2nd | toondoslav |
| Mono Green Cloudpost | 3rd | into_play |
| 4C Control | 4th | roter_Erzengel |
| UR Delver | 5th | i_b_True |
| UR Delver | 6th | Funnyman31399 |
| Black Phoenix | 7th | Bobovic |
| ANT | 8th | twinlesstwin |
Pretty interesting Top 8 all around here, but at the end of this event with his THIRD WIN in the past months is Jordan Meyer (2jjm) on 8Cast aka "Blastoise Stompy".
The power of this shell is really making itself known across the format, and great players like 2jjm are really capitalizing on that and having lots of success because of it. This deck is very very good and well worth keeping in mind when at an event.
In Second Place we had Death and Taxes.
Lion Sash has continued to fully integrate itself into these decks, as has Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire as a two of in most lists that I see it in. Both of these cards provided D&T with some definite upgrades in power for sure.
Moving down the list we had a showing by 4C Control.
This list is certainly unique as we don't often see a 4C build where it's Esper splashing into Red for cards like Expressive Iteration. Typically most of the 4C Control decks are Bant splashing a fourth color, so it's pretty cool to see this.
Near the bottom of the Top 8 we had a Black Phoenix build pop up!
This deck is super sweet. Phoenixes, Oxen, and even Dragon's Rage Channeler are around to play. This looks like loads of fun to play.
Around the Web
- 90sMTG has some sweet videos featuring UW Ninjas by Phil Blechman! Check it out here.
- Eternal Durdles posted a Deck Tech on Infect! Check it out here.
- IN RESPONSE has a new episode! Check it out here.
- BURN
The Spice Corner
You can find this past week's 5-0 deck lists over here.
Depths that transforms into Doomsday post board is pretty sweet.
Embercleave in a Mono Red Prison/Aggro list!
This Esper list is really something. Some Ninja action and some Planeswalker stuff.
YORION BREAKFAST.
Through the Breach + Sneak Attack turbo combo!
Esper Tezzerator is really super cool to see. Plus Thopter Foundry combo?!
A really unique take on an Esper Mentor list here, by using mana rocks and Echo of Eons to turbo out tokens.
HIVE MIND.
What I'm Playing This Week
Oh right it's All Access week. GUESS WHAT THAT MEANS?!
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 MTGLegacy Discord Server.
Until next time!
